want. How far can your avat…”
Cort’s comm interrupted him. “Ares here. Go ahead.”
“Jane Munroe, sir. I hope I am not disturbing you.”
“You are, General. But I suspect you wouldn’t be without a good reason.”
“I am still Primary Command, sir. H’uum contacted me a few minutes ago. He has picked up signals from the abductees.”
Cort took George’s hand and began walking toward the house. “Where?”
“He’s gathering the data right now. He expects his intelligence people will have a lock by 0600 your time. He says it is pretty far away, though. Possibly another arm.”
“Another arm?”
“Of the galaxy, sir.”
“Oh, shit.”
“Yes, sir. And one opposite our location at that.”
Four
“How is that even possible?” Cort asked the next morning. “I thought nothing could escape a black hole.”
Lee Pan said, “That is not exactly true, General. Tachyons can escape a black hole. But I believe we are dealing with an Einstein-Rosen bridge.”
“In English, Doc. I’m not a physicist.”
The night before, Cort ordered Jane Munroe to arrange a meeting of his war council. On six different planets and moons, a dozen military and civilian leaders were talking about the signal the H’uumans had picked up. Lee Pan was the federation’s Director of Sciences.
Pan was having a problem looking at Cort. The general’s face was still mangled, but at least the wound was now covered by a bandage. The problem Pan had was that he couldn’t get the image of Cort cutting off his own eye out of his memory. “A wormhole, General. A tunnel through spacetime. We believe this black hole is paired with a white hole. The link is called an Einstein-Rosen bridge. Matter and light can go one way, tachyons the other.”
“So you are telling us that signal is coming from a wormhole on the other side of the galaxy?” JJ asked.
“According to our data, that is correct.”
From her desk on Phobos, Liz Thoms said, “Since we are receiving the tachyons from the hole, that means our matter can pass through it.”
“Correct. If we can find a safe way to do so.”
Cort nodded. “So we should be getting the signal twice. Once from the wormhole and once from where it terminates. Do we have the other signals?”
“No. We actually have signals from nine of the ten transmitters, but they are all coming from the wormhole. Based on tachyon transmission dynamics, it means the other end of the wormhole is probably not inside our galaxy. Telemetry from the transmitters indicates the nine are alive. We do not know what condition they are in because the devices were not designed for human anatomy.”
Cort didn’t care which member of the Infinitive Church had died. “How long will it take us to get there?”
Pan was surprised by the question. “General, we can get there in less than a year with shielded H’uuman jump ships, but we do not know how to traverse the wormhole. Matter would be subject to tidal collapse within the effect of the black hole. Nor do we know if it is possible to return if we do. It is a black hole, after all. Without a way back, it may be pointless to go after the abductees.”
“I remember in the twenty-first century hearing about star clusters bending signals. Is there any chance that the signals are coming from somewhere else?”
“We have taken gravitational lensing into account, General.”
“The rescue team will leave in one month. You will then have your year to figure out how to get us through that singularity, Doctor. Or whatever it is.”
“General, it is a black hole! I need much more time than that,” Pan protested.
“Tell that to our people on the other side, Doc. Find me a way through.” Cort hesitated and said, “And a way back.”
“General, I can help there,” Liz’s excitement was clear. “I have been adapting some H’uuman tachyon
Cort’s comm interrupted him. “Ares here. Go ahead.”
“Jane Munroe, sir. I hope I am not disturbing you.”
“You are, General. But I suspect you wouldn’t be without a good reason.”
“I am still Primary Command, sir. H’uum contacted me a few minutes ago. He has picked up signals from the abductees.”
Cort took George’s hand and began walking toward the house. “Where?”
“He’s gathering the data right now. He expects his intelligence people will have a lock by 0600 your time. He says it is pretty far away, though. Possibly another arm.”
“Another arm?”
“Of the galaxy, sir.”
“Oh, shit.”
“Yes, sir. And one opposite our location at that.”
Four
“How is that even possible?” Cort asked the next morning. “I thought nothing could escape a black hole.”
Lee Pan said, “That is not exactly true, General. Tachyons can escape a black hole. But I believe we are dealing with an Einstein-Rosen bridge.”
“In English, Doc. I’m not a physicist.”
The night before, Cort ordered Jane Munroe to arrange a meeting of his war council. On six different planets and moons, a dozen military and civilian leaders were talking about the signal the H’uumans had picked up. Lee Pan was the federation’s Director of Sciences.
Pan was having a problem looking at Cort. The general’s face was still mangled, but at least the wound was now covered by a bandage. The problem Pan had was that he couldn’t get the image of Cort cutting off his own eye out of his memory. “A wormhole, General. A tunnel through spacetime. We believe this black hole is paired with a white hole. The link is called an Einstein-Rosen bridge. Matter and light can go one way, tachyons the other.”
“So you are telling us that signal is coming from a wormhole on the other side of the galaxy?” JJ asked.
“According to our data, that is correct.”
From her desk on Phobos, Liz Thoms said, “Since we are receiving the tachyons from the hole, that means our matter can pass through it.”
“Correct. If we can find a safe way to do so.”
Cort nodded. “So we should be getting the signal twice. Once from the wormhole and once from where it terminates. Do we have the other signals?”
“No. We actually have signals from nine of the ten transmitters, but they are all coming from the wormhole. Based on tachyon transmission dynamics, it means the other end of the wormhole is probably not inside our galaxy. Telemetry from the transmitters indicates the nine are alive. We do not know what condition they are in because the devices were not designed for human anatomy.”
Cort didn’t care which member of the Infinitive Church had died. “How long will it take us to get there?”
Pan was surprised by the question. “General, we can get there in less than a year with shielded H’uuman jump ships, but we do not know how to traverse the wormhole. Matter would be subject to tidal collapse within the effect of the black hole. Nor do we know if it is possible to return if we do. It is a black hole, after all. Without a way back, it may be pointless to go after the abductees.”
“I remember in the twenty-first century hearing about star clusters bending signals. Is there any chance that the signals are coming from somewhere else?”
“We have taken gravitational lensing into account, General.”
“The rescue team will leave in one month. You will then have your year to figure out how to get us through that singularity, Doctor. Or whatever it is.”
“General, it is a black hole! I need much more time than that,” Pan protested.
“Tell that to our people on the other side, Doc. Find me a way through.” Cort hesitated and said, “And a way back.”
“General, I can help there,” Liz’s excitement was clear. “I have been adapting some H’uuman tachyon
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