Luna's Return Trajectory

by Stainless Steel Fox

And Now the News...

Apollo crew splashes down in Pacific 3 miles From ship, ending 10-day trip to the Moon

ABOARD U.S.S. HORNET, at Sea, Nov. 24 -- Man's second expedition to the surface of the moon ended in triumph today when the Apollo 12 astronauts made a near-bullseye landing in the gale-tossed South Pacific. President Nixon has praised their skill and courage, and has raised all three to the rank of Navy Captain.

Commander Charles 'Pete' Conrad Jr, Command Module Pilot Richard Francis Gordon, and Lunar Module Pilot Alan LaVern Bean were in good spirits as they boarded the USS Hornet, and entered the Mobile Quarantine Facility as part of the return process. They will remain isolated until the 10th of December, with the MQF being transported to the Lunar Receiving Laboratory in Houston, Texas in the process.

The materials collected by the astonauts during their two, 4 hour long, Extra Vehicular Activities have already been flown ahead to the LRL. These include samples of lunar material and parts of the Surveyor 3 spacecraft, which will be examined to better understand the effects of long term exposure to lunar conditions.

The most notable items are various artifacts provided by the equine alien known as Luna, who had travelled overland from the site of the Apollo 11 landing in the Sea of Tranquility ahead of the mission, and provided assistance during both EVAs. This included raising flat, dust free surfaces for landing and working on from the lunar regolith, and using her telekinesis to act as an extra pair of hands.

These artifacts included devices that converted sunlight into the type of energy Luna herself uses to perform various effects, translated from Equestrian as 'magic', and storage devices for the same type of energy. These can be used to recharge some of the existing devices supplied by Luna during Apollo 11, such as a universal translator and stereoscopic image projector stated to show views of Luna's memories of her homeworld.

Most critically, there were also a set of designs, translated as 'rune sets', which would allow scientists and engineers on Earth to create new devices using the same energy with numerous different effects. Exact details on the disposition of Luna's gifts are unknown, but it has been stated by NASA spokesperson Miles Henley that they have already been transported safely to a secure holding facility...

New York Times, 25th November 1969

President Nixon's Oval Office Address - 1st December 1969.

My fellow Americans, I am speaking to you tonight to discuss a major policy shift in our ongoing operations in Vietnam. This was one of many issues that my administration inherited, and one which we have sought to alleviate, in response to the increasing public opposition to it's continuation.

Unfortunately, such a vast operation could not be stopped rapidly, not without betraying our allies in South Vietnam, or the sacrifices of our brave servicemen in defending them. However, that does not mean we have been idle. Due to changing circumstances, we can now look to an end to the conflict, and a drawing down of personnel and resources over the next year. We are already committed to reducing our troop strength in Vietnam by 60,000 in the short term, though this may not be completed by the original deadline of December 15th.

Over the next few months, I will be reaching out to both China and Russia to work with the United States to bring both sides of the conflict to the negotiating table, to produce an end fair to the people of South Vietnam, fair to the people of North Vietnam, and fair to those others who would be affected by the outcome; to end the conflict and create a peace with honour.

To further demonstrate our commitment, I will be ordering a moratorium on further offensive operations within the theatre, restricting our forces to a defensive posture only. At home, the draft will be suspended, preparatory to removing it over the next year. This includes the proposed draft lottery, which was to take place today.

As we withdraw our direct aid, we will accelerate the process of Vietnamisation, where the armed forces of the Republic of Vietnam will receive materiel and training to enable it to stand alone as it's nation's primary ground defence force. In this way we can maintain our efforts to grant the people of South Vietnam the basic right of self-determination, to determine their own future free of any outside interference.

It is the earnest hope of this administration, and my personal hope, that through a renewed and vigorous diplomatic efforts, and a demonstration of good will in our change of military posture, that we can bring this conflict to a close with a victory, not of force of arms, but of ideals. After so many years of violence, wounds run deep, but surely with determination and honest effort, we can overcome them, as we and others have done before.

Thank you for your attention, and good night.

Multiple TV networks, 1st December 1969

Excerpts from Apollo 12 Post Flight Press Conference

Alan Bean: The one thought I had, that sticks in my mind is that everything in the wo... universe that we know of, we think about seems to have some utilitarian function. So we were up there, circling the moon, and I was wondering, what the function of the moon was.

It doesn't have the capability to support life as we know it, Luna being the exception, and it doesn't do a lot for the Earth, we could probably do without the tides, things would change, the balance would change, and the only thing I could think of is perhaps that thing has been set up there to be, as the scientists have said a little bit, a storehouse of knowledge.

Not only will it help us to find out how our Earth began, and where it came from and looked like 4.6 billion years ago, and a hundred million years ago, which has been lost for ever on the Earth, but it gives us Luna, and all the knowledge she can provide. What are the chances that she would arrive on the moon, out of all human... the history of the world, just a few years before we became capable of coming to find her? I don't have any answers for that, but it was just something I couldn't help but wonder about.

...

Associated Press: One thing I'm sure a lot of people are curious about is your little musical number as you began your ascent. Was it something to do with your discussion in Equestrian beforehand?

Charles Conrad: In a way. If you remember what Luna talked about when she described the early days of her reign in Equestria to Neil, she mentioned defending the new country from outside invaders. It came up with us being Navy that she wasn't just an armchair general, if ponies even have armchairs, she led and fought alongside her troops over land and sea, and shared in their camaraderie, holding her own in 'shanty and story' to use her words.

She deeply missed that, as she was forced into a more formal princess role, and was no longer allowed to go mingle with the common herd. So we figured, since we'd travelled there on the Yankee Clipper, and as Navy types, a short shanty of our own would lift her spirits. Based on her laughter, I think it worked...

Auditorium, Manned Spaceflight Centre, Houston, 13th December 1969

First part based on clip provided by: Fim_jrm

Excerpt of Interview of Arthur C Clarke by Patrick Moore on 'The Sky at Night'

Displayed: Photo of Luna, Pete and Al standing in front of the sunlit side of the Monolith.

PM: The recently released photos from the Apollo 12 mission include one of the two astronauts and Luna standing in front of this familiar looking monolith. According to the accompanying press release, it was a mass simulator that Luna created for a test of the Passive Seismic Experiment. What was your reaction when you first saw it?

ACC: Surprise, mainly. While Radio Free Luna wrote to me to ask for permission to broadcast a reading of '2001', I didn't realise it had made such an impression. Though I'm very pleased it did.

PM: As one of the people asked to do readings for Radio Free Luna, I had a chance to ask her about it. The shape was apparently something of a joke for the astronauts, and the matt black colour was a surface layer of black iron oxide. She said she looked forward to being able to see the film version when she got to Earth, and hopefully meeting both you and Stanley Kubrick in person, .

ACC: That would be a dream come true for me. Though if our movie had come out much later than it did, it would be more of a nightmare. Throughout the development of the script and the production both Stanley and I were worried that actual exploration of space or the moon would make our story obsolete, or even ridiculous. I shudder to think what could have happened to the production if Luna had come across one of the Surveyor lunar probes while its cameras were still working!

Of course, the film is now outdated, but that is more or less inevitable with science fiction. Though I freely admit, I never would have though that the cause would be as strange as an extra-dimensional alien unicorn with magic powers. As I said during the CBS interview just after that first moonwalk, it only goes to show that science fiction writers are indifferent prophets, if only because, as Mark Twain once wrote, 'Truth is stranger than fiction, because fiction has to make sense.'

PM: Though in your case, you did predict alien space unicorns, in your short story, 'Second Dawn'.

ACC: <chuckles> Robert Heinlein mentioned that too, during the interview. Of course, the alien unicorns in that story had no way to manipulate their environment. The premise was that they had developed high intelligence, philosophy, mathematics and even telepathic abilities, while still being pre-hunter gatherer technologically. They then met up with a more primitive intelligent race which had hands, and formed a symbiotic relationship, the second dawn of the title being the dawn of technology. From the images provided by Luna, it looks like the Equestrians have avoided that particular trap.

PM: What do you think will be the effects on our culture and technology?

ACC: Culturally, maybe a measure of sanity? We have proof that the universe is far larger, and more complex than we knew. The Equestrians and other races Luna described prove we, and Earth are not the unique creation of an arbitrary deity, but part of a much vaster tapestry. From Luna's dialogue with Commander Armstrong, their world was created, but not ex-nilhilo, but by terraforming a lifeless body, and from the biological evidence using Earth life-forms as a basis.

That implies a creator or creators, but not a god, even if the powers they wielded seem god-like compared to our present abilites. They left clear evidence of their work, used existing creatures to create the ecosystem, even if they modified them in unique ways. A race, perhaps more advanced than even the Monolith builders from our film, but who were ultimately engineers, not gods or wizards.

PM: Considering the devices Apollo 11 and 12 brought back, that distinction may not be as sharp as you say.

ACC: The difference is, wizards and deities in stories tend to be secretive, their powers mysterious and capricious, used only sparingly for wonders and miracles. An engineer does their best to de-mystify the things they produce, deliver tools that are reliable, reproduceable, usable by anyone, even if they produce effects that seem magical to an outsider. You could say, 'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic'.

From everything Luna has said and done, she's more a scientist and engineer, even if she describes the forces she uses as magic. Some of the effects we've been shown, been given to experiment with, appear to defy our current understanding of physics, but that doesn't mean our existing understanding is wrong, or that this magic doesn't exist, but that our understanding is incomplete, and that magic will expand it.

Our little corner of the universe has no easily accessible natural sources of the force she uses, and it's likely we lack the necessary organs to manipulate it directly anyway, which explains why we've never been able to make it a part of our understanding of the universe. We're the unicorns without hands, the underwater race that can't discover fire, the blind race that can't see a sunset or a spectograph.

Fortunately, we have Luna to help us discover this new facet of reality. From what she says, she's not only willing, but eager to do so. Her race uses magic as a tool, a scientific discipline with well developed theories behind it that she can use to invent and create effects and devices to order. So in this case, sufficiently developed magic is indistinguishable from technology. And thanks to Luna, it is a technology we should be able to use, even if as yet, we can barely imagine what we can do with it.

The Sky at Night, BBC1, 14th December 1969

From the Stars (and Stripes) with Love

Late 1969 was eventful in the United States’ Vietnam War. As of now, 37th U.S. President Richard M. Nixon ordered the first sizeable troop withdrawals that summer and Ho Chi Minh, the political leader of North Vietnam, had died in September on the 2nd. Public opinion polls that autumn showed that a majority of Americans believed the war had been a “mistake,” and the largest antiwar protest to that point in the war occurred on October 15, when more than two million people across the United States participated in coordinated marches, rallies, teach-ins, religious services, vigils, casualty memorials, and candlelight events. In the midst of all these events, the troops in Saigon were still reeling from the latest attacks (including that of the infamous Tet Offensive just eleven months prior that same year in February). Most of the servicemen awaiting in Saigon are eager to leave while many others including the embassy staff, want to see Hanoi relinquish its holdings of American and allied POWs as by now over 578 servicemen were reported to be MIA.

Tensions as well as distress were innately prevalent among the civilians and staff as an incursion from the North is likely imminent. The one saving grace that seemed to have calm the situation amongst the population were unexpected but timely arrivals of crates—not full of munitions—but stuffed plush versions of Princess Luna. A bundle of letters also found within gave a clear reason: These were gifts for an early Christmas to the troops by friends, distant relatives, and charitable citizens back home. Below are a couple pictures of soldier and civilian alike holding "Luna".

(Image of US Army soldiers handing out plushies of Luna to curious staff, a good distance away to show several people)

(Image of several US Marines holding up "Luna", giving grateful smiles at the camera, the crewmen are all situated around a fire enjoying an afternoon cooking)

(Image of a soldier, kneeling and giving two Vietnamese children two Luna plushies, photo was shot at a distance)

"It may seem trivial, but this may be also a means to lift our spirits. Just a little... And it's done a damned good job at it so far." Says a unnamed PFC Marine.

Indeed, despite the ongoing conflict, this move by the civilians back home has paid off. Morale has been stated to have increased overnight at a 38% boost. Hopefully the troops can hold out long enough until negotiations halt the hostilities.

Reason Magazine, 15th December, 1969

Provided by: LeadlessSteed

Luna toys sell out in stores

With the current focus on the recent missions to the moon, and the alien astronaut named Luna, it is unsurprising that companies have rushed to take advantage of the situation. Luna plush dolls and models are this Christmas's must-have toy, both standalone and as part of play sets with astronauts and spaceships. Many of the toys appeal to both boys and girls equally, and demand has been high, outperforming even such favourites as Barbie, Hot Wheels and Peanuts merchandise.

While manufacturers have been quick to bring out a range of products, they failed to anticipate the surge in demand that the recent Apollo 12 mission brought to an already overstretched supply. Hasbro's flagship 'Apollo 11 Luna playset' is sold out in toy stores and department stores across the nation, and on three week back order in many places. While there has been some concerted efforts to ban Luna products by some conservative and religious organizations worried about the references to magic, few of these attempts have borne results in the face of consumer demand.

Other space related toys such as model rockets, telescopes and spaceship toys in general are also among the top sellers, as well as Luna themed merchandise such as mugs and t-shirts, bearing either images of Luna based on the many photographs from Apollo 11 and 12, or her hip marking. A line of jeans bearing the mark has been another popular seller. With the latest expedition still fresh in people's minds, it doesn't appear that the demand for Luna will abate any time soon.

Chicago Tribune, December 22nd, 1969

NASA and NET will produce 'Lessons with Luna' educational program.

Grade schoolers will soon be able to learn basic reading and writing skills alongside the alien pony Luna, thanks to a partnership between the Manned Spacecraft Center, NASA's Education Division and National Educational Television. William Campbell, program director for NET stated, "We hope to provide an engaging and enjoyable series for young children, a resource both for educators, and parents."

One of the secondary tasks of Apollo 12 was to deliver basic educational materials on written English to Luna. While her translation effect allows her to speak not just English, but any language, it does not provide literacy in them. To help her learn both written English, and to speak it without a translator, a series of lessons based around the material were to be part of a follow-up to Apollo 12.

The colour television camera left behind by the astronauts was able to be maintained by Luna, as the high gain antenna it used was intact, and the silver zinc batteries of the descent stage that powered it retained some charge. It was intended to be used to provide visual feedback to the teachers from Luna for the initial tutoring. It has continued to be used when she worked out how to partly recharge the batteries using her alchemy ability, and the sessions were recorded for later study.

The NASA Education Division is in charge of both liasing with universities and educational outreach, and in this case was involved in preparing the materials, and supporting the ongoing teaching effort. On seeing the resulting recordings, they proposed that they could be edited to provide basic writing and language education for children as well, with the novelty of Luna learning the same material being a way to draw children's attention.

Working with NET, the new TV series is still in development, but is expected to begin airing in the late spring of 1970.

TV Guide Magazine, 7th January 1970

Significant progress on thaumic runesets made by NASA

Work at the Lunar Receiving Laboratory on the artefacts brought back by the Apollo 12 mission has been progressing rapidly from the moment the materials arrived there. The abilities displayed by the alien known as Luna suggest the possibility of an entirely new field of science, which has been tentatively named 'thaumics' based on the ancient Greek term for miracle working and analogous to other fields such as optics and electronics.

The energy converters that convert light to thaumic energy (photothaumic panels) and storage devices (thaumic accumulators) have been examined and analysed in great detail, demonstrating their function by recharging the illusion projector and translator bracelet brought back by Apollo 11.

Studies of this energy are still in their infancy, but it has been independently verified as existing and producing demonstrable, repeatable effects, without the presence of Luna. The stored energy is termed 'quintessence' and a flow of energy 'mana'. This is in part due to the terms Luna's translation effect provided for the concepts. Professor Freeman Dyson, Lorentz and Huges medal winner, is a recent addition to the research team.

The current focus of study is duplicating the photothaumic panels and thaumic accumulators with terrestrial materials, as well as producing devices that demonstrate the various other effects that Luna provided designs for. These effects are very basic, and were chosen both because they should consume relatively little energy, and should be easy to reproduce.

As of this press release, both functional photothaumic panels and accumulators have been produced from terrestrial materials, and the dirt removal, refrigeration and light generation effects have been demonstrated with proof-of-concept devices. The other effects listed are all being developed, with working demonstrators expected in the next few weeks.

Research is currently hampered by the limited communication with Luna, and the limited amount of quintessence available, but development is expected to accelerate as more panels and accumulators are built, and when Luna is brought back to Earth on Apollo 13.

NASA Press Release, 11th January 1970

Speech of Senator Proximire on NASA Supplemental Appropriations Bill H.R.15859

Sen Proximire: I urge the committee to reject this bill in the strongest terms. The creation of a 'dedicated thaumic research laboratory', if it is needed at all, should be funded out of NASA's existing budget. A budget, I should remind you, that has continually increased over the last decade.

My opposition to the Apollo program itself is well known. While NASA's aeronautics research may not be without merit, the manned space program, especially the 'race to the moon', is a product of politics and prestige, not practicality. In this quixotic quest to meet an arbitary deadline, we have spent vast amounts of taxpayers dollars, which could have been spent right here on Earth, improving the lot of ordinary Americans.

The Apollo program is America's Great Pyramids, our Great Wall of China, a massive project created for prestige, one of the things done 'because they are hard', and soaking up the efforts of hundreds of thousands of scientists, engineers and skilled workers whose abilities could have been put to more practical use. Worse than those examples, because at least the Great Pyramids still bring in tourist revenue. No-one is going to be taking a vacation to the Sea of Tranquility in the foreseeable future, Hollywood fantasies notwithstanding.

While it is too late to reclaim that money, we could at least look forward to a reduction in future funding as the target has been reached, the goal met, the race, won. The Apollo program, what remains of it, would have died a natural death. But now, with this alien Luna, it has a new lease on life, both in scope and in the public imagination. If it were not that any fakery would be impossible to conceal for very long, you could almost imagine the alien was a hoax to continue to drum up interest in space.

Unfortunately, it is all too real, and now even more money is being spent altering the program to include its recovery, something that is premature at best. This being, apart from being an alien in body and mentality, is a self-admitted criminal with considerable demonstrated powers, and yet we rush to remove it from its prison, and let it loose on Earth. The prize, of course is that it promises to share it's power, but so far, we have received only a pittance, just enough to whet our appetites and convince the easily led.

Look at the recent list put out by NASA. It sounds very impressive, until you look at the actual effects. A light bulb, a dry cleaner/duster, an ice box and a pot of glue for the most part. As for the 'healing' effect, we have no idea if it will even work on humans. And while floating small objects around may look impressive at a magic show, they are not something you need to spend millions of dollars to replicate. The few proven useful effects like translation, it's kept to itself.

And of course, there is one of the first things it offered right back when it first made contact, a shield against atomic weapons. A very tempting prize, one that captured the public imagination, but one that it has become oddly silent about, now that it actually has to live up to its promises.

To sum up, I do not believe that NASA has shown sufficient results to justify additional dedicated funding into so-called thaumic research. Until they can replicate more than just parlour tricks, they should find the money from their existing funding. Or maybe Luna can pull some dimes out of an astronaut's ear. Because the one magic trick that NASA is very good at is making taxpayer dollars disappear.

Excerpt of Transcript from Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing, 15th January 1970

Testimony of Freeman Dyson on NASA Supplemental Appropriations Bill H.R.15859

Thank you for having me here today. I hope to shed some light on the concerns certain members of this committee have over this bill, and the utility of a dedicated thaumics research program. Members of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton have been working with the NASA teams almost from the discovery of Luna, and as both a mathematician and physicist, I can assure you that some of the mathematics tools she's already provided to us, without mention of reward, are utterly groundbreaking.

They are not the work of a charlatan and Luna's explanations of them show she understands them thoroughly. She has a first rate mind, and moreover, has never failed to deliver on a promise made, frequently going above and beyond what she promised. So when she has stated that she will assist in every way possible to understand this new field, the smart money is that she has both the ability and intent to do so.

The fact that our astronauts came to her aid, and that we are providing her support and ultimately a new home has given her every reason to feel grateful to America, and current dialogues have borne that out. Psychological profiles demonstrate that she has a strong desire to help, and to be useful, so the committee can put to rest any worries about her motivations.

With that out of the way the concerns seem to split into two related parts. Firstly that thaumics is a field that deserves research, also that we know enough to start funding expanded research. The answer is both yes and no. Thaumics is not just a new technology, it is a new modality, a new tool to manipulate the universe, and in ways we have never been able to before, as well as duplicate some existing capabilities more effectively.

Such discoveries have appeared before. Thermodynamics, aerodynamics, electrical theory, even such basic things as mechanics and optics. Each have delivered a host of different technologies and capabilities allowing things people once thought impossible. Thermodynamics produced everything from the steam engine to the rocket motor and the ice box, and we all know what early development of the steam engine by Britain did for it as a world power. Thaumics promises to be at least as versatile if not more so, just from the effects we've already seen demonstrated. So it is absolutely worth researching!

The only issue would be that we as yet know so little about the field. In terms of electronics, we're poking frogs legs with wires to make them jump and making iron filings line up, for aerodynamics, trying to building a functional glider, or thermodynamics, we're at the level of Hero's engine, the toy that spins a ball due to steam jets.

It took decades, sometimes longer to go from starting to study a field to producing practical products based on it, but in the case of thaumics we have the perfect way to leapfrog that. Luna can teach us rather than having to work out everything from first principles, allowing us to start developing practical applications even as we learn the underlying theory.

The second part is whether the current runesets we've been given to test are for trivial effects, 'parlour tricks'. Once again the answer is once again yes and no. As I mentioned before, we are currently just starting out in this new field and are learning the very basics. For that we only need small effects to demonstrate that things work, and start to understand the basic principles behind them. Right now we don't have the theory and framework to understand more advanced principles. It would be like handing Luigi Galvani a transistor radio, or showing Hero of Alexandria a modern coal power plant.

Also, while the base effects are small and simple, the principles they embody are not, and neither are the potential applications. All of which are dependent on being able to provide a reliable and stable source of quintessence, but that is something we know can be done.

Take the dust and dirt removing effect. It is far more than a feather duster, or even a dry cleaner. It automatically keeps a surface or material clean without human action, and gets everything. The Apollo 11 suits which came back were caked with lunar dust that will never come out, whereas the Apollo 12 suits are completely clear of it.

A lot of wear and tear on machinery is simply from debris getting in the works, being able to apply the effect to internal components on a large scale would save millions of man hours and hundreds of millions of dollars in maintenance costs. Clean rooms, operating theatres, even personal protection from dust filled environments, there are a vast number of applications for the effect as is.

Then there's the fact that it is the basis for a number of other effects that can selectively remove substances. Removing contaminants or pollutants from land, refining materials without complex and dangerous chemicals, filtering harmful gasses from the air, filtering water or desalinating sea water, removing foreign material from a wound... yes, some of these things we can already do, but at a considerable cost in energy and time. From even our preliminary tests, thaumics would be a cleaner, faster option. And it is one of the least impressive effects.

Of the other two effects we've tested so far, while there is certainly a host of applications for a solid-state, solar charged, maintenance free light panel, it is the cooling effect that is the most significant. It appears to break a basic law of thermodynamics, removing energy from the system rather than simply transferring it to a lower temperature state. Finding an exception to a natural law is a red letter day for any scientist, especially a law as well established as this. Investigating them always leads to new insights into the universe, and new tools we can use.

To clarify, all heat engines, from steam turbines in power plants to car engines and rocket motors work by moving energy from a high temperature state to a low one, converting a portion of the energy into useful work. The efficiency increases with the temperature differential. High temperatures are easy to generate, limited by the melting point of the materials containing them. Low temperatures are more complicated, but in general the lower the temperature the larger and more complicated the mechanisms required for producing it.

Simplistically, you are spreading that energy over a larger volume, reducing the energy content. So you have bulky radiator systems in internal combustion engines, massive cooling towers on power plants, pumps and radiators and pipes full of coolant all acting as additional points of failure for a system, and limited in capacity and effective temperature by the size you can afford.

The thaumic cooling effect is different. The heat energy isn't transferred to the outside environment, it vanished entirely from detection. It might well be being transferred outside anywhere we can detect, but the practical outcome is the same. We can create a solid state heat sink that can produce an arbitary effective low temperature, temperatures that would normally require a massive and power hungry refrigeration plant to produce.

This is a game changer. Being able to cool the walls of engines or power plants will allow them to run at higher temperatures, even as thaumic cooling could produce far lower temperatures to replace radiators or cooling systems, making them more efficient, smaller and less complex. We may even be able to convert some of the radiated energy from the hot elements to quintessence to drive the cooling effect, as thermal radiation, infra-red is still electromagnetic radiation usable by photothaumic panels.

The industrial applications of this are nearly limitless, and the benefit to the economy of a nation who can develop it, huge. The other effects we have available to research will prove just as beneficial, and these are only a fraction of the possibilities thaumic technology can produce.

I could spend hours laying out the possibilities of the telekinesis effect, or the healing effect, which will work on humans, as it's not species specific, and the basic biology of Equis is the same as terrestrial life. However, I wanted to stick to things we've been able to test, despite the limits we currently work under.

The main limits we have to developing them are firstly, the limited amount of quintessence we can generate with our current photothaumic panels. We are producing more of them, and already working with Luna to make them more efficient, as well as investigating other ways of generating quintessence.

One promising concept is reversing the telekinetic effect to produce a thaumic dynamo. Secondly, while the video link with Luna has been invaluable, not having her present is limiting what we can show and learn. That will be resolved by Apollo 13.

The final and most serious limit is that we are currently working with repurposed resources and improvised equipment. That is why the committee needs to approve this bill. By the time Luna arrives on Earth, we can have the facilities capable of making full use of her talents, and have made far faster progress on the runesets we already have, both understanding the underlying theory and the practical applications.

And that includes the atomic shield, which is something Luna is going to have to work with us to develop from her theoretical understanding, as it is a new application of the effects she knows. Which is entirely reasonable. The photothaumic panels absorb X-rays and gamma as easily as light. Projecting that effect as a shield would stop the radiation part of an atomic blast, both nuclear and thermal. We also have effects that negate thermal energy, so soaking up the firestorm is possible. And Luna has repeatedly created barriers to contain gas pressure, so a stronger version could counter the shockwave. We may not know how to do it yet, but we know that the capability is there.

Thaumics has the potential to be the most significant discovery in human history, and the United States needs to be at the forefront of it. But we need the tools to do the job. Funding dedicated thaumic research is one of the most sure fire investments this country can make, and the payout is literally beyond calculation.

I thank the committee for it's time.

Excerpt of transcript from Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing, 16th January 1970

President Nixon signs Thaumic Research Funding Bill

Having passed through the Senate with a two thirds majority, NASA Supplemental Appropriations Bill H.R.15859 was today signed into law. This bill provides $10 million of funding for expansion of research into the new field of thaumic energy and it's applications. This will include conversion of existing facilities at the Manned Space Flight centre to act as a temporary home for the program, as well as operational costs, and development of a permanent campus at a location not yet decided.

The choice of MSC as the interim home of the program was chosen as it is the current location for the Lunar Receiving Laboratory, which is the focus of ongoing communication with Luna, the alien who has so far provided all the information and artefacts using this power. It is also the most probable location for her initial residence after she has been transported to Earth on the upcoming Apollo 13 mission.

How this will affect the upcoming budget for NASA for the 1971 fiscal year remains to be seen. The annual budget proposal for US Government spending will be sent to Congress from the White House on February 2nd.

Washington Post , 20th January 1970