Carrier Wave: A Day Of Knowing Tale Read Online Free PDF

Helms had to bite into her own cheek to keep
her finger from slipping past the guard and onto the trigger.
     
    “Don’t worry – I would never erase the
signal. I couldn’t if I wanted to! No more than you could, either,
now that you’ve heard it. There’s a nest of messages in the signal,
you see, each with different effects: The Manics are boring. They
just attack, attack, attack. The Sleepers are more interesting: I’m
just beginning to study them in depth. There seem to be some
genuine changes in physiology there, not least of which is the
seeming suspension of autonomic functions, presumably to conserve
the energy they then release in sudden, intense bursts that
transcend typical human abilities. I’ve been able to identify two
more frequencies so far as well, but who knows? There could be
more. More!”
     
    The man flipped a series of switches and the
reel to reel to spun up. He bent down and hit a button on a
cassette player nestled beneath the mattress, and tapped his foot
while he waited.
     
    “What…what did you to me?” Helms said.
     
    As soon as the man had admitted he had no
intention of erasing the signal, the anxiety slipped away and she
was able to lower her weapon. She felt the first itchy pinpricks of
sweat springing out on her forehead. There was a tightness in her
chest, and a building energy crackling up and down her spine. She
felt like she would explode if she didn’t do something, but she
couldn’t for the life of her think of what that might be.
     
    “Me? Nothing. I don’t do anything. I
am only a messenger. Like you are, now. See, there is such a thing
as a disease that is too fatal. It will kill it’s victims
long before they have the opportunity to infect others. It’s the
same with this signal. The same!” He turned his head to the roof
and barked “same! Same! Same!”
     
    He composed himself with some effort, and
continued: “If everybody turned Manic, or Sleeper, who would be
left to spread the signal? That’s where the carriers come in. You
hear the signal, but you get to stay yourself: You are allowed to
retain your knowledge, your abilities, and your memories. But
there’s a price: Once you hear the carrier wave, all you want to do
is play it for others, over and over again, forever. I didn’t
realize that at first. Not at first! I’m a man of science,
understand. When we initially recorded that signal back at SETI, I
thought that I kept replaying it because it was interesting .
Then I showed others -- just to get their input, I told myself. The
others…changed.”
     
    The man fell quiet then. He made a fist,
clenched it, then sighed and slowly released it.
     
    “I knew it was the signal, but I kept
playing it. For science, I told myself! To understand its effects!
But that wasn’t it. I was just a pawn, myself. I’m still trying to
learn about it, of course. Maybe even one day stop it? But then the
urge gets too much, too strong, and I have to go out there. Out
with the idiots. And I have to play it for them. It will
kill you, if you don’t. Here.”
     
    The reels clicked to a stop, and the man
ejected a cassette from the deck. He rummaged around in an overhead
bin and came out with a small tape recorder. He slotted the tape
into it and held it out for Helms.
     
    “You’ll need it soon,” he said. “Normally
the signal takes some time to work, but I’ve filtered out the noise
and boosted the frequencies on the master source here. It’ll be
taking hold soon. Find somebody to listen, or it will tear you
apart. I don’t do this for everybody, you know. I don’t want the
signal to spread any further than it has to, so I just leave most
of the carriers without a way to relay the signal. It’s…not pretty
what happens to them. But it’s better for all of us, in the long
run. Better than letting them spread it. You seem different
somehow. Plus, you have the gun – if I tried to kick you out of
here without a way play the signal, I bet you’d gun