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| Gravity Jumping | |
| By sttwilli | ||||
| 18 October 2006 | ||||
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This story is the start ofa larger project that I have mullig around in my mind. I have removed a number of plot twists that would have turned the story into a much larger work such as - the professor is asssinated, a jealous boyfriend etc. What would you have like to see in the story? August 23rd 2019 14:15 GMT, Ten Kilometre jump platform, Athena Space Port Alison screamed as her Skyboard launched from the platform. Quickly picking up speed she plummeted towards Earth. Checking diagnostics she saw that all was well and called out to Julian and Adam who were launching after her. She heard their launch-cry over the intercom and grinned. Here they were hurtling through the air ready to enter the racetrack circuit. She looked at the altimeter – now showing six thousand metres. She then looked through the Plexiglas view port and saw the Earth a long way below her. At a thousand metres she got ready for the fin deployment knowing that she would be pulling quite a few G’s when she used the controls to get to level flight. At five hundred metres - nothing happened. She hit the emergency release -nothing happened, and, by then it was way too late. The last thing she ever heard was a gigantic crumpling noise. August 23rd 2019 15:00 GMT, Police Department, Athena Space Port Chief Paul Andrews’ more mundane duties included reviewing, approving and issuing permits for Gravity Jumps from Athena station, As of thirty minutes ago, three of these jumpers were dead. Their Skyboards had plummeted straight down and pancaked less than one kilometre from Athena and embedded vertically in the sandy soil. Each contained the pressure suit encased remains of an adrenaline filled thrill seeker. Literally falling within Athena’s jurisdiction meant that the Chief would run the investigation. He had immediately arranged for an air accident board investigator to fly in from Heathrow. ETA was 90 minutes giving the Chief enough time to gather his thoughts over a Latte and Blueberry muffin from the terminal one Starbucks. August 23rd 2019 17:00 GMT, Police Department, Athena Space Port The investigator arrived at the appointed time and met the Chief at the T1 customer services desk. ‘Welcome to Athena doctor. I am Paul Andrews, Chief Inspector of police.’ ‘Chief Andrews. Dr Roger Harthen. Thank you for meeting me so promptly.’ Quickly completing the introductions, the Chief arranged for customer services to transfer Dr Harthen’s luggage to the onsite Athena Hilton and have him auto-checked in to his room. He then led the doctor to an electric Police buggy. Once aboard the Chief’s driver pulled away and headed off towards the Police station. Ten minutes later they were sitting in the Chief’s briefing room which was a rather Spartan structure some twenty metres or so square. On the desk between the Chiefs family photograph and the phone were three 10 cm cubed flight recorders which had been extracted from the downed Skyboards. The smart-wall opposite the desk displayed bio slides for the victims: Julian Brennan, age 27, Oxford undergraduate; Alison Beresford, age 26, also an Oxford undergraduate; Adam Kane, age 32, Professor of Theoretical Physics at Kings College, Oxford. Roger gasped. ‘Oh my god! Adam Kane’s is one of the foremost nuclear physicists in the UK.’ Remaining calm, the Chief held up his hands and said ‘Not anymore!’ August 24th 2019 11:00 GMT, Police Department, Athena Space Port Roger downloaded all three flight recorders, capturing diagnostics, velocity, altitude, attitude and guidance. They told the same story: Zero to terminal velocity, parabolic flight, no control fins deployed. Roger’s job was to determine ‘Why?’ He entered the forensic laboratory to examine the wreckage. The front of each vehicle was squashed. The rear fins were intact and remained recessed in the Skyboard fuselage. He cut open the inspection panels on Julian’s Skyboard so he could trace the release actuator wiring. All visible wiring was intact. Disconnecting the control board for the fin actuator he examined its surfaces. It looked fine. Picking up a magnifying glass he looked closer and saw that one chip looked newer than the rest. The chip, he knew was an EEPROM and it held the software programming that controlled the circuitry. He read and recorded the chip manufacturer and serial number details and then placed a call with Skyboard Inc. After a brief wait on hold he got through to the technical support department. They confirmed that the chip was the right make and model but was missing the mandatory chip label. This meant either the label was lost, or, the chip was a fake. Roger extracted the control boards from the other two machines. Both had unlabelled chips. According to the Skyboard engineer the chances of all three having no label were non existent. Phoning the Chief, he said ‘Chief, all three Skyboards have been tampered with. I am sending two control boards to forensics and the third is off to Skyboard Inc. for analysis. Once the Skyboard analysis is back then we should know what was done.’ ‘Ok Roger. Call me when you get it.’ August 24th 2019 14:00 GMT, Police Department, Athena Space Port The Skyboard analysis data arrived back at 13:55. They stated that the chip contained hacked software that would always show healthy diagnostics, would accept and acknowledge all commands but would never deploy the fins. In essence the software would kill the GJ. The Chief and Dr Harthen discussed the data and agreed that the accident may in fact have been murder. The Chief sat down. Grabbing a pen, he started filling out a method, motive, opportunity, suspects list in his notebook. Everything in his list pointed toward the University. It would have both the technology and people with the know-how to program new chips and substitute them. He contacted Oxford CID and briefed their Chief. They quickly concluded that a joint investigation should proceed. Oxford’s Chief agreed to assign an unmarked car with driver and a member of their murder squad to the case. August 25th 2019 10:00 GMT, Oxford John Baxter of Oxford CID picked the Chief up at the airport. He introduced himself and then loaded the Chief’s luggage into the car. They both climbed aboard and John instructed their driver to proceed to Kings College. En-route they received a message from Roger back at Athena. The forensic team had lifted a clear thumb print from the fake chip from Alison Beresford’s Skyboard. It did not match the victim’s prints or any registered on the global crime database. John called in additional support – officers and forensics. They needed to identify the students and staff having both access to EEPROM programmers and the knowledge to use it. All would need to be fingerprint tested. By eleven am the place was awash with police in blue and forensics in white carrying out the checks. They started with the professors’ laboratory and his students, staff, friends and colleagues. By four pm they had a second breakthrough. A student called Colin Murray, age 20 in Alison Beresford’s physics group had matched with the fingerprint. August 25th 2019 18:00 GMT, Interview room 1, Oxford Police Headquarters John switched on the tape and spoke: ‘For the record this is a formal interview held on the 25th August at 18:00 GMT. Present in the room is Chief Inspector Paul Andrews, Detective John Baxter and Colin Murray.’ The chief started with ‘Mr. Murray. I am investigating the deaths of Julian Brennan, Alison Beresford, and your Professor Adam Kane. When was the last time you saw them?’ ‘Two days before the accident I think. We had a class together.’ ‘How well did you know Julian and Alison?’ ‘I knew them very well. They are…were, friends of mine.’ ‘Do you have any idea why their Skyboards failed?’ ‘No.’ ‘Did you ever see or touch their Skyboards’ ‘No.’ ‘Can you explain then Mr. Murray why we found your fingerprint on a fake control chip inside one of the machines?’ Colin was stunned. The look on his face and the instant appearance of brow sweat, and wringing of hands gave away his guilt. ‘Mr. Murray. I ask again, why did we find your fingerprint on a fake control chip?’ ‘Bbbecause…they wanted to make the ride more challenging.’ ‘What did you do?’ ‘Julian programmed the change. I only loaded it into the chip and installed the chips for them. Alison and the Prof. checked the code.’ The Chief scrutinised Colin’s face. He could see that Colin really thought that he had done no more than that. ‘Colin, Skyboard checked your software. They say that it would never deploy the fins.’ ‘No way – as soon as they hit 500 metres the fins would deploy.’ ‘I am afraid not. The software relied on the readings of an altitude/attitude sensor that is dummied out in the I/O system on that Skyboard model. The code change disabled fin deployment.’ Colin looked devastated and unable to continue so the Chief nodded to John to stop the interview. ‘For the record, interview terminated at 18:15.’ said John John switched off the tape and asked the attending officer to remain whilst he and the chief left the room to discuss the strange twist in events. ‘Chief, he really thinks he didn’t cause their deaths.’ ‘I know. He changed the chips though and he’s the only living witness that we know of.’ ‘Okay Chief. We’ll have to refer it to the Crown Prosecution Service. I will have him detained on suspicion of murder.’ August 25th 2019 21:00 GMT, Interview room 1, Oxford Police Headquarters The CPS deliberated the case notes and evidence laid before them. Based on the facts available they instructed that Colin be charged with murder and the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter. Later that night, the Chief lay on the bed in his hotel room trying to sleep. He had observed the digital clock show 11:30; 00:15; 01:34. The cause of his insomnia was a constant replaying of facts in his head. Sitting up, he realised that the Skyboard may not only be the evidence that convicted Colin. It might also be the evidence that released him. How did Colin know about the sensor? How did he know what software to change? He switched on the smart-wall panel and selected Internet. Selecting Yahoogle he searched for ‘Skyboard software hacking’. Much to his surprise the display returned over 25,000 hits. Scanning down he saw the title ‘Reprogramming the Skyboard for automatic release’. On opening the link he was astounded to see instructions on changing the very software involved in his case. It was very much an “if you do this…then do that…then it works” type manual. He requested a printout which duly burped out of the colour laser built into the desk. Calling John, he asked him to obtain all e-mails sent and received by Colin and the victims in the month preceding the crashes. August 26th 2019 09:00 GMT, Situation room, Oxford Police Headquarters The Chief met John at 9 am to review the e-mails. John kept Colin and Alison’s and gave Chief Andrews the ones from the Professor and Julian. They spent the next three hours sifting through mails pulling out any that may have a relevance to the case. Six in total – two from Julian to Colin telling him what to do with the software, one from the professor egging them all on, two from Alison asking when they would be ready, and one from Colin saying that the Skyboards were ready for testing. ‘They tested the boards the hard way Chief’ ‘It looks that way John - what a waste!’ Thirty minutes later the Chief briefed the CPS. The incontrovertible evidence was sufficient for the CPS to drop all charges against Colin and subsequently refer the case back to the coroner. The Chief personally arranged for Colin’s release. He spoke to him for over an hour explaining that the evidence led towards a verdict of misadventure and that Colin’s should not hold himself responsible. Seeing the state that Colin was in he also suggested that he seek counselling to overcome the confusion, shock and trauma of the event. Then, having completed the paperwork he asked the desk sergeant to have Colin driven home. The Chief called Roger to notify him of the investigation findings. They agreed that they should write up their reports and submit them to their respective authorities and the coroner. The Chief thanked him for his efforts and partnership and after a short round of banter agreed that Roger was at liberty to return to London. The rest of Chief’s day was spent in Oxford completing paperwork for the case file and liasing with the Oxford CID team with whom he had built a great relationship. Flying home later than evening the only thoughts flowing through his mind were that the next few day and weeks would not include any GJ accidents.
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