The Deep Space Adventure

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

This story is also being hosted on Fanfiction.net ....
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11043396/2/The-Deep-Space-Adventure

BTW, Fireball XL5 is up on youtube for anyone that has never seen the TV show.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Steve and Robert made final adjustments to the ship's orbit with the maneuvering thrusters, and Astro quickly verified that the ship was in the planed orbit. “Looks good Steve.” he said.

“OK then.” Steve said. “Robert, you can go back to the main ships auxiliary bridge with Matt now. Tell Reno and Matt to get ready, we'll leave orbit as soon as they have the anti gravity engine stable for our flight to the test area.”

Robert got up out of the copilot's seat and headed for the door of the front cockpit. “A-U-X-I-L-I-A-R-Y C-O-N-T-R-O-L” Robert said as he left the cockpit.

Astro folded up the jump seat behind the copilot's position and took the right seat next to Steve.

“Plot us a course for Jupiter, Astro.” Steve ordered.

“Computed and locked into the navigation computer.” Astro quickly replied.

“Excellent!” Zodiac said.

One and a half orbits later, Reno's voice came over the intercom. “Matt and I have the Spindizzy powered up and all checked out. We can give you anti gravity drive as soon as we reach Jupiter.”

“OK then,” Steve answered over the intercom. “Everyone back there ready to leave orbit?”

“I'm all set.” Matt replied. “My console is tied in to both the navigation computer and the graviton instrumentation.”

“Everything is locked down in the medical section.” Dr. Venus reported.

“I'm all set at my station next to Professor Matic.” Reno answered.

“R-E-A-D-Y T-O G-O” Robert answered.

“OK Astro, take us out of orbit!” Steve said. “Let's see how you handle the controls of XL5.”

Astro engaged Fireball XL5's main engine and the ship accelerated out of orbit. He locked in a direct course for Jupiter. “He we go!” Astro replied, “I'm going to sling shot us around Jupiter on a heading that will take us to Neptune.”

“Sounds good.” Steve answered, watching the controls. “Good job Astro, I couldn't have done better myself!”

Colonel Zodiac picked up the microphone and adjusted the radio for Space City's tracking frequency.
“Space City control, this is Fireball XL5” he said.

Lieutenant Ninety answered, “We're tracking you XL5. How's it going?”

“Just leaving earth orbit now.” Steve answered. “ETA at Jupiter in 96 hours.”

“Roger that, XL5” Ninety replied. “Have a safe trip and good luck with Dr. Schlemiel's engine.”

Astro picked up the microphone on his station. “Space City, this is Astro.” he said, “Tell Professor Ochanomizu that everything is going well so far. Reno has everything under control back in the engineering area.”

“I hear you Astro,” Ochanomizu replied, “And Dr's Moss and Von Wormer wish you well too. They aren't in the main control room right now, they are in the computer section running some calculations.”

“Hai, Hakase!” Astro answered. “The fun starts in 96 hours!”

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

The Deep Space Adventure

4.

The four days spent en route to Jupiter were rather routine for the crew of Fireball XL5, and were therefore rather boring. Venus kept busy studying the various botanical specimens she kept on board the ship for research. Professor Matic had plenty of technical books in his library to keep himself busy. Steve stayed at his post in the pilot's seat reading one of several paperback western novels he never tired of re-reading. Reno spent the time re-programing Robert to play Shogi, he did such a good job of it that Matt's robot was able to beat him in 3 out of 4 matches.

Astro didn't have very much of anything to do. He lacked the ability to enjoy human cultural things such as music, literature, and art. He simply sat in the right seat of XL5's cockpit next to Zodiac and monitored the instruments. During their closest approach to the Moon, Astro reported their position to Moon base Alpha, standard protocol that Steve had him take care of. Two days into the flight, he reported in to the Mars base, again standard protocol that needed to be taken care of.

Finally, Jupiter began to appear large in the view screen. Reno and Matt double checked the instruments monitoring the Graviton Polarity Generator, and verified that the engine was ready to bring up to operational power status.

Astro took manual control of XL5, and swung the ship in a tight slingshot orbit around Jupiter, sending the ship on the desired path towards Neptune. “OK, everyone!” Astro spoke into the intercom, “It's show time!”

Steve walked though the cockpit cabin doors and took his seat in the captain's chair. He quickly scanned the instruments and saw that the ship was right on course. “Good work, Astro!” he said picking up the intercom mike. “Matt, Reno, you guys ready back there?”

“Ahi Steve.” Matt replied. “Just give the word and we can engage the anti gravity drive.”

“R-E-A-D-Y” Robert replied over the intercom.

“I've got everything safely stowed away here.” Venus replied. “Strapping myself into the flight chair now.”

“OK then,” Steve answered, “Let's test this thing. Giver her 25% power now!”

Reno advanced the power setting on the Spindizzy to 1/4 power. A dull hum began to drill its way though out the ship, and a gray mist clouded the view screen.

“What's happening?” Steve asked, “I can feel a vibration, and there now seems to be some kind of force field surrounding the ship, but we aren't moving any faster than before.”

Reno studied the instrumentation for a few minutes. Matt looked over his shoulder. “The system is definitely powered up.” Matt said.

“I think this is normal.” Reno replied. “At this power level the Spindizzy is just generating a force field around the ship. There still isn't enough power being applied to react with the mass of the ship. I recommend we notch it up to 50% power.”

“OK, let's try that.” Steve replied.

Reno advanced the power settings on the GPG. The dull hum increased to a loud buzzing sound, and the gray mist surround the ship became opaque. The stars disappeared from view and the view screen went dark.

“I don't think this is working correctly.” Steve said, “maybe we better shut it down an double check the wiring.”

“No!” Astro replied looking at the console instrumentation in front of him. “Reno, advance the GPG to 80% power.”

“OK!” Reno replied.

“Are you sure you know what you're doing Astro?” Steve asked.

“Yes, I think I understand this thing now.” Astro replied.

The buzzing vibration smoothed out as Reno advanced the power setting. The view out the front screen returned as the force field surrounding the ship became transparent to visible light.

“We're moving Steve.” Matt replied. “My navigation instruments indicated a sudden acceleration.”

“I didn't feel anything.” Steve said.

“Me neither,” Matt added, “But we're coming up on the orbit of Uranus now!”

“What's our velocity now?” Steve asked.

Astro examined the instrumentation in front of him. “About 1/2 C and increasing!” he replied. “At this speed, we'll reach Neptune in less than an hour!”

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Reno's voice came over the intercom. “Colonel Zodiac, please try the throttle control, I've got the Spindizzy tied into your engine control now. You can use the Aux switch to transfer control between the Nutomic rockets and the Anti Gravity engines.”

“Roger that Reno.” Steve replied. “Switching to Aux 1 position, now.”

Steve engaged the throttle control and observed the readings on the space velocity indicator. “Yes, I seem to have control of our speed now. Good work back there!”

“Coming up on Neptune now, Steve.” Matt announced from his navigation position back in the main body of the ship.

“Roger that, Matt.” Steve replied, “I can see the planet now in our forward view screen.”

“Now what do we do?” Astro asked.

“Plot us a course beyond Pluto into the Kuiper belt.” Steve said. “According to our best data, Fireball XL13 was lost somewhere between here and the region beyond Pluto. Let's try pushing the Spindizzy a bit harder while we're at it. I'd like to see if we can actually prove Einstein wrong and break the light barrier.”

“Even if we do exceed the speed of light we might not actually be breaking the laws of relativity.” Reno piped in over the intercom. “Since we are using anti gravity for propulsion, we may actually be bending space-time, which Einstein did allow for.”

“I'll let you and Matt argue that point.” Steve laughed. Give me full power on the Spindizzy, and I'll control our trajectory from here. Astro, stand by to take control if us humans should blank out.”

“I'm ready.” Astro replied. “Course into the Kuiper belt plotted and locked in.”

“OK everyone, he we go!” Steve announced. He pushed forward on the throttle and Fireball XL5 shot forward. As their speed increased , the star-field in the forward view screen started to shift into the blue spectrum, and the pin points of stars elongated into coma like objects.

“Strange, I don't feel the acceleration.” Colonel Zodiac said.

“The Graviton Polarity Generator puts out a damping field that surrounds the ship.” Reno explained over the intercom. “That field is protecting us from the effects of our rapid acceleration, as well as blue shifted cosmic rays!”

As Fireball XL5 increased speed, the forward view field started to shrink. The effect was like the vignetted image formed by a narrow field lens trying to project on a wide field.
“Velocity 0.95C!” Astro read from his instruments. “0.96C, 0.98C, 0.99, 0.995!”
The forward star field shrunk down to a pinpoint. “0.999C” Astro read off the instrumentation.

BOOOOOOM! Fireball XL5 shuddered as if it had just smashed its way through a brick wall. The forward view field exploded into a burst of multicolored light that momentarily took on the appearance of an infinite number of concentric rainbows. Then they appeared to be back in normal space, as the stars ahead of them appeared normal, but the star field off to their sides was stretched into lines that looked like spectra screen through a grating.

“What's our speed now?” Steve asked.

“Warp 1.1!” Astro laughed. “We just punched a hole in the light barrier!”

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Steve Zodiac opened the intercom. “Everyone back there feeling OK?” he asked. “We've just set a new WSP speed record which probably has Albert Einstein rolling over in his grave right now.”

“I didn't notice a thing.” Professor Matt Matic replied.

“I'm fine too.” Reno replied.

“I've been monitoring everyone's vital signs remotely from the medical computer.” Dr. Venus answered. “Except for a bit of an adrenaline rush nobody is showing any abnormal readings.”

“Well Astro, it looks like you might be out of a job as second in command.” Steve said.

“I'm glad that everyone isn't affected by the jump to light speed.” Astro replied, “and I'm sure you'll fine something else for me to do around here!”

“Well the mission has hardly started yet.” Steve answered. “We still have to find those missing ships. Astro, can you plot us a course for the last know position of XL4?”

“Sure Steve.” Astro answered. “I've examined the telemetry data from XL7's last transmission. From that I've been able to put together a possible track for where XL7 and XL4 might have gone. XL7 had a good trace on XL4's last radio transmissions, she transmitted that along with her own position data back to Space City for a few hours before she also disappeared.”

Astro punched up an image on the computer which now displayed on the main screen. “Both ships must have passed beyond Pluto's orbit and went deep into the Kuiper belt."
Astro increased the magnification on the display. “I've projected XL7's speed and vectors at several points along her known track before her radio transmissions ceased. Notice something strange?”

“Yes, I see it!” Matt replied from back in the engineering section where he had been looking at the image on a remote computer monitor on his desk. “XL7 appears to have rapidly accelerated at a rate beyond what her nutomic engines could produce.”

“Exactly!” Astro replied. “It almost looks like she was being pulled by some external force.”

“Jumping space fish!” Steve replied. “This sounds like some alien threat to me. Someone must have laid a trap for those missing ships.”

“Could be.” Astro said. “And we are going to head right into it, aren't we?”

“Hopefully, we'll spot the trap before we get caught by it.” Steve answered. “OK Astro, take over. As a robot, your instincts and reactions are probably more hair triggered than mine.”

“Roger.” Astro replied as he assumed control of XL5 from the right seat. “Course locked in, we'll follow in the same path that XL4 and XL7 did before they disappeared.”

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Astro engaged the Spindizzy drive and followed the course that he had locked in. They headed out past Neptune until they reached the edge of the Kuiper belt. Steve disengaged the Anti-gravity drive and switched to the Nutomic engine. “Matt, any sign on our sensors?”

“Nothing Steve.” Matt replied. “I'm not picking up anything on the long range sensors.”

“I don't like this.” Steve replied. “It makes no sense for those ships to just disappear without any trace at all. Not debris, no ionic trails, nothing. Astro, are you sure we are on the same course that XL7 and XL4 were on?”

“If the telemetry data from XL7 and the tracking radar scans from Space City are correct, yes.” Astro answered.

“I'll take over from here and fly a zigzag course at space normal speed for awhile.” Steve suggested. “Astro, you and Matt operate the long range sensors and give a yell the moment you spot anything.”

“OK.” Astro replied “I'll go back and join Matt and Reno in engineering and monitor from there.”

“OK” Steve answered.

For the next 72 hours Steve and Astro took turns in the cockpit flying a zigzag course. Reno and Matt alternated manning the sensors. There was still no sign of the missing ships, no debris, no trace of low level Nutomic exhaust from the ships engines. Astro was in the engineering section with Matt and Reno when the ship suddenly lurched forward.

“What's going on Steve?” Matt cried over the intercom, “Did you spot something?”

“No that wasn't me!” Steve replied. “XL5 seems to be out of control, we're being pulled off course and I can't break free. I don't see anything ahead of us that could be responsible for this.”

Matt and Astro quickly activated the forward sensors, but they couldn't find anything on the short or long range views. “There's nothing showing up on our sensors Steve.” Matt yelled. “Whatever is responsible for this seems to be invisible!”

Reno had been adjusting the Graviton density monitor during all this. He suddenly got up and ran towards the front cockpit of XL5, with Astro quickly following him.
Steve had already swung XL5 180 degrees about and had engaged full power on the Nutomic rockets.

“It's no use.” he said, “Even with full power I can't break free of whatever is pulling us.”
Reno pushed Steve away from the controls. “Let me handle this!” he yelled. Reno quickly transferred control from the Nutomic engines back to the Graviton Polarity drive. He engaged full power and XL5 began to pull away from the force yanking it off course. He soon had the ship back under control.

“I should have thought of that!” Steve replied.

“You would have if you knew what was ahead of us.” Reno said. “We can't see it because it neither radiates nor reflects any light. We can't detect it on our sensors because it can't be detected with electromagnetic radiation. But it does have mass, lots of it. It can only be detected by observing it using a gravity wave detector.”

“The graviton density detector equipment.” Steve replied.

“Exactly.” Reno said. “I've tied it into the ships forward view screen, take a look.”
Reno switched the viewer to the output of the Graviton density detector, and the object appeared on the screen.

“My god, that thing is huge!” Steve yelled.

“Yes, it's over 3 A.U. in diameter.” Reno replied, “and it has the mass of an entire solar system! Only the anti-gravity engine would have enough power to counter act that much gravity.”

“So that's what was pulling us in, a huge gravitational field.” Steve replied. “But what the hell is that thing?”

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

The Deep Space Adventure

5.

Steve Zodiac took over the controls and brought Fireball XL5 into a close orbit around the dark object. The ships searchlights provided barely enough illumination to scan the surface of the thing. Just as Reno had described, it was a sphere nearly three times the distance Earth was from the sun in diameter. They were now close enough to its surface to scan it, yet the anti-gravity engine was powerful enough to keep them from being pulled any closer to it.

“The surface of this thing is metallic, and get this, it's hollow inside!” Astro said reading the instruments. “Now that we are this close I can detect some IR radiation coming from from it. The walls of the object are a few hundred miles to a few thousand miles thick, but inside it is mostly hollow. What's incredible is just how much energy is being produced inside of the thing. We are only seeing a fraction of that in the form of IR on the outside.”

“This makes no sense.” Colonel Zodiac blurted out. “It can't be a natural object.”

“No, it's definitely been made by a highly advanced civilization.” Reno replied. “I now know what this thing is, though I never thought that I'd ever see one.”

“What is it!” Astro and Steve demanded.

“Gentlemen, we are looking at a Dyson Sphere!” Reno replied. “Deep in the center of this hollow metal ball is a sun, probably a G class star, a bit larger than our own. Some advanced civilization has taken apart their solar system and used the matter to build a huge sphere to enclose their sun. Since the diameter of the sphere is about 50% larger than the Earth's orbit, we can take a good guess at the output of the sun, it must be somewhat brighter than our own so that just the right amount of energy reaches the inner surface of the sphere. I bet they also have the ability to move this sphere anywhere in the galaxy that they want.”

“Why the hell would anyone want to build such a thing?” Steve asked.

“To capture the entire energy output of a star.” Reno explained. “I think we should back off from this thing. Any civilization that can build a Dyson Sphere is a power to be reckoned with. If they are responsible for the disappearance of our ships, we are in great danger being this close to this object!”

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Suddenly an opening began to appear on the surface of the sphere as what appeared to be a doorway slide aside. XL5 was enveloped in a bright beam of light and they felt themselves being pulled towards the opening.

“Matt, give me full power on the Spindizzy!” Steve yelled into the intercom as he applied full reverse throttle on the anti-gravity drive.

“It's no good!” Reno replied as he flipped dials on the graviton density meter. “We only have a fraction of the power needed to break free from them.”

XL5 rotated ninety degrees and began to move nose first towards the opening in the Dysan sphere. They didn't pick up a great amount of speed, their movement into the opening was gradual, and gentle.

“Looks like they don't want to destroy us, at least not right away.” Astro remarked.

The ship entered what appeared to be a long tunnel, the walls of which were smooth with hardly any texture. “I think we are passing though some kind of force field.” Reno remarked, “This tunnel doesn't appear to be a physical path though the sphere, it's almost like the molecules in the outer wall have moved aside to let us pass, almost like Moses parting the red sea” he explained.

There was a light ahead of them as the neared the end of the passageway into the interior of the sphere. Suddenly, they broke through to an astounding sight. Dead ahead of them, some 1.5 AU away, was a class G5 star. Through his telescope, Matt could detect several minor satellites in orbit around the sun between it and the inner surface of the Dyson Sphere. The sphere itself consisted of a wide band of planetary material spinning about the sun's equator, and an upper and lower hemisphere covered with solar collectors. Matt and Reno made use of the ship's scientific instruments to examine the interior of their confinement.

“It appears that the occupants of this place live along the band of land that orbits around the equator of the sun.” Matt explained. “The measurement for the thickness of the sphere that Reno measured only applies to this equatorial region of the sphere. The mass, along with the rotation of the sphere would supply near earth normal gravity to anyone standing on the inner surface of that region. The upper and lower hemispheres of the sphere are much thinner and seem to serve as energy collectors to capture solar radiation. The amount of power available to this civilization would be incredible!”

Gradually, Fireball XL5 was drawn towards a region near the edge of the inhabited band near the northern hemisphere. Matt piped the telescope's image onto the ship's view screen. “I think this is where they are taking us.” he said.

In the view screen they saw what looked like a docking bay suspended in space several miles above the edge of the wide equatorial band. There were three other ships tied to the dock, and they could make out the markings on them. “Looks like we've found XL7, XL4 and XL13!” Matt said.

“I'll try and raise them on the radio,” Steve said. “Fireball XL7, XL4, XL13. This is XL5, do any of you read me?” He spoke into the microphone.

There was no answer. Steve tried several times to raise the other XL ships, but there was only static on the radio. “Maybe, they've been removed to the surface of the sphere.” Astro suggested.

“That could be.” Reno replied. “I'm not getting any power readings from any of those ships. They're all dead in space at the dock.”

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

With a sudden jolt that shook the ship, Fireball XL5 came to a sudden stop next to the other three XL ships. There didn't seem to be any indication of life or power aboard XL4, 7, or 13. Astro scanned the ships using XL5's sensors and picked up no signs of power radiation, or any life forms on board the ships. The view ports and windows of the ships were dark.

“Either their crews are dead, or they were taken off the ships and are being held captive.” Astro said.

“I know the crew of XL7, they wouldn't have given up without a fight.” Steve replied. “OK everyone, let's meet in the conference room for a council of war.”

“What's happening?” Dr. Venus asked.

“It seems that we've been taken captive aboard this Dyson Sphere.” Matt Matic replied. “I've been examining the interior of this place using my telescope and radar equipment, and it's fascinating. Who ever created this must be centuries, or even millennia ahead of us on earth.”

“But why would such an advanced civilization take hostile action against us?” Steve asked.

“They might simply be studying us, like we might study lower life forms on earth.” Reno suggested.

“Now that's a scary thought.” Steve replied.

Suddenly an ear splitting howl caused Steve, Matt, Venus, and Reno to cover their ears. Astro realized what was going on even though he was not affected by the sound. A shimmering glow appeared around each of the human members of the crew, and they faded away, leaving Astro alone in XL5 with Robert!

The crew of Fireball XL5 materialized inside of a metal room with no windows or doors. There were numerous cots, tables and chairs. Seated in the room were the crews of the other three XL ships.

“Steve Zodiac!” Kevin Meteor said, “They got you guys too?”

“Kinda looks that way.” Steve replied. “You guys OK?”

“They're treating us well enough so far, whoever or whatever they are.” Maxwell Rapid replied. “We've been feed and our hygiene needs taken care of, although the food is a little on the tasteless side.”

“Hey, Astro and Robot are missing!” Reno cried out. “They were in the conference room with us, but they weren't transported out of the ship.”

“I guess our hosts don't think that our robots pose a threat to them.” Kevin replied. “The robot we have on XL7 wasn't transported off the ship with us either.”

“Unless they took the robots else where.” Steve replied.

“No, when I scanned the ships I did detect the presence of a Robot on XL7.” Reno answered. “He was shut down, maybe he ran out of power.”

“Now what are we going to do?” Venus sighed.

“Well, if the beings that captured us think Astro isn't a threat to them, they have a surprise coming!” Reno laughed. “He'll think of something!”

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Astro tried to grab hold of Reno's hand as he was shimmering, but the boy faded away and Astro's grip on him now held nothing but air. “Damn!” he yelled, they've transported the crew somewhere!” Astro turned around and saw that Robert was still standing behind him. “Well, Robert, I guess it's all up to us robots now. Follow me!”

Astro headed back towards Matt Matic's engineering station with Robert following him “F-O-L-L-O-W A-S-T-R-O” he repeated several times along the way. Astro sat in Matt's station and began to scan outside the ship using the various instruments. The desk rotated around facing the different monitors mounted at various positions hanging on the ceiling. “Give me a hand, Robert” Astro said, “can you do a life sign sweep for anything in the area surround this docking area?”

“S-C-A-N S-W-E-E-P” Robert said walking over to an instrument panel on the wall. The two of them kept at their tasks for several minutes, but nothing was showing up. “This Dyson Sphere is a huge place.” Astro sighed out loud, “it could take me years to find them this way.”

Suddenly the instruments went dark and the ship became very quiet. The power monitor registered a massive power outage throughout the ship. Robert became limp and fell over sideways, lying on the floor in front of Astro. For a moment, Astro felt like he might black out himself, but his internal backup power regulator kicked in and his momentary dizziness faded. Astro walked over to Robert and opened his front panel. He then opened his own chest panel and extracted an interface cable which he plugged into Robert. “OK pal, lets see if I can lend you some power.”

Astro brought up his heads up display and was able to diagnose Robert's systems through the network cable they now shared. “I see the problem, seems they've planted a little bug in your power control firmware. Good thing I'm programmed in a different OS and I'm immune to it.”

Robert came back on line and got up. “Hold on a sec Robert, I'm not done yet.” Astro said. “I'm not as good a computer hacker as Reno, but your AI isn't quite as complex as mine, I think I can understand the code well enough. Now let's see...” Astro patched a few subroutines, and uploaded some of his own. “There that ought to do it.”

“THANK YOU!” Robert said.

“Yeah, that did it.” Astro smiled. “I think I've raised your IQ a few notches there.”

“WE HAVE VISITORS!” Robert replied.

“Yeah, it seems that our hosts have beamed themselves on board.” Astro said. “Let's both play dead and see if we can get the drop on them.”

Astro got back into Matt's chair and slumped over on the desk. He put himself into a low power suspended mode, only keeping his sensors powered up. Robert sat down on the floor next to Astro, slumped over with his head in his lap. All of his internal LED indicators went dark.


Two beings materialized in Fireball Jr's cockpit area.

“Good, our power down of the ship seems to be successful.” The first one said.

“I don't detect any emissions from any cybernetic processors on my scanner,” the second one replied holding an instrument about the size of a large cell phone. “It looks like we've been able to take the two robots off line as well.”

“Excellent!” the first being answered. “Are there any other Earth space ships in the area?”

“No, we've captured all of them.” The second replied. “Earth hasn't yet sent any more patrol ships into the Kuiper belt.”

“Good. That will give us some time to throughly examine them.” The first said. “We can proceed to bring these four Earth ships into our engineering dome.”

“How much longer do we have before we must leave this system?” the second being asked.

“About one hundredth of an orbit of the third planet.” The first replied. “Then we must take our Sphere out of this system and return to our own arm of the galaxy.”