Part 1,Part 2,Part 3,Part 4,Part 5,Part 6,Part 7,Part 8,Part 9,Part 10,Part 11,Part 12,Part 13,,Part 14
"Flag At the Edge of Space" page, Athena Home Page, Other Stories Home Page.
Darren Hall stood up at the podium in the old auditorium, and looked out over the gathering that had spread out in front of him. They numbered around a hundred and twenty-five, men and women from many of the nations on Earth, but their numbers seemed much larger, at least to Hall. Public speaking was something that they did not teach in the training sessions, but then again, a lot of what he had learned had never came from those sessions. It was learned on the fly, like right now.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Hall started, speaking into the microphone on the podium, only to be greeted by the squeal of feedback. Several in the audience laughed, and many more smiled. The mood had been broken. Smiling too, Hall said, "Lets hope the rest of the mission goes more smoothly than this." Once more, he looked over the crowd, wondering what he was seeing, beyond a lot of people who had experience in the field during the Romulan War, and some younger people, who had experience handling the new ship. "All of you are gathered here today," the man finally continued, "because you have been invited to something that is both historic and exciting, in these historic and exciting times. You are the ones that accepted that challenge. As of this moment, you are no longer members of the United Earth Space Agency interstellar division. You are now officers and crewmen of the United Federation of Planets Starfleet, an agency devoted to the three goals of exploration, defense and diplomacy of the new Federation. In particular, you are the chosen officers to man Earth's first ship in this new fleet, the United Federation Starship Atlas. Many of you have served on starships before, and some are even decorated for what you did in the Romulan War. Others were involved in the design and construction of the Atlas, and will provide valuable assistance as we attempt to complete our mission."
Now, Hall realized, he was coming to the difficult part. When he had been told about the first mission of the Atlas, he was not sure if it was possible to pull it off. This might have been too much for a crew that had little to no time together, and Hall had argued for some time to shake down the ship and get used to what they were given. This new Federation Council and this new Starfleet Command had other ideas. "We have been given our mission, and it will be a demanding one, for me and for all of us. During the war, we had seen technology advance in certain sectors. We had seen the evolution of phased directed-energy weapons, antimatter torpedoes and electrostatic force shielding to increase survivability in attacks. We had seen improvements in communications and sensors, and we had seen our skills in handling this technology and dealing with the rigors of space travel on the human condition increase dramatically. There's only one limit. To travel faster than the speed of light, we need dilithium. Without adequate, high-quality dilithium, we simply cannot travel at a speed fast enough to make interstellar travel as easy and as practical as ocean and air travel on Earth a century and a half ago. Dilithium is rare, and precious, and we have access only to a small quantity. The Vulcans have given us a precious supply of this rare dilithium so that we can power the Atlas and even achieve the heretofore unprecedented speed of warp six. Our mission is to find more, more now to increase the number of ships like the Atlas, and a secure source for the expansion of the Federation.
"Astrophysicists have long believed that higher, more complex atoms and similar materials are formed in the energy released in supernova explosions. Thus, the newer the star system, the more likely it is to contain dilithium within the planets. Young, short-lived stars are prime candidates as sources of dilithium, since they are formed from the most richly seeded interstellar dust clouds. They also do not last long enough to allow life to arise on any planets in the system. We have already seen evidence of dilithium mining on Sirius and Vega, but what is left is insufficient to be of much use. Therefore, we must look further afield, to the star Rigel. This star is seven hundred and seventy light years from Earth. We'll travel further than any humans have ever travelled before. The journey will take at least a year, perhaps more, just to reach Rigel." Although Hall knew that everybody in this room already had some idea of what was in store for them, actually hearing the words from their captain seemed to make the impact sink in. Interstellar travel was still something for the long term.
"I do not know what we will find at Rigel. At worst, we'll find evidence that dilithium has been mined out of these planets, but the journey itself will give us the opportunity to learn and to grow, and to test ourselves in the new field of exploration. It is with these ideas in mind that I, Darren Hall, have accepted the promotion to captain and the responsibility of commanding the Atlas on this historic mission, and of having all of you in my crew. I welcome all of you on board my ship."
For a moment, the room was in silence. Hall looked at several people sitting in the front row, and wondered what was in their minds. Did they look at the person standing behind the podium, and think he could actually do it? Hall was an ordinary man, in his mid-fourties with light brown hair that was thinning on top and above the temples. His physique was ordinary, fit without being muscular. He looked his age, and he wore what he had experienced. He had seen death, and he had seen destruction. He had felt panic, and he had the fear of dying within him. Still, space was yearning to him. He was both excited and apprehensive about this mission, but knew as soon as he heard it that he could never turn it down. Hall found it difficult to admit this to anyone, but he felt as if he belonged in space, as if space was calling to him personally to come out and explore. He had come into space, but had done precious little exploring. What he had done was to make the exploring possible. But what did he see in those other people? Did they have second thoughts? Did they wonder what they were getting into? Hall knew that there had to be uncertainty in their minds. It was only natural.
The man continued, "In the coming mission, I look forward to getting to meet each of you, and getting to know all of you. You're the first crew. That's something that can never be taken away from you. I'm confident that no matter how this mission turns out, whether we achieve our mission objectives or not, this will be a rewarding experience for all of us. We will hopefully end up being better people for this. This is, I honestly believe, what we were meant to do." Hall now heard a little reaction from the crowd. It was as if he could almost anticipate the applause. "The Atlas launches in two days. Our history is beginning now." And with those final words, the crowd finally stood up and applauded. Hall did not know if he should feel appreciated, or perhaps a little scared. Maybe he had lifted expectations too far.
* * *
"You're scared, aren't you?"
Hall turned to face the speaker of those words, his wife Natalie. "Maybe scared is not the right word," he finally said. "Apprehensive is more like it." Natalie stood beside him, as he looked out of the windows on their fifty-sixth floor suite. They had an expansive view of lower Manhattan, a small slice of the world that had hardly changed much. Not a single building of significance had been built there since the four towers of the New World Trade Center were completed about a century and a half ago. It was an unchanging part of a very changing world, and it kept Hall thinking about this being his "last night on Earth."
"You know," Natalie started, "I'm the one who should be feeling bad. You're the one that is going away for perhaps three years, and you get to see all of these wondrous things, while I simply will miss you."
"You'll get your chance," Hall said. He knew that Natalie was disappointed when she did not win a spot on the first mission of an Earth ship in the new Federation Starfleet, but that was not so much in response to her record and her abilities as it was a desire not to have married couples serving on the same ship, especially when one half of the couple was the captain. Natalie Hall had distinguished herself during the Romulan War, but she had paid the price. Exposure to radiation had left her looking somewhat older than her years. She had premature wrinkles on her face and her hair was graying. At times, she felt sick and weak, although medical treatments had eased most of the worst effects. Gene therapy was undoing the damage the radiation had done to her cells, so she had a long life to look forward to. And even so... she was happy that her husband had this historical opportunity.
Finally, the woman said, "Perhaps you're right. It's exciting in a way in that we're right at the beginning of a new era in our history. We here, in this country, have spent so much time leaving our mark on this planet, and now this planet gets a chance to leave its mark on the galaxy. How do you think we'll be remembered?"
Hall just smiled a bit. "I like to think that we won't have to be remembered. Instead, we'll be around for a long time, spread out over many planets, so we're not at risk if any one planet is threatened. That's the ultimate way we'll be remembered."
Natalie replied, "But such wild dreams might be hampered by the fact that we're part of this Federation."
"You still disapprove?"
Although Natalie might not come right out and admit it, she had, in the worldwide referendum on the issue, voted against having Earth become a charter member in this United Federation of Planets. It was like surrendering some say, some sovereignty, to a body that might not always reflect the best interests of Earth. Afterall, Earth was not the only charter member. Four other races joined too, and they were not always the most agreeable races. There were the Vulcans, who, for so long had managed to stifle mankind's inspiration to travel among the stars. Only by fighting and winning the war against the Romulans did the humans of Earth show the Vulcans that they can handle themselves in space. Also joining were the Andorians, who were volatile, unpredictable and, in the mind of Natalie Hall, not trustworthy allies. They could turn on a race without cause or warning. The Tellarites were also joining. It was just what this new Federation needed, a bunch of individuals who believed in the discredited capitalist motto of getting ahead at all costs and only success in narrowly-defined ways mattered. They were far too argumentative for her tastes, but at least they preferred to talk rather than attack. A Tellarite invasion force was a group of especially long-winded debaters. At least the Kentyans were worthy additions, although Natalie realized she thought that way because the inhabitants of the Alpha Centauri system were the only ones not to have developed warp travel on their own. They were less advanced than the humans were. At least one species could make that claim.
Finally, the wife answered, "I'm still... uncomfortable with the decision. We won't know in time what we had given up."
"You know," Hall continued, "that's just your background there. You were born and raised right here, in this city, New York. Your country had been at the top for a long time, surviving everything thrown at it, and so you felt that it is your destiny to continue that. Your culture, your language, your way of doing thing has spread to this entire planet, and you feel no need to.. accommodate others."
"You're not implying that the course of history is wrong, are you?"
The two had this debate before, but on this, his last night on Earth, Darren was indulging his wife again. They had many debates in their twenty years together. "No, not at all," he answered now, as he had answered in the past. "The American way was the best way, more or less, taking into consideration minor details like a love of weapons and over-corporatization, but nobody's perfect. You won the planet, but you can't win the galaxy. Compared to the whole Federation, Earth is just one part, no better, no worse than the others."
"And in time, the Federation will grow. We have five races that are relatively equal, relatively peace-loving at least when they don't have to fight, so what is there to say that other races out there might not share the same traits? Why not let them join?"
"Why not indeed?"
Natalie replied, "Because it'll make Earth an ever-smaller part of a larger group. It'll make Earth no more relevant than... New Zealand."
And to Darren Hall, that explained his view perfectly. He was from New Zealand, a fact his wife liked to point out on all possible occasions. He came from the small town of Bluff, located right at the very tip of New Zealand's South Island. To him, it was perfectly acceptable and understandable to be the small part of a very big world, and still be able to make his mark and have influence. If that was how Earth would be in a future Federation with dozens, if not hundreds, of members, Hall could accept that. It was almost preferable to a situation where Earth was the dominant body, even if it was small in overall numbers. That was almost more like the "Earth Empire" of older science fiction writers, and in Hall's mind, not a desirable outcome for the Federation.
"Anyway," Hall continued, "we agree to disagree on this."
"The Federation is a done thing. I know that many actually believe in it because for the first time, it gives us equal voice with the Vulcans. I just think that we could've done it on our own."
"Without the Vulcans, we'd never have gotten the dilithium we need for the Atlas."
"And you would not be going away for three years."
"So that's the point of this discussion," the man said, grinning just a little as he turned to face his wife.
With those words, the two embraced and kissed warmly, like the long-separated lovers that they were going to be.
Part 1,Part 2,Part 3,Part 4,Part 5,Part 6,Part 7,Part 8,Part 9,Part 10,Part 11,Part 12,Part 13,,Part 14
"Flag At the Edge of Space" page, Athena Home Page, Other Stories Home Page.
