Michael Crichton - Sphere

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“Now, here I have translated the message to binary,” Ted said. “You can immediately sense visual pattern, can’t you?”

“Not really,” Norman said.

“Well, it is certainly suggestive,” Ted said. “I’m telling you, all those years at JPL looking at images from the planets, I have an eye for these things. So, the next thing I did was go back to the original message and fill in the spaces. I got this.”

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•00032125252632• •032629• •301321• •04261037• •18•

“Uh-huh…” Norman said.

“I agree, it doesn’t look like anything,” Ted said. “But by changing the screen width, you get this .”

Proudly, he held up the next sheet.

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•1822• •042610134, •0830162137• •1604•

•08301621• •1822• •033013130432•

•00032125252632• •032629• •301321• •04261037•

•18• •3016• •0618082132• •29033005• •1822•

•04261013• •0830162137• •1604• •08301621•

•1822• •033013130432• •00032125252632•

•032629• •301321• •04261037• •18• •3016•

•0618082132• •29033005• •1822• •04261013•

•0830162137• •1604• •08301621• •1822•

•033013130432• •00032125252632• •032629•

•301321• •04261037• •18• •3016• •0618082132•

•29033005• •1822• •04261013• •0830162137•

•1604• •08301621• •1822• •033013130432•

•00032125252632• •0326294, •301321• •04261037•

•18• •3016• •0618082132• •29033005• •1822•

•04261013• •0830162137• •1604• •08301621•

•1822• •033013130432• •00032125252632•

•032629• •301321• •04261037• •18• •3016•

“Yes?” Norman said.

“Don’t tell me you don’t see the pattern,”

Ted said. “I don’t see the pattern,” Norman said.

“Squint at it,” Ted said.

Norman squinted. “Sorry.”

“But it is obviously a picture of the creature,” Ted said. “Look, that’s the vertical torso, three legs, two arms. There’s no head, so presumably the creature’s head is located within the torso itself. Surely you see that, Norman.”

“Ted…”

“For once, Harry has missed the point entirely! The message is not only a picture, it’s a self-portrait!”

“Ted…”

Ted sat back. He sighed. “You’re going to tell me I’m trying too hard.”

“I don’t want to dampen your enthusiasm,” Norman said.

“But you don’t see the alien?”

“Not really, no.”

“Hell.” Ted tossed the papers aside. “I hate that son of a bitch. He’s so arrogant, he makes me so mad… And on top of that, he’s young!”

“You’re forty,” Norman said. “I wouldn’t exactly call that over the hill.”

“For physics, it is,” Ted said. “Biologists can sometimes do important work late in life. Darwin was fifty when he published the Origin of Species . And chemists sometimes do good work when they’re older. But in physics, if you haven’t done it by thirty-five, the chances are, you never will.”

“But Ted, you’re respected in your field.”

Ted shook his head. “I’ve never done fundamental work. I’ve analyzed data, I’ve come to some interesting conclusions. But never anything fundamental. This expedition is my chance to really do something. To really… get my name in the books.”

Norman now had a different sense of Ted’s enthusiasm and energy, that relentlessly juvenile manner. Ted wasn’t emotionally retarded; he was driven. And he clung to his youth out of a sense that time was slipping by and he hadn’t yet accomplished anything. It wasn’t obnoxious. It was sad.

“Well,” Norman said, “the expedition isn’t finished yet.”

“No,” Ted said, suddenly brightening. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right. There are more, wonderful experiences awaiting us. I just know there are. And they’ll come, won’t they.”

“Yes, Ted,” Norman said. “They’ll come.”

“Damn it, nothing works!” She waved a hand to her laboratory bench. “Not a single one of the chemicals or reagents here is worth a damn!”

“What’ve you tried?” Barnes said calmly. “Zenker-Formalin, H and E, the other stains. Proteolytic extractions, enzyme breaks. You name it. None of it works. You know what I think, I think that whoever stocked this lab did it with outdated ingredients.”

“No,” Barnes said, “it’s the atmosphere.”

He explained that their environment contained only 2 percent oxygen, 1 percent carbon dioxide, but no nitrogen at all. “Chemical reactions are unpredictable,” he said. “You ought to take a look at Levy’s recipe book sometime. It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen in your life. The food looks normal when she’s finished, but she sure doesn’t make it the normal way.”