With a jerk, the shuttle separated from the docking gangway and smoothly turned to face the enormity of the hole into Wu Xing space. It was a simple affair, a flattened lozenge with a cluster of thrusters in its tail, knots of maneuvering thrusters dotting its bulky body and a cockpit in the nose for the pilots. Inside wasn't much more complicated with an open passenger compartment situated behind the cockpit, equipped with basic jump harnesses and a quasi-open engineering compartment to access the thrusters.
Thankfully I had ridden my fair share of military shuttles and had already found myself in one of the jump harnesses when the thrusters fired with a rumble felt through the deck plating to send us rocketing towards the hole. The handful of astrophysicists and quantum mechanics that were joining me on this trip into Xu Xing space, however, weren't so prepared. A couple of oaths were hissed into the passenger cabin's cool air as they were staggered by the thrusters' ignition.
"Stupid jarheads," one growled, a thin fellow with the stiff, pale orange tunic and tattoos of the Tau Ceti narazhi clans on his face. "You'd think they'd be smart enough to know that you can't just traverse a quantum bridge in one shot! Why, there's the spin foam forces working against the dimensional structure, . . ."
The rest faded into the background as I pushed it to the back of my awareness. Quantum physics, and Loop Quantum Gravity theory in particular, had never been a favorite of mine. Especially when a handful of so-called 'experts' started talking about it, looking down their noses at you as they did. Like they belonged to some sort of secret club with its own private language and the uninitiated were less than human.
Like seriously, who cared that somebody had figured out that space itself was divided into discrete quanta, making it granular instead of wave-like? And that gravity was generated by the interaction of these quanta in sub-atomic loops? Bah! I'd rather take a look at an alien species that had not only figured that out, but used their knowledge to somehow create an artificial space like the Wu Xing Configuration while not ripping the fabric of local space/time into shreds doing it. Now that was fascinating!
Then we were slipping over the opening's threshold and even the jaded astrophysicists fell silent as they watched the visibly folded edges of space go past.
"I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date," I softly said, wondering if Alice had felt what I was feeling while tumbling down the rabbit hole as the shuttle continued down the quantum bridge, it's far end hidden by some strange bending of the light.
"I can see it!" one of the physicists breathed, naked astonishment in her voice. "The Hartle-Hawking State Exception boundary!"
I frowned. The what now?
Then I was hanging on for dear life as the shuttle shuddered as it had struck something that wasn't quite enough to stop it dead in its tracks, but still slowed it considerably. Just as I was beginning to wonder if the shuttle would be shaken apart by whatever it had encountered, the physicists crying out as they flopped around unrestrained in their harnesses, the shaking stopped as abruptly as it had appeared. And then the cabin was flooded by brilliant blue-white light.
As the shuttle steadied, I found my hands unbuckling my restraint harness. Then I was stepping into the cockpit to stare at the massive blue-white giant looming in front of us. One of the pilots, in typical military flight gear, twisted slightly to look up at me.
"Welcome to the Wu Xing Configuration, Doctor Weber," he said with a smile.
I nodded, unable to take my eyes off the sight of a finite dark space dominated by a single giant star. It was like the inside of a Dyson sphere, without the sphere.
"All the places I've been and things I've seen, nothing so wondrous have I beheld!" I breathed.
The pilot chuckled knowingly.
"Just wait until we get you down onto the ground, doctor." He pointed with a gloved hand at a point off center and to the right. "We'll be putting you down on Petra, the earth world in our little symphony of the elements. It is also the most Earth-like, with .98% Earth standard gravity, a nitrox atmosphere and no impacting pathogens or contaminants."
That captured my attention. An Earth-like world was first on the agenda?
"Any flora and fauna to be concerned about?" I asked as I started plotting a possible exploration tour in my head, and quickly got a nod from the other pilot, a woman.
"The full spectrum, doc," she said without taking her eyes off her controls. "All the way from bacteria and viruses up to apex predators in the seas and prowling the forests that carpet most of the land mass, which covers 88% of the planet's surface." She adjusted one of her controls. "Command has sent a squad of rough riders ahead to make sure we've got a secure LZ." She looked over at her co-pilot. "Let's start the checklist, Kent."
"Yes, ma'am," the pilot who spoke first, said before glancing back at me. "Best go strap yourself in, doc. We'll be hitting Petra's atmosphere in about ten minutes!"
As it turned out, ten minutes was conservative. It was closer to seven before the shuttle gave the first twitch to announce it had touched something denser than naked space. Then it was bucking furiously as the pilots increased their angle of descent and the shuttle ploughed headlong into the atmosphere.
Again I found myself silently patting my shoulder in congratulations for having some experience in what military pilots called a HAD, or High Angle Descent, the fastest way of getting from orbit to the ground. These weren't cushy civilian transports that relied on customer credits to keep flying. These were naval combat pilots trained to get their loads onto the ground as fast as physically possible, and usually through heavy anti-landing artillery.
So I was the only 'egghead' that wasn't losing their lunch all over the decking when the shuttle finally leveled out after a few tense seconds of dropping nose-first through a dense and fairly active atmosphere. They were still retching when the outer door opened and I stood to pull my bag of gear out of an overhead storage rack before turning and walking towards the ramp.
I gave the physicists a cold look as I strode by them puking.
'And you were worried about the pilots not making a quantum bridge traverse in one shot," I dryly noted before I was passed them and down the ramp.
They were waiting for me on the edge of the seared ground marking the shuttle's landing point. Twelve of the best rangers the human military had to offer. Trained especially for first landing situations in hostile environments, the 'rough riders' had logged hundreds of hours in thousands of different environments. And now they would be escorting me to the structures the survey team had discovered.
If I had thought I was in charge, however, they quickly disabused me of the notion.
"Well, well, well," a lean olive-skinned man in worn and dusty environmental gear began in a hard voice. "Looks like our tourist has arrived, guys.'
"Definitely a tourist," another ranger agreed, this one a woman in equally worn clothing, if somewhat cleaner. "All he's missing is the brown socks and sandals!"
"And his cheap camera and map!" another chortled, igniting a quick wave of laughter.
I smiled thinly.
"You're quite right, soldier. I don't have a map," I began. "Instead, I have twelve buffoons with the collective IQ of a grapefruit that the military has insisted will be skilled and trained enough to take me to where I need to go." As they straightened up at that, dangerous expressions appearing on many of their faces, I blithely continued. "And now that I've gotten a look at you, I think I'd rather put my trust in a cheap tourist map."
The third soldier, the one who had made the crack about the camera, leaned forward with a dark look in his eyes.
"Why you egghead piece of shit, ...!" he began to say before the first laughed as he put a gloved hand on the man's shoulder.
"Down, boy," the ranger said with a grin. "It was fairly played. And we did start it." Then he was stepping towards me, hand outstretched in greeting.
"Doctor Weber, I'm Major Ashiq Qureshi, chief buffoon of the lot. But most just call me Ash."
I carefully took the offered hand and winced when Ash gave it a quick, hard squeeze before letting go.
"A pleasure, major, ... uh, Ash," I said and he nodded, his dark eyes bright with intelligence and barely concealed mirth.
"Indeed. Although you might hold off on saying it's a pleasure until after your trek through the bush to the first site." He pointed past the small camp set up around the landing pad at what appeared to be a dense, heavy jungle. Already feeling the branches and vines pulling at me with every step forward, I groaned, eliciting another laugh from Ash.
"My point exactly!" He scooped up the bag carrying my gear and, with a motion to follow him, he began striding towards the wall of greenery that now awaited me.
"Welcome to Petra!"