Lemuria by Burt Clinchandhill (most popular novels of all time .txt) 📗

De Cremonese ignored the question and stared down the mountain for a moment. How can this ever get dull? What a view. “Are you alone?”

“You know the day shift. If anyone shows up it will be late in the afternoon. But they’re here all right, in their living quarters, sleeping in.”

De Cremonese took out his cellphone. “I need to make a call first.”

Gavino shook his head slowly.

“Still nothing?”

“No reception at all, boss.”

De Cremonese looked at his phone. No bars.

“But the satellite line inside works perfectly.” Gavino pointed to the door.

De Cremonese walked inside.

“We should get something to drink later.”

De Cremonese nodded.

Inside the vast metal hall, for a moment, he looked up to the big white telescope mounted on its massive yellow pivot. ‘DANGER PITCH POINT,’ it read on the base. De Cremonese was still impressed by the telescope every time he visited. He turned to the wall behind him, took the red phone from the wall and dialed.

“Yes,” he called out after waiting for a long time. “Can you hear me?”

“I can hear you perfectly, sir,” a woman’s voice sounded from the other side. “You are connected to the Logynous answering service. I’m sorry, but the extension you’re trying to call doesn’t answer. Maybe I can help you?”

“I’m looking for Ms. Coleman. Amie Coleman.”

“I understand, sir, but Ms. Coleman doesn’t answer her phone. Can I get your name so I can try to connect you to her cellphone?”

“Please do so. Lamberto De Cremonese,” and music sounded as he was put on hold. He recognized it as ‘Summer number one,’ the second movement of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons played by Nigel Kennedy. He always liked this version. In fact, it was one of his favorites, and for a moment, he wondered if, somehow, there was a connection made between his favorite music and this telephone call. Every little piece of data is connected nowadays.

“Hello, sir,” the woman came back.

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry. No one is answering the cellphone. Would you like to leave a message?”

“Okay, thank you. Yes, please let her know that I called, and that I can be reached at this number.”

“Will do, sir. Thank you for your call.”

“No luck?” Gavino asked.

De Cremonese shook his head. “You were here the night of the sighting?”

“I made the recording myself. And I think....” Gavino stopped for a second.

“You have a theory?” The corners of De Cremonese’s mouth lifted a bit.

“What I have probably raises more questions than it gives answers, but yes, I do.”

“All right, take me through it.” Followed by Gavino, De Cremonese took a few big steps, before entering a door with a sign that said, ‘Angel’s office.’ A fitting remembrance to Roger Angel, the man who designed the telescope’s mirror.

Both men now sat down behind a desk with three horizontally connected computer screens.

“Based on the initial sighting, I collected some readings from the local origination points and did some extrapolations. Here,” Gavino pointed at the screen. “You see? Two objects are coming from Earth. At first, I thought it was just another night satellite launch. Nothing special about that.”

“Except for the fact that two of them launched at the same time,” De Cremonese remarked.

“Not very common, but I looked it up. China has done it a few times before.”

“Did these originate in China?”

“I’ll get to that later, if you please. But no.”

“Sorry.” De Cremonese nodded. “I’m a bit anxious. Please continue.”

“Here.” Gavino pointed to the center screen. “This is where the two objects....”

“Rockets?” De Cremonese intervened.

“Of course, rockets. What else could they be?”

De Cremonese grinned. “True, excuse me. Please go on,” De Cremonese pleaded.

“Here it was where the two rockets left our atmosphere and here’s where they passed the twenty-six-thousand-mile barrier, and also where I started to get suspicious since only a handful of satellites orbit Earth at a higher altitude. You see? Here they split up, and each goes its way. Then, finally, this is where they escaped the predefined telescope’s trajectory, and we lost them.” He pointed to the top right corner of the screen. “But based on their previous trajectory, I was able to do some extrapolation.” Gavino punched in some keys, and on the left screen, an animation of the solar system appeared. The image slowly enlarged on two animated dots, on precisely the place they disappeared from the screen on the center monitor. “One” was written above one dot and “two” above the other. “Which one do you want to follow first?”

De Cremonese shook his head a few times. “I don’t care. Um... one.”

Gavino clicked his mouse a few times, and the image moved. The number one dot took a slight turn left on the screen, and as the image scrolled, the moon came into frame from the top. Dot One passed the moon on the left side on the screen and went on.

“It didn’t go to the moon?” De Cremonese asked.

Gavino clicked the mouse, and the animation stopped. “Nope,” he replied. “The trajectory suggests too great a distance from the moon to get into a synchronous orbit. It definitely went past it.” He clicked the mouse again, and the animation started again. In the center, a small dot labeled ‘Sun’ appeared. A large circle around the sun was drawn, and Dot One now rotated slowly on that circle. With a click of the mouse, a second circle appeared. “This is Earth,” Gavino explained, pointing to a dot moving on the second circle. He clicked the mouse again, and a third circle appeared. On the third circle appeared a dot labeled ‘Mars.’ Now the three circles turned concentrically relative to each other. As the three circles turned, Dot One slowly rotated its way from Earth to Mars.

“Depending on its velocity, I figure the first rocket could reach Mars somewhere between one hundred eighty and two hundred ten days,” Gavino finished.

“Depending on how much fuel they’re willing to burn,” De Cremonese concluded. “You’re sure?”

Gavino nodded heavily. “Absolutely sure. You know there are optimal windows for a Mars launch about