Wonderland 2022

4. Shutting Up Like a Telescope

4. "Shutting Up Like a Telescope" - A new planet has just been discovered...by you! Describe this planet, its inhabitants, and what life would be like over there. Be careful now, as Dinah the Cat must approve. (<1000 words)

I wonder, is that a new planet? Aiming the telescope again, it shines like a ripe red apple. Right there in the center of the scope. Also a red beam aimed right at my eye. I back away from the scope. Perhaps that’s a laser? I don’t want a laser ruining my eye.

I check the coordinates. No known planet lies in these. What am I seeing? I need more verification.

“Dr. Hofenstieen, I just saw a red planet, with coordinates that line up with the Zone of Avoidance. Do you have any information about this?”

“Is this my old student Marie? How have you been my dear? I haven’t heard from you in ever so long. Sounds like you’ve got your old telescope back out. So tell me what concerns you about this red anomaly you saw. You know the ZOA is a region of sky that doesn’t have any extragalactic objects at optical wavelengths. It covers approximately 20% of the sky.”

“So why am I seeing this red star or planet?”

“Well, now, are you sure it’s a planet? It very well could be a star. The Galactic plane is located near the center of our galaxy, you know, in the constellation Sagittarius. There are many stars in this area. So perhaps you’re seeing something that just isn’t there. Happens all the time.”

“Okay… But what if…and I’m going out on a limb here, this planet seemed to send a laser-like beam to me. In fact, when I looked away, the beam hit the wall behind me. My cat tried to bat it away.”

“Wait. Your cat, you say? Interesting.”

“Yes, my cat.”

“Don’t report this to anyone.”

And just as rude as that, the professor hung up. I waited for an hour for him to call back. Periodic checks of the telescope revealed no change in the planet’s course in the sky.

I decided to name it Mabel, after my cat. I guess the laser-like beam is the Mabel’s way of communicating with me. So I got my laser toy out and beamed to the coordinates I read off the telescope. Who knows, it might work. Long way for a tiny beam of cheap laser light to go, but it may work.

The laser beam worked for a time, until I drained the batteries. That was about 3 AM, and no stores were open.

Suddenly the phone rang. Professor Hofenstieen sounded excited.

“Marie don’t do anything! We’re in contact with your discovered planet and someone will be taking over this mission now. Do nothing else.”

Again, he hung up before I could tell him I named the planet Mabel and had been laser tagging it for hours, and now there was a huge space ship landing in my backyard.

I guess I will just be neighborly to the visitors and invite them in for tea. They have traveled from Sagittarius, after all. That’s a long way, so I think tea and cakes will be appreciated.

W/C 505