Section 31_ Rogue - Andy Mangels [86]
“Or,” La Forge added, “a containment breach could allow a lot of gravitational energy to escape into normal space. A large enough graviton flux could create havoc in this system.”
“Meaning what?” Picard said.
Keru coughed quietly before speaking. “Meaning that Chiaros IV could be thrown clear out into interstellar space. Or dropped straight into its sun. Or simply ripped to pieces.”
“How could something that powerful have come into existence in the first place?” Troi said.
“No one knows for certain,” Data said as he executed an extraordinarily human-looking shrug. “It is possible that only the primordial fireball from which all matter and energy originated could have created such a dense concentration of energy and mass.”
“The Big Bang itself,” Picard said, the awe in his voice unrestrained.
Crusher fidgeted. “This all sounds a little too huge to comprehend. What does all of this mean in practical terms?”
“That’s a fair question, Doctor,” La Forge said. “Theoretically, this subspace singularity has a gravitational potential millions of times more powerful than that of even the most massive black holes. We’ve known for a long time now that Romulan ships are powered by small artificial singularities. If the Romulans manage to harness this thing, it would yield trillions of times more energy than even their largest singularity-driven warp cores.”
Batanides whistled quietly, obviously impressed. Picard, too, seemed to grasp the implications immediately. Zweller stood in brooding silence, his hands clasped behind his back.
“With a power source like that at their disposal,” Picard said somberly, “the Romulans might be able to manage transwarp drive, like the Borg. Their ships could venture from Romulus to Earth in moments.”
“And that’s only the beginning,” La Forge said. “With that much energy on tap, they could probably build and dismantle stable wormholes at will. They could send their troops anywhere in the galaxy-maybe anywhere in the universe-without even having to bother building ships. They’d make the ancient Iconians look like they were standing still.” He paused while everyone in the room silently pondered the implications.
Finally, Riker ended the silence. “Well, now that we know why the Romulans want this system so badly, the next question is: What to do about it?”
“Agreed,” said Picard. “Options?” The captain looked quickly at each person in the room. Another uncomfortable hush descended.
This time it was the admiral who broke the spell. “I’m inclined to agree with Commander Roget’s interpretation of this thing,” she said, massaging one of her temples. “The fact that this singularity is still belching fire and subspace distortions every so often tells us one thing loud and clear: The Romulans don’t have complete control over it yet.”
“That may be, Admiral,” La Forge said. “Commander Data, Commander Keru, and I have been wondering all along if the Romulans haven’t bitten off more than they can chew.”
La Forge nodded to Keru, who activated another control on the railing. Instantly, a multilayered graph superimposed itself over the image of the subspace phenomenon, highlighting it with a series of colored bands.
Data spoke again. “The amber-colored areas show the pattern of gravimetric stresses that the singularity is bringing to bear on normal space. These stress-patterns seem to indicate that the Romulans are trying to maximize the phenomenon’s energy output by keeping it balanced precisely between normal space and subspace.”
“This is where things get very dicey,” La Forge said. “If they’ve miscalculated the stress-points between normal space and subspace, then the singularity will rip into our universe directly through these stressed regions.