Kindle Edition
Amazon
Amazon
Amazon
Category:
Science Fiction
Publisher: Video Software Lab
ISBN-10: 1539376362
Type: Fiction
Pages: 270
Copyright: Dec 16, 2016
ISBN-13: 9781539376361
Price: $3.99 (eBook)
strong vibrant characters with action packed battle drama
Jamie Hawkins was living on an obscure planet in the twenty third-century when on one fateful night--his life changed forever. His heroic effort to save the lives of innocent women and children, caught in the cross-fire of war, placed him squarely in the cross-hairs of avenging soldiers.
Hawkins was stunned when his rescue effort was seen as treachery. Unfairly convicted of treason by a corrupt judge, he was sentenced to life imprisonment at hard labor on an infamous penal colony.
Once in prison, his courage and perseverance won him the admiration and trust of his fellow convicts. While he was plotting his escape, an enemy attacked the planet--giving this daring warrior his chance. Together with his fellow prisoners, he launched a bold assault and high-jacked an enemy warship.
From then on, Captain Jamie Hawkins and his ship the Indefatigable fought against a corrupt government--only to discover a mysterious alien presence behind the war.
Excerpt
EXCERPT
Overlapping Puzzles
"Sir, I was working on my assignment - trying to analyze the communication patterns of the enemy fleet," said Joshua, licking his dry lips, excitedly. "And I've came across a very unusual signal."
Hawkins gave him an encouraging nod.
"It was a burst of radio signals from deep space. I traced it to either a 4 billion-year-old star in a constellation 44 light years away, or to another star in that same constellation, but much farther away. That means that the radio waves have been travelling to us for at least forty-four years."
Hawkins said, "Deep space radio signals have many plausible explanations, such as radio interference from planets, or rogue signals from microwave devices.
"That's true, Captain. It could be just the effect of a natural space object like a pulsating quasar, but it's also possible . . . I think maybe . . . it could be a message from another civilization."
Now smiling broadly, Hawkins said, "Given the unlikeness of that, why are you concerned?"
"Because it was not a one-off event," said Joshua excitedly and then pausing to catch his breath. "I've recorded a half dozen repeating signals from the exact same source."
Nodding, Hawkins said, "That's a little more interesting, but there are explanations for that too."
"But Captain, the implications could be mind-blowing. Imagine, what if it was an alien civilization, and they were far more advanced than us, and they were trying to make contact? After centuries of fruitlessly scanning the stars and finding no evidence that anyone else is out there, this could be . . . could be . . ."
He became paralyzed by his own imagination.
"Joshua, even if this signal were not natural, it might still be the product of one of Earth's colonies--not aliens."
"No sir, I've checked. There were no Earth colonies in the vicinity of the signal's star cluster."
Joshua wanted to argue further, but couldn't offer any additional proof for his cause.
Hawkins said, "I agree, we should continue to monitor this frequency, but for now, it'll have to remain a mystery."
It was only a few days later when Joshua returned. "I've been working to decrypt the deep space signal using our AI computer with the help of a data tech."
Hawkins was surprised, but also impressed with Joshua's initiative.
"What does a deep space signal have to do with your work assignment to analyze our enemy's Top Secrets communication network?"
"Everything."
"Explain that."
"Let me give you a metaphor for how I solved this puzzle, because it is a puzzle."
"Go on."
"Think of a portrait of a woman, say the Mona Lisa. Now consider a jigsaw puzzle of the Mona Lisa--a picture of a woman cut into a thousand irregularly sized pieces and spread out for someone to reassemble."
"A kid's game."
"Yes, sir."
Joshua took a deep breath to gather his wits.
"Now let's start again with our portrait with various colors of gray, brown, black, and flesh tone that shows the image of Mona Lisa. Next, suppose that I took a black felt pen and drew a sketch of Captain Hawkins right over the portrait, only I centered it catty-corner. I could still recognize the image of the woman with its stark colors, but overlaid on that, I would also see the outline of a man in ink, in its skewed position. My brain could flip, back and forth, between the two; seeing them individually, as well as a composite. If I cut this into a thousand irregularly sized pieces and spread those pieces out. Can you image how you would go about reassembling them?"
"I don't get where you're going with this."
"Let's say a kid looked at the thousand pieces of our puzzle and was told to assembly them into a portrait of the Mona Lisa. Once he began, he would connect pieces of vivid colors and woman's image would emerge, but he would, also, see thick black lines crossing through the woman. At first he wouldn't be able to recognize that the black lines connected in a meaningful way, but eventually, as he filled in more and more of the puzzle, he would see both the Mona Lisa image and a second image, the outline of a man."
Hawkins looked at him.
"That's what happened to me," said Joshua, becoming agitated. "I was decrypting a pattern in the enemy's communications, and as I was decoding their orders, I began to recognize an overlapping pattern."
"That's great. Why didn't you just say that?"
"Because the secret communication pattern, I was working on--had the overlying pattern of the deep space signal, I was also interested in. When I was putting the first 'image' together, I recognized the second."
"Huh? I don't understand?"
"Neither does the enemy security forces. They think our agents have penetrated their security organization and that we are sending false orders to their ships, but the phony orders are actually a result of the deep space signals!"
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