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Authors: Richard L. Sanders
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joint history I don’t think they’ve ever so much as
breached a treaty.” That was true, though Calvin reminded himself
that Pellew was perhaps as loyal to the Organization as the
Polarians. “So unless their beloved High Prelain tells them to,
they wouldn’t turn on us.”
Calvin knew the Polarians were deeply
spiritual people and he’d never quite understood how the power was
split between the secular politicians of the Confederacy and the
religious leaders. One thing was certain, if the High Prelain did
order the Polarians to war against the Empire, billions would
follow his spiritual advice and give up everything for the
cause.
“ Should the worst happen,”
asked Calvin, wanting to know one more thing before giving Mira the
go-ahead to begin boarding Polarian troops onto his precious
Nighthawk, “what are our chances against a Polarian detachment in a
straight fight?”
“ Polarian soldiers are some
tough sons-of-bitches,” said Pellew, giving Calvin a grim look.
“But my men are expertly trained. Between us and the crew, and the
fact that we know our own ship backwards and forwards? Yeah, I’d
bet we could take them.”
Just then the comm panel chirped and Pellew
answered. “What is it?”
“ Captain Pellew, is Calvin
with you?” asked a junior officer.
“ Yes he is.”
“ Good. Please come here
right away, both of you, to the lab on deck seventy-eight. There’s
something you need to see.”
Chapter 6
“ What is it?” asked Calvin
as he and Pellew entered the lab. Three analysts from the Nighthawk
were hovering around one of the many computer terminals. He
recognized them all, junior officers from the Red Shift.
“ A little while ago we
finished analyzing the data we got back from the probe we launched
to investigate the TR-301 star collapse,” said Ryan—he was a junior
lieutenant and one of the Nighthawk’s ranking analysts. “What we
found is… strange .
To say the least.”
“ What is it?” Calvin had
almost forgotten about the bizarre, and untimely, destruction of a
major star that had forced them into making a course correction on
their way to Aleator, ultimately slowing down their pursuit of
Raidan. He’d sent a probe to investigate it and hadn’t thought much
of it since.
“ By all rights the star
should not have collapsed. It had billions of years of life left in
it. Our grasp of stellar physics is not complete, but from what we
do know—TR-301 should not have collapsed. You were right to send a
probe, Captain.”
“ So what did you
find?”
“ We found traces of isotome.
Most of it was in a degenerated state and not really recognizable,
but some of it was stable and, somehow, preserved.”
“ Like what we found in the
Rotham ship debris?” asked Calvin. He kept quiet about the fact
that the Arcane Storm was suspected of transporting isotome as
well.
“ Exactly. Whatever
stabilizing process or agent the Rotham used to transport their
isotome matches exactly the isotome found by the probe in the
TR-301 region. What’s more, based on the properties of the TR-301
star, the expected result of a normal gravitational collapse would
have been the formation of a neutron star. However this was a
massive collapse, much larger than it should have been, and a
blackhole formed within seconds.”
“ And the isotome caused
that?” asked Calvin.
“ We believe the TR-301 star
was collapsed deliberately. We can’t be sure that our conclusion is
right but if you look at this data and our subsequent simulations,
it seems fairly likely that isotome injected directly into the core
of the star could result in the death of the star within hours. If
someone could keep the isotome stable for transport, and devise a
way to get it into the center of the star without it being
destroyed, they could conceivably engineer a collapse.”
Calvin was blown away by
this. He’d feared the possibility of a deliberate star collapse,
and now his “crazy” theory which had been dismissed
breached a treaty.” That was true, though Calvin reminded himself
that Pellew was perhaps as loyal to the Organization as the
Polarians. “So unless their beloved High Prelain tells them to,
they wouldn’t turn on us.”
Calvin knew the Polarians were deeply
spiritual people and he’d never quite understood how the power was
split between the secular politicians of the Confederacy and the
religious leaders. One thing was certain, if the High Prelain did
order the Polarians to war against the Empire, billions would
follow his spiritual advice and give up everything for the
cause.
“ Should the worst happen,”
asked Calvin, wanting to know one more thing before giving Mira the
go-ahead to begin boarding Polarian troops onto his precious
Nighthawk, “what are our chances against a Polarian detachment in a
straight fight?”
“ Polarian soldiers are some
tough sons-of-bitches,” said Pellew, giving Calvin a grim look.
“But my men are expertly trained. Between us and the crew, and the
fact that we know our own ship backwards and forwards? Yeah, I’d
bet we could take them.”
Just then the comm panel chirped and Pellew
answered. “What is it?”
“ Captain Pellew, is Calvin
with you?” asked a junior officer.
“ Yes he is.”
“ Good. Please come here
right away, both of you, to the lab on deck seventy-eight. There’s
something you need to see.”
Chapter 6
“ What is it?” asked Calvin
as he and Pellew entered the lab. Three analysts from the Nighthawk
were hovering around one of the many computer terminals. He
recognized them all, junior officers from the Red Shift.
“ A little while ago we
finished analyzing the data we got back from the probe we launched
to investigate the TR-301 star collapse,” said Ryan—he was a junior
lieutenant and one of the Nighthawk’s ranking analysts. “What we
found is… strange .
To say the least.”
“ What is it?” Calvin had
almost forgotten about the bizarre, and untimely, destruction of a
major star that had forced them into making a course correction on
their way to Aleator, ultimately slowing down their pursuit of
Raidan. He’d sent a probe to investigate it and hadn’t thought much
of it since.
“ By all rights the star
should not have collapsed. It had billions of years of life left in
it. Our grasp of stellar physics is not complete, but from what we
do know—TR-301 should not have collapsed. You were right to send a
probe, Captain.”
“ So what did you
find?”
“ We found traces of isotome.
Most of it was in a degenerated state and not really recognizable,
but some of it was stable and, somehow, preserved.”
“ Like what we found in the
Rotham ship debris?” asked Calvin. He kept quiet about the fact
that the Arcane Storm was suspected of transporting isotome as
well.
“ Exactly. Whatever
stabilizing process or agent the Rotham used to transport their
isotome matches exactly the isotome found by the probe in the
TR-301 region. What’s more, based on the properties of the TR-301
star, the expected result of a normal gravitational collapse would
have been the formation of a neutron star. However this was a
massive collapse, much larger than it should have been, and a
blackhole formed within seconds.”
“ And the isotome caused
that?” asked Calvin.
“ We believe the TR-301 star
was collapsed deliberately. We can’t be sure that our conclusion is
right but if you look at this data and our subsequent simulations,
it seems fairly likely that isotome injected directly into the core
of the star could result in the death of the star within hours. If
someone could keep the isotome stable for transport, and devise a
way to get it into the center of the star without it being
destroyed, they could conceivably engineer a collapse.”
Calvin was blown away by
this. He’d feared the possibility of a deliberate star collapse,
and now his “crazy” theory which had been dismissed
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