Quarantine

by William Hayashi

  “And there’s no way to trace where the signal is being received?”

  “General Boise said the best way would be to get a satellite in geosynchronous orbit, but we don’t have one that can be retasked; the two we do have are short of fuel. We have no way of seeing where a response would originate.”

  Slade was quiet. After a few moments he said, “I’m not seeing how any of this helps, at least until they transmit something of interest.”

  “Exactly.”

  * * *

  Valerie called Aidan with exciting news.

  “What’s up?” he asked.

  “I want to fly out and see you, I have a surprise for you!”

  “Sure! Anything you want. When are you flying in?” he asked.

  “I can grab a flight that gets me in by noon. Can you pick me up?”

  “Sure. I’ll be there with bells on,” he promised.

  The next morning, she was waiting for him curbside. Once he had loaded her bags into the trunk of his hybrid, she gave him a hug that cut off his breath.

  Once they were on their way Aidan asked, “Okay, so what’s the surprise?”

  “Hold on just a little while longer. I want to tell Constance and Silas at the same time. I will say this, I can almost guarantee it’s something you’re going to like.”

  “Okay, since the two of them will be finding out at the same time, it’s probably not some new sex thing we can try,” Aidan laughed. “I can wait.”

  “Good, you pervert! Now tell me, did you send your message to the colony?”

  Aidan’s face brightened in excitement. “I did. It was short like you suggested, but I attached a lot of data Constance put together about Harmony. She’s hoping we become allies, not that she and Silas think they need much from us, after all they’ve been living in space for decades. But if there’s a chance at all they’re looking for new blood, I want to see what my chances are; after I talked to you, that is,” he said. “I can’t wait to check the detector on the telescope to see if they’ve sent a reply other than a simple timing pulse.”

  They caught up with each other’s lives until they arrived at the house. Aidan took Valerie’s bags upstairs then returned to give her his new network password so she could plug in, get online and catch up with her email on her tablet.

  “Hungry?” he asked.

  “A little. You have any soup?”

  “Canned. I have clam chowder or minestrone.”

  “New England or New York?” she asked.

  “New England.”

  “Perfect!” she said, distractedly as she went through the messages.

  While they ate, Aidan described the completion of the new dormitory and the party after, and once they were done, he called Constance to see if she was free for them to stop by. She replied that she and Silas were working on plans for a huge community indoor pool and they would be happy for them to visit.

  Once they arrived at Constance’s home office, Aidan started out by announcing that Valerie had a surprise that she was saving for when the four of them were together.

  “So what’s your news, dear?” asked Constance.

  Valerie paused for dramatic effect, then blurted out, “I just got an offer from someone to purchase my company!”

  “Is it someone we might know?” asked Silas excitedly.

  Again, she paused for dramatic effect. “The buyer is Global Space Technologies, and their initial offer is $484 million! That’s unbelievable, I feel like I’m in some kind of dream. I’ve barely been able to sleep since the day before yesterday!”

  “This calls for a celebration,” Constance said, getting up and going into the kitchen. “Everybody stay where you are, I’ll be right back.”

  Moments later she returned, bearing a tray with four champagne flutes and a bottle of chilled champagne. She put the tray down on the table and handed the bottle to Aidan. “Would you do the honors?” she asked.

  In no time at all, he had the cork out of the bottle, letting the tiny geyser pour into Valerie’s glass, then filling it. He filled all the other glasses, and then lifted his in the air saying, “To Valerie, and all her success!”

  They clinked glasses and drank. When they drained their glasses, Aidan filled them once again and they sat.

  “That’s quite a princely sum, young lady. You’re destined to be a real woman of means,” Silas said.

  “The deal’s not completed, yet. But I have to believe that if they’re offering that much, they plan to make ten times that amount or more. When I told the GST attorney that I had contracts to supply the military, he became excited, even though he was playing it cool. My attorney and I played it cool, and she mentioned that I had several other graphics breakthroughs on tap and that I might just want to wait until I brought them to market to drive up the value of my company and the patents I’ve already accumulated. That’s when he made the offer,” Valerie explained.

  “So once the deal’s done, what’s next for you?” Constance asked.

  “I’m not sure. But I’ve put the house on the market, and I would like to move to Harmony, if you’ll still have me,” she said, reaching for Aidan’s hand

  “Well, I’ll have to think about it. What will I tell all the other women?” Aidan said in mock seriousness, then he laughed, “Hey, I couldn’t be happier!”

  The foursome talked about all the wonderful things millions of dollars could accomplish while they went through three bottles of champagne. When Constance invited everyone to dinner, Aidan begged off explaining that he wanted to check the telescope to see if any new signals were coming from the far-off colony. He and Valerie said their goodbyes amid fresh congratulations from Silas and Constance. When they left, Valerie asked if she could see the telescope on their way and Aidan was all too happy to comply.

  When they arrived, Aidan showed her the VR suite with her display projectors before heading up to the top floor. Aidan gave her a hands-on tour of the computer that recorded any signals detected and kept the telescope precisely aimed regardless of the Earth’s rotation.

  When he checked the log, he was dismayed to see that earlier the previous day the signal from the colony had stopped. At first, he hoped that it was a break due to the Earth’s rotation turning away from the colony, but when he checked the time, the signal ceased while Harmony was in direct view of the colony’s location out by the asteroid belt.

  Aidan ran a series of diagnostics checking the sensor and the aiming, manually sending the telescope to aim at stored, known locations and the telescope tracked to look directly at the moon, to peer at the ISS and GST’s construction station and saw onscreen that the aiming system was working just fine when the glints of the sun’s reflection clearly visible on the hardware. Aidan then sent the telescope to look at the colonist’s station in lunar orbit and was surprised when the detector’s alarm was set off.

  When she heard the alarm, Valerie, watching over his shoulder, looked closely at the signal being transmitted that opened in another window onscreen. They both saw the string of numbers scrolling across the screen, then Aidan shouted, “That’s Pi!”

  “Yes. That’s a far cry from the pulses you got from the colony itself. It appears that they’re equipped to directly respond to you. Maybe that’s why it’s taken a few days for them to respond, they had to get or make the equipment,” she speculated.

  “In any case, what should I send back?”

  “I don’t know, logarithms? Planck’s constant? I have no idea—wait! Send the Fibonacci sequence from one to thirty-four.”

  “Brilliant! Hang on while I program that in,” he replied.

  “How do you set up the messages to send?”

  “Here, let me show you.”

  Aidan switched to the message queue system and walked her through the process.

  “Clever! It’s a cross between email and chat,” she said.

  “Yep, why reinvent the wheel? Okay, the Fibonacci sequence is ready to go
. Would you do the honors?” Aidan said, pushing away from the keyboard.

  Valerie chuckled, then pressed the ENTER key. “Now what?” she asked.

  “Now we wait.”

  “I’m curious, is the whole barn your research lab?”

  “Not exactly. I cleared out part of where they store hay for a small lab, that’s where I showed you the VR suite.”

  “It’s cozy, kinda homey. Not at all like working for a corporation or research lab. Are you really okay with my moving here, especially moving in with you?” she asked.

  “Why? Are you all right with moving in with me? It seems like a pretty big step for us,” he replied.

  “Too much, too soon?”

  “Not at all. I have a house big enough for two. I’m not sure how I feel about living with a multi-multi-millionaire, but I don’t see how that’s going to make a big difference anyway; at least, not in the beginning. We don’t use money much around here, but if we needed something like a nuclear reactor, we know where to come!” he hugged her.

  “Is that it, you want to be a kept man, a rich woman’s boy toy?” she asked.

  “Is there an opening? I’d be happy to submit my credentials,” he offered.

  “Oh I’m very familiar with your credentials,” she smirked then she got serious. “Are you sure my moving is not going to be a problem? I would really hate for our rushing into something to ruin what we already have.”

  “No, I have thought about it. I do want us to move in together, and if you think it would be better, you can have your own room to live in as well as the bedroom on the other side of the bathroom; kind of like your own apartment. I’d understand, really. Then every once and a while we could have a sleepover,” he said with a chuckle.

  “I don’t think that will be necessary. Although I would like to keep clothes and whatnot in the other room. When I send for the rest of my things, I’m going to need the closet space.”

  “No problem, whatever you need.”

  Aidan checked to make sure their return message was being transmitted continuously and that the detector was set to page him when the incoming message changed. “Come on, let’s go home. I can check the system through the network, no need to stick around. Plus, I’m still a little buzzed, I could do with something to eat.”

  “Sounds like an excellent idea.”

  Aidan logged off and led the way out of the barn. Valerie reached out and comfortably intertwined her fingers in his, holding hands all the way to the house.

  Valerie went upstairs to unpack while Aidan made something to eat. When she returned, Valerie set the table while they talked about her moving to Harmony. She was likely to get almost three million dollars for her house, icing on the cake as far as she was concerned. They were comfortable together, very much like Silas and Constance. And being older, not just out of high school or college, they were both already comfortable with who they were.

  While they ate, Valerie asked about the projects Aidan was working on, trying to see where she could fit in with the Harmony community. Aidan finally said, “What’s wrong with you continuing your work?”

  “GST has a non-compete clause in the agreement that forbids me from working in graphics for at least five years. I guess they figured I wouldn’t go hungry with almost five hundred million in the bank. But honestly, I’m ready for something new. That’s why I was thinking about traveling around the world behind those military contracts. But I would like to hang around here, especially while you try to contact the colonists.”

  “I’m sure there are any number of projects you can work on here.”

  Aidan’s phone alerted him that a new signal was received by the x-ray band detector in the barn. He jumped up and went into the study with Valerie right behind him.

  When he opened the buffer holding the return message they saw, “Is there anyone out there?”

  “Holy shit!” he exclaimed, then handed Valerie his phone. “Here, call Constance and let her know what’s up. See if Silas is still over there, too.”

  Valerie made the call, finding Silas was still with Constance. She told Valerie that they would be right over.

  “Should I answer?” whispered Aidan.

  “I don’t know. Let’s wait for them to get here and see what they think.”

  Less than ten minutes later, Silas and Constance walked in the front door. Valerie waved them into the study and pointed to the screen.

  “I haven’t sent anything back. What do you think I should say?” Aidan asked.

  “Tell them yes and add our names. Might as well see if they did their homework,” said Constance. Aidan typed in the message then hit the ENTER key. Silas retrieved three chairs from the kitchen so they could all sit.

  They didn’t have to wait more than five minutes until the next message came through:

  Unknown:

  What can we do for the four of you?

  Aidan:

  We would like to engage in dialogue with you.

  Unknown:

  About what?

  Aidan:

  Anything. There are so many subjects we’re curious about, including whether our conversations can become mutually beneficial.

  Unknown:

  How can you help us?

  Aidan:

  We are not sure. That is why we want to establish regular contact.

  Unknown:

  We would like to thank you for the information about your community. You are to be commended for your planning and execution.

  “Wow. They must have really gone through the package you put together,” Aidan said to Constance. “What should I say now?”

  “You might as well ask what you really want to know,” Silas said.

  Aidan:

  I have been dreaming about your existence all my life. That dream also includes the possibility of joining your community. Are you still recruiting people to join you?

  There was a pause of several minutes before the single word response came through.

  Unknown:

  Perhaps...

  Supernatural Thing

  “I would give a lot to be a fly on the wall down there,” Sydney said after sending the word, “perhaps.”

  “So far, he’s everything we figured. I still want to have a discussion with Ms. Little because I think she might be a great conduit for potential recruits,” said Lucius.

  After a few minutes of waiting, there was a response from Harmony:

  Harmony:

  This is Constance Little, niece of Bernice Little who is listed as a member of your community. How is Bernice doing, and is she available to chat?

  Unknown:

  She is well, however she is not here. I can convey your greetings to her the next time I see her.

  Harmony:

  Are we permitted to know your names?

  Sydney looked over to Lucius, monitoring the conversation on the adjacent console and saw the shaking of his head. “We don’t really know who is in the room. G2? Is there any way we can know for sure that this conversation is truly private, that no one is able to understand what’s being said?”

  “This conversation is being encrypted on both ends in a cipher that is unbreakable by any current Earth technology.”

  “How did you get their end encrypted—never mind, I take it you’re resident in the Harmony hosts, correct?”

  “That is correct, Lucius. Is there anything else I may assist you with?”

  “That will be all. Thank you. Do you mind if I take a swing at it?” Lucius asked.

  “Be my guest,” she replied.

  Unknown:

  Ms. Little, given the makeup and mission of your community, do you believe that there are more African Americans who may be as predisposed as Mr. Marshall and would want the opportunity to be considered as candidates for inclusion into our communit
y? And, do you believe it would be possible to screen out anyone sent by the government to infiltrate the colony?

  “Might as well lay our cards on the table,” he said to Sydney. After a few moments the reply scrolled across the screen.

  Harmony:

  Silas Washington and I have discussed this possibility, and as much as we would like to be considered, we must stay here and continue our work in the Harmony community. However, locating and screening people like Mr. Marshall, and even his friend, Valerie Wyatt, is something I believe we can assist you with. We should talk more about such an arrangement. Is that agreeable with you?

  Lucius and Constance chatted back and forth, setting up the conditions under which they could communicate, how the Harmony community could aid the colony, and where possible, the colony could assist Harmony. Constance mentioned the other four communities as a resource from which to draw candidates, but Lucius and Sydney both thought revealing that Harmony was in contact with the colony was a nonstarter and told Constance that for the time being they would prefer that the matter of their communicating be held in confidence. Lucius took great pains to conceal the capabilities of the colony. With the Genesis clone’s aid, they could easily converse verbally or even teleconference, but it wasn’t time for those revelations and could very well never come to pass.

  After several hours of chat, Sydney realized that a sense of loneliness surrounded the colony’s existence. Living away from Earth and living with the knowledge of all the people they had all left behind left holes their community member’s lives that each of them did their best to ignore.

  As Sydney chatted with Aidan, she turned the conversation to his desire to immigrate to the colony. Obviously, it was genuine, and he mentioned more than once that Valerie was also interested in being considered as well. As she chatted, she and Lucius were looking for any signs of deception or hidden agenda. When they concluded for the night, both sides had plenty to discuss and consider.