Transmission

“You don’t have to get into trouble though,” Kevin pointed out. “Your parents will be mad if you just go off to San Francisco.”

“You think I’m letting you do this alone?” Luna demanded. “You think I’m letting you get all the credit for finding the aliens again? You think I’m letting you have all the fun?”

“I’m not sure that it will be exactly fun,” Kevin said.

Luna was already shaking her head. “You got to go to the jungle without me, but you’re not leaving me behind for this part, Kevin.”

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

They bought bus tickets to San Francisco from a clerk who eyed them suspiciously. Kevin wasn’t sure if it was because the man recognized him from the news, or because he thought they were probably runaways, or both. They still managed to buy tickets though, and snagged two seats toward the back of a bus that rattled along half full in the direction of the city. They huddled in them, and Kevin found himself grateful that Luna was there. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to do this without her.

The bus journey seemed to take forever, and Kevin spent most of that time trying to work out what he might be able to say that would be able to convince them that he was telling the truth. He couldn’t just ask them to trust him, not after last time.

“Of course you can,” Luna said when he said as much to her. “You ask them to check the location of the signal. They might not be able to work out what it means, but they’ll still hear it.”

She made it sound easy, but the truth was that it probably was their best option. So, when the bus got into the station, Kevin set off with Luna, finding a taxi that would take them in the right direction, trying to ignore the way his body was starting to shake.

“You going for the excitement there?” the cab driver asked. “You missed most of it. They stopped talking about aliens a couple of days ago.”

“Maybe they’ll start again,” Luna said. “You never know.”

The driver took them as far as the entrance to SETI. There weren’t the people camped out here that there were with the NASA facility, and Kevin was happy about that. It meant that he could simply walk in without people spotting him, or grabbing him, or—

“You?” the receptionist said almost as soon as he stepped through the door. “Didn’t you get the message when I hung up on you? You’ve caused so much trouble here already. Get out before I call security.”

Before, it had been Kevin’s mother who had gotten into a shouting match with the receptionist. Now Luna started forward, obviously spoiling for an argument.

“It’s okay,” Dr. Levin said, stepping out into the lobby. “I’ve got this. Kevin, what are you doing here?”

“He’s trying to get through to you,” Luna said, the irritation easy to hear in her voice. “But apparently people who have already betrayed him aren’t willing to listen.”

“Hello, Luna,” Dr. Levin said. “Do your parents know the two of you are here? You really shouldn’t be here.”

“There has been another message,” Kevin said, guessing that they didn’t have a lot of time. He didn’t feel as though he had a lot of time right then. Maybe it was the effort of coming all that way, but Kevin could feel the pressure in his head building, along with a dizziness that made the world swim. He pushed it back. This was important.

“Kevin,” Dr. Levin said, “we all know by now that the messages aren’t real. Even if you think they are, you need to stop this.”

 “How did I know about Pioneer 11?” Kevin demanded. He’d had a whole bus ride in which to think about what he was going to say, and how he could convince Dr. Levin. “How did I know where the first signal would be? You saw me do that with your own eyes, Dr. Levin.”

The scientist started to shake her head. “That doesn’t matter.”

“It does,” Kevin insisted. “If you don’t believe the evidence in front of you, then what’s science for?” He paused. “If you can explain it away, just tell me. Tell me how I’m doing it, and I’ll turn around and go, but I think that you can’t, and you can’t, because this is real, and there’s another message.”

He would have said more then, but he couldn’t hold back the sudden pressure in his head.

Suddenly, he collapsed.

*

Blackness claimed Kevin. For once, there were no visions, no messages, and no signs of anything.

Just emptiness

He woke to harsh light, blinking, trying to figure out where he was.

Luna and Dr. Levin were looking down at him.

“Kevin, are you all right?” Luna asked.

“We should get you some medical attention,” Dr. Levin said.

“No,” Kevin managed to say, and for a moment, even he wasn’t sure which question he was answering. “No more doctors. Don’t call my mom. We have to listen to the signal.”

He realized he had collapsed. He was lying on the floor, in the spot he had been standing just moments before.