To the naked eye it was like a great comet, a small, rocky planet-sized nucleus with tails of dust and gas, a great halo and bow shock where the electromagnetic shield ionized and dispersed particles rushing past at near light speed. Far beyond the vision of a human eye was the light-year-long, bright tail of a vacuum energy drive, exotic particles and their cousins giving themselves back to the false vacuum of their birth. Beyond the bow shock, at energies going back to the beginning of time, a stressed space-time glowed dully as particles once virtual were ripped forth to power the great ship. The tiny fraction of the ship that served as living quarters for crew and passengers was larger than a major city, and built in seven radial layers, like an onion. Its occupants numbered in the thousands: crew members and their families, mostly, and only a few hundred passengers who had enough leisure time or interest to enjoy the views as they neared the portal to their home universe. Many had been gone for a short while.
