TOTAL ECLIPSE

CHAPTER 1 PART 5

Lomax was booked to supervise viewing that night for a group of Australian astronomers who would be watching gaseous nebulae on screen from Perth. And now Doberman, who had never shown any interest in Australia or gaseous nebulae, was trying to trade this for meteor showers. He squinted at Doberman suspiciously. Doberman blinked back at him.

"You want to view tonight?"

"He wants to view the new assistant," McMahon explained.

"Oh," said Lomax.

"I've learned," said Doberman, "that women can find a man who knows how to ride the big telescope let's just say..." He grinned, his whole mouth ascending his face until it was almost touching his nose.

"Let's just say exciting.

Lomax groaned. Doberman was a brag Kim and Lomax had never believed the tales of his extensive sexual exploits. These generally fea tured many women, remarkable for their appetite and determination, begging an exhausted but ultimately obliging Doberman for favors.

Doberman grinned again, his features buoyant with sexual innuendo. Lomax could not imagine a woman as attractive as Julia Fox taking any interest in him. She was an untouchable beauty.

"Want to take her viewing yourself, is that it, Lomax? asked McMahon shrewdly.

"Of course not."

Of course he did. At any rate, he wanted to protect her from Do berman's advances.

"It's just... well, these Australians have called me a few times to talk about their project and I'm not sure if..."

"I can handle gaseous nebulae. Just gimme the gist," said Dober man, pulling up a nearby chair, reversing it, wrapping his knees around the backrest and flopping his chin over the top.

Lomax wavered "I'm not sure."

"Lomax. C'mon." Doberman was panting a little. "She gave me such a helluva smile just now in Berlins's office." Lomax's stomach muscles spontaneously atrophied.

"Ple-eeze," begged Doberman

Reluctantly, Lomax told him about the Australian project.

"I sure hope they fix the telescope," said Doberman, getting up. "I'll let you know how it goes tonight." From his tone, Lomax guessed he was not referring to gaseous nebulae. McMahon, chuckling, caught Lomax's eye as they left. Lomax did not respond.

He continued to try and retry the Core 9 galaxy and finally, when there was no room for doubt that original data had been rearranged, he just stared, defeated, at the screen He, Lomax, had not altered the data and there was only one other astronomer who was likely to have seen it. This thought was an uncomfortable one

He jumped when Berlins appeared suddenly, carrying a cup of coffee. Lomax always tried not to look at Berlins's shaking hands but now they
vibrated so badly that the coffee slopped out of the cup. The professor spun around the chair that Doberman had vacated and sat down on it heavily.

"There's definitely a fault there," he said, sighing "But I don't understand why we can't locate it" He sipped coffee, spilling more "At least we've managed to prove last night's results were distorted."His glasses, slipping his nose, were endearingly lopsided.

Berlins was one of the most senior scientists at the observatory and Lomax's immediate boss. He would retire in several years' time. Lomax liked him for many reasons. Berlins had been especially kind to him during his divorce and even now occasionally gave him extra time off to see his children.

Berlins was saying "Jorgen really wanted to believe the results were accurate. He was busy concocting an interesting explanation. But we shouldn't dismiss his ideas. There have been occasions when mistakes.
have enabled us to see the truth more clearly."

Lomax admired Berlins's professional generosity. However appar ently insane your theory, he would listen to it intently, nodding, and ask you questions. He had once been a considerable theorist himself. His views on the formation of the universe, published about twenty years ago, had shaped a whole generation of astronomers. His ideas had subsequently been challenged and current thought had drifted away from him. He was still a respected cosmologist but he devoted himself now to nurturing the talents of younger scientists.

"Did you sleep this afternoon?" Lomax asked.

Lomax did not want to tell the professor how old and tired he was looking He just wanted Berlins to go to bed.

"Oh yes, I had plenty of sleep. Very refreshing," the professor assured him Lomax studied the older man's face curiously. He did not look refreshed. Lomax coughed.

"Er, Professor could this telescope fault or computer fault or whatever it turns out to be... could it possibly affect existing data?"

Berlins stared at him.