Alright, this is the first chapter of a story i've been working on for sometime. I've rewritten its everal times (having gone through 30,000 words of writing in the process) and I started it out in a way i really liked. My questions for comments is what works, what doesn't. What questions does this raise that should be answered in this chapter, versus later chapters. What drags and what is good? etc etc etc.
- Colton
Chapter 1
“During the latter half of the Third Age of Discovery, the Dominion was faced by a more daunting prospect. The fact of how to more rapidly cover exploration of the galaxy. Numerous planners had debated the merits of manned expeditions to the star systems of the Galaxy. While the presence of numerous habitable worlds was know, the actual on-sight conditions eluded them. Finally during a joint venture between the Academy of Technology and the Hunters Society. The Academy obtained permission of the Emperor himself to construct a primitive self-replicating AI, a technology long forbidden. The AI would launch itself through its own low powered spacewarp drive to the nearest known inhabited world. There it would firstly find a nearby rocky body and replicate itself twice. Then it would insert itself into the planetary atmosphere taking care to avoid detection and monitor the inhabitants below. The Academy was especially cautious to install numerous failsafes to keep control over the AI. The project was a complete success and within 10,000 cycles, the entre galaxy had been mapped with numerous thousands of observing drones watching every planet.” – A History of the Four Ages of Discovery.
June 26th, 2157, 0750 GMT
SETI2 Control Room, Armstrong Moon Base
The SETI 2 project had been set up over three decades previously on the far side of the moon. An assortment of telescopes dotted the area, covering several square miles. Much like its now long-dead predecessor, it was being used to scan the heavens for the sign that so many had wondered about, and none had found. It no longer thrived off of government grants, but the donations of the wealthy and the eccentric back planetside.
The array consisted of over 140 satellites, joined together at a central processing hub that then transmitted the data to the other side of the moon at the Armstrong military base. The telescopes switched every few minutes from location to location, searching the heavens for radio signals of an extra terrestrial origin.
Rafael Kilgore sat at the monitoring station letting another long night go past. It wasn’t night in the sense of night back on Earth however. Being on the near side of the moon generally left them in an odd arrangement where it was similar night with only the Earth in the sky, and periods when it was more like day when the sun was out as well. The station was setup to change the lighting on a 12 hour schedule to simulate the planetside conditions.
The whole process was automated. Scientists back on Earth had selected a wide range of candidate starts to look at that were fed into the computers managing the satellites. A list was then compiled and the satellites went down the list looking at each target. Rafael’s actual job was incredibly laid back. Make it didn’t break. If it did break, tell the appropriate person. He passed his time watching reruns on the holovids, eating microwaves pizza, and sleeping
Raphael popped his neck when the show went to commercial. The computer wallscreen up against the wall showed that the current location was currently completed. The new right ascension and declination showed up on the screen. On the other side of the Moon the satellites began moving, looking towards yet another star.
As the show came back on, Rafael heard an odd noise in the background. It was curious noise, one that he had never heard in this capacity, one that he had never expected to hear, yet there it was. He threw the pizza off his lap, and it splattered drifted across the room splattering into the wall. Taking advantage of the low gravity he bounced over several piles of junk and several desks to the phoneline.
June 26th, 2157, 1620 Local Time
The Office of Colonel Jonathon Quincy Newton, ICOM, Bejing, China
It had been forty years to the day since Katzenmeir had died. Now the old bear just lived on in the memories of everyone on the planet. Jonathaon Quincy Newton allowed himself a small smile. If only his old mentor could see him now. Katzenmeir had been a strong believer in the space program, having singularly breathed life back into the then-extinct agency, accelerating man to other bodies into the solar system, to bases on the moon, and harvesting projects on the many asteroids. But he only had dreamed of this. Katzenmeir turned back to his adjutant. Roaxanna Huxley was gazing at him curiously, seemingly reading his nostalgic thoughts.
He paced back and forth in his office, twiddling an herbal between his fingers. He stopped and looked back at her. “So Huxley, what specifics do we have on this signal?”
Roxanna brought the dataslate back up to her eyes and scanned it through quickly again, then looked Newton eye to eye. “The signal was picked up by the SETI2 project at approximately 0750. We managed to get an information blackout into an effect on it but it’s doubtful we can keep the canting from getting out. Current results show the signal is operatin’ at a frequency of 4.46 gigahertz.”
Newton smiled smugly. It seemed almost like a fairy tale come true. He motioned for Roxanna to go on. “Current coordinates are from an R.A. of 19 hours, 22 minutes, and 22 seconds. The dec is from negative 27 degrees, 3 minutes, with a slight margin of error on that, that is currently being hammered out into something more refined.” Roxanna stated, again looking at the dataslate to gain certainty in her repetition. “Currently we have over a dozen other major installations confirming this reading. I’ll go square with that, soon enough.”
Newton lit the herbal cigarette and took a long drawn out smoke. The flavor on these things had vastly improved since they were first manufactured. Another thing he had to thank Katzenmeir for. “Warrant Huxley, I don’t suppose you give copious measures of cognizance to astronomy or to physics?”
Huxley shook her head, and then looked to Newton to expound on this wisdom. He obliged and continued, “This is definitely worth looking at and worth scrutinizing for one lucid reason. The first? The wavelength. That wavelength of being broadcast is equal to the wavelength that hydrogen broadcasts at, multiplied by the irrational number pi. This is important as because pi is not harmonic. It cannot be unpretentiously created by any sort of star or stellar object.” Newton continued, gazing out of the window of his 78th story office.
Roxanna stood immobile listening to the General’s musings, maintaining an outward expression on non-emotion, while internally not understanding a word that Newton had just explained. It sounded like a bunch of sci-fi hogwash to her, but she didn’t say as much. She knew that her superior officer liked science-fiction, liked astronomy, and didn’t like people mocking it.
Newton thought a moment and then turned towards Roxanna again. The herbal hung firmly in his mouth and the ember of the end glowed brightly. Roxanna knew that Newton didn’t smoke very often, only when he was thinking deeply about something. He’d already had one lung replacement, and because of that only smoked when he became anxious. After a moment longer he spoke again, “Enlighten the rest of MCOM, as well as Sec-Gen. I think that Salieri may want to know about this.”
“What do we do in the meantime, sir? Roxanna asked, looking at Newton with a genuine quizzical look, hoping for some non-arcane instructions.
“Now? Now we try to figure out what this signal means. Signals don’t just show up as azoic objects. It has meaning, it has illumination. And I would very much like to figure out what said illumination means. Concurrently, I need to think. I suggest you talk to Mossadegh and Singh and get their input on the situation,” Newton finished as he walked over to his window and looked out over the city. Roxanna saluted and walked out of the room. Newton sighed as he inhaled deeply again. It seemed people in the military these days had no thoughts or hobbies except military. Another thing he missed about Katzenmeir’s command.
Meanwhile, Roxanna had left to go find her other colleagues. Zamani Mossadeph and Saranya Singh were other adjutants to Newton. All three of them operated as the generals ears and eyes, letting him know everything that was going on in the world. As Roxanna entered the room, Zamani was currently listening to music through his earpiece. While not extremely loud, Roxanna could still hear it was a newer band, probably Rapture. Saranya was looking down at her left hand, currently formed into the L-shape needed for palm-pcs to activate. She seemed to be reading the news while sipping some vile drink or another.
Roxanna waited for the strings section to finish on Zamani’s headset before making a cut-off gesture to him. He quickly got the hint and the music quieted. Saranya folded her hands as the pc deactivated. “What did the good general have to say?” Zamani askedm looking at the foul smelling drink Saranya was drinking. His Persian accent was soft and smooth with the air of someone who was well educated.
“He spoke some arcane mumbo-jumbo about gigahertz and irrationality. I won’t bother you with the details, but he said it’s most likely the real deal. Unfortunately the only thing we can do right now is wait. He said if it was real, there would be something inside it. A message of some sort.” Roxanna started saying, leaning against the wall.
“Have you ever tried mugging up anything, yaar? Remember who Newton worked for. Katzenmeir was a man from another age. Newton may not think he shows anything, but he misses those times. A time when military actually studied things beyond war. He was referring to artificial signals along a spectrum not known to exist naturally. Likewise, he was referring to one message sent along one specific wavelength, not an actual signal or some obscure thing.” Saranya stated while sipping from the drink.
There was an awkward silence for several seconds while Roxanna looked at Saranya, Saranya gazed absent-mindedly into the cup, and Zamani sat, simply with his eyebrows raised. After a few seconds, Roxanna laughed at Saranya. “You’re asking for a belter if you don’t shut your mouth. The point is that’s what we’re doing now. Waiting for more information. I suspect he’ll have you running your own analysis very soon. In fact, you can probably get it now.” Saranya nodded, and opened her fingers back up. The pc flickered to life and she began writing onto it, gaining the authorizations for the data. She continued thumbing through the data and occasionally sipped from the drink. Meanwhile Roxanna walked over and sat nex to Zami, who was staring off into space. As she sat down next to him, he then looked directly at her. “I suppose things won’t be the same from here on out?”
She sat pack and the sound of her back popping filled the air before she answered. “It certainly seems that way, doesn’t it? While I’m not as much of a Tam as some people, “she said, glancing in Saranya’s direction, “I’m still trying to turn my hand to this.”
Zamani smiled and looked at her, “And what have you found out so far?”
“Well, what purpose is there in sending a signal? Are they checking to see if anyone is home, or are they actually looking for a response? Why is it coming now? And what is inside it?” she stated while leaning back in her chair with her arms behind her head. Her sing-song twang method of speaking, coupled with a life associated with lower-class Cockney folk left her with an pleasant sound when speaking.
“Well, it seems that whatever this signal is, it’s strong enough that it hasn’t traveled very far. If it’s capable of getting here as strong as it seems to be, the transmitter must be relatively close. I think it’s the former. Someone to check if we’re home,” Zamani mused while leaning back in his chair.
Saranya took another sip of the drink, and Roxanna made an ugly face in defense. “How do we know it’s not a universal declaration of war? We want your planet, so here we come!”
Zamani laughed and leaned forward getting closer to Roxanna. “Listen to you Rox, you sound like some fictional paranoid maniac. I doubt that any intelligent race will travel several light years to punch us in the face and take our things.”
“Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you. I suppose we’ll both find out rather soon then, won’t we?” Roxanna said while leaning forward towards Zamani as well.
Saranya glanced up over her pc and eyeballed the two of them. No one would have ever figured that the Iranian born Zamani and the Welsh Roxanna would ever be as close friends as they were now. The air was becoming thick with romantic tension and while Roxanna seemed oblivious, it was still beginning to become nauseas. She fidgeted with her black hair vampire fangs, and then spoke up finally, “Oof, kindly get one room you two! I’m going back to my office.” Saranya picked up her cup and sauntered out of the breakroom. Zamani and Roxanna watched her leave, and then turned back to each other.
“I honestly have no idea what she’s referring to,” Roxanna stated as she stood up. She patted Zamani on the shoulder as he looked up at her. “I’ve got to go report to numerous other generals and whats-its. The General wanted me to inform you guys. Anyway, see you around,” she finished while Zamani bowed his head in agreement.
Zamani watched her leave. Roxanna was known throughout the area was being incredibly flirtatious, while remaining professional. She always had that glint in her eye that she was looking for a little more fun, and that she was looking for action. She was incredibly attractive and had a well defined body, whose curves were still obvious through the long military coat she wore. Her hair, zebra striped as always stayed in the bun on her head. Zamani sighed as she left. No chance. He stood no chance getting a girl like that. Turning back on the music to the previous piece, he sighed as he listened. The strings section finished their solo and the lead guitar and the drums started back on, while he continued day dreaming of things he perceived as ideas that could never be.
