HEADLINES
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NEW IMMIGRATION LIMITS FOR SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
Ecological concerns spark curbs on off-world immigration.
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ALIEN CARVINGS STUN ART EXPERTS
Latest pictures from inside the Dho Ark.
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SIX DIE IN SHUTTLE CRASH
Pilot error blamed.
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NEW ALIEN CIVILISATION?
Astronomers detect anomaly obscuring nearby stars.
Dust cloud or second bubble belt?
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CIVIL WAR ON LANCASTER
Traders bring reports of fighting.
Rebels seize capital buildings.
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TAKING SHAKESPEARE TO THE STARS
One way ticket for performers.
New tour to last 80 years, and take in 35 planets.
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SCIENTISTS PREDICT COLLAPSE OF ARCH NETWORK
Wormholes inherently unstable, say experts.
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TRADER OVERDUE
Freighter Emily declared lost with all hands.
Fails to return from routine flight to Djatt.
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CHAPTER NINE
TRIANGLE
“I can’t believe nobody told you.”
They were out of the car now, standing in the desert watching the swollen red sun as it sank low over the domed mud huts of the little abandoned village. The heat made it too stifling to stay inside. A parched breeze stirred the air, flowing in ahead of the oncoming night, and drying the sweat on their backs and faces. Ed Rico had his arms folded. His combat jacket lay draped over the back of the driver’s seat.
“I still don’t get it,” he said.
Kristin slapped a palm on the Land Rover’s bonnet. She was getting impatient.
“It’s quite simple,” she said. “Each arch leads to a different planet, right? This one we’re standing on is about a hundred light years from Earth; and to us, the journey here didn’t seem to take any time at all, did it? But relativity tells us that nothing travels faster than light. So in reality, it must have actually taken us a hundred years to pass from one arch to the other, the same amount of time it’d take light to cross the same distance.”
“But that doesn’t explain why we can’t go back.”
Kristin tapped her fingernails on the hood.
“Now we’re here, it will take us another hundred years to get back to Earth. As far as we’re concerned, it’s only been a short time since we left, but by the time we got back there, we’d find two whole centuries had passed. We’d be stranded in a strange and distant future.” She looked at the fat mesh tyre tracks leading to the intact arch. “That’s the reason why my unit hasn’t tried to come back to find me. By the time they got back here, I’d most likely be dead or gone.”
Ed leaned back against the Land Rover’s warm door and yawned. He felt jet-lagged. According to his wristwatch, the time was two-thirty in the morning.
“How do you know all this?” he said.
Kristin turned her face to him. “People have come back, you know. Some of the arches lead from Earth to Mars and some of the nearer stars. Short roundtrips. They showed us how it works.”
Ed wiped his eyes. He’d assumed the journeys had been as instantaneous as they felt.
“Surely it would be better to be on Earth in the future, rather than stuck in a dump like this?” he said.
Kristin shrugged.
“I guess it depends on your point of view. Me, I’ve got a mission to accomplish.”
Ed stifled
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW IMMIGRATION LIMITS FOR SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
Ecological concerns spark curbs on off-world immigration.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ALIEN CARVINGS STUN ART EXPERTS
Latest pictures from inside the Dho Ark.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIX DIE IN SHUTTLE CRASH
Pilot error blamed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW ALIEN CIVILISATION?
Astronomers detect anomaly obscuring nearby stars.
Dust cloud or second bubble belt?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CIVIL WAR ON LANCASTER
Traders bring reports of fighting.
Rebels seize capital buildings.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TAKING SHAKESPEARE TO THE STARS
One way ticket for performers.
New tour to last 80 years, and take in 35 planets.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SCIENTISTS PREDICT COLLAPSE OF ARCH NETWORK
Wormholes inherently unstable, say experts.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRADER OVERDUE
Freighter Emily declared lost with all hands.
Fails to return from routine flight to Djatt.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER NINE
TRIANGLE
“I can’t believe nobody told you.”
They were out of the car now, standing in the desert watching the swollen red sun as it sank low over the domed mud huts of the little abandoned village. The heat made it too stifling to stay inside. A parched breeze stirred the air, flowing in ahead of the oncoming night, and drying the sweat on their backs and faces. Ed Rico had his arms folded. His combat jacket lay draped over the back of the driver’s seat.
“I still don’t get it,” he said.
Kristin slapped a palm on the Land Rover’s bonnet. She was getting impatient.
“It’s quite simple,” she said. “Each arch leads to a different planet, right? This one we’re standing on is about a hundred light years from Earth; and to us, the journey here didn’t seem to take any time at all, did it? But relativity tells us that nothing travels faster than light. So in reality, it must have actually taken us a hundred years to pass from one arch to the other, the same amount of time it’d take light to cross the same distance.”
“But that doesn’t explain why we can’t go back.”
Kristin tapped her fingernails on the hood.
“Now we’re here, it will take us another hundred years to get back to Earth. As far as we’re concerned, it’s only been a short time since we left, but by the time we got back there, we’d find two whole centuries had passed. We’d be stranded in a strange and distant future.” She looked at the fat mesh tyre tracks leading to the intact arch. “That’s the reason why my unit hasn’t tried to come back to find me. By the time they got back here, I’d most likely be dead or gone.”
Ed leaned back against the Land Rover’s warm door and yawned. He felt jet-lagged. According to his wristwatch, the time was two-thirty in the morning.
“How do you know all this?” he said.
Kristin turned her face to him. “People have come back, you know. Some of the arches lead from Earth to Mars and some of the nearer stars. Short roundtrips. They showed us how it works.”
Ed wiped his eyes. He’d assumed the journeys had been as instantaneous as they felt.
“Surely it would be better to be on Earth in the future, rather than stuck in a dump like this?” he said.
Kristin shrugged.
“I guess it depends on your point of view. Me, I’ve got a mission to accomplish.”
Ed stifled
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