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.
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