Unum Chapter Three

E Pluribus Unum
Author: J Carrell Jones
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Year Zero - Day 1 Hour 9 Minute 36 Second 10 - Chapter Three

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Year Zero Day 1 Hour 9 Minute 36 Second 10 Chapter Three


Ted Piper looked at the young woman who sat across from him. Gale had called and said Linda accepted. “Linda, it is nice to meet you.”
They shook hands.
Gale leaned back and watched. The waiter had left with Linda’s and her drink order. Ted had been on his second Rum and Coke when they arrived.
“Did Gale give you a rundown on our operation?”
“Not much, except I would be doing observations, calculations, and postulations on something related to my Dissertation.”
Ted nodded. “Pretty much. After all the paperwork has been filled out I can tell you everything you need to know and then some. You have any problems moving to Maryland?”
“None. My brother lives out here. He can check on our mom. I do have some pets . . .”
“Not a problem. We’re pet friendly and understanding.”
“Good. Umm.”
Ted raised an eyebrow. “Something we need to get out in the open now?”
Linda hesitated a few seconds. She took a deep breath. "I’m . . ."
“Yes?”
She took another deep breath. “Flying scares me.”
Ted paused for a moment. Took a sip of his drink and looked at Gale. ”I see.”
Linda’s swallow was audible.
After a second sip Ted started laughing. It was reserved. A moment later he finished his drink. “Would five days be enough to make the drive from LA to Maryland?”
Linda wished she had that drink in front of her. “It would.” She made a quick mental calculation and figured 3.75 days would work with the second and third day the longest on the road.
“Good. Oh, Gale mentioned you have a gift.”
Linda blushed.
Ted pulled two folded pieces of paper from his suit pocket. He kept one and handed the other to Linda.
She opened it. There were three math questions on it.

1. 3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286 x 11754.8 = meters

2.
a. m1 = 1179340162004694.5 teragrams
b. m2 = 1 gram
c. r= ½ the answer from question 1.
d. Answer in newton to 5th place


3. Calculate Centrifugal Force
a. Radius = 1600 feet
b. 1.3 rpm
c. 92 kg mass
d. What is the centrifugal acceleration in gravity and the centrifugal force in Newton



Ted unfolded his paper. It had:

1. 36928.7933244 meters
2. 7.23972 newton
3. 0.921633 g and 831.509 N


“Would you like a pen?” He asked.
Linda pursed her lips. Great she thought. No pressure. “No thanks.” She gave him all three answers.
Ted blinked several times. Frowned for a few seconds. “Wait, what?”
Linda said her answers again.
Gale laughed as Ted shook his head rapidly a half dozen times.
The waiter dropped off the drinks.
Ted grabbed his new glass and upended it quickly. “Waiter, another please! Quickly, thanks!”
Linda handed him the questions.
He looked at both pieces of paper. “Wow. Wait. No. Wow. Just. Wow.” He waited for his drink. When it arrived he thanked the waiter and took a sip. “Linda, I’m going to give you as much information as I am allowed. You good with that?”
Linda nodded.
“As you know we are one of the Near-Earth-Objects vanguards. This bit of news will hit the media in a few weeks. NASA is already working out the talking points, but several Near Objects that had been calculated to pass by us in a year or two suddenly won’t.” He paused. Linda frowned, “Something large is disrupting existing orbits?”
Ted nodded. “Something is. We thought maybe it could have been the elusive Planet-X or maybe even a Brown dwarf, but the deviation didn’t fit the theory.”
“That’s where the Mega clusters come in?”
“Yes.” Ted nodded again and relaxed his shoulders.
“You’ve found something.”
“Classified. But if we were to have found something like your Clusters I would think having you on board would be better than not. Besides, there are other happenings behind closed doors that makes things interesting.”
“Such as?” Linda asked.
“Why Astronomy?”
“Pardon?”
“You picked Astronomy for your Ph.D., but you have a MS in Physics and Mechanical Engineering. And, a BS in Anthropology. Now that is a wild one to toss in when you have a heavy emphasis in the practical sciences?”
Linda said with a rehearsed ease, “I have a short attention span.”
Ted chuckled. “I see.”
The waiter brought their food. Ted had Lobster Thermidor. Gale decided on Seafood Bisque, while Linda opted for a thick Ribeye and loaded Baked Potato. She asked for extra butter and sour cream.

“How do you do it, Linda?”
Gale exclaimed, “Ted! Linda is private with that.”
“It is okay, Gale. It just is. That’s all I can say. I just know the answers. Some of the really complex questions do require me to think and even write down parts, but mostly, I can look at an equation and I just know the answer.”
Ted nodded. “Fair enough, but Astronomy, why?”
“The short answer or the long one?”
Ted made a show of thinking over his options. “The short answer.”
“It’s the most poetic.”
He thought about that and after a handful of seconds nodded. “The great Overdog, that heavenly beast with a star in one eye, gives a leap in the east.”
Linda smiled. It was one of her favorite poems. She continued, “He dances upright all the way to the west, and never once drops on his forefeet to rest.”
Gale finished, “I'm a poor underdog, but to-night I will bark with the great Overdog that romps through the dark.”
Surprised, Linda turned to Gale. “I didn’t know you knew that poem?”
“While in high school, I saw it in your notebook. You had a star next to it with the words ‘Best Poem ever.”
“That is so sweet.” Linda said blushing. Her eyes started to tear up. “What class?”
“It was English Lit. It was 1st period . . .”
“I remember! You sat to my right, and Heather was on my left. Whatever happened to her?”
“She married a Sailor.”
“Seriously?”
Gale nodded. “He walked into her job one day, dressed in uniform, lifted her off her feet and walked out. Just like the movie. It was awesome.”
“Wow.”
“Tell me about it.”
Suddenly the two went silent. Gale leaned in lightly toward Linda, who responded like wise. Both reached out and touched each other’s hand. Linda started, “I . . .”
A few seconds later Gale nodded.
Ted watched in fascination. A few seconds later he said, “Well, are we going to kiss? You’re killing me here.”
Gale said to Linda, “He really is a good boss. A bit crass at times, but otherwise a brilliant physics.”
Both women giggled.
“What? I like watching.”

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