home » Science Fiction » Michael Crichton » Sphere » Sphere Page 47

Sphere Page 47
Author: Michael Crichton

"Let him stay that way," Barnes snorted, "if it helps him to crack this code."

"I'm going to try, too," Ted reminded him.

"That's fine," Barnes said. "You try, too."

TED

"I'm telling you, this reliance on Harry is misplaced." Ted paced back and forth and glanced at Norman. "Harry is manic, and he's overlooking things. Obvious things."

"Like what?"

"Like the fact that the printout can't possibly be a discharge from the computer."

"How do you know?" Norman said.

"The processor," Ted said. "The processor is a 68090 chip, which means that any memory dump would be in hex."

"What's hex?"

"There are lots of ways to represent numbers," Ted said. "The 68090 chip uses base-sixteen representation, called 'hexadecimal.' Hex is entirely different from regular decimal. Looks different."

"But the message used zero through nine," Norman said. "Exactly my point," Ted said. "So it didn't come from the computer. I believe it's definitely a message from the sphere. Furthermore, although Harry thinks it is a substitution code, I think it's a direct visual representation."

"You mean a picture?"

"Yes," Ted said. "And I think it's a picture of the creature itself!" He started searching through sheets of paper. "I started with this."

001110101110011100111010100000    111101011101

  11110110110101    100110101010100101

100101111010000     11010010100010101100000

111011111110101     1001010110      1001101010101101

     1000111101000010101100101     10000100

1000111101000010101      1001010110

111111011011101100100000

001110101110011100111010100000     111101011101

11110110110101     100110101010100101      10010

1111010000      11010010100010101100000

111011111110101      1001010110      1001101010101101

    1000111101000010101100101       10000100

1000111101000010101     1001010110

111111011011101100100000

001110101110011100111010100000     111101011101

  11110110110101      100110101010100101      10010

  1111010000      11010010100010101100000

111011111110101      1001010110      1001101010101101

     1000111101000010101100101      10000100

"Now, here I have translated the message to binary," Ted said. "You can immediately sense visual pattern, can't you?"

"Not really," Norman said.

"Well, it is certainly suggestive," Ted said. "I'm telling you, all those years at JPL looking at images from the planets, I have an eye for these things. So, the next thing I did was go back to the original message and fill in the spaces. I got this."

? ?00032125252632? ?032629? ?301321? ?04261037? ?18?

?3016? ?0618082132? ?29033005? ?1822? ?04261013?

?0830162137? ?1604? ?08301621? ?1822? ?033013130432?

?00032125252632? ?032629? ?301321? ?04261037? ?18?

?3016? ?0618082132? ?29033005? ?1822? ?04261013?

?0830162137? ?1604? ?08301621? ?1822? ?033013130432?

?00032125252632? ?032629? ?301321? ?04261037? ?18?

?3016? ?0618082132? ?29033005? ?1822? ?04261013?

?0830162137? ?1604? ?08301621? ?1822? ?033013130432?

?00032125252632? ?032629? ?301321? ?04261037? ?18?

?3016? ?0618082132? ?29033005? ?1822? ?04261013?

?0830162137? ?1604? ?08301621? ?1822? ?033013130432?

?00032125252632? ?032629? ?301321? ?04261037? ?18?

?3016? ?0618082132? ?29033005? ?1822? ?04261013?

?0830162137? ?1604? ?08301621? ?1822? ?033013130432?

?00032125252632? ?032629? ?301321? ?04261037? ?18?

?3016? ?0618082132? ?29033005? ?1822? ?04261013?

?0830162137? ?1604? ?08301521? ?1822? ?033013130432?

?00032125252632? ?032629? ?301321? ?04261037? ?18?

?3016? ?0618082132? ?29033005? ?1822? ?04261013?

?0830162137? ?1604? ?08301621? ?1822? ?033013130432?

?00032125252632? ?032629? ?301321? ?04261037? ?18?

?3016? ?0618082132? ?29033008? ?1822? ?04261013?

?0830162137? ?1604? ?08301621? ?1822? ?033013130432?

?00032125252632? ?032629? ?301321? ?04261037? ?18?

"Uh-huh ..." Norman said.

"I agree, it doesn't look like anything," Ted said. "But by changing the screen width, you get this."

Proudly, he held up the next sheet.

? ?00032125252632? ?032629? ?301321?

?04261037? ?18? ?3016? ?0618082132? ?29033005?

?1822? ?042610134, ?0830162137? ?1604?

?08301621? ?1822? ?033013130432?

?00032125252632? ?032629? ?301321? ?04261037?

?18? ?3016? ?0618082132? ?29033005? ?1822?

?04261013? ?0830162137? ?1604? ?08301621?

?1822? ?033013130432? ?00032125252632?

?032629? ?301321? ?04261037? ?18? ?3016?

?0618082132? ?29033005? ?1822? ?04261013?

?0830162137? ?1604? ?08301621? ?1822?

?033013130432? ?00032125252632? ?032629?

?301321? ?04261037? ?18? ?3016? ?0618082132?

?29033005? ?1822? ?04261013? ?0830162137?

?1604? ?08301621? ?1822? ?033013130432?

?00032125252632? ?0326294, ?301321? ?04261037?

?18? ?3016? ?0618082132? ?29033005? ?1822?

?04261013? ?0830162137? ?1604? ?08301621?

Search
Michael Crichton's Novels
» The Lost World (Jurassic Park #2)
» Timeline
» Sphere
» Congo
» Airframe
» Prey
» Next
» Disclosure
» The Great Train Robbery
» Eaters of the Dead
» The Andromeda Strain
» Jurassic Park (Jurassic Park #1)
» State Of Fear
» The Terminal Man
» Rising Sun
» Binary