George T. Hahn

The Tau Ceti colony supplies Earth with critical medicine, supports scientists from Earth, and operates a library ship that gathers petabytes of valuable data. Somehow, it isn't enough. For mysterious reasons, the Western Alliance tried to undermine the colony's control over itself in pursuit of mysterious goals. The colonists resisted. Now, the Western Alliance has called a conference to discuss colonial policy, and the uninvited colonists are convinced that the conference is just a ploy to justify the use of force against them. Patrick Malley, Administrator of the colony, has few allies and little experience in dealing with the forces that the Western Alliance can muster against the tiny colony. Despite that, he is determined to attend the conference and fight for his world. Battling intrigue and unfamiliar technology, the Tau Ceti colonists will face the overwhelming power of the Western Alliance, leading to a deadly confrontation in deep space.

The Immortality Conspiracy

Tau Ceti

A. Gilbert

Robert Isaac Jaffee

There appear to be two ways in which interstitials promote brittle behavior in Groups V-A and VI-A refractory metals: (1) By locating at the grain boundaries in the form of segregates of precipitates, promoting grain-boundary rupture and crack initiation; and (2) In solid solution by inhibiting dislocation movement and reducing the resistance to crack propagation. Both embrittling effects operate in Group VI-A metals; whereas, only the latter is significant in the Group V-A at the levels of purity currently achieved. The problem of reducing the low-temperature brittleness of Group V-A metals is readily solved through the purity route. Purification of Group V-A metals to interstitial levels well below the solubility limits may be readily accomplished either in the initial purification of the base metal or during melting or consolidation. There are three possible routes to solving the problem of the embrittling effect of interstitials on the Group VI-A metals: (1) the purity route, (2) through working, and (3) through alloying (thermodynamically through strong scavengers, by additions which modify the electron bonding, and via grain-refining dispersions). (Author).

George T. Hahn

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