Patterson sat next to Sparks in Seaview's radio shack. Sparks wasn't the man's real name, but rather a nickname that was traceable back to the early days of telegraphy. It had been years since anyone had referred to him by his given name, which most of the crew had forgotten long ago or had never known in the first place. There were those who seriously doubted Sparks' Christian and surnames were known even to Admiral Nelson, or for that matter, maintained in the Institute's files. The man himself did nothing to dispel the mystery.

Patterson figured there were probably some people on the planet who knew more about the Internet and satellite, broadcast, high band, low band, in-between band--whatever--communications systems, than Sparks. But he was hard-pressed to imagine just who those people might be. Sparks' idea of a good read was a technical manual on the latest encryption device or some new ultra-narrow-band digital transmitter. Responding to a question, he had once commented, "Novel? Oh yeah, I read one of those, once."