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Okay Mammals, I, without ANY shame or hesitation, blame this entire chapter on a 8-10 second long bit on this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR7n4Gg-_ac&t=156s
The bit runs from 1.36 to 1.48
Things have changed at Sharla's house.
Note: This is the last complete chapter I have for now. Chap. 11 in the works.
Chapter 10: “Today, Today is a Verrry Different Day”
“Oh Great Buffaloed One, trip plans going so well extending for three more weeks. Complex discovery has made unexpected link with long time star gazer. Two working at solving mysteries and riddles of the Universe (suggest NO bets on them not doing so). Taking J to big Z someday soon (if can pry that one from the other for a while) for some additional acclimatizing. Twisted horn meet before return to clear up some air. Prep for dive into work upon return. Want to get paid;)
The One True Annoyance Factor
On any other day the recipient of that e-mail would be highly annoyed by it. But today, as a certain fictional Centauri once said “today is a verrry different day.” The answering e-mail read:
To One True Annoyance Factor
Extension of five weeks approved. Twisted horn idea acceptable.
Pay and work schedule rearranged so to alleviate concerns.
BTW, no bets taken.
Also, suggest you try natural EXO skel with three strands and extras.
Great Buffaloed One
* * * * * * * * * * * *
On almost any other day, the 87-year-old sheep ewe would be seated in her favorite chair in her living room or the one out on the front porch. The retired astronomer/astrophysicist would be reading something or listening in on some local bit of gossip from a visitor as she had for years now.
“Slowly vegetating away,” she thought to herself in self-honesty.
But, today, today was a verrry different day. She sat in her living room, a very changed room from what it had been a week ago. About half of the original furniture was removed and most of what was left pushed up against one of two walls. Her canes and walker were in the storage shed, she might need them some time in the future, but not today.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
When she was young, the bunny doe would go through each day on her family’s farm doing her chores and dreaming of a future of bright lights and wondrous duty in a far great city. Later, denied those dreams, she changed focus and selected another ‘calling’, one dealing with the very small things of the Universe. In her time, she worked with her brilliant mentor and his team of mammals. Days of calculations, study of new data, working to slowly, slowly extract a small (or not so small) secret from a grudgingly tight fisted universe. An “out of the blue” event occurred that forever changed that; changed her life in ways she was still trying to come to grips with. Now, for her, any day could be a verrry different day.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
It was summer school break and, on any other day, the 17-year-old black fleeced ewe would be out with her femfriends trading gossip and talking boys, or with one of those males her age. But, today, today was a verrry different day. Today she was seated in front of a computer with VR goggles on, and not playing any number of games that could be on it. No, she was visually checking light intensity variations of a star that orbited along the edge of the galaxy. When she was done with it, she would go to another one, and then another. The data was from NASA’s overwhelmingly vast electronic storehouse that held raw data collected from a dozen space based observatories, orbiters that circled other planets and moons in the solar system, and yet to be checked data from flyby probes. Ground roving robots on two different worlds contributed their own streams of ones and zeros to that bank as well, some of it looked at quickly, the rest of it stored away for later evaluation. That data was accessible to anyone who had a connection to the Net. It could be viewed and/or downloaded for review at a mammal’s leisure. All over Terra, civilian/amateur scientists sifted through bits and pieces of, not a mountain, but an entire mountain range of unprocessed scientific data. Over the years those unseen, by most of the world’s population, mammals made discoveries. Most were small, nailing down the accuracy of a star’s orbital path and velocity. Confirming the dips in a star’s light curve to detect an exoplanet, or the ever so slight red and blue shifts of that star that “said” that something pulled it one way then another. Checking and refining the light spectrum of stars, even galaxies, to sort out what elements were, or not, in them and in what quantities. Once in a great while, something odd turned up and the finder gained some notoriety, mainly within the scientific community, for doing so. Those events were rare and while the teen ewe had some ‘visions’ of that happening with her, she would go on with the meticulous work of finding the little bits and confirming other small bits.
“The Universe is ultimately made up of minute bits,” the bunny doe told her. “And, as such, it is the observation of those bits, subatomic particles to tiny light changes that, in time, give us the bigger picture. As we do so, our knowledge and view of the universe, ever so slightly, changes, becomes, hopefully, more clear.”
The teen noted something and sent it off to her elder relative barely 20 feet away. That done, she moved to the next item.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The fox scanned the room. The changes made in it over the last week were, to put it mildly, great. Sharla Gibson sat at the center of a half circle desk with three computer screens set on it. She would work at one, then move to another, work at it, then move again. At a pair of chalkboards, Judy, the bunny doe, formulated and wrote up mathematical equations. Currently, she was working at refining the mass of a planet whose gravity exerted an ever so tiny tug on its parent star thus causing it to ‘wobble’ slightly. While there was a computer and dry erase boards on hand for her to use, she was more comfortable working chalk and a blackboard.
“A creature of her time,” he thought.
That wasn’t quite true. Judy sat on a stand that was a product of today; a light weight electric motorized four leg affair that could be moved right/left, forward/back with the use of a small joystick. A three position toggle switch adjusted the height up or down. With it, she could reach any place on the six-foot-high by ten-foot-long work surfaces.
He looked back to Sharla as she gazed intently at something on one of her screens and then wrote down something. Then, she got up, went to Judy, and handed her the note. The doe looked it over, moved back down her line of symbols, erased a few and wrote in some new ones. Next, she moved up the line and made other changes to reflect the new data. Sharla scanned the finished product, nodded, and returned to her comp. desk.
“Old or not, that one has too good a mind to just let it dry up and blow away,” he thought.
Nick looked to where Sheela, Sharla’s great-great-granddaughter sat and worked, then checked the clock. He got up and went over to her.
“Sheela, time you took a break. Give your eyes and the rest of you a rest,” he whispered to her.
“Two, three minutes more, I’ve got a new red shift to nail down,” she replied.
“Three minutes from…now,” he said as he started a stopwatch he kept with him.
The teen knew he’d pull the goggles off if she wasn’t done at the end of the time. Two minutes and 17 seconds later, she “fired” the refinement off to her grandmother. Then took off her goggles and rubbed her eyes for a few seconds.
“I’ll go nap out,” she said as she got up.
“You do that. These two have got enough to work with for the rest of the day,” he said.
After she departed, Nick returned to his own table and chair and then checked his e-mail drop sites. One had a message in it and he downloaded it. Opening the file, the fox read Great Buffaloed One‘s message. The first sentence got an eyebrow raise, the Chief was being generous and that was a little unusual. The second one he nodded to. The third complimented the first one and the fourth, well…. The last one was the one that really got Nick’s attention. To most anyone else it looked like someone was suggesting that he try some kind of product, Nick knew it was anything but. No wonder Bogo was being magnanimous.
“Oh yes," he thought. “Today is a verrry different day!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR7n4Gg-_ac&t=156s
The bit runs from 1.36 to 1.48
Things have changed at Sharla's house.
Note: This is the last complete chapter I have for now. Chap. 11 in the works.
Chapter 10: “Today, Today is a Verrry Different Day”
“Oh Great Buffaloed One, trip plans going so well extending for three more weeks. Complex discovery has made unexpected link with long time star gazer. Two working at solving mysteries and riddles of the Universe (suggest NO bets on them not doing so). Taking J to big Z someday soon (if can pry that one from the other for a while) for some additional acclimatizing. Twisted horn meet before return to clear up some air. Prep for dive into work upon return. Want to get paid;)
The One True Annoyance Factor
On any other day the recipient of that e-mail would be highly annoyed by it. But today, as a certain fictional Centauri once said “today is a verrry different day.” The answering e-mail read:
To One True Annoyance Factor
Extension of five weeks approved. Twisted horn idea acceptable.
Pay and work schedule rearranged so to alleviate concerns.
BTW, no bets taken.
Also, suggest you try natural EXO skel with three strands and extras.
Great Buffaloed One
* * * * * * * * * * * *
On almost any other day, the 87-year-old sheep ewe would be seated in her favorite chair in her living room or the one out on the front porch. The retired astronomer/astrophysicist would be reading something or listening in on some local bit of gossip from a visitor as she had for years now.
“Slowly vegetating away,” she thought to herself in self-honesty.
But, today, today was a verrry different day. She sat in her living room, a very changed room from what it had been a week ago. About half of the original furniture was removed and most of what was left pushed up against one of two walls. Her canes and walker were in the storage shed, she might need them some time in the future, but not today.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
When she was young, the bunny doe would go through each day on her family’s farm doing her chores and dreaming of a future of bright lights and wondrous duty in a far great city. Later, denied those dreams, she changed focus and selected another ‘calling’, one dealing with the very small things of the Universe. In her time, she worked with her brilliant mentor and his team of mammals. Days of calculations, study of new data, working to slowly, slowly extract a small (or not so small) secret from a grudgingly tight fisted universe. An “out of the blue” event occurred that forever changed that; changed her life in ways she was still trying to come to grips with. Now, for her, any day could be a verrry different day.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
It was summer school break and, on any other day, the 17-year-old black fleeced ewe would be out with her femfriends trading gossip and talking boys, or with one of those males her age. But, today, today was a verrry different day. Today she was seated in front of a computer with VR goggles on, and not playing any number of games that could be on it. No, she was visually checking light intensity variations of a star that orbited along the edge of the galaxy. When she was done with it, she would go to another one, and then another. The data was from NASA’s overwhelmingly vast electronic storehouse that held raw data collected from a dozen space based observatories, orbiters that circled other planets and moons in the solar system, and yet to be checked data from flyby probes. Ground roving robots on two different worlds contributed their own streams of ones and zeros to that bank as well, some of it looked at quickly, the rest of it stored away for later evaluation. That data was accessible to anyone who had a connection to the Net. It could be viewed and/or downloaded for review at a mammal’s leisure. All over Terra, civilian/amateur scientists sifted through bits and pieces of, not a mountain, but an entire mountain range of unprocessed scientific data. Over the years those unseen, by most of the world’s population, mammals made discoveries. Most were small, nailing down the accuracy of a star’s orbital path and velocity. Confirming the dips in a star’s light curve to detect an exoplanet, or the ever so slight red and blue shifts of that star that “said” that something pulled it one way then another. Checking and refining the light spectrum of stars, even galaxies, to sort out what elements were, or not, in them and in what quantities. Once in a great while, something odd turned up and the finder gained some notoriety, mainly within the scientific community, for doing so. Those events were rare and while the teen ewe had some ‘visions’ of that happening with her, she would go on with the meticulous work of finding the little bits and confirming other small bits.
“The Universe is ultimately made up of minute bits,” the bunny doe told her. “And, as such, it is the observation of those bits, subatomic particles to tiny light changes that, in time, give us the bigger picture. As we do so, our knowledge and view of the universe, ever so slightly, changes, becomes, hopefully, more clear.”
The teen noted something and sent it off to her elder relative barely 20 feet away. That done, she moved to the next item.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The fox scanned the room. The changes made in it over the last week were, to put it mildly, great. Sharla Gibson sat at the center of a half circle desk with three computer screens set on it. She would work at one, then move to another, work at it, then move again. At a pair of chalkboards, Judy, the bunny doe, formulated and wrote up mathematical equations. Currently, she was working at refining the mass of a planet whose gravity exerted an ever so tiny tug on its parent star thus causing it to ‘wobble’ slightly. While there was a computer and dry erase boards on hand for her to use, she was more comfortable working chalk and a blackboard.
“A creature of her time,” he thought.
That wasn’t quite true. Judy sat on a stand that was a product of today; a light weight electric motorized four leg affair that could be moved right/left, forward/back with the use of a small joystick. A three position toggle switch adjusted the height up or down. With it, she could reach any place on the six-foot-high by ten-foot-long work surfaces.
He looked back to Sharla as she gazed intently at something on one of her screens and then wrote down something. Then, she got up, went to Judy, and handed her the note. The doe looked it over, moved back down her line of symbols, erased a few and wrote in some new ones. Next, she moved up the line and made other changes to reflect the new data. Sharla scanned the finished product, nodded, and returned to her comp. desk.
“Old or not, that one has too good a mind to just let it dry up and blow away,” he thought.
Nick looked to where Sheela, Sharla’s great-great-granddaughter sat and worked, then checked the clock. He got up and went over to her.
“Sheela, time you took a break. Give your eyes and the rest of you a rest,” he whispered to her.
“Two, three minutes more, I’ve got a new red shift to nail down,” she replied.
“Three minutes from…now,” he said as he started a stopwatch he kept with him.
The teen knew he’d pull the goggles off if she wasn’t done at the end of the time. Two minutes and 17 seconds later, she “fired” the refinement off to her grandmother. Then took off her goggles and rubbed her eyes for a few seconds.
“I’ll go nap out,” she said as she got up.
“You do that. These two have got enough to work with for the rest of the day,” he said.
After she departed, Nick returned to his own table and chair and then checked his e-mail drop sites. One had a message in it and he downloaded it. Opening the file, the fox read Great Buffaloed One‘s message. The first sentence got an eyebrow raise, the Chief was being generous and that was a little unusual. The second one he nodded to. The third complimented the first one and the fourth, well…. The last one was the one that really got Nick’s attention. To most anyone else it looked like someone was suggesting that he try some kind of product, Nick knew it was anything but. No wonder Bogo was being magnanimous.
“Oh yes," he thought. “Today is a verrry different day!”
Category Story / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 50 x 50px
File Size 58.1 kB
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