The Nathan Daniels Saga: Part 1 Read Online Free PDF Page B

into reverse to bring them out of their berth.  she punched the controls to bring in the landing gear, as the ship was now supported by repulsors.
    Nathan went to flip to a rear view on the co-pilots screen when he noticed she had already done so.  Once they were clear of the landing bay, Remini deftly dialed the ship around, after killing the backwards momentum.  She lined up on the beacon for taxiway 3a, and nudged the ship forward like a pro.  At the end of the taxiway, she lined up on the take off vector.
    “Kurufet control, this is spacecraft Nola ,” she radioed.  “Aligned on takeoff vector three-alpha, set for three hundred eighty-five knot atmo take-off, requesting final clearance and count.”
    “ Roger Nola , take off in five-four-three-two-one.”  Remi punched the throttle forward, and they were shoved back into their seats by the G's.
    It didn't take long for the inertial dampening system to come fully online and compensate for the G forces.  Inertial dampers were one of those inventions that made space travel comfortable.  Originally they were designed to be used to reduce the inertia of the ship, allowing it to reach near light speed with minimal expenditure of energy.  With the discovery of FTL travel, this was no longer necessary and the dampers were re-aligned to provide comfort for passengers and crew.
    Nathan watched the orb of the planet pull away, as Remi kept them meticulously on course.  He watched her with one eye, however.  Nola , was his baby and he was ready to jump in and take control if it looked like he needed to.
    “ Calculating for orbital insertion.”  Remini's fingers danced lightly on the controls.  “Orbit in three-two-one,” she cut the throttle, and Nathan felt the familiar twinge of microgravity in his gut.  “Engaging artificial gravity,” Remini announced, as Nathan felt some of his weight return. 
    “ Artificial gravity at zero point five Kurufet standard.  That's one way for a girl to lose weight!”  She smiled.
    “ Have you ever calculated an FTL jump?”  Nathan asked.
    “ Only in a sim,” she replied.  “Omany said I had a good grasp of the theory though.”
    “ Tell me what you know.”
    “ As you were saying last night, scientists are always learning more about the physics of FTL.  Without getting into math that will give both of us headaches, the basic theory is this: the universe exists in multiple energy states.  At each of those energy states distances between points are different.  At higher energy states, everything is closer together, at lower energy states, everything is farther apart.  Normalcy is sort of an in-between energy state, and since the universe is expanding its energy state is constantly decaying --entropy in action.”
    Nathan nodded, she was doing well so far.
    “What the FTL drive does is raise the energy level of the ship.  The better the drive components and their tuning, the higher the energy level you can achieve.  Theoretically, with the right drive components and a good engineer, you could achieve the energy state just prior to the big bang.  Every point in the universe would be right on top of each other, and travel would be instantaneous.”  She paused for a breath.
    Nathan had a question ready to fill this break.  “The current FTL configuration on the Nola reduces the distance from here to Rhadasia to about five times the distance we have already traveled.  It took us less than an hour to get here.  Why a week travel time to Rhadasia?”
    “ Several reasons.”  She closed her eyes and furrowed her brow.  “First, gravity wells disrupt the FTL process, so the drive can only be engaged in a region of neutral gravity.  We have to use conventional thrust to travel to one of those regions, adding to our travel time.”
    She thought a bit more.  “This limitation adds even more time in another way, because on our trip, if we come too close to a gravity well, we return to normal space, and have