In Pursuit of Fire

Denya paused in front of the door to the Meckleton Research Center and looked at her reflection in the glass.

This building has aged about as well as I have, she thought.

It had been nearly twenty years since she had left, and she'd sworn to never return. And yet, here she was at the express invitation of the Director of Atmospheric Research, her former subordinate Jerrol.

She opened the door and entered, clothes dripping a bit and shoes sloshing on the floor. A light, warm rain had been falling all day, and there were no Fires in the clouds at all, so she had decided to take a walk first before driving over for the meeting. The floor was absorbing the water as it should – it had clearly been well-maintained.

Rain was common on this world, and cloudy skies were a reliable and comforting constant. Sometimes the clouds would thin a bit, and hints of a fiery aurora would peek through. Occasionally, the sky would rumble and bolts of lightning – “fire from the sky” – would strike. A mythos had sprung up millennia ago that the Rain and Clouds protected life on the planet from the Fires above. The Fires were said to be the expression of rage from the Lost Ones who existed as pinpoints above the clouds.

The darkness varied enough to delineate night from day, an effect she had learned the cause of twenty years ago. A ball of fire in the sky above the clouds, discovered by her team by the last probe to ever reach those heights. With that discovery, her career had toppled. The Church had had a field day eviscerating her.

The office door was still the same, except for the director's name – Dr. Jerrol Keldin. She opened it and stepped inside, stopping suddenly at the sight of a familiar face behind the assistant's desk.

"Katina?" Denya said hesitantly.

Katina looked up and smiled. "Dr. Rhyche!" She stood up and walked around the desk to give Denya a hug.

"Please, not doctor any more. Just Denya."

"Have a seat! Dr. Keldin is expecting you, but he's on the phone right now. I'll show you in as soon as he's ready."

"Okay." Denya looked around. "I'm surprised to see you here."

"Oh! You were such an inspiration to me! I enrolled in the Atmospheric Studies program and graduated twelve years ago. I've been assisting Dr. Keldin ever since."

"You've come a long way since your days as an acolyte of the Church."

Katina blushed. "I didn't know very much then."

"You knew enough to ask questions."

Katina glanced at her desk phone. "I'll bring you in to see Dr. Keldin."

Denya was uneasy entering her old office, but that quickly changed when she saw the smile on Jerrol's face. He stood up.

"It's good to see you again, Denya."

"It's good to see you, too."

"Thank you, Katina." Jerrol indicated a chair for Denya as he sat back down again. Katina closed the door behind her as she left.

"So, what's so important you had to bring me out of my shell?" Deyna asked.

"As you know, it was a bit rough here for a while."

Denya nodded.

"However, there has been some change, and a lot of progress. The change cleared the way for the progress."

Denya smiled. "You've always had a dramatically philosophical way of putting things."

"Allow me to elaborate. Our discovery actually did a lot of harm to the Church as well, although it wasn't immediately obvious. Katrina was one of thousands who had been questioning the teachings. They began to openly question the belief that the Fires were caused by the Lost Ones, and that the Rains and Clouds were put in place to protect us."

"So," Denya said, "I suppose that loosened the reins on research."

"Not much at first, but it's been gaining momentum."

"And you, of course were prepared for that."

Jerrol nodded, smiling. "I'd been working covertly, analyzing the data from the last mission as best I could. Five years ago, we got the go-ahead to restart the project. My team has come up with some very intriguing theories."

"You wouldn't have asked me here if you didn't have something to show."

"You are correct." He glanced at the clock. "If you'll join me for dinner, I can fill you in on some more details, but I think you'll want to come with me to the Flight Control room afterwards. That is, if you are free this evening."

* * *

Despite being the director, Jerrol was still as hands-on as he was all those years ago. He kept moving from station to station, monitoring the signal from the plane, coordinating with flight control, and directing the other team members at various consoles.

Andow, the technician at the Flight Control Monitor, said, "Breaking through the Final Layer in five, four, three, two, one..."

The view on the monitor cleared as the plane rose above the top-most cloud layer. A collective gasp traveled the room.

Hundreds, thousands, maybe millions of tiny lights appeared against a black backdrop. As the plane continued its orbit, the horizon ahead brightened. Before long, a fiery disk broke the skyline, rising steadily and passing over the plane.

"The camera didn't burn out," Deyna said.

Jerrol grinned. "We've figured a few things out." He nodded to another monitor. "Take a look here."

The sky was darkening again as the disk sank behind the plane. An opening appeared on the other monitor, showing the lights. The opening widened and disappeared, but otherwise there was no sense of movement. The monitor switched views, showing the plane as it receded.

"What... what is that?" Deyna asked.

"We built a smaller probe," Jerrol said, "and launched it from the plane. It should continue traveling with the inertia it has."

"To where?"

Jerrol raised one hand theatrically. "Up there! We think we can get a better sense of scale by triangulating between to observation points."

"The plane and the probe."

"Correct. Hopefully, we can get some idea of the distance from our planet to the lights, and to that big ball of Fire in the sky."

The sky brightened and faded again. The hours flew by as the cycle repeated itself a dozen more times.

"Almost out of fuel," Andow said.

"Alright," Jerrol said. "Bring the plane back down. Continue monitoring the probe data for as long as that lasts. I'll check back in the morning."

* * *

Jerrol was puzzling over data sheets and reports when Deyna returned to his office the next morning.

"What have you found out?" she asked.

Jerrol scratched his head. "I'm not sure."

He handed the sheets to Denya. She studied them for several minutes before handing them back.

"The disk and the lights must be a lot farther out than we thought," Jerrol said. "There doesn't seem to be any sign of any kind of proper motion."

"I would guess that the apparent motion of the disk indicates our planet is spinning."

"That's my guess as well."

"What's your next step?"

"I wonder..."

Deyna smiled.

"What if," Jerrol said, "we could put a probe in a stationary orbit around the planet?"

"That would prove to be very interesting," Denya said with a nod.

Jerrol leaned back in his chair. "How would like to be a senior advisor on my team?"

She laughed. "It's been twenty years!"

"True, but you grasped the essence of these reports in minutes." Jerrol leaned forward. "Your perspective would be invaluable."

"Let me think about it." Deyna stood up and turned to leave.

Jerrol stood. "Okay."

* * *

Deyna ambled through the park near her apartment complex, soaking up the light rain, pondering Jerrol's offer. Twenty years was a long time to be out of the academic game. But she wouldn't actually be getting back into the administrative end of it, which is why she ultimately decided to retire.

This time, it would be different.