- - -
POV: Arthur Sinclair.
It was the HPG. The moment the device was activated for further testing, the subspace destabilization increased.
We quickly got to testing how far away the Stargate had to be before it could form a stable wormhole. After bolting it to the bottom of one raptor, we had it start jumping into deep space. It was just barely over eight light years before the DHD allowed the event horizon to form.
When the Raptor had returned, we attempted to dial again. While the Event Horizon still failed to form, the stability of subspace was rapidly increasing. From the test firing of the first HPG, it took 65 hours for subspace to finally stabilize enough for a wormhole to form.
After disassembling one of the HPGs and transporting it to another world, we performed a second test. This time, it took 39 hours for subspace to stabilize sufficiently.
- - -
Seven days after the HPG test.
I took my seat in the president's office and began my explanation. "Imagine that subspace is an ocean. Now, a ship can travel along the seas, even if those seas are rough, but the Stargate is different. Stargates build bridges across subspace, and if the seas become rough, a bridge will rock around. If the waves are large enough, people can even be thrown off."
Ma'chello, to my side, said, "I was under the impression that realspace also affected subspace."
I nodded once more. "It does, but realspace is limited by the speed of light – or the speed of causality, if you will. Only the most extreme events are going to create an actual effect on subspace; supernovae and the like. Something like a black hole, even with its immense gravity, always has a much more relaxed effect."
I was silent for a moment as they soaked in my words. "I think that destabilizing subspace might have been an intended effect."
Ma'chello asked, "If that were true, would it not have affected the Terran Hegemony's vessels as well?"
I shook my head before stopping myself. I froze for just a few seconds. "It might, but it would be barely measurable. At worst, it would cause an insignificant increase in miss jumps near those systems where an HPG is in regular use. Frankly, I'm more worried about the long-term effect on hyperspace travel. I doubt the HPG will create any sort of ripples after a few uses. Heck, even a few months of constant use probably wouldn't produce any negative side effects… but more than that definitely would."
I gulped once before continuing. "Terra has several HPGs that have been active constantly for the past several centuries. It would not surprise me if hyperspace travel near Terra was completely impossible."
The two of them were silent for a moment. The President seemed to nod. "You mentioned this being an intentional side effect. What brought about that conclusion?"
Once more, I nodded. "I do not believe that I can increase the effect of the HPGs, but I am confident that I can reduce them by at least 90%. Likely even more if I had time to consider the problem. These aren't big changes either. Anyone who knows the device well enough could likely do the same thing."
The President frowned once. "You've used both the terms subspace and hyperspace. What is the difference there?"
I winced. "A bit of a translation issue. Subspace is the layer of space where the speed of light is greater than in normal space. Hyperspace seems to be a layer of space where everything is compressed and closer together. The Goa'uld hyperdrive creates a field around a vessel that allows it to travel in areas of hyperspace that are unstable. The creation of the field uses subspace as a sort of medium… it isn't really easy to explain, but you get my point… it's very similar to how the warp drive works in Star Trek."
Ma'chello frowned further. "And why are jump drives not affected by HPG use?"
I winced again. "The analogy breaks down here. If I had to continue it, then a jump drive flies over the surface of the ocean. Occasionally, a wave might grow large enough to swallow a ship, but it would be rare even in the most extreme of conditions."
The President nodded once more. "Do you think you could modify our current HPGs to remove this side effect?"
Once more, I shook my head. "No. The HPGs are black-boxed like you wouldn't believe. I couldn't disassemble the key components without permanently damaging them."
Arriston let out a deep sigh. "Well, this could have been much worse if we'd learned of it once the fleet reached the Inner Sphere."
I shuddered at the thought. "If they didn't know what they were getting into, then it is very much possible that the entire fleet could be destroyed."
Everyone seemed to shudder. The President nodded. "Yes. It is definitely for the better that we learned of this now. We'll be locking the HPGs away."
- - -
A few hours later.
I watched as the last of the Serkha walked through the Stargate. Just a few weeks ago, Nekhara had been abandoned. Now we were doing the same for Mycena. I wasn't particularly sorry to say goodbye to the world, but I knew that a lot of the Serkha had lived there for most of their lives. Such a change was bound to make many of them uncomfortable.
That wasn't all that important at the moment, though. Of much greater importance was the decision to move the sarcophagus. That meant I finally got an opportunity to touch the thing and get its blueprint. Well, that's not really true. I could have visited the world and gotten the blueprint at any time. It just wasn't a pressing matter.
Following one particular group of people, came a massive roller. On top of it was a black box. The existence of the sarcophagus wasn't common knowledge. Even a lot of the people revived with the device weren't aware of exactly what it was.
I walked behind the device as it was placed on a trailer and driven down the road to the hospital. Currently, it is the only hospital on the world, but there were plans to build six more as the people of Dendred moved. Construction had just started on the two more now that the first one had been completed.
The building itself was eight stories tall with six basement levels, and plans for further levels in the basement. There were several internal courtyards, which contained gardens, so that fresh air could easily fill the facility.
The device was wheeled into a heavily fortified room on the third basement floor. Once down there, the black box was removed, and the sarcophagus was slid into the position that had been set aside for it.
As everyone finished up, I walked up to the device and touched it.
First Perk Activated. Partial Blueprint Acquired: Sarcophagus.
Soul Scanner
I almost jumped back as the blueprint filled my mind. The Soul Scanner would look at a soul. That information would then be transmitted out of the scanner and to another part of the device, which was probably responsible for making repairs to a designated area.
I blinked a few times. It wouldn't be something I could apply immediately, but this would be almost the ultimate detector for infiltrators. If the information about a person's soul could be scanned, and then key features identified, it would be the ultimate personal identifier.
I shook my head. Something for later. I'd write a report about it, but we didn't have the tech necessary to make the components for such a scanner.
- - -
Two days later.
"3, 2, 1, go." I pressed the big red button and watched as the power draw started spiking massively. I turned to the other display and saw a spike in applied force as well. The force gauge measured equivalent to almost 30 gravities of acceleration. Three times what a similar-sized engine on an inner-sphere aerospace fighter could achieve.
Well, they could actually produce more, but that was likely to completely incapacitate a pilot. That didn't matter to us. Colonial inertial systems could reduce the force on a pilot by up to 20 times. That is to say, someone could do 20 Gs and it would only feel like a 1G maneuver.
I watched the applied force increase until it finally stopped at about 33Gs. It held steady for almost three minutes before I finally pressed the big red stop button. I turned around and spoke. "Well done, everyone. We're in the home stretch now. Everyone is getting a day off. We work on the Maneuvering Pushers next."
The great thing about the constructors was that once we had the initial design for a part completed, we could make dozens of identical copies of that part in a matter of minutes. We had our first in-house gravitic pusher completed. The only things we still had left to manufacture were the miniaturized maneuvering pushers and the reactor.
Designing the miniaturized pushers would take a week at most. Now that we had the big one, we could just miniaturize a lot of the parts. The reactor, though, was likely to take a month at least. Likely, a bit more.
- - -
POV: Jill Pearce. Four days later.
I stepped through the Stargate and onto a new world for the first time in… millennia.
The world itself was unique. A massive, naturally formed stone plateau, sitting 2.3 miles above a forest that reached beyond the horizon, and just below another massive mountain which reached almost thirty kilometers straight up.
The dense concentration of carbon and naquadah that made such unique geography possible was certainly a rare find.
Someone stepped forward to greet me. They wore the same uniform that I had seen on many of their other expedition members. Though many of them now wore a new emblem. Clearly, something developed for their new nation. "Ma'am. This way, please."
I nodded and followed him. He led me into a small wheeled vehicle and drove me to a rather large, and apparently recently constructed, office building.
Inside, I was taken up in an elevator and up to the third floor and then into a large office. Inside, a man in a suit waited for me. "Captain Pearce. A pleasure to meet you. I'm Elpir Stavrou."
Ahhh. The new nation's vice president. I nodded to him once. "Mr. Vice President. The pleasure is all mine."
We both took a seat, and he stared at me for several long moments. "Captain, tell me, what do you want here?"
I was silent for quite a few moments. "Sir, do you know what it is like to be alone for twenty-five thousand years?"
He shook his head. "No, and frankly I'm glad I don't. I would not wish such a thing on my worst enemy."
I smiled bitterly. "Neither would I. No one deserves that." I let myself shake off the melancholy and continued. "Your people are interesting. My interaction with the Goa'uld has been limited to destroying their vessels whenever I've seen them, but they are remarkably powerful for how primitive they are in construction. That you could defeat a System Lord and take their vessels is an incredible achievement."
Rather than take the compliment, the vice president just smiled bitterly. "I'm afraid luck was a much bigger factor than you know, but I appreciate your words. You still haven't answered my question."
I sat back. "I grew disillusioned with the Systems Commonwealth by the end. Be that the case, I believed in what it stood for. Democracy, freedom of choice, the rights of sentient life. Your people are the first I've met within the past 25000 years who are anything remotely close to what the Systems Commonwealth was like."
The vice president just stared at me for several long moments. I let out a sigh as I continued. "And I suppose I am tired of being alone. I've missed being able to talk to other people. To just say good morning to someone I barely know."
The vice president smiled. "Thank you for your honesty. You're welcome to stay for as long as you like. We dial Voragine, err, Herodotus three times a day for regular material transfers. Just give us a heads up and you are free to return."
I let out an internal sigh of relief, though I didn't know why; I was providing them a lot. They really couldn't afford to kick me out. "Thank you. I'll try to stay out of your hair."
He chuckled lightly as he stood up. "No need for that. Please let us know if you need anything during your time here." He seemed to stop and think for a few moments. "Our first Academy courses will start in a few days' time. Would you be interested in viewing a few of them?"
I stood up. "If you'd let me, then I would appreciate the opportunity."