“We are here to orient you to your future life here in the Belenos meta-verse. As you know we provide you with an almost unlimited computational power and you, in turn, provide the Belenos community with the fruits of your research.
“We only expect you to research topics that are of interest to you. You will be provided a list of such topics soon. Please choose the one or ones you wish to research and let our liaison, which you will be introduced to at the end of this orientation, know.
“Of course your “work” shouldn't take you long with the computing power we provide. We expect that most of you will have ninety-nine percent of your time for yourselves. During this time you may continue using the computing power that you used in your research in any way you see fit.
“The only restriction is that you do not use more computing power in off-work pursuits than you use in work pursuits. We think this is a reasonable trade-off,” the young woman smiled.
“Now, are there any questions?”
Elias was picked up by an Aggie ship and began the journey back to Centauri which would take a few weeks. Dag was with him in one of the auxiliary computing units that were similar to the hardware the Emmies used. Dag had been telling Elias everything he knew about Burgess, the Earth, the Aggies and Sigmund's hunch about the Aggie civil war. And the man Hugh Mason.
“Sir,” said Dag.
“Yes Dag.”
“I'm wondering, after all the Committee has put you through. Doesn't it seem strange that they would just give up and make a deal with you?”
“I wonder too Dag. It would seem to me they had the upper hand. But Charlotte said in the vid that I could expect the Committee to use my return as a public relations coup. It seems they have been getting bad publicity for their actions.”
“I suppose that could be the case sir. Still, I'm surprised.”
“Me too Dag. But after all these months away I'll be glad to see Burgess regardless of the circumstances.”
“Me too sir. If I could see with anything but this silly built-in cam on this device. Do you think there is any chance to get my original frame back.”
“I don't know Dag. I don't know how much influence the Committee has with the Aggies that kidnapped you. We may have to make other arrangements eventually.”
“I understand sir.”
The Terran Federation cruiser with Elias and Dag aboard had hop-scotched its way for weeks towards the Centauri System. With no one aboard but the AIs Elias had had to originally provision the ship himself. He had refined his previous method of using the wormhole generator. He could now use it to open mouths on both ships, then with a gentle shove on pallets of food and water they would traverse the wormhole to the other ship. The Aggies aboard the Federation vessel had seemed very interested.
But now with so much time on his hands Elias had been going over the past and what it might mean for the future.
It wasn't but it seemed years ago since he had first been accused of wrongful death because of what the StarPath Corporation's ship had done. He had fled to clear his name, then the long jump happened and the deaths of the crew and Burgess' miscarriage.
He had been stranded on the Eridani moon with Burgess and James. Then James death. The rescue by Arn but at the cost of several deaths among his men.
So much death.
Next came the separation from Burgess. Then contact with Dag and then the loss of that contact. Eventually, he and Dag reunited in the Belenos System.
Dag had told him about the Aggies and now finally they were going home to Burgess where he would face a retrial with a promise of a light sentence if convicted.
A promise, how good is that promise?
Burgess knew Elias was coming, Charlotte had relayed the message from Hugh Mason. But she wasn't sure of the day so she wasn't expecting to be awakened in the night. Charlotte was such a heavy sleeper that she heard nothing and Burgess had to answer the door.
Standing there was Elias. A beard on his face almost hiding the huge smile.
“Hi honey,” he said.
Burgess collapsed into his arms.
Elias carried her to the couch. The guards placed his personal belongings beside him.
As he was laying Burgess down she awakened.
“Elias you're here.”
“Obviously darling.”
“Are you okay?”
Elias smiled.
“Well I'm the one carrying you to the couch.”
“Oh,” she said. “I'm fine now. But it was a shock to open that door and see you after all these months.”
“Excuse me Mr. and Mrs. Mach. The guards and I will leave you now. Sir you know that you are to remain in this house until the trial?”
“Yes Lieutenant I know.”
“Very well then we will go.”
The guards left and closed the door. Two would remain stationed outside to make sure the Mach's remained in the house.
Burgess sat up.
“Elias I have something to tell you.”
“I know Dag told me, you're pregnant.”
“Dag told you?”
“Yeah its a long story but we met up a few tens of light-years from here. Wait a minute.”
Elias got one of his bags, opened it and took out an Emmie.
“Say hello to Burgess Dag.”
“Hello Miss.”
“Dag is that you? The voice sounds a little different and of course the body.”
“Yes Miss it is unfortunate that my body did not accompany me but otherwise I am here and I am fine.”
“Well this is the best surprise I've ever awakened to. But Elias I still have something to tell you.”
“What is it honey?”
“It's a girl.”
“That's wonderful.”
“And a boy.”
Elias opened his mouth but didn't speak.
“Here honey why don't you sit here,” said Burgess.
“I don't know what to say Burgess, it's like a dream come true.”
“Same here,” she said with a smile.
Chapter 24
Wormhole Physics 101, 5th Edition by Dr. Elias Mach
Copyright 2393 C.E.- Appendix 3, Page 623
Wormhole Feedback Loops in the Lab
Some problems need to be addressed in the creation of a lab sized wormhole. One of these problems is the feedback problem. When the wormhole mouths are separated by only a few feet there can develop a feedback loop from mouth to mouth which is completed through ordinary spacetime.
If this feedback is allowed to develop the energy build up in the wormhole can become exponential and unsupportable. Results of such a feedback loop include local vibrational effects, ionization, air disturbance and if it is allowed to continue an explosion as the energy in the wormhole causes a collapse and the resultant tiny black hole evaporates intensely . . .
Clarence was feeling a little stressed. To get the computing power he needed to create his world simulation he had offered to work longer. But now he felt like he had gone too far. Working so much left him with little time and even less motivation to tinker with his simulation. Clarence was discussing his situation with another simulator enthusiast Austin.
“I don't know Austin it just doesn't seem worth it. All this computing power and no time to play.”
“I know what you mean Clarence. I didn't realize when I volunteered that it was such a catch 22.”
“A catch what?”
“It's from an old book I think. It means that you are in a trap without escape because you have to embrace two contradictory but necessary conditions. Like you have to work enough to get the computing power to simulate, but because you work so much you don't have the time to simulate.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah it's an absurdity.”
“Well I'm giving up. I'm going to ask to be sent back to the meta-verse on Earth.”
“You can do that?”
“Yeah it was in those contracts that we signed. Didn't you read yours?”
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“I guess not.”
“Well I did, so it's all legal. They have to honor the contract.”
So Clarence put in for repatriation to Earth. He had to go through three interviews. Each interviewer tried to convince him that he was making a mistake. That he was accomplishing great things on Belenos 4 (the name given to the planet by the Aggies). Wouldn't he consider giving it just six more months? As he got better at his job he should be able to finish in a timely manner and have more time for his simulation.
But Clarence was mentally tired and wouldn't budge. Eventually, the Aggies agreed to send him back. He said his goodbyes to Austin, Caisson and some others. He was looking forward to heading home. He hadn't realized until recently that Earth was home.
Clarence was loaded into the computers of one of the Federation cruisers. It entered the wormhole to return to Earth. Something happened. Clarence and the others who had requested to be taken back didn't make it. A memory malfunction was blamed.
Elias found that once the lawyers got involved his retrial date was pushed back again and again. He was told that the longer it was delayed the greater was the chance that it would be dismissed. Elias would just as soon get it over with but he left it up to the lawyers as he got busy with his research.
The lawyers were good for some things however. They had got his and Burgess' house arrest dismissed. They had also been able to get Dag's frame returned from an Earth government. No one admitted to the kidnapping and Dag, like Elias, didn't care who was responsible he was just glad to be in one piece.
While working with Elias in his home lab one day Dag said, “You know sir it may seem peculiar to you if I say how much I am glad that my old frame is back but you see the sense activators, the voice synthesis, even the actuators for limb movement, they all have a familiarity that I've missed. It's like seeing Burgess and you in this house again, it's familiar and comforting.”
“I know what you mean Dag.”
“You do sir?”
“Sure I'm glad to be back in familiar environs also. I'm not really a world adventurer you know. Maybe in mind but not in body. Although I'm glad now that I went because with the new phenomena I observed and measured I'm going to be able to extend wormhole theory.”
“Yes sir I understand there does seem to be compensation for experiencing new phenomena even if it only convinces you of how good you had it before.”
Arn Strombecker and the others left aboard the Starway 1 had been busy restoring operations of the ship. Most of the damage had been repaired or bypassed and the ship had been taken into a close orbit around the Belenos system's star to recharge the isotopics.
It wouldn't be long until they would be making their way back to Luhman 16. But in the meantime, Roy and Steve had been keeping the Aggie wormhole mouth under surveillance with the ship's telescope. The power pouring out of the wormhole mouth made it white-hot visible even from a distance of several AU.
Steve was on duty when it happened. The mouth began to fade. Over a period of a few hours, it became difficult to see without electronic enhancement and then it just blinked out. It was late and Steve simply noted the time and waited to tell Arn.
When Arn arose Steve told him what had happened before retiring to his quarters to sleep. Arn went to the observation area where Roy had taken over for Steve.
“What do you see Roy?” asked Arn as he entered.
“Nothing boss.”
“So they've shut down the wormhole after all this time. Must mean something.”
“I think it means that they are finished building whatever it is on planet four.”
“Yeah that's what worries me. What are those Aggies going to do next? I think we need to let Elias know what's going on. I'll see you later Roy. Let me know if there are any changes.”
Elias' lab was in a separate building on the property that he had bought with the money from his Nobel Prize for the invention of the wormhole generator. A line of research that he had still not exhausted.
He was in his lab building thinking about the physics of wormholes and what he had observed when the Starway 1 was close to the Aggie's wormhole. The frame-dragging they had experienced was particularly interesting to Elias because it could be used for fast transport without the deadly physical effects of wormhole travel.
He knew that ordinarily, an active wormhole would be almost undetectable. It opens and closes immediately as it takes almost no time for a ship to pass through. But the Aggies had kept their wormhole open continuously for who knows how long. That had allowed the energy concentration in the wormhole dimension to build to tremendous levels.
Elias knew that the tension that exists at what might be called the walls of the wormhole, where the repulsive gravity of the exotic matter must balance all the attractive forces of the ordinary matter and energy of the transporting object, is immense. This tension results in vibrational modes similar to the modes in a black hole at frequencies beginning in the audible.
Some of this energy, which Elias had named shadow energy, radiates or leaks away as gravitational energy into normal spacetime. And if a ship were close enough to hear the sounds of the wormhole it would also be close enough to have its three-dimensional momentum affected. It would experience the frame-dragging effect of the gravity from the huge concentration of energy in the wormhole.
In addition, the energy from the wormhole dimension leaking into ordinary space was causing standing waves of spacetime close to the corridor. The energy build-up from one ripple to another was great enough to cause, as a side effect, the excitation of atoms caught in the ripples.
Elias' calculations showed that the energy would eventually build in harmonics until they showed up as frequencies of light. A soft glow would come from these areas. Eventually, the light would get extremely bright.
Elias planned an experiment to see this effect. If he could demonstrate such an effect then the other claims of his theory, such as frame-dragging, would follow.
Elias needed to create a wormhole in his lab and keep it open and operating long enough for the effects he predicted to become measurable. But this could be a problem if the mouths were too close together. The feedback loop from mouth to mouth and completed outside the wormhole through ordinary spacetime was dangerously explosive as Elias had found out while developing the wormhole generator.
He would need a bigger lab.
Chapter 25
Elias enlisted Dag and they worked to build an extension onto the lab. A corridor down which the other mouth of the wormhole could form. Elias had calculated that the added length would allow the wormhole to operate long enough for him to observe the effect he was seeking. The corridor would provide a dry place for him and Dag to work during the time the wormhole needed to operate. He was glad he had bought such a large plot of ground with his Nobel money.
Using a 3D printer rented from a building supply house with built-in AI they easily finished the corridor in three days. The greatest hold up was getting the raw materials shipped. Meanwhile, some equipment that Elias needed also arrived. By the end of the week, he was ready to start test runs.
Having more experience with wormhole generation than anyone allowed Elias to quickly prepare for a data run. The corridor had been added to one corner of the lab. This allowed the control room to function as before. Behind a blast window which was guaranteed not to shatter at pressures above what the small wormhole Elias intended to create could generate, he began the experiment.
The wormhole formed as planned. Small projectiles fired in one end and collected at the other provided the energy input to the wormhole. The only duty for Elias and Dag over the next several days was to collect the projectiles at one end and bring them to the other end to refill the launch device and to monitor the instrument sensors.
A week into the run Dag had retired for a recharge and Elias was monitoring the experiment through his Emmie from the house. It was late at night when he saw the first signs of a shadow. The audio sensor started with a low h
um almost too low and quiet to hear. But over the next hour, it had built into a definite tone which the Emmie estimated as being equivalent to middle-C on piano. By the time Dag arrived to spell Elias the tone had moved into the kilohertz range.
“So far, as expected Dag. By the time I get up from my nap, I expect we will be measuring radio frequencies.”
“Yes sir.”
Dag bade Elias a goodnight and Elias retired to his home office for what he thought would be a brief nap.
Elias was dreaming of warming his hands over an open wood fire when he was startled awake by a loud booming sound. He sat up and quickly ran to the back of the house.
Dag was not where Elias had left him. He continued through the backroom heading out the door to the lab. At once Elias noticed the glow from the lab windows. It wasn't the lights. It was a soft reddish glow. He hurried to the lab door and entered.
There was Dag working at the control station.
“Sir the radiation from the wormhole which I was monitoring from the main structure suddenly began to increase exponentially. I came here to reduce the energy feed by slowing the rate of projectiles, I have now turned off the injector and the energy level has stabilized.”
“Good work Dag. At what frequency was the radiation when the energy levels started increasing?”
“It was in the red end of the visible spectrum sir.”
“Okay let's do the frame-dragging experiment before we stop.”
The test would place a small object into the shadow region of the wormhole. Dag would restart the projectile injector and if everything went as planned the small object would be accelerated by the action of frame-dragging towards the far wormhole mouth.
Dag restarted the projectile injector. The small object about the size of a pellet from a pellet gun was placed by a robotic arm near the calculated wormhole region. The arm gave the pellet a small velocity towards the far wormhole mouth.
Suddenly the arm swung wildly around its pivot point throwing the robot off balance and crashing to the floor. At the same time, the far wall of the corridor exploded as the tiny pellet hit it with the force of a large mass of high explosives.
Mach's Metric Page 15
