This time it was eerily quiet in the room. It was like everyone was holding their breath.
“If KA5 were to impact the moon more directly we would have a whole new set of problems. If any great mass is taken off parts of the moon and KA5 is sent hurling into space, it will pretty much scatter in all directions. One thing for certain, much of it will end up headed toward Earth. Fortunately some of the debris will fall back to the moon because it will not reach terminal velocity. However, a great deal will be in the path of Earth. How much and what size is unknown. One thing for certain, we will have death and destruction on the planet. Tides will be affected, our ecology will be affected, and we will have more meteor strikes due to the reduced size of the moon. I can’t even begin to imagine what it will do to the mindset of the citizens. Ladies and gentlemen, a hit on the moon would quite simply change our lives forever,” she said.
The President looked ashen and several women had their hands over their mouths. Two men were chewing on their fingernails. You could hear dust settling, it was so quiet.
Finally one man said, “Doctor Montgomery.”
Every eye turned to see who it was.
“I’m Doctor Lyle Radcliff. I’m from the JPS and my area of expertise is applied and theoretical mathematics. While I appreciate the briefing, I must point out that your calculations are not entirely accurate. The moon is perfectly safe. The asteroid KA5 will come no closer than 255,000 miles to earth, not the 200,000 thousand you are projecting. I believe your calculations are flawed. If you don’t mind, I would like to demonstrate the correct math.”
Abby started to say something then thought better of it.
“Please,” she said, holding out the marker.
Doctor Radcliff came to the whiteboard and erased everything that Abby had written down. Everyone realized the tension in the room had just taken another large leap. The doctor started writing down a long equation and when he was finished he turned to the group.
“This is a standard trajectory equation, given speed, mass, and in the case of a rocket, propulsion and gravitational pull of the earth. However, since we are talking about an object of enormous size and with large gravitational variations, the equation is considerably more complicated.”
He drew a line under the original equation and wrote a new one.
“Now, taking the original data supplied by Doctor Montgomery, we can start to fill in the numbers.”
He went to work on filling in the missing data.
“If you work through the math you will find that the actual trajectory is off by some 50,000 to 65,000 miles. Granted it is not a large amount but it gives us our much needed cushion of safety,” he said and smiled.
People had just started to breath and talk again when “You are wrong,” came from the back of the room.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
“I beg your pardon?”
“I said, with all due respect Doctor Radcliff, you are wrong,” Brian said standing up.
“Young man, I can assure you that I am very seldom wrong about math. Other things yes, math, no.”
A few people that knew him chuckled.
“All I can say is this is one time you are wrong,” Brian said starting up to where they stood.
People were looking at each other and talking quietly. Doctor Radcliff had worked on many of NASA’s programs and he was considered the ultimate mathematician. Now this young college kid had the impudence to challenge him? Abby looked over at the President and she thought she detected a slightly amused look on his face.
“Please, young man, by all means, show me the error of my ways,” Radcliff said in a contemptuous tone.
“Certainly,” Brian said and walked to the whiteboard.
He erased two numbers and wrote in two new ones.
“You have the gravitational value for Jupiter wrong first of all. You have it at 23.6n/k when the number should be 22.8n/k. Of course that means that the calculation from this point on is pretty much worthless. Second, the number for Mars should be zero. Again the number you have is wrong. When you change those two, you get 215,000,” Brian said.
“Well that is certainly a good old college try but your value for Jupiter is inaccurate I can assure you.”
“Actually it’s yours that is wrong. 23.6n/k is if you were standing on the surface of Jupiter. I can assure you that KA5 will not be standing on Jupiter,” Brian replied.
A small chuckle went through the room. Abby saw the smallest of smiles on the President. Radcliff was looking at the formula, working through what Brian had just said. He immediately saw that the young man was correct. In both cases he had used the wrong numbers. He was wrong but how to save face was the question at this point in time.
“Why is Mars given a value of zero, can you explain that,” Radcliff finally said.
“Absolutely. Mars will be at its apogee from Earth and the moon during the projected date of interception,” Brian said.
Radcliff took a deep breath and said, “Well, I will have to check your facts a little more. I don’t have that information right off the top of my head.”
“No problem. I have the data with me if you would like to look it over,” Brian replied.
“At a later time. I’m sure the President would like us to move along,” he said and walked back his seat.
Abby gave a little nod to Brian as he handed her the marker.
The rest of the briefing and presentation went pretty much without a hitch. Questions were asked but in a polite and thoughtful way. It was apparent that this group was totally prepared.
“Excellent briefing Doctor Montgomery,” President Stone said coming up to her immediately when she had finished.
“Thank you sir. It is an honor to meet you,” Abby replied shaking his hand.
She made sure her handshake was firm. Dan had mentioned how much he hated wimpy handshakes.
“I know this might be a great imposition but is there any way possible for you to meet with me and a few others later tonight? We will put you up here in Washington and I promise we will get you back tomorrow.”
“Well golly…”
The President started laughing.
“Sorry. Did I say golly to the President?” Abby asked.
“No, no. Honest. It’s just the golly that cracked me up. My mother used to say that at least a dozen times a day. It became kind of a family joke. I just had a flash back of her saying that. I’m sorry, go on,” he replied, still obviously amused.
“I was just going to say some of my people may need to get back. I didn’t consider them having to spend the night,” Abby said.
“I’ll tell you what, we will get the ones who want to go back tonight on the plane immediately. The others can stay and fly back with you tomorrow. Fair enough?”
“Absolutely,” Abby said.
“Good. I’ll have the Secretary of Navy, whom you have met, make the arrangements. I do appreciate your accommodating me,” he said and shook her hand again; “I need to run. Mr. Weldon will furnish you the details.”
“I look forward to it,” Abby replied.
When he left she actually felt weak in the knees. It was surreal. Just a few months ago she was teaching a classroom full of kids and now she was going to attend a special briefing with the President. This was movie stuff, not real life, and yet here she was.
She went back and told her team and as she could have predicted they all wanted to stay over. Everyone seemed excited except Brian.
“Hey guy, what’s the problem? You were brilliant,” Abby said.