The Death of the Universe: Ghost Kingdom: Hard Science Fiction (Big Rip Book 2)

by Brandon Q Morris

“That’s true. And we’ll be alone, just the two of us, for a very, very long time. But that’s good, too. We don’t need anything else.”

  “Then I wish you every success and safe travels!”

  Kepler stood up and Zhenyi followed suit. They all hugged each other goodbye.

  “Where is the butler, by the way?” asked Ada.

  “Good question,” said Zhenyi. “He was here last night.”

  “I don’t think we need to look for him. I’m guessing he’s gone off for a visit to Terra. He has some things to take care of there,” said Kepler.

  Cycle KB 1.5, unknown location

  The nose of the huge spaceship descended in slow motion. The metal touched the mirror-like, fathomless sea that looked like dark ink. Like a lump of butter in a hot pan, the structure of the ship dissolved and dispersed itself into the sphere that contained the gravastar. Nothing remained of it. The man-made structure vanished, meter by meter, its particles dissolving into a sea of quantum materials.

  Only information remained. It was stored in the folds of the quantum materials, in their special states and interactions. It wasn’t just the blueprint of the ship that was preserved for eternity, it was everything that had been saved on the onboard computer, including the data the ship had captured long ago with a semi-transparent mirror—the contents of Zhenyi’s, and of Kepler’s, consciousness.

  The universe had a few more gigacycles left before it would be torn apart by the constant pressure of dark energy. At that point, time would stand still. No one could say for how long, because nothing would exist anymore, not even time. But once this eternity passed, the data stored in the pulsars, black holes, and gravastars of the former universe would be released again, unnoticed, and yet still there to be found by anyone willing to look hard enough.

  Author's Note

  Dear Reader,

  Our Milky Way has once again been saved from death. I had a fun time working with Kepler, Zhenyi, and the others, dreaming up more and more obstacles to set in front of them. Because their story is set in the far, far future, I was able to introduce even more fantastic ideas than in my other books. I hope you’ve enjoyed coming along as the characters faced these new challenges. As always, I took great care that everything happened according to the known laws of physics—which made my task equally difficult and easy. We don’t yet know a lot about dark energy, so I could assume quite a few things without breaking current scientific consensus.

  In The Guide Tour to Relativity below, you will learn about the current state of science. Don’t worry about some inconsistencies, the whole field is developing rapidly these days. Some objects—like gravastars—still only exist in theory.

  If you don’t want to miss the discovery of the first gravastar, you should add your e-mail to my newsletter at (and you will also get the illustrated version of the guide):

  hard-sf.com/subscribe

  You can be sure that I regularly post science news here.

  As always, I have a very important plea before you go. If you liked the book, please do me the kindness of posting a review. It’s hard to believe how important reviews are for the visibility of a title in the Amazon store. Just click here:

  hard-sf.com/links/991225

  Good news: You will meet some protagonists from this novel again. The finale of the trilogy has the fitting title, The Death of the Universe: Rebirth.

  In the 1980s, physicists in a secret Soviet lab extract data from the cosmic background radiation. The data came from a previous universe—a breath-taking discovery. But military leaders demand the scientists keep their findings secret, as those in power wish to use them as a weapon in the cold war. You can pre-order the book here:

  hard-sf.com/links/1060781

  Yours

  Brandon Q. Morris

  Also by Brandon Q. Morris

  The Death of the Universe

  For many billions of years, humans—having conquered the curse of aging—spread throughout the entire Milky Way. They are able to live all their dreams, but to their great disappointment, no other intelligent species has ever been encountered. Now, humanity itself is on the brink of extinction because the universe is dying a protracted yet inevitable death.

  They have only one hope: The ‘Rescue Project’ was designed to feed the black hole in the center of the galaxy until it becomes a quasar, delivering much-needed energy to humankind during its last breaths. But then something happens that no one ever expected—and humanity is forced to look at itself and its existence in an entirely new way.

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  The Death of the Universe: Ghost Kingdom

  For many billions of years, humans—having conquered the curse of aging—spread throughout the entire Milky Way. They are able to live all their dreams, but to their great disappointment, no other intelligent species has ever been encountered. Now, humanity itself is on the brink of extinction because the universe is dying a protracted yet inevitable death.

  They have only one hope: The ‘Rescue Project’ was designed to feed the black hole in the center of the galaxy until it becomes a quasar, delivering much-needed energy to humankind during its last breaths. But then something happens that no one ever expected—and humanity is forced to look at itself and its existence in an entirely new way.

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  The Enceladus Mission (Ice Moon 1)

  In the year 2031, a robot probe detects traces of biological activity on Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons. This sensational discovery shows that there is indeed evidence of extraterrestrial life. Fifteen years later, a hurriedly built spacecraft sets out on the long journey to the ringed planet and its moon.

  The international crew is not just facing a difficult twenty-seven months: if the spacecraft manages to make it to Enceladus without incident it must use a drillship to penetrate the kilometer-thick sheet of ice that entombs the moon. If life does indeed exist on Enceladus, it could only be at the bottom of the salty, ice covered ocean, which formed billions of years ago.

  However, shortly after takeoff disaster strikes the mission, and the chances of the crew making it to Enceladus, let alone back home, look grim.

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  The Titan Probe (Ice Moon 2)

  In 2005, the robotic probe “Huygens” lands on Saturn’s moon Titan. 40 years later, a radio telescope receives signals from the far away moon that can only come from the long forgotten lander.

  At the same time, an expedition returns from neighbouring moon Enceladus. The crew lands on Titan and finds a dangerous secret that risks their return to Earth. Meanwhile, on Enceladus a deathly race has started that nobody thought was possible. And its outcome can only be decided by the

  astronauts that are stuck on Titan.

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  The Io Encounter (Ice Moon 3)

  Jupiter’s moon Io has an extremely hostile environment. There are hot lava streams, seas of boiling sulfur, and frequent volcanic eruptions straight from Dante’s Inferno, in addition to constant radiation bombardment and a surface temperature hovering at minus 180 degrees Celsius.

  Is it really home to a great danger that threatens all of humanity? That’s what a surprise message from the life form discovered on Enceladus seems to indicate.

  The crew of ILSE, the International Life Search Expedition, finally on their longed-for return to Earth, reluctantly chooses to accept a diversion to Io, only to discover that an enemy from within is about to destroy all their hopes of ever going home.

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  Return to Enceladus (Ice Moon 4)

  Russian billionaire Nikolai Shostakovitch makes an offer to the former crew of the spaceship ILSE. He will finance a return voyage to the icy moon Enceladus. The offer is too good to refuse—the expedition would give them the unique opportunity to recover the body of their doctor, Dimitri Marchenko.

  Everyone on board knows that their benefactor
acts out of purely personal motivations… but the true interests of the tycoon and the dangers that he conjures up are beyond anyone’s imagination.

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  Ice Moon – The Boxset

  All four bestselling books of the Ice Moon series are now offered as a set, available only in e-book format.

  The Enceladus Mission: Is there really life on Saturn's moon Enceladus? ILSE, the International Life Search Expedition, makes its way to the icy world where an underground ocean is suspected to be home to primitive life forms.

  The Titan Probe: An old robotic NASA probe mysteriously awakens on the methane moon of Titan. The ILSE crew tries to solve the riddle—and discovers a dangerous secret.

  The Io Encounter: Finally bound for Earth, ILSE makes it as far as Jupiter when the crew receives a startling message. The volcanic moon Io may harbor a looming threat that could wipe out Earth as we know it.

  Return to Enceladus: The crew gets an offer to go back to Enceladus. Their mission—to recover the body of Dr. Marchenko, left for dead on the original expedition. Not everyone is working toward the same goal. Could it be their unwanted crew member?

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  Proxima Rising

  Late in the 21st century, Earth receives what looks like an urgent plea for help from planet Proxima Centauri b in the closest star system to the Sun. Astrophysicists suspect a massive solar flare is about to destroy this heretofore-unknown civilization. Earth’s space programs are unequipped to help, but an unscrupulous Russian billionaire launches a secret and highly-specialized spaceship to Proxima b, over four light-years away. The unusual crew faces a Herculean task—should they survive the journey. No one knows what to expect from this alien planet.

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  Proxima Dying

  An intelligent robot and two young people explore Proxima Centauri b, the planet orbiting our nearest star, Proxima Centauri. Their ideas about the mission quickly prove grossly naive as they venture about on this planet of extremes.

  Where are the senders of the call for help that lured them here? They find no one and no traces on the daylight side, so they place their hopes upon an expedition into the eternal ice on Proxima b's dark side. They not only face everlasting night, the team encounters grave dangers. A fateful decision will change the planet forever.

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  Proxima Dreaming

  Alone and desperate, Eve sits in the control center of an alien structure. She has lost the other members of the team sent to explore exoplanet Proxima Centauri b. By mistake she has triggered a disastrous process that threatens to obliterate the planet. Just as Eve fears her best option may be a quick death, a nearby alien life form awakens from a very long sleep. It has only one task: to find and neutralize the destructive intruder from a faraway place.

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  The Hole

  A mysterious object threatens to destroy our solar system. The survival of humankind is at risk, but nobody takes the warning of young astrophysicist Maribel Pedreira seriously. At the same time, an exiled crew of outcasts mines for rare minerals on a lone asteroid.

  When other scientists finally acknowledge Pedreira’s alarming discovery, it becomes clear that these outcasts are the only ones who may be able to save our world, knowing that The Hole hurtles inexorably toward the sun.

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  Silent Sun

  Is our sun behaving differently from other stars? When an amateur astronomer discovers something strange on telescopic solar pictures, an explanation must be found. Is it merely artefact? Or has he found something totally unexpected?

  An expert international crew is hastily assembled, a spaceship is speedily repurposed, and the foursome is sent on the ride of their lives. What challenges will they face on this spur-of-the-moment mission to our central star?

  What awaits all of them is critical, not only for understanding the past, but even more so for the future of life on Earth.

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  The Rift

  There is a huge, bold black streak in the sky. Branches appear out of nowhere over North America, Southern Europe, and Central Africa. People who live beneath The Rift can see it. But scientists worldwide are distressed—their equipment cannot pick up any type of signal from it.

  The rift appears to consist of nothing. Literally. Nothing. Nada. Niente. Most people are curious but not overly concerned. The phenomenon seems to pose no danger. It is just there.

  Then something jolts the most hardened naysayers, and surpasses the worst nightmares of the world’s greatest scientists—and rocks their understanding of the universe.

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  Mars Nation 1

  NASA finally made it. The very first human has just set foot on the surface of our neighbor planet. This is the start of a long research expedition that sent four scientists into space.

  But the four astronauts of the NASA crew are not the only ones with this destination. The privately financed ‘Mars for Everyone’ initiative has also targeted the Red Planet. Twenty men and women have been selected to live there and establish the first extraterrestrial settlement.

  Challenges arise even before they reach Mars orbit. The MfE spaceship Santa Maria is damaged along the way. Only the four NASA astronauts can intervene and try to save their lives.

  No one anticipates the impending catastrophe that threatens their very existence—not to speak of the daily hurdles that an extended stay on an alien planet sets before them. On Mars, a struggle begins for limited resources, human cooperation, and just plain survival.

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  Mars Nation 2

  A woman presumed dead fights her way through the hostile deserts of Mars. With her help, the NASA astronauts orphaned on the Red Planet hope to be able to solve their very worst problem. But their hopes are shattered when an unexpected menace arises and threatens to destroy everything the remnant of humanity has built on the planet. They need a miracle—or a ghost from the past whose true intentions are unknown.

  Mars Nation 2 continues the story of the last representatives of Earth, who have found asylum on our neighboring planet, hoping to build a future in this alien world.

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  Mars Nation 3

  Does the secret of Mars lurk beneath the surface of its south pole? A lone astronaut searches for clues about the earlier inhabitants of the Red Planet. Meanwhile, Rick Summers, having assumed the office of Mars City's Administrator by deceit and manipulation, tries to unify the people on Mars with the weapons under his control. Then Summers stumbles upon so powerful an evil that even he has no means to overcome it.

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  The Guided Tour to Relativity

  Gravitation, taken for granted by Newton, is explained in the general theory of relativity (GTR) as a simple property of the four-dimensional space that makes up the universe.

  After Newton had published his three laws of motion in 1687, physics was considered almost complete. It could be used to explain and calculate everything that could be directly observed by humans, from the orbits of the planets to the flight path of a cannonball. The picture that Newton and his colleagues drew of the cosmos was reminiscent of a theater. Space and time formed the absolute dimensions of the stage on which actual life played out.

  Classical relativity

  This everyday life, unlike the divine realm, is characterized by relativity. Humans are relatively rich or poor. They are relatively well or unwell. Their movements are also relative, as common sense shows. If you stand up on an express train and walk to the restaurant car, you are moving relative to your fellow passengers at five kilometers an hour. An observer from outside, however, sees you pass by at 300km/h plus or minus 5km/h—plus 5km if you’re walking in the direction the train
is traveling, or minus 5km/h if the restaurant car lies in the direction opposite the movement of the train. Your speed and that of the train are calculated together if the system is observed from outside.

  But even the form of the movement is different depending on the direction from which you are seeing it. If you throw a ball up and catch it again in a train, the passenger next to you sees the movement of the ball as a vertical line. An observer from outside notices that the ball describes an arc, because while it’s in the air, you’ve already moved quite a bit further. The same applies if we switch the roles of the observer and the observed object. A cyclist on a parallel street, observed through the dirty train window, moves at either 280 or 320 km/h from your point of view. But the cyclist himself only sees 20km/h on his speedometer. If he were to juggle while riding, the ball would fall straight down from his point of view, but it would describe a curve from your point of view. A physicist would say that the description of the movement is dependent on the choice of reference system.