The president stood with his back towards the doorway when Mr Jonathan, director of NASA entered, looking out the windows of the oval office. Black pants, white shirt, the blazer casually thrown over the back of the chair behind the presidential desk.
“Please enter Mr Jonathan”, the president said.
“Thank you Mr President, I’m very pleased …”.
“Please have a seat, I will be with you shortly”, he interrupted still standing by the window.
Mr Jonathan, the director of NASA took his seat in one of the classic sofas. It was actually his first time in the oval office, though he had had the pleasure of meeting the president on numerous occasions before. The president came over and sat on a seat beside him.
“I’m pleased to see you again Mr Jonathan”.
“So am I sir”, Mr Jonathan replied.
“Now”, the president continued, “please inform me on the current situation”.
“Well”, said Mr Jonathan, “It appears an unidentified object have put itself in orbit around Jupiter. It was, as you surely know by now, first observed by an American named Jacob who called a Mr Peter Schrim to get the observation confirmed and of course claimed. There where initially quite naturally some doubt about the sanity of the case, but none the less they checked it out some hours later at the Arecibo antenna in Puerto Rico, who in turn called the Europeans at the VLT in Chile to get a visual confirmation. Though they couldn’t find the light at VLT that Mr Jacob had claimed, there is at this moment no doubt of an active object emitting radio signals in the vicinity of Jupiter”. Mr Jonathan stopped.
“So”, the president said, “we just found out that we are not alone in our universe, an amateur astronomer sees a blue light engulfing Jupiter, he calls an observatory, they call their off shore friends and so forth, while I, the president, is the last man in the world to know.” A big smile filled the room as he pronounced the conclusion.
“It seems so Mr President. I’m a very sorry about that fact, however I my self was just recently noticed on the matter”. Mr Jonathan felt somewhat embarrassed. “And if I may, Sir, It is not established that the object is artificial”.
The president continued to smile. “But it is probable, isn’t it?”
“It is highly probable, Mr President. I can see no way about how it can be different”.
“And the signal in itself? Have we made anything out of it? Is it telling us something?”
“We are working on it Mr President, but so far it seems that the objects signal is just a large quantity of noise”. The director sighed slightly.
The president changed his position, putting one leg over the other.
“Ok, and then you tell me we have no resources available to go there?”
“Not as it is Mr President. Almost all of our budget and launch capability for the coming years is tied up the ongoing Mars flights”, Mr Jonathan said.
“The Europeans however, have a more favourable situation, and as we speak they are looking at possible plans for a manned mission to Jupiter”, he continued. “The decision hasn’t been made yet though”.
The president looked at Mr Jonathan. “Of course they will go Mr Jonathan, they would like nothing better than to beat us to it. But, aren’t they also in the midst of this Mars endeavour?”, the president replied.
“Oh yes, they are, very much so. In a way that’s the reason for them being able to send a ship Jupiters way. As we speak they are making plans to refit one of the scientific personnel vessels originally bound for Mars. The Koios”.
“The Koios? What is wrong with these people and their names”, the president laughed, “What does it mean Mr Jonathan?”
“Koios was one of the Greek titans Mr President. He was the son of Uranus and Gaia. That is Heaven and Earth. He was the Titan of wisdom. He was together with the rest of the titans overthrown by the Olympians led by Zeus. Or Jupiter as he is known in Roman times”.
“Well then”, said the president still smiling, “maybe it is a fitting name after all. So they will change their objective concerning Mars?”
“Not really, they are building several new shuttles bound for Mars. The one mentioned wasn’t to be launched for some time, there is apparently as I understand it enough time to replace it with a new craft”.
The president hesitated.
“So they will beat us to the greatest adventure of all time? They will send a man to Jupiter before us?”, the president became serious.
“Well sir”, Mr Jonathan continued, “up until a few days ago, the two ships now closing in on Mars was without doubt the greatest adventure of all time, sir. And in fact it took us quite some time and diplomatic skill to get us the larger part of the seats in those two flights just for that reason. It could only be solved by giving them most of the seats in the following cargo and scientific flights. One of which they now are refitting. So, Mr President, yes it looks like they are going to Jupiter, and we in fact are not.”
“How many are they sending?”, the president asked.
“Sir?”, Mr Jonathan didn’t got the question.
“How many men, Mr Jonathan?”
“The scientific shuttles designed for the Mars project carry three people. I would be surprised if they can change that in such a short time”, Mr Jonathan replied.
“Can we get a man of ours aboard?”
Mr Jonathan hesitated on the answer.
“With just three seats, they will certainly not be happy about us even asking”.
“Don’t we have one or two rides to collect at ESA if we want?”
“Not really Mr President, if you remember Mr President, we somewhat screwed them on the unmanned Venus missions a few years ago. I don’t think we have any more goodwill we can collect. Not if you take the Mars project in count”. The director of NASA was certain of this fact. The relations with ESA was rather strained, though not full blown hostile. After all Nasa and ESA were going hand in hand to Mars, just to beat the Chinese.
The President stood up and went to his desk.
“Well Mr Jonathan”, he said, “I guess I’ll be the one to have to call in some favours then. Start selecting your man Mr Jonathan, and set him on a plane to Europe. There must be an American on that flight. Get it done.”
“In fact, sir”, Mr Jonathan replied, “I think it will be a woman.”
“A woman aye?”
“Yes”.
“Very well then”, the president said, “my staff will follow you to your car”.
Mr Jonathan headed for the door when the president shortly hindered him.
“By the way Mr Jonathan”.
“Yes sir?”
“Who are they sending, the Europeans?”
“I don’t know their names yet, sir, but if they send the ones I think, it is a German and a French together with a Swedish astronaut”.
“A Swedish astronaut?”, the president smiled, “I guess there is a first time for everything”.
“In fact Mr President, if I remember correctly it is, at least, their second one”.
“Oh … well”. The president fell silent. “Anyway, it is probably him that they’ll pull out of the seat”.
“Probably so”, thought Mr Jonathan as he left the presidents oval office.
“Please enter Mr Jonathan”, the president said.
“Thank you Mr President, I’m very pleased …”.
“Please have a seat, I will be with you shortly”, he interrupted still standing by the window.
Mr Jonathan, the director of NASA took his seat in one of the classic sofas. It was actually his first time in the oval office, though he had had the pleasure of meeting the president on numerous occasions before. The president came over and sat on a seat beside him.
“I’m pleased to see you again Mr Jonathan”.
“So am I sir”, Mr Jonathan replied.
“Now”, the president continued, “please inform me on the current situation”.
“Well”, said Mr Jonathan, “It appears an unidentified object have put itself in orbit around Jupiter. It was, as you surely know by now, first observed by an American named Jacob who called a Mr Peter Schrim to get the observation confirmed and of course claimed. There where initially quite naturally some doubt about the sanity of the case, but none the less they checked it out some hours later at the Arecibo antenna in Puerto Rico, who in turn called the Europeans at the VLT in Chile to get a visual confirmation. Though they couldn’t find the light at VLT that Mr Jacob had claimed, there is at this moment no doubt of an active object emitting radio signals in the vicinity of Jupiter”. Mr Jonathan stopped.
“So”, the president said, “we just found out that we are not alone in our universe, an amateur astronomer sees a blue light engulfing Jupiter, he calls an observatory, they call their off shore friends and so forth, while I, the president, is the last man in the world to know.” A big smile filled the room as he pronounced the conclusion.
“It seems so Mr President. I’m a very sorry about that fact, however I my self was just recently noticed on the matter”. Mr Jonathan felt somewhat embarrassed. “And if I may, Sir, It is not established that the object is artificial”.
The president continued to smile. “But it is probable, isn’t it?”
“It is highly probable, Mr President. I can see no way about how it can be different”.
“And the signal in itself? Have we made anything out of it? Is it telling us something?”
“We are working on it Mr President, but so far it seems that the objects signal is just a large quantity of noise”. The director sighed slightly.
The president changed his position, putting one leg over the other.
“Ok, and then you tell me we have no resources available to go there?”
“Not as it is Mr President. Almost all of our budget and launch capability for the coming years is tied up the ongoing Mars flights”, Mr Jonathan said.
“The Europeans however, have a more favourable situation, and as we speak they are looking at possible plans for a manned mission to Jupiter”, he continued. “The decision hasn’t been made yet though”.
The president looked at Mr Jonathan. “Of course they will go Mr Jonathan, they would like nothing better than to beat us to it. But, aren’t they also in the midst of this Mars endeavour?”, the president replied.
“Oh yes, they are, very much so. In a way that’s the reason for them being able to send a ship Jupiters way. As we speak they are making plans to refit one of the scientific personnel vessels originally bound for Mars. The Koios”.
“The Koios? What is wrong with these people and their names”, the president laughed, “What does it mean Mr Jonathan?”
“Koios was one of the Greek titans Mr President. He was the son of Uranus and Gaia. That is Heaven and Earth. He was the Titan of wisdom. He was together with the rest of the titans overthrown by the Olympians led by Zeus. Or Jupiter as he is known in Roman times”.
“Well then”, said the president still smiling, “maybe it is a fitting name after all. So they will change their objective concerning Mars?”
“Not really, they are building several new shuttles bound for Mars. The one mentioned wasn’t to be launched for some time, there is apparently as I understand it enough time to replace it with a new craft”.
The president hesitated.
“So they will beat us to the greatest adventure of all time? They will send a man to Jupiter before us?”, the president became serious.
“Well sir”, Mr Jonathan continued, “up until a few days ago, the two ships now closing in on Mars was without doubt the greatest adventure of all time, sir. And in fact it took us quite some time and diplomatic skill to get us the larger part of the seats in those two flights just for that reason. It could only be solved by giving them most of the seats in the following cargo and scientific flights. One of which they now are refitting. So, Mr President, yes it looks like they are going to Jupiter, and we in fact are not.”
“How many are they sending?”, the president asked.
“Sir?”, Mr Jonathan didn’t got the question.
“How many men, Mr Jonathan?”
“The scientific shuttles designed for the Mars project carry three people. I would be surprised if they can change that in such a short time”, Mr Jonathan replied.
“Can we get a man of ours aboard?”
Mr Jonathan hesitated on the answer.
“With just three seats, they will certainly not be happy about us even asking”.
“Don’t we have one or two rides to collect at ESA if we want?”
“Not really Mr President, if you remember Mr President, we somewhat screwed them on the unmanned Venus missions a few years ago. I don’t think we have any more goodwill we can collect. Not if you take the Mars project in count”. The director of NASA was certain of this fact. The relations with ESA was rather strained, though not full blown hostile. After all Nasa and ESA were going hand in hand to Mars, just to beat the Chinese.
The President stood up and went to his desk.
“Well Mr Jonathan”, he said, “I guess I’ll be the one to have to call in some favours then. Start selecting your man Mr Jonathan, and set him on a plane to Europe. There must be an American on that flight. Get it done.”
“In fact, sir”, Mr Jonathan replied, “I think it will be a woman.”
“A woman aye?”
“Yes”.
“Very well then”, the president said, “my staff will follow you to your car”.
Mr Jonathan headed for the door when the president shortly hindered him.
“By the way Mr Jonathan”.
“Yes sir?”
“Who are they sending, the Europeans?”
“I don’t know their names yet, sir, but if they send the ones I think, it is a German and a French together with a Swedish astronaut”.
“A Swedish astronaut?”, the president smiled, “I guess there is a first time for everything”.
“In fact Mr President, if I remember correctly it is, at least, their second one”.
“Oh … well”. The president fell silent. “Anyway, it is probably him that they’ll pull out of the seat”.
“Probably so”, thought Mr Jonathan as he left the presidents oval office.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment