The Cedars of Lebanon

2. Establish

Erica and Thomas met the year when astronomers discovered a black hole near the Alpha Centauri system. Judging the way star lights were amplified and distorted, they determined it was rogue and heading towards the Solar System.

Amidst the ensuing mass panic, the United Nations created the Savior Projects initiative. Under the initiative, countries around the world were to solicit ideas, practical or theoretical, for surviving the onslaught. One idea was to build cloud cities over the Venus atmosphere; another idea was to shoot antimatter missiles at the black hole. Different countries backed different ideas. But together, they cooperated under the Savior Projects banner.

Erica, back then an astrophysics Ph.D. candidate, had a different approach. Instead of seeking survival in this universe, why not look beyond? She proposed to build a centrifugal ring device that could generate a strong gravitational pull to overlap this universe onto another parallel universe. That way, an inter-dimensional corridor could be created for people to escape.

She drew her idea from ancient mythology. According to Mesopotamian cuneiform writings unearthed in southern Iraq, the Sumerians operated a portal device that connected to a place called the Cedars of Lebanon - the realm of the gods. It was a myth, yes, but it provided the basis for a workable idea. And Erica had always been fascinated by interstellar travel. The notion of finding and settling in new homeworlds meant getting a second chance and starting over.

At that time, her father worked for the Federal Ministry of Defense, so he helped by submitting it through his work connections. The paper successfully reached the Chancellor and promptly won approval. With full military funding, Buro-10 was established and Erica was put in charge.

Then came Thomas Bo. He hailed from America. He was an expert in Sumerian archaeology, and the US government sent him to Germany to help Erica with the research. Naturally, Erica did not welcome this decision in the beginning. It was interventionist.

"Your challenge," said Thomas, during his first meeting with Erica, "is to generate sufficient gravitational pull. Not only do you need a powerful energy source that is reliable, but you also need the ring device to spin with ultra-high efficiency."

"Good insight," said Erica, "but I'm working on these so-called challenges already. For the energy source, I've got engineers wiring three micro-fission generators together now. And to achieve the spin efficiency, I'm building the ring device with military-spec CNC milling machines, the same ones the Navy uses to make submarine propellers. So tell me, Mr. Bo, did you come all the way from America just to tell me what I already know?"

"Yes, in a way. You have all the right techs, but you don't know how to piece them together into one cohesive system. Lucky for you, the ancients had it all figured out."

Thomas Bo pulled out a long paper scroll across the conference table. The paper scroll had top secret labels, with various US government agency stamps on the right-hand side title block. It was a schematics plan of a certain portal device. The Sumerian portal device.