"Four Horsemen React to an Anomaly"
"Four Horsemen React to an Anomaly"
by M.J. Blair
The characters of this story are used fictitiously.
Four enthusiasts of The Old West were riding horses one day near
the Grand Canyon, when one of them asked a question about
astrophysics.
"What do y'all think about this Pioneer Anomaly thing-ee?" asked
the first horseman.
"I don't know for sure, but imagine the following theory: what if
the Cosmological Constant is ever-so-slightly not-constant in the
mostly empty space between solar systems or between galaxies? Even
a very extremely minor nonlinearity in it could make something seem
to take an unexpected trajectory," said the second horseman.
"Oh, I certainly hope that's not it!" exclaimed the third
horseman. "After all, space exploration between solar systems is
expected to be enough of a challenge already without having some new
factor holding back distant space travel."
The fourth horseman decided to take comments into another
direction: "What about if it's just a case of the Pioneer spacecraft
gittin' a lil a-scared o' goin' out into deep space?" The first
three horsemen chuckled at this comment. The fourth horseman
continued, "Or maybe that isn't it, maybe it's just something about
humans holding it back." The other three chuckled and smiled.
(copyright 2005)
