Anomaly

by Peter Cawdron

  “It's a message. It's like a signpost saying, Over here. At least, it seems to be facing the star Vega, it's hard to tell with just a rudimentary sky map and only a vague, approximate notion of its direction. So it's a guess, really.”

  One of the scientists whispered in Mason's ear. Mason said something back to him and he nodded.

  “Vega,” said Mason. “Why Vega? What's so special about Vega?”

  “I don't know,” replied Teller. “It's a pretty ordinary star about 24 light years away from Earth.”

  The scientist beside Mason spoke up.

  “Vega was in that movie about meeting aliens, right? Contact, with Jodie Foster.”

  “Ah, yeah, I guess so,” replied Teller.

  “Don't you find that a little surprising?” added Mason. “That our first contact with an alien civilization would mirror a work of fiction?”

  “It was written by Carl Sagan,” said the scientist, coming to Teller's defense.

  Teller felt very much out of place. He reached out and took the gyroscope from Mason.

  “Find me a radio telescope and point it in the same direction,” commanded Mason. “I want to see exactly what this thing is facing.”

  “I'm on to it,” replied one of the NASA scientists, disappearing inside the research trailer.

  “It's just an idea,” said Teller, regretting saying anything at all, wondering what he'd unleashed. “Ah, we should really be going. The rest of the class is waiting.”

  “Oh, don't worry about them,” said Mason warmly. He took Teller by the arm and led him to one side so Cathy and Susan couldn't hear what he was saying.

  “I'm afraid I can't let you go, not just yet. You see, it seems you're slightly ahead of the curve on this one. You've figured out what we suspect. That this is some kind of alien craft and we're not ready to go public with that yet. We need to get in a position where we can properly manage releasing this information into the public domain. We need to confirm your thinking before anyone else picks up on this as the last thing we need is more wild conspiracy theories. Give us a few hours to run the numbers on this, and let's see if you're right.”

  “You're detaining me?” asked Teller.

  “I'm asking for your help,” said Mason. Teller sensed he was being diplomatic but had no doubt he could be draconian if need be.

  “Perhaps you and your lady friend could help us out for a little while,” Mason continued. “Hang out with young Susan and me for a bit.”

  Teller got the distinct impression that, if it came to it, Mason would have used force.

  “But the kids?”

  “We'll make sure they get back to school.”

  Mason spoke to a couple of the officials.

  Cathy was excited. Teller watched as she fiddled with her lapel microphone, trying to hide it from sight. Had she recorded all this? He looked over at Finch behind the barricade. He looked bored, disinterested. Teller went to say something to Cathy when a couple of the NASA team introduced themselves to him, talking warmly with him. Within a few minutes, he'd forgotten about Cathy, losing himself in discussions about the various observations that had been made of the anomaly. Teller was out of his depth, but he could appreciate their expertise. They seemed as interested in bouncing ideas off him as he was in learning more about the anomaly.

  Chapter 04: News

  The news conference was held at 6pm in response to the massive public outcry in the wake of the Vega exclusive first broadcast by Community Channel Four in New York.

  Mason had exploded with anger when he realized he'd been recorded off-the-record and the Vega theory had been made public. Teller got the impression that he'd have loved to reopen the prison at Guantanamo Bay just for Cathy, but he seemed to have something else in mind, something far more torturous for a reporter.

  “Before we start,” he began, sitting behind a long table at the Millennium hotel just down the road from the anomaly. “I'd like to introduce you to the discussion panel.”

  Camera flashes went off in rapid succession. A mob of reporters, cameramen and sound techs all vied for the best shot. Although the ballroom was almost empty, being able to hold over a thousand people, the hundred or so news representatives were packed at the front of the room like they were being pushed forward from behind. The glare of the lights stunned Teller. Even Cathy was taken back by their brightness. Apparently, she'd never been on this side of the media gaggle.

  At the far end of the table, an aging NASA scientist introduced himself.

  “Dr Bill Anderson, Director of NASA's Ames Advanced Research Center and Chair of the Science Review Board for Harvard.”

  Anderson had the demeanor of everyone's grandfather. He was slightly overweight, but with a jovial smile that made him easy to talk to. On meeting Teller before the press conference began, he'd joked about the strands of gray hair growing out of his ears, noting that they'd migrated there from his shiny bald head. As an executive director, he was constantly being rebuffed by the NASA board for getting too deep into the details of the various decisions being submitted for review, but he couldn't help it. He was a scientist at heart.

  Next to Dr Anderson sat Dr Bates.

  “Dr Jonathan Bates, Director of SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence and founder of the American Astronautical Engineering Society. Adjunct Professor of High-Energy Physics at Princeton.”

  Bates was fastidious in everything he did. Although he wasn't wearing a tie, his shirt was neatly starched and creased. His mustache was trimmed daily to keep it looking crisp. When lost in thought, he had the habit of constantly cleaning his glasses with a soft cloth. Teller figured it was therapeutic, polishing the glass must have allowed his mind the freedom to settle on concepts in greater detail.

  Mason was next.

  Although the Press already knew exactly who he was, there was a point to be made and Mason didn't miss the opportunity to make it as vivid as possible.

  “Dr James Mason, Director of National Security and Intelligence, Presidential Adviser on Scientific Strategies. My Ph.D. is from MIT where I specialized in aeronautics.”

  Teller felt stupid. It was his turn.

  “David Teller, Bachelors Degree in Early Childhood Development. Elementary school teacher at the East Side Village Community School.”

  There was silence.

  “Ah,” he offered in addition, “specializing in chemistry, physics and mathematics.”

  He could have crawled away into a hole and died of embarrassment.

  “Cathy Jones, reporter for Channel Four out of the Village, New York. Bachelors Degree in Journalism.”

  Cathy glanced back at Mason, trying to visually hand the camera's attention back to him. Teller could see she was embarrassed. Their eyes met, and he could see she was ashamed to have dragged him into this. In that instant, he felt he could read her mind. Here he was, a school teacher trying to find a lost student and she'd propelled him and his ad-hoc, off-the-cuff thinking onto the international stage.

  “Firstly, I'd like to clarify a few points from the unauthorized transmission of a private conversation between myself and Mr Teller earlier today.”

  Cathy sunk in her seat.

  “There is no verifiable evidence that the anomaly is alien in origin. At this point, that is a speculative idea being investigated by NASA. Bill? Do you have anything you want to say on that?”

  “Sure,” said Dr Anderson. “Although the anomaly appears to be moving to us, rotating and flipping over in the air, it is actually stationary in its orientation to the stars, always pointing at a single point in the sky as the Earth rotates and turns around it.”

  Anderson held out his hand, rotating his palm in an attempt to provide a visual example as he spoke.

  “Now, that might seem a little confusing at first, but think of the old steam trains you see in a Western movie. Picture the big, old cast-iron wheels that drive the train forward. There's a steel rod connected to the wheel, driving it around. But as the wheel turns, the
rod always points in the same direction, it's always pointing back at the piston. That's essentially what the anomaly is doing. As the Earth rotates, it is always pointing along the same line out into deep space.”

  A flurry of questions broke from the floor. Anderson picked the closest reporter.

  “So is it pointing at Vega?”

  “Well, no,” said Mason. “And this highlights the importance of thorough research over speculation and rumors. Vega is visible in the early evening at this time of the year but the anomaly is aligning with something that is roughly fifteen degrees north of the Sun.”

  He looked down at a sheet of paper to make sure he had the facts correct. “The anomaly is static with reference to an empty patch of the sky north of the ecliptic, at Right Ascension 9 hours 33 minutes and 17 seconds. Declination positive 14 degrees 26 minutes 44 seconds.”

  That seemed to shut them up, Mason noted to himself.

  “So what is it pointing at?” asked one of the reporters.

  “At this point, we are unsure,” replied Mason. “There are no visible stars at these coordinates.”

  Dr. Bates spoke up.

  “According to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the coordinates match a remote, unnamed but previously cataloged galaxy some fifty-five million light years from Earth. But I need to stress, this is our initial observation. It is not a conclusion and it may be subject to revision. There may well be errors in our calculations or our initial assumptions. It may be that we've read too much into the motion of the anomaly relative to the Earth and there may be no purpose in it at all.”

  “What constellation is it in?” asked the same reporter, angling for something specific, something tangible against which to peg the anomaly.

  “Constellations are made up of visible stars that are relatively close to Earth whereas this is so remote as to be visible only to a handful of telescopes. The idea of a constellation, in this regard, is not relevant.”

  “But it's in a particular region of space? Right?” insisted the reporter. “Which constellation does it align with?”

  Teller looked intently at Mason. He could see the furrow on his forehead as he considered his options in reply. Teller knew Mason was between a rock and a hard place as whatever he said would, inevitably, be taken out of context, but the media would figure it out sooner or later. Astrology was the bane of astronomy, its pseudo-counterpart. Like it or not, astrology was a part of Western culture and would get dragged into the discussion somehow. Teller bit his lip, wondering which way Mason would play this, hoping he'd hit this head on.

  “It is in the northern region of Leo. But before anyone gets too excited about that, it should be noted that at a distance of fifty-five million light years, saying the point of origin is in Leo is a bit like standing on the shore of the Hudson and saying China is in New Jersey just because they're both in that direction.”

  There was a flurry of camera flashes.

  “Is there anything you would like to add?” asked Mason, turning and looking down the table at Teller.

  Teller cleared his throat. At first, his words came out quite softly, and he found he had to speak up to be heard properly.

  “Ah, no.” he replied. “I guess I was a little overzealous about Vega.”

  “Dr Teller,” cried another reporter.

  “Mr Teller,” Mason corrected them.

  “Mr Teller, is there anything else you can tell us about this alien anomaly?”

  “Ah, Dr Mason is right. There's no verifiable evidence that the anomaly is alien. It could be a misunderstood natural phenomenon, something we've not seen before. For all we know, it could be a coincidence that it is stationary relative to the stars. It's an observation, not a conclusion. It is too early to tell for sure what the anomaly is, or how it does what it does, or why it does it.”

  “But surely,” another reporter began, “you must appreciate the tremendous amount of interest you've generated in the alien anomaly.”

  Reporters, thought Teller, somewhat exasperated, knowing he'd done all he could to hose down speculation about the possible alien origins of the anomaly, only to have the next reporter ignore him and refer to it as 'the alien anomaly' in the very next question. Sound bites, they'll be the death of civilization, he figured.

  Teller glanced sideways at Cathy who was trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.

  Dr Bates spoke up.

  “Science is all about testing ideas rather than jumping to conclusions. No one has had the time to properly analyze the anomaly. Being the head of SETI there's no one that's more tempted than I to jump to what appears to be the obvious conclusion, that this is indeed alien in origin. But to do so would be folly as we may end up with egg on our faces when the anomaly is shown to be something else. As difficult as it is, we need time to study the anomaly in detail.”

  “But you must know something,” cried another reporter, buried somewhere at the back of the pack.

  “We have our best and brightest working on this,” added Dr. Bates. “But it is important to put the conspiracy theories to rest and realize how little we know about this beyond what has already been reported. There is no record of any such phenomena ever been recorded anywhere, so we are in uncharted territory.”

  “So far, the interior of the anomaly appears completely normal, but it operates according to some kind of localized gravity rather than the Earth's gravity. There's no radiation beyond normal environmental levels. There's no force fields or anything like that. If it hadn't moved, we wouldn't know it was there.

  “And for those that speculate on this being an alien spaceship, it is important to note that there is nothing foreign inside or surrounding the anomaly. The only peculiarity we have been able to observe is a small build up of hydrogen at the exact spherical center of the anomaly, roughly 45 meters above the concrete slab. But it is in small trace amounts, roughly what you'd find in a party balloon.”

  “They use helium,” said Dr Anderson, correcting him. The look on Bates face suggested that he hated being corrected.

  Bates tried to smile politely as he continued. “You'd find more hydrogen in your teenage daughter's bottle of peroxide when she bleaches her hair at the start of summer break.”

  Mason sipped some water before adding some broader comments about the political implications of the anomaly.

  “I'd like to address a few comments to the international community. The advent of the anomaly has caused considerable diplomatic consternation. Please be assured that the US will respond to all diplomatic inquiries and, where practical and feasible, will reply to all scientific inquiries made in relation to the anomaly.

  “We would, however, ask for your patience and understanding. It is our intention to be transparent with the investigation, but this requires considerable logistical and organizational effort on our behalf, and that takes time to establish. We have accepted offers of assistance from CERN, ESA, the Russian Space Agency and the Chinese Space Agency, but there are practical considerations that go along with these offers, such as cultural and language barriers, the need for operational collaboration and even such seemingly minor issues as housing and establishing dedicated laboratories from which to work.

  “All research will be subject to standard scientific peer review which, again, will delay any formal announcement of results, so please, bear with us. This is an important part of the process that cannot be overlooked in favor of a headline for tomorrow's news.”

  Mason held his hands slightly apart, with his fingers poised. He was ready to throw Cathy to the lions.

  “Ms Jones,” he said. “You broke this story. Is there anything you would like to add?”

  Although she looked calm, Teller could see her hands shaking as she held them down on the desk. Her voice quivered as she spoke.

  “Ah... I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. It was rash and thoughtless of me to betray what was a casual conversation between a school teacher, one of his pupils, and her uncle. I'm sorry for causing so much confusion
.”

  She started sobbing.

  Mason was stone-faced. He wasn't finished with Cathy, not just yet.

  “Moving forward,” he said formally, “Ms Jones will act as the media liaison for the anomaly investigation team and will undertake daily briefing sessions for the media. It is our intention to provide complete transparency into our observations of this phenomenon so as to avoid any further speculation. We will not engage in sensational or unsubstantiated claims. I expect Ms Jones will ensure this protocol is followed.”

  Cathy's head hung low.

  Chapter 05: Helium

  Teller walked up to the NASA trailer with Cathy.

  “You too, huh,” said Cathy, seeing Finch looking despondent. His camera sat idly beside him on the ground.

  “Oh, yeah,” replied Finch. “A cavity search would have been more fun than what I've just been through.”

  Cathy flinched. “That bad?”

  Finch was quiet. He was holding Susan's balloon, poking it with his finger like it was some kind of boxing speed bag. He clearly wasn't in the mood for idle chatter.

  Susan was sitting next to him in a deck chair, watching the slab of concrete in the distance as it slowly rose up on one side. It was almost at a right-angle to the ground, appearing like a large circular wall blocking the view of the United Nations building by the river. Susan sat there tossing a football idly from one hand to the other to stave off the boredom. The anomaly was supposed to be exciting, but she found it slow.

  Mason, Bates and Anderson walked up behind them, stopping to talk with a few of the NASA scientists some ten feet away. With the news conference behind them, there was a lot of discussion about the next steps. There was a general agreement that they'd learned all they could passively, watching the anomaly from a distance. At some point, they needed to probe the interior, but the question was how?

  Anderson asked Mason about Teller, knowing both Teller and Cathy could overhear their conversation. Anderson was thoughtful, not one to jump to rash conclusions. In this case, he clearly appreciated the fresh perspective Teller brought to the discussion about the anomaly. Bates was not so complimentary, saying there was no room for amateurs on the project. Mason reminded Bates they were all amateurs when it came to possible extraterrestrial contact. Bates protested, saying it would look bad in scientific circles. Anderson challenged that, asking since when did Bates care about what others thought. Mason reminded them both of the loss of the Challenger space shuttle, and how group-thinking had dominated NASA's decision making prior to that fatal launch. As far as Mason was concerned, a little diversity in the group was a good thing, preventing them from falling for the same mistakes again. Teller, it seemed, would become a part of the team. Teller might not be qualified, said Mason, but he was sharp and he thought laterally. His gyroscope comparison had been a good example of thinking outside the box. Teller, Mason noted, seemed to understand the anomaly better than anyone else so far, something that grated on Bates. Even with the Vega fiasco, Mason said it had been a productive afternoon.