was looking forward to gathering enough evidence to write a rebuttal article to this author's sensationalistic piece.
"You know a lot about asteroids and comets and such?" Armour asked.
"Yeah, you could say that. Being a middle school science teacher only necessitates me to know the difference between a star and a planet, but I still like to think I keep up on most of the major happenings in space. I read a lot, so that helps."
"What about black holes? Do you know much about them?"
Earl began to recite what he knew about black holes and his highly-detailed explanation made Armour think the man sounded more like a college astronomy professor than a middle school science teacher.
"What do you think would happen if something were to fly into a black hole?" Armour asked.
"It would collapse upon itself and eventually disappear. At least that's what the popular belief is," Earl said. He could not believe Jimmy Armour, the Jimmy Armour , was actually talking to him, asking him all kinds of questions about what he knew about space.
"Well what if something, let's say something like a big comet, were to fly close to a black hole. Not especially into the center, but try to pass near the outskirts of it."
"Hmmm," Earl said, thinking about this option for a few extra seconds, desperate to give the correct answer. If he gave the wrong answer, Jimmy Armour might think he was dumb and that would destroy every reason he ever wanted to get into science, especially astronomy. It would be like a minor-league baseball player striking out when Babe Ruth had come to watch him.
"I would think that either one of two things would happen. First, if the black hole was big enough, its gravitational pull would be too much for the comet to overcome, and I think it would pull it right in. But if the black hole wasn't big enough, or if the comet was moving very quickly and was far away enough from the hole’s center, it might be able to break free from the gravitational pull. It would probably sling off like a rock skipping over water."
"A comet can be thrown off its regular course if this happened?"
Earl noticed the concerned looked on Armour's face and automatically worried that he had said the wrong thing. It was too late to go back and change his answer now, though.
"Yes, I would think it could," he said, not so confidently.
"Have you ever heard of a Comet Kliment? K-L-I-M-E-N-T."
"K-L-I? I've never heard of that. But I've heard of C-L-E, Clement. One of the bigger ones, discovered about five or six years ago. Why do you ask?"
"I'm not too sure about the significance of what I'm about to tell you, but from this point on, anything we discuss is purely confidential. Can I trust you with that?"
Armour wasn’t so sure he should say anything more to this strange little man and Ackerman wasn’t so sure he wanted to be trusted with anything confidential. But the situation had brought the two men together and both figured it was some sort of fate.
"Sure."
Armour went on to tell him about the Russian information project and about how this strange report came across his desk. He took the report out of the folder and read it, saying how the spelling of Clement was probably different in the Russian language.
"So you think this really happened then? A comet really escaped from a black hole?" Earl asked, shocked that somebody might have actually witnessed such a rare space event.
"I don't see why somebody would lie in this report. I just wonder why it wasn't announced in the astronomical community. I would have thought an event like this would be important enough to garner some sort of attention from astronomers around the world."
"Maybe it isn't true, then."
"That's where I was hoping you would be able to help me out. I realize you're busy with your asteroid belt project here, but the fact that you know so much about this subject really makes you the ideal person to help me out."
Earl could not turn down a personal request from Jimmy Armour,
"You know a lot about asteroids and comets and such?" Armour asked.
"Yeah, you could say that. Being a middle school science teacher only necessitates me to know the difference between a star and a planet, but I still like to think I keep up on most of the major happenings in space. I read a lot, so that helps."
"What about black holes? Do you know much about them?"
Earl began to recite what he knew about black holes and his highly-detailed explanation made Armour think the man sounded more like a college astronomy professor than a middle school science teacher.
"What do you think would happen if something were to fly into a black hole?" Armour asked.
"It would collapse upon itself and eventually disappear. At least that's what the popular belief is," Earl said. He could not believe Jimmy Armour, the Jimmy Armour , was actually talking to him, asking him all kinds of questions about what he knew about space.
"Well what if something, let's say something like a big comet, were to fly close to a black hole. Not especially into the center, but try to pass near the outskirts of it."
"Hmmm," Earl said, thinking about this option for a few extra seconds, desperate to give the correct answer. If he gave the wrong answer, Jimmy Armour might think he was dumb and that would destroy every reason he ever wanted to get into science, especially astronomy. It would be like a minor-league baseball player striking out when Babe Ruth had come to watch him.
"I would think that either one of two things would happen. First, if the black hole was big enough, its gravitational pull would be too much for the comet to overcome, and I think it would pull it right in. But if the black hole wasn't big enough, or if the comet was moving very quickly and was far away enough from the hole’s center, it might be able to break free from the gravitational pull. It would probably sling off like a rock skipping over water."
"A comet can be thrown off its regular course if this happened?"
Earl noticed the concerned looked on Armour's face and automatically worried that he had said the wrong thing. It was too late to go back and change his answer now, though.
"Yes, I would think it could," he said, not so confidently.
"Have you ever heard of a Comet Kliment? K-L-I-M-E-N-T."
"K-L-I? I've never heard of that. But I've heard of C-L-E, Clement. One of the bigger ones, discovered about five or six years ago. Why do you ask?"
"I'm not too sure about the significance of what I'm about to tell you, but from this point on, anything we discuss is purely confidential. Can I trust you with that?"
Armour wasn’t so sure he should say anything more to this strange little man and Ackerman wasn’t so sure he wanted to be trusted with anything confidential. But the situation had brought the two men together and both figured it was some sort of fate.
"Sure."
Armour went on to tell him about the Russian information project and about how this strange report came across his desk. He took the report out of the folder and read it, saying how the spelling of Clement was probably different in the Russian language.
"So you think this really happened then? A comet really escaped from a black hole?" Earl asked, shocked that somebody might have actually witnessed such a rare space event.
"I don't see why somebody would lie in this report. I just wonder why it wasn't announced in the astronomical community. I would have thought an event like this would be important enough to garner some sort of attention from astronomers around the world."
"Maybe it isn't true, then."
"That's where I was hoping you would be able to help me out. I realize you're busy with your asteroid belt project here, but the fact that you know so much about this subject really makes you the ideal person to help me out."
Earl could not turn down a personal request from Jimmy Armour,
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