Alpha One - Chris Burton [115]
The anticipation was palpable. Cameron’s team waited silently, not knowing how long it would take or exactly what would happen. They constantly checked and rechecked their data screens for evidence that the process started. Cameron dispatched his second wormhole investigation team through the wormhole. One could be forgiven for not jumping up and down in anticipation of that event or that of the first wormhole. They were waiting for something bigger, much bigger.
* * * *
It had all gone silent. The Sect and the Sentinel Patrol craft ceased all action. The vortex for the mature second wormhole was under control and there was no further pulling on the AUSWAS ship and its surrounding vessels. Everyone waited.
The first sign that something was changing came from the area between the two open wormholes. The unseen fissure expanded and a sudden burst of bright light blasted through the crack in the space fabric. It was still small, but the light was intense and drew everyone’s attention directly to it.
It was definitely growing. The first discernable sign of something more significant occurred about thirty minutes later when a flurry of blue gas emitted from the fissure. This gathered in orbit around the fissure.
From where Cameron and his team stood looking, the phenomenon was a bright ball of light surrounded by a blue gaseous membrane. It was still small, perhaps only five hundred meters across, but it began to assume life. It turned slowly at first, then faster and more violently until it assumed a more aggressive stance.
It spilled contents from its belly, while at the same time consuming elements from both of its bigger brothers— the wormholes on either side of it. The blue wormhole was about two thousand meters across and doubled in size every minute. Several vortices formed in the middle of the fissure. These quickly became one, and then it began to pull.
The AUSWAS ship was only about fifty kilometers from the blue wormhole. Cameron noticed she was pulling maximum thrust to stop from being pulled forward.. The smaller ships behind were being pulled slowly towards the fissure. Another minute or so passed before the AUSWAS ship began to turn to face the eye of the perfectly-formed blue wormhole. Then, suddenly, the AUSWAS’s resistance was gone. She turned off her main drive and was pulled forward into the abyss. Some of the smaller ships ahead of her moved directly into the mouth of the oscillating vortex. Then they were gone.
The blue wormhole consumed everything in its path. Both the AUSWAS ship and the Halo 7 were dragged into its midst. The AUSWAS ship shot forward into the vortex.
Hoskins didn’t know how to respond. He was tasked with staying with the AUSWAS ship, but not to be consumed by the hole. He knew if he stayed, he would be sucked in, and yet he stood almost transfixed as he and his crew watched the spectacle ahead of them. It was almost as if they—and not the ship—were being guided into the hole.
Suddenly it was too late. The Halo 7’s engines could no longer sustain their current status and she was dragged forward. Hoskins ordered full reverse thrust, but the ship’s engines were powerless to prevent the relentless slide towards the hole. The Halo 7, together with hundreds of smaller vessels, was quickly absorbed into the vortex and then, just as suddenly, she was gone.
Cameron stood in disbelief. He witnessed the sheer magnificence, the creation of an immensely powerful vortex: a mystery of space which man helped to create, but for which they had little understanding. Then, before his eyes, hundreds of space craft were consumed into its belly, including the Halo 7 and the AUSWAS ship. He had no idea where they went, if they survived, or whether this were a gateway to a distant galaxy. All he knew was that his task was done: he had opened the two wormholes to create something bigger in size and stature.
It threatened the remaining ships at the edge of