Kolhammer watched as the giant research vessel suddenly seemed to contract to a single point before a lens of swirling light bloomed out from the same spot. “What the hell was that?” he asked. “It looked like they got sucked down a drain or something.”

“Yeah, it did, didn’t it? Lieutenant Dietz from the working group trying to nut this out called it spaghettification. He says it’s what happens when matter is drawn down into a singularity. Like a black hole. He doesn’t rate it as an enjoyable trip.”

“Fatal?”

“And then some.”

Curtis leaned over to his superior officer and whispered, “What’s a black hole, sir?”

“Dunno,” said Black.

“We’ll explain later,” said Kolhammer, as an idea struck him.

“Excuse me, Commander Black. Mike, that reporter we have on board from the Times, Duffy, she wrote a piece about this stuff a few years back. It was in the briefing pack I took across to the Enterprise. We should get her to write us up a briefing note. Something clear and concise we can use for our own people and for the locals. Lord knows, we’re going to need something. She still with us?”

“I believe Lieutenant Thieu is rattling her cage even as we speak, sir.”

“Make a note, I’ll want to speak to her later. She can start earning her room and board. Okay.” He nodded, drawing a mental line under the topic. “Our missing ships, we sure they didn’t come through and get turned into noodles?”

“No, we’re not sure,” said Judge as a Seahawk lifted off from the heavily damaged deck of the carrier. “But it’s unlikely. The event had an edge. We know that because Captain Halabi saw it cut the Fearless in two. That took place eight thousand meters from the Nagoya. The subs were a long way beyond that, assuming there was a uniform shape to the phenomenon.”

“Do we have any reason to assume that?” asked Kolhammer, a note of incredulity creeping into his voice. “This thing did throw everyone out of position, after all. It moved the Havoc about seven thousand meters closer to us.”

Judge looked worried, but he could only shrug in agreement. “Admiral, we can’t assume anything about a process we don’t understand. The phenomenon seems to have been . . . anomalous. Our relative positions got mixed up. For instance, the Havoc was closer, but the Siranui was ten thousand meters farther from us than she should have been when we emerged. It’s possible the missing ships got scattered all over the globe. Or out into space. Or a hundred kilometers beneath the earth’s crust. We simply don’t know.”

“Okay, then, we don’t assume anything. What about Spruance’s group? How badly are they hurting?”