The Quantum Connection (27 page)

Tabitha barked orders to several of the crew and had them take their battle stations. She sent the night crew to bed and told them to be prepared to alternate on eight-hour rotations. There would be eight members active at all times from here in. Before, only a skeleton crew of four was on duty at all times. So, shift one started and the others were put on standby. We weren't sure what the aliens were planning or what they could actually do to us while we were in warp.

"Mike, display the locations of the alien vessels with respect to our own on the main monitor please," Tabitha ordered.

"Yes, Tabitha," Mike acknowledged.

The image of our warp bubble and the
Phoenix
in the middle setting in the flat-space region of the modified Alcubierre warped spacetime appeared on the monitor. Flanking the
Phoenix
's warp bubble were Gray spacecraft immediately in front, behind, above and below us. The ships were just outside the van den Broeck warp bubble region and were maintaining our velocity.

"How did they detect us, Mike?" 'Becca asked.

"They detected the variation in the spacetime energy density in and around the warp bubble. The expansion in the spacetime behind the
Phoenix
causes an increase in the quantum fluctuations, while in front there is a decrease. SuperAgents like myself likely detect this through changes in data rate flow in this region," Mike explained.

"Uh, Mike, that sounds like they are simply measuring the curvature of the spacetime to me," Jim said.

"You say to
may
to and I say to
mah
to," Mike offered. He must have been investigating humor again. Or perhaps that was the best way to explain it. After all, some of Earth's physicists have quibbled over quantum theory versus General Relativity for more than a century now and they both say basically the same thing--if you do the math correctly.

"I understand, Mike," Anson interrupted. "But tell me this: How the hell are we detecting them through the warp field? We've always had to stop to detect them before."

"I am detecting them by sending out pings through the alien Framework and timing the return. I'm not actually reading the return information so returning data cannot compromise my programming. Rather, I am simply timing the return like a radar system that actually sends a standing wave out through the . . . there is no human equivalent explanation here . . . but I think that Hilbert space is similar . . ." Mike paused for a second.

"Allow me, Mike." I knew what he was trying to say. "Anson, the Grays have some other model of the universe that is not really in line with our so called Standard Model. All of the universe is tied and connected through the infrastructure for this alien Framework. Their universal internet isn't artificial, it actually is part of the fabric of the universe. The Grays just figured out that it was there and how to use it."

"Is this Infrastructure something like Superstrings or quantum filaments?" Anson asked as he stared at the alien ships on the monitor. The ships looked pretty much the same size and type as the
Phoenix
.

"As far as I can tell, superstrings are a very very distant cousin to the concept," Tatiana added. "The interesting thing is that the Infrastructure and the Framework do require many more dimensions, like the infinite orthogonal dimensions of Hilbert space or of string theory."

"I see." Anson nodded and thought for a second. "You know, this is no different than the concept of
quantum consciousness
. Physicists have been considering the idea for decades. Basically, what you said was that there is some underlying 'connectedness' or Infrastructure throughout the universe that ties everything together. Well, this is no different than claiming that the universe
is
--one thing--and then writing down a quantum mechanical wave function for it. Granted, the Hamiltonian would be a bear, but I think I even remember reading something by Wheeler and something by Penrose about this. It isn't specific to the aliens. In fact, the quantum consciousness of the universe would explain the instantaneity of passing information through this Infrastructure. The wavefunction for the universe would be in a reference frame that is atemporal, and therefore time wouldn't even be a factor. Think about it. Most observations we make in this universe take some finite amount of time to complete. But if you try to measure whether you are 'self-aware' or not, does that measurement occur instantly? It is at least at the speed of thought. How fast is that? Hell if I know." Anson shrugged, then continued.

"If I recall correctly--and with this new-fandangled memory that your nanomachines gave me, I do--then I recall reading a paper that showed mathematically that if consciousness is a real part of the universe's wavefunction, and it should be, then it would be instantaneously connected throughout the universe. These little Gray guys must have figured this out to the nth detail and have determined how to implement and use it.

"Boy, I sure would like to get hold of that alien Infrastructure router hardware." Anson sounded excited.

Mike, download me all info on this quantum consciousness, I thought.

Okay, Steven, here it comes.

It was a very exciting concept. However, I think it was annoying Tabitha a little bit since there were more pressing things at hand.

"Ahem," Tabitha cleared her throat. "Steven, can the Gray ships penetrate the warp field?" she asked.

"Well, Mike, Tatiana, and I have been debating that for a few weeks now and we do not believe that matter can be passed through the warp bubble via the quantum connectedness. Information can be quantum teleported back and forth through the bubble as Mike is doing via the Framework radar pings. But sending matter through is a completely different question."

"Yeah, it is possible that a teeny tiny bit of matter the size of like a Planck distance could surf on the front of an information packet and be teleported across the Framework," Tatiana stated.

"That is possible, Tatiana, but to my knowledge it has never been attempted or even experimented with before. And it is possible to build regions of quantum fluctuations so violent on the surface of the warp bubble that it would become impenetrable even to that concept," Mike contributed.

"Okay. So they can't fire a missile in here at us, but they could bombard us with annoying infomercials if they wanted to." Sara smiled as she adjusted the nametag on her alien armor top. Tatiana noticed she was having problems with it and put her hand on it and had the nanomachines fix it. "Thanks," Sara said.

"No problem."

"Mike, is there any way they could get through your firewall and take control of you?" Al asked.

"I don't think so. But I will keep a continuous watch for intruders," Mike said.

We used every sensor that Mike had and all of the sensors the W-squared team had brought on board in an attempt to determine as much information about our tag-alongs as possible. We found out very little. Jim and 'Becca went down to the landing bay to make certain that the warp missiles were ready while the rest of us tried to find things to do that might help. There wasn't much to do except wait.

Four eight-hour shifts later, we were approaching the target star system. It was time to slow down and come out of warp. If we kept the bubble on we wouldn't be able to see out. If we turned the bubble on and off quickly with the so called "lights off, lights on" maneuver, or oscillated the amplitude of the bubble, the Gray ships might be able to time it right and pass through the bubble.

"Use the images that Mike gets by pinging the Infrastructure. Why don't we just use the alien sensors to study the star system while we leave the warp bubble on full?" Tatiana didn't understand why we were even considering turning off the bubble in the first place.

"Mike, scan this system and give us as much visual data on inhabitants as you can. Also, bring us to a star-centric orbit at about the midpoint of the solar system," Tabitha ordered.

"Yes, Tabitha," Mike replied.

The alien ships followed with us and soon fourteen others joined our convoy. We were completely surrounded by Gray ships the size of the
Phoenix
. But there were only eighteen of them and we had a hundred and something missiles.

"Shouldn't we be trying to hail them or something?" Jim said. "That's what they would do in the movies."

"We will follow the protocols we have put together," Tabitha said. "We will answer them back if they call us. After we are certain there are no hostilities planned, then we will consider hailing them."

"Are you certain that protocol is the right approach?" I asked.

"The consensus was that if they are good guys they will hail us first before shooting at us. If they are bad guys, we shouldn't take a chance of saying something to them that could start an interstellar war," Jim replied. "But I think this is different. We know that these aliens are hostile. They have been abducting and murdering us for thousands of years. I say we tell them they better start explaining themselves."

"I agree," Tatiana nodded. "Let's give them a chance to surrender--and then start blasting!"

"Well, I, uh, don't think that would be wise. We
are
a long way from home and way outnumbered here in Gray space," I reminded everyone.

"I concur with that, Steven. We will wait," Tabitha said.

"Tabitha?"

"Yes, Mike?"

"I have the data now of the star system inhabitants. Would you like to see it?"

"Yes, good, Mike," Tabitha replied.

Mike showed us a layout of the star system. It consisted of twelve major planets and a Kuiper-type belt of minor planets, with an Oort-type cloud. The sixth planet was located at about two-and-a-third astronomical units from its star, which was slightly hotter than our sun, Sol. Planet six was about one and a half times the size of Earth and was blue and green. The planet's surface was approximately forty percent water. Entire green continents stretched across the planet, and there were arid regions between the equator and the poles. The poles of the planet were ice-covered landmasses very similar to Antarctica on Earth. The most interesting fact was that there seemed to be very little detectable technology or habitation. There were no orbiting satellites that could be seen or obvious civilizations located anywhere.

"Where are the people and the buildings?" Al asked.

"Just a moment," Mike said. "There, I have adjusted the sensors to remove the cloaking effect from the images." Then the image filled with satellites, spaceships, factory facilities in orbit, and a hustling and bustling environment.

"You mean they cloaked their entire planet?" Tabitha was awestruck.

"Yes, and several hundred thousand kilometers around it," Mike answered.

"I think we're gonna need a bigger boat." Anson whistled.

"And a shitload more missiles!" 'Becca added.

"All right, everybody relax," Tabitha warned us. "What did we expect to see, a lean-to and a couple of toy rockets? We knew this would be tough and that these aliens had been here much longer than the human race has been around. We knew they would be much further along than us. And that we would be outgunned."

"Outgunned is an understatement to say the least." Anson whistled and nodded his head again.

"Mike, open a channel to the aliens if you can." Tabitha sat back in her chair and sighed. She fiddled with her curl. The scar it had once covered was gone now but the habit had not gone away.

"The channel is open, Tabitha."

"Thanks, Mike." She took a deep breath and grabbed the arms of her chair tightly. "Greetings to the inhabitants of this star system. We come from the planet Earth roughly two hundred light years away. We come in peace. We are in a vessel that previously belonged to members of your species. The occupants of this vessel were capturing members of our species and torturing and murdering them. We hope this was merely a misunderstanding between our species and would like to know why your species has been visiting our world and taking our people against their will. Please respond."

We all gripped our chairs tighter. In fact, I was beginning to think I would have to use the nanomachines to get the seat material dislodged from my anal sphincter. Then a high-pitched and almost childlike voice came back to us--in English.

"Earthlings, you must not lower your warp bubble and you must immediately return to Earth!"

Tabitha's face reddened a bit. "We have no intention of lowering our bubble, but we are not returning to Earth without answers and without a guarantee that you will cease and desist all hostilities against our race, our planet, and our solar system!" she replied in her voice of command.

There was a long silence this time that lasted more than a minute or so. Tabitha was about to repeat her response when the aliens answered. All eighteen of the ships flanking us pulled in to an extremely close formation and then our warp bubble was caught in a larger bubble.

"Very well, Earthlings. You will make no attempts to escape our confinement bubble and show no hostilities. We will take you to the Regency Caste and they will respond to your request. Please, be patient and be warned that your technology is not sufficient to escape our confinement bubble." Then the stars blinked out and we were at extreme warp velocity.

"Mike, what's going on?" I yelled.

"The Grays have us in their control and are using a large quantum fluctuation engine to carry us at very high velocities. To where, I do not know. I have never heard of this Regency Caste. However, it does suggest something along the lines of the queen bee."

"How fast are we traveling?" Anson asked.

"Approximately two point three light years per minute," Mike said.

We all did some quick multiplication in our heads.

"Holy shit! That's something like a million times the speed of light," Tabitha gulped.

"One point two one seven million times faster than light," Tatiana said.

"Yeah, at this speed we could travel completely across the galaxy in about a month!" Anne Marie interjected.