specifically directed at anyone spot."
"What about down links?" Lamb asked. "Was it trying to communicate with the other locations like the first one?"
"No, sir. Like I said, this one was just sort of put out there-we have no idea where it was directed to. It most certainly was not a meteor burst transmission like the first. In fact, it might not necessarily be a coherent transmission."
"What does that mean?" Fran asked.
"I mean it might just be a microwave burst of energy, not necessarily a message." Spurlock shook his head. "I don't know . . . I've never seen anything like this. If it was a transmission, I'm not sure what kind of transmission it was."
Lamb was exasperated. "You'd better start explaining this a hell of lot better than you are, mister, because right now you aren't making a damn bit of sense."
Levy's voice cut in. "I think I know what has happened. At 0246 hours Zulu, or Greenwich mean, dish four picked up a microwave transmission from the vicinity of the Rock. It was monitoring a wide band width centered on the frequency of the original transmission, but scooting up and down the frequencies on a fixed rotation every twenty seconds to make sure it didn't miss anything going out on those. The transmission it picked up was not directional. The transmission lasted a total of approximately twenty-three seconds, as best as can be estimated."
Lamb leaned forward. "What do you mean 'as best as can be estimated'?"
Levy was staring at the computer screen. "The transmission was picked up initially at fourteen twenty megahertz. The computer locked on and when the frequency started shifting, the computer shifted with it. The frequency started shifting up in the spectrum, then blanked out for two seconds, then was picked up at sixteen sixty-two megahertz, then again blanked out for two seconds on the way back down. The dish picked it up again, shifting back down the spectrum until it disappeared at fourteen twenty."
"Cut to the chase," Lamb said. "What was the content of the transmission?"
"I don't know right now," Levy said. "Part was in standard binary, but Major Spurlock's and my own analyses have currently detected no discernible code."
"Who sent it?" Lamb asked. "The same transmitter that sent the first one?"
"Most likely, but that can't be guaranteed," Levy said.
"I contacted Colonel Tolliver's people out with the advance party at the Rock," Spurlock said. "The marines assure me that no one out there transmitted. Their equipment did not pick it up because they're operating lower down in the band."
Spurlock removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose nervously. "This transmission is very strange-unlike anything I've ever seen or can find a record of. The latest military radios use frequency-skipping to maintain security. This message skipped around in frequency, but it also did something else, something quite unusual, during those times when it totally disappeared from the spectrum. I don't think the transmission stopped there-I think it skipped into a form that we could not monitor. We also don't know to whom the message was transmitted. The power level was not particularly high, but by skipping off the atmosphere it could be picked up by a receiver that was expecting it, pretty much anywhere in the world."
"If whatever is in the Rock wanted to communicate with us," Hawkins said, "it could have done that like it did with the first message-using the information off the Voyager plate. If this transmission was sent in a way that we wouldn't even have picked up if we weren't specifically listening, and in a format we can't decode, that makes me think we weren't the designated receiver for it. Someone or something else is the intended receiver, and they did get it. The question is, who and where?"
Lamb sat still for a few seconds, distilling the confusing information. "So basically what you're telling me is that we have something in the Rock transmitting an unknown message, using means we are not
"What about down links?" Lamb asked. "Was it trying to communicate with the other locations like the first one?"
"No, sir. Like I said, this one was just sort of put out there-we have no idea where it was directed to. It most certainly was not a meteor burst transmission like the first. In fact, it might not necessarily be a coherent transmission."
"What does that mean?" Fran asked.
"I mean it might just be a microwave burst of energy, not necessarily a message." Spurlock shook his head. "I don't know . . . I've never seen anything like this. If it was a transmission, I'm not sure what kind of transmission it was."
Lamb was exasperated. "You'd better start explaining this a hell of lot better than you are, mister, because right now you aren't making a damn bit of sense."
Levy's voice cut in. "I think I know what has happened. At 0246 hours Zulu, or Greenwich mean, dish four picked up a microwave transmission from the vicinity of the Rock. It was monitoring a wide band width centered on the frequency of the original transmission, but scooting up and down the frequencies on a fixed rotation every twenty seconds to make sure it didn't miss anything going out on those. The transmission it picked up was not directional. The transmission lasted a total of approximately twenty-three seconds, as best as can be estimated."
Lamb leaned forward. "What do you mean 'as best as can be estimated'?"
Levy was staring at the computer screen. "The transmission was picked up initially at fourteen twenty megahertz. The computer locked on and when the frequency started shifting, the computer shifted with it. The frequency started shifting up in the spectrum, then blanked out for two seconds, then was picked up at sixteen sixty-two megahertz, then again blanked out for two seconds on the way back down. The dish picked it up again, shifting back down the spectrum until it disappeared at fourteen twenty."
"Cut to the chase," Lamb said. "What was the content of the transmission?"
"I don't know right now," Levy said. "Part was in standard binary, but Major Spurlock's and my own analyses have currently detected no discernible code."
"Who sent it?" Lamb asked. "The same transmitter that sent the first one?"
"Most likely, but that can't be guaranteed," Levy said.
"I contacted Colonel Tolliver's people out with the advance party at the Rock," Spurlock said. "The marines assure me that no one out there transmitted. Their equipment did not pick it up because they're operating lower down in the band."
Spurlock removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose nervously. "This transmission is very strange-unlike anything I've ever seen or can find a record of. The latest military radios use frequency-skipping to maintain security. This message skipped around in frequency, but it also did something else, something quite unusual, during those times when it totally disappeared from the spectrum. I don't think the transmission stopped there-I think it skipped into a form that we could not monitor. We also don't know to whom the message was transmitted. The power level was not particularly high, but by skipping off the atmosphere it could be picked up by a receiver that was expecting it, pretty much anywhere in the world."
"If whatever is in the Rock wanted to communicate with us," Hawkins said, "it could have done that like it did with the first message-using the information off the Voyager plate. If this transmission was sent in a way that we wouldn't even have picked up if we weren't specifically listening, and in a format we can't decode, that makes me think we weren't the designated receiver for it. Someone or something else is the intended receiver, and they did get it. The question is, who and where?"
Lamb sat still for a few seconds, distilling the confusing information. "So basically what you're telling me is that we have something in the Rock transmitting an unknown message, using means we are not
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