The Pathfinder Project (40 page)

“Something that we probably
never would have found from home,” Thomas said elatedly. “With such a large universe
to survey, it’s too far out here to really discover and study from Earth. We’re
really lucky we began our adventure in this particular direction.” He shrugged.
“Of course, the steadily increasing levels of dark matter did make us curious,
causing us to follow them like a trail of breadcrumbs.”

“What specifically is ‘too far
out here’?” Glen demanded. He turned to the young scientist next to him and
raised his eyebrows with unrestrained curiosity.

“We call it Poseidon, but
basically it is the
direct cause
of the larger amounts of dark matter…
well… larger amounts of
all
matter, actually… that we have been
consistently running into as we move outward from our home galaxy. It is quite
possibly the largest gravity well that has ever been discovered by modern
science.”

“Like one of those
super-massive black holes at the center of each galaxy that your memo talked
about?” wondered Kayla.

“No, this one is a colossus in
comparison – probably at least a
billion
light years or so from one edge
of its event horizon to the other. It is a massive, cosmic phenomenon that is
proving to be one of the most unique – and new – objects in astronomy that I
personally have
ever
seen.”

“What could cause a black hole
of that size to form?” asked a curious Kaufield.

“We don’t know for certain,”
Kari said. “We’re not even sure yet if it qualifies as a black hole using our
text book definition, but it certainly has the intense gravity of one.”

“It was first detectable
shortly after we moved farther and farther away from the Centaurus
super-cluster,” Thomas said. “I was working with the Observatory team when Dr.
Markham’s staff found an area of space where galaxies, rogue stars, and other
objects were actually moving
toward
each other instead of the ‘flying
apart as if from a giant explosion’ standard by which we’ve come to know them.”
Although he had advance knowledge of the newfound phenomena and had studied it
for over a week, Thomas’ expression was still one of disbelief. “So she began
intensely studying that area and we were able to solve the mystery of the extra
dark matter that we discovered in the vicinity of the wasteland galaxy. The
reason there is more dark matter as we travel outward is because there is more
of
everything
here. It’s all being sucked together like a giant
three-dimensional river twisting and turning through space and running directly
at the gravitational source we’ve tentatively named
Poseidon
.”

“Twisting and turning?” Glen
was listening closely, and he prompted them for more information.

“Yeah, because it’s competing
with the gravity of everything around it, including the immense waves generated
by huge super-clusters like Centaurus,” Thomas said, pausing to shake his head
in disbelief. “But sooner or later it
wins
every battle, vacuuming everything
surrounding it directly into its current.”

“That’s
impossible
,”
Adam stated doubtfully. “If it’s a billion light years in diameter then our
telescopes back on Earth – or even our exploratory vessels for that matter –
would easily be able to find and detect it no matter where it is in our universe.”
He sat back. “There’s no
way
that we couldn’t locate it from any of our
home planets… even if it absorbs electromagnetic radiation such as light and is
essentially invisible.”

Thomas smiled and folded his
arms while Kari smirked and quietly took another bite from her donut. “I didn’t
say it was
in
our universe, Adam.” He continued grinning as complete
silence dominated the conference room for a moment or two.

“
Whoa
…” David said
finally.

“Are you saying…?” Mary trailed
off as she watched Thomas activate his laptop and project the image from his
monitor onto one of the walls. He quickly put up an image of the ‘mystery
transmission’ that had been sent to them from a source still unknown to them.

“The big blue universe bubble
in the approximate center of the diagram is obviously ours,” he said, walking
over to the wall and standing next to it. “Whoever sent the transmission
confirmed that to us by using the yellow cube in the lower right of the picture
to blow up and enhance the ‘local cluster of galaxies’ area that we originally
began our journey from.” He held up his hands and helplessly waved them,
uncertain as to how to explain the intent of the sender. “And we
correctly
interpreted all of the surrounding bubbles as other Big-Bangs in various stages
of growth that form other universes. Having no way to verify without visiting
them, we’re only speculating but pretty certain that they have physical laws
very similar to our own. We base that assumption on the fact that they appear
to be exactly the same as ours except for the time difference from their
initial blast point. Some of them are younger versions of our own, while larger
bubbles would be older as each explosion expands over the passage of time.” He
began typing on his laptop but gestured to the diagram still projected on the
wall. “It is a simple image, intended to convey a lot of information in an easy
to understand format. But if you look real closely you’ll notice that all of
the bubbles on this image are exactly the same…”

“…Except for that little red
devil in the lower left area just below the outer edge of
our
universe,”
Mary said, turning her head suddenly to gaze at Thomas with wonder. “They have
it glowing… or something.”

“Exactly,” confirmed Thomas.
“Somewhere just beyond the outer edge of our universe is a huge gravity well
that measures at least a
billion
light years in diameter.” He shot a
quick glance at Kaufield. “If you asked me to draw you a map of this thing, my
sketch would look an awful lot like
this
picture.” He pointed at the
image on the wall. “We call it Poseidon, and it has poked a huge arm of gravity
into our universe that is directly affecting
everything
for at least a
billion light years inside our universe. Its gradually diminishing effects
reach much farther inside, as we noticed in the wasteland galaxy, but weaken
very rapidly once it has to compete with the intense gravity of all the
galaxies and super-clusters farther inside our bubble.”

“A river?” Anne asked cautiously.
“Why did you call it a river?”

“A three-dimensional ‘river’ is
the best way to describe it. That’s the way our computers model it based on our
study so far. Poseidon uses a single ‘thin’ tendril of highly focused, intense
gravity to probe the outer edge of our universe. If it were a standard black
hole as we know them then it would instead be a huge swirling whirlpool of
gravity absorbing everything surrounding it,” Thomas commented in reply.
“That’s why we’re hesitant to officially
call
it a black hole. My guess
is that those other bubbles on the diagram representing additional universes –
if they truly
are
in those locations – probably have at least one or two
of Poseidon’s gravity tendrils poking around inside of them as well.” He
shrugged and sat back down.

“So everything – stars,
galaxies, dark matter, whatever – anything that ends up caught in this
huge
wave of gravity that you call a river…” Kaufield said, sounding a bit shocked,
“…is headed
out
of our universe?”

“That’s correct,” Kari
confirmed. “Dr. Markham is currently down in the Observatory working as quickly
as possible to map its size, speed, and course based on the movement of the
galactic objects in the area. But that could prove very difficult in the long
run because the tendril’s length spans so vast an area, eventually leaving the
outer edge of our universe. We do have the capability to move the ship closer
and get current information more quickly…”

“But the local environment in
there might be dangerous enough to threaten the
Pathfinder
,” Kaufield
guessed, sighing heavily.

“Its effects have
already
interfered with our CAS Drive once,” warned Thomas. “And we’re still pretty
damn far from the outer edge of that blue bubble.”

“Do we explore farther or don’t
we?” Kaufield asked rhetorically. “That’s an item we might have to ponder a
bit, despite what Dr. Markham may be thinking.”

“So what’s the next step?”
wondered Colonel Neeland.

“I don’t know about the rest of
you, but I want to hear more – directly from the source,” the Captain decided.
“Let’s take a twenty minute break. Kari, please contact Dr. Markham for me and
request that she
stop
what she’s currently doing and join us up here. If
she gives you any crap, make sure that you point out that this is
not
a
request.”

“Aye sir,” she acknowledged.

The Captain nodded to the
people surrounding him and slowly stood up, stretching his arms as he did so.
“This Council stands in recess for twenty minutes,” he announced. Everyone
acknowledged his agreement and then headed off to quickly check in with their
staff.

*    
* * *     *

They reconvened on time and Dr.
Markham did indeed join them as the unofficial fourteenth member of their
meeting. Glen moved to one side and quickly added an extra chair between him
and Mary before motioning for her to sit. She did so, giving him a questioning
once over as she noticed an empty donut box sitting on the table in front of
her. Setting her notepad next to the box, Julie glanced at Thomas’ laptop
diagram still projected on the wall.

“So…” she said curiously. “Do
you like the baby we found on our doorstep?”

“No riddles, Doctor, just fill
us in please,” the Captain said firmly.

“I am,” she insisted. “It’s a
baby universe in the process of forming. The gravity well is huge right now
because it’s busy grabbing whatever matter and energy it can from the
neighboring universes surrounding it.”

“Then it
isn’t
a black
hole…” Jeff queried from his seat across from her.

“Thank God no,” Dr. Markham
replied. “If it were it would be draining a lot more of the matter from the universes
around it. It’s a remarkable discovery… the largest gravity source that we’ve
ever
found. It is so huge and so intense that its gravity is forming large fingers
that reach out and create huge rivers of matter flowing toward it. With the
visible matter lighting it up, we can see exactly what is happening. This
‘tendril’ actually behaves more like lightning now more so than mere gravity.
If it had manifested itself as a standard whirlpool there would be noticeable
consequences in our universe within a couple of billion years or so. Using this
method is allowing it to steal a little bit from each of the bubbles around it
rather than grabbing everything. Truly it is a wonderful design.”

“There’s your magic, Adam,”
Father Dixon said with a smirk. “Yet another physical law we can file away
regarding gravity... one that defines creation itself. Once a gravity well gets
large enough its astonishing forces rearrange themselves into lightning-like
tendrils rather than a vortex. It’s taking just enough matter and energy to
form a new universe… that is, if we understand your explanation correctly,
Doctor.”

“You do,” she said, pointing to
the image projected on the wall. “Right now the ‘baby universe’ looks very
similar to the other bubbles on that diagram but that’s very deceptive. This
one is shrinking rather than growing. Once it absorbs enough matter and energy
it will condense even further, down to a size smaller than you can possibly
imagine. And it will continue to grow both smaller and denser – relentlessly
packing itself tighter and tighter until…”

“
Boom
,” Adam said
softly. “A new universe is born.”

“Exactly,” Julie Confirmed.
“But that will be a long wait in this case. The blessed event won’t occur for
billions of years, at minimum.”

“How close can we get without
endangering the
Pathfinder
?” Dr. Simmons asked. “Could we possibly PTP
into this river just long enough to study it and then reengage the CAS Drive
once we’re finished? It would be a remarkable achievement if we did so.”

“We’ll get as close as we’ll
need to,” replied Julie to her medical colleague. “I want to chart this
phenomenon. All of it.”

“Not with
this
ship you
won’t,” Glen cautioned her. “The
outer
event horizon of this thing wreaked
havoc with our systems and almost cost us our ship.”

“The adjustments that you and
Thomas made have worked perfectly since we left the wasteland galaxy,” she
commented. “It may be the nature of a machine to malfunction once in a while…
but if it does you simply fix it.” She looked expectantly at the Captain.
“We’ve traveled millions of light years already since that attack, growing
closer and closer to the outer edge of our universe. You can’t seriously tell
me we’re going to stop now.”

“The adjustments that Thomas
and I have
continued
to make prior to each trip,” Glen pointed out,
correcting Dr. Markham firmly. “Nothing is set in stone… it constantly changes…
unpredictably
.”

“We don’t have to
stop
,”
Kaufield decided, “But we certainly should at least
consider
the option
of picking a new direction to travel toward. He gestured toward Thomas’
projected diagram, studying the smaller red dot in particular. “There be
dragons
that way, Doctor.”

“Oh, c’mon Captain,” she said.
“This is why we
built
the
Pathfinder
. It’s the unquestionable
chance of a lifetime. Surely you’re not going to become a member of the ‘flat
Earth’ society
now
…”

 “You can study it from a
safe
distance,” David pointed out from the other end of the table. “We can get close
enough so that you can use the Observatory to document your findings
without
risking the ship.”