The Rift: Hard Science Fiction

by Brandon Q Morris

  “What’s going on?” he asked.

  Dr. Atasoy didn’t answer. He was no longer in his chair. Mary was sitting there as if she were frozen. Derek tried to give her an encouraging smile. Then he left the room through the open door. Gita, the receptionist, said something behind him, but he couldn’t understand her, because everyone out here was shouting over each other. The patients in the waiting room had all pressed themselves against the window. Something must be happening outside.

  The light streaming in was just as bright as before. There can’t be a bad storm coming. The people were pressing their faces against the window and pointing upward at something straight above them, where the sun should be. There was no more room at the window, so he simply pushed a skinny, accountant-type guy to the side. The man grumbled a little, but went silent after he had given Derek a mean look. Derek knew that his intimidating stature and red hair made him look like an Irish brawler, and sometimes he deliberately used that to his advantage.

  He looked out the window. The sky was shining in the prettiest shade of blue. Why was everyone so worked up? Derek tilted his head back. And then he saw it. He rubbed his eyes because it was so unbelievable. A black stripe ran across the sky. It resembled a gigantic ribbon blowing in the wind, but was entirely motionless, its jagged edges glowing red. It looked as if the heavens had been slashed, opened up in order to consume all of creation.

  Derek was not an active churchgoer. He believed what his mother had taught him and what was in the Bible, but it had all seemed something like a fairy tale before, something that didn’t really concern him. He started feeling hot. Could it be some prophecy was being fulfilled? Would a supernatural being descend to render its last judgment?

  Derek reached for his heart with his left hand. It felt like it wanted to jump out of his chest. At least the emergency room wasn’t far, he thought. His heart and circulation had always been strong and stable. He turned around. Where was Mary? He didn’t see her anywhere. He started to worry and gave up his spot at the window. She wasn’t in the corridor and also not in the waiting room. He finally found her in the doctor’s office. The doctor, receptionist, and Mary were all standing next to each other, their noses pressed flat against the window. Of course. The phenomenon stretched across the entire sky—it must be visible from there too.

  Derek came up behind Mary and rested his arms on her shoulders. She flinched but didn’t try to squirm away.

  “What is that?” she asked, turning her face to the side.

  He looked at her delicate nose and her thin eyelashes. It had been a long time since he had looked at her from such a close distance.

  “I have no idea,” he answered. “Doctor, do you have any idea what that is?”

  The man to his left had been to college, so surely he must know more than the rest of them.

  “I’ve never seen anything like it,” Atasoy said.

  Derek carefully wedged himself between Mary and the receptionist. His wife was slim, but Gita had a rather full figure. Maybe her wide hips only caught his attention because she was so small. Five feet, if that, Derek estimated, then forced himself to do the conversion to meters in his head. So one-and-a-half meters. He should really stop using those old units. He leaned with his right hip against the window sill and bumped against an indoor plant. It was green was all he noticed. Plants were only interesting to him if they were in his fields.

  Then he lifted his gaze back to the sky. The black stripe was still there. It looked like it was rigidly glued to a blue background. No, that wasn’t right, it wasn’t glued on, it had torn apart the background. That’s what it was—a rip. Their world had been torn apart. A shiver ran down his back. He didn’t feel afraid. No, it was something more like awe. It was much like the moment when his mother had brought him to church for the very first time and organ music had suddenly filled the gigantic space. The music had seemed to come from everywhere at the same time.

  A swelling murmur of many voices jolted him out of his thoughts. People were suddenly pointing up at the sky. Was there some creature descending from above? Derek rubbed his eyes because he couldn’t see anything. Then he noticed it, a small, shining arrow. An airplane, at 30,000 feet, he estimated. Derek squinted. A four-engine Boeing, surely a passenger plane. The pilot was headed straight toward the rip. Hadn’t he seen it? Derek had a pilot’s license himself.

  The plane was still far enough away that an evasive maneuver could probably be done without any problem. Why wasn’t the pilot turning around? Was the crew asleep, perhaps, and the autopilot clueless? Didn’t they see what they were racing toward at 600 miles per hour?

  Derek wanted to scream to them and warn them. He made his hands into fists. The airplane’s metallic fuselage flashed silver in the sunlight. He imagined the passengers looking out of their windows, maybe feeling sorry for the Kansas farmers because of the vast sea of never-ending brownness. Or maybe they were thinking about their destination, a beach in Florida, the sweetheart they were going to embrace in their arms, or the business partner they were going to rip off. Life is short and can end so suddenly. He opened his fists again.

  From his perspective, the airplane was only a few millimeters away from the rip. It was already turning a reddish color. Even if the pilots noticed what was in front of them, it would be too late now. Derek heard the people behind him shouting loudly. Everyone wanted to warn the pilots. Maybe at least some of those on the plane could still be saved with parachutes! But Derek was skeptical. Could anything save them? What would happen to it when it touched the rip? Would it explode, or crash against an invisible wall and then break apart completely? Or would the plane simply pass through it?

  The moment came. The nose of the Boeing touched one of the jagged spikes of the black stripe. Gone! It was gone!

  Derek shook his head. Why were the people behind him so upset? All at once it became quiet. He turned around. People were standing in front of the window with open mouths, as if they had forgotten what they were going to say. Had they all gone crazy? Sure, a dark rip had split apart the sky. It was probably the end of the world. That was a feasible theory, Derek decided, until someone thought of something else. But no supernatural creature had descended upon the earth yet. They had been watching the rip and the sky now for several minutes, without anything happening. If that continued, it wouldn’t support his theory. If God had decided to start His Last Judgment today, why would He drag it out so long?

  Or maybe it had already happened. Maybe the judgment had been rendered long ago and he had ended up in Hell. He had certainly killed enough men as a soldier for that to be a distinct possibility. Hell... what else were his dried-up fields to him? But Mary, no, she wouldn’t be here too. Mary was innocent.

  Behind him it was getting loud. People were pointing up to the sky. What was there to see? They all knew the rip was there. He craned his neck, but all he saw was glaring bright light. Oh, there was an airplane, approaching from the south. It was small, probably a two-seater, light sport aircraft, but it was flying surprisingly high. Either the pilot hadn’t noticed the rip, or he was curious about it and wanted to get a closer look. Derek clenched his teeth. The pilot was really getting close. How could anyone be so crazy? The patients behind him were loudly shouting warnings. Was there no way to send him a signal to turn away?

  Mary turned toward him, and for the first time he noticed that he’d been gripping her shoulders very tightly. He apologized and started to carefully massage her shoulders. She tilted her head back and gave him a smile. Derek felt warmth on his cheeks. That must be from the sun, he thought. It was gradually moving toward the west. He had to shade his eyes with his hand to see the small airplane. It was not turning around. The pilot had probably missed his last chance. Derek knew from his training what an airplane was capable of. It wouldn’t be able to avoid the rip now. Was he seeing things, or had the red fringes at the edge of the rip gotten bigger?

  The airplane touched the rip.

  “Oh man, oh man, o
h man,” Derek said involuntarily. The knuckles on his right hand cracked. The airplane disappeared.

  Derek listened to the echo of his words. Had he just said something, and why?

  “Did I just say something?” he asked Mary.

  “You said the words ‘oh man’ three times,” she answered.

  He remembered. But he no longer knew why. He must have been upset about something.

  Then he remembered the rip in the sky. That must have been it. But that explanation didn’t satisfy him completely. He felt as if he were lying to himself, without being aware of it. Was that even possible? When he had intentionally lied to himself at other times in the past, he had always known the truth, he had just not wanted to admit it.

  He was probably just a little bit run-down and out-of-sorts. And he didn’t appear to be the only one. Derek looked out at the street. The doctor’s office looked out right onto the large parking lot in front of the hospital. A large group of people had gathered there. He found it hard to believe the city even had that many people. Some were wearing sunglasses, others had special glasses that were probably left over from the last solar eclipse. Derek couldn’t make any sense of it. The rip wasn’t blindingly bright—quite the opposite, he had never seen such a deep, dark black. The cleverest of the group were holding binoculars in front of their eyes to look at the phenomenon. Could they really see anything more? An older man had even brought out a small telescope that looked like a kid’s toy. All that was missing was someone selling ice cream and the folk festival would be complete.

  Derek looked at the clock. It was shortly after one in the afternoon. The people down below must have come outside from the places where they worked. He wondered a little why he didn’t see more signs of panic. After all, the sky had just ripped open! But everyone was surprisingly calm. Maybe it was because the world had already been through so much recently. It was only 13 years ago that a black hole had nearly destroyed the earth. Every adult inhabitant of Earth at that time had already written their will. Nevertheless, this calm was baffling. The black hole had definitely been dangerous, but it hadn’t been visible to the naked eye. This rip, however, could be seen by anyone who looked up into the sky.

  “Come on, Mary,” he said. “Let’s go home.”

  His wife stayed at the window, looking at the rip with fascination. The doctor turned his eyes from the sight and looked at him.

  “I still wanted to talk to you about those wood preservatives,” Atasoy said.

  “Yeah, I’m going to look in the garage.”

  “If you did in fact use one of those allergy-triggering substances, there are now very good protective varnishes. Just one coat on top of the wood and it can no longer outgas the substances making your wife sick.”

  “What does she actually have, then?”

  “Haven’t you noticed?” the doctor asked him. Derek didn’t hear any disapproval, just surprise, so he stayed calm. The doctor was right, he should have noticed that his wife wasn’t doing well.

  “No,” he said quietly.

  “Joint pain. The allergy is affecting her joints. She’s already taking painkillers almost every day. If this continues, she might not be able to walk anymore.”

  “Oh,” he said.

  That’s why his wife hadn’t visited her friends in three weeks. He’d assumed that they’d had a fight. But it was actually because of his wife’s health! Of course, what kind of friends are they if they don’t visit her when she’s not feeling well?

  Derek felt a sharp stab of guilt. A week ago, Mary had asked him if he had anything against her friend coming to their house for a visit. He had become rude and replied with something like, “You know I need my peace and quiet!”

  He couldn’t remember his exact words. Why am I such an asshole? And why have you stayed married to me? He looked at Mary, who had her head back, looking up into the sky. She was protecting her eyes with her hand, because the sun was shining directly into her face. In the bright light, he could see the fine hairs on her skin. Her Adam’s apple protruded slightly. She looked extremely fragile. Mary needs someone who will take better care of her, he thought. I can’t do it.

  Suddenly she turned around. Derek couldn’t look away fast enough and she caught his gaze. Her gray eyes shone deeply. He felt transparent, as if he’d been caught red-handed at the same time. I should smile, he thought, I should really just smile. Finally he did, and Mary returned the smile.

  “Shall we go, then?” she asked.

  “Yes, I think so. Unless the doctor has something else he wants to say?”

  “No, Mr. McMaster, I think, in light of that thing outside, I’m going to close the office for today. My receptionist will call you about a new appointment.”

  “Thank you, Dr. Atasoy,” Mary said.

  The Turkish doctor nodded and shook her hand. Derek turned around. Only then did he notice that all the other patients had already gone. Gita must have ushered them out already. He gave Mary his arm and she linked hers with his. Then they left the office together. They reached the exit after walking down the long hospital corridor. They had to walk around the building to get to the parking lot. Derek saw the bench where he usually sat.

  “That’s the bench I always sit on when I’m waiting for you,” he said.

  “I know,” Mary answered. “I can see you sometimes out the window.”

  Derek nodded. He didn’t want to admit that it had never occurred to him.

  May 23, 2085, Pico del Teide

  “Madam Director? I have someone here on the phone for you,” her assistant said. Maribel had been trying for a long time to get her to stop addressing her so formally, but Señora González had been working at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, or IAC, for 45 years now, and had always addressed the previous directors formally—and it sure didn’t seem like that was going to stop with the first female director.

  “Didn’t I tell you I didn’t want to be disturbed today?”

  She needed to finally finish the paper that she was supposed to write about zero-point energy and black holes. Maribel had started to regret accepting this job. Zetschewitz, her former mentor, had advised her not to take it. That had seemed very strange to her at the time, because the German had appeared very gung-ho about advancing her career. But now she knew what he had meant—she wouldn’t have any time for research.

  “The man on the line is from the government. He says it is extremely urgent.”

  At that moment, someone knocked loudly on her door. She still had the same office as when she started at the IAC, on the ninth sub-level of the OGS2 telescope. But she no longer had to put up with Zetschewitz, who had taken a prominent position at the Solar Observatory in Hawaii.

  The door opened. Andrés, her deputy, and Franco, his friend, rushed into the room. That had never happened before. Andrés had always been the model of politeness.

  “Just a moment, Señora González,” she said into the phone as she put down the handset.

  “But the man from the government...” she heard her say.

  “Maribel, you have to come up and see this,” Andrés said. His face was covered with red blotches. She’d never seen him so worked up before.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “You won’t believe it unless you see it yourself,” he said.

  Franco nodded excitedly. He was a quiet, reserved individual, but even he seemed to have become worked up because of whatever was going on.

  “I’m sorry,” Maribel said into the phone, “I’ll be back in a minute.”

  The man from the government was far away and could wait. Something seemed to be happening here that... then it occurred to her that the man might have been calling about the same matter, as urgent as he had seemed. What could be going on? She had to be careful not to let Andrés and Franco get her worked up too.

  Of course, the elevator took forever to reach the ninth basement level. Or maybe everybody else is trying to get out too, she thought. The elevator was already almost ful
l. Andrés and Franco pushed Maribel into the car with 11 of their other colleagues.

  “We’ll take the stairs,” Andrés said.

  Maribel hated riding in a full elevator. It never failed that at least one of the other people on the elevator hadn’t showered that morning. And this time the elevator was stopping on every level. Her colleagues all looked disappointed when they realized they wouldn’t be able to fit. At least her status as the director of the institute meant that nobody tried to squeeze in next to her.

  Finally, fresh air! Maribel ran through the corridor to the outside. She could hear the pattering of footsteps all around her. What is going on?

  After going through the airlock, she finally reached the outdoors. She shivered. Here on the mountain, at an elevation of over 2000 meters, it was still quite chilly, even at the end of March. She should have brought a jacket with her.

  Suddenly someone touched her shoulder from behind. It was Andrés. The stairs had not taken him much longer than her elevator ride. Their colleagues standing around them recognized the two bosses and subconsciously took a few steps back.

  “Have you seen it yet?” asked a young woman whose name Maribel did not recall.

  Have I seen what? Maribel thought, tilting her head inquisitively.

  The woman pointed up, up, up and Maribel tilted her head back. The day seemed like any other pleasant spring day. A few white clouds were making their way across the sky at a moderate pace. And then she saw it—a black gash... split... rip... rift.

  It felt as if someone had hit her on the back of her head with a hammer.

  It couldn’t be real. What she was seeing was completely impossible. She tried to analyze the phenomenon scientifically, but she could find no analogies. She wanted to believe it was just a trick. But it would have to be an extraordinarily complex trick. Completely splitting the sky, approximately from southwest to northeast, was a dark... something. The closest thing it resembled was a tear, but what was there to be torn apart? The sky, she reminded herself, is nothing more than an optical illusion. It doesn’t exist as something that could be physically torn. When we look into the sky, our gaze doesn’t stop at a heavenly canopy—as humans once believed—it goes on to infinity... which had suddenly become an imperfect infinity.