Starquake.pdf

"We are aware of that," said Plasma-Sheath. "By injecting only one type of monopole into the deorbiter
mass, we can increase the center density by the formation of monopolium, but the monopolium atoms will
have a tendency to repel each other since they will have the same magnetic charge. It is hoped that in this
way we can keep the shrinking of the deorbiter under control and keep it from collapsing into a black
hole."
"Sounds risky to me," said Pierre. "Are you sure of your calculations?"
"No," replied Plasma-Sheath. "But it is a risk that we must take."
Suddenly another cheela appeared on the screen. Pierre recognized the two-star clusters on the hide of
Admiral Steel-Slicer, leader of the space cheela.
"That is not what concerns us," he said. "We not only want to use the deorbiter mass as a base to build
our gravity catapult, but to deliver the catapult to the surface of Egg. We will have to divert it from its
normal orbit."
"That's all right," said Pierre. "All we need is its gavitational field, and it makes no difference if it is a
degenerate asteroid, a miniature neutron star, or a black hole. The external gravity field is the same. Just
make sure you put it back in its elliptical orbit when you are through so we can use it to get back up to
St. George. You aren't going to be using it for too long, are you? We only have supplies for a few weeks
since this mission was designed for eight days."
"That is the problem." Steel-Slicer was now alone on the screen. "It is possible that the compensator
mass will be destroyed in the process of placing the gravity catapult on Egg."
Pierre paused for a few seconds in shock, then quickly realized that he was wasting the equivalent of
weeks of time of the cheela whose blinking image indicated he was checking in at the console every fifth
of a second.
"Without the deorbiter mass, we would be stuck here.... What are the odds?"
"We are constantly trying to find another way of doing it," Steel-Slicer replied, "but right now the odds
are 12 to 1."
"Well," said Pierre. "That's not bad."
"There is an 11 in 12 chance that the deorbiter mass will be tidally disintegrated while delivering the
gravity catapult to the surface of Egg and only a one-twelfth chance it will survive. It all depends upon
how the orbital and tidal dynamics couple into the interior vibrational modes of the deorbiter mass during
the actual transit."
Pierre paused a few seconds again, but this time his brain was not worrying about the cheela.
"There is Oscar, the other large asteroid mass that was used to put the deorbiter mass into its elliptical
orbit. Couldn't you use that?"
"With our limited resources, we do not have the power to alter the celestial laws for large, low-density
masses," said Steel-Slicer. "That asteroid is well on its way out of the Dragon's Egg system. The best we
could do is bring it back in about six months. That is equivalent to eternity for us."