Faster Than Light: Outsider

By Malcolm Pierce

The Heilmann Drive allowed humanity to spread across the stars and prosper for nearly two thousand years. But when the use of the device begins to eat into the fabric of the universe, the People's Interstellar Republic bans all faster-than-light travel. A new age begins, one of isolation and stagnation, and becomes known as the Fall.

One rebel, Captain Seth Garland, steals the last starship in existence. He is now mankind's only hope of re-uniting the stars.

Outsider: Leah Wu left her birth world of Yuan to join Seth Garland as a pariah. Now she returns with the ISS Fenghuang to a planet in crisis. A drought has ravaged the population, and a series of unexplained deaths has wracked one of the remaining viable farming communities. When a threat of unimaginable power presents itself in the hills of Yuan, Leah realizes that she may be the only one who can save the planet she once called home.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Malcolm Pierce
• Release date: Jul 8, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476235899

Book preview

Faster Than Light: Outsider

Malcolm Pierce

Copyright 2012 Malcolm Pierce

Smashwords Edition

Other entries in the Faster Than Light Series available via Smashwords:

Faster Than Light: The Fallen Goddess

Faster Than Light: Dobhriathar

Faster Than Light: Babel Among the Stars

1.

First the wheel, the horse, and the carriage conquered the land. Then longships, frigates, and cruisers tamed the sea. Planes and helicopters lifted man into the clouds. For centuries, there seemed to be one horizon that could not be crossed. The stars were so vast and so empty that no vessel, no matter how fast, could traverse them.

The Heilmann Drive changed everything. Any distance, no matter how great, could be leapt in a matter of seconds. In the blink of an eye, a ship carrying hundreds could move from one end of the galaxy to the other.

Man spread out across the stars, laying claim to planet after planet. In 2192, there were exactly two planets in the universe known to support human life. In 2195, there were humans living on twenty planets, with at least three dozen more colonizations planned.

Not a single complex alien life form was found in all of the worlds settled by man. Earth was the only planet which fostered multicellular organisms. But as time passed, it did not matter. Civilization splintered as isolated cultures developed on every new world. Within a thousand years, each planet seemed quite alien to the others.

One thing held them together. One thing kept them united as the single human race. The Heilmann Drive. Ships leapt between the planets every hour, carrying goods, passengers, and information. At the apex of interstellar travel, there were over three thousand starships operating at any given moment.

Now there is only one.

*

A blast of hot air struck Leah as the airlock door slid open. Sunlight poured across her face and she stepped outside. She smiled even as sweat began to spring up along her forehead. It felt good to be home again, no matter the circumstances.

Yeah, this feels like a drought, Seth Garland said. He followed Leah out of the I.S.S. Fenghuang, shielding his eyes against the bright mid-day light.

Leah glanced back at him. You’re a homeworlder. You grew up on Earth. You wouldn’t know a real drought. Seth was the captain of the Fenghuang, but Leah never felt the need to give him any deference. He’d stolen his title along with his starship.

We have droughts on Earth.

Not like the ones on Yuan, Leah replied.

Seth smacked his lips together. They were already dry. Well, I’m not going to argue with you. Just didn’t seem so bad the last time we were here.

The last time you were here, you were in the VehiMax Protectorate in the middle of the winter. This is the Eversteady Zaibatsu Protectorate.

And this is summer?

Late spring, Leah replied. The end of interstellar travel was a death sentence for millions of my people. We relied on the trade routes to survive the droughts. The rest of the planet can’t support the hot zones in these times.

Yuan wasn’t unique in this respect. The ban on the faster-than-light Heilmann Drive, an event known as the Fall, had devastated dozens of planets. Over the last two thousand years, many worlds had come to depend upon the simple, instantaneous transport of resources. Certain planets specialized in certain products. Populations grew out of control. When a cargo starship full of food or water could be brought in at a moments notice, there was no need to worry about shortages.

That’s why we’re here, Seth said. Airlann will allow us to gather water from the freshwater seas. Linaria has pledged food in exchange for a few hundred impulse engines.

I’m sure Yuan has plenty of those. Yuan was a planet of industry and had amassed a large fortune throughout its protectorates by building auxiliary starship components. The Fall hadn’t just cut them off from the rest of the universe, it had robbed them of their market. Are you sure you don’t need me to come along? Leah asked.

The I.S.S. Fenghuang was the last starship in the galaxy equipped with a Heilmann Drive. Seth had stolen it from the People’s Interstellar Republic before it could be decommissioned like all the rest. As a result, he was in a unique position to help the people of Yuan. The Fenghuang was a small ship, but Heilmann Leaps were instantaneous and the ship could make several trips in a single day. Any relief they could provide to Yuan was welcome.

Seth shook his head. We can handle a few dozen delivery runs without you. But it will take a few days, so you should see to your family.

Leah’s mother, Viole, was the Vice Chairman of Eversteady Zaibatsu, one of the thirty-six governing corporate bodies on Yuan. After the Fall, large swaths in the EZ Protectorate were converted to farmland to prepare for the isolation from the rest of the galaxy. The drought was a crisis to the entire planet, but especially to a protectorate that had invested so heavily in food production.

Thanks, Leah said. I guess now that Alena’s here, I’m expendable.

Leah had joined the crew of the I.S.S. Fenghuang as an engineer the first time the ship landed on Yuan. Now Alena Heilmann, the inventor and namesake of the faster-than-light engine, was among their number. She’d spent the last two thousand years traveling at near the speed of light, allowing her to see the rise and fall of her creation. Now she’d come out of temporal exile to help Seth save the Heilmann Drive.

Seth shook his head. Nothing like that. But the ship’s going to be crowded. The protectorates are sending along crew to help us transport the goods. Besides, you’ve certainly earned a vacation.

The last several months had been stressful on the crew of the Fenghuang. The ship was under-staffed. They were attacked on almost every planet they visited. Just a few weeks ago, the Fenghuang was almost vaporized in the corona of an orphan star. Everyone had earned a vacation and Leah almost felt guilty that she was the only one getting that opportunity.

Leah squinted as she looked around the open-air starport where the Fenghuang was docked. Just over a year ago, it had been a bustling center of commerce. Now it was abandoned. It wasn’t needed anymore. She was lucky that the landing and docking mechanisms still worked.

There was a single black sedan waiting on the road leading to the starport. That was Leah’s ride.

If you can help with this drought, you’ll have no shortage of people volunteering to join you, Leah replied. You can finally run the ship with a full crew.

"We can finally run the ship with a full crew, Seth corrected her. You are coming back after this, aren’t you?"

Leah shook her head. I haven’t decided, she said. She expected Seth to push back. She thought he would try and convince her to stay, perhaps with a long speech about courage and destiny like the one he used to recruit her in the first place. Remarkably, he was silent. He just gave her a weak smile and turned around to return to the Fenghuang.

We’ll stay in touch, Seth finally replied, just as the airlock doors began to slide shut. I’ll let you know when each day’s deliveries are done. I’ll be docking the ship at the Berl-Hai military base and I expect you to make daily reports on the state of the protectorate. Until you decide what you’ll do, you’re still part of my crew.

*

The arid plains of the EZ Protectorate became a pale blur as the sedan sped down the highway. Leah stared out the window, narrowing her eyes. She spotted several small dark shapes near the horizon. She recognized them immediately as thorium drilling stations, but that raised an unsettling question in her mind. She didn’t know where the car was going. Her family lived in the capitol city of Chikaraburg, which was far from any known thorium deposits in the protectorate.

Leah panicked as she realized that she didn’t know who sent the car to the starport It was just there, waiting for her. The vehicle was completely automated, so there wasn’t even a driver she could ask. It could have come from anywhere. It could be taking her anywhere.

Trying to remain calm, Leah reached for the storage compartment in front of her seat. She pulled it open and found a small tablet computer inside. Turning it on, she breathed a sigh of relief. It was connected to the planetary communications network. This wasn’t a kidnapping. Or if it was, it was poorly planned. She could find her location and transmit it to her family—or to the Fenghuang for that matter.

Leah quickly typed in the network address for her mother’s office. It was midday, so she wouldn’t be anywhere else. Viole didn’t miss work, even if her daughter was coming into town. The trademark flag of Eversteady Zaibatsu, a snow-capped mountain emblazoned with a lightning bolt, appeared on the screen of the tablet. Within a few seconds, it was replaced by the stern face of Leah’s mother.

Viole was a proper businesswoman who never left the house in anything less than a suit and tie. Her smile, even when absolutely sincere, was well-practiced and never lasted more than a few seconds.