🐱 Ether
*This story is fiction and has no connection to any real people, organizations, or events.
In the not-too-distant future, we'll see the emergence of full-fledged space weather forecasts. People may change their spacesuits, radio reception channels, and even the type of space rocket they use. Just like today, we change our clothes, carry umbrellas, or modes of transportation based on the weather forecast.
Today, theoretical analysis of observational data has revealed that only 5% of the universe is matter that humans can observe, while 27% is dark matter, invisible to telescopes, and 68% is dark energy. This is an astonishing situation. It can be said that the universe is full of mysteries, even today in the 2020s.
The story I'm about to tell begins in Japan in the mid-1980s. At the time, there was still little observational data on the universe, and even the existence of dark matter, let alone space weather forecasts, was only occasionally discussed among a small group of astrophysicists.
However, at the time, a few knowledgeable people had noticed that something strange was happening in the solar system. It came to the attention of the general public on March 6th of that year, when Japan's National Astronomical Observatory noticed a recent sudden deterioration in reception from its parabolic antennas, and suggested that this might be due to some kind of strange phenomenon occurring in the space surrounding Earth.
Next, NASA announced the opposite: The solar wind pouring down on Earth had weakened, while radio wave reception from satellites had improved, communication with the extrasolar probe Voyager had been lost. Communication was soon restored, but it was almost certain that some kind of abnormal weather of unknown cause was occurring in space.
However, back when smartphones and personal computers were not as widespread as they are today, this phenomenon did not attract much attention from the general public. The average person would not be particularly surprised if their TV screen occasionally became distorted.
Those who were seriously concerned were mainly academics working on cutting-edge research. To them, this was a completely mysterious situation. What was happening in space, and what was going to happen to Earth?
The vice president of the World Astronomical Association published the following paper in its journal. The word "Ether" was first used in this paper.
"The phenomenon of the solar wind weakening across the entire sky and cosmic rays increasing is unprecedented. The solar system may be currently navigating a foggy region filled with an unknown substance. Perhaps this is the mysterious substance that has been prophesied. However, we cannot determine this with humankind's current observational technology. I would like to describe this situation as the Earth entering an 'ocean of ether.' We must monitor the situation with the utmost vigilance."
The situation on Earth remained unchanged by April. Scientists continued to grow increasingly concerned and make diligent observations, but since there were no noticeable side effects from the Ether that had been feared, the general public began to let their guard down. They tried to laugh off the Ether as an astronomer's version of Nostradamus's prophecies. Humans are extremely forgetful creatures, and they quickly forget things that do not affect them.
It wasn't until much later that we realized that this phenomenon actually had a deeper meaning...
