The Breach - Ghost Country - Deep Sky

Highway. Their uncertainty as to how the investigation could’ve accomplished anything at all.
    “But they spent hundreds of millions doing something,” Bethany said.
    “Probably more like billions,” Dyer said. “Most of the cost was likely hidden one way or another.”
    “The cost of what?” Bethany said. “What the hell did they do?”
    Suddenly Travis knew. He realized he might’ve known hours ago, if he’d given it more thought. Might’ve guessed, anyway; he couldn’t have known for sure until they reached this place.
    “Holy shit,” he whispered.
    Dyer nodded, seeing his understanding.
    “They did the only thing they could do,” Dyer said. “They knew from the beginning that Ward’s trail was long gone, and so was the notebook with the instructions written in it. Trashed or burned before he killed himself. They were never going to see it again.”
    “They needed a do-over,” Travis said.
    Dyer nodded again. “They needed another Ruben Ward. And this is the place where they tried to get one. At the bottom of this mineshaft they created the second Breach.”

Part III - The Tumbler

Chapter Thirty-One
    Paige started to speak, then stopped. Her mouth opened and closed a second and third time, but nothing came out. At last she just stepped to the rail beside Travis and stared down into the pit. Bethany did the same. They watched the light playing—slowly flaring and receding.
    When Paige’s voice finally came, it was softened almost to a breath. “The colors are different.”
    “Almost everything about it’s different,” Dyer said, “hard as they tried to duplicate the original.”
    “Do entities emerge?” Travis said.
    “No. But other things do.”
    Every head turned to Dyer. Every eye widened a little.
    “Understand,” Dyer said, “everything I know comes from Garner. I’ve obviously never been in Border Town. I’ve never seen the first Breach—or this one. Garner said the one you oversee is an opening to something like a wormhole, however loosely that term is defined.”
    Paige nodded.
    “He also said it’s a wormhole being used for a specific purpose,” Dyer said. “Someone out there, or something out there, either designed it or harnessed it for transporting the objects you call entities.”
    “Something like that,” Travis said.
    “Well the second Breach tapped into a very different kind of wormhole,” Dyer said. “Maybe a more common kind, according to some of the scientists who worked on it. The term they used for it was primordial. A natural wormhole that could’ve formed out of the energy of the big bang itself. They say the universe might be riddled with them. And this one, at least, has no physical objects moving through it.”
    “So what comes out?” Bethany said.
    “Transmissions,” Dyer said. “Garner called them parasite signals.”
    Travis’s eyes snapped to Paige’s, then Bethany’s.
    Dyer saw the looks. “You felt them too.”
    All three nodded.
    “No one knows exactly what they are,” Dyer said. “They figure the other end of this wormhole is bonded to someplace where there’s life. Some equivalent to bugs, maybe. The way I heard it, things like that would evolve to make use of the tunnel, if they could. Like things here evolved eyes to exploit sunlight, and ears to take advantage of soundwaves in the air. These things, even if they couldn’t physically pass through the channel, could transmit natural signals into it. There are any number of ways they’d benefit by doing that, and—”
    He stopped. Frowned. “Look, this Breach is dangerous as hell, and it gets more dangerous if it’s not managed, but I can take care of that later. None of this is the reason Garner brought me into the loop. It’s not why I’m here. For now, it’s enough to know that this second one didn’t do what everybody hoped it would. There were no Breach Voices, and there was no effect up front like the one that hit Ruben Ward. That stuff just didn’t happen the second time around. Different tunnel. But in a way—I guess indirectly—opening this thing got them the answers they were looking for. They learned what was really going on.”
    He went quiet again, shut his eyes hard and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I’m going to tell you everything I know. I don’t see any choice at this point. If I’d gotten here and found any of the others alive, they would’ve been in charge, and my orders would’ve been to help them. But Garner gave me different