willwallace
Interested Observer
Taking everyone's comments under consideration, I've redone my 1st chapter, and dropped the prelude. Hopefully it reads better, now.
Chapter 1
“Check those readings again, Hui” Christopher snapped. “That can’t possibly be right-a galaxy doesn’t simply vanish!” Hui Sun, assistant astrophysicist at the Tombaugh station on Charon, was used to her boss’ temper. She had come to know that the gruffness was only an act he used to hide his awkwardness when dealing with people instead of machines. She calmly reassured him, answering “Chris, don’t worry, we’ll figure out what’s going on. It has to be something simple that we’re overlooking, I’m sure of it.” Shoulders sagging, Christopher gave her a contrite look, then grinned. Although he was nearly fifty years old, he could make himself appear almost boyish when he smiled. “Sorry, Hui, it’s just that I can’t for the life of me see what’s wrong. We have to either find out what’s causing the problem, or throw out all our latest data.”
The galaxy in question was designated A3444-JD, and was the most remote confirmed object they had detected, at a distance of over 14 billion light-years. Their observations at the Carl Sagan Observatory, centerpiece of the station on Pluto’s moon Charon, had given them a wealth of information on the object over the past several months since the instrument first came on line. But suddenly the huge telescope, the largest in space, was giving them trouble. Over the past two hours, it refused to supply any data from its primary target.
“Hui, please run the system diagnostics again, level five” Christopher asked, this time keeping his emotions under control. For the fourth time since the problem cropped up, Hui tapped out the commands on the console to initiate the self-diagnostics, this time at the most comprehensive setting. “I don’t know what good it’ll do, but I’ll cross my fingers this time for good luck” she said, smiling at Chris to relieve some of the tension. It was hard enough being on a small station orbiting Pluto some five billion kilometers from earth when things were going smoothly. When problems cropped up she, like everyone else, had to do their best to deal with them in a calm manner. With a crew of only ten it was imperative to nip any problems early, before they became long-term difficulties.
The construction of such a station so remote from earth would have been unthinkable just a decade ago. It had taken contributions from nearly every country on earth to make the building of Tombaugh a reality. From initial designs to the start of actual construction had taken two years, then transporting the station modules out to Charon and putting them together had taken another three years. For the last few months, all that investment in time, materiel and people had finally begun to pay off with the observations made by Sagan, as well the data now coming in from several other research projects at the station. The last thing Christopher and Hui needed was for the telescope to develop a fault. They both sat back to await the latest diagnostic scan results. Out the small viewing port they could see the barren landscape of Charon, visible by the station’s outer lights. At this distance the sun’s light barely had any effect, compared to on earth. At best, during Pluto’s day, the sun was about as strong a light source as a full moon is on earth. The station cycled its powerful outer lights on and off at roughly twelve hour intervals, more to give the inhabitants some semblance of normalcy when they looked outside, than for any real practical need.
After several minutes, with a soft chime the computer announced its results. As they scanned the screens imbedded into the control consoles, both of their faces registered disappointment, and shock. Chris slammed his hand onto the console, then turned and walked away, momentarily too angry to say anything. “This…is impossible” Hui breathed, running her hand absently through her long black hair. All the test results were completely normal. According to some of the most advanced technology available to man, A3444-JD had ceased to exist.
Chapter 1
“Check those readings again, Hui” Christopher snapped. “That can’t possibly be right-a galaxy doesn’t simply vanish!” Hui Sun, assistant astrophysicist at the Tombaugh station on Charon, was used to her boss’ temper. She had come to know that the gruffness was only an act he used to hide his awkwardness when dealing with people instead of machines. She calmly reassured him, answering “Chris, don’t worry, we’ll figure out what’s going on. It has to be something simple that we’re overlooking, I’m sure of it.” Shoulders sagging, Christopher gave her a contrite look, then grinned. Although he was nearly fifty years old, he could make himself appear almost boyish when he smiled. “Sorry, Hui, it’s just that I can’t for the life of me see what’s wrong. We have to either find out what’s causing the problem, or throw out all our latest data.”
The galaxy in question was designated A3444-JD, and was the most remote confirmed object they had detected, at a distance of over 14 billion light-years. Their observations at the Carl Sagan Observatory, centerpiece of the station on Pluto’s moon Charon, had given them a wealth of information on the object over the past several months since the instrument first came on line. But suddenly the huge telescope, the largest in space, was giving them trouble. Over the past two hours, it refused to supply any data from its primary target.
“Hui, please run the system diagnostics again, level five” Christopher asked, this time keeping his emotions under control. For the fourth time since the problem cropped up, Hui tapped out the commands on the console to initiate the self-diagnostics, this time at the most comprehensive setting. “I don’t know what good it’ll do, but I’ll cross my fingers this time for good luck” she said, smiling at Chris to relieve some of the tension. It was hard enough being on a small station orbiting Pluto some five billion kilometers from earth when things were going smoothly. When problems cropped up she, like everyone else, had to do their best to deal with them in a calm manner. With a crew of only ten it was imperative to nip any problems early, before they became long-term difficulties.
The construction of such a station so remote from earth would have been unthinkable just a decade ago. It had taken contributions from nearly every country on earth to make the building of Tombaugh a reality. From initial designs to the start of actual construction had taken two years, then transporting the station modules out to Charon and putting them together had taken another three years. For the last few months, all that investment in time, materiel and people had finally begun to pay off with the observations made by Sagan, as well the data now coming in from several other research projects at the station. The last thing Christopher and Hui needed was for the telescope to develop a fault. They both sat back to await the latest diagnostic scan results. Out the small viewing port they could see the barren landscape of Charon, visible by the station’s outer lights. At this distance the sun’s light barely had any effect, compared to on earth. At best, during Pluto’s day, the sun was about as strong a light source as a full moon is on earth. The station cycled its powerful outer lights on and off at roughly twelve hour intervals, more to give the inhabitants some semblance of normalcy when they looked outside, than for any real practical need.
After several minutes, with a soft chime the computer announced its results. As they scanned the screens imbedded into the control consoles, both of their faces registered disappointment, and shock. Chris slammed his hand onto the console, then turned and walked away, momentarily too angry to say anything. “This…is impossible” Hui breathed, running her hand absently through her long black hair. All the test results were completely normal. According to some of the most advanced technology available to man, A3444-JD had ceased to exist.
.
