"Antares - 03 - Antares Victory" - читать интересную книгу автора (McCollum Michael)

that it tookthenovawavefront125 years to cross the gulf of space betweenthem.
When thefirst photonsfrom the explosionfinally reached the colony world, they
burst forthin a phenomenonthatquickly became known as Antares dawnlight.
However, aAntares Foldspace ClusterТsinterconnectingseries of interstellar
pathways,had gone supernovain the year 2512. A century-and-a-quarter later,
theexpanding shockwavefrom theeventhadfinally reachedValeria, AltaТs star.
Having completed its long journey across the vacuum of space,Antares
dawnlighthadfinally burst forth across DrakeТs world.
As impressive as the giant starТs funeral pyrewasduring those first few weeks,in
one important respect,its
appearancelookedasithungabovetheColgateMountainrange,inoneimportantaspect,theactualarrivalofthehad
beensupernovaТswave fronthad been anticlimactic. For while the photons thrown
out by the explosion moved atthe virtual crawl that is light speed,the
supernovahadmadeitsbirthknownonAltaalmostthesameinstantthatithadoccurred.
Scientists have long known that thecataclysmictitanic flashof lightthat
marksasupernovawithwhichsupernovaehavefascinatedhumanbeingsforsolongis merely a
minor side effectof ofwhat isreallyactually taking place. In addition to
outshining allofothertheother starsinin the galaxycombined, a supernova produces
a titanic storm of particles across the subatomic spectrum.
Neutrinosarethemostnumerousproductsofthesupernovareaction,racingfreeoftheexpandingballofplasmatheinstanttheycomeintobeingWhiletheseandmany.
Every other form of energyisalsopresent inabundance. Andwhile
manyotheroftheeffects are of interest only to astronomersand physicists,AntaresТ
death had carried with ittheone consequencethat affected thelivesof
Antaressupernovahadhadoneconsequencethatimpactedthelivesof everyoneon Altain the
Valeria System . In addition to vaporizing everythingmaterial around it Ц
including the hapless ships and crewsthenthatwere in transit across the Antares
systematthemomentofcataclysm Ц the supernova
disruptedspace-timeanddefocusedinterstellarpathwaysallacrossnearbyspacedisruptedstar
travel throughout the region,cuttingAltaofffrom therest of human space.
.
The invisiblepathwayspathways between the starswea re the result of long,
intricatelines of folded space that emanate from the gigantic black hole that
inhabits the central core of the Milky Way Galaxy Ц and indeed, all spiral
galaxies. These УfoldlinesФ weave intricate webs of folded space as they sweep
outward along the spiral arms, intersecting some stars while bypassing others.
Where a foldline intersects a star,sometimes itis often isfocused by the starТs
gravity well to produce a Уweak spotФ in the vacuum of space. Such weak spots
are called Уfoldpoints,Ф and within their planet-sized volumes, it is possible
to produce a hole in space-time. A ship that positions itself within a foldpoint
and thengeneratesreleases aprecisely formedenergyfieldcomplexenergyfield will
effectively drop out of the universe and be flung instantly along the foldline
to the next weak point, where it returns tonormalreal space without having
traversed the intervening distance.
For half a thousand years, humanityТs ships had usedfoldpointsand
foldlinestofindato circumventway around EinsteinТs universal speed limit.
Slowly,meticulously,humanityhadexploredalongtheweboffoldlines,puttingdowncolonieswherevertheyfoundterrestrial-classplanets.
ThefFoldlines were the superhighways to the stars, with most stars possessing at
least twofoldpointsfoldpoints, and sometimes as many as four. Antares, in the
days before its fiery death,had beenhadbeen the champion foldpoint producer in
human space. Ithad possessed six of the gateways, making itthe majoran