Chapter 279 Signal Resonance
October 9, 2040.
2:00 AM, Data Center, sky ladder project Headquarters.
Li Xiao had been staring at the data on the screen for six full hours.
Outside the window, the night was deep; only this floor of the entire building was still lit. Most of the technicians had already finished their shifts, with only a few night-watch staff still at their posts. But Li Xiao hadn't left; she couldn't.
Because the curves on the screen made her feel a chill all over.
That was the monitoring data for the deep space signal.
They had been tracking this signal ever since they first discovered that regular pulse coming from the direction of Centaurus five years ago. Prime numbers, Pi, star charts—the signal hid traces of intelligent life. It pointed to HD 107146, twelve light-years away, where there was a star similar to the Sun.
But tonight, Li Xiao discovered something else.
She pulled up all the data from the past five years and overlaid the signal strength with Mars's orbital position. One curve was the fluctuation in signal strength, and the other was Mars's position in the sky. The two curves should have been completely unrelated—one was a signal from deep space, and the other was a planetary orbit within the solar system.
But when they overlapped, Li Xiao's hand trembled.
Whenever Mars moved to a specific position, the signal strength would significantly increase.
Not once, not twice. Every single time. Over the past five years, Mars had orbited the Sun nearly three times, and every time it passed that position, the signal would strengthen.
This was no coincidence.
"Director Li?"
Xiao Zhou's voice came from behind. He walked over holding a cup of coffee and froze for a moment when he saw Li Xiao's expression.
"Director Li, are you alright?"
Li Xiao shook her head, took the coffee, and took a sip. Her hand was still shaking.
"Xiao Zhou," her voice was tight, "wake up Old Wang. And Old Zhang. Get everyone up."
Xiao Zhou was stunned: "Now?"
"Now."
At 3:00 AM, the data center was crowded with people.
Old Wang rubbed his bleary eyes, staring at the data on the screen. Old Zhang was hunched over a computer, rapidly tapping on the keyboard. Several other technicians who had been called out of bed were gathered around Li Xiao, looking at those two curves.
"This is all the data from the past five years," Li Xiao pointed at the screen. "The red line is signal strength, and the blue line is Mars's position. Look here—"
She zoomed in on one section.
The two curves were originally independent, but whenever the directions of Earth, Mars, and the signal source formed a specific angle, the red line would suddenly jump.
Old Wang leaned in for a closer look, his eyes widening.
"This..." his voice trembled slightly, "this is impossible."
Li Xiao said, "Wait until you've seen it all."
She switched to another segment. The same phenomenon. Another segment. And another. Over five years, Mars had passed that specific position three times, and each time the signal strength increased.
Old Zhang stopped his typing and turned around.
"Director Li, I've performed a correlation analysis." His voice was calm, but it was a frighteningly calm tone. "The correlation coefficient is 0.89."
The data center went silent.
0.89. In statistics, this meant an almost certain correlation.
Old Wang murmured, "The signal and Mars... they're related?"
Li Xiao nodded: "At least it's not a coincidence."
Old Zhang stood up, walked to the screen, and pointed at the data.
"There are two possibilities. First, the signal source is on Mars. We're receiving the signal it emits, but because Mars itself is in motion, the signal strength changes according to Mars's position."
He paused.
"Second, the signal source isn't on Mars, but there's some kind of receiving device or relay station on Mars. The signal comes from deep space, is received by the device on Mars, and then forwarded or amplified. This would also cause the phenomenon we've observed."
There was dead silence in the data center.
There was something on Mars.
Or someone.
At 4:00 AM, Lin Mo's phone rang.
He grabbed his phone, and when he saw it was Li Xiao's number, his heart skipped a beat. A call this late meant something must have happened.
"Li Xiao?"
"Senior Brother," Li Xiao's voice was tight, "you have to come over. There's a major discovery regarding the signal."
Lin Mo arrived at the data center twenty minutes later.
He stood before the screen, looking at the data and curves, listening to Li Xiao's explanation, and remained silent for a long time.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
Li Xiao nodded: "Correlation of 0.89. It's not a coincidence."
Lin Mo stared at the two curves, his mind racing.
Mars.
That red planet, the one humanity had gazed upon for thousands of years. It had water ice, a thin atmosphere, and the potential for past traces of life. Humanity had sent dozens of probes there, taken millions of photos, and analyzed countless pieces of data. They had never found any sign of intelligent life.
But now, this data was telling him: there might be something on Mars.
Or, that signal from twelve light-years away was related to Mars.
"Notify the research group," he finally spoke. "Meeting tomorrow morning. Get all the relevant experts here."
Li Xiao nodded: "Understood."
Lin Mo took one more look at the curves and then turned to walk out of the data center.
Outside, dawn was nearly breaking.
9:00 AM, emergency meeting.
There were over twenty people in the conference room—astrophysicists, planetary scientists, signal analysis experts, aerospace engineers. Chen Xueming was participating via video link, and Zhao Gang sat in the corner with a serious expression.
Li Xiao stood before the screen and gave a full account of the discovery from the previous night.
After she finished, the conference room fell silent for over ten seconds.
Then an elderly expert spoke: "This is impossible. We've been exploring Mars for decades and have never found any trace of artificial signals."
Another expert said: "But the data is real. A correlation of 0.89 isn't accidental."
A third expert said: "Perhaps there's some natural phenomenon on Mars, like magnetic field anomalies or geological activity, that's causing the signal amplification?"
Li Xiao shook her head: "I've checked. Mars's magnetic field is very weak, and its geological activity is nowhere near as active as Earth's. No natural phenomenon could produce such a regular signal enhancement."
Old Zhang added: "And the signal itself is regular. Prime numbers, Pi, star charts—those are traces of intelligent life. Not natural phenomena."
The conference room went quiet again.
Chen Xueming spoke over the video: "So, there might be something on Mars?"
No one answered.
Because no one knew the answer.
Lin Mo stood up and walked to the screen.
"Regardless of what is on Mars," he said, "we have to go see for ourselves."
He turned around to face the people present.
"The Mars Project is being moved up."
At 3:00 PM, the news reached Fang Lin.
She called, her voice very serious: "Lin Mo, I must report this intelligence."
Lin Mo said: "I know."
Fang Lin was silent for a few seconds, then said: "If there really is... something on Mars, what does that mean?"
Lin Mo thought for a moment: "It means we aren't alone. It might also mean we've been watched for a long time."
Fang Lin took a deep breath.
"Are you still planning to go to Mars?"
Lin Mo said: "Now we have to go even more."
Fang Lin was silent for a while, then said: "Fine. I will coordinate intelligence resources. If there's any anomaly, notify me immediately."
Hanging up the phone, Lin Mo stood by the window, looking at the sky outside.
The stars weren't visible during the day, but he knew they were there. Twelve light-years away, there was a star called HD 107146. The light it emitted had traveled for twelve years to reach Earth.
And on Mars, there might be something that had been waiting all this time.
Waiting to be discovered.
Waiting for an answer.
Late at night, Li Xiao was sitting in the data center again.
She stared at the data, looking at those two curves over and over again. Whenever Earth, Mars, and the signal source formed a specific angle, the signal strength would increase.
What was on Mars?
Was it a base? A machine? Or a group of... people?
She didn't dare think further.
The phone rang. It was a message from Chen Xueming:
"Li Xiao, do you think there might be aliens on Mars?"
Li Xiao looked at the message, was silent for a few seconds, and then replied:
"I don't know. But we'll know very soon."
After sending it, she looked up at the red planet on the screen.
In three years, they would go there.
Carrying humanity's questions and humanity's courage.
And that signal from twelve light-years away.
Perhaps the answer was right there.