Analog Science Fiction and Fact
Page 30
However, since its arm lengths are a million
with no event horizon. However, while the
times greater, this should not be a problem,
detection of gravitational waves by aLIGO has
and excellent low noise detections are expect-
been a major triumph, the aLIGO system has
ed from the 2017 LISA system.
been fighting noise since its original con-
In any case, in 2015, the aLIGO detection of
struction, and the present noise level only
gravitational waves opened a new window on
makes possible the unambiguous detection of
the Universe. The developing detector tech-
the ringdown signal. The two aLIGO stations
nology promises to make it possible to answer
currently in operation are simply too noisy to
the question of whether the black holes, as
observe the predicted ringdown differences
predicted by Einstein’s general theory of rela-
or echoes.
tivity, actually exist, or whether quantum ef-
However, this may change soon. The Virgo
fects and other considerations rule out black
gravitational wave detector in Pisa, Italy is
holes and indicate that collapsed stars have a
scheduled to join the aLIGO configuration
different form. As more and better detectors
next year, and there are also gravitational wave
come online, we can expect an answer to this
detector stations under development or con-
important question. ■
struction in India, Germany, and Japan. Re-
duced noise from design improvements and
signal averaging among more detector stations
John G. Cramer’s 2016 nonfiction book de-
observing the same gravitational wave event
scribing his transactional interpretation of
may reduce the noise level significantly. The
quantum mechanics, The Quantum Hand-
addition of more interconnected detectors po-
shake—Entanglement, Nonlocality, and
sitioned around the planet will also greatly im-
Transactions, (Springer, January 2016) is avail-
prove the sensitivity of the system to the po-
able online as a hardcover or eBook at:
larization of the gravitational waves. This is a
http://www.springer.com/gp/book/97833
crucial observable in distinguishing between
19246406.
GR and many of its alternatives.
SF Novels by John Cramer: eBook editions
On a longer timescale, the 2017 LISA space-
of hard SF novels Twistor and Einstein’s
based gravitational wave detector, replanned
Bridge are available from the Book View Café
several times, is now scheduled to be
co-op at: http://bookviewcafe.com/book-
launched in the 2030s. This project of the Eu-
store/?s=Cramer.
ropean Space Agency is a gravitational wave
Alternate View Columns Online: Electronic
detector in the form of an equilateral triangle
reprints of over 180 “The Alternate View”
2.5 million kilometers on a side with a laser in-
columns by John G. Cramer, previously pub-
terferometer unit at each vertex. The 2017
lished in Analog, are available online at:
LISA gravitational wave detector is presently
http://www.npl.washington.edu/av.
planned to orbit the Sun at the Lagrange L3
point on the side of the Sun away from Earth,
but in the same orbit as the Earth.
References:
Earth-based gravitational wave detectors
Black Hole Existence Tests: “Tests for the ex-
like aLIGO have sensitivity in the frequency
istence of horizons through gravitational wave
range from 1 Hz to 30 kHz, which is the re-
echoes,” Vitor Cardoso and Paolo Pani, Nature
gion where signals from massive black hole
Astronomy 1, 586-591 (2017); https://arx-
mergers are strongest. The 2017 LISA gravita-
iv.org/abs/1709.01525.
tional wave detector will have sensitivity in
Echo Search: “Echoes from the Abyss: Evi-
the 10 Hz to 1 Hz region, where many binary
dence for Planck-scale structure at black hole
star systems have their peak emission of gravi-
horizons,” J. Abedi, H. Dykaar, and N Afshordi,
tational waves. For technical reasons, 2017
(December 2016); arXiv:1612.00266 [gr-
LISA cannot use the high-finesse Fabry–Pérot
qc]; and “Echoes from the Abyss: The Holiday
resonant-arm cavities and signal recycling sys-
Edition!” J. Abedi, H. Dykaar, and N Afshordi,
tems used by aLIGO. For this reason, its ab-
(January 2017); arXiv:1701.03485 [gr-qc].
DO BLACK HOLES REALLY EXIST?
107
Illustrated by Kurt Huggins
Home
on the
Free Range
Holly Schofield
he very yellow morning sunshine, the
day, it’s finally here.” She leaned on her rake.
scrape of her rake against the curly
“Too soon to tell.” Jadey raked with sharp,
Tgrasslike brillo, and the glistening piles short strokes. She glanced up, her eyes fol-of wriggling turquoise caterpillars all served to
lowing a stubbed-wing hawk as it soared
put Jadey in a pleasant haze of repetition: a
above Helma’s two-hectare hillside ranch, past
meditation of rake, pile, shovel, and dump.
the fence at the crest, and over the hateful
“Hell of a beautiful day! I know we’ve been
Maxxco operation to the south. She resumed
saying for a solid year that spring is just around
raking, head bent. No time to slack off. Not if
the corner.” Helma got up from her perch on
she ever wanted to save enough for a ranch of
the edge of the compost cart. “But, maybe to-
her own.
108
HOLLY SCHOFIELD
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018
When the pile of dying caterpillars reached
But why count the herd all of a sudden right
as high as the stained knees of her coveralls,
now? They’d all been present early this morn-
she reached for the shovel, stepping over Hel-
ing. And, sure enough, the pasture was dotted
ma’s tiny pile.
with scratchers. Jadey rolled her shoulders in
For a few minutes they both worked, Jadey
relief. The nearest one, Cocoa, scraped at the
dumping two shovelfuls for every one of her
winter-browned brillo with her miniature
employer’s. When the cart was full, she
hooves, buckteeth clipping the tough stems
grabbed the handles, snorting against the foul
with an audible snap. The size of a Terran pot-
smell. “Third load so far,” she said with satis-
bellied pig, the native grazing animals looked
faction. “We’ll be able to do ten more today.
like nothing so much as tiny long-eared buffa-
That should f inally put a dent in them.” The
lo. The one Jadey had named Barbara stood
bugs had hatched from tiny sparkling blue eggs
; patiently a few meters away, ears drooping,
which had puzzlingly appeared on the blades
nose to the gusting wind. And over there, she
of the brillo a standard month or so ago. Cater-
could pick out fat Bozo, Jenny with the spot-
pillars had soon covered the pasture in a
ted ears, frisky Lotto, and three more.
writhing blue blanket, dripping from the den-
“Hold on, where’s Fernie? And the other,
twillow leaves, and even dangling off the
um—” Jadey counted “—twelve?” The whole
scratchers’ tiny horns. Since then, all other
herd of twenty breeding stock should have
chores had been put on hold. If the brillo
been visible, spreading up the hill to where
smothered and died, the scratchers would
the dentwillow tree filtered the morning sun.
starve.
Alarmed, she whistled for Cole.
With a wrench on the handles to get started,
The collie raced out from behind the barn
she headed to the compost heap by the barn.
and bumped against her legs, whining.
“Jadey!”
“Go find them, boy. Find the rest.”
Now what? She set down the cart and
Cole ran upslope toward the dentwillow.
sighed. At this rate, they’d never get done.
Jadey abandoned the cart and strode back to
Helma still stood by the scattered rakes, one
where Helma stood. Cole circled around the
hand above her eyes in a quasi-military salute,
huge tree and came back, whining louder.
squinting away from Jadey into the morning
“Go on, f ind ’em, dog.” Helma made a
sun. Her cloud of black hair wafted in the
shooing motion.
slight breeze. She called out, “Hey, do a count,
Cole looked up quizzically and whimpered.
would ya?”
Jadey stroked his head. “It’s all right, boy.
“Of the caterpillars? There must be thou-
It’s okay.” But it wasn’t. “Where the hell are
sands of the stinkers.” What was Helma talk-
they?”
ing about? The starship captain’s daughter
“Let’s run down the options,” Helma said,
didn’t seem to have a brain in her head some-
squaring her shoulders.
times.
“This isn’t some shipboard drill, Helma.”
“No, the scratchers. Count ’em.”
“Calm down. We’ll f ind ’em. They’ve just
“What for?” Jadey let the handles go. The
wandered off or something.”
larger reason was obvious. The herd was es-
“First, let’s get these ones safe.” A wave of
sential to both of them. If Helma failed to meet
her hand and a couple of repeats of “Circle,
the breeding targets, she’d lose the ranch.
boy, circle!” and Cole charged after the eight
Worse, she’d have to lay off her only employ-
scratchers, nipping at their hooves, sending
ee, wrecking Jadey’s one shot at making a life
them trotting toward the barn.
for herself on this new planet. She couldn’t go
The dog, part border-collie and part who-
back to work on a starship—not after what
knows-what, had turned up one day, probably
happened to Mom. And there weren’t any oth-
a stray from forty kilometers away in K-town.
er options here on Skale. Maxxco, the big in-
Jadey had spent days earning his trust, throw-
terstellar conglomerate, would never hire her
ing soy scraps to him, drawing him closer.
back, not even if she apologized for calling
Herding ability, according to her reading, was
them irresponsible idiots after they’d planted
instinctive in the collie breed, even extending
sixty hectares of Terran bamboo, devastating
to these indigenous scratchers slightly smaller
the brillo prairie ecosystem.
than himself. She’d only had to teach him a
HOME ON THE FREE RANGE
109
ANALOG
few commands and hand signals, and he’d got-
hands on her clean coveralls. Jadey almost felt
ten the hang of it. Sort of like she’d fallen into
sorry for her. Helma had coasted through life
ranching, even though it was a far cry from
so far, hardly even venturing into the grubby
pulling wrenches on an interstellar ship. Al-
engine rooms where Jadey had spent her own
though, with the continual setbacks on the
shipboard childhood and apprenticeship. In
ranch—everything from marginal winter for-
some ways, Helma was more of a puppy than
age to these blasted caterpillars—Cole might
Cole had ever been. But if she got frustrated
be the more successful of the two of them.
and quit, she could grab a silver-collar job
Time for action. “Let’s check the fencing.”
with the next starship that came to port. Or
Jadey strode uphill, slipping and sliding on the
Maxxco would snap her up for a management
caterpillar-slick brillo, not even checking if
job. Jadey wouldn’t be so lucky. She quashed
Helma was following. She might be a ship-
the always-lurking memory of the bitter tang
raised grunt-turned-ranchhand, but she had a
of engine room smoke.
stake in this too.
A talpid scuttled past, stopping occasionally
Her whole body ached. It wasn’t just the
to slurp up a few caterpillars with its soft
higher gravity here on Skale—10 percent
mouth. Slightly smaller than a scratcher, it
higher than Terra; in her eleven standard
waddled like a beaver, sharp-pointed digging
months here, she’d adjusted to that and to the
claws glinting in the sun. Talpids were a com-
equally heavy air pressure. It was the constant
mon sight, darting in and out of their tunnels
stress. On Skale, it seemed danger was always
under the dentwillow tree. Insectivores, they
just around the next smelly, dirty corner.
ate all kinds of small bugs including the pesky
“Relax, Jadey. Maybe Fernie led ’em
caterpillars. Jadey hoped they would breed a
through a hole in the fence. They can’t be far.
lot this year in response to the recent caterpil-
It’ll be fine.” Helma trailed after as Jadey
lar population explosion, so that their in-
trudged through the ankle-deep caterpillars
creased numbers would reduce the quantities
along the southern fence line. Beyond,
of caterpillars next spring. Trouble was, the
Maxxco loomed: a huge complex containing
next spring was a full twelve standard years
the mill, various factory buildings, and the ex-
away. The seasons on this planet were three
tensive bamboo plantation. The caterpillar in-
standard years long—her mind still stumbled
vasion had hit them too, but not as hard.
over that fact, but it inf luenced every aspect
Meter by meter, Jadey inspected the
nano-
of the ecosystem.
f iber fence and the green telltale lights. The
Above, a tiny air-badger perched on the
overhead netting, installed at her repeated
fence above the netting and then launched it-
suggestion to protect the herd against the mas-
self, stretching its parachute-like membrane
sive stub-winged hawks, seemed intact too.
taut from wrist to ankle.
“If we’d tagged them . . .” Jadey swallowed
Jadey watched warily as it sailed off. There
the rest of her words.
were so many things about this environment
“What?”
no one understood. The scientists at Maxxco
“Nothing.” If they had tagged the scratch-
could venture guesses as to what lay ahead in
ers, they could have tracked them now. But
the coming spring, but the two standard years
there was no percentage in reminding Helma
since Maxxco had landed and the f ledgling
that she’d made yet another poor decision. It
colony of K-Town had formed had all been in
would have meant another bank loan and Hel-
the temperate winter months. There just
ma had talked herself out of it, saying that
wasn’t much data to work from.
scratchers were indigenous to Skale and had
She wanted to know everything about Skale.
survived millennia without a problem. Jadey
Any spare hour was spent at the computer,
had eventually given up on the idea too,
running ecosystem projections and models.
telling herself it was because of sheer eco-
Last night she had dreamed of a gigantic food
nomic necessity rather than the thought of
web, all the f lora and fauna intersecting in a
cruelly puncturing the scratchers’ long sensi-
huge interconnected map, a spiderweb that
tive ears.
would f ill a cargo hold, more complex even
“They gotta be here somewhere. Don’t
than her grandparent’s legendary Saskatche-
they?” Helma stopped and rubbed sweaty
wan grasslands back on Terra.
110
HOLLY SCHOFIELD
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018
She put a hand on a fencepost and stretched
teeth capable only of squishing caterpillars
a leg out. Her calves ached, her wrists hurt,
and other insects was barely visible beneath
and her abdominal muscles stung. Ranching
the snout. There was no way a talpid could eat
used different muscles than shipboard duties.
meat or even bite: scavenging for frozen in-
But, she reminded herself, there was no going