The Orthogonal Galaxy (10 page)

“
I certainly hope that I
may be of assistance to you, Doctor,” started Zimmer.

The conference room was
ample and bright. Entering through a glass door, the professor
noted an open feel to the room, because of the windows which
wrapped around three sides of the conference room. Along the far
wall, which contained no windows, a long counter contained coffee
pots, cups, napkins, and a water dispenser. In the center of the
room, a long, elliptical table had seating for 12 people, and every
seat except for two was occupied. Gilroy offered the professor a
seat at the end of the table, and took the seat immediately to his
right.

“
Professor Zimmer,”
announced Gilroy, “I’d like to introduce you to a few members of
our team. “Starting to your left, we have Staneck Rodgers, Physon
Edwards, Kinnet Brothers, and Christian Popolous. These men are
mission control specialists for the Mars Mission. Following is our
team of engineers. Lawton Jacobsen is our lead telecommunications
hardware engineer. Then we have two of our top aerospace engineers,
Sharli Cartwright and Cordic Huford, both from Kennedy. Our
materials scientist, Lane Wells, is from Ames. And I believe you
may know our Martian experts, Draven Sillieu, and Marselline
Jones.”

“
Stan, would you please
explain to the team the reason why we have convened this
meeting?”

“
Certainly,” stated Stan
with a deep sigh. He slowly lifted himself out of his seat and
progressed towards the end of the room opposite of where he
unrolled a large map depicting Earth and Mars. Several post-it
notes of different color were placed around the map, but Zimmer
could not read the writing on any of them.

“
At 07:22 this morning
local time, an alarm went off indicating that one of the four
Martian communication satellite links demonstrated a failure here.”
Rodgers gestured with a laser pointer to one of the post-it notes
on the map. “In three seconds, we lost comm with another satellite
here, and this one stopped communicating about two seconds later.
For some reason, satellite number four, which was right here at the
time of the failures, has continued to transmit, and is currently
located here. At first, we assumed that there was an
electromagnetic incident which took the satellites offline, but
typically, interference lasts a few minutes.” Stan paused to look
around the room to see how this information was being
received.

“
Have you calculated a
correlation with the timing of the loss of failure?” asked
Zimmer.

“
Yes,” answered Rodgers.
“And what we found was that all three satellites failed at exactly
the same moment in time. The fact that we observed the alarms at
different times is due to the differences in the distance of each
satellite from the Earth as well as the latency of the various
signals traveling over those distances. Satellite Two was closest
to the earth, while Satellite One was the farthest. As a result, we
received these just moments apart due to the extra distance
required to reach the Earth.”

“
I trust they all operate
off of the same software code base?” Zimmer quizzed
suggestively.

“
Yes that is true,” Stan’s
gaze met the floor while his voice tapered off.

Physon stood quickly to
relieve his partner. “Professor, we have eliminated the possibility
of a software bug causing the failure at the same exact clock
cycle.”

Zimmer’s forehead wrinkled
as he gestured for the mission specialist to continue with the
details.

“
You see, less than thirty
minutes before the incident, there was a shift change. An astronaut
departed Camp Mars in a shuttle, and we also lost communication
with him as well.”

Zimmer leaned forward in
his seat as if to better comprehend this last statement.

“
Communication loss with
the shuttle is also calculated to be synchronized to the same exact
moment in time.” Physon paused to compose his words precisely. “The
clock in the shuttle is not synchronized precisely to the satellite
array… and the shuttle software team was completely isolated from
the satellite software team. In other words, the software code is
entirely different for the shuttle. The probability of a
synchronized bug between two entirely different pieces of
complicated software code… well, it’s just not practical to suggest
such a correlation.”

Zimmer stood on his feet
and turned away from the table. Stroking his forehead and cheek, it
was clear that his mind was working feverishly. He wheeled around
quickly. “A visual… we must get a visual. Surely we can see the
satellites and shuttle from a terrestrial-based observatory. It’s
not all that far to Mars.”

Vurim chimed in from his
seat. “Madrid has been working on that for the last several hours,
but they have not been able to identify a visual on any satellite
or on the shuttle.”

“
Well, their results are
bogus! You have told me that there is still one satellite which is
communicating. They simply must get a visual on that
one.”

“
At present, it is too
close to the horizon of Mars to pick up a visual on it,” clarified
Vurim. “But we should be able to do so in about two hours.” He
looked at his watch. “Maybe a bit less than that.”

“
Madrid should send us
their data… we need an extra pair of eyes on it,” suggested
Zimmer.

“
We’ve got a team of
astronomers assembled upstairs… they’re looking at the data right
now,” claimed Vurim.

Zimmer took a new line of
suggestive data collection. “Any clues from the data of the
remaining satellite? I trust that it is able to communicate with
the camp? Can it give us a visual of Mars?” Zimmer
brainstormed.

“
We’ve been looking at
images of the planet, but nothing looks out of the ordinary… Well,
there is a slight dust storm that we’re noticing, but that is not
unusual. What we’re waiting for right now is for Number Four to get
into range of Camp Mars. Presently, the Camp is on the opposite
side of Mars. Earthrise on Camp Mars won’t be for another seven
hours, but Satellite Four will have a visual lock in about five
hours… we should have at least visual data of the Camp around
midnight in order to check on the status of the astronauts
there.”

“
You’ve been thorough in
your analysis, Doctor Vurim,” Zimmer admitted. “I’m not sure how I
can be of help.”

Vurim pleaded with Zimmer,
“We need theories, Professor… astronomical, physical theories on
what could have caused an event like this to occur. We’re at an
absolute loss to explain this anomaly.”

“
I think we’re going to
need more data,” announced Zimmer. “I’d like to take a look at the
Madrid data, while we are waiting for Sat Four to get in range.
Then, I will want to do some study myself this evening at Palomar.
But first, I have a few phone calls to make.”

…

Joram Anders rushed up the
steps of the apartment complex, bypassing every other step with
great strides. At the third floor, he rapped on the door intently.
Kath opened the door slowly and playfully.

“
Who is it?” she said with
a cheerful voice.

Joram gasped for breath.
“Ah, Kath… it’s me, Joram.”

“
Joram? I’m sorry, Joram
who?” She tried to be coy, but gave herself away with a snicker as
she completed the inquiry.

“
Ok, Kath,” Joram shook
his head. “You win… I owe you an apology.” Then with a deep breath,
he let out, “I’m sorry.”

The door opened wide
revealing a very light apartment. Joram’s shaded his eyes for a
moment in part to get used to the light, but mainly to get a less
blinding visual on his new friend, who he admitted to himself
appeared more and more attractive each time he saw her. This time
was no different. Kath looked as beautiful as ever, and he wondered
if his tardiness didn’t allow her more time to prepare herself for
perfection.

Shyly, he looked down at
the floor. “I’m really sorry, Kath.” Then looking up to meet her
eyes, he admitted, “I got so caught up in reviewing my notes from
the day that I completely lost track of time.”

“
Why didn’t you answer
your cell phone?” she asked.

“
I had my Ear Cups on,” he
explained.

“
Oooh,” Kath took a step
back. “You have a pair of Ear Cups? I’m starting to see more and
more of those, but I’m not sure if I like them.”

“
Why not?” asked
Joram.

“
They’re so… so…, “Kath
strained for the right word, “unfashionable.”

Joram laughed. “They’re
not supposed to be
fashionable
… they’re supposed to
be
functional
. My
parents got me a pair for my graduation this year. I was so
surprised, because they are really not very technical people… I
didn’t even know they knew about them, since they’re so new!
They’re much more comfortable that head phones or ear buds because
they just cup right over your ear, and the slight suction effect
keeps them on snug. The sound quality is amazing, and I’m surprised
at how well they cancel the surrounding noise… which is the reason
why my parents got them for me. They were all, ‘You know it’s gonna
be noisy around that college. You should have something to help you
study without all of the distractions.’”

“
Well, I’ll just have to
try them for myself sometime,” Kath conceded. “But you still won’t
catch me with them at the gym.”

“
No,” Joram chuckled. “I
guess I wouldn’t.”

“
Well, let me just grab my
purse and we’ll be on our way then.”

Joram waited outside the
open door, but he studied the apartment, looking for clues about
Kath’s interests and tastes. It was sparsely decorated, a common
practice among all college students, but it looked comfortable
nevertheless.

“
So, I hear Louie’s makes
the best pizza,” Joram offered as they strode together down the
stairs.

“
It’s really, really
good,” Kath admitted. “I’m sure I must be in there once a week.
Goodness, I’m starving just thinking about it.”

“
Well, you wouldn’t be if
your dinner partner would’ve been on time.”

Kath touched him lightly
on the forearm. “It’s ok, Joram, really. I understand.”

At Louie’s, Joram was in
heaven. The pizza was indeed delicious and Kath’s company was
simply delightful. He couldn’t help feel a little jealous for all
of the guys at the place that seemed to know her. He had thought
about how his life had changed so quickly. Why, just a week ago, he
was still on his rural farm outside of Wichita, Kansas helping
himself to a hearty plate of meatloaf and mashed potatoes before
heading out to admire the stars in the night sky. Now here he was
in bustling Pasadena, California, enjoying the company of a lovely
young lady in a very active and trendy restaurant. He snapped
himself out of the daydream.

“
So there I was,” Kath
continued in the middle of an animated story. “drenching wet, and
the police officer asks me, ‘is that what you normally go swimming
in?’”

Joram forced a
laugh,
wishing he had actually paid more
attention to what must have been a fascinating tale. Just as Kath’s
raucous laughter began to subside, Joram’s cell phone rang. He
pulled it out of his pants pocket and looked at the caller
ID.

“
Oh sure,” Kath tilted her
head slyly and allowed a wisp of hair to cover her winking eye. “In
your quiet apartment you can’t hear my phone call, and now in one
of the most noisy restaurants in Pasadena, you can hear it just
fine.”

Joram smiled with feigned
irritation. “I don’t know who it is… it’s a local call. I wonder
who it could be.”

“
Well, the best way to
find out is to answer it,” Kath allowed the distraction.

“
Hello,” Joram answered
jovially. The smile eroded from his face, and he sat upright in his
chair.

“
Um, yes, professor,
right… um… hello… how are you on this fine evening?” He winced in
embarrassment while hearing how lamely he had greeted the
caller.

His grew quiet and
pale.

“
I’m sorry… it’s a little
noisy here.” He covered one ear as if to hear better. “Did you say
tonight?”

He looked at his watch and
appeared ready to rebut, but thought better of it. “Where? But, I
don’t understand… Well, okay, I’ll see you then. Good
Bye.”

After a moment of tense
silence, Kath attempted to ease any discomfort that Joram may have
been feeling. “You know if you’re going to hold your mouth open
like that, you might as well start on another piece of
pizza.”

He decided to use his
mouth in a different way—by explaining to Kath the mysterious
nature of the phone call.

“
That was Professor
Zimmer!” He said in confused excitement. “He said that I need
to…”

His explanation was cut
short. Now it was Kath who had a call on her phone. “Hold that
thought… I’ll just be a moment.”

“
Hello,” she
answered.

Her mouth dropped as she
cupped her hand over the microphone. “It’s Professor Zimmer,” she
whispered in amazement to Joram, who threw up his hands in
amazement and leaned in over the table as if proximity to Kath
would help him solve the mystery. He listened intently as the
conversation continued.