We have had no shortage of volunteers to train for the mission. So far the plan is to send a team of three dozen people on a two-year long mission. If you care to look at the screen you can see the vessel, the SGV Gagarin, being assembled and tested for quality assurance. In this connection I thank our one and only Joanie Carmichael for supplying these and all the other pictures that we have seen tonight.
There’s every material thing on the Gagarin, which is like a floating hotel. It will remain in space for a total of two years, with the crew taking it in turns to use shuttle craft to descend to specially selected landing sites on the planet’s surface. Thanks to Leo 15, we now have landing sites with facilities to manufacture air and propellants for use on the surface. So, boys and girls, who can tell me the proportion of oxygen in the Martian atmosphere?”
Several hands rose.
“The girl at the front.”
“About ten per cent”.
“No. You’re miles out.”
“About two per cent,” said one of the others.
“No. Any more guesses?”
“One per cent,” shouted one of the boys.
“You’re getting closer. It’s actually about 0.15 per cent, which is not very much, but it is enough to be able to make air with the right sort of equipment, which the astronauts will take with them. Leo 16, which should touch down in another couple of months, also has some of the units, providing plenty of back up when the astronauts eventually arrive. They will remain on Mars for about eighteen months, until the Moon and Mars are once more in the correct alignment for the return journey.
So, what of the remaining planets? The King Kenneth probes to Uranus should be sending back images in another four months or so following their launch in September 2106. Then we have the Poulet 1 probe, which promises to be very exciting. Now you all know what a poulet is, don’t you?”
“It’s French for chicken,” said one of the boys.
“It is. And do you know why we have called it that?”
A few heads shook.
“Well, its because it looks like a chicken, and it will take off from the Moon in December and fly to Mercury, where it will release lots of eggs containing worm-like instruments that will bury into the sands of Mercury and take samples for analysis so that schoolchildren all over the world can study the geology of this tiny, sunburnt planet. Special sensors on the instruments will tell them when it is safe to rise to the surface in the cool of the Mercurial night, and take images of the surface before burying themselves again so as to avoid the intense unprotected sunlight that sends surface temperatures soaring to over four hundred degrees centigrade. The graphics on the screen show how the probe will work. The mothership, the chicken, will act as a beacon, amplifying and relaying signals back to Alpha, once it has released its seven thousand or so eggs, some of which should statistically survive for up to twenty years, powered by heat absorbed from the ground.
On its way to Mercury, though, Poulet 1 will perform one more important task, as it bypasses Venus. At this point it will release two much larger and much stronger eggs that are ceramic, designed to withstand entry into the Venusian atmosphere, and conditions on the surface for up to a month. They will sample the local geology and atmosphere around the polar regions. The temperature by the way is about 470 degrees Centigrade, making it hotter than Mercury thanks to its runaway greenhouse effect, but it is uniform, that is to say the poles are not that much cooler than the equator and there aren’t the extreme fluctuations that we see on Mercury. If you watch the screen you will see a simulation of what we hope will occur with the powerful cannons firing out the two capsules.”
The simulation lasted about five minutes and showed first the release of Poulet 2 and Poulet 3 from Poulet 1, then their descent toward Venus, followed by their landings and subsequent rolling action as robust sensors then emerged like antennae ready to collect physical and chemical data for short periods at a time.
“I will now return to Moonbase Alpha and the magnificent observatory that has been constructed there. First though, can any of you tell me who this is?”
The face of a middle-aged man of oriental appearance now appeared and a couple of hands were raised.
“A couple of you seem to know. The girl at the front on the left.”
“Is it Viktor Chenkov?”
“It is, yes, The Island scientist, and can you tell me what he is famous for? The boy at the back there.”
“Didn’t he discover Nemesis?”
“Well done. Now you all know. He discovered Nemesis, otherwise referred to as the Black Planet, because it is, as far as we are concerned, completely black. It does not reflect any light at all. He discovered it on 3rd October 2079, actually whilst looking for something else. From his small observatory on Sakhalin he made a series of observations looking for planets around other stars, and he found a few, or thought that he did. Then a recheck made him think twice as he compared his observations by those made by other astronomers. Further checking made him suspicious that at least a few of these so-called discoveries were not really discoveries at all, but in fact observations of the same object that had recurred on several occasions, leading observers to believe that they had detected a planet orbiting a star. He looked at the dates and times of these discoveries going back to the twentieth century and later confirmed his postulation by successfully predicting a sequence of stars that would dim appreciably at certain times.
Chenkov knew he was onto something, convinced that he had found not a planet of another star, but a very large distant body about one light year away that was drifting silently in space. We now know that this body is about five times the size of Jupiter and has about thirty-six times its mass. It reflects no light, which is why nobody could ever see it. It does, however, possess sufficient mass to enable it to perturb the orbits of the outer planets, particularly Uranus and Neptune, and to deflect comets, which would explain why one or two have apparently gone missing, like Brorsen’s comet in 1879.
The latest theory is that the Black Planet could have once been part of the Sun, but around about the time that the solar system was forming it either broke off, or was ejected, from the Sun. Its huge mass, combined with a high velocity, then gave it sufficient momentum to almost escape the solar system, but not completely, so that the Sun still effectively holds it in a far distant orbit, you could say like a dead companion.
If you look at the screen now you will see the magnificent Clifford Observatory on Moonbase Alpha, which has a suite of fine telescopes of every kind, and permanently clear skies every night of the year. From here we can observe the Black Planet in more detail than ever before, and, indeed, in more detail than would ever be possible from the Earth. High magnifications of distant stars allow the Black Planet to be tracked across them, a bit like watching a transit of Mercury across the Sun. We can also predict where it will strike next and be ready for it so that it can be observed and viewed by schools.
With the latest technology, when you next return to school you should be able to do as I have done, and switch from one planet or moon to another at the touch of a button to view continuous images of things never before seen. With the help of space agencies around the world, The Island will make available a unique educational service, which will contribute greatly to our knowledge and understanding, and your school, Mr. Sentov, will be the first to receive it.”
Mr. Sentov then stood to make a brief address.
“Words fail me,” he said. “And the things I have witnessed tonight aren’t just special, they are worldbeating and totally astounding. On behalf of the school, I have to thank you, your team, and of course Her Majesty and Ms Joanie Carmichael for what can only be described as making dreams come true yet again for our pupils. That tour of the planets was absolutely magnificent. I therefore ask that we all now put our hands together for a truly remarkable handful of individuals.”
The audience stood to applaud. Then Concierge Patrick continued:
“That bri
ngs me to the next of tonight’s highlights, and it is another first. Yes, for the first time, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we have three sets of sixth formers from The Karaginsky School who are going to perform something quite unique, a new kind of dancing, known as space dancing. It has never been done before, and can only be done now thanks to that great twenty-second-century invention, the gravity unit, and in that connection boys and girls I now have another face for you to identify.”
Another photograph of a middle-aged man appeared. This time no hands were raised.
“No takers? Well I can tell you that the man is Alexander Padrikov, an Island scientist who conducted experiments in 2090 involving the rotation of superconductors above an arrangement of powerful electromagnets. With this apparatus it was found that small objects experienced an apparent loss in weight of about two per cent. This was not a lot by modern standards, but it had never previously been observed let alone confirmed.
The poor treatment of other scientists around the world who had been conducting similar research led Padrikov to keep much of his work a secret. He therefore quietly researched the information of others, recreated the experiments and refined them.
As I said, the experiments created a weight reduction coefficient of just two per cent. On The Island scientists at the Clifford Institute knew that for space travel with full gravity compensation this figure needed to be increased to 100 per cent dissipated over an area of at least several square metres.
It took Island scientists ten years to eventually refine Padrikov’s apparatus to the level of providing twenty per cent gravity compensation, and older literature refers to these units as Padrikov Units. Beyond this level, however, scientists knew that they were going to have to design and construct a far bigger piece of equipment and if money were a consideration it is doubtful that any such undertaking could have proved viable. Only The Island had both the means and the incentive to persist with the experimentation building ever larger and more elaborate contraptions.
I will now invite you to observe on the screen a simulation of a modern gravity unit in operation. These new machines bear little resemblance to the original machines, which were, and still are, strictly gravity blockers rather than gravity creators. The first machine to produce 100 per cent gravity compensation was the unit on SGV Neville, which consists of three rotating superconducting plasma spheres suspended in a vacuum surrounded by a set of powerful electromagnets, which have the power to direct the resulting gravito-magnetic beam to a chosen target area some twelve metres above. Over the last five years the design has been improved, partly through improved materials science with the internal plasma, and partly through improved efficiency of the electromagnets, so that we now have rotating superconductors of half the original size, just ten metres in diameter rather than twenty, with twice the reliability and durability. As I said, if money were a consideration these machines just would never have seen the light of day. I won’t say, Mr. Sentov, how many schools could be built for the cost of just one of these units. I will say though that the gravity unit is by far and away the most expensive piece of kit on board this spacecraft, and as little as a decade ago there were even Island scientists who were of the opinion that it really wasn’t feasible to go above twenty per cent compensation, as even that needed at the time two extremely costly thirty metre diameter plasma spheres. At this point you may wish to compare the workings of the gravity unit with the natural gravitational characteristics of Saturn’s shepherd moons which you saw earlier.
That now brings me back to the next item on tonight’s agenda, the world’s first ever space dance. Three sets of twelve sixth formers, who are going to be wedded tonight along with our setmates, are ready and waiting to delight you with their routine, and soon we will be tilting the gravity unit so that the upper reaches of the Atrium beneath the transparent dome, which allows us to see into space yet protects us from harmful cosmic rays, become gravity free. I will now hand over to our one and only charming Joanie, for one night only, to introduce our fine performers.”
“Thank you Patrick,” she said, rising to the stage. “Now you all enjoyed that didn’t you boys and girls?”
The children cheered.
“You did, didn’t you?”
There was then a louder cheer from the children’s tables.
“So now for the entertainment. Last year, when I wrote to Mr. Sentov to invite his school to participate in the activities on The Island of Dreams, I suggested that three sets of sixth formers be invited to train on Sakhalin Island in Padrikov’s original gravity blocker to produce a group of dances that could be performed in space. They would then travel with their school this year on the SGV Katie and perform their routines. Mr. Sentov said yes and now here they are to perform a one off group of dances of three minutes duration each based on a piece from Gustav Holst’s Planet Suite, which next week will be broadcast on Russian television. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, will you please welcome from The Karaginsky School, the one and only Space Dancers.”
Six couples launched themselves from the balcony of the Atrium and began their routine floating beneath the twenty-metre wide transparent dome through which the stars in their bright constellations could be seen as never before. Their original interpretation of ‘Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity’, integrated the majesty of the Island national anthem ‘I vow to thee my Island’ with the energy and vitality of the nymphs, portrayed by the girls, springing and performing somersaults with their new-found weightlessness. Agile and dressed in a silvery white they looped around the more darkly costumed gents, who utilised the more dominant chords of the piece, linking arms and forming intricate figures, until they eventually encircled the girls, who gathered into a ball and spun round wildly in the middle as a climax. Only the alteration of the angle of tilt of the gravity unit allowed the dancers to return to the sanctuary of the balcony from which they had made their entrance.
The next set presented a very different work of art. This time their chosen piece was ‘Mercury, The Winged Messenger’. Here lots of short chords characterised the piece and the dancers utilised these to convey the idea of flying toward the heavens with messages passing to and fro as if in a relay. The girls were winged cupids that hovered at the top of the Atrium, looking first down at the messenger boys looping around each other below, transferring their baton prop hand-to-hand and foot-to-foot. Their complex whorls and chains culminated in their rise to the heavens with the independently performing angels raising their arms as if to draw them up to the spheres before they held each other and looked outward, opening their arms to the cosmos, poised to take their message further.
The last routine was ‘Mars, The Bringer of War’. For this routine the six couples started suspended and facing one another in bright orange and red in a formation that portrayed the vision of two armies about to be locked into battle. A small quantity of red smoke added to the drama as the two sides charged into each other, flinging each other around before regrouping to wrestle and jostle with each other. The dance moves conveyed the concept of cyclical fighting and alternating victory for one side over the other as individual players were defeated only to come back and fight another day. The climax came when both sides collapsed inwardly to finish with a matrix of flat bodies suspended in mid-air that symbolised defeat for both sides. Only when the gravity unit was tilted slightly could the matrix be drawn to one side of the balcony to take its applause.
“Great stuff,” said Joanie. “A big hand to all of our fine Space Dancers. Long may it live as a discipline of dancing in its own right. Dancing in space. I love it. Now, talking of love, we have just one more formality to complete and that is the marriage of Her Majesty’s setmates. When the captain has reset the gravity unit to normal inclination, I will ask all of our new setmates to make their way to the Marriage Room, where The Usherette will ask each couple to collect their chosen wedding ring from her velvet covered tray. Following that the good Reverend will perform the short ceremony that
will confer upon each their marriage as principals and secondaries in accordance with the Set Formation Act.”
*
The setmates were ushered through from the Atrium to the small Marriage Room, outside which The Usherette stood behind a long table upon which was the rectangular velvet covered tray, upon which were placed the 120 specially crafted wedding rings that they had chosen from The Island Jeweller. Beside this was a list that displayed the order in which the sets were to enter the Marriage Room. This placed Gary’s set fifth in order to enter to receive The Reverend’s blessing.
The inside of the room was not as they had expected it to be, like a registry office or a small chapel. Instead it resembled an old-fashioned blacksmith’s smithy, complete with horse shoes with an anvil at the centre where The Reverend stood, dressed as a blacksmith rather than a reverend, with an iron hammer.
“In the name of God the Father, Christ and the Holy Spirit,” he declared. “I bless this set now and forever.”
He then turned to each couple and asked each person to swear to the other.
“Do you take this person to be your lawful wedded principal, forsaking all others, for better or worse, until death shall part you?”
“I do,” each replied.
When both man and woman had responded he struck the anvil with his hammer.
“I therefore declare you wedded as principals under the terms and conditions set out under the law of The Island and its territories. The husband may now kiss the bride and place the chosen ring upon her finger.”
The Island of Dreams Page 30