Signal from the Trench

The Story

When every system on a U.S. carrier strike group goes dark simultaneously, the Navy calls it a blackout. When they find Modbus communication frames embedded in the ships' industrial control systems, frames that no human technology could have written, they call it impossible. When a retired automation engineer named Elias Cain recognizes the frames as a handshake protocol, they call him back to duty. Five miles below the Pacific, something ancient and patient is waiting for a response. Signal from the Trench is a technical thriller that combines naval fiction with first contact, using the real-world language of industrial automation, PLC programming, and Modbus protocols as the mechanism for alien communication. It is a story about the engineers who keep civilization running and the moment they discover that something in the deep ocean has been listening to their machines.

Major Themes