The Orthogonal Galaxy (37 page)

He paused again. “Let me
repeat that. Nothing which we can see is able to travel faster than
the speed of light because it is
subject
to light
.”

The proverbial light bulb
came on for Joram. “Professor! I see what you’re saying. Matter
that can be seen—particularly baryonic matter—must travel no faster
than the speed of light, because it is subject to the properties
which constrain light itself. The corollary to this would be that
if there is matter which is
not
subject to light—such as dark matter—then that
matter may
not
be
subject to the speed of light.”

“
Exactly!”

Joram continued his
thought process. “Non-baryonic matter may indeed be traveling
around faster than the speed of light.”

Kath had to interrupt at
this point to keep from getting lost in the conversation.
“Professor, I remember the term baryon, but I forget. Is that the
stuff that has the integer spin or half-integer spin?”

“
You’re thinking of bosons
and fermions, Miss Mirabelle. So much jargon for one year of study,
I know. When we talk about baryons, we are usually referring to the
triple combination of up and down quarks that comprise the neutron
and the proton, so really it makes up the bulk of matter that we
interact with.”

“
That’s right… sorry about
that.” Kath hung her head in embarrassment for having to ask the
question.

“
Mr.
Anders, your thought was that this non-baryonic matter
may
travel faster than
the speed of light, but it might be even more than that. I’ve been
thinking a lot about this, since we left Johnson last weekend. My
thought is that the real reason that this matter is not subject to
electromagnetism is because it
must
be traveling faster than the speed of light. That
is, once matter—non-baryonic, or otherwise—escapes the effects of
electromagnetism, it is guaranteed to travel faster than the speed
of light. That mystical constant,
c
, which we know to be equal to
299,792,458 meters per second, could be considered the escape
velocity of electromagnetism. Once any matter can exceed that
velocity, the electromagnetic force no longer applies. So, we
cannot see dark matter, nor can we see our superluminal comet,
simply because they are traveling around in the universe faster
than the speed of light. Thus, they are no longer subject to the
force of the photon, which we know can travel no faster than
c
, you
see?”

Three eagerly nodding
heads indicated that they did see. Heaving an exhausted sigh,
Zimmer sat back in his seat now that he could tell that his
researchers were beginning to comprehend these brand new
ideas.

…

Joram Anders sat alone on
a bench by a paved walkway, watching the sun dip below the top of
the pine trees across the large vacant field to the West. A family
of four passed through a door after their visit to the Hale
Telescope, returned to their car, and drove off. While open to
visitors during the day, few continued to make the long, windy
drive up the mountain to enjoy the history of the aging
observatory. Overshadowed by so many newer, larger and more
important telescopes, most haven’t even heard of the 200-inch
mirror, nor realized the fact that way back in the
20
^th
century, it was the largest telescope in the world for a
while.

Distracted by a whirlwind
of thoughts, it took several efforts for Kath to get his attention.
“Joram. Joram!”

“
Oh, Kath… sorry I didn’t
see you there.”

“
When I didn’t see you in
the dormitory, I assumed you must still be sleeping,” she
stated.

“
Oh, no… I come out here
every evening. I never get tired of watching the sun set from up
here.”

“
I didn’t know this was
such a favorite spot of yours.”

“
I suppose you wouldn’t…
you usually sleep until well after the sun sets,” Joram elbowed
Kath playfully as she took a seat next to him on the bench. Eying
her suspiciously, he asked, “Why are you up so early this
evening?”

“
I got a phone call with
great news,” she beamed. “The astronauts at Camp Mars have been
recovered. They are a suffering from exhaustion, and some mild
bumps and bruises, but otherwise, they’re going to be just fine!
The rescue vehicle just launched from Mars, and is on the way
home.”

Joram took in a deep
breath and leaned back on the bench. “That is great news indeed! It
must’ve been a horrifying experience for them.”

“
Yeah, I can’t wait to
hear their story,” Kath stated as she turned her gaze to the West,
Kath observed, “Well, I can see why you enjoy it here. Such a
beautiful sunset, and so quiet.” “Sunsets in Kansas could be pretty
spectacular, but the horizon always left something to be desired.
It was so flat. No pine trees, no mountains. Just flat, waving
fields of grain.”

Looking at his watch,
Joram suggested that it was time for dinner. The two stood from the
bench as the last strong rays of the sun penetrated the atmosphere,
bathing the clouds in brilliant yellows, pinks, and oranges,
contrasting them to the blue and purple of the sky.

They met Reyd for dinner
in the common room of the astronomers’ dormitory and the threesome
engaged in pleasant small talk, but they were distracted by all
that had happened in the last few weeks. The disaster on Mars, the
mysterious yellow beam, the mission at Johnson Space Center, the
discovery of the superluminal comet created a mental overload, and
in fact, all three had been dealing with an increase in headaches,
insomnia, and fatigue. Even Joram recognized in himself a
diminished ambition for the work ahead of them that evening. The
mental stress and exhaustion was starting to affect each
researcher.

The situation was not much
better for Carlton Zimmer. Being advanced in years, having been
ridiculed for his near-obsessive interest in finding a parallel
earth, and now enduring near rejection by the scientific community
for the anti-relativistic and heretical proposal that there was an
object—right in their own galaxy—which was traveling around the
center of the Milky Way faster than the speed of light were each
starting to add up and take their toll on the relentless
astrophysicist. While he tried to put on his best face, his
graduate students were not oblivious to his suffering.

“
I’m worried about
Zimmer,” Kath said while poking at her mashed potatoes. “Have you
guys noticed how tired his eyes look, and how pale his complexion
is.”

“
Yeah,” Reyd agreed. “I’ve
been around Zimmer for three years now, and I’ve never seen him
look so unhealthy. His whole countenance almost appears sunken,
defeated.”

“
Which is all the more
reason,” Joram realized out loud, “that he needs our help in
piecing all of this together. We need to convince the world that he
his right!”

“
But what if he’s not
right this time?” asked Reyd.

“
You don’t believe him?”
Kath’s jaw dropped in disappointment of her colleague.

“
All I’m saying, Kath, is
that there’s still a lot of speculation. We can’t exactly track
down that comet and catch it can we?”

“
Actually, we can.” Joram
announced flatly.

“
What?” Kath and Reyd both
turned their attention to him.

“
I overheard Zimmer last
week explain that we were going to continue to study the beam to
determine its exact speed and orbital path. That’s what we’re going
to start doing tonight. He suspects that it’s traveling fast enough
to orbit the galaxy once every five years.”

“
Five
years! Absurd. I mean, if we’re going to see it five years from
now, why didn’t we see it five years ago as well?” Reyd shook his
head and wrinkled his forehead as he worked the math, mumbling
numbers incoherently. “26000 light years… two-pi-r… five years…”
And then announcing his results out loud. “You see, the old man may
be losing it. He’s not suggesting that this thing is traveling at
1.2
c
, or even
3.5
c
. He’s
talking tens of thousands of times the speed of light. I really
think Zimmer may be losing it. Not that I’m criticizing—he’s been
through a lot recently. He might just need some time
off.”

“
He might just need some
students to roll up their sleeves and get the work done,” Joram
countered with a calm voice and yet a hot look in his eyes. “Let’s
just get in there and see what we can discover, ok?”

Too tired and drained to
fight, Reyd nodded and continued nibbling on his sandwich. “Mmm…
this is pretty good,” he said with one cheek full of corned beef
and marbled rye, a hint of brown mustard in the corner of his
mouth. All three recognized it as a lame, yet genuine attempt to
change the subject. Quiet settled over the table, but their
thoughts were still rampant as Zimmer walked in to escort the group
to the 26-inch telescope.

A glimmer of light cast
the still treetops into a gray silhouette against a violet sky.
Joram strained to see the yellow beam, but it had faded so much now
that it was no use attempting to spot it with the naked eye
anymore. No matter! He would be using Palomar-26 for the next
several hours in order to continue to study the trajectory of the
comet. Could it really be tens of thousands times the speed of
light? Would they really get another fly-by in just five years? And
if so, would they be able to take advantage of it? Even if NASA was
able to inject a probe directly in its path, it would be
pulverized. How could they possibly be able to study it and
determine its makeup?

So many thoughts, so many
questions, so many distractions. Patience is the proper
prescription for just such a time. Joram had his whole life ahead
of him to study these exciting and difficult challenges, and
preparing himself under the tutelage of Carlton Zimmer was just the
beginning of a promising lifelong adventure that hopefully could be
just a small bit as fulfilling as Zimmer’s had been.

…

“
It might take me a while
to develop that model, Professor,” Reyd assessed.

“
I understand. Better to
get started right away then, Mr. Eastman.”

“
And the model may take a
while to simulate. With billions of stars being flown by, it will
take an inordinate number of calculations just to get hundreds or
thousands of orbits, and I don’t have all of the parameters yet. We
still need to know the shape and duration of the orbit.”

“
Mr. Anders, Miss
Mirabelle, and I will be working on getting you those parameters as
quickly as possible. I trust that you’ll be able to develop the
model with placeholders in the meantime?”

“
Yes, sir. But let me make
sure I understand the task at hand. You want to know every star
which has encountered a fly-by of about two million miles of the
comet in the last 50000 years. Is that right?”

“
That’s
correct.”

“
Professor, how will that
help us in our study of the beam?” Kath inquired
earnestly.

“
Once we figure out the
orbit of our comet, Miss Mirabelle, we will be able to compare it
to any interactions of stars or planets with which the comet has
interacted. For example, let’s say that Reyd’s model finds a star
about 10000 light years away. If we can project that the comet came
to within a couple of million miles of that star and any planets in
its solar system, about 9,998 years ago, then we can be fairly
confident that the interaction between the comet and that star’s
solar system will be observed by us in the next couple of years. We
can keep an eye out for any and all such systems that might help us
understand the makeup of the comet by determining the type of
radiation that is being generated by the material that is shed by
the comet as it orbits the galaxy.”

“
But we couldn’t even
detect the radiation that occurred when we were affected a couple
of months ago,” Kath posed curiously.

“
It is true that we
observed a radiation impact here on Earth as well as on the sun,
and that we didn’t determine what it was. However, we were
blind-sided by that event. We just weren’t prepared for it.
Further, don’t forget that NASA is bringing back samples of soil
and debris from Mars with the rescue mission, and it could well be
that extensive interviews with astronauts O’Ryan and Boronov might
prove useful as well. Since the comet practically grazed Mars, we
might get a lot of answers right there. Ideally, we’ll be
positioned to find a star that experienced a similar fly-by, which
would interact with the star in such a manner as to generate a
radiation event to be studied here on Earth in the near term.
Therefore, we really need Reyd to focus on programming that model
for us, so we know which of the billions of stars we’ll want to
focus on to study this phenomenon in the future.”

“
Professor,” It was
Joram’s turn to join in on the interrogation. “If this comet has
been orbiting the solar system for a long time now, why is this the
first time that we’ve noticed the beam? You suggested that it may
be orbiting every five years. Why wouldn’t we have seen it five, or
ten, or any number of its previous orbits.”