Dyson Sphere - Charles R. Pellegrino [12]
The lock was now visible on the screen, unchanged from the day Picard had last seen it. The Darwin and Enterprise both came to a stop and kept station with the lock’s position. Both ships were well removed from the triggering point, where tractor beams would reach out and bring them inside.
Picard waited for Data to call. A minute went by, then another.
At last Data said, “It is taking longer than expected, Captain. Unlike our ‘real’ universe, subspace is not limited to just one electromagnetic spectrum. We have known of a hundred twenty-seven possible microverses. Here, I am beginning to suspect more.”
The Horta captain shifted uneasily in her saddle. “How many more?” she asked.
“I’m seeing traces of thousands,” Data said. “Multiple thousands.”
Picard wondered if, after all their patience and planning, they would be unable to get inside. The neutronium membrane could, in theory, be pierced, perhaps even peeled back; but the damage would be horrendous. Although this would be nothing compared to the damage the neutron star was about to inflict, there were certain aspects of the Sphere’s present instability that, at least on a subconscious and purely instinctive level, gave him the feeling Dyson was in some manner responding to the attack.
On the heels of this thought came an even more disturbing one: Might the previous instability have occurred in anticipation of the star’s arrival? This meant that the presumably abandoned system was acting out of a sense of self-preservation, as he or Data would under similar circumstances. Increasingly, Picard was getting the impression that what he was really attempting was to enter a living organism-which meant that the Darwin and the Enterprise were, by comparison to the Sphere, a pair of invading virus particles. Viruses could survive well enough inside a human body, so long as they did not step out of line, vandalize any cells, and trigger an immune response. But-No, Picard thought. Using the Darwin’s weaponry on the membrane would not work. The subtle approach, namely lock picking, would have to serve; although he had to admit that a meeting with Dyson’s antibodies, if such existed, would certainly be interesting. He did not expect, however, that he would survive the encounter for more than a few milliseconds.
No, he reminded himself; we must be subtle.
“Darwin must be subtle,” the Horta said suddenly, as if reading Picard’s thoughts. “Then again, I wonder if our tunneling enzymes could eat through neutronium.”
Picard was startled by the suggestion, but then realized that the Horta was not serious.
Captain Dalen was joking.
Picard let out a laugh, for polite show.
“The Sphere, the Sphere,” Captain Dalen intoned. “Here is a question. How many Horta would it have taken to hollow it out?”
“How many?” Picard asked, knowing that he was being set up.
“One big Horta!” shouted Captain Dalen.
Picard laughed a little more loudly. Not half bad, he thought. Much better than “Horta Culture” jokes involving rock gardens.
“Captain Picard,” Data’s voice cut in, “I believe we have a subspace lock combination. It is spread across three hundred different subspace spectra.”
“So it is an expanded microverse,” Picard replied.
“Yes. It appears everything we thought we knew about subspace and superstrings will have to be rethought. The microstructure of spacetime is more tangled here than any place else in the known universe.”
“The Sarpeidon Nebula,” the Horta said, deadpan. “There is one other place. The Sarpeidon Nebula. We had an extended research mission there a little while ago.”
“The now destroyed home system of a vanished race that built time portals,” Data shot back, obviously having made the connection in an instant. “And you say subspace is just as tangled there?”
Captain Dalen moved the entire forward portion of her body, approximating, in accordance with human custom, what Picard recognized as a nod.
“Are you suggesting,” Picard said, “that the Dysons disappeared into time the way the Sarpeidans did?”
Captain Dalen shook her “head.