“Miss, I have something for you.” Jacob
took out a letter from his drawers and handed it to Susana.
“What is it?”
“A letter from
Ethan. He ordered you to go to Sagittarius A, as you are the one of the
youngest cosmologists in the whole country.”
“But there is a gigantic black hole! It’s too
dangerous!”
“That’s why he wanted you to go.” He took another slip
of tea and interrupted her. “You are powerful and knowledgeable. That’s what he
likes most.”
“I can’t.” She stared at the president of the
Astronomy and Exploration Association.
“I don’t care whether you can or cannot. Nor does he.
You just have to go.”
Susana sighed. She read the letter for another time.
“How long does his plan lasts? I don’t want to waste all my life there.”
“Oh, you won’t. But it takes about a year. There you
will work with others to find the black hole in Sagittarius A*. You have to
calculate the area it influences.”
“Why is that?”
“It’s OK to tell you. Ethan and the whole government
are planning to use the area in the center part of the Milky Way. They have to
build cities in safe areas, do they?”
“How long have you prepared?”
“Several years, since the Ethan was the president.”
Jacob answered with a mysterious smile. He started to pour a second cup of tea
for himself.
“Why are you starting now? Choosing this year?”
“Because Ethan wants to use them as places for a new
capital. There are lots of old and powerful nobilities in the old capital. They
control almost everything. And the presidents are usually nobilities.”
“But Ethan isn’t a nobility.”
“That’s why he wants to change that.”
Susana looked into the clear tea. She stared at her
face and thought for a long time. Ethan and Susana were friends since they were
little, she knew a lot about him. She knew that there must be something much
more important than nobilities to make Ethan make such a decision.
“Sir, why doesn’t he move the capital to the edge of
the Milky Way? It is much safer than here.”
“Miss, I have nothing to tell you. It is his own
decision, no one knows except himself and the state council.” He pressed a
button on the desk, and a map of the Milky Way appeared. He magnifies the map
and pointed to a dark red area in the center. “This is where you are going.
That place is full of old fixed stars, they are expanding quickly. But the
giant black hole in Sagittarius A is the most dangerous object. During your
experiment, you are going to avoid getting too close to the black hole. You
will use a radio telescope to observe its moving range. Despite of that, you
are also going to find systems that are suitable for living.”
“What about aliens?”
“There is not going to be any aliens. All of them were
killed thousands of years ago. Now, there is only human in the Milky Way. Don’t
you know that?” He added a cube of sugar into his tea and frowned at Susana.
“I don’t study about aliens, my major is cosmology.”
She smiled at Jacob.
“OK, that’s it. I’ve told you everything you need to
know. Other information can be found in your letter. Please prepare for your
journey, you’ll be leaving in two months.” He looked at his watch and pulled
out the tea bag from his cup and dropped it on a plate.
“Oh, goodbye sir.” She placed her cup back on the
table and stood up. They shook their hands as usual. Jacob opened the door for
Susana and she walked out.
Susana walked into a spaceship. The inside
of the spaceship was like a laboratory. The space was stuffed with scientific
equipment. She went past the living area which was just like a hotel and went
directly to the meeting room.
“Come, Miss Jones.” A man with a long
beard waved.
Susana came in and saw several politics,
scientists and strategists sitting in armchairs. The man passed a cup of tea to
her and sat up. “ Don’t be shy, come and sit. By the way, I am colonel Andrew
Wilson.” He patted at a seat beside him. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is Susana
Jones.”
“Nice to meet you.” Susana nodded at all
of them and took her seat.
“Miss Jones, I am here today to explain
our plan. The place we are going to is called Sagittarius A. The main problem
we are facing is the black hole, Sagittarius A * . It is as large as 400
million Suns and can tear everything within a second. Thousands of stars move
around Sagittarius A * every year but end up being eaten.” Said colonel Wilson.
He pressed his table twice and it showed an electric map of the center of the
Milky Way.
“This, is where Sagittarius exists.” He
pointed to a dark red area on the map. He then clicked his table and an oval
appeared on Sagittarius A *. “This, is the moving range of Sagittarius A * .
The most experienced scientists in the country calculated the number. But it
maybe totally wrong by then you approach Sagittarius A *, as the look we know
now is the look of it billions of years ago. But I hope that it has some uses.
Here are more pictures. They are all the moving range of this black hole. They
were tested by famous scientists for thousands of years. You may find some
rules of its moving range with the help of those findings.”
Susana watched Andrew searching for
researches their ancestors did. She placed both of her hands on her cup waiting
anxiously. She was excited to see the researches her ancestors did.
“Aha ! There!” The colonel drag the
immigrant of the researches to the middle of the electric table’s screen. All
the people in the room read it carefully. “They are quite accurate, at least
at that time. I have sent them to you already and you can study them at any
time.” Mr. Wilson smiled gently.
Susana looked down to her wrist and shook
it for a bit. The electric watch on her wrist suddenly opened. She looked for
new messages and found the pictures from colonel Wilson.
“All right, I think with the help of those
pieces of information, you can work out plans on your own. I don’t have enough
time to keep up the meeting. Meeting is over, everyone can go back to their
room now!” He looked at his watch and switched off his electric desk. He said
goodbye to everyone and watched them go away. He found Susana in the crowd and
patted her. “ Not you, Miss Jones. You aren’t leaving, I have got to tell you
something about this trip.” He lead Susana to his own room. They walked in and
he locked the door.
“This is top secret. Our president does
not want to tell you, but I think it is better to tell you.
“Sir?” A voice appeared behind the door.
“Come in.” The colonel said and watched
the person come in.
“Sir, I” “This is my assistant, Miss
Joan.” He pointed to him and smiled gently.
“Sir, I bring your documents.” He handed
in some papers.
“Ah, there. These are his own words.” He
said calmly and passed a newspaper to Susana.
Susana saw the people moving in the movies
on the newspapers. She heard saw Ethan sitting beside a long table with the
other leaders. She heard him announcing thoughtfully to the leaders, “ We have
to move our capital to the middle of the galaxy, as our own star of the system
we now live in is expanding. It may destroy the whole system in a thousand
years. We have to start now.”
“ How couldn’t I know it! The temperature
is rising and the star is growing. I’ve learnt all those in high school!”
“I think you understand, Miss.” Andrew
brushed his beard and sighed slightly. “ Our home is dying in a thousand years.
We need your help.”
“ Well, I accept. I must, though.” Susana
shrugged and showed a determined expression.
Astrid
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