InterstellarNet: Origins Read Online Free PDF

UN’s budget has been unusually strained by peacekeeping duties across the Balkans, sub-Saharan Africa, and the former Indonesia. He pointed to growing requests for humanitarian assistance by the UN High Commissioner on Refugees. The Lalande 21185 task force was also identified as an unanticipated expense.
“Delegates from the Conference of Less Developed Countries responded skeptically, suggesting that the U.N. reallocate scarce resources to its core missions. Charise Ganes, the U.N. ambassador from Belize, spoke for many of her peers. ‘Of what value is an arithmetic lesson from the stars? How many AIDS vaccinations, how much famine relief, could we provide with funds we are now squandering on ET?’
“Rising polarization on the subject of funding for the Lalande investigation seems certain to conflict with the proposed international treaty on interstellar communications. That treaty, recently passed by the General Assembly and awaiting ratification by member states, mandates that any response to ET be developed under UN auspices.”
—BBC World New Service
    5
    “To ET.”
    Dean rarely toasted with iced tea, but Barbara White seldom drank anything stronger. Barb stood five foot zip in high heels; she said her tolerance for booze was best measured in thimblefuls.
    “To NetSat,” Dean returned.
    Barb was the CEO and founder of NetSat. Dean had been employee number four before taking his leave of absence. They went back a long time together.
    It had been a chance encounter at the shopping mall. They had retreated to the food court. “Is ET still being mum?”
    “Yup.” Dean bit into a taco. “Not that it could be kept secret were ET to begin talking again. In any case, it will be a while before we understand the things he’s already had to say.”
    “So when can I expect you back?”
    “I can’t tell yet, Barb.” Pause. “Not till we’re done.”
    She knew him too well. “What’s the problem?”
    “What we’re learning is astounding. Just ET’s replay of what he received from Earth will teach us a lot about radio propagation across interstellar distances. And I work every day with brilliant people.”
    “Uh-huh. So why do I sense a big ‘but’ in there somewhere?”
    He grimaced. “Think of the most bureaucratic dealings you’ve ever had with the government. This is worse. On top of a clumsy committee process, we’ve got all the international politics. Most prospective announcements get inanely entangled with nineteenth-century colonialism and fears of possible Third World misperception. Apparently our paramount mission is to build up humanity’s self esteem.”
    “Then come back to NetSat. I need my chief strategist.”
    “Barb…let’s not go there. This work is too important.”
    It was not the answer she wanted. She picked at her food, brightening as another matter came to mind. “Hey, I owe you a compliment. Your recommendation paid off.”
    Dean guessed she meant the wrap-up memo he had written on his way out the door from NetSat. He really disliked loose ends. “The constellation reconfig?”
    “The same. As you proposed, it’ll be an easy software fix to keep our satellites and ground stations from broadcasting directly on a Lalande 21185 line of sight. We’ll lose a little capacity, but we maintained our launch schedule. It sure beat trying to start over on a new frequency to accommodate your ET buddies. That could have put us out of business.”
    “I’m glad it worked out.”
    Her wristwatch beeped on the hour. “Gotta run. Listen, it was great seeing you, and I do want you back sometime.”
    After a good-bye hug she left and he finished his late lunch. Their conversation had put an unaccustomed monetary perspective on the task force’s work: the cost of foregone use of spectrum. That was on top of the direct cost of investigations, UN-sponsored and other, about which so many countries were already complaining.
    It hit Dean midway through his final taco. How about ET’s