There was work to do; she had to learn everything about the new situation. She called out to her team- mates, “Can someone tell me if the light is gone?”
Haf said, “I have some interesting news.”
Roi put down her template frame.
“There’s rock in our orbit,” he announced. “I think we should stay here, or at least close by.”
“
“The void-watchers can see it with their light-gatherers. Pieces of rock, orbiting the Hub.”
“You mean.
Haf hesitated. “I don’t think so. The shape’s not the same. And the rock isn’t exactly like our rock.”
Roi let the puzzling news sink in. No mythical cousins, but that had always been a fanciful notion. To have rock, or something like it, not far away might be useful. She had no idea how they would reach it, but she was sure Haf would find a way eventually.
The death of the Wanderer had replenished the Incandescence, thickening it to the point that they were threatened not with famine but corrosion from the wind. They had reopened the tunnels and started moving out again, searching for the right balance. They had reached a point where the wind was not too strong but the crops would still be plentiful, and now they had this unexpected boon.
“I agree,” she said. “We should stay here.”
The Wanderer had killed a third of their people, and blinded another third. Bard, Cho, Ruz, Nis, Tio and Jos were all gone. Nobody understood what had happened, what had given the Wanderer’s disintegration such force. Perhaps in a dozen generations someone would find a way to explore such mysteries; there might yet be something simple beneath it all.
Haf mused, “Rock’s a good start, but I really don’t think it will do for the wall.”
“What wall?” Roi knew exactly what he was talking about, but she enjoyed teasing him.
Haf rasped annoyance. “The Hub is a dangerous place. Once we’ve left it behind, nobody should get close to it ever again. If they come this way we should send them back, the way you guide a hatchling away from danger: just pick them up and turn them around.”
Roi chirped with delight. “First a wall, and now. what? A great machine for herding hatchlings who are hurtling through the void! Do you know how many spans it is
“Perhaps you’re right,” he conceded, but he didn’t sound the least bit sincere.
She heard him approach and pick up one of her frames.
“Can I check your calculations?” he asked.
“That would be good.”
The Wanderer’s death-throes had given their orbit some elevation again: a return to light and dark, she’d been told, and a chance to see out into the void once more. She had been calculating a manoeuvre that she hoped they could perform with the tunnels to maintain the tilted orbit indefinitely. The opportunity to look out at their surroundings was too precious to lose again.
Haf worked in silence. Roi listened to the clicking of his claws against the stones, and felt herself drifting into sleep.
Afterword
The “weight and motion” of objects in the Splinter follow from Einstein’s theory of general relativity; many of the effects described also occur in Newtonian gravity, but observations within the Splinter are sufficient to discriminate between the two theories. The best general reference on this subject is:
The most comprehensive treatment of the particular space-time geometries discovered by the protagonists is:
“Zak’s principle” is essentially Einstein’s equation in a vacuum, that is, the version that applies when the matter in your immediate vicinity has no significant gravitational effect. The general equation, which allows for the presence of matter, is described in terms that are almost as simple in this excellent account:
“The Meaning of Einstein’s Equation” by John C. Baez and Emory F. Bunn.
Some events in this novel depend on the detailed behavior of the plasma accretion disks that are present around black holes, and several aspects of this subject remain uncertain. For example, precisely if and when an accretion disk with given physical characteristics would be forced to lie in the equatorial plane of a rotating black hole (a phenomenon known as the Bardeen-Petterson effect) is a matter of controversy, because determining this theoretically depends on complex computer simulations, and direct observational data is inconclusive. See, for example:
“Spin-Induced Disk Precession in Sagittarius A*” by Gabriel Rockefeller, Christopher L. Fryer, and Fulvio Melia,
A comprehensive discussion of the possible fates that can be suffered by stars that encounter black holes is given in:
“Tidal Disruption of Stars by Black Holes,” by Martin J. Rees,
In charting Rakesh and Parantham’s journey, I drew on:
“The Nuclear Bulge of the Galaxy. III. Large-Scale Physical Characteristics of Stars and Interstellar Matter” by R. Launhardt, R. Zylka, and P. G. Mezger,
Panspermia—the spreading of viable biological material from one planet to another—is almost certainly possible between planets in the same system, but the prospects of such material achieving, and surviving, interstellar journeys is far slimmer. Interstellar panspermia is an interesting idea, and I don’t believe it has been shown to be impossible, but I wouldn’t argue with anyone who considers it to be highly unlikely.
