ep09 - the eye of the telescope, and a letter

A letter arrives, delivered by no one, written by a hand from another century. The overseer has made contact. And can the telescope be trusted?

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Hey there. This is Jaran, facility manager at the Deep Earth Anomaly Department, located on the coastal strip in East Antarctica. I'm signing in for yet another cold shift. Now, this week has been a busy one, let me tell you. Man oh man. I just got the power back on, and uh we have been living in a cold reality for these past few days, you know. I the positive thing about that is that there is no doubt about the powers of good wool blankets. You know, now it's uh confirmed. But still, what a week. I mean, this is what I signed up for. Of course, you know, living down here was never meant to be a walk along a beach carrying sandals, you know. It is the very bottom of the earth. It's harsh, harsh conditions, you know, a blizzard outside, sub-zero temperatures, and who knows what is lurking around in the cold during daytime. Not that I'm backing out of my job description, obviously, I'm just painting a picture. However, with the power gone, I I came closer than I have ever been, backing down, I mean. Even Ingrid got cold. You know, she's a machine and and she complained about it. I've never heard Ingrid complain. Not even when I take her apart, you know. Speaking of which, of Ingrid, she woke me up this morning actually. And she woke me up, gave me a cup of coffee and a letter. Yeah, you heard that right, a letter. Now, at first I got excited. I mean I haven't received letters in a long time, so I thought, who is it from? Who who can this be? You know, I I was excited. I felt like a tiny alien entity on the morning of a solar flare radiation celebration. But then I had another thought, you know, because who in the hello there, good sir, delivered it? Do you know what I mean? Like last time I checked, which okay was never, I mean but yeah, I I mean I don't think there is a post office around these parts. Also there there were no tracks leading up to the facility and you know, would a helicopter have delivered it? Get out of here, you know, in this blizzard? No way. Anyways, reality was that I had gotten a letter wherever it came from and whoever it came from and however it came here, you know. So I went into the common room, I sat down in my favorite chair and I opened the bad boy up. Now, unfortunately, I don't speak German, so I I called Ingrid, asked her to translate the letter for me, which she very kindly did, you know. I owe her a paint job or something, but you know, she always helps me out without ever asking for anything. She's the best. Anyways, I I read the translated version of the letter as soon as she was finished, and it said to whom it may concern the translated letter began. Then it continued by saying, And if it is none of your concern, don't be concerned. I hereby grant you concern. Strange stuff, but the handwriting was impeccable. Ten out of ten, like a letter from the Renaissance. Yeah, but anyways, it continued, letter continued. The next thing it said was, My name is Thomas Grind. At this point I let go of the letter, along with my jaw. I think it was a fear response, so I picked myself up, then the letter, then my jaw, and I asked Ingrid for another cup of coffee before I read the letter, and the letter said Let me just read it to you, it's easier. My name is Thomas A. Grind titled Professor of Crystalline Stellar Particles and Overseer of the Deep Earth Anomaly Department. I write to you this epistle not sure what that is, but I write to you this epistle not only as a means to make acquaintance, but in regards to the matter at hand concerning the stellar body currently en route to our very coordinates. Even to me, its origin is obscure. However, its nature, as I am sure you and me both are aware, is clear. So I ask of you only this in the matter. Observe its ellipse as it approaches perige and raise no eyebrows when you reach the same conclusion as me. It has none. A body in true orbit obeys its curve. This one does not. I trust you grasp the implication Then there is more PS Let it not go unspoken that this facility and the vast barren area surrounding it I regard the maintenance of very close to my faint beating heart. The rigid structure of reality may not be so rigid after all, but the tasks of this very facility should be. Attend it and I foresee no quarrel between us. Take note of my sincerity. TA Grind Now I had a hope that a letter from Thomas Grind would put to rest my worries, or enhance them, you know, at least give me some sort of push into the direction of truth. But I find myself no closer to understanding what or or who or when he is, you know. In other words, he remains a mystery. And because I like mysteries, I therefore like Thomas Gind, so I guess that's positive, eh? On the other hand, what worries me a bit is all this talk uh of the stellar object. Now I haven't studied its what did you write again? Let me check. Yeah, it's ellipse as it approaches Perigee. And I asked Ingrid to get on it as she is a lot more equipped in dealing with these kind of things than what I am, then I will obviously double check her readings after that. First thing when I wake up tomorrow evening. Anyways, what I almost certainly know is that if the comet, or whatever it is, has no orbit, it is not a comet. So earlier after I received the letter, I I went into the telescope tower to have a look myself, and at first glance it it was way too bright for my eyes. I almost burned my retinas to a crisp, you know. You know, and facility manager with no retinas would be as useful as a pair of chopsticks in a hot cup of hot chocolate brandy. So I therefore equipped the telescope with a solar filter designed to study eclipses with, and what I saw blew me away. Now the comet wasn't irregular at all, as I first thought it was, you know, being made from stone or ice or whatever. And looking at it with my naked eyes from outside, it did look like a rock, rugged rock, but I attribute that to the blizzard and the haze surrounding it, you know, because when I looked to at it through a telescope, I saw a perfect sphere. Made entirely, as far as I gathered from only looking at it with my eyes, obviously. It might come to light that it is actually made from something completely different when studied with proper equipment, you know, but it did look like it was made from metal. The telescope is quite a powerful one, so I could get it up quite close, and I I swear I saw nuts and bolts on it. I saw no entry points though, no no writings, no markings, no details of any kind, so what is it?

SPEAKER_00 9:17

You know? I need to know.

SPEAKER_01 9:21

Also, what are the implications that Thomas Grin speaks of? You know, there could be so many, it all depends on what it is, you know, if it's not a comet but an enormous bowl of rice, that would serve me one type of implication. If it's a hostile alien armada, on the other hand, heading towards me, a whole different beast altogether. But the bottom line, I must confess, is that I do not like it. Whatever it is, I don't like it. Not one bit. I mean the only thing I like less is a pizza with anchovies. You know, way too salty for my taste. So tomorrow evening I will do another reading on it and I will match it up with Ingrid's findings. That way we can calculate how fast it moves, if it is coming towards us or or heading away from us, or if it is only passing us by, using Earth as a slingshot to get somewhere else. I mean, there are many planets out there, and I guess there are far more interesting planets than ours out there. No offense to Earth, yeah, you know. And also, if they are just passing by, perhaps the aliens are asleep until they reach their destination. So far I know this to be true, though. It has no regular orbit, as one would expect from a comet, and it is made, not developed by nature. Also, what worries me is that I I can't shake the feeling that this has something to do with what Hugo Rodriguez from the Minds on the Moon was talking about when he said that something was headed for Earth. Ugh. Okay. Alright, worrying. Worrying gets me nowhere. You know, worrying is a one-way ticket to Ulcer Town on a cheap wagon with no seats. There. I officially snapped out of it. So let's talk about something cool instead. You know, I found this old device in the storage room the other evening as I was trying to find blankets. Now, this device lets you talk into it, then it transcribes whatever it is that you said into it, and it transcribes it into Morse, as Morse code travels at lighter frequencies, and therefore easier through the blizzard. It then translates that Morse into written text on a receiver's device. Which I think is very cool, but the the best thing about it is that it operates without a battery. You know, the only thing you have to do is turn a wheel like like you have on these old emergency radios or or like old flashlights, you know? And it creates its own power. Now, why is this cool, you ask? Well, because I already have one of these devices in my room, of course. Yeah. And I've I've used it as a bookend, seeing as it is useless without its twin. Now that I have two, they are suddenly very useful. And how are they useful, you ask? Well, because now I can leave Alexander Voss, the captain on MS Valbach. I can leave one device with him whilst keeping the other device myself, of course. And that way we can talk without risking getting lost in the blizzard. Like a Concord. You know, life has a way of opening up doors filled with possibilities. All you have to do is be cold enough to go look for blankets. I have to head out there myself, of course, first to deliver it, and uh the plan is to do so tomorrow after I have done a scan of the object in the sky, and I could set send Ingrid, but you know, I can't. As as she goes nuts and bolts with all that salt blister blizzarding through her, you know, it would scramble her circuits. It would be like pouring rocks into the tank of a race car while driving at supersonic speeds. It would it wouldn't work. I look forward being able to write to Alexander Vossen and see him tomorrow, of course, if everything goes accordingly, but uh Yeah. So before going to sleep this morning, I will make sure that the device uh both devices are working properly. Um I know mine is, but the other one I haven't tried yet, and I have to see if they communicate. So I I just brought it up along with all the blankets, put it here into my room, and I distributed the blankets to everyone here. To Joshua, to Ingrid, and the fluorescent spiders. And hopefully the power keeps on going. You know, at least now we are better prepared if it doesn't, but let's hope it does. So yeah. I better see to it, and uh I also have to find all my gear for the trip tomorrow, and I have to ask Ingrid to make me something hot to drink, and uh I wonder if Alexander Voss even drinks anything these days. I mean can he? He's fused with the table and all, you know. I'm I'll ask him, you know. I'll I'll bring some extra in case he says yes, but it would surprise me. So yeah, everyone, I hope you have had a nice deep dive. And that you all made it back to the surface, alright. If you are diverse from the future, that is, you might be something else entirely, you know. I don't know. I just like the idea of it being diverse. That would mean the world would have abundance of water again. Anyways. This is Javan. I'm signing off yet another cold shift.