This is the content from 2002, the year I actually completed NaNoWriMo.
Bonus Material: The Unrelated Short Story and Part 2
Excerpt Special: The Interview
I wasn't at all certain about the several days' grace I'd described to the captain, but I figured that if something really major happened sooner than that I could just handle things the old fashioned way.
I had a couple of clever ideas, one of which only took me a few hours to set up. Both involved simply writing a new series of commands for the computers that controlled the interstellar drive. If everything worked according to plan, we'd be able to deal with almost any purely external threat in a satisfactory way.
The ship spent a long four days wondering whether or not our mysterious incident would be repeated. Once during that time I ended up on the bridge while the captain dealt with a false alarm. Dining in the captain's quarters became a solemn and thoughtful interlude during an otherwise nervous existence.
Turns out that both of my guesses were right. The entity that tried to grab us eventually caught up, and it had a friend.
A short tremor was all the warning we had. Every light in the ship went out for a few seconds as we dropped back into fully normal space. With the return of starlight - or rather galaxy light since we were travelling between galaxies - came another, very strange display. In front of us we saw a milky, gaseous object. The aft sensor array picked up a second cloud creature. The brave ship Magellan was trapped between the two.
Captain Archie reached the bridge a half minute ahead of me. We both cheated: her cabin was situated much closer to the bridge than mine, and I took advantage of the temporary power loss to teleport part of the way there.
"Mister Wolfe! Is this what you expected?"
"More or less, Captain."
"Have you a solution?"
"Yessir." I ousted the Chief Engineer from our designated station and started calling up programs. A quick probe of the entities told me that they were some kind of higher-dimensional beings, overgrown amoebas that lived both in and out of physical space. I picked the contingency plan that would do the least amount of harm to all involved.
The hungry cloud formations closed on the ship.
"Well, Mister Wolfe?"
"Give me thirty more seconds, sir. And you might want to alert the crew. Tell them to brace for impact."
"Tell them what?"
"Captain, just do it! You'll understand in a minute!"
She toggled the all-system comm switch. "All hands, this is the captain. Brace for impact. I repeat, all hands brace for impact!"
"Grab onto something, everybody!" And with that I stabbed the execution key.
The Magellan's drive screamed in protest, then the ship lurched violently as the lights went out once more.
It took a few minutes for light, and order, to be restored to the ship.
"Mister Andrew Wolfe," the captain began slowly, "would you please do me the honor of explaining what the hell just happened?"
"Take a look outside, sir."
"I'll... what? Nav, give me a visual!" The three-quarter dome that enclosed the bridge area went black, then pinpoints of light appeared in every direction. "What the hell?"
"Welcome to the Andromeda Galaxy, folks."
"You said what? Explain, now."
I grinned merrily at the captain. "You know, the drive system in this tub was designed to get you from the Milky Way to Andromeda in four years using the warpfield bubble. Apparently nobody thought to try a more direct approach. It's a shame, really, since ideally I'd have wanted to test my theory on an unmanned vessel. We were dead either way, and I figured that a test of the spacefold program would be preferable to negotiating with those oversized energy clouds."
The Chief Engineer stared at me. "Space... fold?"
"Yes, Chief. If you can project the bubble to a location, then form a compatible bubble around yourself, you get nearly instantaneous translocation as certain quantum effects take over. Essentially you cheat the bubble system by existing in two places at once, then discarding the unwanted version."
Captain Archie climbed to her feet and stepped over to the enginering station. "How sure of success were you?"
"Damned sure, Captain."
"Do you know what you've done?"
"Cut about, oh, five years off of this mission, give or take."
She absorbed that notion for a moment, then said, "That's not what I meant. You've just created a new kind of space travel!"
It didn't hurt for her to think that, but I can't take credit. The space propulsion scholars among you will recognize where I got that little trick. I'm just glad the Magellan's engines were up to the job.
"I'll tell you what, sir. We can name it after you: The Archimedes Drive."
"That's not funny, Mister Wolfe."
"I'm not trying to be, Captain Archie. You're not naming it after me, I can tell you that. I suppose The Magellan Drive works almost as well, but..." I shrugged my shoulders and smiled as winningly as I could.
She frowned at me, then turned to address the rest of the bridge crew. "Okay people. Comprehensive status reports from all departments in my file queue by shift's end. Nav, I want to know where the hell we are. Medical, how many people got banged around by Mister Wolfe's little stunt. Gunnery, we're here a year early, let's make sure we're ready for potential hostiles. You know what to do, people, get to it." To me she added, "You. My office. Now." And then she marched off of the bridge.
The captain's office consisted of a waiting room next to her private quarters. I don't think she believed in normal office furniture, not even a desk. She was already sitting in her overstuffed recliner, and she indicated that I should take a seat on the couch.
Captain Archie started slowly, obviously building up her anger. "So let me see if I have this right. Nobody else on this ship knew what that earlier tremor meant. You knew. Nobody else was consulted when you decided to invent a new kind of space travel from whole cloth in less than a day. You did it all by yourself. Who the hell are you, and what do you want?"
It was time to tread carefully. "Those are two particularly defining questions, Captain. There's a story I could tell you, but we don't have the time." I paused. "Look. I don't want anything from you or from this ship. I am what you see: an engineer in service to Federated Interstellar Exploration, Incorporated. I happen to know a bit more about propulsion systems and quantum mechanics than your average starship engineer, and I knew that the theory was sound. Trying to bring in the other engineers would have added time we didn't have, since it would then have been necessary to teach them at least some of what I know. Under other circumstances I'd have done it the right way, but as it turns out I was right about it being a matter of life and death."
"How did you know?"
"I didn't." This was actually true. The effort of probing outside of our spacewarp bubble would have been tiring and might have exposed my true nature. "It was a calculated guess based on the facts. You and I discussed it that very day."
"I know that, Mister Wolfe. I'm not stupid."
"Never said you were, sir."
She growled, "It doesn't add up. You're too good. You know too much."
"I hate to put it this way, Captain, but... do you still trust me? I asked you to do so before. Now we're alive and at our destination. I've done you no harm, nor have I jeopardized the crew any more than absolutely necessary. And again, I ask nothing for what I've done. I'm just doing my job."
"You're a hero. That's what you get out of this."
I shook my head. "No way. If anyone asks, I took action on your orders. All I did was provide a solution to a possible problem."
"And that explains why we were together so much of the last couple of months? It's very neat, too neat in fact. People won't believe it. Hell, I don't believe it."
Laughing, I said, "You don't have to, and who cares what anyone else believes? As long as you and I stick to that story, they'll have to deal with it. They can think what they like in private. It can't change the fact that we're here, alive, and have a way to get home in a fraction of the time we took getting here."
Now it was Captain Archie's turn for headshaking. "And you didn't do all of this just to impress me?"
"I'm afraid not," I chuckled. "Not that I won't go out of my way to impress a beautiful woman on occasion, mind you. I was just doing my job."
"You've caused me all kinds of trouble, Mister Wolfe. One, we need to gear up for our survey ahead of schedule."
"No problem," I interrupted, "since we still gain a few months even if the survey prep takes the four months originally planned."
"I'm not done! Two, we're going to need to assess the damage your little trick may have done to our ship. Three, we need to rig the engines to repeat that trick so we can get home, preferably with accuracy and in one piece."
"Accuracy isn't an issue with the computers on this ship, sir. They're surprisingly good."
"And last but certainly far from least, you and I are going to have to continue dining together. Nobody's going to believe that I'm going to let the man who saved us all leave my bed any time soon, no matter what you and I agree to say."
I couldn't help it. I started giggling.
"It's not funny, damn you! You've put me through months of frustration, and now there's no end in sight."
Between giggles, I managed to gasp, "Hardship builds character."
So she threw a cushion at me. Several, truth be told.
The Magellan stayed in Andromedan space for nearly three years. After two short-hop tests of the Archimedes Program, we were ready to plot our course back home.
With the launch only a few hours away, and our arrival only minutes after that, the captain summoned me to her quarters. She woke me out of a sound sleep, no less. If I didn't know better, I'd say she waited until I actually decided to indulge in some relaxing slumber, but that would mean she was spying on me.
I took my time getting into uniform and making myself generally presentable. She wasn't happy about being kept waiting, but I had no intention of dancing to her tune at this late hour. Especially in her bedroom.
"You rang, sir?"
"In a few hours this will all be over."
"True, Captain."
"We've had some fun, haven't we?"
I thought I could see where this was going. "In between the dull stretches of monitoring survey probes and collating astrogational data, sure. Then again, one exciting event like we had getting here is more than enough, wouldn't you agree?"
She nodded. "That was certainly about all I could take. You don't foresee anything similar happening on our way back, do you?"
"I don't think so, sir."
"What makes you so sure?"
I shrugged. "I can't be completely sure, Captain, but since we haven't heard from our glowing intergalactic friends for three years I think it's safe to assume that they can't use the same technique. We should skip right past them."
"Drop it, Andrew."
"You said what?"
"I said drop it. The act. The disguise, whatever it is. I'm tired of it."
Clearing my throat, I said, "Begging your pardon, sir, but there is no act. No disguise."
"Oh?" Once again her ability to shade a simple question with meaning impressed me. "How did you do it?"
"Do what, exactly?"
"Get to the bridge so fast?"
Oh. That. "I'm afraid I'm not following you."
"Nonsense. You really are a bad liar, you know that? I guess that makes me feel better, in a way, since now I know you were telling me the truth about the rest. Part of the truth, anyway."
"It's not my strong point, I admit. I apologize, but you have to understand that I had to try."
"Bugger that. What you 'have to' do is tell me the truth. How did you do it? I went over the records. The ship wasn't that badly damaged, and your locator bracelet clearly travelled more than half the ship's length in the space of three seconds."
"You went over the records."
"Damned right I did. I knew where you were when those blobs grabbed us, and I know how soon you made it to the bridge."
"Yet you haven't asked until now. For what it's worth, I thank you for your discretion."
She sighed. "Discretion hell. I was afraid. I'm not sure I want to know, but if I don't ask now I'll never get the chance again. Will I?" Her eyes met mine and I could tell she knew that I was going to vanish without a trace once the mission was over.
I, too, sighed. "You're right. After tomorrow you're never going to see me again. Look, if you've sat on this knowledge for three years then you can handle the truth. You've earned it, and I can trust you."
"Should I sit down?"
"It wouldn't be a bad idea, Ursula."
Her eyebrows went up. "You know I hate that name, don't you?"
"I only use it to make sure you understand how serious this is."
"Understood. Please... do continue."
"Once you're sitting down." She didn't sit so much as lounge upon her bed. Close enough. "Okay then. My name is Andrew Kirkpatrick Wolfe. I belong to an organization known as The Order. The reason you haven't heard of them is that we're not from your part of the universe."
She gasped. "You're an alien?"
"No, nothing like that." I grinned. "I'm human, but from another part of the cosmos. How much astronomical theory are you familiar with, Captain?"
"Enough to get by, why?"
"Let's just say that the part about multiple universes is close enough to accurate for the purpose of this discussion."
"So you're a smartass from another universe."
"Actually, that does about sum it up."
"Except for how you got to the bridge so fast."
Grinning again, I said, "I was hoping you'd forgotten about that."
"Not on your life, mister."
"Fair enough. In addition to being a wandering, professional smartass," I smirked at her, "I'm also a highly talented and quite powerful sorcerer."
"Sorcerer," she repeated.
"Yes." And I proceeded to give her the three dollar show, including teleportation, psychokinesis, lights and sounds. At the end she was reduced to staring in childlike awe.
Once she recovered, she asked, "Why? Why us? Why didn't you just, um, zap those entities? Where will you go next?"
I chuckled. "One question at a time, miss."
Captain Archie recovered quickly. "Why us, then?"
"The Order sends us out to deal with certain kinds of potential problems. We aren't always given all the information, though, and sometimes we're just along for the ride in case something unusual comes up."
"So you really didn't know what was going on back there?"
"I told you the truth, Captain. It's possible that I could have probed outside the spacewarp bubble to determine the exact danger we faced, but I'd have been risking discovery. With a workable plan of action, such a risk was unneccessary."
"You don't want to call attention to yourself. You work behind the scenes as much as you can. Interesting line of work you're in, I'd say."
I smiled. "I suppose you could say that, yes. And you're absolutely right. It's not our job to be the heroes. I don't need fame or fortune, since my abilities guarantee me any amusement or perk I could want. Would you believe that I'm building a villa at the top of an island on a world no human before me has ever laid eyes on? That's all the job satisfaction I need, to be honest."
"It sounds like a nice way to make a living. Helping people, solving problems, travelling the universe. Are you hiring?"
"You're serious." It wasn't a question.
"I don't want to be home so soon. You remember what we talked about?"
"That I do. You should think about what you're asking, however. It's dangerous work sometimes."
"So is this."
"Okay, but you're also going to live for thousands of years. You're going to answer to an authority that is sometimes a bit whimsical. The jobs aren't always as glamorous as this one."
She smiled at me. "I could have made this job a bit more glamorous for you, you know."
"Perhaps," I replied. "Do you understand now why I, ah, turned you down?"
"Not one bit. How many more like you are there where you come from?"
She actually caught me off guard with that one. As soon as I stopped coughing and got my breath back, I answered, "That depends on what you mean, Archie. I like to think that I'm unique, but you know the old saying."
"Remember that you're unique, just like everybody else."
"You got it. Well, we're all in good shape, reasonably intelligent, moderately powerful folks." I paused. "Look, Captain, this isn't something you take lightly. You'd be leaving everything and everyone you know behind. Forever. People you care about will be dead long before you even complete your training. If you think for even an instant, in the deepest part of your soul, that this is going to be a problem, you need to tell me right now."
"I took this mission to leave behind everything and everyone. Nothing in the last four years has changed how I feel. Now, can I seriously sign up or are you toying with me?"
After a long, hard look at her, I nodded.
To this day, I'm the only person who's allowed to call her Ursula.
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