by
H. Peter Alesso
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE:
Sci-fi
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jamie
Hawkins was living on an obscure planet in the twenty third-century
when on one fateful night—his life changed forever. His heroic
effort to save the lives of innocent women and children, caught in
the cross-fire of war, placed him squarely in the crosshairs of
avenging soldiers.
A
former marine, Hawkins was stunned when his rescue effort was seen as
treachery. Unfairly convicted of treason by a corrupt judge, he was
sentenced to life imprisonment at hard labor on an infamous penal
colony.
Once
in prison, Hawkins was mistreated by a paranoid warden, but his
courage and perseverance won him the admiration and trust of his
fellow convicts. While he was plotting his escape, an enemy attacked
the planet—giving this daring warrior his chance. Together with his
fellow prisoners, he launched a bold assault and high-jacked an enemy
warship.
From
then on, the exploits of Captain Jamie Hawkins became legendary.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt:
“Sir,
I was working with the data techs trying to analyze the communication
patterns of the enemy fleet,” said Joshua, licking his dry lips,
excitedly. “And I’ve came across a very unusual signal.”
Hawkins
gave him an encouraging nod.
“It
was a burst of radio signals from deep space. I traced it to either a
4 billion-year-old star in a constellation 44.4 light years away, or
to another star in that same constellation, but much farther away.
That means that the radio waves have been travelling to us for at
least forty-four point four years.”
Hawkins
said, “Deep space radio signals have many plausible explanations,
such as radio interference from planets, or rogue signals caused by
local planet microwave devices.
“That’s
true, Captain. It could be just the effect of a natural space object
like a pulsating quasar, but it’s also possible . . . I think maybe
. . . it could be a message from another civilization.”
Now
smiling broadly, Hawkins said, “Given the unlikeness of that, why
are you concerned?”
“Because
it was not a one-off event,” said Joshua excitedly and then pausing
to catch his breath. “I’ve recorded a half dozen repeating
signals from the exact same source.”
Nodding,
Hawkins said, “That’s a little more interesting, but there are
explanations for that too.”
“But
Captain, the implications could be mind-blowing. Imagine, what if it
was an alien civilization, and they were far more advanced than us,
and they were trying to make contact? After centuries of fruitlessly
scanning the stars and finding no evidence that anyone else is out
there, this could be . . . could be . . .”
Joshua
became paralyzed by his own imagination.
“Joshua,
even if this signal were not natural, it might still be the product
of one of Earth’s colonies—not aliens.”
“No
sir, I’ve checked. There were no Earth colonies in the vicinity of
the signal’s star cluster when we last had contact with Earth,
fifty years ago,” said Joshua.
Joshua
wanted to argue further, but couldn’t offer any additional proof
for his cause.
Hawkins
said, “I agree, we should continue to monitor this frequency, but
for now, it’ll have to remain a mystery.”
It was
only a few days later that Joshua returned to argue, “I’ve been
working to decrypt the deep space signal using our AI computer with
the help of a data tech.”
Hawkins
was surprised, but also impressed with Joshua’s initiative.
“What
does a deep space signal have to do with our enemy’s Top Secrets
communication network?”
“Everything.”
“You’ll
have to explain that.”
“Let
me give you a metaphor for how I solved this puzzle, because it is a
puzzle.”
“Go
on.”
“Think
of a portrait of a woman, say the Mona Lisa. Now consider a jigsaw
puzzle of the Mona Lisa—a picture of a woman cut into a thousand
irregularly sized pieces and spread out for someone to reassemble.”
“A
kid’s game.”
“Yes,
sir.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As a
scientist and author specializing in technology innovation, H. Peter
Alesso has over twenty years research experience at Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). As Engineering Group Leader at
LLNL he led a team of scientists and engineers in innovative
applications across a wide range of supercomputers, workstations, and
networks. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy with a
B.S. and served in the U.S. Navy on nuclear submarines before
completing an M.S. and an advanced Engineering Degree at M.I.T. He
has published several software titles and numerous scientific journal
and conference articles, and he is the author/co-author of ten books.
Website
Address: http://www.hpeteralesso.com/Default.aspx
personal
links
Goodreads
Address: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/413852.H_Peter_Alesso
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Jamie-Hawkins-1296787840384241/?ref=bookmarks
Link to
book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M8HVGS3
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