The Event Horizon: Book One of Alliance Series

By John Todd Hewitt

The Event Horizon is Book One of The Alliance Series. Should there be a demand for more the series will increase in size.
Book one shows the first contact between man and our Brethren, the humanoids of the four worlds of the twin star solar system. We find ourselves on the first recorded journey outside our own solar system and the discovery of not only life but a myriad of worlds and peoples that inhabit them. There are of course enemies and also a visit from cosmic beings that eat planet chunks and propel themselves through space with psionic power. The many different species of known universe come together to explain the wonders of eternity.

Welcome to the year 4034 Ano Domini.
When the mining of the planets of our solar system began to bring in big business, as well as take the stress off of the earth. The settlements on mars and the two sides of the moon. Big Business.
John Todd Hewitt
[e-mail]

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 10, 2012
• ISBN: 9781469194578

John Todd Hewitt

I am a 44 year old Canadian Author that lives in Victoria BC. I am pleased to be able to entertain you with this the culmination of two and one half years work and research, though it was part time it was still a task to put together the story of Doctor Newcomb and the ancient hero Seremitter that he found for us in his digs funded by the ever greedy money hungry warrior of the twenty first century. If you want to know more, pick up a copy of The Book of Dragon and go for a ride .In my career as a writer I have primarily worked with lyrics, writing short stories and the like for my own amusement. The reaction from other readers to the novel in question caused me to want to publish it so as to share the tale with all. Lotsa Luck! JTH

Book preview

THE

Event horizon

Book One of Alliance Series

John Todd Hewitt

Copyright © 2012 by John Todd Hewitt.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2012906036

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-4691-9456-1

            Softcover      978-1-4691-9455-4

               Ebook         978-1-4691-9457-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

108495

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Dedication

In Loving Memory of Uncle Donald

Chapter One

The existential reality of the stars. Mankind’s only hope at survival. By the year 4021 the last uprisings against the minority of rich and powerful elitists and the release of petty criminals from the prison systems on contract to work off planet has stemmed the tide of overpopulation and tyranny. Mankind can and will be the next group of sentient beings to reach out into space and find new ways of supporting the genus.

While the Luna One and Mars Colonies where beginning, they could only force hardened criminals to work on the barren desolate faces of these planetoids. As the buildings and station placement continued the earths children became slightly more accustomed to space. Soon the first people born off world were registered with the vital statistics of Mars colony and moon colony. A governing body was formed to take control of daily occurrences and the other side of the coin, ritual assimilation of miner and their ilk into mainstream society of the spacer colonies.

By the year 4028 a basic outpost was installed on Mars and workers were brought in from free Earth and the Luna one colony to make the world a safer environment for further mining and work.

Sun Corporation was given the Mars mining contract and the return on their initial investment was staggering. Shareholders on Earth were pleased to be able to vote on the instillation of further mine technologies in the deep of mars colonies catacomb of tunnels and shafts that were paying the bills on another world.

By the year 4035 there was a completed biosphere that required the attention of dome farmers and their expertise at growing large amounts of soy for the making of foodstuffs. Mars not only exported minerals, but foodstuff as well. A small brewery was established and afore long the brand, Martian pale ale was available on the three worlds. That housed the humanity of the 45th century

Mankind’s salvation was space. If not for the development of Biosphere technologies and controlled atmosphere controlled space living, the world would not survived and regenerated as it has. Already, in the year 4036 the atmosphere is cleaner than it has been in twelve hundred years.

In some cities you did not have to wear a mask.

If the wars had kept going half the planet would be scorched and the sky black with soot and fallout.

Now she was actually turning from yellow clouds to white, like in the old photos of post nuclear earth. Very little is known about the universe as a whole, for infinity is a vast complex theorem.

The year 4032 was one of rejoice, war had ceased to exist on earth. Police action was required here and there but a majority of prisons had changed or been shut down and turned into housing cooperatives. Only major crimes required detained individuals and for them it was Mars Deep. A maximum security facility for men who got one last chance at redemption. They were the workers that opened up the red planet for the rest of the hired workers that came later.

Thus Luna One came to be. The Mars colony afterwards and the beginning of the expansion of humanity throughout their own Galaxy.

After the sentence ran out for some of the men that worked mars deep stayed on, to begin jobs for Sun Corporation. Once you did your time, as long as you stayed on Mars, with mining experience you would be worth a decent wage. Domesteads were cheaper, 15 percent to be exact and the company sent a team, or paid a team of locals, to aid in its placement.

Lots were dirt cheap. The only ones worth money were in the business sector. Miles of the underground sector tunnels were turned into sideways apartment complexes. Miles of connected Domes steads protected from harsh winds of anti-atmospheric condensation and other strange phenomenon were clustered in strings with wind blockage rims of naturally occurring stone and windbreak from Luna 1 and its station.

Mars was known for strange anomalies that occurred from time to time. Kal Limerick was one person that was able to forget about this world and its strange occurrences from time to time. He was on to a whole new place and the entire galaxy was to be better off for it.

He strolled through the base concession area that was adjacent to the launch pad facilities. For shuttles that took people and cargo to and from Mars, to the space station in orbit where the big ships docked. From there they went on to Luna One or Earth and as in his case farther out into the solar system into the area of the Jupiter or Saturn stations. Titan Moon Base was one of the largest of these.

A few of the other workers he had signed on at the same time as where hanging out and waiting for the transport to the Earth bound vessel and he was quiet about where he was going so as to keep a lid on the situation.

His was a sensitive mission and he’d been warned by the company heads to keep it quiet, Family only needed to know where he was going.

The call for Saturn’s Titan Moon station was voiced over the communications speakers and the crew of passengers in the waiting area looked to see who was going farther out into space. They were surprised to see that Kal was heading to the q and one said Can’t get enough of that bottled air hey Kal? Yeah, can’t live without it. And he continued into the air lock, much to everyone’s surprise.

The twenty four seat passenger shuttle took him and the rest of the recruits to the space station where the class one star ranger long range transport, Cargo and personnel carrier awaited the final loading of passengers and fuel for the voyage to Titan.

It was an express voyage. The start of another five year contract for him and the others that he was with in the waiting area of Orbit Station.

Once again. Titan Moon Base was called over the loud speaker and the stewardess was waving to the Q of people to follow her to the air lock and entrance to the Prometheus, the Star Class dual purpose transport ship.

AS he spun, literally, into the ship through the spiral airlock system, he realised that Mars was already becoming a memory, no longer a reality.

Kal and the nurse shared a brief second where they were sizing each other up, to see if the lights were on in the right places, so to speak. His gaze swept across the reception area of the Prometheus. The lock he’d stepped through had deposited him here. In the middle of the action. To his left a corridor ran the decks length and beyond that was the rest of the ship. He had travelled from Earth to mars on one of these ships and was trying to remember the layout. He heard the Nurse say. 0900 Hours please Mr. Limerick, if you follow the blue dots you will get to crews quarters and the galley. He headed in the direction she indicated, and she handed him a large envelope containing his contractual agreement and his key card for door to his quarters.

He followed the blue dots to the galley and grabbed a tray.

He filled a plate and grabbed two drinks for himself, one cold and one hot, then made his way to the table he’d noticed while in line. There was a porthole next to the table and he was able to look down on the planet that had been home for five years and he was glad to be getting shy of it.

While he ate the last few years were going through his head. The strange anomalies of the red planet, coupled by stress and homesickness made the place a far cry from enjoyable. A few workers had succumbed to the constant enclosure lifestyle and he had been lucky in that he was able to stand long term work on a world that had been barren of life for ten million years.

Scientists had problems investigating the Red Planet. He was glad he was moving on to bigger and better things. He finished his meal, the last one for ten days of tube feeding and went to his quarters and set up his computer and electromagnetic telescope. He was thrilled with the prospect of recording images from Mars to Saturn and set up his telescope to transmit images to the computer’s hard drive while he was in stasis for the twelve days of sleep travel that was scheduled for this flight. A skeleton crew would be awoken before the main crew and they would be the first people on board the Prometheus to witness Saturn’s rings and the other phenomenon around the giant world that so little had been learned about. The station on Titan was the newest state of the art, technologically advanced station in the Solar System. Once he’d set up his telescope and the other parts of his computer communications set up, he changed into an easy to shed jump suit and, after locking the room up, went back to the stasis area of the Prometheus and waited for the nurse to notice him and his order packet that he was showing to her.

Mr. Limerick, I see you are early and ready to go. Go to the change room there and get your top half naked for the electrodes and other monitoring hardware I have to place on you and I will meet you over at stasis chamber seven. He did what she asked and once he was at the number seven stasis chamber she approached him with an I. V. bag in one hand and a clip board in the other. She placed the monitors on his chest and left temple as well as the I.V. in his left arm and was ushered into the sleep tube with the finality of one going the distance. She was making small talk with him as the electronic Doctor program began its task of anesthetising him for the journey at G forces that were dangerous to the psychological wellbeing of the traveller should they be fully conscious during the initiation of such high speed travel. As he slid into dreamland the ship was starting its systems check before setting of in the direction of Titan.

In Earths early years of space travel the main concern for engineers were the propulsion systems. Sun Corporation was a leading developer of new technologies and had spearheaded the changes that made up the most intensive of the engine manufacture systems. They had been able to put together ships that were designed to be moving factories for the manufacture of space travel technologies.

As the ship headed out into the main area used for travel the Prometheus was quite a sight to see, its hull and other outside parts that were visible to the naked eye making quite a sight for the people on Orbit Station to gaze out upon as it tracked its way out and up, into the thoroughfare and then off into high speed flight.

The Prometheus was on schedule and heading to Saturn’s moon Titan to deposit a crew of miners and scientists at the base that had been constructed and deposited upon the moon. The moon was large for an orbiting asteroid and it was well placed. Making for a great distance and time saving base, situated in the right area for long range prospecting of the other asteroids in Saturn’s orbit.

The Prometheus was accelerating now that the entire crew was in stasis chambers. The G forces that were experienced by the ship were quite heavy and the sleep tubes were the only way to dampen the amount of stress to the physical makeup of the crew and their overall health. As the ship went into a burn, propulsion kicking in to accelerate the ship into a fast moving comet in the naked eyes visual retention area, the ship screamed through space, heading ever closer to the Titan Moon Base.

On the other side of Saturn an event horizon appeared. A swirling mass of color and changing speed. The object in the centre of this mass of stimulating sights, a ship of unknown origin came into visual range of Kal’s electromagnetic telescope. A Phoenix class Baaian ship, capable of light speed travel, as one could see by the event horizon that occurred as it dropped into sub-light speed and became a part of the Solar systems regular sightings. The Phoenix class alien ship was just passing the outside ring of Saturn`s strange confluence.

It was heading, if it kept the same course, to Mars. The main thing is that the ships computer navigation systems had been stressed by the appearance of working ships in the Solar System. The last ship that had come to the Solar System had recorded in its log that the Earth and its sentient populace were still unable to travel and work in space. Things had changed dramatically over the last 500 years. Mankind was now in the Solar System of its mother world exploiting the natural riches left by the big bang of ten million years before.

While Kal slept, Destiny began to unfurl its colors in the wind for his telescope to see.

The electromagnetic telescope and image recording station in Kal’s quarters gave a frame by frame descriptive of the incoming ship. The event Horizon that occurred once this ship dropped out of light speed was quite a show. Araura Borealis in fast forward. Hues of green and purple spiralling around each other, enveloping the ship and its camouflage as it drew slowly closer to Saturn and its rings.

As the dream world that Kal was inhabiting began to unravel and the rejuvenation process and reverse slumber drugs were pumped through the I.V. in his arm he was brought back to the reality of hang overs and rude awakenings. The Nurse was already up and about, as her pod had resuscitated her the day before. She was now fulfilling her contract and seeing to the needs of the workers in the stasis areas tubes.

She had already been around to see him but he’d still been halfway out so he did not remember her standing over the tube as his eyes fluttered open. After slowly coming back to reality the Merchant Marine was given the go ahead to rise and try taking the first steps on his legs after being under for a week and a half. The ten days had been spent slumbering while the ship went through some heavy G forces. Now they were roughly two and a half days from the Titan moon base and its orbiting station for the loading and offloading of cargo.

The Nurse and the cyber physicians program decided to let Kal get on with his duties, as he was pronounced successfully recovered to do so. He changed in the change room and headed to his quarters. He noticed the warning light was on his computer and that the telescope was moving, as it was busy recording something. He put on a cup of coffee with his one cup machine and turned on the computer to see if the images where worth the time to see. His jaw dropped to his chest and he had to pick it up and put it back on his head. The anomaly that was shown to be in the Saturn area was an unbelievable discovery. He magnified the image and was even more thrilled with the situations outcome.

The swirling mass of color was a means to cover the sombre, dark, camouflaged ship. It was obvious to him that the vehicle was not one made by earths many mechanics. The telescope reported to him that the ship was still within radius of its long range visual sensors and he tuned the scope in so as to see the ship in its current placement. His hands began to dial the solar web number for his superior, Coach Carmana, the friend of the family that had inspired him to work in Mars deep for five years so as to be able to pay for a domestead kit. The computer to computer linked call went through and he found himself looking at Coach and his friendly face. ``How ya doing son `` Came Coach`s greeting. `` I have some news for you that you may find interesting. Look at your image enhancement program of the computer and you will see what it is that I am sending to you. The images where transferred and within a few seconds the anomaly was staring Coach in the face. ``Well, I `ll be a monkeys Uncle. `` The reference was not lost on Kal. As he was the man’s adopted Nephew. ``How long has this been in the area? Said his Uncle Coach. The silence was saying it all. A full three seconds of awe eyed staring. Then: I want you to get your ass on a three C or a shuttle from the ship you’re on. It’s Sun Corp so I know what models are on board. Yes Sir. Said Kal and grabbed his computer and, throwing on a clean jump suit he went to the shuttle bay and headed for