ONE: Epilogue of Hermesh

40. The Escape Velocity

The Nashger inserted a long translucent cylindrical tube through a yawning gap at the top of his head and kept pushing it till a strange sound hissed out of it. Tekkar, who was observing closely with a morbid curiosity, realised Mondroh Annokh in that alien's body was struggling to breathe in the atmosphere that surrounded him.

"Not sure why my life force decided to reincarnate itself inside this relatively primitive body with a compromised immune system," Annokh said with a hint of resentment, "Still, as the last surviving Nashger, I suppose I shouldn't be complaining."

Unable to think of anything else to say, Tekkar asked, "The wormhole that you studied in Manwatu space, what happened when it died?"

Taking a minute to allow his breathing to stebalise, Mondroh Annokh rasped into the translator, "20.5 Centrons past the binary star system of Tourh'cath, there's a stellar blackhole still being studied by scientists. That is what used to be one of the two mouths of that wormhole. We never found out where the other opened into. None of the Manawatu probes  made it to the other side. The tunnel was finally deemed too unstable for safe passage. As a result, after a while, no more probes were sent in."

The Admiral opened her mouth to speak again. She was determined to not waste this momentous opportunity to talk to her hero.  But words weren't as forthcoming as her excitement.

“Do you know, one of the original scientific hypotheses postulates that negative matter was birthed inside the singularity that contained all the matter and energy of this universe. This might have inadvertently triggered a whitehole event. It then scattered everything into the vast emptiness at speeds faster than light. According to some, this is how our universe came into being.” Annokh said.

"I believe it's one of the creation myths," Tekkar nodded.

"That, it is. There's another myth which I believed can be shattered. Tell me Admiral, do you understand quantum entanglement?”

“When two particles come very close to each other at the quantum level, they get entangled. Then anything done to one of them would trigger an instant reaction on the other particle, even if they are located at opposite ends of the universe.”

“It is a generally held belief that every single particle in the whole universe is entangled with every other because at some point, before the creation of this universe, all those particles were contained within a single point.  It is called the weak entanglement theory and it has already been proven.” Annokh explained, “That also proved that whatever cosmic calamity brought about our creation, even if it was a whitehole, its force was not powerful enough to break that fundamental entanglement.

But, after studying the negative matter inside the last naturally formed wormhole, I had postulated that negative particles may be the only thing in the universe capable of reaching the Final Escape Velocity. I believed it can only happen if a sufficient mass of super accelerated negative matter particles were forced to collide

It is my belief that the blackhole singularity and the alien ships didn't just disappear. They were pushed out of our universe or were destroyed in the process."

Gauging the confusion on Tekkar's face, he added, "Allow me to explain. In order to create a wormhole large enough to carry an entire armada of ships across that distance, the blackhole singularities had to be very powerful. Consequently, so did the negative mass to offset them.

When two normal particles collide, other things remaining constant, the impact brings the particles to rest or at least forces them to slow down. But in case of negative particles, however, exactly the opposite happens. The collision increases their velocity, making them move away faster.

Now, remember what happened inside the wormhole. First, the two blackholes merged as one. That decreased the force of their gravity on the negative matter particles. Since the gravitational force was slowing down the negative particles, as the gravity decreased, the velocity of the particles  started to increase instantly, making the quasi-geode unstable. Then Admiral, you initiated controlled implosion.”

“But how do you know that’s what happened?” Tekkar asked tentatively.

“If the data retrieved from inside the wormhole and Tooran, along with the complete disappearance of the blackhole and the ships are not proof enough, we have been reliably informed by beings…” the Nashger fumbled for appropriate words, “...of superior knowledge and understanding of creation.” Annokh’s filamentous eye bore into Tekkar. “Beings who have proven themselves to be even more than the Manwatus.”

Tekkar was about to ask about these superior being when she heard Erra’s voice from the fartherst corner of the room. She hadn’t noticed him re-enter the room. “Well Tekkar, that is the plan to save the last of the living beings of Hermesh.” Erra said, “That is the ultimate goal behind Project Venua. Right beneath our feet, the Manwatus have assembled the largest storage facilities for artificially created negative matter particles. When the time comes, the idea is to replicate what happened in that wormhole and create a whitehole that will hopefully catapult our ships out of this universe.”

Tekkar jolted up as the realisation finally hit her. “To escape this universe entirely?"

"Where else can we send them where the Kaya cannot reach?" Erra asked back.

“But Commodore, how do we know the ships can survive the journey or where they will end up?”

“Our scientists are working on that and we have outside help.” Erra replied, exchanging a knowing look with Mondroh Annokh.

"These… other beings?"

"I will introduce you to them soon enough."

Tekkar opened her mouth to ask something, but realised she was too shocked to speak.

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Author's Note: Too sciency? Well it's unavoidable. And here we have the grand plan. At least a part of it. Finally!
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