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I nod.
“But if I did,” Albert continues, “I would destroy this sweater.”
“So Arras is unraveling Earth,” I say, “but we know that.”
“Unfortunately, the existence of Earth is more vital to the universe than my sweater is,” Albert says dryly. “If I unravel this sweater, it has no great effect on space-time, except to make me a bit colder.”
“What happens to the universe if Eart
h unravels?” I ask.
Jax jumps in. “A singularity.” But then he looks sheepishly at Albert as though he’s spoken out of turn.
Albert waves off Jax’s interruption. “No, explain with your images. It’s much easier to understand.”
“I got the sweater bit,” Erik says to Albert.
“What’s a singularity?” Jost asks. I’m surprised he’s here given that he finally has his daughter back. I suppose her return is a reminder of what he’s fighting for.
“Well, it’s sort of like this,” says Jax.
On-screen the image shifts. We watch Arras grow from the Earth, leaving behind a hole in its wake. Although Arras stays the same, the lines of light flowing into Arras from Earth leave a larger and larger hole. Eventually the hole grows so large that Earth begins to collapse into itself. A final bright flash of light leaves nothing more than a large black circle in its wake.
“What the Arras was that?” I ask.
“That’s a singularity,” Albert says in a grim voice.
“Basically, by taking Earth’s resources, Arras is jeopardizing Earth’s existence in the universe,” Jax explains.
“But where did it go? Where’s Earth?” Erik asks.
“In the event of a singularity, Earth will cease to exist. A massive well of gravity will pull everything—even light—inside the singularity, destroying Earth and Arras.” Jax pauses to let this sink in.
“What happens inside a black hole?” I ask.
“We don’t know,” Jax says. “Gravity is infinite in one, so it’s impossible to tell.”
“Meaning?”
“Nothing. Nothing will exist.”
“So in this scenario,” Erik asks slowly, “everyone dies?”
“Yes. Death. No doubt. The atoms might survive somehow and somewhere, or rather the leptons, quarks, and other subatomic knickknacks.” Albert says the words with a fair amount of annoyance, as though this is all perfectly obvious. But even hearing him say it doesn’t make it feel any more real.
“Cormac must not know this. Even he wouldn’t be so foolish as to destroy everything,” I say.
“He knows,” Jax says. “More and more of the Guild Tailors and scientists have been defecting—fleeing to Earth and seeking us out. We believe he’s planning a controlled demolition.”
“What does that mean?” I ask slowly.
“If he can mine enough resources from Earth and then control its destruction, he might be able to prevent the singularity.”
“Might?” Erik says, shaking his head. “Fantastic plan.”
“There has to be a contingency for this,” Dante says, running a hand through his hair.
And then I realize there is.
