The SiP Saga Chronicles

Crumbs

In the depths of a top-secret space center buried deep below the surface of the Nevada desert, there is a very special room. The sign on the door reads 'Stellar Cartography,' which, to you and me, means -

'Star Maps.'

In this very special room, there is a huge round table, which isn't really a table at all but a flat circular computer screen. In fact, anyone at STAR (Space-Time Advanced Research) caught using it as a table ends up in a lot of trouble after an incident involving a coffee cup ring that was mistaken for a universe-ending supermassive black hole.

This unique flat computer screen shows all the known stars in the universe, galaxies, and nebulae, and every red giant and supernova transmitted from the giant telescopic array that orbits around the Earth.

It is STAR's map of the universe, a collection of all the knowledge we humans have learned about the endless expanse beyond our world.

But on this particular Tuesday in question, it was being used as a table.

Two scientists were sitting on black swivel chairs, leaning over the screen, staring at constellations while munching on a packet of chocolate chip cookies. Olivia Rocket and Vivian Sparks were two of the space agency's brightest young talents.

Vivian was a tall, skinny girl with a shock of bright blond frizzy hair, a mathematical whizz, and an almost unnatural optimism about the universe in general. Her colleague and best friend Olivia was much shorter and rounder, with thick black-rimmed glasses and a short bob that had been styled with the kind of precision only astrophysicists are capable of.

The two ladies had been assigned the late-night shift in the stellar cartography lab to investigate a large radiation pulse detected from a neutron star in the Andromeda galaxy. After a quick check of the instruments and a liberal amount of guesswork, they had found that it was not a gamma-ray burst as first suspected but a larger-than-usual solar flare. This may not sound like much to you or me, but to NASA scientists, this was like finding out your Christmas presents consisted entirely of socks. In other words, disappointing.

As they had another three hours to kill until their shift was over, the two decided to open some snacks, make a pot of tea, and take a tour of their favorite places in the universe to pass the time.

'Bring up the Orion nebula, will you, Liv?' Vivian asked.

'Ah, M42, the stellar nursery. Good choice.'

Olivia touched the screen with her forefinger and swiped the map in a semi-circular motion until the familiar constellation of Orion appeared. What appeared was beautiful, a crescendo of vivid burnt oranges, wisps of frosted white, crimsons, and violets that swirled and plumed against the great black fabric of space. Using her forefinger and thumb, she pinched the image so that the map zoomed in on what would be, in reality, 1,300 light-years from Earth covered in a matter of seconds.

'You won't find a prettier corner of the universe,' Vivian said, taking a sip of tea. 'A place where stars are born.'

'The Mayans called it The Cosmic Fire of Creation,' Olivia replied, resting her elbow on the table, which caused the map to shift away from the nebula and zoom in on the Earth's solar system close to Jupiter.

'Oops! Sorry about that. This screen is far too sensitive.'

Vivian gazed down at the large circular shape of Jupiter with its swirling storms of oranges and browns and whites, a tumultuous gas giant with an enormous orange eye, a vast raging storm system larger than the Earth itself.

'I always thought Jupiter's eye looked more like a large belly button,' Vivian said, wafting a strand of frizzy blonde hair from her face.

'It's too low to be an eye.'