The Signal Ch. 02: Contact

"Good work, let's write that down on the board shall we?" Gallo pulls out a giant chalkboard, beginning to write down on an ever increasing chart of information. He then wrote a neat little header for the information granted, all under Lallo's grouping. "That means these two pieces of information connect to Lallo's Work too."

He quickly connected the pieces together, making the board much neater and the information easier to read. What came up so far was a way to convert materials by super-hearing them into plasma, a heating mechanism, a latticed tungsten-ceramic inner casing to withstand said heat, a way to "print" the desired material into any shape, and the use of electromagnetism to create the microgravity needed to create the desired bonds. But there is one more piece missing.

Gallo stared at the information in thought. "Hmm... it's definitely shaping into something. This looks very promising. It appears to be plans for a device that converts any material into any form of matter we want. But how do we tell it to do that? I'm betting there needs to be some kind of computing to perform all the necessary calculations."

Then another member, a bulky Torkashka, raises his hand.

"Yes, Ongucch?"

Ongucch was essentially the opposite of Lallo, a larger and beefier being who was essentially a hybrid between the plains-dwelling subspecies that Gallo is and the arctic giants from Emaqa with a mixture of white and green feathers. "So I actually did an entire piece of my own on what appears to be an entire user interface and program to execute these functions. I think we can piece it together with the rest of the thing there."

Gallo cranes his beaked head forward interested. "Go ahead?"

Ongucch then brings up a stack of papers, rights them against the table and then sets it down, clearing his throat.

"So, what I found is plans for a console, which I discovered were separated into two parts, plus some plans for a highly-efficient transistor."

He then went on to describe the first part - the console functions and programming, which included indicators on how much of a given subatomic particle (protons, neutrons and electrons) are present in the input function. For example, a lump of coal is mostly carbon with some small amounts of hydrogen and oxygen from trapped water droplets and air pockets. Another example was a way to scan which elements and molecules are present in a given material, the total amount of these particles available for conversion and, depending on the desired material, how much of that material will be produced.

Using Lallo's example of turning lead to gold, he and the other members of the board conversed that, since lead has three more protons than gold and thus more massive, turning 100 units of lead into the same amount in gold will leave out a slightly larger gold bar, plus enough material left to create perhaps three units of lithium as a byproduct.

Second, he moved on to the programming which was by far the most detailed but ultimately rather simple. It contained a set of instructions to scan the components of an input material, a set of triggers and if-then-else conditions for different commands, an automatic fail-safe program in case something goes wrong, and so on.

Gallo, meanwhile, wrote down all the information gathered on a new blackboard. Then some other Gaka drew out the design of the replicator, jotting downs the specific details and programing necessary to create such a device.

After two more hours of deliberation and one whole month of analysis and study, there was a breakthrough. The first puzzle was finally solved.

They have just uncovered plans for a matter converter and replicator, a device that used plasma heating to turn one form of matter into another. In so doing, they could potentially take garbage and even body waste into any material needed, like hydrogen fuel, water, steel, ceramic, and nearly all non-hazardous material one can imagine.

"We did it." Gallo looked over the results in awe, "I can't believe it, but we've got it!"

"I don't believe it," Tika agreed. "But I think we did it!"

Then she turned to the rest of the group excitedly. "Fantastic job everyone, we may be the first to solve our first puzzle!"

The team cheered in victory, hugging and clapping in glee at their first real breakthrough! Once the jubilation was over Gallo spoke up.

"Now, let's see if we can deliver our research to the NAAA, ehh Tika?"

She nodded and then aimed a camera at the blackboard.

Flash!

They printed copies of their work and placed them by parcel. This will be for NAAA scientists to look over the details and put it through peer review. Hopefully it will pass.

"Well," he said. "I think this calls for a celebration." He rummaged through a mini fridge underneath the table and then pulled out a giant glass bottle.

Omgucch suggested, "I'm thinking of getting us some berry wine for everyone. Whatdy'all say?"

The group cheer-squawk in the air, ready to celebrate their accomplishments, one of many contributions they and thousands or perhaps millions more across the world will make over the coming years.

This would be just the first milestone in a great journey, one greater and more terrible than any of them could have ever realized.