Chapter No.17. Journey to Metropolis.

I was sitting at the command station in engineering listening to what Bridget was telling me about hyperspace, and I had trouble believing it.

"Hyperspace is affecting our biology," she said with a sly grin.

"How so?"

"It's causing us to stop aging."

"I understand time dilation affects our aging, but how could it stop aging completely?"

"I'm not sure, but I believe it's affecting how the quantum particles that make up our atoms function."

"That would violate the laws of physics concerning entropy,"

"Maybe in hyperspace, some physical laws don't apply," she said.

"How convenient," I said with a smirk. I hardened my expression. "Although, I don't think we really know what's going on here. Quantum physics allows for all sorts of crazy things like multiple states of existence, but we really don't have evidence for anything."

"I'm not sure what it's doing to us otherwise," she reacted. "Maybe we'll end up in limbo."

"That's a mythical concept. We're probably caught in Hell."

"I hope not," she said with a mock frown.

"Well, I suppose we can't do anything about it now."

"I think it's cool."

"Yeah, but let's hope it doesn't change us into infants."

She laughed.

The next morning, we embarked on a journey to the target galaxy. I was able to coax more power out of the engines so that we entered hyperspace at a better acceleration before engaging antimatter production. The bad news is that we would be in total darkness for close to a month with not much to do.

During the supper that evening, I decided to explore the idea that we weren't aging. "I'm having trouble with this aging suppression idea. How could we not age when we seem to be in normal time."

"There is no normal time," Janet said. "Time is relative. In our case, we're essentially traveling faster than light, so according to Einstein we would be progressing back in time, but that's not what's happening. Evidently, our time is frozen."

"Our ship chronometers seem to think we're in normal time. What's fooling them?"

"I think it's because we're in a dimension where time appears to be normal but isn't relative to outside the dimension."

"Isn't there some way we could verify that?"

"You said that your beard didn't grow much while in hyperspace and hibernation for twenty years. That proves that time was essentially frozen during that time." She tilted her head and smiled. "Let me ask you this; Have you had to shave after your initial robotic grooming?"

I rubbed my face. "Well . . . no I haven't."

"We gals have not had a period since we've been revived. I think that verifies that we're not aging."

I rubbed my face again. "This whole nonsense about hyperspace is mind boggling. It essentially suggests that we'll be in the past verses everything else in the universe."

"That's right. While we're essentially standing still, the rest of the universe is forging ahead into the future."

"Not to change the subject, but if we do find a habitable planet, are we going to colonize it?" Natale asked.

"How could we do that and not end up with offspring that could become genetically compromised?" I asked. "I'm the only male."

"What else could we do out here, just go from planet to planet?"

"I, for one, would like to know how that laser pistol battery ended up on the last planet. Is there another mission out here?"

"That's a possibility because they could be in the future," Janet said. "Maybe Earth worked out how to travel in hyperspace."

"Yeah, we're reduced to experimenting," I said, frowning. "We're essentially playing with fire."

Sharon smiled. "So far, the fire hasn't consumed us."

"We're just lucky," I said.

"I've been working on the quantum physics math that might explain what's going on with this hyperspace phenomenon," Bridget said. "It might help us travel more precisely in it."

"That would be a real help. I'm just doing rough calculations based on our past hyperspace trips."

Natale looked at Bridget with a subtle grin. "I might be able to help you with that."

Bridget smiled.

The days that followed were rather boringly routine. I spent most of my time down in engineering deck checking on the health of the engines and the antimatter production equipment. Any flaw or error in them would more than likely end up in a total disaster.

Natale and Bridget worked on the quantum math dealing with hyperspace, while Janet and
Sharon spent time tuning up the astronomy equipment, mostly the computer code that controlled it.

We only met to have supper together and discuss the day's work. For some strange reason being in hyperspace quelled the women's exuberance. I was satisfied with that. I didn't need them going wild. Maybe they finally grew up. I assumed that some of it could have been due to the fact that we were trapped together in a serious situation.

After the necessary calculated time in hyperspace, we dropped out of hyperspace literally inside the pure spiral galaxy that we had aimed at. Janet and Sharon immediately went to work trying to locate habitable planetary systems.

After hours of work, Janet had a report. "There's a habitable system a thousand light years ahead that we could reach with a proper burn to increase our velocity into a short hyperspace trip."

"How soon?" I asked.

"In a half hour."

"Okay, let's get in the G-seats."

We strapped in and waited for the burn, which only lasted fifteen minutes. As soon as it was finished and the wheels started up again, we got out of the seats and went to the command station.

After a short check, Janet had good news. "We're right on the button. We should be there in three days and a few hours. We'll need a short burn to put us in orbit after we come out of hyperspace."

"Orbit around what?"

"It's an Earth-like planet about 1.3 times the size of Earth orbiting a G3-V class star. It's the only rocky planet that just happens to be in the habitable zone. There are three gas giant planets and a M5 class red dwarf at 200 hundred AU. I think the system is stable, but I won't be sure until we get closer."

"It sounds good," I said. "Hopefully, it'll be stable enough to explore."

Sometimes you get your wish, but in this case, it was more than I bargained for.