“So what are you thinking?” she asked.
He took a deep breath and let it out. “I don’t even know if Dr. Franklin’s system is going to work. I mean, it needs a special antenna in order to function properly. You saw the thing he designed. What do you think?”
“Well. The transmitting antenna was certainly complex, but the receiving antenna was just a straight length of wire. The Organization’s satellite antenna might be compatible, at least to some degree. I think it has a chance of working.”
Jake walked slowly over to the damaged saucer and looked in the door. The opening was three feet wide and the ramp was open by eighteen inches.
“Look at this,” Jake said. “Our gunner poured between three hundred and four hundred thirty-caliber rounds through this opening. There are no holes or dents. Just some copper residue where the bullets bounced off the metal.”
Honi looked at the marks in the saucer opening. “We’re going to need the academics who worked on this material taken into custody. They can trade knowledge and cooperation in place of prison time.”
“Yeah. Assuming…”
Honi poked him in the upper arm softly with her fist. “Hey, come on. Where’s all that optimism and confidence?”
He placed his hand against the curve of the saucer and looked at her.
“General Davies on the satellite phone!” Dave yelled from the doorway.
Jake and Honi rushed back to the computer. Jake grabbed the phone.
“General? You found Dr. Franklin?”
“Yes. He’s in the Hat Creek Observatory in northern California. That’s also where his control system is installed. They’re powering up right now. You should have him online in a minute or two. Just let me know what else you need.”
“Thank you, General,” Jake said, as he handed the satellite phone back to Dave.
Aaron Smith was setting up a secure computer from the Osprey on the desk to the left of the Organization’s laptop. The communications screen came up quickly.
“He’ll need the orbital formula for the reflector satellite,” Andropov said. “I can enter that in for you. The math symbols use a specialized code.”
“Okay, here we go,” Aaron said. “He’s logged in.”
An image of Dr. Franklin appeared on the screen. Jake moved in closer to the screen.
“Dr. Franklin, it’s FBI Agent Hunter. You remember me?”
“Yes. Is Agent Badger there, as well?”
Honi leaned in so Dr. Franklin could see her. “Right here,” she said as she waved.
“We need to see if you can locate a satellite in orbit around the sun,” Jake said.
“Which sun?” Dr. Franklin replied.
“Ours. We’re sending you the orbital formula now.”
Andropov sat in front of the screen and typed the formula into the computer. Dr. Franklin looked toward the bottom of his screen.
“It’s coming in now. Our transmitter has an optical component to it, so we should be able to get a lock on it. Rotating into position now.”
Jake was on edge as he watched Dr. Franklin typing away and glancing at his screen.
“Oh wow. That’s huge. Any idea where the antenna is on that thing?”
“You mean you have to have a specific spot to aim your system?” Jake asked.
“Oh yes. At this close range, it matters very much.”
“Try dead center,” Andropov said. “Control package should be at the center of the reflector, not near the edge.”
“Okay. What frequency?”
“We don’t know,” Andropov said. “The original system was attached to an antenna outside of this building. This is a backup computer, and we need your antenna, not the one here.”
Radio waves travel at the speed of light, Jake reminded himself. Light from the sun takes eight minutes and twenty-five seconds to get to the earth. “Do you know how long the transit time will be for your signal?” Jake asked.
“From our satellite to the sun?”
“Yes,” Jake answered.
“About half a second, give or take a few milliseconds.”
“Half a second instead of eight minutes?”
“Yes. Give or take a little. What does the antenna on the outside of your building look like?”
“Hold on,” Jake said.
“There’s a hand-held searchlight in the osprey,” Aaron said. “I’ll be right back.” He ran out the door and returned within two minutes. “The antenna on the outside of the building is a square. Range finder and remote measurement device says it’s 48 inches on each side.”
“Square?” Dr. Franklin asked.
“Yes,” Andropov said. “It’s fractal.”
“Yes. It would have to be. With that size, we have two thousand discrete frequencies to try. What’s our time frame?”
Jake checked the countdown watch on his wrist and subtracted the 17.6-hour travel time for the CME. “Two hours?” Jake replied cringing.
Honi leaned over and whispered, “Isn’t it more like five hours?”
“You want to wait until the last minute?” Jake whispered back. She shook her head.
“We can do that,” Dr. Franklin said. “If we get a signal back, or something moves, we’ll get confirmation in…eight minutes and twenty-five seconds.”
“Exactly,” Jake said. “When we run out of time, a nuclear bomb is going to detonate creating the largest CME ever known, unless we succeeded in changing the orbit.”
The bomb, Jake thought. Andropov gave Dr. Franklin the formula for the Reflector. We’re targeting the wrong satellite.
“Hold on, Dr. Franklin,” Jake said. “There are two satellites up there. I think we want the other one.”
Jake looked at the Reflector orbital formula box. “Andropov, you have that formula written down?”
“Right here.”
“Open the Pulse Generator box.”
Andropov right clicked on the PG box. The formula was slightly different.
Send him the orbital information for the Pulse Generator.”
“Coming in now,” Dr. Franklin replied. “Retargeting. Got it. Hold on.”
“What is it?” Jake asked.
“Well, as I mentioned, our transmitter has an optical component.”
“Yes?”
“I can see the receiving antenna on the satellite. It is a fractal antenna. Looks to be the same size as the one you have. That should help us. It’ll pick up more of our signal than an ordinary antenna would.”
“These satellites are self-correcting, right?” Jake asked. “So if the orbit gets a little off, it corrects with thrusters, or something similar, right?”
“Yes,” Andropov replied. “It would have to do that.”
“So what happens if we give the Pulse Generator the same orbital formula as the Reflector?”
“It would move the bomb into the same place as the reflector,” Andropov said.
“So let’s do that. Send the orbital formula for the Reflector to the Pulse Generator. That way, when the bomb detonates, it will destroy the Reflector satellite at the same time.”
“Yes, yes,” Andropov said excitedly as he typed the formula in for Dr. Franklin to transmit.
“I have it,” Dr. Franklin replied. “Transmitting. Scanning through the frequencies now.”
“Can you still see the satellite, Dr. Franklin?”
“Yes, I can.”
“Wait a minute,” Andropov said. “If Dr. Franklin can see the satellite, he’s seeing it where it was eight minutes and twenty-five seconds ago, not where it is now.”
“My program takes that into account,” Dr. Franklin said. “Celestial motion is a critical component for interstellar communications.”
“What about the difference between the shape of your signal, being all stretched out and the fractal antenna?” Jake asked.
“Fractal is broadband. Probably a good choice. Theoretically, the signal would look different, but it should still respond. The system the satellite uses for communications is probably digital, anyway, which would help us.”