As described in Apocalypse, we really do see back in time the further away we look, the speed of light does have a finite velocity and an endeavour like Project Watchman is entirely within the physical and technological capabilities of the United States’ intelligence community. Their KH-11 ‘Keyhole’ satellites are also real, and are rumoured to have optics more than capable of clearly photographing newspaper articles from orbit. Modern supercomputers could indeed crunch data sufficiently to provide a virtual replay of events from around the globe: only the storage of so many years of data might prove problematic. Quantum computers, just over our technological horizon, may resolve that issue.
The only science that I have adjusted for the sake of the plot in Apocalypse is the black hole itself. In reality it would take a black hole with the mass of hundreds of suns to produce the time-dilation described in the novel: an object this massive would swallow our entire planet almost instantaneously. Time-dilation, however, is real, as is the ability of objects to travel through time via extreme velocities. If one were able to stand alongside the event horizon of a sufficiently massive black hole, then time would indeed be dilated in the manner described. Although a low-mass black hole could probably be suspended in a tokomak just like Joaquin Abell’s, the gravitational field of such an object would not be likewise contained: it would continue to affect its surroundings both inside and outside of the chamber.
At the time of writing, physicists working with the Large Hadron Collider at the CERN labs in Geneva have observed what they believe to be the fabled Higgs boson, the elementary particle responsible for mass in our universe. This discovery paves the way for a greater understanding of our universe, and potentially brings the subject matter in Apocalypse one step closer to reality.
Dean Crawford, 2012
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Since the publication of the first Ethan Warner novel, Covenant, time has flown by so incredibly quickly. The writing of new novels in the series, the rounds of edits on each of them, the new projects and the crime festivals have been a constant whirlwind of activity. I couldn’t have done any of it without the fabulous support of the publishing team at Simon & Schuster, my literary agent Luigi Bonomi at LBA, my wonderful partner Debbie and our beautiful daughter Emma, and my family and friends who continue to champion my work so enthusiastically. Thanks also go to aspiring author Dean Owen, who won my blog competition to suggest the title for this book while I was writing it. Although ultimately not used by the publisher, it was an inspired choice and I’m sure his is a name you’ll see on bookshelves before long.
Finally, at the time of writing, a team working at the CERN laboratories in Geneva have reportedly found the fabled Higgs boson, the particle that holds our universe together and is responsible for gravity: many thanks to them for spearheading the forward march of science and perhaps bringing the subject matter of this novel a little closer to reality.
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