“No, no. It’s not that. I am just thinking of how we can help. Of course you already have some ideas of what we can do here. Actually there isn’t much we can’t do. The problem is slotting it in. Time here is fought for tooth and nail down to the minute. I have found that much of my time is spent serving as a referee between nations. Poor Yorga wouldn’t have lasted an hour,” Amiée replied.
“I see,” Abby said, obviously disappointed.
“Abby, I’m not saying I can’t make something happen, it will just take some negotiating. I know this is monumental to you and maybe even the rest of the world but I will only be able to move so fast. Let me see what I can do and I will call you back.”
“Thank you Amiée. And I appreciate your trying to help no matter what. Again, congratulations on your new position.”
“Thank you Abby, I will be in touch shortly.”
**
Abby fretted most of the day. She also felt guilty for putting her friend in such a spot when she was just getting her feet on the ground. The last thing she needed was to have to justify why she was willing to help an American.
She had them all knock off at midnight. She couldn’t see any reason to keep them all there. The object wasn’t going to go away. The telescope was tracking it by computer so just sitting there hour after hour waiting to catch a glimpse of it seemed like a waste of manpower.
She knew if they could get a confirmation that they would be up to their eyeballs in alligators in work. It would be better to have them all rested before the big bang.
“Take off guys. I’m not going to hang around either,” she had told them.
They had all looked at each other like she was speaking in some foreign tongue. They just sat there.
“I’m serious. You can take off. Just be back here at 7 o’clock tomorrow night. Everything is pretty much on automatic at this point and until we know if Amiée is going to be able to find time to verify our findings we can’t do much but wait. Doing it here isn’t going to accomplish anything. Go home, get some sleep and rest up. Once things start to happen, it will move very quickly. You will need to be at your best.”
“You promise you are going to not stay here?” Jeff asked.
“I promise. I could stand some rest too. It’s been a fairly draining last two weeks between the funeral and our discovery. I could stand to get a good night's sleep as well.”
“Alright. Just as long as we are all going,” James said picking up his backpack.
Ten minutes later the place was deserted and the parking lot empty of the first time since they had started.
CHAPTER TWENTY
“Abby,” the excited voice said.
“Amiée. I take it you have some news.”
“You were dead on. I can hardly believe what you have found. We have finished our analysis and I will be sending it to you by email as an attachment. I am so excited I can hardly sit still.”
“Care to give me a quick rundown?” Abby asked, becoming more excited by the second.
“Hang on to your coat,” Amiée.
“Hat. But go ahead, I’m holding on.”
“It is something new as far as we can classify it. It is very close to the size of Neptune and is approaching our solar system at 33 kilometers per second. Our measurements place the radius being 11,422 kilometers. The classification is Chondrite. Its composition is obviously carbonaceous,” she told Abby.
“You’re saying that this thing is a planetoid traveling at close to 78,000 miles per hour? That it is close to 7100 miles in radius? How can that be? Why haven’t we discovered it long ago?” Abby asked, shocked.
“Probably because of the six rings and thirteen moons around Neptune. I think we all assumed that we were observing the phenomena of Neptune. That along with it getting closer to our solar system. What you were seeing were a couple of its moons. So far we have found that it has four. Look, let me email all of the material we developed. Abby, I believe you have discovered something that will really rock the world. I am prepared to back up your findings one hundred percent. I would suggest you call Doctor Kwame. He is the director of the Isla de La Palma Observatory. Tell him what you have found and get his confirmation as well. You can tell him I told you to call. We have worked together on many projects and he is a trusted friend,” Amiée told her.
“Alright. I’ll do that right away. I should hold off on notifying the JPL until I get his confirmation as well.”
“Yes. I think that would be better. I am one hundred percent confident of our findings but it never hurts to have a second and third opinion. Especially when dealing with the government.”
“Amen to that. Amiée thank you so much.”
“Actually I should thank you. This is a major find and I appreciate the opportunity to be a part of it.”
After the goodbyes were done Abby just sat at the desk. Unbelievable. They had actually found an unknown object. She couldn’t wait to get her hands on the full analysis. It was all she could do not to yell ‘YES’ at the top of her lungs.
**
Abby looked at the analysis again. The acronyms of the data they had run was seventeen pages long. Once they had found the object they had obviously become excited as well. Every piece of equipment at their disposal had been used. Everything from the NNT, UV-Visual Echelle Spectrograph to the TIMMI far-infrared camera had been used. Amiée had sent a hard copy of the data overnight as well.
Her entire team was giddy with what was transpiring. They had a nonstop barrage of questions for Abby but she didn’t mind. It was rewarding to watch their enthusiasm.
“Okay, quiet down. It’s time for my call to Doctor Kwame. She dialed and put it on speakerphone so they could all hear the conversation.
“La Palma Observatory, Doctor Kwame speaking,” he said with a slight British accent.
“Doctor Kwame. I’m Doctor Abigail Montgomery. I know that doesn’t mean much at this point but I would like to have you work with my team on a very special project.”
“First Doctor Montgomery, I am very much aware of who you are. I have your books. One I use with my students. Quite well done I must say. I certainly know who you are Doctor. No need to be modest.”
“Well, thank you. My friend and colleague Amiée Laurent suggested I call you to verify our findings.”
“Yes, yes. Very exciting. Amiée said you would be calling with some startling news but she said she didn’t want to sway my opinion. She is such a wonderful girl. We worked together on many projects and she is delightful to work with. Amiée said that she had sent you her data and that you would probably want to cross check it. I am certainly prepared to help in any way we can. From the excitement in Amiée voice I assume it is a very important discovery.”
“Well it is initially. But you know how skeptical everyone is in this field. Unless they discover it, it must be wrong. That’s why we would like to have your opinion and analysis as well.”
“It would be an honor Doctor Montgomery. All I need is the cosmic plot and what I should be looking for generally. I don’t want to know everything but there are a few things I would like to have to save some time.”
“Absolutely. What would you like to know?”
They spent the next five minutes talking as Abby gave him just enough data to help him locate what it was he would be trying to verify and to do his group's own analysis. It would not be quite as extensive NNT Observatory's but it would certainly confirm the existence of another celestial body. She was also anxious to verify the speed it was traveling and the distance from Earth that Amiée’s people had placed it at.
From the position that Carro Silla and Paranal gave them they knew the object will be in close proximity to Earth in less than nine months. She knew they had to let the JPL know as soon as possible.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“Doctor Montgomery, do you know what you have here?” the excited voice of Doctor Kwame asked.
“I think so.”
“My God, this is big. No, bi
gger than big. Do you have any idea what this means? Listen to me. Of course you know. Sorry. I’m just so wound up. This is one of the most startling discoveries in my lifetime. It is huge. The thing is just slightly smaller than Neptune and it is already within our solar system and increasing in speed. We are working on plotting the exact trajectory taking into effect the gravitational pull of various planets. I’m sure you have already figured out that it is headed for Earth,” he said, stopping only momentarily to take a breath.
“Well, we’re not sure about that yet but, yes it is headed our way and will pass very close. Our team is still working on that bit of calculation,” Abby said.
“Yes, yes. We are refining ours as well. Many things to consider. I am sending you our full findings. I talked to Amiée when the initial results started coming in. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t imagining something. Our basic results are nearly the exact same. Size, classification, mass are almost identical. Our speeds are somewhat different. We think it is traveling at closer to 37 kilometers per second. That's considerably faster than what they have but other than that, we are pretty much identical. Doctor Montgomery, thank you for letting us be a part of this incredible find. This is a once in a lifetime discovery and I am just happy that we could be of some assistance.”
“I thank you doctor for all your hard work.”
“I am having the results sent to you. You will receive a fax, email, and a hard copy of everything we did along with the procedures used and how they were performed,” he told her.
“I am most grateful Doctor Kwame.”
Well it was verified from two independent sources. Now it was time to notify the JPL where she knew they would scoff at first and then want credit later. She decided that wasn’t going to happen.
**
PHOENIX CHANNEL 14 News
Astronomers at the University of Arizona announced at a press conference today that Professor Abigail Montgomery and her team have located an undiscovered large object that has entered our solar system. Doctor Montgomery said that the discovery was made during an attempt to establish if a tenth planet had ever existed. It was during that period of time that they made their discovery.
When asked if she had verification of the existence of such object she sited independent confirmation from Doctor Amiée Laurent, director of the VLT or Very Large Telescope in Chili and from Doctor Kwame, Director of the Isla de La Palma Observatory in the Canary Islands. Both sites confirmed the initial findings of Doctor Montgomery’s team.
When asked about specifics, Doctor Montgomery declined to talk about them until she had met with the JPL director. She will turn over her findings and all documentation to them.
“I will tell you that it is a startling find. Why it wasn’t discovered before is perplexing at this time but it’s there and it’s real,” she said.
USNews Today
A team led by Doctor Abigail Montgomery announced that they have discovered a large object that has entered our solar system. Doctor Montgomery and her team did not release any details but did reveal that their findings have been confirmed by observatories in both Chili and the Canary Islands.
Both observatories acknowledged that they had validated the findings of the University of Arizona team. When pressed for specific details Doctor Montgomery said that she had yet to formally notify the JPL Near Earth Orbit facility and would do so as soon as they had time to organize everything.
Asked what this meant, all Montgomery would say was, ‘Colossal’. When asked if the object was a danger to the Earth she said that they had not made that determination at this time. She would wait until after her meeting with the JPL to give specifics.
**
“Abby, are you still sure that was the best way to handle this information?” the President of the University asked.
“I do. If I had gone to the JPL immediately the University of Arizona would have been nothing more than a footnote. By getting it out there before they could shove us aside and take credit for our find, we ensured that the University will get full credit.”
“Won’t they frown on what you did?”
“They can frown all they want. They will still try to get most of the credit but they can’t ignore us totally. I intend to keep this in front of the news as this University’s find not some government agency trying to steal our work.”
“Abby, I think you are being a little harsh.”
“Really? Who took most of the credit for DA14? Was Spain even mentioned in the media at all? No. It was JPL this and JPL that but Spain was left out of the picture entirely. John, we’re talking about being able to get huge endowments for our program. Wouldn’t it be nice to not have to worry about money?”
“Well, I can’t argue with that but keep in mind that we do work for the government as well. We can’t afford to alienate them.”
“I appreciate that. Don’t worry John, I’ll go lightly but my team won’t be placed in a minor support role. We found it; we should get credit for it.”
“I don’t disagree. I just know that once you get a bee in your bonnet you can get pretty feisty Abby,” the President said.
“Yes I can,” she replied.
“Just always keep in mind, the University is dependent upon funding from the government. We simply can’t afford to burn bridges.”
“I understand that but at the same time the University deserves the credit and should be the ones that get the accolades. That will bring in additional funding as well I should think.”
“We can hope,” the President replied.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Abby hadn’t even had time to sit down before she was informed that Lance Weldon, Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory was calling for her.
“Doctor Montgomery.”
“Doctor. I’m Lance Weldon with the JPL. I wanted to call you and ask about the startling article I read in the paper this morning. I’m anxious to get the full details,” he said.
“Well, we are putting together a full report to present to your people. We hope to have it finished by tomorrow at the latest,” she said.
She already had the report in front of her but she wasn’t about to let them start shoving immediately.
“We would like to see your preliminary data sooner if that isn’t an inconvenience,” Weldon said.
“I wish I could accommodate you but we simply aren’t ready to release the data. I want to make absolutely sure everything is documented,” she replied.
“Well the thing is, I need to report to the President. I’m sure he is going to have questions for us and I just don’t know what to tell him. Trying to read behind the lines it appears that you are talking about a rather large asteroid that hasn’t been discovered previously,” he prodded.
“Yes. That would be quite accurate. You could certainly tell him that. Of course he may want proof and that is what we are putting together,” Abby told him.
“Yes but the point is, with the preliminary data we would be in a better position to brief him adequately. The President doesn’t like unsubstantiated information.”
“But it is. From two sources.”
“So you indicated.”
“Yes. Yes I did, didn’t I? I appreciate the situation you are in but we will expedite the information as quickly as possible.”
“I see. So you are unwilling to give us any advanced information?”
“Oh heavens no. Not unwilling, unprepared is a more accurate term. Oh and Director Weldon, you will mention that it was the University of Arizona that made the discovery won’t you?”
“I see. I’m sure I will mention it.”
“It would be good if you did. Good day director,” she said and hung up.
She could almost picture it. The director glaring at the phone and muttering something very unflattering about her. He could get as mad as he wanted but it was their data to share when they were ready.
**
“I don’t know who that bit
…”
“Easy Lance, we have ladies present.”
“I don’t know who she thinks she is. Not ready to release the information. Make sure the University of Arizona is mentioned to the President. I don’t think she knows who she is dealing with,” Weldon said.
“Well, from my perspective, right now she is in the driver’s seat. Let’s face it, they did find the object and they should get full credit.”
“Oh bull. Who cares who discovered it?”
“Obviously she does. I don’t think I would try to bulldoze this lady. I’ve seen her give a few seminars and she knows what she is talking about. Her books are used in Universities all across the country. You would be smart to try and stay on her good side,” the Secretary of the Navy said.
“Fine. They want the credit, big deal. I want the information. She is stalling to show me she is not going to cave into the JPL. I have a problem with that,” Weldon replied.
“I suggest you get over it. They have discovered something big. I’m guessing it's something earthshaking and we are going to need them on board every step of the way,” the secretary replied.
“It just rankles the heck out of me that she is acting like this. Like we would even consider doing such a thing as taking the credit.”
“I doubt Spain would agree with you.”
“That was an oversight. It wasn’t intended. It just never came up so it wasn’t addressed.”
“Really? Lance, you can bull anyone else you want but don't try that with me. I know what goes on inside the JPL. Save that rhetoric for someone with less insider knowledge,” the Secretary of Navy told him.
“It was an oversight,” he insisted.
“Just like the one when N232 was credited for the discovery. I doubt Russia has forgotten that as well.”
“Those things happen,” was his defense.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Fame is one of those double edged swords. Sudden celebrity status places new demands on those involved and, unless handled correctly, has a tendency to alienate others.
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