Chapter 1
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From The PopSci Encyclic
2700 A.D. Edition
Quantum Temporal Dynamics (QTD) states that time is caused by a temporal quantum field. This stands in contrast to the previous view of time, that it was a consequence of the Second Law of Thermodynamics and entropy.
Like the Higgs field which permeates space and gives particles their mass, the temporal field of QTD also permeates space and causes time and its “tick” rate. The fundamental duration of a tick is a multiple of the Planck time.
QTD introduces three more fundamental particles to the Standard Model of Physics. These are the chron or field particle, and the chron+ and chron- which determine whether time speeds up (chron+) or slows down (chron-).
If a region of space can be shielded from the temporal field then the rate of time in that region will change according to the degree of shielding, the geometry of the region, and the quantum spin number of the chron+ (spin 1) or chron- (spin -1) particles.
The Spin-Two drive can create such a shielded region of space.
“They should have been here hours ago,” said the flight engineer of the Kabania Habitat.
“Well we've got nothing on the comm,” said another.
Joe Evans didn't like what he was hearing. The ship could be anywhere from Kabania to Alcor. And it was his job to know and he didn't and now he was going to have to take it upstairs. This was no way to get a promotion.
“That's right Mr. Agar the ship hasn't reported in and hasn't answered our calls.”
Tom knew that Joe only called him Mr. Agar when Joe was nervous. And when Joe was nervous, Tom knew he should be nervous too.
“Okay Joe report it.”
“You mean to the authorities?”
“Yeah, we can't wait any longer or they'll be second-guessing our motives.”
“Yes sir,” said Joe as he left Agar's office.
If there's one thing I hate more than reporting something like this to Tom, it's reporting it to the government.
Joe made the report through official channels.
“You seen this Alinde?”
“Yeah, it's the report about the missing freighter. Why?”
“Didn't this same thing happen a couple of months ago?”
“That's what you told me Musawa, I was on vacation when it happened.”
“Yeah, we never did find that ship. The big boys ain't going to like another one. You tell them.”
Alinde had no desire to pass on the report but since Musawa was the boss he had no choice. He passed it up through official channels.
“Another one, damn it,” said General Asaki.
“Yes sir, I'm afraid so. Same as last time. The ship left on time, opened a link-mouth, and was never heard from again.”
“Captain Omuro we might have survived one loss but now the pressure is going to be intense to figure this out.”
“That's politics sir. I'll write it up right away, excuse me sir.”
“Yeah, okay Captain.”
Omuro was halfway out the door when he heard the General say, “I just wish it had waited, I'm retiring in three months. What a cluster . . .”
Omuro had closed the door to the General's office before he finished, the General's language was sometimes a little too plain for Omuro's tastes.
“Mr. President I have just been briefed by General Asaki of Space Command.”
“Yes Pritchard, what is it?”
“Sir if you will remember, a few months ago a freighter went missing?”
“I remember something about it. No one told me what happened.”
“We still don't know sir but unfortunately we have another report of a freighter missing.”
“Again? Where?”
“The ship was bound for Kabania Habitat from Alcor.”
“Has that any connection with the last one?”
“No sir, none that we know of.”
“And that's all we know, right?”
“Yes sir.”
“Okay, you'll have to release it to the press. We don't want to be accused of covering up anything.”
“Yes sir, I'll get right on it,” said Pritchard as he rose to leave the President's office.
“God almighty to . . .”
Pritchard didn't stop to hear what else the President said, he could get quite salty when under stress.
“Ship Missing, What We Know, What We Don't” – New New Yorker Daily
“No One Knows Nothing. Second Ship Disappears” – Kabania Times
“Proof Of Aliens If Only We'd Listen” – Galactic Inquirer
“No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one gave a thought to the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of them only to dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable. It is curious to recall some of the mental habits of those departed days. At most terrestrial men fancied there might be other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to themselves and ready to welcome a missionary enterprise. Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us. And early in the twentieth century came the great disillusionment”
H.G. Wells
Pearce Rawlings closed the book on his Emmie, his digital assistant. It was one of his favorites of the old science fiction books he liked to read over and over but he just didn't have time now. Things were going from bad to worse at work.
He knew that working for Temporal Dynamics wouldn't be easy, but this latest challenge was ridiculous. Outfitting a fusion ship with a temporal generator with only a skeleton staff. The excitement of a start-up the guy said.
The budget, I should have asked about the budget.
He knew it was too late now. He had to pull this off if he wanted to keep working in the time business. And at his age what else would he do?
Pearce Rawlings had been studying Quantum Temporal Dynamics since graduate school and he still felt he didn't know anything about it even now, years later. All he knew was that this was the first practical application of the science. The first application that might make a company some money. He roused himself from his reverie.
“Johnson you ready for the test?”
“Roger Project Leader.”
Geez, there he goes again. You can take the boy out of the Space Force but you can't take the Space Force out of the boy.
“A simple yes will suffice Rudi.”
“Yes then.”
“How about it Al?”
“Ready.”
“Ready Boris?”
“Affirmative.”
“Okay, I'm going to bring the drive online.”
The drive, that is the spin-two drive, was brought up and began creating the negative energy bubble. The bubble began to grow to a size that would completely encompass the fusion ship that was generating it. Outside the bubble on another ship, a drive operated by Ralph Canel started forming smaller bubbles of negative energy right next to the surface of the larger bubble.
Since negative mass-energy repulsed other negative mass-energy the small bubble applied a slight impulse to the larger one. Ralph's drive started producing these smaller bubbles at a rate and in an order that caused the large bubble to begin to develop a spin. Faster and faster the bubble enclosing the fusion ship spun. Like a cup of coffee stirred until it begins to hollow out, the bubble of negative energy began to hollow out.
The key now would be to know how fast the bubble needed to be spinning to compress the walls of the hollowed sphere to the desired thickness. At that point, external quantum fields that always exist at every point in space would be greatly diminished in the hollow sphere. The effect, in this case, should be a slowing down of time.
Ralph was using an electromagnetic pulse generator to measure the wall thickness of the hollowed sphere. Like a form of radar, he would see two reflections. A strong reflection from the outer surface and then almost immediately a weaker but distinctive reflection from the inner wall. Measuring the time between reflections and multiplying that by the speed of light would give the thickness.
A few more seconds and Ralph measured the wall thickness they needed. He shut down his drive. The large hollow sphere of negative energy would now spin down and dissipate and the atomic clocks aboard the two ships could be compared.
After a few minutes the bubble was almost gone. Ralph waited to hear from Pearce and waited, and waited. Finally, he called Pearce but got no response. He called an emergency. The rescue team was ready and Ralph used the spin-two to link them from his ship to Pearce's.
Coming out of the far mouth of the local link the team found a nightmare. Almost everyone aboard had suffered some kind of life-ending trauma. The bodies themselves were mutilated and hacked, sometimes in two. The only one still breathing was Pearce Rawlings and he was unconscious.
In the hospital after three days in a coma, Pearce woke late at night. At first he thought he was still on the fusion ship. He could see the consoles and bulkheads of the crew wheel. But he finally snapped into consciousness and recognized he was in a hospital room. He started to sit up but stopped as he felt his head spin. Perhaps he would just call for a nurse.
Released from the hospital Pearce was sitting in a meeting at his company's office.
“Pearce we're glad to have you back.”
“Thank you Michael.”
“First, I want to say that we in no way blame you for the results of the experiment. We all knew that we were in unknown territory. But having said that I guess I don't have to tell you, all of you, that we are in trouble. We expect several wrongful death lawsuits from the incident or one class action. What we need Pearce is to understand what happened. How did we get to this point?”
“Michael I know you are hoping I can tell you exactly what went wrong but I'm afraid I can't. I can only tell you what I experienced and I can conjecture. But none of that would be useful as a defense.”
“Very well tell us your experience and then if you want to conjecture go ahead. Any information is better than the dark we're groping in.”
“The experiment started fine. The bubble of negative energy engulfed the ship. We could see it as a kind of fog on the wallscreen. Then the fog seemed to start swirling. Eventually, it was like clouds flying past the camera at increasing speeds and becoming more distant. You could tell that the inside of the bubble was clearing. I knew Ralph was succeeding in making it rotate.
“Then it happened.”
Pearce paused.
“Yes Pearce, what happened?”
“The distant wall of clouds rushed towards us. It was only an instant but seemed to take forever. When it hit, whatever it was, I felt my skin burning. Some of the crew cried out. Wilma jumped up and was about to flee the room. Before she got to the door it was like she had run into a saw or steel wire. She doubled up like a cartoon character, her feet and hands almost touching. Then her bottom half landed near the door and her top half slid on the floor to one side. I've never seen so much blood.”
He paused again. This time no one encouraged him to continue but he did.
“Well we all froze in place after that but it didn't help. The cloud bank which had cleared was closing in on us again as if it were rebounding a wall. Jack was the next to get it. He didn't move and he was chopped into more than two pieces. No one cried out, I think we were beyond comprehending what was happening.
“The cloud bank kept rebounding like that over and over again. And almost every time it butchered one of the crew. It didn't seem to matter what you did. If you were in the wrong place something was going to kill you and the real horror was you didn't know the right place. There was no running from it. Eventually, they were all dead. I watched as the cloud layer approached again but it seemed to be taking longer. It came close but didn't engulf the ship. After a few more times it seemed to stop. The negative energy must have dispersed, and that's all I remember.”
Another few moments passed before someone spoke.
“That sounds horrendous Pearce, I'm sorry you had to go through such an ordeal.”
“Well I'm still alive, the others aren't. So it was more horrendous for them.”
“No doubt,” said Michael. “But I do want to ask if you as a physicist have come to any conclusions about what happened.”
“Well we know from the Time Wars fifty years ago that such a temporal bubble could kill. But it seemed that in those cases the deaths had come from aging as those inside the bubble aged rapidly even if the bubble only lasted minutes. That was before we knew how to get the rate of time to increase or decrease as we wanted. Anyway, there were a few unanswered deaths that seemed violent but the majority were as if they had died after a long life.
“But there is one difference that I or no one else that I know of took into account at the time.”
“Really?”
“Yes. You see all those deaths took place in the space surrounding the planets Tarba and Atwan.”
“And that space essentially disintegrated as a result, didn't it?”
“That's right the space around those planets might be described as artificial. It had been an AdS space before the famous Dr. Mach's work converted it to a more normal spacetime.”
“An AdS space?” asked someone.
“Anti-de Sitter space. It's one of the cosmological solutions to Einstein's field equations. It's an unstable solution, especially where matter is involved. And would not support life as we know it. But even though AdS space is strange, it is a valid solution to the equations of General Relativity.
“But the spacetime around Tarba and Atwan had been created when Dr. Mach restarted the Big Bang to heal our normal spacetime. Eventually that spacetime underwent disintegration and only Tarba could be saved by linking it back into normal spacetime.
“So the upshot is that although we thought we knew how Quantum Temporal Dynamics worked because it had been used by the Tarbans and Atwans in the Time Wars, we really didn't. It may work completely different in a spacetime such as ours.”
“I'm sorry Pearce but that is not good news. We could be charged with not doing due diligence before we tried this experiment. We should have taken some intermediate steps to discover this phenomenon.”
“Michael,” said one of the Board members. “We were under time and money constraints. Our competition may beat us to the prize yet.”
“The competition,” said Pearce. “We've got to tell them what happened before it's too late.”
Chapter 2
From The PopSci Encyclic
2700 A.D. Edition
The “drive” as it is popularly called is officially known as the Spin-Two drive, a derivative of the old wormhole drive. Its basic function is to generate the almost magical negative energy that allows remarkable, and sometimes frightful results, to be generated, such as long-distance transport, plasma weapons, and now temporal control.
The fundamental science behind the wormhole drive is the Mach effect which has been described as causing the phenomenon of inertia. The Mach effect describes the relationship between a particular mass and the universal mass. Ernst Mach, the nineteenth-century physicist and philosopher, argued that the inertia an object exhibits was caused by all the other masses in the universe.
When applied to the operation of the drive the Mach Effect shows that if a material's electrons are shielded from the universal mass then the large and negative “bare mass” of the electron will be exhibited.
This argument follows from the fact that according to Quantum Electrodynamics electrons are surrounded by a sea of virtual particles and these virtual particles have a large positive mass. The electron's measured mass is very small and positive, therefore, according to simple addition, the electron's intrinsic mass must be large and negative. This negative energy (or “exotic” mass as it is sometimes called) displays negative or repulsive gravity.
Mach's views were dismissed by most physicists, except Albert Einstein, but made a comeback when Loop Quantum Gravity showed that the smallest element of space, a quanta of volume, could be linked to another quanta of volume, even across the universe. From these non-local links, which look like narrow wormholes in the theory, and the quanta of volume, ordinary space and inertia emerges. When enlarged by the repulsive force of exotic energy these links can transport energy and mass and information, it is thought, instantaneously.
Besides being used to enlarge the mouths of wormholes and links, a large “bubble” of negative mass-energy formed around an object and then “hollowed out” by spinning up the bubble will at some point begin to exclude the quantum fields that fill all of space.
The temporal field, which controls the “ticking” of time in QTD, can be enhanced or diminished inside the bubble by the shape of the bubble and whether chron+ or chron- particles dominate. In other words, time can be made to speed up or slow down within the hollowed region.
Compared to Temporal Dynamics, Pan Universe was a well-established company already having many products for the transportation needs of space travel. But with the possibility of controlling time, a whole new market of seemingly instantaneous transport (through the slowing of time aboard ship) would open and Pan Universe could not afford to miss it.
A project had been started under the direction of their Chief Scientist, Dr. Anais Eiffel. She knew about Pearce Rawling's efforts and disapproved. She would take things in a more deliberate manner. Interpret and consolidate the data from each experiment before moving on to the next. She always told the Directors that if they wanted to do it any other way she would turn the project over to whatever cowboy they chose.
Dr. Eiffel had heard about the results of Temporal's test and was fighting for a safety precaution she had deemed essential.
“When we are ready for a real-world test I want a skeleton crew on board. An experienced crew.”
“What's wrong with our test crew Dr. Eiffel?”
“They don't have the real-world experience I think they may need should something go wrong. Remember whoever is aboard that ship will be cut off from the outside world for a time and must be able to make life and death decisions.”
“Added and unneeded expense,” said one of the board members.
Dr. Eiffel had not seen the speaker but it sounded like Potter, he was always objecting to expense.
“I remind the board that the Corporation will be held liable should anything happen to those aboard the ship. That includes wrongful death. We all know what happened to Temporal. The Corporation needs to show that it has taken every precaution to protect its employees.”
“Quite right Dr. Eiffel. Well, I think with that in mind we should vote on Dr. Eiffel's request.”
The vote was eleven to one for Dr. Eiffel.
The drive and its three-layered ring were brought online to create a bubble of negative energy surrounding Pan Universe's ship. Once created the bubble would be spun up to shield the region of space occupied by the ship from the quantum fields of space, including the temporal field.
The three-layer stack-up of the drive's special materials were mounted on the outside of the crew wheel, facing the ship's bow. The inner layer of the stack provided support for the outer layers and also contained the material which expresses a large negative mass-energy (repulsive gravity) when the Mach effect is established.
Next is the actuator layer which drives the outer layer and is made of a PZT (lead-zirconium-titanate) composite. A large sinusoidal voltage is applied to this layer.
The outer layer, known as the Mach layer, is made from a material with a large capacity for internal energy change. And when it is driven by the actuator layer it shields the inner layer from the universal mass exposing the surprisingly large and negative intrinsic mass of that layer's electrons.
The crew wheel rotated to provide artificial gravity for the crew and also provide the necessary change in acceleration that the drive needed to work. Under rotation, a preferred direction was established and the negative energy could be “cast” or directed a certain distance away from the ship. This casting was used to open wormhole mouths or link-mouths but in this case just to create the negative energy bubble.
Captain Reese had been instructed by Dr. Eiffel about what to expect. So far the experiment seemed to be working well.
Inside the ship, the crew at first could see the bubble of negative energy assemble out of a seeming nothingness and become a white milky somewhat opaque cloud surrounding the ship. Then as the bubble was spun up by a second fusion ship the cloud receded and there was a space between the ship and the walls of the spherical shell.
Because of the spin, a slight flattening at the poles of the bubble occurred and at the inner walls of this spheroid chron- particles increased in number. This had the effect of slowing down time inside the bubble region.
Could time really be passing more slowly in here than in space outside?
Captain Reese had been impressed with Dr. Eiffel's expertise. So far things had worked out just as she said so he probably was in a region of depressed time.
Then he noticed the swirling of the distant bubble walls moving towards him. This was not something that Dr. Eiffel had expected. She had deliberately accounted for this effect. If he saw it something was wrong.
“Helm get ready.”
The rotating cloud was speeding up and shortly it engulfed the ship before rebounding and speeding away. The Captain was about to give his order to helm when someone screamed. It was Rodgers on the communications console. He spun around in his chair and as he did the upper half of his body separated from the rest and tumbled to the deck.
As much as he was frozen by what he had seen the Captain managed to look back at the wallscreen. The wall cloud was headed towards them again. That's when he cleared his head and gave the order, he wasn't waiting around to see another ghastly death.
“Helm get us out of here, full speed.”
The ship responded as the fusion engine opened up. Hydrogen added to the stream increased the thrust and the ship rocketed toward the cloud wall and through. Once clear the Captain called for the negative energy bubble to be placed on the wallscreen.
Aft of the ship the bubble seemed to be caught in a multi-mode vibration. Dimples appeared on its surface like those of a golf ball. The vibrating went on for several minutes before the bubble settled down and began to dissipate on its own.
“One thing we want to emphasize to the outside world is that even though we had a death, our security measures, that we spared no expense to implement, made the test as safe as possible.”
“Of course sir,” said Dr. Eiffel.
“And I'm sure the press will do most of the work for us as they compare our results with those of Temporal Industries.”
“No doubt sir. But we shouldn't be too overly satisfied. The end results were only different because a trained expert made an informed decision even in the face of such horror. If we are any better off than Temporal it is because Captain Reese made the correct decision at the time of crisis.”
“Of course, we want to thank the good Captain. But he was only on that ship because the Corporation did not cut corners as did Temporal, I'm sad to say.”
“Yes sir.”
“Now Dr. Eiffel after all that, is there anything you can tell us about what went wrong? Do you see a path to continuing our efforts?”
“Sir I believe it was a shear effect. The rotation of the spheroid of negative energy was not as uniform as expected and at the wall of the spheroid the inner layers sheared away from the outer layers. And when they did they collapsed and rebounded.”
“How does that explain the death of our crew member?”
“I believe that as this shell of negative energy collapsed its density naturally increased. At the ship this density was so great that it warped the gravitational field across the ship. Some of that field collapsed into small diameter but long lines of intense gravitational force, similar to what astronomers call cosmic strings. It was these filaments of gravitation that caused the crewman's body to be split in half.”
“How about the ship, why wasn't it damaged?”
“It was sir but to a lesser extent. It was just a difference of metal versus flesh. The human body being more easily damaged by these filaments.”
“I see,” said the Chairman. “So what do we do now?”
“Well, I have word that Temporal will be out of business soon. I would like to get Pearce Rawlings to join us.”
“What!” yelled one of the board members.
“Pearce's experience could be invaluable in helping us come up with a solution to this problem.”
“But the man's responsible for half a dozen deaths. Why would we want to be associated with such a liability?”
“Because he is a qualified physicist. The only physicist at his level that has seen this phenomenon close up. He could be very useful going forward.”
“Thank you Dr. Eiffel. We will take your request up in private.”
The board voted narrowly to offer Pearce Rawlings a job. Dr. Eiffel tried to contact him but to no avail.
“In his savage, untutored breast new emotions were stirring. He could not fathom them. He wondered why he felt so great an interest in these people—why he had gone to such pains to save the three men. But he did not wonder why he had torn Sabor from the tender flesh of the strange girl.
Surely the men were stupid and ridiculous and cowardly. Even Manu, the monkey, was more intelligent than they. If these were creatures of his own kind he was doubtful if his past pride in blood was warranted.
But the girl, ah—that was a different matter. He did not reason here. He knew that she was created to be protected, and that he was created to protect her”
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Pearce Rawlings put down his Emmie and the book he was reading. He was in his apartment. He hadn't done anything that he didn't have to for the past two weeks. He hadn't been anywhere, he hadn't seen anyone and he hadn't answered any contacts. It wasn't that he had lost his job, jobs come and go, it was the loss of all those lives on the ship. He should have done something.
He heard the door chime.
Pearce thought about ignoring it but he was tired of sitting, so he might as well answer it. Pearce never looked at his Emmie, he just opened the door. There he saw an attractive, blonde woman. She seemed familiar but Pearce was sure he had never met her in person.
“Yes, can I do something for you?”
“Dr. Rawlings do you know me?”
“No, I don't think so.”
“I'm Anais Eiffel.”
“The Dr. Eiffel that works for Pan Universe?”
“Yes.”
“I see. What do you want?”
“Can I come in?”
“I guess so.”
Pearce allowed her in and suggested she sit.
“Dr. Rawlings you are probably wondering why I am here?”
“I can't imagine.”
“Well, it seems to me that we have something in common.”
“We do?”
“Yes, we are the only two people in this country that understand that we don't understand Quantum Temporal Dynamics.”
“I guess you're right. So what?”
“Well I want to figure it out and I wonder if you do also?”
“Figure it out? Didn't you lose a person during your experiment?”
“That is true.”
“Well I lost six people. I think I figured out quite enough.”
“I see Dr. Rawlings. But here's the problem. You and I have the most experience with QTD. We are the leading experts. Now other people are going to pursue the same goal we did.”
“So, why should I care?”
“Because these new people who are going to continue our work are going to make mistakes as they learn. Mistakes we've already made.”
“Okay, so what?”
“Well if we were involved those mistakes would not be made again and more people wouldn't have to die.”
“I'm sure those taking over will take proper precautions after studying our failures.”
“Perhaps, but doubtful. I know of several companies already putting pressure on some former colleagues of mine to solve the problem before others do. Someone is going to be pressured into taking shortcuts. The same thing that happened to us is going to happen again. People are going to die. I think you and I working together can avoid that.”
Chapter 3
From The PopSci Encyclic
2700 A.D. Edition
The chron+ and chron- particles of QTD have a quantum spin number of plus one and minus one, respectively. Because of their spin they have opposite effects on the rate of time in a shielded region. The chron+ speeds up time relative to its normal rate in the region. The chron- slows time down.
Which one is dominant within a shielded region? It depends on the geometry of the negative energy spheroid. If the spheroid is prolate (extended at its poles however slightly) around its spin axis then the chron+ particle is dominant and time will speed up within the shielded region. If the spheroid is oblate (flattened at its poles however slightly) around its spin axis then the chron- particle is dominant and time will slow down within the shielded region.
As a negative energy bubble is spun up its interior hollows out and its walls become thinner. At some point, the thickness and density of the walls starts prohibiting penetration by external quantum fields. Internally the quantum fields diminish because they are no longer reinforced by the external fields. The external fields “wrap” around the hollow spheroid and create a surface skin of intense energy. This is the energy necessary to create the chron+ or chron- which will eventually dominate the makeup of the spheroid's walls. The chron+ and chron- particles of QTD are twice as heavy as the Higgs boson of the Standard Model.
A prolate spheroid with dominant chron+ particles can be created by the spin-two drive by slightly altering the cast of the small bubbles north and south of the equator of the large bubble. An oblate spheroid with dominant chron- particles can be created by casting the spin-up bubbles in the equatorial plane.
There is no perfect shielding of the quantum fields. This prevents the physically unrealistic effect of infinitely fast or infinitely slow time occurring within a shielded region. If a region could be perfectly shielded then the prolate spheroid with the dominant chron+ would stretch into a line and all of time would pass in a moment, called the “Time's End Hypothesis” by some. The opposite effect for an ideally shielded oblate region with dominant chron- particles would be a spheroid squashed flat into a thin plane and the result, “frozen” time.
“I don't understand,” said Maathai Ruto, CEO of Distant Horizons Corporation. “We bought all their data. That should have given us a head start.”
“Sir, it did but the fundamental question is why this happened. Why did the spheroid's inner wall rebound? And for that we have no answers or even guesses.”
“Okay Dr. Miya, how do we get these guesses?”
“We have to do further experiments.”
“You mean with people onboard?”
“No, we will do the experiments as they were originally done by Dr. Paulus, the originator of QTD. The large spheroid will be cast externally and spun up. Inside the shielded region we will have sensors and electronics.”
“And this will work within the time frame we discussed when the company took on this project?”
“If the tests are successful then we can meet that time frame.”
“What if they are not?”
“Then we are in for a long process of experiment, hypothesize, and repeat.”
“No Dr. Miya it will not be a long process because if you cannot achieve success in the time I've given you the company will be out of business.”
“There is no other way to do the necessary experimenting safely sir.”
“Then I suggest that we hope and pray that you come through the first time and in the meantime we should all update our resumes.”
With the loss of Temporal Industries the race to harness QTD was now down to six companies. Three of those, such as Pan Universe were well established and would be safety oriented. The other three, like Distant Horizons, were startups. The pressure on them to get quick results was intense. What Dr. Eiffel had been concerned about could easily drive one of them to take chances. And that is exactly what Star Time LLC would do.
It wasn't easy to be both CEO and Chief Scientist for a startup company. You were always at war with yourself. The CEO trying to rein in expenses while pushing the timeline and the Chief Scientist always asking for more resources and more time.
Dr. Steve Gateson was conflicted. As CEO of Star Time, he knew money was running out. The investors were balking at the amount of money that was further needed. But as Chief Scientist he was sure that with those funds he could deliver a working prototype. As a young man with his entire reputation and future on the line, he knew he would have to deliver results even without further funding and that would require taking chances. Even if other teams were taking it slow and safe, eventually the technology would have to be proven with humans in the “loop.” So all the teams would at some time have to do what Steve was planning to do, it would just take them longer and cost more.
Though not privy to the experimental data of the other companies Dr. Gateson had come to the same conclusion as Dr. Eiffel. Shear had caused the bubble wall to separate and the inner wall had collapsed in those other experiments. It was the only thing that could explain the results of the experiments, the deaths, and manner of death, that were well known to the public. So the challenge was to prevent wall separation.
Dr. Gateson had an idea.
If once the bubble cleared around a ship, that ship's spin-two drive was kept online and continually creating negative energy, this internal core bubble would put pressure on the outer wall through the repulsive interaction. This should keep the wall from shearing and collapsing. But to attempt this kind of shoring up would take someone on board the ship to adjust the core bubble in real-time.
Gateson would be aboard with a helm operator and a spin-two drive operator. He would ask for volunteers. The test would be conducted in an orbit outside of the Moon's orbit near the Lagrange point L2 at a pre-existing facility rented by the company. The facility, with nearly a hundred people aboard, would provide technical and logistical support to Star Time's people. While most of it was under zero-gravity there was a crew wheel that provided lodging for the employees and provided gravity by spinning.
Gateson and his team arrived at the facility. The facility's spin-two drive would spin up the bubble created by the ship's drive. The rest of the team would, except for the three aboard the ship, monitor the data stream.
“Very well Dobson start the spin-two drive and create the outer bubble,” radioed Gateson to the operator at the facility.
The spin-two drive started and the bubble of negative energy soon immersed the ship. Gateson and the others felt it as a prickle of the skin. Outside the bubble, the another spin-two operator began to spin up the large bubble. It became a slightly oblate spheroid as planned. Everything was going well so far.
Watching the wallscreen Gateson saw the cloud-like negative energy bubble begin to clear the ship and become a hollow spheroid. That was when he signaled to the on board spin-two operator to create the core bubble. Using the on board sensors at radar frequencies Gateson and the spin-two operator could see the extent of the core bubble and the wall of the outer spheroid.
Gateson had already calculated the effect of the slow down for the on board clocks and watched as the time approached where the other experiments had failed. He was pleased to see that time come and go. They had maintained the configuration far longer than anyone. They were reaching the point when the outer bubble should be slowing down and dispersing. Gateson was watching the readout of the sensor closely to see the signs that the outer bubble wall was dispersing. But the time came and went and there was no sign of dispersal.
“I think we've got a problem.”
“What Dr. Gateson?” asked the helmsman.
“The outer spheroid doesn't seem to be dispersing Malcom.”
“Why?”
“I'm not sure. It could be that leakage from the core bubble is replenishing the outer spheroid.”
“What can we do? Turn off the spin-two and let the core bubble disintegrate?”
“No that would just lead to the inner layers shearing and collapsing upon us and we know what that might do.”
Malcom was quiet.
“Malcom, do you know where we are in relation to the facility?”
“I think so. As long as the bubble hasn't displaced us.”
“Okay then, I think our best course is to move the ship out of the bubble just as the Captain for Pan Universe did.”
“Okay, I'll plot a course that I think will take us out of the bubble and away from the facility. What's our speed?”
“Slow enough to maneuver if we need to but fast enough to get us through the bubble wall quickly. Breaching that wall could be a problem because of the density of energy.”
“Very well, say when.”
“Let's go.”
The helmsman started the fusion engines and brought them up to half thrust. The ship began to move. In a few moments the bow of the ship breached the wall of the spheroid. At the bow was the massive particle shield made of the heavy and almost impenetrable Mach-metal meant to deflect particles when the ship was at speed.
“Is the wallscreen up?” asked Gateson.
“Yes, but it seems to be overloaded.”
“You got the facility on radar?”
“Jammed too.”
“We're flying blind.”
Then they all felt the shudder. The ship had hit something. In the direction they were moving the crew wheel where the three were located would hit next.
“Brace for impact.”
No sooner had Gateson uttered those words than the crew wheel slammed into the L2 facility. While the massive particle shield had smashed its way through the facility framework without deflection the crew wheel, being lighter, bent and broke, the rooms exposed to the void as the walls buckled and failed. The three on the ship perished.
Control was lost between command and the engine. Without input, the Emmies operating the fusion engine went to fail-safe and began an orderly shutdown. But the ship had enough inertia to keep plowing through the facility. Besides the obvious damage, the crew wheel itself lost orientation and the section of framework it was attached to began to stress and break. Soon the wheel was spinning off into space.
Debris was everywhere. Some of it, ejected from the ship's spinning crew wheel, was traveling at high speed and slamming into the other arms of the facility as well. It almost seemed that the destruction would not stop. But eventually, it was over. The final death toll was sixty-four on the facility and three on the ship.
Chapter 4
From The PopSci Encyclic
2700 A.D. Edition
The fusion spaceship is a marvel of modern engineering. The latest fourth generation-plus model is capable of a top velocity of two-tenths the speed of light.
Fusion ships built for longer voyages have a rotating life-support wheel usually located a third of the way from the front of the vessel. The rotating wheel provides the artificial gravity which makes the performance of most mundane everyday chores, such as eating, sleeping and cleaning, much easier. It also supports the health of the crew though medical research has made that benefit somewhat redundant.
The wheel section usually consists of the crew quarters or apartments on the second floor. The floor also includes a cafeteria, workout area, theater, and assembly area. The first floor, the outer part of the wheel, is used for aeroponics gardening (a method of growing plants in which the roots are exposed and misted with water and nutrients) to provide fresh food. On the third floor, the innermost floor, supplies and equipment are kept. Each floor typically has over fifty-thousand square feet.
At seven hundred feet in diameter and rotating at one point-eight revolutions a minute the artificial gravity produced is about four-tenths Earth's gravity. The outer surface of the big wheel is moving at over seventy kilometers an hour.
At three thousand feet in length the fusion ships are some of the largest spaceships ever built. The spine of the ship is made of interlinked girders of a carbon composite that is strong but flexible. The composite is wrapped in a particle shield, inside of which is an x-ray shield. This design prevents most fast-moving interstellar particles from impacting the frame and weakening it over time.
At the front of the vessel is a massive particle shield to deflect particles when the ship is at speed. A magnetic field generator complements the particle shield by turning away charged particles.
The fourth generation-plus ship's engines use the deuterium helium-3 fusion reaction. The advantage of this reaction is that it produces a large amount of energy with an almost total absence of neutrons. The lack of neutrons allows for a much longer engine life due to the reduced materials damage and activation levels (radioactivity).
During the acceleration and deceleration phases of a journey the wheel section is not spinning and is turned, like beads on a string, so that the applied force is in the proper direction.
Pearce read about the Star Time incident. Dr. Eiffel had been right. It felt almost like he had failed again. She thought the two of them could prevent such a tragedy and he hadn't even tried. Damn, he just wanted to be left alone but the world was dragging him back in. He looked up the ID Dr. Eiffel had given him and placed a call.
“Hello Dr. Rawlings,” said Anais Eiffel.
“I suppose you know why I'm calling?”
“I can guess. I read the news too.”
“I'm guessing he was trapped and tried to do what your pilot did.”
“Quite possible Dr. Rawlings but never mind. He should have never put himself in that situation. He ignored the danger or didn't think it through.”
“So you still think we can prevent more messes like this?”
“I do.”
“Where do I report?”
Dr. Eiffel gave Pearce the address of the lab she had set up. He would be there in a couple of days.
Pearce arrived at Eiffel's lab and was escorted to her office.
“Come in Dr. Rawlings and please sit down. Can I get you anything, coffee perhaps?”
“Not now Dr. Eiffel, thank you.”
“Well Dr. Rawlings I'm sure you wish to get started right away. I've assigned you an office and when you need it a lab will be made available.”
“Of course Dr. Eiffel but may I ask, have you come to any new understanding about the problem?”
“I believe that we need to create a method for the ship itself to spin up the bubble.”
“Spin up the bubble from within the bubble? That would be a neat trick Dr. Eiffel.”
“Maybe so. But we've got to change our approach to make this technology useful and cheap and safe. And part of that is getting rid of the need to have outside facilities. With the ship having full control I believe we can prevent any further disasters.”
“I guess you are right Dr. Eiffel.”
Pearce was always suspicious of others but Eiffel seemed to speak sincerely.
Pearce got to work in his new office. Dr. Eiffel was right. Even if they could discover how to safely create the temporal bubble and disperse it safely it wouldn't be the final answer to a complete product offering.
But how can a test ship create a negative energy bubble, spin it up, keep it viable and disperse it when necessary? And how can a ship navigate from within such a bubble? As he asked himself these questions it seemed that the experimentation thus far was just wish fulfillment. Even had they worked they would be no where nearer the goal than when they started.
What a cluster . . .
Then it came to him but it seemed too simple. The goal was to get human beings to their destination in the shortest amount of time. The rest of the ship didn't matter. You could create a bubble around the crew wheel and not the entire ship. A second spin-two drive on the ship but outside the bubble could spin the first bubble up and maintain it. And navigation and operation of the ship could be located outside the crew wheel bubble. The passengers would stay inside the bubble but the ship's crew would venture in and out to operate the ship.
It was known that human beings could walk through the negative energy bubble without danger although in the case of a spinning bubble the effects on humans passing in and out had not been tested except incidentally when the Pan Universe ship left its spinning bubble. So it could be done.
Pearce sat for a second. The only catch was learning to disperse the spinning bubble without the deadly side-effects. But Gateson of Star Time had shown the way even though he had not been completely successful.
Just exit it and let it collapse on its empty self.
Rawlings was explaining his idea to Eiffel.
“Yes I understand you Dr. Rawlings. We will need to test the effects on the crew passing through the spheroid's wall and learn how to exit the bubble but I believe we know how to do everything else.”
“Yes Dr. Eiffel. We can conduct the test on a crew here in the lab. We will need access to a fusion ship and a bit of retrofitting to test the best method for a ship to exit the spheroid though.”
“I can get us the loan of a ship from headquarters if you will head up that part of the research and I will test the spheroid's effect on human health here in the lab. How does that sound?”
“It sounds like we are in business and with a real chance to solve the problem.”
Rawlings felt like hugging her but there was something very proper about Anais even though she seemed pleasant enough.
Pan Universe provided a smaller third-generation fusion ship for the tests. It was just half the size of a modern ship with a smaller crew wheel. Otherwise it had everything Pearce needed to carry out his tests.
To prevent any threat to life, sensors in the crew wheel would record the environment there. In the front command room which was just behind the particle shield Pearce and the others would helm the ship and spin the crew wheel bubble up into a hollow spheroid.
The Ems inside the control room of the crew wheel would establish the large bubble of negative energy to completely surround the wheel. The Ems inside the crew wheel would then stabilize the spheroid by creating a core bubble, as Gateson had shown.
All the while the ship would be under acceleration. It was important that the spheroid not separate from the ship in all modes of flight. If the test got to this point then the ship would try to separate itself from the bubble by vectoring hard to port or starboard while decelerating. The Ems at the same time would stop their support of the core bubble essentially cutting contact.
It was the last part of the test, separating ship and spheroid, that Rawlings was most concerned about. It had to happen benignly or the result would not be safe for humans.
The test started, the ship accelerated, the bubble was spun up into the slightly flattened spheroid needed to slow time inside it. It seemed to be working. Data from inside the crew wheel confirmed that the slow down in time was happening. The Ems were being affected although they operated at such a fast speed that the delays were measured in microseconds only.
After several minutes of flight it was time to try to separate from the spheroid. The Ems in the crew wheel were signaled. The ship started to vector hard to starboard. Rawlings was watching a wallscreen in the forward control room. He saw the wheel emerge from the cloud-like spheroid. More and more of the wheel appeared, faster and faster until the entire wheel was in view.
Communication with the Ems in the crew wheel confirmed that no unusual gravitational effects had occurred. No unusual stress or anything out of the ordinary. Their rate of time had also returned to normal. Rawlings then tried to find the spheroid on the wallscreen. He saw it like a bright cloud in the light of the Sun quickly moving away from the ship and seeming to soften around the edges. It was dissipating gradually.
Could it have been a success?
Rawlings didn't dare admit everything went right until a report on the test was generated but he was hopeful.
End of sample.
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