Russell nodded. “We should have destroyed the transporter on New California when we still had atomic bombs at our disposal.” He leaned forward. “But we still have one chance left and that’s precisely why we’re sitting here. And it’s why I want us to put aside our argument and concentrate on the questions we should be asking the transporter, because I’m convinced the secret of the death zone is hidden somewhere inside the memory of the artificial intelligence. We have to find it. We must! For New California!”
Marlene was about to make a caustic remark in reply, but Chris cut in. “We could ask it to show us the development of the transporter network across the Milky Way and whether there are any anomalies.”
“Good idea,” Russell said, jotting the suggestion down on his piece of paper.
Marlene leaned back. She was too tired to think. And she had already done so much.
Chapter 22
“Were there any anomalies?” Russell asked, looking at the image of the Milky Way on the wall. In answer to their last question about the spread of the transporters, the AI had sent a mass of data that Mitchell had translated into a video format. The transporters had spread out across the galaxy from a single, small point. Tiny nanomachines had bridged the ocean of space between the stars. After arriving in a new solar system, they first created copies of themselves, then built new transporters out of materials from the asteroids and comets of the respective systems. These were then dropped on the solar system’s planets. Then new nanomachines were sent together with microscopically small wormhole mouths to the neighboring system, where the process started all over again. Over the course of hundreds of millions of years, the aliens had connected the entire galaxy.
Every point on the screen represented a solar system with transporters. In the high-density areas of the Milky Way, the screen couldn’t separate the points anymore. The center, in particular, merged into one bright sea of light. The image depicted the biggest spread of the network——in other words, before the emergence of the death zone.
“No, the expansion occurred just as the creators simulated it. Occasionally there were losses, when transporters were destroyed by cosmic catastrophes,” the AI said.
“I always thought the things were indestructible if the outer shell was closed. What has to happen for a transporter to be destroyed?”
“The pressure on the outer wall has to be greater than two times ten to the power of twenty Pascal.”
“That’s more than the core of the sun!” Dr. Hope cried. “What happens then? Is a black hole created?”
“No, the safety mechanisms prevent that. If the outer shell collapses, the wormhole connection in the middle breaks off. There are no consequences for the environment of the transporter.”
“What kind of material is the transporter shell made of?” Russell asked.
“The shells of the inner and outer spheres of the transporter do not consist of anything that can be defined as a ‘material’ as such.”
“Nonsense!” General Morrow said gruffly and turned to Hope. “I can touch it, so it is a material. You said yourself they used materials from the respective solar systems.”
“Yes,” Hope said. “For the transporter factories. But I assume the production process turned them into something else completely. The plutonium for our atom bombs also doesn’t exist on Earth and had to be produced artificially in nuclear reactors. Who knows what processes the aliens had at their disposal. We’re still just scratching the surface.”
“What does the transporter consist of?” Russell asked.
“The volumetric boundary of the transporter is a synthetic defect of spacetime. Your language has no terminology for it. The closest description would be a condensed horizon.”
“Crazy,” Mitchell sounded impressed.
“I never would have thought of that!” Dr. Hope whispered. Awestruck, he looked through the big window at the sphere below.
“Can you please explain what you find so fascinating?” Morrow asked impatiently.
“The outer skin of the transporter represents a boundary to the universe. An artificial topological defect in the structure of our world, so to speak. Like the event horizon of a black hole. When we’re in the transporter and the openings are closed, we are strictly speaking no longer in our universe,” Hope said.
“What?” General Morrow scoffed. “Where are we then?”
“In a microuniverse outside of our space time, but connected to various points of our universe by means of microscopic wormholes. Incredible! If we were in the transporter and cut through the wormholes, we would never be able to return to our own universe.”
“And what would be outside the shell of the transporter?” Russell asked. He was having difficulty envisaging what the physicist was describing.
“Nothing. Beyond it, there is nothing.”
“Nothing? You mean a vacuum? Empty space?”
“No, as I said: nothing. No space and no time.”
“That’s impossible. And if I drilled a hole through it?”
“That depends on the type of topological defect. Possibly the drill bit would re-emerge behind you from the opposite wall of the transporter.”
“Crazy!” Russell said, shaking his head.
“Just a minute!” Morrow was frowning. “The AI just told us the outer wall can be destroyed with a certain pressure.”
“It didn’t explicitly say the wall can be destroyed. It probably means the wormhole connection to the network can be destroyed. I guess the topological defect disintegrates and the transporter simply disappears from our universe.”
The discussion wasn’t getting them any further. Russell was trying to find out how the transporter network had spread in the Milky Way and had hoped their line of questioning would reveal some anomalies. There would be enough time for technical questions later. He looked at the big screen. “How many transporters were there in the Milky Way at that time?” he asked the transporter.
“2.5 trillion.”
“In how many solar systems?”
“Twenty-two billion.”
It was impossible for Russell to wrap his head around such vast numbers. Two-point-five trillion! But how’s that important in relation to the death zone?”
He was able to answer the question. It meant 2.5 trillion planets would be destroyed in the space of around two months. Russell screwed up his eyes; his head was spinning.
“Are there transporters in all solar systems in the Milky Way?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“About ten percent of the solar systems did not have enough resources to build the transporters.”
“Great!” Mitchell’s said drily. “Once the death zone has destroyed all the transporters, all that will be left is lifeless solar systems without any planets. Humans will never be able to leave Earth, there will be nowhere left to go.”
“Continue with your questions!” Morrow barked.
“OK.” Mitchell looked up from his sheet of paper. “Why can a transport only be started if an intelligent being is inside?”
Russell pricked up his ears. That really was a good question. If it weren’t for that constraint, they could have just teleported testing devices into space instead of humans. It would have spared many people horrible deaths.
“Because the machine settings are set for the transportation of persons.”
“Machine settings?” Russell asked, dumbfounded. “Are you saying you just have to change a setting and the transporter will also transport lifeless materials?”
“Correct.”
Russell felt nauseous. All those deaths ... They hadn’t even been necessary. Set for the transportation of people! If they had known that before, they could have just changed the setting and sent sensor packages instead of humans.
“Can you change the setting to transportation of materials?” Mitchell asked.
“Completed.”
For a few seconds you could have heard a pin drop. Could it really be that
simple?
My God! We really don’t have a clue what the transporter is capable of.
“Are there any other settings?” Dr. Hope asked in a rasping voice.
“There are further settings for transferring data. These include individual and multiple connections. And there are continuous operation modes for the transportation of materials and energy.”
“Oh Jesus,” Mitchell sighed. “That thing can do a hell of a lot more than we thought.”
“What do you mean with continuous operation?” Morrow asked. He sounded annoyed. Russell could imagine why. For months, Hope and his team had worked with the transporter, and now, in the course of a simple conversation with the AI, they had got more answers than all the time before put together. Only because the scientist had misjudged the possibilities of communicating with the sphere.
The general’s question had been directed at Dr. Hope and Mitchell, but the answer came from the loudspeaker. “Instead of the instantaneous transport of whatever is in the inner sphere, a permanent connection is established between two transporters.”
“I don’t understand,” Russell looked confused. “How does that work?”
“We’ll test it. Right now,” Morrow said. He turned to Dr. Hope, and added sarcastically: “That is, if you think you can manage that.”
Chapter 23
“Transporter! Can you hear me?” Dr. Hope asked.
Russell stood next to him and looked up at the inner sphere that hovered in the center of the spherical space. They had already closed the outer sphere. Besides himself, Dr. Hope, Morrow, Marlene, and Chris, two armed soldiers who Russell didn’t know were also in the outer sphere. The men had pulled back the metal steps a little.
“I can understand you,” the voice of the AI came from the loudspeaker of the box-shaped interface on the ground. The voice sounded almost muffled, as if the walls absorbed any echo.
“Please connect with the transporter on the planet called New California,” Dr. Hope gave his command to the transporter. “In the mode ‘continuous operation’, for the transportation of materials.”
Russell instinctively took a step back. He had no idea what would happen next.
Nothing happened for several long seconds. Dr. Hope was already opening his mouth to repeat the order, when the hovering sphere suddenly disappeared.
Hope let out a muffled scream. “What’s going on?”
Russell shook his head. Gone! Simply gone, without warning and without making the slightest noise. What would have happened to them if they had been inside the inner sphere?
A bright light began to spread through the outer sphere. It hovered in the middle of the room like a ghostly bluish ball of lightning and continued to grow until it was the size of the vanished sphere. At the same time, the outer walls warped, like in an optical illusion. In alarm, he realized the blue glimmering sphere was still growing, faster and faster, until it abruptly expanded and shot toward him.
Mitchell turned around. “Let’s get out of here!” He ran to the outer wall. Marlene and General Morrow also shrank back, but it was too late.
They were already surrounded by the blue light. Marlene screamed——then it was all over. The energy field had merged with the walls.
“What was that?” Mitchell whispered. He was wide-eyed.
“Look! The transporter!” Chris screamed.
Russell turned around and tried to suppress the panic rising up inside him. The space, which just a moment ago had been spherical, had stretched out and now resembled an elongated egg. In front of him were the metal steps, leading up to nothing.
And that thing behind it?
Suddenly more steps appeared, extending from the ones that were already there. Where the hell had they come from? Were they a copy? A mirror image or another optical illusion?
“I don’t understand what’s——” Morrow began in a muted voice.
“Connection established.” The voice of the artificial intelligence droned through the bizarrely elongated room.
Dr. Hope went to the outer wall and laid his hand on it. Immediately it opened and Russell could see the window of the control room. “That’s Venus,” Hope said.
Irritated, Russell turned back to the second set of steps. Then his eyes fell on a bag of tools hanging on the handrail, and he understood. “Those are the steps of the transporter on New California!”
“What?” Morrow sounded baffled.
Russell walked slowly toward the other end of the egg-shaped room. As he walked around the first steps, the walls warped as if he were going through a hall of mirrors at an amusement park. It took him longer than he thought——as if the construction in front of him were evading him as he went toward it. Pensively, Russell lifted the heavy bag of tools.
“Amazing,” he whispered.
“Curved space!” Dr. Hope called out. “Now I understand what the transporter meant with condensed space time.” The scientist and the others followed Russell.
“When I was a student I took acid once,” Chris said quietly. “I ran at the walls of my room and they simply didn’t get any closer. It felt kind of like this.” His voice was shaking.
“Can someone explain to me what’s going on?”
“The transporters from Venus and New California,” Russell said. “Somehow they’ve melded together!”
“Physics,” Dr. Hope said.
“What?” Russell asked.
“Not somehow. It’s physics! The transporter has created a stationary wormhole between Venus and New California. And we’re in the middle of it.”
“We’re inside the wormhole?” Morrow asked incredulously.
“Yes, which also explains the visual distortions. The room itself is curved here,” the physicist explained.
“And New California?” Mitchell asked.
“Open the outer wall!”
Mitchell went up to the wall and laid his hand on it. Light flooded in and Russell could see the trunks of the giant redwoods of his home planet. A stiff breeze blew in his face. He turned around, and could still see the transporter lab at the other end. “It’s incredible!”
“But where’s the strong wind coming from?” Marlene asked.
“Difference in pressure,” Hope explained. “In the lab the air pressure is lower than the atmosphere of New California. It’ll die down soon once it’s equaled out.”
The general stepped outside. Russell followed him. He took a deep breath and enjoyed the cool, fresh air. In front of him were several vehicles, huts, and crates of equipment, which the soldiers had left behind at their base. The area was surrounded by barbed wire. The sun had almost set; in an hour it would be pitch dark.
Russell turned around and looked back at the transporter. The opening was bigger than he had ever seen it before. Inside, it was dark, but the lights of the Venus laboratory glimmered in the distance. From this perspective, the inside of the transporter looked like a tunnel.
“We could transport all sorts of things from other planets like this,” said General Morrow. “Jesus, the entrance is big enough to drive a truck through to Venus.”
Russell looked at one of the jeeps and toyed with the idea of convincing Morrow to drive to Eridu. He could be there in a few minutes and see Ellen. But what would he tell her?
No! We’re not ready yet! Russell looked Morrow in the eyes. “We should get back.”
The general nodded. “Yes Harris, you’re right. That was an incredible demonstration, but we still haven’t found out what’s causing the death zone.”
Chapter 24
“Can I come in?” Russell stuck his head round the door. Marlene didn’t feel like talking, especially not to Russell. She was still exhausted, although she had managed to sleep a few hours after their quick trip to New California. But the pressure in her head that had been plaguing her since Albert’s death hadn’t subsided.
After their return to Venus, they had asked the transporter more questions, but they hadn’t found out anything new. Secretly, Marlene
no longer believed they would get an answer. They only had seven more days until the transporter on New California would be destroyed, and all she wanted now was to return home and spend her final days in peace. Despite all the deaths she had witnessed on New California——and having barely escaped with her own life on several occasions——she had never really thought about life after death. Would she see Albert again? Was there really something like paradise, where the souls of long-lost friends and loved ones were reunited? She didn’t know, and thinking about it wouldn’t provide her with any answers either. But even the vague hope made the thought of her imminent death bearable, even desirable.
Albert! I loved you more than I ever admitted even to myself.
“Can I come in?” Russell asked again.
Marlene shrugged. “If you must.”
Russell sighed, stepped inside and closed the door behind him. He stood there for a moment before taking a seat opposite her.
“What do you want?” Marlene asked. He seemed to think he was her friend. He had no idea how much he had hurt her and that she would never forgive him.
Russell winced. “To talk.”
“About?”
“The death zone.”
He simply couldn’t let it go. The more resigned she was, the more obsessed he became that they would find a last-minute solution.
“We haven’t found out anything and we only have a few days left. It’s time to start accepting the inevitable.”
Russell sighed. “I’m not prepared to give up. Not until the last moment. Ellen ...”
“... and the children! Yes I know!” Marlene was unable to suppress the spiteful tone in her voice.
Russell’s expression changed. He looked at her for a long time without speaking. She expected him to jump up at any moment and leave the room in anger, and she would do nothing to stop him. But Russell didn’t budge.
“Perhaps I should have gone to Chris,” he said.
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