Flood Rising (Jenna Flood #1)

The overt familiarity made Jenna uncomfortable, but she kept her reaction neutral. It was too soon to let her guard down, too soon to blindly trust Soter. His words belied the display of affection, a none-too subtle reminder that to him, she was a science experiment, not a daughter. And even if that wasn’t the case, she was nowhere near ready to embrace him as a father.

Father. That was the worst aspect of this latest revelation. She had been so quick to demonize Noah for taking her away, depriving her of parents and a normal childhood. Now, the imagined crime was meaningless. She had no parents and her childhood would have been anything but normal. Noah, in taking her away from all of that, had given her normalcy. A life. That made him the closest thing she would ever have to a father.

But all that was behind her now. Father, home, childhood…normal…all of it was gone.

She blinked away tears—self-pity was a pointless indulgence—and turned her attention back to the passing landscape. The route took them through a valley dotted with residences, and then wove back into the turbulent landscape. Rising above the limestone domes was something that, while impressive, would only have been beautiful to an engineer—a gray-white spire, stabbing straight into the heavens. Large cables stretching away from the tower became visible as they climbed out of the valley. The tips of two more spires appeared further off in the distance, to form the three corners of a triangle. The cables were connected to an enormous structure of exposed metal beams—Jenna thought it looked like an unfinished suspension bridge—that seemed to hover above the tree tops. A huge geodesic dome dangled below the framework. Jenna recognized it as a radar dome, similar to the kind used on newer naval vessels. Given their destination, that made perfect sense.

“The Arecibo Observatory,” Soter said, slipping into tour guide mode. “The largest single aperture radio telescope in the world. This is where we received the second signal, hidden in background radiation. It has guided our journey and brought us full circle.”

He turned to face her and added, “You might recognize it. It’s been featured in a number of films.”

Jenna resisted an urge to shrug indifferently. “Looks like a busy place.”

“The observatory is a popular tourist attraction. Public funding for the sciences has always been meager, so it’s necessary to generate new streams of revenue. In this case, a comprehensive visitors’ center at the base of that tower.” He gave a conspiratorial smile. “Of course, my research is very well-funded. I have been able to pass some of that along, which has given me a great deal of influence with the administrators. We won’t need to stand in line today.”

The traffic on the road leading up to the remote site was heavier than she expected, especially on a Sunday. A line of cars and buses traveled toward the observatory. A few cars passed them going the opposite direction. The rain had not kept anyone away.

When they reached a junction, Cray turned out of the queue and headed up a solitary road toward a tall building. A blinking red light on a sign caught Jenna’s attention. The legend on the placard, written in both English and Spanish read: ‘Unshielded vehicles do not pass this point with red light.’ Cray did not stop.

“The 430 MHz transmitter can fry the electronics of older cars,” Soter explained. “Our ignition system is protected.”

Jenna wondered vaguely if they ought to be concerned about the effects of the radio waves on their bodies, but assumed that any such hazard would have long since been addressed by the scientists who operated the facility. Soter’s mention of the transmitter had raised a much more immediate question. “What exactly is it that you want me to do?”

“It will make more sense once we are inside.”

Jenna found this answer woefully inadequate. “You think you can just sit me down in front of a space radio and…what? Suddenly it will all just pop into my head? How to talk to them? What to say?” Too late, it occurred to her that she was letting her emotions take over. She narrowed her eyes, fixing his gaze, and when she spoke again, her tone was much softer. “I’m sorry, Helio…can I call you Helio? Doctor Soter just seems so formal, and...we’re family.”

He nodded slowly, almost reluctantly. His eyes darted away for a moment, but she waited until he was looking at her again to resume speaking. “Helio, it’s just that anything you can tell me about what’s really going on would help. A lot.”

She watched Mercy in her peripheral vision, wondering if the woman—my sister? Mother? Clone? Double?—would recognize what she was attempting to do. She thought it unlikely. These were tricks Noah had taught Jenna. Not some manifestation of mutant-alien superpowers.

“Yes. Of course. I’m not trying to withhold information, my dear. It’s just that it will be easier to explain once you’ve seen the signal.”

“The signal? The message with the DNA sequence?”

Another nod. “It may be that seeing the message for yourself might have a stimulating effect on that part of your brain where the genetic memory is stored.”