Communication satellites fail due to massive data intrusions and ex-hacker Paul Trimble finds immovable data intrusions in his computer, in the computers of US military and spy satellites and in computers at the Deep Space Network. A very sophisticated denial-of-service attack threatens US military power and chaos is imminent. A Task Force is set up to locate the source and stop the intrusions but they find that the intrusions use tricometric coding far in advance of any known system and have accessed our digital world through the open back doors of our commsats. Dr Avril Stone proves that the intrusions originate in deep space and are a digital form of DNA, indicating extra-terrestrial intelligence. John Craig confirms that this intelligence is based on a triple string DNA with self-replicating capabilities. The Taskforce cannot stop it and the US defence system is powerless. Chaos is imminent.
Second Contact
If we look into near-space where our communication satellites cruise silently on the borders of the endless realm of deep space, has anyone questioned the security of these silent miracles?
Do we have open doors up there, out of reach, with no practical way to close them?
Is it possible that these satellites can pick-up and re-transmit signals from sources other than those for which they were designed? ... from foreign powers? terrorists? or from unknown sources in deep space? ... without that we recognise what is happening?
Why do we lose satellites from time to time?
Why do space vehicles explode or go astray?
The Space-Age has brought with it many challenges and an endless chain of new technologies in response to those challenges. Quite often, these new technologies have been implemented without due consideration being given to their side effects ... direct or indirect. We live with these side effects until there is the time and the money to resolve them, or until an attributable catastrophe strikes. Concurrently, we live in the Information Technology Age, where technological advances are made so rapidly that we, the citizens of this Age, can barely stay abreast of developments, if at all ... and the engineers and scientists who work in these fields are so busy looking for the next big thing that there is practically no resources whatever dedicated to the investigation of side effects, or to establishing whether they have left any doors open.
Combined, the two Ages present us with a potentially very large number of open doors that we may never become aware of unless someone or something, somewhere, comes through one of these doors and creates havoc, or worse. It happens, as most of us are aware.
But what about the instances that we are not aware of? Who or what has already come through the door and sits in the shadows of our electronic world? Passive? We hope so. Aggressive? Possibly, given the nature of the world in which we live.
This book explores what might have already come through those open doors and our response to the apparent invasion.
Nine New Novellas, Part III is a collection of nine sci-fi/paranormal stories to complement the nine in Nine New Novellas, Nine New Novellas Part II and Nine New Novellas, Part IV.
Heaven sent us an angel. She could be your neighbor. Her friends call her Megan, but when her eyes are glowing, everyone calls her Ember Reign.
Megan Martin was an average teenager. She felt cheated when her grandfather died and grandmother
