sufficiently often to support the more wild-eyed theorists. But who really knew?
In any case, this appeared to be a true interstellar. If both sightings were the same object, it had to be.
No interstellar comet had ever been recorded. If he wasright, Wesley Feinberg was going to take his place with Shapley, Herschel, Eddington, and Galileo.
Assuming the two bodies were the same, he now tried to calculate a trajectory. At the kind of velocity he’d expected, around forty kilometers per second, the comet would curve around the Sun and go back out. But at four hundred kilometers per second, it was going to keep coming.
With any kind of luck, they might get an extraordinary show.
He went out and delivered a cheerful good morning to the security guard, who seemed to be the only other person in the observatory. “I thought about waking you, sir,” the guard said. “You didn’t look comfortable on that couch. But I thought it best not to disturb you.”
Feinberg gave the man his most amiable smile. “Exactly right, sir,” he said. “Exactly right.” He turned on the coffee machine in the meeting room adjoining Hoxon’s office. He was hesitant to move precipitately, but it was only a matter of time before someone else drew the same conclusions he had. If that happened, he’d have to share credit. So he went back to his computer and forwarded his data to the Astronomical Union’s Central Bureau in Cambridge, where they would be logged and redistributed.
Please, God, let it be true .
NEWSNET . 12:30 P.M. UPDATE
(Click for details.)
MAN JAILED FOR CARJACKING WINS $20 MILLION IN LOTTERY
Alleged Thief Faces Ten Years
“It’s Not Going To Change Me”
HASKELL CUTS RIBBON AT MOONBASE
Takes Time Off From Primaries For PR Bonanza
“We Have A Rendezvous With The Stars”
CORMAN WINS IN PENNSYLVANIA
Leads In Total Delegates By Sixteen
Haskell A Distant Third
MOSCOW OPENS WORLD’S LARGEST MONORAIL
System Covers 700 Miles, Will Serve Two Million Passengers Daily
PRESIDENT HANGS CHURCHILL PORTRAIT IN WHITE HOUSE CEREMONY
World War II Leader Became Honorary U.S. Citizen 64 Years Ago Today
YOUTH DRUG REPORTED CLOSE
Predict Life Span Will Double For Newborns
Population Activists Warn Of Disaster
TWO KILLED IN DENVER ELEVATOR CRASH
Passed Safety Inspection Last Week
WORLD POPULATION PASSES TEN BILLION
India Announces New Education Effort
ST. LOUIS WOMAN DISCOVERS COMET DURING ECLIPSE
Sun’s Glare Had Hidden Celestial Visitor
Moonbase, on tour. 4:30 P.M.
Isabel Heyman, who usually worked with the special response detail at the White House, had politicked to get the Moonbase assignment. That she’d succeeded was less attributable to her influence than to the fact that the agents usually assigned to the vice president had been working long hours as he plunged into the crucial early primaries. Unlike Isabel, they did not perceive a flight to Luna, with a reduced force that guaranteed round-the-clock hours, as a benefit.
So now Isabel toured the Greenhouse, keeping station on Teddy’s left, surveying faces for any telltale suggestion of illintent, looking for tics or compressed lips, for eyes perhaps a little too narrowly focused, for any sudden movement, for a hand slipped inside a garment.
It was hard, wandering among Moonbase’s wonders, to keep her mind on her job. But her training took over, and it was enough just to know where she was.
She would come back, she decided. On her own.
C HAPTER T HREE
FORECASTS
Wednesday, April 10
1.
Arecibo, Puerto Rico. 8:03 A.M. Atlantic Time (7:03 A.M. EDT).
The radar returns had been coming in for several hours. Tomiko was a monster , 180 kilometers in diameter. But the incredible revelation was its velocity: It was moving at 480 kilometers per second! Yesterday Foster Cardwell would have bet the mortgage that order of velocity wasn’t possible.
Cardwell was director of operations at Arecibo. He stood over the display, rubbing the back of his neck. He was
In any case, this appeared to be a true interstellar. If both sightings were the same object, it had to be.
No interstellar comet had ever been recorded. If he wasright, Wesley Feinberg was going to take his place with Shapley, Herschel, Eddington, and Galileo.
Assuming the two bodies were the same, he now tried to calculate a trajectory. At the kind of velocity he’d expected, around forty kilometers per second, the comet would curve around the Sun and go back out. But at four hundred kilometers per second, it was going to keep coming.
With any kind of luck, they might get an extraordinary show.
He went out and delivered a cheerful good morning to the security guard, who seemed to be the only other person in the observatory. “I thought about waking you, sir,” the guard said. “You didn’t look comfortable on that couch. But I thought it best not to disturb you.”
Feinberg gave the man his most amiable smile. “Exactly right, sir,” he said. “Exactly right.” He turned on the coffee machine in the meeting room adjoining Hoxon’s office. He was hesitant to move precipitately, but it was only a matter of time before someone else drew the same conclusions he had. If that happened, he’d have to share credit. So he went back to his computer and forwarded his data to the Astronomical Union’s Central Bureau in Cambridge, where they would be logged and redistributed.
Please, God, let it be true .
NEWSNET . 12:30 P.M. UPDATE
(Click for details.)
MAN JAILED FOR CARJACKING WINS $20 MILLION IN LOTTERY
Alleged Thief Faces Ten Years
“It’s Not Going To Change Me”
HASKELL CUTS RIBBON AT MOONBASE
Takes Time Off From Primaries For PR Bonanza
“We Have A Rendezvous With The Stars”
CORMAN WINS IN PENNSYLVANIA
Leads In Total Delegates By Sixteen
Haskell A Distant Third
MOSCOW OPENS WORLD’S LARGEST MONORAIL
System Covers 700 Miles, Will Serve Two Million Passengers Daily
PRESIDENT HANGS CHURCHILL PORTRAIT IN WHITE HOUSE CEREMONY
World War II Leader Became Honorary U.S. Citizen 64 Years Ago Today
YOUTH DRUG REPORTED CLOSE
Predict Life Span Will Double For Newborns
Population Activists Warn Of Disaster
TWO KILLED IN DENVER ELEVATOR CRASH
Passed Safety Inspection Last Week
WORLD POPULATION PASSES TEN BILLION
India Announces New Education Effort
ST. LOUIS WOMAN DISCOVERS COMET DURING ECLIPSE
Sun’s Glare Had Hidden Celestial Visitor
Moonbase, on tour. 4:30 P.M.
Isabel Heyman, who usually worked with the special response detail at the White House, had politicked to get the Moonbase assignment. That she’d succeeded was less attributable to her influence than to the fact that the agents usually assigned to the vice president had been working long hours as he plunged into the crucial early primaries. Unlike Isabel, they did not perceive a flight to Luna, with a reduced force that guaranteed round-the-clock hours, as a benefit.
So now Isabel toured the Greenhouse, keeping station on Teddy’s left, surveying faces for any telltale suggestion of illintent, looking for tics or compressed lips, for eyes perhaps a little too narrowly focused, for any sudden movement, for a hand slipped inside a garment.
It was hard, wandering among Moonbase’s wonders, to keep her mind on her job. But her training took over, and it was enough just to know where she was.
She would come back, she decided. On her own.
C HAPTER T HREE
FORECASTS
Wednesday, April 10
1.
Arecibo, Puerto Rico. 8:03 A.M. Atlantic Time (7:03 A.M. EDT).
The radar returns had been coming in for several hours. Tomiko was a monster , 180 kilometers in diameter. But the incredible revelation was its velocity: It was moving at 480 kilometers per second! Yesterday Foster Cardwell would have bet the mortgage that order of velocity wasn’t possible.
Cardwell was director of operations at Arecibo. He stood over the display, rubbing the back of his neck. He was
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