They all missed Chris and showed it in different ways.
*
Dev paced up and down his room, excitedly spewing out his theory, whilst Molly lay on his bed, propped up on her elbow watching him. The faster he explained everything, the faster Mollyâs head swam with the deluge of sums and possible theories that poured out of his mouth. Desperately trying to keep up, Molly focused hard, but everything that he said was beyond her grasp. It was just too complex.
âDev, please slow down. I think youâve lost me!â she finally blurted out. âI was only asking what it all meant! I didnât expect you to go off on one.â
Dev stopped. He turned to her and finally sat down on the chair opposite the bed so that he faced her.
âOK, OK, Iâm sorry.â he sighed. âItâs just that youâre the first person that Iâve been able to tell, apart from my parents, who donât understand a word Iâm saying.â He took a deep breath. âThey think Iâm mad anyway and this wouldnât help...â
Molly sat up on the bed and crossed her legs into the lotus position. She narrowed her eyes and looked again at the wall.
âSo,â she began, âall of this, all this maths...â
âThe theorems, yes....â
âThey are all pointing to a discovery. Right?â
âCorrect.â
âAnd this discovery challenges the current thinking â whatever that is â sorry, but you lost me on that part, it challenges the current thinking on the subject of âdark matterâ. What do you mean by dark matter? I donât think I understand.â
Dev nodded. His face was grave. He took a deep breath. âOK, right, well there is dark energy â it turns out that roughly seventy five per cent of the universe is dark energy and then there is dark matter, which is about twenty per cent and finally there is matter, which is pretty much everything else that we can measure with instruments and that makes about five per cent. Are you with me?â
âYup, with you so far.â
âRight. Dark energy is the stuff that affects the expansion of the universe, but no-one knows exactly what it is made up of. Iâm not going to confuse you with particle science but with my calculations, what I think I now know challenges all the thinking on what dark matter is and how it interacts with the universe to date.â He ran his hands through his hair and pushed it back off his face.
Molly thought for a moment, trying to take it all in. âBlimey. So thatâs pretty big then?â
âYup.â Dev smiled, but his face was strained.
âSo why is this a problem? Isnât it, like, the best thing that ever happened to you? I mean you could change the world, couldnât you? Youâre a genius, arenât you?â
Dev shook his head. âNo. What Iâve discovered is not some amazing invention. If Iâve got it right, I donât think anyone is going to thank me for it.â
Molly stared at him. âOK, so what does this all mean?â
Dev paused, then said, very seriously, âIf dark matter is what I think it is then I believe it means that the Earth is spinning out of control. The energy created by the dark matter - which according to my calculations is increasing - is pulling the Earth out of its orbit around the sun.â He stood up and the enormity of what he was saying began to sink in. Molly felt herself go cold.
âLife on Earth exists because we are in what is called the Goldilocks Zone, which is just right to sustain existence. If the angle of the orbit is even one degree out, then we would either freeze or burn and all life would cease to exist. With an increase in the energy that constitutes dark matter there will be a change in the angle of the orbit. Itâs inevitable.â
Molly listened with dawning horror at this terrifying statement, willing it to be untrue, though the conviction in