Crisis Earth Page 4
However, the light from that distant explosion had extinguished much faster than what many physicists and astronomers had expected. This highly unusual situation led many to conclude that the gravitational collapse was far more catastrophic than what was typical of a supernova explosion. Thus, a rush was on to determine what had actually occurred. The answer came the next day from Jathos Lucean, an astronomer living in Panvior, a country located on the continent of Prosias. Using an ultra-sophisticated gravitational-wave detector array, Jathos had successfully detected and recorded the presence of low frequency gravitational waves emanating from the point in space where Panon-suram is located.
Shortly, Jathos’ discovery becomes worldwide news. The eventual arrival of exotic forms of space propulsion compelled quite a few astronomers to think about exploring the spatial region around Panon-suram. With a primitive beginning in 1427 B.E., space propulsion technology, mushroomed at an exponential rate due to the cooperative and tireless efforts of tens of thousands of scientists, engineers and physicists from around the planet. Thus, people of every language, tribe and nation participated in Dabenar’s space program. As propulsion technology became more sophisticated through the centuries, interplanetary transport ships could travel at subsequently greater speeds.
By the middle of the 17th century, various transport ships could reach 0.98 lightspeed. Thus, interplanetary travel, including the necessary acceleration and deceleration times, was reduced from two to ten years to less than a few months. Although such a phenomenal speed was adequate for traveling within the solar system, 0.98 lightspeed was deemed by many as far too slow for traversing interstellar distances. Even the partial time dilation effect was not enough to convince even the hardiest of space travelers to chance a round-trip mission that would take a minimum of seventeen centuries. All onboard travelers would perceive that only a short period of time had passed during their entire voyage.
After completing their mission and returning home, every person they knew would have been long dead and forgotten. In essence, the society that the returning crew members once knew including family, relatives and friends would have ceased to exist. Their own people would regard the returning crew members as aliens. Yet, one individual nearing the end of his life has decided to employ the time dilation method to travel approximately 220 to 230 years into the future. He wants to see the outcome of an experimental project that he and two of his best friends had begun six decades earlier. Still, the majority of people would find time dilation propulsion undesirable.
Only with the advent of hyperspace propulsion via a quantum jump sphere beginning in the mid-20th century, the brainchild of Sarcatian female physicist Alamouta Yuwāma, could enormous interstellar distances be traversed within a short time. On Gaitha, 4 Nithra 1947 B.E., two teams comprising scientists, physicists and astronomers set out in two vessels, the Sakaros and the Taquinn, to explore the spatial region around Panon-suram. Upon reaching the spatial region around Panon-suram, the crews of both ships were utterly astonished to discover a dark spherical object, approximately 40km (24.85 miles) in diameter, against the background of bright stars.
Interstellar gases, dust and other material were falling into this dark object from various directions. Specialized instruments on both vessels indicated that the area of space within the immediate vicinity of the strange spherical object was highly curved. For reasons then unknown, sensor beams aimed at the object failed to return. The crew of the Sakaros launched a high-speed, brightly illuminated celtheon probe toward the dark object. The probe had been programmed to send out a continuous stream of data as it approached the object. However, as the probe traveled closer toward the object, highly unusual manifestations began occurring, manifestations that came as a complete surprise to the crews of both ships.
First, the wavelength of the probe’s return signal was slowly becoming increasingly longer. Second, the probe appeared to take an increasingly length of time to reach the object. Third, the probe became dimmer as it approached the object. Finally, the probe’s color was shifting toward red. At a certain distance from the object, the barely visible probe appeared to freeze in motion. Communication with the probe ceased. The resultant information gathered from the probe, before its complete failure, amazed the crew. After their return to Dabenar, physicists determined that the stellar object must possess an inconceivably powerful gravitational field, which explained the effects that the gravitational field had on physical objects or EM radiation.
Sometime afterward, physicists decided on a unique name for this highly unusual stellar object: black star. Only within the past two hundred years have a few adventurous-minded research physicists developed a radical hypothesis about converting a black star’s immense gravity into a form of usable energy. Braen Sorn is one of these research physicists, as well as a senior instructor at the Ravlok Institute of Advanced Science and Technology. Sorn postulated a theory as to how to accomplish this feat. He suggested building a ring of forty to fifty radiation-collecting platforms and placing them in very high orbit around the black star.
Sorn reasoned that this endeavor would necessitate using critical orbiting procedures less any of the platforms suffer destruction by falling into the black star. After a subsequent careful analysis, Sorn’s colleagues rejected this idea due to the immense challenges of designing, building and transporting the required structures across hundreds of light-years. In addition, the thousands of people necessary for positioning, operating and maintaining these complex structures would, over an extended period of time, could inadvertently become exposed to extremely high, lethal levels of heat, x-ray, gamma and other forms of cosmic radiation.
Thus, another idea is put forth. The year is 2096 B.E. Daljik Traberian Ra’as, age 19, is a second-year advanced level student, as well as one of Ravlok’s most brilliant students of advanced physics. Daljik advances a radical idea. It is an idea that is met with much skepticism-especially by Braen Sorn. Regardless, this young physics student is undeterred by the doubts of others. In time, a hypothetical analysis of Daljik’s idea by a few other and open-minded physicists leads to the prediction and implementation of this radical concept. Daljik proposed employing a micro-diameter extraspatial conduit to physically link the area close to a black star, thus allowing the propagation of the immense gravitational forces into a highly shielded and well-protected lab.
The gravity-to-energy conversion process would yield tremendous amounts of energy for advance research and other practical uses. Unknown to his fellow students, Daljik had spent the majority of his intermediate-level years (ages 10-17), on painstaking and tedious research developing this idea, as well as the actual protodevice that could accomplish this feat. Adjatay and Adanna Ra’as were utterly amazed and fiercely proud of the fact that their youngest son had such a passionate interest in his education, despite the fact that Daljik kept certain aspects of his research efforts strictly to himself. Ever since his later elementary-level years, Daljik has continuously confounded his instructors with his extensive knowledge of high-level Hatronian math, quantum physics, as well as extraspatial physics.
Daljik was truly an intellectually gifted child. In his sixth and final year at Ravlok, Daljik, 24, dared propose to the other students and instructor a radically different concept in the use of hyperspace propulsion technology. Earlier, he had made another daring proposal to Adisa Kalan. Her immediate response was a resounding Yes! Several months later, they marry. Few other research physicists had come close to what Daljik had proposed. He would always share his findings with his most loyal and trusted friend, Selvon Fadien Jarrak. Selvon, who at the time was a Tavus-Alverand corporate intern, had excitedly told Tavus-Alverand senior management officials about Daljik.
On visiting Ravlok, these corporate officials were highly impressed with Daljik’s work. Many physicists were aware of the existence of larger, naturally occurring extraspatial conduits that linked two points spaced thousands or millions of light-years apart. Though aware of the extreme r
isks involved, Daljik continued his research. He realized that to complete the process, several criteria had to be established: the accumulation of sufficient energy, the creation of the extraspatial conduit and the continual repositioning of the conduit’s entry and exit portals. Interestingly, Daljik wanted the entire process to be performed by a device portable enough to be carried in one hand.
Eventually, Daljik comes up with of a unique name for his revolutionary creation: the extraspatial otivicon. A unique power generation method called the Hapreth-Sul conversion process would use the enormous amount of energy created by the mutual interaction of radridium and drabridium, two rare and highly diverse heavy elements brought together in a strictly controlled process. Working in unison with this process are various modules controlled by an extensive array of hyperfast duonian optical processors; processors whose internal functions are based on incorporating some of the inner workings of the DNA molecule.
In line with the necessary shielding requirements, it is the manipulation of this enormous amount of energy that is used to capture and inflate a nearby quantum portal and construct a link with a remote quantum portal. Working along with tuon particle isaphentrics, extraspatial nebulonics and trephasian cohibitor technology, the extraspatial otivicon's ability to maintain a continuous link between open portals is its most valued asset. Some physicists, however, are highly suspicious that trephasian cohibitor technology and extraspatial nebulonics are of thaon origin and design, thus making both these technologies illegal imports
Aside from the gravity-to-energy conversion process, Daljik feels certain that by using a specific internal hardware configuration, the extraspatial conduit could function much like an intergalactic telescope. Thus, visual adaptive technology, via an extraspatial conduit, could be employed to observe nearly any distant stellar object in the galaxy up close for astronomical study and research. Later, his colleagues begin proposing another and far grander use for the extraspatial otivicon. In their view, the phenomenal amount of gravitational energy that could be gathered, converted and utilized could be used to accomplish what many physicists had only dreamed of doing. It became possible to open a portal to a higher spatial dimension called veccion space.
Regardless as to how the extraspatial otivicon would be configured, Daljik felt exceedingly proud of his technological masterpiece. Although leery of another proposed and somewhat insidious use of his creation, he was determined to achieve his goal, despite the taking of great risk. Daljik had realized that present day selothian technology could not provide the material hardware necessary for the creation of a device small enough, yet, powerful enough to create a microminiature version of the generators that ships use in opening a quantum jump sphere. For obvious reasons, Daljik had chosen not to reveal a critical fact.
He had acquired the necessary amounts of radridium and drabridium, which were crucial for the proper operation of the extraspatial otivicon, from the thaons. As they had discovered considerable amounts of these two heavy elements in an undisclosed location, the thaons were able to use these elements to build devices of which other planetary civilizations could barely conceive. At present, an entry portal has just formed close to the vicinity of the black star. Since the entry portal is a massless entity, the gravitational forces have virtually no effect on its presence. The extraspatial conduit is only providing an alternate path for the immense gravitational forces to propagate through.
Unfortunately, this same conduit is allowing enormous levels high-energy gamma, x-ray and other forms of stellar, heavily blue-shifted radiation to enter. A tremendous amount of shielding at the exit portal, therefore, becomes a crucial priority. Thus, only a highly trained and experienced operator in the field of intergalactic navigational point coordination could control the positioning of the ever-shifting entry portal. The operator of the extraspatial otivicon must use extreme caution in positioning the entry portal less unimaginable destruction and loss of life occurs at the exit portal. The exit portal can be positioned to only within a certain distance of the extraspatial otivicon; an important safety feature embedded within the device’s primary hardware configuration.
Slovas Larian, the present operator of an updated and more powerful version of the first extraspatial otivicon, no longer cares about any such safety procedures. Several members of Commander Ularik’s security team have killed five of his associates, including the pilot. In a strategic move, two sharp shooters were able to kill Balor and Kefas moments before the teenagers were fired upon. For the second time within two months, all three teens had come perilously close to an untimely death. Slovas Larian and Ibris Maroth are the only ones remaining. An armed security team has surrounded the old house. The Astrakis has been destroyed.
Along with the corporate Astrakis, Slovas’ goal for total acquisition of the extraspatial otivicon, his aspiration for absolute power, inconceivable wealth, as well as becoming the galaxy’s first emperor-god have come to naught. His capture guarantees that he will be tried and convicted in a court of law on various criminal charges including corporate embezzlement, illegal fund laundering, murder, fraud and high treason. Thus, his execution is awaiting him. Angry, frustrated and defeated, Slovas realizes that he has nothing left to lose. He has decided to take as many people down with him before he is put to death. After activating the extraspatial otivicon, he had programmed an exit portal to appear out to its maximum allowable distance as determined by the device’s internal hardware configuration.
That position corresponds to a point approximately 1400 feet above North Central Anonwood. Above two skyscraper buildings, an expanding sphere forms and begins causing air and weather turbulence. Evacuation alarms are sounding as people begin running for their lives. On the ground, terrified men, woman and children are screaming and running as increasing gravitational forces from within the expanding sphere begin rending the top portions of buildings apart. In its present configuration, the extraspatial otivicon allows only a specific diameter opening before instability problems force the operator to shut it down.
As Slovas has forced the device to operate beyond its safety operating limits, enormous gravitational forces are being unleashed through the extraspatial conduit. As a result, large portions of buildings are being pulled irresistibly into the extraspatial conduit. Slovas wants to cause as much death and destruction as possible. Over the decades, he was successfully able to incorporate into the first extraspatial otivicon the original feedback process. Although the present device does not possess the necessary configuration, Slovas has already manipulated the controls to obtain a considerable percentage of the desired destructive effect.
“Slovas!” Alverin yells from a distance. “Think about all the innocent humans that will die! Deactivate the extraspatial otivicon!”
“Let them die!” Slovas yells. “This project was mine! You will have to kill all of us to stop me!” Alverin, however, knows better. Any sudden and improper deactivation of the extraspatial otivicon by weapons fire would cause perilously unstable operation of the exit portal as the death of 607 people had previously shown. Unaware of the device’s present configuration, Alverin can only conclude that the entire city of Anonwood could be enveloped within an enormous gravitational sphere. Thus, over 1.2 million humans would perish.
Even worse, the deliberate destruction of the extraspatial otivicon would allow the two elements, radridium and drabridium to intermix uncontrollably and release far more energy than the 50-megaton Russian Tsar bomb that was detonated nearly thirteen years earlier. Time is running dangerously short. Within himself, Alverin has come to a decision. “Security Commander Obbin,” he begins, “it is imperative that you neutralize Slovas without damaging the extraspatial otivicon. If you destroy the extraspatial otivicon by peshon or masor fire, the energy release would incinerate every living thing within a 100-teraon radius. I will delay Slovas for as long as I can.”
Immediately, Obbin transmits an order to four members of his heavily armed security team: take out Slovas. F
our armed security personnel begin maneuvering secretly toward the back of the house.
“Slovas! Listen to me!” Alverin pleads. “You will accomplish nothing by doing this! Project Hilexos was a grave error from the very beginning! Daljik finally understood that, but by then, it was too late.”
“You could have stayed on the team!” Slovas yells. “We were on the verge of success. Now, it is ruined!”
“Success?” Alverin yells. “Time and again, we warned you of the instability factor. You refused to listen. I resigned. You fired many others! 607 people perished in the first mishap, all because of your conceit.”
“To what mishap is he referring?” Ibris Maroth interrupts.
Slovas ignores Ibris. “I am thoroughly sick,” he yells, “of religious idiots and their high-minded morality speeches. The loss of a few lives is no justification for halting scientific progress.”
Quafeira steps forward. “So you murdered my father, stole his creation and lied about him in the media, all in the name of scientific progress?”
With a contemptuous reply, Slovas answers her. “Look at it this way! Had the authorities discovered your father’s dealings with the thaons, they would have dealt with him. I simply saved them the trouble.”