Phenol, bacteria, Consett Coke ovens

An example from my personal experience: At Consett Coke Ovens one of the waste streams was phenolic liquor. Once-upon-a-time it would have been dumped down a disused mineshaft! We treated it in an activated sludge plant (loads of bacteria). Pretty amazing that it worked at all considering that the old name for phenol is carbolic acid and it’s a disinfectant which kills just about anything. We had a “spike” in phenol concentration (the plant was old, some of the processes had problems and the control systems were partly f*cked). As a consequence the bacteria “went to sleep”. They weren’t actually dead, but they weren’t active. As a consequence, even after the phenol levels returned to normal, the activated sludge plant no longer worked. We couldn’t treat the phenolic liquor, we weren’t allowed to dump it and we had only limited storage capacity. In these circumstances the official solution was to get a tanker load of sludge full of adapted bacteria from another coke plant. The nearest one with a suitable plant was in Sheffield (probably Orgreave). Cost at the time – several hundred quid. We chose the cheapskate option: buy a lorry-load of steaming, fermenting farm-yard manure and dump it in the sludge tank. Cost – 50 quid. After a short time (not more than weeks, and within the limits of the buffer storage capacity) the activated sludge plant was back and operating to specification. BTW on that plant they described having too much liquor as being “embarrassed” – as in “an embarrassment of riches”. A nice turn of phrase, with a touch of irony - “an embarrassment of sh1te”.

I doubt there are bacteria in nature which actively use phenol as a food source. Thankfully there isn’t enough of it around. There are undoubtedly bacteria which can tolerate phenol up to a certain concentration. The moral of the tale is that given the opportunity, within a very short time, bacteria can adapt to use something which is an outright poison to them (phenol) and not simply tolerate it, but use it as a food source. How they do it is not clear to me, but they certainly do. That is amazing and scary! The rubbish-dump programme was another example of the same.

The messenger (6) Anticipation (ABCD)

All 4 of the crew are sitting in the control room. Andy and Beatrice have been there for some time. Charlotte and Dave have just come in. Andy is sitting at the main control console facing the main control screen. Beatrice is sitting at the sensor monitoring console to one side. Charlotte and Dave are sitting towards the back of the control room with Beatrice and have turned towards the main screen. The atmosphere is tense as they await the arrival of the visitor.

C: “How long do we have to wait?”

B: “Not you too!” With a smile, “I’ve just been chastising Andy for asking – Are we there yet? You’ve both arrived just in time. There are about 10 minutes to go. Our visitor is very nearly dead astern, as they say. It will appear to draw alongside and come to a halt. Of course we are all hurtling towards the centre of the solar system at the usual phenomenal speeds but the two objects will be stationary to one-another. Even after all this time, I find the mathematics easy but the actuality continues to surprise me. ”

D: “Is there anything much to see yet?”

B: “Not a lot. It’ll all happen a bit suddenly. Because of the end on approach, the relative velocities at the moment and the relatively small profile of the object, it will start off as a disk which will grow in size until it resolves into a long thin object. When there is something worth seeing, with Andy’s permission, I’ll stick it up on the main screen. It won’t be long now. ”

A: “Anybody care to guess what we’ve got?”

C: “Probably a valueless lump of Ice which just happens to be a funny shape. Mind you, if that is what it is, then the shape takes a little bit of explaining.”

D: “Well, I’m going to be optimistic and say that we have a lump with lots of juicy nickel and a sprinkling of precious metals. The shape is because it got squirted out of some explosion.”

A: “That’s a good explanation. Despite all the teasing, I really can’t believe it’s an alien artefact. Those things just don’t happen outside of entertainment. Come to think of it, aliens aren’t really that popular as entertainment at the moment. I think I’ll go for an agglomeration of ice, rock and metals. What about you Beatrice?”

B: “I’m not speculating any more. I’ve seen too much. It would be cheating if I said too much. Take a look at this.” The image on the main viewing screen changes, in the centre is a small white dot. The image is surrounded by a red circle and there are target arrows pointing inwards.

C: “Is that it then? Is the little dot in the middle our visitor?”

D: ”It seems to be twinkling? ” interjected Dave.

B: “Yup. Whatever it is, that’s it. And the ‘twinkling’ which Dave has noticed is one of the things which make me think that it is rotating. There are some other interesting features too.” A table of figures flashed in the bottom of the screen.

“One of the things I find interesting is its albedo. It’s really quite bright. Unfortunately, that might suggest that it’s got a lot of ice on the surface. The twinkling might be caused by a patch of discoloration on the face towards us. As the object rotates, so the colour moves and we see a twinkle. It’s a bit like a spot in the centre of an old-fashioned vinyl record. Also there is a hint of some irregularity further back. Our visitor isn’t a perfect cylinder, that’s for sure. Any bumps may be contributing to the effect. “

D: “It gets full marks for interesting. Have you got an estimate on the rate of rotation?”

B: “That is one little disappointment. The estimate is pretty much the same: one revolution every 5 or 6 minutes. Maybe it’s the lumps, or maybe it’s something else, I really don’t know. What I do know is that we’ll know shortly when it’s alongside. There’s nothing much we can do now. The systems will take care of it all. There’s no risk. Let’s settle down and watch the show. Has anyone bought the pop-corn?”

With that, everyone turns to look at the main screen and the changing disk in the centre of the field of view.

The messenger (5) Playing Catch-up (AB)

Andy and Beatrice are sitting in the control room. It’s not a large space. There are 3 seats in front of a console. Andy is sitting in one of these seats and is looking intently at a monitor screen ahead of the console. It shows what appears to be a stationary star-field.

A short distance behind Andy there is a group of 4 more seats. 3 of these are facing inwards towards the centre-line of the control room. Beatrice is occupying the fourth seat. She has swivelled it round and is looking intently at a smaller monitor screen on a panel in front of her.

A: “How’s it going?”

B: “I was almost expecting you to ask – are we there yet?” She smiled. “It’s coming. It will be long-side of us in about 45 minutes.”

A: “I hope I didn’t sound like I was nagging. I want to see this thing in the flesh, or ice or iron or whatever-the-heck it is.”

B: “It’s alright. I really do understand. If we are wasting our time then I would like to know as soon as possible, so that we can get back to the daily grind. If it’s a money-making opportunity then I would like to be doing something about it too.”

A: “And if it’s little green men?” (with a smile)

B: “You and your little green men. If it’s little green men, or even something which hints at little green men, then I want to know yesterday! If it’s that, then doesn’t matter what else, we’re famous. But of course it’s not. How can it be? There are plenty of strange things out here, without them being caused by aliens. You know. We’ve seen enough of them together.”

A: “Well, what does it look like then?”

B: “If I’m going to be honest, and I should be. I’m still not sure. Whatever it is, it doesn’t play too nicely with our various sensors at this range. I can tell you that it’s about one-point-two kilometres long. It’s about 100 metres wide. It seems to be a very regular long shape. I can tell you its mass within a few 100 kgs. That was actually the first thing we knew with any accuracy. As for density, it’s too dense for a typical snowball, more like solid water ice, but certainly not dense enough for solid metal.”

A: “But have you any idea what it looks like?”

B: “No. And in a way that is the puzzling bit. I can tell that it is rotating. It’s not tumbling mind you. It’s rotating about its longitudinal axis. It certainly isn’t tumbling. But for some reason the Doppler isn’t giving a clear estimate of the rate of rotation. That might be because it has a bright albedo, or to put it another way, it’s rather shiny.”

A: “Shiny, as in – like a lump of ice?”

B: “Exactly. That’s what I was thinking too. If it is, then it’s a really funny lump of ice!”

A: “Anyway, when to we get to see this marvel?”

B: “It will be clearly visible in about half an hour and then be alongside us about 15 minutes after that. It will seem to be overtaking us, pull alongside and then come to a halt. It’s all to do with the relative velocities, but it always strikes me as a bit strange. Should I call the others? I don’t suppose they want to miss the big event of the trip.”

The door at the back of the control room opens. Beatrice turns to one side and Andy turns round in his seat.

A: “Hello there. We were just talking about you both. Beatrice says that the show is about to start. Pull up a chair and make yourselves at home.”

Charlotte and Dave take the front seats in the group of four and turn towards the front viewing screen.

Plan for The Messenger - Rendezvous

Plan for The Messenger - Rendezvous

Notes for the next Chapter of The Messenger. Each line represents a section.

1. "It will seem to catch us up" (2/4)
2. Anticipation, End on (4/4)
3. Stationary at X mph! Wow! (4/4)
4. Little Green Men
5. Communications
6. Sychronisation

------------------------------------

This represents an experiment in method. This is what I am doing/going to do/have done:

• Brainstorm a topic and location for the "Chapter":
• List a number of topics, in sequence to be covered
• Based only on the line item, write (stream of consciousness) for a topic
• Link the topic from the list when it is done
• Conclude the chapter

Let's see how it works as a creative process.

The messenger (4) Board Meeting (ABCD)

The four of them: Andy, Beatrice, Charlotte and Dave are sitting around the table in the mess-room. Each of them had a drink in front of them. Andy and Beatrice are reading reports on their slates. Charlotte and Dave are sitting back exchanging glances from time to time. Eventually, Andy and Beatrice both look up and put their slates down. Beatrice takes a sip from her cup.

D: Dave coughs and looks around the table. “First of all, I’d better apologise for getting you out of bed. And thank-you Charlotte for staying back. It’s a nuisance.” He pauses. “The whole situation is a nuisance. We’ve probably all been wishing for a bit of variety, but probably not like this. You can see the picture which has been building up over the last day-and-a-bit. Probably from Andy onwards you know more about the situation than I do. It happens that the decision point seems to have fallen on my watch.”

A: (With a yawn) “We understand. Really we do. “When I first noticed the anomalies I didn’t pay much attention to them. They were just a bit or variety. But now they seem to have crossed the line of us needing to take some action.”

B: “Yes. We understand. The sensor problem is just on the margin of being acceptable, but it looks like it has continued to grow.” She indicated her slate without picking it up. “It’s at the point where, even if it was an isolated problem, the Officer of the watch should notify Head Office.”

C: “So you think I did the right thing?”

B: “Definitely. Even as an isolated situation it justifies a report and, just possibly, extending our scheduled stop at Ceres.”

D: “Do you think that’s justified?”

B: “At present, probably not. But certainly worth noting HO and when combined with the incoming visitor, definitely worth the notification. On its own the sensor problem, meetings the criteria for logging as a low level risk. It would be different if we knew what was causing it, but we don’t and it’s getting worse, so we notify HO, even if only to cover ourselves. Personally, I think the risk is tiny, but that’s not the point. The rules say we notify, so we notify.”

A: “And what about the visitor?”

C: “That’s different. From the investigations that Beatrice and I have done, it looks like it could be pure opportunity. If we put in a course alteration at the point I’ve indicated, then we can rendezvous and stake a claim. Nice big lump of nickel-iron will do the bank balance no harm at all.”

A: “And what about the other features of our visitor?”

C: “You mean long-thin and rotating?”

A: “Yeah. It’s long, thin and possibly rotating. Those combined with your density estimate mean that we have to notify HO. But what do you think?”

C: (with a smile) “I think you and Head Office have got little green men on the brain. People have been mining out here for the past 50 years. A few people have struck it lucky with visitors but very few, and nobody has found anything even remotely like an alien, green or any other colour for that matter. If we’re lucky we’ve got a lump of iron with holes in it. That’s worth the effort. If we’re unlucky, then it’s a big lump of ice with a funny shape and we’re wasting our time. I think it’s worth a look but that’s all. Head Office wouldn’t expect us to do anything different. They like money too, and they’re not taking any risks.”

D: “So, what do people think? Shall we divert and go and have a look at it? For what it’s worth, I don’t feel particularly lucky at the moment but if the rest of you fancy the trip then I’ll go along with you. It will mess up our pub night and the call at Ceres though, to say nothing of having double up.”

Dave looks around the table. Charlotte and Beatrice nod vigorously and Andy gives a thumbs-up.

D: “OK. That’s a decision then.” He picks up his slate and makes some notes on the screen. “I’ll log the decision and notify HO that we’re diverting to have a look at our visitor.”

B: “I’ll put the wine for the pub night on hold. It could probably do with a bit more maturing anyway.”

D: “I’ll go and program in the course change.”

B: “I’ll set the sensor arrays to give our visitor even more attention. Let’s hope the white noise blips don’t get in the way too much.”

Everyone leaves the mess-room.

The messenger (3) Shift Change 3 (C - D)

Dave sat at the galley table sipping a mug of strong black coffee. He had placed a glass of orange juice in front of the seat opposite him. Between sips he looked intently at pages on his slate, sometimes scanning back to revisit earlier pages. He was surprised that Charlotte was late, that’s not like her at all, and he was puzzled by some of the notes she had added to the shift log.

The door opens and Charlotte rushed in. She is a little flushed and seems to have been hurrying.

C: “Sorry I’m late. Something has come up which I think you will want to look at.” She sips her orange juice.

D: “Is it urgent, as in ‘we do it ahead of the standard hand-over’?” said Dave looking at her intently. He’s a big man with a florid, craggy face.  His long hair is combed back into a ponytail.

C: “No. It’s not that urgent. But I think it is important. I may be wrong, but I think we may have to call the others in on this. Let’s do the standard hand-over and then talk about it.”

D: “What! Get them out of bed? Andy won’t be pleased about that. OK. Let’s do the hand-over.”

For the next 5 minutes Charlotte and Dave got through the report pages on the slates. Both were a little impatient and both wanted to get to the end of the standard hand-over so they could deal with the important issue that Charlotte is excited about. Eventually they got to the end.

C: “Now we get to the important points.”

Dave leant forward.

C: “You’ll be aware that nearly a day ago the systems drew Andy’s attention to two issues: an internal issue, that there was periodic interference on the main sensor array; and an external issue, that we had an incoming object which has a trajectory which will cross ours in a little over a day from now.”

D: Dave nodded and said: “Yes, I know about those. Something to keep us all occupied. I was a little disappointed that both things had come along a once.”

C: “You may not be disappointed for much longer. Andy worked out a plan for dealing with tackling the incoming object. Basically, if we were going to intercept it here” She indicated the appropriate point on the slate’s chart, ”then we would have to initiate the manoeuvre here, and that means that if we are going to make do everything by the book, then we would have to make the decision to intercept before here, which is during your watch”

D: Dave nodded: “I understand. So in a way, either the decision about the decision is down to me, or we all get involved.” He paused. “Is there any more information? More than is in the logs, I mean.”

C: “Just a little. Beatrice investigated the problem with the sensor array. She didn’t really establish much, except that the problem seems to be getting worse. That’s worrying. That alone justifies the message she’s sent to head office.” Dave nodded again.

C: “Regarding the incoming object, she also managed to estimate its mass, based on a deflection here. She put together a plan for getting some more data about it, even though it is still well beyond the range of our sensors.”

D: Dave nodded again. “That’s the transit of Neptune idea. Did it work?”

C: Charlotte took a deep breath. “Yes. And that’s the point. The incoming object has become significantly more interesting on three counts.”

D: “Three counts. What are they? You were only trying to estimate the density.”

C: “That’s true, but there are other things I had to find out at the same time. First of all, the density comes out as substantially higher than a snowball. The volume estimate is subject to a pretty big margin of error, because of the way it was calculated. The object is not solid nickel-iron, but it’s could be solid, and I mean solid, water-ice. That’s very unusual. Second,  I had sort-of assumed that the object would be spherical, or at least spheroidal. Look here, it’s very long and thin. The length to width ratio is more than 12. It’s very long and thin. And finally, three, there are indications, based on the way its silhouette changed as it passed in front of Neptune, that it is rotating around the long axis.”

D: Dave exhaled and scratched his chin. “It’s ticking a lot of boxes for alerting head office and investigating, isn’t it?‘’

C: “Afraid so. It’s just a couple of points short of ‘drop everything and investigate’ What do you think?”

D: ”Getting people out of bed or not, I think it’s time to call a meeting.” 

The messenger (2) Shift Change 2 (B - C)

Charlotte sat at the mess-room table scrolling through pages on her slate. From time to time she sipped restlessly at a glass of orange-juice sat in front of her. The door opened prompting her to look up at Beatrice as she walked in. Charlotte gestured at the seat opposite her and continues reading pages on her slate.

Beatrice sat down, picked up the mug of coffee from the table and took a long swig. The coffee was tepid and weak, not at all to her taste. She waited for Charlotte to look up again.

C: “Well. It looks like you’ve been having a busy time. Care to tell me about it?”

B: “Sure! Andy spotted a couple of anomalies which I’ve been looking into. Let’s get the standard hand-over out of the way first, and then I’ll show you the fun bits.”

C: “OK. Let’s go through the motions.” She yawns.

For the next 10 minutes or so, Beatrice swiped the pages on her slate, indicating things which were operating normally and pointing out a few parameters which were near the edge of the allowed values. From time to time Charlotte asked questions, but didn’t always seem to pay attention to the answers. Eventually Beatrice reached the end of the standard hand-over report, paused and then continued.

B: “As you know from the log, Andy spotted a couple of anomalies during his shift but you probably don’t know much more than that.”

Charlotte nodded and sipped her orange juice.

B: “You might describe one as external and the other as internal. Neither of them seemed particularly important, so he left them to me to handle.”

C: “Seemed?” and nodded again.

B: “Let’s start with the internal one. You can see that what Andy spotted were these periodic pulses of white noise in the sensor array. Actually he didn’t spot them, the monitoring systems did and drew them to his attention.”

C: “Did he suggest what was causing them?”

B: “No. He left me to find out. Andy noted the regularity of the pulses, but not much else. It’s not surprising that none of us noticed, because they have been at such a low level. He thought they first appeared 48 hours ago. He was mistaken, they’ve been happening for much longer. Look, you can see here.” She indicated something on her slate and Charlotte looked at hers. “The pulses have actually been there for more than a week. I can spot them now, because I have the period and I can tell the systems what to look for.”

C: “Could the pattern be just that, a pattern introduced by the pattern-matching algorithms? Could they be just an artefact of the signal processing which will disappear all-of-a-sudden?”

B: “I considered that possibility, but I don’t think so. Look at this.” She swiped to a new page on her slate. “Not only has the period remained the same, but the intensity of the pulses is increasing, and the width of the pulses is getting longer. The period of the pulses peak to peak has remained the same, but each one takes a longer time.”

C: “Even at the current low level that’s kind-of concerning. Have you developed any theory about what’s causing the pulses?”

B: “No idea what so-ever! The pulses are still too short to get any kind of ‘direction’ on them. They’re probably be internal, originating in the array or in our systems. That would suggest that something is failing. The thing is, neither the systems nor I have identified anything internal which runs at that particular frequency. Conceivably they could be real and be originating outside, but there’s no indication of what is causing them. What makes the situation slightly worse is that I’ve had the systems model the rate of increase. Look here. It’s possible that the rate of increase of both the intensity and the length of the pulses is increasing. That’s a second derivative effect. Not only are the pulses getting stronger, but they may be getting stronger more quickly. It least it should make the cause easier to identify.”

C: “That really would be worrying. Basically we could have an escalating problem which could affect communications and navigation and we don’t know what is causing it.”

B: “Basically that’s it. I’ve sketched out some possible further investigations here. It’s up to you what you do. They’re only suggestions and honestly I’m guessing anyway. At the moment I’ve put the whole thing down to signal processing, our old friend Jupiter or little-green-men. I would be much happier if I knew what the cause was. This combined with the external thing (which I’m coming to) was enough to make me put a short report into Head Office.”

C: “Do you think that was necessary?”

B: “Probably not but it’s what procedures said I was supposed to do. All I’ve sent is the most limited heads-up on both issues. You can look at the text in the message log. It shouldn’t make anyone at the other end panic. Meanwhile, let me show you what’s happening with the external event.” She swiped to a new page. Charlotte looked at a diagram on her slate.

Charlotte nodded again and took a sip from her orange juice.

Beatrice swiped to a new page on her slate and Charlotte looked intently at her’s.

B: “The navigational monitoring systems drew Andy’s attention to this incoming object. Here (she indicates an annotation on the screen) is where he first logged it. Here’s where he handed over to me. For all that time it was nothing more than a moving point and a vector. You can see it is coming it pretty fast. A good bit faster than the average comet anyway.

(Beatrice took a breath)

You can see our course and positions as well. Once we had identified the point it was relatively simple for the systems to project its track, forwards and backwards, on a Newtonian, ballistic basis. Plotted forwards the object presents no risk to anything sun-ward. Plotted backwards you can track it back outside the orbit of Pluto. Andy suggested it might be a dirty snowball which something-or-another had disturbed from way-out-there. With the limited information he had available that was certainly a plausible explanation but the high velocity is more suggestive of something from interstellar space. That would make it something of a rarity.

C: “You ‘that was plausible’ as if something has changed. Has something changed?”

B: “Yes. I was getting to that. We had a bit of luck. If you look here, “ she zoomed the image inwards on a point near the beginning of her shift. “You can see that the incoming object passed sufficiently close to one of the objects out beyond Saturn. There was enough interaction for the systems, mostly me really, to estimate its mass. You can see the estimate here. It’s not very precise but, within the stated limits I’m pretty confident of the value.”

C: ”So we have something pretty big coming it pretty fast but we don’t know what it is.”

B: “That’s about the size of it. Strictly speaking it’s heavy, rather than big. It’s too far out for the sensors to tell us anything about its size and shape, so we can’t have a density yet. Therefore I can’t even hazard a guess about what it’s made of. It could be a big dirty snowball, or a substantially smaller nickel-iron cannonball. Of course, it could be anything in between. There simply isn’t enough information to say anything more.”

C: “Well it’s something else interesting to look at. It will add a little spice to the humdrum of the next hours. Is there anything else?”

B: “Andy identified the point where we could make a course change to rendezvous with the object and, working back from that, where we would need to decide that was what we were going to do. I’ve updated the estimates and the points and times are indicated here and here. And there is one thing more: if you look here, you can see that the object’s path passes directly between us and Neptune. At that point it will still be beyond the range of the active sensors, but if you’re lucky and the sensor array plays nice, then you may be able to use the transit to estimate the overall size of the object, therefore its density and that might allow us to guess what it was made of and influence our decision about whether we want to intercept it.”

C: “That makes sense. It’s worth me making the effort to monitor the transit. If the results indicate that we are dealing with a rather large snowball, then I can make it a lower priority. If it seems to be something smaller and denser then maybe our luck is in. Good call!”

B: “OK. Thanks. That’s all. You have control.” She presses her thumb to her slate.

C: “I have control.” She presses her thumb to her slate and nods.

B: “I’m off for a shower. Have you got the wine for the pub night sorted?“

C: “Yup. Premier Grand Cru Synth for the red and a cheeky little Chardonnay for the white.”

B: “Could you rustle up some Prosciutto as well? I fancy some of that.”

C: “I’ll see what I can do.”

B: “See you there. Have a good one.” Beatrice leaves.

The Messenger (0) – Prologue (1) - Shift Change (A-B)

The Messenger (0) – Prologue

You cannot imagine the cold; cold so intense that it numbs all the senses. You cannot imagine the darkness; darkness pierced only by starlight or completely impenetrable. You cannot sympathise with the solitude. To be alone for so long that even the measurement of time has been adjusted to make its passing more bearable.

You are not aware there is anything here. You are being observed: slowly, impassively and efficiently.

You are on your way. Interaction is inevitable. All probable variations have been assessed and factored into the tactical plans.

You will not deviate from your current course. You are not aware of my presence. I am coming.

The messenger (1) Shift Change 1 (A - B)

Andy placed a mug of black coffee on the mess-room table and then returned to the galley to pick up his own mug of Earl Grey. He placed his mug on the table, sat, leaned back in his chair, took the slate from the pocket on his right thigh and began to swipe listlessly through the pages. Satisfied with what he saw, he put the slate down on the table, picked up his tea, took a small sip and breathed out slowly.

The door slid open and Beatrice rushed into the room. She brushed her hair from her eyes and sat down with a bump opposite Andy.

B: “Sorry I’m late. I over-slept. Thanks for the coffee.” She took a deep swig from the mug.

B: “Nice! Is it real java?” She asked with a wink, taking out her own slate and laying it on the table in front of her.

A: “Naturally! It’s real, synthetic java. The menu item even describes it as “java-style”. I thought you would enjoy it. Shall we get down to it?” He said, picking up his slate.

For the next 5 minutes Beatrice and Andy worked their way through reports on the slates. Andy led the way, indicating that most things were within the prescribed limits, pointing out the few where some value had drifted into “the amber zone” and indicating some values where a trend might be developing. It was all very calm, matter-of-fact and business-like.

A: “That’s it really.” concluded Andy. “It was another uneventful watch. Except that I’ve kept back two potentially interesting bits till the end.”

B: “Oo! Do tell!” said Beatrice, looking down at her slate again.

A: Andy swiped his slated with a finger and nodded to Beatrice to look down. “Here they are. There are two unrelated things for you to look into. One’s internal, and one’s external”.

Beatrice nodded.

A: “I’ll start with the internal. At least I suppose it’s internal. You can see it here.” Andy jabbed at the screen on his slate. “One of the monitoring programs has spotted this disturbance in the sensor arrays. There are repeated pulses of what you might describe as ‘white noise’ or interference. Each one is very short duration and they don’t cause any problems but they’re very regular.”

B: Beatrice nodded again. “I can see what you mean. Fraction-of-a second pulse, happens every 5 to 6 minutes. What’s causing it?”

A: “That’s the point Beattie. I have no idea what might be causing it. The standard monitoring programs drew it to my attention but I didn’t get round to running more detailed diagnostics. What is striking is how regular the pulses are. Peak to peak they are every 5 minutes 32 seconds and they have been since they first appeared about 48 hours ago. The only thing that has changed over that period is the intensity of the spikes. They’re slowly getting stronger and the duration of the pulses is getting slightly longer.”

B: “I see. The increasing intensity explains why you’re the first to have noticed them. They were below the alert threshold for most of that time. It’s only recently that the systems have drawn them to your attention. The regularity suggests something in one of the systems may have a problem and the increasing intensity suggest that, whatever it is, it is getting worse. I shall set something to look into that. We want to nip it in the bud if we can. What’s the external nugget?”

A: “Here it is. Look we have a visitor.”

B: “Oo! That is nice. Any problems?”

A: “Not that I can see. The systems spotted it towards the beginning of my shift. It’s too early to tell much about it, except that it is coming in at a fair lick. It crosses our track ahead of us here, ”  he jabbed the screen. “and the projections show there’s no risk of it hitting anything further in. At the moment we can’t estimate: mass, shape, composition or anything much at all really, except that it’s travelling pretty fast. At the moment it’s simply a point and a vector. The first real information will become available on your watch.”

B: “Hmm. I see. So you don’t know if there’s anything in it for us?”

A: “Not a clue. Like I said, at the moment it’s just a point and a vector, nothing else. There hasn’t been anything worthwhile for ages. Knowing our luck, that will continue and it’s just another boring dirty snowball from the outskirts.”

B: “Could we intercept it?”

A: “Ever the optimist, aren’t you? Me too. I got navigation to put in some check-points. You can see them on the chart. If we put in a course correction here (that would be on Davey’s watch) we could catch up and be running parallel with it about here, when I’m back in charge, without expending too many resources. To do that sensibly, we should really make the decision about here, on Charlie’s trick.”

B: “So it’s down to me then. I might make us ri   ch. I’ll give it my attention but I’ll look into the ‘white noise’ as well. We don’t want that getting out of hand. Is that it?”

A: “Yes. That’s it. You have control” He pressed his thumb onto the screen of his slate.

B: Beatrice copied the gesture on her tablet. “I have control.”

A: “I’m off to bed. Have quiet shift, sort out the ‘white noise’ and find us a nickel-iron asteroid with a good dose of precious metals, a smidgen of transuranics and a sprinkling of diamonds. Make us rich. No pressure.” Andy pushed his empty mug into the centre of the table, put his slate back into its pocket and pushed back his chair.

B: “No. No pressure at all. We do miracles while you wait, just another day at the office. Have a good night.

A: As he reached the door, Andy turned back “Are you planning to go to the pub night at the end of the week? Do you know what the menu is?”

B: Beatrice looked up from her slate and looked back towards him. “Yes. I thought I might. I haven’t got anything else on.” She winked. “I think it’s wine this time round. Charlie’s making the arrangements. It’s something to look forward to.”

A: “OK. See you there, if not before. Have a good one”