Page 10 of Taurus's Quest
She waved a hand. “A figment of my imagination but possibly useful. What can you tell me about the change in the Milky Way?”
Aries appeared slightly stunned but recovered quickly. “What change?”
“As if you don’t know. The stars in the Ophiuchus constellation appear to be bigger and brighter and might be affecting the Milky Way.”
“Sounds possible,” Aries replied slowly with a frown. “After all, Ophiuchus has recently gone from a dormant state to an active one.”
“Active in what sense? You know what, it doesn’t matter. It’s obviously caused a change in the Milky Way. However, the new force it is exerting shouldn’t be having an immediate effect on our solar system. So why does the device keep insisting the planets have shifted?”
“Is it bad that the planets aren’t exactly in the same spot?” Aries questioned.
“Very, because that is what will cause the asteroid to veer.”
“What asteroid?” Aries exclaimed, his brows lifting high.
“Don’t waste my time asking questions you know the answer to.” She waved her hand.
Taurus cleared his throat. “She believes this is a dream.”
“Did you not explain where she is and what we are?” Aries asked.
“I tried.” Taurus rolled his shoulder. “But she stubbornly insists none of this is real and that it’s her mind trying to work through some problem with the placement of the planets and an asteroid.”
“And I’ll ask again, what asteroid?”
Taurus glanced at Circe. “Care to explain to him what you did to me?”
She sighed. “If I must. 8675309 Odyssey is a kilometer-wide asteroid that originated from outside our solar system and is supposed to pass by the Earth within the next few weeks if it maintains its current speed. However, it’s possible that prediction is wrong.”
“You said earlier the planets have shifted spots?” Aries asked, patting the baby’s back.
“Might have,” she corrected. “Our most recent data isn’t showing a change; however, my replica of the Antikythera mechanism is indicating otherwise. If the device is correct, then that would mean an alteration in the trajectory of the asteroid, which will slam it into Earth.”
Aries didn’t scoff, but he did question. “My understanding of the ancient device is that there only exist replicas based on one-third of what was discovered. What makes you think it’s accurate?”
“Because, until recently, the replica has been spot-on. I should know, as I’ve been writing a paper about it that involved much testing. However, recently, its astral predictions have diverged from our collected data. Everyone is convinced the device is wrong, but I think it’s our data collection that might be flawed.”
“Why?” Taurus was the one to query.
Her lips twisted. “For the least scientific reason in the world. Because my gut says so.”
Good enough for Taurus. His gut had saved his ass more than once.
“This is very interesting,” was all Aries said.
“And?” Taurus prodded.
“I see why the lady was brought to us. We had no idea of this approaching calamity. Neither Sage nor Olivia made mention of it.” Aries glanced right at Circe. “Let’s say the mechanism is right. How do we convince governments to take it seriously?”
She pursed her lips. “Since they keep mocking any mention of it, we’d need to ensure the data we’re receiving from our more modern means is accurate. If it’s not, then we need to properly update it, which would then change the modelling of the asteroid, thus creating a warning. However, the window to divert it or break it up narrows every day that goes by. Soon it won’t matter if I can prove my hypothesis because there won’t be time to do anything.”
“Knowing how slow governments move, it might already be too late. Good thing we don’t need to wait for committees and votes.” Aries glanced at Taurus. “It’s a good thing she stumbled across that arch, or we might not have known of the problem. At least now, we can do something to stop it.”
Circe snorted. “What can a father with a baby and a bull-sized man with a scruffy beard do about a giant hurtling rock in space?”
“We have our methods for dealing with such matters. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I’ll have Taurus return you home.”
“You sure about that, boss? Olivia said I was supposed to help her find something, and that there would be monsters,” Taurus reminded.
