The convoy moved swiftly down the mountain and reached the sub-base right on schedule. The convoy was organized with the two LMTVs as the head and tail. The two LATTs were inside those, and the LATV was in the center.
From here on, though, the road conditions varied greatly. Dirt roads connected the wheat fields to the mainlines. With the recent acid rain storms, it's likely they turned to mud.
The large off-road tires of the convoy's vehicles could handle most conditions, but you could never be certain. Thankfully, the roads weren't too bad, and besides a lot of mud splashing on the vehicles, there was nothing to note.
The convoy arrived at point Alpha at precisely 2300 hours. The event was not currently active which was a small grace.
As the teams disembarked the vehicles, the lead scientist called for the leaders of the operation. This included Mateo, Olivia and the leader of the logistics personnel, Emery.
"Thank you for meeting with me," the scientist said. "The information I'm about to share with you is only to be given on a need-to-know basis. We are here to investigate a repeating signal interference event. The next predicted occurrence should be within the next half hour. We ask that you keep your teams under control when the event occurs."
The scientist had been given permission from Command to inform the leaders about what they were here to study.
"From what I have been told, the event takes the form of a small isolated black hole. The center of the event is that depression in the wheat over there. No one is to enter within 150 feet of the event center until it has been confirmed safe. Is that understood?"
The small gathering of people all nodded at the scientists words. After seeing that, the scientist continued.
"It is known that when the event occurs, we will lose complete connection to Command. Please prepare your teams for when this happens. I believe you all have orders for trying to counteract this, yes?"
Hearing the scientists question, Olivia spoke up. "Yes. One of my teams are going to take an LMTV along with a few logistics personnel. They are going to attempt to setup a communication station outside of the range of interference."
Emery continued after Olivia. "My men will lay a wire down as they leave. Hopefully we can use this wire to talk with the comms station and the comms station can talk with Command. If the wire fails, we have created a simple flare signal system. If the comms station fails to make it out of the interference zone, then we will have to wait for the event to end before requesting more wire."
"Excellent. The research team will immediately set up our equipment and get to work. May we complete this operation and return safely," the scientist prayed before returning to his team.
After watching the scientist walk away, Emery spoke to Mateo and Olivia.
"You should have received this in the mission files, but just to ensure you know it, I will tell you once again. We have four colors of flares which we will use in case the wire does not work.
"During the first event occurrence after we get the comms station setup, we will run a test. At the start of the event we will attempt to use the line to communicate. If we fail to receive a response, we will launch a yellow flare. If the comms station responds with a green flare, that means they have comms with Command, and we will proceed with flare communication during events.
"If the station returns red, it means that they have failed to exit the interference zone and will need to move further away. If we find that the comms station cannot move far enough away while maintaining flare spotting range, we will be forced to abandon this operation. Is that all understood?"
Mateo and Olivia nodded in affirmative. They had both read the report on the way here.
"Hopefully we can use the wire to communicate, but I digress. If we are to rely on flare communication during events, here are what they mean.
"If we send a green signal, that means that everything is going as intended. If we send yellow it means that we have encountered an issue and are temporarily retreating to our vehicles.
"If we send up a red flare, it means that we have encountered an emergency and are retreating to the comms station. If we send a black, it means that something abnormal has happened, and we are unable to retreat. The comms station will then request reinforcements, and we are to hold out as long as possible.
"If the station responds with a green, it means to continue as planned. A yellow means a temporary stop until the event has ended and a SITREP is given to Command. A red means a full retreat to the comms station. A black means they have lost contact with Command, and we are on our own. Is all of that understood?" Again, Emery asked the couple.
Again, the two nodded in confirmation.
"Excellent. Now, Olivia, if you will. We need to discuss…" Olivia and Emery walked out of hearing range. The two had to discuss how they were going to setup the comms station.
Mateo returned to his team as they were finishing up unpacking the LATV. He hadn't been listening to Emery at all. Instead he was thinking about the fact a whole ass black hole is appearing in this wheat field.
When his team saw him, they grouped up. Ralph asked the question they were all thinking.
"What did you learn that's actually making you think for once?"
"Hey! You idiot!" Mateo laughed and punched Ralph in the side.
"I think all the time, I'll have you idiots know. You all just wouldn't know what a thought was if it slapped you in the face," Mateo fired back.
Mateo turned and pointed to a place in the wheat field. "See that area with the wheat flattened?" He asked. When the team turned and saw what he was pointing at, he continued.
"Apparently a tiny black hole is going to appear right there and disable our communications with Command."
While everyone had seen and read the signal flare report, no one had an idea why it would be necessary. Now they understood.
"Damn, a black hole. What do you think it'd feel like to put my d—-"
"No one is going within 150 feet until authorized. You hear me?" Mateo yelled at Tony.
"What a bunch of dumbasses. You'd probably forget to breath if I didn't remind you." Mateo took a deep breath to calm his anger.
"For the most part we are just here to watch. Whisper, you're on first watch. I'll take second, Ralph - third. Tony you're up last. If you're not on watch, try to get some rest. We have no idea what's going on here." Mateo said before moving towards the LATV.
"Oh, one last thing. The next occurrence is expected to happen within 30 minutes. Don't shit yourself when you see it."
With everything he needed to say said, Mateo grabbed his sleeping roll and laid down to sleep. It wouldn't do anyone any good if everyone was tired when it mattered.
After a spur of activity at point Alpha, it calmed down again. Only a few soldiers were still active. Most of them were only up to see what the event looked like. They would go to sleep afterwards.
The only group that was still bustling were the scientists. With the possibility of a huge new discovery, they were having trouble sitting down let alone falling asleep. All the scientists would be staying up for the next 10 hours to study the phenomenon before the continuous event.
Soon, the 30 minutes were up, and everyone at the site turned towards the depression in the wheat excited to see what the phenomenon looked like.
It only took a minute more for it to occur. The smog twisted unnaturally. The already flattened wheat seemed to become one with the ground. Soil floated up from the ground as arcs of electricity bolted around the miniature black hole.
The hair along every member of the investigation team rose. Not from fear, but from a strange charge in the air. Everyone at the location stared in awe, even those that claimed to go to sleep.
In the temporary base on-site, an intelligence agent was furiously trying to communicate over the wire.
"Buzz BUZZ zzt zzz zzrt vzzt bzzt"
The agent listening to the wire then noticed a pattern in the static. It seemed that while the event did interfere with the wire and communication would be impossible, some noise did make it through.
The static was not constant as if they had lost complete signal. He would have to inform the scientists immediately. Perhaps they could find a way to insulate the wire to allow communications in the future.
After receiving no response from the comms station, he took the flare gun and fired a yellow flare. A different marine on watch moved to observe the direction of the comms station.
Moments later the comms station sent up a green flare. It appeared the flare system would be used for the remainder of their investigation during the events.
Soon, the event ended leaving no trace. The hair on everyone's body quickly settled against them once more, and the smog filled the hole left in the air.
The scientist's mouths were agape at what they had just witnessed. There was no way with their current understanding of physics to explain a localized black hole.
These were professionals, however. Everyone quickly pulled it together and resumed studying their instrument's readouts. The lead scientist quickly joined a Holo call between the lead scientists of the other three locations and the labs back in Denver.
Point Alpha was the first of the four locations to witness an event, and the teams of nerds could not wait to discuss the event in extreme detail. Councilor Elenor Albright was top among the eager scientists to hear what had happened.
From what they could tell, Alpha was the closest of the four locations to its continuous event. The other three locations were behind by anywhere from a few hours to a day.
The research teams, both on-site and in the labs at Denver, immediately began work on deciphering the readings their instruments were giving them. They also set a computer algorithm to analyze the timing data that they have gathered to determine the exact time for the continuous event. It would take a few more occasions to happen first, though, before they will get a result.
The primary objective of determining a formula for predicting the exact time of continuous events should be completed easily in a few hours once they gather enough data from the four locations.
Once the prediction formula process was started the scientists switched tasks and started focusing on the secondary objective.
The secondary objective is to identify or create a way to actively search for events. If it was possible, to find them even during the time that they were not active.
The other three locations, points Beta, Gamma and Delta, experienced similar situations sometime later. Within a few hours, a formula was produced and tested. The primary objective was now complete. All efforts shifted towards the secondary objective and a general study of the phenomenon.