Chapter 5

“Sir”?

“What is it, Mike”?

“We have an anomaly.”

“An anomaly? What kind of anomaly”?

“Sir, this is something I have never seen before.”

“You have something you’ve never seen? That is hard to believe, with your experience.”

“We do, Sir. Look here. This island is completely unmapped and does not show at all on any satellite views we have checked for the last 20 years.”

“Come, now, Mike. You know very well that is impossible.”

“Yes, Sir. That is why I flagged it as an anomaly.”

“Very well. I fail to see how an obvious glitch in our sensing programs could be a threat to our national security, but it certainly does appear to be some sort of glitch, so keep an eye on it and and have someone look for similar glitches in other parts of the scan. Contact me immediately when new information becomes available.”

“Yes, Sir. Our surveillance satellite is in a 90-minute orbit. If the island appears on the next scan, it will tell us more about the nature of the glitch or whatever the cause may be.”

-- 92 minutes later.

“Sir”!

“What is it, Mike? Is the ‘anomaly’ still present”?

“Yes, Sir, but...”

“But what, Mike”?

“Uh, Sir, it has moved by six inches.”

“Do you think this is some sort of joke”?

“N-no, Sir. I am only reporting what can clearly be seen on our satellite view.”

“You are telling me that we can determine the position of an object in the ocean to within less than six inches”?

“Sir, we can tell if a penny on the sidewalk is heads up or tails up.”

“No shit!, er, I mean that is fascinating. I had no idea our surveillance technology was so precise.”

“No, Sir. Most people don’t. Our precision is deliberately concealed to avoid public reaction.”

“You mean if people knew to what degree their every move can be monitored, they might object”?

“Yes, Sir.”

“I assume that you have brought in others to crosscheck your findings”?

“Of course, Sir. Every expert from every shift has been brought in to corroborate my analysis and to investigate the matter.”

“And you all agree”?

“Yes, Sir. Our system shows hard evidence that the island moved six inches between scans.”

“Mike, make this a ‘Priority Red’. Concentrate all of our analysis on this anomaly until we have a better understanding of what we are facing. Also, distribute our records to all properly secured resources for additional confirmation.”

“Yes, Sir. That has already been accomplished in accordance with the standard protocols for handling anomalies.”

“I should send this up the line, Mike. I will be in the Admiral’s office. Please alert me if there is any change in the behavior of the anomaly.”

“Yes, Sir.”

--Six hours later.

“Sir”!

“Yes, Mike. Is there new information”?

“Yes, Sir.”

“Well? Blurt it out.”

“Uh, it is difficult to accept, Sir, but the anomaly continued moving by about six inches on every scan, until it disappeared.”

“It disappeared”?

“Yes, Sir. The most recent scan was identical to all scans prior to the first appearance of the anomaly, other than wave height, which varies on each scan.”

“Did it move in a straight line”?

“No Sir. It moved in a straight line for several passes, then was curved until it headed back the other direction. When it disappeared, if had traversed a path that was somewhat like a backward-facing letter C.”

“Good work, Mike. Continue monitoring and update me as each pass is completed. If it returns, perhaps we need to position some surface assets nearby to investigate more closely.”

“Very good, Sir.”

“Sir”!

“Yes, Mike. Has our anomaly returned”?

“Yes, Sir.”

“Why am I not surprised? Did it reappear at any of the previous positions”?

“No Sir. It is now approximately the same distance below the lower leg of the backward letter C as between the lower leg and upper leg.”

“This will definitely have to go upstairs. Have you yet formed any opinions in regard to this behavior, Mike”?

“Uh, yes Sir, but I am not comfortable with going on record with them. If the next couple of passes continue as I suspect they might, I will feel more confident in my opinion, Sir.”

“Very well, Mike. I will grant you a certain latitude. You will inform me immediately after the next pass whether the position is in line with your tentative opinion. Is that clear? Since we have no established protocol for dealing with situations of this type, even a wild guess might be more correct that no opinion at all.”

“Yes Sir.”

“Sir”!

“Yes, Mike. Is the anomaly still present”?

“Yes, Sir.”

“Does the new position support your theory”?

“Yes, Sir.”

“Very well. If your theory holds for one more pass, I will expect you to make a formal report stating your conclusions and opinions and the data on which you base them.”

“Sir, at this point it is only intuition.”

“In the absence of a more formal analysis, I will accept your intuition as a working hypothesis until the data no longer fits the template. Is that clear”?

“Yes Sir. Very clear.”

“Well.”?

“As expected, Sir.”

“Then, tell me, Mike.”

“Sir, If my hunch is incorrect, I will be made a laughingstock among the crew.”

“Nevertheless, it is time to commit. Tell me your intuition.”

“Sir, I believe that the path will make a very clear number three. There are only two more passes remaining to confirm this supposition.”

“And then”?

“Sir, I expect the next position to be a decimal point, which will be followed by a one and a four.”

“And why would you expect that”?

“Sir, the value of Pi is 3.14. I believe that we are being signaled.”

“Signaled? By whom”?

“By a life form that is infinitely more advanced than any technology on Earth.”

“You mean...”?

“Yes Sir. That is what I mean.”

“In that case, Mike, I understand your reluctance to speak your mind earlier. As of this moment, this project is classified well beyond your classification, so we must obviously involve Security and get your clearance classification adjusted accordingly, as well as all personnel with whom the preliminary data has been shared. Make damned sure none of this information or rumor of it gets leaked to the State Dep’t. Am I clear”?