Red Dot: Contact. Will the gravest threat come from closer to home than we expect? Read Online Free PDF Page B

other countries, directly linked to the dots. But almost all of these reported deaths had been checked by reliable authorities and found to be untrue, whichled the team to discount news reports of deaths until they were confirmed. The team stopped counting deaths reported in non-standard news outlets and social media after the total ran into the tens of thousands. Additional traffic accidents and even tramplings had caused accidental deaths and injuries in the US and beyond, according to confirmed reports.
    Reliable examinations by government and other scientists from around the world found no chemicals, viruses, or other biological agents coming from the red dots, and no radiation except for visible light. Trusted medical teams found no harmful effects in people, plants, or animals exposed to the dots. There were no abnormalities in the autopsies of lab animals that had been place on or near the dots. DNA tests revealed nothing out of the ordinary.
    Then the findings got weird. The dots contained no detectable matter—no solids, liquids, or gases. Just as strange, the exact wavelength of the light from the dots, and even the precise
size
of the dots, were immeasurable. They were there—you could see them. But they weren’t there.
    As Claire listened, wide-eyed, to the report, one word immediately popped into her head—quantum. Quantum physics revealed actions of matter and energy in the sub-atomic level that defied common sense. One experiment, for example, seemed to prove that light was made up of waves. But a different experiment showed light must be made of particles. Physicists were forced to conclude that light was both a wave
and
particle. Some sub-atomic components popped into existence out of nothing and then quickly disappeared completely. Sometimes actions in one particle would instantly cause the same actions in another particle, even when there was no connection or communication between the two. This was the so-called “entanglement.”
    There were other areas of physics that could give rise to strange results as well. Relativity physics, for example, presented the possibility that there were distortions in space-time, called wormholes by some, that allowed travel to far-distant places and times. The theory of relativity, among other things, stated that nothing could travel faster than the speed of light—about 186,000 miles a second. But shrinking space-time in front of an object might allow it to reach a Star Trek-style “warp speed” that was faster than the speed oflight. Study of elusive dark matter—one of the topics in Claire’s specialty of neutrino astronomy—and the even-more-prevalent dark energy might reveal amazing secrets. Dark energy was the mysterious force the many scientists thought filled all space and accounted for the ever-accelerating expansion of the universe. Some incredible theories were just speculation, such as the possibility that there were many more universes in addition to Earth’s. And Claire always reminded herself there were probably fantastic phenomena that hadn’t even been imagined yet.
    But the creatures controlling D9 had somehow devised technology to take advantage of some of the mysteries of quantum physics, or of other types of esoteric physics.
    “And there’s something we just found out about D9 itself,” added Doug. “You know the survey teams have been checking for earlier course changes and trying to get a clue of where D9 came from. They’ve been going through old images to try to trace D9’s route before you guys first discovered it.”
    “Yes, that was a few weeks before we were able to confirm D9 wasn’t your average asteroid,” Claire said.
    “Well,” said Doug. He took a deep breath. “Your guys at CSS think that they’ve traced it back eight days, but then it disappears, like it never existed before.” He looked at Bridgette, as if he’d delivered as much mind-bending information as he cared to, and wanted her to take over.
    She