just_writing | Listening to the Void

"There it is again," said the man with the earphones on his ears.
"There is what again?" replied his colleague.
"What? Sorry, I can't hear you with the earphones on my ears."
"Then take them off."
"Just a moment, I'll take them off."

The two get this sorted out quite quickly, it being far from the first time they had talked cross-purposes since the start of their duty cycle.

"It was that strange noise - I'm sure I heard it again."
"That's the noise that isn't a Scheduled noise?"
"Yup. It's not a missile launch, or a distress signal, or an enemy targeting ping; it matches nothing in the archive."
"So we don't have report it, which means we can ignore it. Best to keep listening and I'll do the crossword until it's my time to take over."
"Well, it might be important. Perhaps it's something new Creeping Up on us."
"Then the Ministry would have sent us a recording of it for the Schedule."
"I'm not imagining it," the headphone wearer was getting defensive.
"Of course you're not imagining it. Unless you've stopped taking the drugs? The Ministry wouldn't like that," he laughed. "We're the last people they want hearing things."
"Hearing things IS our job, Joe. It's why they hired us."
"Well, it's why they hired you, mate. I'm supposed to be learning, but you don't let me listen often enough."
"Joe, you're supposed to memorise everything in the Archive first. And you keep getting the test wrong. What did you think the sound of a Class 3 launch was last week?"
Joe pursed his lips and checked through the crossword.
"You thought Spawning Herring, didn't you?"
"Easy mistake," Joe said in defence.
"No. One has a three-thousand pound thrust booster stage, and one has a lot of excited fins."
"Well, the tape's got so old it's mostly hiss anyway."
"That's not the point. We can't hit the Red Switch because you can't tell a shoal of randy fish from an incoming warhead."
"Which is why you keep it locked when it's my shift," mouthed Joe.
"Which is why I keep it locked when it's your shift."
"So what if there IS a Class 3 when you're asleep?"
"Well, I guess I won't have time to wake up so I don't need to worry about it."
"I'd worry."
"Only for a few seconds."

Joe started to make an Origami Sardine from the crossword. "So this mystery noise..."
"I've tried to record it, you know, but it doesn't come out."
"There you are - all in your imagination."
"I took 3 of the red pills and I still heard it, but the recording I made was too indistinct, the hiss was off the scale."
"Ah! So it might be herring after all?"
"No... It's more like someone shouting something, very faintly, very far away."
"Come in number five, your time is up?"
"I think we've heard that joke enough times now, Joe."
"And it wasn't funny the first time!" they both say together.

Joe took the headphones off. "Hey, I think that was your noise!"
"How many red pills did you take?"
"None. You finished the bottle on Tuesday when you thought the mirror was talking back at you."
"Ok, what was the noise like"
"Just as you said, a voice, far away, shouting..." Joe shook his head. "But I can't say what his words were".
"So we agree it's man's voice then?"
"Deep and Booming, and I think rather annoyed."
"Play the tape, full volume."
They both listened to the loud hiss for a few seconds. "It might be the microphones," said Joe.
"If it is, you'll have to suit up and go outside."
"I'm not trained for that yet," Joe protested indignantly.
"Well, my suit's got an airleak, and yours is too small for me, and anyway you're not trained for even making the tea, which you do, often and badly."
"Look..."
"Oh, go and make the tea Joe while I adjust the gain on the receiver."

"There! Between that 'Dh-dh-dh-drummmm!' and that odd 'Squish! Squish! Squish!' noise," Joe said excitedly.
"You mean between the sound of the thunderstorm and the Herring? Yes, I think you're right. It's a voice."
"I can try applying some discrimination"
"Nope, That's against policy, we're an equal-rights listening post. Try that 'reverse the polarity' trick you found in the Manual"
"Well, it was more of a comic, but here goes..."

And to their great surprise, it was indeed a cry of "Your time is up!" Which was immediately followed by a Class 3, but the Red Switch was locked-out, and there wasn't really time to find the key.