Time's End: A Future Chron Novel (Future Chron Universe Book 34)

by D. W. Patterson

  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 then 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 all should 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 one of them, 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 the 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 of the wall it would take someone onboard 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 bubble.”

  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 other 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 onboard spin-two operator to create the core bubble. Using the onboard 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 onboard 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 Galactic Transport captain had done.”

  “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 an
d 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 the crew space 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. W
e 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 what Pearce thought of as 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.