Until the dawn, p.29
Until the Dawn, page 29
"Oh – is it truly the complete opposite?" Father Dorgan asked. "There's no room for gray area in your comparison of the two?"
Aaron looked at him a little irritably but held his composure, although he noticeably became uncomfortable at being so sharply contradicted. "Okay," he said in response. "Prove to me, Father Dorgan, that the Intelligent Design of our universe is possible. Do something magic or… supernatural or… something." He confidently leaned back in his chair and smiled at the Chaplain.
"Certainly," Father Dorgan said, smiling right back at him. He held his legal pad out over the room's carpeted floor and dropped it. Everyone chuckled nervously as it fell and hit the floor. "Explain gravity to me."
"I beg your pardon," Aaron said, confused.
"I mean it," Dorgan continued. "Every solid object in our universe has gravity… a simple attractive force which increases in strength as the size and density of an object increases." He watched Aaron continue to grow uncomfortable. "You can measure it and – if you have an object's specifications regarding mass and density – you can predict how strong a gravity field it generates by comparing it to a similar object back on Earth." The Chaplain waved a hand at the large conference room surrounding them. "You and your colleagues can even develop methods to simulate it in different levels on ships like this one, but you can't explain what generates it or why all physical objects in our universe seem to have it."
"Oh c'mon," Aaron said, his irritation becoming greater. "Gravity is a physical law of our universe. It is a constant that you learn to accept if you want to study astrophysics."
"You just stated that science is 'right there in front of us and provable'," Dorgan continued. "Show me how to generate real gravity. Demonstrate it to me right here and now with your provable science. Is it energy produced by burning a substance such as coal, or does every object in the universe simply have it – for no apparent reason?"
"Well, it's in the design…" Aaron started to say before catching himself. He abruptly trailed off, deep in thought.
The Chaplain smiled. "Did you just say 'design' my friend?"
"That's…" Again the elder Rem hesitated.
"That's a really solid, inexplicable point," David chuckled, interrupting him before he could finish. "The Chaplain is right, too – every gravity generator on this ship merely simulates gravity – it does not and to my knowledge cannot – create it."
"I like your example too, Father," Trey grinned, drawing an irritated scowl from his brother. "Using the simple example of gravity you've demonstrated that some parts of science are still beyond us and not immediately provable, while at the same time shown us what might actually constitute a spiritual act. Boggs-Higson research is still widely debated, even though they really think they're onto something there." He paused to think about the Chaplain's action. "Why does your legal pad hit the floor when dropped? Can a physical law like gravity be considered magical or miraculous? Those are really excellent observations, Father."
"Thank you," the Chaplain said, nodding humbly and shooting a glance at Aaron. "I read your memo."
"Gravity is a physical law of our universe which we have learned to break by generating enough thrust in the opposite direction of its attraction. That's how we attain orbit around a planet or a moon," said Norris. "And the commandments we are given by God are moral laws of our universe, which we personally – each and every one of us – have the opportunity to choose or choose not to obey."
"Back on Earth I once helped a man build himself a new home," Father Dorgan continued. "He was a poor but really impressive member of my Church who saved for years so that he could finally afford a new house for himself and his family. This man's skills working with wood were truly unmatched. So we worked and we worked and some things would not be perfect and I would watch this man take extra pieces of leftover wood that most people would throw away. If we sawed too much off somewhere he could fill it in and cover it up so well that no one would ever notice. If we didn't saw off enough he would re-measure the distances and shape everything just so and not stop until it looked as perfect as he could make it."
"I'll bet he ended up with a nice house," Jeff spoke up. "My brother was the same way when he would build things. Me, I just slap everything together. That's why they have me building barns in the Livestock wing!"
"Yes, but the work that this man and I did together truly enlightened me in brand new ways," grinned Dorgan happily. "I had always been taught that water and sunlight were our most precious resources and the reason that all life exists. Plants couldn't grow without them and animal life couldn't exist without the plants and the rest of the food chain. But watching my friend put the finishing touches on his new house was truly eye-opening for me." He glanced around the table at everyone and smiled. "My first thought was of the coastal regions and their constant, unpredictable Earth quakes. What good does it do to make sure everything is perfectly aligned with the floor and then have the floor shift on you unexpectedly and tear everything apart? Then I thought of gravity in general. Without it you can still nail stuff together and secure it to the ground, but if you don't everything would just float away. Even the surface soil that makes up the ground would probably dissolve away into space. Gravity is yet another truly remarkable reason why life here in our universe is possible."
"There could still be life without gravity, but certainly not in the way we're used to encountering it," decided Dr. Simon. "It would have to be something like the bacteria we found on the mineral rocks, or a life form capable of surviving for extended periods by floating in empty space."
"That's why I – a man of holy faith – am not afraid of what science discovers, proves or disproves," Dorgan said. "The intricate details that make up our universe continue to astonish us – and always seem to keep us wondering – no matter how much we manage to learn. Life is truly an incredible experience, to say the least."
"So how has the feedback been from the parents on Waywardsman?" Norris asked, pointing at the donut box still sitting in front of Angela. Do they think you're teaching too much or too little regarding Intelligent Design?"
"Primarily they're concerned that we are not teaching enough," she replied after pausing for a moment to carefully consider the matter. "Traditionally it has always been our policy to focus primarily on the sciences of life. Most parents – back in America anyway – would already have a Church picked out for their children to attend. Some would even take the spiritual side of their development a step further by enrolling them in a private school that focused on a solid, religious doctrine. But we don't have that option here on the ship, and that's why we've been trying to convince the parents that they may have to be willing to step forward and play a stronger role in the spiritual development of their children."
"And then there are those people who don't want anything spiritual taught in the classroom," Aaron said. "Atheism is almost a religion unto itself – certainly it qualifies as a belief system. I never gave the issue a thought one way or the other until Nell became pregnant. Since I'm going to be a Dad I guess I'm going to have to start paying more attention to these types of things."
"I've always believed that it is a parent's right – if not an obligation – to teach and pass on their religious beliefs to their children," commented Melissa. "Some parents decide to expose their children to spirituality and then let them make up their own minds while others have a very specific role picked out for them right from the year that they're born."
"We may end up adding an optional class or two to the curriculum and then let the parents choose whether or not they want their kids to attend," Norris speculated. "But I think that teaching Intelligent Design and the sciences side by side at this time would be a mistake. When Elizabeth was alive we used to consider religion and our spirituality a very private, family affair – we didn't want the schools meddling too much with James's belief system. We talked about it often enough even before we married because we wanted to make certain that our son got a really good look at Church objectives and learned firsthand how having faith can add to your character. Ultimately what he chooses to believe in as he grows up and matures into an adult is totally up to him, but we wanted to give him the opportunity to learn."
"Enough about our classrooms and the educational curriculum," Angela said. "We've got a good system in place; it's just a matter of tweaking it here and there." She grinned and shoved the donut box at Father Dorgan.
"Oh no," he replied, shaking his head back and forth quickly. "I've said more than I intended to already." He shoved the box at Kayla. "You've been pretty quiet. What's on your mind?"
"I'm fully locked into my listening mode. I want to know more about this dark matter thing," she said, causing Aaron to groan and lower his head into his hands. "Really," she said. "We set out to explore the universe and it really sounds as though we've found something truly interesting. How close are we to peeking outside of it and finding out what's beyond?"
"Some feel that there is no boundary… that our universe is infinite," pointed out Greg.
"Now there's a theory we're about to disprove," Trey grinned eagerly.
"No really," Greg asked. "If there is a boundary to our universe, then what would be on the other side of it?"
"A really big planet?" Colonel Emerson suggested, grinning from ear to ear. His comment sparked a series of nervous laughs around the table. "I'm sorry, I couldn't resist." He said as the room quieted back down.
"What we would call the overall cosmos, the larger universe, or an Omni-verse. The 'universe diagram' we received during that mystery transmission has us climbing the walls in the Observatory," Nell noted. "Everyone's excited at the possibility that our universe does have boundaries and that we may possibly get the opportunity to probe outside of it."
"That diagram demonstrates a need to expand our definition of the word 'universe'," Kayla said, smiling. "Our own may have an outer boundary, but the space containing us and all those other Big-Bangs – how do we find the outer edge of that?"
"Do we want to?" Trey asked. "Everybody always uses the cliché about the room with a million monkeys with a million typewriters. Given the option that they have an infinite amount of time to type, it has been theorized that at least one of them will eventually type a passage from our scriptures… or one of the classic novels from our greatest authors."
"Eventually they may retype your memo," Aaron said sarcastically. Everyone laughed out loud at his joke and the tension in the room – which had begun to build – eased. Several people settled back in their chairs and took some time to reflect for a moment.
"I am trying to make a point," Trey insisted. "If the vastness of all of creation does have boundaries then infinite possibility becomes false. So that makes it a lot more difficult to believe that an unlikely series of events could eventually take place."
"Meaning?" Aaron asked, frustrated and curious as to his brother's elusive point.
"Meaning that we sit here right now in Observation Dome Two," continued Trey. "And time has passed while we have held this morning discussion. So if we take the monkey cliché to a whole new level and the cosmos – multiple universes and all – is indeed infinite then there should also be a never ending series of chances out there that something with faster than light capability is on a direct, instantaneous collision course with this room and will hit us and destroy us all. And yet, here we sit, undamaged." He smiled and tapped the table with his forefinger. "That type of example proves for me personally that the infinity theory has its limitations. We may not be able to see all the way to the end, but that doesn't mean there isn't one."
"Even back on Earth we had already seen all the way to the end of our universe," Nell pointed out. "Orbital telescopes like the Hubble were aligned and used in combination with our computer models in a series of experiments that we designed to define the amount of time that had passed since the initial Big-Bang. Often we left them focused on the same spot in the heavens for days just so that they could pick up some of the faintest light images that traveled to us from so far away so long ago. It was a spectacular way to literally 'look back in time' since that light traveled so slowly – limited by the maximum speed of light – and was just then reaching us." She smiled warmly at the memory. "In Astronomy there are very few exciting days – mostly a lot of boring ones. But it was certainly a really big day when we calculated 14 billion years since the initial Big Bang. One item that really had us ecstatic were the telescope images that revealed stars and baby galaxies were already forming as early as 13 billion years ago. So the traditional stellar objects have obviously been around for a while."
"Now that we're further out, have you been able to see farther?" wondered Colonel Emerson. He glanced curiously at Nell.
"Until this morning, that was an issue that concerned us," she replied. "Up until now, we have traveled an estimated 62 percent of the journey needed to take us to the outer edge of our universe. We didn't start in the exact center of the Big Bang, of course, but as we've traveled outward our astronomers expected to be able to see further – if not beyond – the outer event horizon of the universe. Instead we see the same thing that we did back on Earth – complete and utter darkness. If there's anything visible beyond the perimeter it sure must be far away."
"The mystery diagram transmitted to us is designed to fit on a standar 11 inch piece of paper," observed Norris. "So if there are many universe Big-Bang bubbles out there like our own they may be spread a lot thinner than the image we received indicates. Take this room for example and imagine two bubbles, one on each side. If you increase the scale to match our universe the distance between the two would be nearly incalculable." He was about to say something additional, but stopped to look quizzically at Nell. "Did I hear you correctly? Did you just say 'until this morning'?"
"Could I have a donut, please?" Nell asked, her downcast expression failing to conceal her excitement. Kayla nodded and slid the box over to her. Nell carefully picked out a cinnamon-covered long john and handed the box to Trey. "I'll let Trey explain Poseidon to you," she decided. "The discovery that we're in the process of mapping is one of the most spectacular things I have ever personally witnessed. It's the reason that Dr. Marcus was unable to attend this morning. She's got every telescope focused on this breakthrough – it could literally prove or disprove everything that we've already documented in all our years of gazing at the stars."
Everyone at the table turned expectantly toward Trey. He looked a bit startled. "What? Me?" He glanced back at Nell and she ignored him, carefully taking a bite of her donut.
"Yes, you!" Norris said, pointing at Trey. "Enough with the theatrical melodrama, you two! What exactly is Poseidon?"
"Something that we probably never would have found from home," Trey said elatedly. "With such a large universe to survey, it's too far out here to really discover and study from Earth. We're really lucky we began our adventure in this particular direction." He shrugged. "Of course, the steadily increasing levels of dark matter did make us curious, causing us to follow them like a trail of breadcrumbs."
"What specifically is 'too far out here'?" Greg demanded. He turned to the young scientist next to him and raised his eyebrows with unrestrained curiosity.
"We call it Poseidon, but basically it is the direct cause of the larger amounts of dark matter… well… larger amounts of all matter, actually… that we have been consistently running into as we move outward from our home galaxy. It is quite possibly the largest gravity well that has ever been discovered by modern science."
"Like one of those super-massive black holes at the center of each galaxy that your memo talked about?" wondered Kayla.
"No, this one is a colossus in comparison – probably at least a billion light years or so from one edge of its event horizon to the other. It is a massive, cosmic phenomenon that is proving to be one of the most unique – and new – objects in astronomy that I personally have ever seen."
"What could cause a black hole of that size to form?" asked a curious Norris.
"We don't know for certain," Nell said. "We're not even sure yet if it qualifies as a black hole using our text book definition, but it certainly has the intense gravity of one."
"It was first detectable shortly after we moved farther and farther away from the Centaurus super-cluster," Trey said. "I was working with the Observatory team when Dr. Marcus's staff found an area of space where galaxies, rogue stars, and other objects were actually moving toward each other instead of the 'flying apart as if from a giant explosion' standard by which we've come to know them." Although he had advance knowledge of the newfound phenomena and had studied it for over a week, Trey' expression was still one of disbelief. "So she began intensely studying that area and we were able to solve the mystery of the extra dark matter that we discovered in the vicinity of the wasteland galaxy. The reason there is more dark matter as we travel outward is because there is more of everything here. It's all being sucked together like a giant three-dimensional river twisting and turning through space and running directly at the gravitational source we've tentatively named Poseidon."
