Bewildering Stories

Plenilune

Part 1

C.C. Cheez



CHAPTER 1

Light swept over the horizon as dawn arrived. The surface of the planet was illuminated with light from the two suns and began to warm. The frigid atmosphere slowly increased in temperature.

A dark speck in the sky grew larger as time passed. It was a ship carrying organisms from a distant planet. The ship landed near an abandoned colony.

It had been about ten thousand radians since the colony was deserted for unknown and mysterious reasons. The colony was in atrocious condition. The organisms aboard the ship had arrived to rebuild the colony.

***

"I don't understand radians. Can you explain it to me again?" asked Euclid Poiloi.

"I cannot ratiocinate about the possibility of your inability to comprehend radians. My reexplaining the concept of radians is superfluous, but I will do it anyway for the ninety-seventh time because you have special needs," said his brother, Pythagoras Poiloi.

"Okay. Thanks, Pythagoras. I got your name right that time. Your name is funny. It's hard to say. Mine is easy to say. Euclid. Isn't that easy to say?"

"That's easy to say."

"I still don't understand radians."

"The concept of radians is simple. A radian is an angular measure. One radian is equal to the measure of the angle formed by two radii connecting the center of a circle to the endpoints of an arc whose length is equal to that of the radius of the circle. Radians can be compared to degrees. For example, p radians equal one hundred eighty degrees. Of course, no one uses degrees anymore. It uses the same sexagenary system as time measured in hours, minutes, and seconds. All based on the number sixty. Due to the inconsistency in time measurement due to planets' rotations and revolutions, it is efficient to use radians based on Earth time, where one day is equal to two-fifteenths p. Radians are based on the number p. We use radians for angular measurement as well as time. That is the concept of radian measure."

"I understand. Thanks, Pythagoras."

"You're welcome."

They were aboard the ship, ready to disembark. Through a window, Pythagoras observed the planet. It was called Plenilune.

To be continued...



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Copyright © 2002 by C.C. Cheez and Bewildering Stories.