3. Saturn
The Magician walked into the cockpit. The Scientist was asleep, her head down on the flat metal support anchored between the two pilot seats. She had been using it as a makeshift table, her notes and multi-coloured pens scattered all over the surface.
He walked closer, keeping his steps as light as possible to avoid waking her. He looked over at her laptop screen and saw a document open:
Sound of Saturn: Radio Emissions of the Planet and Enceladus
He pressed play on the recording and recoiled instantly. ‘Spooky, I bet she’s having nightmares about this right now,’ he thought. But looking closer at the page, he noticed something interesting: The spectrogram. The red lines formed the image of a tree.
This good omen was like a breath of fresh air for The Magician.
The last few months had been marred by delays. After their exploration of Jupiter, the duo set course to Saturn. What they didn't expect were numerous setbacks: Errors with the navigation system, having to reroute to avoid comets, and engine failures. Now they were finally here, in orbit of Saturn, but unsure of what to do next.
The months of inactivity had done a number on The Magician’s morale. He was nowhere close to figuring out a spell that could help them explore Saturn, and sometimes he wondered if he had any powers left at all. Feelings of failure and doubt ate away at him. But he tried his best to keep up a chipper facade.
The Scientist, on the other hand, seemed unbothered. She used the time to research Saturn and its many moons, using old NASA documents that she found in the ship’s archives. If she was scared or frustrated, she didn’t show it.
‘She’s so cool,’ The Magician thought.
His eyes moved to the cup on the side of the table — The Scientist’s coffee. He grimaced as he looked into its contents, pitch black, like staring into the void. Then he finally remembered why he had come to the cockpit in the first place: The Scientist had skipped lunch, and he wanted to make sure that she would eat something soon.
Leaving her to slumber, he walked out of the control room and into the dining area. Opening the rations cabinet, he sifted through the usual suspects: Canned fish, dehydrated oatmeal, vacuum-sealed hardtacks. He dug around until he felt something interesting that caught his fingers’ attention. He withdrew it carefully.
It was a bag of dried tofu. Far cry from a lobster feast, but it would do just fine. In the supply shelf he found a pot and filled it with water. He set it on the portable stove and turned on the heat.
As he waited for the water to boil, The Magician opened the bag of tofu. It was freeze-dried and had kept well over the years. All it needed was a hot bath to bring it back to life. As soon as the water started to bubble, he placed the tofu in it.
There wasn’t much in the way of seasoning or condiments on the ship, but there were some red chilli flakes and a can of olive oil in the cabinet. He opened the can of oil and poured it into a small bowl. He then sprinkled a generous amount of chilli flakes onto it until almost the entire surface of the viscous light-green liquid was covered.
As The Magician mixed the homemade dressing, he became engrossed in the process, reaching a state of flow. His energy, which seemed to have all but dissipated during their long voyage, returned to him. But he poured it all right back into the meal, hoping to transfer his vigor to The Scientist.
Once five minutes had passed, he took the tofu out of the hot water and placed it on the plate. He stared proudly at the white cube before pouring the spicy garnish on it. The oil flowed down the side of the tofu, giving off a delectable sheen.
After setting the table, The Magician dug through the supply closet and found a black candle. He placed it on the dining table, used his powers to light it, and dimmed the lights on the ship. He also retrieved two wine glasses from the cabinet and filled them with water.
Satisfied with the setup, he smiled and walked over to the cockpit. The Scientist was still sleeping. He gently tapped her on the shoulder.
“Hey, wake up, I made us supper.”
It took The Scientist a while to wake up; she was in the middle of a wonderful dream. When she came to, she yawned, pushed her messy hair out of her eyes, and put on her glasses.
“Let me guess, oatmeal?” she responded sleepily.
The Magician smiled and led her out of the room. She followed him, looking back wistfully at her notes as she left the room.
The last few months have been so wonderful. Every day she would wake up early, do 10 minutes of meditation with her friend, and jump into her notes. She sometimes wondered what he got up to during the day, but never pried. It was enough that he would visit her every once in a while and inquire about what she was reading. Those visits were always the best part of her day.
The Magician's curious comments, jokes, and imaginative questions added colour to her ideas. They transmuted her thoughts into beautiful constructs: Solid structures with enough weight that they stayed put in her mind, instead of drifting away like paper in the wind (as thoughts have a tendency to do). The structures would occasionally collide and click into place, like blocks of Lego. She had a hunch that her mind was in the process of constructing something incredible. This feeling had fueled her motivation for the last few months.
Once they reached the dining table, The Magician stepped aside and unveiled his great accomplishment. The Scientist gasped.
“Tofu! I can’t believe I never noticed this. It’s my favourite food.”
“It was hiding in the back of the pantry. Guess it’s shy.”
The Scientist looked around the table. A small smile appeared on her lips.
“What’s with the candles?”
The Magician blushed slightly. “Well, you’re always saying how we need to save fuel and electricity. I thought dimming the lights might help,” he said.
“That’s very thoughtful of you.”
The ambience of the room washed over them.
“Anyways, I couldn’t find any condiments or seasonings on the ship. But I was able to make a simple homemade dressing. I hope it’s not too bland.”
“It looks delicious.”
The two sat down. The Scientist took a moment to admire the perfect cube shape of the tofu before digging her spoon into it and taking a big bite. The taste reminded her of earth.
“So did you learn anything interesting about Saturn today?” asked The Magician, after swallowing his first bite.
“Mhmm. I learned that it has an incredibly low density. Theoretically, if there was a body of water big enough, Saturn could float on it like a gigantic beach ball!” she replied.
“How? It must be super heavy. Didn’t you say it’s the second biggest planet in the solar system?”
“Yes, its mass is over 95 times greater than earth… But whether an object can float or not is determined by density, which is its mass divided by volume. So even an extremely heavy object can float as long as its volume is relatively larger.”
“That makes sense now that I think about it. I mean, ships can float, and those things are huge and made of metal.”
“Exactly! The reason they can is because there are hollow areas in the ships, like the hull, which takes up a lot of volume but relatively less mass. I’m probably oversimplifying it, but that’s the general idea.”
“Well, don’t spare me the gory details.”
With gusto, The Scientist went on to explain Archimedes' principle and the concept of buoyancy.
“Archimedes… I’ve heard of him. He is the one who went: Eureka!”
The Scientist smiled, “The story is that when he climbed into a bathtub, the water overflowed, and he realized that he could use the volume of the displaced water to calculate his own body’s volume. The same idea could be used to measure the volume of any irregularly shaped objects. This discovery made him so happy that he allegedly ran through the city of Syracuse naked, shouting, ‘I’ve found it!’ in Latin.”
The two shared a laugh.
“Actually I love that story. It’s such a great reminder that you can’t force discoveries; you have to let them come to you,” said The Scientist.
The Magician’s eyes darted up from his meal, and his ears perked up. Something about that phrase sounded so familiar to him.
She went on, “Back when I first started doing research, I got stressed so easily. Whenever I couldn’t figure out a problem, I would act like the world was collapsing in on me. I’d obsess over it, skip sleep, and ignore all my friends and family. It took me too long to realize that this kind of attitude never got me anywhere. More often than not, all I needed was a walk in the park or a night out with friends.”
The Magician listened intently as she shared stories of other great scientific discoveries, like Newton, who formulated the law of gravity after watching an apple falling from a tree. As well as Alexander Fleming, who came back to his lab from a vacation in 1928 to discover that mold was inhibiting the growth of bacteria on an unwashed petri dish, leading to the discovery of penicillin, the first antibiotic.
He felt at ease as he listened to these stories. As long as The Scientist was with him, he was sure that the magic he needed would come to him eventually. All his stress started to dissipate.
He raised his glass to The Scientist.
“To patience,” he said.
“Cheers!”
Clink!
There was a flash of white, and the next instance they were on Saturn. The Magician, The Scientist, and their dinner table had been teleported smack dab in the middle of Saturn’s hexagon, located on the north pole of the planet. Jet streams blew around them at over 300 mph. But these ferocious winds didn’t dare disturb the tranquility of their supper.
The Scientist knew better than to be surprised. She said coolly, “I like what you’ve done with the view.”
The Magician chuckled, “Well you didn’t seem very impressed by the candle so I had to take it up a notch.”
They smiled and admired the scenery. The clouds had a blue-green colour.
The two forgot about their mission and continued eating, enjoying their supper on the crown jewel of the solar system. The spell allowed them to float freely on Saturn’s gas surface. Meanwhile, the tofu gave them superhuman strength and durability, allowing them to survive the deadly radiation of the planet and resist its immense gravity.
Once they finished eating they decided to go for a post-meal walk around Saturn, in search of the Cosmic Garden.
Little by little,
The bird builds its nest,
Slowly but surely,
The turtle reaches the sea,
The snail climbs the tree,
The butterfly emerges.
Day by day,
The garden will grow,
With each step,
Destiny arrives.
With each step,
Destiny arrives.
As sure as,
The sun rises,
Sorrow will bloom,
Into ecstasy,
Of hope,
And yesterday's magic,
Will become reality.
Day by day,
The green will return.
With each dream,
The thrill grows.
With each dream,
The thrill grows.
