Point Zero by Aer-ki Jyr (christmas read aloud TXT) 📕

But today’s guest was not unwanted, and she entered via a docking hatch rather than a dropship, given the small size of the vessel. The Human stood taller than Menchi, but not much taller, for she appeared to be slightly smaller than most.

“Greetings, Captain,” he offered, bowing his head crest slightly. “Welcome to Refueling Station Gamma 837. I believe this is the first time you have been here.”

“It is, and while I do need fuel, that is not the purpose of this visit. I am a courier with new orders for you,” she said, holding up a palm-sized holographic generator, which she turned on to display a molecular schematic. “A new fuel compound recently vetted. It appears to be more stable than most, but we need larger amounts to conduct field tests with, and this Star Forge has been selected to be the primary producer until such time as we can fully sign off on its usefulness for the fleet.”

“Fascinating,” Menchi said, looking at the rough diagram of the molecule. “Different atoms linked together?”

“I’m not privy to the details. I’m just the delivery girl.”

“This design…it’s unlike anything we’ve manufactured before.”

“First time for everything. They want you to produce and store everything until specific ships arrive for testing. It doesn’t go out to the general fleet. I’m told it looks compatible with our current reactors, but won’t be if the energy production numbers hold true. It’s rumored to burn them out, but there hasn’t been a full-scale test yet, nor industrial replication. You’re advised to step up production slowly while looking for complications.”

“Did we develop this or discover it?” Menchi asked, taking the holo disc from the Human and holding it in the palm of his hand while he continued to stare at the slowly rotating molecule.

“I’m told it was a discovery that we’re assimilating.”

“This isn’t natural, is it?”

“I don’t believe so, but I wasn’t told the source. Will you be able to handle this?”

“We can handle anything,” Menchi said confidently. “Does your ship need any repairs or refitting while it’s here?”

“I’ve got some burn marks on the hull from a debris impact during an interstellar jump that could use patching.”

Menchi looked up from his new treasure. “Did it penetrate the hull?”

“No, just my shields a few years ago. If it had been any bigger I’d be dead.”

“Uncharted route?”

“No, it was entering the Mu-enti System. Space junk most likely. They still have bits of it floating all over in the outer zone. Freak occurrence I’m glad to have lived through.”

“Why didn’t your sensors pick it up?”

“They picked up another larger chunk and diverted around it…into the smaller one. Bad alignment gave the ship no options other than moving into the way of bigger fragments further down. As I said, a very freak occurrence, but the shields took almost all the hit and the armor held up to the rest, but the scrape marks leave some vulnerability if hit there again.”

“We’ll take care of it if you can spare a few days wait.”

“I’m currently slated for repair work 3 years from now, so a few days will not be a problem. This is my only courier assignment, and I wasn’t given a return window.”

“It’s hard to remember back to when our logistics weren’t always pressed to the wall. I thought when we got the last of the evacuees out of the Core we’d catch up, but the Director has us pushing hard constantly.”

“The Hadarak aren’t going to go away because we ask them to,” the Human reminded him. “And they can produce replacements as fast, if not faster than us. We have to catch up to their industrial base before we can take them on in their own turf.”

Menchi cringed. “I’ve seen some of their systems in records. Nasty stuff. I don’t envy the military having to clean all that out.”

“Nor do I. I’m quite happy running sensor scans and messages.”

“I also prefer my quiet work here. If you would like a tour, I’d be happy to accommodate you.”

“Won’t that take you away from your work?”

“I work from my armor as much as my office,” he said, thumping on the thin white cloth-like plates he wore from the neck down. “I prefer the hands on approach rather than relying on other’s eyes.”

“Well then, I’ll accept a tour. A long walk would be welcome rather than pacing back and forth on my ship.”

Menchi huffed humorously. “That I can accommodate you as well. Follow me,” he said, leading her out of the docking area and through the station as he simultaneously began a closer analysis of the new fuel he was being asked to fabricate…and it was going to be hard. The internal alignment of each of these atoms was unique, and getting them to bond to each other was going to require extremely cold temperatures…but the notes indicated that under certain select circumstances the molecules and atoms within them would virtually disintegrate, and rather than losing a portion of their photon ocean they would lose in excess of 97% of it.

That was unheard of. Regular fusion shoved two atoms together into one, and that one would have a new photonic ocean smaller than the combination of the other two, but it would still be larger than a single one, so you’d end up with a 20%-40% loss that would then end up leaving as various forms of radiation, each of which was a particular size ‘droplet’ of photons clinging to each other. Smaller droplets were known as radio waves, while the medium ones were visible light, and the higher ones gamma rays and beyond. All could be absorbed by other compounds, but the bigger the droplets got the more disruption they caused when colliding with other matter…and in the case of Gamma Rays