New Title 1 (60 page)

As these thoughts crossed his mind, Anise had enough time to study his and Kris’ glances, and this time, it was Anise who easily read the two of them. “It’s all right, Daddy,” she said after a moment. “I mean… it’s not
perfect
. But it’ll be all right.” She reached out and gripped Julian’s hand. “I mean, you saved the lives of everyone on Verdant. And helped to save mine, and everyone on the
Makalu
. When I weigh all that against being separated from Sergei… well, I can deal with it. And I don’t want you to be concerned.” She looked at Kris, and smiled widely. “I want you to be
happy
. You deserve it.”

“Yes,” Kris agreed, “you do.” She placed her hand on Julian’s other hand, and gave it a squeeze. “Dr. Rios said it best, Julian. It’s time to live.”

Julian returned the squeeze to both of their hands. “Then live we shall.”

Although I have taken certain…
liberties…
in the creation of the “Verdant drive,” I have based my work on the actual research and findings of many scientists. Please forgive me if my descriptions of these are vague… I am not a physicist. I’m just trying to get enough out of all this quantum weirdness to tell a good story. I hope I’ve succeeded.

The concept that the universe has a “quantum frequency,” unique at every distance from the center of the universe, is borrowed from the
Scientific American
June 2005 article, entitled “Inconstant Constants.” It identifies a Fine Structure Constant (alpha), which defines the strengths of the interactions of elementary particles, and which suggests different interactions at different degrees of alpha… in other words, a unique frequency at any specific radius from universal center.  This is a function (one among many) of the expanding universe around us.

This detail meshes well with the Hubble constant, which indicates that the universe is expanding faster where it is further away from universal center than it is closer in. The differing expansion rates cause measurable changes in light frequencies, creating a seeming paradox of objects that, from our point of view, can travel “faster than light.” These observations are described in the
Scientific American
March 2005 article “Misconceptions About the Big Bang.”

These, and lesser articles in
SciAm
and other sources, were my basis for the “quantum frequency” that the Verdant drive could manipulate on a local level, essentially altering the frequency of anything within its influence.

Couple this with many experiments in accelerating quantum particles, resulting in their “disappearance” from one position and “reappearance” in another position. In these experiments, the quantum particles seem to traverse a distance faster than light could travel. Don’t ask me how any scientist manages to tell one quantum particle from another, but they are certain these particles are one and the same… meaning that they are covering a distance faster than light. Most scientists believe they are travelling through another dimension, in an effect they call “quantum tunneling.”

Verdant Skies
ties “quantum frequency” and “quantum tunneling” together by suggesting that quantum particles, having a new quantum frequency forced upon them, will automatically “tunnel” to the distance from universal center that corresponds to that quantum frequency. The demonstrated effect of “quantum entanglement” suggests that, if the particles all “tunnel” at the same time, they will maintain position and state with each other, resulting in a collection of particles arriving in the same overall state as when they departed.

My own contribution to all this was the suggestion of “aiming” such an effect, to allow the tunneling to travel in a desired direction, essentially targeting a particular point on a frequency-derived sphere… and, of course, the method in which an entire collection of particles can be re-tuned to a new quantum frequency fast enough to all “tunnel” together. Presto: One Verdant drive.

An interesting aside to all this is that it suggests that different levels of alpha would result in different elementary interactions… for instance, a smaller alpha would mean a weaker gravity, weaker atomic bonds, etc… and that global expansion may mean a different alpha further away from us, and therefore parts of our universe with different physics than our own!  Dr. Silver hinted at this in her descriptions of the system to her superiors, and it suggests that there may be a point in which it would be impossible to reach… or, more ominously, impossible to survive, as the moment you arrived, the quantum interactions of your particles would change so severely that they may interact in new and horrible ways, or even dissipate altogether, never to be rejoined again.

~

This concept developed out of my years-long dissatisfaction with the much-used concept of “faster-than-light drives” so popular in science fiction and shows like
Star Trek
. Although the idea of simply using raw power to move faster than light has a certain fascination, and makes for great drama and adventure, there was never a realistic basis for any of them to actually work. Such FTL drives invariably involved some hitherto-undiscovered or unrefined energy source that would somehow do the job… but realistic research has proven that the amount of energy required would require the collected energy of several stars,
every instant
, to accomplish.

Other methods involved a mystical “hyperspace,” as shown on shows like
Babylon 5
, a type of dimension that we could somehow slip into, inside which the laws of our universe’s physics broke down, and fortunately for us, all distances were significantly shorter, allowing us to sail from one place to another as fast as we might cruise across the Mediterranean. Again, the idea provided that great drama, but as no “hyperspace” has ever been identified, nor a way to actually get into and out of it, this concept is no less vacuous than that of FTL drives.

Despite this, I have used the concept of FTL drives myself… in my case, a variant on the “time bubble” theory in which a time bubble can be moved faster than the speed of light, while a space craft inside that bubble uses an inner time bubble as a sort of Dewer bottle, to alter the relativity process, making sure the same amount of time passed to the occupants as it did to the observers. I used this idea, yes, for its dramatic impact, and its absolute requirement to write the story in question. But I was never satisfied with it, and always searched for better ways to accomplish travel over the vast distances of our galaxy.

As a long-time reader of
Scientific American
, I struggle my way through most of the articles involving one aspect or another of quantum physics on a regular basis. To be honest, not a few of them left me in the dust, and many others left as many questions as they answered (assuming I even knew what the questions were!). But I managed to slog through most every article that tied quantum physics into the makeup of our universe… and suddenly, certain things started to add up. I went back through my magazines, re-read articles, started taking notes, and Lo and Behold, a possible method of intergalactic travel suitable for believable science fiction began to suggest itself!

As I studied it, I began to realize that there was already a partial precedent for the system. Known as the “jump drive” concept recently popularized in the remake of
Battlestar Galactica
, ships did not travel faster than light, they simply “jumped” from point to point in the universe somehow. If anyone has ever tried to come up with a “realistic” method of making such a jump, other than vague references to time-space “folding,” I haven’t seen it. But then, I haven’t seen a
lot
…

After I took down a few notes, I sent my material to a fellow SF reader (and all-around smart guy) I’d met through the MobileRead web site. He studied my notes, asked some questions, made some suggestions… and came back with a confirmation that, if described well enough, it could work for an SF novel. (Which is another way of saying, it’s as good-enough-sounding a load of BS as anything else.) Having that thumbs-up on my side, I ran with it.

Well, actually, I did no such thing. At the time, I didn’t have a story to use it on. I did have
The Lens
, the sequel to
My Life, After Berserker
, ready to be worked on… but the “Kestral Universe” setting already featured one of those adventure-driven FTL drives I mentioned earlier, and I wasn’t going to change that universe in mid-stream. So I began working on
The Lens
, and hoped to develop a good storyline for what I was calling, at the time, the “Quantum drive.” Before I finished
The Lens
, a kernel of a story was beginning to bubble up, and I took a few notes on the side about an orbital satellite that would use the “Quantum drive” to escape some Earthbound catastrophe.

The rest, as they say, is history. Or, at least, it’s a story.

~

Verdant Skies
also features one of my favorite ideas, the concept of an orbiting habitat that simulates life on Earth as closely as possible. When I wrote
Factory Orbit
, I envisioned a possible offshoot of that future that would lead to colonies in space, of which the orbital factories would present the groundwork and spring-board for more elaborate constructions. I hint at this in the novel as well… so, in a way,
Verdant Skies
could be thought of as the sequel to
Factory Orbit
.

I wish such an orbital habitat could come about much sooner, of course, but I expect that it will take much more than wishing to make that so… only a specific and absolute need would drive mankind to undertake such a monumental task. Of course, as the planet becomes less stable thanks to global warming, continent-hopping plants and animals altering ecosystems faster than we can react, new bacteriological strains, and of course new weapons, etc, etc, that absolute need could come about faster than any of us might expect.

~

And finally, the villain of this story may seem to be the leadership of the United States of America… but in actuality, the real villain is the Yellowstone Caldera, also based on actual scientific findings. Many people don’t know that the beautiful geysers of Yellowstone are, in fact, surface indications of a vast volcanic system sitting beneath a huge swath of the continental United States. Geological evidence has suggested that the Caldera, and others like it on Earth, have a habit of erupting and re-erupting on a regular basis, and creating havoc in their wake. Yesterday’s theory of a meteor strike that killed the dinosaurs is already being looked at in a new light, as it’s been discovered that a caldera similar to the Yellowstone, but much larger, erupted in the volcanic ranges west of the Indian regions at that same point in history. It is now suspected that it was this eruption that actually ruined the global climate, and had begun the slow and inevitable extinction of the dinosaurs. The meteor, it is now believed, merely helped speed up an already-established process and a foregone conclusion.

The Yellowstone Caldera has had numerous eruptions of its own in the past, with an approximately regular period of time between eruptions. If it follows its established pattern and erupts again, it could obliterate entire states, and render much of the Midwest uninhabitable for the foreseeable future. It could also spew an ash cloud that would eventually reach around the globe, causing runaway weather alterations and events that could be disastrous. Such an event could trigger worldwide loss of agriculture, worldwide long-term health risks, heavy loss of life, severe damage to the overall ecosystem, and a speeding-up of the global warming process. In other words, it’s not a good time to look forward to.

And scientists studying the site now provide chilling evidence that today, the Yellowstone Caldera is a few thousand years
overdue
to erupt… in other words, it could go at
literally any time
…

Steve Jordan

September, 2010

Steven Lyle Jordan grew up in the Washington, D.C. area in the 1960s and 70s, at just the right time and place to witness the space race, the American racial and social revolutions, the beginnings of the transistor age, the first color television programs, and America’s 1970s environmental crisis.  Having no idea that he was growing up so close to “ground zero,” he delighted in the science fiction and fantasy books of the era, especially from the likes of Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury and Arthur C. Clarke, and peppered with the science-fiction-heavy comics that were becoming all the rage.  He also had a distinct appreciation for the pulps of an earlier era, most notably the
Doc Savage
and
Perry Rhodan
series, and today owns the entire run of
Doc Savage
novels.  His young mind was also molded by the television of the day, most notably programs like
Star Trek
and
The Twilight Zone,
and sci-fi and adventure cartoons from America and Japan too numerous to mention.  For a brief time, his interest in science and SF led to his being given the nickname of “Flash” Jordan.