The Inner Circle (7 page)

Nothing else needed to be said. Sarah put a rose onto the casket and everybody followed behind her. The small crowd broke up soon after, but Sarah stayed behind until the casket was lowered into the ground. Nick stood beside her the whole time and all she could think about was how her brother would soon be the next loved one she would have to bury.
             

When they turned to leave, Nick saw somebody he hadn't noticed throughout the entire burial.

"I'll be right back," he whispered to Sarah and ran over to a man who worked at the observatory. Sarah couldn't remember the man's name, but recognized him from the few times she'd gone to see Josh and Nick at work on the large telescope. The man shook Nick's hand and gave him a large manila envelope before walking away.

When Nick came back, he handed Sarah the envelope and told her to open it.

"What is this?" she asked, seeing that the envelope had an IAUC stamp on the front of it.

"Open it."

She opened it and pulled out a single piece of paper. She read the piece of paper and began to cry when she realized what it was. But unlike the crying she’d done over the last four days, these tears weren't merely tears of grief. There was a small measure of gratitude in them.

The paper was a certificate administered by the association that dealt with the naming of newly discovered comets. It declared the official naming of the most recently discovered celestial being:
COMET CLEMENT
.

PART TWO

2005

"I do not see anything."

"That does not mean it isn't there."

"Well, I'm sorry. It is kind of hard for me to believe in something when I can not see it. Besides, some astronomers don't think black holes even exist."

Yuri Popov rolled his eyes, not wanting to get into this argument. His coworker, Alexei Simonova, always had to argue with everything he said and Yuri swore the man constantly disagreed just to annoy him. Normally, Yuri was glad to debate, as it passed the time and gave them something to do. But now, he was hoping for words of reassurance, not words of discouragement.

"Come now, Alexei. Every astronomer – at least every
credible
astronomer – has agreed about the existence of black holes for decades now."

"Are you saying that any astronomer who thinks differently from you is automatically not credible?"

"No, I am not saying that at all. But to argue that black holes don't exist is like arguing the world is flat."

Alexei finally pulled away from the massive telescope after several minutes, a devilish smile on his face.

"Okay, Yuri. I will agree with that point, perhaps black holes do exist. But tell me this: have any black holes been found this close to the Earth?"

"No."

"And don't you think this one would have been discovered already?"

Yuri did not answer. Alexei made a good point, but Yuri refused to give him the satisfaction of admitting it.

"Besides, Yuri. We are not deep space astronomers. Our job is not to study and discover such things. I wouldn't be able to tell a black hole from a supernova."

Yuri had been studying this area of space for the past few months, stealing moments out of his busy work day to use the government telescope for his own personal reasons. He'd even been keeping his discovery a secret from Alexei, hoping to build up enough evidence before he presented his findings. Being laughed at wasn't what he’d hoped for and after months of studying and learning about black holes, he felt disappointed for failing to persuade his coworker. Sensing his partner's disappointment, Alexei tried to lighten the mood.

"Come, Yuri. Let me get you another cup of coffee."

Alexei stood up and grabbed Yuri's empty coffee mug, making his way across the small room to their coffee machine. The machine was obviously old and beat up, but the two men were more than thankful when they received it only a month before. Even though there was millions of dollars worth of equipment in the room, they valued the coffee machine most, since they felt it was the only token of appreciation the government gave them for doing a job well done.

Their tiny room was at the far end of a military spying installation and Yuri couldn't help but feel like a total outcast from the rest of the world. They sat in this little room for ten hours at a time, often staring into empty space for hours on end, hoping they would find something out of the ordinary, anything that they could report to their superiors. Yuri had not been at this job very long and was therefore always desperate to make some discovery that could get him in the good graces of the 'higher-ups.' Alexei, on the other hand, had been at this job for years and had grown complacent when it came to his work. He could remember being young and eager like Yuri, but he also knew that in the Russian work force – especially working in this kind of military position – his young coworker would be never likely be rewarded for his hard work. The young man would learn...

"Quickly, Alexei. Come here and look at this."

Alexei hurriedly put down the coffeepot – spilling some on his shoes in the process – and ran across the room. Yuri moved out of the way and allowed Alexei to look through the telescope.

"What am I supposed to be looking at this time?"

"It's the same spot in space, but I pulled the magnification back. Don't you see that small dot of light approaching the area I was talking about?"

Indeed, Alexei noted that a small dot – probably some sort of asteroid or comet – was rapidly approaching where Yuri thought a black hole existed. Alexei's curiosity was now piqued and he walked over to a nearby computer. After clicking and typing away for a few moments, he turned back to Yuri, who was again staring into the telescope.

"Yuri, what are the exact coordinates of your black hole?"

Yuri pulled himself away from the telescope and retrieved a small note pad from his workstation. He gave the notepad to Alexei and glanced at the computer screen, where he saw a logo for NASA.

"An American web site?" Yuri asked. "How do you have such access to that information?"

Alexei laughed at the boy's naiveté, as he typed the set of coordinates into a database. It only took a few seconds to retrieve the information he was after.

"My dear boy. I know you think I am a lazy old fool, but this old fool still has a few tricks which you could learn one day. The spot you see is called Comet Clement. It was discovered only a few years ago by, who else?,,, an American. It is approximately two and a half kilometers large, much bigger than most other comets and asteroids."

"Is it a threat to Earth?" Yuri asked, suddenly very concerned. A part of him was nervous about the possibility of a comet striking the Earth, but an even bigger part of him was excited that they may have discovered something very important. If his discovery could avoid the Earth's destruction, then his superiors would
have
to notice how good of a job he was doing. Maybe he could even finagle a promotion out of the deal and get out of this awful job detail…

"Oh yes, it is very dangerous to the world," Alexei said, chuckling. "In just about 15 years, it will be passing within 400 million miles of Earth."

"That is not very close at all," Yuri said, again disappointed. "I wonder what happens when a comet encounters a black hole."

"Well, if you are right, Comrade, we are about to find out."

The two men walked back over to the telescope and Yuri was suddenly excited again. At the very least, he hoped that the comet's approach would give him an answer about his black hole.

Comet Clement – a two and a half kilometer-sized chunk of rock and ice – sped through the depths of space at nearly fifteen miles per second. Shaped more like a football than a baseball, the comet appeared to be glowing, as clouds of water vapor surrounded it for thousands of miles in every direction. It also had a very lengthy 'tail,' which was composed mostly of dust and trailed in the comet's wake for millions of miles. In existence for thousands of years, Comet Clement silently stalked through the vastness of space, decimating any small object that got in its way, waiting for the day it would cross paths with a bigger foe.

Little did it know how close it was about to come.

Yuri’s possible black hole was indeed exactly where he thought. This black hole was not as massive as many others that had already been discovered; therefore, it did not cover nearly as large an area as most. But the center of the black hole was still very dense and had a nearly inescapable gravitational pull, though the pull was more avoidable farther from its center. This was the only reason the comet was not immediately pulled in as it approached.

In space, battles between two major forces occurred very infrequently and are seen even less frequently by a human being. So when Comet Clement and the previously undiscovered black hole collided as Yuri and Alexei watched from millions and millions of miles away, they witnessed something no other human had ever seen before.

As the comet entered into the outskirts of the black hole's reach, it appeared to the two Russians to be slowing down, as if coming to a stop. In reality, the comet was actually collapsing upon itself, as it struggled to escape from the incredible pull. Also, as the two men watched, they noticed that the comet now appeared smaller and Yuri wondered aloud if the comet was beginning to break up. His assumption was incorrect, though. In actuality, the pull from the black hole was great enough to suck up a large amount of the water vapor into its center and the glow from the comet became greatly diminished, thus more difficult to see from Earth.

Had Comet Clement been any smaller or had it been traveling at a slower speed, it would have certainly been sucked into the overwhelmingly dense hole and disappeared forever. But because the size and speed of the comet were both so great, it was just barely able to escape, ricocheting away from the black hole and thrown onto a totally different path.

-         -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -        -        -

"What happened?" Yuri asked. "Can you see the comet?"

"Yes, I think you are looking in the wrong spot. If you look a half degree to the south, I think you will see it."

Yuri looked where Alexei directed and barely spotted the dot, which was tinier and harder to see than it had been before. The comet now appeared to be on a new path, having shifted course upon breaking free from the black hole's gravitational grasp. Yuri continued to follow the path of the comet, marking down its new heading in his notebook.

"Shouldn't you be gloating in your victory? You were correct about the black hole and have proven me wrong."

"Yes, Alexei, I do feel satisfied that my findings were correct. But reveling in my victory will prove nothing. We must now tell the world about what we have discovered, about what we have witnessed."

Yuri and Alexei were so engrossed with the comet and the black hole that they did not hear the door to their room open, nor did they see General Pavel Reikoff walk toward them. Reikoff was a strict military man, having worked his way through the ranks based upon the discipline his staff had always shown. He did not tolerate insolence and often dealt with problems in the harshest manner possible. This was probably why the men left under his command customarily achieved greater discoveries than most of the other spy operations in Russia.

"Simonova, have you found something important?" Reikoff asked, approaching the telescope.

Alexei and Yuri were both startled by the general's sudden appearance and Alexei had trouble thinking what to say. Always the opportunist, Yuri was not at a loss for words like his partner.

"General Reikoff, I think we have found something of great importance," Yuri said. Alexei grabbed the younger man's arm – as if to stop him from saying anything further – but both Yuri and the general wanted him to continue.

"Popov, right? What is it that Simonova does not want you telling me?"

"No, sir, it's not that I don't want him to tell you," Alexei stammered. "It's just –"

"Silence," the general said firmly. "I was speaking to Popov."

Alexei looked at Yuri, an expression of fear apparent in his eyes, but Yuri did not heed his unspoken warning.

"General, I think we – well I think it was actually I – discovered a black hole. We were just watched a comet collided with it."

Alexei watched as the general's face turned red, quickly changing from a look of interest to one of anger. Alexei prayed Yuri would stop talking, but the young man did not seem to notice the look on Reikoff's face.

"I've been studying this part of space for a few months now," Yuri continued. "I think this could be a very important astronomical discovery in –"