Transmission

Except that it had been Kevin who had convinced them, because he’d been the one hearing the signals. They were real. They’d come through the institute’s listening equipment. Everyone had heard them. If so, why hadn’t the capsule been where it should be?

“What will happen to the capsule now?” Kevin asked.

“I don’t know,” his mother said. “I think I saw them loading it onto the plane. I guess no one cares who owns it now that it’s just a rock. That doesn’t matter right now, though. The important thing is that we get you back safely.”

Something about the way she said that told Kevin that his mother was worried about being able to do it. She sounded as though she was expecting trouble, and Kevin couldn’t understand why.

He understood once they landed, though, stepping down from the plane and then out into the arrival lounge. Almost as soon as they did, a wall of voices hit him, camera flashes going off everywhere.

“Why did you do it, Kevin?” one reporter called out.

“Tell us all that it’s not a hoax!” a man near the back shouted.

“We believed in you!”

There were reporters there, but there were other people too, some with placards, some just shouting. None of them looked happy to see Kevin there. They mobbed around the scientists, pressing in as they started to unload their gear. The meteorite was in amongst it somewhere. Now that there was no sign of aliens, no one cared if they took it back to the NASA facility.

“Is it right that the public pays for all this when you are going off to Colombia to chase rocks?” one reporter called out. “Don’t you think that this is a waste of money that could be spent on schools or the military?”

People came forward, still shouting questions, and for a moment or two, Kevin found them pressing in on all sides. He lost sight of his mother in the crush, and then it was like he was drowning in the camera flashes, the questions coming so fast as to be almost deafening.

“Why did you lie, Kevin?”

“Was this just to get attention?”

“Was it all about your illness?”

Kevin kept his head down, not knowing what to say. He looked for a way through the mob, but everywhere he looked there were people looking at him with accusing expressions. Some grabbed for him; not the reporters, but they were happy enough to take pictures as the people with the signs did it.

“Fraud! Liar!”

Kevin huddled in further, and he felt as though at any minute he might fall to the ground under the weight of them all, pushed down by the sheer numbers of people around him. Another hand fastened onto him, but this one kept hold, pulling him through the crush. Kevin saw Ted there, pushing back anyone who got too close, his hand up to get in the way of the camera flashes.

“Keep moving!” he called out above the noise. “There’s a car waiting outside!”

Kevin did his best, not stopping as Ted carved a path through the reporters like someone pushing their way through deep snow. Kevin hurried to fit into that space before it closed up again, following as they fought their way forward, toward the airport’s main entrance.

“Out here!” Ted said, pointing to where a minivan stood waiting, Kevin’s mother and half a dozen scientists already inside. There was a brief moment of space there, and Kevin ran for the vehicle, jumping in beside his mother. She clung to him as if afraid that if she let go he would disappear. For once, Kevin didn’t complain.

Ted drove, fitting into a convoy of vehicles that felt as tense, in some ways, as the one through the rainforest had. Kevin saw cars drive up close, their windows rolling down to reveal more cameras, but Ted kept driving.

It seemed to take forever before they reached the NASA facility. The crowds that had surrounded it before were still there, but now they weren’t curious, they were angry. Kevin could hear them shouting as they drove in, and when Ted stopped in front of the doors to the institute, Kevin ran inside without hesitation. He didn’t even try to talk to them, to explain. He wasn’t sure that he had an explanation. Instead, Kevin just ran back to his room in the facility. He ignored his mother when she followed, sitting there hoping that somehow, some of it would make sense.

When it didn’t, he went to one of the recreation rooms and used a computer there to call the one person who might understand what was happening to him.

Luna looked worried when Kevin called, and Kevin could guess why.

“You saw the broadcast,” he said.

“I think everyone saw the broadcast,” Luna replied. “I don’t get it. I thought that there was supposed to be some special… I don’t know, alien stuff.”

“I thought so too,” Kevin said. “Now… I’m sure I got the signals right.”

“Don’t start that,” Luna said, in her firm voice. “Don’t start doubting all of this. I was there when you saw the numbers, remember? I know that this is real.”