Part 6 (1/2)
Fatboy stopped laughing and looked at them both a little strangely for a moment, then shook his head as if dismissing a fanciful idea. ”Cool, kids.” He took the envelope with a sweep of his hand and stood up. ”See you, Becks. See you, little bro.”
”If we win the six million, you promise you'll share it?” Tane asked one last time.
”If we win the six million, I'll eat my motorcycle helmet!” Fatboy was out the door, his final laugh echoing back in through the open window. Moo-ha-ha-ha. Moo-ha-ha-ha. Then the throaty roar of his bike and he was gone. Then the throaty roar of his bike and he was gone.
”He'll be honest,” Rebecca said in a conciliatory way to Tane, who felt anything but conciliatory.
He nodded. ”He'd better. But you're right. What else could we do? Imagine if the numbers come up and we haven't got a ticket!” He looked at her for a moment and she looked at him. Then, at exactly the same time, they both burst out laughing. It had nothing to do with Fatboy, Tane thought. It was just the sheer excitement of it all, and maybe a bit of relief at having finally solved the problem. the problem.
Now the new problem was how to fill in the time until the live televised Lotto draw at eight o'clock that evening. Tane looked at his watch. Only nine hours and forty-seven minutes to go.
He said, ”Our share would be four million dollars. What could we buy with that?”
”A new house,” Rebecca murmured, almost to herself. ”But don't forget the SOS. There's more to this whole thing than getting rich. Whoever sent those numbers did so for a reason.”
Tane stood up with a mischievous glint in his eye. ”You'd better come see this.”
Tane's computer was on in his bedroom. Rebecca sat on the bed while Tane took the chair and opened an Internet browser. She watched with a fascinated frown as he typed some numbers into the address bar.
202.27.216.195.
”Those are the numbers from the message...,” she realized.
Tane nodded. ”It's an IP address. We learned about those last year.”
”An Internet address. Of course!” Rebecca actually smacked herself on the forehead like they do in cartoons. ”I should have recognized the pattern. What Web site does it take us to?”
”Have a look.”
She stood behind him as the page slowly loaded onto the screen. The first thing that came up was the bright blue NASA logo. The next was a series of letters that they both recognized: BATSE. Below that were Username and Pa.s.sword boxes. Tane carefully typed ”guest” into the Username, and ”Compton1” into the Pa.s.sword.
He said, ”It took me a couple of goes to get it right, because it was case sensitive.”
”You clever bunny,” Rebecca breathed. ”Is this what I think it is?”
Tane nodded. ”All the BATSE data.” He pointed at a list. ”That's the one we got from Professor Barnes. And that one arrived yesterday. These are all the ones in between. Want to a.n.a.lyze them?”
”Wanna try and stop me!” She almost kicked him out of the chair.
A moment later, her program was whirring away.
”It'll be quicker this time,” she said. ”I reprogrammed it to look for the Morse code patterns. It's quite clever but also quite complex. Do you want to know...”
”I-”
She didn't give him time to answer. ”I went back and examined the raw data, and I found out something interesting. You see, the bursts are radiation waves, like an AM radio signal using amplitude modification to convey the ones and zeroes-”
”I'll take your word for it.” Tane grinned.
”No, it's simple!” Rebecca said. ”Imagine waves on a beach. There are big waves; those are ones. And there are little waves; those are zeroes.”
”Okay.” Tane nodded. ”That much I understand.”
”But sometimes there are gaps between the waves. And those are the gaps between the Morse code characters!”
”That is clever! And it'll make it much easier,” Tane said. They had spent ages trying to work out all the possible combinations of the first message.
”Yeah, and faster...” She paused, noticing Tane's sly smile. ”What are you smiling at?”
”I think I know who sent the message.”
”You do?! Who?”
”Well, my guess is that was the final part of the message. Kind of like a signing off.”
”TR?”
”Who do you know with the initials TR?”
Rebecca looked blank, and Tane's grin grew bigger.
”Isn't it obvious? TR. Tane and Rebecca. It's us. We sent the message to ourselves!”
Rebecca blinked rapidly a few times but said nothing as the enormity of that sank in.
Eventually she said, ”Makes you wonder about the SOS, then, doesn't it.”
Tane looked at his watch again. Nine hours and forty-three minutes to go.
SAt.u.r.dAY N NIGHT Tane's watch said twenty minutes to go, and he was sure the hands were standing still. But as he watched, the second hand inexorably flicked over. From where he was sitting, on the soft leather sofa in the middle lounge of his parents' house, the lights of the city blazed up into the clear night sky. The flas.h.i.+ng lights of an airplane made a staccato string of pearls through the sky above the city. He barely noticed it. The second hand ticked over again. to go, and he was sure the hands were standing still. But as he watched, the second hand inexorably flicked over. From where he was sitting, on the soft leather sofa in the middle lounge of his parents' house, the lights of the city blazed up into the clear night sky. The flas.h.i.+ng lights of an airplane made a staccato string of pearls through the sky above the city. He barely noticed it. The second hand ticked over again.
Rebecca's program had already decoded a second message from the future and was busy working on the third. The second message was just as cryptic as the first.
PROFVICGRNCHMRAPRJCTSTOPIT.BUYSUBEONTLS.DNTGOMST.DNTTLNE1.
Rebecca was clicking her fingers in front of Tane's face to get his attention.
”Concentrate,” Rebecca said. ”This is important.”
Tane didn't think it was all that important, but it was taking Rebecca's mind off the last twenty minutes, so he tried to concentrate, for her sake.