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Andromeda Galaxy
The Andromeda Galaxy, also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224; often referred to as the Great Andromeda Nebula in older texts, is a spiral galaxy approximately 2,500,000 light-years away in the constellation Andromeda.
It is the nearest spiral galaxy to our own, the Milky Way. As it is visible as a faint smudge on a moonless night, it is one of the farthest objects visible to the naked eye, and can be seen even from urban areas with binoculars. It is named after the princess Andromeda in Greek mythology.
Andromeda is the largest galaxy of the Local Group, which consists of the Andromeda Galaxy, the Milky Way Galaxy, the Triangulum Galaxy, and about 30 other smaller galaxies. Although the largest, Andromeda may not be the most massive, as recent findings suggest that the Milky Way contains more dark matter and may be the most massive in the grouping.
The 2006 observations by the Spitzer Space Telescope revealed that M31 contains one trillion (1012) stars, several times more than the number of stars in our own galaxy, which is estimated to be c. 200-400 billion.
While the 2006 estimates put the mass of the Milky Way to be ~80% of the mass of Andromeda, which is estimated to be 7.1 X 1011 solar masses, a 2009 study concluded that Andromeda and the Milky Way are about equal in mass.
At an apparent magnitude of 3.4, the Andromeda Galaxy is notable for being one of the brightest Messier objects, making it easily visible to the naked eye even when viewed from areas with moderate light pollution. Although it appears more than six times as wide as the full moon when photographed through a larger telescope, only the brighter central region is visible with the naked eye.
Observation History
The earliest recorded observation of the Andromeda Galaxy was in 964 CE by the Persian astronomer, Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi (Azophi), who described it as a "small cloud" in his Book of Fixed Stars. Other star charts of that period have it labeled as the Little Cloud.
The first description of the object based on telescopic observation was given by Simon Marius in 1612.
Charles Messier catalogued it as object M31 in 1764 and incorrectly credited Marius as the discoverer, unaware of Al Sufi's earlier work.
In 1785, the astronomer William Herschel noted a faint reddish hue in the core region of the M31. He believed it to be the nearest of all the "great nebulae" and, based on the color and magnitude of the nebula, he incorrectly guessed that it was no more than 2,000 times the distance of Sirius.
William Huggins in 1864 observed the spectrum of M31 and noted that it differed from a gaseous nebula. The spectra of M31 displayed a continuum of frequencies, superimposed with dark absorption lines that help identify the chemical composition of an object. The Andromeda nebula was very similar to the spectra of individual stars, and from this it was deduced that M31 had a stellar nature.
In 1885, a supernova (known as "S Andromedae") was seen in M31, the first and so far only one observed in that galaxy. At the time M31 was considered to be a nearby object, so the cause was thought to be a much less luminous and unrelated event called a nova, and was named accordingly "Nova 1885".
The first photographs of M31 were taken in 1887 by Isaac Roberts from his private observatory in Sussex, England. The long-duration exposure allowed the spiral structure of the galaxy to be seen for the first time. However, at the time this object was commonly believed to be a nebula within our galaxy, and Roberts mistakenly believed that M31 and similar spiral nebulae were actually solar systems being formed, with the satellites nascent planets.
The radial velocity of this object with respect to our solar system was measured in 1912 by Vesto Slipher at the Lowell Observatory, using spectroscopy. The result was the largest velocity recorded at that time, at 300 kilometres per second (190 mi/s), moving in the direction of the Sun.
Island Universe
In 1917, Heber Curtis observed a nova within M31. Searching the photographic record, 11 more novae were discovered. Curtis noticed that these novae were, on average, 10 magnitudes fainter than those that occurred within our Galaxy. As a result he was able to come up with a distance estimate of 500,000 light-years (3.2X1010 AU). He became a proponent of the so-called "island universes" hypothesis, which held that spiral nebulae were actually independent galaxies.
In 1920 the Great Debate between Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis took place, concerning the nature of the Milky Way, spiral nebulae, and the dimensions of the universe. To support his claim that Great Andromeda Nebula (M31) was an external galaxy, Curtis also noted the appearance of dark lanes resembling the dust clouds in our own Galaxy, as well as the significant Doppler shift.
In 1922 Ernst Opik presented a very elegant and simple astrophysical method to estimate the distance of M31, his result (450 kpc (1,500 kly)) put Andromeda Nebula far outside our Galaxy.
Edwin Hubble settled the debate in 1925 when he identified extragalactic Cepheid variable stars for the first time on astronomical photos of M31. These were made using the 2.5 metres (98 in) Hooker telescope, and they enabled the distance of Great Andromeda Nebula to be determined. His measurement demonstrated conclusively that this feature was not a cluster of stars and gas within our Galaxy, but an entirely separate galaxy located a significant distance from our own.
Andromeda plays an important role in galactic studies, since it is the nearest spiral galaxy (although not the nearest galaxy).
In 1943, Walter Baade was the first person to resolve stars in the central region of the Andromeda Galaxy. Based on his observations of this galaxy, he was able to discern two distinct populations of stars based on their metallicity, naming the young, high velocity stars in the disk Type I and the older, red stars in the bulge Type II. This nomenclature was subsequently adopted for stars within the Milky Way, and elsewhere. (The existence of two distinct populations had been noted earlier by Jan Oort.) Dr. Baade also discovered that there were two types of Cepheid variables, which resulted in a doubling of the distance estimate to M31, as well as the remainder of the Universe.
Radio emission from the Andromeda Galaxy was first detected by Grote Reber in 1940. The first radio maps of the galaxy were made in the 1950s by John Baldwin and collaborators at the Cambridge Radio Astronomy Group. The core of the Andromeda Galaxy is called 2C 56 in the 2C radio astronomy catalogue.
In 2009, the first planet may have been discovered in the Andromeda Galaxy. This candidate was detected using a technique called microlensing, which is caused by the deflection of light by a massive object.
Structure
Based on its appearance in visible light, the Andromeda galaxy is classified as an SA(s)b galaxy in the de Vaucouleurs-Sandage extended classification system of spiral galaxies. However, data from the 2MASS survey showed that the bulge of M31 has a box-like appearance, which implies that the galaxy is actually a barred galaxy with the bar viewed almost directly along its long axis.
In 2005, astronomers used the Keck telescopes to show that the tenuous sprinkle of stars extending outward from the galaxy is actually part of the main disk itself. This means that the spiral disk of stars in Andromeda is three times larger in diameter than previously estimated. This constitutes evidence that there is a vast, extended stellar disk that makes the galaxy more than 220,000 light-years (67,000 pc) in diameter. Previously, estimates of Andromeda's size ranged from 70,000 to 120,000 light-years (21,000 to 37,000 pc) across.
The galaxy is inclined an estimated 77° relative to the Earth (where an angle of 90° would be viewed directly from the side). Analysis of the cross-sectional shape of the galaxy appears to demonstrate a pronounced, S-shaped warp, rather than just a flat disk. A possible cause of such a warp could be gravitational interaction with the satellite galaxies near M31. The galaxy M33 could be responsible for some warp in M31's arms, though more precise distances and radial velocities are required.
Spectroscopic studies have provided detailed measurements of the rotational velocity of M31 at various radii from the core. In the vicinity of the core, the rotational velocity climbs to a peak of 225 kilometres per second (140 mi/s) at a radius of 1,300 light-years (82,000,000 AU) light-years, then descends to a minimum at 7,000 light-years (440,000,000 AU) where the rotation velocity may be as low as 50 kilometres per second (31 mi/s).
Thereafter the velocity steadily climbs again out to a radius of 33,000 light-years (2.1x109 AU), where it reaches a peak of 250 kilometres per second (160 mi/s). The velocities slowly decline beyond that distance, dropping to around 200 kilometres per second (120 mi/s) at 80,000 light-years (5.1x109 AU). These velocity measurements imply a concentrated mass of about 6 x 109 M in the nucleus. The total mass of the galaxy increases linearly out to 45,000 light-years (2.8 x109 AU), then more slowly beyond that radius.
The spiral arms of Andromeda are outlined by a series of H II regions that Baade described as resembling "beads on a string". They appear to be tightly wound, although they are more widely spaced than in our galaxy.
Rectified images of the galaxy show a fairly normal spiral galaxy with the arms wound up in a clockwise direction. There are two continuous trailing arms that are separated from each other by a minimum of about 13,000 light-years (8.2E+8 AU). These can be followed outward from a distance of roughly 1,600 light-years (100,000,000 AU) from the core. The most likely cause of the spiral pattern is thought to be interaction with M32. This can be seen by the displacement of the neutral hydrogen clouds from the stars.
In 1998, images from the European Space Agency's Infrared Space Observatory demonstrated that the overall form of the Andromeda galaxy may be transitioning into a ring galaxy. The gas and dust within Andromeda is generally formed into several overlapping rings, with a particularly prominent ring formed at a radius of 32,000 light-years (2.0x109 AU) from the core. This ring is hidden from visible light images of the galaxy because it is composed primarily of cold dust.
Close examination of the inner region of Andromeda showed a smaller dust ring that is believed to have been caused by the interaction with M32 more than 200 million years ago. Simulations show that the smaller galaxy passed through the disk of Andromeda along the latter's polar axis. This collision stripped more than half the mass from the smaller M32 and created the ring structures in Andromeda.
Studies of the extended halo of M31 show that it is roughly comparable to that of the Milky Way, with stars in the halo being generally "metal-poor", and increasingly so with greater distance. This evidence indicates that the two galaxies have followed similar evolutionary paths. They are likely to have accreted and assimilated about 1-200 low-mass galaxies during the past 12 billion years. The stars in the extended halos of M31 and the Milky Way may extend nearly one third the distance separating the two galaxies.
Nucleus
M31 is known to harbor a dense and compact star cluster at its very center. In a large telescope it creates a visual impression of a star embedded in the more diffuse surrounding bulge. The luminosity of the nucleus is in excess of the most luminous globular clusters.
In 1991 Tod R. Lauer used WFPC, then on board the Hubble Space Telescope, to image Andromeda's inner nucleus. The nucleus consists of two concentrations separated by 1.5 parsecs (4.9 ly). The brighter concentration, designated as P1, is offset from the center of the galaxy. The dimmer concentration, P2, falls at the true center of the galaxy and contains a 3-5x107 M black hole.
Scott Tremaine has proposed that the observed double nucleus could be explained if P1 is the projection of a disk of stars in an eccentric orbit around the central black hole. The eccentricity is such that stars linger at the orbital apocenter, creating a concentration of stars. P2 also contains a compact disk of hot, spectral class A stars. The A stars are not evident in redder filters, but in blue and ultraviolet light they dominate the nucleus, causing P2 to appear more prominent than P1.
While at the initial time of its discovery it was hypothesized that the brighter portion of the double nucleus was the remnant of a small galaxy "cannibalized" by Andromeda, this is no longer considered to be a viable explanation. The primary reason is that such a nucleus would have an exceedingly short lifetime due to tidal disruption by the central black hole. While this could be partially resolved if P1 had its own black hole to stabilize it, the distribution of stars in P1 does not suggest that there is a black hole at its center.
Artist's concept of Andromeda galaxy core showing a view across a
mysterious disk of young, blue stars encircling a supermassive black
hole.
Multiple X-ray sources have been detected in the Andromeda Galaxy, using observations from the ESA's XMM-Newton orbiting observatory. Robin Barnard et al. hypothesized that these are candidate black holes or neutron stars, which are heating incoming gas to millions of kelvins and emitting X-rays. The spectrum of the neutron stars is the same as the hypothesized black holes, but can be distinguished by their masses.
There are approximately 460 globular clusters associated with the Andromeda galaxy. The most massive of these clusters, identified as Mayall II, nicknamed Globular One, has a greater luminosity than any other known globular cluster in the local group of galaxies.
It contains several million stars, and is about twice as luminous as Omega Centauri, the brightest known globular cluster in the Milky Way. Globular One (or G1) has several stellar populations and a structure too massive for an ordinary globular. As a result, some consider G1 to be the remnant core of a dwarf galaxy that was consumed by M31 in the distant past. The globular with the greatest apparent brightness is G76 which is located in the south-west arm's eastern half.
In 2005, astronomers discovered a completely new type of star cluster in M31. The new-found clusters contain hundreds of thousands of stars, a similar number of stars that can be found in globular clusters. What distinguishes them from the globular clusters is that they are much larger several hundred light-years across and hundreds of times less dense. The distances between the stars are, therefore, much greater within the newly discovered extended clusters.
Future Collision of the Milky Way with Andromeda
The Andromeda Galaxy is approaching the Sun at about 100 to 140 kilometres per second (62 to 87 mi/s),[56] so it is one of the few blue shifted galaxies. The Andromeda Galaxy and the Milky Way are thus expected to collide in perhaps 2.5 billion years, although the details are uncertain since Andromeda's tangential velocity with respect to the Milky Way is only known to within about a factor of two.
A likely outcome of the collision is that the galaxies will merge to form a giant elliptical galaxy. Such events are frequent among the galaxies in galaxy groups. The fate of the Earth and the Solar System in the event of a collision are presently unknown. If the galaxies do not merge, there is a small chance that the Solar System could be ejected from the Milky Way or join Andromeda.
Andromeda's
Satellite Galaxies Wikipedia
Like the Milky Way, Andromeda Galaxy has satellite galaxies, consisting
of 14 known dwarf galaxies.
Sneak Preview……
Today, I feel urged to to reveal a little of the novel I'm currently writing. Not sure what it will accomplish, but the urge is there, and it feels good. "Make It Real" is a so-called braided tale weaving three timelines into a timeless piece of reflection:
Comment I got from a fifteen year old as I told him the outline of the story: "This book is going to change a lot" and me, daft as I am, said "Why?, it is almost half finished" Turned out he meant that it would change many of those reading it.... And you know what they say about kids. And no, he wasn't one of my kids.......
Love your Light,
Dre'
P.S. I still come up short on my list of E-mail addresses to present to the publisher as receivers of the mailing about that book. Especially since I do not specifically wish to invite my colleagues to join. This story might be a bit too close to home to involve them. However, if they pass the barriers I will be putting up, then their knowledge of it is apparently what should happen.
4444AD, Day 223, 12:34, HomeI'm flat on my back, relaxing as I'm working. The two by two meter vidcloth on the ceiling displays various windows, from various eras. Top left is my vision feed of March 12th, 2010. I have the accompanying audio on the speakers, and “Day sixteen: Loser” plays, not interfered by anything else in the vicinity. I just love seeing myself be busy creating. The video feed gets interrupted by the screen saver kicking in: photos of an intimately familiar lady fill that top left corner. I leave it be, and switch to another, apparently me in a train. Nobody in view, just empty seats opposite me.
I remember how I felt back then, being busy with the idea of the neural network I'd envisioned seeing myself create. I know I can't actually make myself achieve anything better back then, but I can make myself feel better about it. I flip open the plans of the quadrionic mind in my mind's eye, and study them for the next few minutes. By focusing the energy of that activity on my past incarnation, I can strengthen his belief in the fact that he will, in due time, achieve his goal. Just as I eventually did in 2042....
Seda steps into the bedroom, seeing me enjoy myself. She bounces onto the bed next to me, and immediately succeeds in getting my mind off myself. Hey, some people have that effect on me, what can I say? “And, where has my most favorite girl in all the world been hanging around?” I ask her. She tells me she's been walking around town, collecting interesting things from an antiques shop she frequents on a regular basis. Roberto, the antiquarian, told her he had some really nice needlework from around the turn of the second millennium. She jumps off the bed, and steps into the corridor, only to return with four almost square frames. They depict four angels, delicately embroidered on white linen. Two are relatively colorful, a third is done in distinct autumn-like colors. The forth and final one apparently depicts wintertime. A quick reference to the vidcloth on the ceiling gives the game away: the design is indeed a quartet, and these are called the Four Seasons. My vision enhancer highlights a slightly off-colored patch in the corners of the needle works. In icy blue, nearly indistinguishable from the surrounding whiteness, some sort of code is embroidered: MS2000. I now begin to appreciate the weird familiarity of the female foursome: I have seen them before! Rather than letting the raw power of the Google vision search loose on it, I'd rather let my mind do the work involved. The vision search is a descendant of the Google image search, which searches for imagery based on text. Vision Search does quite the opposite: based on a single image, it retrieves images of the same subject, or similar ones, to enable the user to gather context data on something they've only seen once.
And then it hits me: around 2000, my dad in that life embroidered these ladies, proud to have done it in only 555 hours! I flip over the frames, and indeed: one of them has a small label on it, specifying the name of the works, the period they were made in, and the telltale 555 hours.
It is always nice to find stuff from your own past. It reminds you of the timelessness and the interconnectedness of things, which reminds me:
While Seda goes down to the kitchen to make her famous macaroni with synthetic (but no less tasty) chicken and sweet & sour, I go with her and read some more in my manuscript, so attentively sent to me by Denisa.....
'From one marvel to the next'
Thinking back, I wonder why our hosts arrived on foot when they could just as easily have flown right to where we were standing. When asked, Mayra gives a simple explanation: “Two beings on foot pose much less of a threat than a flying saucer carrying the same two people. Hence our preference for walking the extra distance”. Now there’s a train of thought I can wholeheartedly agree with. I thank her for the explanation, and go back to my own thoughts, that wander to the design of the floater that we are in. Sure, its mind-controlled interface is spectacular enough, but otherwise it’s very minimalist in design: a large metal disc-shaped object, with a depression at the center. Around it, seven seats are placed. Come to think of it, it looks suspiciously like the wild water rides that we use on the outside of the globe. Only this one floats on air instead of water, and it’s a much smoother ride. It has no apparent roof structure, so I ask Kayim about it. He explains that inside, the weather does not have its ups and downs like outside, for there are no seasons. There is occasional rain, but the people here don’t really mind that, and the same force field that floats the floater also keeps out the excess water. As we approach the city, I take a closer look at it: it consists almost entirely of spheres of various sizes, some buried halfway in the surface. Lots of green in between, making it a great place to live in, I imagine. The spheres are different shades of color, giving the impression of soap bubbles from afar.
We land on the edge of the city, next to a modest globe. I can now spot an entirely glass surface surrounding it, which can be seen to be divided into six distinct levels. The top level seems to have no real ceiling, more like a greenhouse. We enter the structure at ground level, and step onto a disc that’s in the core of the building. You can look up and see all the floors, just like an elevator that has no walls. The disc starts to rise, and I see Melanie trying to scare me to death: she holds out her arm, and steps to the side of the platform to allow the next floor to chop it off. Her plan is foiled, because of some unseen barrier that won’t allow anything to cross the edge of the platform as long as it is moving. Mayra notices also, and laughs at my youngest.
We stop on the next floor, and find it divided into four quarter-circle rooms. “These are the working areas,” Mayra explains: “They are on the lower levels because of the frequent transporting of goods in and out of them. Because of their being on the lower half of the sphere, they are usually lit by artificial means”. I see what she means, but for the life of me cannot discover any source of internal light. Still, the rooms seem better lit than any I’ve seen on the surface. We get onto the disc again, only to stop briefly at the next level, which is divided into six pie-shaped rooms.
Each one has two discs on the floor, and two discs on the ceiling directly above them. One of the rooms clearly demonstrates the purpose of the discs: another Inner Earth person is suspended in between two discs. As we approach, he effortlessly swings into an upright position, and steps forward to meet us. “I’ve been waiting for you since I finished preparing our meal. My name is Sinan.” Further talking reveals that he is the mate of Mayra, and Kayim is their son. They live together in this house, which seems somewhat large for the three of them. Mayra explains that they have been appointed hosts of the access point that we came through, so they sometimes have guests from the surface, hence the six bedrooms. The seven of us step onto the central disc again, and ascend to the next level, which also has six pie-shaped rooms. “These are for various activities,”, Mayra explains: “Kayim has his musical studio in one of these”. Laura can’t wait to hear her new friend: “Will you please play us something?”, she asks in her sweetest voice. Kayim obliges, and takes the seat behind a desk that features various colored crystals. They light up the moment he sits down, and his hands above the array of crystalline light start making subtle movements. The end result is one of the sweetest compositions I’ve ever heard. All of us stand there and listen intently, until the spontaneous concert is finished. When it does, we outsiders all applaud Kayim, with Laura cheering as well. “Who wrote that marvelous piece?”, she wants to know. Kayim smiles, taking a bow: “I just improvised a little, so you could say I 'wrote' it...”, he says.
We go up another level, and come to another set of four rooms, with large, tilted windows all around the circumference of the building. Three of the four rooms are home to various plants, growing in shallow tanks containing a greenish, luminous substance. “This is our hydroponics area. It grows all of the fruits and vegetables we consume.”, Mayra explains. She goes on to tell us that the plants that thrive best on real sunlight are closest to the windows, whereas the more rugged plants get by on artificial light. Finally, the ones that don't require light, like mushrooms, are grown in a subterranean level at the base of the sphere. The one remaining room on this level is the kitchen, which has its own dedicated access to the dining table above, which we will see shortly. Sinan gestures towards the central disc again, to introduce us to the final level of the structure: the living area.
The four of us stand in awe of the sight we behold: a large circular floor, that is topped by an equally large glass dome. Basically, this dome is the top sixth part of the sphere, leaving the entire floor permanently lit by the smoky central sun. We can see the entire city, and the landscape that surrounds it. ”That's something different from the street view you get from your average city home.”, I say to Gea. She looks at me, and just smiles quietly. Mayra calls our attention to a round table, with a big gaping hole in the middle. As we look on, a plateau displaying the most delicious dishes surfaces, inviting us to the table. Around it we find simple but adequate stools, that automatically adjust their height to the size of the person sitting on them. We all sit down, when Sinan invites us to quietly contemplate the origins of the food we are about to eat. I look over the dishes, and realize that no matter how different they are from the foods of the outer world, their origins are the same: it is all part of the All, just as we are.
Sinan wishes us a healthy meal, and puts some food on his plate. As I ask him to hand me one of the green eggs that are in his vicinity, the central plateau of the table rotates, so I can easily take one myself. “How did you do that?”, I ask. Mayra explains that it is the same mechanism that controls the floater outside. She invites me to try it myself, because it isn't that hard. I notice a delicious piece of fruit across the table, and decide to give it a go. I concentrate on choosing the fruit, and the plateau revolves to the point where I can reach in and get it. Of course the girls can't wait to perform their own experiments on it. Unfortunately, they both formulate their requests at the same time, and the end result is that the table voices its objection against this conflict by a short somewhat irritated sound. Kayim laughs, and tells Laura to let her sister go first. Melanie, seated right next to me, chooses her food with care, and then mentions to me that Laura has already learnt her first words of Solara Maru, from Kayim. I look across the table, and see the two of them exchanging meaningful looks.
I ponder the apparent design choices of the Inner Earth people: their homes seem built for maximum efficiency. Distinguishing them from the houses of neighbors appears to be totally irrelevant. Mayra explains that the spherical shape has been chosen because it leaves a minimal surface for a maximal content, thus minimizing the exchange of energy with the environment. Not that they really need it of course, because the season-less weather keeps the outdoor temperature always around twenty degrees centigrade. “We prefer the beauty of optimal solutions to the aesthetics.” Sinan says. I state that even though aesthetics is not their main concern, they haven't lost their eye for beauty. When everybody seems to have had enough, the plateau slowly sinks back to the kitchen level. Mayra points out that the remains of our copious meal will be recycled into the substance that feeds the hydroponics area.
As we stand up, Sinan again draws our attention to the table. The plateau has returned, and the large circular surface becomes the scene where a scale model of the city appears. Even my untrained eye recognizes the configuration of spheres, some large and some small. But the differences between big and small are much smaller than between houses and office buildings up top. Mayra explains that massive office buildings are not needed here, as most of the people work from their homes. In fact, most won't call it work, because basically it is just doing what they love to do. The only reason things seem so out of proportion on the outside, is because there everything is controlled instead of trusting that nature will find the right way. “Call me an anarchist, but that reasoning doesn't sound half bad”, I thought. Since consumption here is on a much lower level than outside, big stores are also not needed. Life inside isn't all about money, certainly not. The necessities of life are provided for all, and to acquire luxury items, people trade instead of spending their days doing things they don't like.
With the model, Sinan wants to show us which sights we will be visiting tomorrow. On the left, he points to a fairly large globe, half buried in the forest. This is the city's swimming pool, that has been chosen as an item on our trip because it is markedly different from the surface swimming pools: you simply cannot drown there, because the “water” is far denser, causing you to float easier. “Like the Red Sea!” Melanie interjects. “But it isn't that salty” Kayim asks her. “Help, I didn't bring my swim gear!” Laura utters with panic in her voice. “Don't worry” Mayra says: “We can pretty much make you any apparel you find suitable.” So apparently, there's nothing to stop us from having a nice swim tomorrow. Sinan points out that this will happen tomorrow afternoon. The morning will be spent with the Elders, who will give us a bit of a history lesson.
I ask Sinan if there is a possibility to access the Web on the outside. I would very much like to update my site with a story of our exploits on the inside. Sinan leads me to a round seat, which envelops me with a spherical ‘screen’ the moment I sit down. It is projected around the seat, and is pressure sensitive. On the edge of the seat is a keyboard, which can be augmented by use of the dictation unit. It doesn’t take me long to get the hang of it. Once Sinan has shown me how to get to the outer web, I quickly find my own site, and am somewhat hesitantly typing and talking away to let our readers know how exciting it is down here.
As I finish, I notify Linda and Carlo. They are on holiday themselves, so I mail them, and send SMS-es to both their cellphones. I tell them something like “no matter what you hear, we're OK”. That ought to cover any rash actions by the hotel staff, or other people. Gea is up next, and takes the seat.
An hour or two later, even though the internal Sun is still high in the sky, it is the moment of sleep. Mayra leads us to the bedrooms a little lower, and gets us something to wear while in ‘bed’. I am very curious about the force field that acts as a mattress, will it be easy to lie on? We first go into the room designated to the girls. Mayra demonstrates how you can just walk onto the lower disc, after which you will be slightly lifted up to the levitation center of the field. After that, it is easy to position your body any way you like. The kids get into their nightly attire, step onto the pads, and immediately start doing rolls, and other tricks. I wonder how long they will be doing that before falling asleep. As for the lack of night, the windows have their own mechanism to remedy that: they slowly fade from transparent to dark gray, creating a great nightly look. Mayra, Gea and me leave the kids to their tricks, and go into two other rooms, one for Gea and one for me. After I’ve dressed for the night, it is my turn to try the ‘bed’. I step onto it, and feel myself being slightly lifted. It is a weird sensation, because there seems to be no extra pressure from below, like when you’re sitting on a bed. It is more the absence of weight, without the lack of oxygen normally found in outer space. But it also does not seem to be quite like normal weightlessness, for there is a certain friction between the force field and my body, that makes it easy to move around. I experiment a little, but it doesn’t take much time to find my optimum position. I doze off quickly, forgetting all about my peculiar surroundings.
But it doesn't last long. Not seven minutes later, I wake up terrified, because I just realize that I forgot my pills! I get dressed again, and think about why oh why I don't keep the bottle in my pocket at all times. Since our trip to the pyramids was only supposed to last a few hours, I'd plain forgotten about it, since I didn't need them till bedtime anyway.
I step onto the landing, and almost bump into Mayra. She sees the worried look on my face, and asks what is wrong. I explain the predicament of missing medication to her, and she looks me into the eyes: “Fortunately, we do have a remedy, a permanent one even”, she smiles. She leads me to the lower level, speaks some words I haven't heard yet, and grabs what seems like a futuristic motorcycle helmet from a closed container. “Here, put this on”.
I do, and Mayra pushes the shiny red button that is now on my forehead. A weird sensation, a tingling starts right below the button, inside my skull. “What is it doing,” I ask. Not that I'm scared or anything, because during my manic episodes I've felt similar sensations. “Basically, it does what you would call a defragmentation of your neural net.” Mayra volunteers. She goes on to say that where I come from, the Lithium would be used by the brain to perform a similar function itself. This just is more thorough, and will last me about a year. If needed, she can even have me taken to see a doctor, who will cure it permanently.... After that, I have no problem getting back to sleep. View Article Here Read More