"What is it?"

"We call it The Void. It is absolutely pure vacuum as far as our instruments can determine. No stars, no planets, not even cosmic gas or dust."

"How come we can see it then?"

"For reasons that I will explain, the void possesses an event horizon. Any normal matter that crosses that event horizon is converted into pure tachyon energy."

"Event horizon? Like a black hole?"

"The a.n.a.logy is close, but The Void is not caused by gravitational curvature like a black hole. Infact, we do not know what causes it. All we do know is that it appears to be a sinkhole into the tachyon universe."

"I'm afraid I didn't get that far in astronomy cla.s.s, Professor. What, exactly, is a 'tachyon universe?'"

"The theory is a very old one. It was first postulated more than a thousand years ago and has been generally accepted since the invention of FTL travel. It was back in the twentieth century that people first realized the true nature of the universe, namely that it began in a t.i.tanic explosion. Our ancestors somewhat whimsically dubbed this colossal event 'The Big Bang.'"

"I'm familiar with the concept."

Vannick ignored the sarcasm. "The important point is that the Big Bang did not create one universe, but three. Those three are the universe we see, the antimatter universe, and the tachyon universe."

"I beg your pardon."

"Believe me, Captain, there are strong scientific reasons for believing that these universes exist.

Your ship is one. WithoutThe Trinity , as the three universes are collectively known, there could be noftl ships."

"Right. What do these other universes do?"

"The antimatter universe, as the name suggests, is composed almost solely of antimatter, just as ours contains mostly normal matter. Time flows backwards there."

"Time flowsbackwards ?"

Vannick shrugged. "Why not? There is nothing inherent in the nature of time that causes it to have a preferred direction. In fact, antimatter is nothing more than normal matter for which time is reversed.

The tachyon universe is the one that contains all of the superlight particles created in the first moments of the Big Bang. Nothing in the tachyon universe can travel slower than light, just as nothing in our own universe can travel faster than light, save inside anftl drive field.

"You called The Void a 'sinkhole.'"

Vannick nodded. "We think our universe has somehow managed to collapse into the tachyon universe, taking a great deal of normal matter with it."

"And matter that falls into the sinkhole are transformed into tachyons?" Tessa asked, interested in spite of herself.

"Correct. Normal matter cannot exist there."

"Interesting," she said, "but I fail to see what this has to do with my mission, Professor."

"Two years ago, Captain, The Void was but a bright, dimensionless point of faster-than-light energy. It is now four million light years in diameter and has just consumed its second galaxy. If it continues to grow as it has, within 75 years,it will consume our galaxy!"

For a moment, the viewing compartment became indistinct as Tessa labored to catch her breath.

The sensation was remarkably like being punched in the stomach. When finally she could speak again,she asked, "Is this some sort of a joke?"

"If it is, it isn't a very funny one," he replied puckishly.

"Why haven't the other astronomers reported this?"

"The other astronomers work with electromagnetic radiation, which is limited to light speed. The Void's rate of expansion is trans-Einsteinian. Normal light astronomers will see nothing awry even should they happen to be staring directly into The Void as it washes over them. The wave front is advancing at a million times light speed."

"So you alone have discovered this menace?" she asked caustically.

He nodded. "My people and I. We have the only instrument in existence with the capability of mapping tachyon emissions at such long range. We have been studying this for two years. Our data, which we have forwarded to all of the major astronomical facilities within the Communion, has been cla.s.sified Most Secret. It was the government's hope to avoid ma.s.s panic. Perhaps it would have been better to release the news. Panic just now would be vastly preferable to rebellion."

"How do I know that thing out there is real? You could easily have programmed your computer to display this ... this ... hallucination!"

Vannick moved his hand across a new set of controls and suddenly The Void expanded until it was more than two meters across. At this level of magnification, it was fuzzy, with the barest hint of a mottled surface.

"Does that look like a spur of the moment programming job? We have thousands of hours of observations on file. Do you think we could have produced those in the few seconds between the time your people blasted their way in here and when we were captured?"

Tessa hesitated. She had to agree that they had not had any time to react to the invasion, unless they had spottedWarwind during the long approach. Except, ifWarwind had been seen, New Rome would now be on full alert.

"Show me your files," she commanded gruffly. She was beginning to understand the implications of this new discovery. Suddenly the universe did not seem so large and impersonal. In fact, it had just becomevery personal!

Vannick complied with the order. He showed her records of The Void when it had been a dimensionless source of tachyon emissions, as it had looked when it first developed a disk, and again, when it consumed the galaxy in which it had formed. The review took more than an hour, but in the end, Tessa Hallowell found herself convinced of the truth of the astronomer's claims. Convinced and very confused.

She spoke not a word when the last fuzzy starfield faded and the lights came up in the observation globe. She considered for a moment, and then asked, "What is New Rome planning to do?"

"What can we do for the moment except observe the beast?"

"Can it be stopped?"

The astronomer laughed. There was very little merriment in the sound. "Our ancestors used to think hurricanes were awesome. Compared to The Void, a hurricane isn't even Brownian motion!""You're saying that we're helpless."

"Not helpless, Captain. We can learn everything possible about the phenomenon and then figure out how to keep out of its way. That is why you must not destroy this observatory. We need every minute remaining to learn all we can."

"Keep out of its way how?"

"How fast is your ship?"

"That is cla.s.sified information."

"Let me guess. Your top speed is about fifteen thousand lights, correct?"

"Something like that," she allowed.

"Well, if we're going to outrun The Void, we need ships with top speeds on the order of2 million lights . Even if it gobbles up the entire universe, it will take 1500 years to do so. We can learn a lot in fifteen hundred years. Perhaps we will learn how to survive whatever comes after. Then there is the possibility of escaping back into time. Remember, time runs backwards in the antimatter universe. Why not here, too?"

"If we had escaped back into time, wouldn't there be a record of it?" Tessa asked.

"Not if the refugees from the future colonized worlds far distant from those we now inhabit. The universe is a large place, Captain Hallowell. There is nearly an infinity of worlds we could use. I have had two years to think about this, and believe me, the possibilities are endless. However, we must concentrate the energies of every single human being on the problem. This is no time to divide the race with a war, Captain."

"I don't make policy, Professor."

"You can influence policy!"

"How?"

"By reporting what you know. If you were to tell your high command about The Void, then they will call off this insane attack. I know they will."

Tessa shook her head. "Too many ships are in motion. Things have gone too far to call them back now."

"Have they?" he demanded shrilly. "Have they really? There is no power in the universe that can recall those ships?"

In reality, she knew, there was. Every ship captain had been supplied with a code sequence to abort the attack if they came across evidence that the Galactic Guard had been forewarned. A captain who used the sequence for any other purpose would likely be shot.

"I'm sorry. I have my orders and I must carry them out. The universe will have to look out for itself until we win our freedom from New Rome."

"Think, woman! We are talking about the end of everything we know in less than 75 years! That isn't even one lifetime. If we start building now, we may be able to save much of our population when the time comes, but not if you people and the Galactic Guard slug it out across the star lanes for the nexttwenty or thirty years."

"We project a war of less than two years," she answered, no longer as sure of herself as when she had boarded her gig this morning. In truth, history was rife with such rosy predictions. They seldom came true. "There will be plenty of time afterwards to study this void of yours."

Vannick gazed at her as one does a student who is slow to understand the lesson being taught.

When he spoke again, there was soft pity in his voice. "The Void may not be our only problem."

"What do you mean?" she asked, suddenly suspicious.

He dimmed the lights and brought the display back up on the screen. He pa.s.sed his hands quickly over the controls. The violet void dimmed until it became a phantom object framed against the obsidian blackness of s.p.a.ce. Somehow, it had also grown larger and fuzzier, as though it had developed a halo.

The halo was not violet like the sphere. It was pale yellow and indistinct, so much so that it was nearly invisible.

"What did you do?"

"I've filtered out the highest energy tachyons. What you are seeing now are low energy particles that tend to be washed out when we look at The Void."

"Low energy tachyons? What is the source?""

"Starships."

Tessa Hallowell barely reacted to the news. There had been too many shocks this past hour. She was put in mind of an old expression: "You can't wet a river." That was the way she felt.

"Whose starships?" she asked in a voice made toneless by too much emotion.

"The races of the Virgo Cl.u.s.ter, of course. You didn't think that we were the only starfaring race in the universe, did you? G.o.d wouldn't be so wasteful."

"But it has only been two years since the appearance of The Void. How did they arrange an evacuation so quickly?"

"A good question, " the astronomer agreed. "In some cases, they must have only had a few months warning, possibly less. Even on such short notice, they managed to send billions of starships in this direction at velocities substantially in excess of a million lights. We are going to have to deal with those people long before The Void's event horizon pa.s.ses this way. Do we want to be engaged in war when those ships arrive in this vicinity? Moreover, what about all of the other races from all the thousands of galaxies that will soon be taking flight? Just how crowded do you think it will be on whatever distant planets we finally choose for refuge?"

It is often said that one's life pa.s.ses before one's eyes at the moment of death. Tessa experienced a similar sensation. She suddenly found herself floating above her father as he blasphemed New Rome.

Her detached consciousness seemed to hover in a cla.s.sroom at home on Askar as her teachers and fellow students plotted rebellion in hushed tones. She watched as though detached from her body as she once again slaved through the 27-hour days to gain admittance to the Hegemonic s.p.a.ce Academy, and she relived the overwhelming surge of pride that she'd felt when she had been givenWarwind to command.It was as though all of her emotions had been burned out through overwork. Try as she might, she could not recapture the patriotic fervor she had once felt at the thought of throwing off the Communion's yoke. Indeed, as she watched the tracks of starships fleeing The Void, it was difficult to recall the Hegemony's reasons for wanting to separate from the Communion of Man. Suddenly the coming fight with thegigi 's seemed akin to two ant colonies fighting over the same crust of bread.

The attack of ambivalence lasted an eternity that measured a dozen seconds by chronometer. When it pa.s.sed, it left behind a Tessa Hallowell who was not the same woman who had set out from her ship a conquering hero. This new Tessa Hallowell was much older and wiser than that adolescent of a few hours previous. She turned to Vannick and with deceptive calm said, "I want recordings of all your observations, along with all communications relating to The Void."

"You'll get them, Captain."

"Good. I will broadcast them to my headquarters as soon as my ship breaks...o...b..t. I suggest that you send a warning to New Rome about what you have learned today, as well."

"Does that mean that you aren't going to destroy the observatory?"

"It means that I will probably be shot for not doing so, Professor Vannick. I hope it is worth it."

"It is," the relieved astronomer said. "And, Captain, ... thank you."

Tessa barely heard him. She keyed her personal communicator. "Sergeant Major Cochrane."

"Yes, captain?"

"Prepare to disembark the observatory. We're going home."

There was a heartbeat's hesitation before the customary response. "Yes, ma'am!"

"Patch me through to the ship."

The next voice she heard was that ofWarwind 's communications officer.

"Pasqual, send 'Vertigo Veritatus Velocipede' to headquarters. Do you have that?"

"'Vertigo, Veritatus, Velocipede. Aye aye, Captain?"

Tessa listened to the words that would cause a mighty armada to halt in its tracks, turn around, and then return to base without a shot fired. She hoped she was in time. She waited tensely for the automatic acknowledgment from Hegemonic headquarters, knowing that it would take a few minutes before the angry questions began to fly starward. She ordered communications to shut down, anxious that her own arrest order not arrive before she'd had time to explain her actions to her crew and superiors back home.

She turned to Vannick and said; "We'll have to draw from your stores in order to get home, Professor."

"You are welcome to everything we have in surplus above our barest necessities, Captain."

A very chastened Tessa Hallowell climbed aboard her gig half an hour later with several record cubes tucked into her pockets. She gazed neither at the Milky Way, nor at the tiny patches of other galaxies. She no longer felt any desire for stargazing. The universe no longer seemed the overwhelming giant that it once had. In fact, despite being fifteen billion light years in diameter, it seemed almostclaustrophobic.

Author's note forThe Void :

There is a rule in writing that in order to be effective; an author must "particularize." In other words, if you blow up the world, everyone will yawn; but if you blow up the world and a little girl with a broken arm who is out searching for her stray cat, there will not be a dry eye in the house!

The Voidis essentially an attempt to see how wide I could broaden my horizons and still write an entertaining story. I think you will agree that the horizon couldn't get much wider, and as for whether I have succeeded in writing an entertaining story ... well, you will have to be the judge of that. LikeBeer Run before it,The Void started out as a writing exercise and turned into a story.