Endless Voyage
Rise and fall of humanity
by
pradipkumar raol
&
prakash vaidya
Part - 7
All over across the word news of delayed sunrise and delayed sunset came to be reported. They all had only one question in mind: why it happened like this?
‘Why did it happen this way?’ President got up from the chair raising this profound question. Some of the officers also got up with him. Some just remained seated dumbfounded. And rest of them started discussing with each other.
As if something important occurred to his mind David got up and said excitedly, ‘Sir, it is quite obvious that slow rotation of earth has caused prolongation of day and night, but this slow rotation might have been caused by a strong pull. The interaction of the Earth and the moon slows the Earth’s rotation by about 2 milliseconds per century. Therefore, this sudden and momentous slowdown of earth’s rotation could have been brought about by an equally strong force.’
‘What do you mean by that?’ Defense Secretary asked. To his question David explained in a manner easy for a layman to understand, ‘The earth completes one rotation in about 24 hrs. That is why we have about 12 hours day and 12 hrs. Night at the equator but instead, we observed sunset occurring late and we had a longer day.
‘But why this sudden change from the usual pattern occurred in the first place?’
There was a long silence. David had listened but didn’t respond. He seemed lost in thought. Minutes passed before he said, ‘Because the earth is rotating at slow speed today so the portion of the earth facing the sun remained longer or say, moved slowly away from it resulting in a longer day. That is what we all are experiencing today. Therefore, there must have been the same experience all over the world. However when we go away from the equator to poles, the difference would be accordingly.’
He also demonstrated this on the screen.
‘The President understood all this but was still was not clear about the cause. In fact nobody in the world knew about it. He spoke, ‘Whatever you have said is right at the moment, but how will we convince the people. The real reasons behind this catastrophic event is not yet clear, and before we find out the media will jump on us like hungry wolves, do you understand ?
‘I fully agree with the President, ‘said the Defense Secretary, ‘If we can’t come clear, they are bound to report this matter in a bad taste and much hype and hoopla would be inevitable. As a result we might lose the confidence of our people.
Being apolitical person David was now in a complete dilemma.
‘What can our super computers do in this regard? I mean can they throw some light?’ FBI Chief raised a question.
‘No, I am not sure at this time’, David replied ‘Why not? Our satellites are still working and gathering all kind information’, one of the officials declared his objection.
They sat and stared at him with long faces.
‘Yeah, you are right in saying that gentleman but our computers will only give answers to those questions for which they are programmed. We had never expected problems with the rotation of the earth. Who can have imagined like this? That is why no software has been ever been developed to get answers for such an extraordinary event.
‘Well! Then you can at least tell us about the existing programs….’
‘Of course, to tell you from beginning our most of the satellites are gathering and recording data about upcoming Cyclone, Typhoon, Hurricane, Tsunami and major changes in the weather besides helping with telecommunications. They can alert us well in advance about forthcoming natural disasters. They can also report and send images of their progress. Moreover, United State Geological Survey also gathers and analyzes such information in detail.’
‘Well! So we can also find out about the timings of such images, if I am not wrong.’
‘Exactly, we can do that.’
‘So we can expect to work out something from those timings.’
‘Good idea!’
‘President Sir, we have received satellite images of last twenty four hours of earth’s rotation. They have been taken at every five minutes of intervals. So we can compare it with our old data.’
‘But I do not understand what can we achieve by this?’
‘Well, I am coming to that point,’ saying this he showed rotation of earth and other images on the huge screen. He added, ‘As per the rotational speed of earth, this portion of earth was facing the sun, the other opposite portion was not facing the sun and these portions show their respective longitude and latitude. These are the images of late sun set at 10:45 pm. instead of the usual 8:43 pm in this particular time of the year so we can determine the present rotational speed of earth and then arrive at tomorrow’s sun-rise time quite accurately provided the speed does not change during that period.
‘Really?’ Vice President asked.
‘Definitely sir,’
Hearing this, the President relaxed a bit considering that now at least they can predict something. Immediately he spoke in a light mood, ‘Let’s have a cup of coffee, any takers?’
‘Yeah, yeah,’ they affirmed, someone arranged for the coffee. While cup in hand he spoke, ‘Mr. David, can you give me some more information about the earth, how strange? I do not know about the place where I am staying.
Mr. David pressed some buttons on the key pad and information came on to the large screen. Everybody looked up and read the information as under:
Age of Earth
Area of Earth
Circumference at Equator:
Circumference at Poles
Mass24 kg.
Volume12 km3
Equatorial rotation velocity:
Orbital period
Rotational period
Distance from sun
Surface area2
Land (29.2 %)
Water (70.8%)
Diameter
While everybody was busy seeing the information displayed on the screen one scientist came and put some papers in the hands of David. He referred them and said to the President, ‘Sir! According to our team’s findings, tomorrow the sunrise would be at 8:45:25 am.
‘Mr. David, what shall we declare to the people and the media? President asked in a worried tone. Vice President Antoni intervened, ‘Sir! At the present moment, as per David’s findings we will move ahead.’
‘That means …?’ President asked.
‘That means that we do not highlight the matter about late sun-rise instead we put more emphasis on Earth’s rotation. And besides we do not have anything more on this subject, at least for now!’
‘Yes, Sir, you are right!’ David supported the views of Vice President.
‘There is one more thing Richard!’ President got up and put a hand on Vice President’s shoulder, ‘If things go on continuing like this, that is to say if duration of days and nights keep on prolonging then what would be the effects of such a situation on lives of peoples?’ speaking thus he left in a contemplating mood.
The last sentence was spoken by the President in a casual tone but when its implications sank slowly in the mind of chief Administration of NASA, he also slumped in the chair slowly.
The US President reached the White House. The First Lady and Catherine had gone somewhere. He changed into casual attire and sat in the balcony on a wooden easy-chair. He kept on gazing in the sky. The stars seemed alright to him, he then slowly fell asleep.
It is morning now, a new day has begun; one of the attendants wakes him up. ‘Sir it is David Richard’s phone.’
‘Yes, what is the matter, and why so early?’
‘Sir, Today sun rise was reported to have happened at 6:30:26 am.’
He was amazed, ‘How can it be possible?’
‘Sir I am also perplexed, the earth’s rotational speed must have increased in between.’
“Still, all will be well.” And as he cut the phone, his smile faded. - would, indeed, all be well?
Someone gave him a bunch of newspapers in his hand; he hardly noticed it because he was looking at the sky, deep in thoughts.
