Chapter 1582 — Double Shadow
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 5
"So it really is a hardware fault?" Rebecca said quickly. "Some sensor nodes failed to oscillate correctly? But that shouldn't happen... not that those nodes could never fail, but the sensor array itself has mutual correction and redundant comparison functions. Even if some nodes really were faulty, at worst the results would be blurred and the signal weak and hard to parse. How could two sets of parameters just appear? And besides, the system self-check reported not a single error..."
Listening to Rebecca's murmured analysis, countless conjectures surged through Gao Yang's mind as well. The two sets of parameters Myrrmina had observed were like two ghostly phantoms, casting a pall over the newly completed observation apparatus. But how had this "double image" come about? Merely a mechanical fault? An error in the computing center's analysis? Some unidentified interfering factor? Or else...
Some sinister natural phenomenon that even the Noi did not know, that even the Noi's precursor races had never anticipated?
"Ancestor, there's another question—should we contact the Noi?" Hedy's voice came suddenly from the side, interrupting Gao Yang's wandering thoughts. The "Cecil Steward" frowned slightly. "We already compared project progress with them and agreed on an extra communication today. The Noi should still be waiting for our message... Or should we postpone this contact for a few days, until we've figured out the observation apparatus problem?"
"No. Contact them as agreed," Gao Yang said without the slightest hesitation. Matters had their priorities, and he knew well that at a time like this, overconfidence and blindly muddling through would most likely be wasting the two civilizations' shared time for survival. "We'll tell them straight out what's happened with the observation apparatus. This thing was designed by the Noi—they should be able to find the problem more easily than we can."
"Yes," Hedy nodded at once. "Then I'll arrange the communications link."
Under Hedy's arrangement, the link with the Thorin command center and the superluminal communications system with the Noi were soon up and running. Gao Yang sat behind the broad desk, his thoughts already organized, his eyes fixed on the printing device on the desk that recorded communications data. This was perhaps the most agonizing wait since he had established contact with the Noi; every minute felt like a year. After several minutes of calling and waiting, the printing device finally gave out the familiar clicking sound.
Crisp and rhythmic came the clatter of wheels turning and levers shifting, like drumbeats against his heart. A strip of snow-white paper slowly emerged from the printing slot, bearing a message from the "Witch" Nova, far away: "Glad to hear your voices. May I ask, is the construction of the tide observation apparatus complete?"
"Yes, the tide observation apparatus has been fully completed and has undergone its first baseline test, but we've run into a problem," Gao Yang said at once, concealing nothing of the trouble on Loren's side. "On our first scan of the starry sky we read two overlapping numerical models; they look like two tide fronts superimposed on each other. Is this normal? Or has something gone wrong?"
After this message was sent, the Noi's reply was noticeably long in coming. Gao Yang watched as clear characters were printed on the paper strip: "Two superimposed fronts?! Of course that is not normal—under any circumstances, the observation apparatus should scan only a single tide waveform, at most returning erroneous readings due to a weak signal or sensor fault."