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    The Time Was Past
    The Time Was Past
    The Time Was Past
    Ebook94 pages1 hour

    The Time Was Past

    By Stephen Brandon

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    About this ebook

    Saturn captures a rogue celestial object. Saturn's new moon has a diameter of 900 Km, yet its gravitational effect on the rings was that of an object 10 times as large. Eighteen years was a speck of time in the lifetime of the Saturn rings, yet they were already showing changes that a 200 mm reflector telescope with a good eyepiece on Earth can see.
    The scientist of the world demand this anomaly be investigated and if possible, its orbit changed. The original mission to Mars is re-tasked. After years of rebuilding and adding to the Mars spacecraft in orbit, it is renamed Saturn 1. It is now the culmination of earths space technology.
    The planned nine year mission does not go according to plan, or does it? Natural events create a unique situation and decisions made by the planners create havoc. Results will extend over a millennium into the future, or is into the past?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherStephen Brandon
    Release dateSep 9, 2015
    ISBN9781311961969
    The Time Was Past
    Author

    Stephen Brandon

    I've loved westerns and science fiction since I picked up my first book at the public library. I've been writing on my computer for years. I never planned on any of my stories being published, just to be read by myself, family, and friends. The base journal is on forty spreadsheets with links to about a thousand files of short one day paragraphs plus other stories. {My claim to fame, written by someone else. Thanks.} "As an earthbound retiree, Stephen writes mostly science fiction and short stories. He is a voracious reader and has written for a few years, publishing his stories on Smashwords."

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      Book preview

      The Time Was Past - Stephen Brandon

      The Time Was Past

      By Stephen Brandon

      Copyright 2015 Stephen Brandon

      Published by Stephen Brandon at Smashwords

      * * *

      Smashwords Edition License Notes

      Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.

      * * * * *

      Author's Notes

      This book is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, incidents, and dialogue are from the authors imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or other persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Real and fictional locations are used for background only.

      With a review, I will send you a coupon code for a free book.

      * * * * * * * * *

      Table of Contents ~(ToC)~

      Authors Note

      Acknowledgments

      Prologue

      Chapter 1

      Chapter 2

      Chapter 3

      Chapter 4

      About Stephen Brandon

      Other books by Stephen Brandon

      * * * * *

      Acknowledgments

      My wife has put up with me for over forty five years. Without her support and love I don't know who, what, or where I would be, so I thank her from the bottom of my heart, and I dedicate the Saturn series of books to her!

      ~ ~ ~

      Prologue

      Scientist from all 5 continents gathered together to lobby their governments for the change. Mars exploration was no longer a priority. The new Saturn moon had a diameter of 900 Km, yet its gravitational effect on the rings was that of an object 10 times as large. Eighteen years was a speck of time in the lifetime of the Saturn rings, yet they were already showing changes that a 200 mm reflector telescope with a good eyepiece on Earth could see. Amateur astronomy grew by leaps and bounds after the first reports of ring disturbance.

      The mission statement was simple!

      Mission Statement for spacecraft Saturn 1

      Saturn 1 with an operational and scientific crew will proceed to the Saturn system and investigate the disturbance caused by a meteoroid observed entering the Saturn system.

      Travel time from Earth to Saturn is approximately 3 years.

      Saturn 1 will remain within the Saturn system for approximately 2 years.

      Primary Mission:

      The scientific crew will use their specialties to investigate and catalog all possible information.

      Analysis of hazards caused by disruptions of the Saturn moons orbits and rings will be computed.

      Data will be transmitted to Earth weekly.

      At the end of the two year investigation the crew of Saturn 1 will complete the following:

      Saturn 1 will set up monitoring equipment in the vicinity of the Saturn system.

      Upon their return Saturn 1 will proceed to the orbit of Mars and set up more monitoring equipment at Sun Mars L3.

      Saturn 1 will return to Earth for refitting, crew change, and resupply.

      Length of original mission is estimated to be 9 years.

      That's why we all spend an hour of our shift on the computers answering questions and transmitting pictures to Earth. All data was transmitted back to Earth without encryption for everyone with a UHF television, shortwave receiver, or internet link to view. Information and those four reporters were the only condition that every government agreed to. Ever see a reporter try to read a technical report and try to make sense of it.

      My personal opinion is that all of them are spies. At least the vetting eliminated six nominated members that were radicals and possibly saboteurs. After all the panels and analysis, our crew has the personality of a snail darter, except when their specialty is mentioned. I know, I'm just as bad. All the enthusiasm of my youth was burned out of me by eleven years of intensive solar technology training in four different countries. I watched half my group quit, burn out, or go insane. The rest of us were zombies except when we talked solar. Some of our inventions or improvements were X-ray and Gamma ray solar panels.

      ~ ~ ~

      Chapter 1

      Middle of first week. Any normal inward trajectory would be retrograde, but we're accelerating toward the sun. Chemical rocket acceleration terminated when the disposable fuel tanks dropped off and primary trajectory is reported to be perfect. I hope so, otherwise we'll end up so far off course we may never make it back.

      End of third week. Finally all the O, G, & X solar panels are layered in place. Our spacecraft now looks like a cocoon. If everything works correctly we'll be safe from ionizing radiation during the gravity-assist maneuvers around the sun.

      End of forth week. The Captain announced that our trajectory was perfect and tomorrow we'd be inside the orbit of Venus. The engineers have started the ion drive using power from the G and X panels. One side effect of these panels is that by using the power they create, they effectively create a radiation shadow behind them. That should keep us safe.

      Middle of fifth week. The design engineers blew it. The boom projecting from the nose of the ship melted. We've lost all outside sensors and cameras. Heads will roll back on Earth.

      End of seventh week. The Captain sent two crew members outside to check radiation levels and install a new sensor boom. They gave an all clear, and now we have to reconfigure all the panels and re-install the communications arrays. Speed, that's why we took the trajectory we did.

      Ninth week. Well the butterfly is taking shape. Repairable impact damage to over twenty panels. I'll probably exceed my outside suit safety time limit in the next several weeks.

      Tenth week. The Captain ordered everyone to stay inside for two shifts.

      Tenth week, day 2. Was talking to the navigator in the mess last night.

      She was complaining that the orbit had shifted two degrees for no rational reason. It wasn't until she mentioned the solar storm we were running parallel to that I knew the reason.

      That's why I love the dimples caused by gravitational spots and magnetic fields in the beautiful elliptic parabolic cone. And then add in the pimples caused by concentrated solar radiation and plasma plumes. And the perturbations caused by gravitation fields within the cone itself. Cartesian space calculations are only good on a planets surface within a defined gravitational field, in space they are inadequate. I told her that if she'd come to my quarters I'd show her why we were changing course and how to calculate the changes. After looking at my rough calculation on my computer she told me that I should have been the senior navigator.

      I firmly informed

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