“Thousands of men and a decade at the minimum,” Borger answered. “And that’s assuming we weren’t trying to keep it a secret.”
“And that’s probably conservative,” added Harding.
“Okay so we have some secret group that’s been working on this for decades,” Stevas said.
Miller raised an eyebrow. “Like who?”
“How the hell should I know? From where I’m sitting the bigger question is not who built a giant power plant, but what is it for?”
“Maybe it’s supposed to change the water temperature, and affect the weather or something,” Mason offered.
Stevas raised his hand in agreement. “Right. Maybe they want to cause a hurricane or an earthquake. Or sap our national power grid and shut us down.” He folded his arms across his chest. “I think we need to figure out what this thing does first.”
Miller looked at the screen. “Dr. Harding?”
Harding frowned. “Almost anything is theoretically possible given enough energy, but even if someone figured out how to create a hurricane or earthquake, there would be no way to control it. Your hurricane could go south instead of north or east instead of west.” He stared at the picture again. “I cannot imagine this being intended for weather manipulation.”
“Fine,” Stevas barked. “Then you tell us!”
Borger blinked a few times. He swallowed hard. “This…” he started shaking his head. “This may sound crazy, but it reminds me of something a team of scientists are working on in Switzerland.” He stared at his picture. “They have been able to establish a space time relationship between two small objects. This was also done using rings, but they were very small, and the relationship only existed for a fraction of a second. It’s a long shot but there are several aspects that fit here.”
“What do you mean when you say relationship?” asked Langford.
Borger did not answer. He sat staring at the screen wondering if he should go on. This was almost too crazy.
“I think he means a tunnel,” answered Harding.
Langford was confused. “A tunnel?”
“A wormhole,” said Borger.
“What the hell is a wormhole?”
“A wormhole is a tunnel through time and space,” Harding explained. “A theory from modern physics.”
“And the Swiss have done this?” asked Stevas.
“Not this,” Harding answered shaking his head. “What Mr. Borger is referring to is a series of experiments carried out by the Swiss, but they did it only for a moment and it was less than a millionth of a millimeter long. It also required an incredible amount of energy, equal to all of the electricity used by Switzerland in a year, compressed into less than a second.”
“And you think we’re looking at a giant version of this?”
“It’s conceivable,” Harding said slowly. “In their experiment, the Swiss team found a harmonic relationship between the rings. With enough energy and by spinning the rings, they connected at a harmonic level and made the tunnel possible.” He scooted his chair closer to his monitor. “Mr. Borger, can you enlarge this image?” A moment later the picture zoomed in. “One of the unique aspects of the experiment was that they had to spin the rings above the speed of sound to establish the harmonic connection.”
Langford looked at Borger. “How fast did you say this thing underwater is spinning?”
“Just under the speed of sound.”
“But the speed of sound is different in water than in air,” Harding pointed out. He spoke as if he did not believe what he was saying but could not stop himself from working though the theorem. “Sound travels over four times faster in water. But then again, if sound is a variable then it’s possible that a wormhole would require less energy under the water, and therefore be the preferred place to have it. But we would still be talking about a level of energy required that is far beyond anything we could manage.”
“You mean ‘we’ as in the United States?” asked Stevas.
“No,” said Harding. “I mean ‘we’ as in human beings.”
A few people lowered their heads and mumbled an expletive.
Defense Secretary Miller took a deep breath. “Are you telling us that this was not built by humans?”
“It’s a consideration.”
Miller could not believe what he was hearing. “And you’re telling us we may have a giant wormhole under the ocean?”
“Maybe,” Borger said. “But even if we knew how to create that much energy, it doesn’t sound like we have the means of doing it.”
Harding nodded in agreement. “He’s right. Not even combining all of the power plants in the world could do it. Which brings us back to the question of, if we are not able to power this thing let alone build it, who is?”
“Or…if the power required is not here, where is it getting its power from?” Borger finished.
The men at the table looked back and forth at each other.
“Okay hold on,” said Miller. “Let’s back up. Is there another explanation for this ring? What else could it be?”
Harding cleared his throat. “Well if we made it then its purpose should be limited to a few possibilities. If we did not make it then it could be damn near anything.”
“Mr. Borger,” Miller continued. “How sure are you about your data?”
“Pretty sure,” Borger replied. “I can certainly be wrong but I have gone over these numbers several times. Of course, there could be something else happening here that we can’t see. In fact, it would almost have to be. For example, maybe there is something inside. Maybe this is not what it appears to be from our limited picture resolution. Some of the basic assumptions I’m working off here could be wrong. It’s just a matter of likelihood at this point.”
Clay spoke up and turned to Langford. “Sir, we need to get a better look at that thing. At the very least, we need to find the Triton and see what else it recorded.”
Langford nodded. “Agreed.”
“Okay,” Stevas said, “until we get a closer look at this ring, we need to consider the worst case scenario here. If it turns out to be something else then all the better. If on the other hand this is some kind of wormhole, what the hell are we going to do about it?”
“Well,” said Langford. “That should depend on what it’s for.”
“What it’s for?” said Stevas incredulously. “It’s a goddam tunnel. What do you use tunnels for?” He looked at Harding. “Doctor is it just me or is the whole purpose of a tunnel to send something through it? Could whoever built this bring something through?”
Harding nodded with a raised eyebrow. “It’s possible. We don’t know enough about its characteristics, but yes I would have to agree, that is a possibility.”
“Thank you,” Stevas said with satisfaction. “So if it’s possible to send something through this wormhole, then I don’t know about everyone else but my worst case scenario is that whoever we’re dealing with either has sent something through it, or is going to.”
Everyone sat quietly contemplating Stevas’ suggestion. After a long moment Langford spoke up.
“Well if this is a tunnel of some kind, it would certainly explain how someone was able to step onto one of our ships out of thin air.” He motioned to the screen. “Dr. Harding, is it possible that what Clay saw on the Pathfinder was a small person-size wormhole?”
“It’s possible,” he said shaking his head again, “but it is very hard to believe. I mean the amount of technical advancement to do what we are talking about…if someone were able to create this ring, then presumably a very small tunnel wouldn’t be very difficult. But we are making a lot of assumptions here.”
“Anyone have any other ideas or explanations?” Langford asked.