Neither whirlpool nor maelstrom, it appears simply as a hole in the ocean, its dark circumference several miles in diameter. The Atlantic Ocean drains down its throat like a 360-degree Niagara Falls, its vortex inhaling the surrounding sea—along with the Paradise Lost.

The captain grabs the internal phone. ‘Change course! Forty degrees on the starboard rudder!’ Without waiting for a reply, he races down the circular stairwell to the bridge. ‘Mr. Swartz?’

‘Executing course change now, sir.’

Gibbons stares at the ship’s bow. Come on … turn!

The cruise ship sways to the right, meeting resistance. The boat shudders but is unable to escape the gravitational forces in play.

‘No change, sir.’

‘Stop engines. Full reverse!’

‘Full reverse, aye.’

The propellers shut down, the bow veering back to port. Gibbons focuses his binoculars on the massive anomaly, now looming seven hundred yards away, its edge spanning the entire horizon, dropping off … to where?

The Paradise Lost shudders as its twin screws reverse and fight to catch hold of the sea. The ship’s forward speed slows, but still they cannot break free.

The captain’s heart pounds in his chest. ‘Mr. Halley, send an SOS. Inform the Coast Guard we need emergency airlift choppers. Warn all seafaring vessels to stay clear of this area.’

The stunned radioman manages a raspy ‘Aye sir.’

Deck officers line up by the bay windows, staring in fear and disbelief. A few attempt to call their loved ones—unable to get a signal.

A chorus of screams builds to a crescendo as passengers catch sight of what lies ahead.

Lightheaded, his limbs shaking, Captain Gibbons finds his way to the command chair, a sickening feeling invading his gut as the 130,000-ton cruise ship slowly topples over the edge of the fourth dimensional vortex … into oblivion.

Screams of protest mute in Evelyn Mohr’s consciousness, the sudden silence accompanied by the strangely familiar angular face of a dark-haired man, his azure-blue eyes radiating intensely behind his sunglasses, his powerful arms lifting her away from the listing deck to somehow carry her inside the ship, his muscular physique moving in defiance of the laws of physics. She experiences a quantum second of weightlessness before gravity’s unleashed forces take over, simultaneously fragmenting and dispersing every cell in her body.

2

If we go on the way we are, we may not get through the
next century at all. When there is a clear danger in the
headlights, common sense says hit the brakes, but scientists
often want to keep the foot hard down on the accelerator pedal.

—MARIN MINSKY, PDH

MAY 1, 2047: MANALAPAN, FLORIDA