Freya nodded. ‘That’s a common feature in these reports.’
‘Maybe Charlie’s plankton have wings.’
Freya said, ‘More likely there are enough water molecules just above the waves to glow when the particles pass through.’
Gibson said, ‘Rubbish.’
Freya said, ‘Explain this one, Charlie. This is from someone on board a ship in the Java Sea on May the twenty-ninth 1955. Ten past two in the morning.’
My first impression was that the ship was being attacked on all sides from different directions by pulsing light-bands, about 2 metres wide and 2 apart and moving at speed. The most intense activity was observed on the starboard side of the ship where the phenomenon stretched as far as the horizon. It was just a mass of high-speed interacting bands of light.
About this time, the ship passed a localised revolving system, distance off about 150 metres. My impression was that of a catherine wheel revolving and casting out waves in an angular motion. How many spokes it had I’m not sure owing to the speed of the pulsations. The system rotated in a clockwise direction wheeling itself along the ship’s track.
‘Maybe the plankton were disturbed by fish moving in tight circles,’ Gibson suggested. There was a shriek of laughter from Shtyrkov’s dark corner.
Freya picked up another transparency. ‘What were the fish doing here, Charlie?’
October 13, 1996, Arabian Gulf. The tanker Arabiyah. Expanding phosphorescent rings were observed emanating from a single point. The rings were equally spaced and expanded outwards for about 500 metres before disappearing. Rings with spoke systems also formed, rotating clockwise. The observers had the distinct impression that the rings were above the sea surface.
‘You’ll find this report in the Marine Observer volume 67, page 192, 1997.’
‘Freya, are you serious?’ Gibson asked. ‘Do you really expect me to believe these are ET signals?’
Freya gave Gibson the sweet smile which, Petrie was beginning to learn, preceded the verbal equivalent of a right hook.
‘Okay, Charlie, I’d like to hear your explanation of this report. It happened on April the twenty-ninth, 1982, in the China Sea.’ She threw up the transparency and read the words aloud.
The merchant vessel Siam encountered parallel phosphorescent bands rushing towards it at about 40 miles an hour. The bands were 50–100 cm above the surface of the sea. The bands then changed into two rotating wheels. The spokes stretched to the horizon. Then a third wheel formed. Then there was nothing for about 20 minutes and then the whole thing restarted with four systems of parallel bands which soon metamorphosed into four rotating wheels. Next, circular, flashing brilliant blue-white light appeared all around the ship out to about 150 metres. This system of patches flashed at 114 times per minute. Water samples revealed no luminous organisms.
The sea was calm, visibility excellent, but atmospheric electrical activity could be seen all around.
‘You’ll find that in the Marine Observer again. Volume 53, page 85, 1983,’ she said. ‘Now look at this. This is from a review paper by a couple of marine biologists. The reference is Herring and Watson, Marine Observer, volume 63, page 22, 1993.’ There was a slightly triumphant tone as she read the text on the screen.
Most bioluminescent organisms flash briefly and cannot generate the strong steady glow of the milky sea. Marine bacteria glow steadily but unrealistic concentrations of bacteria would be needed to generate the observed light, and in any case samples retrieved from the affected waters show no such bacteria.
She turned. ‘There’s no known explanation for the glowing seas. It’s an acknowledged mystery.’
‘Put that in your pipe, Charlie,’ Petrie said. ‘And anyway, how could bioluminescence affect radio and radar? Given what you saw in the Tatras, what else can these patterns be but repeated probings of the Earth?’
Gibson grunted, an unwilling mule. ‘How far back do these marine reports go?’
Freya said, ‘I have them back to June 1854. South of Java, a Captain Kingman of the American clipper Shooting Star reported—’
‘Okay. There were no subnuclear facilities to target in 1854. I guess that weakens the case for the F star, Freya and Tom.’
The relief was almost palpable. Freya mock-curtsied. ‘A gracious acknowledgement, Charlie.’
‘They’re probing, but they don’t know we’re here,’ Petrie said. ‘Yet.’
Gibson nodded. ‘But I still don’t buy the Whirlpool. That leaves us guessing: where did the signal come from? What do I tell the media? That the signal came from empty space?’
‘Not just the media, Charlie. Your scientific colleagues, your government and the United Nations,’ Svetlana chided him.
Petrie said, ‘I think they’ve been probing for thousands of years. Minimum.’
‘Do you have evidence for that, Tom, or are you off on a flight of fancy?’
Petrie walked to the projector; the machine reflected brightly in his round spectacle lenses. Freya shared Shtyrkov’s couch at the back of the room. Petrie opened the big Bible and cleared his throat. Gibson said, ‘My God,’ and Petrie started to read.
Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it.
And out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.
And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.
Their wings were joined to one another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.
As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.
And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.
As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.
And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them; and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubim there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.
And when I looked, behold the four wheels by the cherubim, one wheel by one cherub, and another wheel by another cherub: and the appearance of the wheels was as the colour of a beryl stone.
And as for their appearances, they four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel.
And their whole body, and their backs, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that they four had.
This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Chebar.
Petrie couldn’t resist finishing with a dramatic flourish. ‘Ezekiel’s chariot. Four wheels, a moving pattern, in the sky over two thousand years ago.’ He settled into a leather armchair. ‘We’ve been targeted for thousands of years, long before we had the technology to understand the signals. It’s possible they don’t even know we’re here.’
Svetlana switched on the lights.
There was a long silence as the scientists took this on board. Vashislav finally broke it. ‘Why? Why should they do this? Indeed, why would civilisations millions of years old want to contact us at all? We are mice! Insects! Bacteria!’