Donner was still too young for his student flight certificate but he knew his dad would let him do some of the flying. The flight was without incident with Donner flying while his dad navigated. Jack was old enough that he could still use the VOR stations (a type of radio ranging system used for aircraft navigation) that remained in operation to check their course. Donner thought that was pretty antiquated since their plane and each of their Annies had a GPS. Jack brought them into Colorado Springs with plenty of daylight left. They checked in to the motel and after a pizza for dinner they turned in to get an early start.
The meeting with Colonel Allen and the others was scheduled for zero eight hundred. Jack and Donner were up by seven and had breakfast at a restaurant off Space Center Drive. They arrived at North American Aerospace Defense several minutes before their scheduled meeting.
They were shown to Colonel Allen's office where they waited. Reg Allen soon showed up and led them to a nearby conference room. There they were introduced to the other participants of the meeting.
Colonel Allen began, “Jack and Donner, I would like you to meet my operations officer, Captain Deek Lang, our intelligence liaison Captain Joyce Sargent and my IT officer, Lt. James Mason. This will just be a low key inquiry. If we all agree that the information Donner has discovered warrants it, I plan to take it up with my boss Major General Longsteen. But for right now this is just an informal fact finding discussion.”
“I've explained to everyone some of what Donner here has discovered. But I wonder Donner if you would like to give some background into how you made the discovery, and the details of what you've learned?”
“Okay,” said Donner somewhat nervously. “As far as the background to my discovery I was attempting to establish a reliable internet connection after my family moved to a rural location.”
Donner then described his antenna setup and the mechanism he designed to achieve and maintain satellite lock which interested the operations officer quite a bit and he asked a few questions.
Next he turned to the signal he found and how he had setup the wide area network that decrypted it. The IT officer then became curious. Finally he told about how he had discovered the Japanese dialect the messages used. The intelligence officer nodded approvingly.
Donner finished his review in about ten minutes and then passed out copies of the decrypted and translated messages he had intercepted. The three officers and Colonel Allen seemed to be suitably impressed. Jack was smiling.
Colonel Allen spoke up, “Thank you Donner. I think I speak for all of us when I say that your work is quite impressive. Now, I’ve arranged for you and your dad to tour our facilities as well as the air base and the Air and Space Museum. My staff and I will discuss your findings and I will meet with you and your father for dinner at seven tonight. Okay with you Donner?”
“Sure Colonel Allen,” said Donner. “And thank you for arranging all this.”
“Your welcome Donner,” said Colonel Allen.
Colonel Allen’s adjutant came in to escort Donner and his dad on the tour.
After a long day of touring the facilities and the museums, Donner and his dad met Colonel Allen at the Peterson AFB Club for dinner. Colonel Allen ordered a drink for Jack and himself and a soft drink for Donner before beginning the discussion.
“Well Donner,” said the Colonel, “How was the tour?”
“Excellent sir. “The facilities and space museum tour were awesome. And I really liked eating lunch in the airplane restaurant, the old KC-135 fuselage.”
“I’m glad to hear it Donner, it is quite an antique now,” said Colonel Allen. “Now I want to talk to you and your dad about the meetings I’ve had today. I have to say again that everyone was very impressed with your work. I think that some of my staff would like for you to instruct them in some of your techniques.”
Donner smiled from behind his soft drink.
“Jack what I would like to do is place a mobile listening post on your property. Would that be okay?”
“Of course Reg, if you think that is for the best,” said Jack.
“I think so. Donner once we get the mobile post setup I’m going to ask you to shut down your operation. I don’t want you involved in what could be an international incident. I’m afraid we are going to keep your work top secret for now.”
“I understand sir,” said Donner.
“Good, then let’s eat,” said the Colonel. “The meal is on Space Command.”
9
Something was definitely up, thought Jason Bigley. Suddenly all his sources in the military had clammed up. He had been on to something important, something to do with space. He was preparing an in-depth report for the website he worked for. Such a coup was needed as the site was in danger of shutting down.
Jason wasn't going to let that happen. He would go with what he had even though he knew his information was incomplete. What he would do is write up the story that he had and fill in the gaps with reasonable conjecture. He would send the finished write-up to his military sources. If there were no objections he would put it on the website.
Jason knew the military had embarked on a program to get all its hypersonic squadrons on high alert, that he was sure of. The order had seemingly come because of an investigation being conducted by Space Command. That was the space connection. But exactly why the military was worried about space he didn't know.
He did know that the Chinese were planning massive war games and that they had space assets as well as a base on the moon. But China was technically still an ally of the United States so why this should cause an alert was unclear. But that and a few other minor points was all he had. He wrote up the story and sent it to his contacts.
He waited three days.
One of his contacts, a former Colonel in Space Command called.
“You can't put out this drivel,” said Colonel Sloan.
“What do you mean,” said Jason. “It's all the truth, and accurate as far as I know.”
“But that is the point,” said the Colonel. “You don't know enough. You are jumping to conclusions. You insinuate that the Chinese are planning something that will affect the United States access to space. But the link is not direct it's purely circumstantial.”
“Well,” said Jason. “If you would like to fill me in on what I don't know I'll change the story.”
“You know I can't do that,” said Colonel Sloan. “I told you when I stopped passing information that a direct request had come down.”
“Your a civilian now Colonel,” said Jason. “You don't have to follow orders.”
“That's where we part company Jason. I may be a private citizen but when I believe that something I do can bring more harm than good to the country then that is where I draw the line.”
“Okay,” said Jason. “Basically you are telling me that I don't have the whole truth, but you and the rest of your kind aren't willing to fill me in. So there you have it. I also have a duty to publish the truth as I know it. Maybe once it's out there the military or others like you will correct me and we, that is citizens of the country, can know what our government is up to.”
“Jason,” said the Colonel. “I will tell you one last time. You print this mashup of yours and you will lose all your contacts in the military. Now and in the future. We just won't trust you anymore.”
“Colonel, that is your prerogative. But I have news and I will publish it.”
“Goodbye Jason.”
“Goodbye Colonel.”
Jason was shaking when he closed his Annie. They'll see, he thought. I've got enough to publish and they know it. We'll see who becomes the pariah.
________
Jason's boss had read the copy. He put down his Annie and turned to Jason.
“Jason,” said Marx Cleveland. “You are sure of this story. This is the truth isn't it? The whole truth.”
“Yes Marx,” said Jason. “Everything I got came from a trusted source. The linkages in the information are obvious to everyone that
has read the piece. I think there is enough in there to force the military out into the open about what is going on in space. The Chinese have some kind of weapons platform up there and the US military is worried enough to put our top assets on alert.”
“The Chinese haven't been particularly aggressive in their space program in recent years Jason. Besides the moon base they haven't conducted any unusual tests, no secret satellites, nothing. You are accusing them, indirectly to be sure, of militarizing space. Jason that is a big, blaring headline that will be around the world in seconds. You have to guarantee me that at least that part of the story is based on solid evidence.”
“I guarantee that the Chinese are up to something,” said Jason. “I found out that much before everyone clammed up.”
“Okay, it's going online tomorrow. The biggest headline we've ever run. We will either be lauded or driven out of business.”
Back at his desk Jason felt relief. He was sure he was right. The fact that no one actually confirmed it made him even more sure. The US military had been caught flat-footed and they were trying to correct the mistake before anyone found out. Only now they wouldn't have the chance. He smiled.
10
Jack and Donner spent the day after the meeting driving to nearby Cascade to take the toll road up Pikes Peak. Jack took the wheel manually once they started up the mountain.
The drive up was a leisurely tour through a thick forest for the first twenty-five minutes then, almost immediately, the trees retreated from the roadside and the view became spectacular.
The road fell away on one side or the other, sometimes with just a foot or so of rocky curb. The ground was a light green for another five or ten minutes until it turned into a dirt and rock strewn landscape. The side of the road disappeared into empty space.
Pike's Peak is a lonely mountain with no companion mountains to disguise its shear height of fourteen thousand feet or block the tremendous views. After almost forty-five minutes they pulled into the parking lot at the peak. Patches of snow were on the ground and there were flurries, it was summer. The temperature was in the thirties, some fifty degrees colder than at the base of the mountain. Donner was glad his dad had brought him a coat.
The snow was not continuous and sometimes the sun would break through the clouds to light the view. Donner and his dad found a spot where they could eat the lunch they had packed. After his dad distributed the food Donner said, “Dad can I ask you something?”
“What is it son?”
“Well Colonel Allen said what I had found was important and that they would follow up on it right?”
“That's right son.”
“But after all the praise he gave me he still didn't tell me what he thought it meant. Do you have any idea?”
“I think that Colonel Allen wasn't at liberty to tell us what he was thinking Donner.”
“Oh I know that,” said Donner. “But I still wonder why it is so important, don't you?”
“Yes I do,” said his dad. “I will tell you what I think but it may not turn out to be right. I think that the message you intercepted came from a geosynchronous space platform that Space Command is responsible for.”
“But there isn't any evidence for that,” said Donner.
“I know,” said his dad. “That's why I said I could be wrong. But I think this is a platform that became operational very recently and it may be that Space Command just wants to get it setup and working before announcing anything to the public. That would be the smart way to militarize space, a fait accompli.”
“Militarize space!” exclaimed Donner. “I thought there were international agreements against that.”
“No, nothing binding, just some understandings. That's what makes it imperative to Space Command that the platform be operational and permanent before the public is told,” said is dad.
“So one day there isn't and then the next day there is a military space platform, get used to it,” said Donner.
“That's the way they hoped to do it,” said Jack. “But I think what you discovered is that it is not as secret a plan as Space Command thought.”
“You mean the spy on the platform,” said Donner.
“That's right,” said Jack. “Well let's finish eating and get some photos for mom, then we start back down. The trip down may be even more interesting than the trip up.”
“Okay,” said Donner. “One more thing dad.”
“Yes,” said Jack.
“This kind of thing is why you moved us to the mountains isn't it?”
“Yes it is Donner,” said Jack. “I don't like surprises.”
11
Lieutenant Brently Armstrong was busy. He had never been given such a difficult assignment. He was charged with finding the anomalous signal that had shown up irregularly in his data logging of the EM sensors. And he had only been given another twenty-four hours to find it. The order had come straight from the General. Something was up.
Brently started by thinking about how he could locate the source even if it wasn't transmitting. Was there any way that data analysis could show the location, or at least the area of the platform from which the signal was being generated?
He thought about the information he already knew. He knew the different sources of the electromagnetic interference which he had nulled out. He knew their relative strength which his EM sensors picked up and he knew their exact location from scouting the station.
If he could build a map of the platform and locate each noise source and its signal strength on that map he might be able to use the data he had on the unknown source to assign it to no more than a few areas around the platform.
“Tess,” he said. “We need a map of the station, do you know of any in the database?”
“Yes Brently,” said Tess. “I'll bring up the different versions on the terminal over here and you can choose.”
Brently reviewed the different station configuration diagrams and chose one to work with. He got busy using his Annie to correlate EM noise sources with distance from the sensors. By tagging the platform diagram with noise source, location and signal strength he developed his map.
Now it was just be a matter of making an assumption about the signal strength of the unknown source...
Brently jumped as his Annie switched to a very loud alarm mode. The unknown source was back online! The Annie had learned that Brently was interested in this signal and had arranged the alarm itself.
Brently grabbed his portable EM sensor adapter and plugged it into his Annie for more precise location mining.
“Tess,” he said. “The unknown source is back on line. Please tell Dr. Fermion I am going to try to find the location.”
“Very well Brently,” said Tess. “Good luck.”
The Annie became a signal tracker once the external EM sensor was plugged in, the screen which now looked like a compass always pointed towards the unknown signal.
He followed the tracker out of the workroom and noticed that the signal was somewhere below him. He would have to climb to the center of the wheel and move 'down' in the direction of the lower equipment and station keeping boom.
Once in what was effectively zero gravity Brently pulled himself in the direction of the lower boom. At the end of the long cylinder of the wheel's center, Brently pulled himself up to a viewing port from which he could see the lower boom. The view of the earth below caused a moment of vertigo.
He began to scan the boom by eye. He knew that the box or whatever it was he was looking for would have to have a long wire trailing from it. The box might be any size, though he expected it to be small, but the length of the antenna wire was fixed according to the transmission frequency. And the frequency that Brently had measured for the unknown signal would require an antenna wire of a few meters.
Brently was repeating the scan of the long boom for a third time when he thought he saw it. But he wasn't sure because the Annie's digital magnification couldn't resolve the target. If only he had a pair of binoculars. Brentl
y called the workroom over the intercom and asked Tess to bring a pair of binoculars.
It wasn't long before Brently saw the robot pulling itself along the handholds as he had done.
“Here are the binoculars,” said Tess as she came up to Brently.
“Thanks,” said Brently.
Through the binoculars he could definitely see a small box with a trailing wire.
“Tess can you see that small box with the trailing wire about a third of the way down the boom?”
From the Earth: A Future Chronology Anthology Page 9