Flight Of The Anasazi
By David Billiot
Copyright 2026: All rights reserved
Chapter 4: Back In The Saddle
Technon station was the location of the meeting. The station was in orbit in the habitable zone but all the way on the other side of the sun from home. Mark was waiting in a chair in a huge hangar. The spinning drum that caused the station’s artificial gravity meant you could always know which direction was which. Walking in the same direction that the station spun felt one way but walking perpendicular felt different, like your body wanted to veer off to the side.
Tables and chairs were set up. Mark was at the tables as part of the panel and several chairs were set up as a kind of audience. While this was not exactly a secret meeting, there was nonetheless a certain air of secrecy about all of this. The chairs and all were set up in the middle of the hangar with the walls being very distant. It was eerie.
Senator Freedman came and sat next to Mark and then many of the others in attendance came to take their seats.
“Alright.” said the man who was in charge of who would get a chance to speak. Mark had never met him but could see from the insignia on his uniform that he was a rear admiral. “You should all have your packets. Please take out the documents and let’s make sure everyone has everything.”
Most of the meeting at the beginning was everyone introducing themselves and going over details that really didn’t have anything to do with why they were assembled there. Amanda Roma was there. Mark had never yet met her personally so it was no surprise when she had no idea who Mark was. Mark was introduced to everyone as a retired test pilot and special subject matter expert.
Amanda Roma started to give some remarks to everyone about the importance of the mission and Mark had a bit of trouble understanding her. His mind wandered to consider the fact that even though he lived in the northern hemisphere it was said that he had a southern accent. Amanda Roma’s people lived on an island but she was said to have a continental accent. It was puzzling how these naming conventions must have come about.
Mark tried to bring his mind back to the important matter at hand and he looked down over the materials printed in front of him. Yes, he had serious concerns about this mission. The plan was to send Amanda Roma in charge of a crew of 12 six lightyears away. The crew would not be scientists or military test pilots. The crew were tv personalities and influencers who would document the experience like it was entertainment. The only science done during the mission would be automatically carried out by automated systems on the ship.
“Ok.” the admiral said. “Thank you for that lieutenant commander.”
“Always pleasure, Admiral Black.” she responded.
“Now I want to open it up for comments and questions.”
Mark heard the senator say in a voice only loud enough for Mark to hear “Make it count.”
Mark swallowed and then put his hand up.
“Yes, Captain Adakai.”
“I want to make sure I understand.” Mark said. “This is a civilian flight. Why are we using military hardware?”
The admiral looked uncomfortable. “This mission is not intended to have a military purpose but currently only the military has access to the required technology and resources to make it happen.”
“Alright. Has a D13 flight been done?”
“This mission is the D13 flight.” said another panelist.
“Five months ago one hundred and thirty seven people died because of an FTL failure.” Mark said. “You’re talking about sending a ship six lightyears away and they have to be in FTL for over two months, continuously, to get there. And to do what? Smile for the camera? What happens if the ship breaks down in orbit around the red dwarf? What happens if the ship gets stranded only halfway? This rescue plan here is totally inadequate. We still have ships that get lost at sea because the ocean creates too large of a search area. The distances you’re looking at here are vast. Even with an FTL, if something goes wrong, that’s it. There is no hope of anyone even being able to find you and any message you send for help won’t arrive for years.”
“I’m sorry.” one of the engineers spoke up.
“I’m not about to sit here and get lectured by a community college substitute teacher.” the laureate in physics said.
“Again, patriarchy wants to mansplain to us.” Amanda Roma added.
“Order.” the admiral said. “The captain has brought up some concerns. Let’s address them.”
“There is nothing to address.” Amanda Roma said. “He does NOT know what he is talking about. Who is he anyway?”
“The flight has been deemed to be perfectly safe. The crash of the Black Cat, ok, yes, it was caused by an FTL failure but they were using a set of engines that were nearly a decade old and the company had not been doing proper maintenance.” a man in the audience said.
“There are deeper concerns here.” Mark began again. “The contracting of space in front of the ship is still not well understood. The reason why the engine creates the feeling of gravity is not understood. The electric failures are not understood. Let’s face it, you all do not know how these engines really work on the most fundamental level. This mission is set to go six lightyears away. Not one and then set up a beacon. All the way to another star. Did anyone even consider staging beacons at gradual intervals out first?”
“Pardon me.” said an engineer. “How does suggesting an entirely different mission help us?”
“Hold it.” one of the scientists said. “Let’s take it one thing at a time. First of all, fire is not understood at the molecular level by the vast majority of people who use it everyday. But don’t get me wrong, I hear your points. Spacial contraction is a concern but we know that it is happening and have taken it into consideration when navigating. Gravitational fields around the ship are actually a benefit for the latest generation of FTL drives. These new ships will have an environment that will allow the passengers to walk around on the ship in one G. We can angle the effect to essentially set one side of the ship as the floor. And finally, the electromagnetic interference, it is a concern but we’ve found ways to mitigate it. You don’t shut down a nuclear reactor just because it produces radiation. That is part of the process so you have to know that going in and account for it. Same here.”
“You address machine things.” Amanda Roma said. “Real heart of mission is people. We have incredible people. People who will inspire. People who will reach their goal, no matter opposition from those too scared to see.”
“You left out ‘people who will die’ if the ship doesn’t do what you think it’s going to do and you don’t know how to fix it.” Mark added.
At this point senator Freedman laughed. It was so out of place in the moment. Everyone looked at him and he brought a hand down on Mark’s shoulder. “You told them off some good.”
“Alright. Let’s get back to the task at hand.” the admiral said. “The total plan is to build and test four ships. Each capable of running with a crew of 24 but can function scaled down to 10. Now …”
“Admiral, we still need to know how safe this mission is.” the senator said.
“Is there any specific additional information you need?” the admiral asked. “The data on fuel use and cooling is there. The engines could run for a year without stopping. We’ve gone over this. We wouldn’t be sending celebrities or Amanda Roma if it wasn’t absolutely safe.”
“There is only one person who has been beyond the bounds of our system and come back to tell the tale. One.”
“Senator.” the admiral said with a tone that told everyone that he did not like where the senator was going with this as Mark’s test flight was still classified.
“If you want your funding to go through committee we need a D13 flight. A real D13 flight.” the senator said.
“I fly it.” Amanda Roma said.
“Hold it.” the admiral said. “An autonomous flight can count as a D13.”
“Can it go and come back without losing power?” Mark asked. “If so, that’s a great option.”
“I object.” Amanda Roma said. “That put timeline too far. Ships already built. Ready to go.”
“Just let me officially ask, can you get a ship to drop out of FTL without temporarily losing power?” Mark asked.
“Yes and no.” one of the engineers said. “We set up a completely separate system that runs on an RTG and have redundancies. So far we’ve gotten two to survive FTL unmanned.”
“Two out of how many?” Mark asked.
“I need to step in at this point.” the admiral said. “This mission was supposed to be open to the public but we’re stepping on classified territory here. I concede the point about a more rigorous D13 flight.”
“But sir.” Amanda Roma said.
“No, listen, it is a good idea. It won’t cause that much of a delay. We’ll get that sorted and then get back on schedule. We’ll get working on a modified roadmap.”
The meeting ended but Mark was not free to go back home to Florida yet. As everyone was picking up the admiral with a stern look on his face said he would schedule a meeting with Mark early the next day, since the station was on a day night cycle and it was the end of the work day at this point.
As Mark went to the hotel room that had been given to him he felt he sort of understood Amanda Roma more now. There was a reason her brief stint of being famous all those years ago never lasted. Every time she went on TV she sounded like an idiot and so people just stopped asking her for her opinion on things. Her flight had been a stunt where she did a broadcast at one planet and then did an FTL to show up and watch the live signal coming in with everyone else. After that she was in parades and given medals. She ushered in the new era of faster than light travel but it didn’t last. She was pushed to the side as soon as people started to realize she really didn’t understand the technology at all. She was chosen to be famous because of her grandfather but the debt was paid. Mark wondered if she knew she wasn’t really the first one.
“We can order anything you want for dinner.” the guard at the door said to Mark as he approached his room.
“I was actually thinking of, uh, walking the station and seeing if I could find a restaurant. Place to sit down.” Mark said.
“I wouldn’t advise that, sir.” the soldier said.
“What’s wrong?”
“Probably nothing. Matter is in hand. But there was one of those radicals from Cloud city yelling about a bomb so they’re doing a sweep.”
“Right. Understood.” Mark said. “In that case, is it possible to get pizza?”
“Black olives and salsiccia sausage, sir?”
Mark laughed. “Well, that is my favorite.”
“You just relax, sir. We’ll take care of it.”
Mark entered his room and felt a bit sad. Cloud city, what a shame. It used to be one of the nicer colonies since the gravity there was naturally eight point nine meters per second. It was set up as a city that floated in the clouds because the atmospheric pressure further down would crush anything. The plan for terraforming that planet was to cool down the runaway greenhouse effect and freeze the carbon dioxide. But even after hundreds of years, it was still a work in progress with almost no progression. Before FTL the colony was by law controlled by the government but in actual practice the locals there did whatever they wanted because it was so difficult to get there. But now with the FTL, the government didn’t just send a message, they sent people to enforce it. So now Cloud city wanted independence and groups of crazies were popping up to cause problems.
Mark reminded himself that the FTL was a good thing. It was objectively a good thing. But just like anything that has good uses, people will find ways to do wrong with it, like a hammer being used to hit someone on the head.
Even when the pizza arrived Mark was still in deep thought as he looked over the materials for the mission and the data they had on the red dwarf. The motion of the star was well known so it should be possible to FTL to where the star actually is right now even if the telescopes saw it in the position it was in six years ago.
…
“This rights a wrong that never should have happened.” the senator said.
“I heard Lt Cmdr Roma volunteer yesterday.” Mark said.
“HA!” the senator said loudly.
The admiral sitting behind the desk was more polite about it but clearly Mark could see him hedging. “We have the utmost confidence in Commander Roma’s abilities but … there would be other considerations to … uh, consider if she were the pilot.”
“What about the RTG and the autonomous …” Mark began but the admiral used a hand gesture to wave it away.
“They don’t work. Not well enough. Isn’t that right, AL?” the admiral said.
The small speaker box spoke with an artificial voice. “That is correct Admiral. I will need a biological pilot immune from the effects of the FTL as a backup to turn the power back on in case of failure in order for me to navigate the ship safely. Even mechanical timers have proven to not be reliable enough.”
“Everyone, meet AL. The AI is the actual pilot of the Anasazi IV. This one is called AL. The AI in the Roanoke is Karen. These ships is equipped with the best we can make, including the most advanced computer systems.” the Admiral said.
“Hello. And might I say, it is a pleasure to speak with you, Captain Adakai. The flight of the Anasazi holds great inspiration for me.” AL said. “I do hope you will agree to join the historic flight. I have the utmost confidence in the mission.”
“Somehow you saying it that way does not fill me with confidence.” Mark said.
“If not for the power issue, we’d already have satellites in orbit around the star waiting there to greet you.” the admiral said.
“Satellites, great. From my point of view, though, wouldn’t it be more useful to make FTL in system safer. Why do we need to go to another star? To give a political party a boost before an election? I don’t see the point.” Mark said.
“Plasma extractors.” the senator said. “That’s what this is really about. Isn’t that right admiral?”
“There has been discussion but no decision.” the admiral admitted.
“You want to mine the star?” Mark asked.
“It is a practical application of the capability.”
“And six lightyears away, they can build all the battleships they want too far away for any oversight.” the senator said.
“This isn’t about battleships.” the admiral stated. “If Cloud city gets serious enough that words turn to arms, they could try to cut us off from the plasma extractors. We can not let that happen. If it does happen, we have to be in a position where it won’t matter.”
…
Mark was waiting in the living room. Old man Donald was waddling as he looked through a box for a photo album. Mark and Donald had had so many differences and arguments when Mark was a teenager. Mark knew that the universe was billions of years old but Donald was one of those people who thought it was maybe ten thousand years old at the most.
“Been a long time since we looked at these, hey, Mark.” the old man said as he received the photo album from his wife who was much younger than him. “And there’s your mom in the garden.” Donald said as he opened to the first set of pictures.
Mark winced. Right. Donald and Becky always insisted that Mark call them mom and dad and he always resisted it. Even now it was jarring. Melissa was Donald’s new wife. She bowed and took her leave without any fuss.
“She loved that garden.” Donald added referring to his first wife who had raised Mark.
“Too bad she had a brown thumb.” Mark said.
Donald laughed but there was more in the emotion than feeling something funny. Mark knew he missed his wife.
“She used to plant cacti. I couldn’t ever convince her that I didn’t like them. And one by one they died on her. Shrivel up from the top and then down to the base. She never quite cracked that code.”
“It’s ok. They’re up in cactus heaven looking down on us.” Mark said.
“Don’t joke.”
Mark shrugged. “I don’t see why a cactus couldn’t go to heaven.”
“One day, when you’re ready, God will work on you. Bring you back.”
Mark reached over for the bible that was on the table. “Donald, it’s not that I don’t believe at all, I just don’t believe in all of this. We don’t have any actual evidence that any of the things in this book actually happened.”
“The men who wrote each book thought they were true. Even if you think they were mistaken about what they saw, what they experienced, they were trying to pass on knowledge to us.”
“We don’t have any proof that any of these writers even ever existed.” Mark reasoned.
“There’s the proof in your hand. Someone wrote it. What other proof do you want?”
“This book does not say your specific religion is the right one.” Mark said.
“If you aren’t convinced by the black and white plain words in your hand then nothing will convince you. Stop trying to bring your own idea to it and be open to learning.” Donald argued.
“It’s just one interpretation.” Mark countered.
“That’s just moving the goalpost.” Donald responded. “So tell me, what would convince you that my … ahem, interpretation was the right one?”
“Well, if we ever find aliens.”
“Ha.” Donald doubted.
“If we ever do,” Mark continued; “if they have the same religion as you, then I’ll believe.”
…
Amanda Roma marched through the halls of the Capital building. Everyone knew who she was and just assumed she was there for some reason. She didn’t turn to face the door to senator Freedman’s offices. She pivoted sharply. She didn’t knock. She rammed the bottom of her fist on the door.
A staffer opened the door and looked puzzled. He recognized Roma and immediately got out of her way. Roma marched in and demanded, “Where is he?”
The staffer started to speak but was immediately cut off.
“WHERE IS HE!” Roma demanded.
“Go ahead, Marshal. Send her back.” Freedman’s voice said over the intercom.
All the other staffers looked around at each other and then the staffer who had been yelled at gestured for the door and escorted Roma to it.
Roma found Freedman sitting patiently and she slammed her fist down on his desk. “What is the meaning of this, you buffoon?”
“Close the door.” Freedman said calmly.
“Answer me.” Roma insisted.
Freedman sat patiently and smirked.
“NOW!” Roma yelled.
Freedman continued to just sit there looking past Roma as if she wasn’t even there. “Marshal, lock my door and hold my calls for the next hour.”
The staffer complied while Roma was continuing her attack. “What have you got to say?”
“Drink?” he offered.
“Three thousand, three hundred, and four days. That is how long I have been attached to this mission. It is MY mission. Mine. Not yours. Not Black’s. And definitely not some idiot pilot I have never heard of. What is wrong with you? I live this mission every day. I earned this mission.”
Freedman laughed. “Earn?”
“Do not mock me.”
“You have all that security clearance and you still think you earned the mission.”
“Don’t you know who I am?”
“Everyone knows who you are. Lieutenant Commander Roma. Still, Lieutenant Commander. Still. Why is that?”
“I want my mission back. I have spent nine years of my life on it.”
“If you want your chance for HC03, then this is a necessary step.”
“The one to go must be me. You can not do this.”
“It’s done. And you should be thanking me.”
That statement nearly sent Roma into a rage. “I’ll see you out of office for this. You have been against me my entire career.”
“Just who do you think we’re sending? You never bothered to look him up? Really? If that’s the case then you need to ask yourself if you really are the right person for the mission. Are you really dedicated to the mission or is it really about you?”
“No one has ever heard of him. Adakai.”
“You have security clearance. If you don’t use it, I can’t help you. The conversation has left you behind.”
…
There were negotiations, changes of plan, adjustments, and modifications but eventually the final plan for Mark’s flight was settled. The Anasazi IV was large enough for a full crew but the only one on board was going to be Mark. This was a test flight. The purpose was to minimize the risk to human life while putting the machine through its paces. Unlike the follow up flight that was already being planned and prepared for, Mark was not going to be going to another star to study the star. Mark was going to stress test the ship and stay focused on that. The data he could automatically collect from the star and bring back was extra.
It had been nearly two months since Mark had last seen the green and blue world that was his home. The flight was going to take two months to get to the star and then another two months to get home. In transit he was in a total communications blackout. The plan to stop at regular intervals was again put to the side because of the immense distances involved. Mark was to fly to the star, stop which meant orbit for ten days, and then return.
The ship had several autonomous drones it could send out to FTL home with news. That would at least let command know that Mark was at the star and safe even before he was ready to start his return trip.
Floating in a spacesuit with full helmet and gloves for vacuum Mark was pulling screws out of a wall panel on deck three of the Anasazi IV when the airlock cycled and he had a visitor.
“Permission to come aboard, Captain Adakai.” Roma said.
“Granted.” he said over the radio. Mark could not greet his guest right at that exact moment because he had to get these screws secured into a bag. Instead, Roma came up to him.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Taking this apart and putting it back together.”
“Why?”
“It’s a thing we do. Anyway, Al, we have to replace this entire section of panel. I can’t work it with the gloves.”
“You can’t make changes.” Roma protested.
“Excuse me.”
“The Roanoke has to be identical. You can’t just unilaterally make changes.”
“Uh, yeah, ok.” Mark said.
“Why are you doing this out here where no one can watch you. Bring the ship into a hangar.”
“Negative.” Mark said. “If I have to repair the ship in deep space, there won’t be any gravity. So I have to learn to repair it like this.”
“There isn’t going to be anything to repair.” Roma said. “We knew what we were doing when we made these.”
“You knew so well what you were doing that if I lose pressure and am trapped in a spacesuit I can’t work these screws with these gloves.”
“The ship is designed for gravity and full crew.”
“But I’m going where there’s no gravity by myself. Can you see my point?”
“You are a pilot. Why are you doing this? I know these ships. I designed these ships. I helped design these ships. If you need an engineer it should be me.”
“Thanks for offering but there’s a reason they’re going to send someone like me and not someone like you.”
“I am not a child. I am sick and tired of that. I earned my rank the same as everyone else.”
“I’m not against you. It wasn’t my decision. I’m just a pilot. And I’m a good pilot. I’ve also ditched nine ships because of malfunctions. That’s the life of a test pilot. You think your ship is perfect and will behave as you expect it to the way the people around you get out of your way. I know the ship is not perfect. I expect it to fail. No offense, Al.”
“None taken, Captain.” Al chimed in.
“Space doesn’t care who you are. It won’t get out of your way. It’s trying to kill you right now. I know how to fly. That’s the easy part for me. I kind of know how to fix this thing but kind of is not good enough. Another thing test pilots do. We do the thing we’re not good at. You’re not a test pilot. So, can you please just let me do my job.”
Roma floated there in zero G just looking at him and he tried to use pliers to pull out a plastic half sphere from a junction.
“Can you come and talk to me when you’re not so busy?” Roma asked.
Mark shrugged. “I am pretty busy.”
Mark knew that would not be the end of it. Roma left him alone so he could work and prepare for his mission but later when he had done a spacewalk back to the station she met him and invited him to dinner together.
Mark would have preferred to eat in his quarters but Roma brought him to the officer’s mess. Mark was immediately put on the back foot because he saw Patricia there with her husband having dinner. He forced himself to not look in that direction to try to say he hadn’t seen them.
Mark had this tray and he sat at a table for two with Roma.
“Just so you know, I told Al to fully cooperate with the AI in the Roanoke to tell it about all the changes we’re making.”
“I know about you.” Roma said.
Mark shrugged. “Not much to know.”
“They lied to me.”
“Who is they? And lied about what?” Mark asked.
“I read your file. I know. I didn’t know before but I know now. And I don’t like it.”
“Well, there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“But do you understand?”
“I can imagine. Your life is too important for a test flight. I’ll go out there, push the ship to the limits, and something will break. I’ll find the flaw.”
“There is no flaw.”
Mark smirked. “There’s always a flaw. No matter how well designed the ship is, you’re asking it to do something no other ship has ever done. I guarantee you there is a flaw. There is something you overlooked. You don’t know what it is. I don’t know what it is. But I’m going to find out. And then I’m going to fix it and come back alive. And if I don’t, then hopefully that will tell you to not get anyone else killed.”
“If you don’t come back, they’ll never let me go. I have years of my life in this mission. It means something to me.”
Mark heard her words and shrugged. “You wanted to make going out there easy. But first you have to do the hard thing.”
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