Starbridge by A. C. Crispin Read Free Book Online Page B

thumbs-up signal.
    They grinned back excitedly.
    "How long will it take to reach the system?" Simon Viorst asked, no expression in his green eyes. I need to have a talk with him, Rob thought, studying the older man. Viorst's handsome features looked pinched beneath his shock of graying blond hair. He's trying not to show it, but he's really scared.
    "About ten and a half days," Joan was saying. "Maximum Stellar Velocity, of course."
    "We'd save fuel if we cruised at normal S.V.," Paul said. "That'd only add another two days."
    "Yeah, that way we'll have more time to look over the computer analysis of these transmissions," Jerry said. "We may be able to figure out what we've been picking up."
    "But how can the computer translate it?" Mahree asked, as Joan instructed Desiree to change course and speed.
    "It can't," Jerry said, "but it can analyze the signals and determine like ones.
    That's the first step ... trying to isolate just how many separate signals there are, and how frequently they occur. If it's a language as opposed to some kind of code, the distribution is probably very random. I mean, look at the old Morse Code. In that, things broke down to either dots or dashes. Spoken language has incredible variety in comparison."
    "What if it is a language?" Yoki asked.
    "Then we may be able to begin translating it. After all, arch'eologists were able to translate dead languages, like those Egyptian hieroglyphics and the Mayan symbols."
    "Any chance that what we're seeing has a visual as well as an audio component?" Mahree asked. "Like holovids?"
    "It certainly is possible," Jerry told her, "but without some idea of what visual images those transmissions are supposed to translate into, we're out of luck."
    "I see," Rob admitted. "Maybe we're better off just trying to analyze the transmissions in terms of whether they're spoken language, machine-generated, or code."
    "Yeah. In three days we may be able to get some sense of that," Jerry said.
    35
    Mahree sighed. "They made it look so easy in those movies ..."
    "Can I talk to you a moment, Simon?" Rob Gable said quietly to the man seated by himself in the booth in Desiree's galley.
    The older man hesitated. "Is it important?"
    "Kind of. But if you're tied up, I can check back."
    "How about later this evening?" Viorst asked.
    "Depends," Rob said. "I'm meeting someone for dinner. If you're busy at the moment . ..." He knew very well that the Bio Officer was off-duty, but meeting with Simon was important enough that he'd be wil ing to cal Yoki and cancel if that's what it took to get Viorst to talk with him; he knew she'd understand.
    The other man grimaced. "Hell, I suppose now's as good a time as any. You want to talk here?"
    "Let's go down to hydroponics. I need to check on those seeds I've got germinating down there."
    Viorst nodded curtly, and the two men left the galley. They walked in silence down the padded plas-steel corridors (this week they were a pale rose), until they reached the ladder-well to belowdecks, where the hydroponics system and the lower cargo holds were located. The artificial gravity was set at one-sixth gee in the well; both men swung down effortlessly, using only their hands.
    When they reached the hydroponics labs, Rob went first to his seeds. After adjusting the moisture level in the germination incubator, he pulled up a stool and gestured the Bio Officer to another. "Have a seat, Simon."
    The other man did so, plainly nervous. "What's going on? Why did you want to see me?"
    "I just wanted to talk for a moment," Rob said, his voice consciously taking on the calm, neutral tone he had used during therapy sessions in med school. "So much-has been going on, these past couple of days, it's going to take all of us a while to get used to it. People tell me they're having trouble sleeping--so have I, matter of fact--so I'm trying to check on everyone. How about you, been experiencing any insomnia?"
    Viorst shrugged. "I'm all right, I guess."
    "Any