"Prepare for warp transition."
The sultry, sexy female voice of the ship's computer sang softly, almost like a Siren calling out to the crew.
Richard Jensen strapped himself in firmly to the well cushioned seat. He hated these transitions. Warp travel got you places, but putting your body through these episodes almost countered the desire to ever want see the galaxy in this way.
"Warp transition in ten seconds. Prepare for normal space time. Nine, eight." the voice of Sylvia, as the computer was affectionately known dispassionately counted down the inevitable.
Richard closed his eyes and started to exhale completely. He had been taught this was the best method of countering the mind numbing effects of warp transition. There was no drug to ease it. He was the ship's Chief Medical Doctor and Science Officer. He knew there was nothing. It wasn't a physical condition, or even a mental one. They had said it was the readjustment of the body to the shift in the quantum space time continuum. It only lasted as long as the transition. That split second always seemed to last a lifetime.
"Three, two, one..."
He gripped the armrests and tensed his whole body against the expected onslaught. Nature did not disappoint. He felt as is his whole being were being flung out to the stars. Kaleidoscopic colours swam in his head and the universe reeled in every direction at once.
Suddenly it was over. No sense of nausea. A bit of giddiness, but everything was normal as it had been a moment ago. Maybe he was getting used to it.
Sylvia announced their arrival with the usual dispassion, "Normal space time achieved. Systems nominal. Impulse power at one hundred and ten percent. Post transition sequence initiated."
He breathed a sigh of relief. Another jump over. Travelling at nearly thirty percent of the speed of light on impulse seemed like a stroll in the park compared to the jump. He remembered his first year at university and the lessons in basic warp theory. Nothing could exceed the speed of light. Those theories had held for hundreds of years, however nothing said space couldn't be bent, folded like a piece of paper so one could punch through from one layer to the other in a short cut that would take hours or days at the most when normal light would take years the long way around.
So man had left the confines of his home planet and gone to the stars, but as civilisations had always grown, so had they fallen and the time between the first stellar explorers to now was no exception.
"Doctor Jensen," a deep commanding male voice sounded in his ears. "To the bridge please."
Richard responded immediately, "On my way Captain."
Quickly looking around the medical bay to check everything was in place, he unstrapped himself and proceeded to the inter-deck lift.
"Bridge please Sylvia," he asked, for some reason always saying please. He knew she, it, was a computer, but somehow it didn't seem right to just rudely demand.
Sylvia's voice purred back at him, "Yes Doctor Jensen."
The lift door closed and swiftly took him up to the command center.
"Ah! Doctor!" the smiling face of Captain Eric Wainwright greeted him as he looked up from his command desk on the bridge. "How was the transition? Getting used to it now?"
Eric Wainwright was the commander of the research spaceship Bountiful. It was a small scientific research vessel on a three year mission to explore parts of the galaxy that by accounts of the old records may have housed earlier explorers. Since many of the records were missing or destroyed to some extent, the mission was one of hit and miss in many cases.
The ship held a crew of about fourty comprising various scientists of various disciplines: astrobiology, planetary, stellar, geology and so on. The non scientists made up the various functions of the ship from officers to crew. Some of the scientists joined the expedition as couples, Richard being no exception. His own young wife, Jane, was a warp engine specialist. She was assigned the task of managing the warp engines and tuning them with complex mathematical models through the quantum computer. She was brilliant in her field and disarmingly attractive too.
"A little I think Captain," Richard replied trying to shake the memories of the event from his head. He knew that the seasoned jumpers could go through the transitions standing up, barely feeling the effects. He felt it would be a long time before he was at that stage.
"Come over here," the Captain motioned to him. "Interesting system we have here. Came up with some signals at the last moment before the scheduled jump so I changed course and decided to investigate before we resume our regular track. Sorry I didn't consult you about it, but you were occupied in the medical bay and we had a very short window to move on. Jane barely managed to complete the calculations for the new course in time."
He pointed to a map, "G class star, nothing unusual really and would have been missed apart from the very faint signal. It's gone now, but we picked it up about one hundred light years out so it was most likely on it's last legs a century ago. Midshipman, give us a system overview."
We looked up at the forward screen as the midshipman punched some buttons on his console and bought a schematic of the stellar system we had just entered into view.
"See, there," Eric pointed, "Just past the sixth planet, the gas giant. See that planet there, the seventh one?"
"Yes," Richard answered peering closely at the display.
"Easy to miss because it's masked by the gas giant, but that's the only habitable planet in the system. Earth sized, maybe point nine of a gee, breathable atmosphere, water vapour, moderate temperature, stable orbit." He looked at Richard. "What do you think."
Richard pondered for a moment. "Satisfies all the criteria. You think there's life down there?"
"That's what we're going to find out Richard. Might have something more than rocks to look at yet!!" he laughed. They had already spent eighteen months on the mission and drawn a blank on every destination.
"Pilot!" the Captain barked. "Take us into orbit around the seventh planet."
"Aye captain," the young midshipman answered.
They watched the view of the planet on the screen getting bigger by the minute. The ship's computer had by now reduced their speed to a fraction of that of light so they could manoeuvre safely.
Sylvia's voice broke in on the spectators, "Captain, there is a ring of rocky debris circling the planet. I recommend a close orbit inside of it."
"Make it so Sylvia," the Captain answered.
Sylvia continued, "Commencing orbital insertion. Prepare for thrust braking."
The ship turned on it's length as it approached the planet and then fired it's heavy thrusters till it had slowed to the correct speed.
"Equatorial orbit established at three hundred kilometers. All systems nominal."
"We'll hold a briefing in two hours with all the scientific staff. Meantime we'll let Sylvia do a preliminary survey and report the results to us then," the Captain informed the bridge crew. "Sylvia, inform all relevant personnel."
"Aye Captain," the disembodied voice replied.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Two days later the scientists were grouped around their table for another update.
"Well ladies and gentleman," Richard said addressing the assembled group, "I think we can precis the results to date. We have established the planet below, as yet unnamed as a potential harbour for human life. It is within the correct range for temperature, atmospheric constituents, free flowing water and potentially habitable land masses. Radiation is low and the gravity at zero point nine three of a gee.
He paused a moment before continuing. "We have established the presence of plant life, quite abundant even reaching to the poles, which are unfrozen. Early this morning a stratospheric probe discovered what appears to be animal life."
There was hushed, but excited talk amongst some of the scientists. "As of yet we have not identified the extent of these lifeforms, but they appear to range in size from large, even massive quadrupeds or hexiped creatures to possibly much smaller animals. We don't yet have the optical resolution to determine that until we fly lower and get the advanced scope operational. There is no reason not to expect the lifeforms to cover the habitable surface and by extension, the seas of the planet.
"Unfortunately, we have not yet discovered human life, but we have a lead that I discovered this morning in the archive that may help us to determine if it exists, or did exist on the planet below."
Now there was an excited hum from the scientists and Richard had to speak louder.
"As you already know, we received an extremely faint signal about one hundred light years from this system, which now no longer transmits, assuming it wasn't an echo off an intervening nebula which is a possibility. From my investigations however, and trying to tie leads together, it appears that this system was considered for colonisation about nine hundred years ago."
The hum turned to visible surprise and excitement with some of them voicing it loudly.
Richard patted his hand in the air to hush them up. "Yes, about the time of the first wave and with two breakdowns in civilisation since then there isn't much of the record available. However, a preliminary survey was done and then there isn't any further mention. So, it is possible that it was colonised. Whether it survived the last nine centuries, we'll that's now for us to discover. Based on this new information I will be sending a probe on an ordered flight pattern. I have Sylvia computing the most likely areas for habitation and the optimum search pattern. It may take days or weeks. In the meantime we will continue our analysis of the data gathered. I'm sure you will all be very busy."
The group suddenly broke out into questions from all at once and he was hard pressed to answer what he could before terminating the meeting so they could get back to work.
------------------------------------------------------------------
"Jane!" Richard called out as he entered their cabin, the door silently opening to let him through before closing automatically behind him.
"Yes darling!" She came out of the en-suite barefoot and wearing a small nightie. Richard whistled at her.
"God, are you a sight for sore eyes! All I've seen all day are figures, figures and figures!"
She smiled sexily and posed her lithe body at him, the curves barely hidden by the sheer material. "How about thirty six, twenty three, thirty four?" as she ran her hands down her sides and pouted at him.
He growled in his throat, "They're the only figures that count! Come here baby!"
