Binary code Mystery number two
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– Come on, I'll show you around," Charles suggested.
They went out, went upstairs, the receptionist invited them to a gazebo outside.
– What are your plans, where will you stay? We have prepared a hotel complex for you.
– Thank you, much appreciated. Perhaps we'll take a walk around your village today and think things over a bit about the second purpose of our visit.
– Can I ask you which one?
– We're interested in the possibility of sending a signal from an unidentified clandestine source, the location of which can be concealed. A high-powered signal, sustained and controlled by a system integrated into something like your center. That is, something with the ability to operate, calculate and decipher complex, multi-stage codes.
– Why do you want to know why, may I ask?
Ruthra gestured to the accompanying officers to leave. He decided to disguise his answer. He moved closer to Charles and whispered:
– This will seem implausible and fantastic to you, but as a colleague to a colleague, I will say this: we have received an unidentified signal from an unknown source. Earth origin is not confirmed.
– Are you kidding me?
– If only.
– So it's a sensation.
– Yeah? What if we're wrong? We need to check everything. The thing is, the signal penetrated the codes of the military satellites, unlocked them and tried to change the program.
– You know, this is not the first time this has happened, which surprised me.
– Was there something like that?
– If you don't know, I'll tell you, all of America is raving about aliens, and the fact that this signal penetrated the satellite control system in the first place confirms it.
Rutra thought, "I'm already convinced that all of America is delusional."
– I have been involved in many closed projects in my line of work, I have been to different sites, and everywhere there was a spirit of the unidentified.
– Can you elaborate on that?
– Prior to Los Alamos, I worked at Oak Ridge Laboratory, K-25 and Y-12 facilities.
Rutra didn't give any sign of his knowledge of the subject. He needed to be mistaken for an obsessed scientist, an image Rutra maintained.
– What's in there?
– What is Oak Ridge National Laboratory – you know. It's a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy. It is the largest science and energy laboratory in the Department's system. The lab has several powerful supercomputers, including Jaguar and its updated version, Titan, as well as several neutron research facilities. The K-25 facility was located in the southwestern part of Oak Ridge. The K-25 plant, when completed, was the largest building in the world. During the project, the main goal of which was to build an atomic bomb, workers labored in secret, not even realizing what would result from their work. An acquaintance of my mom's, Gladys Owens, didn't know what she was doing until she saw herself in a photo 50 years later at a public exhibition. The X-10 graphite reactor was the world's second man-made nuclear reactor and the first designed and built for continuous operation. It was used to build the first nuclear reactors in Iran, mind you, and Pakistan.
– You said, "pay attention." What was that about? – Ruthra asked.
– Someone needs it to be so, but officially it is declared otherwise.
– Well, well. So what's next?
– The Y-12 National Security Center is a U.S. Department of Energy center in suburban Oak Ridge, near the National Laboratory. The center manufactures components for nuclear weapons and stores the bulk of the U.S. stockpile of enriched uranium. Construction of the center began in February 1943, as part of the Manhattan Project. At Y-12, among other things, fuel was created for the bombs used in 1945 against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
– Quite interesting, just what is the news, let me put it this way.
– The fact that in such centers, in addition to official, declared activities, albeit classified, there are other activities, classified even from those who have access to them.
– Like what?
– For example, I was involved in the SSP program; it is a nuclear arsenal management program in the United States. Nuclear weapons have not been produced in the United States since 1992, and the reliability and safety of nuclear weapons is ensured through simulations of nuclear explosions on supercomputers. Nuclear weapons storage and maintenance is handled by the U.S. Department of Energy, and more specifically by its three main national laboratories: Livermore National Laboratory, our Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories. So, among other things....
He leaned over to Ruthra and said in a whisper:
– …I was part of a program to study the effects of a nuclear explosion in a different environment than the Earth. Nobody said anything about it, but the mission was to see what would happen if the explosion occurred in a different physical environment. And later I would learn that NASA had conducted a "bombardment" of the moon. Two vehicles crashed into the Earth's natural satellite at a tremendous speed. It wasn't the first time. I'm surprised you don't know anything about it.
– Why. The dust cloud was studied by two vehicles – the Russian LEND and the American LCROSS probe equipped with spectrometers and infrared cameras. They collected information on the chemical composition of the particles and – most importantly – on the amount of water.
– Yeah, and you know that the experiment cost NASA 80 million dollars, too? Do you think the main goal is to understand whether there are ice crystals under the surface of the Earth's satellite? And if there are, then in the future to build inhabited scientific stations or even whole settlements on the Moon? Doesn't it seem to you that this is a war, and these very inhabited scientific stations and whole settlements already exist?
– Well, I don't know what to say. Aren't there any spies among your acquaintances? You can't hide everything, can you?
– As in Russia, and everywhere else, here you cannot hold a position like mine without approval, or rather, scientifically speaking, some integration into this very intelligence community.
– And which one are you in…
– There are many of them, none in particular. Do you have any idea of their structure?
– I have no idea.
– The United States Intelligence Community is a collective term for 17 separate U.S. government agencies. I'm going to educate you a little bit on the subject. I am sure if we cooperate, you will need information about them. The Director of the U.S. Intelligence Community is the head of the government apparatus for coordinating the work of all U.S. intelligence agencies, he is responsible for the work of the intelligence community to the President of the United States. By the way, they have a budget of $43.5 billion.
– Interesting things you say.
– If you're not too busy, we can have a chat in your spare time.
– I will. I will also tell you about scientific work together with specialists from the "zone".
– Fifty-one?
– Yeah. (chuckles)
Charles smiled, nodding as a sign that he understood. They stood up, said their goodbyes, and separated. At the gatehouse, Rutra and his companions were waited for by a lab employee who escorted them to the reception center. Rutra settled in, checked the program through the briefcase, then contacted Isa. After going through a procedure that had become routine, he heard the voice of the computer in his head.