Welcoming A Stowaway

As Stephan walked up to the door leading to the storage room it opened and Jessica sheepishly stepped out. She then looked guiltily at Stephan and asked, "Any chance you're wanting some fresh new Mac attacks delivered?"

As Stephan started to growl, Dawn stated, "Jessica, even with our jumping ability, we're way outside of delivery range so you might want to give us some info on how you got here and why."

"Well I'm pretty sure you know the how." She hesitantly offered, "I used my talents to pick up on it's location while Stephan was working on something the other day and today, after you both left this morning, I packed me a bag of clothes to last a couple of days and jumped up here."

When Stephan and the others nodded acceptance, Jessica explained, "After I got here I spent a while walking around and seeing what all the ship had and what was where and all. Then, after I had seen everything, I spent the rest of the time lounging around in Holly's seat playing on my phone until I heard the shuttle connecting to the door. When I realized you guys were here I went and hid in that storage room until I had to come out."

"And why!?" Stephan demanded, "haven't I said numerous times that these tests are dangerous and that I didn't want you anywhere near it?"

"I know, but I didn't want to end up losing you so soon after getting to finally spend more than a day or two together." Jessica supplied, "And, truth be told, I wanted to see what it was like so bad I couldn't help myself. And I was hoping this could be that trip you've been promising to take me on for years now."

Shocked, he angrily replied, "The trip I've been promising was going to be like a camping trip or a shopping trip. Definitely not a trip on a spaceship!"

Testily, Jessica returned, "Either way this is a more exciting trip than trying to get me to buy some old granny looking style of what you call 'suitable' clothes or having to show you how to use a match to start a campfire."

Dawn then interjected, "Alright! Calm down you two. Either way, we're stuck with an extra passenger this trip so let's pay more attention to driving than arguing."

Thankful for the reprieve, Rachel called attention to a different matter by excitedly announcing with a big smile, "Speed has reached 10% light speed and is holding steady! We are now flying faster than anything else ever launched!"

Distracted, everyone gave a cheer and Stephan eagerly checked his control panel and added, "And we're still slowly accelerating! From the looks of things we won't top out until we hit 20% light speed -maybe even one quarter! And the best part is that we're still only using 5% of the power output so, if the math continues to work in our favor, we should be able to hit light speed at around 80% output."

Unfamiliar with the science, Dawn asked, "So does that mean we'd be able to go faster than the speed of light if we pushed it higher?"

"That, my dear," Rachel supplied, "Is a little bit of a tricky question. There's like two or three schools of thought on that. Hell, maybe more if you count all the crazy theories floating around out there."

"What do you mean?" Dawn wondered.

Sounding like a teacher, Stephan informed her, "The theory believed by the majority is that time flows at the speed of light and that the speed is the maximum attainable speed. There is also the theory that going faster than light would result in time travel and we'd end up going back in time."

"Hey now!" Rachel interjected, "Don't forget the wormhole theory!"

Stephan sighed and explained to Dawn, "Yes. That invitingly easy escape. Basically a wormhole is where something warps space and time to create something like a tunnel or, some say, a simple doorway you walk through and end up on the other side of the universe. But I'm not a big believer in it because even though it is mathematically possible, it just sounds like too easy of a solution to one of the hardest things to solve. Or, as HR would say, a math cheat because mathematically possible doesn't mean physically probable or doable."

They all then avidly watched the controls until Jessica interrupted their concentration by asking, "So do we have to stare at numbers all day or do you have a window or something so we can actually see where we're going?"

Sheepishly Stephan said, "I forgot."

Holly then grumpily added, "Yeah. We kept trying to get him to install one but he didn't want the window because they don't make glass strong enough to withstand the force of particles hitting it at high speeds. And he spent so much time thinking about the controls that he forgot to send even a small TV screen or camera lenses to get a visual with."

Jessica looked at the wall in front of them and grinned as she asked, "Anything important in the walls above y'all's control panels?"

Warily Stephan replied, "There's no wiring or anything except for one coming from above the door to the sensors there up top. Why? And why are you all of a sudden looking so mischievous?"

Jessica informed him, "I have enough energy still left after the jump that I might be able to turn part of the wall transparent so we could see outside."

Stephan considered the proposal and reluctantly conceded but stipulated, "If you are certain you can do it go ahead but don't drain yourself too much and make sure not to weaken the wall because even a small weak spot could spell disaster because we don't know how well that force thing Greg set up works at the speeds we're hitting."

Jessica nodded then closed her eyes to concentrate on the wall as she tried to make it transparent. Slowly she modified a small spot of the wall. Then, after looking at it to make sure it had worked, she expanded the area until it reached to the area Stephan had indicated the sensors and wiring were above them. Then she used the last of her excess energy to widen the area until it encompassed the entire front and the sides all the way to just behind the seats on the sides.

Ecstatically Holly praised, "I am definitely hiring you to build our new condo when we get back!"

Rachel and Dawn laughed and Jessica shyly countered, "Only if I get to stay in a spare room when I wanna vacation at whatever beach it's on."

Holly retorted, "Only if you don't turn out to be some beach bum and crash at the condo until we've got gray hair!"

Rachel laughed and consoled Jessica, "Even if you do I'll make sure she lets you stay as long as you want."

Stephan interrupted the joking when, after using his ability to inspect the changes, asked, "How did you make it stronger than it was originally? Because I want to make the whole ship this strong if possible."

Surprised, Jessica replied, "I'm not sure. I used some of the elements that were in the air that you guys had been breathing out. I think it was carbon and nitrogen maybe. And I just mixed it with the metal and arranged it all so that the light could make it through but the more serious stuff got bounced back or absorbed. Chemistry is one of my worst subjects in school so I can't be sure what I was doing other than trying to make it show light while keeping it strong."

"I feel you." Dawn groaned, "My dad was so paranoid that I had to do almost all of my school online and the only hands on stuff I got to do was under the supervision of one of dad's guards there to supposedly protect me if something went wrong. And when it came to chemistry, the guards made me watch them mix the chemicals to make dad happy."

Holly giggled while saying, "Ooh dear! If that had been me I'd have been sneaking into closets or bathrooms and such to try the most dangerous experiments just to show that I could."

Dawn chuckled, "I tried, but with Wanda able to pick up on what I was thinking, she'd bust in on me while I was setting up if it was a more dangerous experiment and finally set up a deal where I could do less dangerous ones in her lab as long as I stayed away from the explosive combinations."

Looking outside, Jessica blurted, "Are we coming up to another solar system already?" as she pointed towards something nearby.

"Close but no cigar." Stephan answered, "We're making good time but we still haven't gotten anywhere close to being able to make it to another system in less than a decade, much less the hour or so that we've been under propulsion today. Although I must say I'm surprised because that right there is Saturn and all of it's rings, moons, and all of the asteroids it's captured over the years."

"Oh, yeah! I can see those rings now. Cool." Jessica gushed.

Stephan then asked, "Rachel, speaking of how far we've gotten so soon, can I get an update on stats?"

**** Note ****

In case you guys aren't seeing the author's notes below, I'm asking here where you might be better at seeing it. Please give me some type of feedback so I know what parts I need to get better at and which parts I may be overdoing, and which parts I'm doing good at. Also please pass me a vote this way to help attract some more readers because the more feedback I get the better I can get and, thus, the more interesting I can make the story.