Harbinger

Finally have been able to sit for a short bit and write out a little more of my story.

For those who may need a short refresher, you will be able to find all the entries for this story under the Label "Crossing" on the left side column. The post headings are more closely related to chapters, even if short ones! Enjoy!

(conclusion of "Inaugural")

Brandon walked to the aft porthole, his attention drawn to the string of tropical storms and hurricanes so typical for this time of year. Today they could not match his dark mood, or the storms he knew were headed this way, 400 miles up. He could only hope they did not make landfall on his shores.

Even the visor’s thick shielding would not protect Margo’s eyes from the sun’s scorching brightness, so she closed her eyes and focused on the trio of unmelodious notes coming from her range-finder. Most people floating over 22,000 miles above Terra firma, with less than 3 hours of breathable air, and blinded by the sun would have panicked long ago. But then, she was not most people. In fact she disliked people, and would have chosen this isolated patch of space over anyone’s company. She had even been audacious enough to reject promotions for her exceptional abilities, fearing the confinement of a desk and the company of incompetents.
The scheduled third quarter inspection was still two weeks away, but the date had been moved up to satisfy some government bureaucrat. She thought them all fools, but was glad to be here nonetheless. This was her third inspection at the heart of Pinnacle’s tether; the only spot where you could truly experience zero G. Pulled by gravity at one end, centrifugal forces at the other, this magic spot was where the high tech tether “hung” in both directions. It seemed a rope at this spot suffered the same lack of a sense of up and down as people did. It also happened to be where the highest tension was exerted. All things being equal, this was where a failure would be most likely to occur. Physical inspections were the most laborious but fruitful means of ensuring the safety of Pinnacle.

With half her oxygen depleted, she heard the tell-tale beat frequency which indicated she was 1 meter from the tether. A quick jet blast and she hovered motionless alongside the East Tether, in the sun’s shadow again. She opened her eyes, and as her pupils adjusted to the contrasting darkness, was puzzled by what looked like reflected sunlight along the tether. It resembled the pattern one often saw at the bottom of a swimming pool. Even though this was not any of the problems she was trained to detect, and it might be nothing more than a reflection from a nearby satellite or some other space anomaly, she would need to record and report this. She removed the holographic recorder and comm’ed in that she would take longer to rendezvous with the rest of the team. She smiled, secretly pleased there was a reason to prolong her solitude.

Inaugural (story continued)

Little bits at a time, I add to my story. We leave our fancy elevator momentarily...

Inaugural

“What’s wrong?” asked Brandon, noticing the freshly furrowed brow on Evan’s face. Evan was manning the Hyper Spectral imaging computers, which were currently running diagnostics and calibrations on the soon to be unveiled Pinnacle Observatory.
“It looks like there might be a problem with the calibration algorithms. The diagnostics are coming back normal, but there are a number of stellar grids that are failing to calibrate.”
Now it was Brandon’s turn to be concerned. “I thought we exercised all this two, four and six weeks ago? Why didn’t we see a problem then?”
There was no answer to give, so Evan remained silent, intently studying the cryptic numbers littering the computer consoles. He knew what was at stake. They were six hours away from THE official ribbon cutting ceremony, when the new Observatory would officially become operational. Scientists, and not just those in the particle physics and cosmology fields, had been anticipating this day for years. It heralded the arrival of the most advanced tool in the arsenal of cosmic observatories. Hubble had radically revolutionized and advanced science – there was no less hope for Pinnacle One. It was not just another telescope. It was the culmination of decades of research into the emerging quantum sensor field, a specialization of the very successful quantum computer revolution.
The only fear was that this tool was as good as science could ever hope for. A single photon could be sensed accurately. Sophisticated computers would process the information in near real time and correlate amplitudes, frequencies, phases. The claim was that this observatory would be able to perform coherent observation throughout the entire observable spectrum. There were still many skeptics, who simply would not believe any system could be built to the exacting tolerances and specifications to make the theoretical system work.
The station had been preparing for months for the arrival of scientific, political and financial VIPs. Security had never been tighter. And the only day they were not allowed to have a problem? Today.
Evan’s momentary lapse into contemplations of a premature end to his budding career were interrupted “You know, if you are messing with my mind here…”.
“Nope, wish I was”.
“So what next genius? How long should I give you to figure out if this is a glitch or a real problem?”
“One second…” Evan was not the most stellar multi-tasker. However he was one of the best in his field. Brandon watched with a mix of confusion and admiration while Evan tapped away, with screens opening and closing almost too fast to take in the content. As fast as he worked, precious minutes were ticking away, each one heightening Brandon’s impatience. Finally Even slowed down, and looked over, saying “Here goes nothing”. He opened the switch guard, and pressed the glowing Calibrate button. The screen began filling in a complex checkerboard with numbers. One by one they began turning green, the universal color signifying all is well. But then the same grids as before flashed red. Both men muttered under their breath. “You better start panicking and call in the reinforcements boss”, said Evan. “We might be able to reboot the computer, but there is no guarantee that is the problem. And the reboot sequence takes about an hour to complete to get back to this point. If this is an issue with the programming, or worse, the hardware, we might not even have time to diagnose the root problem, much less fix it.