The Fate of the USS FTL0476


The Fate of the USS FTL0476

By Daphne Xu

            The USS FTL0476

The USS FTL0476 flew out to 100 million miles beyond the orbit of Jupiter, making sure to remain well away from Jupiter and its moons and Lagrange points.

After going through the final checklist, the captain of FTL0476 broadcast signals in all directions. "T-60 seconds" ding -- "T-50 seconds" ding -- "T-40 seconds" ding -- "T-30 seconds" ding -- "T-20 seconds" ding -- "T-10 seconds -- 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Go!" The final word was cut off as the spaceship instantly shot to Warp 2 -- twice the speed of light.

Space Traffic Control centers throughout the solar system -- the moon, orbiting Callisto, on Ceres, etc. -- received the countdown at different times. Except for different time lags due to different distances, they all received the countdown signals from FTL0476. The departure appeared abruptly as a visible star that died out within five minutes.

Three minutes after departure, Callisto STC received a faint signal. "FTL 1st at Warp 2, and all is well." Three minutes later, Callisto received, "FTL 2nd at Warp 2, and all is well." Three minutes later still, Callisto received the final signal. "FTL 3rd at Warp 2, and farewell for the next decade."

            The EtaCass Fnuxell

The Eta-Cassiopeia-registered sub-luminous freighter transport EtaCass Fnuxell had the unprecedented fortune of flying through the solar system between Jupiter and Saturn, in the same direction as FTL0476, at Warp 0.8, 4/5ths the speed of light, in its circuit through space regions 237, 892, 1895, and 3487. Except for routine chatter automatically decoded, recorded, and ignored, the Fnuxell and its crew had no indication of FTL0476's faster-than-light departure.

Not until a green alert signaled in the transportation control center, indicating something possibly interesting, probably harmless.

"I'm onto it, Captain," said 2nd Lieutenant Squiglant at his workstation, as the alert changed from green to yellow. He moved and tapped his pointing device, and typed into the workstation. "Sir, systems detected a gamma-ray burst of intensity 48 kW/m^2, followed by a burst of near-warp interstellar matter of intensity 107 kW/m^2. Source appears to be azimuth -1.32, 0.78 from fore. Radar detects nothing in that direction. Star charts show plenty of stars in that direction."

"Captain?" said 2nd Lieutenant Gnorthst.

"Go ahead, Lieutenant."

"No stars are capable of producing both gamma-ray bursts and particle bursts that would reach us with that kind of intensity. Anything of any reasonable distance would have to be directed specifically at us."

"We could send a request-for-information to the local STC. A response wouldn't come for hours, though," said Lt. Squiglant.

"I'll send the request," answered the Captain. "They should know about it, even if it's too late to do anything about it."

The Fnuxell remained at yellow-alert, but nothing further happened until 65 minutes later.

"Captain," said Lt. Squiglant. "We've detected a faint communication from directly aft. It's from a locally registered ship. `FTL 3rd at Warp 2, and farewell for the next decade.'"

"Any connection with the previous events?" asked the Captain.

"Quite possibly, if the ship is what it claims to be," answered Lt. Gnorthst. "I'm working through the calculations now."

Three minutes later, a second communication came: "FTL 2nd at Warp 2, and all is well." This was followed by another, three minutes later. "FTL 1st at Warp 2, and all is well."

A strong communication appeared beginning eighty seconds later. "It's the same voice, the captain of that ship." The systems voice said, "T-60 seconds" ding -- "T-50 seconds" ding -- "T-40 seconds" ding -- "T-30 seconds" ding -- "T-20 seconds" ding -- "T-10 seconds -- 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Go!"

"A new star has appear directly aft," said Lt. Squiglant.

"I believe that I've figured out what has happened," said Lt. Gnorthst.

"Yes?" returned the captain.

"If my calculations are correct, their ship, the USS FTL0476, has apparently crashed into itself at twice the speed of light."


The END



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