by Phil Wheeler
“That”, said Robert, “is some pretty deep stuff. It is possible?”
“I don't know. As I said, it isn't in my field of study so I've only read about it in the abstract theoretical sense. Most scientists relegate it to a pseudoscience. You would need a powerful power source, and...”
Robert looked at his friend, who was sitting with a quizzical look on his face. “You OK? You look like you just had an aneurysm, or something.”
“Ya, it's just a thought, probably nothing. It's just that I haven't told you everything.”
“And what would everything be?”, said Robert.
“I haven't really been able to tell you much about my research, kind of a hush-hush, you know?”
“That's OK. I know it's something to do with alternate energy, and I figured you're working with the Government, so I never pushed it.”, said Robert.
“Actually, I'm not.”, came the reply, “working with the government, I mean. But you're right about the other thing. I am working on an alternate energy source. A very powerful energy source, and first your comment about Yonaguni, then the Torsion Field – it's a little weird, that's all.”
“So? I'm not making any connection, here.” Robert was puzzled, but concerned by the change that had come over his friend.
Dylan looked at Robert and said, “It's just that my research is all about power, and yesterday I agreed to go to Kagoshima, Japan, at the southern tip of the Okinawa prefect. Isn't that near Yonaguni?”
“Ah, yes, as a matter of fact Yonaguni memorial is across the island from Kagoshima. That is a weird coincidence, isn't it?”
Chapter 10
June 30, 1908 Somewhere over the Tunguska River region, Siberia
“Control, do you read me?”
“Ivan, please report. We have recorded an unusual increase in radiation aboard your ship.”
“This is Ivan. I have re-entered the atmosphere of the planet. I'm getting that same reading. It is still within safe limits at the moment, but I believe that I should head back to the hanger. There is definitely something wrong with the power supply.”
The man at the console finally could relax his death grip on the microphone. He had not been able to contact the pilot for over 12 minutes, and had become very concerned. “This is control, you are cleared to return to base.”, said the controller, sighing with a sense of relief.
5 minutes later…
“Control, this is Ivan. I am experiencing severe power fluctuations. I do not believe that I will make it back. I will try my best to pilot the ship away from populated areas, but I may not succeed.”
“Ivan, this is control. I understand. Good luck, my friend, and good bye.”
July 1, 1908 A secret room located somewhere in the Balkans
“Have you finished the report, Yuri?” The man speaking was tall, with short gray hair. He was an imposing figure, more than six feet, and he wore a brown military uniform without insignia. There was no need of rank, for he was the undisputed leader of this small group.
“Yes, Vladimir, and it is not good.” Yuri also wore the brown uniform without insignia, but he was obviously junior to the other man.
“Very well, please give me a brief summary of what you have found.”
“Yes sir. We lost contact with the ship at approximately 7:15 am yesterday morning. Prior to that the pilot reported a malfunction and fluctuation in the power supply, and a dramatic increase in radiation. At the time that we lost contact, the he was attempting to take the craft to an unpopulated area of the Tunguska River valley. We believe that the ship exploded in the air, and subsequent reports from observatories and seismic stations around the world would seem to confirm that the explosion was air borne in nature. The explosion was enormously powerful.”
“No hope of the pilot surviving.”, said Vladimir. It was a statement, not a question.
“No, sir. The subsequent blast would not have allowed for any hope of that.”
“It's a pity, Ivan was a good man. I hate to lose him.”
Vladimir looked at the report on his desk. This was a major setback for the program. Continued failure of the power systems on board their few remaining ships and the inability of the technicians to repair the systems would eventually leave them without the ability to travel freely. It had led to an attempt to discover an alternate power source based on the science of this planet. They'd had very little success. “I don't believe that we should continue with this line of research. It would appear that the technology of this civilization is not sufficient to effectively harness this kind of power at this time. We must look elsewhere.”
“I would agree.” said Yuri, “it will take more time before our plans can go forward.”
1937 London, England Excerpts from a secret report - Russian Intelligence (smuggled out of the Soviet Union by a British operative)
Report: page 1 - The Tunguska explosion occurred on the morning of June 30, 1908 at 7:17 am, local time, in the area of the Stony Tunguska River. There is a report amongst the locals that a cigar-shaped object had been seen heading west towards the blast zone. It changed course several times, before it finally exploded. Some people saw it move from west to east, but it seemed to reverse its course just before impact.
At around 7:15 am, Tungus natives and Russian settlers in the hills northwest of Lake Baikal observed a column of bluish light, nearly as bright as the Sun, moving across the sky. About 10 minutes later, there was a flash and a loud sound, similar to artillery fire, spaced in short bursts increasingly wider apart. The sounds were accompanied by a shock wave that knocked people off their feet and broke windows hundreds of miles away.
“The Tunguska explosion took place in the air. I believe it was a nuclear explosion from an artificially made object...” – ALEXIS ZOLOTOV Soviet Academic
Report: page 3 – The explosion registered on seismic stations across Eurasia. Over the next few weeks, night skies were illuminated to the point that people could read by the light of the night sky. In the United States, the observatory at Mount Wilson reported a decrease in atmospheric transparency that lasted for several months.
Trees directly below the explosion were stripped as the blast wave moved vertically downward, while trees further away were felled by a blast wave traveling closer to the horizontal when it reached them.
Interviews were conducted with many of the indigenous people who had been within 60 miles of the explosion. Accounts of boils were widely reported, with whole families dying off. It was concluded that there had been an epidemic of smallpox in the area at the time, but no proof was ever given to that affect. Included are some Eyewitness Reports.
First eye witness report:
"At breakfast time I was sitting by the house at the Vanavara trading post 40 miles south of the explosion. I was facing North. I suddenly saw that directly to the North, over Onkoul's Tunguska road, the sky split in two and fire appeared high and wide over the forest. The split in the sky grew larger, and the entire Northern side was covered with fire. At that moment, I became so hot that I couldn't bear it, as if my shirt was on fire. From the northern side, where the fire was, came strong heat. I wanted to tear off my shirt and throw it down, but then the sky shut closed, and a strong thump sounded, and I was thrown a few yards. I lost my senses for a moment, but then my wife ran out and led me to the house. After that, such noise came, as if rocks were falling or cannons were firing. The earth shook, and when I was on the ground, I pressed my head down, fearing rocks would smash it. When the sky opened up, hot wind raced between the houses, like from cannons, which left traces in the ground like pathways, and it damaged some crops. Later we saw that many windows were shattered, and in the barn a part of the iron lock snapped."
-- Testimony of S. Semenov, as recorded by Leonid Kulik's expedition in 1930 --
Second eye witness report:
"We had a hut by the river, with my brother Chekaren. We were sleeping. S
uddenly we both woke up...We heard whistling and felt a strong wind. Chekaren said, 'Can you hear all those birds flying overhead?' We were both in the hut, and couldn't see what was going on outside. Suddenly, I got shoved again, this time so hard I fell into the fire. I got scared. Chekaren got scared too. We started crying out for father, mother, brother, but no one answered. There was noise beyond the hut, we could hear trees falling down. Me and Chekaren got out of our beds and wanted to run out, but then the thunder struck. This was the first thunder. The Earth began to move and rock, wind hit our hut and knocked it over. My body was pushed down by sticks, but my head was in the clear. Then I saw a wonder: trees were falling, the branches were on fire,. It became mighty bright, how can I say this, as if there was a second sun. My eyes were hurting, I even closed them....Immediately there was a loud thunderclap. This was the second thunder. The morning was sunny, there were no clouds. The Sun was shining brightly as usual, and suddenly there came a second one. Me and Chekaren had some difficulty getting out from under the remains of our hut. Then we saw that above, but in a different place, there was another flash, and loud thunder came. This was the third thunder strike. Wind came again, knocked us off our feet, struck against the fallen trees. We looked at the fallen trees, watched the tree tops get snapped off, and watched the fires. Suddenly, Chekaren yelled 'Look up' and pointed with his hand. I looked there and saw another flash, and it made another thunder. But the noise was less than before. This was the fourth strike, like normal thunder. Now I remember well there was also one more thunder strike, but it was small, and somewhere far away, where the Sun goes to sleep.”
-- Testimony of Chuchan of Shanyagir tribe, as recorded by I.M.Suslov in 1926 --
Report: page 15 – The object remains unidentified, but there is too much empirical evidence to suggest that a small meteorite would be capable of this magnitude of destructive force. The explosion of the object had the radiance of a thermonuclear detonation. The energy released was estimated to be over 2 megatons; in the energy range of a hydrogen bomb. The alleged comet changed course several times before the explosion. Eyewitness accounts describe a cigar shaped object, which seemed to alter its course several times, directing it away from populated areas. This would indicate deliberate, intelligent control. The blast pattern forced trees below into a fan shaped pattern. This would suggest that the energy from the explosion went ahead of the object. Germanium was found at the site. This is not a common element found in meteors, but is used in electronic applications. The area where the explosion occurred was devoid of an impact crater.
“We don’t see how the speed of the comet at the time of impact could have exceeded a few miles per second, and that is insufficient to provide the energy figures. Furthermore, the comet would have left tell-tale traces, metals minerals, even if was primarily composed of ice, which would have melted away.” - a scientist reporting on the incident
Report: page 16 - The trajectory of any object traveling at such speeds must be very precise. If the object had entered the atmosphere at too shallow an angle, it would have bounced off the atmosphere like a stone can be made to skip over water. If the angle were too sharp, it would have burned up on reentry. This also indicates intelligent control of the object, because to make a successful entry through the dense air blanket surrounding our planet a spacecraft must maintain a precise flight angle of minus 6.2 degrees to the horizon.
Report: page 22 – There appeared to be little scientific curiosity about the impact at the time, probably due to the isolation of the Tunguska region. Any records of possible earlier visits to the site were lost during the years involving World War I, the Russian Revolution of 1917, and the Russian Civil War.
The first recorded expedition arrived at the scene more than a decade after the event, In 1921. The Russian mineralogist Leonid Kulik, visited the Tunguska River basin as part of a survey for the Soviet Academy of Sciences. He'd persuaded the government to fund an expedition, based on the prospect of meteoric iron that could be used to aid the Soviet industry. This first expedition failed to reach the site due to the rough terrain.
Attempting a second expedition in 1927, Kulik's party reached the site. According to reports, no crater was found. There was instead, a region of scorched trees about 30 miles across. A few near ground zero were still standing, strangely upright, their branches and bark stripped off. Those farther away had been knocked down in a direction away from the center.
March 2, 2009 From an article in Space Today headlined Asteroid 2009 DD45 a Near Miss
“A small asteroid, designated 2009 DD45, passed the Earth at a distance of 46,000 miles, a near miss in terms of cosmic distances. Though asteroid 2009 DD45 was just about two hundred feet long, it might have impacted with the force of a nuclear blast. Astronomers are comparing asteroid 2009 DD45 to the rock that caused the Tunguska impact of 1908. The 1908 impact occurred in Siberia near the Tunguska River and destroyed the taiga forest to a distance of twenty five kilometers around the epicenter. The Tunguska impact, which was technically an air burst explosion rather than a ground collision, had the force of a multi-megaton nuclear blast.
Had asteroid 2009 DD45 hit a populated area, such as a large city, the area would have been completely destroyed. If asteroid 2009 DD45 had hit the ocean it would have caused a tsunami that would have devastated coastlines. Astronomers suggest that asteroid 2009 DD45 is now in a solar orbit that intersects the Earth's orbit. That means that asteroid 2009 DD45 will be visiting the vicinity of Earth again. The near miss of 2009 DD45, which was detected just two or so days before it passed the Earth, illustrates the continuing danger that the Earth faces due to asteroid impacts. Asteroid 2009 DD45 suggests that not only greater efforts should be made to detect and track such asteroids before they become a threat, but strategies should be put into place to divert them should they be found to be on a collision course. An asteroid 2.5 to 6 miles in length impacted the Earth near the Yucatan 65 million years ago. The Yucatan impact threw up unimaginable amounts of water vapor, dust, and other debris, blotting out the sun for years. It is thought to have rendered most life on Earth, including the dinosaurs, extinct. A similar impact in current times would certainly end human civilization and, likely, the human species. The idea of an asteroid hitting the Earth has been popularized in fiction and in cinema, including the 1998 films Armageddon and Deep Impact. Another film along those lines, When Worlds Collide, a remake of a 1950s film based on a 1933 novel, is under development.
***
In 1989, Serge J.D. D'Alessio and Archie A. Harms suggested that some of the deuterium in a comet entering the Earth's atmosphere may have undergone a nuclear fusion reaction, leaving a distinctive signature in the form of carbon-14. They concluded that any release of nuclear energy would have been almost negligible. Independently, in 1990, César Sirvent proposed that a deuterium comet, i.e., a comet with an anomalous high concentration of deuterium in its composition, might explode like a natural hydrogen bomb, generating huge amounts of energy, the explosion would trigger a thermonuclear reaction. These proposals are inconsistent with our knowledge of the composition of comets and of the temperature and pressure conditions necessary for initiating a nuclear fusion reaction. Studies have found the concentration of radioactive isotopes in the blast region to be inconsistent with those expected following a nuclear explosion, fusion or otherwise.
Edward Drobyshevski, has suggested that the event was caused by the explosion of the hydrogen-saturated part of the nucleus of a comet that struck the Earth's atmosphere, with most of the remaining comet nucleus surviving, and possibly continuing to orbit the sun.
A similar effect of an explosion on the trees near ground zero was not seen again until the atmospheric nuclear tests in the 1950s and 1960s.
Chapter 11
Dylan turned onto Pleven Drive. The street was in a residential area south of Cleveland, and the trees overhead formed a green canopy along the road, enclosing and safe. He p
ulled into the driveway and up to the gate in the fence that opened into the backyard of his friend’s house. Nestled on three plus wood covered acres the house was not huge or new, but with the new addition it was a comfortable 4 - bedroom hideaway with brown shingles. Robert had purchased the house from an estate sale almost 5 years previous, and transformed it into an attractive two-story with plenty of room to grow a family. The fact the he wasn't in a relationship with anyone didn't seem to faze him, “I got the most important part – someplace to live. I can always find someone to live with.”, his friend had told him during one of their frequent times spent together.
The house was perfectly suited to his friend. When purchased, it had been in sad shape, with termite-eaten beams in need of replacing, windows that needed to be updated from the 19th century, a roof that needed fixing, and insulated walls. The house was refitted after two years of sweat and thousands of dollars in material and now stood as a testament to his friend’s carpentry skills and perseverance.