Beyond Light

Rediscovering Fire.

Royal Admiral William Frost looked at his own reflection in the body mirror for the second time. He had developed the old habit through his long decades of service to groom his appearance as much as possible when he had to step on the dais.

That day, he was not going to give one of a routinary lecture to his subordinates, typical of every start of a new cycle. And more than being listened to by a military public, he was going to be listened to and watched by billions of people across the whole solar system.

It was May 1st, 2543, in the standard Earth calendar. Although he had always considered himself a Martian —being born in the megalopolis of New Houston, which surrounded the entirety of Olympus Mons— the terrestrial calendar always made him feel nostalgic. Earth was the place where humanity originated, after all.

Although it was not a religion, most people born outside of Earth felt a spiritual connection with the planet. Not visiting her at least once in your lifetime was secretly seen as a taboo, probably as unfortunate as to have not received a basic education, or to have been grown alone and motherless.

He checked his holographic clock, which was also configured in Earth hours. 9:00 am, or the 900 hours. All military branches of INSU —The Independent Nations Space Union— managed their time with the terrestrial time system; a system that was accepted as the most reliable, although it was seen by some as a subtly form of terrestrial supremacism. Earth was still the most influential and important solar body up to the day, even after 4 centuries since humans left their cradle to colonize other worlds.

"Admiral Frost, sir," his wrist communicator shot light and automatically connected him to the call. "Reminder that the ceremony for the Post-Accelerating Leap of the INN Eternity of Return starts in 35 minutes. Fleet Admiral Hopkins and President O'Donnell desire you to meet them at the fleet admiral's office."

"Copy that, son. Tell them that I am reporting as soon as possible," he responded without even raising his wrist.

"Understood, sir. Good luck with your presentation," the young Warrant Officer closed the communication channel.

The thought of dealing with Fleet Admiral Emmerson Hopkins gave Admiral Frost the feeling that it was not about anything particularly good. The man was one of the most short-tempered officers in the Independent Nations' Navy since its foundation in 2245. He was known to be someone who would punish first and ask questions later, with an almost obsessive compulsion of strictly following the military code.

He was also one of the few people that William genuinely disliked. It was as if he always looked for the minimal excuse possible to make him seem as if he violated the military law code and the general code of conduct —accusing him of missing his moral sense of authority and fraternizing too much with his subordinates.

Better to not make them wait. Not for the Fleet Admiral, but rather for President O'Donnell. The man was one of the very few who made efforts in the government cabinet to fix the already screwed public expenditure, although he could be too much of an idealist.

William put his single golden-star white cap on his grey hair and extended his ceremonial uniform free of wrinkles. It was a simple yet effective design: A white suit with gold embroidery at the tips of the sleeves and the pants with golden epaulet on his right shoulder, which descended to his waist in a belt of the same color.

Besides the three golden buttons on his abdomen, his chest was free of all medals and other decorations. Only the logo of the INSU stood on his left pectoral: A five-pointed star, with another five smaller stars in its intersections. The main star represented Earth. The others represented Mars, Ganymede, Callisto, Saturn, and Titan —The five most important territories of the INSU.

He extended his hand to the scanner next to the pressurized door. It made a confirmation beep and spread on itself up and down. He passed through the disinfection holographic red and the door shut on itself. The Fleet Admiral's office was located two floors above.

"I told you so many times. This is a mistake!" a raspy voice sounded from Hopkins' office once he arrived. Things were likely hot enough inside if voices could be heard from the outside. Every room on the INN's Main Headquarters was underlined by a layer of noise-canceling microhydrocelulose.

William took a deep breath and called on the door through the device next to it. "Fleet Admiral Emmerson Hopkins, President Malcolm O'Donnel, Royal Admiral Willam Frost reporting."

He didn't receive a response, and both parts of the door spread up and down and then right and left, beeping with a confirmation tone.

"Mistakes?" responded President Malcolm O'Donnell, crossing his legs and resting his brown and grey hair on his palms. "No, my friend, we are not making any mistakes. They said the same about the first heart transplant in the 20th century, the terraforming of Ganymede in the 23rd Century, and then about the Technology of Reversal Buoyance when it was invented and put into action no less than 150 years ago. Now we can walk and breathe freely without suits on both Ganymede and Callisto's atmospheres, and we have floating cities on the atmospheres of our four gassy planets. What we are committing is progress, not mistakes, Doctor."

The three men halted their conversation when they saw Admiral Frost standing on the holographical red of the door. The Fleet Admiral and the President sat behind the rounded desk at the right, while on the other side, a man in a lab coat and messy white hairs who William didn't know stood with an exalted expression of anger.

His chest had the logo of the INIS —The Independent Nations Institute of Science; the most prestigious institution of research of the INSU. His Irritation made William have a feeling; if one of the geniuses of INIS were against the use of the new Engine of Post-Accelerating Leaps, then it was probable that it was indeed a bad idea.

Fleet Admiral Hopkins stared at William with his swollen red face. President O'Donnell spoke with an assertive yet laid-back voice. "Admiral Frost, I am sure that you can convince our friend that there is nothing to worry about the leap that the Eternity of Return is about to make in short."

"The leap is not the problem, for the mother of Newton's sake," exclaimed the Scientist, alleviating for a bit the momentary worries of the Royal Admiral. "how in the whole system and beyond have you decided to make this a public program? have you got any idea about all the different things that could go wrong?!"

"Royal Admiral," President O'Donnell calmly said. "this man is Doctor Davis Weiber, from the Independent Nations Institute of Science. Ad-Infinitum project main lead."

Ad-Infinitum was the codename of the project that had for the objective the first manned FTL travel. If that man was the head of such an important project, William felt the hunch without needing to think about it that things were indeed going to be wrong if they didn't listen to him.

The man was a civilian. A military salute was not necessary, but scientists were some of the people that he deeply respected. He tipped his cap and extended his hand. "Doctor Weiber? Royal Admiral of the Seven Fleeth of the Independent Nations Navy, William Frost. A pleasure to meet you."

"I hope you are someone who is got reason in all of this," the Doctor gripped William's hand stronger than he expected. "Your superior gentlemen are committing the foolish mistake of making public a prototypal experiment. Can you slap some sense onto them? when they told me about it months ago I just thought they were fooling me. But it all ends up that they were not joking!"

"Please relax," said William. He found it unusually strange that the man, despite being one of the most important figures involucrated in the project, had only learned until now that the program was going to be a public one."Tell me, what is the problem with that?"

"The problem? you might want to say the problems." Doctor Weiber emphasized his last sentence and let the Admiral's hand go. "This was supposed to be classified experimentation, with a smaller ship and a few crew of no less than 100 people, not a public program on a seven-kilometers long dreadnought of a 3000 people crew in! As if building an EPAL for a massive ship like that was not enough, we were not even given enough time to perform the necessary simulations. This is all a mistake!"

"Doctor," Fleet Admiral Hopkins finally spoke, with a raised, dry voice similar to the one of a 50 years old smoker. "I am pretty sure that you and your pals on the Institute of Science were the ones who asked us for a battleship we could spare. You have also made all the preparations and calculations to make sure that the leap is successful, am I wrong?"

Doctor Davis Weiber was paralyzed for a moment, mildly opening his jaw with confusion. He then responded. "Well, yes, We calculated all the potential threats and worked to make sure those won't represent a big problem. But we didn't have time to run the proper simulations, and with such a large distance and weight you never know what could go wrong. There are many random vectors in play too, like the excessive levels of particle radiation and the massive heat that EPAL emits, due to its unstable nature. This is not one of those tiny probes of 600 kilograms that we sent to Alpha Centauri, at 4.4 years of light from Earth. We are sending a renowned warship with a length of 7230 meters, and a mass of 1.4 billion metric tons to the Perseus arm, at 8000 light-years away! All on a transmission that everyone is going to watch today!"

The comparison made William feel like an ant compared to a blue whale, but he knew that even that was too diminutive to be a fair comparison. And all was going to be the same transmission that he was about to inaugurate with a speech in less than two dozen minutes! He frowned his light blue eyes and gave an accusing stare to both president and fleet admiral.

"Royal Admiral," President O'Donnell straightened his back and put his elbows on the desk. "I am pretty sure that a man like you knows that this is the perfect opportunity like no other to gain massive popular support. You will understand that we had to take our risks."

"I would listen to the Doctor," responded William. "what if it all goes wrong? The chaos would be immeasurable. We will get accused of more things than I can think about. As if tension with the general public was not big enough already..."

"We need to be optimistic," said the President. "Despite Doctor Weiber's doubts and disapproval, as he said, his team and he have made all the preparations and taken the necessary precautions to make sure that the project is going to be a success. We are going to put people 8000 years light away. Think about it! It's going to be just like back in the 20th century when we put the first put men on the moon. But most importantly, we are going to beat the PFSR in doing so first! We will make history and be immortalized in books. Don't you want that, Admiral?" He confidently made strong eye contact.

So, more than scientific progress, the motives of rushing and making public the INN Eternity of Return's first leap were mostly political. It had been more than 100 years since relationships with the PFSR —The People's Federation of Sociocratic Republics— had turned tense and unstable. Some historians and political analysts argued that humanity was in its second cold war, just like the one that happened through most of the second half of the 20th century.

Admiral Frost felt insecure. It was clear that at such point the Eternity of Return's first leap could not be stopped. All the paperwork, settings, personnel, and schedules were already set to make it happen, and people around the whole system were eager to watch the transmission start.

"I just hope that you have made the right choice, President O'Donnel. We are playing with fire and you know it," he coldly said.

Doctor Weiber nodded in agreement. The President tilted his head and frowned with a grin. "Tell me one thing, Admiral. I am pretty sure you are well informed about archaic history. How did our early ancestors evolve? when they first met the heat and light of the fire, their curiosity made them play with it, and they eventually learned how to cook their first meals. That's how progress is done, admiral. We are rediscovering fire once again."

"Some of them burned to death while doing so, Mister President," William cuttingly responded.

"Royal Admiral," William's holographic watch lighted cyan blue. It was the voice of the Warrant Officer on his assistance. "reminder that the ceremony starts in 20 minutes. All your requested equipment is already on set."

He took a deep breath. It was time to start the so-awaited moment. He could not hesitate and show his insecurities while on camera. He had to act and speak confidently, like the renowned royal admiral he was. He did the military salute.

"With your permission, President O'Donnell, Fleet Admiral Hopkins," he also saluted the grumpy, redden man —more by obligation rather than liking. He just received a look of deprecation in exchange. The Fleet Admiral remained particularly quiet during their conversation, something unexpected from him.

With no more to be said, he turned around and walked to the entrance. "Oh, it was a pleasure to meet you, Doctor Weiber," he extended his hand to the scientist before leaving.

But the man didn't grip it. He passed next to him. "We are not saying goodbye yet, Admiral," he pessimistically said. "I'll be joining that retransmission too. Maybe we can go together and pick something to satisfy our thirsts on our way."

"It'd be a pleasure," William nodded, and both turned around and crossed the holographic red. The slicing door locked when they passed by.

"Do you think he will be able of doing it?" the Fleet Admiral asked. "I don't trust someone like Frost. I don't want him to ruin such an important moment in our history."

"Do not worry about him," the President responded. "that man has a gift for words and people. Everything will be good as planned," they got up and left the office too.

They also had a job to do, and their assistance was also required for the main ceremony.