Her mind totally engrossed in her finding, Sam immediately forgot everything else, including her dinner date with Per.
According to the date on the print-out, the atypical spike had occurred just three days before. Sam couldn’t believe how calm she was acting. Inside she felt as if she were ready to boil over. After all these years of listening, we finally have one, she thought to herself. She had always wondered if it would even be possible to recognize such a message if one were actually received. Back in 1977 a forceful signal had been picked up that couldn’t be explained before it had just as rapidly disappeared. But this time, there was no doubt about the validity of what she had found. This was a planetary message that was so unusual it couldn’t help but stand out against all the natural, every day radio waves that were floating around out there over vast, interstellar distances. This one had made a series of tell-tale blips rather than merely random noise, thus allowing it to be picked out easily from all the garbage.
Quickly glancing at her watch, Sam punched Jake’s private office number into her deskphone. Even though it was well after six PM, she knew he would still be in his office.
"I’ve found it." She flatly stated. "Of course, I’ll double check it with Goldstone, but I’m certain in my findings. I’m faxing it to you now."
"Hold on," Jake practically shouted into his end of the phone, as he dropped the receiver to retrieve the fax. "Christ, Sam ...... it looks damn good. Very possible indeed."
She realized that she had never heard Jake excited before. Come to think of it, she couldn’t remember ever having seen him show emotion about anything.
"I’ll stay on this and get back to you with any changes." Sam broke the connection.
However, before she could take her hand off the phone, it rang loudly making her jump. "Hello", she said breathlessly.
"Hi there". said Per. "I’m afraid that I will be a bit late in picking you up this evening. I hope this doesn’t cause a problem."
Sam quickly tried to refocus her thoughts. "Per," she said, "could we please make dinner for another night? I’m terribly bogged down with something here at the moment."
"Well, I see no reason why we can’t postpone." replied Per. "Shall I ring you tomorrow, then?"
Surprisingly, he sounded disappointed at the prospect of their canceled date. "Yes, please." responded Sam. "Per, I am truly sorry about this. I was very much looking forward to dinner with you tonight."
"No worries," Per said warmly, "I’ll speak with you tomorrow, Samantha."
Then he quietly rang off.
Her social life neatly taken care of for the moment, Sam quickly switched gears once again.
She worked through the night, stopping only once to make a quick peanut butter and jelly sandwich which she wolfed down with a tall glass of milk before she hurried back to her small bank of computers. She set up an immediate direct line with Goldstone Deep Space Tracking in the Mojave Desert, which allowed her to start fine pointing all possible coordinates with their team. She spoke with Jake three more times during the night, keeping him promptly updated on all new data as promised. By three in the morning, she had located two more hydrogen frequencies, obviously ET’s radio frequency of choice. They were both substantially stronger and closer in proximity than the first find had been. As Sam worked, a definite pattern was gradually starting to unfold.
At last, as outside night was slowly blurring into dawn, Sam wrapped herself in a throw and slipped into an exhausted sleep, head down in her arms on the desk.