A scream and a thundering thud \u00a0had me counting my teeth, but I put on a cheerful face. “See? Our luck\u2019s starting to turn already. And only another 45 kilometers–”<\/p>\n
Serena broke in, suddenly much clearer. “…down\u00a0their spears and watered heaven\u2026.”<\/p>\n
Another impact rattled me down to my tailbone, but Firth was concentrating on what she was saying. “\u2026down their spears<\/em>. That\u2019s from the original message. When the stars threw down their spears.”<\/p>\n “Compare them,” I said. “If they\u2019re identical, it\u2019s just a loop.”<\/p>\n “Already done it. There\u2019s a difference of half a second in the length of the phrase and the meteorite impacts in the background come at different times.”<\/p>\n “Yeah.\u00a0And in the second one she sounds more desperate.”<\/p>\n “More desperate?”<\/span><\/p>\n “Yeah. And I don\u2019t blame her. I\u2019m getting a little desperate myself and she\u2019s been up here a lot longer than I have.”<\/p>\n Then she was there again. “Is anyone<\/i> listening?”<\/p>\n I jumped at the console “You bet we are!”<\/p>\n The gadgets in the cockpit were banging around like the percussion section in a Martian symphony, but I yelled over the clatter. “This is Beta-Alpha nine-zero-one-one, Zak Bowman, seven-four-three-eight, and Commander Abel Firth. Who are you? What\u2019s your location?”<\/p>\n Serena answered.: “I\u2019m seven-eight-four-one-four-nine-five-zero-zero. Position eighty-nine-point seven-three by ninety-four-point-eight-seven, the crash site of Aldebaran Sirius two-seven-four-five.”<\/p>\n I glanced at Firth. He was intent on the data bank. “She\u2019s got the code right. <\/i>It\u2019s the 480. Who is she?”<\/p>\n He continued to scan the bank. \u00a0“According to her code, Serena Yuri. A Daulian civilian.”<\/p>\n “And she\u2019s got the code for a 480? What\u2019s going on here?” The racket died down enough for me to talk to her again. “‘What’s\u00a0the status of your craft?”<\/p>\n She was clear now, crisp and clear. “One-eight-seven-four Alpha Centauri.”<\/p>\n “She\u2019s got the supercode right, too,” I told Firth. “Scrubbed clean.” Now we were getting somewhere. “Four-nine-five-zero-zero, what\u2019s the status of your crew?”<\/p>\n “Non-existent.”<\/p>\n That stopped me for a second–that and another impact.<\/p>\n “S<\/span>ay again?”<\/p>\n She was calm. I”ll say that for her. “Three perished upon impact and the other two went out to reconnoiter while I deleted the craft\u2019s programs and codes. During a squall I lost contact with them and there\u2019s no signal from their transponder. I have to assume the worst.”<\/p>\n “The message you\u2019ve been sending, what\u2019s its reference file?”<\/p>\n She laughed. Even coming through the static, it put me at ease. “It wasn\u2019t code. It was a poem.<\/i> All I have left is voice transmission. At first I filled it with the standard distress call, but after a while I needed something to keep my spirits up, so I started reciting poetry.”<\/p>\n “We\u2019re one hundred fifty kilometers from your position and closing,” I said. “ETA, three universal hours, ten minutes.”<\/p>\n Silence again and then she said, “I\u2019ll wait.”<\/p>\n “<\/span>She\u2019s got a flair for understatement,” I said. “I wonder if–“<\/span><\/p>\n Firth turned away from the console as if to cut her out of the conversation and looked at me with those stony eyes. “She\u2019s a hundred and fifty kilometers away, Bowman. There are two obstacles.”<\/p>\n Next: Episode 7–“She May Not Be Who You Think She Is.”<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A scream and a thundering thud \u00a0had me counting my teeth, but I put on a cheerful face. “See? Our luck\u2019s starting to turn already. And only another 45 kilometers–” Serena broke in, suddenly much clearer. “…down\u00a0their spears and watered … Continue reading