Solar Express

by L. E. Modesitt Jr.

  There was something … and she knew that she’d felt the same way before. More of the man who wasn’t there, and he’s not there again today … except he is.

  “Marcel … analyze the pattern formed by the highlighting.”

  “There is no pattern, Dr. Wong-Grant. The lines do not form any recognizable shape, but contain too much Gaussian distribution to be fractal, except for the portions that are discrete multi-fractal mini-granulations.”

  “Thank you.” Alayna continued to study the images, trying to discern what it was that she wasn’t seeing. Finally, convinced that, while she was missing something, she wasn’t going to find it by staring at the images, she closed the multi-fractal images and turned her attention back to the report she needed to draft on the demise of 2114 FQ5 and the inexplicable solar phenomena associated with its destruction.

  For a moment, her thoughts centered on Chris, hoping that he was out of danger and returning safely to Earth … or at least to whatever installation where he was based.

  After several moments she began to call up data and to organize it in the approved format …

  80

  THE TIMES OF ISRAEL

  3 DECEMBER 2114

  (JERUSALEM) The massive solar storm that struck the Earth’s upper atmosphere yesterday has already accounted for hundreds of deaths across the globe, largely from exploding power lines and the catastrophic failure of electrical equipment linked to outdated and underprotected aboveground power and communications lines. Unconfirmed reports suggest immediate fatalities may run into the thousands, if not higher. Longer-term fatalities in the tens of thousands are “highly probable,” according to analysts in the Israeli office of strategic planning, as short-term backup power systems fail in hospitals and in high-rise structures in dense urban areas around the world. The shortage of replacement transformers will leave large areas without power for months or even years.

  The entire power grid in the central western states of Noram is reported as inoperable, as are the grids in Southeast Asia, central China, and Australia. The EC authority reports scattered outages, as do the majority of UAAS states. Only defense-related power systems are operating in India, as a result of the separation of defense power systems from the commercial grid two decades ago. Approximately fifteen percent of Noram households have independent renewable energy supplies, but those supplies cannot be utilized by other households or by the power grid as a result of regulatory-generated physical blockages. The WestHem space elevator is expected to resume service this morning, as is the Sinese Federation elevator.

  In much of the world communications are spotty, if nonexistent, as a result of electrical failures of communication towers.

  Sinese Head of State Jiang Qining declared that any nation that attempted to benefit from the power catastrophe would “suffer the wrath of the Sinese Federation.” Scattered sources indicate that most Sinese military facilities are functioning, but that domestic power systems have been “devastated.”

  In a separate statement, Sinese Space Minister Wong Mengyi declared that Noram and India were jointly responsible for the loss of the Sinese research spacecraft investigating the reputed alien artifact referred to as the Solar Express. That statement was retracted without comment. Requests for explanation were told that the minister was indisposed.

  Israeli Prime Minister Meir did not issue a statement, but power in Jerusalem was restored within hours of its disruption yesterday. All Israeli forces remain in a high readiness standard, and cadres of reservists were notified to expect mobilization to maintain order as necessary.

  Indian military authorities have announced that all Indra missiles remain in a launch-ready status, and that individual commands have the authority to order launches if any attack on Indian territory or installations is attempted. The orbital Dyaus station is “fully operational,” according to General Sanji Gupta. Indian Prime Minister Ravindra has not issued a statement.

  The immediate status of power supplies in much of South America is currently not known because of a near-complete blackout of communications and power systems except around Quito, where an isolated power grid is linked to the space elevator.

  No comment was forthcoming from Noram President Dyana Yates, but the Noram Defense Forces and Space Command are reported to be on high alert.

  81

  RECON THREE

  3 DECEMBER 2114

  Tavoian woke up with a headache. That didn’t surprise him. It seemed like his headache was more or less constant all the time. He also felt flushed and sweaty. He fumbled for the squeezebottle of water and drank several swallows. Then he checked the monitors, asking as he did, “How close are we to destination?”

  APPROXIMATE DISTANCE TO DESTINATION IS TWENTY-FIVE POINT FOUR MILLION KAYS.

  Just a little less than three days. “Present level of CO2?”

  THE CURRENT LEVEL IS SEVEN POINT FOUR PERCENT. SYSTEMS ARE FUNCTIONING AT EIGHTY-FIVE PERCENT EFFICIENCY.

  Tavoian almost froze. That was way too close to eight percent. The other problem was that he had his doubts about the reports on system efficiency. If he hadn’t been having headaches, sweating, and feeling that his breath was labored, he might have wondered about the accuracy of the monitoring as well. He’d done his own calculations, based on the volume of air in the ship and the amount of CO2 a normal person exhaled every twenty-four hours, and from what he could figure the efficiency of the removal system couldn’t be any higher than twenty percent at best, and more like ten percent or less. “Reserve oxygen supply level?”

  FIFTEEN PERCENT.

  That meant he had enough air in the reserve tanks to replace at most thirty percent of the ship’s atmosphere. Replacing that much would drop the level to slightly more than five percent if he didn’t run into problems. Which you will.

  “What is the procedure for venting air from the ship and replacing it with air from the reserve tanks?”

  THAT IS NOT POSSIBLE.

  Not possible? “Why not?”

  ALLOWING THAT PROCEDURE WOULD ALLOW THE POSSIBILITY FOR THE SHIP TO BE TOTALLY DEPRESSURIZED.

  “Is it physically possible?” Even if the AI couldn’t allow it, Tavoian could override or disable the AI and do it himself.

  IT IS NOT.

  “Show the schematic that makes it impossible.”

  Immediately, a diagram flashed on the screen wall.

  Tavoian began to study it. From what he could determine, the reason why was simple. The atmospheric system only replaced lost air, and only up to sea-level Earth-norm pressure. There were no venting valves anywhere in the ship. Replacement air could go to the airlock, but interlocks prevented air from flowing into the lock unless both inner and outer lock doors were sealed.

  Theoretically, Tavoian realized, he could replace some of the air in the ship by opening the outer lock door, letting the air in the lock escape out into space, then close the outer door, let the lock repressurize, and then open the inner door. The fresher air would then mix with the CO2-laden air. That would help, except that he was down to fifteen percent of reserve air, and given the lock’s capacity, far larger than made sense except for a passenger transport, that would only allow him two, possibly three, uses of the lock to “recycle” air.

  He calculated a bit more and came up with figures. If … if he could recycle twice, saving the third time for an emergency, that would bring the immediate level down to five point three percent. If on the other hand he used the lithium hydroxide canister, it might bring the level down to five percent over the next six hours, if it operated as it should.

  Lithium hydroxide it is.

  “Activate the lithium hydroxide emergency CO2 removal system.”

  THAT WILL TAKE THE NORMAL REMOVAL SYSTEM OFF-LINE.

  “Override. It’s not working anyway.” It can’t be.

  EMERGENCY CO2 REMOVAL SYSTEM IN OPERATION.

  At that moment, Tavoian’s uneasy stomach reminded him that he hadn’t eaten, which just might be contributing t
o the headache, or at least its severity. Before he started to rummage through his supplies, of which there were plenty, he took several more long swallows of water. Then he began to look for something appealing. That was harder. There were more than enough instant oatmeal packages, but oatmeal was perhaps Tavoian’s least favorite breakfast food. He finally settled on a Mexican omelet burrito, which tasted almost as good as the bagel omelet sandwiches, meaning that the burrito actually resembled its description.

  He hadn’t heard anything back from Alayna, but that might have been because of the SPE and CME, and whatever they did to communications systems. Earth had been hit by small CMEs before, but never by a large one, at least not in the time where there had been a high-tech civilization to notice. If not as high-tech as the ancient aliens.

  He still found it hard to believe that the massive and seemingly indestructible artifact was gone. It had seemed so large. But something two kays in diameter is still tiny compared to the sun. His lips quirked as he considered that the sun was something like a million four hundred thousand kays in diameter compared to two.

  Of course, that did leave the question of why a massive solar prominence and flare had happened on a quiet sun just as the artifact reached perihelion. Tavoian didn’t believe in those kinds of coincidences. The problem was that if it hadn’t been a coincidence, exactly what had it been?

  He wished he could talk it over with Alayna, but talking face-to-face with her wasn’t something that was going to be possible for quite some time, not the way things were going—all across the solar system … and even in Recon three, which suddenly felt very, very small.

  The CO2 problem still nagged at him.

  Then there was always the emergency space suit, which supposedly was good for two to two and a half hours. “Is the emergency space suit standard, with the same oxygen levels?”

  THE EMERGENCY SPACE SUIT IS RATED FOR A MINIMUM OF TWO HOURS OF USE.

  Maybe, just maybe, between the emergency CO2 removal system, the reserve air supply, and the emergency space suit, he could get to Earth orbit, decelerate, and reach Donovan Base before he expired from CO2 poisoning.

  He checked the time. It had been almost half an hour since he’d activated the emergency system. “What is the CO2 level now?”

  THE CURRENT LEVEL IS SEVEN POINT TWO PERCENT.

  Good. If it kept going down for the six hours it was rated for, and even if it didn’t do all it was supposed to, it was better than the alternatives.

  He turned his attention to the screens and monitors, not that they showed anything out of the ordinary.

  82

  DAEDALUS BASE

  3 DECEMBER 2114

  Although the Lunar L2 relay had been operating for more than twenty hours, the first incoming message that Alayna received was at 1032 UTC, and it was from Director Wrae. Alayna studied the second paragraph, not quite shaking her head sadly.

  … request immediate report on operational status of COFAR, including but not limited to the number of hours and time slots which were rendered unusable, the number of events that will be required to be rescheduled, those entities whose events were disrupted, and the status of rescheduling …

  Alayna frowned as she considered the list of what the director wanted, because everything she requested was also in the Foundation databases. She either can’t access that data or the effects of the CME have destroyed those records, possibly even the entire system. There had to be backups somewhere, but if the power outages were widespread, who knew how long it might be before they could be accessed?

  A second thought struck Alayna. If the damage is that great, who’s going to care about observation slots at the moment? The third thought was one that had occurred to her far earlier—her father’s safety. She’d sent a message as soon after the L2 relay had reopened, but had received neither an acknowledgment nor an indication that the message was undeliverable. And then there was Chris … and there had been no word from him, either.

  She tried not to think about it, but it was still there in the back of her mind. Rather than dwell on what she could do nothing about, she forced her thoughts back to the message from the director and began to compose a reply, which was more reassuring than Wrae deserved, noting that COFAR itself was fully operational and continuing scheduled observations, listing the times and entities that had been preempted, and explaining the reschedulings already made and pending, as well as the interim storage and retention of observational images and data until they could be retransmitted to the organizations that had contracted for those observations and times.

  All of that took almost an hour, and by the time she had finished, two other messages had come in—one from Emma and a news summary. Alayna immediately read the news, which dealt entirely with the impact of the “Carrington Effect” on Earth and the various orbital installations, even though what had happened had been the result of more than just a CME. From what she could piece together from the reports, something like two-thirds of Noram was without power, although it was estimated that half of that would be restored within a week. No one was even guessing at how long repowering the remaining third of the country would take. Matters were far worse in Sudam and in Northern Africa. The EC was the least affected thanks to a century of emphasis on decentralized and renewable energy—except in Russia, which was as bad as Noram.

  Again, Alayna kept worrying about her father. So when she finished reading the news, she immediately turned to Emma’s message, hoping for some distraction.

  Alayna!

  Thank you so much for the warning! Everyone thought we were crazy, but they listened. They actually listened. The locals even physically disconnected some of the main transformers. The big island mostly has power as a result. It also hasn’t hurt that Hawaii has always stored a few transformers because of the problems and shipping difficulties.

  Can you send any images? You must have been watching just at the right time. I won’t ask how you managed getting the slots. I’m just glad you did. We’ve been able to follow up. That prominence associated with the CME is the biggest on record! It’s a good thing Earth only got the edge. A direct hit, and we’d have been back in the Stone Age. Some of Noram may be before it’s over. Sticking to the old ways and having a lot of oil and coal to burn doesn’t help much when you don’t have operating power lines and transformers …

  Hope your friend the pilot wasn’t somewhere that got slammed by the associated SPE …

  Alayna winced. She’d tried not to think about Chris, even more than she’d tried not to think about her father.

  … at least fifteen satellites are out, that we know of right now. Mostly older ones … going to make communications and travel and a lot of things very hard for a long time …

  When Alayna finished the message, she sent a warm but short acknowledgment. Then, rather than dwell on all her worries, she thought about working on continuing analyzing the solar images and data that the arrays had captured before and after the CME … but her thoughts kept drifting back to the alien artifact.

  What had happened with the artifact was impossible, according to present theory. But it had happened. Since it had, some aspect of current theory wasn’t either inclusive enough, overlooked a possibility, or was wrong. Or the theory is right, but we don’t know how it could apply to the artifact.

  If general and special relativity were right, if incomplete as formulated, then mass deformed spacetime, while still following the curvature of the spacetime it had deformed, which was why gravitational lensing and other effects existed. Although deformation by great mass essentially created gravity, no one had ever either found a way to quantize gravity or to replicate gravitons. Alayna wasn’t about to consider dilatons. She began to compose her thoughts, writing them down as she went, along with some very tentative equations. She had the very definite feeling that what she was trying to formulate needed to be written out and sent, before someone else came to the same conclusions.

  And she would send it to Chris and
Emma as well, if in time. That might help in establishing her provenance in the matter. You hope.

  First came her general thoughts, put down quickly.

  Effectively mass is energy, but energy confined in defined fields, patterns existing in space-time. Concentration of those patterns creates mass, and the tighter the pattern, the greater the mass. BUT … that pattern is also a concentration of energy, and when too great a concentration occurs, the standard patterns of matter collapse … and release “free” energy in the process, some of which is manifested in the photons comprising sunlight. That’s what happens at the center of a star. In essence, fusion is the forced collapse of hydrogen nuclei into helium, and from there, a star in time builds up heavier and heavier elements.

  Gravitons are analogous to photons, in that they are massless, although that’s not quite correct because, while photons have a zero rest mass, they do have a relativistic mass determined by their velocity. Gravitons have momentum, in effect never been detected, although gravitational waves have been, but in a crude analogy, that’s like trying to describe a water molecule in the ocean by the behavior of waves. The assumption behind gravitons is that they “operate” under the same constraints as photons and other quantum forces/objects. What if they don’t? What if they’re a property of space-time, and space-time is not an affect of quantum operations, but quantum mechanics, i.e., our universe, is an affect of spacetime?

  If this happens to be so, then gravitons, assuming they exist, would have properties outside the limits of quantum mechanics. One of the other nagging questions raised by general relativity is time. Experiments have shown that clocks run more slowly in the presence of greater mass. Why? What property of mass causes this? If gravity is a function of spacetime deformation, and gravity waves are the manifestation of that deformation, with gravitons as the quantized components of gravity waves, then the concentration of gravitons would have the same effect as “conventional” mass. That would explain the acceleration of 2114 FQ5, i.e., the Solar Express. That would also explain why the Noram and Sinese research spacecraft were carried along by the artifact as it accelerated.