Free The Orthogonal Galaxy by Michael L. Lewis

class, Joram was working his Digital Note Tablet much
harder than he did on the first day. He was soaking up every word,
every thought, which the professor had for the class. Sitting at
his left once again, Kath also found herself scribbling
frantically, and enjoying the concepts placed before
them.
    “ Over the next several
weeks,” started the professor, “we’ll be studying various examples
of the different types of galaxies. We’ll discuss how and why they
form their characteristic shapes, and compare and contrast these in
vast details.
    “ You should know,”
attested Zimmer as he paced in front of the class with his wireless
lapel microphone broadcasting his lesson clearly to the entire
class, “that there are three major classifications of galaxies.
These are spiral, elliptical, and irregular.
    “ Spiral galaxies are
perhaps the best known of these, and this is certainly because our
own galaxy, the Milky Way, is indeed a spiral galaxy. However, the
photos that you may have seen of spiral galaxies come from those
which may be indicative to the Milky Way, but certainly do not
mirror our own galaxy. For obvious reasons, it is rather difficult
to acquire a detailed image of our own galaxy, since there are no
spacecraft far enough away which might give us a portrait of our
own system. Nevertheless, there are several superb computer
renderings that depict our galaxy as shown on this
slide.”
    The professor then
gestured behind him, where a computer-generated image of the Milky
Way was depicted for the class.
    “ As you can notice from
this image, there is a bar of stars which emanate from either side
of the extremely bright galactic center of our galaxy. These bars
eventually give way to several spiral arms. This type of galaxy is
called, appropriately enough, a barred-spiral galaxy. There are
others, as the one in this next image, which do not demonstrate
this type of barring effect. In the Hubble Classification, we
designate spiral galaxies with the letter ‘S’, and barred-spiral
galaxies with the letters ‘SB.’”
    At this point, the
professor advanced through a series of slides demonstrating other
types of galaxies. The class took fastidious notes as Professor
Zimmer rattled off a quick and elementary overview of galaxies.
This was a graduate class, so he would have to quickly launch into
great details about the makeup and classification of galaxies, so
he was brief in his introduction.
    “ Now that I have described
to you the various classifications of galaxies in the known
universe,” Professor Zimmer gestured to a screen where a slide was
being projected, “it is prudent for us to begin our study of each
type. We will begin, appropriately enough, with our own galaxy, the
Milky Way.”
    The professor was
interrupted here by the opening of door to the back of the
planetarium. He looked up to see Dean Scoville enter and assume a
standing position in the same exact place as last time.
    Joram whispered to Kath,
“That guy is making a habit out of disrupting the professor right
at the end of class.”
    “ That guy,” breathed Kath
lowly, covering her mouth to be less conspicuous, “is Dean
Scoville.”
    Joram’s head whipped back
again to see a rather urgent look on Scoville’s face. “He looks—”
Trailing off, he recalled the awkward episode that occurred on
Monday, and snapped a worried glance up to Zimmer. Fortunately, the
professor did not notice the two friends’ discussion, but instead
looked intently at the dean. The two seemed to exchange knowing
glances for a moment before the professor turned back to his
class.
    “ But that discussion,”
began the professor, “will begin on Friday. Also, please take a
look at the course website for the first set of selected readings.
We will begin discussion on those readings next week. Class
dismissed.”
    Rather than wait at the
back of the class this time, Dean Scoville swept down the stairs
and onto the stage to meet up quickly with Zimmer.