Crow's Gambit, page 17
part #1 of Sylphan Revelations Series
“Hey Waldo,” Neil called.
A head popped up from behind several monitors. It belonged to a man who appeared to be about the age her grandfather would’ve been. He had curly white hair and was wearing dark rimmed glasses.
“I’ve asked you not to call me that.”
“I call you Waldo because everyone is always asking where you are. Did you think I wouldn’t be able to find you here?”
The man ducked underneath the desk and started checking data cables. “I knew you could find me if you really needed me. The building’s biometric scanners guarantee that. It’s the woman working with the food sciences team I’m trying to avoid.” His head popped up again. “Her, and that idiot Joe. He keeps trying to convince me to hack into the FBI databases and purge his record. The moron doesn’t realize there isn’t a record there to erase.” He blinked, noticing Cassie. “Who are you? If she’s another college intern Neil, so help me...”
“She’s not an intern,” Neil quickly interjected. “I won’t make the mistake of trying to give you an intern again, trust me. This is Cassie McIntyre. She has a theory to test, and she needs some help with the Merlin data.”
At the mention of her name and Merlin, the man finally stood up fully. He was wearing a plaid shirt and overalls reminiscent of a retired Iowa farmer, not a programmer.
“McIntyre? Bill’s granddaughter?”
Neil nodded his head.
“And she knows about Merlin?”
Neil nodded at him again.
“Well, okay then. What’s this theory you want to test?”
“That the Sylph spheres have a radius of exclusion. Anything inside of it gets destroyed. I need to determine what the exact distance is so I can plot a path to avoid it.”
“Old theory,” the man replied. “No way to test it either, even with Merlin watching. There’s nothing left up there for them to run into.” The man’s reply was brusque.
“But there was on Net-Day.”
“Doesn’t matter. Merlin was on the other side of the solar system then.”
“There should be records somewhere of when each LEO satellite went offline on Net-Day, correct?”
When the man didn’t answer Neil finally said, “Yes, we can access that data.”
“So, we know where the Sylph spheres are now, and we know where the LEOs were then...” She gave a crooked smile, waiting. The older man who wasn’t named Waldo smiled back.
“We can model the spheres trajectories and project them back to when each LEO was destroyed,” Neil finished for her. “Your problem will be the uncertainties being amplified through the calculation.”
“Damn, why didn’t we think of that? Neil, why haven’t you brought this lovely lady by before this? Now, we have important things to do.” He made a waving motion with his hands. “Go away so we can work.”
No sooner had Neil left than the man was pulling a large white board on wheels over. He erased the scraps of code and equations on it then started refilling it with new information.
“Ok, we’re going to need a search algorithm and a data mining tool to pull together the information on the LEOs. While that’s working, we can get the cluster to start running the orbital mechanics backward in time. Any questions?”
Cassie had at least a dozen other questions but the only thing that came out of her mouth was, “What’s really your name?”
The man held out a large wrinkled hand for her to shake. “The name’s Walt. A few people around here call me Waldo though. It’s a nickname my friends gave me decades ago in graduate school.”
“If Waldo is actually your nickname, why’d you tell Neil not to call you that?”
He laughed. “The kid gets too wound up. I like to yank his chain. Remind him to relax.”
Cassie looked at him dubiously.
“No, really. That boy is like a son to me.” There was a pause. “And if you tell him I said that I won’t help with your little project.”
She made a crossing motion across her heart. “Promise. You knew my grandfather?”
“Yes, before Net-Day we worked in some of the same aerospace and government circles. After Net-Day fate brought several of us back together here at Crow Research. We’d already started working with Merlin to snoop on the Sylph but none of us had any concept of trying to return to space at that point.”
“Darrow mentioned it was Grandpa’s idea.” Cassie sat on a box and pulled her knees up, wrapping her arms around them.
“He came to us,” Walt explained. “That would have been just over ten years ago. Of course, he’d figured out what we were doing, that we had stolen a NASA probe. He said he needed our help to get mankind back into space. Apparently, a small child had convinced him it was possible to fly, even with the Sylph.”
The timing clicked in Cassie’s mind. “Me? The drone I crashed. You’re wrong. He was not happy about that. He almost went to jail.”
“He was always carrying around a copy of the Hawkins’s Report. He’d made notations and circled sections all through it. He said you keeping the drone in the air for so long convinced him the entire report was crap. That maybe we had given up on flight too easily.” Walt sat down next to her. “I didn’t see him often, but when I did, he always mentioned you. He was very proud of you.”
She turned her face away to hide the tears in her eyes.
Walt hopped down off his box and clapped his hands together. “Now, we have a lot of work to do,” he announced happily.
For the next three hours, they worked non-stop. Walt was a genius when it came to programming. He talked or mumbled to himself constantly, often answering his own questions. Occasionally he would scribble on the white board and then stand back to stare at it silently.
Cassie tried to help where she could, but she spent more time asking questions than answering them. He didn’t seem to mind. Patiently explaining what he was doing each time she asked.
“Okay, we’ve got a spider-bot roaming the data files in the Darrow Industries computers and a few special networks we have access to. The orbital equations are running on the super cluster. Nothing to do now but wait. There are a lot of spheres and satellites to track though. It’s going to take some time. Probably at least a day even with priority on the cluster to shunt everything else.” Walt leaned back in his chair and propped his feet up on the desk. “Think I’ll take a nap. Pull up a box if you want.”
“No, that’s okay. I should probably check in with the rest of the team. They may be waiting on me to run some more flight simulations.”
“Suit yourself.” Walt shut his eyes.
She hesitated. “Walt? Can I ask you something?”
“Hmm?” Walt replied with eyes still closed.
“Why’d Grandpa really start all this? Did he ever say?”
Walt lifted his head and scratched at his white hair. “I think there’s an argument to be made the Sylph started it.”
“That’s not what I meant. This plan with the XS-9. I still don’t think it will work but...”
“If it was pointless, why would your grandfather have spent so much effort on it?” He lifted himself back upright leaning on his knees. “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield?”
No response came from her and he sighed.
“It’s a line from Tennyson.”
“It’s not just that I think it’s impossible,” she picked up a small model plane from a shelf and studied it. She knew it was some military fighter from the early part of the century, but she couldn’t remember the name. Placing it back on the shelf she turned to Walt, who was patiently waiting for her to continue. “Wasn’t he worried about what could happen?”
“I’m not sure I can tell you exactly what your grandfather thought. I can tell you why I decided it’s important though. Do I worry the Sylph will get upset if we try to go back to space?” Walt nodded his head a couple times in thought. “A little, but I’m more worried about what could happen if we don’t try.”
“Everyone lives quiet peaceful lives?” Her tone was sarcastic, but she reluctantly smiled at Walt.
“The history of Earth teaches us sooner or later an extinction level event comes to most species. A meteor. A nearby star going supernova. A new virus. War. To survive as a species, we will eventually have to leave the planet.”
Kicking absently at the side of a box she considered what he said. “You don’t know that.”
“No, but I believe that.”
She had to admit the argument made sense. Even if a threat didn’t appear, the human species was at risk of stagnating intellectually. If nothing else, the Sylph proved there was a lot out there in the universe no one understood.
Walt leaned back again. “Your grandfather believed that too, and in your generation, saw the future of the species. The last generation with any connection to the world before Net-Day. And personally, he thought you would be the key.”
“I don’t know what you mean.” She rubbed her face. Grandpa had been a dreamer, but she had never heard him talk about extinction or the future of the species.
“He saw something special in you.”
“Well, I’m not sure I’ve fulfilled his dreams for me.” Grandpa had great hopes for her when she got accepted into the engineering program at the university. He had died before she got kicked out.
“I wouldn’t say that. You are special. I’ve read your file. Besides, you’re young. Plenty of time left to do something spectacular.” Walt winked at her.
“Evidently my file is popular reading.” Her tone was sarcastic. “What specifically did you find out?”
“Did you know the flight success rate for an average barnstormer is less than seventy percent?”
Cassie shrugged.
“And the rate for a military trained drone pilot? Slightly over eighty percent if they’re lucky. Do you know your success rate? Over ninety four percent!”
The numbers made her pause. Her ego didn’t mind being told she was a better pilot than most. She’d never thought she was that much better though. It was only at that moment Cassie wondered if Grandpa’s plan had been for her to fly the drone all along.
Her belief had been Darrow merely sought her out because of her grandfather, because she was the only one with experience with the XS-9 simulator—years of it, actually. But they had her working with the simulator because they were hoping to train the AI to fly like her, specifically, hoping for her success rate. If that were the case, then hopefully the AI could figure it out because she had no idea how she did it.
Chapter 28
ONCE THE CAFFEINE STARTED to wear off, Cassie chose to go home early.
Walt had said the data wouldn’t be ready for at least a day.
Bala was busy with another project and didn’t have any simulations she needed to run so Cassie grabbed a ride to the townhouse in the early afternoon. Her sleep cycle was completely messed up though. A few hours of napping and she was wide awake again with nothing to do.
Cassie decided to check in with Lizzy and see if she was online. She had asked Lizzy to see what she could find out about Gloria. General Belle knew quite a bit about her. Once logging onto the network, it didn’t take long for Lizzy to pop up.
>>> Don’t you ever go offline? Cassie typed.
<<< All the time. But I put in an alarm to tell me when you’re on.
Cassie smiled to herself. Before the work with Darrow started, she had spent most of her free time talking with Lizzy online. Now she was busy with this new project she hadn’t had time to even check in with her. She wondered if Lizzy felt slighted.
>>> You’re a vortex of weirdness lately.
<<< And does that excite you or worry you?
>>> Yes.
Cassie chuckled to herself.
>>> I found some stuff on your friend. It was buried but not hard to find.
<<< Shoot.
>>> Part of the Secret Service for five years. Assigned to protect a certain Congressman running for President. Seems the Congressman has a prostitute hobby.
<<< Gloria had a problem with that and quit?
>>> No. The Secret Service apparently has a tolerance for some vices. The Congressman got a little rough with his hired friend though. When she started screaming, Gloria stepped in.
<<< And?
>>> And broke the Congressman’s arm. She “resigned” afterwards.
Cassie imagined how that resignation had come about. Gloria couldn’t have stayed in the Secret Service, but they couldn’t have officially fired her either. That would have outed the Congressman.
>>> We haven’t flown for days. I’m getting withdrawal. Lizzy sent.
<<
>>> You’re at the Crow Research headquarters in eastern Virginia, aren’t you? Ragnar’s Daughters is reuniting for a one-time benefit concert near you.
<<< Oh my god. You’re kidding? When? They were Cassie’s musical obsession. Creative differences had broken up the band a couple years ago. She still regretted not taking an expensive road trip to one of their concerts before then.
>>> Two days from now in some place called Frontier Park.
It would be incredible to see them together again. Cassie didn’t know where Frontier Park was or if she could even get out of the Crow Works long enough to see them. But wouldn’t it be great if she could.
>>> There’s also a new Darwin Video online.
>>> Guy trying to commit suicide by Sylph.
<<< Trying?
>>> He did an Evil Knievel. Didn’t jump anything. Just went ballistic off the ramp. Thought the Sylph would zap him in mid-air. Wrong. He crashed on top of the police cars that came to stop him.
<<< He didn’t die?
>>> Nope. Broke twelve bones though. That’s got to be embarrassing. Guess the Sylph aren’t into assisted suicide.
Lizzy said he went ballistic. Cassie knew if that bike had been a drone it would have been zapped. What was the difference she wondered?
One of Hodson’s conclusions was the Sylph ignored things in free fall. There were numerous examples to support this. The astronauts from the International Space Station weren’t targeted during their descent. The Sylph had absolutely no interest in stopping meteors from hitting the Earth. Of course, most barnstormers weren’t too concerned with how to fall so it wasn’t something she had given much thought to.
Ballistic objects also didn’t get shot down. With the elimination of most missile systems the militaries of the world had returned to the World War II technology of big guns. Hodson’s files even had videos from an experiment run by the Navy in Hawaii.
They had refurbished one of the big guns on the old U.S.S. Missouri and fired off some test rounds. None of the huge shells were targeted by the Sylph. Some researchers initially contended it was only manned objects which were shot down.
However, her own experience flying drones disproved the theory. There was a later theory by the Navy, saying the shells hadn’t been touched because they weren’t under direct human or computer control. That seemed like a stretch in reasoning.
<<< If we pulled that maneuver in a drone we’d be zapped, right?
>>> Oh yeah.
<<< What’s the difference? There was a long pause.
>>> Most drones are faster than bikes. Stunt bikes can reach a couple g’s when they hit the bottom of the launch ramp. They don’t do it for long, but still. Maybe it depends on which Sylph is running things that day?
Mentally Cassie pictured how she liked to fly. The twists and turns. The way she banked and dropped. Suddenly Cassie sat up straight. Lizzy had said they don’t do it for long. Could it be that simple? Could the unknown variable be the length of the acceleration? She started to smile as she theorized how that could be tested.
<<< I may have a flight for us, she told Lizzy.
>>> Really?
<<< How would you like to TRY and get a drone destroyed?
>>> Sounds entertaining.
The next day she stopped by Walt’s office, or hiding place, depending on your viewpoint. She was getting better at navigating the building. The data simulations didn’t seem to be going well. Walt was pacing while mumbling to himself.
“I’m sorry Cassie. The numbers just aren’t working,” he apologized. “The orbital tracks don’t work out. If I didn’t know better, I’d say there were too many Sylph spheres. I can’t get the middle and geosynchronous orbits to match.” There was still a twinkle in Walt’s eye.
Cassie’s brow furrowed. “Why do you seem happy then?”
“Because I can get the low earth orbits to match. You were right. The Sylph only destroyed things that got too close to them. At least, at the lower orbits.”
“You’re kidding! That’s ... incredible.” She hopped out of her chair. “Why did you seem so upset when I came in then?”
“Because I can’t get the data to work for all the other orbits and I don’t know why.” He shrugged. “It’s an obsessive-compulsive math thing.”
They sat talking for several minutes about the implications. Eventually Cassie decided to explain her new theory. Walt thought there was serious potential to it. When she asked what the best way to convince Darrow or Neil to give her a drone to test it with, he just smiled.
“Better to ask forgiveness than permission. Darrow Industries isn’t going to miss a drone. Hell, we’re spending more on electricity for the cluster than the drone will cost.”
“I can just, what? Fill out a requisition for a drone? Or is there a Crow Research fleet you just check one out from?” Her tone was slightly confused. Going online to buy an illegally grown kidney was usually easier than ordering a drone. More legal too.
