crystalline structure were mapped with millimetre
precision, revealing the exact topology of fissures that extended for over a kilometre below the meandering ridge peaks. But the sensor flock couldn’t resolve anything beneath the
surface.
‘Like a mountain range scale fingerprint,’ Ibu described it.
Laura closed her eyes, immersing herself in the sensor imagery. ‘The quantum distortion is strongest along the ridges,’ she said. ‘But that’s not telling me where the
generating mechanism is.’
‘There’s definitely some kind of negative energy effect going on in there,’ Ayanna said. ‘The trees are the source of the temporal flow change, all right. That
illumination within the crystal must be this continuum’s variant on Cherenkov radiation.’
Under Rojas’s guidance, the drone flock split into two and slipped down into the gaps on either side of a crystalline ridge, sinking out of the sunlight to be illuminated by the eerie
ever-shifting phosphorescence.
‘We can keep in contact with the flock but not the Mk24s,’ Ibu said. ‘Curiouser and curiouser.’
‘They’re closer,’ Rojas pointed out.
‘If the Mk24s are just drifting around in the Forest, one of them would be out from the radar shadow of the trees by now.’
‘Okay, so what do you think happened to them?’
‘I don’t know,’ he said solemnly.
‘Definitely some carbon in the tree mass,’ Laura said, reading the fresh batch of data from the flock.
‘It’s a diamond?’ Joey asked in delight.
‘No, sorry. There are traces of other elements in there as well, nothing too elaborate. But this is interesting: valency bonds seem stronger than we’re used to, and matter density is
certainly higher than normal. I don’t suppose there’s much vacuum ablation. But I still can’t get a reading more than a few millimetres deep.’
‘So that means you have to go out there and chip a few bits off, right?’ Ibu said.
Laura reviewed the density results again. ‘I think the filaments on the sampler modules should be able to cope.’
‘Damn, I was hoping to hit it with a hammer,’ Ibu said with a grin. ‘Can you imagine it? A single tap, and this one tiny little crack starts to multiply . . .’
‘The Commonwealth First Contact Agency would fine you to death,’ Laura told him.
‘Let’s just allow the flock a little more time,’ Rojas said.
‘I’m reading some interesting fluctuations in the quantum signature inside the fissure,’ Ayanna said. ‘I’d like the flock to complete a full scan down the whole
length of the tree, find out where it’s strongest.’
‘That’ll help me,’ Laura admitted. ‘But we are going out there, aren’t we?’
Rojas sighed. ‘We’ll run some functionality tests on our equipment while we wait for the flock to finish this run.’
*
The shuttle’s service compartment was sandwiched between the forward cabin and the main passenger cabin. It contained the boarding airlock, a small galley and washrooms,
along with a hatch which led down to the payload bay running the length of the fuselage beneath the passenger cabin.
Laura floated after Rojas, keeping a respectable distance between her head and his feet. Even though her biononics were slowly recovering, she still wasn’t terribly proficient in freefall.
The risk of getting kicked in the face was always on her mind.
She allowed herself to float down the hatch, occasionally using one of the handholds that bristled from every bulkhead. The first quarter of the payload bay was a narrow corridor with walls of
equipment lockers. That opened out into a larger metallic cavern, where the thick tubes of the drone silos formed twin rows. Laura grabbed the handholds and hauled herself along its length, trying
not to bang her elbows into anything. At the far end of the silo compartment was an airlock hatch into the EVA hangar. Two spherical exopods were secure in their cradles – two-person
spacecraft with a cluster of
precision, revealing the exact topology of fissures that extended for over a kilometre below the meandering ridge peaks. But the sensor flock couldn’t resolve anything beneath the
surface.
‘Like a mountain range scale fingerprint,’ Ibu described it.
Laura closed her eyes, immersing herself in the sensor imagery. ‘The quantum distortion is strongest along the ridges,’ she said. ‘But that’s not telling me where the
generating mechanism is.’
‘There’s definitely some kind of negative energy effect going on in there,’ Ayanna said. ‘The trees are the source of the temporal flow change, all right. That
illumination within the crystal must be this continuum’s variant on Cherenkov radiation.’
Under Rojas’s guidance, the drone flock split into two and slipped down into the gaps on either side of a crystalline ridge, sinking out of the sunlight to be illuminated by the eerie
ever-shifting phosphorescence.
‘We can keep in contact with the flock but not the Mk24s,’ Ibu said. ‘Curiouser and curiouser.’
‘They’re closer,’ Rojas pointed out.
‘If the Mk24s are just drifting around in the Forest, one of them would be out from the radar shadow of the trees by now.’
‘Okay, so what do you think happened to them?’
‘I don’t know,’ he said solemnly.
‘Definitely some carbon in the tree mass,’ Laura said, reading the fresh batch of data from the flock.
‘It’s a diamond?’ Joey asked in delight.
‘No, sorry. There are traces of other elements in there as well, nothing too elaborate. But this is interesting: valency bonds seem stronger than we’re used to, and matter density is
certainly higher than normal. I don’t suppose there’s much vacuum ablation. But I still can’t get a reading more than a few millimetres deep.’
‘So that means you have to go out there and chip a few bits off, right?’ Ibu said.
Laura reviewed the density results again. ‘I think the filaments on the sampler modules should be able to cope.’
‘Damn, I was hoping to hit it with a hammer,’ Ibu said with a grin. ‘Can you imagine it? A single tap, and this one tiny little crack starts to multiply . . .’
‘The Commonwealth First Contact Agency would fine you to death,’ Laura told him.
‘Let’s just allow the flock a little more time,’ Rojas said.
‘I’m reading some interesting fluctuations in the quantum signature inside the fissure,’ Ayanna said. ‘I’d like the flock to complete a full scan down the whole
length of the tree, find out where it’s strongest.’
‘That’ll help me,’ Laura admitted. ‘But we are going out there, aren’t we?’
Rojas sighed. ‘We’ll run some functionality tests on our equipment while we wait for the flock to finish this run.’
*
The shuttle’s service compartment was sandwiched between the forward cabin and the main passenger cabin. It contained the boarding airlock, a small galley and washrooms,
along with a hatch which led down to the payload bay running the length of the fuselage beneath the passenger cabin.
Laura floated after Rojas, keeping a respectable distance between her head and his feet. Even though her biononics were slowly recovering, she still wasn’t terribly proficient in freefall.
The risk of getting kicked in the face was always on her mind.
She allowed herself to float down the hatch, occasionally using one of the handholds that bristled from every bulkhead. The first quarter of the payload bay was a narrow corridor with walls of
equipment lockers. That opened out into a larger metallic cavern, where the thick tubes of the drone silos formed twin rows. Laura grabbed the handholds and hauled herself along its length, trying
not to bang her elbows into anything. At the far end of the silo compartment was an airlock hatch into the EVA hangar. Two spherical exopods were secure in their cradles – two-person
spacecraft with a cluster of
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