China had allied herself with the Afrab powers; a major East-West confrontation at that time was averted only by an unexpected attitude of moderation from Moscow. By 1990, the Persian Gulf states had sided with the China-Afrab consortium and from that time onward a never-ending series of border skirmishes and local wars continued along India's eastern and western frontiers, ostensibly over disputed territories that were claimed by her neighbors on both sides. In the Far East, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, and Indonesia concluded mutual defense pacts to counter the spread of Chinese influence southward and eastward.
During all this time, the split in the Russian ranks that had first showed itself during the final Middle East War had widened progressively. European Russia, following the lead set by the Moscow government, embarked on a policy of a growing understanding with the West, while the Eastern Siberian Provinces retained a hard-line Marxist posture, aligned with that of China. By 1996, the Eastern Revolt had spread to Central Siberia, and regular Chinese forces were fighting alongside the rebels against the Moscow Army. The war reached its peak in 1999 and after that died down to a succession of skirmishes roughly along the line of the Urals. Siberia declared Vladivostok its new capital and moved rapidly from there toward full integration with the Afrab-China consortium, the conclusion of which process was proclaimed as The Grand Alliance of Progressive Peoples Republics in Canton in 2002.
European Russia, encouraged by the fruitful results of operating manned orbiting laboratories and lunar bases, developing nuclear-powered spacecraft, and staging a manned mission to Mars, all as joint ventures with the West, finally merged into the Federation of Europe that had been established in 1996. In 2004, an integrated command structure was established for the armed forces of America, the Australian Federation and the new, Greater Europe. Thus the Alliance of Western Democracies formally came into being.
The stage was thus set. Both sides possessed nuclear spacecraft, had achieved permanent lunar bases, and were deploying the latest in a long list of strategic deterrents—the Orbital Bombardment System, ORBS, consisting of swarms of orbiting fractional nuclear bombs that could be brought down at any point on Earth's surface in minutes.
And then the news flashed round a tense world that Act One was beginning.
The unrest that had been smouldering in South Korea burst into flame all over the country, like the reappearance of a forest fire that had been festering in the roots. Within a few weeks an epidemic of riots, strikes, ambushes, and guerilla operations consolidated into a nationwide orchestration that left the Army with no coherent strategy to implement, no secure place for regrouping, and no way to turn. The Seoul government was deposed and replaced by the so-called People's Democratic Assembly, whose first task in office was to appeal for aid to defend the populace against the continued oppressions of the regular forces that were still fighting. The Chinese divisions massed along the thirty-eighth parallel were quick to respond, and inside a matter of a few more days the takeover was complete.
Powerless to act in the face of such a widespread popular movement and left at a complete standstill by the speed at which these events had unfolded, the Australian and Japanese forces stationed in the country had played no active role. Ignominiously, under the stony stares of lines of heavily armed Communist combat troops, they lined up in front of the waiting air transports that would fly them to Japan.
* * *
Morelli, Clifford, Aub, and a group of other scientists and senior personnel from Sudbury stood in front of a reserved landing pad in the Institute's airmobile parking area and watched the steadily enlarging dot that was descending from the sky above them. Zimmermann was not present, having returned to Luna the previous week after spending a month with them. Three medium-size skybuses, painted white and carrying the words MASSACHUSETTS STATE POLICE DEPARTMENT, were lined up together along one side of the parking area. Their occupants had taken up positions around the landing pad, at various strategic points around the grounds of the Institute and at doors inside some of its buildings.
The dot gradually resolved itself into the snub-nosed shape of a Veetol Executive jet bearing the colors and insignia of the U.S. Air Force Transport Command. It slowed to a halt and hovered a hundred feet above the pad while the flight-control processors obtained final clearance from the landing radar and the pilot made his routine visual check to see that the site was unobstructed. Then the jet sank smoothly downward to come to rest amid the falling whine of dying engine noise. The door swung open and a short stairway telescoped down to the ground.
After a few seconds two men dressed in civilian suits, presumably FBI, emerged and stood on either side of the foot of the steps. They were followed by a powerfully built individual wearing the bemedaled uniform of an Army major general; it belonged to Gerald Straker, a Presidential adviser on strategic planning and an authority on advanced weapons systems. Behind Straker came General Arwin Dalby, U.S. Representative to the Coordination Committee of the Integrated Strike Command of the Allied Western Democracies; General Robert Fuller, of the Strategic Planning Commission; and General Howard Perkoffski, second in command of the North American global surveillance, early-warning, and countermeasures system. Next came two civilians, both from the Pentagon; one was Professor Franz Mueller, resident consultant on security of military communications systems, the other, Dr. Harry Sultzinger, the architect of ORBS.
General Harvey Miller, USAF, Deputy Chief of Orbital Bombardment Command, was followed by a trio of Air Force aides and then by a navy contingent headed by Admiral Joseph Kaine, chairman of a presidential advisory committee charged with investigating methods to improve submarine detection from satellites. Three more civilian technical advisers came hard on the heels of the Navy: Patrick Cleary, computer technology; Dr. Samuel Hatton, military lasers; and Professor Warren Keele, nuclear sciences. Finally there emerged the instantly recognizable, lean, balding but vigorous figure of William S. Foreshaw, Secretary for Defense of the United States.
When introductions had been completed, the two groups merged and made their way over to the Administration Building of the Institute where, in the Large Conference Theater, Morelli started off the program for the day with a presentation of the things his team had achieved to date.
"We've invited you here today to bring to your attention some new discoveries in science that can only be described as astounding," he told them. "In our opinion, the work that we have done over the past couple of years represents a breakthrough in human knowledge that is possibly without parallel in history."
He waited for the air of expectancy to rise to an appropriate level and then continued: "All of you gentlemen are, I'm sure, conversant with the notion that the universe in which we live exists within a framework of space and time. Everything that we know, everything that we see, even the most distant object that can be resolved by our most powerful telescopes or the tiniest event observable inside the atom—all these things exist within the same universal framework." The rows of faces watched him expressionlessly.
"We now have not only a working theoretical model but also firm experimental evidence that this universe is only a tiny part of something far vaster . . . not merely vaster in size, but far, far vaster in terms of the conceptual entities that inhabit it and the new range of physical laws that govern the processes taking place inside it." Interest began creeping into some of the faces in front of him as a few of the individuals present got their first inkling of where he was about to take them. Morelli nodded slowly.
"Yes, gentlemen. I am talking about a completely new domain of the universe that lies beyond the dimensions of space and time—a domain so strange that we are only beginning to glimpse some of the possibilities that are waiting to be uncovered. But even this first glimpse has revealed facts so staggering as to fundamentally change and in many cases dispose of practically every currently accepted law of physics. The whole universe that has been revealed up until now by all our instruments turns out to be nothing more than
a shadow of an infinitely more exciting and vaster superuniverse. Let me tell you about some of the workings of this superuniverse."
Morelli went on to describe in nontechnical terms the theory behind particle extinctions and creations, and the interpretation of these events as transitions of basic entities between the various dimensions of k-space. He described the generation of k-waves and explained how all the known forces and forms of energy of physics could be interpreted in terms of them, and led from there to the notion of gravity as a discontinuous, dynamic phenomenon that resulted from the slow decay of matter particles.
"But gravity waves are just projections into our universe of a more complex k-wave," he told them. "In the superuniverse there exists a form of superwave that defies all powers of imagination and has the property of being able to pervade all the points of our ordinary space simultaneously. These superwaves are produced continuously in every piece of matter in the universe—in the planets, the stars, and even in the voids between—and every tiny particle-event taking place at any point in the cosmos makes itself known instantly at each and every other point." Surprised mutterings ran through the audience. Morelli chose that moment to make his first announcement concerning the practical relevance of it all.
"Here at Sudbury, we have constructed an instrument that not only responds to these superwaves coming from everywhere in the universe, but in addition enables them to be processed into meaningful visual images." He gestured toward the large screen behind him, which he had used earlier to present diagrams illustrating the basic concepts of k-theory, and operated the controls below the edge of the lectern in front of him. Immediately the screen came to life to show a bright orange-yellow disk.
"That, gentlemen, is a cross-section view right through the center of Earth," he informed them. Gasps of astonishment erupted.
Warren Keele, the nuclear sciences expert, was unable to contain his amazement. "You're saying that's a real, live view through the Earth?" he said. "You mean your instrument can actually pick up these waves coming from all through Earth and make pictures out of them?"
The comments from around the room had risen to a steady murmur. Morelli seized the chance to capitalize on the mood of the moment. "Yes, we can do exactly that. We can do much better than that, too." He changed the view to that of another, similar-looking disk. "And that is another sectional view, but this time one of our Moon!" He repeated the procedure with a flourish to show a third disk, this time one that became noticeably brighter towards its center. "And that's the Sun!" His voice rose above the ensuing clamor to drive home his point. "Every one of these images was obtained from within a hundred yards of where you are sitting, and every one of them shows the object as it was at the instant the information was received. Later on today, we will take you into another building and show you the screen from which these pictures were taken. You will be able to sit in front of it and gaze into the heart of the Sun!"
Morelli then went on to describe the operation of the GRASER and dropped his second bombshell when he announced that gravity could be produced and controlled artificially.
"At any other time this would be a stupendous achievement in itself," he said. "It's something that men have dreamed about for a hundred years. As things are, it comes as a mere by-product of something that's bigger and even more stupendous by far."
When Morelli had finished, excitement and enthusiasm bubbled on every side. Some of the generals were still looking bemused and a miniature instant conference began around William Foreshaw. Morelli waited patiently.
Then, as the hubbub of voices began dying away, Patrick Cleary turned back to face the stage. "Professor Morelli, what you've described to us is obviously a much-extended extrapolation of Maesanger's Field Theory."
"That's correct," Morelli agreed.
"What is incredible is not only the extension of the theoretical concepts, but also the experimental support that you've been able to demonstrate."
"Never mind all that," Samuel Hatton threw in. "They're already turning out solid applications. That's what blows my mind."
"Sure," Cleary acknowledged. "I didn't mean to play that down." He turned to face Morelli again. "What I was about to ask, Professor, was: Is this by chance the famous hyperspace of science fiction that we've all been waiting for?"
Morelli grinned briefly.
"Better ask our theoretical king about that," he said, then called toward the back of the room, where Clifford was sitting with the Sudbury contingent. "Brad, what would you say to that one?"
"Depends on which of the many varieties of hyperspace you have in mind," Clifford replied. "In the sense of dimensions existing beyond the accepted ones, I guess, yes, it could be. If you're thinking of instant star-travel or something, I think you'll be disappointed. Certainly we've not got that on today's schedule."
Dr. Harry Sultzinger spoke next.
"This business about instant propagation intrigues me," he said. "Are you saying that Special Relativity's gone out the window . . . or what?"
"Actually, it doesn't really go against Special Relativity," Morelli said. "Relativistic physics puts an upper limit on the velocity of energy through ordinary Einsteinian spacetime. Hi-waves exist in another domain entirely—one to which the laws of conventional spacetime don't apply. I guess you could say that Einstein's traffic cops patrol the public highways only, but hi-waves travel cross-country."
"But what about information?" Sultzinger insisted. "If a hi-wave goes from here to there in zero time, it's carried information in zero time. Relativity says you can't do that."
"Only because all methods for moving information that have been known up to now invariably involve moving through classical spacetime," Morelli said. "But with hi-waves we're effectively bypassing that, so the problem doesn't arise."
"Actually, it does get slightly more involved than that," Clifford called again from the back. "Some people have put together all kinds of complicated cause-and-effect arguments to show that instant information transfer gives rise to all kinds of logical paradoxes. My own view is that the difficulties lie in the logic and the conceptual limitations rather than in anything factual. We're working on that at the moment, and I wouldn't be surprised if a number of old ideas about simultaneity end up having to be re-examined."
"How detailed could the information be that could be carried on these waves?" Admiral Kaine asked.
"The pictures you've just seen are pretty crude because we've only got a first-attempt lab lash-up instrument that was never designed for that job in the first place," Morelli answered. "How far we could push it, we don't know yet. That's one of the main things we mean to find out."
"The whole thing reminds me of the first crude spark-gap experiments of Hertz," Cleary declared, sounding impressed. "And that led to the whole science of radio, radar, TV, and electronic communications. Have you got any idea what kind of technology might grow out of what you're doing here?"
Morelli launched into an account of the possibilities of gravitic engineering that he never tired of discussing, especially with Aub. The questions poured out all through lunch, all of them positive, imaginative, and obviously prompted by genuine desires to learn more.
"Could there be a way of focusing artificial gravity into some kind of beam that could be directed remotely," General Perkoffski asked Clifford at one point, "so that you could direct it at a target?"
"It's too early yet to say," Clifford replied. "What did you have in mind?"
"I was wondering if you could use it to disorientate a missile's inertial guidance system," Perkoffski said. "It wouldn't need to be too powerful."
"Say, I never thought of that angle," said Arwin Dalby, who had been following from the opposite side of the table. "A localized gravity beam . . . if it was possible, I wonder how strong you could make it and how localized."
Clifford was about to reply when Robert Fuller broke in: "To hell with screwing its guidance system. If you can make the beam strong enough, why not simply pull the w
hole damn missile down?"
"Or even stop it from getting off the ground in the first place?" Dalby suggested. "You know . . . the more I think about this, the more I like it."
"Perhaps we could even bring down an ORBS satellite," General Straker joined in. He reflected on the idea for a moment, then had another thought. "Or maybe bend spacetime to divert it away into space permanently. How about that?"
* * *
For the first hour after lunch the visitors saw the GRASER running and crowded four at a time into the monitor room to sit spellbound in front of the display screen of the detector. The image did not tell them much, but the very thought of what it meant was enough to keep them speechless for many minutes.
After the demonstrations, they returned to the Conference Theater to listen to Aub. Morelli had devoted most of his time to recounting the history of events and developments that had culminated in the then current state of the art. Aub plunged ahead to speculate on some of the things that might follow.
"The GRASER that you have all just seen produces a strong output of hi-waves," he said. "In other words, it's a transmitter. The detector that you've looked at is a receiver." He gazed around the room, inviting them to fill the rest in for themselves.
"We've got both ends of a communications system," someone observed after a second or two. The visitors were joining in and interacting—a good sign.
The Genesis Machine Page 17
