“Well let us see if we can find something.” Basta commented. “This is the furthest we have gone with the technology and we owe it to the future discoveries to look and learn as much as we can.”
“I think the first priority should be to see if there are any planets in systems with compatible atmospheres we might take a look at.”
“I am checking.” Henry replied, manipulating his controls. “I have recently made the wave mapping system ten times as fast. We already have quadrants of information and I am processing it. We have no way to know how big this universe is so we don’t really know what we are looking for.”
“It is like a mystery needle in a stack of something we have never seen before.” Mancoff added. “We need to know what we are looking for before we can figure out how to look for it.”
“There’s something strange going on with the controls.” Nari added suddenly. “No emergencies, it is just weird.”
Henry walked over to the con, standing over Nari and looking at the readouts. “This is strange…there seems to be some sort of naturally occurring gravitational force.”
“Gravitational force from what?” Basta asked. “Like that time, we were dead in the water and caught in the gravitation al control of Atlas?”
“Similar but not.” Henry replied. “That was like a magnetic pull that was taking us directly toward something. This is more like the current in a stream, it seems to not be coming from anything or going to anything, just randomly affecting the ship.”
“Can we compensate for it?” Basta asked.
“Of course.” Nari replied. “The ship is more than capable of navigating through it or resisting it as need be.”
“Should we use this as a place to start?” Mancoff suggested. “Follow the flow of gravitational forces to see where they lead.”
“Well what do we pick then?” Winter asked. “Going to where we are pulled or seeing if something is pushing?”
“I would say what is pushing.” Henry offered. “For the other way is toward the still expanding wave of our universe. There will not be much the way we came. Whatever this place is, it seems to be a collapsing universe. As our universe grows, this one shrinks.”
“Alright.” Basta agreed. “We follow the…currents and see what is pushing at them. Can you put in coordinates for a jump within this universe?”
“I can.” Nari replied. “Our jump in point and the wave mapping has given us a tentpole distance. It is very complicated but Henry literally taught the computer how to do it.”
“Make the jump.” Basta commanded. “Let us see what there is to be seen in this shrinking universe.”
The ship jumped again, there was no pause or distortion this time, just an instantaneous jump from one place to another. With the lowered number of visible stars and phenomenon, it made it hard to tell a jump had taken place, but everyone was able to confirm on the controls that it had indeed taken place.
“What do we have?” Basta asked. “Any sense of the source of the distortion.”
“I have been tracking the gravimetric distortions.” Chalice added. “I do not think that this place is the source, but there is something here that is definitely connecting to it. Without more information, this does seem like the most reasonable place to start looking.”
“Alright.” Basta agreed. “Nari, take one of the shuttles down with Henry and Winter. Let us see what is down there.”
“If there are answers to how this universe works down there I will find it.” Henry said with a nod. “Let’s go.”
The small shuttle streaked through the black sea of stars toward a small grey moon. The vessel was long and white and stood out against the dark background behind it. The vessel fired retro blasters to slow its speed as it made its approach to the surface below. The ship slowly landed, long strut coming out and embracing the uneven terrain below.
The moon was not much different than any moon that humanity had found or set foot on before but here it represented the furthest place man has explored. It was but a first stop on a far-off moon that would hopefully usher in the next stage of exploration in the area. Henry found something on the scanners, something unnatural and not part of the moon. According to his scanners it seemed like wreckage. The idea of something in this universe that was alive exited him. They had found so much in their universe, other life, but never something like man. Whatever civilization this universe spawned had come here…and crashed. The trio got space suits on and prepared to head out onto the moon, the strange ship once might have been miraculous. However now, in its derelict state it was just a series of frozen out scrap, unprotected by the elements outside. The moon had a very small amount of atmosphere, not enough to survive in but enough to look like it was not subject to the vacuum of space.
The shuttle powered down, exuding solar panels to catch the light that hit the moon to supplement its internal drives. A ramp descended from a porthole which then opened to the trio of explorers. The spacesuit clad individual group climbed down the ramp, pausing momentarily as they set foot on the bleak lunar landscape.
“I must admit I am out of profound things to say.” Henry said with a laugh. “So many prestigious steps to far of places.”
“That in itself is quotable.” Nari laughed. “I will remember it for sure.”
Henry lead, taking out a small device that scanned the surrounding area. A strange light emanated from the machine, flowing over everything around, naturally occurring and organic alike. The field seemed to be reacting to something, something out of place nearby. Henry walked over, opening a large metal door in the derelict structure. The group took pause as the door lit up. It was damaged heavily but still seemed to have enough power to open the door. There was power inside enough to light up some running lights but little else.
Inside, the group found both signs of long forgotten neglect but no signs of life.
“Looks like this ship was crippled but not completely destroyed.” Nari commented as she looked around “It looks to me like it might have been stripped.”
Henry turned around, his scans seeming to confirm the sentiment. “It is…for the most part. I wonder what kind of people used this ship?”
“This ship seems very old.” Winter commented. “If there was anything left of them here would there be much left of them?”
“Doubtful.” Henry replied. “There are a lot of holes in the fuselage and though the atmosphere is slight, it would be enough to decay any complicated organic matter.”
“Makes sense.” Winter responded with a nod. “If there are answers here, we are not going to get them by asking.”
“Can we access their computer?” Nari asked. “There seems to be power here…at least emergency power. Maybe we can access their computer and see what we can learn of them.”
Henry nodded in agreement as he went over to a panel on the wall. He hooked up his tablet to is and began to scan to see if he could get his computer to interface with the other. “Though there is a lot we can tell already.”
“What do you mean?” Nari asked, still focusing on Henry’s work. “We have seen no people, images, or spacesuits.”
“The ceiling is only about seven and a half feet high.” Winter commented. “So, they are likely within a few feet of our height. Also, the corridor is approximately three-person widths wide. Enough room for two people walking with one to walk in between. They likely were close to human sized.”
“What are the odds that they would be human sized?” Nari asked. “Humans themselves are a diverse group with a very specific chain of evolution. A completely different universe would mean different circumstances.”
“But it is the same rules.” Henry commented. “When evolving size is relevant to food and survival. The larger you are the more you need to eat and the more you need to eat the more effort you put into it. Humans as so successful because of a good balance of time to gather food based on how much we want to eat. Our time to learn and invent is based on that spare time not eating, mat
ing or surviving. It is very reasonable that other species would evolve to that same Butter Zone.”
“It is easy in space to believe things are infinite.” Nari admitted. “But I suppose we are all bound by the same laws of physics and the same base trials and challenges. I suppose when you look at the ending it makes sense. The ending would be the mastering of the stars and the technology to thrive in it. Therefore, you could go back to what was needed to be figured out all the way back to a society evolving the ability to want to go to the stars.”
“The ability to dream for things beyond what you can perceive is a powerful motivator.” Henry added. “No resource or treasure is ever more intoxicating than the dream of knowing the unknown. It is like a drug.”
“One that spurred us to go so far.” Nari agreed. “So, anything in the ships computer?”
“Yes and no.” Henry replied. “The computer is in both literal and programming language much different from our own. So, right here and right now there is only so much I can decipher. So, anything is more of a broad strokes kind of thing. What I have figured out is that over ninety percent of the computer is both down and heavily corrupted. Completely unsalvageable.”
“What about the other ten percent?” Winter asked. “Is there anything in it that we can use to follow more breadcrumbs. We have the gravitational force but it is far to vast to explore blindly.”
“There is not much.” Henry replied. “Most of it is fragmented and too little to determine their language fully. However, one thing stands out and it is a co-ordinate. Math is match and a special co-ordinate is the same place no matter how you look at it.”
“What do you think it is a co-ordinate to?” Nari asked. “The next place to investigate?”
“I am tracking its route.” Henry replied. “Or more accurately I am reverse engineering it’s route. It seems to be a planet in a system not far from here and it may just be the last coordinate that this computer was connected to.”
“Do we have any way of knowing what they connected to?” Winter asked. “Another ship? Their home base or a colony?”
Henry shook his head. “The fact that we found co-ordinates is lucky in and of itself. I am downloading as much information as I can to my tablet but it is just the tip of the iceberg and it will take either more information or a long time of deciphering and reconfiguring to get more.”
“Well we are doing the seemingly impossible.” Nari commented. “The fact that we found this much this easily is a big step to figuring out the secrets of this universe beyond our big bang.”
“It was not easy.” Henry replied. “I almost missed it and were lucky we got anything at all. However, this is not a dead end and only dead ends are things to be feared. With each challenge comes another once completed. This is how I live my life and how we even got here.”
“I agree.” Winter commented. “We had so many dead ends when we first started our work. The challenges were fantastic as they meant there was still a way forward.”
Henry nodded again. “I have saved the co-ordinates so they can be easily inputted into the jump drive. We should head back to the shuttle.”
“Is it still in a part of this universe that exists?” Nari asked.
“Again, luckily it does.” Henry admitted. “Though a lot of this universe is gone there is still a massive amount left.”
“What happens when it is gone?” Nari asked. “What happens when this universe collapses and out universe doesn’t expand over it anymore?”
“Best guess?” Henry offered. “Once our universe stops expanding then it will likely start to collapse into the next one to be formed. We don’t know what caused the matter and antimatter to meet and cause the big bang but it could be what occurs as the universes converge and one grows into the area of the other.”
“Can’t say that I like the sound of that.” Nari suggested. “What happens to us when that occurs.”
“Unlikely we will be around to know.” Henry commented. “It is billions of years to go and who knows what state of humanity will even exist. It is enough time for countless races to evolve and challenge the stars.”
“That does make me feel better.” Nari admitted. “We have so much time to do whatever humanity wants and needs to do with itself.”
“This universe had the same.” Winter added. “The people of this universe had the same time theoretically to grow. Also, they still have a lot of time left. This is a collapsing universe, not a dead one.”
“Good point.” Nari replied as the group left the ship and headed back to the shuttle. “There might be none left, it all might be as dead as this ship.”
“That is a definite possibility.” Henry offered. “This might be the last sign left of a civilization long returned to stardust. However, I have hope and trust our luck that there is still much to be learned.”
“Well we will find out.” Nari replied. “We have those co-ordinates.”
“I almost can’t wait.” Henry responded with smile. “I am sure Basta will be exited in our next step.”
The shuttle left the surface of the long-forgotten moon and returned to the endeavour. The trip removed their spacesuits and went to the bridge to find Basta indeed existed for the next part of the adventure.
“What did you find?” Basta asked. “We actually have a pool on it.”
“Crashed ship of the people from this universe.” Henry replied. “No survivors of course and no sign of alien bodies. The computer was mostly destroyed but we were able to get some co-ordinates out of it.”
“I knew it!” Chalice said, seeming to be the one who won the pool.
“Co-ordinates to what?” Basta asked. “Is it part of this gravitational anomaly? Is it a place we can or should go?
“We can and should.” Henry replied. “It is our best chance of finding more and I think we should jump right away.”
“Then that will be our next stop.” Basta replied. “Nari, put in the co-ordinates and everyone prepare for the jump.”
“Your excitement for exploration is impressive Basta.” Henry said with a smile as he sat down behind his condole. “We will find answers in this universe yet.”
“My hunger for exploration is like your hunger for knowledge.” Basta replied with a grin. “Completely insatiable.”
-
Fourteen
The ship jumped again, coming out above a large planet. It was green blue, not unlike Atlas when they had first seen it. It was a world within the ranges of human habitation but with no noticeable sight of civilization.
“Are we picking up any kind of sign that anyone lived here?” Basta asked. “Whatever this place was it was important to someone on the ship we found.
“It is connected to the gravitational lines through the universe we have found thus far.” Chalice added. “This planet is connected.”
“I am using the wave scanners to see if I can find anything out of the ordinary.” Winter explained as she worked with the controls, Mancoff at her side assisting.
“What exactly would constitute as out of the ordinary?” Basta asked. “Life forms? Power sources?”
“Both yes and no.” Mancoff replied. “Atlas had indigenous life forms that would not seem much unalike to those who have never seen them before. There is definitely life of some sort down there but to tell if it is naturally occurring animals over something complicated is a tough call. What we are looking for is something that is not naturally occurring, such as metals where there should not be, things that interrupt the natural design. Basically, we are looking for the one thing that is out of order from the others and going from there.”
“I think I have something.” Winter replied. “There is something that definitely does not belong down there.”
“Explain.” Basta said as he got up and walked over to Winter and Mancoff’s station. “Is it a sign of alien civilization?”
“It shows similar technology and materials.” Winter replied. “But there’s nothing so complicated, it looks like a
small temporary structure.”
“There’s something beneath.” Mancoff added. “The structure seems to be structures around a circular shaft that goes deep down into the planets mantle. That’s weird.”
“Weird?” Basta asked. “We are in another universe than our own, we need to quantify what is weird.”
“Well there appears to be like a bubble of open area deep in the mantle.” Winter explained. “But the wave sensors are having trouble penetrating it.”
“Because of the distance?” Basta asked. “Like it can’t get through?”
“The technology should not be influenced by that.” Henry replied. “The magnetic wave energy is on a different wavelength than solid matter. It does not have differentials between solid something and object nothing. The fact that it cannot read what is in there is because something seems to be directly interfering with it on an electromagnetic level.”
“Something similar to your technology?” Basta asked. “Is that possible?”
“Though Dr. Winter and I profess to have invented the technology in our universe it dos not mean we invented the physics that it employs.” Henry explained. “It is reasonable that whatever complex life that exists or existed in this universe would have made the same thing, or at least something similar.”
“Well this sounds like something we should take a look at.” Basta replied. “Can you assemble a team and go down and take a look.”
“Well Nari is the best choice.” Henry admitted. “We work well together and she is good in a pinch.”
“You should also take Chalice.” Basta added. “The three of you can go to the site with scanning equipment and see if we can get a better read on that pocket.”
“Chalice?” Henry asked.
“Well he will be of great use to you.” Basta replied. “Besides, that was what the pool was for. Who gets to go on the next mission?”
“Sounds good.” Henry said with a smile. “Let us see how far this rabbit hole goes.”
The shuttle penetrated the atmosphere of the earth-like planet. Once clearing the upper ionosphere, it moved swiftly through the air. Henry wondered when it happened that entering and exiting a planets atmosphere became so routine. He scanned the planet now that they were closer.
Waves: The Collapsing Universe Page 13
