MINUTES, DECLINATION MINUS THIRTY DEGREES TWELVE MINUTES. MASS OF OBJECT TWO-THIRDS JUPITER, VELOCITY SEVENTY KILOMETRES PER SECOND DIRECTLY TOWARDS EARTH. HELIOCENTRIC DISTANCE 21.3 ASTRONOMICAL UNITS.
“Shall I send it?’ asked Kingsley, anxiously.
“Send it. I’m sleepy,” said the Astronomer Royal, good-naturedly stifling a yawn.
Kingsley had a lecture at nine a.m. the following morning, so he bathed, dressed, and shaved before eight. His ‘gyp’ had laid the table for breakfast.
“A wire for you, sir,” he said.
A quick glance showed the ‘wire’ to be a cable. Incredible, thought Kingsley, that they should have a reply so quickly from Marlowe. He was even more astonished when he opened the cable.
IMPERATIVE YOU AND ASTRONOMER ROYAL COME IMMEDIATELY REPEAT IMMEDIATELY TO PASADENA. CATCH 15.00 PLANE TO NEW YORK. TICKETS AT PAN AMERICAN, VICTORIA AIR TERMINAL. VISA ARRANGEMENTS AT AMERICAN EMBASSY. CAR WAITING LOS ANGELES AIRPORT. HERRICK.
The aircraft climbed slowly, heading westwards. Kingsley and the Astronomer Royal relaxed in their seats. It was the first moment of ease since Kingsley had opened the cablegram that morning. First he had to postpone his lecture, then he had discussed the whole matter with the Secretary of the Faculties. It was not easy to leave the University at such short notice, but eventually it was arranged. By then it was eleven a.m. This left three hours to get to London, fix his visa, collect the tickets, and board the bus from Victoria to London airport. It had been something of a rush. Things were a little easier for the Astronomer Royal, who travelled abroad so much that he always had passports and visas ready for just such an emergency.
Both men pulled out books to read on the journey. Kingsley glanced at the Astronomer Royal’s book and saw a vivid cover featuring a gun fight among desperados.
“Heaven knows what he’ll be reading next,” thought Kingsley.
The Astronomer Royal looked at Kingsley’s book and saw it was Herodotus’
“My God, he’ll be reading Thucydides next,” thought the Astronomer Royal.
Californian Scene
It is necessary now to describe the consternation that Kingsley’s cablegram produced in Pasadena. A meeting was held in Herrick’s office the morning after his return from Washington. Marlowe, Weichart, and Barnett were there. Herrick explained the importance of arriving quickly at a balanced view of the effects that the arrival of the Black Cloud would have.
“The position we’ve arrived at is this: our observations show that the cloud will take about eighteen months to reach us, or at any rate this seems rather likely. Now, what can we say about the cloud itself? Will there be any significant absorption of the Sun’s radiation when it comes between us and the Sun?”
“That’s very difficult to say without more information,” said Marlowe, puffing smoke. “At the moment we don’t know whether the cloud is just a tiny fellow quite close to us or whether it’s a biggish cloud farther away. And we’ve got no idea at all of the density of the material inside it.”
“If we could get the velocity of the cloud, then we should know how big it is and how far away,” remarked Weichart.
“Yes, I’ve been thinking about that,” went on Marlowe. “The Australian radio boys could get the information for us. It’s very likely that the cloud consists mainly of hydrogen, and it should be possible to get a Doppler shift on the 21 cm line.”
“That’s a very good point,” said Barnett. “The obvious man is Leicester in Sydney. We ought to get a cable off to him right away.”
“I don’t think that’s quite our job, Bill,” Herrick explained. “Let’s stick to what we can do ourselves. When we’ve sent in our report, it’ll be Washington’s job to contact the Australians about radio measurements.”
“But surely we ought to make a recommendation about getting Leicester’s group on to the problem?”
“Certainly we can do that, and I think we ought to. What I meant was that we ought not to initiate action of this sort. The whole business is likely to have serious political implications, and I feel that we ought to keep away from such things.”
“Right enough,” broke in Marlowe; ‘politics is the last thing I want to get involved in. But obviously we need the radio boys to get the velocity. The mass of the cloud is more difficult. As far as I can see the best way, perhaps the only way, would be from planetary perturbations.”
“That’s pretty archaic stuff, isn’t it?’ asked Barnett. “Who do it? The British, I suppose.”
“Yes, h’m,” murmured Herrick, “perhaps we’d better not emphasize that aspect of the matter. But the Astronomer Royal probably would be the best person to approach. I’ll make a point of it in the report, which I ought to start on as soon as possible. I think we’re agreed on the main points. Does anyone want to bring up anything further?”
“No, we’ve gone over the ground pretty thoroughly, as far as we can go, that’s to say,” answered Marlowe. “I think I’ll be getting back to one or two jobs that I’ve rather neglected during the last few days. I expect you’ll want to get that report finished. Glad I don’t have to write it.”
And so they filed out of Herrick’s office, leaving him to get down to his writing, which he did forthwith. Barnett and Weichart drove back to Caltech. Marlowe went to his own office. But he found it impossible to work, so he strolled along to the library where there were several of his colleagues. A lively conversation of the colour- magnitude diagram of the stars of the galactic nucleus contrived to pass the time until it was generally agreed that the lunch hour had arrived.
When Marlowe returned from lunch the Secretary sought him out. “Cablegram for you, Dr Marlowe.”
The words on the piece of paper seemed to swell to a gigantic size:
PLEASE INFORM WHETHER UNUSUAL OBJECT EXISTS AT RIGHT ASCENSION FIVE HOURS FORTY-SIX MINUTES, DECLINATION MINUS THIRTY DEGREES TWELVE MINUTES. MASS OF OBJECT TWO-THIRDS JUPITER, VELOCITY SEVENTY KILOMETRES PER SECOND DIRECTLY TOWARDS EARTH. HELIOCENTRIC DISTANCE 21.3 ASTRONOMICAL UNITS.
With a startled cry Marlowe raced along to Herrick’s office, and burst in without the formality of a knock.
“I’ve got it here,” he shouted. “All the things we wanted to know.”
Herrick studied the cablegram. Then he smiled somewhat wryly and said:
“This alters things quite a bit. It looks as though we shall have to consult with Kingsley and the Astronomer Royal.”
Marlowe was still excited.
“It’s easy to diagnose the situation. The Astronomer Royal has supplied observational material on the planetary motions and Kingsley has done the calculations. If I know those two fellows there isn’t much chance of a mistake there.”
“Well, it’s easy enough to do a quick check. If the object is 21.3 astronomical units distant and it’s moving towards us at seventy kilometres per second, then we can soon work out how long it should take to reach us, and we can compare the answer with Weichart’s estimate of about eighteen months.”
“Right you are,” said Marlowe. He then jotted the following remarks and figures on a sheet of paper:
Distance 21.3 astr. units = 3 ? 1014 cm approximately.
Time required to travel this distance at a speed of 70 km per sec.
