2012 Nibiru Rising

By Peter Donovan

Many of the ancient races of Earth predicted Armageddon, the end of the world.When a signal is discovered at the Parkes Observatory in Australia, a young astronomer must uncover its origin and find the truth about Earths past and its future.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Nov 14, 2009
• ISBN: 9781609849542

Peter Donovan

Peter Donovan is the father of three girls and two boys.

Book preview

Earth?

ONE

October 2010

The road from Sydney to the Parkes Observatory was a long, straight, monotonous highway with few cars and even fewer towns en-route. The metropolis of the western Sydney suburbs was already one-hundred kilometres behind Rachael, who was already bored. At least the road had a sealed surface, many of these roads were just dirt tracks that would have slowed her progress considerably, and with the light rain that had set in that morning, would have made driving a slippery and dirty affair. Either side of the highway stretched open plains, a patchwork of fields with colours ranging from light green through to burnt orange depending on the sun’s position behind the clouds.

She had hired a new hybrid four-wheel drive from Sydney Airport and set off, hoping to stop for lunch along the way. But two hours in, she was between towns and getting hungry.

Rachael had found out two days before, that she had been given the opportunity to use the observatory and had been like a kid in a sweetshop ever since. The seven day secondment from Mount Pleasant Observatory, near Hobart, would be a fantastic opportunity for her and any chance to use Parkes sixty-four metre radio telescope was one that she would not pass up for the world.

The observatory had been made famous throughout the world when the Apollo 11 moon landing pictures were relayed via ‘the dish’, as it was affectionately known, back to NASA forty-one years before. It was certainly not the newest piece of equipment that Rachael could use to look at the heavens, but it was a historic piece, which made the trip worthwhile.

Rachael had been working in Tasmania for almost a year. A city girl from Melbourne originally, she had become used to the green undulating landscape surrounding Hobart, a much more compact vision, with trees and houses feeling close by, cosseted in valleys, with hedgerows, streams and small forests all visible with a turn of the head. Now as she drove, she had to strain her eyes to adjust to the vast scale, trying to focus on what looked like a barn in the distance, the only thing in her whole field of vision.

At twenty-six, she was still very young in the field of astronomy, with most of her colleagues being many years older – and they would say – many years wiser, than Rachael. But she kept telling herself, they all started somewhere; they all had to learn from someone. She had studied hard and sacrificed her early twenties to education, which she felt was worthwhile and would give her the edge over other would-be astronomers of a similar age.

After stopping for a late lunch in Bathurst, she continued along the western highway. The sun had finally won the battle with the rain clouds and the bitumen surface was turning from black to grey as it dried. She searched her handbag with her free hand, for the new sunglasses that she had bought at the airport. She had decided whilst trying them on that they made her look older, more business-like and she hoped they would help make a better first impression on arrival.

Rachael looked young for her age, which she considered a further drawback in a field filled with knowledgeable old-timers, so she always wore a suit, nothing designer – she couldn’t afford such luxuries, but she thought it complemented her shoulder-length dark hair and flat soled shoes, which were at least, practical and comfortable.

Her mother had told her once she was not a pretty girl, but she could be described as ‘striking’ with very angular features and sharp light blue eyes.

Rachael plugged her phone into the stereo dock of the car and scrolled through her music. Only another couple of hours of straight-line boredom until I arrive at Parkes, she thought, as the excitement returned and she focused on the horizon, impatient as usual.

At the Parkes Observatory, Daniel had been running tests all afternoon.

He was getting annoyed. It just won’t do what I tell it to do. It’s too bloody old! Daniel said to Jack, the head researcher at Parkes.

I understand that it’s old, but having a go at me won’t fix the mechanism, have you tried physically moving it?

That’s the first thing I tried, and you know what’s making it worse? snapped Daniel, not waiting for Jack to reply. You, standing over me! Now piss off or it’ll take even longer.

Alright, I was only trying to help. Jack turned on his heels and walked out of the cupboard where Daniel continued working.

Daniel was the technician responsible for making sure things worked at the Parkes Observatory. Recently there had been an overhaul of the computer system that controlled the dish’s movements and linked it to the targeting computer. The age of Parkes made implementing any new systems a nightmare, as everything had to have a box to translate the new computer code to the old computer code, enabling the two to talk to each other. At that moment, there was a lot getting lost in translation. The frustrating part for Daniel was that only that morning he had the whole system working, before he tried to load some software updates. Now he felt like he was back at square one.

Rachael could see the dish from several kilometres away, rising up from the flat landscape like a giant artificial sunflower twenty storeys high. One thing she had discovered from previous visits to other observatories was she never needed to ask for directions, and she hadn’t even bothered using the sat-nav on her phone.

The last few kilometres became trickier to drive as she spent more time looking at the approaching dish rather than concentrating on the road, and almost missed the turnoff for the complex completely. Luckily the road was devoid of other cars as Rachael slammed on the brakes, locking them up, before screeching to a halt just past the junction and leaving a tell-tale set of black tyre marks on the road.

Rachael checked the road was clear, before reversing the car back up the road slightly and swinging around onto the entry road to the complex. She carefully drove up to the main set of buildings and parked. Her heart was racing, maybe from the shock of braking so hard, or possibly from her building excitement, she wasn’t sure. It was Jack who came out to meet her.

As Rachael watched Jack striding towards her, her first impression was that he was the archetypal scientist, late forties and not married, judging by his drab clothes, with a dated hairstyle and unkempt facial hair. She also noticed that his shoes looked older than him.

Hello, I’m Jack Detton, Facilities Manager and Chief Scientist of Parkes Observatory. It’s nice to meet you, he said, in a well practiced manner.

Rachael Marks. Thanks for inviting me.

Please follow me, Miss Marks. I’ll show you to the guest facilities we have here at Parkes. It’s not much, but the beds are comfortable, so I’ve been told. It’s this way. He indicated towards a metal hut.

The whole facility looked temporary, with most of the buildings being prefabricated and set out around the base of the dish. For a place that had existed for so long, she had expected something else, but being so far from anywhere, the design shouldn’t have been surprising. The only brick structure was the round base of the dish itself, looking like the base of a lighthouse, with windows gazing out all around.

The interior of the outbuilding was small, with a common area and several small separate bedrooms leading off. All the furniture was in need of cleaning or replacing and Jack noticed the look on Rachael’s face.

As I said, it’s not much, we use this all the time so it’s well worn, but we keep the visitor accommodation in a healthier condition. He gestured towards a small neat room with a bed, wardrobe and desk. Just enough room to swing a cat, he said jokingly, trying to lighten the situation.

It’ll be fine, thanks. Rachael was used to small living spaces. Back in Hobart, the room that she rented next to the observatory was not much bigger. With all her books and charts in residence, fitting a cat in would have been a struggle.

Would you like a tour of the facility? Jack asked.

I would love one, replied Rachael, noticing the butterflies in her stomach.

Jack took Rachael on the standard tour, which didn’t take long. Apart from the dish and outbuildings, there wasn’t much else to see other than a few trees surrounding the complex.

They finally entered the control room, which really only consisted of a row of computer terminals. Some of the original 1960’s switching panels and chart recorders were still situated on one wall, but looked alien next to the new flat-panel screens. There was a table in one corner, stained with coffee rings, and surrounded by well worn chairs. Most of the wall space was covered in charts, rosters and artificially coloured images that the dish had received over the years. The look of the room was one that had evolved over time, rather than being deliberately planned. Daniel could be heard behind the old panels swearing loudly at the uncooperative instruments.

Jack coughed loudly. We have a guest, Daniel.

There was a thud from behind the panel, which Rachael thought sounded suspiciously like Daniel’s head hitting the underside of a cabinet, then he appeared at the doorway, covered in sweat and rubbing the top of his head.

The sight of Daniel was a shock to Rachael. Typically in a place like this, most of the employees were old, fat, bald or a mixture of the three. Daniel was about thirty, well built, with blonde hair. But the first thing she noticed was his piercing blue eyes.

Hi, he said, wiping his hands on an old cloth. I’m Daniel, and you are?

Oh, she said, finding her voice again. Rachael, pleased to meet you.

As she said this, she could feel her face flushing. This is ridiculous, she thought. I’m acting like a schoolgirl – stop it!

Daniel had already started explaining to her about his job and she struggled to catch up with what he was saying.

…so I’m afraid you won’t be able to use the telescope until I’ve at least run some more tests. It will probably be a few hours.

As Rachael focussed, the butterflies started to dissolve – she was hoping to at least get a couple of hours in that day.

Jack seemed eager to get going. Is it okay to leave you for a bit? I have a lot of work to complete.

Rachael had almost forgotten he was still standing there. Can I hang around here for a while? she asked Jack.

Of course. You don’t mind chaperoning our guest, do you? he said to Daniel, sounding more like an order than a request.

No worries, replied Daniel.

They both watched Jack leave the room, before Daniel visibly relaxed.

What tests are you running? Rachael asked Daniel, after a few seconds of silence.

We’ve just upgraded our tracking system software, which links the Internet to our main system – so people can log in and watch what we see. The problem is, as with any new software, it wants to upgrade itself as soon as it’s finished loading the original program. But those upgrades stopped the dish motors working, for a reason I’m still unsure of.

But it’s working now?

Yes, but the whole system requires recalibrating again, said Daniel. We let the computer pick known stars and then it rotates the dish to that position, before matching the new readings with our previous readings on file. If they are the same, the calibration usually only takes a few hours, if not I’ll be here half the night realigning things.

Rachael knew all this already, but she let Daniel explain anyway.

Daniel sat down at one of the computer terminals and began the calibration program. A siren sounded outside the window, causing Rachael to jump, which was followed by a slow rumbling like distant thunder directly above her head, as the dish slowly started to move. The dish’s activity brought telemetry onto the screen in front of her, which until now had displayed a screensaver with the words ‘May the force be with you’ bouncing from one side to the other. The information was familiar to Rachael as background noise that was continually received from space by the telescope and was displayed as jagged lines on the computer screen like saw teeth. As the dish reached its first set of coordinates there was a spike on the screen, the siren stopped and the dish paused its slow rotation while the computer compared this data spike to its known values. A quiet ping was emitted from the computer and the dish began to slowly move once more, joined by its siren companion.

It’s great to see all this working, said Rachael.

"Yeh, keeping it working is the hard part, replied Daniel. I spend too much time working on the software and not enough time on the dish itself now. Anyway, while this does its thing, do you want to get something to eat? I’m starving."

In all the excitement, Rachael had not realised how late it was, the sun had sunk low in the sky and was shining through the window casting dark shadows on the now orange wall behind them. They left the control room and headed to the accommodation block. Most of the staff had either gone for the night or were away on days off, leaving only Jack, Daniel, Rachael and a sleeping security guard on the complex.

We have a selection of the finest quality frozen ready meals in the southern hemisphere. The local town makes a batch and drops them off once a week, said Daniel.

So, you live here then? asked Rachael.

Only when I’m on shift – one week on, one week off. Luckily for you I started yesterday, so you will have the pleasure of my company all week, Daniel said, with a cheeky grin.

Halfway through their gourmet frozen lamb, the siren stopped for the third time. They had gotten used to the background noise and the stark contrast of the silence made them pause in their conversation to listen. Seconds passed and the silence continued.

Does that mean it’s finished? asked Rachael quietly.

That wasn’t nearly enough time to complete the test. It means it’s probably gone wrong again, I’d better have a look.

They quickly finished their food and went back to the control room where Jack was sitting in front of the screens waiting for them.

TWO

The message box says ‘incorrect calibration’. I thought you said it was okay? said Jack to Daniel, as he and Rachael entered the room.

It was, let me look.

Daniel sat down and pushed in front of Jack who then took his normal position standing over Daniel’s shoulder.

The signal it’s found isn’t anything like it should be, said Daniel.

Rachael walked over and joined Jack looking at the screen over Daniel’s shoulder.

The signal strength is immense, said Rachael, excitedly. There is far more than normal, and it’s continuous.

Jack had now moved and sat in the next chair. He brought the signal up on the second computer screen and started the recording process. It was standard procedure every time any interesting signal was received and would help in locating its origin, which was usually an aircraft, satellite or just noise reflected from the ground.

Can we hear it? asked Rachael.

Of course, replied Jack. Just turn on the speaker over there. He pointed at the old panel behind them.

Rachael flicked the speaker’s old toggle switch to ‘on’. A clear crisp tone came out of the speaker, causing Rachael to step back in surprise knocking one of the empty chairs across the room. Then the tone abruptly stopped and the speaker just emitted the fuzzy background noise. Then there was a short tone, almost a blip, then another one followed by another longer tone, then fuzzy silence. All three of them held their breath, wondering what would happen next. As the next blip sounded, they all let out a breath at once. This time there was only one blip followed by two longer tones, then the silence again. They all sat together, listening to the strange signal and after several minutes of blips and tones in different orders, Jack decided to search for the signal’s source suspecting it was a manmade local signal from close by.

After an hour of crosschecking and ringing around to local air traffic control and checking satellite orbits on the Net, he had to conclude that the signal wasn’t from anything local.

Rachael couldn’t quite believe what was happening; she had only been at Parkes for a few hours. She had initially been disappointed that the dish wasn’t operational, but meeting Daniel had kind of made up for that, and this… this was beyond her wildest dreams and she was trying hard not to fall into the realms of fantasy, something she did often. Many people had thought they had discovered intelligent signals from space in the past and all had eventually been explained in the cold light of day, leaving the poor astronomer who made the discovery looking somewhat foolish – in the worst cases their whole careers had been destroyed. Rachael wasn’t about to start down that road.

The signal suddenly stopped. The speaker on the panel emitted only background crackle. During the last hour, the dish had occasionally started up and moved for several seconds, keeping a fix on the signal and compensating for the Earth’s rotation, all fully automatically. With the signal gone the dish was again motionless and silent. During the time the signal was being received Jack had made a few calculations, trying to determine its origin – a process he had put a lot more effort into once he had realised the signal was probably not local. He was still going over this information for the third time when the signal ceased, and wanted to be sure of what he had found before involving anyone else outside the room. He finally put down his pen and sat back in his chair, looking between Rachael and Daniel.

Orion, he said with a sigh, almost emotionless.

The signal is coming from Orion? asked Daniel.

Unless we can find another explanation for it, then yes, Jack said, very matter of factly. Right Ascension 35.3 and Declination -05 23, to be exact.

And what do you think the signal means? asked Rachael, still taking everything in.

I haven’t got a clue, said Jack, shrugging his shoulders, but I think it’s time to verify this with another observatory.

It was three o’clock in the morning when they all finally stopped for the night. Daniel decided to finish off downloading the updates that had caused the problems with the dish at the beginning of the previous day and set up the system to reboot on its own once finished. Jack had contacted two other observatories by phone. Both had tried to find the same signal from Orion, and both had found nothing. The adrenaline which had kept them all going through the earlier part of the evening had worn off and Rachael was feeling cold, disappointed and tired. She crawled into the bed provided for her, closed her eyes and tried to stop the thoughts spinning inside her head. They did get a signal (it wasn’t her imagination), they had all heard it and they still had the recording to analyse. She drifted into a sleep filled with strange dreams of other worlds and whistles and bangs that woke her several times.

She woke the next morning with a start, unsure of her surroundings, and took a moment for her memories of the last twenty-four hours to engage. She still felt overwhelmed, but with some sleep, her mind felt slightly clearer, more able to deal with the peculiarity of the previous day. She showered and dressed, then met up with Jack and Daniel in the common area for breakfast.

Jack was stood in the small kitchenette making coffee. He had chosen to stay on site for the night and was still dressed in the same clothes from the previous day.

Daniel was slouched in one of the comfier chairs, still in a dressing gown and eating cereal from a bowl on his lap whilst waving the spoon around to help get his point across to Jack. All I’m saying is, it was not a glitch in the system, and if you say it wasn’t anything local, it must be an ET signal.

We don’t know anything for certain. All we can do is check our findings again, analyse the recording, and see if we can pick up the signal later on today when Orion comes up. Jack had obviously gotten very little sleep.

After breakfast, they all went back to the control room and effectively started from scratch on the data collected the previous day. The object of the exercise, Jack said, is to disprove rather than prove the signal’s origin, because that’s what everyone else will try and do. They also listened to the recording again, each long and short tone coming and going with no discernable pattern.

By lunchtime, they had neither proved nor disproved anything. Rachael went back to the common area and left Jack and Daniel going over their data for the fifth time that day. Whilst eating her lunch, she glanced around the room. She would definitely describe it as a male environment, but there were more homely things scattered around this room, compared to the control room. A stack of well-read car magazines was sitting on a damaged chipboard table and there were a few CDs piled on top of an old stereo system. The walls were adorned with posters from various sci-fi films, one of which she recalled from the X Files TV series with the words ‘I want to believe’ across the top. Conspiracy theorists, she thought… I wonder what they will make of this. A seed of an idea started to germinate within her head, and the more she thought, the better the idea became. She quickly finished her lunch and rushed back to discuss the idea with the others.

Conspiracy-theories.com, she said to Jack and Daniel.

Sorry? questioned Daniel.

It’s an online magazine run by a friend of mine from university in England, they have all the crackpots and nutcases write in with their stories, she said, starting to get excited again.

What… you want to sell the story? We don’t even believe it, what makes you think anyone else will? said Daniel.

Not sell it, stupid. We’ve all been listening to those tones over and over trying to make sense of them, let’s post them on the magazine and see what other people come up with.

"We can’t mention what they are or where they’re from, or anything about them