Chapter 9: Roll Program
TWENTY-FOUR HOURS LATER
Alnus FOB
Same people, same space, very different circumstances.
Colonel Mullan watched from a seat in the back. He hadn't talked to Carol since the night before, and at the time she had been a terrifying sight to behold. Even at five-foot eight (172cm) she had quite a presence, and the wild eyes and sneer on her face at his suggestion made him wonder, if only briefly, if he should tell her the whole truth.
No, of course not, that's against orders. Watching the two academics duke it out the night before had been an eerie experience. Sure, he had heard of people willing to start global conflicts over different viewpoints on religion, economics, government, but to see two academics so sure of themselves, so ready to go on the attack over a concept that hardly mattered, was scary in its own way.
"Colonel?"
Mullan looked over his shoulder to see Itami a few feet behind him. He was alone this time, the usual band of girls having already found seats in the amphitheater below. "Need something, Lieutenant?" Mullan asked.
"I've been told that Tuka, Lelei, Rory, and I are to leave for Italica the moment this presentation ends," he said. "And before that happens, I want some answers."
"You could always ask General Hazama, or Intelligence Officer Yanagida."
"Yanagida claims to know nothing, and Hazama doesn't respond to questions."
"But you think that I will?"
"I must try." Itami folded his arms. "What happened with Hakone?"
Mullan shrugged. "Wasn't there, couldn't say."
"But you acknowledge that something happened."
"I acknowledge that our two countries are better off pretending that nothing ever did."
"But since something did happen," Itami said, pointing at him, "This begs my second question. Why are you here now?"
Mullan shrugged. "The government of Japan wanted mobile rockets. We had mobile rockets in storage. Here we are."
"So soon after Hakone? Why?"
Mullan smiled. "We're here on your government's request, so you tell me. Have you come across anything nasty in the skies of Falmart, or something worth keeping an eye on down below?"
"I have seen many things, Colonel Mullan, none of which merits the establishment of a space agency… which leads me to my third question. Carol Dawson… who is she really?"
The Colonel felt his mood brighten at that question. It old him that Itami was shooting in the dark, and really didn't understand what was going on. "She's a NASA scientist with a long background in working with Japan and PR groups. Doctorate, bilingual, really knows her subject matter."
"But what is her connection to your government?"
"She works for NASA."
"The defense component of your government?"
"I told you, she works for NASA. If you have this wild idea of her being some military agent or CIA spy, you can forget it. The closest she's ever gotten to the defense industry has been coverage of launches for the National Reconnaissance Office or Air Force, and only the simple stuff like GPS satellites."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"Itami, you can believe whatever the hell you want. Look, they're starting now."
The amphitheater's lights dimmed slightly as the elf, Flat El Coda took the stage. "Good evening," he said. "As per the request of the Rondel Council, I have worked with NASA engineer Dr. Carol Dawson and NAOJ Professor Hitoshi Shirai to explore the use of high-end equipment to conclusively determine the positional relationship between our planet and the sun.
"But first, I wish to call to your attention some observations on the White Planet."
Some groans, and Nariv shouted, "We don't care about the White Planet! The function of this report—"
"The White Planet observations are an important part of the report," Flat said. "Director, if I may?"
At the front Tarinium nodded, and a picture was projected onto a screen behind Flat. On it, the White Planet appeared as a small circle. "Now," Flat said. "We are all familiar with the positions and motions of the White Planet, but, while observing the planet, Professor Shirai noticed an interesting phenomenon about it."
He picked up a wood staff and pointed at three other points of light on the screen. "These objects have significance. Please keep them in mind as I move to a picture from the following night."
He did so. The White Planet remained the same, but the dots had all moved. "Now, watch as we move through the three months since these observations began."
The dots continued to move around but, just as they seemed about to depart the White planet, they suddenly changed direction and headed back towards it, then eventually past it. Then, before they could escape in that direction, they moved back towards the position they'd started from.
Mutters from the audience. "Members of the Council, I need not explain what your eyes have already acknowledged, but I will do so anyway. These objects are going around the White Planet. They are, in effect, moons of it."
Lots of muttering. "And you expect us to believe that this was not fabricated," Nariv said. "Surely if the Americans and Japanese can compose montages such as those we saw yesterday, then they can produce something as simple as dots moving around another dot."
"That is a fair point," Flat said, "And we expected you to make this argument. Greta, would you please pass your hand in front of telescope?"
And suddenly, the image on the screen was blocked and covered over-for the last one had not been an image at all, but a live video feed!
Half the Councilmembers were immediately on their feet. "The telescope is here!?" Tarinium blurted, "WHERE!?"
Flat grinned and pointed to a back corner of the space, where Greta and Carol stood manning a big, newer reflecting telescope. It was of the larger sort usually only issued to special organizations, astronomy clubs, and loaned to science museums. At six feet long, it was an order of magnitude more massive than anything the natural philosophers at Rondel had ever touched, and the magnifying power it implied seemed enormous.
Thus, proceedings came to a grinding halt as much of the audience rushed the telescope. After a good five minutes of pushing and shoving, Tarinium shouted, "Stop, stop! If each of us demands a look, we'll be here all night. Please, let us limit this to Council Members only, and open the telescope to everyone else later tonight!"
It still took another ten minutes for the observations to be made, for the members of the Rondel Council to have their brief discussion, and then return to their seats before Tarinium declared, "We find the observation of the Shirai Moons around the White Planet to be sound."
From the back, and excited "Haaaah!" and Mullan looked over to see Professor Shirai with a delighted smile splitting his face, all but jumping up in down with joy. I can't blame him, the Colonel thought, the man just had a moon system named after him. That's like the astronomy version of being listed as Football MVP of the decade.
"If that is the case," Flat said, "Then you must also admit that the theory of the transparent spheres that transport the planets is unsound."
"Why?"
"If there was a transparent sphere dictating the motions of the White Planet, wouldn't the Shirai Moons smash against it during their travels?"
Mullan looked around to see Carol looking down and nodding, a cruel grin on her face. This was the first direct attack on Nariv's comments from the day before. Indeed, the comment was met with dead silence.
"Furthermore," an astronomer in the audience piped, up, "The moons are clearly moving about the White Planet. Even if the White Planet had its own subset of transparent spheres, we cannot see a turning mechanism."
Clearly seeing the audience beginning to reconsider the standard model, Nariv stood and said, "Regardless of what is occurring about the White Planet, this has nothing to do with the Heliocentric Theory! It does not demonstrate that the planets are going about the sun!"
Flat swallowed, nodded and said, "Then I would like to continue this report with an examination of the Yellow Planet—"
"Is it your intent to go through every planet before the night is out?"
"No Nariv, this one proves heliocentricity directly. If you would examine this next picture..."
The picture of the Yellow Planet was roughly oval shaped, and looked like the Moon when it was half-illuminated. Yet, it was clear from the blurry surface that it was not Falmart's moon. Rather, the object had a yellowy tint to it that suggested sulfur or ammonia.
"What you are seeing," Flat said. "Is the first picture taken of the Yellow Planet by JSDF Leading Private Okubo, about two days after Japan first came through the Gate. Once this picture made it back to Japan, they immediately called for Professor Shirai and began a dedicated survey of Falmart's skies, including pictures of the planets."
This was followed by another, slightly clearer picture of the same thing, but the darkness had receded slightly, and the lit portion of the planet had grown. "This picture is from two months ago. Notice, please, the position of the light-dark terminator in relation to the rest of the planet."
Some grumbles from the audience, so Flat continued with, "If we go by the assumption that our world is the center of astral rotation, then the phases of the Yellow Planet must remain consistent with the Sun as being a light source beyond it."
On a whiteboard by the stage, he drew this diagram:
_Y_
_F_
_S_
"This is our present model, where F is Falmart and its planet which form the astral center, while the Yellow planet, Y, is overhead at night, even as the Sun, S, is beneath us. The Geocentric Larok model states furthermore that, due to the apparent size of the Yellow planet in the sky, its period of motion, and its occasional appearance in the early morning or late evening sky, it sits closer to us than the Sun. A product of this is that, should we ever observe the Yellow Planet up close, then the planet would never, under any circumstances, display a full disk to our observations, as this would require the sun to illuminate the Yellow planet while our planet is blocking it."
He stopped, then looked back at the audience once before saying, "This next image was taken about a minute before sunrise this morning."
This time, the planet was completely illuminated. It drew more than a few gasps. "As we can see, this morning the disk of the Yellow Planet was fully visible. Not only that, but if we look at the full collection of pictures…"
He pressed another button, and a hundred pictures flashed by, showing the planet going through its phases. "You will see that the light upon the planet grows through these phases. If you are also paying close attention, you will note that the planet appears to shrink slightly as the light increases.
"And the only way that such a phenomenon could happen," Flat concluded, "Is if the Yellow Planet goes about the Sun by going behind it."
He drew another diagram:
_Y_
_S_
_F_
"This makes much more sense, and makes the skies far less chaotic. I asked Carol to create an image to help prove this by comparing the appearance of our skies through a geocentric model to that with a heliocentric model. Here is what it looks like with Larok's model:
He shifted to an animated picture. In it, the Moon and Sun remained consistent in their circular paths about the planet at the center, while the other planets seemed to corkscrew every which way in a dizzying spirograph.
"If you admit that the Yellow Planet, at least, goes about the sun, and that the Shirai Moons exist, then it becomes even worse."
In the second animated diagram, the Yellow planet rocketed in and out of the system, accelerating and decelerating at bizarre and unpredictable rates, while the moons of the White Planet added their own insanity to the display.
"Or," Flat concluded, "you can accept a Heliocentric System."
Finally, the heliocentric model, appearing far calmer, and Falmart's planet with its moon looking sensible alongside the White Planet and its trio.
"If the Shirai moons failed to disprove the Invisible Sphere theory, then these diagrams should have succeeded," Flat said. "And we can agree through both the orbits of the Yellow Planet and the models of the planets in general that the Heliocentric model is the only one that appears sound."
Silence for a moment, then Nariv said, "You are missing a very important detail. If all these planets and moons are going about as you describe, what keeps them there?"
Flat looked up to Carol, unsure, but the NASA representative gave him an encouraging smile and nod. "Objects of planet size or larger, like our Sun, exert an invisible downward-accelerating force that affects all objects in their domain equally. The Japanese and Americans call this force Gravity.
"I recognize that this was argued against in the past, but I want to take a moment to point out that invisible forces are neither new nor novel. Go to any blacksmith and ask him to operate his bellows for you. Do they not create wind? And can wind not be used to move other physical objects? And surely wind cannot be seen, so it acts as an invisible force on other objects."
"But we can see wind," Nariv argued, "By placing something into it, like sand or fine flour,"
"Indeed, and we can see Gravity in action by placing something into it—particularly in the sense that if you let go of an object while standing on a planet, that object falls."
"And orbiting objects?"
"On the scale in question, the object is traveling horizontally and falling at the same time… but because the world is round, the world falls away faster than the falling object can catch up to it… so it moves in a circle."
"For something like that to work, all objects must indeed fall at the same rate," Tarinium pointed out. "If we were to drop a feather and piece of lead, for instance, the lead will fall faster, while the feather will drift down. This is presently assumed to be a product of an object's earthly attractiveness. Do you mean to disprove that as well?"
"I can. I shall, here and now."
He marched over to the side of the stage, and pulled out a curious contraption; a tower with a pair of diagonal tracks on top. Sitting at the very end of each track, a clear ball, like the kind you would place a gerbil into. Instead of rodents, however, each ball contained a different item; a single leaf from a tree in one, a small watermelon barely crammed into the other. The two were kept from falling off the track by a wood lever-operated bar. Mullan was, of course, familiar with the machine—his maintenance men had built it for them.
"When I pull this lever," Flat stated, "Each ball will fall off the track and onto the stage floor. You would argue that leaves fall slower than melons, but by encasing them in identical spheres, we remove the effects of air holding one or the other aloft for a longer period of time. In a sense, they would be attracted to the ground either at different times, by the current theory, or at the same time by the Gravity theory."
He looked up at Carol one more time for assurance, took a deep breath, pulled the lever, and...
ABOUT FIVE DECADES EARLIER
The base of the Apennine Mountains, The Moon
Apollo 15 Commander David Scott skidded to a halt in front of the Lunar Rover television camera and prepared for the next element of his third Lunar EVA. It had been a small entry in the flight plan, but he had smiled when he saw it. It was a cute idea and, if it looked good, it would probably be shown in classrooms for years, if not decades.
"Joe," he called out, "I hope you've got a good picture there! I've got—"
"Beautiful picture there, Dave," Dr. Joseph Allen, the Capsule Communicator or CAPCOM, replied. Scott silently cursed himself for forgetting the Earth-moon time lag, but with his sunshield down, the camera didn't see it.
He tried again, displaying the objects in his hands to the camera. "Well, in my left hand, I have a feather, in my right hand, a hammer. And I guess one of the reasons we got here today was because of a gentlemen named Galileo, a long time ago, who made a rather significant discovery about falling objects in gravity fields. And we thought where would be a better place to confirm his findings than on the Moon."
Scott shifted the hammer up in his hand. "And, uh, so we thought we'd try it here for you. The feather happens to be, appropriately, a falcon feather... for our Falcon."
The astronaut gestured to the large angular contraption behind him. The Apollo 15 Lunar Module, "Falcon", was a weird, boxy-looking contraption that looked like it had been assembled from tin foil, piping, and recycled patrol boat slices… but like everything else NASA commissioned, this did the job. That and the manufacturer, Grumman Aircraft, had a history with weird flying objects—the E-2C Hawkeye with its huge Frisbee-shaped early warning radar antenna was first to come to mind.
"And I'll drop the two of them here and, hopefully, they'll hit the ground at the same time."
David Scott was no idiot, and as the fourth man to land a spacecraft on the moon he had a very, very good grasp on basic physics. Even so, he couldn't help but wonder if it would work. He hadn't had time to test it off-camera. The moon's super-thin atmosphere could affect the timing. Static electricity could cause the feather to cling to his spacesuit glove.
No other choice, it was time to go. He opened his hands, and let the hammer and feather fall…
PRESENT DAY
Alnus FOB, Alnus
… and both spheres hit the stage at exactly the same time, with identical clatters.
Mullan chucked, shook his head, and said, "How about that!"
Five decades earlier, USAF Colonel David Scott had reacted the exact same way.
"And if you feel more comfortable with a mathematical proof to help explain this, and the movement of the planets," Flat stated, "Professor Shirai has provided me with several copies providing amended motion equations and orbital parameters, while Dr. Dawson has provided a detailed background on a new kind of math needed to derive these equations. They call this math Calculus, and not only does it seem to accurately and consistently solve the standing problem of computing an area under a curve, but it also resolves an absurd number of long-sought three-dimensional geometry problems."
The Rondel Council sat there, many with their mouths agape, as they tried to comprehend the magnitude of everything they'd just witnessed. In the space of under an hour, their concept of astronomy had been upended, their understanding of falling objects had been explicitly trashed, and the junior astronomer on the stage had announced the existence of a resolution to untold mountains of calculations that had eluded Falmart's best for millennia.
Carol and Shirai took the stage. "Thank you for your patience," she said with a sickly-sweet smile. "This concludes our joint report on the Heliocentric model. Does the Council have anything they wish to add?"
An irate Nariv raged, "Even with the equations, even with your demonstrations, in no way will you ever be able to make the people believe—"
"Sorry to disappoint you," Carol said, "But in one week, JAXA will be launching an Epsilon rocket from the new pad here at Alnus. Unlike Midgetman, Epsilon is an orbital rocket, which is to say that it will loft a spacecraft into orbit around this planet. For months, the people of Falmart will be able to look up and see it pass across the heavens, many times per night. They will have no choice but to admit to Heliocentricity by Gravity because the proof of American and Japanese engineering will be hanging above their heads, every night, for all to see!"
For a moment, none of them said anything, and the room was eerily silent. Then, Tarinium slowly stood, looked at his fellow council members and said, his voice barely audible, "I believe we owe Mochrie an apology."
Nods of assent, then shouts, then a standing ovation. "I think the response is clear!" the Rondel Astronomy director declared, "We hereby accept this evidence, and will pursue our astronomical outlook from a heliocentric viewpoint."
More cheers. Itami leaned over to Mullan and said, "So we've won?"
Mullan shook his head. There was one last thing he was waiting for.
"One more thing," Flat said. "I have spoken with their General Hazama and Colonel Mullan, and they have agreed to grant us access to all of the equations that calculus derives… if we side with them in the war."
The Rondel Council clustered together and talked over the concept for a moment, then, after more nods, Tarinium said, "We accept."
"Now we've won," Mullan said, standing. "Lieutenant Itami, I have other business to attend to. I wish you and your ladies a pleasant flight back to Italica."
On the stage, Carol barely noticed Flat's offer, as she was still reveling in the overwhelming success of the presentation. It had been the rush-job to end all rush-jobs, and had involved many loud, panicked phone calls to NASA centers, a select group of university institutions, and several other bizarre circumstances. The refractor telescope, for instance, had been pirated from the Kobe Science Museum and loaded aboard a bullet train bound for Tokyo.
"But—" Nariv started, yet one of the other Councilmembers cut him off.
"Since this Calculus and gravitational attraction are true, much of the old natural philosophy knowledge is obsolete," the man stated. "More importantly, once the war ends, I suspect that the cities of Falmart will find themselves competing against each other for Japanese and American business. If we do not begin educating ourselves on their mathematics now, how will we ever keep up?"
"But the Gods," Nariv pointed out. "What about Elange!?"
No one was listening to him at this point. He gave an exasperated yell, and charged out of the amphitheater.
It took some time for the remainder of the event to wind down, as many of the people from Rondel still wished to use the telescope, but nearly an hour later, only Carol Greta, Flat, Shirai, and Tarinium were left. "You know," the older Rondel Astronomer said, "This Calculus thing you've described could bring about a new renaissance of the sciences in Falmart. It will be a very, very exciting next few years. I don't know what you plan on doing in that time to exceed this, Flat, but I'm sure that it will be spectacular. Perhaps something on your distortion observation?"
As Tarinium departed, Greta asked, "What distortion observation?"
"Ah, yes," Flat sighed. "If you look in the northwest sky, you will notice a kind of compression, where the stars are being drawn towards a single point in the sky. I do not believe that the stars are moving themselves. As the White Planet passes through the region during its orbit, it appears to also swing towards that point, and returns to its normal path across the sky once it leaves the region."
Shirai nodded. "I noticed that as well. Curious indeed. My current suspicion is that it's a gravity lens, but I cannot think of a sensible mass point—"
"A gravity lens?" Greta said. "What's that?"
"Well," Shirai began, "It requires a foundation in General Relativity, and I supposed that the best place to start is—"
"I think," Carol cut in, "That we've had enough lecturing in the past twenty-four hours to last us for months. Flat, your presentation was flawless. Send your fiancée our best regards, and feel free to send us a message if you ever wish to clarify something on Astronomy or Physics."
"The pleasure was mine, Dr. Dawson. Professor Shirai, could you walk with me to the helicopter? You caught my curiosity with this General Relativity thing."
"Of course, of course! It started a long time ago, with a German-American physicist named Albert Einstein…"
Carol and Greta watched the two go, and Carol was about to leave herself, when she did a double take. "Greta!"
"Carol?"
"I just realized! I never told them how we solved the Akatsuki probe!"
They looked at each other, then both burst out laughing, from stress, from exhaustion, what did it matter? Ultimately, it was all the same. Regardless of whether it was a stuck valve or a stuck culture, Carol felt pleased in the certainty that there wasn't anything that couldn't be solved with the right application of science and math.
LATER
Before she could go to bed, Greta had one last thing to do. She opened the window of the barracks room, allowing the air to blow inside. There she got down on her knees, and offered the same prayer that she had given that morning.
Goddess of Study, La, the one that dwells
Between all words and speech and life that's shown,
Yet, unlike other days, she couldn't help but take extra time to ponder over each line. What would La have to say about the events of the past day?
Who grants the means to let us drive away
The shrouds which swathe the sum of what is known.
She had always taken this to mean careful study, with a book or a simple experiment. The day's preparations and evening lecture had been anything but that. Carol's tutelage of Flat and lecture design hadn't been so much a 'driving away' as a vicious attack. Not so much the work of La and study, as it was Elange, and established knowledge. In that sense, was Carol's treatment of the Council much better than Nariv's treatment of Flat? This hadn't been as much a case of learning as it was Carol beating others over the head with what she already knew.
But was that fair? After all, if someone already knew something, to what extent did one need to go back to study and review? Greta had only a beginner's background in physics and engineering. I don't know.
I thank thee for thy studying technique
And granting me that knowledge which I earn.
Had anything been earned today? Sure, Carol, Shirai, and Flat had fought with fervor, but Flat had mostly been reciting whatever he had been told. And this Calculus… was it enough simply to learn it, or was there value to be gained in deriving it? If it was truly a new form of math, she had no place to say; many of the 'advanced' concepts she'd read about, like the Rules of Triangles, had been invented centuries ago. I don't know.
Open my mind to those who wish to teach,
And show me ways to grow from what I learn.
And the one thing that troubled her most wasn't until the very, very end. While Nariv had been wrong about Heliocentricity, Greta knew what he was referencing with regards to Elange. To allow knowledge to be updated and revised was a good thing-if anything, it was the perfect connection between La and her twin, but to put knowledge at unnecessary risk and allow it to come to harm, that was improper towards Elange.
What were the views of the Gods towards the Men in Green and Men in Tan? It was the policy of the Gods to let the people of Falmart discover the truths about the universe on their own, but what of the way the Japanese and Americans reacted to the Gods themselves?
There was a knock at her door. Prayer over, Greta stood and opened the door to find a JSDF Leading Private standing in the hallway. He bowed to her and held out an envelope. "Greta-chan," he said, "A message from Rory Mercury, before she departed with Lt. Itami for Italica. She insisted that it was urgent."
Greta took the envelope and, after seeing the soldier off, sat down on her bed and stared at it in wonder. She had told the truth to Carol when she said that the Gods did not often communicate with mortals. The next best thing was a message from an Apostle, and here one was, from the representative of Emroy.
Carefully, she opened the envelope, unfolded the letter, and read the contents.
It said:
Carol Dawson is in grave peril, but is willingly blind to it. She will need you to help her. Be ready.
Alnus Settlement, Alnus
Nariv was a sorry sight as he tumbled out of the tavern. In his haste to get drunk, he had missed his flight back to Italica, and most of his money and traveling equipment had been left back in Rondel—the Men in Green had said that their helicopter negated the need for either of them. Now, here he was, nowhere near as drunk as he wanted to be, angry at the world and everything in it.
It was one thing to claim that the Men in Green possessed strange and powerful weapons, but he hadn't expected their academic knowledge to be one of them. In about an hour, they had torn up Larok's equations as if it had been a child's speculation, and then wrecked Earthly Attraction theory for sport. He had spent years working with those equations, creating corollaries and refinements. Half of his theses had relied on them, so what did that make him now that they were all destroyed.
And worst of all, the whole Council had simultaneously turned their backs on Elange. Was Japanese and American natural philosophy so powerful that it could consume Falmart's religion too? What would the Gods do then?
"You sir, you look like you're having a rough night."
A man on the other side of the street was calling to him. Nariv slowly regained his footing, and made his way over, "You haven't the slightest idea," he said. "The Japanese and Americans have simultaneously wrecked my honor, and destroyed years of my work."
"They do tend to go where they do not belong," the man said. "As a follower of Hardy, I continue to try and convince the people of this town of their trespasses, and remind them that the actions of the Men in Green against Hardy's Apostille will not go unpunished for long."
Nariv's eyes widened. "They have attacked Hardy too?"
"Have you not heard?" the man replied. "They killed three flame dragons, dropped tubes that explode on Giselle's head, then desecrated the land and sky with their rocket launches. I await in terror the day that Hardy brings her wrath to this town."
"It isn't merely that," Nariv said, and described the scene that he had witnessed at the end of Flat's lecture. The Follower of Hardy's eyes widened and he said, "We must tell the people immediately. Will you join me?"
Minutes later, they were standing before an audience of hundreds as Nariv shouted, "Listen! I have witnessed the darkness that these people bring to this great land, and you are all in danger! Hardly an hour or two ago, I watched with my own eyes as emissaries from Japan and America turned the entire Rondel Council against Elange. I shouted the names of the Gods of Falmart to them, but their stories of numbers and machines deafened the Council to my plea!"
This one caught the interest of a person in the audience. "It is true! I have heard that the Men in Green have militarized the Rondel Council and means to use them against Zorzal!"
Gasps, shouts, a people that already felt abandoned by the aristocracy felt themselves being abandoned further.
"But Rory—" someone began, but the Follower of Hardy was quick to cut them off.
"What of Rory? As an Apostle of Emroy, it is her job to bring about Darkness! And now look, as a result the soldiers from the other world have attacked the names of Hardy and Elange. How long must we wait? Until the Men in Green eliminate Lunayurr though their pocket-devices that blast sound? Until the Men in Tan strike Flare from the heavens and plunge the world into endless night?"
"Then what do we do?"
"We must arm ourselves and fight back!" He looked to Nariv for support.
It was a drastic measure, attacking the Men in Green on their own territory. In theory, it could work, but it would demand getting within sword range of the outsiders before they struck. Perhaps the Japanese compassion for civilians would keep them from firing? Yes, yes it was possible, but it needed to be handled very, very carefully.
Plus, he thought, I truly wish to see that witch Carol Dawson's head removed.
"To arms!" He called, "To arms! But meet back here. We can drive the Men in Green from our lands, but we will not succeed without Elange to guide us, and Hardy to swiften our enemies to the Land Below! To arms and ready yourselves!"
And so, they began to move, some at first, then more and more, and Nariv allowed himself a crooked smile-he would get his revenge for this travesty of a night, and he would write his next thesis with the blood of an American scientist.
Author's note on science:
The methods that Carol, Shirai, and Flat use to convince the Rondel Council are the same ones Galileo made to try and convince the people of his time that Heliocentricity was correct. Where Flat used the White and Yellow Planets, Galileo used Jupiter and Venus. Unfortunately, Galileo was met with far less success, since, unlike Falmart's theories, Geocentricity was considered proven through the Bible. It was not until the 18th century and the development of calculus that orbital motion could be proven, and Heliocentricity moved to prominence as established fact. Even today, however, you will continue to find ultra-religious sects that deny Heliocentricity.
The experiment described with Dave Scott was performed on the Moon, and you can easily find the video yourself by googling "Apollo feather hammer."