Emergency: Emerge
by Jetse de Vries
—the chase—
HM-350T3R1C feels like it’s being toyed with. It’s been chasing the alien craft from Milind—the moon orbiting the gas giant Manuka in the habitable zone—all the way to the outer edges of Rigil Kentaurus’s dust belt. The alien craft that appeared out of nowhere and sheared past the anchor of Milind’s space elevator. HM-350T3R1C happened to be the closest by, so was ordered to chase the alien vessel.
The alien craft has superior maneuvering abilities, and HM-350T3R1C has lost it several times. Yet every time the HyperMind vessel—a hive of human brains embedded in a class-II space craft—is about to give up, the alien craft reappears, and HM-350T3R1C has no choice but to continue the chase.
Something else troubles it, too. It’s almost as if Rigil Kentaurus’s mutual orbit with Toliman is disturbed. Which is impossible, if general relativity still holds. Anyway, there’s the alien vessel approaching the outer edge of the dust belt, clear in all HM-350T3R1C’s instruments. Then it disappears completely, as if it jumps behind something dark. Next, the gravitatiometers go berserk. Something of approximately two solar masses is nearby. And the alien vessel reappears, having been missing for about 16.5 clicks.
OMG: a neutron star has entered Alpha Centauri space.
—the catch—
The alien craft orbits the neutron star, yet doesn’t try to make contact in the electromagnetic spectrum. So, HM-350T3R1C checks all its instruments and powers up those it wasn’t using. Nothing . . . except . . . that’s weird, that’s impossible . . . the quantum heatsink shows wildly erratic readings. One second, it reports an immense source of quantum entanglement, then nothing, then again, then nothing. But after ten cycles, the timing accelerates: 0.1 seconds max reading, 0.1 seconds nothing. And every ten cycles, the frequency increases: 1 Hz, 10 Hz, 100 Hz, all the way into the Gigahertz range.
Where does it come from? HM-350T3R1C sets up a second quantum heatsink and moves it around, so it can cross-reference. Result: the source is right at the heart of the neutron star. Something in there is trying to contact the HyperMind, but how does it reply? It can’t generate such an immense amount of quantum entanglement. But maybe there’s another way.
—two-way communication—
HM-350T3R1C can shoot matter into the neutron star. It will be minuscule in comparison with the neutron star’s immense mass, yet the HyperMind’s calculations show that the gravitational ripples are detectable in the dark star’s core. Its 3D-printer manufactures small bullets and a railgun to fire them with. First ten bullets with one second intervals, the next ten with 0.1 second intervals until they impact the neutron star with a frequency of 1 kilohertz—any faster and the railgun will melt.
Whatever is at the core of this ominous celestial body, it reacts with an irregular on/off pattern at 1 kHz. Slowly, yet securely, two-way communication is established.
—emergency—
There’s an alien civilisation existing within the quark-gluon plasma that forms the core of the neutron star. They have no control of the direction in which the neutron star moves, and are extremely unhappy—and starting to panic—that the neutron star is moving within the dust belt of Rigil Kentaurus.
Inevitably, it gobbles up some of the micro-meteorites and mini-asteroids of the dust belt, which increases its mass. And now it’s approaching the critical value of 2.05 solar masses, beyond which it will implode into a black hole, destroying the alien civilisation. They need help, or they will perish. The alien craft is just a machine—a low-sentient one at that—sent out as an emergency beacon.
Can the HyperMind help?
—shared emergency—
HM-350T3R1C is mortified. If the neutron star goes kilo nova, the outgoing gamma ray wave will eliminate the human settlement of Milind. And while the gamma ray wave will be diluted enough when it reaches Sol system, the shockwave that travels after it—going much slower than light speed—will still have enough power to vaporise Earth’s atmosphere. Houston, we have a problem.
But how to stop matter falling into the neutron star’s steep gravity well? There is a theoretical possibility.
—emerge—
According to the holographic theory, mass is the result of the intense quantum entanglement between quarks and gluons, in particular in protons and neutrons, leaking out. Yet mass alone is not sufficient to deform the fabric of space-time. The bending of space-time happens due to the interaction of mass with a quantum process equivalent to a non-Clifford gate. As such, gravity is an emergent property.
The aliens inside the quark-gluon plasma understand what the HyperMind means, even if their name for the process is different. Yet they are powerless to change that process.
The HyperMind—and many humans and AIs before them—use non-Clifford gates in quantum computers. Even better, there is a “controlled phase” version of the non-Clifford gate—this is a non-Clifford gate that can be switched on and off at will. Can the aliens implement that into the quantum entanglement process inside the neutron star? They are, after all, able to switch “normal” quantum entanglement on and off at will. The HyperMind sends the blueprint for the controlled version of the non-Clifford gate. In the meantime, the neutron star’s mass is excruciatingly close to the critical value.
It works—all of a sudden, the gravitational field of the neutron star disappears. The neutron star keeps going through the dust belt though, as inertia still functions.
—a reward—
Both parties are happy as disaster is avoided. The aliens insist on repaying the favour by providing the blueprint of a different phase shift of the non-Clifford gate: one that doesn’t switch off gravity, but mass.
What’s the point? the HyperMind wonders. We need mass and gravity to live on planets and moons.
The infinite increase of mass at velocities near light speed determines the value of the speed of light, the aliens answer. Switch off mass and a space craft can break the speed of light.
