The Collective Series by David McCahan (#1-3)
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Overview: As a life long Science Fiction fan, I’ve had my own ideas for stories in the back of my mind and in the fall of 2013 finally sat down and put thoughts to words. The result is "The Collective". I intend this to be part 1 of a series of at least 3 books. This first time writing a story is a novella length but one thing that has annoyed me with many Sci-Fi novels is the mundane, overly detailed, descriptions that seem more like the author trying to impress than adding value to the story. As I read the story over again looking to extend the length I found that, as a reader, I like the flow as is and so published the book as short novel.
Genre: Science Fiction
The Collective #1 200 years after Apollo 11 landed on the moon the Western Republic is preparing to launch an exploration spacecraft to Epsilon Eridani. The Columbia (named in honor of the Apollo 11 command module) is the first of a new class of space ship using Gravity propulsion. The sheer mass required for the Gravity Generators results in a ship of massive proportions. Additionally the propulsion functions by “pushing against” or “pulling at” near or distant gravity sources. These gravity concentrators are mounted around the Gravity Generators on the exterior of the ship in all directions forming a sphere. The result is something similar looking to the Death Star from Star Wars only instead of one large depression there are many smaller depressions over the entire surface. The Gravity Generators also form a gravity bubble around the ship, in essence forming a small singularity, warping local space and separating the ship from the local gravity. In effect the ship exerts near zero mass. The crew resides inside the shell, protected from cosmic radiation by the gravity bubble and living in a normal gravity environment. The gravity propulsion is only used outside the solar system and ion drive is used to move the ship in-system but since the ship exerts near zero local mass the ion drives can realize tremendous acceleration and about .8 C (.8 the speed of light).
The political environment of earth in 2169 has altered greatly from that of the time of Apollo 11. The early 21st century saw total economic collapse of many governments and the religious wars around 2030 resulted in social and economic realignment on a global scale. The remnants of the western democracies formed the Western Republic, the socialist regions formed the Peoples Confederation, and the Islamic Theocracies formed the Muslim Empire. The Western Republic was economically the strongest and funded the expedition to begin manned exploration and colonization of the solar neighbors. Epsilon Eridani is not the absolute closest (at 10.5 light years) but holds the most promising planet for colonization in near space. The 5th planet in the system, code named Eden for the expedition, appears to be a near perfect twin to Earth in astronomical studies. Additionally no electromagnetic signals have been detected from the region and so it is assumed holds no technology. Perfect planet for colonization by a population tired from years of conflict. No open wars but a very tense relationship with military often on high alert and small “incidents” are common.
CentCom’s worst fears were confirmed as suicide attacks and mines were used in an all-out effort to stop the Republic’s Gravity Drive Ship from leaving the solar system. The heroic efforts and sacrifice of the escort ships managed to safely see the Columbia on her way. On arrival to the Epsilon Eridani system the crew was relieved the long voyage was nearly over until they were attacked and barely survived a nuclear missile attack from Eden. Still sensing no electronic emissions from the planet, and indeed there was no propulsion or telemetry from the missiles, the crew are baffled and dejected until the Collective makes contact with Glory Callaghan, in her dreams. Would this be the start of an alliance or another enemy?
On to Tau Ceti #2 The Western Republic yearns to expand the human race to other worlds. The Columbia is Earth’s first FTL capable ship and completed the first leg of their mission by successfully planting a scientific outpost on Epsilon Eridani 5 (now named Eden with the outpost called Babylon). Columbia was surprised to find a race of people there that referred to themselves as ‘The Collective’ because they formed a telepathic collective consciousness. After rescuing them from a planned conquest by the Basel Confederation, the Collective now joins the crew of the Columbia as they travel to Tau Ceti to plant another scientific outpost in preparation of colonization.
Return to Earth #3 The Western Republic Starship Columbia departed Earth a little over two years ago on a ten-year mission to place scientific outposts, as a precursor to colonization, on the 5th planet in the Epsilon Eridani system (Eden) and on the 4th planet of the Tau Ceti system (Atlantis). Both systems had been surveyed by probes over the last 40 years and no civilization had been found. On Eden the crew of Columbia were surprised to find a civilization of telepaths, also telekinetic, that referred to themselves as the Collective. They also found a battle cruiser from the Basel Confederation approaching Eden, with the intent of colonizing the planet and extermination of any sentient species found there. There was no negotiation with the Basel. Working with the Collective, the Basel Warriors were driven off by implanting the idea of Phantoms, from their own legends, coming to eat their souls.
With the assistance of the Collective and their telekinetic abilities, the outpost of Babylon was completed in half the projected time and then they joined the crew of Columbia for the next destination. The Atlantis scientific outpost of Paititi was almost abandoned because of the appearance of an animal, similar to a dinosaur of the raptor family, that Columbia named Spiritusraptor (Ghost Ravisher) because somehow it masked itself from being sensed by psyche or science. The Collective could not sense this dangerous hunter and somehow, even though warm blooded, it also evaded thermal sensors of Columbia’s tactical shuttles. In the end, the robotic canine companions found a way to detect and deter the Spiritusraptors by using their own subsonic and ultrasonic echolocation against them. As Columbia and the Collective completed the Paititi outpost they connected with another Collective on the 4th planet of Delta Pavonis (Pav4) that was under attack by the Basel Confederation.
En route to Tau Ceti, Glory Callaghan, the second in command of Columbia, along with the Collective, had stumbled on a Wormhole shortcut that reduced the eight-month trip to Tau Ceti to two days. With that shortcut in hand they were able to travel to Pav4 to assist. Instead of one Battle Cruiser they found a battle group of three cruisers. The joint effort of the Collective and Columbia were able to drive off two cruisers but had to repel a boarding effort of the flag ship and barely defeated them. Columbia then placed 2,000 Collective and 2,000 humans, with a very appreciative populace of Pav4, for the creation of the Athens scientific outpost. The Pav4 Collective also expressed their willingness to accept four colonies of 500,000 humans each on their world. So instead of only two possible colony worlds in ten years Columbia has successfully secured three worlds in a little over two years.
Columbia along with 1,100 of the Collective now return to Earth with data cores and a huge amount of other intelligence from the Basel Confederation Flagship Victorious.
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