Outburst — a Medium Serial Story: episode 1

The sunspots were getting bigger. Observatory officials watch massive solar flares head for earth. A paranoid living in a shack with an abundance of cats believes the government is responsible for…

NATIONAL SOLAR OBSERVATORY, SACRAMENTO PEAK, SUNSPOT, NEW MEXICO

The sunspots were getting bigger.

As he walked from the vacuum tower telescope protruding into the thin mountain air, Danny Aaronson was having a hard time believing his eyes.

Twin sunspots developed two weeks ago, mushrooming into the largest Danny had seen. During his tenure at Sac Peak he’d observed hundreds, but these were different. From their creation as mere dots on the sun’s surface, they expanded into huge, dark concentrations of magnetic force.

Over the weekend, a trio of new ones appeared.

This solar cycle already exceeded historical records, with at least a year remaining of expected intensification. Flares were ejecting massive amounts of material into the solar stream. A number of sunspots had developed, marched toward the solar equator, then disappeared. With each group, they’d grown larger.