Dark Matters_ Shadow of Heaven (Book 3) - Christie Golden [92]
Before I elaborate, let me digress briefly and refer to theories regarding the end of the universe. Many pages have been devoted to this eventuality. We know that the universe is expanding and has been since its creation. Some believe that the universe is "open," and it will continue to expand forever. Matter will be spread ever more sparsely, and the average temperature of the universe will fall steadily toward absolute zero. Pundits have dubbed this the "Freeze."
Others feel that there is enough matter present in the universe to stop this expansion. Everything will start collapsing back inward. The universe will become compressed, become a "closed" universe. This is called the "Squeeze."
Such playful terms are indicative of the cavalier attitude shown toward the eventual death of the universe and all things living within it. That is because, at its present rate, the universe should continue as it is for an unimaginably long time-1 followed by 100 zeroes. Our star system, in comparison, has a scant twenty billion years before it dies. We will be long gone before our universe is.
Or so we had thought.
Both theories on the universes hinge on the amount of matter present-too much, the Squeeze, too little, the Freeze. Therefore, obviously, dark matter, which comprises ninety percent of the matter in the universe, has a significant role to play in either scenario.
But there is a third option. It has long been dismissed by our scientists as completely unrealistic, and that is the concept that our universe is neither open nor closed, but flat. All theories involve the concept of a critical density, which is roughly equal to one hydrogen atom per cubic meter, or about one ounce for every 50 billion cubic miles. If the actual density of the universe were greater than this critical density by a factor as small as one part in a trillion, the universe is closed. If it were less by an equally tiny amount, the universe is open. A flat universe is one in which the density is exact. If our universe is indeed flat, it would keep expanding, but at a slower rate, never quite turning the corner. It would exist forever.
Of course, such a thing could never naturally occur. In that, I agree with our scientists.
But what about unnaturally? Suppose, for the last few billion years, the matter in our universe has been toyed with, a little taken here, a little put there, to keep it precisely at the critical density?
That, my colleagues, is what the Shepherds have been doing. They even took the name in acknowledgment of their actions; good shepherds, tending their sheep with care. For this, we ought to be grateful.
But there are other Shepherds who have long disagreed with this intervention, even though countless life-forms depend on this balance. Shepherds like Lhiau, who would destroy this universe and others as well, simply to see what else would happen, what new universes would crop up in our wake.
These rogue Shepherds have taken vows that forbid them to directly intervene, but there is nothing that prevents them from urging us, comparatively tiny, pathetic life-forms that we are, to unwittingly hasten our own destruction.
CLOAKS, DARK MATTER, AND THE SHADOW UNIVERSE
The gift of the dark-matter cloaks, the gift of the wormholes-these are but the weapons with which we will destroy ourselves and our very universe. We thought we understood dark matter, and to an extent, we do. In its natural state, it is utterly harmless. As I said before, it is likely passing through our bodies at this very moment.
But the dark matter that is summoned by the Shepherd technology, the dark matter that is brought into a wormhole, which is a different sort of space than any other-this dark matter has been mutated. We can detect it, much the