by Bob Blink
"I believe that someone is doing this to us deliberately," their Russian colleague said bluntly. There was an immediate silence in the large hall.
"Someone?"
"Something," Professor Bykov corrected. "I think that what we are seeing is the result of an alien influence, who, for reasons we don't understand, are behind the strange forces we are encountering. Nothing else explains what we are observing. What we are seeing is as if a large space drive embedded in the Earth was causing the acceleration, not an external influence."
"Aliens?" someone asked, the word spreading quickly through the audience.
"You can't be serious?" another asked.
"Why not?" Dr. Bykov replied combatively. "There is every reason to believe that there are others more advanced than us in the vastness of space. Some race with a considerably more advanced technology than our own is the best explanation for this unprecedented movement than any other I have heard."
It was exactly what Dr. Gelon had feared. Even if Vladimir believed it, it was irresponsible to inject the idea into the dialogue here, where the various news organizations would gleefully spread the idea far and wide. There was absolutely no proof of his belief. Even though it might explain so many things. There was also no hope for containing the fear now. The chamber became uncontrollable, and the meeting had to be brought to a sudden and uncomfortable end.
Chapter 5
Pasadena, California
"Hmmm, that was fabulous," Gwen said, as Tony rolled off her over to one side, totally spent. Morning sex was clearly the best! Once again his girlfriend had urged him on to another impossibly physically intense sexual coupling, the second in the past hour and a half. He agreed with her commentary regarding their efforts, but wondered if he'd be able to walk as far as the bathroom to take care of some other urgent business that his bladder was making the most important action right now.
As he slid to one side of the bed in preparation for climbing out once he was convinced his legs would hold him, a furry mass launched itself from the floor up onto the covers, and squirmed in among the tangled blankets as he sought out Gwen. Sully. He was named after the big purple and blue monster in Disney's "Monster, Inc." movie but who Tony had taken to calling 'WonderMutt'. He was a small mixed breed, part Terrier and part something else. No one was really certain what he was as the facility where he had come from had clearly misidentified his breed. He looked nothing like the mix they claimed he was.
Sully didn't really understand what was going on between Gwen and Tony, and clearly felt left out when he was ordered to stay put on the floor. He'd been neutered as a puppy, so had no personal reference for the goings on, but refused to leave the room while they were engaged in whatever it was they were doing. Gwen had tried to put him in the living room, but the poor dog had cried until neither of them could concentrate on what they intended, so they now allowed him to stay. Sully had learned that when the bouncing around up on the bed settled down he was usually welcomed back up on top. He wasn't actually Gwen's dog. She was dog-sitting for a month while her best friend Nicole was away in the Philippines visiting relatives. It was clear that Sully missed his owner and hated being left alone. Fortunately, Nicole was due back next week.
"How long do we really have?" Gwen asked in all seriousness, her dark and inviting eyes focused with all their intensity on his face. It was a heady question given the enticing views of naked skin that Tony was being exposed to, and the fact his heart rate had yet to settle back down to somewhere near normal. She was the same age as him, but instead of being in the sciences she was a remarkably talented artist and athlete. But, as a result, she had little true understanding of the current crisis that much of the media published in hopes of passing off as informational background. As a result, she was one of those most frightened by what seemed to be their immediate prospects.
So that's what her recent growth in her sexual libido was all about, Tony mused. She, like so many, were afraid it was all ending soon, and was determined to live life to the fullest and get in as much personal pleasure as possible in the short time probably remaining to her.
"Come on," Tony protested. "I told you. A very long time. You will be old and wrinkled before this works its way out, and that assumes it continues rather than disappearing like the last time."
Tony knew the numbers Dr. Gelon was quoting were correct. He'd run them himself for the Professor, along with dozens of variations in the scenario to see what might happen if certain conditions changed. Some possibilities were pretty disturbing, but they had no reason to believe any of those might realistically materialize.
Tony hadn't been the one to scare Gwen by telling her about the situation. The news media had taken care of that. He recalled her finding him with that woman reporter at the student union the other day.
"Mr. Symmes," a voice that he vaguely recognized had pulled him out of his musings. He looked up and spotted the blond-haired news siren standing next to his table.
"Do you hang out here just hoping I might come in?" he asked a bit sarcastically.
She smiled and sat down uninvited. Ignoring his question as not worth answering, she said, "I told you the word would get out. You knew all along, didn't you?"
Tony nodded reluctantly. He knew she was very much aware of the fact he'd held back from her the last time they had talked.
"Any chance you are more willing to talk with me now?" she asked. "The world is aware of the problem you know."
Tony wasn't certain what he wanted to do. Professor Gelon had suggested he contact the reporter after the topics from the UN meeting had been circulated.
"Maybe she can help," the Professor suggested. "Her reporting has been more directed and careful, and more based in the facts rather than the spectacular. Too much of what the public is seeing is based on the sensational, but it is having a very bad effect."
So, technically he had the department's blessing, but he felt that whatever he talked about would come out differently in the media. And, he didn't want his name associated with this in any way.
After a long pause, and a long sip of his coffee while he considered, he finally said, "What do you want to know?"
"Everything," she admitted. "I want to know everything you people have learned."
"Not a great deal," Tony replied honestly. "That came out in the UN meeting. We don't understand what is causing this. We can find nothing in our understanding of gravitation that would allow such an event."
"Perhaps your models are wrong?" she suggested.
Tony shook his head.
"Not wrong, but maybe incomplete," he said slowly. "You know about relativity, right? One could spend his entire life happy with classical dynamics. To see the effects of relativistic dynamics requires a complex and expensive effort to demonstrate the variable mass, length and time features that model now predicts. There may be something in the gravitational model we have never encountered before, and which normally doesn't exhibit itself, which we are now seeing."
"But you don't believe that, do you?" she said insightfully.
"No, I don't," Tony admitted. "There is nothing unusual going on in the area of space we are passing through. Nothing we can spot anyway. It doesn't feel like that is a reasonable answer to this problem."
"So what do you know that hasn't been made public?" she asked.
"The acceleration hasn't stopped. It is still constant, which is different from the first time we encountered it. That says the Earth's orbit is continuing to change."
"With all of the nasty side effects that the new orbit will entail."
"That's true, but what the public seems to be missing is the fact we haven't had even a year of this acceleration as yet, and we don't know if it is truly something that is going to persist, or if it is going to disappear like the last time. Maybe permanently this time. Even if it persists, the time scale for the dramatic effects that your media is hot to embellish is very long. Most people won't be noticeably affected for a long time, yet they are be
ing led to believe that disaster is imminent."
"I understand, and that is admittedly a problem of many reporters. I try to steer clear of such spectacular pronouncements, but I have no control over the rest of the people in this business. What about the outside, alien influence that the Russian astronomer brought up. How serious is that being taken?"
"I don't honestly know how many have seriously considered it. It's not something I've heard anyone talk about. It provides an answer, but even that is hard to take very seriously. Can you imagine the forces they would have to control to be able to move a world? I think the answer lies elsewhere."
As he spoke, he'd noticed Gwen, who was scheduled to meet him here and was the reason he was sitting here at all, walking their way with a strange smile on her face as she noted the two of them engrossed in conversation. Quickly, a bit embarrassed despite the platonic nature of the situation, he rose and greeted her.
"Gwen, this is Patricia Orwell, the reporter I told you about a while back. She tracked me down again."
The two women did a careful evaluation of one another that lasted all of a few seconds, but which was very calculating. Tony could almost hear the totals being counted up as various assets were assigned points.
Gwen finally smiled and held out a hand. "Nice to meet you."
The awkward moment seemed to pass, and the two slipped into a discussion of some of Gwen's concerns about the situation that she must have felt Tony wasn't being completely open about. She was checking Patty's take on the current situation to compare it to what Tony had told her.
To Tony, it seemed that the media had delighted in building up the impact of what was happening, then dragging out the story and possible implications in order to keep the story alive. All for financial gain. A few of the more industrious reporters managed to delve into the long-term impacts of what had been presented, and with far too little thought or consideration of the impact of allowing this information to be spread among the general populace, released specials that detailed a world that was hot enough to melt metal, and alternately one that snowed frozen air. The resulting panic was everything one would have been able to predict.
The fear and panic took many forms. Cults began to form almost immediately, several of which encouraged members into extreme rituals and mass suicides. Individual and partner suicides skyrocketed. A surprising number of individuals chose an extreme form of near continuous partying as a means to deal with the frightening news. Alcohol, drugs, and sex were the predominant components of these gatherings, with a great many dying from overdoses as a result of their unconstrained use and mixing of the three. Many more, simply walked away from their jobs and their lives to wander aimlessly, making pilgrimages to uncertain destinations, or oddly enough to simply live on the streets. The numbers of those rediscovering religion were unprecedented as they sought redemption for lives they suddenly believed had gone astray, and potentially the root cause of what was befalling the human race. With an almost morbid glee, the media tracked the disintegration of these lives, which served primarily to cause others to follow suit.
What so many weren't taking into account, and what the media failed to report with any consistency since it didn't sell papers, was the time scale of the phenomena that was upon them that he'd just discussed with Patty. While the consequences of the strange acceleration was potentially dire for the human race as a whole, most were totally ignoring that critical aspect of their situation. The changes in the Earth's weather would progress slowly, over decades, and as a result most of those living at the current time would be able to live almost normal lives, at least until they were considerably older. And then, the feared result would materialize only if the unexplained phenomena were to continue for many, many years. It was too soon to know what to expect, especially since the anomaly could well disappear as easily as it had suddenly emerged. Throwing away what they had at the moment made no sense.
The unsupported theory that the whole thing was the result of an alien conspiracy was every bit as destructive for many as the belief that it was all an act of god. The government and a great many of the scientists tried to dissuade the populace of the idea that the Russian scientist Dr. Vladimir Bykov had so carelessly unleashed. They explained the suggestion of an alien attack was a knee jerk reaction to a problem that was not understood. An intense effort was made to locate any sign, anything that would support the presence of an other worldly presence. The heavens were examined for both visible and microwave signals that might disclose the presence of these supposed beings. Nothing was found. The Earth was examined in great detail using the in-orbit satellites, searching for anything that would suggest aliens had found a foothold somewhere on the planet, and established some kind of base to initiate the unexplained movements. The argument put forth was that anything capable of moving the planet would have to be an immense facility, and rather easily detected. Of course, nothing was found.
Many argued it would matter if these interlopers were located or not. The end result would be the same. Any race advanced enough to travel through space, most obviously from other solar systems since given the exploration that had already been performed of our own system with the many probes launches over previous decades showed no advanced forms lived on any of our planets, and powerful enough to relocate a planet, would make short work of any humans that opposed them. Many questioned aloud or via social media why they hadn't already done so.
Others tried to dispel the whole idea of any alien presence or responsibility for events by questioning the very logic of creating a situation where the planet was going to be severely damaged. If these supposed aliens had decided they wanted the Earth, why hadn't they simply taken it from us, and left it undamaged as they found it? There could be little logic in causing the expected destruction of the place. While none could answer this question, few paid it any real heed either.
The various governments of the world joined in solidarity like they never had before. Joint scientific communities were formed to study the matter and seek potential solutions, even while the great majority of the scientists knew that the only real solution was for the disturbing mechanism to disappear. A few, less realistic or less principled, took advantage of the easily obtained funding to pursue projects they were interested in, but which they knew offered nothing to help with the current crisis. Developing a technology to counteract what was happening was a foolish expectation given our current technological expertise.
Funds were promised in unlimited amounts to address the problem. Any research that might provide understanding was encouraged and funded to whatever levels requested. Unfortunately, research doesn't progress according to preplanned schedules, nor does it promise the results that one might wish, if indeed, any useful results at all. Beyond the funding of many paths of scientific investigation, the politicians willing to open the coffers and distribute the wealth of the world soon realized there was really nothing to spend the money on. No one had a solution that could be pursued if only there were sufficient funds available. There was nothing to fund, nothing to build, and thus far not even an understanding of exactly what they were trying to counter. Unlike some of the old science fiction movies, they couldn't even build a big ship to carry some potential survivors somewhere else.
What bothered Tony was the fact that nothing had happened as yet. Everything was a projection of what was coming, but the world looked the same today as it had before the acceleration had been discovered. He couldn't understand why the insanity affected the world before people had personally been affected by something real and tangible. Being in the middle of events he knew otherwise, but for all most of these people knew, this could all be a hoax, but they were making drastic, and sometimes terminal, changes in their lives.
Tony had been in meetings with Dr. Rosen and the international group of which he was the chair. They were stumped and, even after a month and a half, they not only didn't have some ideas how to move forward, they had no more idea what was happening than they had
had the first day they'd discovered the irregularity.
Dr. Gelon had come to only one conclusion. "I agree with Dr. Bykov in one area. I believe the force is somehow within our own planet, and that is why we are the only body in the solar system being affected. The Earth and the moon, that is. Whatever is happening to the Earth has been used on the moon as well. All our measurements show it is experiencing the identical acceleration effects."
Measuring impacts on the other objects in the solar system was becoming increasingly difficult. With the Earth's orbit subject to constant change, the stable base from which measurements of the orbits of the other planets became more complicated. One of the tasks of the scientists around the world was to back out the changes to their own orbit from the data they were gathering for the other bodies.
Tony had tried to probe whether his professor also believed in Bykov's alien theory despite the massive effort to dissuade the population of the idea, but hadn't been able to decide how he viewed the idea.
The one thing that disturbed them all was the simple fact that, unlike the first time the acceleration had been noted, this time it showed no signs of ending. After two months, the constant acceleration continued unchanged in any way.
Just as Tony was about to return to the bed, his thoughts on possibly following up with Gwen on what they had been doing so well this morning, the phone rang. Gwen frowned at it, and then grinned with a come-on smile. Ignore it, she seemed to be saying. She apparently had been having similar thoughts. Tony was about to accept her nonverbal invitation, then reconsidered and reluctantly walked over and picked it up. It was Dr. Gelon.
"Tony, you had best come over to the lab. We are planning an important international conference call, and I believe you will want to be here."
"Something's happened, hasn't it?" Tony asked, a chill running up his spine.