Class Fives: Origins by Jon H. Thompson Read Free Book Online Page A

quickly across the room toward a small panel tucked into the corner.
    Marvin took a moment to let his gaze sweep around the space and realized it was remarkably ordinary, more like a relatively nice but plain, windowless boardroom than a place where the destruction of some enemy might be decided upon.
    And then the people began to enter through the door he himself had just traversed, moving with a kind of purpose toward what must have been pre-assigned seats around the large table. Some were in uniform, some in crisp business attire. Some turned to exchange quiet words as they worked their way to their seats, others looked down to scan pages in their hands.
    These are the guys who run the world, it occurred to him, stunned by the realization.
    How cool is this, he thought, unable to suppress a small swelling of excitement.
    It took only a minute for the entire group to seat themselves and direct their attention toward the officer, an older man with a barrel chest and a short crop of steel gray hair atop his bulldog-like face, who had moved behind the podium.
    Marvin glanced around quickly, wondering where he was expected to be.
    “Last night,” the officer said without preamble, “Dr. Marvin Henry, Associate Professor of Astrophysics at St. John’s University, was overseeing a normal rotation monitoring the Deep Look System. At approximately twenty-three hundred hours the Deep Look software compiled newly obtained data and issued a Level Two warning. Dr. Henry will now outline that data.”
    The man stepped from behind the podium, moving down along the table to an empty seat near its end.
    A few of the seated people turned to glance at Marvin expectantly, and it was a few moments before he realized that was all the preparation he would be allowed. A chill shot through him and he shivered slightly, then moved toward the podium. He felt like he’d been invited to take part in some solemn and important ritual and no one had bothered to instruct him in what was supposed to happen.
    Stepping behind the podium, he placed the folder containing his print-outs and photographs and opened it, rummaging through a number of sheets, mostly to give himself a moment to calm down.
    At last he raised his eyes to his audience and cleared his throat.
    “Ladies and gentlemen,” he began, feeling better to hear that his voice was not quavering, “I was told you are all aware of the existence of the Deep Look Inter-Stellar Observation System, but how many of you understand its function and purpose?”
    There was a small pause before a large, heavy, balding man leaning back in his seat at the far end of the table raised his hand. Immediately almost every hand was lifted, some in front of expressions growing tight with the beginnings of annoyance.
    Marvin was momentarily thrown before he realized he was addressing this mysterious group as if it was one of his first-year Astronomy classes.
    “Okay,” he managed to mutter, “Well…”
    He paused, attempting to collect his thoughts, and finally got a grip on himself and plunged ahead.
    “To recap briefly, the Deep Look System was designed to utilize current generation computer processing capability to compile massive amounts of interstellar data, particularly observations of the motion of celestial bodies that might some day prove a threat to the planet. The system currently is tracking the movements of some seven hundred and fifty billion celestial objects out to distances just short of the Ort Cloud, the outer edge of our Solar System.
    “The value of the Deep Look System, besides pure scientific observation, is provided by the software. This software is able to compile terabytes of data per second and project the expected movement of all those objects. It can also, based on Newton’s gravitational calculations, accurately predict future collision events between any of those objects and the resulting orbital distortions both objects will suffer as a result.
    “Deep Look’s purpose,”