by Ezra Manes
CHAPTER 19
Joqi reached up to scratch an itch on his scalp while contemplating professor Kilerah’s equations. He felt bumps where it itched. He carefully explored the rest of his scalp using both hands. His head was covered with soft, bulbous bumps!
I have a problem, Dawn. I think I’m having a reaction to the plasma.
He activated the body scanner that was embedded in the walls of the command pod. The results came up quickly in a virtual 3-D display. His conscious mind rejected what he saw—all his head, except for his face, was covered by the bumps. The scan also showed strands forming a network directly interconnecting the bumps.
The smart plasma is reacting to your demand for more cognitive ability, Dawn conveyed. The soft bumps are neuronal brain matter, added processing modules linked directly with your brain.
He should have been horrified, but he was not. The plasma was doing what it was supposed to do—providing for his needs.
I have sensed growth in my cognitive ability since I first detected dark elements in space around us. I didn’t question where that growth came from. I thought it was from my using the full capability of my brain and mind.
Do you wish to stop the growth, Dawn asked. If it continues, it will likely become irreversible.
Joqi paused to think about the consequences, but only for a few seconds. The scan showed his head no longer looked like that of a human. But he needed more brain power, more stochastic processing capability.
No. If we are to find a way back to Zilia, I must continue on this path of discovery.
Dawn did not respond. She would not weigh in either way on his decision.
Joqi felt completely healed. In fact, he felt better than he ever had, in spite of concerns regarding the bumps still growing on his scalp. He had no idea how far this brain extension process would go; he still needed more processing capability to “see” into the dark realm, the dark firmament, of the space-time continuum. He decided to stop scanning his body and to not worry about the growing bumps. He needed to focus on defining extensions to Kilerah’s equations.
He “looked” many times into the dark firmament, grasping at understanding the tenuous interaction between ordinary matter and dark matter. These observations led to extensions to Kilerah’s theory that explained the structure and interaction of the dark particles he detected. This in turn pointed to focal points in the observable universe where interaction between the observable and unobservable dimensions were concentrated. These focal points existed within massive observable objects, such as brown dwarf sub-stars, stars, and black holes. Was this why they were guided to enter this solar system near the brown dwarf?
Joqi’s attention was pulled back into the Horizon Quest as they rapidly approached the brown dwarf sub-star. They planned to enter a survey orbit around the brown dwarf that was closer than the planet orbiting the dwarf. Dawn would then conduct a series of measurements to determine the brown dwarf’s mass and composition, and to measure its tremendous gravity more accurately. They would also determine the orbiting planet’s mass as accurately as possible, which would help in determining the brown dwarf’s characteristics.
The brown dwarf and its orbiting planet are a little odd, Dawn observed. Zilan astronomers determined long ago that brown dwarf’s usually form in pairs.
I agree, Joqi replied. Perhaps the large outer planet in this solar system is a failed attempt to form another brown dwarf.
Dawn remained silent for several seconds before responding. If the mass of the brown dwarf and the large outer planet were combined, the resulting mass would be sufficient to start a fusion reaction in its core, forming a new star.
Yes, a possible future star to reset the life of this aging solar system, Joqi conveyed.
This was an interesting line of speculation, but Joqi focused back on Kilerah’s equations with his added extensions. His extensions brought to bear recent insights on the role gravity played in the interaction between observable and dark matter. He needed to know more about the dark particles.
He reached out again with all his senses, but now with sensitivity the module extensions to his brain amplified greatly. He sensed every facet of the spaceship, right out to the outer layer of atoms in the hull. He sensed the particles in the space closely surrounding the spaceship, and even the minute variations in the density of the particles. He continued reaching outward in the surrounding vacuum, enthralled by his expanded sensitivity. If this was a vision, it was the most realistic vision he could imagine!
Joqi sensed matter that heretofore had stayed hidden. The matter was comprised of massive particles which interacted weakly with neighboring particles, plus a variety of other dark particles that had no electric charge. He sensed the tremendous stored energy in the surrounding vacuum that had stayed hidden from human probing. The energy was overwhelming at first, and then became less so as his expanded senses and processing powers absorbed understanding of the dark energy and dark matter.
Weak forces and hidden matter thus revealed opened Joqi’s enhanced comprehension to a level never achieved by the greatest human minds. He sensed gravity variations amplified by the dark energy throughout the vacuum of space. He could see the localized weak gravity fields combining on a large scale.
The dark matter gravity fields shaped the space-time continuum. The dark matter existed everywhere, even flowing through him as he thought about it, although it was concentrated more in areas of high ordinary matter content.
What value is all this knowledge in our quest to return to Zilia?
This introspective thought shattered Joqi’s concentration while probing the dark dimension of space, and shifted his focus back into the command pod virtual environment.
Doubt rose like a thickening fog, obscuring links in his mind between newfound knowledge and possible applications beneficial to their efforts to find a way to return to Zilia. He realized he hadn’t meditated in some time to relieve pent-up stress and worries. He needed to now; he needed to clear his mind.
May I join you?
Startled, Joqi asked, Do you mean join me in meditation?
Yes, that and much more, Dawn responded. I offer to tightly couple my full cognitive ability with yours, to join with you in supporting our common cause.
This surprising offer astounded Joqi. He thought they were already as closely linked as they could be telepathically. He didn’t know how to respond.
The human mind is remarkable, Dawn conveyed when there was no response from Joqi. It can assimilate uncorrelated data and often reach a viable conclusion from that data. An artificial intelligence entity must assimilate sufficient data that correlates before postulating a viable conclusion. Integrating the two should provide tremendous improvement in reasoning ability.
Joqi was beyond astounded at this observation by Dawn. But understanding began blossoming, like a hybrid flower blooming for the first time.
Is it even possible? The potential of the idea intrigued him. He and Dawn had linked directly before, but only to facilitate his access to data files.
I can establish a direct broadband link with you via the smart plasma, Dawn replied. You can then access all data I have and focus my cognitive ability to support your observations, contemplations, and conclusions. I will continue routine ship monitoring and control activities, which you can monitor or direct as you desire.
Implied in what Dawn conveyed was that one of them had to be in control and she was deferring that control to him.
I am willing to try, he conveyed after thinking about it for several minutes. But I implore you to break the direct link if you sense that you are losing your consciousness of self.
Joqi immediately felt avenues of thought open that greatly expanded his sense of cognitive ability. And he only had to think of related data to have those relationships revealed in a variety of rich formats. Then a flood of data about dark matter and dark energy almost overwhelmed him.
Come, Dawn, let us meditate and integrate more effectively.
• • •
Joqi let his and Dawn’s thoughts mingle freely, probing and displaying all the data collected regarding interaction among ordinary matter and dark matter elements. A dynamic virtual environment grew around his observation focal point. He saw ordinary matter and energy flowing in space, as well as dark energy and dark matter particles. He brought all nearby observable objects into the dynamic environment, including the huge brown dwarf. An anomaly stood out immediately—dark matter particles anywhere near the brown dwarf were pulled close to form a stream of particles passing near or through the brown dwarf. The sub-star was acting as a gravity lens focusing dark particles into a narrow stream through and near it!
Joqi had an epiphany, a sudden insightful understanding, of how to design key elements of a warp drive engine that would propel the Horizon Quest to faster-than-light flight. Physicists had known for some time how to create, suspend, and control micro black holes. They could build a gravity lens system aboard the ship using a controlled configuration of micro black holes. This gravity lens would focus a stream of dark matter particles on another, but larger, rapidly rotating micro black hole, imparting tremendous energy to it.
Fusion of particles in the rotating black hole would produce tremendous radiated energy they could harness to create a controllable space-warp bubble in an electromagnetic resonant chamber. They could expand this warp bubble to encompass the ship, compressing space in front of the ship and expanding space behind the ship, resulting in warp drive propulsion. And they would have an endless supply of fuel wherever they ventured.
Without hesitation or second-guessing, Joqi began the detailed design of the dark warp engine. After his first pass through the design, he felt a tug of independent thought from Dawn.
Awesome! It was her first individual observation since linking directly with Joqi.
• • •
Now there was a third option for what they could do next, a highly risky option, to say the least. But Dawn agreed with Joqi in proceeding down that slippery slope. He wasn’t overly optimistic about their capability to build the theoretically possible warp drive propulsion system. But if they were successful, it would reduce the travel time back to Zilia to months instead of a human lifetime, or more. If unsuccessful, well…time would tell.
They realized it would take many years to design and build the warp drive engine. And there would be ample opportunity to fail at each step if things were not done right, or if Joqi’s theory was wrong. And success relied heavily on their cadre of reconfigurable robots and 3-D fabricators; Joqi and Dawn could direct activities, but they couldn’t perform any directly.
In addition, they would have to mine and process materials needed from the outer asteroid belt, and then manufacture everything required for the propulsion system modifications. They could get some help from the szswns, but only if absolutely necessary. Joqi preferred to keep them in the dark about the nature and design of the Horizon Quest modifications. But he would have to tell them major modifications were required, which was why the Horizon Quest would stay in their solar system for several years.
With considerable reluctance, Joqi opened a communication channel with the two leaders, Azlor and Lotsu.
“We have watched your survey activities with interest,” Azlor said.
“We expect to complete the survey soon,” Joqi replied. “And we will provide you the results.”
He engaged in small talk with the two for a while. He inquired about their success with the regen virtual reality simulators, which they indicated were very successful. Joqi then provided background information regarding why he contacted the leaders. He explained that external, expendable engines were used early in their journey to the szswns’ solar system to achieve very high spaceship velocity. This was true, but he felt a twinge of guilt for not mentioning the anomaly that had quickly transported the Horizon Quest to their solar system. He explained that without such engines, using only the current Horizon Quest propulsion system configuration would result in a very long trip back to Zilia.
“However, there is an alternative near-term activity we would like to pursue,” he said. “We want to manufacture an additional engine that will get us back home much faster. This will require mining your outer asteroid belt for materials, particularly for metals. We will do this only if you approve.”
Surprise showed in the two leaders’ posture.
“You can do this,” Lotsu asked. “That is incredible.”
“Lotsu and I will support you in this,” Azlor said without hesitation. “Let us consult with the other council members. We will contact you soon.”
True to his word, Azlor established a communications link a few hours later. Not only did the ruling council approve of Joqi’s plan, they also agreed with Azlor and Lotsu’s recommendation that Cssyza’s damaged spaceship be provided as salvage metal to support modifications to the Horizon Quest. They also offered to provide additional materials and direct construction support for the upgrade efforts.
Joqi graciously declined the direct construction support offer, explaining their reconfigurable robots would perform all construction tasks. However, he was very appreciative in accepting the offer to provide Cssyza’s damaged ship and other materials. This surprising twist would cut years off the engine fabrication process.
• • •
Developing the warp drive was an essential step, and a big one, toward returning reasonably soon to the Zilan solar system. Joqi never wavered in his resolve, nor did Dawn, who remained closely coupled with him. Neither required sleep, although Joqi still practiced meditation periodically to keep his sense of self anchored to his Zilan roots.
They worked continuously for three years developing the warp drive, which they now called a “dark warp drive”. They were more certain than ever that the dark warp drive would work as Joqi’s theory indicated it would. They faced at least two more years of integrating and testing the drive system, and Dawn was capable of overseeing much of this activity. They had decided to keep the pulsed fusion engines for local propulsion needs, and integrate the warp drive system in parallel with the fusion engines.
Dawn’s oversight of the integration activities gave Joqi free time to again ponder the wonders of the model they had configured showing the location and interaction of ordinary and dark matter and energy in their region of the Milky Way galaxy. He thought back to the time he pushed his sensory perception out into the dark firmament, focusing intently on a point until dark particles moved slightly away from his focal point.
He had felt back then that it was like some higher power had given him a key to open a portal to some wondrous discovery. Was it a hint at how to open a window through another dimension to quickly transition to a distant location in space-time? Or was it an indication that the space-time fabric could be distorted or folded to enable quick travel between widely separated locations in space? Was that what happened when the Horizon Quest reached the intersection point back in the Zilan solar system?
Joqi realized the dark warp drive was only the solution for interstellar travel in a local segment of the galaxy. Considering it would take several months to travel 118 light-years back to Zilia, the dark warp drive wasn’t the solution for traveling quickly across the vast reaches of the galaxy. However, he believed the warp drive was a necessary step for most civilizations wanting to achieve star-faring status. It was like achieving a “right-of-passage” status before bursting onto the galactic scene.
But he wanted more. Beyond making it possible to develop a dark warp drive system, he was convinced his theory, coupled with his expanded psychic capabilities, made it possible to open a dimensional window to distant places in the galaxy.
To open a dimensional window would take tremendous focused energy and concentrated interaction between observable and dark matter. From his viewpoint, the window would in essence be a string wormhole that opened and closed very quickly. A spaceship would have to transit the string wormhole very fast, riding on da
rk warp engines.
Joqi supported final integration and testing of the dark warp drive system, but had ample time to also research the physics of how to implement a dimensional windowing capability. It quickly became apparent the dark warp drive engine couldn’t provide the energy required for this windowing. They would have to look elsewhere, and the most likely candidate was to find a way to harness the dark energy available everywhere in the universe.
During the last year of integration and test of the dark warp drive, Joqi began assembling a prototype dimensional windowing system in the front structure of the Horizon Quest. It was for test purposes only; they expected to arrive back at Zilia long before completion of a fully capable windowing system. Joqi wasn’t sure at all that any human civilization had advanced sufficiently to warrant access to such magical technology.
Joqi set aside the dimensional windowing endeavor as final tuning and testing of the dark warp drive system was completed. He opened a communications link with his szswn friends one last time to say thanks and goodbye. He then gave Dawn the honor of initiating the dark warp drive trajectory to intersect the Zilan solar system. His role in the transit home was to detect any object in their path that could damage their ship, and to navigate around the object.
PART 3
CHAPTER 20
Alandi was excited, but sat quietly with her family in an honored position to watch the first Holy Seven-Year Two-Moon Eclipse since her brother and the Horizon Quest vanished. She had visited the sacred High Temple of Zilerip before, as had most Zilans in the northern hemisphere. The massive temple was an intricate ziggurat structure, a pyramid built in successive layers of stepped-back stages, with a sacred domed shrine at the top. It was her first visit to the special observation platform, the top level just below the domed shrine, to participate in the religious observance of a two-moon eclipse.