"As I see it, the evidence points to an intruder similar to a brown dwarf inside our solar system," Karl said.
He watched Michael's face for a sign of scorn and finding none he carried on.
"The current location appears to be at the feet of Virgo. Since this thing appears to emit little or no measurable light, I surmise it's extremely difficult to observe. It would also seem to be smaller than what is generally accepted as the size of a brown dwarf, and much denser than what might be expected."
Karl noticed Michael's frown. It would have been better had he introduced his postulations to Michael over a series of days. But—there was no going back now.
Storm was delighted to see Penny heading through the patio door to join the boys. Good job! She had finally escaped.
"If there are lots of brown dwarfs, what's the big deal?" Storm asked, handing each of the men a can of beer.
"The big deal is that it might be awfully close to us, sweetie," Penny said, taking the can from Storm's hand and filling her glass.
"So what exactly is a brown dwarf, Dad? I never seem to get it right."
It always pleased Michael when his daughter expressed curiosity about things astronomical. He couldn't deny he was a little disappointed she had not been drawn to science. But he loved his daughter dearly and would have never said as much to her. He consoled himself with the thought she was happy, and that she had at least discovered her niche in the arts.
"They are a fairly recent area of study, but the conventional view is they are failed stars," Michael replied. "Cold, dark bodies and smaller in size and mass compared to our sun. No bigger than a giant gas planet like Jupiter, with a signature reddish color."
He glanced at Karl.
"And there are some who claim both their red color and lack of brightness is due to a low-density electrical discharge. Similar to a flashlight bulb when the batteries need to be changed."
Karl nodded his head in agreement.
"I think that I will leave off telling you more for now, at least until I'm good and drunk!" He sat the empty beer can in his hand on the table and burped loudly.
"Are you sure you can't tell us more about your discovery?" Karl asked, pressing on, unwilling to allow Michael to stop right when things were just beginning to get very interesting. He had not seen the director so drunk before this day.
"All right then. But you lot are all sworn to secrecy! Got it? Don't talk about this to anyone."
"Understood," Karl nodded his head solemnly.
Michael glanced at Storm and Penny.
"Won't tell a soul," Storm agreed.
"Me neither," Penny promised.
Satisfied with the response, Michael drew a deep breath. "Why do I just know I am going to regret this in the morning?" He hesitated once more before taking the plunge. "I'm putting together a presentation for the symposium to be held in Melbourne in two months. Once I have that over with you lot can debate the subject all day long with whoever you wish."
He glanced around his audience.
"And—this aligns with what you, Karl, have already told us. There's something big out there and it appears to be coming our way. We can't see it with conventional telescopes. Perhaps not even from ground-based infrared telescopes. I'm sure you've heard, Karl, of the reports coming out of Europe of some fantastic change in the time sunrise and sunset occur?"
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