The first return chapter1

The signal appeared on the radar screens without warning in close Earth orbit. It could be that of an unidentified space ship!, If so, what everyone on Earth half hoped and half feared for generations had happened. How could it have avoided all the warning sensors that dotted the Solar System and far beyond out into interstellar space?

A first approximation to its orbital trajectory was immediately calculated automatically and a high level alert issued to all Space Centre staff. There was a total news blackout. The Director of the Space Centre, Alfred Limoge was hauled from his bed summoned by the President of the Commonwealth of Planets. In the year 2314 it should have been completely impossible for any object bigger than an apple to arrive close to the Earth without detection. Everyone's survival depended on preventing asteroid impacts following the start of the gradual shifting in the Earth's orbit in 2067. The core of the Earth had shifted, probably as a result of global warming and a nuclear meltdown. As a result the earth's orbit gradually, but inexorably, was becoming more elliptic. It now intersected the orbit of Mars and was shifting towards the asteroid belt. Virtually all of the Earth's effort was now put into some form of protective scheme or early warning system to reduce the likelihood of an unexpected event. How could a full sized space ship weighing 1000 tons just appear out of nowhere?

There were many jobs hanging on this one!

Alfred was a brilliant physicist and a loving grandfather who doted on his family and spent time with them. During this unpredictable era there were few in his position who made much effort as far as family life was concerned. Alfred was very experienced and as shrewd a political operator as they come. Even he though felt a cold sweat on entering the police air taxi. He had no documents and had not had time to communicate with his staff. They had been bound by the emergency protocol to report directly to the office of the President of the Commonwealth. There had been too many cover ups and mistakes in the past.. Now the population of the Earth was down to 5 million there had to be ruthless clarity and short chains of command.

Now he had some time Alfred contacted his deputy Joanna Chen.
"Hi Joanna! What's up? Fill me in please."
Joanna Chen, mother of four teenagers and an eminent astrophysicist, knew the score and where her boss was headed. She was doing her homework on a situation that was developing by the minute.

"Yes Alfred,..... Sir" She did not normally use the third word as their relationship was usually that of close and trusting work colleagues. . In these exceptional circumstances it became necessary and important to be a little formal.
She did not see Alfred nod his head in acknowledgment. A video link was not available to a passenger in a police air taxi.

She continued: "First contact by radar. Appearing out of nowhere at 23 56 45 GMT over the Indian Ocean in a perfectly positioned polar orbit heading south, altitude 120 miles coordinates............. No signals transmitted, no calls replied to..... The orbit is not fully defined yet but is likely to be decaying slowly for the first few orbits... With an estimated mass of 1000 tons and all the equipment of a fully fledged star ship...;at present unidentified.............. it will not continue in a stable orbit for long without additional boosting....."

While Joanna rattled on through a detailed description of the rapidly unfolding events. Alfred's brain was coolly summarizing the situation.

The worst possible.

Tons of space junk appearing in an unstable orbit overflying the entire Earth's population every 24 hours.
Wherever it landed, should it fall to earth, would remember the impact! There could also be undefined toxic or radioactive contamination............;

He was powerless in the short term. Tho' a tractor beam could move the ship it would take months to set up.
He pondered the alternatives.............

Blowing the ship out of the sky was unthinkable not only because of the possible galactic political consequences of such an aggressive act against an admittedly unidentified ship, but also to destroy the ship would be suicidal. It would shatter into a billion fragments causing a shower of toxic space debris that would make the problems of the clean up of the near earth orbital region after the three space wars of the 21st century seem to be a picnic. This gigantic clean up had been the saving of what was left of humanity. The 2 billion survivors knew their continued survival depended on working together to regain reliable access for inter planetary trading to resume. No one would visit Earth when their ship had a 75% chance of being damaged. Nor could the earthbound residents leave. It had been an heroic time. Many brave men and women gave their lives before the work was completed.

Another possibility was that the ship was in trouble and needed help. It had happened before, but when?.........He tried to remember but his full attention suddenly returned to Joanna "............Identification of ship by direct visual examination. Photographs just received by Tracking Station in Hawaii."

Then a gasp and her voice shook with emotion.
"My oh my, I have never seen anything like this. It could be a pirate ship, Sir!" She said.

The full significance of the photograph she had just seen for the first time hit her.
If it was a pirate ship manned by a crew with nothing to lose they were all in danger of being held to ransom or worse..
Several other photographs of the ship had now arrived and she put them up on the big display screens. She examined them minutely, pursing her lips.

" It's a beat up wreck but still a fully fledged interstellar cruiser." she continued, " Estimated mass over 1000 tons. It's displaying none of the normal identification marks or current access codes. It's jury rigged; seemingly cobbled together from several different ships. It's very old indeed and powered by an archaic drive I am not familiar with off the cuff. Excuse me for a few seconds and I will check the database"

Alfred's eyebrows rose in surprise. This must be a very unusual ship if Joanna was having to look up the files.

In a couple of seconds she was back: "Sir, this is a modified Pilgrim Ship! The only ever built powered by the prototype Gluon Indeterminate Variable Drive."

Alfred's eyebrows did another leap. "Give me the summary please Joanna. I will arrive at the Residence in a couple of minutes."

"Yes Sir. Nearly 100 years ago 6 of what were called ' Pilgrim Ships' set off for the Ruprecht 147 Cluster. About 800 light years from Earth, this Cluster comprises many stars of the same age and type as the Sun. At the time the ships set off it was considered the best place to find a habitable planet for colonization. Many hundreds of planets had been found orbiting stars of the Cluster and a dozen or so were considered Earth-like and to be prime candidates for colonization. The prototype Gluon Indeterminate Variable Drive (GIVD) had just been invented making travel to star systems up to 1000 light years from Earth possible for the first time. Formally termed the Ruprecht147 Colonization Project (RCP) it became known colloquially, if a little cynically, as the 'Pilgrim's Project'.
Planned as a one way voyage lasting 40 years it was chosen only by those most desperate to leave the appalling conditions existing on Earth at that time. Only people with the money in liquid cash (one million forints a head) ever reached the waiting list for the very risky voyage. So it was composed of the families of mobsters, hackers, prostitutes and the very few who still had savings that were accessible. Many of those on the waiting list were detained by the police and missed their departure. It was a famous scandal at the time. The premium to remain on the list to the actual day of departure eventually rose to 900%. In other words each passenger, including children, paid 10 million forints for a one way voyage to a distant unknown planet to make a new life. A new life perhaps for the children, Probably not the adults. None of the RCP Ships has ever returned and there has been no communication for over 40 years and they have been forgotten.
The GIVD, though very powerful indeed, was never very accurate. It did not need to be for this particular project as the objective was a big cluster of stars many light years across and the trip was advertised as one-way. It turned out subsequently that there had been a fundamental fault with the Drives that were fitted, and in addition they were all sub-specification. It was a major scandal at the time that was hushed up after the speedy introduction of the Gluon Determinate Constant Drive (GDCD). It is highly unlikely that any of the Pilgrim ships ever arrived at the Ruprecht Cluster. A return voyage was considered technically impossible by the Committee of Inquiry at the time. There was no possibility of a rescue mission and no insurance"

There was a brief silence.......

"Thanks so much Joanna, very helpful." Alfred said, "Now we are beginning to understand the problem. I must sign off now, Please continue the good work and keep me updated by the messenger."

Alfred got out of the air taxi which had landed on the helipad of the Residence.