Page 62 of Collision!
In that breathless instant, they were one…
An infinitely hot, dense singularity, tearing itself apart in a violent explosion,becomingspace and time.And as the universebecame, those eternal bonds were broken, atoms dispersing across the expanding void, accompanied only by a background wail of cosmic loneliness, separated by entropy’s cold reality that all things would drift forever separate and alone.
But then… A reaching through the isolation, a quantum rebellion against the abyss, as tiny forces once split apart remembered each other across the widening dark.
A thread of yearning, tenuous and timeless.
But not unbreakable.
At one end of the thread, the resonark—once trapped in the power systems of an abandoned ship until its tessellation was given plasmic form by the harmonic resonance of other lonely hearts in unison.
And in the forsaken depths of a distant galaxy, lost in a vortex of tattering dark matter—the other end of the thread disappeared.
Linked, they were a fundamental force defying entropy: love as simple physics—a power where connection was stronger than separation, preventing the universe from scattering into meaningless dark, a promise that every seeking heart might find its answer if it dared to cross the void.
All of them standing transfixed beneath the pulsing shadowlight understood the resonark wasn’t a monster hijacking their engines or a chaotic waveform leaving them adrift; it was going home.
But the link was fading, almost gone, and if they didn’t help complete this cosmic circuit, a beautiful thread in the fabric of reality would be broken forever.
And every such thread—light, dark, and every hue between—was crucial to the interconnected pattern of the universe, just like each of them, by merely existing, was part of the tapestry.
Later, Mariah would discover that everyone aboard experienced the same flash of insight but in a slightly different way: as music or the organic systems of a living body, as a garden’s symbiotic web or a cosmological dance.Always, though, the awareness remained that each precious point and the connections between them were fragile, to be nurtured and treasured.
After the flash, their shadows lingered beyond the transparent plasteel viewport for a heartbeat.
As they recovered their senses and staggered to their feet, Mariah realized the feelings button in the monitor Suvan had installed on the bar was shining rhythmically in time with the resonark’s prismatic pulsing, both emitting a faintly chiming call and response.
But even as she watched, the echoes were falling out of sync again, fading.
“We need to get the resonark out into the cloud,” she said, the vision still reverberating in her mind.“Now.”
A swell of voices affirmed her certainty.
In the projection from the engine module, Suvan was hunched over his console.“Entanglement can be initiated through proximity, by providing identical conditions until their quantum states overlap.But the resonark and its match aren’t simple particles.”His rough voice cracked.“I don’t know how to ensure their reunion.”
“Another cloud interference wave ahead,” Delphine snapped crisply.“This one’s got more crossing signals.Brace yourselves.”
Everyone scrambled for seats on the couches, but this time, the turbulence was only physical, with no accompanying vision.
When the jouncing ceased, the resonark seemed even more faded.Mariah peered closer.
“The knotwork is coming undone,” she gasped.
Leaping for the bar, she clambered up, balancing on top of the monitor as she reached for the fraying filaments where the prismatic light was bleeding out along the unraveling edges.
“Mariah!”Ikaryo and Remy were immediately at her side, steadying her.
“If it comes apart…” She choked on the rest as she frantically twisted the strangely brittle thread back upon itself.Why hadn’t she thought to check it?She always checked her work for wear and tear.
Except she knew it wouldn’t have mattered.After all this time—since the beginning of time?—the resonark needed to reconnect with its match.
“I’ll get your knitting needles from your cabin,” Felicity said.“What else do you need?”
“Get the biggest ones,” Mariah said.“And the chunkiest yarn I have.”
Suvan’s voice thrummed under her feet.“Mariah, why are you on the bar?”
“The yarn is separating.”She cursed under her breath as the fibers broke again, too frail to hold even the gentlest spin.“And the resonark is just vanishing.”
