Aurora

by Karen Page

Part 3

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Part 3

It was quiet. Perhaps quiet wasn't the right word. It had become routine. It had been a week since the six investigators had gone, and Ashleigh missed her sister more than she thought. They'd spent almost a week together. They hadn't been in the same room all the time. Most of the day her sister had been pretending to be a teaching assistant, watching over Becky's daughter Jenny. But during the evenings she'd revelled in sitting out and talking with her and Luke.

How her sister had grown over the years. There'd always been emails and messages while Tony was at school. Then there were the dark years. Ashleigh had hoped they could meetup when Tony had finished school, but it never happened. The messages became sporadic. There might be a few messages per week and then nothing for a month or so.

Now she realised why there had been periods of silence. There were times where messages couldn't be sent. How things now made sense.

Ashleigh had known that Tony was trans, but after he'd gone to the music school, he'd never mentioned it in any emails or letters. Ashleigh had wondered if it had been a phase, but then about four years after Tony had finished school, Ashleigh had received an email from Tina. It wasn't just announcing the name change but wanting a reunion.

This week had been the first time they'd spent more than a few days together. They'd meet up for a meal, or go to a family event, but not since the day Tony had gone to music school had they just spent time together. Ashleigh now felt alone. The first time she'd felt like that in years.

"What's up?" asked Jenny coming into her office.

"Oh nothing."

"You look a bit sad."

"I'm missing Tina."

"She was really nice," said Jenny. "I liked all six of them. Will they come back?"

"They have their jobs to do, and we have ours. They came to keep us safe. It isn't their usual job, but they were available and were a lot more discrete than armed guards."

"What do you mean?"

"Take Mrs Poop going to your school. She was undercover there as a teaching assistant. I take it nobody knew that she was there to protect you?"

"No. She was a great assistant to the teachers. They really loved having her there."

"If it was a security team, then the teachers would have known you were being protected. Or they might have asked you to not go to school for that week."

"Not go to school?" Jenny sounded aghast.

"To stay protected."

She thought for a minute and then said. "It's good that Mrs Poop came then. Though a few in the class found her name a bit funny."

"It is a bit funny," said Ashleigh giving a little wink. "Don't you think?"

"Yes," smiled Jenny.

"So, what are you doing up in my lair?"

"Lair?"

"A lair traditionally is a secret place for an animal to live. It's sometimes used in films to describe the secret place baddies hide to plot their evil plans."

"Don't be silly, you aren't a baddy making evil plans," chastised Jenny.

"No, I'm not," agreed Ashleigh, solemnly. "So, what brings you to my office?"

"They're in thinking mode downstairs, and I got bored."

"Oh, so I'm your second choice? When you get bored downstairs, you come up to see me?"

"Yes."

That honest answer surprised Ashleigh. She filed it away in her mind to think about later. "Well, I'm glad you've come to see me. Since Julie decided she preferred it at the factory, it has been a little lonely up here."

"How do you make cups of tea?" blurted out Jenny.

"Let's go to the kitchen and do it together. As they would say when I was at school. A practical lesson."

"I like practicals."

They walked to the kitchen. "I know you can do some basic cooking, so let's treat it like that, and I will try to impart a bit of science in it too. It won't be much as I'm not very good at science, but I did some at school. The first thing. Safety. You must only do this under supervision. Agreed?"

"Yes."

"Good. And if I find you cooking or making hot drinks on your own, I will be upset."

"I promise."

"Good. Now what do we need to make a cup of tea?"

"Tea," said Jenny confidently. "Water?"

"Great. Anything else?"

"Milk and sugar?"

"Perhaps. Some people like their tea without milk and sugar. Let's put that down as extras. Do we need anything else?"

Jenny thought hard but shook her head. "I don't think so."

"You need a cup to put the tea in and you need something to boil the water."

"The kettle!"

"Well done. Tea leaves don't melt in the hot water and people don't like tea leaves in their drinks. So, we will use a teabag to keep the tea leaves in something easily removed. Some people prefer what's called 'loose leaf', so the tea isn't contained. They then might use a strainer to remove the leaves. A bit like a sieve. Now the water. We are making traditional tea, so we boil the water. If you are making green tea or a fruit tea, it doesn't need to be as hot."

"When does water boil?"

"Let's get sciency."

"There's no such word as sciency."

"True, but I think you told me the other day that language evolves. Water has three states. It can be solid, which we call ice. It can be liquid which is what comes out of the tap, and it can be a gas which is steam. When the kettle boils, watch for steam coming from the kettle. That is some of the water changing state. The melting point and boiling point of water is different at different pressures. So here, at sea level, it freezes at zero Celsius, and boils at one hundred Celsius. If you climbed a really tall mountain, the higher you go, the less pressure there is and the lower the boiling point."

"Okay. Do all things freeze at the same temperature?"

"No. It depends on the substance. They sometimes call it Matter. So, we covered water. The metal Iron is solid at room temperature. If I remember correctly it needs to be just over 1500 Celsius to start turning to a liquid. I've no idea what its boiling point is, but it will be a lot higher. Oxygen is at the other end of the scale. It is a gas at room temperature and has to be very cold to turn to a liquid."

"I suppose that make sense, otherwise we'd all be trying to walk on liquid."

"Exactly. Now, do you remember how everybody likes their tea?"

"That's a trick question," said Jenny. "Henry doesn't like tea."

"You're kidding?! I've been making him tea."

"I think he drinks it because you made it," she replied.

"What does he drink? Coffee?"

"Yes."

"Okay, so let's make him a coffee and the rest a tea. We will take it down and let them know you made it. These drinks are very very hot. If you spill boiling water, it will hurt you and could scar you for life. Your reflex would be to drop the cup or kettle and that could mean more boiling water on you. So, at the moment, you should only make it under supervision, and I will carry the tray for you. Understood?"

"I understand," Jenny sighed. "I already promised."

"I know. I was just making sure."

Jenny took her time, and followed the instructions as Ashleigh relayed them to her. Then when it was time to take them downstairs, Jenny rushed ahead, making sure the doors were open for Ashleigh.

"Thank you, Jenny," praised Ashleigh as they went into the discussion room. "That was really helpful of you."

The four project members looked up as Ashleigh placed the tray on the side unit against the far wall. "Jenny asked if I'd teach her how to make drinks," explained Ashleigh. "So, she made these under supervision."

Work was abandoned and they all took their cups.

"Thank you, Jenny," said Rebecca. "Very nicely done."

"And a coffee," said Henry happily. He then turned to look at Ashleigh and blushed. "Though I've begun to appreciate tea every so often."

Appreciative noises were voiced from the others too. Jenny simply nodded at the praise and sat at her usual place, trying to avoid their attention.

Ashleigh scooted back upstairs to continue her work, and to ponder on Jenny's strange reaction. That evening, as she finished, she went into the discussion area and found it was just Rebecca. That was strange, as they all often worked late.

"I'm off," said Ashleigh.

"Do you have a few minutes?" asked Rebecca.

"Sure," replied Ashleigh, stepping into the room.

"You've been here nearly two weeks. How are you finding the job?"

"It's a lot more than I expected, which is great. I was worried I'd struggle not being in a town, but I seem to have settled into the countryside without issue. Though I think the wind must have been in a different direction as I'm sure I heard the sound of cows mooing this morning."

Rebecca shrugged her shoulders. "I'm sure there must be some farms locally that have cows. I can't say I've seen any. So, do you plan on staying?"

"I'm not planning on looking for a different job."

"Good. I want to tell you about what we're doing. Before I explain the project, I need to explain a few things to make sure what I tell you makes sense."

"Before you start," said Ashleigh. "Do you need to sort out Jenny?"

"No, she is at Evan's. He offered to feed her, so we could have this chat."

"Okay."

"Have a look at the map of the world on the wall. Does it look like the map you saw in school when you did geography?"

"Yes. I hated geography."

"Okay, this is what's called a Meractor projection. Which is bigger, Africa or Greenland?

"Difficult to tell. Africa possibly?"

"Greenland is about 2.2 million square kilometres. Africa is 30 million square kilometres."

"Really? They look the same on the map."

"Indeed. Here is a copy of the map on paper. An aeroplane is going to travel from London to Anchorage, Alaska. I've marked the two locations on the map to make things easier. Draw the shortest route."

Rebecca handed her a pencil and ruler. Ashleigh had a feeling there was some type of trick, but couldn't see what, so drew a straight line between the two cities.

"Rather like a conjurer, you did what I wanted you to."

Rebecca lifted a globe from the floor and placed it on the table. She gave Ashleigh a piece of string and said, "Do it again and compare the two."

"It's totally different. Using the globe the shortest distance is nearly over the north pole."

"Yes. Earth is not flat, though there are still some out there that would disagree. The shortest distance on the surface is called the Great Circle."

"Are you saying the map is lying?"

"Yes, but it has no choice. It is a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional object. There are different maps that represent our planet; all of them different. You should see what it looks like with Australia in the centre. Did you ever see the film Total Recall?"

"The one starring Arnold Schwarzenegger?"

"No, the remake starring Colin Farrell. They travelled from Australia to England via a ship that went through the centre of the planet. It was the shortest route."

"The shortest route from London to Anchorage would be via a tunnel, not on the surface," concluded Ashleigh.

"Exactly. There are shortcuts that only become apparent if you look at things differently. In this case, the three-dimensional journey is different from the two-dimensional. Now onto the next bit which is closer to the subject. Space travel."

"I knew outer space was going to come into this sooner or later."

"Star Trek quotes aren't allowed! The problem is that space is huge. It takes a long time to get anywhere. Take the probe Voyager 1. It was launched in 1977. It reached Jupiter in 1979. Saturn in 1980 and left the solar system in 2012. It only managed to reach those speeds because it wasn't stopping. It just flew through those systems at a speed that would be fast enough to leave the solar system. It also went at a specific time when the planets were aligned. Take the journey to Mars. At its closest it can be about 56 million kilometres away. But when Mars is at the other side of the Sun, we can be 250 million kilometres apart. When things are being sent to Mars, they try to send them when they are the closest. They call it the Mars Transit Window. Depending how quickly the vehicle is travelling, depends how long it takes. It can be as quick as 150 days but often might be more like 250 to 300 days."

"Okay, let me see if I get this. Things take a long time to travel in space, and you can only do it at the right time."

"Yes," Rebecca beamed, pleased that Ashleigh understood. "There is then the issue of humans travelling to Mars. On Earth, we are protected from space radiation because of the magnetic field. When you are in space, the craft needs shielding to try to minimise that radiation. That makes space craft heavier. You don't want the journey to be too long. The longer you're in space the higher the radiation threat."

"So why don't they just go faster?"

"Two things. One, the amount of fuel needed to go faster. And then if you are going faster, you need to slow down more. Finally, the human body doesn't like to accelerate too quickly."

"So, it comes down to either astronauts being squished or radiated?"

"I hope not. And what we've just discussed is the journey to Mars. What about to Jupiter or other star systems. If we travel at the speed of light, the journey to the nearest star would take four years. Physics tells us we can't accelerate from below the speed of light to above the speed of light. Even then, the amount of energy to reach that speed would be more than we could produce."

"Oh," said Ashleigh feeling these issues were insurmountable. "Lots of issues. So, what are you working on?"

"What if we're looking at the journey like a two-dimensional map. If we look carefully there might be a way to shorten the journey."

"Warp drive?"

"I know I said no Star Trek but let's go with that concept. The idea of a warp drive, or as the 1994 paper became known as the Alcubierre Drive, is to make the path shorter by contracting space in front of them and expanding it behind. The craft would sit inside a bubble, and this bubble would move, rather than the craft. Think of it as space moving rather than the ship."

"Is that what you're trying to create?"

"No. We are looking at something like the difference between a two and three-dimensional map. In space we think there are other dimensions that allow us to create a shortcut. We are trying to create the link that will allow us to pass through."

"Like a wormhole?"

"I think you are thinking about what is called an Einstein-Rosen Bridge. Conceptually it is very similar. Mathematically, very different."

"How do you know this is even possible?"

"We've long debated how, and now we are trying to see if our theories hold water. Our test just before the power went out seemed to indicate we are on the right path. It appears that travelling a larger distance is easier than a very short distance. I suppose it's like folding a piece of paper. To an extent, a really small fold is harder than a large one."

"Thank you for telling me. I've no idea why I'm involved though."

"Because you are fantastic at what you do. We needed someone to do this, and you seem to be doing great. Now you know what we are doing we don't have to tiptoe around you."

"Does Julie know?"

"No, she was never told. Her job is just an administrator. You aren't just here to order things—"

"No, I'm here to keep an eye on you all, and if the worst happens, get you out of the rabbit hole when you get obsessed or frustrated. Hopefully I can stop you going into it, but I know that sometimes you have to work on the edge."

Rebecca looked slightly ashamed. "Yes. I see Laura was right when she said you would get it. I presume you had a similar situation in your previous job?"

"Yes. Did Hilda help monitor you all too?"

Rebecca sighed. "Yes."

This wasn't anything that Ashleigh hadn't worked out for herself and that is probably why she didn't go off in a rage. "I'm here to support the project, but I'm not ever going to be a replacement for Hilda. She was your wife. I'm not. She was Jenny's mother. I'm not. Parenting is still your responsibility, but I know there will be times where you are in the middle of an experiment and can't be there for her."

"But I should be."

"You just said you were looking at creating a shortcut through space via other dimensions. Let me call it an interdimensional drive. The tests you have been running show that you are starting to experiment with that now. Can you really say it would be safe to be distracted if you were in the middle of an experiment like that?"

"No, but—"

"No buts. It isn't safe and Jenny knows that. She isn't stupid. Far from it. I'm not in there with you so she can always come to see me. In some ways you are like a family. You don't just work together, but you seem to do other things together too. You also support each other and all support Jenny. It isn't a blood family, but it seems to act like one. I'm happy to be part of that and will help not just Jenny, but all of you."

"Thank you. You seem to be very open. You had no issues with me having changed gender."

"It is what you needed to do. It seems you weren't ready to accept that part of you when we were young. I saw who you were when you were younger. I have no issues with Tina either."

"And you aren't angry that I got married?"

"Love is love. I actually said something similar to Tina last week. You fell in love. I can't blame you for that. I can still be upset though that you broke off all communication."

"When we were still at school, I didn't want you sneaking behind your parents back. When we went to university, I didn't want you to be estranged. I'd made my decision and didn't know how to deal with that conflict. I was worried about my parents and if they would be as upset as yours were with Tony."

"I get that," said Ashleigh. "It still doesn't stop me being upset about it though."

"Did you ever find love?"

"I dated but never found the right one. Some relationships lasted a few months, but things never seemed to work out."

"I hope you find it one day."

"Well, I'm not interested in hooking up with anyone on this project. That is a sure way to cause issues. Who was in the house I'm in before me?"

"Why?"

"They just had great taste. The style is so me."

"Nobody. It's stood empty since it was refurbished eighteen months ago. It was the last one finished."

"Who organised it?"

"Hilda," Rebecca responded.

"Tell me about her," prompted Ashleigh. She wasn't trying to be unkind. She was genuinely interested and thought it might help Rebecca think of their time together rather than her death.

Rebecca looked a bit uncomfortable. "What do you want to know?"

"I've no idea. I was just trying to get a feel for her. She is a large part of you. Tina said she used to work at a music school, but how did you meet?"

That seemed safe ground. "I was going to a talk at a literature festival in Cheltenham. I was early and sat in her talk. Somehow, we got talking after and we went for a drink. I missed the event I'd been going to see. She got a work call and when she'd gone, I didn't think I'd see her again."

Ashleigh almost laughed at that. She'd heard that bit from Tina, but Becky was glossing things over and making it sound so normal. An ETV was rarely used and the video she'd watched after Tina had mentioned it, an armed ETV. The first and the last time there'd been the armed version in operation.

"So how did you meet again?"

"Chance. I'd been to see my GP about a few issues, and he sent me to see a specialist in London. She worked in the same building, and we bumped into each other. Literally. I hadn't been watching where I was going. She'd just finished seeing her last client for the day, and we went out for a drink."

Rebecca then said, "This seems a rather surreal conversation. Talking to you about Hilda. It seems wrong."

"No, it isn't wrong. I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to know. I'm sure Hilda asked you about your past. I'm sure you told her about me."

"Yes, I suppose. Though I've no idea if that was her trying to find out from a psychiatric perspective, or if she was personally interested."

"Does it really matter? She loved you and you loved her."

"Yes," smiled Rebecca. "We did."

"How did she die?"

"The doctors don't know. They put it down to organ failure."

"What about Ryan?"

Rebecca shoulders sagged even more, and she looked away from Ashleigh to gaze at the stuffed bear on the shelf.

"That was the second blow. He'd been very ill after he'd been born. I was devastated and thought about stopping my anti-androgens just in case Hilda wanted another child. She said my transition was important for me and I shouldn't stop. Ryan got better and seemed to be doing well. Yet when they did an autopsy, they found signs he'd had an incurable disease from birth. He shouldn't have survived more than a few months, but he lived for five wonderful years with no sign of it. He brought so much joy to all three of us."

Ashleigh wanted to go and comfort Rebecca, but she knew she shouldn't. She needed to keep their relationship purely work related. It would be so easy to go comfort her first love, but she felt it would be taking advantage of Rebecca while fragile. She didn't want that.

"Sometimes the brightest stars dim the fastest," said Ashleigh gently. "It sounds like you were a really close family. How are you coping?"

"I have good days, and I have bad days. It's often the little things that suddenly catch you out. I wake up in the night and reach out and find Hilda not there. I might watch a film and exclaim 'Oh, no Hilda' when something tense is happening. I get up to take Ryan swimming on a Saturday before remembering he isn't there."

"Does Jenny swim?"

"Yes, though swimming lessons finished two weeks ago. They won't start again until September. Too many people on holiday for it to be worth their while."

"What's your plans for your interdimensional drive?" asked Ashleigh, trying to bring the conversation back to work topics.

"The small tests we've done match our expectations. We're constructing a slightly larger unit and I'm coding the software that will handle it. If that works well, we want to see if we can open a path to send something small through it. However, we are still debating those parameters. We should have a plan soon, and then it is the hard work in preparing."

"Is it safe?"

"The small trials we've done indicates it should be. The infrastructure should be good for that test, but we will need to build some type of containment when we send something a lot further. But that's something for another day."

"Some notice would be nice. I'd prefer not to have to cajole everybody."

"You should see the factory. That is well thought out and that equipment was ordered well in advance. It's just the research here is a lot more dynamic."

"I'm sure I'll get to see the factory at some stage, but I don't think I need that distraction at the moment. This is where I'm needed. So, how far have you got with this tunnel you're creating?"

"We've managed to open something. The sensor readings prove that. We just don't know if we are targeting the destination properly. In some respects, we won't know that until we send something through."

"Hang on, you're opening a tunnel via another dimension, and you don't know if you are going to the right place?"

Rebecca smiled, amused at the look of concern on Ashleigh's face. "That about covers it."

"Are you mad?" spluttered Ashleigh. "What if you open a connection to the middle of a star?"

"Space is big. The chance of that is very small."

Ashleigh eventually noticed Rebecca's grin. "Are you pulling my leg? That's not fair."

"Life is never fair. What we are opening is minuscule and lasts microseconds. Our aim is to open just at the other side of the river, but it's very close and is much harder than something a larger distance away. We will want to put it in a vacuum chamber before we try to go outside of the atmosphere as we don't know how that would work."

"Do you need line of sight?"

"No. We thought so at first and was quite surprised when the maths said the opposite. That took six months of debate, argument and a few bizarre tests to prove that."

"By the sounds of things, most of your tests are bizarre."

Rebecca put her hand over her heart. "You wound me!"

They both burst out laughing.