by Kumar L
This is too deep. Imaginary time? White holes? Hawking radiation? How can we ever stitch all of these concepts together to find a solution?
Her head was spinning. She needed to rest. I’m just so tired. If I could only close my eyes for some time... Ryan. Yes, she and Ryan could make sense out this madness together. Yes. Ryan.
She slept. A sleep full of dreams. She was one with the Universe again.
◆◆◆
It seemed only seconds had passed when she was woken up by a gentle prodding.
“Who is it?” She was groggy. Was it still night? Why didn’t someone switch on the lights? “Lights!” she called out. “Lights!”
“It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s me. Ryan. You must’ve fallen asleep.”
She ran her hand over her eyes. They were open. I am blind. Blind. Better get used to it.
“Sorry.” She pushed herself up against the arm of her chair and sat up. I can’t even see what I look like right now. She ran her hands through her hair and pushed it back into some semblance of order.
“I was going over some details with Narada and must’ve fallen asleep. I’m sorry. How long was I sleeping?” She was flustered. It had never happened before. Shame on me for nodding off in the captain’s chair.
Ryan caught the fleeting look of pity that passed over Manisha’s face and glared at her. He touched Anara’s shoulder in sympathy. She let his hand lie there. Human contact felt good.
“I know. The notes are still on the screen and Narada has added to them. You were asleep for about half-an-hour, no more. Don’t worry.”
“How’s the crew? Narada said there was one more death. Jas?”
“Yes. Jas didn’t make it. And we lost one more—Krisha. She was part of the science team. Thankfully, we have not had any more new cases. Dr Khan has sedated the patients with the highest safe dosage. Any more, and he says their brain function will be severely affected.”
“We have to do something!”
“And we are. We are trying to find the cause, and you and I are going to get us out of here. I promise.” He needed to reassure her. God knows what it feels like going blind suddenly, feeling helpless amidst all this chaos. “Let’s get back to work.”
“I’m lost, Ryan. Five dimensions, white holes, baby universes? How can we connect all of that together? We only have theories to go on!”
“We do have theories and its time we put them to test,” he said reassuringly. He needed her to focus. “It’s all theoretical physics. Looks like you’ve covered all the possibilities. Narada, you have anything more to add?”
“No, Commander. There are some more impractical and unproven concepts with ten or even twenty-seven dimension solutions, but I do not believe any of those will help us in our current predicament except to enhance our knowledge of advanced mathematics. I will run them in the background just to rule out any possibilities. But with my reduced processing power it may take days before I can come back with any answers. We should consider Hawking radiation as well. The electromagnetic radiation released when a particle is absorbed by a black hole and its antiparticle pair is formed.”
“Understood, but we are right now talking about the other side of a black hole. I’m not sure Hawking radiation fits into this right now,” said Ryan as he reviewed the updated notes. To prove any of their hypotheses, they needed more data. He had a few ideas.
“Manisha, which scans of the outer space have you run so far?”
“Radar, sonar, and visual. Also, passive reading in various radio, audio and light frequencies—from infrared to ultraviolet. Zero feedback on all of them. None of the more advanced instruments are working.”
“Then we will use primitive science. Let’s try a laser range probe. UV spectrum. Ten to the power twelve, one trillion kilowatts. Wide area sweep. Ten billionth of a second pulse.”
“That will consume a lot of power, and we will only be able to scan maybe four or five AU in two hours, based on the speed of light. I mean, if I understand you correctly, you want to use the lasers as range finders or radar and see what they are reflected off. A laser pulse that can come back to us as a reflection within two hours. That means it should be strong enough to travel four or five AUs and reflect back to us while still strong enough for us to detect it.” It made sense. With limited instruments and even limited power, it was a good option.
“Yep, you’re right. So let’s try it. Madhavan,” he called out over the intercom, “we need power to the lasers. I’ve sent the data across.”
Madhavan swiftly calculated the power reserves. “Whoa, commander. This is too much. It’ll drain our reserves.”
“Do it. My authority,” instructed Anara.
“You’re the boss,” Madhavan said. “If you’re sure. Ready in five.”
“I’ve set the dispersion pattern and the receivers will be active throughout the test,” confirmed Manisha.
“Acknowledged. Enable simultaneous reporting of any beam reflections. That will identify any objects near our position.”
“Done.”
“How will that help us?” asked Anara.
“We can use the reflected beams, if any, to form a rough model of the space around us. At the very least, it may provide us some reference points. If this is a baby universe, it might even be small enough for the beams to reflect off its boundary. It’s just an experiment for now.”
“Ok. But won’t radar be enough for that purpose?”
“Not really. It’s all about range. The beams I have sent out have a large aperture, short pulse and high energy. Their range will be much larger. Any reflection up to five AU will be sufficient for us to detect. That’s about five times the distance from our Sun to Earth.”
“Roger. Ready to fire laser pulses. One hundred seventy two points focused in a spherical grid,” called out Manisha.
“Do it.”
The pulses from the laser were only visible for a split second as they left the ship and disappeared into the void.
“What next while we wait?”
“Next we will explore the space around us with matter,” Ryan said.
“Sorry?”
“I will shoot a bullet into the void, just beyond our electromagnetic screen and... uh... it will… it will…” He shook his head as if to drive away a pesky fly. “It will… show… antimatter… which…” He gripped his head. “Nooooooo…!”
20
Antimatter
"Commander! What’s wrong?” Manisha ran to his side, trying to pull away his hands as he fell on the floor, writhing in agony. His body contorted and his eyes rolled up into his head.
“Nooooo…!” The screaming continued.
Anara too fell on her knees next to him, her hands searching to find his. “Call the doctor! Now, Manisha! Ryan? Ryan?”
Manisha tried to restrain the thrashing Commander, but he was too strong for her. “Get the doctor somebody!”
The screaming filled the room as Ryan continued to flail. He had turned pale and was sweating profusely. Anara held his shoulders while Manisha sat on his feet to keep him from hurting himself.
The door flew open.
“Oh no! Not you too, Commander,” cried the doctor, rushing in. “Hold his arm while I sedate him!”
Anara felt and gripped his right arm tightly while the doctor administered a dermaspray. Ryan’s body relaxed slowly in stages. His breath became sluggish.
“What happened to him?” Anara panted as she released her grip.
“The symptoms are the same. He’s been afflicted just like the others. How did it happen?”
“One minute he was talking and then he started screaming and collapsed,” Anara said, trying to keep the agitation from her voice. “Can you help him? We can’t make this work without him.”
“This is all I can do. The illness is spreading across the ship in stages. It’s only a matter of time before all of us are affected. The sedatives do not help much, and I have already given him the maximum dose. If only I could induce a
deeper sleep, we might stand a chance. But this sedative is all I’ve got. I’m sorry.”
“I’m sick of hearing sorry!” Anara shouted. “Everyone today is sorry about something or the other. Well, we can either feel sorry or we can act! No more sorries!”
The doctor looked at her in alarm. By force of recent habit, he wondered if she was losing it too.
She turned towards the doctor’s voice. “You said you need to induce sleep. You mean like a coma?”
Not sure where she was going with this, he thought before replying. “Not exactly. A medically induced coma can be very risky and will require artificial respiration using a ventilator. We only have a few of those and I cannot oversee everyone in this hazardous procedure even with automatons.”
“What about our pods? Our capsules?”
“Pods?”
“The pods in our dome. They are designed to induce artificial sleep and we have enough for all our people and a few spare ones as well. And if we switch on the dome activating the cocoon, we can isolate the patients from outside space completely. Will that help?” Anara was clutching at straws.
The doctor considered. “I don’t know if it will, but I have no other ideas at hand. If it is something in our vicinity or environment which is affecting them, it may work. There is no harm in trying, for sure.”
“Let’s go then! Help me lift him up. C’mon!” She attempted to lift Ryan’s feet.
“Captain, you can’t do this. Let me. Fireman’s carry, doc. Help me out.”
Manisha hunched down at the knees while the doctor laid Ryan on his back. She bent Ryan’s legs, pulled his left arm upwards and swung him across her shoulders. She ran out of the room managing the heavy weight on her shoulder quite easily and the doctor followed her. Anara was left behind again.
“Narada, get me the Colonel.”
Narada placed the call.
“Colonel, Ryan has collapsed as well, but we may have a solution to save the crew. I want you to get the patients into the dome. We will place them in stasis and light up the cocoon. The doctor is there already. I’ll meet you there. Please hurry!”
“On my way!”
“One more thing, I need a robo-soldier as a guide. I can’t keep pulling people off their duties to be my guide. A robot will be sufficient for my needs.”
“Done. Someone will be with you shortly. Fraser out.” He rose to do her bidding, his respect for her growing manifold by the minute.
This is one strong woman. Her crew is dying around her, her first officer may be dying as well, and she herself is blind. Yet, she is still running strong.
“Narada, call Madhavan,” Anara instructed next.
When she was connected, she said, “Madhavan, we need the dome operational with at least twenty pods. Get a team there.”
“Dome? Are we going to light speed?”
“No. It’s a medical experiment. It may help save the rest of the crew. Get it done!”
“Hold on, Captain. I’m not sure we will have enough power to spare for the dome! I’m barely able to hold the engines together and just a few minutes ago, we sent out lasers at a trillion kilowatts. One hundred and seventy-two beams. We will exhaust the fuel in days!”
“Madhavan, if we don’t save the crew there will be no use for all the fuel we manage to save anyway” No fuel. No crew. Antariksh would be lifeless and adrift. “How many days of fuel do you have at the current rate of consumption?”
“Ten days, give or take one or two.”
“And with the dome functioning?”
“I’ll need to check.”
“Rough cut is good enough for now.”
“Uh,” he hesitated, doing the mental arithmetic, “maybe forty, forty-five hours. Two days tops.”
Two days to find our way out. It isn’t going to happen. At least if the laser beams find an object and reflect back; I might get some leads.
“Do it,” she ordered.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, resignedly. No one listens to me any longer. If I can figure out how we lost the fuel, it might just be possible to prevent further leakage. We should find a way to carry space cans of antimatter. Even a few hundred grams. Then I could refuel the ship whenever required. Now that’s a thought I can work on; portable antimatter containers. Madhavan shook his head.
◆◆◆
A light hum filled the corridor indicating that the dome was functioning. A small crowd was gathered outside the entrance when Anara arrived, guided by a robot-soldier.
“Doc?”
“It seems to be working, Captain,” he replied, exultant. “The patients are stable. That was one hell of an idea!”
“A calculated hunch, doctor. At least we have bought ourselves some time. All of forty hours. I want you to gather all non-essential personnel and place them inside the pods as well. We don’t know how and why this region of space alters the human brain, so we must try and protect our people as best as we can. You, me, the Colonel, Madhavan, Manisha—we will get to work. Manisha, ask Madhavan to get the rest of the pods operational. He’s also to pick two of his best people to work with him. Tell him to ask for volunteers. People should be able to choose if they are ready to face the prospect of falling violently ill. Colonel, we need a few troops to help us. Plus one nurse with the doctor. Only one nurse, mind you. No more than a dozen people overall. Understood?”
“Yes,” they all murmured.
“Let’s get to work. The clock is ticking. Manisha, Colonel—you’re with me.” She turned and found the robot-soldier’s hand. “Take me to Ops, please.”
The robot acknowledged her order and led her down the corridor.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
“My designation is S12. Robot platoon 35,” it replied as they climbed the stairs.
“Thank you, S12.” Why am I thanking a robot?
“It’s my duty, Captain.”
◆◆◆
Several minutes later, with most of the crew in stasis, Anara sat in Ops with Manisha and Fraser. This game needs to be played to its logical end. “Narada, any feedback on the laser detectors?”
“None so far. I am monitoring them continuously.”
“Right, right. Suggestions?”
“What did Commander Ryan mean by firing a bullet? He said something about antimatter.” The Colonel was looking for a part to play. He could fire a bullet.
“Particle anti-particle pairs are postulated to be created at the event horizon of black holes. One of them may be absorbed and the other one is emitted causing what is known as Hawking Radiation. So, when normal matter is absorbed, an anti-particle is also created at the event horizon,” replied Narada.
Anara sat down in her chair. Particle-antiparticle pair created at black hole. Anti-particles exit the event horizon. So, at a white hole, the opposite must happen. An antiparticle-particle pair is created; the antiparticle remains inside the event horizon, or inside the white hole, while the corresponding normal particle is emitted into normal space. Does this mean matter entering a black hole stays at the singularity and the corresponding anti-particles enter the fifth dimension or baby universe?
She spoke her thoughts out loud.
“It is theoretically possible, but like I’d said there is no empirical evidence for the same,” observed Narada.
“Till now. That is what Ryan was trying to prove by firing a bullet!” Wow! That’s genius level thinking!
“What bullet?” Manisha was getting confused.
“Anti-particles are opposite of normal matter. So, a negatively charged electron will have a positron—same mass opposite charge. A neutron will have an anti-neutron. If the two types of particles meet, they annihilate themselves in a huge burst of energy. This matter-antimatter explosion under control is what we use to power our ship.”
Manisha nodded, catching on. “You mean, if we are surrounded by anti-particles and we fire a bullet outside, it will cause an explosion?”
“Yes. That’s the only way we can determine the
presence of anti-particles. Rough and dirty. Our sensors are barely functional. Our own anti-matter detectors in the engine room have very limited range and it would take too long to modify them. So Ryan thought of the bullet.”
“But if we have antiparticles outside, why haven’t we been destroyed so far? We are made of matter, aren’t we? Hundreds of tons of matter, in fact. Or is that a stupid question?” asked Fraser.
“No. It’s not a stupid question at all. The reason could be the strong electromagnetic field surrounding the ship. It is designed to help deflect space dust that can rupture our hull. It is always functional even when we are standing still. Electromagnetism is also what we also use to keep matter-antimatter separate till required for the energy reaction. In a way that EM field surrounding our ship has been protecting us. Ryan is truly a genius. He figured out a way to help us observe anti-matter even when we have no functional sensors. The EM field focusses outwards so a bullet will get through just like our missiles.”
“So, we fire a bullet and prove his theory? That’s it?” That Fraser could do.
“Yes, that’s exactly what we do, and you may be a co-winner of the Nobel, Colonel!” Anara said, with a broad grin. They would at least have one breakthrough if the bullet caused an explosion as soon as it exited the EM field.
“Get set then. Get a long-range rifle with a single bullet. I assume you will be the one doing the honours?” Progress, however small, improved her mood considerably.
I will beat you yet, she challenged the black hole in her mind.
21
A Long Shot
The Colonel stood inside the airlock waiting for it to open. He was clad in an EVA suit, connected with a tether. In his hand, he held a Barrett 105AI. The AI-supported, long-range sniper rifle felt good in his hands. He had just one bullet in the chamber. He had taken some time deciding which gun and bullet combination to use. He needed the longest possible range, which meant he had to use a sniper rifle like the Barrett. The bullet had to be as light as possible so it could travel the distance to cross the EM barrier and yet not have any more than the bare minimum mass. He had finally chosen a 150–grain cartridge and filed it to reduce the weight to less than one gram. If the theory was right, it would be enough to cause an immense matter-antimatter explosion and yet not damage the EM screen. 150–grain was the least he required if he wanted to achieve the required range. He did not need the video-scope because there was no specific target to be shot. This would be the easiest shot of his life, but possibly also the deadliest.
