Free Falling Star by Philip Chen Page A

resign.

     
     
    1993: The Silence Ends

    0630 Hours: Wednesday, June 9, 1993: Watch Station One

    With an explosive roar, multiple alarms wrenched the attendant from his routine-induced stupor.  Red, orange and white lights flooded the dimly lit compartment in a psychedelic wash.
    "Damn!" said the suddenly energized sonar mate.
    Dropping the spy novel his wife had sent to him in the last mail pouch; forgetting to mark his place, John Lawrence immediately switched on the backup sequence and began the checkout procedure.  As a last step, Lawrence switched on the digital recorder.
    "Transfer module," Lawrence said breathlessly into the microphone on the desk.  "I gotta speak to the Captain."  He could barely contain himself.  The only sound in the now-quiet compartment was the steady drumming of Lawrence's fingers on the Formica counter.  He waited anxiously for a response.
    "What's up, John?" said the disembodied voice coming from the tiny speaker on the countertop.  It was the deep bass voice of the Watch Station commander, William O'Shannon, a Captain in the United States Navy.  O'Shannon had been in the transfer module discussing a training sequence with other crewmembers.
    "Captain, the control panel just lit up like the Fourth of July."
    "I'll be right there.  Have you initiated backup?"
    "Aye, sir.  I also started the checkout procedure."
    "Good."
    In what seemed an eternity to Lawrence, O'Shannon walked the short distance from the transfer module to the command module.  Lawrence turned from his intense scrutiny of the control panel when he heard the pressure door being unlatched with a metallic clang.  Curiously, he felt a sudden wash of relief knowing that O'Shannon was with him.
    "Okay, John, what do we have?"
    "Nothing like I've ever seen before, Captain.  Here, take a look."
    "You're right.  It sure doesn't look like background," said O'Shannon calmly.  He silently watched the rapid amplitude changes and frequency shifts on the magnetometer.  "Have you checked the seismometer?"
    "Aye, sir.  Absolutely nothing -- nothing at all.  Everything is quiet, real quiet.  One thing, Captain.  The signal seems to repeat itself over and over."  John pointed to the regularity of the spikes and valleys on the green-hued screen.
    O'Shannon was puzzled.  He studied the screen trying to see a pattern in the greenish trace on the screen, some sense of order.  He finally looked up at Lawrence.
    "You're right.  Did you start the recording sequence?"
    "Aye, sir."
    "Get the DCO up here," said O'Shannon into the intercom.
    Rubbing his eyes after the rude awakening, the Deputy Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Joshua Wong, entered the command module.  "Yes, Captain."
    "Mr. Wong, we have a verified signal."
    Wong snapped fully awake.  "I'll start the encoding process immediately."
    "Good idea.  Who gets to carry the message?"
    "Machinist Mate George Waterson is scheduled for rotation on the next supply vehicle.  He has clearance."
    "Good.  Alert Newport News."
    "Aye, sir."
    Wong took leave of O'Shannon and Lawrence, who continued to observe the rapidly shifting trace on the screens.  There would be much to do in the coming days.

     
     
    1993: Awakening

    0730 Hours: Wednesday, June 9, 1993: Sutton Place, New York, New York

    Mike Liu woke with a start.  He had forgotten to set the alarm and had overslept by a half-hour.  That is, if you could call it sleep.  Mike had tossed about all night.  It was that recurring dream -- that something had been left undone.  He hadn't had that dream in a longtime and it was disturbing.  What had wakened Mike was someone calling his name.
    This wasn't like some of his dreams, the ones about the life he had once hoped to share with Corrine Ryan, a student at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Virginia.  Mike had met Corrine through fraternity brothers at the University and the pair had dated throughout his fourth year.  Corrine had suffered from a degenerative retinal