"What?" Jim exclaimed.
"The warp can be radially outward from the Earth so why can't it be radially inward to the Earth? We just never thought of that. Start running the numbers. Tabitha and I will start preflight on the probe."
"Anson, are you serious? This could be risky. You might miscalculate and come out of warp too high or too low and smack!"
"Jim don't forget that the warp position errors will be along the Earth's surface due to its rotation; the frame dragging problem will cause angular errors in our calculations by maybe as much as a kilometer or two. The radial position errors should only be a few meters or so. Theoretically at least," I responded.
I adjusted my visor and looked at Tabitha. "Tabitha, I can't make this decision by myself. You can still make it to the CRV. My way is very risky. We could come out of warp too high above the ground and fall to our deaths or we could warp into the ground and who knows what that would cause?"
"Then why not warp out over the ocean?" Jim interrupted.
"Warping out over the ocean would have pretty much the same effect. Falling more than fifty feet into the ocean might not kill us, but we have no flotation gear so we will sink right to the bottom in these SAFER MMUs attached and the spacesuits at such a low inflation pressure we would be boat anchors. Also, if we ended up too deep we would be crushed by the pressure or just plain drown. Don't forget, we're out of air and these suits are heavy; the boat anchor thing is still the main problem! This spacecraft was only designed to fly in space so there aren't any flotation devices, landing gears, lifelines, or you name it; we're just going to have to do a controlled fall close enough to the ground. And one more thing, I would much rather try to walk home with a broken leg or something similar than swim home with one. Face it, anyway you look at it we're screwed, but it is the only way I can think of to get us both home. Tabitha, what do you think?"
Tabitha pulled her visor up and looked me deep in the eyes. She didn't take her eyes off me as she spoke. "Jim, this is Tabitha. Not only that, I'm not sure the Navy could deploy to rescue us in time, we can't wait here without air and we can't wait in the water in these suits and no air to inflate them, Anson's right, we'll sink! I agree with Anson, I had rather take my chance walking home than swimming home. Get to work on those numbers Anson asked for. Houston you might as well call back the CRV. We won't be here when it arrives." Tabitha looked at me and said, "What the hell. Lets get this preflight started. You aren't getting out of marrying me that easy."
CHAPTER 10
It took almost all of the time we had left to prep the probe for warp since Tabitha was out of propellant and had to use the crawl, grab, and tether method. Tabitha looked at her DCM and whistled.
"Cutting it close, Anson. I have about sixty minutes of air left. How are you doing?"
"Not much less. I have about fifty-nine. My body weight is more than yours. No matter, we're about ready to fire this thing. Jim you got those last calculations completed?" I broadcast over the makeshift communications network.
"Here comes, Anson. Gee zero one is zero point zero zero zero one seven. Copy that?"
"Roger Jim. Gee zero one is zero point zero zero zero one seven. Go next sequence."
"Gee zero three is zero point zero zero zero zero zero zero zero six zero one two five."
"Got it. Gee zero three is zero point zero zero zero zero zero zero zero six zero one two five. Next sequence." This continued for about seven more sequences. We were rewriting our gravitational metric for an inward travel vector. Jim had—in just a few minutes—completed calculations that had taken mankind millions of years to achieve. He should have gotten accepted to MIT, Princeton, Harvard, or Yale. He didn't get a scholarship and he sure couldn't afford it. Neither could I. We were both products of the state university system. That's okay. We went to the Harvard Karate Open two years ago and put a couple of those Ivy League geeks in the emergency room. Yeah I know, karate is for self-defense and self-defense only. We both had axes to grind. We felt both better and worse afterwards. We never acted like that again and we sent cards to the guys we had fought. I think we both matured some because of that tournament. Besides none of those guys were even close to warping space. We were damn sure going to give it the old state college try.
"Okay, Anson. That's it. All that's left is hitting the little red button." Jim said.
"I hope our numbers are right, Jim."
"Well, you were right about the frame dragging due to Earth's rotation causing position errors mostly along the surface. My calculations suggest maximum x and y position uncertainty of more than five kilometers, but errors in the z direction are only about two meters. And if you come out of warp just a couple of meters low you want have that deep of a hole to crawl out of. And if you're high, that won't be too far to fall."
"You guys better be waiting on us in New Mexico when we get there." I told him.
We had decided to try and warp to the desert in case something went wrong we would probably be the only ones killed. Jim, of course, was kidding. There really is no red button on the probe. The sequence is automated and initiated either from the GUI interface or the uplink from Earth. Tabitha and I decide to do the initiation sequence ourselves. The only thing to do now was wait for New Mexico to roll up underneath us. According to Houston that would be in about fifteen minutes.
"Tabitha, are you ready for this?" I asked her. I touched her helmet and looked at her.
"Just as soon as New Mexico rears its ugly head." She laughed. "We'll punch a hole in it."
"Jeeze! I hope not. The plan is to land gently," I told her.
"Anson. What about the atmosphere? What happens when we slam into it at the speed of light or however fast it will be?" She looked concerned.
"We've talked about this a little before remember. General Relativity and Causality won't allow anything to penetrate the forward and rearward portions of the warp bubble. We should be completely shielded."
"What about Earth?"
"Well that's why we're aiming for the desert. The air is a little less dense and nobody lives there. Mostly, nobody lives there."
"Hal, this is Anson. Jim, Tabitha and I are go for the firing sequence. I can see the coast of Lower California," I claimed.
"Roger Anson. Good luck you guys. God speed. Hal out."
Jim piped up. "Good luck, you guys. See you soon. Anson, thanks for everything, you know?" He sounded sad.
"I know, Jim. Don't worry. It's going to work." I held Tabitha's hand and depressed the warp sequence start command.
"Warp sequence is go," I said.
"Jim, if we don't make it tell my daughter and my parents that I love them!" Tabitha cried. Tears were slowly running down her cheeks. Tears were running down her cheeks!
Then the communications went blank. I could see New Mexico rolling up beneath us, then Tabitha and I were in total darkness other than the GUI panel illumination.
"It'll be just a few more seconds before the ECCs are powered up completely. The bubble must be forming nicely," I said as I surveyed the GUI panel. Then we were surrounded by a sphere of blue flashes of light.
"When will we know if it worked—aheeey!" Tabitha screamed.
The world got very bright all of the sudden and I could tell that I was falling. We were falling at one gee. We were at Earth, but where? Then something hit my back hard and rolled me over. Now I was facing downward and I could see that I was falling through a canopy of very thick pine trees. We were at least thirty feet from the ground. Another pine tree limb smacked my faceplate and cracked it, whiplashing me. The fall seemed as though it took hours. It really only took a few seconds for me to crash into the sand at the base of a very large tree. I had landed on my back staring upward. I heard Tabitha thud against the sand a few meters to my left.