dropped his
head in realization of the seriousness of the situation.
Zimmer gave his students
the details as they had been conveyed to him by Gilroy’s task
force.
“ Now, we had hoped to have
a visual on the camp by now, seeing how the lone communicating
satellite is directly overhead. However, a severe dust storm has
completely obscured visibility of 60% of the surface of the planet.
Even so, the satellite should be able to communicate with equipment
at the camp, but…” with this Zimmer lowered his head, “… but, I’m
afraid that there is no signal. Now, the timing is not as desirable
as we’d like,” Zimmer began to wrap up his briefing. “At this late
hour, we will only have a few good hours to collect
data.”
With an introduction to
the situation out of the way, Professor Zimmer instructed his
graduate students in the plans which he had devised on the plane
trip back from Houston. “Joram, you will accompany Reyd, who has
familiarity with the setup at Palomar. Reyd received his bachelor’s
degree last Spring in Computer Science with a minor in Astronomy.
He will be able to work the system to process the data in any
manner we need. Kath, as the only meteorologist currently in the
program, I have called on you to study the dynamics of the dust
storm. This is not a storm of any typical nature that has ever been
observed occurring on our neighbor. I, in the meantime, will
control the telescope to collect what I believe will be the most
useful set of data for us to process. For the time being, I advise
you to get what little rest you can before we land at Palomar. If
you have any questions, just press the red button on your headset
right here.”
Kath was the first to
deploy her microphone. “Professor, you are correct that I have
studied meteorology, but only as it pertains to Earth. I have no
notion of the atmospheric dynamics on Mars to be able to adequately
perform this study.”
“ I suspect that you will
learn quickly, Miss Mirabelle,” began Zimmer, “As soon as we touch
down, you will have complete access to a team of Martian
meteorologists in Israel. They are prepared to teleconference with
you and have been given express instructions to give you full
access to their knowledge. Ask them any question that you need.
Call upon them for any report of data that may help. Your job is to
communicate to the team assembled at Palomar any and all details as
they unravel from the team in Israel.”
Kath nodded her head. She
did not feel adequate to the task, but also did not want to let the
professor down, and she certainly did not want to let down the
three astronauts whose lives could depend on the teamwork of
everybody involved on their behalf.
“ Any more questions?”
probed the professor.
Joram had many, but he
knew that he could defer many of them to Reyd once they were on the
ground, so as to not distract the professor from any data
processing or theorizing on the matter for the remainder of the
flight.
After a moment of silence,
the professor returned to his seat, reclined the seat back
slightly, and rested his head, heaving a burdened sigh as he closed
his eyes.
Kath, who sat next to
Joram took off her headset and spoke above the noisy helicopter
into Joram’s ear. “How exactly are we supposed to rest with this
racket?”
Joram reached under his
seat and pulled out a pair of objects from his duffel bag. “You
said that you were wanting to try these, and well… I thought they
might come in handy for you on the flight.”
Kath smiled in amazement.
In the little time that Joram had to pack for the trip, he was
thoughtful enough to remember his Ear Cups… for her!
She placed them over her
ears, and was quite shocked to discover that they worked amazingly
well. She could hear almost nothing. In his ear, she said, “You’re
wonderful, Joram Anders,” and proceeded to kiss him on the
cheek.
The two exchanged a warm
smile with each other before Kath got comfortable, resting her
head in realization of the seriousness of the situation.
Zimmer gave his students
the details as they had been conveyed to him by Gilroy’s task
force.
“ Now, we had hoped to have
a visual on the camp by now, seeing how the lone communicating
satellite is directly overhead. However, a severe dust storm has
completely obscured visibility of 60% of the surface of the planet.
Even so, the satellite should be able to communicate with equipment
at the camp, but…” with this Zimmer lowered his head, “… but, I’m
afraid that there is no signal. Now, the timing is not as desirable
as we’d like,” Zimmer began to wrap up his briefing. “At this late
hour, we will only have a few good hours to collect
data.”
With an introduction to
the situation out of the way, Professor Zimmer instructed his
graduate students in the plans which he had devised on the plane
trip back from Houston. “Joram, you will accompany Reyd, who has
familiarity with the setup at Palomar. Reyd received his bachelor’s
degree last Spring in Computer Science with a minor in Astronomy.
He will be able to work the system to process the data in any
manner we need. Kath, as the only meteorologist currently in the
program, I have called on you to study the dynamics of the dust
storm. This is not a storm of any typical nature that has ever been
observed occurring on our neighbor. I, in the meantime, will
control the telescope to collect what I believe will be the most
useful set of data for us to process. For the time being, I advise
you to get what little rest you can before we land at Palomar. If
you have any questions, just press the red button on your headset
right here.”
Kath was the first to
deploy her microphone. “Professor, you are correct that I have
studied meteorology, but only as it pertains to Earth. I have no
notion of the atmospheric dynamics on Mars to be able to adequately
perform this study.”
“ I suspect that you will
learn quickly, Miss Mirabelle,” began Zimmer, “As soon as we touch
down, you will have complete access to a team of Martian
meteorologists in Israel. They are prepared to teleconference with
you and have been given express instructions to give you full
access to their knowledge. Ask them any question that you need.
Call upon them for any report of data that may help. Your job is to
communicate to the team assembled at Palomar any and all details as
they unravel from the team in Israel.”
Kath nodded her head. She
did not feel adequate to the task, but also did not want to let the
professor down, and she certainly did not want to let down the
three astronauts whose lives could depend on the teamwork of
everybody involved on their behalf.
“ Any more questions?”
probed the professor.
Joram had many, but he
knew that he could defer many of them to Reyd once they were on the
ground, so as to not distract the professor from any data
processing or theorizing on the matter for the remainder of the
flight.
After a moment of silence,
the professor returned to his seat, reclined the seat back
slightly, and rested his head, heaving a burdened sigh as he closed
his eyes.
Kath, who sat next to
Joram took off her headset and spoke above the noisy helicopter
into Joram’s ear. “How exactly are we supposed to rest with this
racket?”
Joram reached under his
seat and pulled out a pair of objects from his duffel bag. “You
said that you were wanting to try these, and well… I thought they
might come in handy for you on the flight.”
Kath smiled in amazement.
In the little time that Joram had to pack for the trip, he was
thoughtful enough to remember his Ear Cups… for her!
She placed them over her
ears, and was quite shocked to discover that they worked amazingly
well. She could hear almost nothing. In his ear, she said, “You’re
wonderful, Joram Anders,” and proceeded to kiss him on the
cheek.
The two exchanged a warm
smile with each other before Kath got comfortable, resting her
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