The Thorne-Hyll Effect

To: CassynyaThorne_HN002

From: OctovyRend_HN001D

Subj: LITRep

Cassy,

How can I tell you how sorry I am? We all loved him–though maybe not as much as you. We did everything, we really did. Fourteen Lancers working in tandem couldn't see him. They aren't infallible but between them and an eight week search with all hands …

I filed the Lost In Transit Report this morning. I'm planning to hold a small ceremony for the rest of the dive locker and it'd mean a lot to everyone if you gave his eulogy. I'd offer you time out of the Sling but we both know you want the exact opposite right now. Anyone else I'd stop, but you've already made it more than double my jump count and if you say you're ready to get back in the saddle I'm happy to have my workhorse back.

P.s. You didn't cause his death. A lot of good Hypernauts have disappeared into the void before they ever made it to their seventh jump. You need to learn to accept that not everyone will hit 27. If you don't, you'll never stop blaming yourself when things go wrong.

***

To: OctovyRend_HN001D

From: CassynyaThorne_HN002

Subj: LITRep (re)

Docto Octo,

I know you hate when I call you that, boss. I hate when ya’ll keep acting like Ajax is gone. I know what I saw on the monitors. That wasn't a detonation or implosion. He disappeared. We're both adults and I think we both consider ourselves scientists. So, we both know things don't just disappear. They may seem to, but we both know better. He was there and then he wasn't and neither are any trace particles of him or the Starseer’s Gamble. Which means … those particles are somewhere else, now–and quite possibly intact. This compels me to search for him. I know you'll approve the jumps if for no other reason than the Hegemon has been practically begging you to start doing more exploratory dives. You can make him happy and keep your workhorse–you really know how to make a girl feel special–in the saddle and moving. With that in mind, I won't be giving any eulogies. If the rest of the Nauts wanna hear something from me you can tell them I said to stop enjoying their time in-station and get back in the saddle. There's not enough of us and too much work to go around, especially with me off courier rotation to ‘search for new colonies for the Hegemony’--that's how I'd phrase it if I were you.

P.s. You should know me better than to think this is some mechanism to cope with guilt. We've lost others before and you've never known me to scoff when you file a LITRep. He's out there. I feel it. I know it. I'm going to find him and prove it.

***

JumpLog 028CTA

Mission Profile: Colonial Exploration/HNSAR

Jump Duration

Jump Time (Objective): 12 Hours

Jump Time (Subjective): 20 minutes

Transit Time: 8 Weeks

Can't say my reflexes have been dulled by grief. That's 28 done and 72 more to go before I'll be happy.

This system is a dud. Great for human settlement–on multiple orbiting bodies if you can believe it–but no sign of Ajax. I knew it was highly unlikely he'd be the first place I looked. It's always the last one, isn't it? All telemetry data has been uploaded and is being flashed back through the wormhole via the hypercom buoy. Now all there is to do is sit back and wait for my ride to show up.

P.s. I know Gek and Stacker were betting I'd eat it. Tell them they can bite me.

***

To: OctovyRend_HN001D

From: CassynyaThorne_HN002

Subj: JL_028 (re)

Cassy,

You'll excuse me if I don't congratulate you on your 28th. I won't be impressed again until you hit 50. I just wanted to let you know that along with your telemetry data, we received a full datawave submission from Freedom's Embrace. I know that isn't exactly standard protocol, but you know how Hegemony bureaucrats are. There's never been enough–nor will there ever be–data to keep them happy. I have a suspicion that the Senate takes kickbacks from the Archivist Guild, but that's just one eccentric’s speculation.

I'm going to assume that there isn't the coin counter alive that understands the role of DMTP in the jump process or how variable proper dosage can be, but I would prefer if, as a favor to me, you'd consider not taking double shots while contracting for the Hegemony–or ever, for that matter. This message will be destroyed upon its receipt and all traces of it on my end will be wiped.

P.s. Don't make me come out there and shake some sense into you. I'm not too old to get back in the Unfathomable Speed and come get you.

***

JumpLog 033CTA

Mission Profile: Colonial Exploration/HNSAR

Jump Duration

Jump Time (Objective): 63 hours

Jump Time (Subjective): 1.5 hours

Transit Time: 200 weeks

I haven't gotten updated data from the Sling, yet, but something tells me I've got almost as many jumps as the rest of the others combined. 17 more until the next milestone. Will I have found him by then? On the bright side, there are a dozen new planetary bodies with Hegemony survey crews on their way to them. That's gotta count for something.

It's been almost four years. I'm moving too slow having to wait for the follow-on fleet for repair resupply–and relaunch for that matter, even if I opt out of the first two. Everyone else thinks Ajax is gone, and if he didn't find a planet with breathable air and digestible proteins, that's probably true. I've found 12 possible worlds matching that description so far. It's not insane to think he'd find a viable candidate to hunker down and wait for rescue on. He would keep looking for me.

***

To: CassynyaThorne_HN002

From: OctovyRend_HN001D

Subj: Ajax

Cassy,

I'm not going to say you're wrong. If I had any sense I'd end there and just leave you speechless. If I had any sense I never would've launched myself into a wormhole, though, so I'm going to sprinkle in a few things you won't like before I finish this letter.

You seem to think seeing his face and hearing his voice while you're in transit is a good thing. I'm going to withhold judgement until there's more data–like a good scientist–but I would like to point out that you're highly likely to see something you're obsessing over while under the influence of large–again this letter will be wiped from all human knowledge–doses of DMTP. I loved him like a son, but we both know if it weren't for the colonization effort being undertaken, no funds would exist for your mission for personal closure. In case you haven't noticed, we've lost another dozen Hypernauts while you've been out searching for Ajax. I wonder if you'll get to them next.

P.s. Your behavior and my required responses to it are costing me a fortune in deep core data wipes and bought silence. I'm taking the next one out of your bonus pay.

***

To: OctovyRend_HN001D

From: CassynyaThorne_HN002

Subj: Ajax (re)

Dear Doc,

I guess it's a good thing for me that the Hegemony is obsessed with expansion at the moment. Seems like there will always be money for stellar exploration. We both know it's better to have me out here flinging myself faster than light through the galaxy than back there at the Sling driving everyone on the engineering staff up the bulkheads. I heard from Ruby on the Crystal Queen that the boys have a new drive they need someone to test. I think we both know my girl is overdue for an upgrade so why don't you send it out here where it's needed most. At least if it blows on me you can pretend Ajax is gone without me constantly reminding you he's not.

***

JumpLog 037CTA

Mission Profile: Colonial Exploration

Jump Duration

Jump Time (Objective): 117 hours

Jump Time (Subjective): 3 hours

Transit Time: 401 weeks

I suppose they thought it was terribly important for morale that my log system no longer allows input of the HNSAR tag for my mission profile. I wonder if they'll include it in the log where I find Ajax on one of these distant worlds. Having made it ‘ashore’ in the last couple of systems while permanent refits–for which I am eternally grateful–were performed, I wouldn't be at all surprised if I find him living it up as the king of some long lost paradise. I may just stay there with him if he asks. I know he's out there, still. He'd keep looking and so will I. Now that I don't have to stop and wait for the fleet my progress should be much faster. Time to see what the boys in drive development have been spending all of Docto Octo’s gold on. From now on I'll be spending as much time as possible in stasis to cut down on supply consumption–and absurd levels of boredom during cross-system transfers between jumps.

***

JumpLog 049CTA

Mission Profile: Colonial Exploration

Jump Duration

Jump Time (Objective): 203 hours

Jump Time (Subjective): 7 hours

Transit Time: 545 weeks

The new GravWell drive is phenomenal. Not needing the Mobile Sling to relaunch is incredible. Tell the guys and gals in the drive shop free drinks for life on Cassy when I get home. All that said, I'm still moving too slow. Couple that with no sign of Ajax and a dearth of habitable worlds in my last dozen jumps and it makes for a pretty bleak picture. The only bright spot I can think of lately is the new drive core. If only I'd started the trip with this thing. If only I'd sped ahead of the fleet sooner. Ten years. The longest ten years of my life. One more jump. Maybe two. Then it'll be time to go back. I've always said he'd keep looking. Would he after ten years? It's almost time for me to come home.

***

JumpLog 050CTA

Mission Profile: Colonial Exploration

Jump Duration

Jump Time (Objective): 220 hours

Jump Time (Subjective): 7.2 hours

Transit Time: 560 weeks

This system is cold and dead. Nothing living on any of the three hunks of frozen rock or any of the billions of bits of stellar debris. Almost bleak enough to ruin my 50th jump. Almost. One more and I'm calling it. One more, Ajax. It's time for me to come home. One more and then you'll have to forgive me, darling.

***

To: CassynyaThorne_HN002

From: OctovyRend_HN001D

Subj: The Big 50

Cassy,

I never dreamed anyone would hit 50. Not even you. I can see further into the future than ever before now, and I know that the day is coming where 50 will be respectable but not legendary for a future generation of Hypernauts. The innovations we've made in the last 15 years and the ones just around the corner will see men and women of middling ability surpass the best and brightest of us pioneers. I wonder if you'll be able to take it with more grace than I am–I'm already quite agitated at the prospect, believe it or not.

I'm graciously approving one final jump–not that you felt it important to request another extension, as if I'd say no after agreeing to the previous eight. We all have our limits and I'm afraid you've come to yours. This voyage that you've undertaken will pass into legend. I don't foresee there ever being a time where a Hypernaut will push themselves further or deeper into the void. We may have 50 or even 100 jump Nauts one day, but I doubt very seriously any of them will take themselves on a 10 year–and this is only the first leg, after all–trek in search of a missing comrade while simultaneously opening up new frontiers for the people of the Hegemony to master and call home. You've done enough. Take one last leap into the far reaches. Then, for the love of the Shroud, bring yourself home to us.

***

JumpLog 051CTA

Mission Profile: Colonial Exploration

Jump Duration

Jump Time (Objective): 247 hours

Jump Time (Subjective): 8 hours

Transit Time: 583 weeks

He's here. Well, not here, but I'm reading his emergency transponder near max signal range. There's a world in this system that's borderline habitable. After all we've gone through to get to him, I'm sure you can justify sending one of the colonial surveyors straight through to my current coordinates. I know we all agreed that I'd be turning around, but I can't. Not when I'm this close. I'll be there soon, Ajax. You've waited this long, just give me a little more time.

***

JumpLog 052CTA

Mission Profile: Colonial Exploration

Jump Duration

Jump Time (Objective): 260 hours

Jump Time (Subjective): 8.33 hours

Transit Time: 594 weeks

Three habitable worlds in-system and a strong transponder signal coming from the fourth body from the sun. Looks tropical. I haven't been able to establish direct communication, but the fact that the signal is coming from a densely forested area near a beach instead of a debris field is encouraging. If I know Ajax he's off on some marathon fishing trip hoping none of us ever make it here to bother him. I'm going to touch down on the surface and pay him a visit. You know what that means. You can send the surveyor out to grab us or consider this my official two weeks’ notice. I leave this decision up to your discretion.

***

To: OctovyRend_HN001D

From: CassynyaThorne_HN002

Subj: Grief

He's gone. It's some comfort to see from his logs and the campsite he left behind that he didn't die cold and alone in the vacuum of space or get reduced to atomic particles by taking one through the wall of a wormhole. He's gone and here I am staring at his bones. I finally cried for him. I think I will for a while. I'm tired, Doc. Send the surveyor to give me a ride home if I haven't bankrupted the company. Hopefully I'll make it back before all that's left of you is a whitened skeleton.

P.s. With this transmission I'm including all of Ajax’s logs. Make sure they're in the archives by the time I get back. He may have stumbled onto something huge.

***

Final log: Ajax Hyll

The pathogen is still working its way through my system. I have no more power over unknown tropical diseases than the first colonists did two millennia ago. I give myself a week, maybe less.

I know you're still looking for me Cassy. We talk about it in my dreams almost every night. When you find me make sure to get my logs and telemetry data back to colonized space. I think you'll all be very interested to know how a journey that I calculate will take you another eight years–from the entry of this log–only took me a matter of weeks. I still haven't figured it all out myself or I'd have you name me in the papers that I'm sure will be written about my little hyper-light misadventure. It's enough for me to think that one day you'll get to enjoy this beautiful world, even if only for long enough to recover my logs and remains, and that the boys in the black box at the Sling will turn all of this misfortune into some equation that helps us traverse the void more safely, if not much faster.

Cassy, this isn't your fault–even though I like to pretend it is when it's monsoon season. Bury me here and make sure to visit me after they open the world to colonization. You've had my heart these last two years, but alas the beating of it comes more slowly now and soon it must stop. I know how you hate my terrible poetry, but you can't begrudge me my dying lines, especially when they're inspired by my love for you. Don't die searching for me, but if you do, look me up in the afterlife as soon as you get there.

P.s. Tell our good friend and sponsor Docto Octo that I better get my own statue, and you should get one too, if you manage to find me all the way out here one day.