Stargirl of the Edge

Ch 47 - A New Supernova

Plot introduction: Following the kidnapping of Olivia's father on the fifth of June she has had to face up to the stress and uncertainty. However she has managed taken her mind off it by studying the pages of mysterious ancient Chinese book that copied onto her phone. Her mentor Esther, the Chinese princess, asked her to bring it, but it turned out to be the wrong book. The contents, however, are intriguing after studying it carefully and deciphering its meaning, she makes a remarkable scientific discovery.

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And so it was Saturday the fourteenth of July, the fortieth day of captivity. There was a meeting of the committee in the kitchen.
The mood was tense and sombre. Despite many magazine and newspaper articles, countless reports on radio and TV, attempts by government offices, international organisations and people in the country on the ground, there was no news of the whereabouts of Dennis Yang, or whoever had taken him. There was no ransom demand, no message, no indication as to whether he was alive or dead.
Liz continued to pour all her energy into the campaign, while Olivia stayed in her room continued reading, researching and sketching. That was her way of dealing with the problem.
Early in the afternoon, Olivia received an e-mail message from Alan. It read:

From:     Alan Matthews
Subject:    Re: Can you look at this please?
Date:    14 July 2012 13:50:52 BST
To:     Olivia Yang
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Olivia, I looked at your message and the attachments. I believe you may have discovered something very important. I have contacted a colleague of mine who works at Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope. He has been looking at the information you gave and spoken to some of his fellow researchers on the Joint Telescope Project.  He has asked if you could attend a meeting there. I would be very happy to drive you there and participate in the meeting. There may be other interesting contacts there. Can you let me know when you would be free to go there? 
Yours, and very best wishes, Alan.

Olivia replied immediately, double checking the spelling as she wrote it:
From:     Olivia Yang
Subject:    Re: Re: Can you look at this please?
Date:    14 July 2012 13:58:37 BST
To:     Alan Matthews
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Alan, that’s great news, I’m so excited to be going to Jodrell Bank. We went on a school trip there a few years ago, I loved it ☺ Who are those interesting contacts? Can we go on Wednesday please x

The message came back straight away.
From:     Alan Matthews
Subject:    Re: Re: Re: Can you look at this please?
Date:    14 July 2012 13:59:45 BST
To:     Olivia Yang
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Wednesday 18th will be perfect. I will pick you up at your house in the afternoon,1pm?

Olivia couldn’t type the reply quickly enough.
From:     Olivia Yang
Subject:    Re: Re: Re: Re: Can you look at this please?
Date:    14 July 2012 14:05:33 BST
To:     Alan Matthews
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Fab see you at 1pm Alan and thank you!  Livvy x

Wednesday was the sunniest day in the month so far. It looked as if the summer was returning, temperatures were up.
At approximately five minutes to one, Alan drove up the drive in his pea green Morris Minor convertible. He had the top down, and its bright red upholstery looked shiny and pristine in the sunshine.
Olivia had decided to wear a scarf similar to the one worn by her great aunt Tamara in one of the photos. She thought it would keep her hair in place whilst driving. She also wore sunglasses. It made her look glamorous, like an actress from the 1950s as she got in the car. Liz waved from the door and Jessie barked, and Alan drove gently down the drive. 
The narrow country lanes of Cheshire looked pretty in the afternoon sunshine. On the way, Olivia glimpsed many beautiful scenes through gates, along lanes, between trees and over fields. She would often sketch scenes she had seen for just a split second, hoping to work them into a more polished drawing or painting later. 
But today her mind was concentrating more on what would happen during today’s visit.
The journey continued down more lanes, past picturesque houses and the occasional pub, fields with cows and sheep and or a horse or two, until, over the trees, appearing like some weird upturned space ship, a gigantic white circular dish appeared, growing bigger and bigger as they approached.
Alan turned into the drive past trees and drove into the staff car park.  They got out and he walked to the entrance, using a swipe card to open the door.
They walked inside and down some corridors until they came to a room with desks, computer screens and other equipment.  Alan walked up to one of the men working there.
He swung on his chair and looked up and shook Alan’s hand enthusiastically. He was a young man with glasses and a beard.
“Ah, so this is Olivia then! Very pleased to meet you. Alan’s told me a lot about you. Please pull up a couple of chairs.”
He was smiling and obviously excited. He turned to his computer and tapped on the keyboard before turning to face them again.
“Olivia, can I ask, where did you get this information?”
She explained about the Chinese book, saying she had come across it as part of her Chinese language studies.
“Well, I have to tell you, I believe you have made a significant discovery. I used the information you gave me, and searched in one of our latest high definition images that part of the sky. We have much better telescopes now of course, and we are seeing much better and more clearly than before, in fact we can see many times more than we could a few years ago. The problem of course is knowing where to look!
But I think you’ve helped us enormously. Almost exactly in the area you pinpointed, I found a nebula of the type we would expect to see after the collapse of a star. It was very distant, but it was there.  In my mind it is now beyond any reasonable doubt, Olivia, you have discovered a new supernova!”
Olivia smiled at the researcher and then at Alan. The researcher continued to speak.
“Well, sometimes people who are not professional astronomers can make new discoveries. A school student from around here discovered a meteor shower at the age of 16, and there have been others. But this is a bigger, much bigger discovery! Well done!”
Alan smiled and nodded. “Yes, Olivia, It’s remarkable, truly remarkable. You should be proud, very proud indeed!”
She smiled but there was a look of sadness in her eyes. Alan could read her thoughts and added:
“I’m sure your dad would be… will be very proud of you! When he returns and finds out what you’ve done!”
The researcher was quite animated and excited. “Have you got a copy of this book? Can I have a look at it?”
“No, you’d have to go to that library, the John Williamson Sneed. But I copied the pages onto my phone. Here, look.”
She opened the photo app and scrolled through the pages of the book.
“Wow, how did you manage to make sense of all that? I’ve heard Chinese is a very difficult language.”
“Oh, not really, once you get to know it. And I’ve had a bit of help. My teacher’s friend is doing a PhD at Cambridge. She helped me. And I had some help from another Chinese person too.”
“I am so impressed! Alan said you’ve just taken your A levels, then what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know yet, I’d like to do Astrophysics and Chemistry. But I want to keep doing my art as well. Maybe I’ll take a year off, I’m not sure yet.”
“You’re an artist too? I’ve never met anyone like you before! You’re very talented. But I really think you should study Astrophysics. Of course your discovery needs to be fully researched, presented, peer reviewed and verified etc. It will be some time before it is fully recognised. But in the meantime, I think it is better to keep it just to friends and family.”
It was an amazing feeling. Like finding a needle in a haystack. Or winning the lottery. But maybe this was better than money.
They all stood up and the researcher shook her hand.
“Oh,” said Olivia, “there was one other thing. Would it be possible for you to do a printout, showing the location of the nebula, and the main stars?”
“Of course it would be possible! My pleasure! We can do one on the big plotter. So what are you going to do with it, put it up on your wall? You should!”
“Well, I’d like to give a copy to a friend of mine, she helped me. So can you do two copies?”
“Two copies, of course! My pleasure!”
They went into a neighbouring room where there were more pieces of scientific equipment. Through the window they could see the underside of the giant dish, which was currently pointing in the opposite part of the sky.
The arm of the plotter moved up and down the paper, pushing out a little bit more of the paper each time until after a few minutes, a magnificent diagram of the sky was created. In the middle was indicated, lines shining out from a tiny circle. Familiar stars surrounded it. Now it would be easy to find the exact location of the supernova in the sky.
They waited while a second copy came off the printer.
Olivia looked up at the dish of the telescope again.
“Can I ask a question?”
“Of course,” the researcher said.
“How do you move it round?”
“The dish?”
“Yes.”
“Type in some numbers and press ‘Enter’.”
“I thought so!” she said as the second printout was about to fall from the printer.
He got a cardboard tube to put them in and handed them over.
“We will be in touch. And remember, if you study at the University, you’ll be able spend lots of time here! Think about it!”
“I will,” said Olivia.
Alan and the researcher chatted briefly, and then Alan said:
“Would you like me to show you round?”
“Yes, of course!” said Olivia.
Walking slowly he showed her all the parts of the research centre introducing her to many of the staff.
After twenty minutes they had seen all of the main areas. Alan took her to the canteen and bought her a hot chocolate. He had a cup of tea. They sat down at one of the tables. Outside was the dominating sight of the dish of the telescope.
“Olivia, this is a marvellous day! I really do believe you have something to offer. Why don’t you come along and visit the department at the University. I have some work to do there a week on Monday, 30th July. After I’ve finished I could meet you. Have you got anything planned that day?”
“Oh no,” she said enthusiastically, “I’m free that day! Yes, that would be great!”
“Oh look,” he said, pointing towards the entrance to the canteen, “I think someone you might know is about to go on on his tea break.”

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As an eight year old, I went on a school visit to Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope, and found it fascinating.  One person who has read Stargirl of the Edge decided to go on a visit there, and I hope many more do the same in the future after reading the book.