Warp Drive Patent Pending Read online

  “I’ll take care of it. Pa,” the young man answered, “I’ll take care of everything.”

  Chapter 1

  THE OFFER

  The hall was filled to capacity. Far more people were attending the lecture than were expected. When the professor lectured on logarithms of video compression, he never got large crowds. The topics of time-travel and warp-speed always brought out the whackos, even when the lectures were well before noon.

  “We’ve seen countless examples where science fiction has become a reality,” he said. “Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein was the first step to kidney transplants and heart transplants. Reanimation could be just around the corner.” There was a hushed conversation in the audience regarding the statement. The white screen behind the professor displayed images of an open heart surgery then dissolved to scenes of the old Black and white Frankenstein movie. The professor continued. “The sci-fi classic, Forbidden Planet, brought robotics into the spotlight. Robby the Robot is still a few generations away, but the science of robotics is about to turn a corner with innovations every day.” The screen behind him continued to display images that related to the lecture.

  “In 1865,” he continued, “the French author Jules Verne wrote From the Earth to the Moon. In that story, he launched his rocket from right here in Tampa. About one hundred years later on the other side of the state the Apollo rockets were launched to the moon.” The screen displayed the launch. “We are now living in the future that we grew up dreaming about.”

  He paused and looked at the audience. It was a large group of young and old in the auditorium. Most of them were typical college students. They were eager for life but confused by the challenges it would bring. Some of them were hung-over, a couple students were asleep. Many in the crowd were visitors. They may have seen the lecture posted on the bulletin board and thought it sounded interesting. Perhaps some in the audience had a child in one of the classes. Astro-tri-dimensional calculus is not a hobby that the average person takes up. Then again, there were a couple of people in Star Trek uniforms.

  “In 1994 the French physicist Miguel Alcubierre theorized that man would someday travel faster than light. His work is based on the assumption that the contraction and expansion of space have no speed limits.” The audience stirred. “By contracting the space in front of a craft and expanding the space behind it, a craft could travel in a warp bubble at faster than light speeds. “Alcubierre published a mathematical solution that stays within the laws of general relativity. He proved that science fiction’s warp drive is possible.”

  The smart board behind him displayed a complex equation. “By traveling at light speed for a year you travel one light year. This is a measurement of distance, not time,” he explained. The calculations on the whiteboard showed figures representing velocity, mass, distance, and energy. The math on the whiteboard was separating the visitors from the students in the audience. “In this equation x is defined as the velocity of the craft, dxs/dt, and rs are the radial positions in the bubble of spherical space around the craft.”

  Fewer than half the people in the audience were taking notes. The smart board was beginning to look like an alphabet soup of calculations. “For the test to have a solution the variable 'x' must be zero. That would allow instant movement of an undefined distance.” The Professor put in a zero as ‘x’ and completed the calculation with a flourish. A few members of the audience snapped cell phone pictures. The professor looked up at the crowd and smiled. He knew that very few of them understood what he had just proven. “This will be in the journal, Astro-Science, next month. You’re getting a little preview.” Applause rose from the audience.

  As the lecture hall emptied, Professor Drath closed down his software and packed up his notebook computer. He didn't notice the small group of people who remained at the front of the hall. When he looked up, they were waiting patiently for his attention. The rest of the hall was empty.

  “Can I help you?” he asked.

  “Actually, we'd like to help you,” one of the men in the group answered. He was a tall man of about 40 years old, clean cut, shaved and dressed in a tailored blazer and dress shirt. He wore leather shoes that had a perfect shine. Not your average students, Drath thought to himself. The four others around him were well dressed in black suits.

  “Really?” Drath thought. He was at a point in his life now that he felt satisfied. He had a great job at the University. He was respected on the campus, respected in his field with several published papers and theorems being tested around the world. His results had been repeated by many mathematicians. What could they help him with, he wondered?

  “H’loo my name is Daniel Glass. May I have minutes to chat with you?”

  Drath noticed a bit of a British accent in his words. The others didn’t speak. The men with him were obviously employed as his support staff. Two of them carried briefcases, and two just stood close. It gave Drath the impression that the man was someone important. They remained quiet and let him do the talking.

  “We've got the auditorium to ourselves,” Drath said as he took the two steps down off the stage to the main floor and held out his hand to shake. Glass took it, shook with a firm grip and released quickly. He had short, curly, ginger red hair and blue eyes. His smile framed perfect teeth. “It’s nice to meet you Mr. Glass. Are you interested in astral calculus?”

  “I've put a lot of thought into it, you might say,” he answered. “Let me ask you, mate, what would it take to travel at light speed?”

  A smile cracked on the professor’s face. Another whacko, he thought, but this one looks like he has followers.

  “First it would take an incredible amount of energy in a spacecraft, something we don’t have currently.” He wondered if he should continue. It was all science fiction, barely more than theory.

  “Go on, Professor.”

  “Well, if my warp drive theories prove true, that is all you need for a one-way trip. Returning is an altogether different thing. Navigation in uncharted space is a fledgling science with many different lines of thought.”

  “It doesn’t sound too promising, does it?” Glass said.

  “Warp drive is just a theory.” The group with Glass seemed to stir a little but remained quiet.

  “Do you believe there is life on other planets?”

  “Yes, I do believe that,” Drath answered.

  “Do you think we have been visited?” he asked.

  “Yes, I think it possible,” he said, but he didn’t sound convinced.

  “Well if we have, I think that makes it more than just a theory, wouldn’t you say mate?” Glass said with a smile on his face.

  “Okay, you got me, but what can I do for you?” Drath asked again.

  “I’m building a research team, and I like your ideas. I’d like you to become a part of the project.”

  “Ideas are free. You can test my theories all you want, you don’t really need me.”

  “This is a serious attempt to make light speed, not just theoretical work.”

  Drath listened to his words but didn’t take anything he was saying seriously. “I’m very satisfied working at the university,” he explained. “There are others who are exploring warp drive. Chung and Freese published a space-time model that’s similar to my solution. Friedmann, Robertson and Walker even suggest the possibility of time travel in their warp bubble calculations.”

  “I understand you don’t know me from the man on the moon mate, but I want you. I’ll leave a portfolio for you to review.” One of the men with him passed a folder to Drath. “I’m willing to make you an offer, but I’ll give you some time to think on it.” He held out his hand to shake.

  Drath shook his hand again and said goodbye. Glass and his men walked silently out of the hall. He didn’t expect to ever see them again, but the visit left him curious.

  Later, when he finally got home after the long day, he pulled the business portfolio out of his briefcase. He had been wondering about the offer all day, but ever
y time he reached for it something else came up. It was a rapid-fire day of student issues and department meetings. Resting in his easy chair, comfortable in his home now, he leafed through the folder on his lap.

  His high-rise condo stood above the expensive single family homes around it. It was on Bayshore Boulevard. On one side of the street perfectly manicured yards and exquisite homes looked out to the sea wall, and the teal waters of Tampa Bay that sparkled beyond. That sea wall and the walkway along the bay was said to be the longest unbroken walkway in the country. For over seven miles, everyone who was anyone proudly displayed their extravagant lifestyle. Businessmen, politicians, and even drug dealers who could afford it shared the classic boulevard.

  Drath’s condo was a modern unit that sat on the twentieth floor along that stretch of roadway. The skyline through the wall of glass in his home displayed the cityscape. Tampa is at the mouth of the Hillsborough River, where it feeds into the bay. The city built up around the port and right on the water’s edge. Numerous bridges cross the rivers and channels between the islands there. One of the bridges crosses the river at the foot of the University of Tampa, where he worked. From his apartment in the tower, he could see the old onion shaped minarets of the Moorish-style building that was the university.

  The cover of the folder was embossed with the outlines of Australia; he had incorrectly assumed his visitor’s accent was British. Foiled stars circled the island nation. Inside the folder, he found several professionally printed booklets with full-color glossy photos. They contained mostly pictures of a nice looking campus of building with wide green spaces and fountains. An airstrip was in one photo with several hangers in the background. The interior photos showed up to date computers and state of the art electronics labs. Another brochure showed several high-end electronic aviation components they claimed to have developed. Drath recognized the world famous logo that was on the high dollar electronics. Glass Flight Data Systems was a huge, well-respected company. He slowly came to realize that he had been talking to one of the richest men in the world.

  The portfolio certainly was impressive. The multimillion dollar company was putting its best foot forward in the presentation. If anyone could bankroll the development of warp drive, it would be Glass. But that still didn’t change the fact that bending space was far from possible. Warp drive was barely more than science fiction. It was a pipe dream that was perhaps even impossible, though the booklets made it look like it was within their reach.

  He sat back in his leather and chrome easy chair, sipping his brandy on ice and looked over the setting sun from his penthouse view. He was happy where he was. His modern apartment was Spartan in furnishings, but complete. The one extravagance he owned was a framed Salvador Dali painting that he recently purchased at auction. He loved the surrealist and thought the melting clock in the painting was relevant to his theory in an odd way. He needed nothing more than what he already had. He was satisfied. He had worked hard most of his life, and it was now his time to relax. The last five years as the head of the mathematics department at the University was a nice wind-down to a complicated career in theoretical research. Why would he run halfway across the world to chase the impossible?

  But, if it could happen, if someone could create a faster-than-light propulsion system completely different from rockets, it would change space travel. It could change everything. The temptation to join the team was there. It could be the only real chance he’d have to prove his ideas were possible. Glass would be making history if he could do it. It would make Glass and his team the first pioneers of deep space.

  His wondering mind was interrupted by the bell of the elevator door. It was Sue, his student intern. He only had two lectures that day, and he didn’t teach much anymore. Still, his position as department head offered him an intern or two for assistance. But, Sue was more than an assistant. She wasn’t bringing papers to grade or forms to fill out.

  It’s funny how fashions cycle, Drath thought when she walked into the condo. She was wearing faded low-rise jeans with a wide leather belt. Hip huggers, they used to call them when he was her age. Her breasts filled her striped fine knit sweater with sexy curves. Light brown hair reached past her shoulders with just a hint of a curl. Her brown eyes were topped by straight bangs across her forehead. She was so cute, he thought, and young. She was only in her fourth year of college. A tinge of guilt crossed his mind but faded fast. She wanted to be with him as much as he enjoyed being with her.

  It was a rainy day when he met Sue for the first time. He was waiting out the downpour under the grand covered veranda at the University. It was a heavy rain with thunder rocking the afternoon skies, but it wouldn’t last. The storms were usually short. Tampa University was on the grounds of the old Tampa Hotel. The railroad tycoon Henry B. Plant built the extravagant resort at the foot of the Hillsborough River in Tampa during the late 1880s. It was a perfect whistle stop location along the tracks on the way to Miami and into the keys. Historical greats like Teddy Roosevelt, Babe Ruth and even the Queen of England graced the grand hotel which helped make Tampa more than just a dot on the map. The hotel’s wide veranda fronted the entire length of the structure with a welcoming boardwalk. Drath was standing in the center of the veranda waiting for a break in the storm when he first saw her.

  He didn’t know at the time that she was assigned to be his office intern. She was a business major and had been granted internship in her second year. It was usually awarded to fourth-year students. But, she was exceptional. She had earned almost a full year of college credit while in high school taking college courses in the SPAN program. That had given her an advantage. Additionally, she was an energetic, academic student who had always been on the honor roll and had perfect attendance. But when Drath first saw Sue, her academic record was not what he admired.

  She was soaking wet from the rain and came running in from the back parking lot on the other side of the building. Slipping and sliding on the wet grass she nimbly made it to the steps of the veranda without falling to the ground. Two steps at a time she bounded up the stairs to get under the covered porch. The cool rain on the hot day chilled her enough to excite her nipples which hardened under the thin fabric of a T-shirt with the university’s logo.

  “It’s pouring out there!” she said as she dodged under cover. “I’m soaked.” Too late, she crossed her arms across her chest modestly.

  “It is,” Drath agreed. “I’m waiting for a break in the storm to get to my car.”

  “Good luck!” she laughed as she turned and walked away.

  It was a short meeting, but one that stuck in his memory. A few days later when she walked into his office with her assignment papers, he recognized the girl immediately. Even dry she had a beautiful figure. She was a welcome addition to his office. He didn’t realize he needed an assistant but her efficiency, and office skills were more than helpful. Sue freed up time for him to expand his research and writing projects. She was helpful in those efforts too as she started proofing his work. It wasn’t long before Drath started wondering how he ever functioned without her.

  Shortly before the end of the first term of her internship a paper he wrote on black holes and warped space was published in Astronomy Magazine. It was a paper that she had helped proof. As a celebration, Drath invited her out for dinner after work one evening. It was a comfortable evening socializing that ended innocently enough without any questionable behavior between a student and an administrator. But Drath realized as he drove away, he really wished it would have ended differently.

  Apparently, Sue had the same thoughts. Before the term ended, she suggested they have another date after work. She picked a place with heavy romantic overtones. Their table was in a cozy corner with subdued lighting. The wine was sweet, and both of them enjoyed perhaps a glass too many. As they talked both of them knew where the evening would lead. There was a lustful fun to the conversation with playful banter. Neither of them set rules or made promises, but the seed of a relationship with
mutual advantage developed between them.

  The next term, Sue was again the assistant to the head of the mathematics department. It was a flattering entry on her resume that many business majors wanted, but only one could have. Over the next few months, their friendship grew and developed into an enjoyable affair. Both their sexual needs and professional needs were satisfied.

  Since he moved across the country to Tampa and started working at the University, he had been happy, but life in the sunshine state was different from his life in California. Sue helped, but it was still different. In California, he was part of a couple. He thought they were the perfect couple. Ever since his second year of college, when he met Linda, they had been inseparable. They met as members of a robotics team. Work or play, the couple could always be found together. Some people say that too much time together is a bad thing and it can destroy a relationship. But that was not the case for Drath and Linda. The more time they spent together, the more they fell in love.

  Linda was not exactly a fashion model, but she had her moments of beauty. She was far from plain, with long silky blond hair, bright blue eyes, and a dark tan. She was a typical California girl. Her thin waist accented a smallish bust line and wide hips. In Drath’s view, she was beautiful.

  Eventually, they found themselves both employed at Cal Tech. They had been a couple for more than ten years and knew each other inside and out. They were perfect for each other. Both of them loved their jobs and didn’t mind working long hours. Drath was teaching and in his spare time researching different theories on faster than light travel. He had published several articles in various magazines on the topic. He was researching the fine line between science fiction and theoretical physics. Some people called him a genius, others called him crazy. Linda didn’t seem to care what others said about her soul-mate, as long as he was hers. She was working in the engineering department. She had continued working in robotics and had taken the school’s team to national competitions several times. She was well liked and respected in her field. They were a perfect couple, in love with each other as much as in love with their time-consuming jobs.