Mach's Metric Read online

  MACH'S

  METRIC

  BOOK 2

  D.W. PATTERSON

  Copyright © 2018 D.W. Patterson

  All rights reserved.

  2nd Edition

  7th Printing - October, 2020

  Cover – © 2020 Future Chron Publishing

  Cover Image © – Bruce Rolff

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission, except in the case of brief quotations for the purpose of review. For information please contact – futurechronpub(at)gmail(dot)com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are products of the author's imagination and should not be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events and people, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Mach's Metric (Mach Series, #2)

  FOREWORD

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  AFTERWORD

  Other books and stories by this author:

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Sign up for D.W. Patterson's Mailing List

  DEDICATION

  To Sarah

  ACKNOWLEDGMENT

  The excerpts from Robinson Crusoe in chapters 7, 9 and 10 were taken from the public domain work:

  Defoe, Daniel. (1996). Robinson Crusoe. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved March, 2018 from www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19033.

  FOREWORD

  The reader will note that the events in Chapter 1 occur after the events in Chapter 2 (and actually in parallel with the events of Chapter 29). From Chapter 2 on the story is told in chronological order.

  “Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.”

  H.G. Wells

  MACH's METRIC

  BOOK 2

  Chapter 1

  “Total Disaster, Hadar Destroyed” - The New Hope Sentinel, 7.15.2395.

  “Mecklenburg Destroyed, Thousands Killed” - The Centauri Journal, 7.15.2395.

  “Destruction Complete, Scientists At Fault?” - The Centauri Worker's Union, 7.15.2395.

  The mayor of Mecklenburg was excited. She was preparing to dedicate the new City Hall. It was a monument to her leadership and an impressive addition to the architecture of the city which was somewhat lacking. It was like a new beginning for the city and its government.

  Mecklenburg was located in the Centauri Two space habitat which circled the star Centauri A. Centauri Two was the oldest of the habitats that had been built in the past fifty years and Mecklenburg was one of the oldest cities in Centauri Two.

  The habitat was a cylindrical design four miles in diameter and twenty miles long. It supported a population of three-hundred thousand people and almost as many cats and dogs.

  The mayor, Yolanda Jackson, had been born in Centauri Two. At forty years of age she had grown as the habitat had grown and as Mecklenburg had grown. She was proud of what the habitat and city had accomplished in the relatively few years of its existence. And the new city hall was a reflection of that pride.

  Bringing together the various factions in such a city wasn't easy. But Yolanda had the knack of making whoever she was talking to feel good about their contributions to the community. She was a bridge builder not a bulldozer as had been the previous mayor.

  “We're ready Mayor if you are,” said Yolanda's assistant.

  The mayor stepped to the podium placed at the top of the steps of the new City Hall.

  “Fellow Mecklenburghers,” she began. That always got a few laughs from the crowd.

  “We are here today to dedicate our new City Hall. Isn't it beautiful!” she pointed behind her to the building.

  Waiting for the applause to die down she continued.

  “There are many people to thank for this moment. Really too many to call out in this short dedication speech. You can see their names on the memorial plaque and I invite you to view it when I am finished.

  “I just want to say that Mecklenburg now begins a new era. An era where cooperation is as important as competition. Where people come together instead of isolating. Where people know that their government has an obligation to all its citizens and not just those who know someone.”

  Again she waited for the applause to end.

  “Thank you. The symbol of this new era is here before you. It is the people's building. I hope to see each and every one of you here, my office door is always open to the citizens of Mecklenburg.”

  Again applause.

  “Thank you. Now before I start campaigning again.”

  Laughter from the crowd.

  “I want to officially declare that this new and beautiful City Hall is open for business.”

  Loud applause followed as the mayor turned and took the scissors from her assistant. She walked up to the ribbon strung between the center columns of the building and with a flourish cut it.

  Almost at the same time came a loud boom from across the square. The mayor and crowd looked in the direction of the sound. There they could see a brief scattering of flames and a roiling of black smoke from the bottom floor of the Centauri Bank Building.

  After a brief quiet another boom was heard and the same sight was seen at the Stevens Tower across the street from the first building. Someone said something about a gas explosion and then the bank building began to collapse as if it was a planned demolition.

  The roar became non-stop. The crowd had began dispersing, running but not in any particular direction. The first floor of another building next to the Stevens Tower exploded. The Stevens Tower had started collapsing. Another and another and another building's first floor exploded.

  By this time the crowd had dispersed in all directions except towards the exploding buildings. It was clear that the mayor needed to be evacuated. Her assistant urged her to get in the car but the mayor hesitated. She looked behind her at the new City Hall.

  “Mayor we've got to go.”

  “We've got to do something, to stop this,” said the Mayor.

  “We can't Mayor, we don't even know why it's happening. We have to get you and the rest of the city's employees out of here.”

  “I suppose you are right.”

  The Mayor rushed down the steps and into the car. Her car and others sped quickly away from the square. The Mayor looked back one last time to see another and then another building start to collapse before the vehicle turned the corner and the square was out of sight.

  Whatever was the cause it continued down the street and around the square as building after building succumbed to the phenomena. By now the whole of Centauri Two was aware of the disaster striking Mecklenburg but no one was sure what was causing it.

  As a precaution the habitat's utility companies cut all power and gas to Mecklenburg. But this didn't stop the destruction radiating from the central square. By this ti
me the buildings all around the square had collapsed into rubble and the phenomena had started down the streets radiating from the central square. The whole of the huge habitat was vibrating from the explosions as the buildings fell.

  Ron Willoughby had always wanted to move his jewelry business to the main square but he had never been able to afford the rent. Still he was within two hundred yards of the square and did enough business to keep his family, who lived above the store, fed.

  It wasn't long until he heard the civil defense warning on his Emmie, a personal assistant device. The government was declaring an emergency and recommending that all citizens shelter in place. Ron quickly closed his store and stared down the street towards the central square. He could see from where he was standing that the buildings on either side of his street next to the square, the Centauri Bank Building and the Stevens Tower, had collapsed. He watched for several minutes as other buildings he could see suffered a similar fate.

  Ron felt a pang of terror as he watched the fire and police departments respond to the disaster.

  What can they do, he wondered. when such a huge thing as a twenty story building collapses?

  By this time his wife and two small children had joined him at the front of the store.

  “What is it dear, what's happening?” asked his wife holding the smallest child.

  “I don't know honey. For some reason the buildings on the square are exploding and collapsing. It's all around the square.”

  “Are we in danger?” she asked.

  “I think we are far enough away honey to be okay. Besides the government recommends we shelter in place.”

  Then he saw it. The next building, a building on his street behind the bank building exploded.

  That was Whitlow's building.

  Something had caused the windows on the first floor of Whitlow's to shatter and explode outward. A flame like a roiling cloud of fire shot out. The police and firemen started to pull back. At least those that could.

  Then the building next to Whitlow's exhibited the same behavior. Now Ron became worried. He didn't care what the government recommended he had his family to protect.

  “Quick honey,” he said. “To the car.”

  His wife turned to run. Ron scooped up the second child as he turned to follow her. Through the inventory room and out the back door. Outside they could hear the booming destruction coming closer. With the kids in the car, Ron jumped in. He started the car and put it in manual mode. The steering wheel, recessed in the dash, deployed. The pedals dropped to the floor. By this time the smoke and dust of the disaster was drifting past the car windows.

  Ron's wife turned to soothe the frightened children. Ron had two choices he could drive down the narrow alley parallel to the street until he could turn onto the street itself and flee from the square or he could take off down the alley across from the back of his building. That alley would lead him to the next street over. He chose the alley parallel to his street thinking that it would gain them the maximum distance from the square in the minimum time.

  And it would have if not for an improperly parked vehicle.

  I should have looked first.

  The vehicle ahead was parked at just the right angle to prevent Ron from driving his car between it and the building wall opposite. He heard a loud noise directly behind. Looking back he saw that the disaster had crossed to the other side of the street, his side, and was coming down the row of buildings that included his store. They had to move, now.

  “Hold on kids,” said Ron.

  He slowly closed on the front of the other car. He hoped to move the other car just enough to wedge his way through. At first it seemed to be working. Then his car stalled, it was stuck. Ron tried to backup but found the car was wedged firmly. He looked in the mirror to see the destruction coming closer. The buildings were now falling on both sides of the alley and they weren't more than a hundred yards behind.

  He couldn't run on foot with his wife and kids. And the way the car was wedged he wasn't even sure they could get out the doors. By this time the kids were crying uncontrollably and his wife was getting hysterical. The only thing he could do was to keep rocking the car back and forth trying to break through the impasse.

  Then as he rocked it forward he felt a little give. “Thank God,” he said.

  He looked in the rear view mirror and was startled and horrified. The buildings were falling only fifty yards away and there was Milt Lincoln pushing with all his might on the back of Ron's car. It was Milt's car that was blocking the alley. Ron realized that not only were his car's doors blocked but he had the doors to Milt's car blocked also, the left side blocked by Ron's, the right side blocked by the service node that Ron had pushed Milt's car against.

  Ron started to yell at Milt but stopped at the sounds of his children's screams. He looked in his mirror again. Milt was putting his whole body into it now. With his back to the car he was lifting it almost off its wheels. Then, the impasse broke, the car was through. Ron was driving as fast as he could. He looked in his rear view mirror one last time to see Milt down on the ground looking back at Ron and then he was gone in the debris and dust as the buildings continued to collapse.

  It was a few weeks before the extent of the damage was known. As it turned out Centauri Two had gotten off relatively light compared to other habitats. Some had been destroyed completely, most had lost more lives. The downtown of Mecklenburg was the only real casualty in Centauri Two. But it was destroyed completely. Thousands had been killed, almost the entire of Mecklenburg's population had been injured in some way. The mayor was an exception.

  Yolanda Jackson for the first time since the disaster was touring the damaged area. She had seen the pictures but was even more stunned to see the area in person. The streets had been cleared but the debris piles stood where the buildings had collapsed. Authorities were still searching through the rubble for the missing.

  The mayor's car and the others had circled the square and were approaching the lot where the new City Hall had once stood.

  “Stop the car please,” said the mayor.

  “But ma'am it's still not a good idea to stop in this area. The debris is a hazard to health.”

  “Stop,” said the mayor again.

  Her car pulled to a stop and she got out.

  Looking up the steps where the City Hall once stood Yolanda saw nothing but the broken columns that had defied the disaster.

  “A new beginning,” she said in a whisper.

  Chapter 2

  “It's A Race!” - The New Hope Sentinel, 7.7.2394.

  “A Golden Age Ahead” - The Centauri Journal, 7.7.2394.

  “Capitalism's Last Hurrah?” - The Hadar Union, 7.7.2394.

  StarPath Corporation was in a hurry. It had bought the remnants of the defunct NHSD Corp. and was redeveloping that company's wormhole drive into a product it called Wormhole Unlimited. But the drive still wasn't finished and the investors were getting worried. The developer of the new drive promised to increase its reach to nine light-years and hinted at as much as ten. That would be several light-years greater than the current drives sold by Starway Corporation which were limited to six light-years. And at that greater distance the number of star systems reachable through multiple jumps would be almost unlimited, unlike the handful which were currently within range.

  “Absolutely,” said Dr. Mataan. “The test is scheduled for three weeks from today and it will not be delayed. You have my word Mr. Blanc.”

  “I hope so Dr. Mataan. If we do not make this test date I'm afraid it will be our last chance, the investors aren't willing to sink more money into the project without some results.”

  Mataan nodded yes and said, “I understand but it is important sir not only to StarPath, but to the larger society, that we succeed. The wormhole drive has been a great boon to trade and exchange. But the six light-year limit has restricted us to reaching only a handful of other star systems.”

  “I for one am well aware of the problem,”
said Blanc. “It has been a damper to any further development. Promising companies have been born because of the wormhole drive and have died because of its limitations. I don't want this company to die because we can't improve on those limitations.”

  “I understand Mr. Blanc.”

  “Now, what about this Dr. Mach? He's getting too much media attention with all his doomsday predictions. Do you think there's anything to it?”

  “Elias Mach certainly has the qualifications to comment on drive development since he was its inventor,” said Mataan. “But in this case I think he is wrong. I do not think the energy density we will be using during the test will cause a breakdown of spacetime as he fears. By the way he is not predicting a breakdown but is only suggesting that it is possible.”

  “Well his suggestion is causing us real problems. He is only adding to the skittishness of the investors. Dr. Mataan if you want to succeed with your research you will do everything in your power to make sure that test goes off on time.”

  “Yes sir.”

  Elias Mach had not only invented the wormhole drive, he had also saved it from being banned by government when he came up with the entanglement reservoir that prevented the worse of the drive's side effects during ordinary operation.

  But use of the drive had bumped up against a real physical limitation. The power required to cast (a way of assigning the destination coordinates) the distant mouth of a wormhole was considerable. And besides the practical problem of developing all that power there was another more serious problem.

  Elias had theorized that the fabric of spacetime itself could unravel if too much power were concentrated in too small a space. This had been confirmed accidentally when two ships casting wormhole mouths to the same location at the same time caused a minor but devastating breakdown of spacetime. The resulting disruption propagated outward at the speed of light and space habitats in its way were destroyed. It dissipated over distance but only after hundreds of thousands of people were killed. After that incident no one doubted Elias' theories anymore.

  The problem was that no one including Elias knew where the threshold for breakdown occurred. Obviously it was greater than the energy density needed to cast a wormhole mouth six light-years because that was being done every day but how much greater? Elias had been working on an answer to that question for some time.