Project Serpo
  
  The Zeta Reticuli Exchange Program
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Questions 
    and Answers
    
 
    Q: The orbital data do not 
    appear to correspond to 
	
	Kepler’s 
    Laws. Can this be explained?
    A: Much more data is needed. It is currently unclear whether 
	
	Zeta 
    Reticuli 1 and 2 are a distant binary (as astronomers say they have measured 
    and determined) or whether it is a close binary, which various comments by 
    Anonymous suggest. If it is the former, Kepler’s Laws should theoretically 
    apply. If it is the latter, the situation is far more complex and difficult 
    to calculate. Anonymous states that in the 
	3,000 
    page briefing document (Paul McGovern’s supplied information) which is 
    his reference, there are 
	literally 
    hundreds of pages of scientific calculations 
    to explain the orbital data, and that the scientists had great difficulty 
    comprehending how physical laws which we thought we understood and which we 
    has assumed were universal constants might not in fact be so.
Q: 
    What do the Ebens actually look like? What is their physiology?
    A: Not clarified. This data has not yet been released, although Anonymous 
    describes the Ebens’ digestion and the food 
    they eat.
Q: 
    Why did they take 
	electric heaters 
    to a very warm planet?
    A: Not clarified. They may not have known the temperature, or it may have 
    been routine military planning to prepare for anything.
    
    Q: Why did they take 
	9,000 lbs 
    of supplies but no 
	microscope 
    – although they took 
	three 
    telescopes?
    A: Not clarified. Good telescopes would have been necessary to make accurate 
    astronomical observations. (Note: the 9,000 lbs figure was subsequently amended 
    to 90,500 lbs.)
    
    Q: What kind of 
	scientific calculator 
    did they take?
    A: Unless the military was ahead of the commercial world (quite possible), 
    the best portable calculator available in 1965 was the Sharp CS-10A, which 
    weighed 25 lbs. The first handheld pocket calculators went on sale in 1970. 
    These were just glorified adding machines – the term “scientific 
    calculator” didn’t come into use till a far greater degree of 
    sophistication had been achieved.
    
    Q: They had access to an energy device which automatically provided the 
	proper 
    current and wattage. But their clock stopped because they had 
	no 
    batteries. Why did they not rig this device up to the clock at 4.5 volts 
    and 3 amps?
    A: Not clarified.
    
    Q: SERPO moved around one sun 
    only. The other sun was within the two orbits. What does this mean?
    A: Not clarified.
    
    Q: The war was fought using 
    particle beam weapons, developed by both civilizations. The Ebens eventually 
    were able to destroy the enemy planet. What kind of particle beam weapon 
    could destroy a planet?
    A: The possibility has to be envisaged that a race that has the technology 
    to travel 38 light years in a few months could also develop weaponry beyond 
    our comprehension.
Q: 
    How was it that they could not measure time properly? It would surely have 
    been easy to improvise primitive "clocks" using candles, sundials, 
    sand glasses, and the like.
    A: They did bring several timepieces, but due to a combination of human error 
    and lack of batteries these clocks eventually failed them. Disoriented by 
    the long days and by the apparent disregard of the Ebens for time as we relate 
    to it, the team eventually lost track of the passing Earth time. As per 
	Michael 
    Siffre’s chronobiology experiments, the team appears to have underestimated 
    the length of time that was passing in Earth terms. Furthermore, there is 
    also some indication that time in some way operated differently there, but 
    this is not clear from the account so far. 
	Dan 
    Sherman reports communication with ETs who can move "around" 
    time, as if stepping into another time-stream.
	
	Kepler’s 
    laws, which are time-dependent as is almost every other known physical 
    law, also do not appear to hold if the 
	orbital 
    data supplied by Anonymous is accurate.
Q: 
    In Anonymous’s fifth posting, it was stated that the team took 
	9,000 
    lbs of equipment, between 12 people – in other words, 750 lbs each. 
    Even if all that was food (which it wasn’t) that would have been an allocation 
    of military C-rations of merely 12 oz per day to have lasted for 
	2 
    years and 8 months (Paul McGovern’s supplied information). Did the team 
    have any other source of food during this period?
    A: Not clarified. Anonymous explains that early in their visit the team found 
    the Ebens’ food unpalatable, but they may have augmented their rations with 
    the Ebens’ vegetables. It should also be noted that in Anonymous’s eleventh 
    posting the 9,000 lbs figure was amended to 
	90,500 
    lbs.
Q: 
    Why were two women selected 
    for the mission, to accompany ten men? One might think that this would 
    have been a risk from a human behavioral viewpoint, considering the importance 
    of saveguarding the emotional stability of the team during a very long mission.
    A: They may have been the best people for the job – and it would not 
    have been easy to totally "disappear" twelve people, taking into 
    consideration friends, family, relatives, and their ties with normal government 
    bureaucracy. Possibly the options were limited.
    
    Q: Did Serpo have seasons or was the weather constant all year long? 
    A: (verbatim from Anonymous in correspondence) Serpo didn’t have seasons as 
    we know them (extreme heat then freezing cold). However, the temperature varied.
Q: 
    If the planet’s tilt was 43°, 
    how is it that the changing seasons (especially at the poles) weren’t more 
    marked? Anonymous says the North Pole was at a 
	constant 
    temperature of 33° 
    (presumably F), with 20 feet of snow, while the 
	South 
    Pole was a barren desert, and says above that Serpo didn’t have seasons 
    as we know them.
    A: Not clarified. It might be expected that the climatology of an alien planet 
    might require some in-depth study before weather patterns were fully understood.
Q: 
    It appears that it was a while before the team encountered any wildlife. Would 
    one not have expected them to have seen many small animals before encountering 
    the ox-like "Beast" 
    and the "Mountain Lion"? What would have been the components 
    of the food chain?
    A: Not clarified. As with alien climatology, one might expect that alien ecology 
    might similarly require much study before being fully understood.
Q: 
    Anonymous states that We did have visitors from 
    nine other star systems. Who were they, and does the "we" refer 
    to the inhabitants of Earth, or the Ebens?
    A: Not clarified. It appears to refer to visitors to Earth. Anonymous describes 
    three other races besides the Ebens: the Grays, a race from Epsilon Eridani, 
    and a race from a G2 (sun-like) star in Leo. No further specifics were given.
Q: 
    What is the purpose of the visiting races to Earth?
    A: Not clarified.
Q:	
    The Ebens first visited Earth about 2,000 years 
    ago. In the 
	Project Aquarius Briefing 
    Document (which some believe to be a hoax) it is stated that "EBE 
    reported that 2,000 years ago, his ancestors planted a human creature on earth 
    to assist the inhabitants of Earth in developing a civilization." Who 
    might this have been?
    A: The Project Aquarius Briefing Document goes on to state that "This 
    information was only vague and the exact identity or background information 
    on this homo-sapien [sic] was not obtained." If we accept Anonymous’s 
    information, then, allowing for problems of calibration with Earth time, such 
    an individual may have been Gautama Siddhartha (The Buddha), Jesus, 
	Plato, 
    Socrates, Alexander the Great,
	
	Viracocha 
    (recorded in Inca legends as a great educator), 
	
	Enki 
    (a benevolent godlike figure in Sumerian mythology), any other king, queen, 
    leader, prophet or philosopher, or maybe a person unknown to history. More 
    data is needed.
    
    Q: There seems to be a marked lack of biodiversity on Serpo. Why is this?
    A: Not clarified. Anonymous may have only described the more dramatic animals 
    encountered. We should also consider that because the Ebens did not evolve 
    on Serpo and travelled there from their own home planet which had been rendered 
    uninhabitable, Serpo itself may have been terraformed and animal and plant 
    life introduced.
    
    Q: If the photographs are being scanned, is it also possible to scan a portion 
    of the calculations explaining Serpo’s orbit, or any other part of the 3,000 
    page report?
    A: It’s not known whether the photographs comprise part of the 3,000 page 
    report, or whether they are entirely separate documents which present different 
    access and availability problems. More clarification is needed about the nature 
    of Anonymous’s access to the report in order to best understand the context 
    in which this information is formatted and presented.