Magwave (The Rorschach Explorer Missions Book 2)

by K Patrick Donoghue

  “No, not at all. I’m just saying we have to keep the long game in mind when we have disagreements. Especially when we’re facing a crisis like we are now. This isn’t like social media, Kiera. You can’t just rip off a one-liner and then shut down the account. Shilling’s not going anywhere any time soon, and neither are you.”

  Carillo’s social media comment was a reference to an exchange Kiera had had with Colonel Carlton Rawlings after he went on live television the week before launch and questioned Kiera’s qualifications to be part of the crew. The quote that sent her over the edge was Rawlings’ quip about the inevitability of a crisis that would cause Kiera to curl up in a ball and suck her thumb.

  Kiera’s social-media response had been short and to the point.

  Hey grandpa, f*** u and the rocket you rode 2 the Moon! #nothumbsuckerhere

  That had sparked a vicious backlash from Rawlings…though on the bright side it had also gotten Kiera two million new followers — before Amato ordered her to shut down the account.

  “Don’t get me wrong,” Carillo continued, “I think Bob’s an a-hole too. But I’m not going to say it to his face. Scream it into your pillow, flip him the bird behind his back, but let’s avoid confrontations. You need him, he needs you. We all need each other.”

  Just before Kiera snapped back at Carillo, Ajay floated into view in the engine room doorway, clad in sweatpants and a T-shirt featuring the smiling Elroy cartoon character.

  “Greetings, Earthlings,” he said with a smile. “Might I have a word?”

  “Not now. We’re kinda in the middle of something,” Kiera said.

  “It’s important. Well, I think it’s important.”

  Carillo motioned him in. “Why aren’t you wearing your GEFF gear?”

  Ajay twirled his body in midair. “I don’t know. I feel more like an astronaut when I’m floating around.”

  Carillo laughed. “You crack me up.”

  Kiera glared at the both of them.

  Ajay smiled wider as he tucked to perform a flip. “You should try it, Kiera. It’s fun.”

  “Knock off the clown show, it’s annoying,” Kiera said. “Now what’s so damn important?”

  “Okay, okay.” Ajay reached for Carillo’s shoulder to steady his flip, but he missed and almost grabbed one of her breasts by mistake. “Oops, sorry about that. Navigational error.”

  Kiera growled and stood. She took hold of Ajay’s T-shirt and pinned his weightless body upside down against the wall. “Out with it!”

  Staring up at the two women, Ajay said, “I think I know where the BLUMOs came from.”

  “BLUMOs?” Kiera said.

  “Yeah, that’s what Dr. Shilling said Mayaguana is calling the colony of blue UMOs now. I suggested Bluto or Blammo, but got rejected.”

  “Why are you telling us about this rather than Dr. Shilling?” Carillo asked.

  “He’s with Skywalker in the ready room. They’re yelling at each other pretty good right now. I didn’t think it was a good time to interrupt.”

  Augustus Amato’s office

  A3rospace Industries Command and Control Center

  Mayaguana Island, The Bahamas

  Amato looked from Dante to Pritchard. Both men seemed upbeat and full of energy, despite the likelihood that neither man had slept more than a few hours over the last forty-eight.

  “Well, gentlemen, what’s the verdict? How did your meetings go?”

  “Good. Productive,” Pritchard said. He turned to Dante. “Do you agree?”

  “I do. Everybody came to the table with contributions.”

  “That’s a relief. I was worried there might be some ‘I told you so’ energy from the NASA folks you invited into the working group,” Amato said. He held up a hand toward Pritchard. “No offense, Dennis.”

  “None taken, Augie. I kind of expected the same. Credit Helen. I think she’s trying to instill a new attitude at NASA. Plus, she’s always been good in crises. She checks her ego and works the problems. It’s obvious her mentality has rubbed off on her team.”

  “Excellent,” Amato said. “So, give me the highlights.”

  Pritchard handed Amato a packet. “Here are the materials handed out at the meeting. I’ve emailed you a complete set, plus the video and data files we discussed. Short version — the first probe to be attacked was Recon-1, the command CubeSat in the Recon group. We think the BLUMOs were triggered by X-band comms between Recon-1 and the other CubeSats.”

  “BLUMOs?” Amato asked.

  “Blue UMOs,” Dante said. “We kept on getting confused about which UMOs we were talking about, so I came up with the new term. Anyway, like Dennis said, we think X-band comms started the whole chain of events.”

  “Really? I was sure you’d say the catalyst was the gamma-ray spectrometers or the VLF engines.”

  Pritchard nodded. “We discussed both, but based on what happened afterward, they’re less likely than X-band.”

  It was well known by now that UMOs were sensitive to radiation at the low and high ends of the electromagnetic spectrum. Toward the higher end, they reacted to X-rays and gamma rays, and at the lower end, to radio waves, including the super-high-frequency waves transmitted by X-band radios, high-frequency waves transmitted by shortwave radios, and the very-low-frequency waves used to agitate ions in the plasma chambers of Kiera’s VLF engines.

  “Elaborate,” Amato said.

  “Okay, let’s start with the VLF engines,” Dante said. “There was no data from the Recons that suggested the BLUMOs fed on ejected ions. There was no evidence of boosts in speed, no bump from a bow shock and the Recons never veered off course before they went LOS.”

  “And the gamma spectrometers?”

  Dante deferred to Pritchard for the answer. The former NASA chief said, “Well, as you know, the spectrometers were operating, scanning for gamma bursts, when the attack occurred. But the BLUMOs didn’t target the spectrometer sensors. At least, not at first. Which wasn’t surprising, since gamma-ray spectrometers don’t emit gamma rays. The devices detect the rays by emitting electrical pulses that interact with gamma photons captured by the spectrometer’s sensor.”

  “Yes, I know,” Amato said. “But we also know from past experience that UMOs don’t like the spectrometers, nonetheless. Whether it has to do with the electrical pulses, the germanium crystals in the sensor head or background radiation leaked by the device, we don’t yet know. But we do know they will attack a GRS.”

  “Well, they didn’t this time,” Pritchard said. “The first component to get zapped on all the Recons was the X-band transmitter.”

  Dante chimed in. “And we think the attack cascaded because Recon-1 transmitted a sensor alarm back to Rorschach and to the other Recons before the BLUMOs finished it off. Those X-band signals led the BLUMOs from one probe to another and ultimately guided them back to Rorschach, the Shields and Cargos.”

  Amato had been flipping through the packet while Dante spoke, but now he paused and looked up. “But if that’s the case, why didn’t our UMO colony react in the same way? They’ve been flying with us since we left Earth. We’ve used X-band the entire way, ship-to-probes, fleet-to-Earth.”

  “Shilling says he conditioned Rorschach’s colony to ignore X-band signals a long time ago, so they lost whatever sensitivity that made the BLUMOs attack,” Pritchard said.

  Amato stood, his pot belly brushing against the conference table. He began to pace, looking down, while rubbing the smooth crown of his head. “Hmmm…”

  “What’s the matter, Augie?” Pritchard said.

  Amato halted and turned to face him. “Your comment about Rorschach’s colony. Are you certain the BLUMOs didn’t attack because they detected our UMO colony?”

  “Oh, everyone believes things went batshit once the two colonies became aware of each other,” Dante said. “But the sequence of the attack implies they were first triggered by X-band signals.”

  Pritchard explained the working group’s view of how the attack un
folded. After the BLUMOs attacked the Recons, they homed in on the flurry of sensor alarm pings going back and forth between the Recons and Rorschach. When the colony traveling with the fleet detected the BLUMO swarm, they tried to move Rorschach, their food source, out of harm’s way and then dispersed to deal with the BLUMOs. By then, all the electromagnetic energy flying around had triggered sensor alarms on the Shields. A melee ensued.

  “When the crew fired up the Cargos,” Dante said, “our UMOs detected the engine ions, broke off the fight and chased after the probes. The urge to feed won out. We’re not sure why. Maybe their strength was depleted from the battle. Anyway, for some reason, the BLUMOs took off after them instead of finishing off Rorschach and the rest of the Shields.”

  “Thank heaven for that.” Amato resumed pacing. “Most of what you’ve said sounds plausible, but there is one piece that doesn’t fit.”

  “What piece?” Pritchard asked.

  “Why did the BLUMOs come back to Rorschach later? The ship’s X-band antenna was knocked out in the first attack, so X-band comms couldn’t have attracted them.”

  “It turns out that not all X-band was out,” Dante said.

  “I don’t follow,” Amato said.

  “He feels bad about it, Augie. It wasn’t intentional,” said Pritchard.

  “Who feels bad about what? What are you two talking about?”

  “Antonio Wallace. Remember when we were watching Expedition to Callisto and he was texting?”

  “What’s that got to do with anything?”

  “He texted his tech guys to ping his drone-landers aboard Rorschach to see if they were okay. They don’t rely on Rorschach’s X-band antenna, Augie — they have their own specialized antennas. The BLUMOs must have picked up the signal and homed in on Rorschach again.”

  “Are you saying if we shut off all X-band, we shouldn’t have any more problems with the BLUMOs?”

  “I don’t think either of us are prepared to go that far,” Dante said.

  “Then are you advocating we scrub?” asked Amato.

  Dante exchanged a glance with Pritchard, then said, “Not yet. We think we have a solution that buys us time to assess the Callisto gamma risk without exposing Rorschach to another run-in with the BLUMOs.”

  Crew ready room — the Rorschach Explorer

  Drifting at all-stop above the ecliptic in the asteroid belt

  Facing Shilling from the opposite side of the ready room conference table, Morgan unloaded on the man. “This bullshit’s gotta stop, Bob. Right here and now.”

  “I agree,” Shilling said, just as forcefully. “We shouldn’t even wait to hear from Mayaguana. Turn the ship around and let’s get the hell out of here.”

  “That’s not what I’m talking about and you know it.” Morgan jabbed a finger at the UMO researcher. “You gotta stop with the condescension. Stop with the attitude. Stop with the insubordination.”

  Shilling’s face turned purple. “Me? What about her?”

  “Look, I realize Kiera’s got a quick trigger and a sailor’s mouth, but you can’t let her get to you. It affects how you deal with everyone else.”

  “Then rein her in. I’m fed up with her questioning my manhood.”

  “I’ve talked to her. I’ve asked Julia to talk to her. And she’s getting the same message I’m giving to you. Knock it off, get in line and keep it civil.”

  “Or else what? Are you going to confine me to quarters? Shoot me out the airlock?”

  “Don’t tempt me.”

  Shilling leaned over the table and sneered at the shorter Morgan. “You don’t scare me, Colonel. You’re a shadow of the legend that follows you around.”

  “This has nothing to do with legends,” Morgan spat back. “It has to do with the here and now. We’re up to our neck in shit. We can’t afford to be at each other’s throats.”

  “Up to our necks in shit…a perfect analogy.” Shilling glared. “And guess who put us there?”

  “What are you driving at?”

  “You’ve sniffed your shit so long you can’t even tell the danger you’ve put us in.” Shilling pounded the table and kicked at a chair. “You don’t have a wife and kids. I do. I want to see them again. More than I want to see Callisto, UMOs or anything else out here. You, on the other hand, are chasing ghosts. People who probably died within weeks of leaving Callisto…twenty-four fricking years ago. But you can’t admit that to yourself. Instead, you’re obsessed with ‘bringing your crew home,’ even if it means exposing this crew to unnecessary risks.”

  A3rospace Industries Command and Control Center

  Mayaguana Island, The Bahamas

  Dante and Pritchard walked Amato through their proposed revisions to Rorschach’s mission. The first order of business: bolster the ship’s radiation shield. This would be accomplished by retrofitting the two “rescued” Recons to serve as Shields.

  “Kiera’s already created a component list for the swap-out,” Dante said. “Once the retrofit is complete, Rorschach will have a total of five Shields. We’d rather have six, but five will work.”

  Task two, Dante explained, involved creating new Recons out of Antonio Wallace’s two drone-landers. “The landers are already outfitted with gamma spectrometers, but they only have maneuvering thrusters. They would take forever to reach Callisto. So to speed their trip, we’re suggesting using the two Cargos as taxis.”

  The jury-rigged solution made sense to Amato. After the crew unloaded the Cargos, the empty vessels would have no purpose in the near-term. Why not take advantage of their VLF engines to transport the drone-landers? “So, you’ll have Rorschach remotely deploy the landers to scan for gamma bursts when the Cargos reach Callisto.”

  “That’s right,” Pritchard said.

  “You’re not concerned BLUMOs will attack the Cargos?”

  “Oh, we’re concerned all right,” Pritchard said. “But — knock on wood — Kiera has guided them back without incident so far.”

  “Yes, but that’s because she’s using thrusters only. What happens when they power up their VLF engines again?”

  “We’ll tell them to keep the Cargos well above the ecliptic until they’re through the belt,” said Dante. “But if the probes get attacked, we’ll scrub immediately and bring Rorschach home.”

  “All right.” Amato crossed his arms. “Assuming the Cargos make it to Callisto unmolested, are two landers enough to do the job? Before, you lobbied hard to have all six Recons scan for gamma radiation.”

  “It’s less than ideal, and it’ll take more time, but we think it’s manageable,” Dante said.

  “What about Rorschach and the Shields? Where will they be while the Cargos are on their way to Callisto?”

  “We’ll have them also stay above the ecliptic until the Cargos are past the belt, then we’ll send them on,” Pritchard said. “They’ll only be about a month behind the Cargos if all goes well.”

  “And once Rorschach nears the outer edge of the belt,” Dante added, “its course will put it within a few days of Ceres. We’ll divert the ship and Shields there and have them insert into orbit while the drone-landers conduct the gamma search.”

  The plan appealed to Amato. If the search yielded no sign of gamma radiation, Rorschach could proceed to Callisto, and if the landers did detect gamma bursts and the mission had to be scrubbed, there would still be the opportunity to conduct meaningful scientific research on Ceres before returning to Earth.

  “Have you run your plan past Paul or Kiera?”

  “Only part one, retrofitting the Recons to become Shields,” Dante said. “We wanted to discuss part two with you first to make sure you were on board with repurposing the landers, using the Cargos as taxis and the idea about the Ceres diversion.”

  “Very well. Let’s run it by both of them after they finish the refit of the Recons. I don’t think we should distract them until then.”

  CHAPTER 6: BIRD CALLS

  Comms & instrumentation center — the Rorschach Explorer
/>   Drifting at all-stop above the ecliptic in the asteroid belt

  September 3, 2019

  Ajay handed headphones to Kiera and Carillo and plugged them into the ship’s radio spectrum analyzer. “So, as you know, I’ve kept our radio receivers on throughout the trip. I like to listen to our UMO colony.”

  Ever since Ajay’s discovery of the radio wave dialogue between groups of UMOs the prior year, he had developed a keen interest in listening to the aliens’ conversations. In fact, he hoped to learn enough from observing their chirp patterns during the flight to Callisto to discern a way to directly communicate with them. To this end, he was especially interested in the sounds generated by the apparent ringleader in most UMO colony conversations — the colony queen.

  He would not have known the lead chirper was most often the colony queen if not for insights provided by Dr. Anlon Cully the prior year, but once he learned of this communication characteristic, he became intent on deciphering the chirps of Rorschach’s UMO queen.

  “Yeah,” Kiera said. “So what?”

  “After you listen to them long enough, they sound like birds chirping,” Ajay said.

  “We’ll take your word for it,” Kiera said. “Get to the point.”

  “For most of the trip, one of the UMOs has done most of the talking, er, chirping. I assume that’s the queen. Every now and then you hear other chirps, though. Sort of like when you hear one bird chirp in a tree and then others chirp back.”

  “I get the audiovisual,” Kiera said, her voice tinged with sarcasm.

  “Well, I’ve been recording the chirp sessions, and I went back and listened to the recording on BLUMO Day. During the attack, at least until the colony split up, a different-sounding chirp appeared. A quivering kind of chirp. I don’t think it was from our colony. I think it came from the queen of the BLUMOs. Put on your headphones and listen.”

  First Ajay played them a clip of pre-attack chirps. There were intermittent, slow bursts of the bird-like sounds. He then played a snippet of the early part of the attack, in which the chirp pattern ramped up in intensity and frequency. Finally, they listened to a clip where the quivering chirp first entered the dialogue. It was an eerie sound, more like a whistle than a chirp. A terse battle of chirps ensued until electromagnetic interference overwhelmed the rest of the recording.