by Tom Wells
*****
Six months before Mother was approaching the planet, Alpha Centauri Major 3, on Earth, Mission Technician Alfred Grand sat staring at a flood of data as it was processed late in the night. Or was it early in the morning? The graveyard shift was too degrading for Alfred to care what the time was just then. He was alone in a darkened room, lit now only by a full rainbow of pinpoint lights on the silent control stations where dozens of scientists and engineers would start their day later while Alfred would be sent home to try his best to sleep in his small apartment by a noisy freeway.
Alfred's presence here was proof enough that he would still rather be on the graveyard shift on the Seeker Mission then being on the day shift for any other program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. With eight missions at varying distances from as many star systems, mankind stood at a possible watershed moment in history. Even from the lonely overnight shift, Alfred could be a part of this history in the making. Seeker One would be the first to arrive at another star system. It had been the first Seeker launched and it was sent the closest system which was only four light years away. Seeker Two by contrast had been sent to its M.O. eight months after the launch of Seeker One. Its destination was Bernard’s Star, which is nearly two light years further out than the Alpha Centauri. Seeker One was nearly at its destination, but Seeker Two had another four years of space travel to reach its destination. The other six Seekers still had five years and more to travel to their Mission Objectives.
Alfred wished he was more of the politicking and brown nosing scientist that would help him get past his one hastily prepared report on a phenomenon he had observed in the Seeker program’s data. His report had landed him on the nightshift, demoted from behind a control desk on the day shift where he would like to be six months from now when Seeker One was scheduled to report for the first time upon entry into the Alpha Centuri star system. Of course, he planned to be one in the crowd of JPL mission staff who would squeeze into the briefing room adjacent to the mission control room, with everyone pushing and shoving for position as close as possible to the plate glass window separating the room. This would still put him in the virtual front row to observe the momentous event, but that didn't stop him from inwardly fantasizing about a sickness or accident that would bump a day-shifter off the roster, clearing his way to actual participation in history.
At present however, it was important that Alfred keep a watchful eye on the data as it reported in from the many Seeker missions at various distances from their mission objective star systems. While he filed the data into the individual Seeker mission servers, he was also tasked with looking for anomalies in the data and tagging that information for the day shift mission technicians so they could determine the reasons for the anomalies.
This was how Alfred had ended up on the lonely overnight shift in the first place. He had been on the day shift for the Seeker Three team and had worked on the first big anomaly reported by his predecessor on the graveyard shift. Seeker Three had been the first deep space craft to observe what were some kinds of streaks in the normally consistent background radiation levels in deep space. The other Seeker missions would confirm that this was not an isolated phenomenon, but Seeker Three observed it first and Alfred was the first technician to file a report on the findings.
His report had concentrated on the most obvious causes for the streaks, such as sensor errors, comet trails, solar wind currents and the like. It was the comet trail theory that was now universally accepted to explain the background radiation streaks, but it was Alfred's thoroughness that had been his undoing. Buried deep in his report summary, he had included what the report admitted to be the more fanciful, but not disprovable possibilities. Included in those possibilities was the suggestion of UFO's. This was a scientific cardinal taboo.
In Alfred's defense by the Seeker Three Mission Director, it was pointed out that Alfred had tried to put a scientifically palatable term to the suggestion by referring to the idea as a Non Original Sol System Transport, but the acronym NOSST was quickly referred to as the "No Shit" theory. It didn't take long for the staff to start making woo-ing sounds amongst each other when they discussed Alfred's report.
So Alfred was not surprised to get the invitation to the Seeker Mission Chief's office soon after the report was circulated. The Chief tried to make Alfred's move to the overnight post sound like an important promotion but Alfred knew that it was the NASA bureaucratic way of making a demotion look like reward. Alfred believed that his error was minor enough that had he been more office politically astute, he could have explained away the focus on the NOSST part of the report and refocused the attention to the most likely explanation of comets.
Instead, the Chief tried making the absurd implication that he personally had decided to put Alfred on the overnight shift in order to let him expand on his theories. At first Alfred believed the Chief. He even went so far as to recommend that Seeker Seven and/or Eight have their planetary probes reprogrammed before their upcoming launch. The reprogramming would allow the Seekers to activate the probe when passing through one of the radiation swaths so the planetary probe with its larger array of sensors could sample what might be creating the swaths.
His request was turned down, of course. The easy answer to Albert was that budget constraints would prevent the proper testing before reprogramming the unlaunched probes. Alfred had been so humiliated with his transfer to the night watch that the reasons seemed hollow and condescending. It was a wonder to Alfred that the Chief could keep a straight face and not add the woo-ing sound with such a statement.
With all of this personal and professional baggage weighting him down, it was little wonder that Technician Alfred Grand did nothing when he first saw the data coming in from Seeker One. What he was seeing couldn't be right, so he ignored it for the time being, tagged the entire set of data as, "Nothing to Report" and went home to sleep it off.
If only it was that easy. Alfred tossed and turned the morning away. His eyes had shut to the light and his mind had shut to conscious thought, but his half dream state wouldn't let go of what was in the data from Seeker One. There was something about the data that had not only been amazing, but the way in which the data was collected had started to bug Alfred.
As the early afternoon commute began to choke the side of the freeway closest to Alfred's apartment, he gave up on his attempt to suppress his scientific curiosity, so he returned to JPL. The mission control room was starting to wind down from the morning's flurry of activity that always followed the Seeker’s report night. With everyone steadily working at their stations, Alfred's early arrival for the day went unnoticed.
Without drawing attention to himself, he went over to the Seeker One Mission Director's station and sat in the small chair tucked away from view by the rest of the floor. The Mission Director was so consumed by what he had on his computer screen; he hadn't noticed Alfred's arrival.
Dr. Edward Davies was startled when he shifted his attention from the computer to the phone. The man he was about to call had somehow magically appeared in the seat before him. From the look on the Technician's face, he knew not to speak loudly when he said, "Alfred, how convenient of you to know I'd be calling you here."
"Then you know what I'm going to ask you about?" Alfred said in a low voice, wishing he had come earlier when the activity level would have drowned out this discussion.
Managing to look condescendingly puzzled to Alfred, Dr. Davies replied, "I have no idea what you might want of me, but I do have some questions for you."
Unperturbed by the Mission Director's feigned ignorance Alfred shot back in as strong of voice as a whisper can be made to sound, "I made some recommendations to reprogram the last two Seeker missions before they left the ground and got the idea shot down for 'budgetary constraints and spacecraft safety', and you go and do it to the spacecraft that's farthest away and the highest profile and you can't think of what I might want to ask about?"
"You t
hink I reprogrammed Seeker One?" Dr. Davies asked aghast, no longer caring to keep the conversation private.
Some people did look up from their terminals, but when they couldn't see who Davies was talking to so forcefully, they quickly put their attention back to their screens. This didn't prevent them from straining to see who was sitting in the hot seat. A flurry of instant messages flashed over the office asking if anyone knew who it was.
Alfred could hear the awkward silence that extended beyond Dr. Davies’s semi private station and out into the entire office. He would have pulled himself further into his chair if it were possible.
"In your characteristically thorough way, Mr. Grand, you made extensive notations about the anomalies to investigate on the data from all of the Seeker missions, except Seeker One. Did you think no one would notice that you had entered No Anomaly, when clearly, there is some heavy shit to report on here?"
The thought hadn't occurred to Alfred. He had been so flustered to see the flood of sensor data that could only be taken by the Seeker's on board planetary probe, that he hadn't cared to think through how a "no anomaly" report would be perceived when someone else saw the same data and realized “no anomaly” was negligent reporting at best.
"I've got to hand it to you, Al, I didn't suspect you could be so determined to prove your No Shit theory as to try reprogramming the flagship Seeker mission and expect to cover it up."
The people stationed nearest by heard this clearly, and Dr. Davies' reference to the No Shit theory now left them no doubt who was in the hot seat. Again the office wide instant messaging erupted in a flash of gossip that had begun to spill out of JPL's internal network and onto the entire NASA system.
Alfred couldn't find the words to respond to the accusation being leveled at him. It was obvious now that Dr. Davies knew nothing about reprogramming Seeker One to use its probe to take the more detailed sensor readings of the background radiation streaks in space. It had been a proposal Alfred had tried to advance from the day he had put out his first findings on the phenomenon. It was now becoming clear to Alfred that Dr. Davies might actually believe that he had not only managed to reprogram Seeker One himself, but that he had done so to prove that UFO's exist. Alfred had no idea how he was going to keep his job after this.
While Alfred struggled to find the words to respond, Dr. Davies' phone rang. He answered it and listened. The manager's face went through a contortion of fast changing emotions before he shot a look at Alfred, then around the office. Anticipating faces quickly looked away. Then he hung up the phone without ever having spoken so much as one word to the person on the other end of the phone line.
In a weak voice he informed Alfred, "The Chief wants to see you."
Alfred scarcely noticed the whispers and gestures sent his way as he walked the long route to the Mission Chief's office. His mind was awash in the possibilities that could explain the data he'd seen from Seeker One. He wasn’t the one who reprogrammed Seeker One, but it seemed obvious that someone had. The question was who. He had no allies from day one after releasing his fateful report on the radiation streaks. Was there someone who had seen past the ridicule and who had continued to try to find an answer to the phenomenon? If there was someone else who was searching for an answer, it would have helped Alfred to know he wasn’t alone in the search. But that didn’t matter now. He knew he was about to be fired and then he’d have all the time of an unemployed homebody to think this one through. Unencumbered from his duties, he may be able to piece things together and find his answer to what was causing the streaks in deep space radiation. It would just be a shame that no one would be around to tell it to.
Smiles and a handshake were not the greetings Alfred had expected when he entered the office of Mission Chief Dr. Terrell Washington. He was asked to sit and an attempt was made to make him feel comfortable, but Alfred could only painfully wait for the hammer to come down on him.
"Alfred, the Seeker Mission is damn near a disaster right now. Seeker One has been reprogrammed to use its deep space probe for the readings we received and there are other Seeker craft showing signs of anomalous behavior. We need to make some big personnel changes if we're going to salvage anything from this," the Chief said.
It wasn’t until this moment that Alfred realized how important the project had become to him personally.
The Chief continued over Alfred's self indulged thoughts, "Hell, if the President and Congress weren't watching every penny NASA is spending these days, I'd have ordered the abort code months ago. Seeker One is an unpredictable machine now. Continuing to use an unpredictable source of information is bad science. Of course now it's too late for an abort. Even if I ordered it today, Seeker One will have been in the system for seven months before the abort command reaches the spacecraft. Whatever damage it may do to whatever we find there, it will have been done. Putting an end to that machine now may prevent us from having a way to undo that potential damage. Of course if the next Seeker One communication has any more surprises in it, the abort command will still have to be an option."
Alfred was shocked to hear the mention of an abort for Seeker One. Why would the Chief be considering an abort on Seeker One if someone on Earth was the source of the reprogramming? The only reason Alfred could conjure up for the Chief considering this was if the Chief had already confirmed that no one on Earth had reprogrammed the spacecraft. And if he knew that no one on Earth had reprogrammed the mission, Alfred wondered why he was about to be fired. Was NASA that desperate for a scapegoat? Were they that afraid of letting on that something else was interfering with their spacecraft?
While Alfred ran through these thoughts, he scarcely paid attention to the Program Chief as he continued to say, "Add to that, the fact that NASA on the whole is under even more funding pressure since manned flights were privatized and we’re in the worst economic recession in eighty years. It might be the death nail for this organization if the Seeker project is terminated without results. I’m a desperate man looking for bold solutions," the Chief said pausing as if he expected Alfred to respond.
"I fail to see where firing a low grade technician with some constructive input ranks as a 'bold solution,'" Alfred said a bit offended.
It was the Chief’s turn to look confused. Alfred's fear for his position hadn't occurred to him. He was unaware of the extent to which he had isolated the man in an effort to save this mission. So of course he had also not realized that Alfred would think he was here now to be fired.
"No one's firing you, Alfred," the Chief said.
Before the Chief could complete his sentence, Alfred uncharacteristically cut in, "I'm not resigning, Sir. You will have to fire me if you want your scapegoat, but I’m not going to slink away while you blame any failure of this mission on your most expendable employee. If you would please just reconsider and listen to me, I believe I can help."
Now it was the Chief's turn to interrupt, "Listen, Director, I appreciate your aggressive focus on this project, but save it for your team. You have a lot of work to do and precious little time to do it."
Alfred turned and looked for the man who must have entered the office unnoticed. With no one there, he asked dumfounded, "Director?"
Pleased with himself the Chief extended a hand and said, "Congratulations Son, the Seeker One team has already been sent a memo explaining the reasons for your appointment and they’ll be waiting for your instructions the moment we’re through here."
For the first time in days, there wasn't a single synapse inside Alfred's head working on the overall problem of the Seeker project. He had never really understood, nor conformed to office politics, but he knew this was an unprecedented moment in the recent history of NASA. Alfred held more bachelors and masters Degrees than anyone else in NASA, but this broad spectrum of knowledge had come at the expense of his ever attaining the doctorate degree he had never wanted. It was a well known unwritten policy for nearly a century now that NASA required their
Mission Directors hold a PhD. This fact alone made the Chief's offer of promotion seem improbable. But add to that Alfred's recent demotion and you can begin to imagine just how shocked Alfred was at this moment.
"Forgive me for coming back to this, Chief, but how do I go from being a virtual outcast to Director of the highest profile Seeker mission?" Alfred asked.
"I'm sorry I had to put you through that isolation, Alfred," the Chief said leaning comfortably back into his chair. “Your papers a year ago were the freshest breath of air into this program since its inception. We might still be ignorantly operating under the false impression that all was going according to plan if your insight hadn't found significance in what was going on in the limited data you were working with as a Seeker Three Tech.”
"I had to get you more data and I needed you to get it first hand and unfiltered. The only way to do that was to make you the first person to see the data arrive from all of the Seeker missions. I was trusting that you would continue your work while I purposefully isolated you from the rest of the team."
"You mean that you didn't stop the jokes being made in my expense on purpose?" Alfred asked getting angry.
"I'm afraid that I planted most of the jokes myself," the Mission Chief said plainly. "I needed to be sure you were not influenced by anyone else on the team. They were quick enough to sow the seeds of your own doubts about your notions. You identified something so far outside what they expected that they seized on your most fanciful explanations to avoid considering that those radiation streaks could mean something more. I couldn't have them start the seeds they were planting from germinating inside your head. You were seeing what is happening out there and I needed you carefully exposed to all of the information in the hopes that you could confirm what was happening. My only regret is that I haven't pulled you back into the fold sooner."
Alfred replayed the phrase, “back into the fold,” over and over for a moment. That seemed an understated oversimplification of the situation. Alfred wasn't just “back,” he was expected to lead the fold. It was a concept too hard to grasp fully. His theories hadn't been the disaster he had been lead to believe. His ostracization wasn't of his own making and his position wasn't in jeopardy. The Chief had talked of his attempt to keep Alfred's notions clear and focused, yet everything seemed in question now. He had apparently missed having even an inkling of how he had been played.
He might resent it all, or even reject the outcome if it wasn't that the result meant he was now apparently being set free to pursue what he realized to be a more pivotal moment in human history than he or anyone else had imagined for the Seeker program. Seeker One might or might not have found another form of life not yet discovered by humanity. It might have been reprogrammed by an extraterrestrial intelligence out there in the universe. But that explanation seemed wrong to Alfred’s instinct on the matter. He may not have seen an obviously unusual pattern in the data coming from the Seeker spacecraft, but he suspected he had unconsciously recognized something and it left him the sensation of knowing the name of a song without being able to remember it enough to say what it was.
The Seeker Program Chief could see the wheels turning inside Alfred’s head and he knew he should turn the man loose to pursue his thoughts. He was not offended by Alfred’s acceptance of a congratulatory handshake without the man’s realizing he hadn’t said his thanks as he was ushered out the door.
As Alfred walked the corridors back to the workstation he had used as an overnight technician, he began to realize that after centuries of alien encounters in popular fiction, it might be easier for the public to believe that an alien race had finally been confirmed and that they were responsible for the changes in the Seeker spacecraft. But he was now starting to see enough in the patterns of data he had received to realize that there had been subtle changes in the reports from Seeker One that suggested that aliens were not the source.
The changes had been too subtle for him to realize what was wrong until now. For example, one repeated data point reported by all Seeker spacecraft was on the status of the spacecraft’s operating systems. If all was operating normally, the preprogrammed report was a code that showed up on screen as, “GREEN.” For the benefit anyone who might be studying the reports in the future, the text “GREEN” was followed by the text, “:ALL SYSTEMS OPERATING OPTIMAL PARAMETERS.” Yet now Alfred seemed to remember he might have seen Seeker One report “GREEN: ALL SYSTEMS ARE DOING WELL.”
Alfred couldn’t be sure if that was actually what he had seen or if that was how his brain had began to process the text to make the report less sterile. While he felt he could see the text “ALL SYSTEMS ARE DOING WELL” as if it had been displayed that way on the screen, he wanted to see the report again and confirm that this wasn’t his imagination. He wandered through the Seeker One control room like a zombie thinking about this. He hadn’t heard the hum of conversation as he walked into the room, or noticed the sudden hush his presence had signaled. He had forgotten that he was now their director.
He walked past the cubicle farm of scientists who popped up like prairie dogs watching a predator pass through their midst waiting to see if he was going to turn on them. Alfred did not notice however. He was on an undeterred path into the octagon shaped communications room which was in the middle of the building with an arched access to the other Seeker mission control rooms. He went to what was now his former work station while a flurry of interoffice instant messages had scientists from all directions crowding for a view into communications lab to see what Alfred was so intent on doing. They watched in silence while he quickly typed in the commands that brought up Seeker One’s systems reports for the last few months. He was jolted as he read each line.
“GREEN: ALL SYSTEMS ARE DOING FINE.”
“GREEN: ALL SYSTEMS ARE DOING GOOD.”
“GREEN: ALL SYSTEMS ARE DOING WELL.”
“GREEN: ALL SYSTEMS ARE OPERATING AS EXPECTED.”
“GREEN: ALL SYSTEMS ARE OPERATING UNDER NORMAL CONDITIONS”
“GREEN: ALL SYSTEMS ARE OPERATING AT OPTIMAL CONDITIONS”
“GREEN: ALL SYSTEMS OPERATING AT OPTIMAL LIMITS”
“GREEN: ALL SYSTEMS OPERATING AT OPTIMAL PARAMETERS”
Seeker One had been progressively changing the response.
“Holy shit, it’s alive!” he yelled out.
Everyone jumped and loudly gasped at his exclamation. That was when Alfred became aware that everyone was watching him. He looked up and for the first time he realized how odd his behavior was, especially when he further remembered that he was now the Seeker One Project Director. The faces looking at him now didn’t know what he had just learned. To them, he looked like a crazy man cracking under the pressure of the position he had held for less than five minutes. Alfred summoned a part of himself he hadn’t known had existed until this moment.
He collected his thoughts and said, “The data suggests that Seeker One has begun to change its own programming. The onboard computer is changing reports and we need to start finding out two things.”
He turned to the archway opening to the Seeker One Control room and addressed them directly saying,”First thing you need to do is start analyzing all reports from Seeker One looking for the changes to the programmed responses beginning with mission time index,” he paused and looked at the time index on his screen of when the systems reports had the first words changed and continued, “T+1710 days: 36 minutes.”
Then he looked at the engineers from the other Seeker control rooms and said, “You all better start analyzing the programmed responses from your spacecraft. Look for any changes to their programmed responses. Have someone look at the Seeker One data I have up on my screen here to see what you should be looking for.”
No one budged until he gave the command, “Let’s get moving people we only have six hours before Seeker One comes knocking on our door again.”