The Journey of Atlantis: Leaving Home

By Jeff Knoblauch

The solar system will meet its doom in 84 years!

Captain Levi Metcalfe is the unwilling leader of the first (and only) Ark class vessel charged with saving a sampling of Earth's lifeforms before the neutron star arrives. But first it has to be built! It's a race against time and not everyone is for the Project. "The Journey of Atlantis" is an impossible problem set in the very near future tasked with overcoming terrible obstacles. How will the consortium ever get cooperation from the squabbling nations of Earth to build this Ark? And even if it is built, where will we go? Space is a dangerous place and the humans will just have to learn along the way in this roller coaster adventure!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jeff Knoblauch
• Release date: Dec 30, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370079940

Jeff Knoblauch

When Jeff first sat down to write his latest book, The Journey of Atlantis, it was with the idea that science fiction stories never really talk about the making of these massive interstellar vessels that we read about. But, how hard would it be for humans to make a ship 65 miles long, 2.5 miles in diameter in less than one hundred years? This required a lot of research into future and near future engineering technologies, along with human applications and psychologies. What to you pack on an interstellar ark? Lots of questions and problems to address that should be stimulating for the reader and not just focusing on the journey itself.Jeff has been a scientist with a degree in chemistry for over 25 years. He is still living the normal everyday life of a working scientist with hopes of retiring soon (even in our thirties we think of retiring “soon”, don’t we?). And, also like a lot of people, he likes to look at the stars and wonder. Watching meteor showers are cool too. He enjoys sharing that wonder now in the books that he writes.“I love science fiction, especially stories that use real and believable science in them. I want to bring that love and experience of all things science to my readers so that they too can know that the future is now.”

Book preview

THE JOURNEY OF ATLANTIS

BOOK ONE: LEAVING HOME

Jeff Knoblauch

Published by Jeff Knoblauch at Smashwords

Copyright 2017 Jeff Knoblauch

This book is also available in print at most online retailers

For more information about the author, you can visit the website www.jknobluach.com or you can favorite the author page at Smashwords at www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jknoblauch

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Nothing in the World can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent. The slogan press on has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. —Calvin Coolidge

CONTENTS

Dedication

All Good Things…

The Fallout

T-Minus 75 years

T-Minus 65 Years

T-Minus 55 years

T-Minus 45 Years

T-Minus 35 Years

T-Minus 25 Years

T-Minus 15 Years

The Captain

The E-Captain

The Last Consortium Meeting

Departure

Atlantis: The Goodbye Tour

Pedal to the Metal

Day Zero

Epilogue

About The Author

Contact The Author

Dedication

To my wife Jeannie and my daughter Catherine, thanks for your support and encouragement in my journeys, and indulging the ‘sickness’ that writers get while losing themselves in their worlds.

To my friends and family, many thanks for taking part in my journey. Without you I could not have had the determination to publish my labors.

To my readers, I will say that stories and books have always been one of the most important inventions of the human race. Stories allowed the relating of experiences from one person to another. Fiction stirs the cauldron of imagination and bubbles the thoughts and meaning of life from one person to another. It excites and transports a person. It takes them for a ride that will be a part of their memories. It is safe to say that without someone to read a story, stories would be like an engine without a transmission. You could start it up, but where would you go? My heart grows warmer when I think about a reader enjoying my stories. To give someone pleasure in their weary times. I thank you, the reader, for taking a chance on me.

It is with that fondness for the above mentioned, that I dedicate this book and all my writing pursuits in the future.

Jeff Knoblauch

All Good Things…

Hey, you’re running over again, Steven said for about the millionth time. They had spent the last five and a half years working at the Keck Observatory. Albert was always running over his allotted telescope time. For the last two and a half years, he’d been working on something he was tight-lipped about. Steven suspected that he was working on a private project as well as his assigned one that took a lot of extra time. It was not nice to stomp on someone’s time slot that was likely coming out of another someone’s pocketbook.

Dr. Albert Brooking glanced at his friend. Give me another minute. I’m finishing up now.

Dr. Steven Manning shook his head and patiently waited for Albert to finish. He’d been worried about Albert the last few months. He had the impression the private project wasn’t panning out as expected. It was always a bummer to work on a project that took months, even years, only to find that your hypothesis was wrong.

Albert, you OK? Steven prodded. Albert was one of the youngest Ph.D.s he knew. A complete workaholic—once he got ahold of something, he never let go until he knew why it did or didn’t work out.

Albert shrugged, looking especially tired today. I’m fine. Hey, can I talk to you about something important?

Sure, Albert. But can it wait until my shift is over?

I guess so. Albert said, a little disappointed.

Good, see you about 0700. Get some sleep; you look like shit. Steven started calibrating the instruments on the targets he was studying tonight. Other equipment was warming up and going through their diagnostics. Albert shuffled off to his quarters knowing Steven was right. He felt as shitty as he looked, and some rest would help clear his head a little.

Steven pounded the door. Hey Albert, I thought you wanted to talk about something. It’s 0830! I called your dorm, and you didn’t answer.

The pounding on the door finally woke him. Shit, he thought. I must have been really out of it. I’ll be right there, give me a minute, he called at the door. He shook his head. The shut-eye was supposed to make him feel better, not worse. He opened the door for Steven. Albert’s room was what you would expect from a workaholic; completely disheveled.

So, what’s this all about? Steven asked. You sounded kind of funny back there when you asked to have a chat. You now have my undivided attention.

Albert’s eyes were intense. You don’t think you were followed, do you? Did anything strange happen since we spoke last?

No, Steven said, his interest piqued.

Albert took a deep breath. OK, do you know what I’ve been working on?

Steven thought he would finally get answers to his questions about his workaholic friend. Well, I know that you’ve been collecting data on a cluster that’s emitting intense gamma radiation.

Albert looked serious. That was my original assignment. For a year and a half, I’ve been collecting readings and generating data on this cluster. Then I started to notice something strange in the data. It was clear that something was moving against the movement of everything else in the cluster. I’ve been tracking it for about a year now. Our view of the cluster and the object is straight on. The cluster’s gamma radiation has largely masked the object’s movement. It’s like something emerging from a fog. You can’t get much detail until the object is far enough away. Steven, it’s a neutron star, and it’s heading our way!

Steven’s astronomical knowledge kicked in. Do you mean in the cosmological sense, or in a way that’s worrisome to our solar system?

Albert sighed. In the worst possible way, I’m afraid. I’m nearly certain that it’s heading straight for our solar system. I have a few more measurements to take before I’m one hundred percent certain. I expect the results to fall in line with the other data I collected. I’m sorry. I’ve been keeping this bottled up for what seems like forever. I guess I had hoped that it wasn’t what it looked like, and more measurements would prove it. But more and more data kept piling up on the wrong side. It’s like watching a train coming to run you over, only you get to see it coming from a long way off. Plenty of time to go stark raving mad, watching it come at you, knowing you can’t get out of the way!

Steven jumped up. Holy shit, Albert. How far away is it? How fast is it going? When will it get here? Steven knew that his friend wasn’t pulling his leg.

A couple more weeks and I’ll have those answers for you. No one will believe me. I need to know what to tell them so they can see for themselves. Check the math, the observations, and the physics.

Look, I’ll dump my work. I can help you with the data collecting.

Thanks, Steven, your help is appreciated. Albert smiled. You should get some sleep, you look like shit!

In the hours before Albert’s next shift, they discussed how to parse the work. Since Steven often followed Albert on the telescope, he would continue running the experiments. That way they could collect twice the amount of data and set up new experiments as well. They would spend a good bit of their daytime hours collating and crunching the numbers. The ten days that followed Albert’s revelation were the longest ten days of their lives. But if what they hypothesized was true, there were going to be many long days ahead.

Albert had worked for over a year trying to identify the invisible interloper. It started out as a science grant to study a star cluster that seemed to be emitting abnormal energy. For a long time, he was puzzled. Then he arrived at the idea that it might be something between the cluster and the solar system. It had to be directly between the cluster and the Earth to give the impression it was emanating from the cluster. So, he considered what kind of phenomenon would fit his observations. It could be that there was nothing there at all. But whatever it was had to belong in one of four categories:

An anomaly caused by gravimetric lensing

A black hole

A non-rotating, non-accreting neutron star

Something else

Some of these things would be relatively simple to rule out. By taking careful measurements, gravitational lensing of an object behind the cluster was eliminated. He would have liked that outcome since it meant that there was nothing to worry about. The black hole and the neutron star were going to be harder to prove. A black hole has certain signatures unless it’s non-rotational. The meager data made things more difficult to rule out. In the end, he was convinced by the readings that the object was not a black hole. The neutron star theory was going to be the hardest to eliminate. If it rotated, its pulses could be detected, much like a lighthouse. If it was a non-rotational neutron star, it could only be detected if one of its poles was facing Earth. More meticulous measurements, pictures, and number crunching. The outcome was the improbable detection of a non-rotating, non-accreting neutron star.

Now the task at hand was to determine its location and its speed relative to the solar system. The odds were almost astronomical that it was heading toward the Earth. That would be counter to the rotation of the Milky Way. He kept his findings from his sponsors.

As time went on, it became clearer that the neutron star was on a trajectory that was not just in the neighborhood, but would intersect the solar system. How that happened was a mystery. It could have been slingshotted passing too close to a black hole. Or it had been propelled on this course by a supernova now long dead. The cause was moot. The fact remained that it was coming. The question was when?

Astrophysics require that you work a long time toward a discovery that might break some ground and challenge our notion of the universe. What often happened was that your premise was false and all the work you did was for naught. Astrophysicists are used to the universe proving them wrong.

The current situation was unprecedented. If they were right, the planet was doomed. Albert toiled to prove he was wrong, prayed he was wrong. He looked for any weakness, any holes, any chink in the theory. The dread that hung over them was unbearable.

Albert had arranged to see Steven in the meeting room to hash out their conclusion, but only one question remained. When?

First, I want to thank you for helping me with this and sharing the pressure. I know it was no small thing for you to do, Albert said. He looked as tired as Steven felt.

Yeah, yeah, the world is going to end. So, do I need to go home now and wait for death, or do I have to wait a while? Steven was frustrated.

I have bad news and less bad news, Albert said, deliberately dragging it out.

Why do people always say that? You’re going to tell me anyway, so spit it out in any order you choose. Steven was already exasperated.

OK, sorry. The bad news is that our data is 99% conclusive. The object heading our way is a non-rotating, non-accreting neutron star. That monster would have marched its way to our back door, and nobody would have detected it. Not until it was way too late. It just so happened that I was studying that part of the sky. On top of that, I was looking at specific wavelengths and energy readings that revealed the anomaly.

Steven chimed in, AND?

Albert hung his head. Eighty-four years.

Steven was rather relieved. Eighty-four years isn’t great, but at least it’s not going to happen in my lifetime.

Albert was furious. Fool! It might as well be five years. Don’t you see? We have to get off of this rock! And we only have eighty-four years to do it. I don’t know if the world’s governments can even make a decision in that amount. But we’ll have to try. We must tell everyone, starting with top astronomers from all over the world. Their corroboration will convince the governments more than any political theatrics. But that will take precious time. Since we’ve already done all heavy lifting, they only need to validate the data. They’ll have to make up their minds from there.

Steven looked depressed again. Then we’re doomed. I’ve never had much faith in politicians getting anything done at all, let alone quickly.

Albert had been thinking about this for over a year and had some ideas. Look, we just need to get the United States on board first. Resources can be mobilized. The think tanks can get to churning, and the politicians can start doing what they do.

Steven said, Hey, I know the president’s science and technology advisor! His name is John Nolan, and we used to run into each other at MIT. I don’t know if he remembers me, though. We had some classes and studied together a few times.

What can you tell me about him? What kind of man is he? Albert asked, wheels starting to turn in his head.

Well, he can be kind of a dick sometimes, Steven said. He’s not an astronomer, but he’s strong in physics. Before he was an advisor to the President, his work focused on high-energy physics. He should be able to understand the gist of what we’re saying and know it’s not bullshit.

Can you get in to see him? Albert asked.

I don’t know. MIT was a million years ago, and I haven’t seen him since then. But if we can get in to see him, I know he will give us a fair listen.

It took two weeks. Apparently telling the front line of secretaries that it was urgent did not generate any urgency on their part. They probably heard from crackpots all the time seeking an audience with the science adviser. Two weeks probably was ‘urgent’ for the government.

At the duly appointed hour they were ushered into the director’s office by his personal secretary.

Director, Dr. Albert Brooking and Dr. Steven Manning for your eleven o’clock appointment, the secretary said in a polished and professional manner. It was exactly eleven when she opened the door. They’re very punctual here Albert thought.

Welcome. How are you? Director Nolan asked.

We’re fine, Steven replied. I don’t know if you remember me from our MIT days, it seems like a million years ago."

I do remember a little about you the director said. I remember that we studied together a few times and you were kind of a dick. Is that still the case?

Probably. Steven grinned.

Hey, the director said, it’s getting close to lunch. I know a place not far from here where we can grab a bite to eat. That way I can give you a little more time to tell me your urgent matter. Would you like to join me?

Sure, Albert replied.

Let’s go, he said. They took a cab to a place about a mile from The Hill. It was a small bistro, not too crowded, and they sat outside since it was a nice day. They ordered from a waiter that obviously knew the director well.

The director began, So Steven, Albert, what is it specifically that you wanted to talk to me about? The information I received covered your careers and publications. The reason for seeing me was somewhat vague. Something about a neutron star that had some troubling energy readings?

Director, Albert started.

Call me John. I’m not hung up on titles, he interrupted.

John, Albert started again. Is there someplace more private to discuss this? I know you’ll understand when we explain."

All right, John said and waved to the waiter that had taken their order. Simone, we’d like to take our lunch in the private dining room. Simone nodded and escorted them to a small room at the back of the bistro.

After Simone closed the door and left, John pulled out a small device and turned it on. Lights blinked and flickered, and Steven was about to ask about it when John waved at him to cut him off. Then he pulled four more devices from his briefcase, attaching one to each wall and turning them on. They emitted a low hum that wasn’t unpleasant. Then the director spoke. This is where I have conversations outside of the office that do not need to be overheard. I’m sorry, I’m a bit of a gadget man. This room may keep out prying eyes, but people, including curious bistro employees, can still eavesdrop. I did a sweep for listening devices. The gadgets on the wall keep most ears and listening devices from hearing us as long as we don’t get too loud. All they’ll hear is the hum. So, what can I do for you? He gestured to a couple of chairs that sat in front of a desk, the room’s only furnishings. They took their seats, and the director sat behind the desk. Albert began to explain in more detail the facts regarding the trajectory of the neutron star. John stopped him. Wait, how is it that we didn’t see this coming? I’m not a whiz in astrophysics, but I do keep informed.

Albert explained, It’s because it’s a non-rotating and non-accreting neutron star. Its energy output or lack thereof is what makes it difficult to observe, even if you’re looking right at it. It was an accident that we even found it. I was supposed to be taking readings on the cluster that was obscuring it.

So how long do we have? Please tell me a billion years or so, John asked in a pleading voice.

Eighty-four years. Albert hated saying that. He’d only said it a few times and repeating it did not make it less painful.

What the hell! John struggled to keep his voice down. Assuming your data and its conclusion are correct, what are we going to do about it?

Unfortunately, nothing John, Steven replied. The only thing we can try to do is preserve the human race and get the hell off this rock!

There’s no protocol for this, John announced. There is no way that the governments of this planet will get together in less than a thousand years for any project of the magnitude you’re implying.

But we have to try, Steven said. We came to you, didn’t we?

That doesn’t mean that I’m buying in yet, John said. I want that data. I know some people. They’ll vet your data, and we’ll go from there.

Might I make a suggestion? Albert interjected. We release the data to the brightest astronomers from all over the planet. They, in turn, will advise their governments, and then we can all get on the same page together much sooner. Time, as I have pointed out, is of the essence.

I’ll look over the material, and speak with the President, John said. He’ll probably want to speak with you. I’ll be in touch soon. But right now, I have to get back to the office. I can’t be gone long without someone noticing. Security watches behavior patterns, and if I do anything unusual, it will arouse suspicion. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. On the surface, this looks legit. I’ll drop you at your hotel on the way back. The director collected his gadgets. Albert took the sizeable brief on the neutron star from his briefcase and handed it to him.

I can transmit or drop off any of the data that we’ve collected whenever you need, Albert offered. Thanks, John replied. Shall we? He gestured toward the door. His heart was in his throat, and his stomach didn’t feel too good, either. He understood more than he was letting on. How was he going to tell the president?

The Fallout

The meeting with the president wasn’t any better. There were pretty much the same responses that Director Nolan had. Some ‘WHAT THE HELL!’ a lot of, ‘are you SURE?’ and a couple of, ‘what do we do now?’ In the end, the president was convinced. He’d already had Director Nolan run discrete checks on the information supplied by Albert and Steven. They had verified a lot of the information. The reality was if you accepted the first part about being obliterated by a neutron star, then you only had two choices. You could go home, crawl in a hole, and wait for oblivion, or you could make the most of what you had left. Leave our only home—and this neighborhood of the galaxy—for another home somewhere else.

Back in Director Nolan’s office, John, Albert, and Steven were looking at options. Humans were not the suicidal type. We were driven to bite, scratch, and claw every day until we died. Just like everything else on this planet. It was full of life, and life does not give up very easily.

In the weeks that followed, more and more of the world governments were brought in on the news. Countries discussed the planet’s options through summits and conferences that dignitaries and high government officials attended. Sometimes news would leak out, and stories would have to be discredited or explained as fiction. Disproving a neutron star smashing into the solar system was easy to do since it’s such a fantastic thing to believe. It eventually came to pass that the president of Brazil told his people on national television. The shock sent ripples around the globe. That was a busy month for the White House. The cover story that almost all the other governments went with was that the U.S. investigated this story and the scientists concurred that the neutron star is indeed coming in our general direction but is not going to hit us. No need to worry. In the meantime, there were more meetings. The global governments knew they could not keep a lid on this forever, nor did they want to. They had to find a way to ensure compliance from people who were most likely going to die here.

It had been just over a year since the discovery that something was taking shape. After consulting with experts in psychology and behavioral sciences, a plan to handle the population was also forming. Everyone understood that you could not keep that kind of secret buried forever. To get the kind of global cooperation necessary to complete a task on the proposed scale, it was best to come clean. It should also be done in a way that would stir altruism. Almost no one alive now would be alive when the star arrived. It should be easy to get people to contribute and volunteer. As time went by, it would get harder and harder to get the support from the 99% of the people left behind.

Albert had to admit to himself that the president did a good job explaining the issue to everyone. He went on television and for the first time in history, spoke to everyone that had a communication device throughout the world. Sure, there were riots and such while the humans of the planet Earth collectively shivered in fear. There were lots of suicides. People were frightened. People were angry. People were grieving. After the dust had settled, people were ready to hear what the governments were going to do about it. It was at this moment psychologists agreed to declare the Project. If people had been shocked to hear of the neutron star coming, they were in for a bigger shock. The U.S. President spoke at the U.N., the symbol of international cooperation. The United Nations had long been considered a symbol of how governments didn’t get anything done. In the coming decades, it would shine as a symbol of what it was always meant to be.

The speech was long but kept everyone on Earth riveted in their seats. With each passing minute, the way of life that humans once knew was vaporized in this single speech.