A New Generation

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. Yet, there it was, Jodi was sure of it, the scream to bring science as we know it to its knees.

Jodi was manning the sound room on the Falcon like she had done every day on this mission for her four-hour shift. She was the youngest of the science crew at only eighteen. This mission would give her the material needed for her dissertation to receive her doctorate. She was in her everyday attire, black sweatpants and a printed t-shirt. She liked to walk around barefoot, which the other members of the crew disapproved. Her red hair tied up in a messy bun crowned her round face, and her emerald eyes sparkled as he watched the oscilloscope and listened for anything to come through on the headphones. No other human could hear what she heard that she knew of. That is what Jodi’s gift was, hearing. Nearly two and a half hours into her shift, she spun in her chair in the sounding room to see what the ‘scope printer was spitting out.

"Mike, you better get down here," Jodi said to the intercom.

"What ‘cha got, Jodi?" Jodi was checking the connections on all the sound equipment in the room when Mike opened the hatch. Mike was the crew’s electrician. He was a small, thin man of only five feet, two inches with a big forehead. He wore a green polo shirt and khaki pants. His shirts were always green.

"Honestly, I'm not sure, but you have to hear what I heard. I need you to hear it. I need to know I'm not crazy," Jodi said.

Mike raised an eyebrow and stared at Jodi as she held out the headphones. Slowly, he took the headphones from her and sat in the chair. Jodi pressed a button on the oscilloscope and then on the recorder. Mike could see the electrical wavelengths on the screen, but there was nothing coming out of the speakers on the headphones. “What am I supposed to hear?” Mike said.

“That’s not funny,” Jodi said.

“I don’t hear anything. Am I supposed to?”

“They chose me for this mission for my ability to hear the inaudible, Mike. Even if it were hard for anyone else to hear, this equipment should be able to cancel out all the other noise so that I can isolate it for you. I did that, and you are telling me you hear nothing?”

“Nothing,” Mike said.

“I heard something,” Jodi said crossing her arms over her chest. “It was like a scream, but it wasn’t. There was more…like sounds…inflection. I know you saw the read-out on the ‘scope.”

“You know what the others will say. Without a recording, there is no proof.”

“But what about the read-out? Doesn’t that prove something?” Jodi said.

“I’m just an electrician, Jodi. All it proves is that there was an electrical pulse that showed up on the ‘scope,” Mike said. “If it makes you feel better, I can check the wiring to make sure none of them have come lose, or frayed or something? I can also look at the machines to make sure they have not shorted out.”

Jodie said, “Sure. Why not?”

Mike took several minutes to check the wiring to the recorder and the headphones. “Test, test,” he spoke into the microphone, and test, test came back out when he rewound the tape and played it back. “I don’t see any mechanical problems. Everything looks to be working just fine.”

“Then, what happened?” Jodi said.

“Look, if you are so sure you heard something, but there is no recording, why not run what you recorded on the ‘scope through the audio software. See if it can hear what you heard.” As Mike left the sound room, Jodi started attaching the ‘scope wires to the Falcon’s computer ports.

“You have to help me out here, Max. I need you on this one,” Jodi said to the now empty room.

The Falcon was a reconceptualized version of America's Space Shuttle. It was designed to travel further in space than any previously manned shuttle. This ship was longer and wider. Still comprised of three decks, the crew called it a flying Winnebago. The lower deck consisted of all the ship’s environmental controls as well as waste management systems. This deck also had a cargo bay and an airlock. The hatch leading to the engine room was located on the lower deck. The mid-deck, or crew deck, was comprised of the crew’s quarters. It had everything a crew member would need to feel at home. Each member had their own sleeping quarter with the captain and co-captain having private hygiene facilities. On the crew deck was an entertainment room with various gaming systems and a DVD library along with the gally and dining hall. The upper deck contained the flight control center, the science lab, a sounding room, and a meeting room.

According to the engineers, the Falcon could do anything with Max as its core. Max was the main computer on the Falcon, controlling everything mechanical and robotic. Drone-like robots cleaned the ship and did repairs on the outside. It could fabricate any human food or beverage. Because of the Falcon’s superior technology, a small crew of five was hired to maintain the ship. Mike belonged to this crew.

The Falcon was launched almost three and a half years ago to spend five days collecting space samples from just outside the orbit of Pluto, labeling them and testing some of the physical samples such as various rocks and dust. The science crew looked like a picture of the Who's Who in the modern science community. Nobel prize winning geologists, astrologists, astrophysicists, and astrochemists, two of each, made up this crew. Jodi was one of the two astrologists.

With the ‘scope connected to Max, Jodi was able to download the electrical impulses captured by the device.

“Okay, Max. Maybe you can hear what I heard and get me some proof,” Jodi said crossing her fingers.

“Analysis complete in thirty minutes,” said the robotic voice of Max.

Jodi stood looking at the monitor as Max analyzed the data for several minutes until she realized her fingers were still crossed and were beginning to hurt. She wrang her hands to ease the pain as she sat back down in her chair. She put the headphones on and closed her eyes. Nothing. For a long time, nothing. Then, there it was again. But this was different. The scream started and stopped, and then started and stopped. It had more inflection, calculated pauses, and she could hear separate syllables. She opened her eyes to make sure the machine was recording what she was hearing. It was. She reached for the pen and notebook she always kept close to her station and closed her eyes again to concentrate. With her eyes closed, she began to phonetically write what she heard. She could hear guttural sounds, clicking, and trills. The sounds lasted for nearly ten minutes. Then, nothing, again. She sat with her hands on the headphones pushing them into her head hoping to force them to expel sounds again.

Max interrupted Jodi’s concentration by announcing the analysis was complete. Jodi pulled the papers with the analysis that Max had compiled from the printer.

"Through the electrical wavelengths analyzed, underlaying noise has been detected. Confirmation of origin or language is inconclusive. Further analysis is required," Jodi read aloud.