The Orthogonal Galaxy Read online

  The Orthogonal Galaxy

  Galaxy Series

  — Book 1 —

  Michael L. Lewis

  Copyright © 2014 Michael L. Lewis

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion

  thereof may not be reproduced or used in any

  manner whatsoever without the express written

  permission of the author except for the use of

  brief quotations in a book review.

  Second Edition, 2015

  ISBN: 9781310144844

  michaellewisbooks.blogspot.com

  DEDICATION

  To my supportive and loving wife, Suzanne, whose

  encouragement turned this work of fiction into reality.

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter

  1

  In a quiet alcove of the federal courthouse in Atlanta, Georgia, a middle-aged man stared out of a rain-splattered window. His dark hair was betrayed by streaks of gray on either side of his head. Although a model of physical fitness, he leaned against the wall for support while watching the heavy rain that splashed down on the sidewalk five stories below. He watched as cars drove by purposefully and pedestrians with umbrellas dashed along trying to avoid the streams of water that rushed off into the street. Occasionally, his focus was directed to the window as beads of water raced erratically down the glass pane.

  While he stood in this motionless position, he envied every car, bus, taxi, pedestrian, and—yes, even the lone bicyclist—in their ability to travel to their intended destinations. How he would have traded positions with any one of them. Even the bicycle was a symbol of freedom that he currently was not able to enjoy. How much longer that privilege would escape him was up to a jury of seven men and six women who had just settled into the courtroom not far away.

  “Paol?” a soft voice from behind him blended smoothly with the subtle sound of rain splashing against the window. It was so soft that the distracted man completely missed it.

  The sound of heels clicking on the polished tile floor grew louder as they approached the man, but even this noise did nothing to arouse him from his thoughts. Only when a gentle hand was placed on his shoulder did he turn with a start.

  “It’s time, Sweetheart.” The gentle words were warm and encouraging in spite of the façade. Paol knew that his wife was agonizing ever so much as he was, and while he was grateful for her strength, he ached to know that she had to carry this burden so gracefully.

  As his bloodshot eyes gazed into her smiling face, a corner of his mouth turned up sadly. With a deep breath, he held out his arm. She received it happily and turned towards a man that had been waiting at the back of the room.

  “We’ll beat this, Paol! I’m confident that if there are any on the jury who are yet unconvinced, they will be on our side before the end of the day.”

  Wearing a dark pin-striped suit, well-pressed white shirt, and cobalt blue tie, the lawyer was dressed as confidently as he sounded. Spinning around, he walked with deliberate poise down the hall. Following his lead, the couple pursued the man and disappeared into courtroom number 523.

  As he crossed the threshold, he contracted some of the encouragement of his defender. After all, Paol Joonter knew that he was innocent of the charges filed against him. Surely, the best judicial system in the world could not make the wrong decision.

  Chapter

  2

  In a different location of the galaxy, Joram Anders studied his new surroundings that appeared perfectly earthlike. The sky was blue, the grass green, the collection of oak, maple, and willow trees rustled in the gentle breeze just as they did on Earth, and the strong golden Sun beamed its warmth in approval of the setting. Yet, for Joram, it felt as though he were on another planet. Motionless, he looked slowly to his left and then to his right. He saw a vast number of human-like figures traveling on brick-lined pathways in all different directions, each arrayed in a varying degree of fashion and quality of grooming. The sound of cars on nearby streets and an occasional bird singing high in the treetops confirmed that, indeed, Joram had not been mysteriously transported to another planet.

  Yet it all seemed so dreamlike, so surreal. And perhaps it should! As far back as Joram could remember, he had dreamed of the day he would stand in front of the building he had seen in hypergraphic photos from the moment it was dedicated. That was eight years ago—just two weeks after his thirteenth birthday. For several minutes, Joram kept reading the words “Carlton H. Zimmer Planetarium” and each time he felt his heart race with excitement, anticipation, and anxiety. For a while now, he had stood in a statuesque manner, moving just enough to occasionally twist his arm for a glance at his watch. In just a few minutes now, the farm boy from Wichita, Kansas would begin his astronomy studies as a graduate student at the California Institute of Technology.

  Naturally, he was intimidated to enter the planetarium for his first class of the term, where his boyhood idol and legendary astrophysicist, Carlton Zimmer, would instruct Astrophysics 21: Galaxies & Cosmology. Joram took a deep breath and approached the building slowly while other students passed by, paying no attention to this nervous newcomer. With one last glance of his watch, he grabbed the door handle. While he was seven minutes early to enter the building, this was by design. He wanted to take in the whole setting by stationing himself in the middle of the arena, partly so he could be lost in the crowd, but mostly, because he wanted the perspective of being at the nucleus of this great building.

  With the door closing behind him, he paused to allow his eyes to adjust to the darkness. The room was dimly lit from recessed lighting that circled the room shining directly up onto the ceiling, which was as black as any midnight Joram had experienced back on the farm in Kansas. The front of the room was brightly arrayed from a string of track lighting lining the wall behind the lectern. Lights along the floor helped Joram find his way down the red carpeted stairs towards the center of the room. Making his way into an aisle marked with the letter “I”, Joram slid down to the middle seat. Surprisingly comfortable, he brushed his hand against the velvet upholstery, and reclined almost all the way to the floor. For the first time all day, his anxiety gave way to a deep soothing sigh.

  Instantly, he was transported back to the family farm where he would spend hours at night every summer evening, laying on a blanket near the darkest side of the house. In the stillness of his Kansas farm and with a pair of well-worn Star Goggles, he could see the faintest of stars viewable under the thick atmosphere of the Earth.

  “Joram,” his mother would call out from a window, “it’s nearly midnight, Son. Come on in outta this night air and get you some rest. You know that your Pa needs your help with the chores in the morning.”

  “Just a few more minutes, Mom. Barnard's Star is about to set.”

  “Barnyard Farm! What are you talking about, anyway?”

  “Not Barnyard Farm, Mom,” Joram said with an exasperated tone. “It’s Barnard’s St—oh, never mind. Just five more minutes, Mom. I Promise.” Joram allowed his mind to depart Earth one last time
to wander among the stars and particularly to Barnard’s Star. While Proxima Centauri is the closest star to our solar system, it is never visible from Kansas. He would love to see Proxima Centauri some day, although he knew that the difference between 4.2 light years and 6.0 light years didn’t really mean much. Both are invisible to the naked eye from Earth, so both would require the assistance of the Star Goggles. Yet Proxima Centauri was his star—the one he dreamt about, the one he longed to see with his own eyes.

  His fascination with Proxima Centauri centered on his dream to visit the stars. While he eagerly attended to all of the news regarding the scientists who were racing to develop the first interstellar shuttle, nobody had produced anything that would approach the velocity required to travel to other star systems. Should interstellar travel ever be feasible, he would have to think that the Proxima Centauri star system would be among the first targets for exploration.

  Hearing the window fly open again, Joram absently shouted out, “Just two more minutes, Mom.”

  An audible huff and the shutting of the window left him to his perfect silence one last time, as he continued to gaze at Barnard’s Star, trying to imagine in his finite mind how far 6.0 light years really is.

  …

  A sudden burst of light brought Joram back to reality. Restoring his chair to its upright position, he looked behind him as students began to enter the planetarium. Embarrassed to be seen reclining in his first grad school classroom, he scrambled to raise the seat back up. Fumbling for the wooden desktop in the right armrest of his seat he began to empty the contents of his backpack, comprising just two small electronic items. The first was his brand new Digital Note Tablet, currently empty of any entries, but would soon be put through the paces of digital note-taking. The second item was his iText Reader. This device had already been slightly worn, evidence of his early perusal of the texts which his professors had assigned to him for his coursework this term. Most professors transmit books during class, since each classroom is equipped with its own private Wireless Services Access Point, so there was no need for Joram to have downloaded them over the Internet first. But, his love of science—and particularly astronomy— drove him to download all of his textbooks from the university intranet the moment they were announced to the students.

  Joram, however, knew that it was more survival than ambition that generated this behavior. To come all the way from a dairy farm on the plains of the Midwest through Wichita State University to this prestigious institution in Southern California would require all of his abilities. He was now placed in an atmosphere where intellect and knowledge were practically innate. He had come from an insufficiently educated farm family, so he was not oblivious to the challenge that would face him in this highly competitive setting.

  “I hear these seats are really comfortable,” interrupted a young lady as she took a seat next to Joram.

  “Yeah, they are,” Joram blushed slightly as he looked up at his classmate. The blush wasn’t so much intended for the attractive brunette with emerald green eyes who had engaged him in conversation as it was for his state of relaxation that some must have noticed as they entered the room earlier. Joram had hoped that the lighting would have still been too dim to notice, and that the newcomers’ eyes would have not had enough time to adjust to the darkness yet.

  “Have you taken a class in the planetarium before?” the brunette asked.

  “No,” admitted Joram. “Seeing how I arrived a couple of minutes early, I thought I’d give it a try. Let’s just say that it’s more comfortable than anything in my apartment.”

  “Tell me about it. What isn’t lumpy at my place is either broken down or completely missing its upholstery. I’m Kather Mirabelle, but my friends call me Kath.” Kath extended her hand, which Joram accepted graciously.

  “I’m Joram. Joram Anders.” Joram was grateful for the hospitality and acquaintance. Since arriving at CalTech a few days earlier, Joram had had little opportunity to meet any of his new Southern California neighbors.

  “Nice to meet you, Joram,” Kath said cheerfully. “What year are you?”

  “First year grad student,” replied Joram. It still seemed amazing to hear himself say it. The first college graduate of his family, many back home found Joram’s penchant for education, and particularly science difficult to grasp.

  “Really! So am I!” said Kath. “Are you in the astronomy department, then?”

  “Yes,” answered Joram. “And you?”

  “Naturally. My undergraduate degree was in meteorology,” Kath responded, “but I’ve always thought astronomy to be fascinating.”

  “Have you heard anything about Professor Zimmer”, Joram inquired of his companion.

  Kather cocked her head in surprise, and replied, “Well, yes. He’s the most famous astrophysicist in the world.”

  “Well, yeah,” Anders smiled slightly at his poorly phrased question, “but what I meant was, do you know anything about him as a profess—”.

  Joram’s words were cut short as he noticed an immediate quieting of the chatter throughout the room. A door had opened in the front of the room, which Joram had not previously noticed. Through the opening, a tall man in his sixties with graying hair strode through confidently and quickly. He was attired conservatively with dark gray slacks, white shirt, navy blue striped tie, and black leather shoes. Shutting the door behind him, he lunged for the rostrum in the center of the stage and tapped on the microphone a couple of times. Responding readily to the test, the man cleared his throat and introduced himself.

  “Good afternoon. My name is Carlton Zimmer and it is my good fortune to have an opportunity to instruct you in this astronomy class this term.” His voice was raspy, yet confident. He articulated smoothly delivering his words with a pleasant tone that matched a warm smile. With a full head of hair, more white than gray, Zimmer showed signs of his age. Joram sensed that the dark rings around his eyes indicated both a lack of sleep and an abundance of stress. Joram wasn’t surprised to make this observation, as he had already presupposed that the successes of a world-renowned scientist would not come without significant workloads.

  Joram’s heart started racing again. Standing just thirty feet before him was a man he instantly recognized. How many times had he seen his picture next to an article in the astronomy journals he kept up with on the Internet? How many times had he seen him interviewed on the Science Channel or other television programs honoring him for his prolific career? While he did appear taller in person, and his voice certainly deeper than it did on TV, he nevertheless recognized him almost as well as he would recognize his own father.

  “Many of you have varying degrees of interest in this subject,” Zimmer continued as he pierced the room with an intense glare, as if he were determining a priori those who would succeed—or fail—in his class. “Some of you are undergraduates with a minor interest in astronomy. Others are first year grad students trying to make a life out of this. Others simply needed the elective, and the time slot just happened to fit your schedule. But whatever your motives are for being here, my job is to make sure that it is worth your time and effort.

  “While these great facilities make it possible to obtain a varied degree of instruction,” the Professor gestured to the vast dome overhead with his right hand, “I hope that your expectations are such that you are not just here to enjoy a good light show. While we will certainly have opportunity to fire up the sky overhead, I find that the seats are too comfortable to allow for much real learning to occur when they are reclined.”

  Professor Zimmer then proceeded to announce some important policies which each student must respect. He made clear that the doors would be locked by five minutes after the beginning of class each day, in order to avoid any “disturbances in the force” of the educational process. The attempt at humor was not a success, simply because he often forgot that his students, so far removed from his generation, usually didn’t recognize obscure references to the rather ancient pop culture with which
he was at least familiar through his studies of all things science fact and fiction. He reiterated, just as the signs did outside each entrance that while the room may have the appearance of a movie theater, food and beverage were strictly prohibited. He allowed the students to then synchronize their Readers with the selected readings of the class. Everybody except Joram rifled through their backpacks and extracted their iText Readers.

  As Kath began her download, she raised her brow slightly and whispered in Joram’s direction, “Aren’t you going to download the texts?”

  Smiling, Joram responded, “I downloaded it—” Refusing to appear too zealous, Joram paused in order to replace the phrase ‘three months ago’ with “—before the semester started.”

  Turning his head back towards the front of the room, he thought he noticed the professor staring at him with a slight frown on his face. Joram’s stomach sank. What a lousy first impression to make on the man he most admired. While the noise of backpack zippers would’ve certainly drowned out the exchange between the two new friends, he was sure that Zimmer had noticed the verbal exchange between the two classmates. While he had hoped that sitting in the center of the room would make him less noticeable, the opposite had actually occurred, because he was now sitting right in front of the professor at his eye level.

  Once the room had been restored to its previous state of attentiveness, Professor Zimmer continued.

  “By way of introduction to our study this semester, who can tell me why the study of astronomy is important in our society today?” This was a loaded and sensitive question to ask, for in this society, there was a decreasing public opinion of the field. Professor Zimmer knew as well as anybody that many murmurings were taking place in Washington D.C. regarding federal funding of astronomy programs. “We should keep our feet on the ground and worry about the problems that are right next door, instead of those that are thousands of light years away,” was a common call among some aspiring politicians.