“It means we start with the three dots followed by a line,” Aaron replied.
He sat at the computer and typed in three zeros and a one. “Next four?”
They continued around the circumference of the watch face until they came back to the three zeros. Arron hit the return key. The numbers cleared from the box and nothing else happened. They stood, looking at the screen, not saying anything.
“Did you read them clockwise, or counterclockwise?” Jake asked.
“Clockwise,” Ken replied.
“The watch runs the other way. Try it counterclockwise.”
Aaron started with the three zeros and a one. They continued around the watch face until the last sequence had been entered. Aaron looked up with his finger poised over the enter key.
“Go ahead,” Jake said.
Aaron pressed the enter key and the screen changed. This time it showed an oval line circling an orange spot in the center of the screen. Boxes with numbers in them were nestled into the top corners of the screen. On the left side were two boxes with unfamiliar mathematical formulas in them. They were very similar to each other with some minor differences in some of the numbers. The top box was labeled R, and the lower box had PG in it. The right side had only one box, and it was counting down in hours and minutes.
“This is our countdown timer,” Jake said. “Can we change the count?”
Aaron clicked on the box. Nothing happened. He moved the mouse indicator over the box on the right. No change.
“It’s an indicator. Not a control. It can’t be changed.” Aaron moved the mouse indicator over the formulas in the left boxes. The indicator changed from an arrow to a vertical line. “These are input boxes.”
“Isn’t there some place to enter an abort code?” Jake asked.
Aaron looked at the screen and shook his head. “I think we’re way past that, sir.”
Andropov slowly approached the computer and looked at the screen.
“Is that what I think it is?”
“The satellite in orbit around the sun?” Jake said.
Andropov checked the timer value. “Six hours, forty two minutes and thirty-eight seconds. I’m afraid we are too late.”
“Why?”
“Because we are on the dark side of the planet. You can’t even send a signal toward the sun until dawn. It has to be line of sight. By then the bomb will have detonated and the solar storm will be on its way.”
“Then they had to have sent the detonation signal before it got dark. They sent it before the deadline. It was already too late before we got on the Osprey.”
“They had to know the world wasn’t surrendering to them,” Stafford said. “None of the supreme leaders were installed. It was obvious.”
“So now seven billion people are going to die,” Jake said.
CHAPTER 20
“Okay, people, let’s start wrapping this up,” Stafford said. “We have wounded to attend to and pilots downed in the trees. Let’s go!”
Jake felt the sense of failure and loss sinking deeply into his mind. He stood there, his mind reeling with everything they had gone through: The hopelessness against the solar storm and the lack of the earth’s magnetic shield that Dr. Spencer had explained. By now all seven of the MagGen satellites had been destroyed. These were all forces beyond his human ability to influence or change; the short time left and the great distance between the earth and the sun. He walked outside and looked up at the flickering stars. The sun was so close by comparison, but under the circumstances it may as well be as far away as another star.
Another star, he thought. Dr. Franklin!
“Dave!” he shouted. “Dave Smith!”
“Right here, Agent Hunter.”
“Can we get computer signals in and out of here?”
“Sure. We use computers on missions all of the time. The Osprey is equipped with encrypted Wifi. We can connect with satellites or the E-2 Hawkeye Command and Control aircraft circling around us.”
“Can we get a secure connection to George Washington University?”
“I’m sure we can. What have you got?”
“Dr. Franklin at GW University invented a special antenna system. Project HAICS, the Hyper-Accelerated Interstellar Communication System. It’s not on the earth; it’s in orbit, with a clear shot at the sun. We can use it to communicate with the Phoenix Organization satellite. We’re going to need some uninterrupted time to work this out. Can you keep that saucer from coming back?”
“Those Super Hornets haven’t gone away. They’re being refueled in the air by a KC-130 and are on perimeter patrol against that saucer. I don’t know how much comfort it is to you right now, but you are standing on the most protected piece of land on the planet.”
“I need to talk with General Davies, right now.”
Dave pulled his satellite phone off his utility belt and dialed. He handed the phone to Jake.
“Yes, General, it’s Hunter. I need you to wake up some people, starting with a Dr. Harold Franklin at George Washington University in D.C. Activate Project HAICS, the Hyper Accelerated Interstellar Communications System. Get Dr. Franklin to wherever the control system is for that project and get it active. Time is super critical.” He listened. “Yes, General, every second counts. Thank you, sir.” He handed the phone back to Dave.
Jake rushed back into the building. “Honi, Stafford, Ken, Andropov and Aaron Smith — I need all of you over here at the computer.”
“What’s going on?” Honi asked.
“We have an outside chance of fixing this. But first we need to understand this program that connects to the satellite orbiting the sun.”
Honi pulled her phone and checked the display. “Five bars. But it won’t connect to the encrypted network.”
Dave Smith took her phone out of her hand and punched in a sequence of letters, punctuation marks and numbers. “Now it will. Anybody else?”
Jake, Stafford and Ken handed over their phones.
“No problem.”
“Aaron, you said the boxes in the upper left corner of the satellite program were input boxes. Inputs to what?” Jake said.
“I don’t know. It’s a mathematical formula of some kind.”
“Let me take a look,” Andropov said. He leaned in toward the screen. “There has to be more to the formula than that.” He tried to expand the size of the boxes, but that didn’t work.
“Try a right click on the mouse,” Aaron suggested.
Andropov right-clicked the upper box. A new window opened in the center of the screen with the complete formula displayed. He studied the formula for several seconds.
“It’s an orbital formula. My guess is that it controls the orbit of the satellite around the sun. The box is labelled R, probably for the Reflector. The other box, the PG, is probably the Electro-Magnetic Pulse Generator. That will be the orbital control for the bomb.”
“What else is there on this computer?” Jake asked.
“Wait,” Aaron said. “We will have time for that later. If we close out of this program, we may not be able to get back in to stop the bomb.”
Jake breathed out heavily. “You’re right. I’m so wound up right now — I’m having trouble thinking clearly.”
“That happens to everybody who is involved in missions like this. We go through a lot of training to minimize the effect of the stress, but nobody is immune to it. From what I understand at this point, we can’t do anything until we hear back from General Davies. Is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“So chill. Go outside and walk around. Let go of some of the stress. We’ll come get you as soon as the General calls — no problem.”
Jake wasn’t happy about the suggestion, but it did make sense. He walked slowly out the door and nodded to the soldiers on guard. Honi followed him out.