Chapter 3 - The Site
It was a short flight
into Antofagasta from Lima. Michael, his wife and teenage son Josh, and Laura were early and hungry. With a three o'clock appointment at Altacama, a few hours till lunch, and a curiosity about
Antofagasta, they consulted their tour guide, rented a taxi and found the "Segunda Muelle" .
They chose a table outside, under the shade of some palms, not far from two men
who were talking and drinking beer.
After fumbling at
Spanish, and Josh and Laura laughing at
his feeble attempts. Michael was thoroughly frustrated. "Perdon, no
Ingles, thank you" The waiter stood and smiled. "Sign language
Dad"... Josh pointed to his open mouth and said "Food" The
waiter laughed and handed them menus. Carlos had noticed all this and was
smiling too at the situation. He offered his help. "Let me help you please", he smiled
politely to them. "The fish is always very good here. May I order for
you?" Michael was relieved. "Please", he answered. Laura noticed
the other man and asked Michael to invite the both of them to their table.
With the help of
Carlos and his easy friendly translations they were treated to a warm local introduction
to Antofagasta and its most popular features.
Miguel invited them to his villa for fried fish and music under the
stars and offered to drive them all up to the observatory.
And so a somewhat
bumpy beginning smoothed out. The meal was excellent and soon all six of them
arrived in very good spirits to the security gate of the Paranal Observatory in
Miguel's minivan. Michael and family and Laura were immediately shuttled up to
the observatory. Miguel and Carlos waved them goodbye and good luck.
The ride up to
the top of the hill, where the array of giant telescopes stood, afforded a view
that thrilled most new visitors. The shrouded giant instruments appeared almost
like dancers on the desert stage, an introduction to some kind of galactic
ballet. Here in the powder blue sky the contrasting white of the observatory housings were introduced as the hill
receded with the climb up. It was breathtaking, truly exhilarating. It was
worth the wait.
"You were
right Michael", Laura acknowledged, "this was the right place".
Dr. Solomon
Schechter greeted them with open arms and a smile. "Michael, your family
and your assistant Laura. Welcome to Paranal".
Michael had first
met Dr. Schechter at the University of Vienna during an event celebrating
Christian Doppler's birthday that coincided with work the two of them had been
doing on anomalous Doppler shifts for very distant objects. They had become fast
friends.
It was then in
Dr. Schechter's apartment on a cool October evening that a new theory about a "bounded"
physical universe was formally born. Certainly, bounded physical universe
models, complete with energy, mass, time, and space formulae had already been generated
and discussed in the literature. This was something quite different though. It was
based on a view of the physical universe as a type of developing entity, that
followed a type of "intelligent design" and "grew" like
living organisms along the lines of
current life evolution theories. More like a city "grows" on our
planet than anything else. Call it advanced construction for lack of anything
more definitive. Michael first looked at this idea while driving on an interstate
highway and looking at signs that read: "New construction ahead. Caution.
Road ends. Take next exit on right 1/2 mile." He considered the possibility of "the
end of the road" for the known physical universe. This was the first time
he could mentally grasp an actual boundary to the physical universe. Order on one side and chaos on the other.
Many papers,
discussions and plans followed and now they were going to take a very careful
look for some possible "construction signs" at the very edge of the known universe.
They were led to
their rooms in the "Residencia". Laura looked out at the view across her small
balcony. It was surreal. A smooth almost Martian
landscape with a blue-gray sky met her gaze. Reddish brown coarse terrain and
distant low lying mountains across the horizon filled the afternoon panorama. A person unfamiliar with the Atacama desert
might easily consider this place an outpost for an advanced culture on some far
away world
Cerro Paranal was
not chosen for the beauty of its days, but for clarity of the atmosphere by night. The nights skies were dazzling for their
brilliance.
This had been a
long day for Laura and she took her shower quickly and shot into bed without
even unpacking. The cool evening air came across the open patio and caressed
her slender tired body. She nodded off as memories of the trip down from Lima,
the taxi ride, their lunch in Antofagasta, and the ride up to the observatory with
Miguel and Carlos played through her mind. She wondered what it what be like to
work with Dr. Schechter. He got on so well with Michael. She was deep asleep,
dreaming of a room with off-white walls and green and gray furnishings,
different, perhaps Chilean, when Michael knocked on the door. She heard the
knocks as if from a great distance, but couldn't quite disengage from her
dream. Again, the knocks, and she wondered what they were and where the exit to
the room was. She saw no door, no windows. Then finally she woke and opened her
eyes and heard Michael. "Laura, are you there?" He assumed she was
either deep asleep or out. "Michael, yes, I'll be right with you. Give me a few seconds
to dress" . "No hurry, I'm just down the stairs. We're having a snack
or something. Take your time".
She looked at her
watch. "Goodness, it's been four hours!" She was still tired and had a mild headache
as she followed the winding staircase down to the ground floor and waiting
smiles and a nicely arranged buffet. Everyone was in good humor as they munched
on celery and carrots, potato chips and dips, vegetables and fruits she
couldn't identify as well as plantains and beans, fish and sauces, something
that tasted like chicken salad and probably was. It was all very tasty and went
very well with the wine and conversation.
"Dr.
Schechter has already begun the survey". Michael had begun filling in Laura on what she
missed. "Apparently, he became impatient and assumed we decided to tour
Peru." Everyone giggled. "Not so - we spoke on the phone about this.
Don't believe him Laura, he intends to turn you against me". He smiled. "We had ideal viewing
conditions and I took advantage of the situation" , he explained. "See,
didn't I tell you? He's out to take credit for the entire program."
Everyone laughed as Michael continued. "No, seriously, he's invited all of
us down to his palatial estate in Santiago where he has already begun his paper
taking full credit for the program." Michael was laughing himself. He'd
had too much wine. "Stop it Michael", Schechter interjected,
"what he's trying to tell you is that I did invite all of you to spend a
few days with me at my home in Santiago where I always do my study." Laura
brightened at the idea and the cordiality of their colleague. "How very
kind of you Dr. Schechter. Thank you so much." She meant it. This was turning into a very
good trip. It felt like they were on their way to a significant discovery. This
expedition into the unknown seemed to be following an auspicious path.
