Part 2 Summary

Chapter 5: The infrastructure for Project Wildfire has been available and lying dormant for two years. It needed only Manchek's call to set things in motion. Upon dialing the number, Manchek hears the tell-tale humming and clicking which indicates he is on a secure, scrambled trunk line. A recorded voice answers his call and instructs him to state his name and his message. Manchek leaves a message indicating he has "confirmatory visual data" (page 29) of a Wildfire. Even as he speaks, Manchek doubts his own words. Despite the alarming Scavenger camera evidence, he finds the possibility of an alien life form brought back to earth by the Scoop satellite to be unbelievable. He waits by his phone for the myriad of telephone calls he expects to receive in response to his Wildfire alert, but Manchek receives no calls at all. He doesn't realize the...