Flight Of The Anasazi - Chapter 6

 Flight Of The Anasazi

By David Billiot

Copyright 2026: All rights reserved

Chapter 6: This Gets Weird

Mark was doing some physical training in zero G when Al announced that they had passed the one hundred hour mark of their mission. 

“Great.” Mark said. “Can we go home yet?”

“We are making progress on our calculations.”

“Anything to inform me about?”

“We have a number of theories that seem to match observations.”

“Such as?” 

“The length contraction in front of the ship was independent from the speed of the FTL. Instead, the determining factor for how much length was contracted in front of the ship was the amount of time total in FTL, not the speed of the FTL.”

“Well, that’s at least one thing.”

“Additionally, the rate of space contraction was not constant as previously theorized by Cowaltz and Theider. The rate of contraction was instead exponential. I believe this oversight was caused by the relatively short duration of FTL flights prior to our mission.” 

“Does that let us know how far we are from home?” Mark asked. 

“I’m afraid it does not. Not yet. However, I have an update on the performance of the FTL engines themselves. During our braking sequence we pushed the braking engines far beyond what we were ever expected to use.”

“We had to slow down.” Mark said. 

“Of course, Captain. After going over the data I believe I can put us in orbit around a nearby star in about twenty minutes. The short travel time ensures we will not again encounter the exponential rate of contraction and it will allow me to get better data. This will allow me to more quickly calculate our return trip.” 

Mark pushed himself from his workout equipment, left the gym, and pushed himself down to the conn. He got in the seat and then looked at the display. 

“Which star are we headed towards?”

“I have selected a G type star similar to the sun. We will pass a blue giant on the way.” Al responded. 

“Hold it. Hold it. Hold it.” Mark said. 

“You’re worried about something.” Al concluded. 

“20 minutes. You plan to pass a star and get into orbit around another one in twenty minutes.”

“As I said earlier, Captain, the amount of speed output from the FTL that is achievable is far greater than we originally expected.” 

“Don’t get me wrong but twenty minutes to cover the distances you’re talking about feels a bit … beyond our mission parameters.” Mark said. 

Al was going to respond but Mark put a hand up. 

“Still, we’re in a bad situation here. Those stars are not still. They are all moving, including home. Alright. Do it. But let me just ask? Is that what we’re going to have to do to get home? Hop star to star?”

“That would be a viable option. However, we do not have the required fuel for the FTL to restart it that many times. Nor do we have the reserves of food to keep you alive. I estimate it would take several decades to return that way but it is also dangerous to again enter the exponential spacial contraction field. At the moment, we need more data.” 

“Well, one thing at a time.”

The Anasazi made the jump.  The actual time to reach the star, slow down, and enter an orbit was closer to forty minutes.  For a short time Mark again had the luxury of gravity under his feet but was back to weightlessness as he got systems back on.  

“Ok, give me an estimate. How long will we be in orbit around this star?” Mark asked. 

“I do not yet know, Captain. I am using the data from the jump to estimate how many FTL jumps we can do to see if it is possible to get you home. I suggest we release a probe to orbit this star to help us collect data.”

“Good idea, actually.” Mark said. 

While Al was busy with calculations Mark got into a routine of going through the ship to check everything. He told Al to focus on their location and the route to return home while Mark manually looked over the sensor data for the ship to see if the hull was in good shape. Again and again the sturdiness of the ship was impressive. This ship was truly over designed. 

“Captain.” Al said. 

“Yes.” Mark answered as he was looking at a section of wires under a panel. 

“I believe I have some news. There is a planet in the habitable zone of the star. My readings indicate there is life.”

Mark took a moment to breathe and consider. “Life.”

“I am getting more data in now, Captain. Yes, the planet definitely has life on it.”

“Well, Al, we just got a new mission. Let’s go take a look.”

The actual trip was short though expensive once the fact of the limited FTL fuel was taken into consideration. Nonetheless, finding life on another planet was an amazing opportunity that could not be passed up. Even if Mark could not return home himself, getting this news back to everyone outweighed all other considerations. The Anasazi did a short FTL to the planet and entered orbit. 

Mark got out of his seat and didn’t rely on screens to see the data. He went to the side of the ship that had a window for looking out. 

“Al, rotate the ship so I can see the planet.”

The ship tilted and then held its angle.  Down below Mark saw a world of green and blue.  There was an ocean and continents with deserts and forests. 

“Am I going crazy?” Mark asked. 

“I will assume that is a rhetorical question, Captain.” Al said. 

“That’s Florida. I mean the coastline isn’t exactly the same but that is Florida.”

“It has a striking resemblance indeed, Captain. I am picking up some other oddities you might be interested to know about.”

“And that is life down there.” Mark observed. 

“Without doubt, Captain. As I was saying, the planet is 1.00002 earthmass. It has a rocky moon that is likewise nearly identical in mass to our own.”

Mark was puzzled for a moment. “Show it to me.” Mark pulled himself away from the window and floated over to the screen where Al created a visualization of the system. “If I didn’t know better I’d think we were home.”

“I can see where you might mistakenly come to that conclusion. However, I should point out that the star is not ours. It is about a billion years younger than our own star and the number of gas giants in the outer system is …”

“I mean this planet. This is beyond coincidence.” 

Mark looked at the moon. It was the same size and color of the moon he knew from back home but the pattern of craters on the surface was different. 

“That’s crazy.” Mark said. 

He looked at the render of the planet and spun it around to look at it. There were four continents on the planet. Most of the landmass was in the northern hemisphere. The smallest of the continents was in the southern hemisphere all by itself sort of as a big island. The bigger continents were further north and were closer together like they were once a united continent but it was breaking apart. 

“The atmospheric composition appears to also be identical.” Al said. “I should point out that one of my primary objectives is to keep you alive above all other considerations. If the journey back home proves to be impractical with regards to food and fuel, this world could sustain you if you had the ability to grow food.”

“Put a probe in orbit. Then …wow …  Let’s pick a spot to land.”

“Is that wise at this point, Captain?”

“There’s something alive down there and we’re going to take a closer look at it. Don’t worry. I won’t get out to go touch it. But we have to get a closer look.”

Al complied. Over the next five hours the ship orbited the planet mapping the world as it passed overhead.  An area with flat topography was selected for the landing. Mark got into his seat and buckled in. He had his spacesuit on just in case. The Anasazi started to touch the atmosphere and used the gas of the planet to slow down. 

“Easy does it.” Mark said. 

Out of the side window Mark started to see the flash of red as plasma built up around the ship. The ship handled reentry extremely easily. The plasma stage of entry was over and the ship started to go through cloud cover. 

“We have overshot the landing zone, Captain.” Al said. “I am turning the ship around.”

“Got it.” Mark acknowledged. 

As the ship turned around the frame did not complain and instead there was the sound of the power of the engines.  The Anasazi was big and heavy so it came down into a large grass field.  The landing legs sunk into the soil a bit at touchdown and then a moment later the ship settled.  

Mark sat in the commander’s seat and looked out at the world that existed before him. 

“Those are trees.” he said of the objects off in the distance. 

“They have a remarkable resemblance.” Al said. 

“It’s not a resemblance, Al. Those are pine trees. We landed in grass. What is going on?”

“Please be patient with me, Captain. I will take a sample for analysis. Perhaps you should use this time to rest while we have the luxury of gravity.”

Mark couldn’t rest. He hadn’t said this to Al but his sleep in zero G the night before was actually pretty good. The ship had come down and landed on a planet during twilight of the planet’s rotation in this part of the world but according to the Anasazi’s clock it was midday. 

Instead of resting Mark went to the medical bay because he wanted to monitor the testing.  He went in and sat down and turned to a screen.  He saw the line of code for the test and opened that item. 

“It sure is convenient that we have all this medical equipment onboard so we can actually do this.” Mark said. 

On another screen over Mark’s shoulder the image of a young man with glasses and wearing a doctor’s coat appeared.  “Hello Captain Adakai. How can I help you today?” it said in a high squeaky voice. 

Mark slowly turned his head to look. “Al?”

“Yes, Captain.” Al’s usual voice came from over the speakers.

Mark was confused for just a moment. “Ok. Al, which one is this one?” Mark asked as he pointed to the screen. 

“Ah, yes, Captain. Med4Scan has decided to use an avatar.” Al explained. 

“If you don’t mind, please call me Bruce.” the medical AI said in the cheerful optimistic voice of a green recruit.  

“Alright … Bruce. How is the test going?” Mark asked. 

“Thanks for asking. It is going very well.” Bruce said. 

“Any results?”

The AI avatar on the screen was smiling ear to ear. “Not yet.” 

“Correction: Captain we do have a result but we are double checking.” Al said. 

“What is the preliminary?” Mark asked. “Is it alien? Silicon based? What’s actually out there?”

“It appears to be panicum virgatum.” Bruce said. “Isn’t that wonderful?”

Mark took a moment to consider and then said, “Al, translate.” 

“It appears to be northern hemisphere switchgrass.” Al said. 

“Is that it?”

“There’s also bouteloua gracilis. Also, pardalophora apiculata. It appears to have been deceased and accidentally collected along with the other samples.” Bruce reported. 

“And that means?” Mark started. 

“More grass and a grasshopper.” Al clarified. 

“A grasshopper?” Mark asked. 

“Yep.” Bruce said. “This is so exciting.”

“Ok, but hold on. Does it just look like a grasshopper or is it actually a grasshopper?” Mark asked. 

“We’re checking its DNA now.” Bruce said. 

“Al, we need a soil sample.” Mark ordered. 

“Confirmation: I have already taken the liberty of collecting one, Captain.” Al said over the speakers. 

Mark waited and thought.  “Time dilation.” Mark said. “It has to be time dilation.” 

“Excuse me?” Al asked. 

“If you’re right and that is a grasshopper, then it’s not convergent evolution. They were wrong about spacial contraction. Maybe they were wrong about time dilation. Maybe during FTL time dilation does actually happen the same as just going 90 percent of the speed of light. Maybe they just didn’t notice it before because it’s another exponential curve.” Mark explained. “I was lost in space for so long we made it out here already.”

“If a significant amount of time has passed that we are not aware of you could be right, captain. It would also make our return trip home futile because home would be nowhere near where we expect it to be. It would also explain why we can’t recognize the current star patterns. However, my scans of distant galaxies suggest that not so much time has passed.” Al rebutted. 

“I would like to let you guys know that I’ve found actinobacteriota and basidiomycota along with traces of excrement from bos taurus.” Bruce said. 

“Bruce I need you to …” Mark was about to say but then he looked at the wide eyed smiling avatar and he gave up. “Al, I need you to tell him that I’m not going to put up with that for much longer.”

“He says we’ve found fungus, bacteria, and bullshit.” Al translated. 

Mark was dazed as he thought of it. “How much … ahem how much longer until the DNA is sequenced?” 

“Just a few more minutes.” Bruce said with the first syllable of minutes being so high and squeaky that it sounded like scratching a chalk board. 

Mark got up and headed out. He felt dizzy from the news. He was on his way to his quarters as Al addressed him over the comm. 

“If we are correct our findings suggest you could live on this planet if the return trip proves to be too dangerous.”

“I think we have bigger problems than that.” Mark said. 

“Is that so, Captain? The return journey is the highest priority long term problem I have in my queue at the moment.”

“Al, we’re on a planet that has a perfect mass. A perfect size. A perfect orbit. A perfect moon. And outside, there’s grass. I know it doesn’t seem like a problem but that is a problem. At this point I’m expecting you to tell me you see Clark walking around alive out there.”

“I apologize, Captain. I had rather thought it was very fortunate to find such a planet.”

“This world is wrong.” Mark explained. “There’s a such thing as too perfect. This world is too perfect.  This did not happen naturally. There is no way.”

“I agree, Captain.”

“I mean, obviously a planet and a moon have to be able … to be able to form like this at least once, but to find it twice?  There’s no way. And even if it did happen twice, what are the odds that I would happen to find it on humanity’s first interstellar flight? Hundreds of lightyears from home. Maybe thousands. There’s no way.”

As twilight turned to night rain started to come down.  Mark was in his quarters and he could hear the drops hitting the hull. He grabbed the bible and sat on his bunk and flipped through.  He read a few passages but then couldn’t keep his head in it. He put the book back in the drawer and laid down. He was in so much shock he closed his eyes and sleep came for him.