A6-06 Tacit Approval

You choose silence.

The oversight team reports Wade's violation to you. You read the report, then set it on the table.

"Continue monitoring. But don't call a halt for now."

What that sentence means, you understand clearly. You are telling Wade: you can cross the line, but don't go too far.

This is something you would never have done before — tacitly endorsing a rule-breaker. But you also know that the reason Wade has been making progress in the experiments is precisely because he doesn't play by the rules. A Wade who fully complied with safety protocols — might no longer be Wade.

The cost of tacit approval arrives quickly.

Another year passes. In the eleventh experiment, Wade achieves a breakthrough — the curvature drive reaches 85% of light speed. But during the experiment, an unanticipated energy fluctuation pulls a nearby asteroid into the curvature bubble — pulverizing it.

If that asteroid had been a Bunker City —

You dare not think about it.

But the experiments are progressing. Wade says "two or three more experiments and we'll break the light speed barrier."

You fall into a cycle of self-torture: each time Wade crosses a line, you struggle between tacit approval and intervention; each successful experiment makes your silence seem more justified; each accident makes your silence seem more dangerous.

You are doing what Wade wants you to do — you are becoming his accomplice.

But perhaps — humanity needs an accomplice.

The thirteenth experiment.

The light speed barrier is broken.

An experimental vessel — unmanned — reaches light speed under the curvature engine's power. Then exceeds it. It vanishes from the monitoring range of the experimental zone, flying beyond the solar system at superluminal speed.

When Wade reports to you over the comm channel, there is something in his voice you have never heard before — not joy, something more like release.

"It worked," he says.

You close your eyes.

It worked.

Humanity has lightspeed ships.

But the experimental zone's speed of light has been permanently reduced — a large area's speed of light has dropped by approximately 7%. This "scar" will remain in the solar system's structure forever.

More importantly — the existence of the curvature trail is essentially a conspicuous marker within the solar system. Any advanced civilization scanning the solar system would notice this anomaly.

You think of an ironic possibility: in order to build a tool for escape, you've drawn a more prominent mark on the map.

Regardless — the lightspeed ship is real now.

The question now is: how many can be built? How many people can be saved?

The answer is cruel and simple: not many.

⟲ Return to Wade's request