by Bob Blink
"Of course you do," she countered, watching him closely.
"I know he was in Washington, but he does that kind of thing often. There's no reason for him to tell me why he makes his trips. Why would you expect me to know?"
"Because you are his favorite graduate student, or so I'm told. You work very closely with him these days. You see, I can find these things out."
"I'm impressed, but that doesn't change the fact I'm not privy to everything he does."
"Well, what's new going on in your department then?"
"Nothing that would result in his talking with the President," Tony lied. He was getting uncomfortable with the situation, and wished he had an easy way to slip away.
Patty examined him carefully.
"You're lying to me. I can tell. Maybe I should ask your girlfriend Gwen."
Once again Tony was surprised. She knew about his personal life. This woman was tenacious and thorough.
"Gwen's an Art major. She has never even met Dr. Gelon."
"Ah, but I bet the two of you share some interesting pillow talk."
Tony blushed a little.
"Not on the topic you appear to be interested in," he replied.
"Look, I know something is going on, and the fact you are trying so hard not to tell me suggests it is newsworthy. I'm going to find out what it is, so be my friend and make this easy for both of us."
"Sorry, I don't know why he would have visited the President, or if he even did," Tony answered. "You'll have to ask someone else."
The reporter stared at him for a long moment, then sighed and stood up.
"Okay, Anthony. Thanks for nothing," and she turned and walked away, heading in the direction of the astronomy department.
Tony pulled out his phone and quickly texted Dr. Gelon, informing him of the encounter. If the Professor wanted the news held close, he would send a department-wide text of his own informing all staff and students to stay mum on the topic for the time being. It probably wouldn't stop the woman from finding out what they'd discovered, but it could stop others. from delving into the details of what the possible repercussions of the unexplained acceleration could mean.
It was too bad that Tony couldn't have made a bet with Professor Gelon about the likelihood of the acceleration returning. It did return, despite the learned Professor's belief it wouldn't. Actually the effect reoccurred exactly six months to the day after it was first observed, rather than a year later as Tony had suggested. The magnitude and direction of the acceleration was unchanged, but due to the orbital motion of the Earth, the effect was to increase the Earth's period, offsetting some of the effects of the previous change, but leaving the orbit somewhat skewed as compared to where it had been originally.
Someone, somewhere, made the fact public knowledge. In the world of electronic news, Internet, and especially social media, the world soon became aware of what was happening. The international community was in an uproar as the news spread, and while scientists spent countless hours coordinating measurements and predictions, the various governments demanded a joint United Nations meeting to discuss the as yet unexplained anomaly and the potential consequences that would be foreseen should it continue. Multiple tidbits circulated on social media about the end of humanity, and drastic climate changes as the orbit shifted either too close or too far from the sun. Unfortunately, the claims were not too far from the truth. Tony was expecting the attractive reporter to show up again, but so far she hadn't.
"Twenty dollars says it will go away in ten days just like before," Tony offered Dr. Gelon as they reviewed the data nearly a week after the reoccurrence of the unexplained acceleration. The data once again showed that the acceleration had begun abruptly, and that it was constant to the ability of their measurements. Whether it was really constant, or it only appeared to be over the limited duration they'd had to measure, was a question they couldn't answer.
"No bet's," Gelon replied, hoping his assistant was correct, but worried about the gut feeling that might not be the case.
This time Tony would have lost his bet. When the ten days were up, the mysterious acceleration failed to disappear as before. No one could determine a source, and no one could answer the critical question as to whether it would abate this time or not. The projections if the force failed to disappear were grim.
Chapter 4
United Nations
New York City
Tony couldn't believe the professor had brought him along. All expenses paid, plane, fancy hotel, and a generous per diem allowance included. If only Gwen could be here now. She'd love the excitement and meeting all these important leaders. He knew that Professor Henry from Australia and Professor Berkland from England would be here. He'd talked with both of them frequently while passing information for Dr. Gelon. Dr. Henry was going to be on the main panel along with his professor. He'd expected professors Anders and Allen to be coming along, but they were still home in Pasadena.
Inside the main convention hall the seating was packed. Tony was certain that every member of the UN had a delegation present, and from the crowding in the public seating a great many others as well. He and the other assistants were situated off to one side, making a clear view of the auditorium difficult, but allowing him an unobstructed line of sight to Dr. Gelon and the other scientists in the group that would be addressing the assembled members, and mostly answering questions. In addition to Drs. Gelon and Henry, scientists from Japan, China and Russia would be on the panel. He was proud that his professor was formally the chairman of the group.
Soon enough the Secretary-General entered and took his seat at the front of the room. After presenting the topic, giving a brief summary of the problem, and introducing the members of the panel, he turned the room over to Dr. Gelon, who spoke briefly for five minutes, summarizing the current status. He'd explained to Tony he couldn't see going on for a long presentation since everyone in the world had to have been following the extensive news coverage. These people had questions they wanted to ask, and he and the other board members felt that should be their function here today.
The Secretary-General was the first to ask a question. "As I understand this reoccurrence of the strange disturbing force was not anticipated, and while it is much like the first instance, it has not abated on the same schedule, and after six months of investigative studies by scientists around the world, is not at all understood?"
Dr. Gelon spoke first.
"The initial instance when this world shifting acceleration was first detected was on June 12th at 1342 GMT. The acceleration did not ramp up or slowly increase to its maximum value, but simply appeared, staying exactly constant, at least to the limits of our ability to measure it, until it abruptly ended on June 22nd at 2112 GMT. Roughly ten days later as someone here has mentioned. We had no idea of the source then, and we still don't. We had hoped that was the end of the matter, but on Dec 11th at 955 GMT it once again appeared, the same magnitude and direction as before. It has been nearly two weeks now, and this time it has not abated."
The Secretary-General asked, "Is there anything significant about these dates or times?"
"Maybe in some way we don't at present understand," Dr. Gelon replied. "We understand so little about this anomaly that it would be hard to identify anything meaningful about the times and durations the force has been present."
"Everyone must understand the totally oddity of the force we are dealing with," Dr. Henry added. "Gravity, while being one of the weaker forces in the universe, is also one of the driving forces in the universe. The motion of the planets around our sun is driven by gravity, not the stronger forces. Gravity, at least as we have knowledge of it, is a basic property of mass. So, the automatic expectation is that anything affecting the movement of our planet would be another large mass. But masses are normally detectable, and they are also subject to the forces of other masses around them. They would have to move, and not stay stationary in space. They are also not exclusive in what they interact with. Therefore,
the force that is affecting the Earth would be expected to be dynamic, changing its location and magnitude with time, and also affecting the other planets in motion around our sun. As you have all read or been informed, that is not what is happening here. None of the other planets has shown any change in their motions. The Earth has been singled out by this force. Well, the Earth and our moon, and the artificial satellites we have placed in orbit around out world. All are moving in concert as always. The other strange thing is that the force has been fixed in direction and magnitude the entire time it has been present. Neither of these observations are consistent with what we know of how celestial mechanics should work."
"What if the force acting on us isn't gravity?" someone from the audience asked.
The Russian astronomer Vladimir Bykov grunted, and replied in a thick accent. "This seems to be a given. Science does not change dramatically like this. Established rules might, and often are, refined as more precise effects are studied, but the basic laws that govern a scientific principle do not suddenly violate the previous mechanisms."
"Then what can it be?"
Dr. Bykov grunted and shrugged. "The maddening thing here is the incredible magnitude of the force to be able to produce even this very small acceleration we are seeing, and the fact we can only monitor the effects of the force and cannot discover anything in our sphere of observations that might suggest either a source or a mechanism. Also, in one sense this mysterious force acts a lot like gravity. Every particle of mass within the sphere of its influence is being acted upon with the identical acceleration. If the force were being applied at some distinct point, such as would be produced by a huge thruster attached to the surface, the Earth would show other measureable effects in addition to the net acceleration we are seeing. There would be precession, wobble, and such."
"Could it be man-made? Perhaps someone has uncovered a previously unknown physical principle, and for reasons of their own, are experimenting with it."
Dr. Heroshi Kobata reacted negatively. "It cannot be so. A new principle could always be possible, but part of the matter here is the sheer magnitude of the energies required to implement what we are measuring. The energy required to cause the movement we have already experienced is beyond the capabilities of all of mankind. If every erg of energy we can produce were dedicated to the task of moving the Earth, we would fall immeasurably short."
"Then what, if you cannot explain what could cause this?"
"Magic," a voice yelled out from somewhere in the back. The audience broke out in laughter, a moment of release after the tenseness of the discussion thus far.
Dr. Gelon held up a hand to silence the uproar. "Please, just because we can't explain it, or don't understand it, doesn't mean it isn't real. What we know of the universe is pathetically limited, and we can hardly expect that there is nothing new to learn. How many of you weren't fascinated by a pair of magnets the first time you had a chance to play with them. Could you explain what was occurring to force two solid pieces of metal to slam together or push apart?"
"More importantly, what does this mean for all of us?" one of the delegates from South America asked. "What happens if this reoccurs every six months?"
"Then we, and by that I mean everyone on planet Earth are in real trouble," Dr. Gelon replied.
There was no point in avoiding the issue at this point. Too many articles in the past weeks had been released on the subject, including a very long and thorough presentation by Miss Patricia Orwell from their home newspaper in Pasadena.
"And if it doesn't stop at all, but continues steadily?"
"Then we are in even more trouble."
"What do you mean?"
"The acceleration is causing a number of changes in the Earth's orbit," Dr. Henry explained. "The constant direction and force will result in a precession of the orbit, but also a gradual change from a nearly circular orbit to an ever increasingly elliptical orbit. That means the lowest point of the orbit, the perihelion, which would be the closest distance the planet approaches the sun will become smaller, while the aphelion, or farthest point from the sun becomes greater. Oh, and we haven't really talked about the fact the force is directed so that it gradually moving the Earth out of the plane of the other planets."
"What would be the impact of these changes?" the secretary-General asked, but he was astute enough to have a pretty good idea. Like everyone else, he'd been paying attention to the articles being published on the subject. He merely wanted it stated because he knew the scientific jargon was going over the heads of some of the delegates.
"For years there has been talk of climate change. These orbital movements would result in climate change far beyond anything imagined in the past. The most significant driver of the Earth's climate is the amount of solar radiation that reaches and is trapped by the Earth. With the Earth moving closer to the sun, the solar flux is going to rise dramatically, and with it the temperatures. But, at the same time, as the Earth pulls away in the winter to a far greater distance than we are used to, the flux will drop off dramatically as well, and surface temperatures will plummet. The world will become very cold. Unlike the climate change being discussed a few years ago, this will be a cyclic change, both effects occurring annually, although the definition of a year will be continually changing. Our year is going to be getting longer, not longer three hundred and sixty-five days, but some larger number depending on how long this anomaly persists."
"Where will we go to be safe?" someone asked. "How long for this to start happening?" another yelled out.
"Given the magnitude of the accelerations, it will be a slow process," Dr. Gelon replied, not wanting to create a panic with a too graphic explanation at this point.
"Yeah, but how long?"
"Many years. Decades, even."
"A decade seems long, but really isn't," the representative from Canada said. "How many decades are we talking. One, five, ten?"
"Depends," Dr. Gelon hedged. The effect will be progressive, increasing annually if the acceleration were to remain constant. But let me remind you that we haven't even observed this anomalous force through even a single year as yet. We cannot know if it will go away, or whether we are doomed for it to stay with us."
Tony listened to the discussion uncomfortably. He knew what these people wanted to know and why the professor wasn't being completely upfront with them. There was so much that was unknown, and one critical point was whether there was some way to combat the strange unknown force. He wouldn't even reveal the truth to Gwen. This would panic her just as it would panic most of this audience, not to say most of the people in the world if word got out.
As the orbit elongated, and the Earth moved closer and closer to the sun, the temperatures would eventually skyrocket. The water vapor in the atmosphere would increase dramatically with the rising temperatures as the ocean heated. People were concerned about CO2. Water vapor was far more deadly as a green house gas than CO2. That was one reason the old climate models failed. They hadn't correctly accounted for the effects of atmospheric water vapor. With the increased water vapor and the growing solar flux, a runaway greenhouse effect would most likely occur. That's what happened on Venus, and while due mostly to carbon dioxide there, the average temperatures on the surface were now hot enough to melt lead. Earth would be headed that way as well.
But, on the flip side, as it moved away from the sun, Antarctic temperatures could be expected at first, and then even colder temperatures. The world would freeze, eventually the orbit would be so elongated and the cold periods so long, the very atmosphere would freeze.
Given enough time, the planet Earth would reach a point where the orbit extended so far into the void that it would no longer be a captive of our sun, and would break away to wander free in space. Long before that, however, every living thing on Earth would have perished.
There could be no migration of people to an area that would be "safer". During the summer seasons, an area could be uncomfortably hot, suggesting that people m
ove to cooler climates. But those cooler areas would then become untenable when winter season arrived. Colder even than usual, people would push to head toward areas that were typically warmed. The cycle would continue, year after year. As soon as people would reach the preferred area, it would be time to move once again. Eventually the temperature extremes would be too great to compensate for. Of course many would have to relocate simply to avoid the impacts of the melting glaciers, something that climate change had warned against, but which this anomaly would make a reality.
"Can the acceleration be expected to go away again?" one of the audience members asked hopefully.
"We can hope," Dr. Henry said. "And, we can dedicate every resource at our command to understanding this force, where it comes from, and how to combat it. As Dr. Gelon said, the effects are not immediate, and we have some time."
Dr. Gelon squirmed uncomfortably. His friend was being evasive. He really didn't see a way to understanding a force they couldn't identify or locate, and even if they could find a means to insulate themselves from it, people should have paid more attention earlier when Dr. Henry told them about the simple limitations on them. They lacked the ability to produce the energy required to move the planet back to its initial orbit. The human race had not reached the technological level that included planet moving. What had already occurred they were stuck with, and whatever more movement ahead of them would be the same. They'd have to adapt to a different world, even if the force were to suddenly disappear forever. The horse had already left the barn in that regard.
"If you can't explain this anomaly by looking at the universe around us, and it violates everything you know about the natural forces, what exactly do you personally believe the cause of this catastrophe to be?"
Dr. Gelon couldn't see who had asked the question, but it was one he had hoped wouldn't come up. The five scientists on the panel, and those around the world with whom they had spent thousand of hours discussion the anomaly, had differing opinions, some of which were better left behind closed doors for now.
