05:15 – Just before bed, Jackie was lounging in the stateroom, casually perusing her email, when up popped a new message from Chen Kaiying, an old teammate and good friend from the ’08 Olympics. This was odd, as Jackie had not heard a peep from Kaiying in more than five years. That was about two years after she moved back to the U.S. from China.<\/p>\n
While in their late teens, Jackie and Kaiying were an inseparable and mischievous pair. Their gymnastics trainer would often scold them for acting up, especially when there were young men about. In school, Jackie and Kaiying would pass notes back and forth chatting about the boys in their classes. The two weren’t worried about the messages being intercepted and examined by their teachers. No one would know what was really being communicated as the notes were in a secret code devised by the two of them.<\/p>\n
It was a pretty simple cipher in which a number at the bottom of the page would be the ‘key’. For example, if there was a number 4, one would read the first word of the first sentence, the second word of the second sentence, and so on, through the fourth sentence, then start once more with the first word of the fifth sentence.<\/p>\n
Jackie wistfully recalled how the two of them had been devoted friends, while training together during the years between the ’04 and ’08 Olympics. Throughout these years, Jackie had lived with the Chen family in Shunyi, located northeast of the Capital International Airport, about 20 km outside of Beijing. Jackie and Kaiying had spent many a night together in each other’s rooms, doing whatever young girls do at that age.<\/p>\n
Although Jackie had made several attempts to contact her over the years, she had not received a response from Kaiying, so this communication was very unexpected and somewhat startling. She swiftly glanced toward the bottom of the email and her eyes widened when she saw what, at first, appeared to be a jagged line, but was actually a row of number eights, inscribed in flowing Chinese characters. Jackie didn’t bother reading the entire email message, but instead started counting words and silently translating the message.<\/p>\n
From: Chen Kaiying
\nSubject: Greetings to my friend
\nDate: November 26, 2018 5:15 a.m.
\nTo: Jackie Miller<\/p>\n
(CLT): 8 min 6.36 sec<\/p>\n
Hi Jackie,<\/p>\n
We have not heard from you in a very long time and all miss you here at the gymnastics school. And need to hear from you, soon. How are you doing? I really hope to get a letter from you about your experiences. What will we ever do while you are away on this adventure? Maybe we will think of something fun. I think it will be hard for us. I am wondering if you are missing us also. If you have time, write to me and tell me how you are and how you like living in space. Can you email a picture of you? If you don’t have one, that’s ok. I haven’t met Mike yet. When I’m in America, will I get to meet him? I hope no one will die or become injured on your mission. That would be sad.<\/p>\n
Your good friend,
\nChen Kaiying
\n\u30cf\u30cf\u30cf\u30cf\u30cf\u30cf\u30cf\u30cf\u30cf\u30cf\u30cf\u30cf\u30cf\u30cf\u30cf\u30cf\u30cf\u30cf\u30cf\u30cf\u30cf\u30cf\u30cf\u30cf\u30cf\u30cf<\/p>\n
< \u2261 \u2642 \u2261 ><\/p>\n
Jackie went pale, the blood draining from her face. Her mind began racing as she struggled to understand the impact of the message.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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