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

by D. W. Patterson

  “Yes?”

  “When you are back on Earth please do not tell anyone about your work here. We like to remain as discreet as possible.”

  “Well I don't know that there is any reason to tell anyone the specifics but I will in general have to tell them where I have been. A few people will no doubt wonder.”

  “Of course, that is perfectly fine Dr. Eiffel. If you can just deal in generalities.”

  “I will do my best Dr. Solvay.”

  “Very well I will leave you then, I should think that you will be back on Earth by tomorrow. Again, I want to think you for all your assistance.”

  “Goodbye Dr. Solvay.”

  “She's back?”

  “That's what I hear Dave.”

  “Where's she been for so long?”

  “Don't know. I'm going to try to contact her later.”

  “I don't know if it has anything to do with our problem but the timing is kind of coincidental, don't you think?”

  “Maybe. But I doubt Dr. Eiffel created the problem.”

  “Well let me know what you find. The company is preparing a bankruptcy filing unless we discover something new.”

  “Okay Dave.”

  Pearce placed a call to Dr. Eiffel's ID over his Emmie but failed to connect. After a search by his Emmie he called a new ID.

  “Hello, Dr. Eiffel, how are you? You look well.”

  “Yes I am fine. Who is this?”

  Pearce was confused.

  “It's Pearce Rawlings.”

  “Oh yes, you are the physicist Dr. Rawlings. I did see you several times at QTD conferences.”

  Pearce was still confused, but she seemed to at least know him.

  “Dr. Eiffel you've been away?”

  “Yes, I had a consulting job that kept me busy.”

  “But you've seen the news? What's happening with the Time Saver technology and Galactic?”

  “Galactic Transport? No. I can't say that I have.”

  How could she miss it?

  “It's a huge story Dr. Eiffel, I'm sure you will run into it once you open any media. But to summarize. Since Galactic installed new Time Saver technology there has been the loss of hundreds of fusion ships.”

  “Time Saver technology? Hundreds of ships?”

  What in the world has happened to her?

  “Yes, that's right. Time Saver is what Galactic called their new time technology. And The ships using it have just disappeared without a trace.”

  “What is this new technology?”

  “Galactic contracted with a startup that claimed to have eliminated the frozen time problem. They started selling these new systems a few weeks after I last talked with you.”

  “Interesting Dr. Rawlings. What is new about this system?”

  “The startup modulated the action of the spheroid which supposedly prevented it from settling down into frozen time.”

  “I can't imagine that accomplishing the goal.”

  “Neither could I Dr. Eiffel. Neither I nor Dave Reynolds at Galactic could come up with a way that this so-called modulation could solve the problem. It's just not in the theory.”

  “I've heard of Dr. Reynolds. This is all very peculiar Dr. Rawlings.”

  “I know but it's had tremendous real-world ramifications. Hundreds of ships and thousands of crew are missing. Galactic is about to go into bankruptcy.”

  They were both quiet.

  “Dr. Eiffel if I may ask. Can you reveal your client?”

  “I'm afraid not Dr. Rawlings but I can assure you they were no startup here on Earth.”

  “Well I can't think of anything other than this was planned. I think it's deliberate. Nothing else makes sense.”

  “The theory doesn't support what you are saying Dr. Rawlings?”

  “I'm saying this new device is deliberately transmitting information about these ships to someone. That's why the modulation of the spheroid. It creates a messaging system that picks up on what ship it is, who the crew is and anything else that is pertinent and sends it over a non-local link to the real customer. If the customer is interested, they then link the ship through. Someone is collecting ships or their crews for something, obviously nefarious.”

  Dr. Eiffel was quiet a moment.

  “Dr. Rawlings could I meet you somewhere?”

  “Why?”

  “I have something that I'd rather discuss in person than over a communication link.”

  “Okay, I guess so. We could meet here at the linkport in Atlanta.”

  “Very well I will link in tomorrow at noon.”

  “Okay Dr. Eiffel I'll see you there, goodbye.”

  “Goodbye.”

  Pearce sat thinking about what a strange conversation he just had.

  I don't like any of this. She acts like she doesn't know me. This project has turned from being about physics to some kind of cloak and dagger. That's not my expertise. But if not me, who?

  “It is only when you suffer that you really understand.”

  “Ain't that the truth,” thought Pearce about what he had just read.

  He then took an auto-electric to the linkport and waited for Dr. Eiffel to show up. She came in on a link from the New New York complex. A link that first linked to Earth orbit and then to the Earth's surface. It was easier and safer to account for elevation differences than linking through the curved surface of the Earth.

  Pearce recognized her coming out of the link and waved.

  “Hello Dr. Eiffel.”

  “Hello Dr. Rawlings how are you.”

  “Fine. Would you like to go into the lounge to talk?”

  “Yes.”

  They took two chairs at a small table in the corner and ordered drinks.

  “Well Dr. Eiffel you want to begin?”

  “As you probably know Dr. Rawlings I've been away working under contract. After what we discussed I researched much of the past few months and what has been happening on Earth.”

  She paused a moment.

  On Earth? Sounds like she hasn't been here for some time. But who was at Pan-Universe? And where has she been?

  Eiffel continued, “I believe I may have been involved in the development of the new Time Saver device.”

  “How?”

  “I was recruited, rather forcibly I might add, by the Dhalkans during my sabbatical from university to help them develop such a device.”

  “The Dhalkans? That's where you have been?”

  “Yes I've been there quite some time. That's why I seemed so confused during our recent call, I wasn't aware of all the developments you were talking about. You see I helped the Dhalkans get started on a Time Saver like system but was then shunted to the side and not allowed to leave. They obviously took my work farther. I think they may have been the mystery suppliers of the new Time Saver technology.”

  “But why have they commandeered all those ships?”

  “Same reason they 'commandeered' me, as you say. They claim to be trying to prolong their race.”

  “You said claim?”

  “Yes at first I believed them, but now with all I have learned since I have been back, I'm not sure.”

  “Well they must have some serious reason if they are doing what we suspect. Dr. Eiffel I have someone I would like you to meet. Between the three of us maybe we can figure out what is going on.”

  “Hey Dave. I want you to meet Dr. Anais Eiffel. Dr. Eiffel this is Dr. David Reynolds Head of Research for Galactic.”

  Pearce had talked Dr. Eiffel into going to Galactic Corporation to meet Dave Reynolds.

  “Pleased to meet you Dr. Reynolds.”

  “Me to Dr. Eiffel. I've followed your work in QTD very approvingly I might say.”

  “Thank you Dr. Reynolds.”

  “Dave, Dr. Eiffel has told me that the Dhalkans may be behind our problems.”

  “Really? Why?”

  “Well we are not sure why exactly. But Dr. Eiffel was contracted by the Dhalkans to help them develop a Time Saver like device. H
owever toward the end of the contract Dr. Eiffel was pushed out of the loop as the Dhalkans continued development on their own. And I think they developed our new Time Saver.”

  “This is becoming less a physics experiment and more a spy mystery,” said Reynolds slumping.

  Pearce agreed but wasn't giving up yet.

  Chapter 10

  From The PopSci Encyclic

  2700 A.D. Edition

  Mathematically, negative mass-energy is nothing more than normal mass-energy except with a negative sign. But that negative sign makes all the difference.

  Because of the difference in sign it is found that negative mass-energy repels other negative mass-energy. But negative mass-energy is attracted to positive mass-energy while the positive mass-energy is repelled.

  This was all theoretical until the invention of the Wormhole Generator by Elias Mach in the 24th Century. The generator allowed the production of almost an unlimited amount of negative mass-energy.

  Later it was discovered that a slightly modified wormhole generator could produce negative energy bubbles whose density would hold the bubble together until it slowly dissipated over time. This phenomenon, which is still being investigated, has already been used in unique ways, including …

  Sometimes the world changes in the least expected way and in the least expected place. Tandem Asteroid wasn't a place that anyone would dream of going to but one of those places where one ends up. Eric Johnson had ended up at Tandem after not finding a position following his last post-doc.

  By mining the asteroids in the Malnos system, Tandem provided much of the heavy metals being used in processing plants orbiting the planet Gaspra. At a distance of about six AU and five hours away on a fourth generation fusion ship Eric felt removed from the world he had always known. But his job as the resident IT guru paid well.

  The mining installation could instantaneously contact Gaspra if necessary by using its wormhole drive to open a small comm-link but mostly relied on radio to save power. A delay of almost fifty minutes was acceptable if all one was after was the news.

  This was the news Eric was watching for the first time in a month after finishing his shift. The nearly one hundred employees of Gaspra Space Mining Corporation were housed in the crew wheel of one of the company's fusion-powered ships. The wheel spun to provide half of Earth's standard gravity which was sufficient for the workers to cycle home to Gaspra. The larger commercial passenger vessels would acclimate travelers as they moved among different gravitational fields by slowly changing the pseudo-gravity of the passenger wheels to match the gravity of the origin to the destination.

  After the news Eric stayed in the crew lounge to watch a favorite show. But before the show finished it was interrupted by a newscast.

  We interrupt our usual programming ladies and gentlemen with a report from our sister network ABD. They are reporting what appears to be a disturbance in orbit around Gaspra. Government sources haven't confirmed but it appears to be an altercation between a Gaspra United cruiser and a Minos vessel. As reported by ABD the Minos vessel emerged from a link-mouth and began the attack. The condition of neither vessel is known at this time. We will update you when we have more information. Please stay tuned as we return to regularly scheduled programming.

  “What was that about?” said Eric to the guy in the next chair.

  “Haven't you heard?”

  “No, I guess not. I've been pretty busy with the network change over for the past month.”

  “Minos and Gaspra have been feuding for weeks now.”

  “Over what?”

  “As best I can tell over this rock and some others.”

  “Why? I mean we ship to both don't we?”

  “I guess they don't want to share.”

  “And it's led to this, this conflict?”

  “Apparently.”

  At that moment above Gaspra the Minos ship was relaying an ultimatum to the governments on Gaspra. They would renounce claims upon the materials of the asteroids and the Minos would receive full shipment. It might be possible to reship some materials to Gaspra that Minos doesn't need for a sufficient reimbursement, of course. The Minos ship gave the governments one hour to decide before it destroyed another of the Gaspran ships.

  The Gaspra United ship Hightower was orbiting the fourth planet of the system when the Minos ship appeared coming out of a link-mouth.

  “Captain we have company.”

  “I see Lieutenant. Bring the wormhole weapon online.”

  They watched their wallscreen as the Minos ship closed. Then an alert.

  “Captain a link-bubble has appeared along the aft girder.”

  “Is it a threat Lieutenant.”

  “Sir it seems to be just a bubble of negative energy.”

  “Let's see.”

  On screen the bubble of negative energy seemed to be quiescent. A slight rotation could be seen.

  “That's strange,” said the Lieutenant.

  “What about the Minos ship?”

  “Just sitting there sir.”

  “Look,” said one of the crew.

  The bubble of energy was changing. It was definitely rotating and at the same time shrinking. As time passed it became apparent it was spinning and shrinking.

  “Broadcast this video back to headquarters Lieutenant.”

  Then the bubble shrank to a meter or so across and disappeared leaving behind a gaping hole in the girders it had encountered. This central beam of the ship connected the bow where the crew wheel was spinning to the aft where the fusion engines were located. The hole in the girder left a weakened support that began to twist from the stress of the spinning crew wheel.

  “Sir another one just forward.”

  This time the bubble only took a little over a second to collapse and disappear leaving another hole in the beam work connecting the crew wheel to the forward control room and massive particle shield. A kind of lurching motion was felt in the crew wheel as it twisted the girders along the spine of the ship to the breaking point.

  Then the wheel broke away from the rest of the ship leaving three pieces. The crew wheel still had power from its onboard isotopics but had no way to control its trajectory. It would float for a while in orbit before eventually sinking into the atmosphere of the planet and burning up.

  The Minos ship repeated its demands to the Gasprans.

  Eric heard the news while in his quarters. He also heard that Tandem had acquired an escort in the form of two Gaspra United ships. It was some reassurance.

  He was just about to retire for the evening when he heard the alert siren. On his Emmie he saw that the two Gaspra United ships had been dispatched by three Minos ships and that he was now aboard the property of the planet Minos. And that work was to continue as before only the shipping destination would change.

  Within a few hours Earth had heard about the Gaspran incident along with the analysis that the Gasprans had undertaken.

  Dave Reynolds had contacted Pearce.

  “Sounds like a time effect to me Dave. The metal surrounding the gaps was untouched the Gasprans said but the gaps contained quite a bit of 'metal dust' they called it.”

  “But the reports from the ships and the video I saw showed no bubble being spun up Pearce. Just a large bubble that shrank and spun up while it shrank. That might explain the results assuming the bubble reached the wall thinness required. But how did they do it?”

  “I don't know. Bubbles will usually dissipate before collapsing.”

  “Pearce, the company has been contacted by the government's council. They want to contract with the company to investigate the Gaspra incident. The company is kind of desperate for income so they want their experts to form a team.”

  “Their experts?”

  “Yeah me and you.”

  “That's what I was afraid you'd say.”

  Pearce felt good that he still had a job but he didn't feel good about the investigation. He had no desire to run up against the Dhalkans, which he thought w
ere behind the Gaspra incident, they were a dangerous bunch as was all AGI-based intelligence.

  Pearce and Reynolds started trying to come up with a way to create a negative energy bubble that would collapse on itself and spin-up while collapsing. They knew that the natural tendency of negative mass-energy is to repel from other negative mass-energy and therefore dissipate the bubble. But the greater the density of the original bubble the slower it dissipates. At some greater density the bubble might collapse upon itself and any rotation it had to begin with would greatly speed up, like an ice skater pulling their arms in while spinning.

  Now all they had to do was figure out how to increase the density, at least at the core of the negative energy bubble.

  “Somehow Minos has re-engineered the spin-two drive to increase the density of the bubble.”

  “I would say that's a very good guess, but how Dave? And remember we have to do it with just one drive.”

  “Well Dr. Mach, that's Dagmar not Elias, discovered that a more dense bubble of negative energy formed at ninety degrees to the generator than directly in front. But that was for a spheroidal generator not a ring generator like on a fusion ship.”

  “That's right but it is indicative of a wave phenomenon.”

  “You mean the way waves interfere with each other to create peaks and troughs?”

  “Right Dave. We need to take into account the wave characteristics of the drive. It's possible that they are creating two negative energy fields and the dense collapsing bubble forms at the first “peak” of those interfering fields.”

  “So two negative-energy fields created just enough out of phase to interfere at the spot the operator wants to build a dense bubble of negative-energy?”

  “Right.”

  “Well let's try it.”

  Before the two could test their idea another incident occurred. Not between Gaspra and Minos but surprisingly between two Core star settlements, one orbiting Mizar and the other orbiting Alcor. The stars, about eighty light-years from Earth and separated from each other by almost a light-year, supported settlements from different regions of Earth but they had always been able to cooperate before. Now it appeared that the Alcor settlements had attacked the Mizar settlements in much the same way as Minos had attacked Gaspra, over resources.