had insisted that the testing start under minimal acceleration to ensure that the new telescoping pin design could handle the stress.
What Sted was interested in at this point were straight-line acceleration numbers for the ship under different power settings. Any captain worth his salt had to know how his ship was going to perform under all conditions, and the primary tool in his or her bag of tricks was the nimbleness of the ship. Any ship has considerable mass to move around, and the mass to acceleration ratio was a critical factor.
“Let’s proceed by the numbers, gentleman. I want ten percent power for this first run, Mr. Alverez.”
Marty Alverez was AMC’s lead test pilot. He would be on board for the entire trial period but would return to the lunar base after the test. He was much too valuable to send out to the belt.
Today’s itinerary was simple. Work the ship up in ten-percent increments until full power was reached. Each run started and ended near the mining platform. Power out for five minutes, flip over and decelerate for five minutes, bringing the prototype to a relative standstill with the platform. Then power back and flip with the same settings, returning to the original starting point. Then bump the power up by ten percent and do it all over again. The distance covered by each successive jump would increase and be measured by low energy lasers on the platform. What Sted was looking for was consistency of performance out of these new engines.
Aidan was on board for this initial test run even though normal test procedure called for just risking the test pilot. He insisted on handling the trials of “his” beautiful new ship. He was in charge of monitoring and recording every aspect of the new engines under the ever-increasing levels of acceleration, and he could stop the test at any time.
The engines had been tested extensively in special underground chambers on the moon, so there was little chance of an engine problem. The primary concern for Aidan was the structural integrity of the new double hull design. He had specially designed monitors placed at all contact points between the two hulls, and he was watching the stress at each point.
At the end of the fifty percent power circuit, Sted asked Aidan to report his findings, having heard nothing from him on the previous trial runs.
“All stress points are nominal, Sted,” came Aidan’s reply. “It appears we have nailed engine and ship alignment perfectly, and the new double hull design is seeing no abnormal stress at any of the contact points. I recommend moving to seventy-five percent power on our next run and then go up in increments of five percent. I don’t see any benefit in the sixty and seventy percent runs, but I want to monitor this carefully as we approach maximum acceleration.”
“You have my approval, Mr. McBride. Let Marty know to advance the schedule to seventy-five percent and proceed when ready.”
Day one of testing was critical from an engineering standpoint. If they could get through all structural testing, they could begin training with a full crew. Sted was looking forward to the testing of the new offensive and defensive weapons. AMC had brought along an assortment of missiles on the mining platform to test the defensive laser systems. There was also a remote-controlled Beta class ship docked to the platform for testing the effectiveness of the mining laser as an offensive weapon.
Sted was tasked by the AMC board with preparing a set of recommendations within two weeks for modifications for the remaining ships that were about to be assembled on the factory floor. If Sted and Aidan approved, the prototype would be released for its first fully operational run and accompany the mining platform on its return to the belt.
Interlude 2 - 4 Billion Years Ago
AlvaResh was ecstatic about the third planet out from the star. It was ideally located at a distance from the
What Sted was interested in at this point were straight-line acceleration numbers for the ship under different power settings. Any captain worth his salt had to know how his ship was going to perform under all conditions, and the primary tool in his or her bag of tricks was the nimbleness of the ship. Any ship has considerable mass to move around, and the mass to acceleration ratio was a critical factor.
“Let’s proceed by the numbers, gentleman. I want ten percent power for this first run, Mr. Alverez.”
Marty Alverez was AMC’s lead test pilot. He would be on board for the entire trial period but would return to the lunar base after the test. He was much too valuable to send out to the belt.
Today’s itinerary was simple. Work the ship up in ten-percent increments until full power was reached. Each run started and ended near the mining platform. Power out for five minutes, flip over and decelerate for five minutes, bringing the prototype to a relative standstill with the platform. Then power back and flip with the same settings, returning to the original starting point. Then bump the power up by ten percent and do it all over again. The distance covered by each successive jump would increase and be measured by low energy lasers on the platform. What Sted was looking for was consistency of performance out of these new engines.
Aidan was on board for this initial test run even though normal test procedure called for just risking the test pilot. He insisted on handling the trials of “his” beautiful new ship. He was in charge of monitoring and recording every aspect of the new engines under the ever-increasing levels of acceleration, and he could stop the test at any time.
The engines had been tested extensively in special underground chambers on the moon, so there was little chance of an engine problem. The primary concern for Aidan was the structural integrity of the new double hull design. He had specially designed monitors placed at all contact points between the two hulls, and he was watching the stress at each point.
At the end of the fifty percent power circuit, Sted asked Aidan to report his findings, having heard nothing from him on the previous trial runs.
“All stress points are nominal, Sted,” came Aidan’s reply. “It appears we have nailed engine and ship alignment perfectly, and the new double hull design is seeing no abnormal stress at any of the contact points. I recommend moving to seventy-five percent power on our next run and then go up in increments of five percent. I don’t see any benefit in the sixty and seventy percent runs, but I want to monitor this carefully as we approach maximum acceleration.”
“You have my approval, Mr. McBride. Let Marty know to advance the schedule to seventy-five percent and proceed when ready.”
Day one of testing was critical from an engineering standpoint. If they could get through all structural testing, they could begin training with a full crew. Sted was looking forward to the testing of the new offensive and defensive weapons. AMC had brought along an assortment of missiles on the mining platform to test the defensive laser systems. There was also a remote-controlled Beta class ship docked to the platform for testing the effectiveness of the mining laser as an offensive weapon.
Sted was tasked by the AMC board with preparing a set of recommendations within two weeks for modifications for the remaining ships that were about to be assembled on the factory floor. If Sted and Aidan approved, the prototype would be released for its first fully operational run and accompany the mining platform on its return to the belt.
Interlude 2 - 4 Billion Years Ago
AlvaResh was ecstatic about the third planet out from the star. It was ideally located at a distance from the
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