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Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic
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'Oh! Right... Anyway it's the place Dan and Lucy were going to buy before your Starship smashed into it.''So?' Rodden was suddenly looking at them with increasing attention. 'How do you suppose these will help you?''I took them at night!' cried Nettie excitedly. 'Look at the sky! Especially that one, there! Look!'A broad smile suddenly creased across Rodden's face.'YOU CAN SEE THE STARS!' cried Nettie.'My dear young woman,' said Rodden. 'You must forgive me for underestimating your...''Easy-over on the flattery!' replied Nettie. 'I don't mind what you thought! The main thing is can you get any co-ordinates on those star patterns that will show where the Earth is? Are there enough stars in the shot?'Rodden was silent for some time. Nettie watched him anxiously, and suddenly Dan, who had joined them by this time, found Nettie's hand in his and she was squeezing it.Rodden stared and stared at the photo. Finally he looked up. 'Theoretically,' he said. 'Yes. It should be a simple questlon of three-dimensional geometry. There is only one place in the galaxy in which the stars will appear in that exact configuration... But I'm not sure this photo will provide enough information...'The Earth folks' hearts sank. The Navigational Officer was clearly trying to let them down gently. Nettie cursed herself; she had allowed her hopes to get too high. She was always doing that - especially with her men.'But,' the Navigational Officer was continuing. 'I think I could enhance the image - do you have the negative?''It's here!' shouted Corporal Golholiwol,'Then let's see what we can do,' said Rodden. And with that the party suddenly started to seem more cheerful for everybody concerned.CHAPTER TWENTY FIVEIt took two Dormillion days to run the enhanced photos of the night sky on Earth through the Great Astronomical Computer, at the University of Yassaccanda. The Computer went through fifteen trillion billion five hundred thousand million seven thousand four hundred and sixty-nine different comparisons before it finally came up with a star configuration that matched. It was on an outer spiral arm of the Galaxy in a sector that, quite frankly, had always been assumed to be uninhabitable. If Julius Caesar had been given a photograph of Australia and told its exact location on the planet, it would not have seemed so remote as did the Earth to these honest Yassaccans.
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Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic
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'Oh! Right... Anyway it's the place Dan and Lucy were going to buy before your Starship smashed into it.''So?' Rodden was suddenly looking at them with increasing attention. 'How do you suppose these will help you?''I took them at night!' cried Nettie excitedly. 'Look at the sky! Especially that one, there! Look!'A broad smile suddenly creased across Rodden's face.'YOU CAN SEE THE STARS!' cried Nettie.'My dear young woman,' said Rodden. 'You must forgive me for underestimating your...''Easy-over on the flattery!' replied Nettie. 'I don't mind what you thought! The main thing is can you get any co-ordinates on those star patterns that will show where the Earth is? Are there enough stars in the shot?'Rodden was silent for some time. Nettie watched him anxiously, and suddenly Dan, who had joined them by this time, found Nettie's hand in his and she was squeezing it.Rodden stared and stared at the photo. Finally he looked up. 'Theoretically,' he said. 'Yes. It should be a simple questlon of three-dimensional geometry. There is only one place in the galaxy in which the stars will appear in that exact configuration... But I'm not sure this photo will provide enough information...'The Earth folks' hearts sank. The Navigational Officer was clearly trying to let them down gently. Nettie cursed herself; she had allowed her hopes to get too high. She was always doing that - especially with her men.'But,' the Navigational Officer was continuing. 'I think I could enhance the image - do you have the negative?''It's here!' shouted Corporal Golholiwol,'Then let's see what we can do,' said Rodden. And with that the party suddenly started to seem more cheerful for everybody concerned.CHAPTER TWENTY FIVEIt took two Dormillion days to run the enhanced photos of the night sky on Earth through the Great Astronomical Computer, at the University of Yassaccanda. The Computer went through fifteen trillion billion five hundred thousand million seven thousand four hundred and sixty-nine different comparisons before it finally came up with a star configuration that matched. It was on an outer spiral arm of the Galaxy in a sector that, quite frankly, had always been assumed to be uninhabitable. If Julius Caesar had been given a photograph of Australia and told its exact location on the planet, it would not have seemed so remote as did the Earth to these honest Yassaccans.
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