Human by Hayley Camille

pianist. “Alright, let’s see what’s out there…”

    Sixty straight hours of observation and modelling were ruthless enough, but these results were crippling. Neil stood, gripping the back of a chair. His knuckles were white.
    “Holy shit.”
    “Yeah.”
    “Where is this data coming from?” Neil’s face was as shadowed with fury as the others’ were with exhaustion. Even Cassandra had lost her charm. Dark rings flawed her perfect eyes and her voice cracked with fatigue.
    “All the usual readings for deep space energy waves. In addition, we’ve been picking up electromagnetic radiation through the two closest probes. That’s four magnometers all up - one space probe that’s currently orbiting the moon and a satellite over South-East Asia. Both are consistently giving us two different patterns. Dimi has run them over and again and I’ve analysed the data through as many models as I can think of. It’s definitive.” She stood aside to look at Dimitri expectantly. The red digits on the atomic wall clock blurred. Dimitri knuckled his red-rimmed eyes. It was 4.45am.
    “She’s right,” Dimi said. “Both sources have their long booms deployed to minimize emission interference. The two outboards are bringing in this Extra Low Frequency band here – we’ve got constant low frequency electromagnetic fields at hotspots around the globe. We’ve got one in North Africa, Bosnia, Indonesia, Mexico, Tanzania, Croatia, China… the list goes on. Very specific co-ordinates - all emitting photons in random phase. They’re all increasing in strength by the same rate every 24 hours. We’ll have to get more data but the pattern is there. It’s a natural field, so they must all have something in common… no idea what.”
    Neil’s jaw clenched. “But this one… are you sure about this?” Neil ran his index finger down the bright monitor, leaving a trail of sweat. He glared at Cassandra, willing her to deny what he saw. She didn’t.
    “Positive,” Cassandra sighed. “This second pattern was picked up by the inboard magnometer from both spacecraft as well as our sensors. A stream of high frequency energy. Pulsing; almost Gamma level. Dimi was able to retrieve our corrupted data - it fits the pattern. It’s getting stronger. It’s putting out a massive amount of power Neil, and each night is stronger than the last. The readings are saturating our equipment. It’s going to peak… soon. This field – it’s like a giant finger reaching down to us – it has almost reached the earth’s atmosphere.”
    “How soon?”
    “24 hours… 48 maybe. I don’t know. There’s no precedent here.”
    “ 24 hours? What the fuck? Not good enough! I need clarification on this. Now. What is it?” Neil licked his lips, caught between the inherent danger of the situation and its potential. He needed more time.
    Cassandra groaned softly and pulled on the back of her neck. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Well, not close to earth anyway. There was a case in the seventies when military satellites detected radio bursts like this flashing all over the sky. They turned out to be massive star explosions, supernova, collapsing and forming a black hole. Same pattern, but stronger… but this is weaker and much too close.”
    Neil knew the consequences of high energy magnetic fluctuations. If this energy mutation reached the electron–rich layer of the earth’s atmosphere, the ionosphere, it would be breaking through the earth’s safety net. At the very least it could destroy electrical power distribution grids and interrupt radio signals and global positioning systems across the continent. And at the very worst… so much for harnessing its power. Shit.
    “What’s the point of origin?”
    Cassandra met Dimitri’s eyes quickly and turned away, straightening her shoulders.
    “That’s the weird thing Neil. There seem to be two origin points. It’s like they are reaching for each other, attracting each other – one from