Dark Energy Supernova - An Anthology of SF SD Shorts

Down the Rabbit Hole

With a jerk, the shuttle separated from the docking gangway and smoothly turned to face the enormity of the hole into Wu Xing space.  It was a simple affair, a flattened lozenge with a cluster of thrusters in its tail, knots of maneuvering thrusters dotting its bulky body and a cockpit in the nose for the pilots.  Inside wasn't much more complicated with an open passenger compartment situated behind the cockpit, equipped with basic jump harnesses and a quasi-open engineering compartment to access the thrusters.

Thankfully I had ridden my fair share of military shuttles and had already found myself in one of the jump harnesses when the thrusters fired with a rumble felt through the deck plating to send us rocketing towards the hole.  The handful of astrophysicists and quantum mechanics that were joining me on this trip into Xu Xing space, however, weren't so prepared.  A couple of oaths were hissed into the passenger cabin's cool air as they were staggered by the thrusters' ignition.

"Stupid jarheads," one growled, a thin fellow with the stiff, pale orange tunic and tattoos of the Tau Ceti narazhi clans on his face.  "You'd think they'd be smart enough to know that you can't just traverse a quantum bridge in one shot!  Why, there's the spin foam forces working against the dimensional structure, . . ."

The rest faded into the background as I pushed it to the back of my awareness.  Quantum physics, and Loop Quantum Gravity theory in particular, had never been a favorite of mine.  Especially when a handful of so-called 'experts' started talking about it, looking down their noses at you as they did.  Like they belonged to some sort of secret club with its own private language and the uninitiated were less than human.  

Like seriously, who cared that somebody had figured out that space itself was divided into discrete quanta, making it granular instead of wave-like?  And that gravity was generated by the interaction of these quanta in sub-atomic loops?  Bah!  I'd rather take a look at an alien species that had not only figured that out, but used their knowledge to somehow create an artificial space like the Wu Xing Configuration while not ripping the fabric of local space/time into shreds doing it.  Now that was fascinating!

Then we were slipping over the opening's threshold and even the jaded astrophysicists fell silent as they watched the visibly folded edges of space go past.

"I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date," I softly said, wondering if Alice had felt what I was feeling while tumbling down the rabbit hole as the shuttle continued down the quantum bridge, it's far end hidden by some strange bending of the light.

"I can see it!" one of the physicists breathed, naked astonishment in her voice.  "The Hartle-Hawking State Exception boundary!"

I frowned.  The what now?

Then I was hanging on for dear life as the shuttle shuddered as it had struck something that wasn't quite enough to stop it dead in its tracks, but still slowed it considerably.  Just as I was beginning to wonder if the shuttle would be shaken apart by whatever it had encountered, the physicists crying out as they flopped around unrestrained in their harnesses, the shaking stopped as abruptly as it had appeared.  And then the cabin was flooded by brilliant blue-white light.

As the shuttle steadied, I found my hands unbuckling my restraint harness.  Then I was stepping into the cockpit to stare at the massive blue-white giant looming in front of us.  One of the pilots, in typical military flight gear, twisted slightly to look up at me.

"Welcome to the Wu Xing Configuration, Doctor Weber," he said with a smile.

I nodded, unable to take my eyes off the sight of a finite dark space dominated by a single giant star.  It was like the inside of a Dyson sphere, without the sphere.