Jubilee Year Page 4

  She pulled a face and rolled her eyes.

  He knew what she was saying to him. She could not be rude and just walk away from the conversation. She would though, the first chance she saw.

  If there was a problem with the party, it was all the polite conversation he had to endure. It was making him feel he had to be careful with what he said and how he said it. It countered the relaxing effect of the cans of beer he was knocking back.

  “It's Storm, right?” A voice asked behind him.

  Storm turned to see Karl holding out a bottle of imported beer.

  “Try one of these,” Karl said. “Michael and Franchette put on a good feed, don't they?”

  “Do you work with Michael and Arnold?” Storm asked, accepting the beer.

  “I'm gathering data for my Ph.D.,” Karl said.

  “What are you looking at?” Storm asked, feeling awkward. “I mean—what are you researching?”

  “I'm researching extra-solar planets,” Karl said. “The ones that go around brown dwarf stars.”

  “Wow!” Storm said. “That's cool!”

  “What about you?” Karl asked.

  “I would like to be studying,” Storm said, his face reddening. “Are you looking for some kind of life as well?”

  “Not really, but as it happens, there’s a greater chance of finding life on planets that orbit the habitable zone around a brown dwarf star than around stars like our own sun.”

  “No way,” Storm said in surprise.

  “Actually, our very own sun is a dwarf star,” Karl said.

  “It's one of the large yellow types—if that makes you feel any better.”

  “I don't care, so long as it keeps doing what it does,” Storm quipped with a grin.

  “It's a funny thing, but yellow dwarfs don't last half as long as brown dwarfs,” Karl said. “That's one reason why intelligent life is less likely to develop on planets orbiting stars like our sun.”

  “You mean we are an exceptional case?”

  “I think so,” Karl replied. “Earth's moderate zones exist between extremes of freezing cold and scorching hot. But a planet in the habitable zone of a brown dwarf might support life exceptionally well, and that's because the radiated energy disperses equally across the globe. The downside is it's also much closer to its star than we are to ours. A solar flare could fry the planet.”

  Storm was beginning to wonder how technical the discussion was going to get.

  “You're going out with Penny, aren't you?” Karl asked, suddenly looking self-conscious. “Ah—Michael told me you would both be coming over together. She's nice. You're lucky.”

  “Yeah,” Storm said with a nod of confirmation. He reflected that he no longer viewed Karl as a possible competitor for Penny's attention. In fact, he decided then and there that he liked the feller.

  “I guess I'll just see how it goes,” Storm said. “We're really different.”

  “Is she working in science like her mom and dad?” Karl asked tentatively.

  “She's into dance.”

  Storm watched the group standing on the patio. They were waving goodbye.

  “Is Arnold leaving already?” Storm asked as he watched the scientist walk down the path toward the gate.

  “Looks like it,” Karl muttered.

  Michael winked at Karl as he strolled through the door. He picked up a bowl of potato chips from the table and made his way over to them. Michael respected Karl’s inquiring mind and most of all his honesty and openness. He would much rather share a drink and conversation with the Ph.D. candidate from the ANU than be outside with the professor and his wife.

  “I took the chance to excuse myself when Arnold said he was off to his office,” Michael said with a rueful grin. “Did you both enjoy the barbecue?”

  “You cook a mean steak!” Storm said with enthusiasm.

  “I'll be back for the next one,” Karl said. “You've left poor old Stephen alone with all the women.”

  “Ah, he'll love it,” Michael told Karl through a mouthful of potato chips. “Oh, but his freaking wife drives me insane! Adrienna is always talking about herself and everything is always wonderful. But what can I do? She's Franchette's friend—”

  Michael paused to cough and immediately brushed the chip fragments off Storm's T-shirt.

  “Storm was asking me about brown dwarfs,” Karl said to Michael.

  “You know, I was meaning to talk to you about the very same subject. I've decided I could use your help with—ah—something I've been working on.”

  Karl gulped down the last of his beer and set the can on the table. “Sure! But how?”

  “Well, you have this outsider's perspective.”

  “Outside of what exactly?” Karl returned with a laugh.

  “Let's call it a different approach to the subject,” Michael said, waving his hand in the air. He put down the bowl of chips and folded his arms. “Let me put it this way. You express an alternative perspective.”

  “Sure,” Karl nodded enthusiastically.

  Storm watched Penny on the patio and turned back to Michael and Karl. “I'm off to the beer fridge. Would either of you like to try one of mine?”

  Karl gave him a nod.

  “I'll give it a go,” Michael replied.

  Storm rubbed his hands together. “Right, be back in a minute.”

  On his way past the group on the patio, he saw Penny glance back his way with a wistful look.

  “Do you want one of my beers?” He asked her quietly, hoping she would not invite him to join the conversation.

  She stepped over to him and whispered in his ear. “Give me a few more minutes here, then I'll tell them I have to join your terribly interesting chatter about telescopes.”

  She gazed at Stephen Druitt's mouth as it moved. The man was droning on and on, interminably. She took a quick glance over her shoulder at the lounge and saw, that indeed, Storm seemed to be genuinely interested in whatever Karl and Michael were talking about.

  9

  No Coincidences in Astronomy

  “As I see it, the evidence points to an intruder similar to a brown dwarf inside our solar system,” Karl said.

  He watched Michael's face for a sign of scorn and finding none he carried on.

  “The current location appears to be at the feet of Virgo. Since this thing appears to emit little or no measurable light, I surmise it's extremely difficult to observe. It would also seem to be smaller than what is generally accepted as the size of a brown dwarf, and much denser than what might be expected.”

  Karl noticed Michael's frown. It would have been better had he introduced his postulations to Michael over a series of days. But—there was no going back now.

  Storm was delighted to see Penny heading through the patio door to join the boys. Good job! She had finally escaped.

  “If there are lots of brown dwarfs, what's the big deal?” Storm asked, handing each of the men a can of beer.

  “The big deal is that it might be awfully close to us, sweetie,” Penny said, taking the can from Storm's hand and filling her glass.

  “So what exactly is a brown dwarf, Dad? I never seem to get it right.”

  It always pleased Michael when his daughter expressed curiosity about things astronomical. He couldn't deny he was a little disappointed she had not been drawn to science. But he loved his daughter dearly and would have never said as much to her. He consoled himself with the thought she was happy, and that she had at least discovered her niche in the arts.

  “Dwarf stars are a fairly recent area of study,” Michael replied. “The conventional view is they are failed stars that are cold, dark bodies, and much smaller in size and mass than our sun. They are no bigger than a giant gas planet such as Jupiter, and they have this signature reddish color.”

  He glanced at Karl.

  “And there are some who claim both their red color and lack of brightness is due to a low-density electrical discharge. Similar to a flashlight bulb when the batteries need to be c
hanged.”

  Karl nodded his head in agreement.

  “I think that I will leave off telling you more for now, at least until I'm good and drunk!” He sat the empty beer can in his hand on the table and burped loudly.

  “Are you sure you can't tell us more about your discovery?” Karl asked, pressing on, unwilling to allow Michael to stop right when things were just beginning to get very interesting. He had not seen the director so drunk before this day.

  “All right then. But you lot are all sworn to secrecy! Got it? Don't talk about this to anyone.”

  “Understood,” Karl nodded his head solemnly.

  Michael glanced at Storm and Penny.

  “Won't tell a soul,” Storm agreed.

  “Me neither,” Penny promised.

  Satisfied with the response, Michael drew a deep breath. “Why do I just know I am going to regret this in the morning?” He hesitated once more before taking the plunge. “I'm putting together a presentation for the symposium to be held in Melbourne in two months. Once I have that over with you lot can debate the subject all day long with whoever you wish.”

  He glanced around his audience.

  “And—this aligns with what you, Karl, have already told us. There's something big out there and it appears to be coming our way. We can't see it with conventional telescopes. Perhaps not even from ground-based infrared telescopes. I'm sure you've heard, Karl, of the reports coming out of Europe of some fantastic change in the time sunrise and sunset occur?”

  “Yes,” Karl answered, as excited as a schoolboy. “You really think we have a brown dwarf traveling through our solar system?”

  “On the face of it,” Michael replied. “My postulate is—well, almost ridiculous! But—there are undeniable discrepancies showing up in all the data I see that point to a brown dwarf or something similar. I have been trying to find an explanation for very slight but significant changes in the expected time of sunrise and sunset...”

  He took a deep breath.

  “One possibility is a change in the planet's tilt. But what could cause such an unlikely event? Possibly—just possibly—a giant body has appeared. Such as the arrival of another star. It has to be an extremely dense object. Reports are coming from various sources and locations, including some bizarre observations made by the Inuit in the Arctic Circle. These anecdotal stories have been supported by the findings of scientists in Belgium.”

  “Evidence pointing to the presence of an intruder star,” Karl said.

  Michael nodded his head. “Yes, I agree with you. And it is, perhaps, much closer than you think.”

  “Do a lot of scientists know about this?” Storm asked him.

  “Unquestionably, but the pressing question is, are they hiding information critical to our survival? Is there data that certain layers within the government and scientific bodies are withholding from scientists?”

  “This kind of discovery would be difficult to keep under wraps,” Karl said.

  “True. Then again, professional astronomers are told to shut up or else!”

  Penny put her arm around Storm. “Tell Dad what you and Pete have seen.”

  “Yeah, what a weird coincidence.”

  Michael chuckled. “Coincidence? The first rule of astronomy is that there are no coincidences. None! Period!”

  The astronomer fixed his gaze on Storm. “So, tell us what you saw.”

  Storm expected the men to laugh as he described to them the strange objects in the sky he had seen the morning of his run. Instead, they listened without interrupting.

  Michael frowned as he thought about the boy's story.

  “Finding the location of whatever you observed is tricky. You need to ask yourself this question. Were the objects inside our atmosphere or beyond it? It could be a strange kind of weather effect like lightning.”

  “Objects like you are describing would be seen by telescopes,” Michael said. “Unless we are all looking in the wrong places when they are flying by.”

  He took a long drink from the fresh can Storm had brought him.

  “Now—it's only because I'm a little drunk, I will tell you this. These days, it's often not the professional astronomer like me who make the big discoveries. It's the amateurs.”

  “I agree,” Karl said.

  “Astronomers like us tend not to aim our telescopes at the horizon,” Michael said. “And we do most of our observing when it's dark. But if this object sits at a very low angle on the horizon and near the Sun at certain times... we would not easily pick it up. If it emits only infrared light as we think is the case, then that almost certainly rules out an amateur astronomer observing it. So you see, you not only need to know what you are looking for. You also need to be in the right location and have the right equipment!

  “And why have they not directed us to search for an intruder star?” He continued. “Just imagine the government tells us a star is about to pass between us and the Sun. That our planet will succumb to its magnetic influence and as a result undergo pole shift!”

  “What's that?” Storm asked.

  “Well, to put it simply, a pole shift is when our poles travel to a new location. It's a little more complex than that though. There's what is known as a magnetic pole shift, and then there's a geological pole shift. It’s the second kind I’m talking about. The crust of the planet moves with great rapidity and violence. Continents ride over one another and mountain building occurs. The continental plates rise at one end and they drive down below sea level at the other—that is how Atlantis if such a place existed, would have sunk below the waves.

  “The oceans of the world slop about like coffee in a cup knocked by a giant hand. The tsunami travels across coastlines, perhaps more than a hundred miles inland. Earth's rotation is affected. If the planet's spin were to slow or even if it were to pause, the atmosphere would continue spinning at the same rate, the wind on the surface blowing with an unimaginable ferocity.”

  “I've never heard any of that!” Penny interjected, her eyes wide.

  “Except in a Hollywood blockbuster,” Karl said. “It's almost like The-Powers-That-Be want you to know, but only so they can say afterward that you were warned.”

  “Scientists issue warnings, but corporate news services rarely carry those stories,” Michael said, warming to the subject. “Part of the reason is the fear of panicking the population. It would do nothing good for real estate values. If there was a general announcement that we face a pole shift in our own lifetime, people would leave all coastal areas and cluster inland. Most of the world's major cities are located next to the sea. The world economy would collapse in days.”

  “They definitely don't want an overnight collapse of the banking system,” Karl added.

  “All because of one star?” Storm asked.

  “Absolutely,” Michael replied. “And it doesn't have to be very big. Size is only one factor when you're talking about stars. Density is the other.”

  “We would expect some pre-warning, right?” Karl asked provocatively. “Perhaps a dramatic increase in fireballs as well as changes to the orbital and the spin axis of Earth.”

  “A little like we are getting now?” Storm asked. “Right.”

  “You mean, that's actually happening?” Penny asked incredulously. How come Dad never mentioned any of this before, she thought?

  “You lot mind if I join you?” Stephen asked. He had seen the intensity of the discussion from outside and felt compelled to discover what it was all about. If it was about astronomy or the affairs of the academy, there would no doubt be many valuable insights he could offer, he thought. He hurried inside and pulled over a chair.

  “So, we would never see a dark star if one was moving closer to us?” Storm asked. “Even with a telescope?”

  “Relax, mate. It's not like it's orbiting between us and the Sun.” Penny said with a laugh. “Right, Dad?”

  Storm noticed a shadow cross Michael's face. The small muscles around his eyes appeared to tighten. He had neve
r seen Michael look so tense before.

  “Apart from the anomalies in our solar system we have always been aware of, there's mounting evidence the thing is not only real but it is heading our way,” Karl said, gazing around the group. “Look at what's been happening since at least 2011. The increasing number and magnitude of earthquakes, as well as the increase in volcanism, the sinkholes, super hurricanes, freak winds, temperature extremes—both hot and cold—not to mention the increasing animal and plant die-offs. Many of these extreme changes have been observed right across our solar system.”

  Stephen chuckled derisively in his chair. It wasn't quite what was he expecting to hear. It was beyond him how some of these graduates were selected for the Ph.D. program. Perhaps Karl was one of those students who came from a better-heeled family. One that was able to pay for their son's doctorate? He shook his head at the thought of a free thinker like Karl choosing to embark on a career in Astronomy and he chuckled again.

  Karl ignored the laughter and continued. “We know for certain near-Earth asteroids are increasingly common. There's been an upsurge for over fifteen years. Once, it was only the odd flyby. These past few years we have seen thousands. Officially, we are told the numbers peaked in about 2000, and that they have eased off. In fact, the number of fireballs sighted has picked up! There's also been a record number of impacts on the Moon, Mars, and Jupiter—and—I'll tell you a secret.” He leaned forward in a conspiratorial manner and affected a stage whisper. “It is quite possible they are hiding data from us.”

  Stephen had stopped laughing. His face was fixed in a frozen smile, and his fingers tapped the arm of his chair as if to warn absent colleagues of approaching danger. If Karl was being serious, then he must surely be suffering a mental breakdown.

  Behind Stephen, Franchette and Adrienna had moved inside. They had, had enough of the breeze that had sprung up and was blowing dust up the path and into their drinks.

  “Who's hiding things from us, Michael?” Franchette asked.

  “And those fireballs are not the gone-in-seconds meteors we have grown up with,” Michael said, choosing to ignore Franchette's question. “The kind we see in the past three years tend to be large and slow-moving.”