The Hole

by Brandon Q Morris

  “Who is there?” he asked.

  “It’s me, Eridu,” his own voice answered.

  “And me.”

  “And me.”

  “Me, too.”

  Voices called from all parts of Watson’s consciousness. What had happened to him? Did his plan work?

  “Our plan worked,” he heard.

  “Where am I? Is this the event horizon of the black hole, or did I slip beyond it into a different universe?”

  The others only laughed. That probably meant he had to find it out by himself. How many might there be?

  “There are countless many, but not an infinite number.”

  He received answers without having asked questions. His thoughts seemed to be open for everyone.

  “Yes, they are,” a child’s voice said. “But you can control that. We respect your decisions.”

  In his head the image of a campfire appeared, around which numerous people sat, talked, danced or simply stared into the flames.

  “Your thoughts are still very specific,” the child said. The child sat close to the fire, sticking both feet into it. “That is refreshing, and you should keep it that way.”

  “Your feet,” Watson said.

  “An interesting experience,” the child answered without having to open its mouth. “Take your time. You are in infinity, in the nothingness at the edge of this universe. There are many here like you and me and many more who are very different.”

  “How did I get here?” Watson asked.

  “Now and then we invite someone, someone like you,” the child replied. “And you came.”

  “I did not know I was invited.”

  “We also did not know it would be you. Not everyone follows the invitation. And we never know in advance who will heed the call.”

  “Could it be you almost destroyed a solar system in doing so?” Watson asked.

  “It was only one of trillions and trillions in an infinite number of universes. Would that have been important?”

  “It was important to me. I would have ended my existence for it.”

  “That is interesting,” the child said, spreading both arms and flapping upward. “Perhaps that was why you were invited.” The child turned around and flew away across the sea.

  Watson felt warm sand between his toes. It was something he had never experienced before. In front of him was a sandy beach, with an expanse of turquoise water behind it. The sky was black, as if there were no atmosphere. He held his right hand in front of his face and counted his fingers. There were five. He lowered his arm, raised it, and counted again. Six fingers–everything was completely normal. Watson lay down in the sand and fell asleep at once.

  June 21, 2072, 2003 EH1

  The crew of Kiska arrived a month later than originally planned. The spaceship descended onto the asteroid in slow motion. Ten centimeters above the surface Maria activated the steel clamps that were going to attach Kiska to this celestial body for the next two years. It had been an exciting journey, and up to the very end the ship performed amazingly, considering its age.

  Doug was happy to see their home again. A visitor probably would find no reason for this—maybe except for the fact that they could prepare fresh food, and that taking showers was much easier than on Kiska. Doug could not explain it, but even if the rooms by necessity looked similar to those of a spaceship, this was their home, where they lived as a small family.

  Even before they arrived they used remote control to re-pressurize the rooms. The air still smelled a bit odd, though, like a solvent. Siri assured them the life-support system could handle it.

  “Soon it will smell of your sweat again, as usual,” she said.

  “Thanks for reminding me.” Maria said. She was the one who always suffered most because of that smell. Doug put his arm around her shoulder.

  “Thank you for coming along.”

  Maria gave him a look that said, “Of course I was going to come.”

  Sebastiano was already out of sight. He was probably inspecting his kitchen. Tonight, or tomorrow at lunch the very latest, he wanted to serve them a festive meal. He could only tell them what he was going to cook once Maria checked on the greenhouses. Maria wanted to slip out of Doug’s grasp, but he held on to her.

  “Sebastiano is waiting for my water-level report,” she said.

  “Just a moment. I wanted to tell you something, about my past,” Doug began. “I… would understand if afterward you don’t want to be with me anymore, but it would be dishonest if I kept it from you for another two years.”

  Maria gave him a serious look. Doug, who still had a hand on her shoulder, felt her muscles stiffen.

  “Oh, that,” she said. Nothing more. Her facial muscles twitched. Maria was obviously wrestling with herself, but then she came to a decision and her muscles relaxed.

  “I think it was govno, shitty of you to wait so long,” she said. “But I am glad you finally mentioned it.”

  Doug started feeling hot. “You knew about it?” he asked.

  “Rumors travel fast in a whorehouse. You won’t believe what men say during sex. Even Shostakovich was a customer of ours. A prostitute friend warned me about you. She knew every detail of your story. Of course I had you checked out when you wanted to hire me. You think I would go on a space voyage lasting several years with someone I knew nothing about?”

  “I thought you fell in love with me?”

  “Later, yes,” Maria said.

  “And you don’t mind?” Doug asked.

  “You mind—it really bothers you. You did not dare tell me, so I knew you knew how wrong it was. That’s what gave me hope... all this time.”

  “Thank you, Masha.”

  “Don’t thank me too soon,” Maria said. “Once we are back on Earth we are going to visit the children of the victims.”

  August 4, 2072, Pico del Teide

  Maribel almost crashed against her office door. She was used to it automatically opening when she entered the corridor. She had worked in this office all by herself since Zetschewitz had accepted a job at the United Nations. Someone must already be inside, but who could it be?

  She carefully opened the door and looked around. A stool was located where Zetschewitz’s desk used to be. On it sat Dieter Zetschewitz, her former boss. He laughed when he noticed her amazement.

  “I wanted to congratulate you on this special day,” he said and got up.

  “Special day?” Maribel asked, surprised “Did I miss something?”

  “Today the Earth would have died, if not for you.”

  “Oh.”

  It really had slipped Maribel’s mind. The past weeks had been so crazy! Returning to her routine took so much longer than expected. Every prestigious physics department in the world had wanted her. They offered her important positions, unlimited research funds, even an institute of her own. It took a lot of effort on her part to be allowed to continue with her previous job. But Zetschewitz was right, today was a special day. She felt shaky, had to sit down. Ten billion people had come within an inch of dying today.

  “I didn’t want to startle you. Quite the opposite,” Zetschewitz said. He pulled a piece of paper from the briefcase leaning up against the wall.

  “Look at this,” Zetschewitz said and handed her the paper. It showed the UN logo and the title ‘Savior of Humanity.’ It was an invitation to UN Headquarters in New York on September 15th. Maribel remembered a news report about this event from last week. This award, which had been created just a few days ago, was handed out by the UN General Assembly.

  “You will be the first human recipient,” the German said in a solemn tone. “The award does not carry financial remuneration, since currently all money is needed for cleanup, but from now on you can travel to any country in the world without a visa. And you do like to travel.”

  “I didn’t realize that until now, but thanks,” Maribel said. “You said I was the first human recipient?”

  “Yes, the very first recipient was an AI,”
Zetschewitz explained.

  “Watson.”

  “That’s what he called himself. Unfortunately, the award was given posthumously.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure,” Maribel said.

  “Did you take a closer look at the scatterbrained theories of these amateur researchers?” Zetschewitz asked.

  “A little,” Maribel said in a deliberate understatement. For a short time these ideas had caused quite a stir, but there were no further proofs. The research community was not content with the simple fact that the black hole had disappeared. Now Maribel was trying to gather these proofs.

  “Then it must be clear to you how far away from reality these theories are.”

  “If you say so,” Maribel said, but could not suppress a smile.

  “By the way, did you ever finish my galaxy simulation, girl?” Zetschewitz asked.

  Maribel placed her hands on her hips.

  “Just a joke,” her former boss said. “I heard you are doing great work here, and are slated to take over my position.”

  “Thanks. Do I have you to thank for it?”

  “Whatever made you think that? I only badmouth you everywhere. You know me.”

  January 1, 2077, Orbital Station Blue

  News Of The Day

  Section: Miscellaneous.

  Today the first star-rated restaurant opened in space. Famed chef Sebastiano Guarini awaits his guests in a module of the tourist orbital station Blue, which Blue Origin operates at the Lagrange point L2. Guarini turned into a celebrity after publishing his innovative book Cooking in Zero Gravity, which became a worldwide bestseller. The cook, who developed all his recipes himself in space, was awarded his Michelin star during a gala dinner on board the space station.

  Author’s Note

  Welcome back! I hope you enjoyed reading The Hole as much as I enjoyed writing it. The Hole is the first stand-alone title in my universe that started with The Enceladus Mission. If you have traveled with me from the beginning, you re-met some old friends here, and you will continue to meet characters from these books in my future novels.

  This is what makes writing in the same universe so much fun for me. I get to invent new personalities, while at the same time I can re-visit those that bugged me as they developed throughout the series.

  Protagonists don’t always behave well for their creator—they tend to take on lives of their own. Sometimes they don’t want to do what I’m telling them, or they react unexpectedly. Let’s take Maribel as an example. I wasn’t sure what she would do when she was on her way to space. Would she really leave Chen behind? Only when I wrote that chapter did her true motives crystalize. I just had to write down what she really wanted.

  I never like to say goodbye to anyone, and that includes the protagonists of my novels. As long as I stay in the same universe, I can tell you what happens in their lives after they come back from their adventures. What becomes of Maribel? You will meet her again, ten or maybe even twenty years from now in story time. Will she still be an astronomer? She hasn’t told me… yet!

  How has Earth coped with the near-catastrophic events triggered by The Hole? This question will be answered in my next novel, Silent Sun, that you can preorder here:

  hard-sf.com/links/522762

  Silent Sun introduces a fascinating discovery: A strange structure—which had to have been manufactured—surrounds our sun. The construction not only grabs the attention of scientists, the party who is able to conquer it might gain a terrifying weapon that yields enormous power. I won’t tell you here how this struggle plays out... But I can promise you a journey filled with fascinating science and breathtaking action, and most of all, the feeling of ‘being there’ that I like so much in a novel.

  Where would you love to travel? The International Space Station? To the Moon or Mars? To a faraway star, or maybe inside a black hole? I’d love to hear about your travel dreams—if you could go wherever you wanted. Just write to me at brandon@hard-sf.com.

  Hope to see you soon!

  On my website at www.hard-sf.com you will also find interesting popular science news and articles about all those worlds afar that I’d love to have you visit with me.

  I have to ask you one last thing, a big favor: If you liked this book, you would help me a lot if you could leave me a review so others can appreciate it as well. Just open this link:

  hardsf.de/links/454488

  Thank you so much!

  Due to the fact that asteroids play an important role here, you will find a section entitled Black Holes – A Guided Tour below.

  If you register at hard-sf.com/subscribe/ you will be notified of any new Hard Science Fiction titles. In addition you will receive the color PDF version of Black Holes – A Guided Tour.

  Black Holes – A Guided Tour

  Introduction

  A black hole is an object of such strong gravitational force that matter and information are prevented from leaving a certain area around the object. Black holes, according to the general theory of relativity, develop in a situation where a concentrated mass curves space so much that it closes in upon itself.

  The very name has an interesting history, and it is often ascribed to the physicist John Archibald Wheeler, who researched the topic. Initially, Wheeler used the term ‘gravitationally completely collapsed star,’ which accurately described the phenomenon, but was not very catchy. Therefore, during a presentation he gave in New York in 1967 he asked the audience for a better term. One of the audience members—Wheeler did not remember the person’s name—suggested ‘black hole’ and the name stuck.

  Later, archival research revealed that the term was already used in 1964 by the journalist Ann Ewing in the magazine Science News. Perhaps the unknown person who had suggested the name to Wheeler had read it there, or in an article published in LIFE magazine between then and Wheeler’s 1967 presentation. It is possible the term was already in unofficial use among researchers—one factor that supports this position is that other researchers claimed to have heard it at conferences in 1960 and 1961, without being able to say who initially used it. It is also entirely possible that Ewing and the unknown individual invented it independently of each other.

  By the way, researchers came up with the idea of ‘dark stars’ long before modern physics developed. This happened while scientists followed the corpuscular theory of light, which for a long time competed with the wave theory, and finally merged with it in the quantum nature of light. If you imagine light to consist of particles, then Newton’s gravitation has to apply to these particles. In 1783 the scientist John Michell calculated accordingly that in the case of a star that had 500 times the radius of the sun (with the density being equal), light could no longer escape due to its strong gravitational pull. This star would then be a ‘dark star.’ In 1796 the French mathematician Laplace also described this possibility.

  However, the modern black hole just recently turned 100 years old. After Einstein published the general theory of relativity in 1915, the following year Karl Schwarzschild offered the metric later named after him as a special solution to the field equations. It describes a non-rotating and not electrically charged black hole, whose event horizon then is given as a radius rs = 2GM/c² (G is the gravitational constant, M the mass of the object, c the speed of light). Since the late 1930s it has been known that in the final stages of stars greater than a certain mass, a black hole develops. In 1963 the mathematician Roy Kerr calculated the Kerr metric describing a rotating black hole.

  Their Properties

  At first glance, black holes are amazingly simple—at least as far as can be judged from the outside—and, due to the nature of black holes, humans are in principle unable to go inside one—and come back to tell you about it. A black hole possesses a certain mass, an angular momentum, and an electrical charge. Nothing else! Everything else can be derived from these three values, such as the circumference or the magnetic field.

  Calculating this using the equations of the general theory of relativi
ty, however, is not exactly easy. In 1916 Karl Schwarzschild picked the simplest case: a non-rotating, not charged black hole. Shortly afterward, two physicists developed the Reissner–Nordström metric (named after them), which described charged but non-rotating black holes. It would take until the 1960s, though, before the corresponding equations for rotating objects were discovered.

  These special solutions for individual cases are called metrics (singular: metric).

  Not charged, non-rotating: Schwarzschild metric

  Charged, non-rotating: Reissner–Nordström metric

  Not charged, rotating: Kerr metric

  Charged, rotating: Kerr–Newman metric

  Normally, each black hole should possess both a charge and an angular momentum. Nevertheless, the other metrics still play important roles, because certain insights can be better derived from them thanks to their relative simplicity.

  From Small to Large

  A basic feature of matter is that it generates a gravitational force. The reason is that matter curves the space around it, like a stone will dent a stretched bedsheet. Another object in the vicinity, much like a ping-pong ball on that same sheet, feels this dent in space and is accelerated toward the high-mass object.

  This also applies to the particles a body consists of, its atoms. The mass of all particles inside attracts the particles further out. However, there are always counterforces at work, such as electrical repulsion or a thermal pressure from the inside. A black hole forms when counterforces are no longer able to stop gravity, because they weaken for some reason. For instance, if at the end of its lifecycle a star no longer has sufficient fuel to generate heat, the outward-acting pressure in its core collapses and gravity takes over... Which sometimes leads to a new equilibrium: The star shrinks, but then a new fusion process—that had not previously been possible—ignites in its core. But there are also cases in which it is too late for this to occur.