Chapter 10

"Wow! That thing is huge!"

"Oh! Hi Leon! Yes, those were my first words when I first saw it too! Thanks so much for helping me to put it away."

Leon walked up to the 16-inch reflector. "This thing is beautiful! Can you show me something interesting?"

"Sure can!" Nalani walked up to Leon and they briefly hugged, and then Nalani walked over to the drive controls. "I'm about to show you something estimated to be about six million light-years away... Earth light-years... Here! Take a look."

Leon gazed through the site for a long moment. "Wow! Two galaxies colliding! This is incredible! I didn't think the collision boundary would be so incredibly bright!"

"It wouldn't be, normally. And this is just the brightness in the visible spectrum. Hiapo's explanation is that one of the galaxies is made of anti-matter. The conjecture fits the observed brightness. There's a huge implication to the Earth-Aina connection in this."

"Oh? What?"

"The point is that this galactic collision would have certainly been observed from Earth if it were within a few hundred million light-years. Since it's not been seen from Earth, the implication is that Earth and Aina might be billions of light-years away from each other. Except through the Path, of course."

"Wow... Somehow, that's vaguely... unsettling... I don't know why..."

"I know. I feel it too... Here, have you ever seen Mahina through a scope?"

"No."

"It's a real treat! All the kids love to look at it when we run our evening demos. Full Mahina occurred just a month ago, you'll still get a good view."

Leon spent many minutes just staring in silence. "Gosh, this is so beautiful, so incredible..."

"When you're ready, I'll show you Mahina at some other magnifications..."

Later, as Leon was helping to store the telescope inside the lab, Nalani asked him, "Do you know about the solar-Mahina tidal balance on Aina?"

"The what?"

"Ha! I guess not! You do know what causes tides, don't you?"

"Sure. The gravity from other planets..."

"Well, not exactly. I'll give you a hint. Does the sun or the moon exert a greater gravitational pull on Earth?"

"The sun! The Earth orbits the sun, not the moon!"

"Correct! The sun's gravity on the Earth is about 200 times stronger than the moon's. Now, do Earth's tides follow the solar cycle or the lunar cycle?"

"The lunar cycle! Oh! Duh... I never thought about it like this... What's going on?"

"Tidal forces are determined by differences, or gradients, in gravity. Gravity pull scales as one over R squared. The gravity gradient scales as one over R cubed. The moon is about 400 times closer to the Earth than the sun. The net effect is the lunar tides win, by about a factor of two..."

Leon and Nalani spent the next few minutes cleaning the equipment and storing it securely. As they were walking out the door of the science lab, Leon asked, "So what's the solar-Mahina tidal balance?"

"Ha! I thought you'd be curious! Consider Earth, and assume the sun exerts one unit of tidal force on Earth. The moon exerts 2.18 units."

"Okay."

"With the same units, our sun is 13% less massive, but we're 20% closer. Our sun exerts 1.71 units of tidal force on Aina. Solar tides are stronger here."

"Okay."

"Mahina is over a million miles from Aina, and much more massive than Earth's moon. Net effect is a slighter weaker tidal force. Mahina exerts 1.71 units of tidal force on Aina."

"Huh? Exactly the same as the sun?"

"Yes. Neither dominate. And the Mahina-Aina orbital period is 188 Earth days, much longer than the 28-day Lunar cycle. On Earth, you flip from maximum tidal force to minimum tidal force in a week, as you go from full moon or new moon to half moon. The geometry is the same here. When the planets are in-line with the sun, at new and full Mahina, the tidal forces add. Every 94 Earth days, tidal forces on Aina are at their peak, 3.42 units, a bit larger than they ever get on Earth. When the Aina-Mahina axis is at right angles to the sun, at wax and wane Mahina, the tidal forces are cancelled. Some of the people studying Earth's biology books think Aina might have some really interesting evolution at its sea shores. Life would have to adapt to both strong tides and long periodic intervals of no tides... Ah, here we are! Thanks for walking me home. Would you like to come in for a while?"

"Sure! That'd be very nice!"

"Great! Ura brought some wine from the dining hall. It'll be fun just to hang out and relax!"

Leon gulped but nodded happily as they went inside the hut. He had forgotten for the moment about Nalani's sister wife, and he suddenly realized how awkward it would have been for Nalani to ask her own wife for privacy for her date. Leon greeted Ura politely and soon the three of them were sitting down together with Leon in the middle. With the much greater number of girls than boys at the mines, this was often how the groups would sit, and soon the wine and the two warm female bodies against him started to feel wonderful.

The three toasted the occasion when the leap moment came, 11:38 PM jumping into midnight in an instant. Leon said, "Oh, I almost forgot! Happy birthday, Nalani!"

"Huh?" said Nalani, as she drained her glass of wine and set it down.

"It's August 27th, 2010 on Earth now. You're 19 Earth years old today!"

"Oh wow! Cool! I'll have to remember this! This way I can get two parties a year." Nalani burped and looked sleepy. "Well, most years, anyway... Thank you Leon, that was very sweet!" Nalani threw her arms around him and gave him a long hug, and then kissed him and sighed. Leon kissed back, and then they kissed together, quietly for a long moment. A stiff wind was blowing outside, the temperature dropping to about 45F, and it felt delightful for Leon to cuddle with this warm and feminine creature in his arms. Nalani looked very sleepy, and she lay down, put a pillow in Leon's lap and then rested her head on it, putting her arm around his waist. "It's cold outside, and your hut's way on the other side of the village. Don't feel you have to leave..."

Leon began to pet her head in his lap. Nalani reached up and took his hand and kissed it, and then snuggled against him and sighed heavily. Leon continued to pet her, massaging the muscles in her neck and shoulders for a while and hearing Nalani coo in appreciation. Then she became very quiet, and he returned to petting her head.

"Thanks for stopping by Leon," said Ura. "It's really nice to see you again. Would you like more wine?"

"No. I think I'm okay."

"I also have water."

"Oh... Yeah, some water would be nice."

Ura and Leon chatted quietly for a while. Leon started to describe Earth, and was pleasantly surprised to learn that Ura had been there, as part of a first-contact team. Ura told him she was looking forward to being part of the team again for the next anticipated opening of the Path. Leon talked about how much he was looking forward to talking with his parents again, and learning if Earth had made progress in solving the plague crisis.

During the quiet chatting, Leon kept petting the side of Nalani's head in his lap. He loved the feel of her ear beneath her soft and thick hair. He felt rather strange, relaxed and excited at the same time. He was dimly aware he was dating two married women, and didn't know how to proceed. He suddenly realized Nalani had fallen asleep in his lap. "Perhaps I should go," he whispered.