Page 73 - Psychoceramics and the Test of Fire

Ark Two

concrete dome perched on a cylinder, an echo of Islamic astronomy
and architecture, and parked next to Vosky’s beaten-up old van.
Adjusting my face to a studious squint, I hiked up my parka’s hood
and entered the place.
It probably exuded a ripe bouquet of machine oil and take-out
food in the summer months, but my frozen nostrils were having
none of it. Heat? In an almost-deserted uninsulated cement-block
bunker on top of a mountain with the roof always open at night? Kile
Vosky, a slight figure in baggy flannels and concentric thrift-store
sweaters, sat like a leprechaun upon a stool giving him access to the
telescope’s eyepiece. I noticed a small electric heater at his feet. It
looked like a roaring blaze to my icing eyes. He blinked and climbed
down to shake my hand with unfeigned enthusiasm.
“Mr. Goodfellow?” His voice was rusty. I longed for a hot
beverage, but not for him to lubricate his vocal cords. “I’m Kile
Vosky, father of Ark Two. Thanks for coming up here, although I’m
not sure what I can do for you.”
Ark Two needed more than a part-time parent, and I had to join
that need with mine: to get his signature on a grant-acceptance form
and head for a nice warm coffee shop down in the city. But first
things first.
“Call me Robin,” I pleaded. “I’m not one for much formality.”
“Sure. First names are fine. Oh, you must feel a bit cold in here,”
he understated. “Pull that folding chair over here next to the heater
and we’ll talk. I have a few minutes until Jupiter rises enough for me
to see its moons through the haze. Space-based platforms have just
about finished terrestrial astronomy, thanks to air and light
pollution.”
I shook my head sympathetically. Astronauts would have all the
fun and machines all the work. A sad state of affairs for men like us,
adventurers of mind and spirit, condemned to pick around the edges
of discovery for scraps of missed information. My intended client,
however, had bold plans for the next step in the march of human
progress.
“Kile, I want to tell you I’ve read your paper on the Atropos
phenomenon, and it strikes me as a closely-reasoned warning that we
ignore at our peril. I’ve also seen the attacks against it by people
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