October Newsletter (late)

Some Thoughts

I don’t know if you are keeping up with the AI news, but I am trying. They now think that they are on the correct path to general AI, all that’s needed is more compute power (more electrical power too). Of course, many are saying that the current approach (chatbots) is a dead end that won’t lead to general AI, but even if it is, we may be seeing some effects from it already. Walmart’s CEO says he thinks hiring will be flat for the next few years because chatbots are good enough now to fill jobs in customer service and supply chain management and maybe other white collar jobs. Their warehouses may see the AI effect next with the push for intelligent robots. Jobs, or lack thereof, may be big news soon.

I know that all this talk of AI made me change the story in my recently released MarsX Series to reflect the appearance of Artificial General Intelligence. The current book I’m writing, tentatively titled Zero Point, is also being affected. The possibilities that may become a reality in the next five years make it almost impossible to extrapolate comfortably, but still, I can try to write a good story, with interesting characters, and riff on the physics. I’m just integrating a lot more AI into my near future writings than I might have as recently as last year.

Books

Null Infinity (https://books2read.com/u/mlg0NP) was released September 20 and is available everywhere including a couple of excerpts on my website here.

A second novel in the series is releasing October 20 Null Infinity: Next Gen. As you might expect from the title, it is about the son of the protagonists in the first book. I think I posted the blurb last time but here it is just in case:

James Stimson was following in his parent’s footsteps, sort of. He didn’t quite have their aptitude for physics, so he went into management.

But he didn’t quite have an aptitude for management either. But Bridgette did, and as long as he was with her, he would do fine.

But with the world under attack by an unknown attacker and on the verge of collapse, and the answer to the attacks in another universe, they would have to become more than boss and employee, they would have to become partners and more.

You can check it out here: https://books2read.com/u/meOKvl?format=all.

Substack Library

I changed my thinking about what to post in my Substack library. I was going to post the Open Space short stories from my Future Chron Universe, but instead I decided to start at the beginning of that universe and post the complete From The Earth Series.

10 novellas and 1 short novel. I call them Books 1 to 11 in the From The Earth Series and also Books 1 to 11 in the Future Chron Universe. This matters because the next book I’m putting in the library is Book 12 of the Future Chron Universe, Mach’s Metric. This was my first novel and a favorite. I am editing it again and should have it in the library sometime in October. My Substack really is becoming a Science Fiction Library of my writings and you can read them for free if you wish.

Again, thanks for reading.

Null Infinity: Next Gen Excerpt

Image: ID 204953723 © Vampy1 | Dreamstime

“Nullius in verba (take no one’s word for it)”

- Royal Society

These thought experiments suggest that the space-time fabric that seems to form the universe we inhabit may break down in extreme circumstances. And if it does, we may need a deeper description of reality that doesn’t fall apart, comprised of more fundamental building blocks.

- Quanta Magazine

Chapter 1

“Space may not be what we thought,” I said aloud as I was riding my bike into work.

My sister always suspected it. And mom and dad opened the door to proving it with their research. But whether I’ll ever confirm it or not, I just don’t know.

So were my words and thoughts Monday morning just before an all-hands meeting was to start at my division of Wilson Aerospace. I hurried into the offices; afraid I would be late. Almost running from reception to the board room I burst in just as Morgan Salmon was summing up the problem the company faced. He stopped when he saw me.

“Come in Dr. Stimson,” he said. “I’m afraid we couldn’t wait for you, I hope you don’t mind?”

Morgan was like that, sarcastic.

“I don’t mind at all Mr. Salmon,” I said as I took a seat.

Never let them see you react.

“As I was saying, the corporation has been very supportive of scientific research since our founder, Whit Wilson, greatly served the public welfare during the gravitational incidents. But that was when the industry was growing exponentially. We are a mature industry now and we have to look at all our ongoing expenses. Therefore, besides a ten percent cut across all departmental budgets I am going to recommend a fifty percent cut in the science support budget.”

I was startled but didn’t say anything, remember, don’t let them see you react.

Salmon continued for another thirty minutes but I wasn’t listening, I was busy trying to figure out what such a cut would mean to our research.

When the meeting was over, I headed to my office while calling Bridge to meet me there. For the head of scientific research my office was surprisingly small. By the time I got there, Bridge was ahead of me. Because in the department we didn’t stand on formality, Bridge was sitting in my chair working on her Emmie, her personal AI assistant.

“Hey James,” got your message.

“Good morning, Bridge,” I said.

Bridge was short for Bridgette and Bridgette wasn’t short at all. Probably five feet ten inches with a slender athletic build and light brown hair and hazel eyes.

“I’ve just come from a meeting, and I’ve got some bad news,” I said, taking the seat on the visitor’s side of my desk. “Morgan is cutting our budget by fifty percent.”

“What? Did you protest?”

Bridge would have made a much better department head than me, she would react.

“Not exactly,” I said, hoping to deflect her anger but not succeeding.

“Not exactly? That means you said nothing. James, the team depends on you. We’re going to have to make deep cuts in personnel to meet such an arbitrary number.”

“I know Bridge, but at least we can keep the project going.”

“Limping along,” she said. “Did you at least ask for a severance for the ones we’re losing?”

I should have.

“No, I thought we could find the money somewhere, maybe borrow it from some of the lesser programs,” I said, hoping to cover my negligence.

“Yeah, maybe,” she said.

She’s buying it.

“But next time I want to be with you. We need to get as much out of Salmon as we can, he’s always trying to short the science. I guess now he’s done it,” she said.

She’s not buying it.

“Okay, Bridge, next time,” I said. “But for now we need to figure out exactly what we have to cut to meet this new budget.”

“Leave it up to me,” she said, rising. “I’ll have something in a couple of hours.”

“Thanks Bridge,” I said, getting up to change seats.

“That’s my job,” she said as she left the office.

Now that Bridgette was gone, I sat down to make my own plans.

First, I reviewed all the projects we had going on. Second, I decided which ones we would suspend. Third, there was only one left and that was our ongoing attempt to explore the other brane worlds that we thought existed.

Wilson Aerospace had been a leader in the exploration of the fifth dimension and brane worlds ever since our founder Whit Wilson had been the first to explore the strong gravity brane. And when someone asks me what I mean by brane worlds I explain it the following way.

The universe in its entirety is made up of multiple brane (from membrane) worlds, each one a four-dimensional spacetime like our own. We inhabit one of those brane worlds adjacent to the strong gravity brane which Whit explored. These four-dimensional branes are set in a fifth dimension which physicists call the bulk.

Think of dishes in a dish rack, all lined up and drying. Each dish represents a brane or universe, and the rack is the bulk.

Now, by using the company’s superluminal boundary drive we are able to leave our dish/brane and explore the other dishes/branes, or we should be able to. As of now we have only been able to send probes and our founder, of course, into the strong gravity brane (think casserole bowl). And we don’t know why, that’s what all the research is about.

Sometimes I wish my sister was still in research. She was the one that resurrected the idea of branes and the bulk. I admit she was always smarter than me, and the Nobel committee agreed when they gave her the Physics prize. But she married Whit Wilson and retired from research after the award at the age of thirty-five, younger than I am now.

As I was sitting and thinking how little I had accomplished at my age compared to my sister and parents (they too won a Nobel) Bridge came back.

“Okay,” she said as she walked through the door. “I’ve got the numbers and a list of the people you will have to terminate.”

She handed me a paper with a list of names.

How quaint.

“If we move quickly and suspend all other research, we can offer those people six months’ severance which will be needed in the current economic environment,” she said.

“You wouldn’t want to handle that job, would you?” I asked.

“Without you? James, they look to you for leadership. Can you imagine how they would feel if the second in command gave them the news? Come on, I can be there if you want.”

“Okay, we’ll both do it. Set up the meetings for tomorrow. Then we’ll have to address those remaining,” I said.

She looked at me with a scowl, I knew what that meant.

“Okay, I’ll have to address those remaining,” I said.

She turned and left.

I wasn’t meant to be a leader.

I was never too serious about school although I developed a love of physics, probably due to my family connections. Anyway, I enjoyed school enough to finish my doctorate but not enough to slave away as a postdoc for years, so I took the first job in industry available. And because I had been a generalist in my schooling, even my doctoral was about the sociology of science, I guess they thought I would make a good leader. Of course, the fact that my sister had married the founder might have played a part in me getting the job.

The individual meetings the next day were excruciating for me. I knew all these people personally, most I had hired, and many had been good employees for years. I particularly hated the meetings with the older staff; you could see the shock in their eyes as they wondered how they would get by. I wouldn’t want to be on the technical staff of a company and lose my job after fifty. It might be illegal, but in our industry age discrimination is a thing.

All I could do was offer the older staff more severance. By the time we were finished Bridge was looking extremely annoyed.

After the last employee left, she said, “Exactly how do you think I’m going to come up with the money to meet your promises?”

“I’ll make up the difference,” I said. “I just need you to make it look like it came from the company.”

That stopped another scowl. She squeezed my arm as she got up to leave.

I felt better until I realized that now I had to address those left in the department and let them know what had happened to their friends and colleagues. It was time for lunch, but my stomach was in knots.

The meeting was ready to begin in the break room. The first thing I noticed standing up in front of the assembled was how few were left. I stopped looking and just plowed ahead with what I had to say.

“Thank you for coming everyone,” I began. “Some of you may already know something about what I’m going to say. Others may wonder why there are so few at this meeting. Well, as probably all of you realize, the general economy is not too good right now and it is having an impact on the company.

“In response, and to keep the company viable, we have been forced to reduce the ranks of our employees. This is a company wide reduction although some departments have been hit harder than others. Our department has been hit particularly hard. I’m afraid that in order to save the brane world project I have had to let go of those researchers and support teams that were working on other projects.

“I feel that this project is the most important to the company and to society in general. Fortunately, we were able to offer what I feel was a generous severance package to those that will be leaving. I am hopeful that it will cushion their transition into their next place of employment.

“For those of us that remain, nothing changes, except perhaps that we redouble our efforts to make this project a success. There will be no changes to the personnel assignments. You will continue just as before with your job duties unless notified. That is all, thank you for coming.”

After talking to a few people, I left the room with Bridge.

In the hall I asked her, “How did I do?”

“Well, no one punched you out, so I guess you did okay,” she said, leaving me at my office door. I watched her turn the corner.

I’ll never get a swelled head with her around.

I was frazzled after all the tension, so I cut out early. At home I poured a tea and went out on the balcony of my apartment. From the balcony I could look to the west across the park where some kids were trying to fly a kite but there wasn’t enough wind. I watched them running back and forth with the kite failing to soar after each run.

I felt a lot like those kids and that kite. Running one way and then the other and failing to soar. We had never expected the project to be so difficult. After the discovery of the strong gravity brane physicists had celebrated. For too long theory had run ahead of experiment with no physical proof forthcoming. But then in quick succession the discovery of compact extra-dimensions had been verified, a fifth large extra-dimension called the bulk had been proven, and branes, which had originated with string theory last century, were shown to exist, at least two of them, our universe and the strong gravity brane.

And with the confirmation of brane theory one of the long-standing mysteries of physics was solved, why the gravitational force was so much weaker than the other fundamental forces. It was because all the force carriers were bound to the vicinity of our brane except gravity which existed throughout the bulk. In other words, gravity was the only force that could naturally travel between branes and therefore “dilute” itself over a much larger volume that the other forces.

Now the question was whether or not two branes made a universe. There were some hints that two branes were sufficient but nothing conclusive. That’s what we wanted to prove with this project. And because there’s no glory in proving a negative, we were working hard to prove there was a third brane, maybe more, by sending a probe into it. So far, no luck.

I noticed the kids had given up and I was ready to give up too. So, I went back inside and surrendered to a couple of mindless hours of video. I would go to bed early and get an early start in the morning.

Chapter 2

I did get up early the next morning, not feeling too bad. I was at work before almost anyone, except Bridge. I sometimes wondered when she slept.

“Good morning, Bridge,” I said as I poured my first cup of coffee, she was filling her second.

“Good morning, James,” she said. “You’re a bit early, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I’m curious about how the team took my talk yesterday,” I said.

“I can tell you a couple didn’t take it too well,” she said.

“Really?” I was surprised.

“Yeah, Sorenson and Jergens have resigned. They’ve turned in their two weeks’ notice,” she said.

Now I was beyond surprised, I was worried. Dr. Sorenson and Dr. Jergens were leaders in the theoretical and engineering sections of the team. Losing them would definitely impact the project.

“Did they say why?” I asked.

“They said that they didn’t believe that there was a future for them at Wilson Aerospace. Actually, they said almost the same thing in the message I got,” she said. “They must have gone out after work last night to talk about it when they couldn’t find you.”

“They looked for me?”

“Yeah, apparently. They said they wanted to discuss it with you personally but couldn’t find you,” she said.

Did Oppenheimer have this much trouble?

“I was pretty worn out after all that happened, but I guess I should have stayed,” I said.

“Oh well,” she said.

I took my coffee and headed for my office; I was afraid she might have more bad news for me. When I opened my messages, I got more bad news. Two more people had resigned; they were junior level but very competent at their jobs. I closed my message app, not wanting to deal with it at the moment. Then the head of our division walked into my office.

“Good morning, James, you’re here early,” said Morgan Salmon.

“Good morning, Morgan. I’ve got a lot of personnel matters to deal with.”

“No doubt. I got some messages from Sorenson and Jergens, looks like they are leaving us.” he said.

“Yes, I just found out about it,” I said.

“You didn’t know before this morning?” he asked.

“No, I went home a little early yesterday and I guess they made the decision sometime last night.”

“I see,” he said. “Well, how is that going to affect your department?”

I hadn’t time to know but I felt I had to say something.

“Well, they were both leaders in their fields, so it definitely is a loss. But they had junior members in their sections that can pick up the slack until we have a chance to find replacements,” I said.

“They were working on the brane project, I think?” he said.

“They were.”

“I wonder James, if the junior people are ready as you think, could we just move them up to leadership positions?”

Now I knew why he was here.

“Well, certainly, I mean we could try it but while they are technically proficient, whether they can grow into leadership roles will have to be determined,” I said, thinking I had covered myself well.

“I know what you mean,” he said.

He’s talking about me now.

“Well, if you think it’s a good idea, why don’t we give it a shot,” he said as he looked at the time.

“I’ve got a meeting to get to, see you later.”

“Okay Morgan.”

I watched as he left the office.

Let’s see, budget cut in half, half the department laid off, two key members leaving, and the boss just suggested cheap replacements. Definitely, not soaring today.

I went by Sorenson’s office to talk to him. He told me it wasn’t anything that I had done but that he had been thinking about moving on for some time. He was being recruited by an internationally ranked university, and he felt that this was a good time to leave. He also confided that he didn’t have any faith in management’s commitment to the project.

I couldn’t argue with him, but I did feel better that I hadn’t driven him away, at least he said I hadn’t.

Next, I caught up with Jergens who was in the engineering lab. We had a long talk at one of the test benches while he calibrated some equipment. He also assured me that I had done nothing to cause him to make his decision. But he said he was almost fifty now and he wouldn’t like to lose a job after he turned fifty, so he was taking charge of his career and setting up his own consulting business. We talked and he suggested he would even contract for me if I wanted. I told him I would like that very much.

As I left the engineering lab, I was feeling better. Neither of my senior employees had based their decision to leave on something I had done or said and one of them was still willing to work with me if I wanted. I was relieved.

I had just got back to my office with my second cup of coffee and was about to relax when Bridge walked in.

“We’ve got a problem,” she said.

“What?” I said swallowing my hot coffee much too quickly.

“The latest probe was just recovered,” she said.

“That’s right,” I said, “it’s today, I had forgot with all the other drama going on.”

“Yes,” she said. “But I just got a message from Diane, the probe has gained weight.”

“Gained weight? What does that mean?”

“No one is sure yet, the thing’s in quarantine, and the onboard AI doesn’t admit to there being anything unusual,” she said.

“Okay, when will they have it back here?” I asked.

“If nothing comes up in quarantine, Diane plans on having it in the lab by noon tomorrow,” she said.

“Very well, I guess we’ll have to wait until then, thanks,” I said.

“No problem” Bridge said as she left the office.

No problem? I hope not.

The next day I was back to my usual schedule, I was late a half hour. But I hadn’t slept well the night before. I had spent way too much time thinking about how a probe could gain weight. I couldn’t imagine but that didn’t stop me from trying. I fell asleep finally and dreamed of my old car sailing down the street and into a muddy field, throwing mud all over it and gaining weight. Even my dreams weren’t very creative.

Diane brought the probe into the lab. Quarantine hadn’t turned up any alien infestation or radioactivity, so we could approach it without any unusual precautions.

When I first saw it, I thought it looked pretty much normal. Nothing had attached itself.

“What does it weigh?” I asked.

“It’s off by about one part in two thousand,” said Casey Long, the engineer that would be taking over for Jergens.

“About an ounce or so,” I said.

“Right,” said Dr. Long.

“All parts accounted for?” I asked.

“Looks so, but we’ll know more when we break it down,” she said.

“Okay, well, let me know what you find,” I said before leaving the lab.

“Nothing,” Dr. Long said the next day in my office.

“Everything is accounted for?” Bridge asked.

“Everything,” Long said.

“Okay,” I said. “What’s next?”

“We’ll do some chemical analysis and see where it leads,” Long said.

“Maybe the mass spectrometer?” Bridge said.

“Yeah,” Long said.

George Abalkin had been sitting quietly during the discussion; he was taking over for Sorenson.

“George, do you have anything?” I asked.

“I’ve been thinking about something, but it might be crazy,” he said.

George was still in his twenties and very reticent.

“Go ahead,” I said. “It can’t be any crazier than what’s already happened.”

“Well, it’s just a theory but I was thinking, we now know that the universe is made of branes and the bulk, right?”

I nodded yes.

“Then the weakness of gravity when compared to the other fundamental forces is explained. It is that the strength of gravitation is the same as the other forces on the strong gravity brane but falls off exponentially as it radiates into the bulk away from that brane.

“This is the same thing as saying that the gravitational force carrier, the graviton, has a probability function that falls off exponentially between the branes. The probability of finding gravitons is huge on the strong gravity brane and small on ours. Okay, now let’s take account of quantum mechanics since the graviton is a quantum particle.

“Though the strength of gravity changes hugely between the two branes the gravitons on one are the same as the gravitons on the other. This is true of all fundamental particles. It’s just the probability of finding a graviton has changed, or the number of gravitons change according to location.

“Now to address our problem directly. The same result can be achieved by a corresponding reduction in mass as you move from the strong gravity brane to our brane. Because in a four-dimensional brane, our universe, gravitational attraction, or force, is directly proportional to the mass of the two objects attracted. So, take a mass on the strong gravity brane, which approaches the Planck scale by the way, that same mass on our brane would be sixteen orders of magnitude smaller, and the force of gravity would be that much smaller.”

At this point I interrupted, “So, you are saying George that mass is affected as it moves between branes?”

“Something like that, although I don’t have the exact mechanism. But it would explain our mass gain,” he said.

“But why doesn’t the mass return to its normal value as it returns to our brane?” asked Bridge.

“That’s a good question. All I can suggest right now is that it will eventually, it’s kind of a hysteresis effect,” he said.

“The value of a physical property lags behind changes in the effect that is causing it,” said Long.

“Right,” he said.

“How long will it take to return to normal?” I asked.

“Unknown,” he said.

“But they didn’t see this effect when they probed the strong gravity brane,” said Bridge.

“Exactly,” he said.

“You mean you think we visited a third brane?” I asked.

“I think that we passed through a different graviton probability function than before and that difference is what we are seeing. So, there’s a good chance we went somewhere besides the strong gravity brane,” he said.

The meeting broke up. After everyone had left, I sat there excited but apprehensive. If George was right and we could prove it, then we had accomplished what the project had originally set out to do. We had further confirmed the brane world scenario that my sister had championed and that my parents work had underpinned.

But the evidence was so tentative that I wasn’t sure anyone would believe us. The result had to be made more concrete, somehow. I thought the analysis that Casey had suggested might support our suspicions. She wouldn’t have it for a couple of days at least, so I headed home that evening with the same feeling of excitement and apprehension. It kept me up most of the night and I woke tired from a frightful dream.

In the dream I was bounding like a ball between two walls and at one I would lightly bounce off but at the other I would heavily crash before rebounding. The light bouncing was enjoyable, but the heavy rebound was crushing and uncomfortable. I got the feeling that I was going to be killed if it kept up. Just before I would have slammed into the heavy rebound wall for what I thought would be the end of me, I woke.

It was a few minutes before I could recover enough composure to get out of bed.

Maybe my dreams aren’t so mundane?

Chapter 3

I was later to work than usual that day but luckily no one seemed to need me, even Bridge kept to herself. I was able to sneak out early and nap after dinner on my apartment’s balcony.

The following morning, I was back to my normal schedule, no later than usual. The first results from the analysis should be in by the afternoon so while I waited, I went around to the labs to see how things were going. Everyone seemed to have recovered from the layoffs, though the mood was more subdued than usual. I had lunch at my desk and waited, I got a message from Casey saying she would be ready to meet at three.

The four of us, Bridge, George, Casey, and myself met in one of the small conference rooms. Casey presented the results.

“Okay, we used the laser to ablate a sample from the probe’s aluminum and sent it through the plasma mass spectrometer. The mass to charge ratio was off by an amount of one part in a thousand, which confirms the weight issue. However, as we continued to test different samples, we found the ratio changing until one sample we found was off by only one part in a hundred thousand,” she said.

“What does it mean?” I asked.

“Well, we don’t think it’s an error in measurement because we reproduced it over many samples,” she said.

“Could it be that this is the way it is now?” asked Bridge. “Or is it reverting to normal?”

“It’s interesting that you ask,” said George. “If it is a hysteresis effect then I would expect it to revert to normal eventually.”

I was just about to ask another question when I heard a loud pop.

“What was that?” I asked.

Bridge was already on her Emmie.

“It came from the materials lab,” she said.

“The probe,” said Casey.

“Let’s go,” I said.

We hurried toward the back of the building where the materials lab was located. Rounding a corner in the hall I saw the doors to the lab against the opposite wall. As I got closer, I saw a corner of one of the doors embedded in the wall. Whatever had happened, happened with a lot of force. There was dust and smoke coming from the opening that was the entrance to the lab. The lights were out inside the lab for some reason.

Brent Curry, the facilities manager, was already there looking inside.

“Brent, be careful,” I said, rushing up to his side.

“It’s okay James I just heard the evacuation system kick in, it should have the dust and smoke cleared out in a minute,” he said.

After a minute the air inside was clear, but it was dark. Brent took a flashlight off his utility belt.

“Everyone, wait here I’m going in to look around,” he said.

I didn’t want to wait but I figured it was better not to put more people than necessary in harm’s way. The lab was pretty large with a high ceiling, like most of the labs it had row upon row of workbenches. I could see Brent’s light going back and forth as he methodically walked each row of benches.

I couldn’t wait, “Brent,” I said loudly, “do you see anyone?”

“No, no one is in here,” he said.

That was a relief. He returned to the entrance.

“It’s a mess but I think we avoided any injuries or worse,” he said.

By this time a lot of people were showing up, including top management. I took Brent aside.

“Brent let’s seal it off until we get some lighting setup. We don’t want people wandering in and out,” I said.

“Yeah, I agree,” he said.

He then spoke up and got everyone’s attention. He suggested everyone should return to their office or work area and that he was sealing the lab until he could put together a team to investigate what had occurred. The managers agreed and helped hustle everyone away. Brent got some facility tape and taped across the opening in such a way that the room could not be entered without disturbing the tape.

I got a call from Morgan to come to the conference room right away. Brent also got the message.

“Tell them I’ll be there as soon as I finish taping it off,” he said.

The meeting was mostly a waste. Morgan spent most of the time telling us not to discuss what had happened with anyone. He tasked Brent and me with coming up with the cause of the mishap and then dismissed the meeting.

“Let’s get some lights and run some electrical to illuminate the lab,” Brent said as we exited the conference room.

“Okay,” I said.

The company had some light stands that could be used at night or as illumination for photo shoots. Brent and I took two each and placed them in the lab after running some extension cords. When we had finished the lab was fairly well lighted.

The first thing I did was look for the probe. From where I was standing, I couldn’t see it on any of the workbenches. Since it seemed safe enough, I called in Casey, she should know exactly where it had been setting.

In a few minutes I saw Casey at the door, Bridge was with her, I went over.

“This may seem strange,” I said. “But Brent and I have been looking for a few minutes and neither one of us can find the probe.”

“Okay, it was right over there,” said Casey walking to the right side of the room and stopping at the fourth row of workbenches and then walking to the middle.

“Right here,” she said pointing to an empty bench.

I moved around to her other side too look on the floor, not really expecting to see anything, but more a reflexive response.

“It’s gone,” I said.

“Obviously,” Bridge said.

“What does it mean?” asked Casey.

“I have no idea,” I said. “Why don’t we look around for a bit. Look for anything that might be a clue.”

“A clue to what?” asked Bridge.

“A clue to how a probe, without any propulsion system, could disappear from a closed room only leaving behind a loud noise.”

After fifteen minutes we were finished with our inspection, and we left. Brent stayed behind with some of his employees to build a temporary door to close off the room.

Bridge and I left Casey at her office and returned to mine.

I sat down behind my desk; Bridge stood at the door.

“What now?” she asked.

“I have no idea Bridge. I’m just going to go home and unwind. Maybe I’ll come up with an idea,” I said.

“Okay, see you tomorrow,” she said.

I got back to my apartment before sunset and did my usual wind down with a glass of tea on the balcony. Even though my mother had renewed the study of brane worlds, which had been a hot subject around the turn of the century, I wasn’t as familiar with the subject. Actually, I had dismissed it for years, but I was beginning to think it might be the only rational explanation for the disappearance of the probe.

I should have talked to George before I left. He probably knows more about brane worlds than anyone else at the company.

I vegged out again with a video before going to sleep.

The following morning, I hit the front doors of the company at my usual late time but quickly discovered it wasn’t going to be the usual day. Soon I found out what was happening when I saw Bridge around the coffee pot.

“Someone leaked the story,” she said. “It’s been all over the local news and then was picked up by the national. Soon it will be all around the world.”

“So? A story about a lab accident. Is that really newsworthy?” I asked, thinking all of this was way overblown.

“It’s not just about the accident; it’s also about the probe disappearing. It also suggests there was an attempt to cover up the incident by management,” she said.

Well, all of that’s true, now I see the problem.

“Have you heard from Morgan yet?” I asked.

“Yeah, he says we will have a meeting at ten to discuss it. That’s why I’m trying to get enough coffee to survive it,” she said.

“You’re not in trouble Bridge,” I said.

“We’re all in trouble James. Just think about what happened in your own family,” she said.

That’s true. Mom and dad had been hounded out of the country just after I was born because they were trying to lower the cost of access to space with the boundary drive. And my sister was almost prosecuted by the government because of the incident with the gravitational constant.

But I still didn’t see how this was going to blow up into that kind of a fracas. Until the meeting.

It was standing room only and being late as usual, I was standing in one of the corners of the conference room. Bridge was beside me. Casey had a seat at the table. I didn’t see George.

“Okay people let’s get started,” Morgan said.

“You all know what happened yesterday and unfortunately, even after I urged everyone to keep quiet, now so does the media. Some of you might not think that’s a problem, but it is, because it takes away our ability to manage the news of the incident. There is already wild speculation that something sinister has occurred. I was up most of the night trying to convince investors that it was nothing to worry about, but investors don’t like bad press.

“So, after trying to right the ship with our efforts at downsizing we have just hit the iceberg. I could handle even that but knowing that someone in the organization has deliberately subjected it to criticism, ridicule, and hysteria by betraying my trust is almost too much.”

He was quiet a moment, I thought he might mean it.

“But regardless, we have to continue. So, as of right now I want to reiterate our priorities. First, we want to find out what happened to the probe. We need to combat the wild media coverage with some rational explanation.

“Second, just in case, I want all department heads to draw up plans to reduce costs. This does not have to be more personnel cuts; it could be reduction of hours or more inexpensive coffee.”

There was a brief chuckle.

“It may sound funny, but such cost reduction could save jobs,” he said. “Third, I want to know who leaked this information to the media, they are no longer part of the team. And when I find out they will be terminated immediately without benefits.

“Okay, that’s all I have. Does anyone have a question or something to say?” he asked.

No one had a question, at least not one they wanted to say out loud. I exited the room and waited for Bridge and Casey and George. Bridge and Casey showed up but no George.

“Have either one of you seen George this morning?” I asked.

They both shook their head no.

“That’s too bad,” I said. “I was thinking last night that the theory of branes might have something to say about what has happened to the probe. I remember my mother talking about a shadow world, but I was too young at the time to know what she meant. And I’m too old now to figure it out for myself, so I was going to ask George. I figure he’s the resident expert on brane worlds.”

They both agreed but hadn’t anything else to say, so we parted ways. I went to Brent to see if he had discovered anything else about the incident. I found him outside the lab, watching the new doors being painted, the lights were back on.

“The power panel was fried,” he said. “We’re repainting everything, it will look better than before.”

I was a bit surprised he was moving so fast.

“That was quick,” I said.

“Morgan ordered it,” he said.

“Oh,” I said.

“Well, before you started did you find anything unusual?” I asked.

“Now that you ask James, I did notice something,” he said. “But I didn’t want to say anything because I thought it might sound weird.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

He looked at me a second.

“Well, I guess I can tell you, you’ve always been straight with me,” he said.

He leaned closer, I was becoming a little alarmed at what he was going to tell me.

“Okay, I was in the room first thing this morning. I was cleaning the workbench surfaces before repainting everything. I got to the fourth-row center and as I turned to get the spray cleaner, I saw something out of the corner of my eye,” he said, he lowered his voice and proceeded.

“You know how they say that peripheral vision is more sensitive to changes in light, or flicker? Well, in my peripheral vision this morning I thought I saw something on that work top. But when I turned to look at it directly it disappeared. I tried it more than once and the same thing happened each time,” he said.

“What was it?” I asked.

“Like I said, it was a flicker, like a shadow,” he said.

“Can I see it?” I asked, the hairs on the back of my neck rising.

“It ain’t there anymore,” he said. “I tried again not long ago and couldn’t see it.”

“I’d like to try,” I said.

“Okay, just be careful and don’t trip over the drop cloths,” he said.

The door painters allowed me in. I walked to the fourth row, center being careful of the drop cloths as Brent had said. I looked at the workbench where Casey said the probe had set. I turned my head slowly, trying to use my peripheral vision, I saw nothing. I tried it again and again before finally giving up and leaving the room.

Brent looked at me as I left, I shook my head no.

Discussion:

Null Infinity: Next Gen is releasing Monday October 20 (already available in paperback). This is the follow-up story to Null Infinity. Harry and Lauren's son becomes the main protagonist and embarks on a journey to save the world. As the blurb says:

James Stimson was following in his parent's footsteps, sort of. He didn't quite have their aptitude for physics, so he went into management.

But he didn't quite have an aptitude for management either. But Bridgette Auclair did, and as long as he was with her, he would do fine.

But with the world under attack by an unknown attacker and on the verge of collapse, and the answer to the attacks in another universe, they would have to become more than boss and employee, they would have to become partners and more.

Null Infinity - Excerpt 3

 

Image – ID 220602065 | Alien © Vampy1 | Dreamstime.com

CHAPTER 11

The Disappearance, as it was called, happened on the border which had been contested by China and India for decades. A contingent of Indian soldiers had not reported back to their base. It wasn't front page news at the time but was carefully discussed by intelligence agencies around the world.

When Dr. Zee heard about it, unofficially, he immediately came to the conclusion that China had developed a spacetime bubble weapon. But instead of the more dramatic and destructive energy shedding of a superluminal bubble, they had discovered the resonance that attached an extra-dimension to normal spacetime. From the description, Zee was sure that the disappeared soldiers were caught in that supra spacetime.

Zee was called to Washington DC and found himself in many meetings with the government and the military. Zee pointed out in the meetings that if the Chinese were this far along then they may also be ahead in developing a space drive. The country, at least at the highest levels, was being shocked into reality.

Harry had gotten his doctorate and taken a job with a Texas university teaching and researching. At the age of twenty, he was the youngest professor at the university. Lauren was finishing up her last semester and would soon be finished with her doctorate. Harry was hoping she would follow him to Texas.

As a young professor Harry had three introductory physics classes to teach his first semester. Since he was teaching the courses for the first time, he had to spend a lot of time preparing, he spent little time on research. One advantage he found to teaching was that he was having to learn the subjects in much greater depth than he did as a student. He found out that it was true, teaching a subject was a great way to learn it.

Harry was so busy he didn't have much time to miss Lauren. But there were moments when a measure of quiet entered into his routine and then he almost always ended up thinking about her. It was during one of these long moments that he decided he had to do something; he had to ask her to marry him.

Once he made the decision, it was as if everything became clear which had been cloudy. He knew he cared for her, but he never admitted he loved her enough to sacrifice his routine. Now, after the decision, he knew he loved her more than enough. The only question was should he say something next time they talked or the next time he saw her.

He wouldn't be seeing her for at least six more weeks, he wasn't sure he wanted to wait that long, at least to ask her. He would do it next time they talked, which would be that evening.

“Hello Harry.”

“Hi Lauren.”

“So, how did your day go?” she asked.

“Well, alright I guess, the classes went well but I've been preoccupied since,” he said.

“You have, about what?” she asked.

“I've been doing some long-term thinking,” he said.

“You have? What a coincidence, I have too,” she said. “I've been thinking about the experiment, Harry, as I've been writing it up for my thesis. We did a lot of work; I mean I think we could have something meaningful in just a few months if we could find a way to work on it again. What do you think?”

“About the experiment?” he said. “I haven't thought much about it to be honest, preparing my lectures has kept me pretty occupied.”

“But you said you had been doing some long-term thinking,” she said.

“I have, but not about the experiment,” he said.

“About what then?” she asked.

“About us, outside of physics,” he said.

“Oh.”

“Yeah, I've got my degree, you're getting your degree soon, we can pursue the experiment or not, but there's something even more important than that,” he said.

“What are you saying Harry?” she said.

“I want to marry you Lauren,” he said.

“You do?” she said.

“Yeah, of course, you know I love you,” he said.

“Well, to be honest with you Harry, I've thought along those same lines myself. But I'm not willing to give up physics for marriage,” she said.

“I'm not asking you to,” he said.

“But,” she said, “once I get my degree there is no telling where I might end up as a post-doc, I won't have the same resume you have. I might not be offered a professorship. You know I'll have to search around for a position, and it may not even be in this country.”

“I know all that, we may have to sacrifice some time together, but wherever you end up I'll come to see you between semesters, maybe weekends, and you'll come home as often as possible,” he said.

“I just want you to know what you are getting into my love, it's not going to be a normal marriage, not for a while anyway,” she said.

“Then you'll marry me after semester?” he asked.

“Yes Harry, I will,” she said.

Dr. Zee was not resting well. The reports he had been shown were unsettling. He couldn't believe them. The Chinese communists were using his discovery to maintain their power in China. There were reports of strange disappearances inside the country, just as had happened on the border when an Indian Army platoon of thirty men had disappeared and never been heard from again. The border incident was not known to be deliberate but the reports from the interior were thought to be so.

So far, the disappearances seemed permanent, and that worried Zee also. Had the Chinese discovered some way to keep a bubble from dissipating, thereby maintaining the disappearance region indefinitely?

There were even unconfirmed reports of a new weapon being tested and it sounded very much like the energy shedding weapon he had been working on. The government wanted him to take charge of a major development project to finish the weapon and find some way to counter the disappearances. The Space Force was also pushing for the superluminal drive.

Zee wanted nothing to do with the project, but he felt he had an obligation to do what he could. He could finish the energy shedding weapon, but he needed someone to take on the other projects and the only persons he could think of that were qualified were Harry and Lauren. Each one could head up a research project. Maybe if they weren't working on the weapon, they would be willing to take on the work. He would talk to Harry first.

“That's right Harry, you would need to start right away,” said Dr. Zee.

“But I've just started by professorship, I would have to immediately take a leave of absence. I don't know how well that will be received by the administration here.”

“I'll do what I can to encourage them,” said Zee. “It's a national security issue now and I think you are best qualified to lead the project. You'll have everything you need.”

“Well, I don't know, have you talked to Lauren?” asked Harry.

“Not yet, I'll be talking to her next.”

“Which one of the issues do you want me to work on?” asked Harry.

“Well, I think that you might be more experienced than Lauren, so I think developing a counter to the disappearance phenomenon might be the best use of your talents and she can continue drive development. You research will be the most pressing issue since we have reason to believe that it is already being used nefariously.”

Harry thought a moment.

“I don't know professor, I'm wary of getting involved with the government again. Maybe I'll pass.”

“Okay Harry, but I want to tell you something before I let you go, something I'm not supposed to share but made a difference to me.”

Dr. Zee proceeded to tell Harry the classified information that he had been shown which caused him to change his mind. When he finished Harry was quiet.

“Okay, but I want two things,” said Harry.

“What's that?” said Zee.

“Lauren has to say yes, and we have to work out of the same site. I think in that way we can share ideas and get results much faster,” said Harry.

“Okay, I don't see any problem with that,” said Zee. “You'll do it then?”

“Assuming my university will allow me to take a leave of absence and Lauren agrees,” said Harry.

Surprisingly, Lauren agreed after Dr. Zee convinced her with the classified briefings, he had also told Harry about. Her idealism had been countered by the stark and desperate reality of events. He then called Harry and told him. Harry was ready and just waiting to hear about his request with the university.

After he learned that his university approved of his leave of absence, Harry first flew home to talk with his mother and to pick up a ring for Lauren.

“Here it is mother,” he said, showing her the engagement ring, he had bought for Lauren that day.

His mother took the ring and placed it on her little finger.

“It's lovely son, I'm sure she'll like it.”

“Once we are finished with this government project I want to bring Lauren back here for the wedding. Nothing to extravagant mother, just you and sis and maybe a few others and whoever Lauren wants to invite,” he said, taking the ring back from his mother and putting it away.

“If Lauren approves son.”

“Of course,” he said.

“I wish your dad could be here,” she said. “I don't think he could be prouder.”

“I wish he were here also mother. He'd be my best man, I'm sure.”

They were both quiet a moment.

“It's going to be safe, isn't it son?” she asked.

“Yeah, I think so, Lauren and I will have a lot more help than before, a lot more people to make sure it's safe,” he said.

His mother shook her head yes, but the worried expression didn't change.

Bracken Air Force Base was now the host of all activities having to do with the spacetime bubble projects. Besides those directly involved with the differing experiments, a skeleton support staff was retained. Harry knew this was a precaution because, regardless of what he had assured his mother, any of the ongoing experiments could be dangerous. The military was already trying to minimize casualties.

The projects Harry and Lauren were heading up occupied adjacent tracts of land. While they would mostly work separately, there would be occasion when Harry wanted to test his counter methods to the disappearance phenomenon, and he could use Lauren's equipment to generate the attached dimension. His first goal was to detect the buildup to such an incident while there was still time to prevent it.

Of course, he would use his SCR detector with some modification. Harry began by trying to detect Dr. Zee's activities which were some ten miles away across the base. He wanted to capture the signs of the first moments of the formation of a spacetime bubble which would be the indication that a disappearance event might be imminent. It could also be used to detect the early signs of an energy-shedding event.

Since the bubble carved out a void in spacetime, small, hard to detect gravity waves were created whether or not the bubble was then accelerated. It was these creation waves that Harry was going to try to find with his detector. The difficulty was that such extremely small wave amplitudes were easily swamped by the gravity waves generated by astrophysical phenomena. But Harry had figured out an approach.

Since he was now able to understand Zee's theory and the mathematics behind it, he was able to come up with a reasonable frequency and amplitude of the creation waves. Using the SCR's tunability he could zero in on the frequency and operate the device at high gain. The narrow bandwidth should keep the SCR from being overloaded with the “noise” of other waves.

Harry asked both Lauren and Dr. Zee to make a note of the exact time they began to create a bubble. Harry would run his SCR throughout the day and compare its detections to their logs to see if he had detected their bubble's creation. For accuracy of timing, they all used synchronized atomic clocks. If it worked, he could move on to suppressing a bubble's creation with Lauren and Dr. Zee's cooperation, of course.

The week had been a nonstop series of early mornings and late nights. The urgency was felt by all. Harry hadn't even had any alone time with Lauren, but he had invited her to spend Sunday with him. He would request a vehicle, and they would go for an outing.

Harry was at Lauren's door the following Sunday, early.

“Oh, hi Harry,” said Lauren, “I'm just about ready. Let me get my things.”

Harry waited while Lauren went into the bedroom of her small base apartment and returned.

“I'm ready,” she said.

“Great, let me help you,” he said, as he took some of Lauren's things and took the opportunity to lean in and kiss her lightly.

They went to the vehicle.

“You've got to be kidding,” she said. “A black van?”

“It's all they had, and it took the Colonel's blessing to get it,” said Harry.

Harry opened the door and helped her climb into the front right seat. He quickly climbed into the driver's seat, and they were off.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“You'll see,” he said.

They talked about the experiment, the world situation, the military, and the people on the base.

“Just as soon as I make enough progress to turn the experiment over to someone else, I'll be gone,” she said.

“You really don't like working with the military, do you?” he asked.

“Not at all Harry. I mean; besides the usage they might make of my research, and I do know the argument that when I publish anyone can use it. But besides that, I really want more freedom to choose what I work on. I don't want to be told what my next project will be.”

“I don't want to hang around any longer than necessary either,” he said. “Pretty much the same reason. I mean to a certain extent we have to please whoever is funding our research, but we start with that all important choice of what we research.”

“That's why I don't understand Dr. Zee,” she said. “He seems to have acclimated to this military research and there doesn't seem to be much use for energy-shedding except military applications.”

“Yeah, we'll eventually want to suppress it,” he said.

“You think we can?” she asked.

“I've thought about it, but I don't really have an answer for you yet,” he said. “I mean if I can counter bubble creation, we might suppress its use. But getting back to Dr. Zee. I think he's just caught up in the authority it gives him. Only thing I can figure.”

They continued driving for nearly half an hour. When Harry stopped the van, Lauren thought she recognized the place.

“Is this where we escaped from that house?” she asked.

“Yeah, it's on the other side of the hill,” he said.

“The cinder cone,” said Lauren.

“Right,” he said. “Let's go for a hike.”

Harry began to explain more to Lauren as they walked.

“There's only one thing I remember about my father. At least I associate this thing with a man that I've always assumed was my father. And that was the cinder cone crater in Hawaii. My mother confirms that my father took me there. So, when we escaped from the house and made our way up this hill it brought back the only memories I have of my father,” he said.

By this time, they were two-thirds of the way to the top of the cinder cone. The fir trees were thinning out and the soil underfoot was becoming more obviously volcanic, dark and loose.

“The Chain of Craters area consists of about twenty-five of these cinder cones,” he said, now playing tour guide. “They were formed by magma very close to the surface that erupted about one-hundred, fifty-thousand years ago. At the top we should be able to see a few more of the cinder cones to the south and north.”

They attained the top and Harry continued his talk.

“Cinder cones are really small volcanoes, and they are the most common type on land. Their makeup is layers of loose or welded cinders as well as the volcanic bombs and blocks you see down there,” he said, pointing to an area inside the cone.

“They almost always occur in fields, and each vent erupts only once; geologists call it monogenetic. On average they are less than six-hundred feet tall,” he said, as he pointed in the distance to several more cinder cones.

After a few moments he said, “Anyway, I wanted to bring you here to a place that has a special meaning for me, and I hope that now it will have a special meaning to you.”

Harry removed the engagement ring from his pocket, kneeled on one knee and said, “I know we already talked about it, but I kind of wanted to make it official.”

He opened the case and held the ring up to her.

“Lauren, will you marry me?”

“Yes Harry, yes,” she said looking at the ring on her finger.

Their work was too uncertain to set a date for the wedding, but they started sharing as much time as possible together. If Lauren's research went as well as Harry's, they would be married very soon.

“That's right Dr. Zee; I am now detecting both Lauren's and your experimental bubbles. I've even been able to estimate the size of the initial bubble to a high degree of accuracy, as you may have suspected when I requested more information from you and Lauren,” said Harry who was discussing his results in a meeting with Dr. Zee and the military, ironically it was taking place in the room where Harry was first interrogated.

“So, you think you are ready to move to the next level and try to quench the bubble before it can be used?” asked Dr. Zee.

“Yes, I believe I am ready, and I have already discussed this with Lauren. She will create the bubbles that I will then try to dissipate. We should have results by the end of next week,” said Harry.

Harry did have the results by the end of the following week, but they weren't exactly what he had expected.

CHAPTER 12

The world was becoming an even more dangerous place as news reports of a new, terrible weapon circulated. Nothing could withstand the weapon that Russia was said to be testing. It was a new kind of weapon, based on the new physics of extra dimensions. Some news outlets said that Russia wasn't the only one developing this new kind of weapon, that the United States and China were also racing to acquire such capability.

The fact that the work going on at Bracken Air Force Base was in the news didn't alarm anyone on the base, but the results of Harry's test did. He was presenting the results at a meeting attended by Lauren, Dr. Zee, and the military. Also at the meeting was the science adviser to the President.

“So, Harry it looks like what you found could affect all our experiments?” said Dr. Zee.

“That's correct,” said Harry, “but I should say it is what Ms. Cauley, and I have found.”

“Yes, of course,” said Dr. Zee.

Harry absolutely wanted Lauren to get some of the credit for the discovery, after all, she deserved it.

“Yes, this was a joint experiment with Ms. Cauley, and she was responsible for much of the interpretation of the results,” said Harry.

“The anomaly that caught our attention is in what we have come to call the relaxation time of the spacetime bubble. This is simply the time it takes for the bubble to dissipate once we created a second bubble to interfere with the first bubble's integrity.

“This is a graph of the relaxation time of the bubbles that were used in the experiment. These were created by Ms. Cauley's equipment, the uniformity in bubble size is shown here,” said Harry, pointing to the two graphs that were being projected by his Emmie for the others in the room to see.

“As you can see the size of the bubbles was almost uniform upon creation amounting to a difference of less than point-one percent. But what we call the relaxation time is not uniform but over the period of the tests and the creation of twenty-three spacetime bubbles, increased by an unmistakable amount of point-five percent. Some kind of new physics is definitely happening here.”

“What do you think it is Dr. Stimson,” said the science adviser.

“Well, anything I say at this point would be highly speculative,” said Harry.

“Please speculate,” said the President's science adviser. “No one will hold you responsible Dr. Stimson if you are wrong.”

“Well, after discussing it with Ms. Cauley, we think that a polarization of spacetime occurs upon the creation of a bubble and that the polarization is cumulative,” said Harry.

“What do you mean by polarization?” asked one of the military personnel.

“I mean that spacetime becomes more susceptible to spacetime bubbles as more and more of them are created. Here, look at this,” said Harry as he projected another graph.

“Ms. Cauley had to adjust the power input to create the same size bubbles as the experiment went along,” he said. “She had to adjust it down. If what we've discovered holds up, it means that any use of spacetime bubbles will leave spacetime susceptible to spontaneous transitions. That is, bubbles will start appearing in heavily used areas without being prompted.”

Harry finished and someone asked what it meant.

Dr. Zee spoke up, “Well, if Harry and Lauren are right, and of course it needs verification, then it would be irresponsible to use spacetime bubbles in any manner, even in a commercial setting.”

“But why?” said the person.

“Because remember that a spacetime bubble is a void in spacetime. That is, it's not a vacuum, or I should say, it's not even a vacuum. If spacetime were to become susceptible to spontaneously creating these bubbles then there is a good chance that one would appear in an area already occupied by matter, say the Earth, and the result would be utter destruction of that matter,” said Dr. Zee.

“That may be so,” said the military officer that had spoken before. “And we can put a moratorium on such research. But how do we stop other countries from pursuing this research. The reward is ultimate control over your adversary.”

“Once we confirm Harry and Lauren's results we publish them openly. Scientists in other countries will verify them and put pressure on their governments to stop,” said Dr. Zee.

“I'm afraid you have more faith in a scientist's persuasive powers than I do,” said the military man. “And I have no faith at all in some of our adversaries. They may figure the risk is worth the gain.”

The meeting broke up and Dr. Zee spoke with Harry and Lauren.

“Okay, let's get together tomorrow morning and see if we can definitively prove your findings. Then we can let the politicians take the initiative,” said Zee.

They spent a week repeating the experiments and by the end Dr. Zee agreed that the effect Harry and Lauren had found was real. He flew to Washington to present his findings directly to top government officials. Harry and Lauren found themselves without any project and they decided to visit her parents in Delaware and plan the wedding.

It had been decided before Zee left for Washington that Lauren would write up the results of their tests showing spacetime polarization and present it as her thesis for her doctorate. It was in Delaware at Lauren's parent's house that they got a call from Dr. Zee. They were both listening.

“I'm sorry Lauren, you can't publish the results,” said Dr. Zee. “The government has decided to make anything to do with the tests top secret. You can't even discuss the experiments with others.”

“What about convincing other countries to drop the research?” asked Lauren.

“Apparently, the government doesn't seem worried,” said Zee. “Or perhaps they are going to handle it another way. I don't know because I have also been kicked out of the loop and am to no longer do any research in the area.”

“This is so strange professor,” said Harry.

“Sometimes the government doesn't make sense Harry. At least they won't tell you enough about their thought process to have it make sense,” said Dr. Zee.

“Maybe the government and sense don't belong in the same sentence,” said Lauren bitterly.

When they had finished the call Harry said, “I'm sorry honey, I don't know what to do.”

“It's okay,” she said. “I'll get my doctorate; this just makes it a bit harder. Besides, we've got something more important to do.”

They kissed.

In the backyard of his mom's house the wedding reception was winding down. The large yard had been decked out with ribbons and flags, the sun had been accommodating, the sky blue. No more than two dozen people had been present including Lauren's parents and Harry's sister and now there were just five. Dr. Zee had been invited but he hadn't shown up, Harry hadn't heard from him since the air base.

“So, what will you two do now?” asked Lauren's father.

“Lauren and I plan to take a few days to honeymoon in the mountains not far from here and then we will be driving back to Texas where we will stay in my apartment until we can find something better,” said Harry.

“Lauren, how will you finish your studies?” asked her mom.

“I'll transfer to Harry's university and find a thesis adviser. I should still be able to finish in a semester or two, at the most.”

“Well, you know that if we can help out in any way, let us know,” said her father.

“That goes for me too,” said Harry's mom.

After they had finished putting away the chairs and tables and helping cleanup a bit more Harry and Lauren left. They had a trip of about sixty miles to make before they reached their rental up in the mountains east of his mom's house. They pulled in after dark.

Late the next morning they ate breakfast, packed a lunch, and took a hike on one of the trails in the national forest that bordered the place they were staying. They got back late in the afternoon, neither one felt like fixing a meal, so they decided to go into the nearby town to eat dinner.

Harry noticed when they walked into the diner that almost all the people were crowded around the bar watching the TV. He and Lauren took a table near the window away from the bar and waited for the waitress.

After waiting a few minutes, Harry asked the man at the next table what was so interesting on the TV.

“I don't know, something about China,” he said.

Harry didn't pursue it further, the man didn't seem to be interested. Finally, a waitress came over to their table.

After ordering their drinks Harry asked, “Something going on?”

“Yeah, the TV reports that contact has been lost with a large portion of east China,” said the waitress.

Lauren looked at Harry.

“You don't think?” she said.

“I hope not,” he said.

“Let's see what's on the net,” she said.

Lauren asked her Emmie for the latest news on China. The Emmie summarized:

Reports are coming in that a larger part of north-eastern China has become quiet. The Chinese government in Beijing refuses to issue any confirmation of the reports. It's believed that the United States government has satellite proof of the reports but will neither confirm or deny at this time.

Nearly thirty-million people live in the affected areas. One of China's busiest ports has been affected.

“An accident?” asked Lauren quietly.

“I would think so,” said Harry.

“What should we do?” asked Lauren.

“We should eat,” said Harry, “they'll contact us if they need us.”

After dinner they returned to their rental and once Lauren was asleep Harry got up and looked for any more news about the Chinese incident. He found it but he also found another news article about a giant explosion in the northern reaches of Canada, a place called Yellow Feathers. As usual the news was more speculative than instructive, Harry went back to bed.

The following day, while Lauren was out shopping in the town, Harry found another reference to a massive explosion in western Russia, a Siberian town named Gorbilisk. Speculation was that something had happened at a Russian nuclear facility. Again, the article was more hearsay than fact.

But Harry was beginning to suspect a link to these incidents. And that link was probably the experiments he, Lauren and Dr. Zee had been pursuing. Harry wished he could talk to Dr. Zee. It was later that evening when Lauren got back that she told him of the disappearance in North Korea.

“The whole northern half of the province is supposed to have disappeared Harry, maybe more than a million people. They've disappeared just as we did.”

“They're other incidents Lauren, in northern Canada and Russia, described as tremendous explosions by the news agencies. Sure sounds like spacetime bubble manipulation. I wish I could reach Dr. Zee,” he said.

“Maybe we should go back to the university Harry, see what they know,” she said.

“We've only got three more days Lauren. Why don't we turn off the news and enjoy our time together. Soon enough we'll have to face whatever is going on out there,” he said.

“Okay,” she said as they hugged.

Without the world's interference they were able to spend the last three days of their honeymoon relaxed and discussing their future together. The long walks on the mountain trails where they rarely met another hiker calmed and fortified them. The sun became exhilarating, their sleep more peaceful. It was with a sense of loss that Harry packed up to leave the last morning.

“We should get us a place like this as soon as possible and spend a month a year unwinding from all our work,” he said to Lauren as they packed the car.

“I agree. As soon as I get my degree and start teaching, we should have enough income to do it,” said Lauren.

They drove without listening to any radio and they were in western Tennessee just before the Mississippi River when they had to stop. There was a detour in place. They had to turn off the interstate and take a state road to the south. Once the traffic had cleared out Harry stopped.

“I want to see what's going on,” he said to Lauren.

Harry brought up his Emmie and searched. There was a news site with the following:

Authorities have not released any more information than the interstate is closed. They are routing all traffic down to a second bridge across the river. They are not allowing anyone, including reporters into the area. The state will hold a press conference at 7 pm Tonight.

“Any news?” asked Lauren.

“Nothing, really,” said Harry, “beyond what we've already seen. Later this evening they will be releasing more details.”

Harry folded the Emmie and drove on.

Because of the delay of the detour, it took much longer to drive to Harry's university in east Texas than he had planned. They didn't arrive until after dark, both of them were tired.

“Let's just unload enough to get through tonight sweetheart,” said Lauren. “I'm too tired to unload it all and put it away.”

“Agreed,” said Harry.

Once in the apartment, Lauren was in the shower when Harry realized it was well past eleven. He unfolded his Emmie to look for any updates on what they had encountered earlier. The news was shocking, even to someone who understood its origin.

All over the country there were areas which were “disappearing,” and the description was much as Harry would expect. The land was still there in the sense that there was no clear boundary to these regions, rather as you approached one it became more and more apparent that something wasn't quite right. Reporters and interviewees described it as something was “off.” The light wasn't quite right, or the vegetation seemed strangely alive, it was just as Harry had described in his report of what he and Lauren had experienced. But now there were at least half a dozen of these areas in the United States alone, the question in Harry's mind was, why?

By the time Harry finished the news reports it was late. In the bedroom Lauren was already in bed and seemed to be asleep. Harry undressed quietly and slipped into the bed beside her. Whatever was ahead of him, he was very glad to be with the woman sleeping there.

Note: Null Infinity will be released this Saturday, September 20.