The Oert Spider

The Oert Spider

Peter Jupp & Benjamin Jupp

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The Oert Spider

Published by Peter Jupp & Ben Jupp at Smashwords

Copyright 2012 Peter Jupp & Ben Jupp

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person,please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard workof this author.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

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Prologue

The time is now. It is not really a beginning because events have been developing over many years. It is not an ending because the clock is still running. Several themes are evident, but few things change, even as time ticks onward toward what some would argue is the end.

The world is in conflict. After centuries of quiescence, Islam has re-emerged as an international force. Environment-related headlines populate our newspapers with issues related to energy production and its apparent effects on climate. It is a time of the weakening of men’s and women’s optimism concerning their ability to work, innovate and grow to make things better for themselves. A key socio-economic factor is the reluctance of many to embrace nuclear energy as a replacement for coal and oil as the predominant energy source. Key scientific narratives are: the search for and the meaning of the God particle through the Large Hadron Collider to validate the big bang theory; the closing of the US space shuttle program; and the slowing of funding for a replacement system at a time of increasing international interest in manned space exploration of the moon and beyond.

The emergence of fundamentalist Islam and the rise of militant groups such as al-Qaida is a major social, political and military issue. The propensity for radical Islam to resort to asymmetric warfare in the form of suicide bombing and other terrorist attacks has caused all western governments to establish significant anti-terrorist forces and processes. All non-Islamic countries are open to the threat of terrorist attack by Islamic cells within the host countries as well as the possibility of stealthy attack from offshore. The largest military force on the planet is involved in wars against Islamic forces in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Military action against Iran is imminent due to this nation’s apparent desire to build a nuclear weapon that has the potential to seriously destabilize the already volatile Middle East with implications for the entire world. The threat of terrorism gives rise to significant anti-terrorist elements being set up in western countries including police, intelligence agencies and military. In this context it is likely that any event of an unknown and threatening nature is seen first as a terrorist attack and dealt with by the various counter-terrorism forces.

In basic science, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN, has developed the world’s largest particle accelerator, known as the Large Hadron Collider. With a circumference of 17 miles it collides high-energy hadrons, particles comprised of quarks, to explore some of the deepest mysteries of nature. The collider, it is hoped, will provide deeper insights into quantum mechanics, relativity and space time. This includes the manner in which particles gain mass though the Higgs mechanism and the Higgs boson (also known as the God particle). This is considered to be important in providing support for the big bang theory and its creation or initial event implications. Scientists are also hoping to determine the existence of the extra dimensions predicted by string theory and the nature of the mysterious dark matter that occupies much of the universe.

The Large Hadron Collider attempts to create an environment approaching the conditions that would have occurred at the big bang. But the energies, temperatures and pressures of such an event are impossibly large and the Large Hadron Collider provides energies puny in comparison. The answer is obvious: a bigger collider. Already such a thing is being considered. Known as the Super Large Hadron Collider, it will increase the energy of the current collider by 10 times. At these new energies, scientists hope to see things that are not possible with the current system. What then? The construction of a Very Large Hadron Collider is also contemplated that would be capable of much higher energies and possible greater performance than the Super Hadron Collider. The list of hoped-for results and the anticipated need for ever-greater collider capability demonstrate a profound uncertainty about what will be found.

At this time considerable research is under way on improving technologies for nuclear power generation. In the US and China, third generation fission reactors are being refined. In spite of this research, the US has not built a new nuclear power station in 20 years although 2 new reactors have been licensed and are scheduled to produce power in 2017. China is installing many to meet their increasing power needs without adding to the appalling environmental problems found in some parts of that country. Work is moving ahead on fourth generation reactors that produce considerably less radioactive waste than previous systems. Minimal effort and funding is being applied in the US to the breakout potential of fusion energy, although certain funding is being applied to the Spherical Tokomak at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratories as well as other relatively minor programs. Far more substantial research is being carried out by CERN in a program known as ITER or the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, based in France. Funded by Europe, UK, China and the US it is based on the Tokomak, a Russian design that had been improved over time. This approach is a doughnut shaped structure known as a Taurus. It uses high-powered super-cooled magnets to contain a hot plasma of 3 million degrees Celsius in a magnetic bottle. At these temperatures the fuel, comprising deuterium and tritium, both isotopes of hydrogen, fuse to become helium. In so doing energy is released in the form of high-energy neutrons. The energy on these neutrons is used to boil water to produce steam to drive a turbine to generate electricity. The Tokomak approach has several drawbacks including the difficulty in controlling the magnetic bottle, generating the high ignition temperatures and the high energy neutrons causing the structure to become brittle and radioactive. There are other methods of generating energy from fusion. These are raised in this book.

In the space science framework, the US has embarked on a replacement for the space shuttle program although considerably changed because of cancellation of plans to return to the moon. The shuttle replacement, NASA’s Ares and Orion systems, had represented a change in focus from orbital space flight to plans to land again on the moon and to make a settlement on Mars. Other nations however have ambitions in relation to the moon and Mars. Japan has an intention of establishing an unmanned moon base in a decade with a possible manned mission at a later stage. China has entered the domain of space with the increasing power and capability of its rockets developed under the China National Space Administration that pledges to land astronauts on the moon within 15 years. This follows China’s successful manned space missions in 2003 that put Yang Liwei into space aboard the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft followed by other missions that docked with the Tiangong space station. India also with an increasingly capable rocketry program plans to reach out to the moon.

Robotic space missions continue, including an innovative mission to prove the existence of water on the moon. This mission involved crashing an object into a crater at 9000 km/h to eject a plume of material for analysis. Two satellites––LCROSS, the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO––recorded the collision and resulting plume. An analysis revealed the presence of a considerable amount of water. This discovery adds considerable weight to the feasibility of establishing a lunar base that may be used as a staging post for further space exploration.

Another robotic mission had been launched by NASA and the US Department of Defense (DoD) beyond Jupiter to determine the feasibility of establishing a radar system for reliably detecting comets and asteroids that have the potential for threatening the Earth. The spacecraft had failed in the middle of a transmission with the last signals indicating a catastrophic failure of some systems resulting from a high-energy electrical event. A series of images had been relayed back to base before it had failed completely. These images had come to light during the investigation of the events revealed in this book. It seems that NASA and DoD had continued to investigate these events in a series of secret missions known as Project Ganapa. These missions are thought to be related to the decision by the US that placed a hiatus on further manned space exploration beyond low earth orbit.

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The Oert Spider

Chapter1

Outback Australia – Day 1

The star-filled night sky distracted Rod from the four steaks he was converting to a new form of carbon on the barbeque. He was surprised at the brightness of the stars that crammed the moonless night in a field of bright silent spottiness intermingled with sheets of white light. His mind returned to the courses he had done at university on astronomy, realizing how pitifully little he knew or remembered about this vast space that surrounds the earth replete with fascinating objects and impossible physics. He was astonished at the brightness and the range of apparent sizes of the objects. There was nothing like the outback to reveal the night sky, he thought. How is this possible? Those stars are thousands of light years away and the source of the light may not even still exist. As he watched occasionally he thought he saw a meteorite or satellite. But against this rich display of star field it was not possible to be certain. Just an on-going panorama of star show he thought. God is sure putting it on tonight. Being alone with the sky, a few beers and a barbeque was just the sort of mission that Rod enjoyed. Eventually Rod called his family to watch the final few seconds of his barbequing prowess. As he watched them approach the sacrificial barbeque with its burnt offerings he took another quick glance at the sky. It was still there, as bright and magnificent as before.

The Gregory family had been camping in the north-western-New South Wales region of Australia for a couple of days, staying in a designated campground along the course of a mostly dry river bed. It was the freedom of the desolate emptiness of Australia’s outback that appealed to Rod with no-one and nothing around for miles. Rod found comfort in the open and the silence. He chose to share this with his family and was successful in convincing them to spend this year’s vacation in the outback. There was just the four of them with Susan his wife, Jim aged nine and Angela eleven. He understood but he felt somehow disappointed that no-one in his family shared his feelings for the outback with quite the same enthusiasm.

‘What the hell star is that Dad?’ Jim asked, pointing to a particularly bright star and abruptly breaking the strings of thought that occupied Rod’s mind.

‘Jim, don’t swear! I bet he gets that from you Rod’, Susan said with her own distinct brand of motherly disapproval.

‘Hell’s not a swear word Mom, the teachers at school say it all the time.’

‘I don’t care who uses it, no kid of mine talks like that.’

‘The kid’s just excited Susan. They are on vacation and the stars are so bright tonight. By the way, that star is Beta Centauri. I have never seen it look so big before. It looks like you could reach out and touch it. The reason it is so bright is it the tenth brightest star in the sky, so it looks huge––like a searchlight––up there. It is about 350 light years away though. That means that the light from it has taken 350 years to reach us. The constellation or group of stars is called Centaurus. Beta Centauri is a double star––there are actually two stars very close together. It is also the pointer to the Southern Cross, there… see?’, as Rod pointed.

‘Awesome’ said Jim.

‘Yes. Pretty amazing’ replied Rod as he stepped over to Jim and patted his shoulder as the boy stared up at the stars overhead.

‘Wow! That was quite a lecture Dad. You know a lot about that stuff’, said Angela as she came over to the makeshift kitchen. She looked suspiciously over the assortment of steaks and sausages as flames licked at the fat from the grill.

‘Well Angie, I know a little bit, but there is a lot to know and there is more to the stars than we will ever know. But are you ready for the big adventure tomorrow? We’re going to investigate that funny looking rock formation we saw when we were driving in’, said Rod. ‘Right now we’ve a feast on the grill and it’s just about done to perfection I’d say.’

‘Can we have a picnic tomorrow?’ Angie asked.

‘Yes of course’, said Susan. ‘We’ll pack a nice lunch and have a look at the creek as well. If there’s water in it you can have a swim. You may want to cool down from your having so much fun.’

Rod put the finishing touches to his carbon-coated delicacies. After checking that the steak had no blood to put off the kids, and still not quite a full black, Rod decided that dinner was ready. He then began the task of controlling the excited children and gently coaxing them to focus on his culinary creations. But Jim and Angela had little interest in food; there was great adventure close at hand––a creek to swim in and a strange looking rock that might be full of gold.

Rod’s wife Susan had chosen to take a passive role, realizing that the excitement of the upcoming adventure coupled with Rod’s barely acceptable cooking made for a less than enjoyable evening meal. Susan had long since given up on Rod’s cooking. She had appreciated his effort at first, but all his cooking tasted the same, very ordinary, and he refused to follow the recipe. But he could do a reasonable Australian-style barbeque.

As the kids rediscovered their appetites and carefully ate their steaks, Susan took the opportunity to take a walk out into the night to enjoy its cool silence. She had not felt right about this holiday. There was something amiss. Maybe it was the choice of location. There was something too lonely about this place: the solitude and the cold wind that blew at night. She knew it wasn’t just her struggling marriage. Susan was an agreeable woman and at 42 she was still attractive, with blonde hair cropped short just above her vaguely green eyes. She was a full five foot six inches tall but always felt that she would have liked to have been taller. She never would have made the college basketball team, although she had tried. Even at the time she knew this was a pathetic attempt to attract Rod’s attentions. But sport had never been her strong suit unlike Rod, who had excelled at most sports. She persevered however, and eventually caught Rod’s eye. They had been married for 22 years, most of them happy, but as time slowly escaped into the almost forgotten, things had deteriorated. She likened this to how the sands of time chipped away at stone, wearing away even the hardiest of landscapes just like in this desert. Like pieces of sand, little things, careless things, things not done, words said thoughtlessly, she thought. Susan had no way of explaining it to herself. She had tried. Rod had tried. But mostly the last couple years of their marriage had felt like a comedy of the surreal: routine beyond monotony; repetition; cycles and loops of similar sameness. When Susan and Rod were younger they would holiday at the