Cycle of Stars

by D. W. Patterson

  “Now what is little known is that there was usually more than one of these art pieces aboard a ship. The Adowans searched for them and found them on the planet and in their fusion ships, and most importantly for us, on some of those ship's shuttles.”

  “We haven't seen such a thing in this village but you think father we might have what we need on the shuttle? To fix or heal as you say this spacetime?”

  “It is pure speculation Jomo. But not without reason.”

  “The shuttle is in a bad area now but I will go there in the morning and search it for any sign of a sphere as you've described.”

  “Be careful my son and good luck.”

  Just as it was becoming light enough to see the next morning Jomo set off for the shuttle. The area where the shuttle had landed was now crisscrossed with fissures and bubbling ponds of steaming water. The ground was dangerous underfoot because a fissure could open anywhere at any time.

  Jomo could tell he was approaching the area as his bare feet felt the temperature of the ground rising. When it became too hot to continue Jomo took the strips of cloth he had brought and wrapped his feet. Though not the best insulator it enabled him to keep going.

  He entered the field where the shuttle had landed and when he got to it he opened the door with a voice command, glad that some power still remained. Entering he discovered that it was extremely hot inside. Since he hadn't seen anything like what his father was talking about Jomo decided it must be buried in the shuttle's machine locker. Without power to keep the machines running, they were pretty much useless to Jomo and his family and had been left behind.

  The machine locker was a large room taking up about a tenth of the entire shuttle's volume. When Jomo entered he noticed how hot it was. He still had his cloth strips on and was glad because the floor was hot to the touch. Everything was hot and it made it difficult for Jomo to move and open the machines made of metal.

  Then Jomo saw the object. It was in a corner wedged securely. It looked exactly like the object his great-grandfather had described. The object he had risked his life to bring back from a Gallan cave only to have it stolen by the government. Jomo didn't think it any use but for some reason he couldn't just leave it there. He found a functioning freight walker and pulled and shoved and lifted until he had the heavy spheroid on the walker. He then sent the walker on its way to the village.

  He then continued his searching until he was dripping wet from sweat. He hadn't brought any water because he didn't think he would be so long. He had already been searching more than two hours without finding anything else. He was getting sick from the heat. Though he wasn't finished he had to give up the search and get out of the area and find some water before he collapsed.

  He caused the shuttle door to close and was carelessly stumbling through the open fields when the rumbling began. He started to run in the direction of the village. Just at the edge of the field he fell but raised himself long enough to see the walker falling into a new fissure which opened and swallowed the machine.

  Jomo thought he saw a flash of light from the fissure just as he passed out.

  30

  Dag and Ally were making there way to one of the restaurants for Ally's dinner that night. Dag was in front as they pulled themselves along with the handholds with Ally in her spacesuit.

  “Miss I don't trust the other teams.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I don't think they took the search seriously. I think the Captain's skepticism influenced them.”

  “You're saying they didn't make a thorough search?”

  “Yes Miss. The more I think about this situation the more I become convinced that there is one of those art pieces aboard. I think the Earth Aggies saw to it. Somehow they endowed these spheres, what I call recovery spheres, with the ability to heal spacetime and they were distributed everywhere possible. And having them aboard ships makes the most sense. That's where they would be needed most.”

  “You told the Captain you didn't know who was behind the spheres.”

  “I already was speculating too much Miss. I didn't want to add more. At some point people stop believing you if you're not careful.”

  “Well I haven't stopped believing and I'm ready to continue the search with you.”

  “Thanks Miss,” said Dag.

  She ate her zero-g rations quietly but the ship wasn't quiet. It sounded as if it were being beaten by a giant.

  As she finished Ally said, “Let's go search those other rooms now Dag. I'm worried the ship won't hang together much longer.”

  “Okay Miss. I think it is the best way we can spend our time.”

  The storage rooms were numbered. They knew which ones they had searched earlier and now headed for those the other teams were supposed to have searched.

  It was getting late. Dag's Emmie said it was three in the morning. They had been searching for almost eight hours, slowed because of the difficulty of bracing themselves in the zero-gravity when opening a crate or box. The crates and boxes were usually clamped down to the floor or each other with a melding micro-material that could join and release like the old hook and loop fasteners. Though their boots worked the same way they had to go slow or risk injury by levering themselves off the floor and into an awkward position when they opened a crate or box. And the micro-meld material system, while it worked well, was tiring, at least to Ally, because of the effort it took to break the meld. It was like working in mud.

  Still, they had been able to thoroughly search six of the eight rooms the other teams had searched. They had found nothing.

  “Maybe the other teams did take it seriously,” said Dag.

  “We're not finished yet,” said Ally.

  They moved to the next storage room and went in. It was a jumble of crates and boxes just like the others.

  “I'm surprised the Captain doesn't complain about the condition of these rooms Miss.”

  “He probably has never seen them. I'd say the First Officer is letting him down.”

  “You may be right.”

  They split up. Opening the crates and boxes was time-consuming. The messy state they were stored in didn't help. Forty minutes went by when Ally yelled.

  “Dag over here.”

  Dag turned to see where Ally had called from but he couldn't find her.

  “Where are you Miss I don't see you.”

  “That's because there is a recess here in the wall that was completely hidden by boxes and crates. The wall opposite the door. Just follow my trail in.”

  Dag found the “trail” and pushed his way past the many boxes and crates that Ally had opened and closed. Finally, he found himself facing a recessed area in the wall. It was about four feet across and eight feet deep.

  “That's unusual,” he said.

  Ally who was in the back of the area responded, “Yeah I wonder why? Maybe it was just a little more space the builder could get in or maybe it was a mistake they tried to cover up.”

  Dag was next to her now.

  “So what is it Miss.”

  “Look for yourself, it looks like what we are searching for to me.”

  Ally moved aside and Dag looked into the crate she had opened.

  It was!

  It was the art piece he had described to the others.

  “Miss let's clear a trail so we can get this crate out into the room where we'll be able to extract the sphere.”

  They worked for several minutes making Ally's path wide enough for the crate.

  Finally, Dag had moved the crate to the middle of the room. He wanted to lift the sphere out of the crate but couldn't seem to free it from its container.

  “I think I'm going to have to get something and pry on the bottom a bit Miss. Maybe it's being held down by micro-meld.”

  He looked around for a long lever. In opening a previous crate Dag had accidentally pried one of the slats off. It was still there to the side of the crate. He retrieved the slat and inserted it into a corner of the crate and began to tr
y and pry the sphere free.

  What happened next was a repeat of his previous performance with the sphere in Atkins' quarters. The sphere moved and the slat that Dag was using slipped. His feet pulled free from the floor and he found himself diving headfirst. Meanwhile, the sphere which had floated out of its crate was propelled even faster when Dag grabbed at the slat and caused it to slap the sphere, like a bat against a ball, sending it towards one of the walls.

  Dag was on the floor and didn't see the flash of light that Ally later told him about. Ally after following the path of the sphere to the wall rushed to Dag to make sure he was all right. She helped him back up and as he regained his composure he watched the sphere bounce off the wall and pass him on its way to the other wall. It hit the other wall slowly without any hint of light being given off and even more slowly rebounded at a slight angle. It then crashed into a pile of crates and came to a rest.

  “Are you okay Dag?”

  “I think so.”

  “Dag I saw some kind of light as the sphere hit the wall the first time.”

  “You did? Great. Let's get to control. I want the drive engineer to try and start up the drive.”

  Dag started for the door.

  “Listen Dag.”

  “For what? I don't hear anything.”

  “That's what I mean.”

  Dag got it.

  “It worked Miss, it worked!”

  Those aboard the JS1 were in a quandary. The wormhole drive was working and now they could reabsorb the baby universe causing the spacetime breakdown. But then what?

  They could link back to Adowa but then they would end up in a deteriorating spacetime like the one they had just escaped. And they had no more spheres to normalize such a spacetime. If the spacetime was too far deteriorated the drive wouldn't work and they would be trapped again. So where should they go? It soon became clear that without advance knowledge of where they were linking they might end up in a situation that would finish them off.

  Dag had no advice except that they should reabsorb the baby universe. If they stayed they wouldn't want it to again cause a deterioration of space and if they left they shouldn't leave a trap for other ships. Dag by this time realized how happy he was to exist and intended to do whatever he could to see that others stayed alive also.

  “Let's take care of first things first Captain. Then I can have some time to figure out how to safeguard linking to somewhere else.”

  The Captain agreed.

  Dag knew how Dr. Gibbs had merged the baby and parent universes. He would do something very similar except he would not have someone in the baby universe to reciprocate. He would have to attract the baby universe using the wormhole drive in a mode usually avoided in practice.

  The key was the moment when the negative mass-energy the drive created approached infinity if the system wasn't driven through the zero-point of the equations fast enough. No operator would allow the system to stay in that region long, it was just too dangerous. A black hole instead of a wormhole mouth could form.

  But fortunately, Dag had someone that could operate a wormhole generator like a precision instrument under his guidance. He had explained to Walker what he wanted him to do.

  “Cast to a point as close to the anomaly as possible Walker. We will know where because the region will be breaking down as it is once again affected by the baby universe. Then maintain the drive as close to infinite mass-energy as you dare without crossing the zero-point.

  “The resulting huge gravity will begin attracting the baby universe. You shouldn't have to maintain it long I will signal you when to stop.”

  Dag looked at the wallscreen and saw quite distant from the ship a nebulous glow. He knew then that they had attracted the baby universe. The merger was starting. A dark blue patch of space like a dim arc lamp was brightening fast. The patch of space became white-hot and expanded rapidly. It appeared to be a bubble being blown.

  “How wide is that thing?” asked Dag.

  “Several thousand kilometers and increasing fast,” said Ally who was monitoring the spacetime.

  “It's bulging,” said Dag.

  The white-hot bulge was swirling like striated clouds. Around it seemed to be discharges of lightning hundreds of kilometers long.

  “Okay now Walker I want you to cast a wormhole mouth somewhat beyond it. Maximum mouth size.”

  On the screen, the near wormhole mouth was generated and became clear. Then the far mouth was cast.

  It was but a moment until what was left of the bulge began to collapse and swirl along the axis of the wormhole in the wormhole dimension.

  “What now Dag?”

  “We just wait Miss.”

  The ship began shaking.

  “Sir,” said the helmsman, “we are being pulled toward the phenomena.”

  “Maintain station helm,” said Captain Reynolds. “Use the fusion engines if needed.”

  “I think spacetime itself is wrinkling and swirling and passing by the ship in waves,” said Dag. “The wormhole we have cast is functioning like a fishing line and pulling the other universe in.”

  “So what happens next?”

  “They should merge,” said Dag. “At least that is what they did for Dr. Gibbs.”

  What happened next was that spacetime waves which had been rushing past the JS1 towards the wormhole reversed and began fleeing in the other direction. The energy of their passing was causing the hull of the ship to resonate.

  Above the noise Dag said, “It's done!”

  No one understood him as they were busy trying to endure the noise and hang on as the ship shook and twisted.

  Those that were still watching the wallscreen noticed a dark inky blackness dominate the view and then just as quickly it was gone. The spacetime around the ship vibrated a few times back and forth before settling down. Then stillness. Soon Ally verified that the anomaly was gone. There was a brief moment of cheering before some realized that now they had a difficult choice to make. To stay where they were or go back.

  31

  Dag had spent a week working with Ally and the drive to find a way to make it safely back to Adowan space or as close to it as possible. The procedure was simple. They sent and retrieved a memory datacube many times to map the space around Adowa. As expected the far space was disrupted in all the links they had inspected so far. But because of the nature of link probabilities mapping the space in enough detail to find the edge of the spreading disturbance would take even more time.

  “It's so frustrating Dag. We have so little control of the mapping.”

  “That is the nature of nonlocal links Miss. Created at the start of the universe they since were randomized by its natural expansion. Their mapping can only be accomplished with time and effort. We'll just have to continue as best we can. But with Walker's help we'll soon have this mapping automated and be making real progress.”

  Upon automation of the task, the mapping went more swiftly. Retiring one night Dag left Walker to continue mapping. He was reanimated only an hour later by Walker.

  “Dag,” said Walker as Dag let him into his room. “Sorry to disturb you but I've found something I thought you should know about as soon as possible.”

  “That's okay Walker what is it?”

  “Take a look at this.”

  Walker showed Dag the plot on an Emmie. Dag noticed immediately what Walker was talking about. The screen was a plot of all link locations where a disrupted spacetime had been found. It looked like a cylinder.

  “Walker the center is clear.”

  “Yes.”

  “The space around Adowa has healed somehow.”

  “Yes.”

  “We can go home.”

  Jomo's grandmother thought it was a miracle. His father wasn't sure, he thought Jomo must have succeeded, and Jomo was confused but thankful. Still even without the ground shaking and fissures opening underfoot keeping the family fed was difficult.

  The village had almost cleared out. Only two other families
still remained. The rest had left in search of a more plentiful supply of food. Jomo was out with his son looking for food supplies when he heard the noise overhead. Looking up he was startled to see a shuttle approaching the field. It landed and shortly First Officer Sands stepped out and waved to Jomo.

  Walking up to him Jomo said, “You have come back for us. You are responsible for the improved conditions?”

  “Well not exactly Jomo. But we think we know what must have happened. But right now we just want to see what we can do for you.”

  “How did you find us?”

  “There must be a shuttle somewhere nearby. We followed its signal down.”

  “Yes it has fallen into a fissure but wasn't destroyed.”

  “Do you want to leave from here Jomo?”

  “Well we accepted an offer like that before but as you know it didn't work out so I think we will stay.”

  “Very well can we offer you some food supplies or some building materials.”

  “Yes our food supply is very low. But we have two other families here.”

  “That shouldn't be a problem.”

  “Seeds and building supplies would also be useful. Most of the buildings in the village are destroyed.”

  “I think we can get you seeds. And we will leave a build-bot and an isotopic reservoir with solar panels which should give you enough power to supply several times the number of people you have here.”

  “Thank you. It is greatly appreciated. Maybe now some of those that left can come back home.”

  The orbiting ships ferried down the supplies and left them with Jomo and the others.

  There was one other signal from a shuttle that First Officer Sands and his crew followed to its location. This time though what they found was more sobering.

  There in the valley, the First Officer recognized the several shuttles they had left behind, or what was left of them. They appeared to have come under attack. If not burnt, badly decomposed bodies were everywhere. As if they had taken to running from an overwhelming force.