“Well,” Dom said, “that’s that.” He switched off the set.
“He’s an insufferable little man,” Doris said.
“I don’t want to talk about him,” Dom said.
“Would you like to review a little history to get ready for the voter’s test?”
“Not now.”
“Something is on your mind,” she said.
“You,” he said. “Velikovsky.”
“I understand the first,” she said, with a leer.
“Was Velikovsky right?”
“At least about the properties of the Jovian atmosphere.”
“Was it a lucky guess?”
“He doesn’t explain everything, of course,” she said. “You’re thinking about those frozen mammoths, aren’t you?”
“He’s the only one who even had a good guess about them.”
“Perhaps it’s good that everything can’t be explained,” Doris said. “It leaves us something to worry about and something to learn, a little bit at a time, so that we won’t sit around and think about what you’re thinking about all the time.”
He grinned. “I’ll get around to that.” He stood and looked out a window. “Mars was a living planet once. The sun may have been hotter, the planet was certainly wetter. A change in orbit would explain why she died, and Velikovsky said Mars had troubles with Venus before she settled down into a stable orbit. Velikovsky uses the changes in Earth calendars to make some good points. People who had good math seemed to make silly mistakes about the length of the day and changed their calendars later. And why, in all of the primitive races, was there a fear of comets?”
“Are you leading up to something?” she asked.
“Envision the orbits of Pluto and Neptune.”
“Yes, I see what you mean,” she said. “Pluto actually comes inside the orbit of Neptune at one point.”
“Will there ever be a collision? Pluto’s a small planet. If he got knocked off his orbit and came cruising across the orbits of the inner planets, what would happen?”
“They’re not in the same plane, Pluto and Neptune, but I think you have my attention. I’ll do some calculations. And that takes care of Velikovsky for the moment. What about taking care of me?”
“I want to do some research,” he said. “Can you get me all the observations of the outer planets? Figure a cost on taking one of the new hydropower scouts out there at the next conjunction. I think it’s within the next three years.”
“You’ve been thinking about this for some time,” she said.
“Do you think the two of us can handle one of the new Explorer class scouts?”
“A second honeymoon to Pluto,” she said. “I’m underwhelmed. Don’t you have any immediate work I could, ah, help you with?”
She stood and looked into his eyes. She was dressed in shorts and halter. The very feminine spread of her hips reminded him that he did have immediate plans for her.
Pluto would have to wait.