Contagium The Way We Were Page 4

  Chapter 4 Contagium

  Thursday morning Shoab, and Cynda were on their way to the morning team meeting. Cynda looked over at Shoab as they paced down the hallway "Since this is your first team meeting I'll answer any of Mosh's questions. If I need more information I'll ask you to chime in. I have to warn you Mosh usually goes off on a long tangent about the good old days for the first 30 minutes then dives into a barrage of questions about my designs for the ghost crystal." As Cynda and Mosh were walking into the lab Mosh was sitting at the front desk reading over the morning news sipping a cup of tea. The team of Junior scientists sat in the auditorium style seating trying to impress Mosh with their witty banter, of which he had no interest.

  Mosh not moving his head looked up from his morning news. "I noticed a flaw in your latest code revision for the logic catalysts."

  Cynda thought "What now. Always picking apart my work."

  Mosh continued "If you combine the first four modules you'll be able to reduce 4 million iterations."

  Cynda quickly retorted "Thanks, I should have noticed that. I wanted to see if I have your approval to update the master design of the ghost crystal based on Shoab's suggestion."

  Mosh looked up from his news "Shoab, finally nice to meet you. I was reviewing your suggestion about increasing the cycle rate on these neutron switches...excellent work." Mosh looking back at Cynda. "Cynda why didn't you think of that?"

  Cynda "I've been too busy writing the 1 million lines of code for the logic catalysts."

  Mosh not affected interrupted Cynda "I've already let General Milson, and Jeth know we're going ahead with the design change." With that Cynda, and Shoab took their seat. Just as Cynda predicted Mosh started the meeting with a long walk down memory lane about the good old days at DASPA.

  Shoab was floored that he was working with Mosh, one of the founders of DASPA. He knew most scientists at DASPA would never get the chance to work along side such a legend. Cynda didn't seem to share the enthusiasm always rolling her eyes behind Mosh's back when he often criticized her work.

  Over the rest of the week Shoab worked closely with Cynda, and Mosh leading up to the test run. Everyone was excited but slightly uneased for what might happen when the crystal reached full power. After a final review Mosh gave approval for the Friday test run. He informed General Milson the crystal should only run at full power for two minutes or it would overheat, and it would take at least five days to build up enough power for another run. Slightly disappointed at the run duration General Milson gave everyone the go ahead.

  Friday morning, the entire project team of military and scientist personnel sat behind the radiation proof glass watching the countdown to full power. Mosh was talking to Cynda, and Shoab when Jeth busted into the room looking over at Mosh "So is this going to work Grandpa?"

  Mosh not amused looked at Jeth and calmly replied "There is a 98% probability that we'll make contact to the Hawking Dimension."

  Jeth half paying attention while scanning through messages "Whoa! two minutes until you power up your super nerd machine." Jeth changed his voice to a mocking tone "Mosh, there's a 100% probability I'll be late if I don't get to my seat." Mosh just stared as Jeth walked to his observation seat.

  General Milson gave orders for everyone to take their places. Glancing back and forth between the countdown, and the crew. The crystal sat radiating a pale hue of blue. The catalyst bank was calmly humming away. Scientist Mosh looked up from the ghost crystal "One minute to full power. Set the power level to 50%." Mosh looked at Shoab, and Cynda raising his eyebrows as to say we'll see what happens. Mosh looking back at the clock "30 seconds to full power. Set the power to 75%." The hum of catalyst bank switched to an unsettling high pitch. Mosh looked up at the countdown "Engage full power!" The high pitch of the catalyst bank suddenly stopped as the crystal filled the room with blinding white light. Odd symbols began streaming through the holographic display above the crystal. Everyone sat in amazement not knowing what to do next. General Milson spoke over the loud speaker instructing everyone to stop chatting when he realized the crowd of voices were coming from the ghost crystal.

  He nervously spoke up. "Can anyone hear me?...Hello."

  The chatter of voices coalesced into one voice. "Hello, who is in our presence?"

  "I'm General Milson. We seek to understand your dimension. We come in peace." General Milson looked at the clock, only 45 seconds remained until they had to shut down the crystal. Nervously glancing at Mosh then back at the crystal's display. General Milson spoke up "Who are we speaking with?"

  The voice from the crystal replied "I am the voice of many. We are one."

  General Milson now with more urgency replied "Forgive us if we lose communication. We can only speak for a moment. What is it like there?"

  The voice from the crystal responded "A lot like where you are from, except we have infinite space, and no affects of time or decay. Everything is one but apart. All intelligent beings who value empathy make it here. We are at the center of all existence. This dimension existed before yours at the...."

  All of a sudden the bright white light vanished and the crystal reverted back to a light pale blue. The logic catalyst resumed its normal humming noise. Everyone sat their bewildered at what just took place. The results of over ten years of R&D work finally realized. Looking around the room General Milson smiled as he leaned toward the micro phone "Congratulations everyone, it looks like we made contact." Everyone erupted in celebration. Mosh, Cynda, and Shoab shaking hands laughing in amazement at what took place.

  Mosh turned to Shoab "This wouldn't have happened without you. Nice job!"

  Shoab humbly replied "Thanks Mosh. This was a team effort. I think Cynda is the one to thank." Cynda gave a reluctant smile. To make the best use of their time General Milson requested a list of questions to ask the voice from the other dimension. Shoab spent the entire weekend pondering what questions they should ask. Where does the dimension exist? How much does the person or persons really know? Are they aware of life on other planets? Who are we even talking too? Should we find out more about them or our own universe?

  Monday morning Shoab gave his list of questions to Mosh and Cynda. They too had their own list. After much conjecture they decided too focus on questions around how the Hawking dimension relates to their own planet, galaxy, and universe. Tuesday morning while Mosh, Cynda, and Shoab were finishing their list of questions Jeth sent them a message. "You have the list ready for General Milson? He wanted to review them before tomorrow's run."

  Mosh spoke up "Yes, our list of questions is prioritized as follows.

  1) How can we travel to your dimension?

  2) How big is your planet?

  3) What do you know about our universe?

  With haste Jeth replied "I'll review with General Milson during our morning briefing. See you tomorrow."

  Wednesday morning, the team assembled around the crystal to make contact. Mosh, Shoab, and Cynda stood in anticipation waiting to power up the crystal. General Milson walked in, everyone stood at attention. Not looking up as he walked to his seat "At ease everyone. I want to stress that we all keep calm, and maintain our composure while we make contact." General Milson looked up across the observation room at Mosh "Our team of scientist have three questions to ask the voice. Since we only have two minutes I ask that everyone remain quite." After a brief pause while looking over the room he spoke up "Ok everyone please take your positions. We're making contact in 3 minutes" General Milson muted his mic.

  Shoab looked across the room, he saw Jeth walk up to where General Milson was sitting. Jeth appeared to be bothered by something as his conversation with General Milson seemed to be somewhat heated. Shoab looked back at the clock. Two minutes to full power. The catalyst bank was humming along fully charged. Scientist Mosh walked over to the main team of scientists, ready for his command.

  Shoab glanced at the clock again, one
minute to full power. Shoab took his place beside Cynda at the observation deck. Mosh gave his first then second command to power up the crystal. The hum of the catalyst bank again raised to an unsettling high pitch. Mosh gave the final command "Engage full power." Again everything went to a dead silence as the crystal filled the room with a brilliant blinding white light. The odd symbols began pouring over the holographic display. The sound of a crowd began emanating from the crystal.

  General Milson cleared his throat "Hello friend. We spoke four days ago. We're looking to seek more understanding of your world."

  The voices coalesced into one saying "Please ask friend."

  General Milson replied "How can we travel to your dimension?"

  A brief pause before the voice responded "My dimension is at the center of all physical space. To travel here you must transform into pure energy."

  General Milson glancing up at the clock. Only a minute and 30 seconds left "How big is your planet?"

  The voice responded "We do not have planets. Our space is infinite and is not confined by your understanding of physics." At that moment a highly complex pattern formed in the holographic display above the crystal. The hologram showed a bright sphere surrounded by a large spinning disc that was also surrounded by four overlapping wheels. The wheels appeared to be made of bright gems spinning and crossing over each other. The inner large spinning disc covering the sphere began shooting lightening in an outward direction. The four outer wheels began to shoot flames forming an outward expanding fractal pattern of stars and planets. Everyone stared in amazement.

  General Milson realized they only have 45 seconds left "What do you know about our universe?"

  A crowd of voices began chattering then coalesced again "Our realm is the bright inner sphere. We are like the ocean and your universe is like a grain of sand on the edge of the shore among other grains of sand. The waves of our ocean continually reach out to pull experiences back and push life back to the shore. Your universe, like others, are teaming with life."

  In amazement General Milson replied "There is life on other planets?"

  The voice calmly responded "Yes, your closest neighbor is 2,000 light years away on the outer edge of your galaxy. The most intelligent lifeforms there are simple in mind, but kind in spirit." Just then the holographic display showed the planet's location in relation to Shoab's home planet with a complex list of coordinates. The coordinates gave the distance in light years from the center of the galaxy, and the inclination above the galaxies center plane. Each pairing of coordinates had the time listed so that every position was known throughout a 100,000-year progression.

  Just then the crystal shuttered violently and with a large burst of light cracked in multiple pieces. The entire room was pitch black. Smoke filled the inner room where the crystal sat cracked in a multitude of pieces. General Milson pounded on his desk "Mosh why didn't you shut off the crystal in time!?" The dim emergency lights flicker on.

  Mosh startled "Sir I…"

  General Milson not giving Mosh time to respond "How long is going to take to rebuild a new crystal!?"

  Mosh with a reluctant answer "I'll need to review the damage with my team. The first one took roughly 3 years to mill, and seven years prep for use."

  General Milson raising his voice even more "Ten years!? You've got to be kidding me!? Your team is going to meet immediately. I want a full plan in front of me tomorrow at 6 am to get this up and running again, as well as a plan to visit that nearest planet." A cloud of disappointment set in as everyone left the observation deck.

  Later that day Mosh, Cynda, and Shoab sat in their laboratory disgusted by the setback, but quietly excited about the mission to the new planet. Mosh looked up from his table "I completely screwed this up, it's all my fault."

  Cynda feeling sorry "Mosh, no one can blame you, I think everyone was floored by what the other dimension was showing us.

  Mosh wrinkled his brow "How does General Milson expect us to make it to the planet? Our fastest ships going at light speed will take us 3,000 years to get there. It's just not possible with our current technology."

  Just then Shoab lit up with excitement remembering back to his previous research "I've done research on space travel through black holes. My theory is that black holes are like one way expressways to other locations in the universe. I proposed mapping the expressways with signature encoded light signals. If my theory is correct then we should be able to detect the encoded signals at other locations in the universe. During my research I estimated over 444 black holes exist within our galaxy. Some of the expressways may land us near the new planet."

  Cynda turned to Shoab.with a skeptical look "Could we even make it through a black hole?"

  Shoab replied "Honestly who knows. In theory space and time will compresses proportionally as we move through the black hole so we shouldn't notice any changes as we pass through."

  Mosh weighed in "It's the only thing we have to go on. Cynda, I need a plan by tomorrow morning to get the crystal up and running again. Shoab I need a plan from you explaining how and when we can make it to the new planet. If we don't get this right it will cost us our jobs." Cynda and Shoab worked feverishly on their plans late into the night in preparation for the morning briefing with General Wilson.

  Thursday morning 6 am Mosh, Cynda, and Shoab sat across the table from General Milson, Jeth, and a team of advisors. General Milson looking up from Cynda, and Shoab's reports laying on his desk "So, lets hear it."

  Mosh cleared his throat "Getting the ghost crystal up and running again will take at best 7 years. The only location where the ghost crystal is found is in the caves of Casparis half way across the continent. It's going to cost 10 trillion turos to get the project completed in 7 years."

  General Milson interrupted Mosh "Yeah that cost is ridiculously high! What about the new planet?" Shoab was surprised at General Milson's flippant response.

  Mosh changed the hologram to show the galaxy and the position of the new planet "We've determine there's a possibility we can reach the planet by traveling through a black hole. We'll need to map the best entry and exit points that will bring us closest to the new planet. We're estimating the cost of this project to be roughly 1 billion turos."

  General Milson didn't hesitate "The board will never approve 10 trillion turos to continue project Contagium let alone 1 billion to visit a new planet. Don't forget we're also risking lives to travel to the new planet."

  Shoab sat up "Sir, if I may respond, while traveling through black holes our molecular structure will compress proportionally in time and space. This is based on the quantum physics principals of the TransMonoPhase Theory."

  General Milson leaned closer toward Shoab with an annoyed confused look "will it work or not?"

  Shoab was only 50 percent sure this would work but wanted to impress General Milson "Yes sir."

  General Milson "Good, I'll bring both of these proposals up to the board. Continue doing research on both projects until you hear back from me. You're free to go."

  Over the course of the following year Shoab worked with a team of signals scientists, and the deep space imaging team to map out the closest exit points near the new planet. Through their work they confirmed black holes do work as a complex network of expressways throughout the galaxy. They also identified an exit point only 1 light year from the new planet. One unexpected discovery was the encoded signal traveled 10 times faster once exiting the black hole near the new planet. The scientists determined that one year on their home planet was equal to ten years on the new planet. A round trip to the new planet and back would take approximately one year their time allowing ten years of observation on the new planet.

  After Shoab presented his findings to General Milson, and the board the project to visit the new planet was approved. Project Contagium however was cancelled because of budget reductions. Shoab was appointed head of the observation team that would study the inte
lligent life forms on the new planet. Lisa, the worlds leading geneticist, was placed on Shoab's team to extract and study the DNA of the intelligent life forms for comparison to their own. A team 10,000 personnel comprised of military, and support specialist were going to join Shoab, Mosh, and Cynda on their journey to the new planet.