Excerpt From The Book, Gravity's Time

Full Stop

The entire crew became unconscious, and accept for the breathing sounds of both the ship and crew there was nearly complete silence, The ship’s breathing sounds, although artificial, were created by a system of cooling fans (the heat drawn from the computers and other systems is utilized to keep the interior of the ship warm) for the computers, and the ventilation system for the crew. Otherwise, all the systems appeared to shut themselves down. Taikov was the first to awaken; she was dreaming before hand and breathing heavily. The first dream was very pleasant, yet the second dream was frightening. The dreams were vague and confusing, shifting back and forth between various thoughts as though her subconscious was attempting to stimulate her into waking up—a sense of urgency. In the final dream just before Taikov woke up, she was in a beautiful field of grass and trees. This was a very pleasant view. Then she looked up to a small hill, and the ship was there, sitting silently with the entrance hatch open. Her pleasant feeling turned into fear, and then she ran towards the entrance hatch and was confused because as she approached the ship its appearance was much different, for the appearance was dark brown instead of the sparkling black and gold. The sparkling black and gold appearance was both extremely beautiful and displayed a sense and aura of total strength; she and the crew felt very safe by the ships’ looks, and that secure feeling gave them confidence. Seeing the ship brown and dull gave Taikov a feeling that the ship was ill in some way; this terrified her. To be this far out in space makes the ship your entire world. She ran frantically towards the ship, yet the harder she attempted to run, the ship just remained that much farther away. The sinking, freighting feeling in her became great, and just as she finally approached the entrance hatch, she woke up and realized where she actually was. That trapped, helpless feeling dissipated, yet now she was confused and scared. Taikov immediately looked up at the screen and again became terrified; the ship was heading dead center towards a massive planet, and since she had no time to plot a new course and especially and emergency evasive maneuver, she punched the Master-Override Shut Off Control; This master control mechanism is not entirely a override control, however the mechanism is a full master shut-off control and is engaged in the event that the ship goes out of control, or some other major malfunction occurs. The function initiated is of a total auto pilot emergency control: The ship automatically navigates itself to the next nearest stellar body, stops, shuts down all non-vital systems, and holds until a corrective protocol is implemented. Nothing occurred after Taikov engaged the MOSOC, and she slammed the mechanism again as hard as she could and viewed the main screen again now seeing a blur this time. She almost became sick to her stomach and fell to the floor from total exhaustion; she now became extremely frightened suddenly realizing just how ill she was. She squeezed her forehead in an attempt to relieve the pain from a splitting headache. She was completely run-down; then she rubbed her eyes, took a deep breath, and listened for a moment, and then she realized and spoke out loud to herself, “Wow, completely unbelievable. We’re not moving at all! I can tell by the sound, yet I feel as though we are. They explained this in training; this is space sickness, similar to being overly intoxicated by alcohol; close your eyes during intoxication, and you will think you’re spinning, yet open them, and you know you are not spinning. However, space sickness is just the opposite; if I open my eyes, it appears we are still moving, and if I close my eyes and disconnect myself from my other senses, I can tell we are not moving.” Taikov kept her eyes closed and felt for the edge of the control console to guide herself in order to stand up. She slowly got up, opened here eyes, looked at the view screen, and the appearance of motion was still on the screen. Next, she looked at her hand, and her hand appeared to be moving closer to her face yet never really reaching her mouth. She closed her eyes again, opened them and stared carefully at the screen. This time there was no sight of motion. Then she looked over at the at her MPCC console screen; the green, yellow and red data fields had no color at all in them. Below those fields there was a larger data field, for this field was brightly illuminated purple, something she had never seen before. She sighed in relief. Purple data indicates that the MOSOC was automatically engaged due to an emergency. This typically occurs if there are no crew inputs with-in a certain time period, or a specific number of incorrect inputs are conducted. Subsequently, a number of incorrect inputs could indicate foreign intruders have attempted to take over the ship, and by the MOSOC engaging itself automatically, this could prevent such action. As stated earlier, in such cases the ship automatically navigates itself to the next closest stellar body and if possible to a body with some type of livable environment if the crew has to abandon ship; then the engines are automatically set in “idle” mode. Lighting, environmental, and the medical computers are the only systems functioning now, and no other systems can be accessed until the medical protocols are implemented. Taikov went over to the doctor’s medical control console and placed her index finger in a small slot; a scanning laser illuminated for sixty seconds, and next a green data message appeared on the medical screen. She read the message out loud, “Lt. Commander Ellen Taryn Taikov, assignment—Chief Engineer and Programmer, Master Propulsion Control Computers. Medical scans indicate you are healthy over-all, yet you have just experienced major trauma due to excessive multi-light speed travel. Great tell me something I do not know!” She then punched a command key with the abbreviation VI, denoting verbal interaction with the computer. The computer now had the capacity of verbal interaction with the operator. In normal flight procedures VI is not used because there would simply be too much audio activity creating verbal static on the bridge. The computer then in audio responded to her statement. “You are experiencing a serious case of space delay in conjunction with hyper-adrenal activation.” Taikov blurted back, “Well just what the hec does that mean?” The MC quickly responded back, “The reference to the word hec is not stored in the MC data glass, yet your inquiry is still understood; you are experiencing a complex and extreme case of Space Delay which can best compared to jet lag. The non scientific reference is Space Lag; however, this form of travel sickness is very serious and can be life threatening because Space Delay can interfere with proper brain wave patterns. There have been two recorded deaths from Space Lag. Taikov responded with a huge tone of relief in her voice, “Well, that explains the unconsciousness!” MC—“Correct.” Then Ellen asked the computer as if she were addressing a friend informally, “Also, why do I feel so exhausted as if I have not slept in week?” “MC—“Hyper adrenal activity is when you become completely exhausted from constantly functioning on adrenalin, for you have completely drained your entire energy reserves.” Taikov quickly interjected, “And the rest of the crew?” Initial medical scans indicated the entire crew is experiencing a severe case of Space lag, yet this needs to be confirmed by direct laser scan and agreed upon by Dr. Glazier.” The current estimated time of unconsciousness remains at 46 minutes for the men, and time remaining of unconsciousness for Doctor Glazier and resident Timons is just eight minutes; the crew requires absolute rest right now, and the only treatment for that is unconsciousness, for their minds and bodies require absolute rest. Taikov quickly interrupted inquiring with a tone of worry, “Wait! Why do the male members of the crew require 46 minutes of unconsciousness and the women only eight minutes?” The MC explained, “Medical yellow data suggest that in many cases of trauma, such as child birth, women have a greater reserve of stamina enabling them to withstand greater levels of pain and recover faster than men. In 2016, a so-called pain gene was isolated proving this medical characteristic. Both mean and women carry the gene; however this gene can be more easily activated in women; the instinct of survival component in the brain triggers the gene.” Then Taikov spoke to herself in her head, “That is absolutely fascinating. I would have become a biomedical engineer, accept that would have limited my chances in experiencing space travel; now look where I am. This is far beyond space travel; this is far beyond anything I could have ever imagined, almost beyond my comprehension! Hopefully, I’m not dreaming.” Suddenly Ellen heard moaning sounds from Lt. O Mally. The sounds indicated he was already waking up; she was both surprised and relieved from this. Then she addressed the computer again, “MC! I do not understand; I thought the men would remain unconscious for a least another forty-six minutes?” The MC blurted back, “That is correct.” “Then why did my flyboy. I mean why did fly boy; correction. Why is O Mally becoming conscious now, so soon?” Ellen with a tone of embarrassment inquired. “ The MC responded, “The term Flyboy is not recognized, yet the MC is able to define the life forms fly and boy, yet in referring to Lt. O Mally, his physical exam taken before mission launch and his gene mapping analysis indicate that his pain gene is more active than in most other human males; if O Mally was a women, he would easily endure giving birth to full size sextuplets. In other species of mammals, the pain gene is equally active in both females and males; hostile environmental factors are the greatest influence in the pain gene become active; your so named “flyboy” is adapting quickly to the effects of light-speed space travel.” Then O Mally questioned with much fatigue in his voice, “What the hell just happened? I feel as though somebody dropped an anvil on my head!” Taikov replied, “Nothing, but I always new you had a feminine side.” Copy Right 2008 Mr. Rocco LeFre