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5:00 AM; SV1 CONTROL CENTER:
Carter flips the windshield wiper to full speed, giving him clear glimpses of the gravel road illuminated by the rising sun. Twenty minutes ago, he backed his car out of the garage into a torrential downpour. He isn’t due to start his shift for another two hours, but early this morning, he received an urgent call from Teresa Taylor. The second signal has reappeared, but this time it started at 1:57 AM, and hasn’t shut down like before. As far as he knows, it’s still on.
His stomach tightens into a knot. This storm is not a coincidence. Alex Cave is right. The SV1 must be causing these strange weather patterns.
He slows his car as he enters a code into a transmitter mounted to the dashboard. The gate slides open, and he parks in front of the structure. He opens the door and leaps out, uses his code to enter the building, and finds Teresa waiting inside. “Is it still on?”
“Yes, and I’ve accessed the National Weather Service images, like you asked. The entire western shoreline from Vancouver, Canada to Central Mexico is suffering torrential downpours. After all the fires this summer, they are expecting flash flooding and mud slides from northern California south. Paul and I have tried everything imaginable to turn it off, but nothing works.”
“Scott and I had the same problem. It’s like someone else is in control.”
Teresa thinks about a call she received yesterday from her friend, Terry Hardin, in Iceland. As part of the Mutual UFO Network’s Ground Surveillance Unit, he’s positive he has discovered an alien spaceship in the arctic. She stares up at Carter. “How come none of us were told anything about the torpedo in the SV1? We don’t know who designed it, who built it, where it came from, or how it does what it does.”
Carter crosses his arms. “We’re not paid to ask questions, Teresa. We’re paid to follow instructions and keep our heads down.”
“But doesn’t it bother you? Not knowing what we’re dealing with?”
“What’s your point?”
“My point is, what if the torpedo in the SV1 is of alien origin?”
Carter thinks about his conversation with his visitors. At the time, he had a feeling Alex was holding something back, the same feeling he gets when talking to Preston. Still, the idea of alien technology on earth doesn’t seem completely irrational. “I don’t know. Let’s just deal with the current situation at hand, and that’s gaining control of the SV1.” Carter turns around and heads toward his office.
“Where are you going?" asks Teresa.
“I need to make a phone call. Let me know if anything changes.”
Two doors down from the security checkpoint, he enters a small room and grabs the phone to call Preston. After several rings, a groggy voice answers. “Hello.”
“Sorry to bother you, Steve, but we have another issue with the mysterious second signal. It’s on again, and it won’t turn off.”
***
FIDALGO ISLAND, WASHINGTON:
Preston sets his phone on the nightstand and reaches across the bed to put his hand on Rita’s shoulder. “It’s happening again. You need to get up and check on your device.”
Rita grabs his hand and shoves it off her skin. “Later.”
Preston rolls off the bed and stands, grabbing his robe off the back of a chair. “I’ll make some coffee. You’ve got fifteen-minutes to get dressed.” He walks towards the stairs.
Rita throws off the sheet and rolls into a sitting position on the edge of the bed. “And a cinnamon roll”, she hollers after him as she stands and shuffles into the bathroom.
When Rita strolls into the kitchen, Preston looks up from a computer monitor on the edge of the counter. “You’re late.”
She gives him the finger and continues to the coffee maker. “What’s the hurry?”
“Have you looked outside? We’re having a tsunami in the middle of August. Your machine must be causing this weather pattern. You need to get over there and fix it.”
“It’s not my machine causing the problem. It’s the one in space.”
“I’m not so sure. Carter tells me someone else is controlling the second signal.” He smirks at her. “Just go check your device and see if your teeth vibrate again.”
“That’s not funny, Steve. I’m telling you, I’m not controlling anything.” She sits down at the counter and looks at the image on the monitor. It’s the current weather patterns from the National Weather Service, and she listens to the announcer’s commentary.
“Something is forcing the Siberian Jet Stream to spike over the central Pacific Ocean, causing an artificial El Niño effect. We have no idea how this is possible, and we’re already receiving reports of devastating flash floods along the Pacific coast, from Northern California to Baja Mexico.”
When she looks up at Preston, his arms are crossed as he stares back at her. “Fine.”
She stands and snaps a lid on her coffee mug, then heads for the door into the garage.
***
Rita enters her combination into the control panel at the storage facility’s front gate. It opens and she drives through the rows of concrete buildings toward the last unit, number two-hundred. When she reaches unit one-hundred and nineteen, the engine suddenly dies. She tries turning the key, but nothing happens. “Damn. What now.”
She climbs out and pulls up her coat hood to ward off the deluge as she walks to the front of the vehicle. She notices something shiny in her peripheral vision. When she turns to look, her jaw drops.
She walks over to her storage unit and stares at the thick layer of ice covering the large roll-up door. “What the hell?”
She walks around the corner of the building to the side door, and discovers that it too, is covered with a thick translucent layer of frozen water. She reaches into her pocket and brings out her phone to call Steve, but the screen remains dark, as if the battery is dead.
She hurries back to her vehicle and studies the concrete road. She notices a slight slope where she stopped, and has an idea. She climbs inside, puts the transmission into neutral, and uses her leg muscles to roll the car away from the unit. When she reaches number one-hundred and eighteen, the car alarm beeps that the door is open. She turns the key and the engine starts. With a sense of relief, she slams the door closed and backs away before turning around and heading back to DAR headquarters.
Continuous days of soft rain are expected in the Pacific Northwest, but Rita has difficulty seeing through the torrential downpour hammering against the windshield. When she sees Steve’s house, she enters her code into the touchpad on the dashboard. The garage door opens and she drives inside, where she quickly exits the vehicle.
She rushes through the doorway into Preston’s living room, and finds him sitting in front of the window, staring at the blurry image of the San Juan Islands. She walks around to stand in front of him. “Something is horribly wrong. The device is freezing everything in close proximity. The storage doors are covered in several inches of ice, and it disables anything electronic that comes into close range of it.”
Preston stares up at her. “This is bad, really bad. They haven’t been able to shut down the second frequency. It must be doing something to your device.” He stands and moves over to his desk, waving her closer. When she’s beside him, he points at the monitor. “Is that the same signal you saw when your teeth tingled?”
She shakes her head no. “That one has a different frequency modulation. Look at the amplitude. This signal is much more powerful.”
Preston throws his arms in the air in frustration. “None of this is making any sense. Aren’t you supposed to be the expert on these things? Find a way to shut it down!”
She turns from the monitor and to the window, staring at the rippling streams of water running down the glass. She feels a shiver down her spine, tugs the front of her coat closed, then turns back to Preston. “I can’t do it on my own. I’ll need someone’s help.”
Preston stares at her. “You’re joking, right? He’s a CIA has-been who is nothing more than a dusty old rock teacher now. What could he possibly do that you or my staff of highly trained computer wizards can’t do?”
“Do you remember hearing about the moon changing orbit a while back?”
“Yes, it was struck by an asteroid. What’s that got to do with anything?”
A wry smile crosses her face. “No, actually, the moon was pulled out of orbit by another alien device. A device that was discovered by Cave and Okana. The asteroid impact is what fixed the problem. The media just failed to add that little part.”
He thinks about it for a moment. “Absolutely not. Cave cannot know we’re responsible for causing the change in weather. If this gets out, I’ll be fighting lawsuits from now until I die. I’ll get thrown in jail, lose my life savings, lose my business; it would destroy me. No, we can fix this. Work with Essex on this issue. The SV1 is still doing what you designed it to do. We’re just dealing with some minor hiccups is all. Just a little rain and a frozen storage unit that shuts off anything electronic. That’s not anything that could destroy the whole world. Besides, Essex is anxious to go up and collect the first load of metal. You said you were going with him, right?”
“The metal isn’t going anywhere, Steve. I’ll convince him to help me fix this problem before we can take off.”
Preston looks at his wristwatch. “You have two days and four hours. That’s our launch window for collecting the first load of metal. The timing must be exact for the alignment of the launch rail to intersect with the trajectory of the SV1. The next opportunity won’t be for another eighteen days, and we can’t create another ball of metal until we get the one we made out of the way.” He moves up beside her and stares out the window. “I’m about to change our future, Rita. Essex’s mission must be on time. Is that clear?”
“Of course.”
“Did anyone else see the frozen doors?”
“No, I was the only one in the area. Although somebody’s going to notice it before too long.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.”
Rita crosses her arms and turns to the window. If it wasn’t for his financial backing and connections, I would have left him a long time ago.
***
SV1 CONTROL CENTER:
Carter walks into the control room and stands behind Scott, who arrived twenty minutes ago. “How’s it going?”
Scott turns in his chair and looks up at Carter. “I’ve tried every shut down command I can think of, and nothing seems to work.”
“I’ve got some more bad news. The National Weather Service is calling this the one-hundred-year storm. Eighteen inches of rain in eight hours along the coastline. California is being hammered the worst. After the fires this summer, there is no vegetation to hold back the water. The ground is like glass, so it doesn’t soak in. Entire hillsides are washing away.”
Scott’s jaw muscles clench in frustration. “I know, but I just can’t seem to come up with the right code. Whoever is controlling this is blocking me at every point. It’s like they know what I’m going to do before I do it.”
Carter puts his hand on Scott’s shoulder. “It’s not your fault. I called Preston. He’s getting us some help from someone who designed the SV1.”
Scott shakes his head no several times. “I don’t trust him. I’m not counting on anything he says.” He spins his chair back to the control console, rips the scribbled sheet of paper from the tablet, and starts writing a new code sequence on a fresh page.
Carter finds it odd that Scott prefers writing everything instead of entering it directly into the computer. The boy suddenly looks up at him, a sly grin on his lips.
“I think I’ve got it!” Scott enters a new code into the computer, and holds his breath while he waits for the command to upload to the SV1. After what seems like a lifetime, he releases a resigned sigh when the signal doesn’t stop. He is about to swear, when suddenly the signal vanishes. He waits a few moments, then leaps out of his chair, smiling as he shakes his fists in the air. “I did it! It’s off! I did it, Paul!”
Carter smiles. “Good job. Do you think it will stay off?”
Scott’s smile slips away. “I can’t say for sure, but at least now I know what to do if it does happen again.”
“Fair enough. I’ll call Preston and let him know you’re the one who figured it out.”
Scott beams with pride. “Thanks.”
***
DAR:
Preston hears a beep from his computer and turns back to face the monitor. “It’s off. The signal is gone.”
He turns to Rita just as his phone rings, and stares at her as he answers. When he hangs up, he smiles. “They figured out how to shut it down. We shouldn’t have any more problems.”
Rita thinks about it. There is no guarantee the signal will not come on again, so she still needs to figure out why it appeared in the first place. “I don’t think this is over, Steve. Call your people and tell them I’m on my way to the airport, so get the plane ready to fly to Nevada.” She turns and heads toward the garage.
She climbs into her car and waits for the garage door to open. When she backs out onto the driveway, a few small drops of water patter against the windshield and the sun is shining. Well, Essex, we’ve created a monster.
On the way to the airport, she detours to the storage facility, slowly driving past the security gate. Evidently, no one has noticed the frozen doors on her unit, so she turns around and goes inside to check on her weather device. She parks in front of unit one-hundred and eighteen, and leaves the engine running as she climbs out. She brings out her phone and stares at the screen as she walks toward unit two-hundred.
When she sees the ice has melted from the main door, she quickens her pace around to the side entrance. Even though the ice is gone, she cautiously reaches out toward the handle and brushes her fingertips across the surface. They don’t stick, so she enters her code and eases the door open. She looks inside, and her jaw drops. “Oh no.”