12.22.2015
Tern stood in line for the bus again, but this time was at a different bus stop. Several of the buses pulled up to the stop and disgorged their occupants and devoured new ones from the curb. The people exiting spread out along the sidewalk like gas escaping a can of pop. Quickly and quietly. When the last person had paid, the vehicles rumbled forward and on toward their next destination in the vicinity.
It was cloudier today, and a wind persisted out of the west. The mountains were still in view, but a system of clouds above them threatened to topple over and down the front range and seep out across the metro area. These clouds were black, ominous, and opaque. A fainter layer of clouds sat above the plains of Colorado.
Snow hadn’t fallen since he’d finished his walk around his neighborhood, a walk he’d taken to clear his mind. Nothing had stuck to the ground though. Just small infrequent crystals which disappeared upon impact. He was the first person in line now, and he glanced backward.
He knew it unlikely that he would see the seat dampner, but his curiosity got the best of him. He made a move as if to pivot to look at the mountains, and did for a few seconds. His eyes then roved over the crowd. No one had the face he looked for.
A little disappointed, he looked over the group again. A mixture of men and women and kids, both young and old. One man reminded him of a close friend from high school whom he’d lost touch with. Another person, this a woman, reminded him of Christy.
“Shit,” he said under his breath. He had meant to call her before he left the house, but he’d forgotten about the slip he found on the floor until just now. He should not have set it on his nightstand, because he wasn’t on that side of the bed often.
He didn’t have a personal phone, because the monthly fees were exorbitant since the switch from single spectrum (radio) to multi-spectral. The long-range radio signals had been good for many years, but the move to photonic, microwave, and mesh, high-frequency wavelength proved to be much more durable and delivery greater speeds in parallel data connections.
The neighborhood-level content distribution networks on which most major content networks and companies relied were fast as hell, but also exacted a high price, especially for head-of-the-queue resolution-of-service.
Move people than ever were online, but fewer and fewer were connecting outside their homes. The pricing tactics had really put accessibility of data back several decades.
He made a mental note to call her as soon as he got home. Tern wondered if she had a personal phone, or if hers was also a home-tethered setup like his.
A squeal grew behind him and he turned to see an approaching bus slow itself. The doors slid open and on he stepped. His change clanged into the fare box. He sat down near the front of the bus and the lady who looked like Christy sat just beside him. But she didn’t give him that feeling in his stomach that Christy did. He made a second mental note to ask her out again, when he talked to her.
Some brainstorming.
I was on a flight to Ohio when I wrote the above. I decided to take the time to do some other brainstorming and to think of things at a higher level. There may be some spoilers or things that don’t even make it into the final work.
- When Tern sees the lights they are actually overlayed in three dimensional space where the distant star system is located. The rent in his vision is a particularly strong portion of the signal. Since the strength of the signal changes in the observation radio dish because of the rotation of the earth. It’s not in real time, but his brain is processing this stuff and the delusions are caused by the signal (and it’s leakage through his brain) being the strongest.
- Tern is involved in the search for what the sickness is related to. Security precautions in the brain and system prevent Smokestack from knowing what job was worked on or what the data actually was. Encryption makes the data secure but harder to “debug”. A feature.
- Christy visits Tern in the hospital. She brings him eggs, bacon, and sausage from The Risen Sun, just like he likes. They eat it down in the cafeteria, where they can get coffee refills. They ask Tern’s doctor if they can take a walk outside in the sun.
- The doctors use chemical markers and neural imaging to map out Tern’s brain. Compare expected to actual. They aren’t sure what the differences mean. They put him through testing. Eventually they discern that he hallucinates some of the data his subconscious processes, because of a leakage between systems. This causes a large investigation by Smokestack. Evneutally a recall. They try to figure out which job specifically was the one causing trouble. SETI gets involved and that’s when they see what the job was and what the signal was. Intelligent-possible.
- Perhaps the first book is shorter and ens with the reveal that it’s an alien signal? Could have the next book start from there then.
- Tern’s clinician is brought to the hospital after he wakes from his coma.
- Does Tern have any family or friends besides Liz and Erin who worry/visit?
- After release from hospital, Tern and Christy go hiking/snowshoeing in mtns.
- Tern also has to go to those BEI events, but uses his popularity to speak out against them. The press got wind of his situation and he does interviews.
- The press turns out to be a pain though. Demonizing him in some way.