“ 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 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 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 politicians, 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 research 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 dragged the image of the research 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 led 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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