Part 36 (1/2)
Albert, his enthusiasm rekindled from Ralph's, slapped a hand to the console. ”Yes. I agree.” He looked over at Ralph's console. ”Quick. Lock the array on the source.”
Ralph flipped a switch. ”Done!”
”But why now, I wonder,” said Albert, doubts still nibbling at the edges of his mind. ”I mean, it's a very strong signal. We probably should have detected it before.”
”I think the storm might have something to do with it.” Ralph checked the signal strength. ”Electrical properties of different cloud layers. Some kind of Fabry-Perot natural etalon-like a laser resonator, maybe.”
”We're logging this, of course,” said Albert.
”Of course, at maximum bandwidth.” Ralph turned at the sound of Kimberly coming back from the lounge.
”What's going on?” she said, joining Ralph and Albert at the astronomy monitor.
”A signal!” said Albert, not looking away from the screen, and suppressing his enthusiasm so as not to tempt fate. ”We think.”
”SETI?” said Kimberly.
”Sure looks like it.” Ralph pointed to some squiggles on the monitor. ”Prime numbers and all that.”
”Where's it coming from?” said Kimberly.
”Where?” Ralph and Albert exchanged a sheepish glance.
Albert pulled up an online database onto a third monitor. ”Nothing obvious,” he said after a few seconds of heavy study. ”And nearby, absolutely nothing at all.”
”We should phone the Murchison Array,” said Ralph, ”for confirmation.”
”Right!” Albert grabbed for the phone. ”Signal's probably strong enough for Murchison.”
A further peal of thunder shook the room, this time accompanied by the roar of a sudden wild wind.
”Our radio dishes won't take much of this,” Ralph called out over the howl of the gusts. ”I'll check the alignment stability.” Just as he turned to his monitor, the power went out, plunging the control room into darkness, save for the hint of dark gray twilight at the window. The ever-present hum of the air conditioner became noticeable by its absence.
”Not now! Please not now,” Albert implored, slamming down the phone and casting a quick glance upward to where the sky would be.
”No worries,” said Ralph. ”We have a generator and lots of kero.” He rummaged for a flashlight and hurried outside.
Kimberly uttered a sharp yelp. ”Liam'll be frightened out of his mind.” She darted back toward the lounge, leaving Albert alone, staring at a dead monitor and pounding a fist onto the console.
Precious time slipped away while the now functionless electronics released pent-up heat into the air.
Albert wiped a hand across his now sweaty brow.
Finally, he heard the thrum of the generator, and the lights came on along with the air conditioner. Quickly, he examined the astronomy monitor.
”Hey!” Albert called out in exultant surprise. The signal was still there.
Albert narrowed his eyes. But, why? He'd imagined the object, whatever it was, would have drifted out of the field while the power was down. Maybe the dishes themselves have batteries to take care of power glitches. He stared expectantly at the monitor, hoping that the signal might start to exhibit more than just repet.i.tion of the first twelve prime numbers. I wonder why twelve. Maybe they have twelve fingers.
He was still staring when Ralph came through the door.
Albert pointed to the monitor. ”We still have signal!”
”Really?” Ralph darted to the monitor. ”Great!”
Albert turned as Kimberly came back from the lounge-without Liam.
”Liam?” said Albert.
”He wanted to stay there, playing games,” said Kimberly with a smile. ”He said he didn't want you to think he was a scaredy-cat. And I-”
”d.a.m.n!” said Ralph, staring at the engineering console. ”b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l! The dishes are out of lock.”
”What?” said Albert. ”Can't be.” He cast a glance at his monitor. ”But ... But we still have signal.”
”Look for yourself.” Ralph pointed to the status display. ”The storm really did a job on them. They're pointing all over the place.”
”That means...” Albert slumped back in his chair. ”That means the signals can't be astronomical in origin.” He bit his lower lip. ”But it looked so right. I mean the prime numbers and all.” He slapped his hand down on the console. ”d.a.m.n! d.a.m.n it to h.e.l.l!”
Kimberly placed a comforting hand over his.
”Yeah, mate, I know.” Ralph blew out a breath. ”d.a.m.ned rotten luck.” He glanced at the astronomy monitor which indeed still showed signal. ”But what the devil is going on?”
”We'll have to find out,” said Albert in a flat voice. ”Otherwise we'll never have confidence in our equipment again.”
A half-hour later, after they'd turned off every source of electromagnetic radiation in the place and were therefore conducting their investigations by flashlight, confidence had not returned. Whenever they switched the monitor back on, the signal was there as strong as ever.
”It's got to be something,” said Ralph.
”Wait a sec,” said Albert. ”We haven't tried Liam's game machine.”
”Oh, come on.”
”Unlikely, but what else is there?” Albert spread his hands. ”I mean, we're at the dish signals' integration point. Any extraneous EM field at the right frequency might be amplified a lot.”
Ralph shrugged. ”I'm skeptical. But it couldn't hurt to check.”
”Kim,” said Albert, turning to her, ”could you go and confiscate Liam's game machine?” He forced a smile. ”Or barring that, bring back the batteries.”
”He's not going to like it.” Kimberly turned and headed for the lounge.
Albert watched her go. Deep in his mind, he didn't actually want to find the radiation source, so that he could cling to the vanis.h.i.+ng low probability that the signal was actually SETI positive. By checking every possible source, he was making something of a bargain with fate.
A few minutes later, Kimberly returned, with batteries but without Liam.
”Is he still worried I'll call him a scaredy-cat?” said Albert.
”No, now he's sitting in there in a huff because I took his batteries while he was in the middle of a game.”