Out to the black

Disclaimer: Joss, Fox, Universal Own em’. I’m just playing. No money being made.

This is my first Fan Fic ever. It’s in the Firefly ‘Verse and includes some back-story I made up for the exodus from Earth That Was. I haven’t used a Beta reader for this and I apologize but I wanted to get this out while the iron was hot so to speak. Constructive reviews are shiny.

Out to the black

Prologue

It had been a long day. As Allan Bryant stood up slowly and stretched his back, he realized how tired he was. Ever since the day the then young engineer realized that he knew how to make a practical spacecraft power plant using a radion accelerator core reactor, he knew he had his work cut out for him.

Just in time too. Earth was just about used up. Fossil fuels supplies were dwindling, crop failures were rampant, the icecaps melting rapidly and the world seemed to be coming apart at the seams.

World governments had changed rapidly in the last 30 years his life Allan thought, He had been born an American in a small town in Northern Vermont. By the time he was ten he was a citizen of the Anglo-Sinai Alliance. This new composite government had formed after the merging of the world’s two largest economies. Consisting of China and the United States. Then they had annexed Canada, the United Kingdom, Most of Western Europe and Northern Africa.

The new Alliance formed a central government that seemed to Allan, to have kept the worst of the original nations ideology and none of the good. Human rights were put on the back burner, while government control along with profit and greed came to the forefront.

At age 41 with numerous patents for spacecraft propulsion, terraforming and life support systems behind him and an obscene amount of money in his bank account, he felt that maybe, just maybe he could help fix things for humanity.

Astronomers had located a star system about 20 light years from Earth that looked like a gift from God himself. Midway through the 21st century, optics had been developed that had a resolution high enough to reliably detect planets up to 40 light years out. Since this star system was closer, it of course had much higher resolution. The central blue star had two nearly earth sized planets right in the middle of the habitable range and many other rocky smaller planets scattered about. Also there were two smaller yellow stars orbiting the blue primary that seemed to have planets as well. Spectrums taken showed oxygen, nitrogen, water and everything else needed for life on the two primary planets.

Allan had a plan. First he needed to get his company to start building the ships needed for an exodus across the stars. Getting it financed by the Alliance government was the tricky part but he had done it. Allan renamed his company after the new light guiding him. The Blue Sun Corporation. He hired the best scientists he could find in every field. Then he began to design the ships, these new arks to take mankind to a new place. A new place he prayed, that man wouldn’t screw up.

The government of course kept sticking it’s nose in his business, over the ten years it took to build the ships, Alliance politicians set limits on how many ships could be built and who would be allowed to travel. Alliance rules limited the ages of those allowed to join the exodus. Anyone older than 35 wouldn’t be allowed to go, also preference was given to couples with kids. There were some exceptions however.

Cryonics had just come into practical use for stabilizing critically ill or injured people. Some of the higher-ranking Alliance government personnel volunteered to be put in cryo for the nearly 100-year trip. To be available as leaders to the new Parliament they would form once they reached the new worlds. Those boarding the ships on Earth wouldn’t live to see the new worlds they were heading for. But their grandchildren just might.

Allan was pissed. He wanted to set foot on these new worlds so bad he could taste it. While not really a prideful man, this was his dream and all this wouldn’t have happened without him. “I deserve this and you know it”. he hissed at his Alliance contact over the video link. “I am more than willing to go into cryo for the trip. Besides if something happens on the way, you can pull me out to fix it and then put me back in cryo”. “I’m sorry Allan, you know the rules. No one over 35 in general population and no one other than a government official in cryo. You’re 51 years old Allan, and a government official you are not”. Sneered the man on the other side of the link.

“You’re going aren’t you”?

“Of course, they need the Minister of Defense once we reach the new planets”. John Lassiter replied. “The people will not know how to live on a planet after 100 years in space. They will need guidance”.

“And an iron fist no doubt”. Allan said wearily.

“Perhaps” was the reply.

“Well I can see that this is a pointless conversation, Enjoy your trip John”. Allan shot back. And hit the call disconnect button on the console angrily. “How that ignoramus got the new laser pistol I designed, named after him I’ll never know”. Muttered Allan to himself.

Six months later, in a flurry of worldwide press coverage, the twenty-eight ships of the exodus fleet left orbit for their destiny among the stars. Eighteen were passenger ships, carrying the almost twenty five million souls to the new worlds. Four ships were arks in the true sense of the word. Carrying as many of the species of earth that they could. Most were just actually DNA information so animals could be cloned at the destination as well as during the voyage. Another four ships were the farm ships. Carrying some livestock but mostly plants and crops to be planted on the new worlds and as well food for the trip. The last two ships were vast factories designed to recycle as much as they could from the other ships and join it with the limited resources they had brought with them to make the parts and equipment to keep the fleet operating.

As the last ship pulled out of orbit, named appropriately “Kansas” since it was a farm ship. Allan thought wistfully,” that’s the one I’d want to be on if I was going on the arks”. A farm ship, open areas and grass. Reminding Allan of his youth at his Grandfathers farm in Vermont. Green fields, riding horses, hunting in the fall, fishing in the spring. Granddad teaching him to fly in his restored nearly 120-year-old Piper Cub, His love for late 20th century Rock & Roll music….

“Enough of this maudlin stuff”. He said to himself as Allan turned on his Internet TV and switched to one of the many news sites. “This is not good”. Allan muttered to himself. The news report was showing food riots in New York and Boston, as well as in Hong Kong. The food was running out fast. The last two growing seasons had been utter failures. Oil was in short supply. Prices were up for everything. There were rumblings of war in the Middle East again…

“Enough is enough” Allan said to himself and stalked into his study. He had work to finish on his newest ship. It was small, fast and had a fully automated cryo chamber for one. The had told him he couldn’t travel on the Arks. That was fine, he’d get there on his own and probably get there first. Allan had wondered what to call his ship and thought back to an old rock and roll song he loved from the 1970’s. He decided to name it “Free Bird”

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It was going to work Allan thought to himself. His final project here on Earth, the small ship he called Free Bird was almost complete. In the main the ship was mostly a huge fuel tank to feed the engines for the trip to the Blue sun system as it had become to be known. The aft end was a deceptively small engine nozzle and just forward of that was a 15-meter yellow globe that helped concentrate the stream of energized ions that actually propelled the ship. Next was the fusion reactor core, exposed to space for cooling. This allowed the systems to function with hopefully no maintenance for about 100 years. Although Allan had calculated that the core itself could make power for the ships systems for a significantly longer time. Nearing the center of the ship was a nearly 50 meter long tank of deuterium that had enough fuel to accelerate the ship to nearly ten percent of the speed of light at cruise thrust, then a higher thrust burn to “hit the brakes” once the ship reached the Blue Sun System. Still further forward was a cargo compartment with supplies for building shelters, a few small ground vehicles, food, farming supplies, and everything else Allan would need to start his life on one of the new planets. At the forward end of the ship was the control module. This part of the ship was actually a small detachable lifting body craft about two-thirds the size of one of the old NASA Space Shuttles from the late 20th century. It was capable of spaceflight, sustained atmospheric flight and vertical landing on a planet with up to twice earth normal gravity.

Free Bird was ready. The colonization ships had left the Solar System ten months ago. Allan had calculated since Free Bird was a bit faster than the “Arks” he would arrive in the new system about six months ahead of the refugees from earth.

The Alliance government had been very suspicious of the ship Allan was building in orbit. He told them that it was for exploring the outer solar system and to see if terriforming on Mars would work. They bought his little lie and left him to his own devices since he was using his own money to build the ship. Most of the smart ones in government had left in Cryo for the new worlds.

His plan was simple. Accelerate out of the solar system toward the Blue Sun System, Put himself in cryo, and let the computer run the flight until arrival. The systems would awaken Allan from cryo about two weeks prior to arrival. This would give him time to explore the system a bit, find a good spot to set up a base of operations and wait for the arrival of the Ark ships. Allan laughed to himself about the look he would get from his “old friend” John Lassiter when he was released from cryo and found Allan already on the surface of one of the new planets. Allan Swore that he would keep the Alliance from messing things up in the new worlds like that had on the old.

Today was the day, Allan stretched his arms as he rolled out of bed. He had spent the last two months at his Grandfathers farm in Vermont, finishing the command module of the Free Bird. That last thing Allan needed to finish was the paint on Free Bird. It was already in its white basecoat but it needed the final touches.

Free Bird’s command module was parked in the field behind the barn. Gleaming in the early morning sunlight. Allan set to work, skipping breakfast, he wanted to be in space by late afternoon and docked with the rest of the ship by dinner. He had already painted the “nose art” of an eagle and the words Free Bird on both sides of the ships nose. The last touch if seen by anyone from the government would probably get him arrested but Allan didn’t care. By midnight he planed to be past Jupiter’s orbit heading for the stars. When he finished he smiled, in block lettering were the words UNITED STATES in black on either side of the craft along with the red white and blue of the American flag. It was his way of giving the finger to the Alliance.

It was lunchtime and Allan was starving. He made a sandwich in the small galley on Free Bird and then sat in the pilot’s chair thinking and trying to settle the newfound butterflies in his stomach.

“Screw it”, Allan said out loud, “Time to go”. Flipping switches he started the engine start sequence. First starting the small reactor that drove the small radion core engine on the command module then he started the atmospheric propulsion engines. Once those were running he vectored the thrust down from the engines and advanced the throttles bringing the ship to a hover about 10 meters off the ground. All systems go Allan started to move the ship forward quickly picking up speed. Starting his climb, the ships radio crackled to life. “Unidentified aircraft this is Boston Center, identify or be shot down” said the familiar voice in Allan’s headset.

“Boston Center this is private spacecraft Free Bird, tail number november one six seven alpha bravo Climbing for rendezvous with the Blue Sun Orbital Complex”, Allan replied tersely.

“Oh, Hey there Allan, didn’t realize it was you, Another test run today?” Came the now cheery reply from the controller Allan spoke with most of the time when he flew around his hometown

“Yep, looks like a lap around the moon and back. Should be back about midnight or so”. Allan shot back with a smile on his face, “If they only knew,” he thought to himself, as his grin grew wider. Allan loved the thrill of flight no matter what he was flying.

Good enough, I’ll leave a note for the night shift, good luck and have a good flight”

“OK, you have a good one too, going full burn in 30 seconds”

“Roger that, flight path is clear, see ya’”

Thirty seconds later as Free Bird passed through 100,000 feet, Allan engaged the main drive for the boost to orbit and cut the atmospheric engines. He was now on the way to rendezvous with the main drive section of his ship and his destiny.

Half an hour later, Allan docked with the main drive section of Free Bird in orbit. As he gazed out through the bridge windows watching Africa slide by Allan got to work. He logged onto Blue Suns Computer network and started to download into Free Birds computers all the data from his personal files as well as the main files from the company. Then he went onto the Internet and started downloading everything he could find as far as music, movies and television shows. Allan wanted to have that tie to his past with him. While not an anthropologist or sociologist he knew that human culture would change after 100 years in the arks. He wanted to preserve some of his own culture, even if only for himself. In the latter 21st century the Internet became the only medium for mass media so everything was available, from Jimmy Buffet songs to Giligans Island reruns.

It took about four and a half hours. During this time Allan triple checked the ships systems, especially the cryo chamber. It was the most critical part of the plan. It even had it’s own independent power supply run by a small isotope generator that had a power generating life expectancy of almost 700 years. “Hope I don’t need it that long”, he chuckled to himself “Hundred years or so should be plenty”.

By the time system checks were done, it was almost eight PM. He was getting pretty hungry but Allan knew that he needed to have an empty stomach before he entered the cryo chamber.

With a final sigh Allan settled himself into the pilots chair. As he ran through the checklist with practiced ease he knew that this was it, freedom awaited and new worlds to explore were just over the hill. The hill of course, consisted of twenty light years worth of interstellar space. He found he wasn’t nervous but excited. Engine warm up completed Allan dialed in the orbital control frequency. “Alliance Orbital control this is Free Bird, How do you read?”

“Loud and clear Free Bird, ready for the test run?” came the Chinese accented voice.

“Yep”, Allan drawled “ Going out the L-5 point on the far side of the moon and back, should take three hours or so”.

“Three Hours?” came the incredulous reply.

“Told you guys this ship was fast” Allan said into the radio.

“Understood, cleared to break orbit at your discretion”

“Roger that, full burn in ten seconds, catch ya’ on the flip side”

Ten seconds later the yellow globe on the stern of Free Bird began to glow and with a flash of golden light and a trail of particles Free Bird sharply accelerated away from orbit.

After two minutes Free Bird had exceeded Earth escape velocity and was picking up speed quickly. Alliance Control noticed this and the slight course change the ship was taking. “Free Bird this is Alliance Orbital Control, what are you doing, this is a deviation from the test card, where are you going?” Demanded the now scratchy voice on the radio.

“Out to the black” was the reply.

Allan grinned and hit a key on the keyboard in front of him. A signal went out and the computer virus he planted six months ago in Blue Sun’s main computer system activated and systematically began to erase every file regarding Free Bird and the Ark’s construction from every computer on the system. Then it moved on and erased files from any other system it could find. Too bad that virtually every computer on the planet used The Blue Sun computer operating system. It made things so much easier. They were not going to be able to follow him to the new worlds, they would just mess things up. He felt some remorse for this but it needed to be done. The cancer that was the Alliance had to be kept in check. Allan made sure of that. Now all he had to do was keep the Alliance in check once he got to the new worlds. That’s why he planned to arrive early.

Five hours later, Allan double-checked the course. “Right on the money” he thought, the engines were stable and all readings were in the green. At the current rate of acceleration the ship would reach the target speed in one hundred hours. The engines would then shut down and the ship would coast for the calculated ninety-nine years before activating again to slow the ship for system entry as well as starting the process to wake Allen from cryo-sleep.

Allan sighed, “Time for my nap I guess”. Allan thought to himself that the only thing that was going to really suck was the nausea he would feel when he woke up. He had tried a short thirty-day cryo-sleep to get himself ready for the trip eight months ago and it had been really, really bad when he woke up. After almost one hundred years it ought to be even less enjoyable.

Allan looked at his reflection in the transparent face of the Cryo chamber. He still had the rugged frame honed working his grandfather’s farm. His reddish brown hair seemed to be going a bit gray along his temples. A bushy moustache that ran across his lip and down the sides of his mouth to his chin. An affection he picked up hanging around all the Firefighters he worked with during his time at MIT when he was getting his Paramedic certification. Training he took on to give him something extra to in his free time do since studying came so easily to him. Wearing aviator style wire rimed glasses to correct his mild nearsightedness. He took them off and placed them in a small cabinet next to the chamber. He still was an excellent shot from his youth hunting the woods of Vermont and Allan considered himself an outdoorsman, despite his intelligence and advanced degrees.

Also having founded the Blue Sun Corporation and made a significant fortune from his patents, he still preferred the simple life he loved from his time growing up. Never married, his work always seemed to prevent a long-term relationship and he led a solitary existence for the most part.

The only thing that had come close to working out was Sara. She had grown up as the proverbial girl next door. They had dated quite a bit in their teens and Allan thought they might have a life together at some point. Then the summer between his third and fourth years at MIT, he was called out with the rescue squad he ran with when he was home from school for an accident. Automobiles were still used in rural areas even late in the 21st century even though they were mostly electric or hydrogen powered.

That fateful night some idiot had gotten drunk in town and tried to drive home, the only other vehicle on the road that late night belonged to Sara. The drunk hit her little electric car head on, killing her instantly. As Allan arrived with his rescue crew he saw the car and dropped to his knees. He knew it was Sara’s car. There was no way she could have survived the wreck. After condolences from his crewmates they sent him home, and proceeded to deal with the carnage that had claimed the only girl that Allan had ever loved in his short ninteen years. Two days after Sara’s funeral, he locked himself in the lab he had built in the barn and buried himself in his work, thinking of a way to leave the world he no longer wanted to live on. He had made a promise at Sara’s graveside. He had to keep his promise. Allan went back to school in the fall and poured himself into his classes, Stopped running on the campus rescue squad, and graduated the following spring, Valedictorian of the class of 2085.

Three years later he filed a Patent with the Alliance patent office for a Radion Core Spacecraft propulsion system and within six months he was hugely wealthy. The money didn’t matter other then it helped Allan with his dream and his Promise to Sara To make a better world, Even if it wasn’t on Earth. Other discoveries happened rapidly. On his thirtieth birthday he filed his patent for a spacecraft artificial gravity system and Allan’s wealth tripled. He didn’t care. Money didn’t have much meaning for him at this point in his life. It was just a means to an end.

Allan shook himself out of his reverie. “Enough of this”, he thought, “I need to focus on the future not the past.

He began by injecting the drugs in sequence to begin the Cryo process as well as started an IV in his forearm. It was hard to do on his own arm. Also he hadn’t used his medical training in over 30 years but he was glad he still remembered his old Paramedic skills from so long ago.

As he lay back in the chamber, and closed the hatch, Allan smiled. As his lids grew heavy “Out to the black” he recalled what he had said to the angry controller. He liked the sound of that. That last thought on his mind before the new blackness descended over him, a slight grin curled his lips before the cold froze him into the cryogenic sleep taking him to the stars.

Ten hours later as the ship gained speed, the computers running things smoothly, fate intervigned. It was a rock, some piece of an asteroid no bigger than a strawberry going the opposite way to Free Bird. It narrowly missed the command and cargo modules striking an umbilical connecting the cargo module to the rest of the ship and then impacted the main fuel tank. It entered at the forward end and exited the aft end. The ship should have exploded and probably would have had Free Bird been going any faster. Fuel began to hemorrhage from both ends of the tank. Twenty-Five hours later the engines fell silent. Out of fuel, the emergency system that should have revived Allan in a case such as this failed, the umbilical that had been severed carried this system.

Still on course Free Bird drifted towards it’s destination but at one fifth it’s intended velocity…

TBC