The cafeteria line crawled past the steam tables as Quinn, Jung Sim and Berkman sat near the windows at a sunlit table. NSA employees and contractors began swarming the cafeteria as the men ate. Both Quinn and Berkman remarked that the cafeteria food was excellent and wondered how the NSA got such prime cuisine. When the group had finished their lunch they placed their trays at a cleaning station and headed for the doors.

Jung Sim led the investigators through a series of hallways ending at a door labeled Communications Specialist, John Logan. After knocking, Jung Sim opened the door and led the investigators inside. John Logan heard the knock, stopped munching on his turkey on rye with sprouts for a moment and looked up from behind his desk.

“Oh, I am very sorry Mr. Logan! We did not intend to interrupt your lunch.” Jung Sim said offering a sincere apology.

“Hell, that’s all right Jung Sim, come on in and take a load off. I can think and eat at the same time! Help yourselves to a seat guys.” John Logan said to the visitors as he motioned toward some empty chairs.

Jung Sim moved toward a chair and introduced the investigators. “Mr. Logan, this is Agent Quinn and his assistant Mr. Berkman.”

“How do you do fellas?” John Logan asked as he put down his sandwich and offered his hand. “Jung Sim, please lay off that Mr. Logan crap…just plain John will do, o.k.?”

“Yes, yes, o.k. John!” Jung Sim chuckled as he took a seat.

“Now, what can I do for you gentlemen?” John asked as he picked up his sandwich and continued his lunch.

“I don’t know how much Jung Sim has told you John, but we are in quite a pickle here…and we need an expert opinion.” Quinn began as he recounted the investigation from the beginning.

“I see, “ mumbled John as he finished off the last bits of his sandwich. “Well, lets make a few assumptions here…I know that you all have basic technical knowledge so this may seem a little low brow, but please bear with me.” He took a long draw of water from a glass on his desk and picked at a piece of sprout stuck between his teeth before he began.

“O.K., so we have an unknown microscopic device that seems to govern control of the mind and body. Such a device might be pre-programmed to perform certain functions or might be controlled by external means…” John stated with raised eyebrows and a questioning look.

Berkman broke in, “Or some combination of those two!”

John put his index finger to his nose and then used it to point at Berkman. “Now, assuming this device is pre-programmed, it may be very difficult to determine it’s programming. No standard interface or other means of access. So we are back to square one with our collected data. Correct? Good! If this device is controlled, or partially controlled, from an external source what does that tell us?”

“That an electromagnetic control signal would have to be used, such as a radio wave or other broadcast signal.” Jung Sim answered the carefully planted question.

Once again John put his index finger to his nose and used it to point at Jung Sim. “All right then! This signal would probably originate from a source outside the aircraft either directly or through a planted relay device inside the aircraft. The problem here is that the wreckage from the plane has not been recovered from the bottom of the sea…so we may never be able to determine which is the case. Doesn’t matter anyway. The point is that we may be able to determine the type and frequency of the control signal by experimentation here in the lab.”

“That sounds great John, but how can we do that?” Quinn asked pointedly.

“I’m glad you asked me that Agent Quinn…” John said with a wry grin. “You fellows have a sample of this device don’t you?”

“Yes, I have a tiny bit in this vial.” Berkman responded and fished the vial from his pocket.

“Good. I’ve got some free time…we can go over to the Com lab and start fooling with it right now if you like.” Said John as he reclined in his chair and looked at the three men.

“What are we waiting for then? I’m ready now John!” exclaimed Berkman.

The entire group agreed that there was no sense in delaying any longer. John led the men down the hall a short distance to a door labeled Communications Lab. In the lab there was state of the art satellite, radio and diagnostic equipment not to mention experimental and developmental communication technologies. John led them to a corner of the lab where there was a spherical shaped chamber about the size of an oversize beach ball. On this orb were hundreds of wires sprouting from various points on its surface. John approached the orb and turned a small handle on its side. He pulled on the handle and opened a hatch about the size of a dinner plate. Inside the opening was a small platform on a support pedestal. He removed the small tray from the platform and handed it to Jung Sim.

“Mr. Berkman, if you will please empty the contents of your sample vial onto that tray.” John instructed and Berkman quickly complied. “Great. Now, Jung Sim please hold the tray still for a second.” John further instructed as he placed a piece of plate glass on top of the sample, took the tray from Jung Sim and placed it back on platform. The hatch was closed and he moved toward a control panel against the wall. He began flipping switches and pressing buttons, which began a symphony of humming as machines warmed up throughout the lab. After a few moments a green light blinked on the control panel.

“O.K. guys, why don’t you come over here and watch from the best seat in the house.” Remarked John as he cracked his knuckles and adjusted the computer monitor.

The group of men gathered around the computer screen next to the control panel. As he entered different commands from the keyboard, John and the group of men carefully watched the readout on the monitor.

“What exactly is going on in there John?” Quinn asked.

“Well, the theory behind this procedure is that if you bombard a given substance with radio waves it may tend to absorb or reflect certain frequencies. The orb allows us to determine exactly which frequencies are reflected or absorbed without wreaking havoc on our communications equipment. This enables us to select radio suppressive or facilitative materials for use in communication devices. In addition we can test those devices for functionality. A beneficial side effect is that you can determine which frequencies are most likely to work the best! John explained in detail as he manipulated the machine.

Berkman blurted out, “I get it! You hope that some of the frequencies absorbed by our particles may match the transmitted control signal!”

John put his index finger to his nose and then used it to point at Berkman who was grinning triumphantly. At that moment John noticed a strange spike in the readout on the monitor. Shortly after that there was a smaller spike followed by a massive radio wave reading.

“Hmmm, that’s odd”. John said quizzically with a slight brow furrow. “This indicates a radio signal transmission from the particles. Could be a glitch in this program. Lets continue and see what else we get.”

Nearly half a world away, in a remote hideaway near Chad in the Sahara Desert, a computer terminal blinked on with a message screen. The readout said, “1537-aplha activated. Last SatComLink 4-1-01. Terminate Y / N?” A warning claxon went off and rousted Iqbal Raman from his bed. Iqbal rubbed his sleepy eyes and glanced at the clock on the nightstand as he jumped out of bed and shut off the annoying claxon. As he looked at the computer terminal, he swore bitterly, pressed the Y key and then slammed enter. The screen displayed this message: “1537-alpha terminated.” Iqbal immediately grabbed the phone next to the computer and frantically dialed a number. A sleepy voice answered, “Yeah…?”

“We have a major problem!” Iqbal said as he felt the pit of his stomach sink. “1537 went active…that’s not supposed to happen.”

End Part 11

Go to Part 12.