a number of other pilots, will be trained to operate those combat craft.â
âMight I ask to what end, sir?â
âTo the end that we hope youâll never have to fire a weapon in combat. We want to present a new and powerful weapon to keep either the Sinese or the Indians from attacking each other. Or us.â
And to make it clear that Noram is still a power to be respected. Tavoian didnât have to say that. He knew that was really what the colonel had in mind.
Â
12
D AEDALUS B ASE
8 A PRIL 2114
Alayna had been able to gather over almost eighty hoursâ worth of observational solar data over the first nine Earth days of the long lunar âdayâ ⦠and still she was finding nothing new among the scores and scores of multi-fractal mini-granulations. And youâre confining your observations to a narrow band of solar latitude. Still ⦠that doesnât mean somethingâs not there. With that thought, she shook her head. Lack of discovery could well mean that there was nothing. Except that no one has yet been able to probe beneath the upper surface of the photosphere, and thereâs a lot beneath that.
While she hadnât found anything yet, she did have Marcel set aside a special file of the single-element overlays he had created for her. There has to be something. Except she was well aware that there didnât have to be. All too many scientists throughout history had felt there had to be âsomething,â and more often than not, they didnât find it. Most of science was disproving, not proving or finding something new, a fact overlooked by most people, and especially by the media and politicians.
Sheâd put off answering Chrisâs latest message for several reasons, including the fact that sheâd been preoccupied with her own research, poring over the data and observations, looking for the smallest hint of something besides the patterns of granulation and mini-granulation that had been studied and restudied for more than a century and a half. But it seemed that nothing was there. Nothing was there â¦
For some reason an old rhyme came into her head.
Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasnât there.
He wasnât there again today.
I wish, I wish heâd go away.
Like it or not, one way or another, the data, the observational hints she was seeking, the clues, the whatever ⦠she and the solar array werenât finding them ⦠or not recognizing them, and she was having trouble dealing with that. She reminded herself that Percival Lowell had looked for Pluto for more than ten years, and after Lowellâs death Clyde Tombaugh had searched more than a year. And then seventy-six years after Tombaugh found it, and almost ten years after his death, the IAU decided he hadnât found a planet at all but just another KBO.
With a wry smile, she pushed the thoughts about her project away. She needed to do something else for at least a little while, and she did owe Chris a reply. Owe? She did owe him, but sheâd found that she liked messaging him, and she also liked that she could think about what she said before sending those thoughts off. It also didnât hurt that heâd given her hints about the Noram inspectors, either.
Chrisâ
I hope this reaches you without too much delay, and that your new assignment is something youâll be looking forward to. If itâs not, you do have my condolences, and even a trace of sympathy.
She wasnât about to say what else she thought, that heâd likely have a job with the Space Service or DOEA as long as he wanted it, unlike her. Alayna was well aware that finding a job in her field, even after a stint at COFAR, was going to be extraordinarily difficult, even if she had discovered a comet, if it even turned out to be one. More likely it was an ancient burned-out relic. That might explain the silicon. But what about the silver?
She shook
âMight I ask to what end, sir?â
âTo the end that we hope youâll never have to fire a weapon in combat. We want to present a new and powerful weapon to keep either the Sinese or the Indians from attacking each other. Or us.â
And to make it clear that Noram is still a power to be respected. Tavoian didnât have to say that. He knew that was really what the colonel had in mind.
Â
12
D AEDALUS B ASE
8 A PRIL 2114
Alayna had been able to gather over almost eighty hoursâ worth of observational solar data over the first nine Earth days of the long lunar âdayâ ⦠and still she was finding nothing new among the scores and scores of multi-fractal mini-granulations. And youâre confining your observations to a narrow band of solar latitude. Still ⦠that doesnât mean somethingâs not there. With that thought, she shook her head. Lack of discovery could well mean that there was nothing. Except that no one has yet been able to probe beneath the upper surface of the photosphere, and thereâs a lot beneath that.
While she hadnât found anything yet, she did have Marcel set aside a special file of the single-element overlays he had created for her. There has to be something. Except she was well aware that there didnât have to be. All too many scientists throughout history had felt there had to be âsomething,â and more often than not, they didnât find it. Most of science was disproving, not proving or finding something new, a fact overlooked by most people, and especially by the media and politicians.
Sheâd put off answering Chrisâs latest message for several reasons, including the fact that sheâd been preoccupied with her own research, poring over the data and observations, looking for the smallest hint of something besides the patterns of granulation and mini-granulation that had been studied and restudied for more than a century and a half. But it seemed that nothing was there. Nothing was there â¦
For some reason an old rhyme came into her head.
Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasnât there.
He wasnât there again today.
I wish, I wish heâd go away.
Like it or not, one way or another, the data, the observational hints she was seeking, the clues, the whatever ⦠she and the solar array werenât finding them ⦠or not recognizing them, and she was having trouble dealing with that. She reminded herself that Percival Lowell had looked for Pluto for more than ten years, and after Lowellâs death Clyde Tombaugh had searched more than a year. And then seventy-six years after Tombaugh found it, and almost ten years after his death, the IAU decided he hadnât found a planet at all but just another KBO.
With a wry smile, she pushed the thoughts about her project away. She needed to do something else for at least a little while, and she did owe Chris a reply. Owe? She did owe him, but sheâd found that she liked messaging him, and she also liked that she could think about what she said before sending those thoughts off. It also didnât hurt that heâd given her hints about the Noram inspectors, either.
Chrisâ
I hope this reaches you without too much delay, and that your new assignment is something youâll be looking forward to. If itâs not, you do have my condolences, and even a trace of sympathy.
She wasnât about to say what else she thought, that heâd likely have a job with the Space Service or DOEA as long as he wanted it, unlike her. Alayna was well aware that finding a job in her field, even after a stint at COFAR, was going to be extraordinarily difficult, even if she had discovered a comet, if it even turned out to be one. More likely it was an ancient burned-out relic. That might explain the silicon. But what about the silver?
She shook
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