Transport 3_The Zone

by Phillip P. Peterson

  Beside him, Russell heard a quiet sobbing and he laid a hand on Chris Holbrook’s shoulder. “There was nothing you could do. If you’d stayed any longer, you would be dead now, too.”

  Chris shook his head. “If only I had taken along some tools. There would have been a way of freeing him. If we’d just had a rope with us, we could have easily lowered ourselves down the cliff face.” His eyes were red.

  It was the second time Russell had seen his friend cry. The first had been three weeks ago, when the astronaut had buried his own son following the fight against the monsters on New California. Patrick would have celebrated his eighteenth birthday this week. And if they didn’t find a solution, his daughter would also die in ten days’

  time——together with everyone else on New California.

  Dr. Hope and John Mitchell had joined Russel, Chris, Marlene, Albert, Travis, and General Morrow a few minutes ago, right after analyzing the recordings from the sensor packages.

  “And you couldn’t find out anything?” Marlene asked.

  Dr. Hope shook his head. “Nothing that could help us in any way.”

  “What actually happened?” Travis asked. He was pale. He, too, had family on New California.

  Russell knew the answer already. He had known since watching the images on the screen. The same thing that had happened to the creators’ planet millions of years ago.

  “The transporter must have turned into a black hole,” the scientist explained in a husky voice.

  “But how?” Marlene asked.

  “It’s pure speculation, but I assume that a horizon formed in a wormhole used by the transporter.”

  “What does that mean?”

  The physicist raised his arms. He was obviously searching for the right words to explain his theory in layman’s terms. “The transporter uses a network of sub-microscopically small wormholes that connect it to the neighboring transporters. For the transport itself, one of these wormholes is enlarged, so that people and materials fit through. Wormholes are topological defects in space-time, like black holes. The only difference between the two is that black holes have an event horizon, beyond which all matter falls toward a singularity.”

  “Hang on a moment! That’s too fast for me,” Morrow said. “What’s a singularity?”

  Dr. Hope sighed, and the general gave him a stern look. “Black holes are so heavy and dense that gravity sucks everything in their vicinity into them.”

  “I know that,” Morrow said, irritably. “Continue!”

  “If you fall into a black hole, first you pass the event horizon. From that point on, there’s no way back. Even light isn’t fast enough to get back out. Everything beyond the event horizon falls toward a single, dimensionless point, where the laws of space and time no longer exist. That point is called a singularity.”

  “And what does that have to do with the transporter’s wormhole?”

  “Black holes and wormholes are related to one another. Both of them warp space-time. Wormholes are very fragile structures that need to be actively regulated, otherwise they collapse in on themselves.”

  “And then they turn into a black hole?” Marlene asked.

  “Usually not. At least not the microscopically small ones that form the transporter network. They don’t have enough energy. In a worst-case scenario, they simply collapse, emitting Hawking radiation.”

  “But ...?”

  “As I said, the wormholes are enlarged for a brief moment when the transport takes place. At that moment, a wormhole has enough energy to form a horizon. If the process is manipulated or if something goes wrong, then a black hole can form. I think that’s exactly what happened on Target A and Target B. That’s corroborated by the gamma-ray flash we registered, which we now know had nothing to do with an atomic bomb.”

  Marlene stepped forward and spoke softly: “We need to be clear about what’s happening here. I mean, the magnitude of it. Presumably the same thing has happened with all the transporters that disappeared from the big map in the control room. Do you know what that means? Every world, every planet with one of those alien spheres will be wiped out. Think about it: those aliens dropped one of their transporters on almost every planet in the galaxy. Once the death zone has passed through our Milky Way in a few weeks, billions of planets will have disappeared. Including all planets on which life is possible, because they were the first ones targeted by the transporters. The Milky Way will be as good as dead. Sure, the suns will continue to shine in the sky, but it will be a barren and lifeless ocean of stars.”

  Russell felt a chill run down his spine. He hadn’t thought it through that far. He had been more concerned about New California and his family; only now was he grasping the dimension of the catastrophe. It was mind-blowing!

  Morrow turned to Hope. “What will happen when the death zone arrives here and Venus turns into a black hole? What then? Will the solar system be destabilized and Earth be destroyed, too?

  Hope shook his head. “No. It won’t have any consequences for the Earth and the solar system. Instead of Venus, a small black hole will orbit the sun. There will be a short gamma flash when Venus implodes, but the Earth is far enough away that the rays won’t pose any danger to people on Earth.

  Lucky for them, but we’re screwed on New California! “What could have happened? What, or who, could be responsible for the death zone?” Russell asked tonelessly.

  The physicist bit his lip. He only spoke after several long seconds. “We don’t know.”

  Morrow exploded. “For God’s sake, Brian. You must have something! A hunch, a clue that we can follow up on.”

  “We don’t have anything,” the scientist said. “The sensor packages didn’t show any anomalies before the point of destruction. The last mission showed what happens after contact is broken, but it doesn’t help us further. Right to the end, the transporters send only their normal status signals into the network. We have no indication of a malfunction or an outside influence. Nothing we could follow up on.”

  “And what do you suggest we do now, Dr. Hope?” Marlene asked.

  Russell already knew the answer. He only needed to look into the ashen face of the physicist.

  Dr. Hope looked at the ground. “Nothing. I’ve run out of ideas.”

  Chapter 17

  “It’s too dangerous,” Marlene said. She took Albert’s hand and held it tight. “I don’t want you to go on this mission.”

  They were sitting on Marlene’s bed. They had talked for hours, since Hope had come up with his spurious suggestion. And at any moment, one of Morrow’s mercenaries would come and take Albert to the transporter.

  The idea the physicist had come up with was risky. Of course, every transport posed a risk——even those to a seemingly safe destination, as the fate of Lee and Major Palmer had painfully demonstrated. But the experiment Dr. Hope had come up with was no more than an act of desperation, and Marlene did not believe it would work. If Albert went on this trip with Richard Travis, she would lose him.

  Albert smiled weakly. He was now seventy-three years old. All that remained of his once thick brown hair was a small circle of grey stubble. His face was deeply lined, attesting to a life of physical labor. But in his eyes there was no sign of tiredness, they shone as brightly as ever, full of energy and curiosity.

  Those eyes were the reason Marlene had fallen in love with him. And yet it had taken years for their platonic friendship to turn into a sexual relationship. It had been a strange relationship and it still was to this day. Both she and Albert were strong-willed and independent. Marlene had found her role as manager-in-chief of the colony, while he had immersed himself in setting up his workshop and forge. Until very recently they had kept their relationship a secret. At the beginning, because it would have damaged relations with the soldiers of her unit if they’d known she was seeing one of the mutineers. And by the time the colony had grown together they had simply been too busy to change the dynamics of their relationship. It worked, and both Marlene an
d Albert got what they needed.

  “It’s my turn. I’m the only one who hasn’t been on a mission,” Albert said softly.

  “The risk is too great. I don’t think the plan will work,” Marlene persisted.

  “If it doesn’t work, then New California and Venus are lost. Then I’ll die anyway. We have to give it a try.”

  Marlene didn’t answer. She knew she wouldn’t be able to dissuade him. And of course he was right. They had got to the point where they had to clutch at any straw. But it was natural that she didn’t want him to go.

  “Listen,” he said softly. “Quite honestly, I also don’t really believe the plan will work. But I’m old. And during my days as a pilot, I took so many risks that statistically speaking I should be dead by now. In fact, after all my adventures with the transporter and the dangers on New California, it’s a miracle I’m still alive.”

  He pulled Marlene close, so that she could feel the warmth of his body. “We’ve achieved so much. Think of everything we built up on New California. I’m terrified that all could be destroyed in little more than a week. I couldn’t bear it. And that’s why I have to go!”

  As if on command, there was a knock at the door. “Mr. Bridgeman? It’s time,” Marlene heard a soldier’s voice.

  “Just a minute!” Albert said loudly in the direction of the door. “I think I’ve never told you,” he whispered in Marlene’s ear. “But I love you.”

  Marlene closed her eyes and held Albert tight. For what felt like an eternity, they remained locked in their embrace, oblivious to everything around them.

  “Mr. Bridgeman!”

  Albert slowly let go of Marlene, looked her deep in the eyes one more time and kissed her. Then he stood up, opened the door, and was gone.

  Marlene remained sitting on her bed for several minutes, until she was sure she could hold back her tears. Then she stood up. At the entrance to the security area, a soldier opened the door for her and took her to the control room, which was under guard at all times. Morrow still didn’t trust them and probably never would.

  Marlene marched past several technicians and finally reached the general, who was standing next to the control console of the transporter with Russell and Dr. Hope. John Mitchell was sitting, as always, at his console and was scrolling through a document with long columns of numbers. Russell nodded to her, but she hardly paid any attention, because she was looking through the window of the control room into the laboratory——just in time to see Albert and Travis disappear into the transporter. She noticed the men weren’t wearing space suits.

  “Do you think that’s wise?” she asked Dr. Hope.

  He turned to her blankly. “What?”

  “No space suits.”

  “We only have a limited supply,” Morrow replied on behalf of the physicist. “And we’ve already lost several.”

  “The destination is a desert planet with a breathable atmosphere, but devoid of life. So there should be no danger from micro-organisms or the like.”

  Marlene shook her head. The whole mission seemed to be overly hasty and improvised to her. Just five hours had passed since Dr. Hope had come up with his suggestion. Morrow had urged him to implement the plan as soon as possible.

  “I’m initiating the transport now,” Mitchell spoke into the microphone. Marlene didn’t know whether such announcements were only made for the sake of protocol or if they were transmitted somewhere else——like Earth. “Get ready! Still five seconds, four, three, two, one ...” Mitchell pressed a button on his console.

  “Transport complete!”

  “Venus, come in!” Marlene heard Albert’s voice from the loudspeaker.

  “Venus here,” General Morrow said. “We hear you loud and clear.” The spin resonator was working without a hitch. Hope’s scientists had improved the device to such an extent, meanwhile it no longer made any rustling noises. Today they hadn’t installed a video connection.

  “We are now leaving the inner sphere. Travis is already down. Should we go out and explore the environment?”

  “No,” Morrow said. “There isn’t enough time. You still have half an hour. Begin with setting up the interface right away.”

  “Roger that.”

  The so-called interface was a scaled-down version of the computer AI interface they used on Venus to communicate with the transporter. It converted the electromagnetic signals, which the artificial intelligence transmitted, into digital signals that were analyzed by a computer integrated into the device. This latest development, which Albert and Travis had with them, also enabled reciprocal communication. The interface could now interact with the transporter at the destination and give it instructions. Marlene felt queasy again when she remembered the method hadn’t been tested. Not even with the transporter on Venus. There simply hadn’t been any time.

  “How far have you got?” Morrow asked impatiently.

  “It’ll take a while longer. We’ve connected the interface to the power supply. The computer is booting, when it’s ready we can start with configuration.”

  “How long will they need?” Russell asked Dr. Hope.

  Hope shrugged. “It’s very difficult to establish a connection between the transporter intelligence and our computers. So far, we haven’t been able to find out which protocols the transporter uses exactly.”

  “Hang on, over the last few days we’ve always had the transporter’s protocols here on the screen, haven’t we?” Marlene asked.

  Dr. Hope shook his head. “Those were emulations. The computer has to work out the AI’s data formats itself, like a human who has to first learn a new language before he can communicate in that language. We use a simulated neural network with deep-learning software. Although we can use what we’ve learned from encounters with the interface here on Venus, it’ll take a while. I’m guessing fifteen to twenty minutes.”

  Morrow let out a long sigh. “Contact breaks off in twenty-five minutes. Why do we always have to be racing against the clock?”

  Marlene almost hoped the interface wouldn’t work. Then Albert would have enough time to come back. But what would they have gained?

  She looked at Russell. He caught her eye and pursed his lips. Clearly he didn’t believe the plan would work, either.

  “Mr. Mitchell?” Morrow said impatiently.

  Mitchell turned around slowly in his chair and stared at the general. “We haven’t got a sensor package here, and even if the interface works, I won’t be able to receive any data from it because we haven’t connected it to the spin resonator. There wasn’t enough time, remember? The radio communication is all I can offer you at the moment.” As if to underline his words, he took off his headset, laid it on the console and stood up. “I’m going to get a coffee.”

  Morrow grunted disapprovingly. Dr. Hope raised his eyes briefly and then went back to looking at his papers, which were scattered on the console in front of him.

  Marlene grabbed Russell by the arm and took him aside. “It’ll never work. Let’s convince Morrow to end the mission.”

  Russell looked at her for a moment wordlessly. Then he turned around and looked through the window at the transporter. “We need to try at least. We don’t really have many options.”

  Marlene bit her lip. Of course he was right. But she had such a terrible feeling about it. “But why do we have to put two men’s lives at risk? Let’s at least bring back one of them as soon as the device has been set up.”

  Russell sighed.

  “If it even works,” Marlene added.

  “And who should we bring back. Oh wait! I think I know the answer.”

  Anger welled up inside her. “The men can decide that between themselves. If we gave ourselves more time, Hope could automate the interface, then nobody would have to be there during the experiment.”

  Russell’s face flushed red. “New California has one more week. One week! And you know what happens then?”

  “Yes, your family, I know,” Marlene hissed. “And what about mine? Al
bert is my family, and just as important to me as yours is to you.” She knew she sounded selfish.

  Russell’s eyes widened. “I’ve never heard you talk like that,” he said quietly.

  “Let’s tell the general to break it off,” she begged.

  Russell shook his head. “Seven days, Marlene. Seven days! I went on my mission. Lee and Ernie too. We were aware of the risk and also knew what was at stake. Now it’s Albert and Travis’ turn, and both of them know how important it is. And even if the plan doesn’t stand much chance of success, we at least need to try. If it works, then New California is safe. Then we can disconnect the transporter from the network and get on with our lives.”

  “And if the plan doesn’t work?” Marlene asked. But she knew the answer as well as Russell.

  Then Albert would die.

  Russell returned to the others without another word. Marlene followed him angrily. If there was no other possibility, they could have waited a couple more days until Hope had automated the interface. Then they could have taken the damn box in the transporter, left it there, and returned. But Morrow and Russell hadn’t even wanted to give Albert and Travis those two days!

  “It works!” Albert cried at just the moment Marlene got back to the console. “The interface has established a connection with the AI. I’ll run the test program that lets the transporter select the transporter on Venus.”

  A few seconds passed. Mitchell came back in with a cup of coffee, sat down, and looked agitatedly at the screen. “There! I can see that another transporter has selected Venus. Our transporter is communicating that there’s nothing inside the sphere, that it’s closed and thereby ready to receive.”

  Marlene stood next to Morrow and put a hand on his shoulder, which the general acknowledged with a skeptical look.

  “What?”

  “The test has worked. Bring the men back to minimize the risk.”

  Morrow turned away. “It’s too late for that. The timeframe for the break of contact begins in less than five minutes.”

  “That’s enough time to bring back either Albert or Travis,” Marlene said, trying not to sound frantic.