She told the cube to open a test hole.
“At the center of the probability zone is something which makes up about one third of the ship’s mass. You were reading about black holes a few wake-periods ago, weren’t you?”
Kawashita nodded. “Something was said about their use in ship’s engines.”
“Then you read about black holes separating virtual particles out of space and radiating energy.”
“Virtual particles — they are the ones that are always being created and destroyed, but so fast nothing can detect them?”
“Right — created in pairs of opposites, and they annihilate each other after being created, so the total energy content of the universe is stable. Around a black hole, however, a pair of virtual particles can be separated before they annihilate each other. One particle falls below the event horizon — which nothing can escape from — and the other escapes as created energy. But that defies the conservation of energy, so we have to think of the particle that fell into the black hole as actually emerging in reversed time. It’s much more complicated than that, but what it means is a black hole radiates energy. The smaller the hole, thebrighter it is — until we get down to quantum black holes. At the center of the sphere there’s a collapsed mass about the size of an electron. But size doesn’t mean much down there because we protect ourselves by wrapping it in thirty or forty layers of probability —”
“Thirty-seven this voyage, madam,” the cube said.
“Right. Each layer is equal to a self-contained universe, each with its own separate rules and constants. Every opposite layer has precisely the reverse character of the layers above and beneath it. Nothing can interact between regions with qualities and constants so drastically different. The final layer, surrounding the hole, puts enormous pressure on it — in effect, makes it probable the black hole will radiate several trillion times more energy than it naturally should. This makes it leak out through itself — a concept I’ve never understood — and from that leakage below the Planck-Wheeler length —”
“Pardon,” Kawashita said, bringing up his tapas.
“Something like ten to the minus thirty-three centimeters,” Anna said. “Much smaller than an electron. Anyway, we get our power from the leakage. The interesting thing–and it can only be done once — is to reach in and touch the outermost probability field.”
Kawashita looked doubtful. “Why can it only be done once?”
“Touch it once, nothing happens to you. But touch it twice — with a lapse of several minutes — and it increases your chances of dying. Don’t ask me how — it has to do with Parakem functions and world-line energy theorems. I’ve done it. It’s an initiation for spacefarers, like crossing the equator used to be for seafarers on Earth.”
“What does it feel like?”
“Not painful. You asked about seeing the face of God. Well, this isn’t quite as spectacular, but it’ll do until Judgment Day.”
Kawashita nodded reluctantly. He didn’t want to seem afraid, and he understood the idea so little that he didn’t know whether to be afraid or not. Anna guided him to the rift in the sphere using the hand wires strung across the chamber. She guided his hand through the gap. “Reach in to the black spot in the middle — looks like a marble.”
He slowly brought his finger close to the center.
“You have ten seconds to touch it — touch it however many times you want, without taking your finger more than a few centimeters from the center. It really amounts to touching it once. Go ahead.”
His finger made contact. “It’s moving,” he said. “Everything’s moving.” He looked around the chamber nervously. Anna was haloed with rainbows and lightnings. Her eyes were pits of ice and fire. The cube was surrounded by flashing feathers of light. Angels, thrones, dominations, and cherubim.Kami . The walls were covered with neon
“At the center of the probability zone is something which makes up about one third of the ship’s mass. You were reading about black holes a few wake-periods ago, weren’t you?”
Kawashita nodded. “Something was said about their use in ship’s engines.”
“Then you read about black holes separating virtual particles out of space and radiating energy.”
“Virtual particles — they are the ones that are always being created and destroyed, but so fast nothing can detect them?”
“Right — created in pairs of opposites, and they annihilate each other after being created, so the total energy content of the universe is stable. Around a black hole, however, a pair of virtual particles can be separated before they annihilate each other. One particle falls below the event horizon — which nothing can escape from — and the other escapes as created energy. But that defies the conservation of energy, so we have to think of the particle that fell into the black hole as actually emerging in reversed time. It’s much more complicated than that, but what it means is a black hole radiates energy. The smaller the hole, thebrighter it is — until we get down to quantum black holes. At the center of the sphere there’s a collapsed mass about the size of an electron. But size doesn’t mean much down there because we protect ourselves by wrapping it in thirty or forty layers of probability —”
“Thirty-seven this voyage, madam,” the cube said.
“Right. Each layer is equal to a self-contained universe, each with its own separate rules and constants. Every opposite layer has precisely the reverse character of the layers above and beneath it. Nothing can interact between regions with qualities and constants so drastically different. The final layer, surrounding the hole, puts enormous pressure on it — in effect, makes it probable the black hole will radiate several trillion times more energy than it naturally should. This makes it leak out through itself — a concept I’ve never understood — and from that leakage below the Planck-Wheeler length —”
“Pardon,” Kawashita said, bringing up his tapas.
“Something like ten to the minus thirty-three centimeters,” Anna said. “Much smaller than an electron. Anyway, we get our power from the leakage. The interesting thing–and it can only be done once — is to reach in and touch the outermost probability field.”
Kawashita looked doubtful. “Why can it only be done once?”
“Touch it once, nothing happens to you. But touch it twice — with a lapse of several minutes — and it increases your chances of dying. Don’t ask me how — it has to do with Parakem functions and world-line energy theorems. I’ve done it. It’s an initiation for spacefarers, like crossing the equator used to be for seafarers on Earth.”
“What does it feel like?”
“Not painful. You asked about seeing the face of God. Well, this isn’t quite as spectacular, but it’ll do until Judgment Day.”
Kawashita nodded reluctantly. He didn’t want to seem afraid, and he understood the idea so little that he didn’t know whether to be afraid or not. Anna guided him to the rift in the sphere using the hand wires strung across the chamber. She guided his hand through the gap. “Reach in to the black spot in the middle — looks like a marble.”
He slowly brought his finger close to the center.
“You have ten seconds to touch it — touch it however many times you want, without taking your finger more than a few centimeters from the center. It really amounts to touching it once. Go ahead.”
His finger made contact. “It’s moving,” he said. “Everything’s moving.” He looked around the chamber nervously. Anna was haloed with rainbows and lightnings. Her eyes were pits of ice and fire. The cube was surrounded by flashing feathers of light. Angels, thrones, dominations, and cherubim.Kami . The walls were covered with neon
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