“Before we get started,” Elizabeth said, “does anybody need anything?” I’d have liked a gin and tonic but Alex would never have approved. This was serious business.
She’d barely settled into a seat before the lights began to dim. A male voice welcomed us to Octavia. He informed us that they’d selected this black hole for the project because space-time continuities in the area had more fluctuations than would normally have occurred. He also mentioned that several thousand g-class suns would have been needed to provide its mass.
The room grew dark and began to expand. Windows formed, and dim specks of light appeared outside and slowly brightened into stars.
We were inside the space station. Two men were standing in front of a display that depicted Housman seated at a control board. said the narrator. .
Housman looked out at his colleagues and shook his head.
The narrator continued:
It was hard to miss the growing frustration as the process continued, as thousands of probes were launched into the area that the researchers thought should have been home to the wormhole. The probes, however, did not get lost. They continued without vanishing and were eventually found by Charlotte at exactly the place they would have been if the wormhole didn’t exist.
The interior of the shuttle appeared on the display. Charlotte was seated in the cockpit, obviously aware that she was being recorded. She swung around in her chair, facing the camera, delivered a smile, and raised her left hand to greet the viewers.
When the lights all came back, Elizabeth Pope stood and asked if we had any questions.
“Elizabeth,” asked Gabe, “if they find the wormhole, what do they hope to learn from the probes? Other than entrances and exits?”
“Basically, the conditions of the passage. Does time run at the same rate in the wormhole? For example, would it be a good idea to take a book along? Is there anything in the experience that would endanger travelers? Are there conditions that would prevent electrical equipment from operating? We have a great deal to learn. We do not want to send manned vehicles into a wormhole until we know all the effects.”
I was glad to hear it. There was no way anyone would ever be able to persuade me to fly into a wormhole.
XI.
.
I’ve spent a lot of time on Skydeck over the years. You can’t help meeting techs, pilots, and physicists up there. Some of them eventually sign on with the Quantum Research Group, which had been a major player in the effort to solve the Octavia mystery. I ran some searches for QRG guys that I knew and found one, a communications specialist. I could recall actually seeing him just once, in one of the restaurants. But I’d spoken with him frequently by radio from the . I brought up a couple of pictures and would not have recognized him. His name was Bill Abbate.
Bill was listed currently as a telescope technician at QRG. I called him. An AI answered and explained he’d get back to me, and twenty minutes later he did. he said, rising from a chair. He was tall and slim, with blond hair, a smooth complexion, and liquid brown eyes.
Bill, I’d like to record this call if you’ve no objection.”
he said.
We both laughed. “My boss has gotten interested in the Octavia thing. Some friends had connections with a couple of the people who were lost when it disappeared. Did you guys ever come up with any kind of reasonable theory as to what happened?”
He was referring to the project director.
“She ran the search?”
“Why did she do that?”
“Walton’s running DPSAR now, isn’t she?”
“What do think happened, Bill?”
“Is that possible? You run that by anybody?”