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at the surface of the dark matter ball would be measured in years to eons. Travel between the stars using the interior of the dark matter ball is measured in ship’s time of hours to weeks depending on how far apart the stars are and how deep the propulsion coil can pull the spaceship down the wormhole into the dark matter ball. Also the passage of time inside the dark matter ball is different from the passage of time on the surface of the dark matter ball.

      “There are two basic types of propulsion coils. Transport Propulsion Coils and Courier Propulsion Coils.

      “Civilian Transport Propulsion Coils are the easiest and cheapest to build. There are variations on design to increase speed slightly. Military Transport Propulsion Coils are vastly more expensive and massive to supply the bursts of speed necessary for combat and the durability to withstand the trauma of battle. Transport Propulsion Coils take you to a level within the ball where ship’s time is about half the time at the surface of the ball.

      “Courier Propulsion Coils are the most delicate, the most difficult to build, and by far the most expensive to produce. It is the classic tradeoff between time and utility.

      “Courier Propulsion Coils take a spaceship much deeper into the dark matter ball. The sacrifice made for this is that the spaceship’s engines must be exactly fitted to the needs of the Courier Propulsion Coil. There cannot be so much as a drop of energy produced for any other need. The energy needed for life support and communications and any other ship’s need must be supplied by battery power. Effective shielding or weaponry is totally out of the question. Fortunately, Courier Propulsion Coils pull a spaceship so deep into the ball via the wormhole that trips are almost always measured in hours to perhaps a day, ship’s time. Courier craft ship’s time within the dark matter ball is only about a tenth of the passage of time on the surface of the dark matter ball where the light matter universe exists.

      “What was my trip from the gravity well of my home planet to the gravity well of your planet like?”

      At this point the ball became whole again.

      “Traveling in the wormhole is without passage of time so there is no way to perceive anything while traveling in the wormhole. When your spaceship reaches the Hyperlink point of the wormhole and your spaceship enters the dark matter ball, nothing changes accept the stars begin to travel past your spaceship much faster.”

      At this point the ball becomes the huge shapeless black mass with the countless pinpricks of light floating randomly inside it.

      “There is no dark matter ball hanging in space. The ball is a mathematical concept to explain how the dark matter behaves. We cannot perceive the dark matter at all.

      “You may well ask if your species will be welcomed when it achieves the stars. I can tell you an unequivocal yes. That being the case, why don’t we simply show you how to build star traveling vehicles?

      “Through trial and error over eons, the star traveling species of this galaxy have determined that a species must find its own way off the planet of its birth. This is more difficult for us than you can imagine because we want so desperately for you to succeed. For every species that makes its way to the stars, incalculable numbers fail and drown in their own waste on the planets of their birth or suffer some catastrophe for which the only solution would be to evacuate the planet, which they cannot do. As a general rule we pay very little attention to the non-star traveling species. If you find a practical way to leave your planet to travel to other stars we will welcome you. If you fail your species will probably not even be listed. The galaxy is huge and there are so many worlds teeming with non- star traveling species.

      “And who knows, you may be the species that develops the next generation in propulsion coils, the one that takes us far deeper into the dark matter ball. Maybe you will be the species that develops the ultimate goal of propulsion coil technology, the coil that takes a spaceship all the way to the center of the dark matter ball where all the gravity well wormholes meet. At that point you could travel from any gravity well in the light matter universe to any other gravity well in the light matter universe instantly. Maybe you will develop a way to artificially create a wormhole so you can travel through the dark matter ball to anywhere in the light matter universe without regard to gravity wells. Maybe you will develop a practical method for travel between the stars that we have not dreamed of.

      “There are naysayers among you who will tell you it can never be done. That the stars are too far away and you can never go there. They would say that, instead of me being a member of a species that developed on a planet in another gravity well, I am some kind of monster that someone put together in a laboratory as a hoax to fool a gullible world.

      “As an answer to this I would say look at the night sky. You have so poisoned your night sky with artificial light that the stars can barely be seen. Find somewhere far from the lights where the stars in the cloudless night sky can be seen in all their glory. I guarantee that if you spend a night looking up into that glorious wonder, you will hear it calling to you.” “It is time to leave the nest. Spread your wings and join us. The wonders of the galaxy are waiting for you.”

      My Uncle had a strange expression on his face. He stood up and gave me several slow hard claps. “Bravo. You did make an unsupported supposition to determine that a non-star traveling species would by definition have light pollution blotting out most of the night sky. However, this is common enough that I believe your reasoning is valid. The inducement to come join the star traveling species wasn’t mentioned in the theme, but it was implied. You did very well.

      “Regardless of the grade your teacher gives you, I give you a A plus. There will be celebrations tonight and you will have a special reward.”

      I came home to decorations and party music and my favorite foods. Everyone congratulated me. Everyone accept my Uncle. My Uncle wasn’t there. He had an important faculty meeting to attend.

      As a reward I would be allowed to pick my own major household chore. I asked that my major household chore be the care and feeding of the gardens at the back end of the estate. These gardens faced the ocean.

      I had always loved green growing things, especially flowers. But even more than the flowers I loved the huge sandy beach between the gardens and the ocean. It was a nude beach, a woman’s only nude beach. I truly loved tending my gardens.

      DR. CARROLL

      I spent the next two days lounging around my bedroom, not even getting dressed. I spent the next two days after that wandering around the estate getting in everyone’s way. By the fifth day I was climbing the walls.

      I took the assignment on Lindle 497 for two reasons. One, I was desperate to get off Cocuru and find some excitement and two, and most importantly, the gloride monster was a croc not a ghoul.

      I avoid ghouls if I can. A croc cuts you to bits, eats the soft tissue and is done. A tic sucks out your juices and is done. Leaving you a shrunken husk, but it's done. A ghoul drags you to its larder and eats you bit by bit over time. One ghoul larder had over one hundred bodies in it which the ghouls appeared to have collected over about five years.

      This croc was smarter than most. The last ghoul hunter team had every trap avoided or smashed and lost three members before they gave up. The archaeological team was about to lose its license if they didn't show some results and it’s difficult to show results when your workers are afraid to go in the mine.

      Usually I like to spend the night before I go into a mine in a local bar. Do a little drinking, meet some new people, and I am always able to find a pretty girl who will make love to me as a going away present. I might get unlucky tomorrow. This could be my last night on earth. Maybe it was my last chance to be with a beautiful woman. Sounds hokey, but works most of the time. The next morning, before my hangover becomes tolerable, I go to the mine, wander around till the gloride monster attacks me, The Ride uses my body to kill it, then I collect some vines from the local grape varieties and head back to Cocuru.

      In this case the bars were all closed, due to lack of business, and the local women were not to be found. It was harvest season and absolutely everyone

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