BLACK
The Wise Man rose customarily as the King entered. But it was the King who
bowed to the Wise Man. A tradition of honoring the Knowledge.
" Please, take a seat," the king offered. " We are all waiting to hear your
new discovery."
The Wise man smiled.
The courtroom was full. As it was several times before. When the Wise Man
had talked about their planet and their energy-supplying star and the
possibility of space travel.
Or when He had synthesized sweet mushrooms and demonstrated plastic surgery.
Or when He had explained imaginary numbers and put forward the theory of
sub-atomic particles.
The citizens savored such occasions equally as the Wise man himself.
" Please, " the king requested.
The Wise Man began. In a deep, slow voice suiting to his hundred-odd years,
he spoke. The audience listened silently.
A young student in a far corner was more absorbed. He strained his neck for
a clearer view. His eyes concentrated on the Wise Man, so much, that he
nearly squinted.
" The question has been at the back of my mind for a long time. " The Wise
Man was elaborating. " The expanding universe indicated by the violet shift
meant something. I wanted to find out what it was. Then a few days back, as
I sat with all my collected data, it realized on me.
" Imagine being at the very edge of a bucket full of water. Now if water is
sucked from the centre of the bucket, to you it will appear as if all nearby
droplets are drifting away from you. Mind you, they appear to move away, but
in reality, they are moving towards the centre. The sucking force
experienced by you will be much less than the force on the particles that
are closer to the center. This all makes the surface ripples on water look
strained or stretched. I hope it is clear..."
" It is, " the King assured.
" Such a phenomenon is happening to our universe! Right now! All the time! "
The Wise man announced dramatically. " A great sucker force at the centre is
constantly pulling the matter towards it. Our planetary system is at the
edge of our galaxy and if you take the analogy that far..."
The bewildered student was rapidly thinking- if the pull was really that
great to hurl the stars towards it, then it must be the strongest kind of
force ever! What would be its nature then? What has created it? What
controls it? When all this must have begun? How this must have begun?
" Then it must follow that there is this big hole at the centre of our
universe." The Wise Man was painstakingly elaborating. " The pull of this
hole is so great, I mean so great, that it even pulls light inside it. And
once inside, the force stops everything from coming out - including light."
" When we call something black, we mean that the thing does not reflect any
colour, any light. In the same sense, I call this strange and powerful hole
as Black Hole!"
Black Hole! The student gasped. A hole that swallows everything! Matter,
space, and even light! But wait! If matter cannot be totally destroyed like
this, then where does this sucked matter actually go?
WHITE
" Interesting! " commented the Big Blob. Its deep blue eyes, matching neatly
with pale blue body, held surprise.
The Small Blob, still shining in the glory of youth, acknowledged nervously.
" Splendid work, I must say! " The senior remarked again.
" That should solve the mystery of universe forever, should it not? " The
junior asked coyly.
" Oh! Life is not that simple." The senior furrowed its bow-like structure.
" But isn't that the greatest mystery ever? And isn't it solved completely
with my work? "
" Well, the mystery is still not solved, my dear."
" Why sir, I in fact - "
" No. It would be premature to publish your results. "
" Sir, when we started research in this direction, you had promised me
universal fame. Why not publish the work now? "
" Your fame would eventually come. " The Big Blob said solemnly.
"But sir, my reasoning is logical. Pink shift is firmly established. Data
collected over centuries confirm it. Expanding universe is natural
phenomenon. And - "
" Patience, my child. A scientist does not spill facts like that.
" But they are the facts. Aren't they?"" Now the voice had a distinct hint
of irritation.
" Yes. But they don't support your theory. "
"They do! Look here; imagine a small bucket full of water. At the centre of
this bucket, there is a hole. From this hole water is continuously seeping
into the bucket. Now this action will create steady ripples in the bucket
moving from the centre to the edge. "
" And? "
" Imagine us living very near to the centre of the bucket. To us it will
appear that the waves- which are actually the ripples- and the droplets on
them are moving away from us. If we try to collect information about more
droplets that are nearer to the edge of the bucket, they will also appear to
be moving away. "
"So? "
" Let us take that picture and apply to our universe. It then becomes very
clear why the stars are moving away from us and why our universe is
expanding."
"You say that there is a hole at the centre of our universe and the hole is
supplying matter to us all the time? "
"Yes. Yes. "
" And what makes the matter pop from this hole? "
" Well, as you know, matter cannot be destroyed or created - "
" That is the whole point!" the bigger, older body quivered. " You have not
clarified that."
" That did baffle me at first."
"Then?"
"But I think that a theory can be put forward."
"Like?"
"Like a white hole."
"White hole?"
"Yes. A hole which sources all the time like our white energy star."
"Huh. I would have agreed. But tell me, where would so much matter come
from?"
"From another universe, perhaps!"
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