4. Alert

WHEN ARTHUR MANCHEK STEPPED INTO THE small soundproofed booth and sat down before the telephone, he knew exactly what he was going to do— but he was not very sure why he was doing it.

As one of the senior Scoop officers, he had received a briefing nearly a year before on Project Wildfire. It had been given, Manchek remembered, by a short little man with a dry, precise way of speaking. He was a university professor and he had outlined the project. Manchek had forgotten the details, except that there was a laboratory somewhere, and a team of five scientists who could be alerted to man the laboratory. The function of the team was investigation of possible extraterrestrial life forms introduced on American spacecraft returning to earth.

Manchek had not been told who the five men were; he knew only that a special Defense Department trunk line existed for calling them out. In order to hook into the line, one had only to dial the binary of some number. He reached into his pocket and withdrew his wallet, then fumbled for a moment until he found the card he had been given by the professor:

IN CASE OF FIRE — Notify Division 87 — Emergencies Only

He stared at the card and wondered what exactly would happen if he dialed the binary of 87. He tried to imagine the sequence of events: Who would he talk to? Would someone call him back? Would there be an inquiry, a referral to higher authority?

He rubbed his eyes and stared at the card, and finally he shrugged. One way or the other, he would find out.

He tore a sheet of paper from the pad in front of him, next to the telephone, and wrote:

2^0

2^1

2^2

2^3

2^4

2^5

2^6

2^7

This was the basis of the binary system: base two raised to some power. Two to the zero power was one; two to the first was two, two squared was four; and so on. Manchek quickly wrote another line beneath:

2^0 -> 1

2^1 -> 2

2^2 -> 4

2^3 -> 8

2^4 -> 16

2^5 -> 32

2^6 -> 64

2^7 -> 128

Then he began to add up the numbers to get a total of 87. He circled these numbers:

2^0 -> (1)

2^1 -> (2)

2^2 -> (4)

2^3 -> (8)

2^4 -> (16)

2^5 -> (32)

2^6 -> (64)

2^7 -> (128)

= (87)

And then he drew in the binary code. Binary numbers were designed for computers which utilize an on-off, yes-no kind of language. A mathematician once joked that binary numbers were the way people who have only two fingers count. In essence, binary numbers translated normal numbers which require ten digits, and decimal places— to a system that depended on only two digits, one and zero.

2^0 -> (1) -> 1

2^1 -> (2) -> 1

2^2 -> (4) -> 1

2^3 -> (8) -> 0

2^4 -> (16) -> 1

2^5 -> (32) -> 0

2^6 -> (64) -> 1

2^7 -> (128) -> 0

Manchek looked at the number he had just written, and inserted the dashes: 1-110-1010. A perfectly reasonable telephone number. Manchek picked up the telephone and dialed. The time was exactly twelve midnight.

DAY 2

Piedmont