Degeneracy Pressure (Chapter 2)
#2 of Degeneracy Pressure
A nervous human space geek makes an unlikely friend over HAM radio, and learns the Universe is just as wonderful and just as intimidating as it looks in the Hubble images.
1.
>Chapter 2, Lake Effect
2.
3.
>The radio has been dead for a few minutes.
4.
>You acknowledged her transmission, but no reply came. Earlier that evening that would have had you biting your nails, but now you're thankful for the respite. You have work to do.
5.
>Kim is sitting beside you now, taking generous swigs from a Coke can as he fiddles with the dots and lines scribbled on your notebook.
6.
>Art Bell drones softly in the background, half forgotten.
7.
>Each of you had tried a few solutions, but neither of you seemed to be getting anywhere.
8.
>Through a haze of caffeine, taurine, and fatigue, one thing is clear:
9.
>It's not goddamn Morse.
10.
>None of it is fucking Morse, not straight up.
11.
>There's got to be some kind of cipher.
12.
>You suppose you should have known she wouldn't make it that easy. Right now the only lead you have is the second line of the message.
13.
>.----
14.
>The number one.
15.
>You've looked that up, down, and sideways, but it doesn't seem to make any goddamn sense.
16.
17.
>The swinging light has long since stilled, and the dancing monsters returned to sleep in the jagged shadows of dusty computers and overstuffed file organizers. Through the floorboards above drips the melancholy gong of the pendulum clock in your hallway.
18.
>1:00 A.M.
19.
>You stretch, shake your head, and crack another Coke.
20.
>It's a damn good thing you're on Christmas break, because this is shaping up to be a long night. The only C you'd ever gotten in High School you'd gotten on a math quizz after a night like this.
21.
>They don't generally send you to space if you get C's.
22.
>Kim inhales suddenly and raises an index finger, but it wilts like a dead man's dick before he can say anything.
23.
>If Kim can't get it, you don't hold out much hope that you can.
24.
>But you have to try anyway.
25.
>No, a little voice reminds you.
26.
>Do or do not, there is no try.
27.
>You were about to land your perfect asian girl, and the two of you were going to go to MIT together and get jobs at JPL.
28.
>Or maybe you were about break a government conspiracy wide open, and be the man to tell the world that there is nothing between us and heaven, and that the stars are ours for the taking.
29.
>You could do this. You didn't come this far to drop the X-Wing. You were smart, right?
30.
>Your teachers said you were smart. Your parents said you were smart. A few colleges had even started courting you, though none of them were MIT, and you hadn't much intention of giving them the time of day.
31.
>You could figure this out. No way in hell you were just going to slink off and play some Starfox, as good an idea as that sounded.
32.
>Suddenly the radio shrieks like a fox.
33.
>That sound they like to make late at night in the woods, particularly when you're trying your hardest not to worry about skinwalkers.
34.
>You leap to your feet and jog back over, crashing into the desk a little as you snatch at the headphones.
35.
>Nothing but pops and squeals.
36.
>You call into the static, but it goes unheeded.
37.
>Antenna must have gotten fucked.
38.
>What fucking timing. No wonder you stopped hearing her.
39.
>Better than her just leaving you hanging, you suppose, but if you lost her then, who the hell knew when you might get another shot at it?
40.
>If the asian exchange student theory was sound, then you'd only get another if you were lucky.
41.
>But if it wasn't
42.
>If it was Secret Squirrel shit, or any of the more exotic ideas starting to condense in your imagination
43.
>Then this was probably the only shot you'd ever get.
44.
>The next few minutes could be the difference between a life-altering, hell, a world-shattering revelation, and a fun little anecdote to tell at parties.
45.
>You don't go to many of those anyway.
46.
>You throw the headset back down and scramble for the window over the couch.
47.
>Kim rolls somewhat more hurriedly over as you fight with the window latch
48.
> "Told you the weather was getting bad. Think the antenna blew off?"
49.
>There's actually some urgency behind his voice for once.
50.
> "Yeah, maybe. Just get up here and help me, will 'ya?"
51.
>You manage to knock the window free again, haul yourself up from the basement, and flop into the snow like a seal.
52.
>It doesn't feel like much at first, then it starts to melt against your skin
53.
>Tendrils of cold work their way into you, stinging like jellyfish tentacles.
54.
>Your old, pizza stained t-shirt is already soaked by the time you haul yourself to your feet, though it wasn't doing you much good anyway.
55.
>Your socks follow in short order.
56.
>The weather had grown a lot worse over the course of the night.
57.
>Despite the darkness, you can make out the distended iron bellies of clouds rolling overhead, their matted plumes glowing an otherworldly amber in the lights of the city below.
58.
>A fast, ghostly wind whistles in the eves.
59.
>It's almost like being on Venus, you think.
60.
>A very cold Venus
61.
>Given what happened to Pioneer and the Venera missions, you're pretty sure it's as close to Venus as you care to get.
62.
>Somewhere behind you a chain of curses rings out as Kim hauls himself up, and into a few feet of lake effect snow.
63.
> "This had better be aliens, or she better be really hot," he shivers.
64.
>You swear and turn to face the house.
65.
>An extendable ladder runs up two stories from the basement window to the roof, cables coiled up the right side like a holiday garland and steps frozen like fish in a grocery store.
66.
>You hurry up and throw yourself at it
67.
>Usually when you fucked up and missed something great, it's because you thought twice.
68.
>Or five or six times, or more.
69.
>This time you're not going to give yourself the chance.
70.
>The ground falls away beneath you very quickly, your footholds precarious but ardent, your hands searing on the icy metal until it feels like you're grabbing stovetops.
71.
>Up, hand over hand, rung by rung. The ladder jostles and flexes in the wind and under your weight.
72.
>Usually that gives you pause, but right now you barely notice.
73.
>You clamber onto the roof, kicking some snow aside and sheltering your face in the crook of your arm.
74.
>The antenna is on the near side of the roof, but doesn't look very close to you.
75.
>The web-like structure bows and dances in the wind, weighed down by a coating of ice that makes it glitter in the warm, pastel shades of the Christmas lights hanging from the eaves.
76.
>It's almost pretty, but a particularly precarious step refocuses your attention. Kick away the snow. Step. Repeat. Fortunately the roof is mostly dry underneath, and the slant angle not quite so severe as it appears.
77.
>You peer over the edge and call out to Kim.
78.
> "The connections look good down there?"
79.
> "Looks pretty good. What have you got up there?"
80.
> "Fuckloads of ice. 'Gunna be an adventure."
81.
> "Just remember man, this could be it. This could be the big one!"
82.
> "Yeah, well why don't you climb up here and help me?"
83.
> "I'm not climbing that fucking thing in this weather."
84.
>Kim may or may not also be a little scared of heights. He claims he isn't, but you're pretty sure he's full of it, and make sure to tell him that every time you find yourselves somewhere with a view.
85.
> "Even to break the alien secret wide open? Just think, it could be you on Coast to Coast after Lear. You could be the guy to break the news to everyone."
86.
> "Fuck, man. Alright. But this had better be about aliens. The chick isn't going to cut it, especially if it's you she's interested in."
87.
>The ladder starts to shake and shimmy again as he climbs. You turn back to the antenna.
88.
>The ice problem is a little worse up close, which is probably good because at least it provides a measure of certainty.
89.
>From each wire dangles forests of ice cycles, each rooted in thick patches of rime.
90.
>A good shaking shatters a lot of the crystals. About half the ice cycles fall; the rime splits but it doesn't go anywhere. You set to scraping it with a nail.
91.
>It's slow work, but you're making progress.
92.
>If only you'd brought a fucking knife.
93.
>Your hands have already numbed to a dull ache. It can't be more than 20 degrees, and humid at that.
94.
>You're shivering like a one of those little designer dogs.
95.
>You can't have more than a few minutes on the frostbite front.
96.
>Briefly you remember how foolish and idiotic this idea is, but you remind yourself that caution doesn't ever seem to get you anywhere.
97.
>We choose to de-ice the antenna
98.
>and meet the girl
99.
>and do the other things...
100.
>not because they are easy
101.
>but because they are hard!
102.
>Presently the ladder knocks against the roof under Kim's weight. You're looking forward to his help.
103.
>The wind is building still further, and the clouds seem to draw nearer as you work. Thunder rocks the sky in the middle distance and rolls by like a freight train.
104.
>Wire by wire you scrape, the numbness working its way up your arms like creeping ivy.
105.
>Come on, you're halfway there. Kim will be helping in a second. You can do this. You've got to talk to her. This could be it.
106.
>A sharper boom cracks overhead, and then another roll of thunder follows.
107.
>You're not sure about that sharp one. It didn't sound quite right, not like thunder.
108.
>The back of your mind screams at you what it sounded like
109.
>A sonic boom
110.
>You're doing your best not to listen, and scraping as fast as you can.
111.
>Snow gathers in your hair and soaks it to the scalp.
112.
>Keep working
113.
>Scrape. Scrape. Scrape.
114.
>It's getting a little easier.
115.
>You can see better now.
116.
>There's more light. It's soft, but it's there. A very pale blue, not like the christmas lights.
117.
>Did the clouds seriously part? You're not sure that should be possible.
118.
>You look over your shoulder, and your heart just about fucking quits.
119.
>The amber glow from the clouds is all but gone, blocked by the span of a great black triangle.
120.
>No more than twenty feet away, it slides by with the easy grace of a reef shark, the surface of its wings and leading and trailing edges seeming to flex and boil, playing with the wind the way a seagull's feathers do.
121.
>You can't bring yourself to breathe or move or think.
122.
>It's all real.
123.
>Kim had been right all along.
124.
>This had to be a fucking dream, but the cold bit at your eyes and nose like a cobra, and you knew it wasn't.
125.
>If you hadn't been so sure, you might have thrown yourself off the roof in hopes of waking.
126.
>It slides overhead and banks, beginning to circle the roof with slow deliberation.
127.
>Its skin pulses with veins of blue.
128.
>A warm-looking blue
129.
>Blue like tropical water.
130.
>It seems almost close enough to touch.
131.
>A sense of calm settles over you like a lead blanket.
132.
>You're drawn in.
133.
>It's like sleepwalking. You can't stop. You can't think. You crane your neck. You step. You reach out to it. It's beautiful.
134.
>Then the snow gives way, and the spell shatters.
135.
>You're lying supine in the snow, staring at a bleak, violent sky.
136.
>Overhead the thunder rolls again, and then it fades.
137.
>from somewhere in the distance echoes the report of a sonic boom.
138.
>So that's a no on the exchange student, then?
139.
140.
>You and Kim regroup inside, hurriedly toweling dry and backing up against the water heater with your notepad.
141.
>Kim had seen it too. He didn't get as good a look as you did, but he'd seen it.
142.
>He'd also fallen, it turns out.
143.
>What's weird is neither of you seem to be hurt at all.
144.
>There's a lot of snow on the ground, but not that much.
145.
>He says he doesn't really remember falling, just being on the ground.
146.
>You don't either.
147.
>But it's not worth pondering now. You're almost certain you know what's missing.
148.
>It makes sense suddenly, as if that ...thing told you while you were in the trance. It was so obvious. Why hadn't you thought of it? All that talk about the record, and it had never occurred to you.
149.
> "Kim, what if it's not a cipher."
150.
> "What do you mean not a fucking cipher. You seeing something there I don't?"
151.
> "What if it's binary?"
152.
>Kim raises an eyebrow, though after what you just saw you're not sure you can take the very idea of skepticism seriously anymore.
153.
> "That doesn't look like binary to me. I guess maybe the last, but not the others."
154.
> "No dude, I think I've seen the others before. I think I might know where they're from."
155.
>The heat's nice, but you've got work to do.
156.
>You peel yourself away from the water heater and rip a poster off the wall behind the radio.
157.
>The record cover
158.
>Falling back against the water heater, you spread it on your lap under the notebook.
159.
>The timing for the video scan. Check.
160.
>The record speed codes. Check.
161.
>She wasn't trying to tell you anything with those codes.
162.
>Except the last one.
163.
>That was nowhere on the record.
164.
>She was just trying to tell you it was in binary.
165.
>Kim doesn't seem to take that as quite the revelation you do, but he plays along.
166.
>You plot out the last message, the one that had come just a little before the Encounter.
167.
>C U SOON
168.
>Your blood runs so cold you stop shivering.
169.
>Tentatively you shuffle back to the radio. The headphones are happily chirping away. You're more than a little scared to pick them up.
170.
>But hesitation never got you anywhere.
171.
>On they go.
172.
>Three transmissions are looping patiently and consistently.
173.
174.
>-.-.--.- / --.----- / -.-.-.-. / --.----- / -.--.... / -.--.-..
175.
176.
>--..-.--/--..---./.-..----/--..---./--..-..-/--.--.../--..-.-./--..--.-/--.-...-/--..-..-/--.---.-/--.-----/-.--...-/--.-----/--...---/--..---./.-..----/--..--../--..--../--.--.../--..--.-/--..---./--.-...-/--..-..-/--.---.-/--.-----/-.-.-.../--.-...-/--.-----/--..---./--..--.-/--.-..../--..---./--..-.-./--.-----/-.------/--.-----/--..--.-/--..-.--/--..----/--..----/--.-...-/--.-----/-.----../--.-----/-.-.-.-./--.-...-
177.
178.
>-.----../-..----./-...--.-/-..--.-./-..--..-/-...-.-./-..-..--/--.-...-/--.-----/-.--...-/-..-..../-...-.--/--.-----/-..-..--/-..----./-...-.--/-..--.-./--.-...-/--.-----/-.-.---./-...-.-./-..----./-..-...-/-...-.--/-...-.-./-..-..-./--.-----/-.---..-/-..----./-...-..-/-..-..../-...--.-/--.-...-/---.-.-/--.-..-./-.--.-../-.-.--.-/--.-----/-.---.../--..-.../-.-..---
179.
180.
>You finish writing them down, and in the space of a minute the radio goes dead.
181.
>School or not, you're pretty sure it's time for some goddamn sleep.