Anomaly by Peter Cawdron Read Free Book Online

correct. “The anomaly is static with reference to an empty patch of the sky north of the ecliptic, at Right Ascension 9 hours 33 minutes and 17 seconds. Declination positive 14 degrees 26 minutes 44 seconds.”
    That seemed to shut them up, Mason noted to himself.
    “So what is it pointing at?” asked one of the reporters.
    “At this point, we are unsure,” replied Mason. “There are no visible stars at these coordinates.”
    Dr. Bates spoke up.
    “According to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the coordinates match a remote, unnamed but previously cataloged galaxy some fifty-five million light years from Earth. But I need to stress, this is our initial observation. It is not a conclusion and it may be subject to revision. There may well be errors in our calculations or our initial assumptions. It may be that we've read too much into the motion of the anomaly relative to the Earth and there may be no purpose in it at all.”
    “What constellation is it in?” asked the same reporter, angling for something specific, something tangible against which to peg the anomaly.
    “Constellations are made up of visible stars that are relatively close to Earth whereas this is so remote as to be visible only to a handful of telescopes. The idea of a constellation, in this regard, is not relevant.”
    “But it's in a particular region of space? Right?” insisted the reporter. “Which constellation does it align with?”
    Teller looked intently at Mason. He could see the furrow on his forehead as he considered his options in reply. Teller knew Mason was between a rock and a hard place as whatever he said would, inevitably, be taken out of context, but the media would figure it out sooner or later. Astrology was the bane of astronomy, its pseudo-counterpart. Like it or not, astrology was a part of Western culture and would get dragged into the discussion somehow. Teller bit his lip, wondering which way Mason would play this, hoping he'd hit this head on.
    “It is in the northern region of Leo. But before anyone gets too excited about that, it should be noted that at a distance of fifty-five million light years, saying the point of origin is in Leo is a bit like standing on the shore of the Hudson and saying China is in New Jersey just because they're both in that direction.”
    There was a flurry of camera flashes.
    “Is there anything you would like to add?” asked Mason, turning and looking down the table at Teller.
    Teller cleared his throat. At first, his words came out quite softly, and he found he had to speak up to be heard properly.
    “Ah, no.” he replied. “I guess I was a little overzealous about Vega.”
    “Dr Teller,” cried another reporter.
    “Mr Teller,” Mason corrected them.
    “Mr Teller, is there anything else you can tell us about this alien anomaly?”
    “Ah, Dr Mason is right. There's no verifiable evidence that the anomaly is alien. It could be a misunderstood natural phenomenon, something we've not seen before. For all we know, it could be a coincidence that it is stationary relative to the stars. It's an observation, not a conclusion. It is too early to tell for sure what the anomaly is, or how it does what it does, or why it does it.”
    “But surely,” another reporter began, “you must appreciate the tremendous amount of interest you've generated in the alien anomaly.”
    Reporters, thought Teller, somewhat exasperated, knowing he'd done all he could to hose down speculation about the possible alien origins of the anomaly, only to have the next reporter ignore him and refer to it as 'the alien anomaly' in the very next question. Sound bites, they'll be the death of civilization, he figured.
    Teller glanced sideways at Cathy who was trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.
    Dr Bates spoke up.
    “Science is all about testing ideas rather than jumping to conclusions. No one has had the time to properly analyze the anomaly. Being the head of SETI there's no one that's more tempted than I to