TUESDAY: Veegher’s Vibe

BY W. PETER COLLINS

Copyright is held by the author.

VEEGHER’S TRAJECTORY was on target. The planet Jubi would be in vibrational range of his ships instruments within two earth hours, better than average for interstellar travel. He sent a status report back to earth;

Wormhole transit complete.

Navigation system oriented to new star system.

Vibration system normal.

Time to vibrational range of Jubi, within two earth hours.

He tapped the control panel of his ship, “Almost there Urmi.” The name was an ancient Sanskrit word meaning wave, perfect for a ship designed as a flying astro-frequency lab.

Located at the outer edge of the Kester Ring, Jubi had showed signs of advanced vibrational activity, e.g.; sophisticated rhythms, changes in tempo, even syncopation. Veeghar was on the team that first detected it three earth years ago. As a scientist Veegher dreamt about discoveries like this. A vibration radiated up from his feet. He sensed joy, but something was off. Hmm, It’s a bit early for this, he thought. My internal vibe detection is more sensitive than the ship’s. He checked the spectrum chart on his forearm. The needle settled in the solid purple range; joy – pure – undiluted by mitigating factors. He did feel joy, but it wasn’t pure. Something was corrupting the vibe. As a hybrid he was designed to be sensitive. Over time he developed the ability to detect non-physical, abstract phenomena, much like human intuition. Maybe it was interference from the ship’s propulsion system, he wondered. Or maybe the internal operating system. Whatever it was, he didn’t like it. Definitely a bad vibe.

He began his pre-arrival protocol.

Internal operating system — silent mode.

External frequency capture — .02 mhz.

General timescale converter — quantum-auto-adjust. Without an accurate conversion formula it was his only option.

Rhythmic conversion rate — Hmm. Without that general timescale conversion formula he’d have to go with quantum-auto-adjust here too.

Propulsion system — operational silent mode. This was one of the great achievements of astro-frequency science. It removed interference from the ship’s propulsion system, which allowed Veegher to collect pure vibrational data. Like a kid grabbing his favorite candy he reached for the screen to make the switch. Electrons accelerated through his circuits with the added excitement of the moment, shedding photons as they went. He glowed like an Abaquin moon with anticipation, flipped the switch and quickly felt the sting of disappointment. The vibe was still there but the spectrum needle had slid out of pure purple toward red. The bad vibe was getting stronger. He checked the nav system; one earth hour to signal range of Jubi. That can’t be right, he thought. No way it’s been an hour since I checked.

He made a note — rapid time lapse observed, relevance to mission purpose, unknown.

The changes on Jubi occurred at the same time that earth’s standard resonance (aka Earth’s heartbeat) started fluctuating. The goal of the mission was to determine the source of vibrational activity, was it disrupting Earth’s heartbeat, and what could be done to stop it.

Veegher’s specialty was rhythmic integration; what happens to tempo, rhythm and beat sequencing when they pass from a timescale such as earth’s to one where time moves much slower, or faster. It was a pretty sleepy science until anomalies in the standard resonance started. The Earth’s heartbeat was the balancing force that the stable environment of earth depended on. Weather patterns, the magnetic field, human and animal behavior, even hybrids were all moderated by it. Without it the stable environment would collapse. Entropy would take over. Life would be unsustainable.

The fluctuations were small at first, nothing to be alarmed about. But steadily they increased. Hurricanes and tornadoes became more frequent and extreme. Earthquakes and volcanoes; same thing. Animals began losing their innate ability to detect seismic activity. Then the violence. It started near the magnetic poles. Haimarasta in the north and Himaparadish in the south reported mobs forming spontaneously, unleashing random attacks. Suicides were also up, way up. Humans and hybrids alike, with no history of mental disturbance were jumping off bridges, throwing themselves off cliffs.

Veegher checked for gravitational activity and noticed an increase. The source was about five degrees off of his flight path. That’s gotta be Jubi, he thought. He switched his nav system to sync with the increased gravitational force and checked the timescale converter. Even without a conversion formula he could see time was accelerating. The gravitational alarm went off. He felt the ship jump, and adjust course. The gravitational field had Urmi in its grip. He switched the quantum mass converter to neutral and the propulsion system to reversed polarity. No change. The ship was still being pulled against its will toward Jubi.

The comms board lit up. It was a message from earth. He hit play and a hologram appeared. It was his mentor Dr. Gheshema. She was hiding behind a desk, a big bleeding gash on her cheek, her clothes were torn and smoke was all around her. Explosions were going off in the background.

“Abort mission, repeat, abort mission.” She coughed heavily. “Avoid Jubi at all cost. Veegher, we failed to see what was . . .” The hologram flickered and disappeared. He slammed his hand on the control screen.

There has to be a way to disrupt that vibe.

He programmed Urmi’s frequency generator to entropic, level 13. He focused it directly at Jubi and set the delay to two minutes, enough time for him to escape, and bring Urmi closer to the planet for maximum impact. He set the data collection system to auto-transmit then scrambled to the escape pod, climbed in and set the trajectory away from Jubi. If he was lucky the initial force generated by the escape pod thrusters would be enough to get him out of Jubi’s gravitational pull. He set the pod to cryogenic preservation mode, synched the data collection to Urmi, and hit launch. The pod shot away from the ship, leaving Urmi to disappear into the ionosphere of Jubi.

***

Peter is from Kentucky and now lives in California. For him there’s no difference between the world we see and the one that exists in our heads. He’s a writer, visual artist, builder, husband, stepdad, and dancer. His work has appeared in The Potato Soup Journal, Children, Churches and Daddies, Flash Fiction Magazine, and The Sandy River Review.