Chapter 13 Chapter Thirteen

It is better not to describe in detail the anguish of the Huddlesons and the despair of Francis Gordon.Francis would not have hesitated to sever ties with his uncle, and he did not necessarily have to ask his uncle's permission.He can ignore his anger with all its inevitable consequences.But what he could do to Mr. Dean Forsyth he could not do to Mr. Hudson.Mrs. Hurt tried in vain to persuade her husband to agree to the marriage and to persuade him to withdraw his decision.Neither her entreaties nor her blame could soften the stubborn doctor.Lulu, that little Lulu, despite repeated requests, was mercilessly rejected, and her sweet words and tears were of no avail.

After that, even this attempt was impossible.The two uncles and father, no doubt mad, had set off for distant countries. However, it was no use for them both to set off!And it is superfluous for Mr. Seth Stanford and Mrs. Arcadia Walker to divorce because they believed the judgment of these two astronomers!If these four characters had spent only twenty-four hours thinking twice, their actions would certainly have been very different. Sure enough, from the next morning, newspapers in Weston and elsewhere published the Chronicle signed by J. B. K., Director of the Boston Observatory.This account changed the situation drastically.It showed no mercy to the two Weston lights.The full text of the Chronicle is reproduced as follows:

"Recent news from two amateur astronomers in Weston City is often exciting. It is our duty to correct it. "Allow me in the first place to express my regret that such a solemn notice should be issued lightly without prior inspection by real scientists. There are plenty of real scientists, with their licenses and diplomas attested, and they are working in a number of official observatories play its role. "There can be no doubt that it is a supreme honor to be the first to spot in a telescope pointed at the sky a celestial body that patronizes and crosses his field of vision, but such good luck does not turn the ordinary amateur into a professional in one fell swoop. Mathematicians. If we don't understand this, we rush to solve some problems that require special skills, and we may make certain mistakes. We have a duty to correct these mistakes.

"Indeed, the bolide, which is currently the focus of global attention, is being disturbed in some way. The serious mistake made by Mr. Forsyth and Mr. Huddleson is to make calculations based on only one observation and only incomplete data. Moreover, There are still errors in these calculations. Just note that the disturbance they found on the night of May 11th or the morning of the 12th actually led to very different results from theirs. What is more, however, the bolides move The disturbances encountered in the 19th century neither began nor ended on May 11, nor on May 12. The first disturbance dates back to May 10, and it continues until now.

"The result of this disturbance, or rather these successive disturbances, is, on the one hand, to bring the bolide close to the earth, and, on the other hand, to cause it to go out of its own orbit. The distance has been reduced by about seventy-eight kilometers, and its deviation is nearly 55". "This double change of the original shape of the object was not formed at once. On the contrary, this change is the sum of various tiny changes, and these small changes have appeared successively since the tenth day of this month. "So far, the cause of the disturbance of the bolide has not been found. There does not seem to be any phenomenon in the sky that can be explained. Research work in this area is continuing. It seems uncertain whether such research will be successful in the short term." Reasons to be skeptical.

"In any case, it is at least too early to declare that the asteroid is about to fall, let alone determine the place and date of its fall. Obviously, if the unknown factor that disturbed the bolide continued to act in the same direction, it would be in the same direction. However, so far there has been no indication that it will fall. At present, since its orbit is narrower than before, its speed is correspondingly accelerated, so it will not have any tendency to fall. Fall It can only happen if some kind of gravitational force is no longer acting on it. "On the contrary, assuming that the disturbances discovered by people during the transit of bolides have been irregular so far, and their intensity changes have not followed any law, although people have predicted that it will fall, they cannot determine its place and date. .

"In conclusion, it can be concluded from this that the fall of the bolide seems quite probable; but not certain. In any case, its fall is not foreseeable. "Therefore, we advise everyone to remain calm in the face of a possibility that is still hypothetical. Moreover, even if this possibility becomes a reality, there will be no actual results. In addition, we will publish a daily chronicle to report the situation on a daily basis. development and keep the public informed about the situation.” Have Mr. Seth Stanford and Mrs. Arcadia Walker been informed of these concluding observations of J. B. K. Lovinsey?This is unknown.As for Mr. Dean Forsyth and Dr. Sidney Hudson, the former was in St. Louis, Missouri, and the latter was in New York, where he experienced the abuse of the director of the Boston Observatory.They were flushed like they had been slapped for real.

No matter how cruel and ruthless this humiliation is to them, they have to submit.Scholars like J. B. K. Lovinsey are beyond dispute.So both Mr. Forsyth and Mr. Hudson returned to Weston dejectedly, the former throwing away the tickets he had bought for San Francisco, the latter about the scheduled journey to Buenos Aires. The cabin money was lost to a greedy steamship company. They returned to their respective residences, one hurriedly climbed up the round tower, and the other hurriedly climbed up the upper tower.Since it was difficult for them to see the wandering bolide again, and since it was no longer to be found at their calculated meeting point, they were quick to admit that J. B. K. Lovinsay had a point.

Mr. Dean Forsyth and Dr. Huddleson soon learned the consequences of their embarrassing error.What happened to the ranks that sent him to the train station in such a mighty way?It was evident that the public favor had left them both.How painful it must be to be suddenly deprived of this intoxicating wine, after having tasted so long the taste which all have come to expect! But soon, they faced a more serious worry.Just as Judge John Prowse had vaguely predicted, a third contender rose up before their eyes.In the beginning, it was nothing more than specious news circulated among the crowd, and then, within a few hours, the specious news turned into a well-known and well-known official news.

This third competitor, the entire civilized world in one, is difficult to contend with.If Mr. Dean Forsyth and Dr. Hudson had not been blinded by their passion on this point, they would have foreseen at the outset that this third person would intervene, and would not have fought anything. Ridiculous lawsuit.They will also think that the governments of the world will inevitably intervene in these billions of wealth, because this sudden billions of gold will cause financial chaos.However, Mr. Dean Forsyth and Dr. Hudson did not deduce this simple truth of "things must happen and must be done", so the announcement of the international congress was like a bolt from the blue hit them on the head.

They ran around asking questions.The news was so accurate that it was even appointing the members of the Congress to be held in Washington.It is a pity that some delegates traveled thousands of miles, so the meeting date had to be later than one would like.However, because of the urgency of the situation, some governments have decided not to wait for these representatives to arrive, but to hold a preparatory meeting in Washington among the diplomats of the various countries stationed in the United States government.During the preparatory meeting, those special envoys will arrive one after another.In the preparatory meeting, the participants discuss and research first to prepare relevant materials.In this way, from its first meeting, the official congress will have a fully defined program of meetings. I did not expect to find here a list of countries that were preparing to attend the Congress.As legend has it, the list includes the entire civilized world.There is not an empire, kingdom, republic, principality that does not take an interest in this issue in dispute.Moreover, all countries sent a representative, from Russia and China (their respective representatives were Mr. Ivan Saratov of Riga and His Excellency Limouchi of Canton) to the Republic of San Marino and the Principality of Andorra (Mr. Befraj and Mr. Ramonjo will stand firm in defending the interests of these two countries). Any demand can be made at the meeting, and any hope is legitimate, because if it does fall, no one knows where the meteor will land. The first preparatory meeting was held in Washington on May 25.It tackles the Forsyth-Huddleson problem flatly from the start, and it takes less than five minutes.These two gentlemen had come from far away, and they had tried to force the General Assembly to listen to them, but it was in vain.They were turned away like two poor intruders.One can imagine how angry they would be when they got back to Weston.However, the facts show that their accusations have little repercussions.In the press that had so long adorned them both, no newspaper spoke for them now.well!What about "the venerable citizen of Weston", "the wise astronomer", and the "mathematician who is both outstanding and modest" they were tired of hearing it at first, but now the tone has changed. up. "What did these two puppets come to Washington for? . . . were they the first to spot the meteor? . . . and what happened next? . . . Did chance give them any right? . . . Among them, are they really famous?... To be honest, there is no need to even discuss such ridiculous ambitions!" These are all the high-level opinions in the current press.And thus the light of the world is gone! After the two people's problems are resolved, the serious business begins. First, several meetings were held to determine the list of sovereign states.Only sovereign states have the right to participate in congresses.Many countries do not have formal representation in Washington, and they will in principle be entitled to cooperate when the General Assembly begins to discuss substantive issues.Drawing up the list was not an easy task and the discussions were intense.For example, Hungary and Finland demanded direct representation, a request that was strongly opposed by the cabinets in Vienna and St. Petersburg.In addition, France and Turkey have started a fierce debate on the issue of Tunisia.And Lebay's personal statement complicated the debate.Japan is very angry about the issue of North Korea.In short, most countries have encountered similar difficulties.Seven consecutive meetings were held, but nothing was resolved.Just then, on June 1st, something unexpected happened.It messed up everyone's hearts. J. B. K. Lovinsey, in accordance with his promise, published news of the bolide in the press every day, in a short chronicle, on time.Hitherto these annals have given no special circumstances, but have merely informed the world that there have been continued slight changes in the course of the meteor, the sum of which has made its fall more and more probable.But it is not yet possible to think that it will definitely fall. However, the chronicle released on June 1 was quite different from the previous one.It was almost contagious to believe that Bolide's disturbance was contagious, for J. B. K. Lovinsey himself appeared disturbed. "It is with great emotion," he said that day, "that we announce to the public the extraordinary phenomena that we have witnessed. These phenomena do not detract in the slightest from the foundation upon which astronomical science rests, which is science itself, for human knowledge as a whole is The parts are interrelated.However, since these phenomena are not and cannot be explained, we cannot regard it as indisputably reliable. "Our pre-voyage chronicles have informed the public that Weston's bolide has been subjected to continuous disturbances in its orbit, the causes and regularity of which have hitherto been impossible to ascertain. This fact is in any case It is always abnormal. It is true that an astronomer observes the sky as he reads a book. No matter what happens in the sky, he can foresee it, or at least can predict its consequences. The eclipse phenomenon predicted hundreds of years ago, it turned out to be true. What was prophesied at the beginning happened within a definite second, as if obeying the command of man. Science has the foresight, and someone saw the phenomenon of eclipse in the misty fog of the future. And when this prophecy becomes reality For a moment, the Prophet has been sleeping in eternal sleep for hundreds of years. "However, if the observed disturbance is an anomaly, it cannot be inconsistent with the scientific data; if the cause is unknown, we should condemn our methods of analysis as imperfect. "Today, the situation has changed. Since the day before yesterday (May 30), there have been new disturbances in the motion of the bolides, which are diametrically opposed to our best theoretical knowledge. That is to say, we should not expect future Find satisfactory explanations, because the theorems that have the power of mathematical axioms, on which our calculations are based, lose their utility in this category. "The poorest observer could easily see that when the bolide passed for the second time on the afternoon of May 30th, instead of still approaching the Earth, as it had continued since May 10th, it It is obviously far away from the earth. In addition, the inclination of its orbit has become more and more north-east-south-west in the past twenty days, but now it has suddenly stopped this intensifying phenomenon. "Yesterday, May 31, the meteor passed overhead for the fourth time after sunrise, and we had to confirm that its orbit was again fairly accurately changed north-south, and its distance from the earth was restored to its original state. So this sudden phenomenon is very puzzling. "This is the case at present. Although these incoherent phenomena may exist in nature, science has not been able to explain this incoherent phenomenon. "When we published the first chronicle, we said that the fall of the meteor is not certain, at least we can only think that it is possible. Now, we don't even make such assertions anymore, and prefer to reflect on ourselves and confess our ignorance." Had an anarchist dropped a bomb in the middle of the Eighth Preparatory Conference, it would have had no effect comparable to J. B. K. Lovinsey's Chronicle.Everyone in the hall competed for the newspaper that disclosed the chronicle.The newspaper also published comments and notes filled with exclamation marks between the lines... the chronicle was completely surrounded.The whole afternoon was spent in chatter and highly impassioned discussions, which greatly hindered the difficult work of the Congress. The next few days were even worse. J. B. K. Lovinsey's chronicles follow one after another, each more startling than the last.In this perfectly regular ballet in which the stars dance, Bolide alone seems to be dancing his loud and grotesque can-cans, his grotesque solos without beat.Its orbit tilts three degrees to the east at times and four degrees to the west at other times.If it is slightly closer to the earth when it passes by once, it will be several kilometers away from the earth when it passes by next time.It's almost maddening!This madness gradually infected the congress, and the diplomats, because they were so uncertain about the practical benefits of the discussions, were listless in their work and had little determination to succeed. However, time is ticking.Representatives of various countries rushed from all over the world to the United States and to Washington.Many of them have already arrived.Soon there were enough of them to hold the general assembly without waiting for the arrival of their colleagues who had traveled farther away.So, are they going to find the problem untouched, not even figure out the first little dot? The members of the preparatory meeting were desperate for face, so they worked desperately, and finally during the eight supplementary meetings, those countries that could send representatives to the meeting were determined.The number of participating countries was fixed at fifty-two, namely twenty-five in Europe, six in Asia, four in Africa and seventeen in the Americas.They include twelve empires, twelve hereditary kingdoms, twenty-two republics and six duchies.These fifty-two empires, kingdoms, republics, and principalities were considered, either by virtue of their subjects, or by their vassals and colonies, the sole masters of the earth. The Preparatory Conference took this decision at an opportune time.Representatives from the fifty-two countries authorized to participate in the negotiations have arrived in Washington for the vast majority, and representatives arrive every day. The International Congress held its first meeting on June 10 at 2:00 pm.The meeting was presided over by the respected man, representative of the Principality of Monaco and professor of oceanography, Mr. Soliès, and immediately proceeded to establish the formal leadership of the meeting. In order to show respect to the host country, the General Assembly elected Mr. Harvey, a representative of the United States and an outstanding jurist, as the Chairman of the General Assembly in the first round of elections. The position of vice-chairman was more controversial, and finally fell to Russia, whose representative was Mr. Saratov. Representatives of France, Great Britain and Japan were then elected as secretaries. After these formalities were completed, the chairman delivered an opening speech in a courteous manner, which won warm applause.He then announced the imminent appointment of three subcommittees.These subcommittees were commissioned by the General Assembly to study an optimal working method from the triple point of view of demographics, finances and justice. The voting had just begun when a messenger went up to the chairman's seat and handed Mr. Harvey a telegram. Mr. Harvey began to read the telegram, and the more he looked down, the more astonished expression appeared on his face.But after thinking about it for a while, he shrugged disdainfully.Nevertheless, he thought it over again and called for the bell to be called to the attention of his colleagues. When the audience is quiet: "Gentlemen," said Mr. Harvey, "I think I should tell you that I have just received this telegram. No doubt it is either from a prankster or from a madman. But I feel that I should read it to you. It seems to be more in line with the rules. This telegram has not been signed, and its content is as follows: "Mr.president: "It is my great honor to inform the International Congress that the fireball, which must have been the subject of discussion at the Congress, is 'personal property' because it is my personal property. "There is therefore no reason for the International Congress to exist, and, if it persisted, its work would be nullified in advance. "The bolide approached the earth by my will, and it will fall in my home: therefore it is mine." "Is this telegram not signed?" asked the British representative. "No payment." "In this case, it is best to ignore it." The representative of the German Empire declared. "My opinion is the same," the chairman agreed. "It must be in line with your wishes to simply file this telegram as a meeting document...I wonder what you would like?...No objection?...Continue the meeting."