University of Arizona, Tucson
September 2022
I’d been dreading this meeting for the last week. I was behind on my thesis, but I’d hoped to catch up with some all-nighters. But noooo—there was Dr. Raymond, my grant sponsor, looking up at me with disapproval, and me standing in his office, like an undergrad, blaming it on the data.
“Ms. Chandler, your grant runs out in a month, and you’re telling me your data’s corrupt?”
“Not so much corrupt as contaminated.”
“Relative to you completing your thesis, isn’t that a distinction without a difference?”
“Yes, but …”
“But what, Ms. Chandler? You’ve been using the same data from the array in New Mexico as everyone else. Now you’re telling me it is, as you put it, contaminated. I find that hard to believe. In fact, in this context, I don’t even know what that means—contaminated.”
“Well, sir. I was scanning various wavelengths and picked up some odd signals in the centimeter bands. I know there shouldn’t be anything there, but—there it was.”
Dr. Raymond flexed his neck and shoulders and re-settled his two-meter, gangly frame where he sat in his creaking chair. “Sit down, will you? Please?”
So, I sat.
“Why on earth were you scanning those frequencies?”
“It started out pretty simply. Everyone in the Saturn study group stays in the expected bandwidths. And within those ranges, the AI module I’ve developed performs as expected. The AI can correlate patterns in the radio transmissions with the observed cloud movements, the rotation of the planet, and the orbital movements of its moons and rings. But I wanted to check it against other bandwidths to be sure I had the calibrations correct.”
“OK. That seems reasonable. If you found data at the centimeter bands, can’t you just filter it out or incorporate it into the AI’s data set?”
“I tried. But that’s where it gets weird. May I show you?” A small river of sweat ran down between my breasts and dampened the band of my sports bra. My anxiety was warning me this was when he would throw me out.
Instead, Dr. Raymond nodded and pointed to the large touchscreen on his office wall. With a few quick strokes, I accessed my AI and launched my last analysis cycle. As I went to the screen, Dr. Raymond swiveled in his chair, put his size 15s up on the desk, and clasped his hands behind his head. OK, so he was going to listen.
“Here’s the data, compressed for viewing.” The display showed a continuous band of waves moving across the screen, nicely color-coded if I say so myself. It was actually kind of pretty, and I’d lost more than one night’s sleep after a few glasses of wine, lying in bed with Kate, mesmerized by the interwoven hues. But I was straying from the topic. “This bottom section is the kilometer band, and my test results agree with my expected outcomes, with minor variations. But if you move up, this entire middle section is blank. Then you hit the centimeter bands.”
“I follow you, Jenny. But it still seems you could filter that out.”
So, it was Jenny then. That was a good sign. But what came next still could have gotten me thrown out. I hoped he didn’t notice my hands shaking. “I’ve tested that, but if you expand the display, you can see the problem. The waves are regular and repeating, not jumbled or non-coherent, as you would expect from a natural source.” One more point to make. “Almost like some frequencies are modulated.”
That didn’t go over too well. Dr. Raymond dropped his feet to the floor with a thud and sat up in his run-down chair, which I’ve heard he’s had since his post-doc days, squeaks and all.
“Well then, Ms. Chandler, I’ve got some serious issues with your protocols. There is nothing out there that would deliver a modulated signal. Galileo’s been gone for almost twenty years, and NASA destroyed Cassini over five years ago when they crashed it into Saturn. And you’d better not be picking up signals from Juno. That would be sloppy. I suggest you fix your data issues and filter out this noise before your grant runs out. If this is your rationale for more funding, well—that’s just not going to happen.”
OK, a deep breath and then one more try. “But sir, it’s not noise. I’m sure there’s a signal there, or maybe there’s a glitch with the antenna array.”
“Really? You think there’s a glitch in the hardware? Hardware used by hundreds of scientists around the world?”
I guessed that was a long shot. All I really needed was for him to know about the signal. I shut down the display and crossed over to stand in front of his desk. “No, sir. I don’t think there’s something wrong with the array. But I don’t want to just discount this transmission as noise. If I could have a couple of weeks’ extension, I can complete some additional testing. My roommate is working on a signal analysis program that might help. Just a couple of weeks.”
Dr. Raymond took a long moment to study my expression. I tried to look as serious and earnest as I could. But the sweat drip had come back, further soaking the bottom strap of my bra. I was sure it was going to embarrass me and start showing through my lightweight top. I tried to ignore the distraction. It was the moment of truth.
“OK, Jenny. One week on the timetable. And you better be sure about Ms. Watson’s AI. But no funding for the additional testing. That’s on you since you’re so hot to figure this out.”
This was unbelievable. Not as much time as I needed, but I took it. Kate was already working on the data analysis. And thank God we were back to Jenny.
“Thank you so much, Dr. Raymond. I’ll have this wrapped up and my thesis on your desk by the end of November.”
“By Thanksgiving, Jenny.”
“OK. One extra week. Thanks.” Well, it was worth one more try. I didn’t wait for his reply but dashed out and made a beeline to Kate’s lab.
###
Dr. Raymond unlocked the top drawer of his desk and retrieved the small phone taped beneath the desktop. He called the only number he’d ever dialed from the device.
“Chandler has isolated the frequency.” The voice in his ear spat out pointed questions. “No, she doesn’t suspect I know what comes next. She thinks she’s gotten lucky with an extension.” More sharp questions, as if he was new to this. “I’ve told you guys, no one on the Saturn team knows anything about the Galileo results from Jupiter.” Now came the directions, which were always the same. “Yes—alright. Of course, I’ll continue to monitor her work and alert you if anything changes.” The call went dead.
Exasperated, Raymond took a calming breath. If he didn’t need these guys, he’d give them a piece of his mind. He returned the phone to its hiding place and logged on to the spyware the company had installed on his laptop. He’d have to keep a close eye on Jenny; she and Dr. Watson were closer to the answer than they knew. It was going to be a busy week keeping watch on those two.
Enjoy Episode Two: Off Limits