The Signal by Nick Cook

Author:Nick Cook
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781999893408
Publisher: Voice from the Clouds Ltd

Chapter Seven

We entered the control room to see Kiera and her team gathered around the large monitor watching a series of ones and zeros scrolling across the screen.

‘Is that binary code?’ Steve asked as we joined the group.

‘It appears to be,’ John replied. ‘But the really puzzling thing is, if it’s alien in origin, how can it be compatible with our own computer systems?’

‘So we’re really going there that this is from aliens?’

‘There was always a possibility it was an extraterrestrial signal,’ Kiera replied.

‘So why let the world be dragged to the edge of Armageddon if you thought there was a chance it wasn’t the Russians?’ I asked.

‘That had to be our default response in case it really was the opening move for a pre-emptive strike,’ Kiera replied. ‘Any hesitation on our part to take that threat seriously would have left us exposed in a worst-case scenario.’

‘We can talk about the rights and wrongs of that later,’ I replied. ‘However, why are you now seriously thinking this could be a first contact situation, especially when the power of the signal would suggest it’s coming from a local source?’

‘Because we’ve already received a signal sporting some of the same characteristics,’ Kiera replied. ‘Isn’t that right, Graham?’

Steve whirled round to face him. ‘What’s she talking about?’

Graham’s shoulders fell. ‘Can I brief them, Kiera?’

‘You can go ahead now that they’ve signed the Official Secrets Act.’

He gave us both a long look. ‘Six years ago, here at Jodrell Bank, we received a signal that our analysts believe may have been alien in origin, even though it appeared to come from a nearby source.’

I found myself gawping at him.

Steve was the first to find his voice. ‘If that’s true, why have we never heard anything about it, let alone the rest of the world?’

‘Let’s just say that a huge amount of pressure was applied to everyone who worked at the facility at that time to make sure it was never leaked,’ Graham replied, casting a razor-eyed look towards Kiera.

Steve growled. ‘God give me strength, Graham. It might have bloody helped tonight if you had started off by telling us that there was a signal before this one.’

‘That wasn’t my call.’

‘Graham’s right, because it was mine, and we’re telling you now,’ Kiera said.

‘So that’s why you’d already signed the Official Secrets Act,’ I realised.

Graham nodded.

Steve looked between Graham and Kiera, clenching his fists so hard that his knuckles turned white.

I stepped in front of him in case he did something epically stupid. ‘OK, we can play the blame game later, but we have more urgent matters to deal with. Graham, was the original broadcast like this one?’

Graham glanced at Kiera.

‘Tell them everything,’ she said.

‘No, it was nothing like as powerful, and it certainly didn’t actively take over systems like this latest signal seems able to. It was also different in another key way. It was a distress signal transmitted in English and it contained a looped voice recording.’

My skin tingled. ‘What did it say?’

‘It was from a pilot called Angelique calling for assistance.

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