Somewhere deep in the recessive bowels of the Pentagon, Washington DC, one hundred and fifty members of Congress, elite educational facilities, and the military gathered for a secret meeting.
“So, what is so urgent that you called me away from my golf game?” an asshole senator asked.
The question, though uncomfortable, was met with nods of agreement. Yet no one else voiced a concern.
A man rose from his seat and walked over to a large screen television, and as he turned to face the gathering, he pushed a button to his hand-held remote, and a picture came on. He looked around the room to see if anyone understood what they were watching.
Nothing. Only blank stares and zero expectations.
“Ladies and gentlemen, what you are viewing is a recent photograph…”
“How recent?” a voice asked.
“Less than 12 hours…is a photograph of the farthest reaches of our solar system.”
“So?” someone said.
“Looks like a glass bubble, if you ask me,” another stated.
“To whomever said that last, you are very close to right.”
A murmur moved through the seated audience from left to right and then back to center, vibrating to the left once more. It was the most life the presenter had seen since stepping in front of the sem-darkened room.
“What you are looking at are the farthest bounds of our solar system. And if it resembles a glass bubble, that is because that’s what it is or as closely assocciated with a glass bubble as possible.”
“Do we have any idea what is beyond it?” a woman asked.
“Yes, but we cannot get beyond the bubble, and should we, our universe, including Earth, would perish.”
“Why does it look like a book shelf that’s out of focus?” came a question.
“Because that’s what we think it is.”
Suddenly, the murmurs turned into whispers of skepticism.
“A shelf, full of books,” the asshole stated angrily, adding, “Bullshit.”
The presenter waited for the crowd to settle before continuing, “And the bubble we’ve discovered is an upside down wine glass trapping us on a table in the study of late astronomer and planetary scientist Carl Sagan.”
The room erupted into a blind panic.
The Old Blog in the Desert 