Transmission

Kevin sat very still in Professor Brewster’s office while around him, adults tried to work out what all this meant, and what they should do next. Mostly, they did it by talking too much.

Professor Brewster looked surprisingly pleased for once. “That was very impressive, Kevin. I never thought I would see the day. Actual contact with another world! Although we need to be careful, of course. Consider the alternate possibilities.”

How did Professor Brewster manage to sound both excited and skeptical at the same time?

“You don’t believe it?” Dr. Levin asked.

“We have to consider things carefully,” Professor Brewster said. “After all, we don’t hear the messages directly, only get translations through a boy who is suffering from a degenerative illness.”

“You still think I’m making things up,” Kevin said.

“I’m not saying that,” Professor Brewster said. “Still… direct contact…”

“I don’t think it was direct contact,” Kevin said. “It felt… almost like a recorded message.”

“If anything, that makes it more plausible,” Professor Brewster said. “Because a signal like that would have to travel for years, even moving at the highest speeds. The Trappist 1 system is almost forty light years away, after all.”

Kevin knew that. They’d told him before the message had come. He and Phil had discussed it, and he wasn’t sure he liked it that Professor Brewster was saying it like it was something he’d just worked out.

Besides, in spite of all that, a part of Kevin had been expecting something else, something live.

“I don’t think I got all of it,” he said. “I think there’s more.”

“That doesn’t matter, Kevin,” his mother said. “The important thing is that you are safe.”

“And because you’re safe,” Professor Brewster added, “you’ll be able to pick up more.”

The vision had promised that there was more to come. A whole series of messages. A chance to learn everything there was to learn about another world, and Kevin was the key to it.

Some of the others seemed just as excited as he felt.

“We have to publish this,” Dr. Levin said.

Professor Brewster held up a hand. “Elise, it’s important that we aren’t too hasty about that. We have the initial messages, certainly, but we need more before we involve anyone else.”

“How much more?” Dr. Levin asked. Kevin could guess why she sounded so frustrated. She’d put her whole life into looking for aliens. Now she had the proof, and of course she would want to shout about it. She wanted people to know, and Kevin… well, he kind of agreed with her.

“Why can’t we tell people?” Kevin asked. “Why can’t we let them know what we found? If I were out there, I’d want to know if people had found aliens.”

“It’s too early,” Professor Brewster insisted. “We should have a full set of data before we announce anything. That way—”

“That way no one can say you’re making it up?” Kevin guessed.

To his surprise, his mother spoke up on Professor Brewster’s side. “Maybe it’s not such a good idea to say anything now, Kevin. We’ve all seen what you can do, but other people…”

“You think they wouldn’t believe me?” Kevin asked.

Professor Brewster nodded. “I think people will need a lot of proof before they believe something like this,” he said. “We must be careful to demonstrate to them that this is more than just your imagination, and actually represents an alien communication.”

“But I’m translating it,” Kevin insisted.

“You appear to be,” Professor Brewster said. “We need to establish the patterns between what you’re saying and the signals we receive. In the meantime, if we keep it to ourselves, it will prevent a lot of problems.”

“What kind of problems?” Kevin asked. He couldn’t see how something this amazing could be a problem. The news that people weren’t alone in the universe sounded incredible to him.

“We do a lot of research here that is considered secret for reasons of national security,” Professor Brewster said. “I imagine that my superiors would consider this one of those secrets.”

“So you’re worried about your bosses?” Kevin asked. It didn’t seem like a good enough reason to keep from telling people.

“There’s also the question of how people might react,” Professor Brewster said. “People might panic.”

“We understand,” Kevin’s mother said, putting a hand on Kevin’s shoulder.

Kevin didn’t understand, though. He didn’t see how people would panic at the news that they weren’t alone in the universe. To him, it seemed like just about the coolest thing it was possible to learn. He looked over to Dr. Levin, at least expecting support from her. But it seemed that even she was convinced for now.

“I suppose if we wait a while,” she said, “that would let us receive more messages.”

“They said I could only get a part of the information at once,” Kevin said. “Why would they do that? Why not just give it all at once?”

“Maybe they had to do it that way,” Dr. Levin said. “Perhaps they had power restrictions, or maybe they wanted to maximize the odds of someone hearing some of it.”