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full moon phase. On the illuminated face of the giant planet was a circular
shadow moving slowly toward the center of the giant planet. Richard made his
way to the area that Pink-Orb now occupied, and stepped onto the carpet to let
the alien know that he had arrived. He could hear a deep rumble from off in
the dimly-lit distance, and his suit imp translated it for him.
"Richard. You have come as you promised. I will meet you in the middle
of my carpet."
Richard felt the carpet lift beneath him, and bending his knees
slightly to keep his balance, he was borne off on a wave. Soon he could see
the central node of the icerug coming toward him, gliding over its rolling sea
of flesh on its pedestal. As the human and the alien came together, the alien
reached out to touch Richard with a tentacle, as if to reassure itself that
Richard was really there. It was the first time that Richard could recall an
icerug touching a human. Instead of letting go, the icerug held onto Richard's
hand as the ugly lump on the end of its eye stalk stared blindly upward at the
massive planet hanging overhead.
"Has the shadow of the Far-God appeared on the face of the Night-God
yet?"
"Yes," replied Richard. "Zouave's shadow has started across the surface
and soon will be one-third the way toward the center of Gargantua."
"Then shortly we should see the little shadow of the Near-God appear,"
said Pink-Orb with certainty.
Shortly after, Richard saw a tiny bite being taken out of the giant
planet. "Here it comes," he said, as the bite turned into a circle. It's only
a little more than half the size of Zouave's shadow. But it's moving a lot
faster."
Manannan geyser, which had been grumbling noisily off in the distance,
now raised its gushing tower higher. Richard was tempted to pull his hand
loose from Pink-Orb's tentacle to get his sextant, but forbore for the alien's
sake.
"Where are the two moon shadows now?" asked Pink-Orb some time later.
"Zouave's shadow is now nearly two-thirds the way to the center, while
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Zuni's shadow is one-third," reported Richard.
"Then look for another shadow," said Pink-Orb. "That will be the shadow
of Ice."
The shadow of Zulu quickly moved onto the now fully illuminated face of
Gargantua toward the center, rapidly catching up with the slower moving
shadows that had preceded it. The phrase "Racing with the moon..." came
unbidden to Richard's mind.
"Zulu's shadow is significantly larger than Zouave's," remarked
Richard. "I thought Zulu was slightly smaller in diameter than Zouave."
"It is," replied Pink-Orb. "But you forget that Barnard is not a point
source of light. The shadows of the moons you see on the Night-God are
cross-sections of the umbra -- the shadow cones behind each moon where Barnard
is in total eclipse. Although Ice initially forms a shadow cone with a smaller
diameter base than the Far-God, it is closer to the Night-God, so its shadow
cone is cut closer to its base, which produces a larger shadow."
"Oh!" said Richard, finally realizing what the professor had been
trying to teach him in that "Astronomy for Geologists" course he had taken
long ago.
The geyser now sounded a full-throated roar that continued to grow
louder and louder as the rising spout of boiling-hot water shot higher and
higher from the surface and into the upper atmosphere. Billowing steam clouds
occasionally blocked the view overhead, but through the clouds Richard could
see the conjunction rapidly coming to a climax.
"The three shadows are all approaching the center," he reported. "Their
shadows are beginning to merge ... they are just one elongated shadow now ...
_conjunction_!" His exclamation was nearly drowned out by the steady roar from
Manannan. Richard's hand hurt, and he suddenly realized that Pink-Orb had been
squeezing it hard in excitement. He squeezed back, and Pink-Orb, realizing
that it had been holding onto the human all this time, quickly released its
grasp. Richard reached out, gently took the tentacle back into his hand, and
proceeded to narrate the rest of the three moon eclipse to his blind
companion.
* * * *
Deep in Manannan Lake, the three flouwen swam strongly to the rocky bottom,
keeping up a running commentary on things they spotted of possible interest to
the listening biologists.
*_Lots_ of weed, here. Hot water bubbling up through sand. Weeds full
of funny little fish. All mouth and eyes, not much tail.*
"Weed-dwellers, I guess," said Cinnamon. "In relative safety, so they
don't need much but eyes and tail."
#Small coelashark, there under rock,# mentioned Little Purple. #Came
out of hole, but went back quick.#
"A solitary?" questioned Deirdre over the comm link from _Dragonfly_.
#Wait. I look close.#
The flouwen used a handy bit of stiff weed to poke exploratively into
the recess.
#Just one. No sign of egg-things.#
Little Purple had been curious about eggs, and Deirdre had explained to
the flouwen that eggs could come in peculiar shapes. The suit-clad aliens
continued their search and met several small coelasharks, circling a thick
tuft of sea grass. They paused to watch, and detected within the weeds a fat
round-bodied creature somewhat like a newt. It was obviously the prey of the
small coelasharks, and the only question was -- could one of them succeed in
taking it without injury from its competitors. Suddenly, the largest of the
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