The Great Reflector

By Sagan James

The Great Reflector is a mystery about a brilliant young man trying to answer life's great questions: why are we here, can we really know about afterlife, can human beings someday live on indefinitely, and can we someday take control of life's random life-changing events. It is also about the surprising murder of his mother and how this brilliant young man is able to learn more about his mother's murder.

Integral to trying to answer life’s great questions, The Great Reflector is also about cautiously distinguishing between proclaimed truth and proven truth. The story is formed around an interweaving of well chronicled leading edge scientific topics and a proposed but difficult to discount relationship between humankind and the rest of the universe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Apr 8, 2015
• ISBN: 9781329051485

Book preview

The Great Reflector

The Great Reflector

by

Sagan James

The Great Reflector, Copyright 2009, Sagan James, All Rights Reserved

ISBN 978-0-557-05719-1

Chapter 1

The Prodigy

Doctor Brad Forester liked to say that a person’s maturity could be measured by how guardedly he or she accepted proclaimed truth as proven truth. Now on a Tuesday evening, September 1ST of 2009, Brad is just returning home from the research lab he oversees at NASA. His residence, near Houston, Texas, evidences his success. It is large, stately, and sits on ten acres of land.

At 41 years old, Brad, a highly decorated former U.S. astronaut, is now a leading NASA scientist specializing in curing the aftereffects of space flights on astronauts. His research in this field is relied upon by space agencies worldwide. Recently however, it has become a very personal matter.

Brad, a strikingly handsome and athletic man standing six feet two inches tall, could well be working on his next movie instead of toiling long hours in a research lab. Nevertheless, Brad would not have it any other way. He loved the freedom and challenge of his work. Brad did have a reputation for exhibiting a temper on occasion, but some might say it was for good cause. This seemed to manifest itself when others would second-guess, without substantiation, his highly credentialed research teams’ recommendations in the field of space medicine.

As Brad entered the front door of his home, his son was there to greet him with his usual enthusiastic hug.

Hi Sage. How’s the tree house going today my little general contractor?

Great Dad. Over the past few days I even had the construction crew adjust the design for a neat change that I came up with. It’s a dual mechanical elevator system for easily raising and lowering supplies that my friends and I will need when using the new tree house. With one elevator I can slowly lower and raise a small platform to haul up heavy items. With the other I can quickly drop and raise a net-like bag to haul up lighter items, like sleeping bags, and pizza of course. I’m really anxious to show it to you as soon as you get some free time.

Sure thing, maybe later this evening, after I get your mother settled in.

Although Sage was only eleven years old, he was overseeing the final construction stages of quite an intricate tree house that he had designed on his own. Sage’s tree house actually consisted of three separate rooms, one room in each of three huge oak trees, all connected by a circular catwalk. The tree house could be entered and exited using a rope ladder hanging from the oak tree closest to the Foresters’ house.

As anyone who knew him could tell, Sage was a precocious and complex youngster who clearly wanted to follow his father’s path, to become an astronaut. He made every effort to push his understanding of space related sciences and was already at college graduate level in his understanding of astronomy and physics. His love of all sciences was evidenced by the fact that he was also at college senior level in biology and chemistry.

Sage was an extraordinary youngster in other, not so obvious respects. Even at this early age, Sage, like many older scholars might be, was frustrated by having so much intelligence, but not having answers to life’s timeless questions; where did we come from, why are we here, could human beings someday control their future, could we know about afterlife? Sage realized early on that he would not stop trying to find the answers to these questions. He believed that human intelligence and understanding could evolve to limitless potential.

Sage’s parents have been married for 18 years and Sage is the Foresters’ only child. Sage’s mother, Marion, herself a former astronaut and an accomplished astrophysicist, has been suffering from a serious disorder of her immune system. Research had shown that an extended space flight, Marion’s last, was directly related to the deterioration of her immune system. In just a year since, this once beautiful and statuesque woman had become aged looking, well beyond her years. Brad and his NASA research team were feverishly trying to find a cure for this insidious malady.

The most solid data as to the cause of Marion’s illness pointed to a substance that had been used to coat Marion’s space suit, to make it flame retardant. When Marion’s illness became apparent, Brad discovered that the coating contained a toxic substance that causes confusion amongst the protective signals of the immune system. As a result, instead of destroying toxins entering the body, the immune system destroys one’s own healthy cells. This could lead to paralysis, and even death. Marion was already experiencing paralysis in her legs, as well as constant lethargy.

Good evening sweetheart. I love you so much and hope that you are feeling better today.

Slowly opening her eyes as she awoke from a half-sleep, Marion said, I’m trying not to think about it. I just want to be myself again.

Well sweetheart, I have some great news. I think the latest antidote that we have come up with will turn things around in the coming months. My colleagues and I have confirmed that we have begun to restore the working order of the immune systems of the two chimps that went into space with you on your last flight.

Both chimps, Ralph and Alice, had contracted the same autoimmune disease as Marion’s, and both had been outfitted in similar space suits as Marion’s.

The chimps had some initial setbacks, but now we estimate that they are functioning at seventy percent of normal, after being below fifty percent. I am becoming very confident that the antidote we are giving them will work for you too.

Okay then, when do I get the magic potion?

"We want to look at the data one more time and do a bit more testing on the chimps. But my goal is to start providing you with the antidote in about two weeks. I believe