Michael Crichton - Sphere

“So I’m glad we’re finally finding things,” she said. She looked at her benches of chemicals and reagents. “And I’m glad to finally get to work on something.”

Harry was eating bacon and eggs in the galley. The others stood around and watched him, relieved that he was all right. And they told him the news; he listened with interest, until they mentioned that there had been a large school of squid.

“Squid?”

He looked up sharply and almost dropped his fork. “Yeah, lots of ‘em,” Levy said. “I’m cooking up a bunch for dinner.”

“Are they still here?” Harry asked.

“No, they’re gone now.”

He relaxed, shoulders dropping.

“Something the matter, Harry?” Norman said.

“I hate squid,” Harry said. “I can’t stand them.”

“I don’t care for the taste myself,” Ted said.

“Terrible,” Harry said, nodding. He resumed eating his eggs. The tension passed.

Then Tina shouted from D Cylinder: “I’m getting them again! I’m getting the numbers again!”

00032125252632 032629 301321 04261037 18 3016 06180

82132 29033005 1822 04261013 0830162137 1604 083016

21 1822 033013130432 00032125252632 032629 301321 0

4261037 18 3016 0618082132 29033005 1822 04261013 08

30162137 1604 08301621 1822 033013130432 000321252

52632 032629 301321 04261037 18 3016 0618082132 290

33005 1822 04261013 0830162137 1604 08301621 1822 03

3013130432 00032125252632 032629 301321 04261037 1

8 3016 0618082132 29033005 1822 04261013 0830162137

1604 08301621 1822 033013130432 00032125252632 032

629 301321 04261037 18 3016 0618082132 29033005 1822

04261013 0830162137 1604 08301621 1822 033013130432

0003212525252632 032629 301321 04261037 18 3016 06

18082132 29033005 1822 04261013 0830162137 1604 083

01621 1822 033013130432 0003212525632 032629 301321

“What do you think, Harry?” Barnes said, pointing to the screen.

“Is this what you got before?” Harry said. “Looks like it, except the spacing is different.”

“Because this is definitely nonrandom,” Harry said. “It’s a single sequence repeated over and over. Look. Starts here, goes to here, then repeats.”

00032125252632 032629 301321 04261037 18 3016 06180

82132 29033005 1822 04261013 0830162137 1604 083016

21 1822 033013130432 00032125252632 032629 301321 0

4261037 18 3016 0618082132 29033005 1822 04261013 08

30162137 1604 08301621 1822 033013130432 000321252

52632 032629 301321 04261037 18 3016 0618082132 290

33005 1822 04261013 0830162137 1604 08301621 1822 03

3013130432 00032125252632 032629 301321 04261037 1

8 3016 0618082132 29033005 1822 04261013 0830162137

1604 08301621 1822 033013130432 00032125252632 032

629 301321 04261037 18 3016 0618082132 29033005 1822

04261013 0830162137 1604 08301621 1822 033013130432

0003212525252632 032629 301321 04261037 18 3016 06

18082132 29033005 1822 04261013 0830162137 1604 083

01621 1822 033013130432 0003212525632 032629 301321

“He’s right,” Tina said.

“Fantastic,” Barnes said. “Absolutely incredible, for you to see it like that.”

Ted drummed his fingers on the console impatiently. “Elementary, my dear Barnes,” Harry said. “That part is easy. The hard part is-what does it mean?”

“Surely it’s a message,” Ted said.

“Possibly it’s a message,” Harry said. “It could also be some kind of discharge from within the computer, the result of a programming error or a hardware glitch. We might spend hours translating it, only to find it says ‘Copyright Acme Computer Systems, Silicon Valley’ or something similar.”

“Well…” Ted said.

“The greatest likelihood is that this series of numbers originates from within the computer itself,” Harry said. “But let me give it a try.”

Tina printed out the screen for him. “I’d like to try, too,” Ted said quickly.

Tina said, “Certainly, Dr. Fielding,” and printed out a second sheet.

“If it’s a message,” Harry said, “it’s most likely a simple substitution code, like an askey code. It would help if we could run a decoding program on the computer. Can anybody program this thing?”

They all shook their heads. “Can you?” Barnes said.

“No. And I suppose there’s no way to transmit this to the surface? The NSA code-breaking computers in Washington would take about fifteen seconds to do this.”

Barnes shook his head. “No contact. I wouldn’t even put up a radio wire on a balloon. The last report, they have forty-foot waves on the surface. Snap the wire right away.”

“So we’re isolated?”

“We’re isolated.”

“I guess it’s back to the old pencil and paper. I always say, traditional tools are best-particularly when there’s nothing else.” And left the room.

“He seems to be in a good mood,” Barnes said.

“I’d say a very good mood,” Norman said.

“Maybe a little too good,” Ted said. “A little manic?”

“No,” Norman said. “Just a good mood.”

“I thought he was a little high,” Ted said.

“Let him stay that way,” Barnes snorted, “if it helps him to crack this code.”

“I’m going to try, too,” Ted reminded him.

“That’s fine,” Barnes said. “You try, too.”

“I’m telling you, this reliance on Harry is misplaced.” Ted paced back and forth and glanced at Norman. “Harry is manic, and he’s overlooking things. Obvious things.”

“Like what?”

“Like the fact that the printout can’t possibly be a discharge from the computer.”

“How do you know?” Norman said.

“The processor,” Ted said. “The processor is a 68090 chip, which means that any memory dump would be in hex .”

“What’s hex?”

“There are lots of ways to represent numbers,” Ted said. “The 68090 chip uses base-sixteen representation, called ‘hexadecimal.’ Hex is entirely different from regular decimal. Looks different.”

“But the message used zero through nine,” Norman said. “Exactly my point,” Ted said. “So it didn’t come from the computer. I believe it’s definitely a message from the sphere. Furthermore, although Harry thinks it is a substitution code, I think it’s a direct visual representation.”

“You mean a picture?”

“Yes,” Ted said. “And I think it’s a picture of the creature itself!” He started searching through sheets of paper. “I started with this.”

001110101110011100111010100000 111101011101

11110110110101 100110101010100101

100101111010000 11010010100010101100000

111011111110101 1001010110 1001101010101101

1000111101000010101100101 10000100

1000111101000010101 1001010110

111111011011101100100000

001110101110011100111010100000 111101011101

11110110110101 100110101010100101 10010

1111010000 11010010100010101100000

111011111110101 1001010110 1001101010101101