Cycle of Stars Read online

  “Another thing,” said the Doctor, “Every science fiction book or movie I've read or seen dealing with this kind of phenomena has the characters reliving the same time loop over and over again. Yet we don't seem to be experiencing that.”

  “Well Doc we aren't really circling this spacetime,” said the Chief Engineer. “We are more spiraling along it. As long as we keep the engines firing that will continue because we are still accelerating a bit. But when we turn the engines off or we reach our top speed that will ...”

  The Chief stopped and looked at the Captain.

  “Captain we need to find a way out before we max our velocity because if we don't we'll be stuck in a closed time loop like the Doc is talking about.”

  “For how long Chief.”

  “For as long as this phenomenon lasts.”

  “Okay we have to come up with a vector that will get us out of this space,” said the Captain. “Suggestions?”

  “Why don't we just retrace our steps?” asked the navigator.

  “Chief?”

  “We can try. We'll be going against the frame dragging though. It will put a lot of stress on the engines.”

  “I don't see any other choice unless we want to ride this merry-go-round until doomsday. Let's get it done.”

  The helmsman was bringing the ship around one-hundred eighty degrees. As it turned the ship began to vibrate and shake as if it were being buffeted by a wind. Some of the crew began to experience nausea and discomfort. The doctor showed up in the command room.

  “Captain we've got sick people. It appears to be something to do with this space.”

  “That could be Doctor we are crossing lines of increasing and decreasing gravity and they are spaced sometimes just right to cause a kind of motion sickness to those susceptible. Is there anything you can do?”

  “I can hand out motion sickness pills. That might help.”

  “Very well Doc.”

  The doctor left.

  “Navigator have we finished the turn?”

  “Coming around now sir.”

  The buffeting subsided.

  “Very well how long until we are back to the place we boarded this ride?”

  “Chief says we are swimming upstream to the frame-dragging effect so it will probably take twice as long.”

  “Look Captain,” said the comm operator pointing to the wallscreen.

  There ahead of them about the same distance as before was the other ship.

  “Can you contact them?”

  “I'll try sir.”

  “Star Bound this is the Captain of the ship now trailing you. How did you know to execute your turn?”

  “This is Captain Nelson of the Star Bound. We executed no turn.”

  “Then how do you explain that we now trail you?”

  “I don't know, you explain it.”

  “Okay, we determined that we could not stay in the spacetime much longer or we would be trapped. So we made the turn to try to escape the way we came.”

  “Sounds reasonable to me Captain. I hope we all make it out.”

  The Captain started to reply but stopped.

  “All the best Star Bound.”

  “Captain?” said the comm officer.

  “That's all Defar. How do you tell a whole ship they don't have long to live?”

  “Captain,” said the helmsman. “Are we sure they are the reflection and not us?”

  “No Rosare we aren't sure.”

  “Captain,” said Rosare. “I'm picking up a ship behind us about as far back as the other is ahead.”

  “Should I try to contact them sir?” asked Defar.

  “No Defar. I've got nothing to say to them. We'll all know soon if we are the reflection or they are.”

  It took a few hours to reach the spot where the Star Bound had entered the rolled-up spacetime.

  “Sir,” said the helmsman. “We are coming up to where I think we entered this spacetime. The ship ahead should be experiencing it now.”

  “Full magnification on that ship,” said the Captain.

  There on the wallscreen the ship ahead looked like it was flying in close formation. Then it seemed to lurch as if a film skipping and it was gone.

  “What happened?” asked Captain Nelson.

  “Not sure sir but I haven't any contact anymore.”

  “I guess they were a reflection,” said the Captain to no one in particular.

  “How long navigator until we reach that point?”

  “A little over half an hour sir.”

  The Captain looked at the chronometer. It would be 17:30 hours when they arrived at that point.

  Quittin' time, he thought.

  It was sometime later that the helmsman spoke up.

  “Captain the ship behind us is getting closer.”

  “How close?”

  “It's now at five thousand klicks and closing fast.”

  “What's wrong with them?” said the Captain to no one in particular.

  “Comm raise that ship.”

  “Yes sir.”

  The comm operator worked at it but got no response.

  “No response Captain.”

  “Helmsman how long to exit?”

  “Twenty seconds sir.”

  “Where's that ship now?”

  “One thousand klicks and closing directly on us Captain.”

  “Can we speed up?”

  “No sir, fusion engines at maximum.”

  “Okay brace for impact or exit or whatever.”

  The operator had put the other ship's image on the wallscreen. As the seconds ticked down it came to fill the entire screen. It was obvious it would ram the Star Bound. Then as the countdown ended the ship disappeared and the wallscreen showed the stars except for a large area that ran from the lower left to the upper right of the screen that looked like total darkness, the cylindrical spacetime.

  “We're out sir,” said the helmsman.

  “But where? Navigator?”

  “Sir we are about ten AU from Liberty.”

  “I've heard that before operator. I hope this time you are right.”

  “Helmsman take us there. And avoid any detours please.”

  13

  From the Libertas System, a communications wormhole was opened with the Adowa System. Captain Nelson reported the incident to headquarters, the Jump-Ships Corporation. From there Dr. Payne naturally called on Dag for his opinion.

  “And he said that it was cylindrical but not how long it was Dr. Payne?”

  “They know from their encounter that it was tens of thousands of klicks. But it could have been longer than that.”

  “And it gave every indication of being wrapped around a wormhole?”

  “Yes, the Chief Engineer aboard who has more knowledge of such things than any of the others said that it had every indication of resembling the wormhole dimension.”

  “But they mentioned frame dragging. That says to me that whatever this object was it was in rotation. That's unusual for a wormhole.”

  “Well they definitely were caught in something and frame dragging seemed to explain what they were experiencing.”

  “Oh, I'm not questioning their statements but just trying to understand why you would want to cast a rotating wormhole.”

  “I'm sure I don't know Dr. Mach but if you figure it out please tell me.”

  “Of course sir.”

  Dag brought up what Payne had told him when he rejoined Ally in Jehren.

  “Well I do know Emmy Gibbs proved that if you can give a wormhole a little spin it reduces the amount of exotic matter you need to keep it open. Its own mechanics, the spin, provides some of that energy.”

  “That's true Miss but it doesn't require such extreme rotation that it sets up noticeable frame-dragging in ordinary spacetime.”

  “But we have used frame-dragging for transportation purposes.”

  “Yes I remember the system of wormholes that were maintained for transportation purposes. But that was five hundred
years ago and we used it as a work-around to avoid the worse effects of long distant wormhole traverse on people. But we've solved that problem now. And anyway those weren't rotating wormholes but instead used the energy of objects passing through the wormhole to frame-drag ships long distances in ordinary space.”

  “That's true Dag. We wouldn't need to rotate a wormhole these days unless.”

  “Unless what?”

  “Unless we wanted a wormhole so long that it would be impossible to cast.”

  “You mean the energy required to cast it the required distance is prohibitive?”

  “Yes and also dangerous for the stability of spacetime.”

  “So instead of casting the far wormhole mouth you 'grow' the wormhole to the distance you want. If that's true, and if this spacetime cylinder were a wormhole, then it would be a lot longer than a few tens of thousands of klicks.”

  “Yeah, tens of light-years.”

  “Or more probably hundreds.”

  Ally nodded in agreement.

  Dag and Ally had not made much progress with the artwork received from the Adowan government. They didn't believe it was of the same kind as the one aboard the Star Hopper. The government being impatient had put its own scientists to the task but they had made no progress either and eventually the object was “stored”.

  They also had made no further progress on the wormhole-like object. Besides marking its position no other action had been taken by any government.

  Dag, because of his success getting the wormhole drives working again, had become somewhat of a celebrity and several universities had offered him an associate professorship. He had taken up his duties at the University of Jehren on Adowa and was trying to get back to normal. Ally had come to Adowa also looking for a position aboard a fusion ship but had no luck yet. Dag noticing her problem had taken it upon himself to try and find her a position at the university. He had secured her an offer in the engineering department as an instructor in fusion engineering. He would mention it tonight as they were meeting.

  Dag met Ally at her favorite pizza place. After pizza and a beer, Ally seemed to be relaxed. It wasn't long until Dag was ready to tell her about the university position.

  “Miss I've been noticing that you haven't secured yourself a position aboard a ship yet.”

  “Yeah there doesn't seem to be much need right now but I expect that to change as more and more drives are modified.”

  “Well until then I was wondering if you would be interested in a teaching position at the university?”

  “What do you mean? I've never thought about being a teacher.”

  “I know but you have all the experience you need to teach fusion engineering. And teaching a class is really just choosing a book and supplementing it with your experience. Anyway, the Dean of Engineering is highly interested in meeting with you and discussing it.”

  “Oh, you weren't just being hypothetical? You've already discussed this with people at the university?”

  “Yeah I have.”

  “So you already discussed my future without including me in the discussion?”

  Dag tilted his head slightly, he was confused.

  “Well I thought it was important Miss to find out what the possibilities were before I presented them. You know I wouldn't want to get your hopes up just to have you disappointed.”

  “My hopes? And what do you know about my hopes? Have we ever sat down and discussed them? Don't you think it's a little presumptuous of you?”

  “Well when you put it that way I guess it was Miss but I just wanted to help.”

  “You can help by asking me next time.”

  “You're right, I'm sorry Miss. I really am.”

  Ally realized his sincerity.

  “Okay Dag as long as you understand why it upset me.”

  “Oh, I do.”

  “So when do I meet the Dean?”

  “I don't know, I mean you are supposed to call his secretary.”

  “I'll do that, thank you Dag.”

  Dag tilted his head again he was feeling whip-lashed. He realized it was human emotions that was confusing him. It had been a problem when he worked with Burgess, at least in the beginning. It had also been a problem when he tried to go out on his own as a detective. It was a weakness he simply couldn't seem to overcome.

  “Your welcome Miss,” he said quietly.

  Ally took another piece of pizza and took a bite.

  When she had finished Ally said, “Now Dag on another matter. This cylinder of spacetime, this super long wormhole. I wonder if we should be worried about it.”

  “I don't know Miss. I think it would be prudent to find out more about it.”

  “But I doubt that Jump-Ships Corporation will do much more.”

  “At the least, that object is going to present a danger to wormhole ships and its going to present more and more of a danger if it continues to grow.”

  “So governments dependent on those ships would do well to find out more about it?”

  “Yes when we bring it to their attention.”

  “We?”

  Dag would have smiled if he could.

  As the importance of what Dag and Ally were telling them became fully absorbed by the government bureaucracy a response began slowly to emerge. But it wasn't the response that Dag expected. Instead of providing for an investigation of the phenomena the Union of Adowa government opted to place it off limits to all ships flying from Adowa orbit.

  “This is crazy Miss,” said Dag. “Do they really think they can stick their heads in the sand and everything will be fine?”

  “I think they believe they can suppress public concern by ignoring the issue,” said Ally. “I guess they are worried about what we might find. If that thing is growing in length what do they do? How do they stop it?”

  “I'm not sure. We might find its source and shut it down. Or once we become more familiar with the object it might become apparent how to stop it. But that's the point until we know exactly what we are dealing with we can't make plans to protect ourselves.

  “But the government refuses to do anything. So what do we do now Miss?”

  “We find someone else with an interest in keeping the space lanes safe. Maybe Jump-Ships Corporation.”

  “Maybe we just let it go and get on with our careers? It's pretty far away. How do we know it will ever cause a danger to Adowa?”

  “We don't. But by the time that becomes clear, it could be too late.”

  It had taken a couple of weeks but Dag had finally gotten a meeting with Dr. Payne scheduled. They met at his office in the facilities orbiting Adowa.

  Jump-Ships Corporation's shops were the largest manufacturing complex in orbit around the planet. At two-thousand meters in radius, the doughnut-shaped facility had four levels, each fifty meters wide with a total floor area of two and a half million square meters, comparable to many ground-based manufacturing plants.

  The facility rotated to provide artificial gravity. One rotation every one point six minutes provided eight-tenths Earth equivalent gravity. The outside floor and the two inner floors were storage and manufacturing. The remaining floor housed the workers, nearly two thousand in number. All floors were protected from the radiation of space and the solar wind of the star Kaffa by a thick Em engineered gel insulation.

  Nearby in the same polar orbit was the food growing facility. Also a doughnut-shaped facility, it was oriented perpendicular to its orbit so that the light from Kaffa could continuously enter through the opaque walls that made up the star facing side. Walls that with the help of the Em gel also stopped most of Kaffa's solar wind while letting through the light.

  At nearly the same size as the manufacturing ring but with twice the number of floors and floor space it had over one-hundred acres on which to raise food for the manufacturing personnel. Aeroponic gardening, one-hundred eighty-seven times more efficient than farming on a planet, took up more than half the space. Cultured meat grown in bio-reactors took up some mo
re of the floor space. The rest was given over to the packing plants, food storage lockers and loading docks.

  A railgun moved some of the heartier food packets from production in the farm ring to consumption in the manufacturing ring each day. Shuttles took personnel from the manufacturing ring where they were lodged to the food production ring where they worked and back. Other freighters brought more food from the farm ring.

  A power plant powered by the light of the star Kaffa completed the major structures of the complex making it almost self-sufficient from Adowa.

  Dag and Dr. Payne were meeting in the company conference room of the manufacturing ring.

  “The Union government's position concerning this object is a mystery to me sir.”

  “I suspect there is something the government knows that you and I are unaware of Dr. Mach. Governments have a life of their own and preservation is probably tops on their list.”

  “So is it something that Jump-Ships Corporation would be interested in investigating?”

  “Well considering what happened to the Star Bound I think if the phenomenon gets more extensive as you expect then it would threaten the Corporation's viability. And Dr. Mach corporations are very much like governments they will do what they must to survive. So yes I think I can convince the Board that your interests and the Corporation's interests are the same. You will have your jump-ship.”

  14

  Dag's jump-ship turned out to be an older model, actually one of the companies demonstrator units. It was one-third the size of the usual fusion ship and had an older third-generation fusion engine which was slower than the latest models. But it was well manned by a seasoned crew and would be ready for use by the time the current school semester was over. And Ally had agreed to go along for which Dag was thankful.

  It was a bit more difficult to supply the ship with the equipment that Dag wanted. The physic's department was somewhat reluctant to approve his request. But eventually, he got the Casimir effect entanglement detectors and gravity interferometers among other things that he wanted.