Marina Lostetter – Noumenon (страница 1)
Harper
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Copyright © Little Lost Stories 2017
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Source ISBN: 9780008223359
Ebook Edition © July 2017 ISBN: 9780008223373
Version: 2018-05-09
For everyone working toward a better tomorrow and a more hopeful today. Thank you.
And for Alex: my love, my laughter,
my light in all dark places.
Contents
1. Reggie: A King of Infinite Space
2. Margarita: Inside Taro’s Box
4. I.C.C.: Look Now How the Mortals Blame
5. Reginald: A Tell-Tale Pulse
6. I.C.C.: Because it is Breaking
9. Esper: Return Through the Wardrobe
Epilogue: I.C.C.: Old Salts and New Songs
REGGIE: A KING OF INFINITE SPACE
APRIL 14, T MINUS 37 YEARS TO LAUNCH DAY (LD)
2088 COMMON ERA (CE)
The Planet United Consortium was formed in order to pursue Earth-wide interests in deep space. Each Planet United Mission is designed to further humanity’s joint scientific understanding, its reach beyond the home planet, and to ensure the longevity of planet-wide cooperation …
The hot stage lights made Reggie’s forehead break out in beads of sweat. He could barely hear the professor from Berkeley even though she was only three seats away. She sounded like she was broadcasting from the surface of Mars.
Mars—wouldn’t that be a nice alternative to where he was now? It was quiet on Mars. Deserted. No cameras and no horde of scientists, reporters, and politicians ready to hang on his every word.
“It’s your discovery, you give the presentation,” Professor McCloud had said back in his study. From behind his mahogany desk he’d stared at Reggie like a mad dog, ready to bite if he didn’t get his way.
Of all the professors in the world, Reggie had to get the only one who wasn’t eager to slap his name all over a graduate student’s research. “Sir, defending my thesis is one thing, but this … I don’t know if I can.”
“Of course you can.” McCloud coughed heavily into his handkerchief, his thick white sideburns jumping with his jawline. “They’re just people, for cripes sake. If you can stand a bunch of crusty old intellectuals judging you on every
“But—”
“See! Besides, the discovery has been validated. So they’re not going to make fun of you. They’re not even going to be there
“The professors’ point is valid,” chimed in an electronic voice from Reggie’s pocket. He pulled out his phone. The Intelligent Personal Assistant’s icon was blinking—he’d set it to interject-mode. “In the past twenty-five years, projects requiring similar screening before financing have been seventy-eight percent more likely to succeed when the original researchers have presented their findings directly. Third party involvement—”
“Thanks, C.” Reggie turned the phone off and gave the professor a glare.
Ten minutes later, he’d reluctantly agreed.
Oh, but how he wished now, as he stood in front of this crowd, that he’d told Dr. McCloud and the computer both to shove it.
And there the professor sat, in the third row, nodding at every other syllable that came out of the presenter’s mouth. His focus momentarily shifted to Reggie, and he gave him a
He turned his attention back to the presentation. Had he heard right? Dark matter? Was the professor from Berkeley seriously suggesting they focus the long-range studies
But dark was sexy. Anything with a “dark” label: matter, energy, forces, etc. What was sexy about
This variable star, designation LQ Pyxidis, was unique. He had to make them see there was something special about it. He knew it was a great find waiting to be fully unveiled by an actual visit.
He just needed them to agree.
Reggie turned on his tablet and scrolled through his notes. As always, the simple, black-and-white snapshot the JWST 3 had taken of his star made him pause. It was easy to see how lopsided LQ Pyx was; energy spewed off to one side, the output orders of magnitude greater than the star’s opposite hemisphere. And the readings shifted consistently. Either the star rotated unusually slowly for having such a dramatic solar jet … or something was orbiting around it, obscuring the star’s normal output.