by Dennis Elder
“Right boss,” replied Boon as he opened the door and headed up the stairs.
Chapter 12: We could have been famous
Dr. Kevin Phillips walked back into NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center at ten minutes after 12 midnight. He was still a little groggy because it was the second time he’d woken up on the same day. He was holding a cup of coffee in his right hand.
“You’re late,” accused Chad as he picked up his backpack from the floor next to the chair he was sitting in.
“Sorry,” responded Kevin. “Guess I’m not used to these double shifts yet.”
“Yea, well, you missed a very nice class four CME, “continued Chad.
“Class four?” questioned Kevin as he took a sip from his stainless mug.
“Yup, we got it on the recorder and I’ve already filed the report with the Denver office. You can watch the video on the server,” said Chad.
“Any measurable radiation to worry about,” asked Kevin.
“No,” interrupted Marylin Stanza as she entered the room. “It was pointed away from earth.”
“Well that’s good news,” replied Kevin as he yawned for the second time.
“But what was really interesting was the magnetic field readings associated with the CME. The magnitude readings were off the charts huge,” continued Marylin.
“Yea?” opined Kevin. “How far off the charts?”
“Nickel particles peaked at 7800 Gauss,” added Marylin.
“7800 Gauss?” replied Kevin. “That’s not possible. The highest Gauss reading every recorded was less than one fifth of that. You sure you read the magnetometer correctly?”
“Check it yourself,” directed Marylin. “I recorded the filter images, Gauss readings and the residual magnetism numbers.”
Kevin took a seat at the console and began searching for the recorded files. Marylin grabbed another chair, sat down and pulled it up next to Kevin’s chair.
“Play the 8:57 pm recording,” offered Marylin as she pointed to the monitor in front of Kevin.
Lauren Robertson suddenly appeared in the room and said, “We ready?”
“Ready and waiting,” said Chad as he turned and headed for the exit.
Lauren followed, waved to Marylin and said, “…my chariot awaits.” Indicating Chad was her ride home.
“See ya,” replied Marylin, as she waved back.
Once the door closed behind Chad and Lauren, Marylin turned back to the monitor and Kevin. Kevin was making notes on a pad of paper. He seemed suddenly very focused.
“So, did you get any sleep?” asked Lauren in an attempt to make small talk.
“Yes,” responded Kevin without looking up from his writing.
“What was the sustained time on the peak reading?” continued Kevin.
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe 20 minutes,” responded Lauren.
“You don’t know?” accused Kevin.
Marylin realized Kevin was suddenly more interested in science than in her and took a more defensive position.
“Like I said, about 20 minutes. What’s the big deal,” replied Lauren?
“The big deal is…” paused Kevin, as he reached for the play back button and did a quick time estimate of the peak’s length.
“…is that 20 minutes of a sustained 7800 Gauss reading is very dangerous.”
“OK, how dangerous could it be?” asked Marylin.
Kevin had been focused on the monitors. He slowly turned to Marylin and began with a heavy sigh.
“You understand that the magnetic field of a star can be measured by means of the Zeeman effect?” questioned Kevin.
“Sure. Astrophysics 201,” responded Marylin.
“Then you also know Zeeman effect measurements are normally relegated to distant star systems and is used to measure their magnetic fields. They also give us indications of Gamma Ray Bursts,” continued Kevin.
“Gamma Rays,” said Marylin. “They’re lethal.”
“Exactly,” said Kevin.
Kevin turned back to the console and flipped a few switches. The video that Marylin had recorded began again. Then Kevin added a new filter. The picture showed something new, something Marylin didn’t see during the original recording.
“The readings you saw earlier are taken from approximately 200,000 miles above the Sun’s surface. Those measurements are indeed interesting, but these measurements here,” said Kevin as he pointed to the monitor. “These are localized at the Sun’s surface – the photosphere. No one pays any attention to these measurements because our Sun’s gamma radiation gets absorbed in the plasma as its energy rises to the surface.”
“OK,” offered Marylin feeling like she was getting lost in the details.
Kevin saw her frustration and took another deep breath before continuing.
“These surface measurements, measured using standard Zeeman effect readings, are suddenly and strangely similar to the readings we see when a distant star experiences a catastrophic event and in turn emits a Gamma Ray Burst.”
Marylin took a moment to digest what Kevin just said. She looked again at the Monitor, staring at the strange waves on the Sun’s surface and then turning back to Kevin, said very slowly, “So you’re saying our local sun is beginning to show measurable signs of Gamma Ray activity similar to that of an imploding star?”
“Not actual Gamma Rays… yet, but definite signs that our sun may thinking about releasing a burst,” said Kevin.
“How much Gamma Radiation are we talking about here,” asked Marylin.
“No way to tell,” said Kevin as he turned back to the monitor. Fifty RADs of radiation will make you sick as a dog within a few hours. Seventy five RADs will make you vomit. But say a thousand RADS… that will kill you 100% dead in a matter of one or two weeks.”
“Shit,” said Marylin.
“Exactly,” continued Kevin.
“Is this what your theory centers on?” asked Marylin.
“It is at the very center of my hypothesis,” said Kevin as he looked up at the wall clock.
The time was 12:24 am.
“Maybe we should warn the Denver office,” suggested Marylin.
“We will,” responded Kevin. “Right after I verify one more thing.”
“What’s that?” asked Marylin.
“We’re going to connect with my friend at Penn State. He has access to a specialized satellite telescope that measures sound waves coming from distant star systems,” continued Kevin. “Currently it’s our most accurate measuring tool for Gamma Radiation detection.”
Kevin moved his chair a few feet down the desktop and activated another computer. He clicked on the video link between his office and his buddy, Johnny Harline, who he hoped would still be working in his Penn State lab. The screen image was blank with the single word, “CONNECTING,” displayed on the screen.
“Come on Johnny, you still have 30 minutes on your shift,” said Kevin in a hopeful tone.
The screen suddenly revealed Johnny sitting in a chair.
“Peace brother,” said Johnny as he flipped the now ancient 70’s hand gesture.
“Hey Johnny,” replied Kevin. “You remember that discussion we had earlier today about the Swift scope?”
Johnny shifted in his chair slightly and looked around his office checking if anyone was around. But everyone was off. It was close to 2:30 am in Pennsylvania.
“Yea, I remember. You wanna take a peak?” asked Johnny, with a sly smile on his face.
“Yes please,” responded Kevin. “And if I’m right, you and I are about to become very famous.”
Just then Marylin moved into camera range and Johnny could see Marylin at Kevin’s right.
“Woa, babe alert,” announced Johnny as he simultaneously turned his attention to the computer panels to his left and activated a few switches.
Marylin pulled back from Johnny’s view and turned to Kevin, whispering, “Babe alert?”
Kevin made a conciliatory gesture with his head but continued his fo
cus on Johnny.
“OK, said Johnny. “The bird is alive and well. All sensors look fully functional. Now all we need to do,” continued Johnny as he typed on this computer board, “…is to point the camera 17 degrees down horizon and five degrees right of center mass.”
Johnny was a computer genius and gifted hacker. He was easily able to fool Penn State’s computer security system into thinking that the Swift telescope’s digital sensors were still pointing at the distant nebula positioned 17 degrees above the sun’s north pole.
Johnny was looking to his right and moved forward in his chair to get a better look at the sensor readings. His head was now slightly off camera.
“What are you seeing brother?” asked Kevin.
“OK,” responded Johnny. “That’s interesting.”
“What’s interesting?” asked Kevin again.
“Did you guys see any large CME’s earlier tonight?” asked Johnny.
“Yes, at… 8:24 pm Pacific coast time. Why,” asked Kevin.
“Cause current surface harmonics are very different and very unusual,” said Johnny as he reached for the console to his right again. “I’m sending you the reading on the video sub channel.”
“Roger that,” responded Kevin as he reached for his own console and turned a large dial to the right.
Instantly a third of Kevin’s monitor was replaced with a digital measurement indicator. Johnny’s face continued to show on the remaining two thirds of the monitor.
“That is interesting,” responding Kevin.
“What is that?” asked Marylin as she moved closer to Kevin and his monitor, and back into full view of Johnny’s own Penn State screen.
“See these indicators here?” said Kevin.
“Yes,” answered Marylin.
“They measure sound waves, nothing special, just simple sound waves. The attenuator has been modified slightly to look for extremely low wavelengths. Lower wave emanations seem to come from distant star systems which are almost always associated with Gamma Ray Bursts,” continued Kevin.
“And these distant bursts, are they strong enough to harm us here, on Earth?” questioned Marylin.
“No, they’re too far away, like from other galaxies. We see only miniscule evidence of those Gamma Rays,” answered Kevin.
“But if a burst came from our Sun… you’re saying that could be dangerous,” offered Marylin.
“Depending on the amount of projected radiation,” finished Kevin.
“You know, I’m going to start recording these harmonics,” suggested Johnny.
Kevin turned back to Johnny and left Marylin alone to look at the sound wave monitor.
“I’ll record the readings from my site as well,” said Kevin.
“Hey, maybe Dr. Feinstein should see this,” suggested Johnny.
“Maybe, replied Kevin. “But I don’t know. He’s might be a little ticked that our proof came from liberated time on the Swift satellite scope.”
As Marylin was watching the monitor she noticed a sudden jump in the wave monitor measurement.
“I’m sure he could find a way around that. You know he’s got a lot of heavy duty friends out there,” said Johnny.
Marylin leaned forward a bit more. As she did the wave monitor suddenly jumped another 20%.
“Ah guys...” said Marylin. “You might want to look at this.”
But Kevin and Johnny were thinking hard about how to get out of the corner they had just painted themselves into. Hacking into a secure system to borrow satellite time could carry a stiff penalty.
“How about this, we tell Dr. Feinstein tomorrow first thing, and then we contact the other satellite telescope operators. If they saw the same thing we’ll still be able to prove we saw it first because we recorded it. The story will go totally major and any blow back on the borrowing thing will be easily forgiven,” postulated Johnny, thinking his ideas was foolproof.
“Guys. Hey, this looks very different from what where it was just a minute ago,” said Marylin as she grabbed Kevin’s shirt sleeve and pulled him closer to the screen and pointed to the sound wave readings.
Kevin looked down at the wave readings and blinked hard.
“Hey, Johnny. Check out your monitor. You seeing what am?” asked Kevin.
Johnny looked to his left and barked, “Holy shit! My meter is totally pegged.”
“So’s mine,” responded Kevin.
“What’s it mean?” asked Marylin.
But Kevin never got the chance to respond. A very loud overhead alarm began to ring in the office.
“What the hell is that?” asked Johnny over the video connection.
“Alarm,” shouted Kevin as he reached for the keyboard and front of him and began typing.
“What kind of alarm?” asked Johnny.
Kevin continued punching the keys and periodically flipping switches on the console. Marylin moved back a bit to give him room.
“It’s the Prediction Center’s computerized alarm program. It’s triggered automatically when potential damaging radiation exceed established limits,” shouted Kevin, over the barking alarms.
“What level of radiation are we talking about?” asked Marylin. “It can’t be that bad, can it?”
“That’s what I’m trying to find out now,” said Kevin as he continued to type and monitor the console in front of him.
“Let’s see… some ultraviolet radiation spikes, nothing to bad there, a little increase in X rays,” continued Kevin.
A few more seconds when by until Kevin realized what had happening.
“Oh my God…” said Kevin.
“What?” shouted Johnny.
“The alarm was triggered by a massive burst of Gamma Radiation from the Sun, said Kevin.
“How much radiation,” asked Marylin as she tried to mask her growing fear.
Kevin continued to punch his keyboard. Then he looked at another monitor to his left and pointed his finger to a small line of data in the lower right corner of the monitor.
“Approximately 2,000 rads,” said Kevin, with a slow measure of finality in his voice.
Kevin turned to his left and flipped another switch that immediately turned off the ringing alarm. The he sat back in his chair and rubbed both hands over his face.
“What’s the direction?” asked a suddenly very serious Johnny.
But Kevin wasn’t thinking well right now. He was panicking.
“What direction is it heading man!” shouted Johnny.
Kevin heard him this time and replied somberly, “My friend, it’s headed directly for us, a direct hit.”
“What,” whispered Marylin.
Johnny suddenly turned to the console to his left and began checking his equipment. Kevin turned to Marylin.
“It will hit first on the other side of the planet, probably right in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Unfortunately for us, it looks strong enough to envelope the entire planet,” offered Kevin.
“OK. So, what do we do? Who do we call, you know, to warn people?” suggested Marylin as she stood up.
“Nothing,” responded Kevin has he slowly shook his head from side to side.
“There’s no time,” he continued.
“I’m seeing the same thing. The burst started 93 seconds ago,” offered Johnny as he fell back into the screen after checking his own equipment.
“Sure, there’s time! CME radiation will take several hours to get here. We can warn a lot of people…” blurted Marylin.
“No… interrupted Kevin. “In the vacuum of space Gamma Rays travel at 186,000 miles per second.”
“But that’s the speed of light,” whispered Marylin. “That means we only have…”
Marylin couldn’t finish her sentence because of what she realized.
“Right, about 8 minutes for it to travel between the sun and the earth. And…, “said Kevin as he looked up at the clock and then back on his computer monitor.
“Since the burst originated about a minute and a half ago, we have rou
ghly six and half minutes before it hits the earth,” said Kevin, as he dropped his head into his hands.
“But we’re on the exact opposite side of the planet. Won’t it just pass by and leave us alone?” asked Marylin.