Jack Falcon and His Quantum Singularity, Chapter 2

JACK STARED AT THE airlock in horror. “I can’t believe it!” he gasped. “Who would possibly have locked it?”

“What do we do?” Irene shouted. “There’s no other place to go!”

Jack looked around and an idea suddenly came to him. “Yes there is – follow me!” He sprinted toward the rear of the starship as fast as his legs could carry him.

His wife ran after him. “Where are you going? There’s nothing back there!”

“The ship is lying horizontally,” Jack called back. “That means its propulsion system is exposed. At the rear of the ship are giant thrusters that maneuver the ship in space. They’re actually enormous tubes that lead deep inside the starship. We can crawl inside them and wait out the storm!”

The Behemoth was a giant starship almost a thousand feet long. It seemed to take an agonizingly long time for them to run the length of the ship. A tremendous sense of urgency pushed them along. Jack knew that a storm of high-energy particles were streaming toward the planet at speeds approaching one-third of the speed of light. I wish this planet had a decent magnetosphere, Jack thought. Then we wouldn’t be as defenseless as we are now. His hand throbbed painfully, but he did his best to ignore it.

After what seemed like an eternity the young couple reached the rear of the ship. As Jack had said, the Behemoth had three giant conical thrusters at the back. Two of of them were out of reach, but the third was accessible from the ground.

Jack climbed up onto the giant cone and then gave his wife a hand. The two then scrambled up. The cone narrowed as it neared the body of the starship, until it terminated into a long pipe. Irene’s eyes widened when she saw how small it was. “Jack – that’s less than three feet wide!”

“I didn’t say it would be comfortable,” Jack replied. He helped Irene inside first, and then quickly got down on his hands and knees and scooted as far inside as he could. The burns on his hand made it difficult to travel down the tube, but he had no choice. After about forty feet the rocket tube shrank in size and they were forced to stop.

“We’re not very far in,” Irene said in a nervous voice.

“This is the best we can do,” Jack replied. “We should be ok, though. The particles from the solar flare can’t possibly penetrate through all the shielding above us, and since they’re being emitted from the sun they’ll be falling out of the sky and going straight down to the ground. It’ll be tough for them to travel horizontally down this tube. Our exposure should be minimal.”

The couple waited as the warning siren continued to blare. After ten anxious minutes it finally stopped making noise.

Jack relaxed. “I think that’s the last of it.”

“Are you sure?” Irene asked dubiously. “Isn’t it possible that the storm knocked out the sensor array?”

“I doubt it,” Jack replied. “I think if it was going to do that it would have happened a lot sooner. We were seeing fried equipment before the bulk of the storm even hit.”

“But you’re still taking a chance,” Irene replied.

“It’s a chance I’m willing to take,” he said. “After all, we can’t stay in here forever.”

Jack cautiously scooted backwards out of the rocket tube. He then crawled off the starship, stood up, and looked around. The air traffic control tower was a complete wreck. The metal frame still existed, but the rest of it was nothing but a smoldering ruin. Other than that, Jack could see no sign that a solar flare had even hit.

“Well?” Irene’s voice echoed down the tube.

“It looks ok to me,” Jack replied.

“But you can’t see x-rays!” Irene protested.

“Trust me,” Jack said. “The storm is over. Solar flares are intense, but short – they don’t go on for hours.”

Irene reluctantly climbed out of the pipe and looked around. “I’m filthy,” she complained. Dark, black grime covered her white dress and was all over her hair. She tried rubbing the dirt off her hands but it didn’t do any good.

“Sorry,” Jack said. “I’m afraid those tubes don’t get cleaned out very often. People don’t usually spend much time in them.”

“I should hope not,” Irene retorted. “Seriously, though, Jack. You need to build some sort of radiation detector in your watch, or something. We really need a better way of checking to see if the solar flare has ended. Just going outside and looking isn’t going to cut it. For that matter, the siren should have some sort of ‘all-clear’ signal to let us know when the danger has passed.”

Jack nodded. “I’ve got instruments in the lab that can tell us – in fact, I used some of them to build the early warning system – but I just wasn’t planning on encountering a flare today. Come to think of it, according to the predictions put together by the weather department, another flare wasn’t supposed to happen for weeks.”

“I guess they don’t know what they’re doing,” Irene said.

Jack shook his head. “They’re pretty smart people, Irene. Besides, I took a look at their model myself. It was very thorough and and it fit the available data. No, I think there’s some kind of local anomaly that’s causing all this. Something is disturbing that star – and maybe keeping Daniel from bringing the Liberty any closer.”

“Whatever it is, we need to get to the bottom of it,” his wife said. “We can’t live like this, Jack. It’s one thing if we know when the flares are going to happen – then we can plan around them. But this situation is just a nightmare. It threatens the whole colony.”

“I know,” Jack replied.

“So what do we do now?” Irene asked.

“I guess we start walking. After all, we can’t get inside the Behemoth and the tower is burnt to a crisp. We have no way to contact the colony and ask for a ride back.”

“You should have brought your pencil radio.”

“I know,” Jack said. “I just didn’t think I’d need it. Things haven’t exactly gone according to plan today.”

Irene interrupted him. “Speaking of things not going according to plan, I see trouble coming.” She nodded in the direction of the colony. In the distance Jack saw a bright red hovercar come flying toward them, raising a giant cloud of dust. Jack groaned.

The hovercar flew right up to Jack and them stopped abruptly. Even though it was flying several feet off the ground, its wake stirred up a cloud of gritty dust that quickly enveloped Jack and his wife. The couple walked out of the cloud, but not before it covered them in even more grime.

With a loud harumph, the car’s driver got out and slammed the door behind him. Another person climbed out of the passenger side. Jack knew who they were before he even saw them – the driver was Patrick Gamino, the colony’s administrator and unofficial mayor, and the passenger was Doug Garcia, the chief medical officer.

Before Jack could even say anything the mayor glared at him. “Look at you, young man! You’re filthy! What insanity have you been up to this time?”

“We had to–” Jack began.

“I don’t want to hear it,” the mayor snapped. “Do you realize what you’ve done? Why, that control tower is ruined – completely ruined! It’ll take months to rebuild it! Do you think we have nothing better to do than repair things?”

“Now wait just a minute,” Irene said sharply. “The solar flare did that. Jack warned you not to build it out in the open. He had nothing to do with that.”

“Oh yeah? Well, you two wanted to build it in the canyon wall! What kind of dumb idea was that?”

“It would still be intact if you’d put it there,” Irene retorted.

“This is still your husband’s fault, young lady,” the mayor snapped. “He promised us that no more flares would happen – gave us his word, even! You can see how much that’s worth.”

“No I didn’t,” Jack replied. “I said that, according to the evidence we had gathered, there was no indication another flare was imminent.”

“Blah blah blah,” the mayor sneered. “The point is, you said we’d be safe and we aren’t.”

“Stow it,” Doug interrupted. “Jack’s early warning system saved lives, and you know it. If it wasn’t for that warning we would have been caught totally off-guard. Thanks to Jack we didn’t have any major injuries, let alone fatalities. In fact, the only property damage we suffered was thanks to your own stupidity.”

“You’d better watch it,” the mayor warned. “I can have you shipped back to Earth, you know.”

“And I can flatten you with one hand,” Doug shot back. He turned his back to the mayor and looked at Jack. “I’m so glad you and your wife are safe. When I found out that Karen had left you here I was beside myself with worry. I should have known that if anyone could survive out here it would be you two.”

“Thanks,” Jack replied. “Speaking of which, you didn’t happen to bring along a medical kit, did you?” Jack showed him the burns on his hand, which Doug treated. When Jack’s hand was medicated and bandaged Doug spoke up. “That should do it. Give it a day or two and then your hand should be as good as new. You were a lucky man – that could have been a lot worse. I just can’t believe Karen left you behind.”

“You’re not the only one,” Irene grumbled. “I am definitely going to have a long talk with that woman.”

“I’ve already done that,” Doug replied. “She’ll think twice before she does anything that stupid again. Leaving the two of you behind – no matter how panicked she was – was just criminal.”

“There’s still the matter of the Liberty,” the mayor growled. “You Falcons are supposed to be competent but I’m sure not seeing it! Why, your ship is so dumb that it can’t even get near Myra. What is the matter with you people?”

Doug turned around and looked the mayor in the eye. “If you act like a jerk one more time, Patrick, I will break both of your legs and leave you here to rot. I have had it with you today.”

The mayor opened his mouth to say something, but then thought the better of it. He turned toward the car but Doug grabbed him by the shoulder. “And you’re not leaving until all of us are ready to go. Do I make myself clear?”

Patrick grumbled, but said nothing.

“It’s ok,” Jack said. “Let him go. I’ve got some work to do here anyway. Before you leave, though, could you unlock the Behemoth? I need to let Daniel know what’s going on, and that starship now has the only functional FTL communication system on the planet.”

Doug turned to the mayor. “You locked Jack out of his own starship?” he asked incredulously.

“I locked everyone out,” the mayor replied. “I didn’t want someone to steal anything. It’s not safe, leaving it unlocked.”

The mayor reluctantly handed Jack the ship’s electronic keycard, which Jack took.

“Keep it,” Doug said. “Whatever you do, don’t give it back. It’s safest if it’s in your hands.”

The mayor shook his head. “I knew I should have left you at the colony.”

“I didn’t give you a choice,” Doug retorted.

After Doug said goodbye to the Falcons, the two men got in the car and drove off. Irene sighed. “What is the matter with him?”

“The mayor is Ed’s brother,” Jack explained. “He just hates me because of that whole mess with my claytronic stones.”

“But that was years ago!” Irene replied. “Besides, Patrick wasn’t even involved.”

Jack sighed. “Ed was never the same after what happened. He gave up inventing completely and retired, and died two years later. I think Patrick blames me for it. I still feel terrible about it all but I can’t go back and change it.”

“You don’t have to deal with this,” Irene said. “You have the support the colonists, you know. You could forcibly remove Patrick or have someone back home do it. For that matter, you could leave Myra and go found your own colony somewhere else. We don’t have to live here, you know.”

Jack shook his head. “I’m not going to get Patrick fired. He’s good at what he does, he’s done a lot for the colony, and he’s only hostile toward us. In fact, the only time it really gets bad is when things go wrong – like today. Most of the time he leaves us alone. If I were to have him removed it would be a selfish move purely for my own benefit. I’m just not going to do it.”

“It would be for me too,” Irene argued. “He hates me as much as he hates you. In fact, he might hate me even more.”

“That’s because – well, you know why. If I hadn’t gone back in time to save you none of this would have happened. Patrick probably thinks that you’re even more responsible for everything than I am, since you were the reason I acted the way I did.”

“It’s just not fair! You can’t let this go on forever, Jack. At some point you’re going to have to deal with him.”

“But not today,” Jack said. “Right now we need to see if Daniel’s made any progress, and then we need to check into those solar flares. There really shouldn’t have been one today. Something’s not right.”

Jack and Irene made their way to the bridge of the Behemoth. Jack turned on the ship’s communication system and was able to contact the Liberty. He was disappointed but not surprised to find that Daniel had made no progress in getting closer to Myra.

“What should I do, skipper?” Daniel asked. “Have you come up with any brilliant flashes of insight in the past half-hour, or do I need to let you sleep on this one?”

“I think we’re missing something,” Jack replied. “I have a hunch that whatever’s keeping you from coming here is also behind the rogue solar flares we’ve been experiencing. My advice is to head back to Earth. I’ll do some research on my end and find out what’s going on. Once I know what the anomaly is – if there is one – I’ll contact you and we can put together a plan to overcome it.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Daniel said approvingly. “I’ll be waiting for your signal.”

Daniel signed off, and Jack powered down the equipment on the bridge. He sank down into a chair and looked at his wife. “I wish I knew what was going on,” he said.

“I can help you with that,” a voice replied. A moment later a black-haired woman stepped through a doorway and onto the bridge. She was wearing an expensive gray suit and carried a black leather briefcase.

Jack looked at her in surprise. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I know you. Are you one of the colonists?”

“You may call me Eliza,” the woman replied. “Officially I am not here. After I leave you will not be able to prove that you spoke to me. But I can answer your question. The people that I work for have discovered the cause of the solar flares.”

Irene eyed here suspiciously. “And who might your employers be?”

“For now let’s just say that they’re people who want to see this colony survive,” the lady replied. “For obvious reasons they believe that the two of you are the best hope for saving it.”

“So the colony is in danger,” Jack replied. “The flares are getting worse, and they’re not going to stop.”

Eliza nodded. “You are correct. If you do not act soon the entire planet will be placed in serious jeopardy. Myra itself may not survive.”

The woman opened her briefcase and handed Jack a neatly-typed document. Jack looked at the document, puzzled, and began reading it. Irene stood behind her husband and read it over his shoulder.

“Do you know what that is?” Eliza asked.

Jack nodded as he kept studying the file. “I do. I’ve seen these before, although I haven’t seen one for this region of space before. This is a map of local spacial anomalies.”

“And black holes,” Irene added. “I see lots of black holes. Wow! I had no idea there were so many around us. They’re everywhere!”

“This is a highly unusual area of space,” Eliza replied. “Black holes are not common in this part of the galaxy but for some reason there is a local cluster of them. A very active local cluster.”

“I see that,” Jack said. “It looks like their immense gravity is leading to the creation of hundreds of tiny, unstable wormholes. Based on this data I’d say that the short-lived wormholes are temporarily linking the black holes together.”

“That’s weird,” Irene replied. “I didn’t know they could do that.”

Jack nodded. “It’s long been theorized that black holes may trigger wormholes that lead to other places in space. What I didn’t realize was that there was a way to tell where the wormhole went or what was on the other side.”

“It wasn’t possible until recently,” Eliza commented. “One of your own inventions made this map possible. But do you understand the significance of this?”

Jack frowned. “I see that the black holes are linking to each other. That makes sense, I guess – they would naturally try to connect to whatever was closest, and when it comes to gravitational anomalies you just can’t beat a black hole.” His eyes suddenly widened. “Of course! Those black holes – they’re crossing the path of the Epsilon Eridani system, aren’t they?”

Eliza nodded. “Not always, of course, but occasionally. And when they collapse–”

“–the spacial disturbance upsets the star’s balance,” Jack said excitedly. “That’s it! That’s what is causing the flares. The sun is constantly being disturbed so it’s becoming unstable. The violent flares are an indication of an upcoming stellar catastrophe!”

“I bet that’s what is keeping the Liberty at bay,” Irene added. “There’s probably some local activity in its path that’s disturbing spacetime. The time dilator just can’t work under those conditions.”

Eliza nodded. “They are also a direct threat to this planet. So far no wormhole has come into contact with Myra, which is to be expected given the immensity of space and the smallness of this world. But it’s only a matter of time before that happens. When it does, the planet will fracture.”

Jack looked at Eliza. “So what do we do? I mean, we can’t just go and turn the black holes off! And I don’t think we can move them, either.”

Eliza closed her briefcase. “That is up to the two of you. You must either find a way to solve this problem, or abandon the colony before it’s destroyed. You have been warned – and that is all the help we are able to provide.”

With that, the lady walked off the bridge and out the door.