Message from Ceti-Alpha 6
Jeffry Weiss
- Since
- the
- time
- of
- Galileo
- Galiliei
- five
- hundred
- years
- ago,
- man
- has
- searched
- the
- heavens
- for
- an
- answer
- to
- the
- question,
- "Are
- we
- alone?"With
- the
- start
- of
- the
- SETI
- Project
- in
- 1984,
- man
- took
- the
- first
- serious
- step
- to
- find
- extraterrestrial
- life.Finally,
- in
- the
- year
- 2067
- A.D.,
- comes
- a
- response.
- Planet
- 6
- in
- the
- Ceti-Alpha
- star
- system,
- in
- the
- Aquarius
- Constellation
- of
- the
- Milky
- Way
- Galaxy
- has
- sent
- a
- message.
- However,
- it
- is
- a
- symbols-based
- language.A
- team
- of
- the
- most
- accomplished
- scientists
- is
- assembled
- by
- the
- U.N.
- to
- translate
- the
- message
- and
- conjure
- a
- response.Yet
- the
- world
- is
- divided.
- The
- military
- sees
- an
- existential
- threat
- to
- their
- existence.
- Warning
- that
- any
- signal
- sent
- might
- be
- used
- by
- an
- alien
- intelligence
- to
- learn
- the
- Earth's
- level
- of
- advancement,
- or
- lack
- thereof,
- and
- thereby
- be
- at
- the
- mercy
- of
- a
- civilization
- so
- far
- advanced
- as
- to
- be
- beyond
- the
- imagination.The
- religious
- evangelicals
- believe
- it
- portends
- the
- coming
- of
- the
- beast
- as
- described
- in
- revelation.
- The
- civilians
- are
- cautiously
- optimistic
- that
- the
- alien
- race
- could
- teach
- humans
- how
- they,
- the
- aliens,
- overcame
- greed,
- avarice,
- war,
- pestilence
- and
- mass
- extinctions,
- with
- the
- Earth
- in
- the
- last
- throws
- of
- environmental
- death:
- the
- seas
- dying,
- the
- skies
- polluted,
- the
- soil
- depleted
- of
- nutrients.As
- the
- clock
- introduced
- by
- the
- aliens
- counts
- down
- toward
- zero,
- an
- unlikely
- group
- of
- people
- team
- up
- to
- prove
- the
- Earth
- is
- made
- up
- of
- civilized
- people
- not
- bent
- on
- conquest.
- But
- it
- is
- a
- child
- prodigy,
- an
- accomplished
- gamer,
- who
- comprehends
- the
- alien's
- message
- and
- leads
- the
- team
- in
- responding
- in
- kind.Whether
- it
- will
- be
- the
- military
- or
- civilians
- who
- are
- ascendant
- comes
- down
- to
- the
- last
- few
- seconds
- of
- a
- ticking clock.
