Interlude Q

  Geneva, Switzerland, Erd simulation

  Year 1995 of the Current Era (local time)

  At the Observatory, two astronomers sit in front of a screen watching the output from a new and somewhat experimental spectrograph measuring the radial velocity of stars. The two have suspected for some time that the system they are looking at – known as 51 Pegasi – consists of a star orbited by a giant planet, and the latest data appears to confirm that the periodic changes in the star’s radial velocity are caused not by another star, but by a giant planet. This means that they have discovered the first exoplanet orbiting a main-sequence star. In their elation, they neglect to look even more closely at the queue of data on their screen, which, although at a level of precision far exceeding the error threshold of their instruments, exhibits evidence also of an entirely different form of systematic deviance. Should these minute deviances be subjected to the modulo operation using the number 26 as the modulus, the string of remainders would reveal the following message when interpreted as letters: “Thank you. We shall look into the matter and will request specific assistance if required.”

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