The Ugly Truth

[Atragon9 0]

Captain Hermann Weyl sits in his office on the USS Coxeter, noting the progress in building the Hexacosichoron 600 engine on the back of the Manticore. His Team A Lead Engineer has reported that the superstructure to support the sphere is complete. In addition, the building of the plated ball itself is moving along nicely, thanks to the Manticore's ablative/disposable armor. They simply deploy and appropriate the hull pieces and now the construction is ahead of schedule. Team B has removed the Manticore nacelles and has salvaged enough material to build one working nacelle that can be attached to the Coxeter. This will let them get clear before Manticore jumps, hopefully, back to their original universe.

 

Overall, he is pleased that he could help one Manticore, as some small measure of penance for the destruction of another ... and its crew. His crew keeps telling him that it isn't his fault that the Manticore showed up in their landing sector, it was just bad luck. Bad Luck?!?! Is that what you call the destruction of a starship and the death of over 200 sentient beings?? No, he isn't off the hook so easily, even if he had no idea that a ship would be waiting for them. After all, for this “reality jump” to work, he will have to show himself to be a fraud.

 

Sure, the Engineering concepts are sound - as sound as any science can be that accepts that you can fold time. The theories show that you can place any amount of space you desire into that fold, since you truly have unlimited time in which to accomplish your task and make the nanosecond jump from one edge of the fold to the other.

 

Yes, that part of his revolutionary theory will stand strong, since it works. It’s funny how “crazy ideas” become “amazing discoveries” when the tests succeed. Zephram Cochrane was called a crazy, drunken fool with delusions of grandeur. Then his warp engine worked and he instantly became a genius visionary, a man who made the impossible a reality. Weyl knew that these tests of the Hexaco 600 would make the people who doubt him, those who dismiss him as a waste of potential, change their minds forever. These tests will make him famous; they will speak of him with the same revered tones that people reserve for legends. Newton, Fourier, Einstein, Salik, Cochrane … Weyl!

 

::He closes his eyes, his shoulders slump and he lets out a long sigh::

 

Weyl has made the Tesseract Drive work, so no one has questioned how he can create an machine that is capable of not only folding time, but holding that "pinch" in such a way to allow an infinite amount of space to be traversed, consumed, processed. He has the smartest minds in the Fleet Corps of Engineers assigned to him and they have provided an impressive array of theories of how to make such an engine. In test after test, they keep getting close to performing the miracle but, like reaching Absolute Zero, the accomplishment is always minutely out of reach. Finally, with the blessed cloak of confidentiality hiding the truth from even his own crew, he "figures out" the missing piece of the puzzle and the tests start to succeed. The Coxeter is commissioned and the shakedown cruise is sanctioned.

 

All is going so well that he believes the hype that they had figured out how to fold time and harness this power for the ultimate in propulsion! He could see the new wing at the Orion Institute of Technology, named for him. He forgets the ugly truth, the terrible price that is paid for each successful fold. He knows there will be a solution found that is straight Engineering – an elegant, practical, mechanical answer. He just needs to keep the interest high and keep the Corps of Engineers working the problem. He needs it to succeed now, so the price is not too dear, it is Worth It! Then they land next to the Manticore and he watches that ship boil away in space, like so much wax. His future boils away, his mind twists in on itself, like a Tesseract. This cannot continue, he must destroy the engine, he must destroy his secret. He has his crew disassemble the Drive. He has the secret heart of the engine entrusted to his Security chief, a man totally committed to his job, his duty, his unshakable belief in the Chain of Command.

 

When the second Manticore appeared, he knew his mind had truly broken, but it wasn't so. When he heard of their need to return to their home universe, he realized that he can help them AND make sure that the dream of the Tesseract Drive dies at the same time. To accomplish this, however, he will have to reveal his secret. He will have to take Atragon-9 and Beran Faldek into his confidence and he cannot control who they share it with. At this point, his career is over anyway, so he isn't sad at the prospect of anyone knowing about his ... lie. Up to this point, only his Security chief knew of his secret. He had sought an officer skilled in Security measures and confidentiality, loyal and unquestioningly faithful to his beliefs and having no family ties to possibly cloud his judgments. He searched and searched and finally found the perfect guard and protector for the secret ingredient in the Tesseract Drive. His sole mission is to insure the safety and security of the Drive's heart above all else AND to keep that secret from everyone but Weyl, on pain of death. Now, it was time to share that truth.

 

+COM+ Security Office, this is Captain Weyl.

 

+SEC+ This is Security, come in, sir.

 

+COM+ Please ask Lt. Brutus to come to my office at once and bring the package.

 

+SEC+ Yessir, right away, sir.

[STSF_BluRox 0]

Hee hee...Manticore the Ride...Now at Epcot!!

[Atragon9 0]

Hee hee...Manticore the Ride...Now at Epcot!!

Yeah, but if you don't have an E Ticket, you don't get to experience the 3D wonder!

[KhreRiovtRex 0]

OMG....stop showing our age.....we actually 'know' what an 'E-ticket' was!