Chap. 405 The Signal

“Come take a look at the ‘building’, Darnell said.

He was in K’ndar’s quarters, ironically, fixing a leaky shower head.

“They’ve finally uncovered it?”

The man laughed. “Finally. What lucky yobs they are, it’s not a building at all.”

“What? What is it?”

“It’s a structure. It has metal beams, a lot of wire, and a box that is said to provide power to it.”

“Huh!  I’ve been so busy, what with the datalinks being down, this is the first time I’ve done more than sleep and clean up in my quarters.”

It was true. He’d been doing two transports almost daily, along with Francie and P’jar. Even the Councilmen D’nis and T’balt been pressed into transport duty-which both of them much preferred to presiding.

Kahrain Weyr’s Weyrlings and Fire Lizard corps had picked up a great deal of the communications between settlements throughout Pern.

I hope it stays this way, he thought. I love research, but I love flying, too.

Me, too, Raventh said, research is boring

He dragged his attention back to Darnell, who was saying “And you not even being noble blood. What a shame.” 

K’ndar felt a warm sense of belonging. Somehow, I’ve seemingly become one of Orlon’s team. I suddenly realize that these are the first friends I’ve made, other than Jansen and the rest in my tiny little corner of Science, since I got here.

“Not me, mate. Just a mongrel steppe boy.”

“Me, too,’ Darnell said, “except I’ve never seen the steppe. But do come and take a look. They finished in good time. Chief Kendra rousted the whole bloody engineering division, I think. They had hand carts going back and forth like ants.”

“The whole division?”

“Aye.”

“And hand carts, eh? What happened to the wagon?” K’ndar said, snickering.

Darnell gave him a smirk. “Stars only knows,” he said. “Even if it had worked, though, Chief Kendra would have made ‘em use hand carts ANYWAY. Once she found out how Wendall and his mates-and their old Chief, the one after Valena retired, had screwed around with everything, and the rest all went along with it, she went in, shut the door and ate them all new arse holes. Woof, she’s a fire bringer for certain.”

He shook his head. “Dragons fear the woman scorned,” he quoted.

He got up and brushed his hands. “There, that ought to do it, just needed to tighten that connection.”

Siskin flew in, then dropped to the floor. He looked up at the shower and chipped in a quizzical tone.

“Sorry, Siskin, no more drip.”

“What’s with him?”

K’ndar laughed. “He loved the drip. He’ll sit in the shower for hours waiting for the drip.  He’ll jump into the air, trying to catch it in midair, or hover in front of it, and sometimes he just sits underneath it to let it hit him. He’s been playing with it for a week.”

Darnell laughed. “I had no idea they were such characters. I thought they were all like Fafhrd. I think that one doesn’t know he’s not a dragon.”

“They ARE dragons, just small ones. They have the same personalities as dragons. Fafhrd’s a bronze, they have no sense of humor, it seems, bronze dragons are all business. But Siskin-he’s like most blue dragons, he’s more like a cat, a dog and a quorl all rolled up into one. He’s a lot of fun.”

He reached out to stroke Siskin. “All gone, bluey.”

Siskin made a mournful note, then jumped onto K’ndar’s shoulder.

“Did you win the bet?” he suddenly remembered.

Darnell laughed. “Oh, yeah. Once P’jar took Wendall off-oh, what a lovely ambush that must have been, Jorge went after the two ‘dweebs’ who couldn’t believe we’d get it done so fast. Even so, they weren’t so sure about betting but that Jorge, he’s smooth, you know? Like the ice Danno talks about? Jorge made it sound as if he didn’t believe we’d finish it that night. He could convince a dragon to cut off his own tail. He had them really believing we couldn’t do it. Oh, yes, we won the bet. Hands down. In fact, here. I have your cut.” He pulled out several marks and handed them to K’ndar.

“Um, I didn’t bet.’

“Sure you did, K’ndar, you just don’t remember. All that going between must rattle that little bitty stone you use for a brain.”

K’ndar stood, shocked, for a moment, then shoved Darnell away with a laugh. “Hey, when I shake my head, it rattles, like a baby’s. It keeps me company.”

Darnell nodded. “You’re a good cobber, K’ndar. Come on, let’s go look at what those dweebs have done at Galileo.”

Yeah. I finally have friends, K’ndar thought, as they headed out the door.

“What IS it?”

The sun shone down onto a large structure of metal beams. A tattered stretch of a fabric spanned the center ridgeline, but otherwise, the building was opened to the sky.

There were several engineers appearing to map a pile of wiring on the floor. Two of them sat next to a large opened cabinet. It was full of dials, he noticed.

“Here to gloat?” someone said behind them.

They turned to see Dweeb one.

“Nope. You do a MUCH better job that I ever could,” K’ndar said.

“Especially with Wendall as team leader,” Darnell said.

“My arse,” the man said. Then he shrugged. “Whatever. Honestly, sending Wendall to the islands was like hiring three good people.”

“Now you know how we felt,” Darnell snapped.

“Look, mate, we were all bullied by Wendall and the old Chief. Just like you, we did what we were told. In fact, most of us had no idea that you blokes were opening buildings at all. And I’m new here, sort of, I got here just after the new database went live. Believe me, none of us miss them at all. We were as cheated as you.”

“Anyway, what IS this thing?”

Dweeb one shook his head. “We’re not sure. These walls, they were just here to add a little bit of windbreaks. The whole building is meant to open up to the sky. This structure, these beams are what’s left of what the computer thinks is a ‘radome’. It had large panels of fabric that ended up on the floor from the weight of the ash.  The fabric panels formed a roof, just that central beam supported the whole set of panels.”

“Whoa,” Darnell said, “Danno did say it didn’t feel right. He said it felt  springy.”

“He WALKED on it? He walked on top?”

“Aye.”

Dweeb shook his head. “What is he, a quorl? Because when we finally got in, there were maybe three meters of fabric still attached to that main ridgeline and even that looked like a cheese.”

“Danno, he’s good, I’m telling you. But he doesn’t ever want to do this job ever again,” Darnell warned, “Me neither.”

Dweeb shook his head. “Don’t worry. The dragon queen let us all know what would happen if one of use tried that shifting again.”

He shook his head.

“What is with all the wire on the floor?” K’ndar asked. There was a large  mass of wire beneath the empty structure above it.

“That we don’t know, either. But it’s not just a tangled mass. And luckily, the fabric protected it from damage from the ash. At first, we thought it was just a mess of wire, but no, it’s more like a fishing net that’s been carefully layered. It’s got all sorts of connectors, and that cabinet over there, they’re testing it, it’s a control unit for this net.”

“It looks like it’s purpose made.”

“It is. It’s bloody well important, the database is shrieking at us to get it fixed.”

“Nothing that says what it is?”

“Well, yes, but as is always the case with ash, we found just the remnants of a metal plate, it was badly scoured by the ash. A lot of the words on it are illegible. What’s left are the words mulban doub doubl part of lar. The database couldn’t make any sense of it.”

“Neither can I,” Darnell said.

“Not to me, either and the data base wants more information, I guess. But I look at it this way, they didn’t just stick this thing here for fun. The cabinet was damaged by the ash but insides were still pristine. It has a direct wired line to both the computer room as well as Admin’s database. We don’t dare enter the control room, that’s off limits to everyone. But the wiring goes right to it. And even more, it’s live.”

“It’s alive?”

“It has power to it. All these years, and it’s got power. It’s how the database knows it’s here.”

“So now, what are you going to do?”

“Raise it up.  No one really believes me, but no one has a better idea. I know it’s a net. That pile is too evenly laid out. See those upright supports? And the bows? The net is tied into the uprights. They’ve got gears. Their wiring is braided, so it’s meant to lift as well as transmit electricity.

I spent most of a week cleaning out each gear. They weren’t bad, but they did have ash in them, and gears don’t like ash. Or sand or anything. I lubed them, too. Even more, this mulban, I’ll call it, was stored like this. It wasn’t up when the colonists evacuated. It was put here for something like Incognito. I think if we can figure out how to make all the gears turn in unison, it will raise up and unfold into whatever form it’s supposed to be in.”

“So when does that happen?”

“I don’t know,” he said, mournfully, “I’m just a junior engineer. The silverbacks in my division won’t even listen. They don’t believe that the Incognito is a real threat. I’ve not paid my way, you know? They wanted to pull each strand of the net out, they said we need to get a bunch of us and straighten the wires out.  So they designed a pulley system to stretch it out. Until one of them touched the net and got bit. I thought it was static electricity, and I didn’t get shocked when I worked on the gears. But I didn’t tell them. They don’t listen to juniors, they just said, Stan, you figure out how many people you need to get it untangled.”

“Who’s Stan?”

“Me.”

Darnell began to feel for the man. I won’t call him Dweeb anymore. He obviously is an engineer, and he got schweened by Wendall, too. “Let me guess, they didn’t do any of the cleaning or opening, did they.”

“No. And I really do have a bad back. But, I guess, it’s the price I pay for being here.”

“How does it work?” K’ndar asked.

“Really? You want to know?”

“Yes. I’m a biologist but I’m always ready to learn anything.”

“Okay! So, this is my theory. The cabinet has controls. One says ‘erect.’ That button energizes a circuit. The bows that form the ridgeline separate like a clam opening up.  Once it’s fully open, then the gears on the uprights pull the net up until it’s fully expanded.”

Once he’d explained it, K’ndar could see it.

“You’ve done that?”

“Oh, no. We just got the place swept out completely yesterday.” He shook his head. “I’m surprised you blokes didn’t go chase Evvelin down and threaten her. It’s a proper shaff of a job.”

“Tell me about it, mate. We did it for years.”
“I know. I’m sorry. And even so, none of the rest believe it. Just me.”

“What you might want to do,” K’ndar said, “Is go talk to Chief Kendra. Tell her what you think should be done.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No. Why not? What do you have to lose?”

“Um…”

“And don’t forget, you said the database is screaming. Something’s coming at us, FAST,” K’ndar said, wondering where he was getting the compassion, “and the database knows it. Your silverbacks want to dither around, let them. Tell Chief Kendra what you think needs doing to get the database off your backs.”

A LOT of people were there for the raising of the mulban.  A pair of teachers had their hands full keeping their early learning class of five and six year olds corralled in one corner. P’jar, K’ndar, and Raylan stood off by themselves. K’ndar saw Stan standing next to Chief Kendra. Behind them were several older men, wearing expressions of doubt and even ridicule. One glared at Kendra’s back, obviously put out that this woman had told him what he needed to do.

Inside the structure, there were two men at each of the six support beams. K’ndar could see they’d rigged pulleys in order to pull the net up. They stood alongside the pile of wiring-which appeared to have been neatened up, somehow.

At the back of the building was the cabinet Stan had mentioned.  A woman sat next to it, holding a meter with two leads, one red, one black.

A tech from R&D stood next to her, a small tablet in his hand. 

“Make way, make way for the Lords of the Council,” a voice called. They turned to see as Lord’s D’nis, T’balt, and Lytol came to watch.

Everyone bowed.

“Chief Kendra,” Lord D’nis said, “Thank you for inviting us.”

“My pleasure, my lord,” she said, “and now that you’re here, we’ll raise this thing up. My electronic tech is at the cabinet, and Ar and Dee has a brand new toy, a portable computer terminal. Commo’s Chief insists this thing is her division’s baby, she’s convinced it’s some sort of communication device. Stan, my junior here, says that he’s certain the mulban is in direct communication with the database. If so, we’ll find out what this thing is and what it does.”

Lord Lytol frowned. “A communication device? Like a datalink? I believe Incognito forbade any communications with the starship. Or even across Pern. I’m too old to have any knowledge of that, but I do know the datalinks work by bouncing off the starship.”

“Yes, my lord, you’re correct, but..”

Lytol interrupted. “Remember when the laser beacon was found? We do NOT want someone knowing who and where we are, especially now. That thing approaching is exactly what Master Rahman said, it’s coming for us.”

“Don’t worry, my Lord,” Kendra said, ‘My tech by the cabinet will be able to tell how it connects to the database.  Data has set up a block. If this mulban so much as thinks of pinging the starship, we’ll shut the net down completely and Data will keep it from ever pinging the starship. And remember, the Yokohama is shut down, too. She’s not accepting any communications. Right now, she’s no more communicative than a rock. I hope-well, my lord, I hope when this is all over, she does re-connect.”

Lytol subsided, still doubtful. Maybe the Yokohama will no longer be anything but a bright spot in the sky. Yes, it’s provided so many services that we have become dependent on. But the norms of society are changing fast because of it. People have become less civil, more demanding. So  much of this technology is so far above my head I don’t really know how to manage it. Sometimes it makes me feel as if I’m no smarter than a tunnel snake. It’s made our lives easier in some ways, but still, it would be nice to return to the days when there were no such things as electricity and datalinks. Then we wouldn’t have to worry about this thing coming at us.  I miss the old ways. I do, he thought.

K’ndar noticed the new Chief of Communications in the crowd.

“Carry on, then, ma’am,” D’nis said.

She turned to Stan. “Ready?”

“Yes ma’am,” he said. He called out, “Stand by to energize,” and the woman at the cabinet hovered a finger over a button.

The two folks at the cabinet called out, “Ready!”Aye!”

“All right, engage!”

The woman with the meter pushed a button. Nothing happened. Stan groaned.

Oh, no, the tech thought, but it IS doing something. “It’s blinking,” she called out, “It’s blinking red. Testing now,” she said, and applied the pens to two ports on the face of the cabinet. “I have continuity,” she called, comforted.

We’ll have to lift it, Stan thought. Shards. But no…

“Green! Button has turned steady green! And it’s saying ‘erection in process!”

Several of the young boys began to giggle. Heads turned to glare at them, which only made things worse. One of the teachers shook his head and moved the offending boys out of the building.

“Boys are SO immature,” one of the young girls said, rolling her eyes in disgust.

For one long moment, there was no movement, but then a whirring sound emitted from the bows overhead. Slowly, the bows opened like a clam, the lips forming the ridgeline. K’ndar could see small pulleys moving back, pulling whatever fabric was left back into itself. The mechanism stopped when the pulleys reached the support bows. Then the gears on the uprights began to move. The uprights were telescoped. They slowly, almost majestically, rose up in unison, gently raising the wire netting. 

Stan sighed in relief. It was all moving in tandem, I was right. I was right.

The crowd cheered.

The net slowly unfolded as it was raised.  A slight haze of ash that hadn’t been removed from the wiring gently wafted into the air.

“Don’t inhale the dust!” Stan cried, and was relieved to see it get sucked outside. The net rose further and further, emerging from the interior until the entire assembly had unfurled above the building. Then it stopped with a metallic ‘clunk’. The whirring sound changed tone to a lower note. A breeze gently moved the net.

“Whooohooo! Stan shouted in victory. Chief Kendra turned and said, “You were right, Stan! Well done.”

“Light says, Lock in place?”

“Yes,” Stan called, wondering what would happen if it had been stormy.

The tech touched the command button. The whirring noise stopped.

The older men behind Stan made faces-envious ones.

“Whoa. What IS this thing?” someone called.

“It’s a sail, I think!”

“On land?”

The database! It’s sending a message!” the tech with the portable terminal cried.

“What is it saying?”

“It’s, uhhhhh,

“WHAT is it saying?” Chief Kendra repeated.

“It says, “Multi-Band Double Doublet receiving antenna activated. Transmitters not yet installed. Large array components not responding. ELF antenna not responding. Microwave antenna not responding, possible feed horn damage. No UHF readings. Now reading 2.5 to 250 Hertz.”

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know. But the database is saying, “Multiple source signals incoming.  Sorting commencing. Time for clarification: approximately one hour.”

“An hour?” someone said, disappointed

“It’s a tenna? What’s a tenna?”

“You know what, I’m going to Main. I bet my boots Data will have everything sorted out.”

With that, just about everyone left, to go and hear what the database said.

Except Stan.

He stood beneath the gently moving antenna-and smiled.

___________________________________________________________

The council chamber auditorium was packed. No one had expected it, so the crowd milled around, waiting for Commo or Data or SOMEONE to clarify what the whole thing meant. Data had scrambled to get a screen in the conference room showing the results of the sorting.

The cacophony of voices were all of the same sort. “Data, what does it mean, what is it saying how long do I have to wait what is going on are we going to see….

“QUIET!!!!!!!!! He shouted, losing his temper, “GET A GRIP!”

Most of the people obeyed, but, as always, a few grumps kept muttering.

“The Galileo is an antenna. It’s receiving data from space, NOT the starship. Right now it’s a mishmash, there’s a lot of it coming in. Some of it’s steady, some of it is just bits and pieces. Commo is on direct feed, they’re sending what we know right now to the screen behind me.”

“Is it shouting out to the anomaly?” There was real fear in the woman’s voice.

“NO. NO! It’s just, it’s just receiving, it’s not sending anything out to space. It’s like a giant ear, okay? All it can do is listen to the stars. Don’t worry. But this is what the preliminary data is.”

Data received from Galileo: Radio signals.

“What is radio?” someone asked.

The screen changed with more data.

Sources of signals collated. Number of sources: 120 within 100 AU, in descending order of signal strength:

Most of it was incomprehensible, although K’ndar recognized the galactic black hole’s name, and Rukbat, Pern’s star.

Percentages of signals strengths >0.1=7

Rukbat

Sagittarius A*

X-binary unknown

Black Widow Pulsar

PSR JO740+6620

Centaurus A radio pulsar

Incognito anomaly

Following sources signal strength <0.1= 113

Following the last was a long, long list of mostly letters and numbers, with decreasing percentages.

“What is radio?” the same voice asked.

“Most of it’s coming from Rukbat??” someone else called.

“The highest percentage of data is coming from our star, then the black hole. The rest is from, um, stars? as well as the anomaly,” Data said. I wish I’d had time to sit and digest this data, he thought, but there was no holding this back. We all want to know what this means.

He was saved by seeing Master Astronomer Rahman in the crowd. “Master Rahman, please, do you understand any of this?”

Rahman reached the dais in front of the screen. He joined Data to face the crowd.

“Yes, I do, Data. Radio is, for those of you who neglected to learn in science, is…”

“What’s an AU?” came from the crowd, interrupting him.

Rahman said, his patience thin at the best of times, “An AU is an astronomical unit. In our case, it is the number of kilometers between Pern and Rukbat. As you can imagine, every star system has a different value.”

“And how long is that?” said someone.

“Will you shush? If we all have to relearn science, we’ll be here forever,” a different someone snapped.

The questioner pouted, then persisted. “But what IS it. I deserve to know.”

“Our specific AU is 153 million kilometers,” Rahman sighed, resigned, once again, to the general public’s insistence on stupidity, “give or take a few million kilometers depending on the time of year. Remember, Pern revolves around Rukbat.”

“Master Rahman, what is the Thing In Galileo?”

Data rolled his eyes.

Rahman said, “It’s an antenna. It’s picking up radio signals from space. I’ve never heard them, but I know what they are. They’re low frequency electromagnetic waves. Many stars and galaxies, even neutron stars and pulsars emit radio waves.”

“Ray dee Oh? What is it?”

Where is the person who shushed you?  Why don’t people LISTEN? Rahman thought. I’ve finally lost patience with dumbskulls. I have to get back to my telescopes to see what this thing looks like.

“Did you not listen?” he snapped.

Christa heard it, though. The screen bloomed.

RADIO: n. Physics 1. the transmission of electric impulses or waves through space by means of electromagnetic waves. 

-Adj. n Astronomy of or involving the transmission of radiowaves.

Define more?

Defining radioacoustic, radioactive, radio…

Christa cut off the garrulous computer’s beginning of definitions.

The screen changed as the database put up new information.

Above sources culled. Astronomical signals identified and delisted.

Oh, Christa, Data thought, grateful for having the apprentice handling the inpouring of data from the antenna. You are so quick, girl, you work that database as though you were born with a datalink in your tiny little fist.

I am so proud that you’re my daughter.

Signals emitting from non-astronomical origin only.

The crowd watched the screens, now quiet with anticipation.

Radio signals emitting from general location of Icognito anomaly, confidence level 75%

Display data?

Christa’s voice came from behind the crowd, from her station in Data division.

“The antenna is sending sounds! And my terminal screen, it’s full of dots!’

“Christa, can you send it to the screen?”

“Yes sir!’

“Everyone quiet, please?” Commo’s Chief called out, “It might be too soft to hear.”

For one long moment there was utter silence in the conference room. Even the grumps shut up.

Then, soft and sibilant, with the universe behind it providing an almost inaudible hiss, they heard a series of beeps, separated by a moment of silence, then repeated.

Bip bip bip beee beee beee bip bip bip.      Bip bip bip beee beee beee bip bip bip.  Bip bip bip beee beee beee bip bip bip

Then a whole cascade of beeps followed.

“What in the world is that?”

The young man who’d sat next to Jansen at the first Incognito briefing was jumping up and down in excitement.

“I KNOW I KNOW what that is!! It’s a code! I’ve been studying code, it’s a code, I swear it!” a man’s voice cried out, “I’ll figure it out! I promise!”