“No really,” Glen asked. “If there is a boundary to our universe, then what would be on the other side of it?”
“A really big planet?” Colonel Neeland suggested, grinning from ear to ear. His comment sparked a series of nervous laughs around the table. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist.” He said as the room quieted back down.
“What we would call the overall cosmos, the larger universe, or an Omni-verse. The ‘universe diagram’ we received during that mystery transmission has us climbing the walls in the Observatory,” Kari noted. “Everyone’s excited at the possibility that our universe does have boundaries and that we may possibly get the opportunity to probe outside of it.”
“That diagram demonstrates a need to expand our definition of the word ‘universe’,” Kayla said, smiling. “Our own may have an outer boundary, but the space containing us and all those other Big-Bangs – how do we find the outer edge of that?”
“Do we want to?” Thomas asked. “Everybody always uses the cliché about the room with a million monkeys with a million typewriters. Given the option that they have an infinite amount of time to type, it has been theorized that at least one of them will eventually type a passage from our scriptures… or one of the classic novels from our greatest authors.”
“Eventually they may retype your memo,” Adam said sarcastically. Everyone laughed out loud at his joke and the tension in the room – which had begun to build – eased. Several people settled back in their chairs and took some time to reflect for a moment.
“I am trying to make a point,” Thomas insisted. “If the vastness of all of creation does have boundaries then infinite possibility becomes false. So that makes it a lot more difficult to believe that an unlikely series of events could eventually take place.”
“Meaning?” Adam asked, frustrated and curious as to his brother’s elusive point.
“Meaning that we sit here right now in Observation Dome Two,” continued Thomas. “And time has passed while we have held this morning discussion. So if we take the monkey cliché to a whole new level and the cosmos – multiple universes and all – is indeed infinite then there should also be a never ending series of chances out there that something with faster than light capability is on a direct, instantaneous collision course with this room and will hit us and destroy us all. And yet, here we sit, undamaged.” He smiled and tapped the table with his forefinger. “That type of example proves for me personally that the infinity theory has its limitations. We may not be able to see all the way to the end, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t one.”
“Even back on Earth we had already seen all the way to the end of our universe,” Kari pointed out. “Orbital telescopes like the Hubble were aligned and used in combination with our computer models in a series of experiments that we designed to define the amount of time that had passed since the initial Big-Bang. Often we left them focused on the same spot in the heavens for days just so that they could pick up some of the faintest light images that traveled to us from so far away so long ago. It was a spectacular way to literally ‘look back in time’ since that light traveled so slowly – limited by the maximum speed of light – and was just then reaching us.” She smiled warmly at the memory. “In Astronomy there are very few exciting days – mostly a lot of boring ones. But it was certainly a really big day when we calculated 14 billion years since the initial Big Bang. One item that really had us ecstatic were the telescope images that revealed stars and baby galaxies were already forming as early as 13 billion years ago. So the traditional stellar objects have obviously been around for a while.”
“Now that we’re further out, have you been able to see farther?” wondered Colonel Neeland. He glanced curiously at Kari.
“Until this morning, that was an issue that concerned us,” she replied. “Up until now, we have traveled an estimated 62 percent of the journey needed to take us to the outer edge of our universe. We didn’t start in the exact center of the Big Bang, of course, but as we’ve traveled outward our astronomers expected to be able to see further – if not beyond – the outer event horizon of the universe. Instead we see the same thing that we did back on Earth – complete and utter darkness. If there’s anything visible beyond the perimeter it sure must be far away.”
“The mystery diagram transmitted to us is designed to fit on a standard 8 ½ x 11 inch piece of paper,” observed Kaufield. “So if there are many universe Big-Bang bubbles out there like our own they may be spread a lot thinner than the image we received indicates. Take this room for example and imagine two bubbles, one on each side. If you increase the scale to match our universe the distance between the two would be nearly incalculable.” He was about to say something additional, but stopped to look quizzically at Kari. “Did I hear you correctly? Did you just say ‘until this morning’?”
“Could I have a donut, please?” Kari asked, her downcast expression failing to conceal her excitement. Kayla nodded and slid the box over to her. Kari carefully picked out a cinnamon-covered long john and handed the box to Thomas. “I’ll let Thomas explain Poseidon to you,” she decided. “The discovery that we’re in the process of mapping is one of the most spectacular things I have ever personally witnessed. It’s the reason that Dr. Markham was unable to attend this morning. She’s got every telescope focused on this breakthrough – it could literally prove or disprove everything that we’ve already documented in all our years of gazing at the stars.”
Everyone at the table turned expectantly toward Thomas. He looked a bit startled. “What? Me?” He glanced back at Kari and she ignored him, carefully taking a bite of her donut.
“Yes, you!” Kaufield said, pointing at Thomas. “Enough with the theatrical melodrama, you two! What exactly is Poseidon?”
“Something that we probably never would have found from home,” Thomas said elatedly. “With such a large universe to survey, it’s too far out here to really discover and study from Earth. We’re really lucky we began our adventure in this particular direction.” He shrugged. “Of course, the steadily increasing levels of dark matter did make us curious, causing us to follow them like a trail of breadcrumbs.”
“What specifically is ‘too far out here’?” Glen demanded. He turned to the young scientist next to him and raised his eyebrows with unrestrained curiosity.
“We call it Poseidon, but basically it is the direct cause of the larger amounts of dark matter… well… larger amounts of all matter, actually… that we have been consistently running into as we move outward from our home galaxy. It is quite possibly the largest gravity well that has ever been discovered by modern science.”
“Like one of those super-massive black holes at the center of each galaxy that your memo talked about?” wondered Kayla.
“No, this one is a colossus in comparison – probably at least a billion light years or so from one edge of its event horizon to the other. It is a massive, cosmic phenomenon that is proving to be one of the most unique – and new – objects in astronomy that I personally have ever seen.”
“What could cause a black hole of that size to form?” asked a curious Kaufield.
“We don’t know for certain,” Kari said. “We’re not even sure yet if it qualifies as a black hole using our text book definition, but it certainly has the intense gravity of one.”
“It was first detectable shortly after we moved farther and farther away from the Centaurus super-cluster,” Thomas said. “I was working with the Observatory team when Dr. Markham’s staff found an area of space where galaxies, rogue stars, and other objects were actually moving toward each other instead of the ‘flying apart as if from a giant explosion’ standard by which we’ve come to know them.” Although he had advance knowledge of the newfound phenomena and had studied it for over a week, Thomas’ expression was still one of disbelief. “So she began intensely studying that area and we were able to solve the mystery of the extra dark matter that we discovered in the vicinity of the wasteland galaxy. The reason there is more dark matt
er as we travel outward is because there is more of everything here. It’s all being sucked together like a giant three-dimensional river twisting and turning through space and running directly at the gravitational source we’ve tentatively named Poseidon.”
“Twisting and turning?” Glen was listening closely, and he prompted them for more information.
“Yeah, because it’s competing with the gravity of everything around it, including the immense waves generated by huge super-clusters like Centaurus,” Thomas said, pausing to shake his head in disbelief. “But sooner or later it wins every battle, vacuuming everything surrounding it directly into its current.”
“That’s impossible,” Adam stated doubtfully. “If it’s a billion light years in diameter then our telescopes back on Earth – or even our exploratory vessels for that matter – would easily be able to find and detect it no matter where it is in our universe.” He sat back. “There’s no way that we couldn’t locate it from any of our home planets… even if it absorbs electromagnetic radiation such as light and is essentially invisible.”
Thomas smiled and folded his arms while Kari smirked and quietly took another bite from her donut. “I didn’t say it was in our universe, Adam.” He continued grinning as complete silence dominated the conference room for a moment or two.
“Whoa…” David said finally.
“Are you saying…?” Mary trailed off as she watched Thomas activate his laptop and project the image from his monitor onto one of the walls. He quickly put up an image of the ‘mystery transmission’ that had been sent to them from a source still unknown to them.
“The big blue universe bubble in the approximate center of the diagram is obviously ours,” he said, walking over to the wall and standing next to it. “Whoever sent the transmission confirmed that to us by using the yellow cube in the lower right of the picture to blow up and enhance the ‘local cluster of galaxies’ area that we originally began our journey from.” He held up his hands and helplessly waved them, uncertain as to how to explain the intent of the sender. “And we correctly interpreted all of the surrounding bubbles as other Big-Bangs in various stages of growth that form other universes. Having no way to verify without visiting them, we’re only speculating but pretty certain that they have physical laws very similar to our own. We base that assumption on the fact that they appear to be exactly the same as ours except for the time difference from their initial blast point. Some of them are younger versions of our own, while larger bubbles would be older as each explosion expands over the passage of time.” He began typing on his laptop but gestured to the diagram still projected on the wall. “It is a simple image, intended to convey a lot of information in an easy to understand format. But if you look real closely you’ll notice that all of the bubbles on this image are exactly the same…”
“…Except for that little red devil in the lower left area just below the outer edge of our universe,” Mary said, turning her head suddenly to gaze at Thomas with wonder. “They have it glowing… or something.”
“Exactly,” confirmed Thomas. “Somewhere just beyond the outer edge of our universe is a huge gravity well that measures at least a billion light years in diameter.” He shot a quick glance at Kaufield. “If you asked me to draw you a map of this thing, my sketch would look an awful lot like this picture.” He pointed at the image on the wall. “We call it Poseidon, and it has poked a huge arm of gravity into our universe that is directly affecting everything for at least a billion light years inside our universe. Its gradually diminishing effects reach much farther inside, as we noticed in the wasteland galaxy, but weaken very rapidly once it has to compete with the intense gravity of all the galaxies and super-clusters farther inside our bubble.”
“A river?” Anne asked cautiously. “Why did you call it a river?”
“A three-dimensional ‘river’ is the best way to describe it. That’s the way our computers model it based on our study so far. Poseidon uses a single ‘thin’ tendril of highly focused, intense gravity to probe the outer edge of our universe. If it were a standard black hole as we know them then it would instead be a huge swirling whirlpool of gravity absorbing everything surrounding it,” Thomas commented in reply. “That’s why we’re hesitant to officially call it a black hole. My guess is that those other bubbles on the diagram representing additional universes – if they truly are in those locations – probably have at least one or two of Poseidon’s gravity tendrils poking around inside of them as well.” He shrugged and sat back down.
“So everything – stars, galaxies, dark matter, whatever – anything that ends up caught in this huge wave of gravity that you call a river…” Kaufield said, sounding a bit shocked, “…is headed out of our universe?”
“That’s correct,” Kari confirmed. “Dr. Markham is currently down in the Observatory working as quickly as possible to map its size, speed, and course based on the movement of the galactic objects in the area. But that could prove very difficult in the long run because the tendril’s length spans so vast an area, eventually leaving the outer edge of our universe. We do have the capability to move the ship closer and get current information more quickly…”
“But the local environment in there might be dangerous enough to threaten the Pathfinder,” Kaufield guessed, sighing heavily.
“Its effects have already interfered with our CAS Drive once,” warned Thomas. “And we’re still pretty damn far from the outer edge of that blue bubble.”
“Do we explore farther or don’t we?” Kaufield asked rhetorically. “That’s an item we might have to ponder a bit, despite what Dr. Markham may be thinking.”
“So what’s the next step?” wondered Colonel Neeland.
“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I want to hear more – directly from the source,” the Captain decided. “Let’s take a twenty minute break. Kari, please contact Dr. Markham for me and request that she stop what she’s currently doing and join us up here. If she gives you any crap, make sure that you point out that this is not a request.”
“Aye sir,” she acknowledged.
The Captain nodded to the people surrounding him and slowly stood up, stretching his arms as he did so. “This Council stands in recess for twenty minutes,” he announced. Everyone acknowledged his agreement and then headed off to quickly check in with their staff.
* * * * *
They reconvened on time and Dr. Markham did indeed join them as the unofficial fourteenth member of their meeting. Glen moved to one side and quickly added an extra chair between him and Mary before motioning for her to sit. She did so, giving him a questioning once over as she noticed an empty donut box sitting on the table in front of her. Setting her notepad next to the box, Julie glanced at Thomas’ laptop diagram still projected on the wall.
“So…” she said curiously. “Do you like the baby we found on our doorstep?”
“No riddles, Doctor, just fill us in please,” the Captain said firmly.
“I am,” she insisted. “It’s a baby universe in the process of forming. The gravity well is huge right now because it’s busy grabbing whatever matter and energy it can from the neighboring universes surrounding it.”
“Then it isn’t a black hole…” Jeff queried from his seat across from her.
“Thank God no,” Dr. Markham replied. “If it were it would be draining a lot more of the matter from the universes around it. It’s a remarkable discovery… the largest gravity source that we’ve ever found. It is so huge and so intense that its gravity is forming large fingers that reach out and create huge rivers of matter flowing toward it. With the visible matter lighting it up, we can see exactly what is happening. This ‘tendril’ actually behaves more like lightning now more so than mere gravity. If it had manifested itself as a standard whirlpool there would be noticeable consequences in our universe within a couple of billion years or so. Using this method is allowing it to steal a little bit from each of the bubbles around it rather than grabbing everything. Truly it is a wonderfu
l design.”
“There’s your magic, Adam,” Father Dixon said with a smirk. “Yet another physical law we can file away regarding gravity... one that defines creation itself. Once a gravity well gets large enough its astonishing forces rearrange themselves into lightning-like tendrils rather than a vortex. It’s taking just enough matter and energy to form a new universe… that is, if we understand your explanation correctly, Doctor.”
“You do,” she said, pointing to the image projected on the wall. “Right now the ‘baby universe’ looks very similar to the other bubbles on that diagram but that’s very deceptive. This one is shrinking rather than growing. Once it absorbs enough matter and energy it will condense even further, down to a size smaller than you can possibly imagine. And it will continue to grow both smaller and denser – relentlessly packing itself tighter and tighter until…”
“Boom,” Adam said softly. “A new universe is born.”
“Exactly,” Julie Confirmed. “But that will be a long wait in this case. The blessed event won’t occur for billions of years, at minimum.”
“How close can we get without endangering the Pathfinder?” Dr. Simmons asked. “Could we possibly PTP into this river just long enough to study it and then reengage the CAS Drive once we’re finished? It would be a remarkable achievement if we did so.”
“We’ll get as close as we’ll need to,” replied Julie to her medical colleague. “I want to chart this phenomenon. All of it.”
“Not with this ship you won’t,” Glen cautioned her. “The outer event horizon of this thing wreaked havoc with our systems and almost cost us our ship.”
“The adjustments that you and Thomas made have worked perfectly since we left the wasteland galaxy,” she commented. “It may be the nature of a machine to malfunction once in a while… but if it does you simply fix it.” She looked expectantly at the Captain. “We’ve traveled millions of light years already since that attack, growing closer and closer to the outer edge of our universe. You can’t seriously tell me we’re going to stop now.”
The Pathfinder Project Page 29