Hawking Stephen W - George and the Unbreakable Code

LATEST SCIENTIFIC IDEAS!

As you read the story you will come across some fabulous science essays and information. These will really help bring the topics you read about to life, and they have been written by the following well-respected scientists:

by Professor Peter W. McOwan

Queen Mary University of London

by Professor Michael J. Reiss

Institute of Education, University College London

by Dr. Raymond Laflamme

Executive Director of the Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo

by Dr. Toby Blench

Research Chemist

by Dr. Tim Prestidge

Totempole Consulting

by Professor Stephen Hawking

Director of Research at the Centre for

Theoretical Cosmology, University of Cambridge

With special thanks for the additional material to:

Dr. Stuart Rankin

High Performance Computing Service, University of Cambridge

O n another planet, the tree house would have been the ideal spot for stargazing. On a planet with no parents, for example, it would have been perfect. The tree househalfway up the big apple tree in the middle of the vegetable patchwas the right height, location, and angle for a boy like George to spend all night staring up at the stars. But his mom and dad had other ideas, involving chores, homework, sleeping in beds, eating supper, or spending family time with his little twin sisters, none of which were of any interest to George.

All George wanted to do was take a picture of Saturn. Just one teeny photo of his favorite planetthe enormous frozen gas giant with its beautiful icy, dusty rings. But at this time of year, when the sun set so late, Saturn didnt appear in the evening sky until it got dark out. Which was so far past Georges bedtime, there was no hope of his parents leaving him out in the tree house until then.

Sitting with his legs dangling over the edge of the platform, George sighed and tried to calculate how many hours and days it would be before he was old enough to be free....

S up? His train of thought was broken as a slight figure dressed in long baggy camo shorts, a hoodie, and a baseball cap bounded onto the tree house platform.

YOLO! George cheered up instantly. Annie?

Annie was his best friend, and had been ever since she and her mom and dad had moved to Foxbridge a couple of years ago. She lived next door, but that wasnt the only reason why they were friends. George just liked her: Annie, the daughter of a scientist, was fun and clever and cool and brave. Nothing was beyond herno adventure could be shunned, no theory go untested, and no assumption stay unchallenged.

What are you doing? she asked.

Nothing, George muttered. Just waiting.

Waiting for what?

For something to happen. He sounded miserable.

Me too, said Annie. Dyou think the universe has forgotten about us now that were not allowed to go on space adventures anymore?

George sighed. Dyou think well ever get to fly in space again?

Not right now, said Annie. Perhaps weve had all our fun already; now that were eleven, weve got to be really serious all the time.

George stood up, feeling the wooden planks rock slightly under his feet. He was almost sure that the tree house was safe and that there was very little chance they could both go crashing down to the hard ground below. Hed built it with his dad, Terence, out of stuff theyd scavenged from the local dump. And once, when they were busy constructing the house part where he and Annie now sat, his dad had plunged his foot through a rotten plank. Fortunately, he hadnt fallen through entirely, but it had taken all Georges strength to pull him back up again, while below, on the ground, his twin sisters, Juno and Hera, shrieked with laughter.

The good thing about the mini-accident was that the tree house was judged dangerous enough by Georges parents for his toddler sisters to be banned from coming up the rope ladder. Which made George very happy. It meant that the tree house was his kingdom, protected from the chaos of the rest of his house. Under strict instructions to pull up the rope ladder to stop eager small people from shinnying up to join their beloved brother, George was very careful about security. He never left the ladder down. Which meant...

Hey! He suddenly realized that Annie shouldnt have been able to appear out of nowhere like that. How did you get up here?

Annie grinned. I was bitten by a spider when I was just a baby, she intoned dramatic-ally. Which gave me special magic powers that I am only just coming to understand.