Chapter II

 

05:41 The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,  05.09.2018

Howard could not remember the last eighteen minutes since hanging up on Emilio it was a blur he could have ran over someone for all he knew, he couldn’t even remember parking the sedan or if he even locked it. He checked his pockets and found he didn’t have his car keys but right now he didn’t give a damn if someone stole his car they were welcome to it he just wanted his gut feeling to be wrong. Howard entered the building and wound his way through drab corridors he was reminded again of how inauspicious the building was for what they were doing. Howard rounded a corner in the corridor and standing in the doorway of their office was Emilio he looked frantic.

 

‘Thank god you’re here.’ Said Emilio, follow by a sigh of relief he then beckoned his colleague into the office.

 

Howard followed Emilio into the office where he emerged into the minimalist dated office setting, Emilio stood next to a duel screened lone computer that was responsible for the control of the Voyager probes.

 

‘Put me out of my misery, what you got?’ asked Howard.

 

Emilio nodded in acknowledgement then sat in the office chair and took control of the computer. ‘The latest data was sent from Voyager 1 and to be honest I just started skimming it, with the project coming to an end I thought what is the point right? That’s until I glanced at the data from the Plasma Wave System then I saw those.’ Emilio brought up the data and gestured to the screen which showed the raw data as well as an implicit model.

 

Howard didn’t speak he had no words, the Plasma Wave System which measured electron density profiles which had been useful when studying Jupiter and Saturn. The implicit modelling was useful as it gave a visual aid when looking at the data as it would show blobs of colour where there was high density of electrons. The implicit model before them now was like nothing he had ever seen before as there were dozens of them, dozens of blobs of electrons out there in the interstellar medium where there should be nothing but dust and void.

 

‘That’s crazy right?’ asked Emilio, as he switched windows on the monitor. ‘And look there’s more.’

 

Now in front of them were the results from the Triaxial Fluxgate Magnetometer they were looking at magnetic fields in the same pattern as the implicit modelling of the electron density profiles. To Howard it was and it wasn’t clear what he was seeing in the data and the implicit modelling, he saw dozens upon dozens of objects out there in front of Voyager 1 but he didn’t have the faintest idea of what they were.

 

‘They can’t be natural can they?’ asked Emilio.

 

Howard didn’t want to answer right away he wanted to try and rationalize it. ‘This couldn’t be wrong could it we aren’t detecting stars in error?’

 

‘I checked it and rechecked it.’ Countered Emilio, defensively. ‘The closest reading is 9,680,000 kilometres, ten times the distance between Earth and Jupiter.’

 

‘That’s a long way out.’ Whispered Howard. ‘But it’s practically next door in astronomical terms.’ 

 

‘We have any idea if they’re moving?’

 

‘Yeah they’re moving alright.’ Said Emilio, he looked back at Howard he had gone pale.

 

Howard shuddered as he felt he already knew the answer to his next question. ‘Do you know where they’re headed?’

 

‘There were streams and streams of data taken over several hours so I could track their progress.’ Emilio took three attempts to form the words. ‘Here, they are headed here to sol. What the hell are they?’

 

‘Well they are either dozens of asteroids that are somehow emitting electromagnetic fields.’ Replied Howard. ‘Or they are vessels of some description.’

 

‘What the hell are we going to do?’

 

‘I am going to contact the Administrator.’

 

‘The Administrator of Nasa?’ asked Emilio, he looked shocked.

 

Howard shrugged. ‘The Administrator is the senior space science advisor to the President and I have a feeling that he is going to want to know about this.’

 

‘What if they don’t believe us?’ asked Emilio, the look of concern deepening on his face.

 

‘Why wouldn’t they believe us?’ asked Howard.

 

‘Are you kidding me?’ Scoffed Emilio. ‘On the day that the voyager programme is to be shut down for good, we find potential alien space craft heading for the solar system. I wouldn’t be surprised if the administrator didn’t take us seriously or accuses us of falsifying the data.’

 

‘I don’t give a rats ass what he will believe.’ Replied Howard, he gestured to the screens. ‘We will show the administrator that then our duty is done.’