Chapter 4

After having a very late dinner with some of her students, Lois wandered about the village in the cool of the night. She still wasn't quite used to how many people would take the time to smile and wave a greeting at her as she passed, even people she'd never met. "Gosh," she thought. "It sure is pleasant to be accepted like this. So friendly, relaxing, no crime, nobody locks their doors... Wait, what am I thinking? None of the doors here even have locks!" It was beginning of the third month in summer, and there was a brilliantly clear and star-filled sky overhead. The full moon was bright blue and provided enough light for easy walking. Lois wandered over to the science lab.

Lois was delighted to find her brother and Kara by the lab. They had brought out one of the tribe's two large telescopes and were just finishing an observation session with a crowd of older children. Lois wandered up and said, "I guess the phrase Once In A Blue Moon has a totally different meaning here. It happens every night! And I think it's been a full moon since I got here. Doesn't it go through cycles?"

Mark smiled. "Yep, it sure does! Just a lot more slowly. Here, let me re-program the clock drive and give you a good view."

As Mark typed on the control console, Kara turned to Lois and said, "These telescopes were Marks's most brilliant idea. They're the first piece of technology brought over with project Jumpstart. A lot of the tribe was struggling over the wisdom of the project, but enabling them and their children to see the universe was an irresistible argument. This is one of our two Meade 16-inch reflectors, the latest and greatest of their LX200 series. Research quality optics and drive systems. The two scopes are worth every penny of the $30k we spent for them."

"Here Lois," said Mark. "In a moment, I'll take you up to 800-power to see the landscapes, but this will give you a good view of the entire planet of Mahina."

Lois looked through the scope. "Wow! Wow, wow, wow... It's so beautiful! All the oceans and continents!"

"It not really a moon at all. Aina and Mahina are binary planets, orbiting each other. The binary orbital period is almost 191 Aina days, 66% of a solar year, compared to a 28-day Lunar cycle. That's why the planet is staying in its full phase for so long. There was a full Mahina just three days ago."

"Cool... How far away is it?"

"1.7 million km. That's why it has only 62% of the apparent size of the Moon in the sky. Earth weighs 6x10^24 kg. Aina seems to weigh exactly the same, as far as we can measure, certainly within a small fraction of 1%. From the orbital observations, we estimate Mahina weighs about 5x10^24 kg."

"So I'd weigh less there?"

"Yep, about 6% less. A 150 lb person would weigh 9 lb less. Definitely enough to be noticeable. It would be interesting to experience..."

"Mark, Aina weighs exactly what Earth does, and gets the same heating from its star..."

"We're 20% closer, compared to Earth's distance to the sun. But you're right, heating is the same."

"It just seems like too many coincidences."

"Oh yes, I know. None of us think it's a coincidence at all. There's some profound connection between Earth and Aina. Ha! I mean a connection based on thought and purpose, not the physical connection of Blue Spirit."

"The Blue Spirit tunnel... Some sort of wormhole?"

"Kalea has studied the concept. She doesn't think so. She has some completely different models for what it could be. She doesn't think it's a tunnel at all. She tends to called it a reality shifter. You should see her latest diagrams. This month she's calling the blue ring a set of nested toroidal bubbles in folded space, all slipping and sliding against each other."

"A reality shifter?" Lois thought for a moment. "That sounds vaguely scary. What's the underlying thought?"

"The bizarre nature of quantum effects magnified to classical physics size. I'll give you an example. Two seasons ago during a transfer, a red tiger-squirrel from Aina dashed down the spiral tunnel. A whole group of the porters on top saw it. The spiral was filled with other porters coming up, none of whom saw the squirrel. It's a sizable animal. Blue Spirit can't be a simple tunnel. I'm pretty sure it's been operating for millions of years, and allowing Earth life to come here. Lots of trees, bushes, vines, birds and small mammals, they're all here, integrated into the Aina ecosystem. But nothing the other way. When was the last time you saw a six-legged vertebrate on Earth?"

"But it allows us to go back!"

"Yes. It makes an exception for us and allows us to violate its rule. But how does it do that, and even more puzzling, why? A couple of porters during one of our transfers were curious and did an unauthorized experiment. Kalea was furious with them, and the council wasn't very amused either. They took a tiger squirrel in a cage through Blue Spirit. Walked it down the mountain in West Virginia, and then brought it back. They had no problem doing it. But a tiger squirrel by itself can never make the journey. Earth has nothing of Aina's ecosystem."

"Wait a minute Mark! That might not be true! A few days ago here I saw some red grass blooming on a hillside outside the village. It was gone the next day..."

Kara looked up. "Aina sage grass? Yep, definitely an Aina plant. Has a really weird lifecycle. It doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the ecology. Nothing eats it. Even the bugs avoid it. I think it's more of a red mold, even though it does look like a grass."

"But I saw a bloom of it in West Virginia, about 6 months ago, when I was helping the porters," said Lois. "The window had re-opened after just five days, and a lot of the gear scheduled for transfer hadn't been staged to the mountain yet."

"Huh? That's interesting," said Kara. "Our porting activity might have carried some of Aina's ecosystem to Earth. Wow..."

Mark spoke up. "Speaking of carrying to Earth, I'm sorry you've been trapped here for so long Lois. What's it been, thirty-four days?"

"Thirty-five days, but who's counting? I do love it here... but I really should get back."

"Wait a second," said Kara. "Let me check something." Kara briskly walked into the science lab.

Mark sighed. "All our observations from last year were from five to eighteen days between openings. It's never been this long. On average, the tunnel is open about 10% of the time. When I suggested a two-week vacation for you and maybe a bit longer, I thought I was being accurate..."