The Audrey Hepburn

The Audrey Hepburn

The Audrey Hepburn was called after a commander’s Daniels Rastoropnov’s fiancee, who patiently waited for him on Earth while he was exploring the asteroids belt.

When we found the sky of this tiny planet a kind of pinkish-yellow rather than the blue which had erroneously first been reported, the announcement was greeted by a chorus of good-natured boos from the public – people wanted the other planets to be, even in this respect, like the Earth.

And yet the Audrey’s landscapes are staggering, the vistas breathtaking.

A long television series was made about the planet. In fact, we all are oriented toward astronomy and we are engaged to it with our heart as well as the mind. Some television series aimed at popular audiences, visually and musically stunning, prove that the public is far more intelligent than it has generally been given credit for; the deepest scientific questions on the nature and origin of the world excite the interests and passions of enormous numbers of people.

(Extract from The Rain, the famous SF novel by Elena and George B.)

Communication of science in an engaging and accessible way. Illustration: © Megan Jorgensen (Elena)

(Many illustrations in this book are based on the striking visuals prepared by NeuroscienceTv for the television series. In fact, books and television series have somewhat different audiences and admit different approaches. This novel and Neuroscience television series represent a hopeful experiment in communicating some of the ideas, methods and joys of science).

Deadly Force From Space - II

Deadly Force From Space -II

Peace is born at mutual understanding. But if there was one thing the Earth could not afford, it was the luxury of understanding. Many called the Cloud the destroyer of the worlds, but humans have always demonstrated on a vast scale that they knew how to conquer those who came to destroy.

“Though we agreed that the attack we had planned might come with an unusually high casualty rate, we were at a loss to imagine in what way we could possibly stop the advance of this deadly force. There is also no way for us to be certain that the part of the Cloud currently visible on our scanners comprises the entirety of the force arrayed against the planet.” Norma hesitated to even allow her thoughts to go further in that direction.

Silently she prayed the Earth would find a better solution before this crew was forced to take an action she never believed she would have to contemplate.

(Extract from The Rain, the famous SF novel by Elena and George B.)

The Cloud, this deadly force arrayed against our planet. Illustration: © Megan Jorgensen (Elena)

Hybrid Varieties

Hybrid Varieties

Norma had worked tirelessly for two nights, creating dozens of virtual hybrid varieties until she found one that could endure the rain and prolonged rainy seasons. The pure happiness she had felt when genetic analysis confirmed the stability of the hybrid could not be rivaled.

She was aware of the fact that the day she would present her hybrid to the world, she would be hailed as a hero and secured her place forever among elite botanical geneticists. She also knew as well that the exponential growth of thousands of seeds, including dozens of exotic ornamentals had yet to prove their viability.

But as soon as she reached the bay, she saw that the flowers that remained on stems were dried black and brown. Most of the blooms had already fallen into the humidifiers below them. Likewise, the unharvested vegetables and fruits were rotting on their vines.

(Excerpt from The Rain, the world acclaimed novel by Elena and George B.)

Genetic analysis, hybrid varieties. Illustration : Megan Jorgensen (Elena)

Dangerous curiosity

Dangerous curiosity

Moments later, they watched as the spheres began to spin and gyrate along their individual axes. The various colors within them – oranges, reds, yellows, lavenders – all increased in vibrancy with the motion, and within minutes they had begun to move gracefully among each other, gliding, spinning upward with their increasing speed and intensity.

The astronauts could almost feel the pressure. All of this was outside their area of expertise. But the phenomenon was something more than a dangerous curiosity or a small problem to be solved. Six crewmen assigned to aeroponics hurried into their lab and begun clearing the space as if their lives depended on it. Well, they depended on it. And not only their lives, but those of billions of human beings.

(Excerpt from The Rain, the world acclaimed novel by Elena and George B.)

Dangerous Curiosity. Photo by Elena

Dangerous Force From Space

Dangerous Force From Space

Our first first-contact situation is in every way a textbook example of everything you don’t want to happen when you introduce yourself to a new species. In fact, we deal with a powerful and potentially dangerous force which we cannot fight with our most advanced technology.

We, the Humans, like to think of ourselves as invincible and superior to everything that might occur. But our evidence suggests we have been defeated on numerous occasions by storms, earthquakes, hurricanes and so on. The knowledge of our real situation could have created a cognitive dissonance the civilisation might have had trouble reconciling. An unpleasant thought and a memory we couldn’t live with.

In fact, what we lack in experience, we make up for with a record of biased judgments. As it stands now, we send five ships out to make contact with one of the most dangerous situations we’ve ever encountered.

(Extract from The Rain, the famous SF novel by Elena and George B.)

Dangerous Force. Photo by Elena