December 7
It wasn't a hangover, fortunately, but his mouth was dry and his head felt like it was full of cotton. Of course he had to be the first speaker, 9:00 sharp. He took another drink of water and advanced to the next slide.
"This is a typical deuterium tritium reaction under plasma conditions. You can see the Shroedinger equations at the bottom of the page. On the next slide we'll see how this changes with the introduction of muons."
He paused to let the information sink in, and Julie groaned inside. Quantum mechanics was not her forte. Why do particles have to act like waves anyways? But almost half of the 20 participants were nodding their ascent, so she just sat back and let it wash over her.
John stepped through several more slides, describing various fusion reactions with and without muons. Each included a description, a powerpoint drawing, and the corresponding quantum mechanical equations. Julie understood the essence of each slide, as long as she didn't have to verify the math. Finally John was ready to wrap up his presentation.
"Each fusion reaction responds to foreign subatomic particles in a unique way. With modern accelerators, we're just beginning to explore this field. We may, for instance, find that k-pions make the simplest reaction, H+H = D, practical, using today's generators. We simply don't know, and we're anxious to find out."
"He did a nice job." thought Julie to herself. "You'd never know he stumbled out of bed at 8:25."
After a round of questions and a ten minute break, Julie took center stage. She described the construction of the accelerator, and the injection of the particles into the mix.
"Purity is the key. Stray air molecules will contaminate the plasma, bringing the reaction to a halt. Even if your vacuum is perfect, you have to worry about sublimation from the components. One day we had trouble with silicon from an overheated sensor."
Julie's presentation was clear and well received. The group was eager to know more, and there were questions from every corner of the room. The last question came from one of the Canadians.
"We can come down to see your facilities in person?"
Canadian grammar was a bit odd that way. The question and the statement are worded the same; you have to listen for the raised voice at the end.
"Sure." Julie flashed her disarming smile. "I'll show you around personally."
After lunch The Russians described advances in magnetic confinement, and the Canadians presented new fabrication techniques for superconducting wire. Finally Paul Christenson rose to give his talk, which was entitled, "The Fate of the Earth."
A few introductory slides served as a review. A fleet of 1,000 asteroids looped between Earth and Jupiter, raising the orbit of the former at the expense of the latter. Of course Jupiter was so much heavier, it could fling the Earth out of the solar system with only a modest change in its orbit. That was the theory, but the momentum wasn't transferring fast enough. The program was behind schedule, and the sun wouldn't wait.
"We either need more asteroids or we need something larger. That logic is inescapable." He paused, and everyone in the room nodded. "Then I remembered the moon. We left it behind, but it's still circling the sun, waiting to be used. It can act like one giant asteroid, giving the Earth a big tug every time it swings by."
One of the Russians was about to speak, but Paul motioned him away and continued. "I know what you're thinking; you're worried about the tides. I've done some calculations on that." He moved to the next slide, which showed an exaggerated bulge in the Earth as the moon sailed by. "We need to remember that most of the tides will occur at the equator, which is uninhabited. The oceans will sweep halfway across the continents, but we don't really care. Now in the northern hemisphere..." he moved to the next slide, with the north pole at the center and countries all around. "We are protected by the vast areas of Asia and North America. Waves will spread across China, but they shouldn't reach Mongolia. Everyone in Russia should be safe. The same goes for the Canadians. Unfortunately Antarctica is not as well protected."
He moved to the next slide, showing the southern hemisphere with Antarctica in the center. "Even modest waves will threaten the coastal cities. So I had to move the moon out a bit, approximately 50,000 miles. This will give the Earth a substantial boost, without severe tides at the poles. Of course the moon has to pass by the equator, in front of the path of the Earth, so we can only do this during summer or winter."
The next slide showed a fusion reactor stationed on the moon. "Energy is the key. The moon has to drive itself around the solar system, and it needs lots of energy. We've installed mini fusion reactors on asteroids, so they can adjust their orbits as they scoot past the planets, but we're going to need a full scale power station to steer the moon. And yes, there's plenty of room to build adjunct particle accelerators if that will improve the efficiency of the reactor."
"Here you see the biodomes. Three people will be on site to maintain the system, and we'll rotate crews every time the moon gets within 3 million miles of Earth."
Paul, if I may," John interrupted, "I know you're the expert in this, but I just don't think the moon is going to loop by the Earth every so many years like clockwork. Some of the longer shifts could be 20 or 30 years, and I don't know anyone who wants to spend 30 years in a biodome on the moon."
"Yes, that is a problem, and I consider these biodomes a last resort. I would rather maintain the power station with robots, if we can."
"That rules out the accelerator." chuckled Julie. "We can barely keep that thing running for more than 3 days at a stretch."
"The moon is too massive." said Mr. Yarski flatly. "Nobody in this room is an expert in rocket engines, but you'd need a lot of thrust, and an engine that big is unprecedented. It's going to break down more often than the fusion generators. And when it does, we won't be able to deflect the moon from here, as we have done with runaway asteroids. And if the moon hits the Earth, or even comes close, we're done for. Now if you use the asteroids to move the moon, all proven technology, then use the moon to move the Earth, that might work."
The room fell silent while everyone considered this plan. In 20 different brains, asteroids danced around the moon and moved it just enough to swing by the Earth and pull it forward, then more asteroids skimmed by the moon so that it was on course for Jupiter, where the cycle begins anew. John was the first to speak.
"No, I don't think so. Whether by engines or by asteroids, it takes too long to move the moon." He built an analog model of orbital mechanics in his head, and it was surprisingly accurate. "The moon is going to be sluggish, like steering an air craft carrier with your hand. You'll make small adjustments only, and that means you have to wait for perfect alinements, which are rare. I'll bet we only get one good gravity assist every ten thousand years. and then it has to be during certain seasons, and not too close, because of the tides, and so on."
He paused for a moment while his mind took the next step. "But you know, I think you've got the right idea." Everyone was silent, including Christenson. "There are dozens of small moons around Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. They are smaller than our moon, yet thousands of times larger than the asteroids we've been using. Take Amalthia for instance. It is only one tenth the mass of our moon, and if that's still too heavy, there's Himalia, which has 1 ten thousandth the mass of the moon. Lots of moons to choose from; I'm sure we can make it work."
The room was quiet for another minute, then Christenson went to the blackboard and started writing. "Let's say we use a moon weighing 10 to the 17th pounds." he began. "Do we think such a moon could steer itself with on board engines, or should we use smaller asteroids to steer the moon?"
Julie joined him at the blackboard and together they calculated thrust and energy requirements. In the meantime John and Mr. Yarski moved to another blackboard to calculate the tides and perturbations from some of the lesser moons. the other participants took notes, asked questions, and moved between the two boards, offering their advice.
"You still need the moon for the Earth Jupiter interchange?" asked Mrs. Bartlet from Canada.
"Yes I think we will." replied Paul. "That's why I considered the moon in the first place. We need to make some big changes in Earth's orbit, in a short period of time, to move it past Jupiter, and the moon is the only plausible mechanism. But we can use the smaller moons to ferry the Earth along. It looks like we're going to have to use every tool at our disposal."
The impromptu discussions and calculations continued for another hour, until the moderator was forced to intervene.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please, I need your attention for just a moment." Lively conversations faded into polite murmurs. "I realize that you are literally trying to save the world, but the hotel doesn't understand that, and they have this room booked at 5:00 for an executive dinner party, so we need to vacate. If you like you can regroup somewhere else, or, Paul, if you think you have enough information, we'll leave the details to you." Suits and ties were already gathering at the door, waiting for the underdressed scientists to leave. "This has been very productive from beginning to end." continued the moderator. "Please have a safe trip home, especially you international travelers."
The twenty conferees gathered up their papers and notebooks and wandered out into the lobby as the suits and ties filtered in. The two groups barely spoke as they passed through each other, except for Julie, who was a very social animal. She greeted several executives on the way in, and they seemed quite surprised, though they gave the proper response. When all the scientists were out in the lobby Julie took an informal survey and found that most of them had evening flights. Mr. Yarski and Miss Caddish were staying another night, so she asked if they were free for dinner.
"Do you have a good restaurant in mind?" asked Miss Caddish, her notebook under one arm.
Julie pointed to the far side of the lobby, to the restaurant that she had patronized the night before. John nodded in agreement. "It's wonderful; you'll love the food."
"Let's go." said Mr. Yarski. "You can really work up an appetite saving the world." They crossed the lobby, entered the restaurant, and found a table for four. John decided to order off the menu; he had had enough of standing for one day. "I've never had lamb chops before." he mused.
"Oh they're quite good." said Miss Caddish. "We eat them in Scandinavia all the time." The arctic ocean moderated the climate, and northern Europe was lush with green pastures, replete with cows, sheep, goats, deer, and even gazelle. "Goat stew is quite nice too, but they don't have that here."
John began to think that Antarctica was about the dullest place on Earth to live. If he didn't have his sights on Mars, he'd apply for an international transfer. Countries weren't fond of immigration, but in his case they might make an exception.
By the time their meals arrived, the conversation had returned to moons, asteroids, and the Jupiter interchange. "You realize," said Mr. Yarski, "that we'll have to use Jupiter itself to fling Earth past the orbit of Jupiter. That's key. The moons can get Earth in position for a rendezvous, but Jupiter has to do most of the work."
"Again," said Julie, "we have to worry about the tides. We can't get too close. Fortunately Jupiter is big, so we can get a pretty good sling, even from a distance."
Miss Caddish took a long drink from her ice tea, then chimed in. "You realize that the last push is the tricky part. We can use Jupiter to raise the top of Earth's orbit, like a long ellipse, but the lowest point of the orbit will always be below Jupiter, and that means the two planets will always cross paths, until something from above pulls the bottom of Earth's orbit up. Jupiter can't do that; it has to come from above, and Saturn's still too far away."
"I guess we never thought of that," said John, "but I'm sure Paul is aware of that problem."
"I think we'll have to move the moon past Jupiter first," suggested Julie, "where it can be used to circularize Earth's orbit." She picked up another butterfly shrimp and dipped it in cocktail sauce. "And yes, I'm sure Paul has thought this through. That's why he is anxious to use the moon. There really isn't any other way to raise perihelion past Jupiter, quickly, before the two planets have a chance to collide."
"And we'll carry the moon along to pull us passed Saturn and Uranus in the same fashion." concluded Mr. Yarski.
They talked for over an hour, until the waitress started looking askance at their unproductive table. Julie took the bill and pulled out her corporate card, but John put his hand on hers. "If you try to expense this entire meal the micromanagers in accounting, with half your IQ, will have you're head. They'll make you pay at least half, so don't treat these people unless you really want to treat these people, personally."
"Thank you Julie," said Mr. Yarski, "but we're all here on business, and I think we have enough math skills between us to split the bill. I'll give the waitress a big tip for her inconvenience."
John and Julie said goodbye to their two colleagues, then went back up to the embassy suite. "I don't have enough energy for chess or Go." declared John. "I vote for a movie, and then bed. We've got an early flight tomorrow."
"sounds good to me." Julie activated the big screen tv and touched the movie icon. There were literally millions of movies to choose from, and at any given time, the public only new a few hundred, the ones released in the past century, and a few of the classics. The computer presented the recent movies first, assuming you weren't interested in, or didn't know about, an academy award winner 350 million years in the past. But Julie asked for a reverse sort, starting at the beginning. "I'd like to see something with snow in it." she said. "Long ago when the sky was bright blue, and it was so cold in the winter that ice crystals fell from the sky. Have you ever seen that?" she asked, turning to John.
"Sure," said John, "in a documentary on the history channel."
"I think it would be more interesting, and more real, if it were woven into a story." She skipped past the silent movies and looked through some of the early talkies. "I think I've actually heard of this one." she announced. "White Christmas, with Bing Crosby. I don't know anything about it, but I think the white refers to snow. Of course the movie was made in the northern hemisphere, so Christmas marked the winter solstice. I think they really wanted snow on that day. Shall we give it a go?"
"Sure." said John, stretching out on his bed.
Julie started the movie and arranged the pillows on her bed. "Have you ever been cold?" she asked.
"No, I don't think so."
"I was cold once. My uncle runs a food distribution center, and one day we were visiting his warehouse. I got locked in the freezer by accident for over an hour." She paused to look up at the movie, then turned back to John. "We're hot most of the time, so you'd think cold would be a good feeling, but you know, it was horrible. We humans have to be just the right temperature, or we're miserable."
John merely nodded as he watched the movie.
"I've had dreams about that freezer several times, but I never really felt cold in the dream. I was afraid, and I saw the ice on the walls, and I knew it was cold at an intellectual level, but I didn't feel the cold. Never felt hot in a dream either, unless it was actually hot in my bedroom. I don't think we can imagine temperature, so it isn't part of our dreams, not the feeling of it anyways."
"This was a big song in its day, wasn't it?" John didn't mean to change the subject, but Bing was singing the title track.
"Yes I think it was." said Julie. They stopped to listen, and Irving Berlin's simple melody was permanently etched into two more brains.
"I didn't see much snow." said John when the movie was over. "A couple of scenes, and that was it."
"Yeah, it was almost all studio shots. Singing and dancing and the like. Well, if I ever find a movie about life in a snowy world, I'll let you know."
"Why don't you put on something else, and I'll do my best to fall asleep." suggested John, as he climbed under the covers. Julie called up recent movies, and selected It Came from Alpha Centauri, a low budget sci fi movie that was sure to lose their interest. She turned down the volume, got undressed, and started to untie her hair. "I'm going to take a shower and wash my hair. That can be a project in itself, so you may as well watch the movie or go to sleep." John really wanted to join her in the shower and help her with this "project". He would scrub her head, then work the lather through her hair, all the way down her back. After the shower they would lie together in bed, and he would steal a kiss. Just one kiss. But John knew better. Once that freight train got started there would be no stopping it, and his marriage would be crushed under its wheels. He took a bottle of wine from the fridge, drank two glasses, and fell asleep.
When Julie came out of the shower, John was snoring, and blue monsters with many tentacles were ravaging Moscow. She turned off the movie and went to bed. Morning would come soon enough.