The Orthogonal Galaxy
Chapter 21

With hands clasped behind his back, CarltonZimmer stood erect admiring the picture on the wall in the black ellipticalroom. The Von KarmanBicentennial Museum at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena was themost impressive public display ever created by NASA. The brainchild of a billionaire spaceexplorer, the intent was to depict the purpose of continued space explorationas it relates to discoveries that help the human race understand the universewe live in. Fronting a hundred milliondollars to the effort, the museum quickly became one of the most popularattractions in Southern California.

While the main room of the museum appeared to beperfectly circular, it was proportionally accurate to the elliptical orbit ofthe Earth. It was nearly 320 feet longby 310 feet wide. The perimeter of theroom contained some digital and interactive displays containing images taken bythe moon-orbiting Kepler3 telescope. Exhibits scattered around the room were situated as to replicate thelocations of the orbits of Venus and Mercury, with a bright globe lightsuspended from the ceiling to represent the Sun. The black ceiling featured recessedprojection LED lighting which gave an appearance of a night sky, accuratelydepicting the sky as it would appear over the JPL campus at midnight on theSummer Solstice. Light intensity variedto indicate stars with more or less apparent magnitude. Every attempt at authenticity was made, includingcolors of red, yellow, pink, and blue indicating differences in surfacetemperature and Doppler shifting.

At this moment, Zimmer was admiring the imageryof the Hourglass Nebula. Unlike mostmuseum visitors, however, who simply admire the conical orange circles ofemitting gas and the superheated blue center resembling the piercing Eye ofProvidence for its visual impact, Zimmer’s fascination was one ofnostalgia. He reminisced over theintense focus and studies that led to important discoveries about the nature ofstellar winds and solar radiation which improved the safety of inner SolarSystem exploration.

The work on the Hourglass prevented catastrophessimilar to the doomed Mercury-S55 mission, where critical navigationalequipment was significantly impaired by radical deviations in solarradiation. The inability of NASA and thegovernment to agree on the logistics, mechanics, and cost of a rescue missionto save the astronauts resulted in a black eye for NASA and a landslide lossfor the President of the United States. Instead, the astronauts survived on rationsfor months while the spaceship trajectory was pulled into an orbit around theSun. The orbiting tomb was a symbol offailure for nearly two decades before the orbit degraded sufficiently toeventually melt and disintegrate the vehicle entirely.

Zimmer turned away from the outer wall to look atsome of the exhibits on the floor. Appropriately, on the outer-most floor display, which represented theorbit of Venus, his eye rested on a wrap-around folding panel of Earth’snearest sister planet. He remembered, asan adolescent, watching the televised broadcasts of the first Venus landing byan astronaut. Many robotic missions hadalready occurred on Venus, but no astronaut had ever been. Public sentiment was mixed on the excursion,considering that much had already been discovered about Venus through therobotic and satellite missions to the planet, but further, many worried aboutthe violent heat and pressure of the Venetian atmosphere. Could the astronauts’ spacesuits be designedto protect against the massive atmospheric pressure of Venus? Materials scientists were confident that theastronauts would be able to move about and be safely protected even under theextreme pressures of the dense atmosphere of Venus. Nevertheless, for many, it seemed too riskyto send humans to such a hostile environment for so little benefit. But they were wrong.

An inadvertent discovery had been made byphysicians who studied the astronauts upon return to the Earth. Physicals showed that heart and brainactivity were healthier and stronger in each astronaut compared to theirrespective measured activity just prior to departure. Through subsequent study, the cause had beenshown to be the air that they were breathing. Scrubbers on the Venetian surface module and the astronauts’ space suitswere designed to convert the carbon dioxide into oxygen, but the atmosphere ofVenus also contained trace quantities of materials which did not exist in Earth’satmosphere. A particular combination ofsuch materials was shown to produce the desired effect. A medical treatment was devised from thediscovery which aided in a host of common maladies as well as severeconditions.

While Zimmer didn’t have many opportunities tocome down to the museum, he always made a concerted effort to visit any time hecame to JPL for business. With eachrejuvenating visit, he felt like a child nearly a tenth of his age as herecollected the various scenes. To him,the Von Karman museum was like a hundred million dollar scrapbook of memoriesthat he would never have been able to afford on his own, of course.

While lost in his nostalgia, he was returnedpromptly to Earth by a gentle touch on his right shoulder.

“Ballard,” he said. “It looks like you found me!”

“I thought I might replace you here,” smiled theCalTech astronomy dean knowingly. “Likeme, I know that it’s hard not to stop at the museum when you’re in thevicinity. You remember my son?”

Zimmer’s gaze was turned in the directionindicated by Dean Scoville’s outstretched hand.

“Ah, yes,” nodded Zimmer as he reached out andgrabbed the firm hand of Maril Scoville. “How long has it been? Three? Four years?”

“Actually, Doctor Zimmer, I think it’s been aboutsix years?”

“Six? Really?” Zimmer shook his headand focused on one of the stars in the ceiling, reaching for the memories thatwould help him set a correct timeline. “Gosh, time does fly. How is yourfamily—six years must put your oldest child at about twelve now?”

“Jenny is thirteen actually, and she is quite theteenager.”

“Thirteen. You know, I just can’t picture it… she was just a wee little thing thelast time I saw her—I think that was at your father’s house.”

“Well, the time has certainly flown by for mywife and me as well.”

“Ballard told me about your wife’s award a fewmonths ago. What an amazing honor. You must congratulate her for me.”

“Thank you, Professor. I’ll be sure to extend your greetings toher.”

Ballard broke up the pleasantries. “If you two are sufficiently caught up, Ithink we only have about 45 minutes before the meeting. I thought it would be good, Carlton, for youto give Maril a heads up on your thoughts, so we can be better prepared for themeeting.”

“Yes, and thank you, Maril, for taking some extratime out of your schedule today. We havea topic of discussion that I think you’ll replace rather fascinating.”

“Why don’t we head over to my office where we canbe more comfortable? It’s just in theadjacent building.”

With that, the three retired from the blazingstars and nighttime setting of the museum for the more glaring light of a mistymorning fog that had settled over the area. Zimmer squinted as he adjusted from the thousands of imitation starsthat were suddenly replaced by a gray circle of light hovering over the haze.

…

“Kelcey, please hold all of my calls,” Marilrequested as he walked briskly by his secretary’s desk.

Recognizing his urgency, Kelcey simply nodded andsmiled as the group of scientists convened their closed-door session in theprogram manager’s office.

The three visited the coat rack first where dampovercoats were hung to dry before being seated around a small conference table.

Zimmer wasted no time. “Tell me how the Star Shield project isgoing, Maril.”

“We think it’s going very well, DoctorZimmer. We’re actually fabricating aprototype of the shield right now for a test flight that should occur in Augustof next year. We’ll put it through thewind tunnel and bombard it with all sorts of nasty space debris at high-speed,hope that it doesn’t even come close to scratching the surface, and then mountit to the prototype vehicle for its flight towards the Sun.”

Something in Maril’s delivery betrayed him. “And, so you think it will be able to handleparticle impact near to Warp speed?”

“Oh, yes, yes we do.”

Realizing that any doubts or concerns were notbeing volunteered by the young scientist, Zimmer grew more pointed in hisinterrogation. “So, what is your topconcern about the project?”

Not feeling a desire to be frank, Maril saidunconvincingly, “Well, to be frank, I’m just not sure about the viability ofthe project?”

“Oh?” said Zimmer prompting for more information,while the older Scoville sat back and watched the volley of questions andanswers fly back and forth over the desk.

“I don’t get the impression that the Star Driveteam is making good progress on their propulsion experiments. I think they’ve made way too many trips tothe drawing board to give me any warm and fuzzies about their current status. So, what good is the effort of my team, if wedon’t have the rockets to propel the vehicle to high speed?”

“Well, in that case, I guess you’d beover-designed, but at least you’ll know that the shield will function perfectlyat speeds lower than specified.”

“But, what’s the point?” opened up Maril. “I mean, we put our blood, sweat, and tearsinto this project for years, and to what end? For a slow craft? Or worse yet…to get the plug pulled? The scenariosare bitterly frustrating.”

Zimmer leaned back. “Well, I’m here to offer you an excitingpossibility that would end that frustration once and for all, Mr. Scoville.”

Maril sat erect in his chair with intensecuriosity. “Go ahead… you’ve certainlygot my attention with that opening.”

“Well, all this time, you’ve been preparing tomount your shield to the front of the Star Transport vehicle, right?”

“Yes,” the response from the scientist wasmeasured. “Although, I guess it would bemore correct to say that it will be moldedto the body of the vehicle. It’s prettymuch like a very thick skin that we will be growing from the shell of thespacecraft.”

“Well, I propose that we put it on backwards!”

…

Carlton Zimmer stood from his chair andapproached the front of the room. Hechose to be at the end of the table, where he could better see all of theattendees, and look each and every one in the eye. While the astrophysicist was quicklyregaining status and popularity for his recent discoveries of the superluminalcomet and the parallel Earth, he knew that perhaps this hour would provewhether he still had more to give to humanity—one more peak in a career ofHimalayan proportions.

He paused as he calculated each participantquickly in a clockwise manner. To hisleft sat Vurim Gilroy, the Mars Mission manager, effectively looking for a newjob, since any subsequent Martian efforts had been put on hold at NASA. Then he saw Marrak Henley, the tight-fisteddirector of NASA. He knew Henley wouldbe his toughest sale, which is why he had pulled some influence and invited apair of Southern California congressmen to the meeting, just in case Henleyneeded reminding who his boss was. Hiseyes met the friendliest bodies in the group—namely, Ballard and MarilScoville, whose support he knew would be invaluable. This high-powered group of eight was roundedout by directory of JPL, Rawson Cornell, who sat next to Maril, irritated withthe fact that he was called to this secret meeting, knowing nothing about itsintent, while suspecting that his subordinate had been better briefed thanhimself.

“Gentlemen,” began Zimmer serenely with his handsclasped in front of him. “First, let methank each of you for your attendance here today. I am well aware that you know nothing ofwhich I would like to address you but am grateful that you have honored me withyour attendance anyway.

“It is a particular honor, considering that myviews and opinions have not been held in the highest regard lately. For years, I received ridicule for chasingafter a parallel Earth—the proverbial needle in the haystack. I was severely reprimanded for hereticallyproposing that our yellow beam was a superluminal comet. Often, my views and projects have been simplytoo radical to accept. I have beencalled by peers and press ‘crazy’, ‘warped’, ‘irrelevant.’

“Fortunately, for me,” Zimmer said wiping hisbrow in a sign of relief, “some of the criticism has been appeased. For my fortunate discoveries of late, I havebeen restored to some degree of respect among my colleagues, but don’t expectthat to stop me from doing something foolish again.” A few soft chuckles were heard in response toZimmer’s colorful delivery of the word ‘foolish’.

“In fact, if any of you leave here today thinkingI’ve been restored to my senses, then you clearly must be sleeping, becausewhat I will suggest to you today will certainly be the most radical idea that Ihave ever proposed. I am not entirelyconvinced myself that it will work, but that is why I have assembled you heretoday, to help me assess the feasibility of such a notion or to follow up withstudies of the matter in greater detail at a later date.

“Gentlemen, I propose to send astronauts to theplanet designated as ZB-5344-P1…”

In disbelief, some eyes widened. Some rolled. Others widened and rolled. The firstrealization of Zimmer’s proposal was met with a sense of absurdity.

“…Earth 2.”

With the common name used, the remaining eyesnarrowed skeptically.

“This is preposterous, Professor,” stated Henley,who was the first to feel defensive against Zimmer for his resistance tofunding the Yellow Beam mission, and then for cutting critical requirements offof Zimmer’s wish list. “ZB-5344 is 26000light years away from here. Do you intendto endow our astronauts with immortality to be able to live for the hundreds ofthousands of years that will be required to travel there?”

Zimmer looked the NASA director squarely andearnestly in the eye. “Dr. Henley, it will not take that long.” Then looking up at the group at large, hecontinued. “Remember, gentlemen, we livein a new age now. A couple of monthsago, Dr. Henley’s statement would have been absolutely correct. It would have impossible to travel to theZB-5344 star system. But that was beforethe discovery of a superluminal object traveling around our galaxy. But now, we have no limits on the distanceswe can reasonably travel.”

“But, Professor,” rebutted Cornell. “Just because we have seen something travelfaster than the speed of light, doesn’t mean that we can ourselves. And it certainly doesn’t mean that we willever have the technology to do so.”

“Dr. Cornell,” responded Zimmer cordially. “This discovery should enlighten us toexplore the possibility. The possibilityfor exploration becomes limitless with that discovery. We need to break through the glass ceilingthat has been placed over humankind for its entire existence—superluminaltravel is possible, and I suggest we get right to it.”

“Professor?” called out one of thecongressmen. “The funding for suchresearch—I just don’t see where we’d come up with the money needed to fund thatresearch, especially if we really have no idea how long it will take to createpropulsion faster than the speed of light.”

“I agree that funding will be huge, butchampioning this cause will bring massive opportunity to SouthernCalifornia. Besides, if I am hearingcorrectly from your constituents, they want to do everything in their power toreplace out what Earth2 has in store. Everybodyis curious about whether there is life there, and whether that life is like usor—”

“—or more hostile,” blurted out Gilroy. “Professor, in the few moments that I’ve hadto consider your proposal, so many insurmountable questions come to mind. How do we get there? How can we build a machine robust enough tohandle traveling that fast? Mr.Scoville, you know better than anyone the risks associated with space debris atnear Warp speed! Are you willing to putthe lives at astronauts at risk with debris hitting the Star Transport at ratesmuch greater than the speed of light? How do we know that human flesh won’t obliterate as it approaches Warpspeed? And then, perhaps we actually getthere, but then are captured and executed by a hostile species. How do you replace astronauts that would bewilling to do this? You realize thatthis won’t happen in your lifetime, Professor, don’t you?”

“Why not?” said Zimmer skeptically.

“Ever the optimist, you are Professor, but thistime, I think you’re over your head, and you won’t even see it happen. I’m sorry, but this really is a waste of ourtime, Carlton.”

“Professor,” asked the other congressman withmuch interest. “How do you propose we goabout such an effort of developing the technology to accomplish this?”

“First of all, I think you’re all looking at itwrong,” answered Zimmer. “What I’ve beenconsidering is a much lower-tech approach then developing warp-drivecapability.”

With derision, Cornell fired back. “A low-tech solution to one of the mostprofound controversies of our day. Whatare you going to do? Chase the comet andhitch a ride?”

Zimmer smiled and pointed at the JPLdirector. “Yes! That’s exactly what I suggest we do.”

Frustrated at this answer, the JPL directorturned his attention elsewhere. “Maril,do you have any idea where Zimmer is going with this? Does this make any sense to you?”

It was Maril Scoville’s turn to stand and back uphis father’s associate. Zimmer deferredhis position at the head of the table happily and moved back to the corner ofthe room to watch Maril Scoville’s attempt to appease the crowd.

Addressing his boss first, he began. “Dr. Cornell, Professor Zimmer came to mejust before this meeting with his suggestion, and while I agree with him thatthere are many questions that need to be answered, I actually like his ideaquite a bit, and I think, Gentlemen that the public will be very interested insupporting all of us in our decision to move forward with the proposal. It won’t cost hundreds of billions ofdollars, and it might just work.”

“We’ve been working on the Star Shield for nearlythree years now—from concept to prototype. We believe that we are building something practically impervious tohigh-speed stellar debris.”

Henley was first in probing this claim. “Mr. Scoville, as I understand it, yourrequirements are for avoidance of large objects and tolerance of small objectson the order of 1c. Is that right?”

“That is correct, Dr. Henley. In open space, we are immune to space debrisup to the speed of light.”

Henley’s voice increased in volume and speed,indicating his intolerance of this discussion. “But, we’re talking about 25000c. I don’t see how you can be comfortableputting the lives of astronauts at such dire risk when you aren’t building theshield to anything near to the type of condition to which you plan onsubjecting it.”

“Sir, with all due respect, we aren’t puttinganybody’s life at risk yet. We are onlyasking for the ability to review all of the details of such a mission todetermine its feasibility. Further, Iexpressed this same doubt to Dr. Zimmer just before this meeting, and hepointed out that we will not be traveling at 25000c in open space. We will doit in the confines of a comet’s tail. That comet will make a way through the vacuum of space and will ejectall debris that stands in its way. Inthat case, we need not worry about debris coming head on, but rather we mustfocus the study on the ability to receive bombardment from behind.”

“I fail to see the difference.”

“The difference is that we will accelerategradually yet rapidly as we enter the beam, ensuring that particles propel theStar Transport to greater velocities while not impacting the shield at speedsgreater than 1c. Professor Zimmer has calculated from dataretrieved during the study mission that while the center of the beam istraveling at 25000c, there is aninversely proportional and linear relationship between the velocity ofparticles in the beam and its distance from the center. As long as the Star Transport penetrates thebeam gradually, it will be able to accelerate under the propulsion of thematter, but it will not be subject to damage by it. It will be a perfectly controlled environmentthat will balance the velocity of the vehicle with its ability to penetrate thebeam even farther, and thereby gain even more velocity.”

“Dr. Cornell, I appeal to your judgment,” waveredHenley only slightly. “Tell me that thisisn’t the most ludicrous proposal. Tellme that this isn’t set for certain failure. Tell me that it won’t be a suicide mission.”

“I can’t tell you any of those things, sir,”Cornell said in response. “We will needto study everything in greater detail. Nobody’s life is at risk if we’re simply studying the possibilities.”

“But we are risking our taxpaying dollars.”

Zimmer stepped forward. “Dr. Henley, Dr. Cornell, and Congressmen,let me assure you that this is something that taxpayers want to see done withtheir money. It is rather anti-climaticto replace a parallel Earth and then not be able to study it. Curiosity has got the better of yourconstituents, and I think your leadership in this area would only secure yourjob security.”

Zimmer saw that the congressmen were weighing thestatement and considering the fine line they were walking between pleasingconstituents and funding programs with taxpaying dollars.

Henley did not look happy. “Look, gentlemen, even if we do fund thisprogram, Congress has already allotted NASA a certain budget for thisyear. We will have to cancel otherprograms. It’s not for theserepresentatives to decide.”

One congressman spoke qualified this laststatement. “At least not this year, butwe certainly could appeal for a larger budget for your organization startingnext year, if we believe the citizens of our districts would replace it valuableto do so.”

With his gaze fixed on the ground in front ofhim, Henley paused thoughtfully for a several quiet and tense moments. Eventually, his demeanor softened. “Ok, if you think we can fund the researchabove our current budgetary plans, then I guess we could produce the team to dothe feasibility research at least.”

Zimmer smiled almost imperceptibly. The meeting had served its purpose, and hewas certain that research and planning for a mission to ZB-5344 was on its way.

…

Before Zimmer had a chance to realize it, autumnturned into winter and winter into spring. It wasn’t difficult for seasonal changes to escape the recognition ofSouthern Californians, since these changes only delivered slight variations inprecipitation and temperature. But forZimmer, this year was particular busy. Between his class instruction and increased research activities,Zimmer’s year at CalTech flew by.

As soon as ZB-5344-P1 had been discovered, Zimmerput his Parallel Earth team to work studying the entire ZB-5344 system. Even Zimmer was stunned to replace even moresimilarities between the Solar System and the ZB-5344 star system. Four other planets had been discovered thatapproximated Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and Venus in their appearance, size, andorbits. The only thing the team hadfound vastly different was the orbital plane of the ZB-5344 system. It was oriented exactly 90 degrees differentto the plane of our own Solar System, leading Joram Anders to joke with theprofessor that Zimmer still had work to do, considering that “you didn’texactly replace a parallel Earth yet”and that it was “too bad he hadn’t been looking for an orthogonal Earth all of these years.”

The team also spent a vast amount of time probingthe P1 planet itself. Searches for signsof life—including detection of artificial light or electromagneticradiation—proved frustrating, but Zimmer was not taken aback by this. Any studies of Earth2 dating 27000 years agowould also prove useless. Geologicallyspeaking, 27000 years isn’t much time, but if Earth2 was on the verge of civilization,then 27000 years would prove plenty of time for significant intellectualadvances.

As for Joram, Kath, and Reyd, they continuedstudying the aftermath of the comet. They continued to scour the data from the original Yellow Beam missionand were also focusing on improved sets of data from a more controlled secondmission, where the USL had been relaying data for several weeks as improvedpaddles were navigating the comet’s tail with much greater control and weremapping out its cross-section. The onlyproblem with the second mission is that a significant amount of time hadelapsed, such that the quantity and velocity of particles remaining this farbehind in the tail were now reduced significantly.

The team had ceased going to Palomar altogetherthese days, and were studying and measuring data in their lab on campus. They had made a couple of weekend trips toAmes Research Center in Northern California. Ames was tasked with studying the soil and debris samples returned fromthe rescue mission to Mars, so the team had a chance to meet scientists andengineers on the team and were able to get a first-hand glimpse of some of theartifacts and the discoveries which were being made.

Along with NASA’s efforts, Zimmer and hisresearch team were making great progress in understanding the matter leftbehind from the comet. Hordes ofscientists around the world were jumping on the superluminal band wagon aswell, which was aiding the understanding of travel greater than the speed oflight, but nobody had yet stumbled onto any solid theories about the exactmechanisms required to escape the electromagnetic force, and thereby be enabledto travel faster than light. This was acomplicated problem, and physicists knew that answers would take a long time tofully be understood. Some were certainthat we would need one more fly-by of the comet before we could reallyunderstand superluminal travel. Outspoken opponents went so far as to be a significant hindrance inZimmer’s efforts in getting a mission off to Earth2 during the next fly-by ofthe comet.

Late one evening, Zimmer sat in his officereviewing media coverage of Congressional debates regarding the mission. Irritated with the press’ coverage of thematter, he closed the lid on his laptop.

Shaking his head, he muttered under his breath,“Why does politics always have to get in the way of science?”

He stood up and walked over to the window of hisoffice. He looked over the quietcampus. Sidewalks were illuminated inbright blue light, shadowed occasionally by the overhanging tree standingmotionless in the still of the night. Near the circle of ground lights illuminating the planetarium bearinghis name, he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. Easily recognizable in contrast to theperfect stillness of the night, he saw the backs of a pair of students walkingtogether along one of the walkways. Their path curved towards a building, and as the students approached, hesmiled as he saw the distinct profiles of Joram and Kath. Joram held the door of the building open forKath, who smiled and nodded as she crossed the threshold. Joram stepped in behind her and allowed thedoor to swing shut.

Zimmer looked at his watch. 9:43 PM. “Those two seem to always be in that lab these days, and with theevening growing late, they return for more.” He would have to stop by on his way to the parking lot now—just to makesure that everything was going well with their research, and to ascertainwhether they had any questions for him.

Just as he grabbed his coat off of his officechair and headed for the door, his ear implant rang softly. He wasn’t used to getting any phone callsthis late, but he tapped his ear to answer the call anyway.

“Carlton Zimmer speaking,” he said whilebeginning to put his coat on in hopes of being able to dismiss the callerquickly.

“Carl,” sounded an exuberant voice on the otherend of the call. “How are you doing?”

“Little brother?” Zimmer was pleased to hear thepleasant voice.

“Little brother, indeed!” exclaimed WarronZimmer. “Little enough to be in yourshadow, as always… I keep hearing about you from the media these days.”

Shrugging off the praise, Carlton spoke warmly,“It’s been a while, Warron. I’m glad tohear from you.”

“Well, I do apologize that it’s so late… I’vebeen busy reviewing a new case, and time ran away from me. I couldn’t miss the opportunity to wish mybig brother a happy birthday.”

“Ah, yes. I should’ve known,” Zimmer nodded and smiled while taking his coat offand reclining in his office chair with his hands clasped behind his head. “You never miss calling me on my birthday…even though I almost always replace an excuse to miss yours.”

“Excuse… is that what you call unraveling themysteries of the universe these days, Bro? How is the sleuthing going anyway?”

“Well, it’s been an exciting year, to be sure.”

“No kidding! You found your parallel Earth, and you’ve discovered something movingfaster than the speed of light! And now,I hear you’re working with NASA on a mission to the other Earth?”

The older Zimmer sighed audibly and paused,weighing his response to this question.

Warron probed, “At least I thought I heard abouta mission.”

“Oh, yes… you heard,” the astronomerconfirmed. “It’s just not going verywell at the moment.”

“You talking about those critics? It’s nonsense. The American people are behind you onthis. We all want to know about thisplace and you know how impatient we are when we want something. Nobody is going to stand for waiting an extrafive years, when we have the time to prepare now.”

“I only wish those guys were our biggest problemright now, but we have an even bigger problem at the moment—something that Idid not foresee, and which may scrap the entire effort altogether.”

“I’m sure it’s nothing you won’t be able tosolve,” Warron encouraged. “You’vesolved all sorts of tough scientific challenges in your life.”

“No, this time it’s out of my hands. I was in a meeting with NASA earlier thisweek. Turns out we can’t replace anyastronauts who are willing to take the job. None… not one. And for thismission to succeed, we need two.”

“You gotta be kidding? This must be the most exciting mission in thehistory of space exploration. Talk aboutmaking a name for yourself. I mean, westill read about that Ned Armstrong guy who was the first to land on theMoon. Imagine how famous the guy will bewho first lands on Earth2?”

Zimmer corrected quickly, “Neil!”

“What?” asked Warron in a state of confusedmisunderstanding. “Can’t I just sit?”

“No,” Zimmer rolled his eyes. “I didn’t mean for you to kneel. I was referring to Neil Armstrong, who wasthe first man to walk on the Moon.”

In his career as well as in personalconversations, the successful defense attorney was not one to be allowed to getoff onto irrelevant tangents. “Oh yeah,right… but you get the idea, Carl. Thethrill of the adventure. Going somewherenobody has ever been before. The fame. Maybe you should increase the salary?”

“It’s already at twenty-five million, Warron,”the professor answered flatly, and then heard a startled whisper on the otherend.

“So, what’s the problem, Carl? I just can’t believe you’re not getting anybites.”

“It’s actually very easy to understand. You travel through space at over 25000 timesthe speed of light for more than a year, hoping that the speed of light won’tadversely affect you physically. Then,you stay on a foreign planet for six and a half years waiting to hitch a rideon the next lap of the comet. What ifthey get there and replace that humans aren’t exactly friendly to them? What if they land in a Jurassic era ofdinosaurs excited to feed off of an exotic meal? And if you’ve actually managed to surviveEarth2 this long, then you have to hope that NASA didn’t botch one of thecoordinates or round off any of their math to the wrong decimal place whiletrying to rendezvous with a massive object that it hurtling towards you at apace that is faster than anything you could conceive. What if you get flung off of the cometprematurely on your return home, and you get stuck in the vastness of spacewith no hope of return to either Earth.

“Remember, also that all of this will take 13years away from your personal life. Thatalone will take out every family man on the planet, but it is also asignificant reason for rejection among bachelors as well, who view this time intheir lives as significant for settling into family life or the pursuit of anyother personal activity. The 23-yearolds out there have a hard time coming to grasp with the fact that they’ll begone until they’re 36. Would you want togive up your twenties for a likely suicide mission?

“Well, if you put it that way…” Warron’s voice trailed off in a tone ofdefeat and discouragement—not only out of empathy for his brother, but also outof disappointment for his own curiosity. Everybody wanted to know what—or moreimportantly—who was on this other earth.

“Basically, we have conflicting requirements inthe person that can fill the job. Weneed somebody who is intelligent enough to understand the science andengineering of the mission, and yet stupid enough to not figure out that we’reasking 13 years of their lives for a suicide mission, or somebody who hasabsolutely nothing to lose.”

There was a long pause in the conversation atthis point. After looking at his watch,Zimmer broke the silence. “Did you fallasleep on me during that explanation, Warron? It is getting awfully late there in Atlanta.”

“Um… no, actually I was just… thinking aboutsomething.”

“What’s that?” the elder Zimmer asked.

“Oh, sorry… it’s nothing… ludicrous really… butthen again…”

“Go ahead.”

“It’s just something you said that made methink… You said you need ‘somebody whohas absolutely nothing to lose’, right?”

“That’s right,” Zimmer said with full, albeitreserved, attention.

“It’s going to sound crazy, Carl, but I might beable to help you out.”