Dalton looks out into the inky dark void then at the taxidermy alligator with a small set of warp nacelles attached just behind the hind legs.
“One small step for man kind, one giant ride for gator kind.” He announces over the radio to his friend and chase pilot, Fraser in the small support ship.
“The gator’s power cells are fully charged. I’m bringing up the reactionless drives now.” Dalton announces as the gator vibrates slightly in his grip, a line along the nacelles starts to glow blue as the warp fields form. He places his feet on the gator, left leg between the front legs and right leg between the hind legs and activates his mag-boot locking him to a pair of metal plates embedded in the former alligator.
“Fully on the gator, do you have the camera tracking me?” He asks as he looks back to the ship then turns his attention to the red dot in the distance. “Everything green on my hud, I’m ready to depart.”
“Everything’s green on my end. Luna Control has given me permission to warp to Mars between .05 to .35C, I’ll follow at a 5 light second delay. Hopefully they won’t notice two warp flashes.” Announces Frasier over the radio. “Ready when you are.”
Dalton nods with a wide grin on his face. “First interplanetary run on nothing but a gator and space suit, if it all goes well, we’re looking for that Redshift energy drink sponsorship and forming a new extreme sports league. Firing up the warp drive at .1C in Five, Four, Three, Two, one…”
Reality ripples momentarily as Dalton riding his warp equipped gator speeds off into relativistic speeds towards a pale red dot in the distance. Dalton’s body experiences the familiar vibrations of a slightly unstable warp field feeling somewhere between electricity and an over powered massage chair. “Two hours of this might be a bit too much…” He mumbles to himself, his helmet recording even if traditional radio doesn’t work in warp.
He looks at the slowly growing orange dot then back at his wrist mounted tablet and his helmet’s HUD. “All systems are green. Power usage is below predicted.”
From time to time he checks the strength of the mag-boots against the plates attached to the inside of the gator but finds the grip still strong. Had anything happened and he lost his grip Dalton’s atoms would have been smeared between earth and Mars as a flash of hard radiation but, everything was going better even if the view was slightly smeared by the extreme velocity of ten percent of the speed of light.
“Ok, power usage is well below predicted… I’m going to bring her up to .15C and shave a bit of time off the trip.” Dalton mutters into the recording as he taps at some buttons on his wrist mounted table. The vibrations traveling through his body increase as he tenses up a bit. “Going to have to add some warp shielding… Or lay down on the next run so I’m closer to the warp projectors…”
The pale red dot was growing larger and larger as Dalton flew closer on the absurd contraption made by stuffing power cells into the skin of an alligator then strapping on a pair of warp nacelles but, if one wanted that Redshift sponsorship, absurd was the key.
As Dalton and his contraption got even closer to Mars, traces of green and blue could be made out on the surface, the results of centuries of transforming progress. “Almost time.” He announces to his recorder as he slowly brings the warp gator’s velocity back to ten percent of C then down to 5 as he prepares to drop down for orbit.
Reality warps and distorts the instant Dalton shuts off the warp fields once satisfied he’s back to a safe orbital velocity in high mars orbit. He takes the time to admire the swathes of green and blue, a monument to Humanity’s advancement since the Calamity.
5 seconds after his arrival Frasier arrives in the chase ship. “I see based on your speed up things were going even better than we simulated.”
“Yeah but it was a bit of a rough ride. Next time I’m going to see about adding some warp shielding to the space suit, or try a different position like laying down.”
As the two discuss their historic moment, a larger ship of the Terran Space Guard, the TSG Vigilant drops out between Fraiser’s chase ship and the sun blocking the light until the warp gator and it’s rider are illuminated by the Vigilant’s search lights.
“Halt and power down your vehicles and prepare to be boarded. You are under arrest for performing an unlicensed warp test in the inner Sol system.” Announces the Vigilant’s radio operator as the ship prepares to dock with the chase ship.
Dalton looks at the Vigilant and then back at his gator-board then at the pale blue dot that is earth and considers trying to run for it but, he’d run out of power sooner or later and then they’d add resisting arrest.
A small skiff departs the Vigilant’s smaller hanger bay and quickly stops close to Dalton and his gator. Three figures wearing armored Terran Space Guard space suits let go of the skiff and jet over. They look at Dalton then at his warp equipped gator and start laughing. “It’s just a pair of bush pilots playing with a scrap warp drive. I’d say they were trying to see how light they could run a warp trip.” The lead announces over the radio.
Dalton does look flustered but composes himself. “Actually, I’m a warp engineer, I graduated from Miami State with a major in Warp engineering and a minor in asteroid mining three years back, Frasier graduated USYD in Astrophysics and Warp physics. We’re testing the potential for a new sport, Warp Surfing and hoping for a Redshift sponsorship too.”
The chase ship was slowly grappled and pulled in to dock with the Vigilant as the leader of the trio sent to bring in Dalton starts laughing. “It doesn’t matter what qualifications or experience you have. Warp experiments are banned in the Inner Sol System due to the sheer amount of traffic. Although I am impressed by your ride.”
Dalton nods and forwards a file. “We did apply for a permit but, we’re still waiting to hear back and we have some investors who were threatening to pull out if we didn’t run a live test.”
The leader listens to a message from the Vigilant then smiles. “I’ve got some good news and some bad news. Bad news is, we’re going to have to arrest you for unauthorized warp testing in a busy transit corridor. Good news, the captain said to drop you off back on Earth at the gates of the Bermuda Institute, they appreciate how shall we say… Talented scientists and engineers… and would rather they have significant oversight…”
A few days and countless questions later Dalton and Frasier found theirselves dropped off by a taxi in front of a prestigious research facility on an artificial island off the coast of Hamilton, Bermuda. The words of the captain of the Vigilant still echoing through their head. “We’ve found you a warp engineer with hands on experience riding a poorly shielded micro craft. We’re handing them and their physicist friend over to you guys. Stop poaching our engineers.”
The gates opened and the pair entered the Bermuda Institute, Dalton still carrying his gator even if the power cells and exotic matter were removed. It’s not a new sports league but, a job at one of the Earth’s leading warp physics research centers is the next best thing because of all the contacts they can gather.