CATACLYSMAL

by Adrian Glass

  He smiles looking at his two children who are busy chatting as they take turns looking through the telescope. He then looks at his wife.

  “Slightly crammed in there...” He replies turning his head looking over his right shoulder at the family camper.

  “I know,” she replies smiling.

  “Dad...Mom! We've found something!” The young boy yells out.

  “It's really weird...Mom have a look!” Sheryl also yells out, she then looks back into the telescope eyepiece. The young boy runs over to where his parents are sitting.

  “I saw it first!” He says with excitement.

  “What?” His mother replies getting up, as does his father they both walk toward where the daughter is looking through the telescope.

  “There are holes in the sky...” The young girl says pointing up at the night sky..

  “Lets have a look,” her father replies, extending the telescope height, he crouches slightly as he looks through the eyepiece. “Where?”

  His children and wife stare upward at the sea of stars trying to pinpoint the location of where their children are referring to.

  “I can't see anything unusual. Holes?”

  “Like an opening up there, in all those stars. It's just black,” His son replies looking up at the Milky Way's celestial mass.

  “Can I have a look?” Felicity asks as he stands, looking back up at the night sky.

  “I couldn't see it...There might be something on the lens.”

  His young son now standing next to his wife, as they both look upward. She stares into the eyepiece, gently moving the telescope to the left.

  “Anything Felicity?” He asks, smiling at his children who are also looking upward.

  “Felicity?”

  He looks at his wife who is crouching down looking through the eyepiece. She turns away from the telescope, standing, she faces her husband.

  “Don't move the telescope, just be really gentle...look at this...” She says, as her husband crouches down and looks through the eyepiece once more. What he sees, amidst the masses of stars, are fragmented shapes that show no stars, as though they have been cut away from the cosmos. Despite the family's knowledge of the Universe being limited, there is an obvious irregularity in this visual phenomenon of the night sky.

  “Where are the stars? It's like punctured shapes...strange, seems like a perfect formation. Very odd.” He stands upright taking out his cell phone again, holding it up he presses the link for the star chart app. Pointing it in the direction of the blackened shapes against the mass of stars. It reads NGC 6397 a Globular Cluster.

  “What does it say?” The young girl asks, her father now looking perplexed, he looks again through the telescope. Peering up at the strange collection of blackened shapes, that appear stationery, from within the mass of stars that surround the unusual array of shapes .

  “It's not a plane, object...”

  “UFO?” His wife asks quietly.

  “As in aliens...Well it' not in our orbit. It seems further out in Space. Maybe a satellite.” He looks at his two children. “A mystery, but it'll have to wait, bed right now. Come on. We're trekking up the ridge tomorrow.”

  His wife holds the hands of their children. “See you soon...” She says whilst looking up in the direction of the abnormality in the night sky, that isn't visible with the naked eye.

  “I'll pack up here.”

  “Ok,” she replies and walks away with the children leading them back to the Camper.

  Chris Anderson, a good father and loving husband of Felicity Anderson begins to pack up the amateur telescope, he looks back up the night sky, the unusual variance is barely viewable with the naked eye. Yet he and his family have seen something that can't be explained. As he lifts the telescope a cold wind blows in from the South East, looking in the direction of the wind within it's darkness, he feels a chilling reminder of what it is to be fearful of the unknown.

  Westin Copley Place,

  Boston

  “So it's secrecy now?” A middle aged man says sitting down within the modest boardroom.

  “No Micheal, of course not. I guess you could say we are cautious with all these protocols with social media restrictions and blocks from certain countries. You know the deal...We have a communication restriction order from the government.”

  “Military,” Micheal Reddy says shaking head - a senior astronomer with NASA.

  “Cold War part two is here,” a woman replies, sitting next to him.

  “I know, just frustrated...” Reddy places some documents down in front of him. “...Anyway I saw your paper on Bayron Asymmetry in the latest journal. Are we close to reconciling the dilemma?” He asks with a smile.

  Dr Elly Jansky a senior cosmologist, physicist and author leans back into her chair. “Throwing my two cents in on why there is an imbalance. For what it's worth.”

  “Well it's a very good paper,” Reddy replies

  “Thank you.”

  Jansky turns to the second man in the small boardroom. Chris Halelis from the Center for Extraterrestrial Intelligence and Research. “But what has been discovered is no secret. Right?”

  Halelis stands and closes the blinds, he then sits back down, next to him is a small projector.

  “Nothing secret here, everyone is talking about the abnormality. But the military is all over this...” He projects onto the screen some charts and images. “...Alright, I have invited you here today for small impromptu meeting for your thoughts, due to that fact that there is too much noise out there in the physics, astronomy and cosmology community. This is our quite time to...” He looks at the image of associated shapes within the constellation of Fornax. “...Theorize from what we already know about two unexplained incidences, one the large spike in Neutrinos and Gamma Radiation count and the image above which, despite it being a coincidence with the particle detections, it also appears to be the main cause of the dimming of the Fornax Dwarf Spheroidal. Studying all the data to this point. Once again we are seeing a significant displacement in star radiance, we all note what was discovered by the Kepler Space telescope in 2011, with the dimming star Paimon...” He turns and faces his two colleagues. “...that despite the alien mega-structure hypotheses, turned out to be an Absorption Nebula. A compressed dark cloud of dust and matter.”

  “Chris, best I can say about this, speculatively, is it could be a new type of visible dark matter. Of course this transcends away from all that we know about dark matter physics. Which is still not a lot,” Reddy replies looking at some images showing the black shapes and the surrounding Fornax Globular cluster Five hundred thousand light years away.

  “And the Neutrino and Gamma Ray bursts, all detectors received the spikes. Antarctica picked up the highest count...At the same time, these shapes blocked our view of that region in deep space,” Halelis says looking at the projection screen of these blackened configurations of various sizes against the mass of stars imaged from an infrared radio telescope photograph. “What are your thoughts Elly?”

  “Coincidences, possibly, but in relation to the high Neutrino spikes. What stands out within the data is the intensity of the powerful energy burst...It was an extraordinarily high reading, the highest ever recorded, way over the GZK limit.” Jansky looks up at the Hubble Telescopes infrared image of the Globular Cluster and cutout angled shapes that reflect no light, their ominous presence is one of an absolute darkness. “So if they are related, and it isn't a coincidence, we could have seen a super massive star, similar to Canis, explode millions of years ago. These could be the remnants of dark matter, showing up in a new type of gravitational lensing, that may have been revealed as a supersymmetric optical-aberration. But Neutrino modeling from past hypotheses suggest it would have annihilated it's self, certainly not forming into any new type of exotic mass. However it may explain the Neutrino spike coincidence. What is it's estimation of size comparable to other stars?” She asks looking at Reddy.

  “Been hard to measure, from positions and
degrees of blackening out of light. The area mass is big...as a formation, it would blanket out, approximately the size of a Betelgeuse star.”

  “That's big...” She replies sitting back looking up at the blackened shapes. “...No light, just darkness. So in summary, if there was an energy burst from this source, it maybe a fragmented Neutron star, something we haven't see before. From a astrophysical perspective it does point to a Massive Compact Halo Object, like I said, in an unusual formation and shape.”

  Halelis shakes his head. “But we are not supposed to see Dark Matter with the naked eye, this...” He raises his hand pointing at the data and images. “...phenomenon can viewed with amateur telescopes, so as in a dark-matter mass or even a new form of dark energy, it seems unlikely to what we do know about nonbaryonic dark matter...The issue now is how do we calculate this utterly bizarre find against still unanswered questions of invisible matter in the Universe. So, yes, Elly it could be two unusual occurrences that have overlapped as a coincidence. But it still wouldn't account to the massive reading of Neutrinos and Gamma Rays...”

  “...And the Neutrino doesn't have enough mass to originate from dark matter origins.” Jansky shrugs her shoulders smiling.

  “Any contact from Ivane?” Reddy asks.

  “He's in Italy...Last we heard he's working with the military on the findings,” Halelis replies removing his spectacles placing them onto the table.

  “Alright, military, lets talk about this now since we have no idea what that is...” Reddy points at the mysterious spatiality that seems embedded into the cosmos.

  Halelis leans forward resting his elbow onto the table, clearly as frustrated at the communication restriction and Internet social media black outs due to the growing tensions between America, China and Russia.

  “They have better telescopes, detectors, resources and research facilities than what we have...” He pauses, once again looking at the infrared image and charts displayed on the screen. “...From their initial investigations, from what we have heard, they thought and maybe still think that the Russian's or Chinese have tested a new Fusion weapon.”

  “Thus it becomes a coincidence hypothesis from a military perspective, weapon tests and at the same time the discovery of these mysterious cosmic entities,” Jansky replies smiling.

  “I wish it is that simple Dear Jung.” Halelis's replies as Reddy laughs. “Scientifically we can't determine a connection between these two aspects. Coincidences or not. I'm pretty certain, they, the military, know more than us. It's time to set questions in motion and rack our brains for the answers.”

  “Martial law hasn't been implemented as yet. See my sarcasm?” Reddy with his left index finger points to his sardonic grin.

  Jansky chuckles.

  Halelis turns off the projector he then sits down looking at Reddy and Jansky. “Within the context with what is going on at a geopolitical level we have our basic master-plan here. Elly will be going to Italy, there she'll try and make contact with Ivane, one of my colleagues Giovanni Dungano will allow the use of Gran Sasso Science Institute as our base. Myself and Micheal will begin the media coverage, with an attempt at keeping it more concise. Which means no ad hoc interviews. We plan this right so a formulated approach can occur in discussion without the military and government. We'll try and have a panel discussion or conference in the next few months, hopefully also have Professor Tori be part of that discussion. And of course Elly, with or without Ivane, you'll have to piece this together...From what Ivane has to say and what you may see, everything will help. So, back to the original perspective of our plan and in relation to the social media blackouts. Yes, it is kinda a secret mission.”

  “How exciting,” Jansky replies.

  “All right lets get busy...” Reddy stands as does his two colleagues. “...Before World Three starts. No sarcasm face this time,” he says looking serious. All three scientists are concerned that any unusual particle readings from the Universe could start a panic. These new findings and mysterious matter that has formed in the night sky, at the same time with a new Cold War on Earth - has put all detecting stations both civilian and military on edge.

  “All the more for us to reveal as much to the public about these discoverers...We must have hope,” Halelis replies.

  Two years ago.

  “She is a senior cosmologist and theoretical physicist, who has just released a new book titled The Mysterious Cosmos and also of late has been deemed by Business People Magazine as the, yes, this was their polling, sexiest physicist of the year Elly Jansky.”

  The curtains open and a woman in her mid thirties walks towards the host shaking his hand. She is tall, blond and elegantly dressed. The crowd applauds as the talk show host politely offers Jansky a seat. She then sits as does the host of the show.

  “Well, thank you very much Elly for joining us here tonight and as the introduction has revealed you are considered the sexiest physicist of the year.”

  Jansky smiles, with her right hand pushing back her mid length blond hair.

  “Kinda grimacing on this so called title...I don't think it was chronologically listed as a victory, and of course there was a lot of male colleagues on that so-called list...What was I fifth or something?”

  “Third...”

  “There you go, I guess you can see how relevant I thought that article was...But If it gets more people interested in physics and the very important discussion of our place in the cosmos. I'll take it...”

  The crowd laughs.

  “Your new book...” The hosts holds up the front of the book. “...The Mysterious Cosmos. For the unsophisticated, when it comes to Space, like myself, I would have to say that this was easy to understand, in the sense, I now know that the Earth...” The hosts flips through the book in a mimicking way, stopping at random page. “...Isn't the center of the Universe.”

  The audience laughs.

  “I daren't see your education qualifications,” Jansky replies in a droll manner. The audience chuckles at her sardonic retort.

  “Seriously this is great book, very informative with so much science packed in, and like I said, easy to understand. It really makes you think how wondrous the Universe and our Galaxy is with so many unanswered questions.”

  “That's right, I have taught first year physics, one of the enjoyable aspects of teaching astrophysical subjects is dealing with the unsolved dilemmas of cosmology.”

  “So we don't know everything?” The hosts asks.

  “We have come so far from Einstein's relativity, as it set the precedence of how gravity interacts with objects in Space, the larger the object, like our Sun, the more Space-time is distorted or warped, we have now been able to measure and prove that the speed of light within the structure of Space-time are all relative to the acceleration and dilation within an expansive Universe. One of the most remarkable theories that Eisenstein hypothesized over a hundred years ago was gravity-waves. Ripples in the fabric of Space-time, which has now been proven correct. When we detected several years ago the collision of two super massive Black Holes, the detector, if you can envision two long tubes that spread out in an open triangular direction. That is the Laser Gravity Detector, also known as the LGD. When an event occurs such as a collision of two massive objects in Space, like I mentioned, it sends out a ripple. This causes the laser inside the tubular detector to measure the change in the tube-length, it actually stretches. These are gravity waves speeding up time, then slowing down again. It is now with quantum physics we can understand further and study the particle aspects of what, in some cases, holds the Universe together.”

  “Dark matter...”

  “That is correct.”

  “See I did pass science.” The hosts replies smiling.

  “But our accomplishment in sciences, in relation to the Universe are still within small steps. In the book I have a section devoted to the discussion of the Milky Way, that, we still don't know the exact structure of our Galaxy. Nor our exact position in it, that is still
speculative. The measurements that are done are from Earth telescopes and satellites, if we were to look at this Galaxy from afar, it may not be what we assumed it looks like. It could have a different shape or more spirals. However the hypotheses, and it is probably quite accurate, is that our Solar System sits twenty thousand light years away from the core of the Galaxy.”

  “The chapter that discuses the Cosmic Roar, to me, is one the most fascinating...” The hosts looks at the audience. “...Yes, the Universe was grumpy that morning.” The audience laughs once again at the late show host's sophomoric humor. Jansky metaphorically rolls her eyes, knowing that her appearance on this talk show is to only benefit the sales of her new book. She smiles politely. “That signal to this day is still a mystery, the Galaxy, our Galaxy the Milky Way makes a noise like a hissing sound, first detected in nineteen thirty one received as a electromagnetic wave or as we know them by radio waves. A very low frequency within the light spectrum. The experiment that occurred which picked up this very loud sound, was promptly named the Cosmic Roar, that was detected by ARCADE which stands for Absolute Radiometer for Cosmology, Astrophysics, and Diffuse Emission. It's not a satellite or radio telescopes on Earth, but rather a high altitude balloon that's sole purpose with it's detectors is to find the heat patterns from the first generation of stars in our own Galaxy. Which I might add is a very important experiment as it helps determine, as I discussed before, our position and the age of some the older stars in the Milky Way. In the sense reaffirming our position in this Galaxy, which would be habitable zones. Instead they picked up a booming sound, if you imagine a deep loud growl, that was detected via the ARCADE measurements. What is so fascinating about the discovery, is that it measures six times louder or brighter than all the combined radio signals in the Universe.”

  “So it's not from our Galaxy?” The host's asks his expression serious.

  “No, not it all, like I said, our Galaxy has such a faint radio sound, this signal was from the Universe itself, within it's expanse. It is possible that the cosmic roar could be the left over sounds of the very early stages of the expanding Universe, maybe the beginnings of the ancient Galaxies forming. A billion year old signal from the outer regions of the Universe.”