Yesterdays war 6 untim.., p.1
Yesterday's War 6 - Untimely Rivals, page 1
Untimely Rivals
Book #6 of the Yesterday’s War series
By Gerald L. Hall
Dedicated to my wife who is known to all as ‘Rev Bev’. She’s the good Shepherd that this old ‘sheepdog’ has been working together in love with for twenty-eight years. She has been and continues to be my ‘walking, talking miracle’.
Copyright Pending 2022, Gerald Hall
Image credits: Cover Art by Gerald Hall
Edited by: Gerald Hall
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission by the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.
Prologue: Cavill Industries Headquarters Derby, Western Australia November 1, 1970
James Cavill and his sister Sarah were in their older sister Judith’s office that Sunday morning for a short meeting before they went to church worship services. Judith had just flipped a concealed switch inside of her desk and typed in a password to gain access to their secret database from seventy years in the future that had been left to her and her siblings by their late father. The secret computer center not only included a portable quantum computer brought back from the future through a time portal by James Stevenson aka Harold Cavill, but also a custom-built mainframe computer using contemporary technology that stored additional information being gathered from the current timeline as well.
The recently installed connection from Judith’s office to the hidden database at the Cavill family home was the first time that the Cavill family dared make any connection to the futuristic information outside of the hidden computer center inside their home.
“How is our computer technology development progressing, Judith? We just don’t know how much longer that Father’s device will continue to function.” James asked.
“We are making steady progress currently. From what I can gather, we are at least one generation ahead in computer technology than had been the case during Father’s timeline. But we still have so much further to go. At least, we have developed sufficient data storage density that we have been able to store all of the key technical data from Father’s database.”
“I don’t know what we would be able to do if we lost that data. We do know that certain technologies are possible. But without the detailed technical data, it would be bloody difficult to provide the hints to our scientists and engineers to make that necessary leap. I know that we have some exceptionally bright men and women working for us who will probably be able to eventually make those discoveries on their own. However, if we are going to drive certain technologies, having the information from the future will make the process far more likely.” James emphasized.
“Beatrice especially needs the computing support just in case something happens that threatens our colony out there on Mars. If something breaks, our people on Mars will have to be able to fix it on their own.” Sarah interjected.
“We sent the first generation compact super computer to Mars for Beatrice to work with from the beginning. Now, that this design and its technology are out of the closet, we are beginning to produce it for outside sales. We have also used it to design the supporting technologies to design and construct the subsequent generation of central processing units to make even fast and more compact computers.” Judith replied.
“I know. But, we should send Beatrice an entire next-generation computer so that she will have some redundancy out there.” Beatrice’s twin sister then said.
“If we do that, we are going to need to send more power generation capacity to power that new computer. Her current computer already strains the power systems out there as it is.” James interjected.
“Our new compact nuclear reactor will do very nicely to provide more than enough additional power for the projected growth of the Mars colony for at least the next decade. Of course, we will also send more solar panels at the same time since they are far easier to set up than the reactor.
Our AI expert program has suggested a design for the new supercomputer that will allow the processor blade modules to be recycled as part of personal computing workstations. All the separate workstations will need is their own individual memory, case, power source and storage. The case can incorporate a quasi-motherboard that would contain the input-output interfaces for the keyboard, pointing device, video processor, monitor, printer, network interface and other external devices. The processor blade module would simply be inserted into it. The case would also have a cooling fan to ensure that all of the components will not overheat.” Judith explained as she continued to look at her computer monitor’s screen and typed on her keyboard.
“That sounds very smart. We really can’t afford to have anything go to waste out there on Mars. The people out there will certainly need to have their own computing capability. If we can upgrade the mainframe with improved processor blade modules and use the older units for personal computers, we can also take a lot of the overall computing load off of the mainframe on Mars at the same time.” Sarah admitted.
“Naturally. You know that I am going to do everything that I can to support our sister out there. First, because she’s our sister. Secondly, that support is vital to ensure the success of our colony on Mars. We all know that Father wanted very badly to ensure that mankind had a second outpost in the event of a catastrophe here on Earth or that we failed to prevent a massive nuclear war in this timeline.” Judith looked up and said.
“I haven’t had a chance to travel out to New Guinea to see our new electronics production lines there. I do know that there has been tremendous growth out there, especially since the new modular nuclear power station there went operational last year. There have also been a lot of associated industries that have been established in New Guinea since Australia annexed it.”
“Our new chip fabrication plant near Port Moresby is beginning to produce the new generation of 32-bit dual-core CPU processors. Our sister plants out there in New Guinea that are going to incorporate those into the new mainframe blade modules are ramping up at the same time. We are also increasing production of the four and sixteen-megabyte memory chips that these new computers will need to achieve optimum performance.” Judith noted.
“That is still a long way in terms of performance in comparison to Father’s computer.” Sarah noted.
“It is also far more advanced than anything that existed only a couple of years ago, much less what our competitors are producing. Even Motorola and Intel are not going to produce 16-bit processors for several more years.
On the other hand, we will likely have 64-bit quad-core CPUs, with clock speeds that are at least 100 times faster, in production within the next three to five years. This is far more than what was predicted by Moore’s Law. But I believe that we can manage to get away with it without too much scrutiny, especially if we keep our highest performing computers strictly for in-house use. After that, we should be able to get more advanced chip manufacturing machinery in operation to jump even further ahead of our competition and to aid our other endeavors at the same time.
The AI expert software on Father’s portable computer is helping us considerably in the design of future generations of computers and supporting devices. But our people are surprisingly innovative in figuring out much of it on their own, even before we can make our ‘suggestions’ to help them along.”
“You know that our rivals are going to try to reverse-engineer our chips and other electronic technologies, Judith.” James warned.
“Yes, they will try. But we will use our barristers and the threat of copyright infringement lawsuits to force anyone attempting to copy our technology to at least modify our designs somewhat. That will slow them down sufficiently, I’m sure. Maybe they will end up creating something superior along the way, opening the way for us to accelerate our own technology advances at the same time.” Judith replied.
“This proliferation of personal computer technology and the information transfer infrastructure will certainly change the world. Hopefully, it will peacefully bind people together through worldwide communication. But at least the advances that we are promoting will permit us to be able to protect Earth from those people who would rather destroy the world, rather than live in peace with people who believe differently than they do or who possess something that they covet.”
“We are also going to be able to find a faster, more efficient way to travel to Mars and return if we are going to be able to adequately supply Beatrice and the rest of the colonists out there. I know that the nuclear-thermal rocket that the Ares uses is a vast improvement over the chemical rockets that the rest of the world is still using for space travel. But, we are going to need more and faster craft servicing the route between Earth and Mars, not to mention our growing facilities on the Moon. It is still going to take a lot of work to make the colonies on the Moon and Mars completely self-sufficient.” Sarah changed the subject.
Looking down at his watch, James then spoke to his siblings.
“I know that this subject needs a lot more discussion. But, we better get going to church now. It will be time for worship services to begin in just a few minutes.”
“You’ve right. Our families are probably already out there, wondering why we aren’t there with them too.” Sarah added.
“Well, let’s get on with it then. We don’t want to keep our families or th e pastor waiting on us, now do we?” Judith agreed with a sly smile as she turned off her computer terminal and got up to leave. Sarah and James quickly followed her.
For the extended Cavill family, Sunday worship services were a welcome break from all of the pressures of the work that they were involved in. Their father always felt that God had something to do with his being able to travel back in time to change humanity’s fate, hopefully for the better. That faith was something that he encouraged in his children as they grew up also.
But there was always a price for pursuing their father’s dream.
Chapter One: Cavill Industries Shipyards. Derby, Western Australia November 6, 1970
James Cavill and his sister Sarah were standing at a remote corner of the shipyard, watching all of the activity going on inside. They had deliberately picked a location that no one else was near so that they could speak freely.
“I know that we didn’t talk about this much with Judith during our last big meeting with her a few days ago, I’m very worried that the world that Father tried to save may be going down the very nearly same path that the world of his original timeline went to its destruction on.” Sarah noted as she looked out at the various ships and Sea Dragon rockets that were being built in the shipyard.
“I’m still in shock that the Israelis turned out to be the first to use a nuclear weapon in combat. I would not have thought that they could have mustered the necessary resources to build a nuclear weapon.” James replied.
“Perhaps, but you have to realize that they most certainly had the talent to design a fission device. The Israelis most certainly had the motivation as well with the Arabs openly working to finish what Hitler had started with his plan to completely eradicate the Jewish people.”
“I don’t know if it was planned or simply pure dumb luck that made the Israelis decide to go for an airburst over the invading Arab army in Megiddo. If that weapon had been detonated any closer to the ground, it might have split open the Dead Sea fault line.”
“Who knows how much damage would have been done to the region if the fault line fracture had happened? Some people think that various miraculous events depicted in the Bible are the result of major seismic events in the Levant. It’s really hard to say for certain, of course.” Sarah pondered aloud.
“You know that some of the Orthodox Jews out there look at what happened there to be a sign of God’s blessing upon Israel. Some Orthodox Jews were living in one of the kibbutz collective farms at Meggido at the time of the invasion. They had built bomb shelters in their homes as protection against the shelling that the Arabs had periodically fired from across the border at them before the invasion.
When the Arabs started shelling in preparation for the invasion, these farmers simply went into their shelters like normal. By the time they realized that it was a full-fledged invasion, they couldn’t get out of their bunkers because they were already surrounded. So the Israelis simply stayed put.
Apparently, the farmers had built some very sturdy bomb shelters in Meggido. Several of them were practically at Ground Zero when the Israeli bomb went off over them. The shock wave from the bomb dumped so much debris over their shelter doors that the people inside couldn’t get out for a couple of days.
By the time the bunkers got dug out, the worst of the induced radiation had decayed to a safe level. So everyone inside the bunkers came out alive and well.” James explained.
“Well, I could certainly see why the Israelis would consider it a miracle. The Arabs lost over thirty thousand soldiers that day as a result of that bomb going off over their heads. No wonder that Father put that hidden underground chamber so deeply underground.” Sarah replied.
“Sarah, do you remember when Albert Einstein came to visit Father that time? He flew here a few years after the end of the war.”
“Yes, I remember. Father took him into the secret room. But he wouldn’t let the rest of inside until after Professor Einstein had left.”
“Well, I had just been thinking about that. You know, Father told me a few years later about what he and the Professor talked about. Apparently, they had quite a discussion on many different subjects including about something called space-time.”
“That doesn’t surprise me, especially with Father having actually travelled back in time somehow. He never explained exactly how he managed to accomplish that.”
“Who knows what we might discover now that we have such a large technological head-start over the knowledge that mankind had in Father’s old timeline.” James said.
“You don’t think that Einstein used the knowledge that he learned from Father to help built the Israeli bomb, do you?” Sarah asked after turning to face her younger brother.
“No. I’m sure that he didn’t. Even the Einstein of Father’s timeline became very firmly against the further development of nuclear weapons after what he witnessed from the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The only reason why Einstein supported the creation of the Manhattan Project in the first place was because of the fear that Hitler and the Nazis would build a fission bomb first. Hitler has been dead for over a quarter century now.”
“Unfortunately, for the Israelis, the Arabs seem determined to implement their own Final Solution. They are also being led by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem who had even worked with Hitler during the war.”
“I wonder how many other nations have old grudges that they would like to permanently settle now that they know that they could build a weapon that could destroy entire cities with a single blast and poison lands for a generation or more afterwards.” James asked.
“Too many, I’m afraid. I suppose that is why Judith is so interested in accelerating our development of high-speed computers and getting more people out to the lunar and Martian settlements. The computers can be used to help build and control weapons to intercept incoming nuclear missiles and other nuclear delivery vehicles. They would also help the operation and expansion of ours and allied extraterrestrial facilities to ensure the long-term survival of mankind.”
“Sarah, you know it sounds pretty funny when you talk about extraterrestrial facilities. It’s an accurate description of the colonies on the Moon and Mars since they are separate from Earth or ‘Terra’. But usually, when people use the term ‘extraterrestrial’, everyone starts thinking about ‘little green men from outer space’.” James chuckled.
“I reckon that you are right. But we still have to acknowledge that our work has become a lot more urgent if we are going to have a world for our grandchildren to call home a few decades from now. I pray that God has given us an opportunity here to show that humanity is worthy to survive in this universe for more than just a few more decades.”
“Well, we are not building those big rockets out there just to spend more of our family’s money on fancy fireworks, that’s for bloody sure.” James replied as he pointed towards the huge steel cylinders that were on their way to becoming Sea Dragon ultra-heavy space launch vehicles.
“True enough. I just wish that we could focus more on the peaceful use of nuclear energy rather than have to deal with its military use as a weapon. We are certainly investing enough of our available capital for the construction of new nuclear power stations here in Australia.”
“We doubtlessly need the power. Father always intended to not only extend and expand the entire rail line from Darwin, through Kalumburu, here in Derby and the rest of the way south to Perth. Our nuclear power station here at Derby simply doesn’t produce enough power to do that and supply our industrial needs at the same time.” Sarah added.
“Our second and third nuclear power stations will alleviate this problem though soon. The first reactor at the station near Darwin is supposed to go operational in January of next year. The station near Perth is expected to go critical next August. Until then, we probably won’t be able to energize only the lines between here and Kalumburu. The recent commissioning of the third reactor here in Derby at the old coal-fired power plant at least will be able to cover our industrial power requirements here for the near future.”
