Tevun-Krus #115 - Ring Worlds (A Different Earth, Part 3)

Ring of Silence - A Story by @johnnedwill

Ring of Silence

by johnnedwill

The deep-space exploration vessel Niven had been in the system for almost a month. With the first flight-segment of the mission completed, command had passed from Captain Miller to Doctor Cho - the Niven's chief scientist. It was Doctor Cho's habit to attend the handover meetings at the beginning and end of every watch, to keep herself abreast of any developments or discoveries. By her own reckoning, she had participated in over two hundred of the meetings; and each one had been more frustrating than the last.

The handover sessions took part in the Niven's astrogation pit. It was the only space big enough to hold everyone involved, and it also had a state-of-the-art holographic display system. In the dimness of the room, the holotank was a brilliant column; the simulated light of a main- sequence yellow dwarf star illuminating the faces of all those present. Around the star, highlighted in stark false colour, was what the Niven has come to investigate - a ring one million kilometres in width and almost three hundred million kilometres in diameter.

Doctor Cho settled into the seat that become regarded as her's. It faced away from the astrogation pit's only hatchway, allowing her to see the holographic display without interference. "Good evening," she said. There was a chorus of responses from the others sitting around the table. "Are we recording this for the log?"

Yeoman Sadr looked up from his data tablet. "We are now, doctor."

"Good." Doctor Cho leaned forward and looked around the table. "Is there anything to report from the last six hours? I think we shall go in alphabetical order. So - let's begin with the astronomy section."

The Niven had been despatched to investigate an anomaly that had been noticed during a routine astrophysical survey. A new radiation source had been observed in the constellation of Carina. The spectrum of the source was characteristic of a flare star, rich in fusion daughter products. However, the light had been doppler-shifted, indicating that the star was moving at an unusually high speed. This information had piqued the interest of the scientific community on Earth, and a lot of bandwidth had been devoted to discussing the ins and outs of the phenomenon. The discussions had only intensified when data was published showing that the flares were not random. Instead the stellar outbursts occurred at regular intervals and all in the same direction - opposing the star's direction of travel. As one eminent astrophysicist had summed it up: "Somebody's using a star as a braking thruster!"

A number of automated probes were despatched along the Einstein-Rosen geodesics to gather data at closer range. The star's motion made it difficult to calculate the probes' exit points, so the first sets of data packets received back on Earth were not of the best quality. Images were distorted; scans low on detail. At first the scientists analysing the data rejected what they were being told as impossible; the result of software glitches, miscalibrated instruments or just plain transmission losses. But, as more data was received, the conclusions were inescapable.

The first picture released would not have been impressive to the layman. It showed a yellow point of light, barely bigger than the flame of a birthday candle. A brilliant needle pierced the light, then tapered into darkness the further away it got. However, to those wise in the stellar sciences, this image was fantastic. The flame was no candle, but a sun just like Sol. The needle that seemed to stab at it was actually a jet of plasma and ionised gases. It was proof that it was possible to wield such power and control it. However, in the furore of debate and speculation that followed this devastating revelation, an even more important - if less spectacular - discovery went almost unnoticed.