Communication Station 4
It was the 207th day of the 82nd year on the Titan settlement. Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, was the site of a multi-national mining operation. Jed Leos was starting his shift in the Transportation Tracking and Communication Center. Jed was about to start the routine systems check procedure, but he hesitated. Instead, he activated the in-house communication system and buzzed Sergio’s living quarters. “Sergio, are you available?” Jed tried to sound as serious as possible. “Serg, please—this is Jed.”
“No, I am not available,” an irritated voice responded.
“Serg, it will only take a few minutes. I just want to show you something.” No answer. “Serg?”
“Do you have an order from management?”
“No.”
“Will the company pay me for the extra time I spend in that crap hole?”
“Serg, I just want to ask you about some weird signal I keep getting from Station 4.” Station 4 was the communication satellite that Titan used to track ships traveling between Earth and Titan. Station 4 had to clear every piece of traffic entering or leaving Titan’s air space.
“Okay, if you really want me to leave the warmth and comfort of my toilet-sized cubicle, I’ll be right over.”
“Thanks Serg.”
Sergio was a top-notch technician. He knew every piece of equipment in the center, inside and out. And, even though he had never seen it up close, he knew everything about Station 4. He was never at a shortage of words when it came to belittling what he thought was an inferior and incorrectly used device. “That pea-sized satellite is as old as dirt. When are they going to send some modern equipment?” What Sergio really wanted to do was to work at the Data Collection and Processing Center. It dealt with the information gathered from all the planets in the solar system. It also processed information gathered from scanning deep space. Sergio knew that someday someone would find something new ‘out there.’ He did not know what or when, he just wanted to be there.
Sergio stepped into the control room. His tall, thin figure contrasted with Jed’s short, stout one. Sergio’s straight, pure white hair hung unkempt from his balding head to his shoulders. In contrast, Jed had short, black, tightly curled hair which he kept well-trimmed. Despite the physical differences between Jed and Sergio, they had a good relationship. They were not friends. No one at the center could be called Sergio’s ‘friend.’ His acid remarks and blatantly irreverent responses were more than most could handle. Moreover, Sergio’s unmasked contempt for under qualified ‘short-timers’ was downright alienating.
“Those slobber lips need to be on Earth where they’re harmless,” Sergio would say. No one knew why Sergio called these managers slobber lips. They were the ones who were near retirement on Earth and had enough pull to get transferred to Titan so they could say they had worked on the distant moon. Neither did Jed know why Sergio treated him with such deference. No other tech in the communication center could talk or even bribe Serg out of his living quarters. Jed knew that when he mentioned ‘weird signals’ Sergio’s interest would be piqued. In addition, Sergio knew that Jed would not call him in for some stupid question.
Jed certainly had not made the decision to call Sergio into the communication center quickly. Jed was a good tech but not great like Sergio. For the past two months, Jed had looked, listened, and studied but he could find no explanation for what was happening. He knew that if anyone could understand what Station 4 was doing it would be Sergio.
“This place smells like fungus farts,” said Sergio now standing in the Communication Center. “Show me this rat-crap signal that’s so weird!”