"Look if they ask me I will put in a good word for your continued involvement in this discovery. If you can take some advice though, dial back on the aggression. Try to be more diplomatic."
The Professor stood there with an expression of surprise before finally replying to this unexpected offer of assistance. In a grateful tone the Professor said,
"You sounded just like my mother then when you said that bit about going gently. Look if you can get me back in to see what they are doing with that research I will be grateful."
Nodding his head the Investigator said in a final tone of voice,
"No promises but I will do what I can to help you."
The Captain was about to interject but he received the 'NOT NOW' look from the Investigator. Surprisingly enough this made the Captain stay silent.
When the Professor left the area, the Captain asked with thinly veiled sarcasm,
"Just what attention do you think they will give to your advice?"
The Investigator said in a proud tone of voice,
"Well considering that I have been appointed the Investigator-General's personal observer for this new government research project, I expect they will give my ideas very close attention. Don't you"
Chapter 4
True to his word, the Investigator got the Professor onto the government project team as an expert adviser. There were so many appointed already that one more was not going to be noticed by anyone. Or so the Investigator imagined. He had not reflected enough on those volatile meetings he had attended on the Captain's galaxy class cruiser. Within days of the project getting under way the Professor began to make waves.
There was, for example, the indoctrination session. All the project team participants had been gathered together digitally via the galaxy vid. Now was the time for the space geeks to show off their knowledge. They began a debate on the whole issue of the meaning of time.
The Professor got the stream exclusivity dominance. He posted his images of the "time free zone". They were dark and mysterious to the untrained scientific eye. So the Professor explained them at a very basic level. He posted the following:
"What you are looking at is the absence of light. This is not an image of dark matter. It is a totally unique image. The reason it is so unique is because time does not exist in this zone! Now this is made possible by extraordinary circumstances. The near presence of two competing black holes helps to exterminate time itself."
Of course the derisive comments from the technocrats followed that post. The Professor for once let that inventiveness pass without comment. He countered with some basic quantum physics. This is what he posted when back in control of the vid stream,
"I am sure you all remember your basic astrophysics lessons. Simple quantum physics theory tells us that time is a measurement of distance traveled. It does not exist outside this usage. You will also remember that basic astrophysics postulate that we all remember past time but cannot see future time. This is because time does not exist in the future. It only exists in the present and the past. This is all simple basic astrophysics. I am sure we can all agree on that at least."
The silence on the digital stream from certain technicians spoke volumes about their mastery of pure astrophysics theory at any level. Of course the Professor had rivals on that project team that had mastered astrophysics. These critics now interjected with comments about relevancy. The Professor closed out his mini lecture by posting,
"Well at the quantum level time has no present, no past and no structure. This zone we discovered exists at that quantum level. That is why I say it is a time free zone. Travel in this zone is impossible. Thus time does not exist."
That post started a heated debate among the astrophysics. It got to a high theoretical level quickly. Eventually it had to be wound up by the vid stream moderator. He was sensing that the vid was getting into controversial territory.
Unfortunately for the Professor, other species in the galaxy had some highly intelligent individuals. One of these now came into the digital vid stream. It interjected with acidity,
"If what the Professor said was accurate, then that area of space is unique in the galaxy. If matter is not travelling in this zone then the two black holes have created a hiatus to prevent any travelling. Matter is effectively trapped in that state. As this is not the normal state of matter, it will fracture down to incredibly small particles that have no ability to travel. If we can reproduce that effect then we will have a weapon more powerful than anything that exists in our galaxy."
Shock gave way to bitter dispute between the highly intelligent members of the project team and the military advisers. the Professor completely lost all objectivity as he tried to shout down this latest suggestion. As this dispute descended into acrimony and outright abuse the Moderator shut down all access to the digital vid stream.
Despite this disastrous beginning, the government research project eventually came up with just what they had been tasked to accomplish. Much to the Professor's distaste, his research team's findings were crucial to this successful outcome. This did not stop the Professor from launching repeated attacks on the use of pure research for such a warlike outcome.
A military appointed scientific team were tasked to come up with some ultimate weapon. Its head scientist drove her team hard. Relentlessly demanded perfection. She succeeded beyond anyone's expectations. At the final testing site for this new weapon a dummy drone solar ship was used as a target. It disappeared without a trace. This prototype weapon was now operational at a very lethal level.
Like most such weapons, it had been developed long before any defense against its use had even been considered. Any galaxy that possessed such a weapon had a moral duty to safeguard it from theft. The research team's findings were locked away in a cyber attack proof vault. The prototype weapon was kept at a top secret facility. All the project team members were placed under a strict galaxy secret oath.
To the rest of the galaxy the only information released was that the galaxy had updated its weaponry. No further details were supplied. Galaxy Central were certain they would never have to openly deploy such a frightening weapon. As the Investigator returned to his normal work routine he sincerely hoped that this time Galaxy Central was being transparent not devious.
The Professor was sure that 'certainty' was a convenient cover for some hidden agenda. He immediately got his quantum computer space ship to scan all military databases. There the highly intelligent quantum computer found a battle plan for using a universe class battleship to house and use this new weapon. All attempts to get into the secret weapons vault of Galaxy Central to extract his notes prove fruitless. This database vault was so deeply buried on a hot planet that it defied modern attempts to crack it open digitally. Still the Professor directed his quantum computer to keep trying as he feared for the adverse outcomes from such a weapon being used in open warfare.
Chapter 5
Once you are identified as someone with military experience, it is hard to shake that perception of this being the best use of your talents. So the Investigator was chosen to be the Inspector-General's observer at the latest attempt to stop an invasion by Space Imps. These annoying pirates who always