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Null Infinity Series
Forgotten Earth Universe
The Null Infinity Series of books looks at the theory of large extra-dimensions as proposed by the physicists Randall and Sundrum and described in Randall's book Warped Passages.
The books take the idea of the Bulk (a large extra-dimension) and the branes (spacetime universes) that exist in the Bulk and extrapolates that physics while sending the protagonists on an adventure. Here is an excerpt in which they first encounter the phenomenon of the extra-dimension intruding into our world as a result of their experiment:
Harry had felt sick before he passed out. When he woke, he still felt somewhat sick, and his head ached. Lauren was still lying on the floor of the trailer where she had passed out.
Harry went to her.
“Lauren, Lauren,” he said.
Lauren stirred and looked up at Harry.
“What happened?” she said.
“I'm not sure; I passed out too,” he said. “Do you feel well enough to get up?”
“I think so,” she said.
Harry helped her to her feet.
“What about the experiment?” she asked. “Did it work?”
“I don't know,” said Harry.
Harry called up the detector screen on his Emmie.
“That's odd,” he said.
“What? What is it Harry?”
“The bubble is still there,” he said.
“How can you tell?”
“It's vibrations are causing gravitational waves, and the SCR is picking them up. The frequency is the same as the one I programmed into the laser,” he said.
Harry went to the window to look out. The light outside was somewhat off, in what way Harry couldn't decide. Anyway, he could see the laser and farther on the target, but the sunlight was “drifting.”
“Everything seems intact, but there is something strange going on. I'm going outside,” he said.
Harry opened the door and stepped out of the trailer; Lauren wasn't far behind.
Again, the surroundings looked like before, only the lighting had changed. Then, as Harry looked into the distance, his eyes were drawn upward to what might have been affecting the sunlight.
“Lauren look,” he said as he pointed above the distant tree line.
There, as far as they could tell, were half a dozen dust devils rising into the sky, only they didn't really seem to be carrying soil upwards; they seemed discolored like a glass that was stained. They were also in the direction of the setting sun and probably causing the lighting effect.
“I don't hear anything Harry,” said Lauren.
Harry noticed the quiet for the first time, especially no birdsong; the first time he hadn't heard birds since they had moved to the area.
“This is very strange Harry,” said Lauren.
“I want to see if I can find the bubble,” he said, turning to go back into the trailer. Lauren followed.
Harry used the SCR as a directional finder now. Mounted in another trailer on a platform that could be slowly rotated with a telescope-like mount, he turned the detector until the signal from the bubble peaked. The direction was pointing towards the “dust devils.”
“So, the bubble must be related to that phenomenon we are seeing,” he said.
“But what is the phenomenon?” asked Lauren.
“I'm not sure,” he said.
Harry glanced at his Emmie again.
“That's interesting,” he said.
“What Harry?”
“The signal strength is increasing,” he said.
Lauren moved to the door of the trailer.
“Harry, the dust devils look bigger; I think they are coming this way.”
Harry went over to look.
“I think you are right,” he said.
“What should we do?” she asked.
“Well, I don't think they are real windstorms but still I wouldn't want to be in their path in this trailer. Maybe we should head back. Just let me power down.”
Harry powered off all the equipment, which took only a minute.
“I think they're coming faster,” said Lauren, standing at the trailer door.
“Okay, let's go,” said Harry.
Outside, they got onto the electric four-wheeler and headed for their car. The wind was stirring and there was a sound, except that it wasn't the roaring sound of a wind cyclone it was more like an electrical sound. As if electric transformers were overloading with a loud humming sound.
But this was no electric transformer. Harry was sprinting through the woods with the electric at max speed. Still, the sound, like angry wasps, grew closer.
Lauren on the back seat behind Harry, was the first to feel it: the sensation that something was crawling on the skin of her arms. She took her hands and tried to wipe them clean, but the feeling continued. She turned to look behind and up.
Instead of a funnel, as might be expected of a dust devil, Lauren could make out a stack of huge rings separate and rotating at an angle to each other so that they met at one point, that point constantly rotating also. As Lauren watched the stack of rings, which must have risen hundreds of feet into the air, were also telescoping up and down.
Sometimes it would dip all the way down into the forest and be hidden except for the tremendous sound of popping and cracking as trees split and disintegrated. Lauren was sure that they would be next when the four-wheeler burst into the open area where their car was parked.
“Hurry,” yelled Harry.
They had made it to the car and were in. Harry touched a screen, and the car was ready. He gave the order, and they were moving, with Harry urging the car to go faster, but it wouldn't comply, so he took over.
Lauren was feeling sick, the way she had felt before passing out back in the trailer. She looked at Harry to see if he was affected. He was wiping his forehead like he was sweating; she didn't feel hot. She looked out her side to see the dust devils but only noticed the wiregrass they were speeding past. It was wiggling, and she thought she heard it singing. She turned to look at Harry again.
“Harry, are you okay?” she said just before the car careened out of control.
--End Sample--
The “bubble” is a spacetime bubble that the experiment created, and it will eventually be useful for transport. The “SCR” is a detector that Harry built to follow the path of a spacetime bubble. An “Emmie” is an electronic device with an AI (it derives its name from EMulated brain).
The trilogy follows Harry and Lauren's development of what I call the boundary-drive. This drive allows travel in the Bulk dimension between branes. Their children (yes, they get married) become the focus in the second and third books.
In my writing, a “Universe” indicates the collection of science and technology that is available in the books. A “Series” is set in a Universe and follows specific characters, usually related, through an adventure. Other books, not in the series, may use the same science and technology background but with different characters. For instance, a fourth book in the Forgotten Earth Universe is “Brane World.” The science is the same or similar to the Null Infinity Series, but the characters and adventures are different.
The books are available at Amazon.
Thank You for Reading
Hard Science Fiction – Old School.