Transmission

“But now, I’d like to see a demonstration. Kevin, can you show me what you can do?”

Kevin looked to the others, who nodded. “We can only do it if there’s a signal,” he said.

But even as he said it, he could feel the pressure in his skull that preceded one. An alarm sounded and they hurried in the direction of the room where he did the translating, sitting and waiting. Kevin sat there, while outside the President and his advisors stood around, looking as though they didn’t know what was happening.

Words filtered into his mind, the translation happening automatically.

Our world was destroyed. The words sounded flat, without emotion. We had to flee. So few survived.

Kevin repeated the words, and he could see the President’s expression changing, first to surprise, and then to something like wonder.

We hid everything we were, the voice said, and Kevin repeated it, as much of ourselves as we could before the fire came. Messages were sent out, so that people would know of us. We sent capsules in every direction, toward all of the inhabited worlds.

Kevin tried to imagine it, spaceships sent in every direction, trying to find safety. How much effort would it have taken to organize that? How would they have been able to organize it with a disaster threatening them?

Each vessel holds a record of our history, the voice continued.

Coordinates will be sent along this path, the voice said, but the vessel’s seal will be tight to preserve us. You must find it. You must prepare to receive us…

Kevin gasped with the effort of translating, the world around him coming into focus again as he stopped. He could see the President staring at him now, then looking over to Professor Brewster.

“What does all this mean?” he asked. “What are you telling me?”

Kevin could answer that one.

“I think…” Kevin said. “I think the aliens are coming here.”

The President stared at him. So did the others. Then the chaos started, with a dozen people trying to talk at once. The President spoke over them.

“That’s enough,” he said, gesturing for them to quiet down. “I know all of your concerns. Professor Brewster, there are those on my team who feel that Kevin here isn’t safe in your facility; that he is vulnerable to being snatched or attacked by our enemies. They want to move him to a secure site.”

“You mean you want to hide me away in some kind of bunker,” Kevin said. He shook his head. “I don’t want to do that.”

“Sometimes it isn’t about what we want, son,” the President said. “It’s about what’s good for the country.”

“With respect, Mr. President,” Professor Brewster said. “Kevin’s wishes on the matter should count for something. He has not committed a crime, so it would be wrong, even illegal, to lock him up. This is a secure facility, and if the others here want to contribute to that security, that would be very helpful. But they should do that here, where there is the technological knowhow to study what is happening.”

Kevin was surprised to find Professor Brewster standing up for him like that, even if he knew that it was partly because he didn’t want to risk losing the chance to be a part of all this. It seemed that the President was a little surprised to hear it too.

“That’s a very… forceful point, Professor,” he said. “Very well, the boy will stay here. We will provide your facility with whatever it needs, but you will coordinate with my office. I need you to understand the seriousness of this.”

 “Yes sir,” Professor Brewster said. “Thank you, Mr. President.”

Kevin wasn’t entirely sure what the professor had just agreed to. It sounded as though he’d just given away a lot of the control of the project.

“I need you to understand the seriousness of this too, Kevin,” the President said. “I thought before I came here that this was nonsense, and now I’m not so sure.”

“It’s true,” Kevin insisted.

“The truth is that it doesn’t matter,” the President said. “Not now. We have reports of Russia and China mobilizing their militaries, conducting ‘exercises’ in case of some kind of attack. There have been riots in the Philippines, because people think this means the end of the world. We need to be very careful about all this, Kevin. I’m going to allow things to continue for now, but there will be people here to watch what’s happening.”

That didn’t matter to Kevin. What mattered was that they kept going. The aliens were sending something to Earth, and whatever it was, Kevin was determined to find it.

CHAPTER TEN

Kevin sat in his room, listening to nothing. There were signals, recorded by the scientists through their long-range equipment, but none of those signals turned into words within his mind. None of them seemed to have meaning.

Kevin was starting to get worried about that, and it seemed that he wasn’t the only one.

“Why aren’t you hearing anything, Kevin?” Professor Brewster asked. He and Dr. Levin stood there watching, waiting for whatever would come next.

Kevin didn’t have an answer. “I don’t know. Maybe there’s nothing to listen to.”

“You must try, Kevin,” Professor Brewster said, with a disapproving look, as if the solution to it lay in simply doing more, or pushing past the difficulty of contact.

“David,” Dr. Levin said. “Don’t pressure Kevin. Can’t you see that he’s getting sicker?”

Kevin knew that part was true. He’d started to notice a small tremor now in his left hand that would stop if he concentrated, but quickly started again whenever he was stressed. That meant most of the time now in the research institute.

“Then we need to get him more medical attention,” Professor Brewster declared. “Kevin, you have to understand, I have government departments I’ve barely even heard of calling me up to know what’s happening. I had a four-star general call me earlier, wanting to know if there were any potential military applications for this information. With the President wanting to know what’s happening, this isn’t a good time for us not to be able to say anything.”

“I can’t translate things if they aren’t there,” Kevin said. What did they want him to do? Make things up? Maybe they still thought he was doing that, despite everything. Kevin hated that thought.

“Maybe you just need a break,” Dr. Levin said. “Go for a walk around the institute, try to relax a little, and we can get back to listening for signals later, when you’ve rested a little.”

Kevin nodded, and went out into the institute, deciding to go search out his mother. When she wasn’t in his room now, she was usually somewhere near where Phil was working, or in the small space the research center had given her so that she could stay near Kevin. Kevin decided to check there first, and set off along the halls.

There seemed to be more people in the research institute now than there had been before. Kevin could see people in military uniforms and others in suits wearing earpieces. A trio wearing NSA badges stopped as Kevin went past, looking at him as if wondering how he was allowed to just wander the halls like that.

One of the stranger people there was a man who looked to be in his forties, with the short-cropped hair and erect posture of some of the military people, even though he was wearing a leather jacket and jeans instead of a uniform, and clearly hadn’t shaved for a week.

“You’re wondering who I am,” he said, as Kevin stared at him.

Kevin nodded nervously. He suspected some people wouldn’t react too well to being stared at like that.

“You have good instincts,” he said. “The number of scientists who have walked past me without wondering that… with so many people going in and out, anyone could get in here if they aren’t careful.”

“Anyone?” Kevin asked. “Who are you?”

“I’m Ted,” he said, extending a hand. A group of soldiers went past and Ted nodded to them. To Kevin’s surprise, one of them gave him a brief salute.

“Are you with the military?” Kevin asked. “The CIA? The police?”

“Something like that,” Ted said. He thought for a moment. “Actually, nothing like that, these days. And you’re Kevin, the kid who can decipher the alien signals.”

He was probably the first person who’d gotten that right. Most of them seemed to think that he was getting a live stream from an alien civilization, or could actually talk to them. That part made him want to stop and talk to this man, but even so, there was something about his presence there that made Kevin pause. He didn’t fit in.

“I’m sorry,” Kevin said. “I need to get going.”

“That’s fine, Kevin,” the man said. “I’m sure we’ll see one another again.”

Kevin hurried off. He could practically feel Ted watching him as he went. He found his mother in the small bedroom that the institute had provided her with so she could stay close.

“Kevin, are you all right?” she asked. “You look a bit pale.”

“I’m okay,” Kevin said. “Mom, there’s a man out there, and I’m not sure…”

He staggered slightly as the room swam. One moment he was upright; the next, he was on the floor, with people surrounding him. It took Kevin a second or two to realize that he must have had a seizure. There were medical staff there, and researchers, and of course his mother, but no sign of the man who had been there before.

“I’m okay,” Kevin said, struggling to sit up. He still felt dizzy, though, and only his mother’s arm around him stopped him from falling back again.

“You’re not okay,” she said. “Come on, we’ll get you back to your room, and then I’m going to ask Professor Brewster why he isn’t taking care of my baby.”

“Mom,” Kevin managed, because he wasn’t a baby, he was thirteen. Even so, he let his mother help him back in the direction of his room. Somewhere along the line, Phil joined them, the two more or less propping Kevin up between them until they could get him back to his bed.

“I’m going to go find out why they aren’t looking after your health better than this,” his mother said, and she set off with the determined look of someone who needed to get angry about something before she started crying.

“I guess we should work out exactly what’s happening,” Phil said, as she left. “What do you say, Kevin? Are you up for some more tests?”

“More tests?” Kevin countered.

There were, because Phil wanted to get an MRI, and then bloodwork. Kevin had only realized in the last couple of weeks just how much he hated having needles poked into him, because it seemed that everyone wanted his blood for something. Researchers and medical staff came and went, all explaining what they were doing as they went about it, almost none of them using words that Kevin could actually understand.

“We’ve made advances with anti-seizure medication,” one of the nurses told Kevin, “but the doctors are currently in discussions with all the people here, asking if it’s the best thing.”

Meaning that they were worried it might block off his ability to understand the signal, whenever it next showed up. Kevin could imagine them there, trying to balance the possibility of missing the information that might lead to the aliens against the possibility that Kevin might die and never give them anything else. Probably only a few of them would think about what it all meant for him, and so far, none of them had thought to ask what treatment he wanted.

“Is it the best thing?” Kevin asked.

The nurse shrugged. “Officially, I’m not supposed to have an opinion on that. Unofficially… I hear a couple of the doctors are talking about using variations on gene therapies developed for people with other illnesses, like Alexander’s syndrome.”

“I didn’t think there was anything like that available for me,” Kevin said, thinking back to the consultation with Dr. Markham, and all the ones that had followed it.

“There hasn’t been, but you currently have most of the biggest brains in the country on your side. If anyone can tailor something to your condition, it’s them.”

And then Kevin would find himself taking an experimental treatment that might cure him, might do nothing, or might make things worse. Would that be worth the risk of losing the alien signal completely?

“For the moment, though, you have a visitor.”

She nodded to the doorway and the short figure coming through it. Kevin’s eyes widened at the sight of Luna, looking as casual as if she’d just called around to his house to see if he wanted to ride bikes down to the reservoir.

“Luna? How did you get here?”

“My mom brought me along,” Luna said with a smile. “Because your mom thought you’d like to see me.” She held up an orange, then threw it to him. “I didn’t have any grapes.”

Kevin caught it clumsily while Luna perched on the edge of his bed. Her expression changed from happy to see him to worried.

“How bad is it?” she asked, most of her usual cheerfulness gone from her voice.

“I don’t know,” Kevin said. He glanced away for a moment. “Well, I guess we kind of do know.”

Luna put a hand on his shoulder. “They might have said that you’re going to die, but I refuse to let you die yet, Kevin. I haven’t even fallen madly in love with you yet.”

Kevin laughed at that. “If I have to wait for that, I might live forever.”

“True,” Luna said, but her smile didn’t reach her eyes. Kevin could see how much it hurt her having to be strong for him, having to be cheerful.

“It’s okay to cry if you want to,” Kevin said.

“As if I’m going to cry,” Luna said, although she looked like she might for a moment.

She didn’t cry, but she did hug him, hard enough that Kevin thought his ribs might break. He surprised himself by noticing how good she smelled.

“I’ve missed you, you know?” she said.

“I’ve missed you too,” Kevin assured her. He’d told her that it was okay to cry, but now he was the one with tears stinging the corners of his eyes.

“Hey, I shouldn’t make you upset,” Luna said. “One of the military guys in the hall would probably shoot me if I did that.”

That was enough to make Kevin laugh. Luna had always had the knack of doing it.

“What’s it like out there?” he asked. “Out in the real world? What’s it like at school, or on TV? I’m sick of everything just being about the things I can see for people.”

“Sorry to disappoint you,” Luna said. “But there’s plenty about you on TV. There are reporters at your house most days now, and people talking about whether this is real, or a hoax, or an advertising campaign that got out of hand. There’s even a weird alien cult that has started up, people wearing antennae as they walk around and claiming that the aliens will save us from everything from environmental breakdown to high grocery prices.”

“You’re making that up,” Kevin guessed.

“Maybe the part about the antennae,” Luna said. She looked around. “It must be peaceful being here. It’s really quiet.”

“It’s been a lot busier since people found out what I could do,” Kevin said. “And I spend most of my time listening for the signals, so it’s not exactly a library.”

Luna smiled the smile of someone who usually did all the talking they wanted in libraries anyway.

It didn’t stay quite that peaceful, either, because Professor Brewster, Dr. Levin, and Kevin’s mother all came in together.

“You’re pushing Kevin too hard,” his mother was saying.

“We’re really not trying to, Rebecca,” Dr. Levin assured her. “We don’t have any control over the signals we receive, and Kevin is able to stop whenever he needs to.”

“And Kevin has barely listened to any today,” Professor Brewster said. “Besides, he’s receiving better treatment here than he would be able to get anywhere else in the country.”

“That’s… true,” his mother admitted. She sounded pretty reluctant to do it though.

“We are looking after your son,” the institute’s director continued. “And Kevin is doing important work here. Speaking of which, Kevin, do you feel up to facing the cameras?”

“Now?” Kevin asked. He wasn’t sure.

“There have been some rumors that you’re unwell today, and it seems like a good idea to show people that you’re healthy,” Professor Brewster said.

“Even though he isn’t?” Luna asked, beside Kevin.

“Especially because of that,” Professor Brewster said. “And anyway, people are waiting to hear more of what Kevin has to say. Kevin?”

“You don’t have to do it,” his mother said.

Kevin nodded. “It’s okay. I’m feeling a lot better now. If it will help, I’ll do it.”

***

Kevin felt as though standing up in front of people should get easier. He wasn’t doing anything, after all, that he hadn’t already done before. He’d shown them what he could do at the gates to the facility, and in a press conference before. Even so, he was nervous with so many people staring back at him.

“It will be fine,” Luna said. How did she always seem to guess when he was feeling bad? “And you can’t back out now. I want to watch you do your alien stuff.”

“Alien stuff,” Kevin repeated. “We definitely need a better name for it than that.”

Even so, he stepped out to face the crowd. There were more people here today, cramming every corner of the conference room where Kevin was due to perform for them. There were reporters, obviously, scientists, government people…

…and Ted, staring at him intently from the crowd.

“That guy’s here,” Kevin said.

“What guy?” Luna asked.

“I met him in the halls while I was looking for my mom, and he just seemed… I don’t know, out of place. He kind of seemed like he might have been one of the soldiers, but he said he wasn’t anymore. I don’t even know if he’s supposed to be here.”

“You think he’s some crazy guy?” Luna asked. “You think he’s here to kill everyone?”

“I didn’t until you said it,” Kevin said. Now that she had, Kevin found his eyes locked onto the spot where Ted stood. He wondered if he should tell someone about him.

“Time to do your stuff, Kevin,” Professor Brewster said, nudging him toward the center of the platform they’d set up. “Hello, everyone, as you can see, Kevin is fine, and some of the rumors out there are greatly exaggerated.”

“What rumors?” Kevin asked him, and then found his eyes pulled back to Ted again. “Professor Brewster, there’s this man out there…”

Professor Brewster ignored him. “Kevin is quite tired today, though, so we’ll keep this short. Kevin?”

Kevin stepped forward and put his headphones in place, figuring that it was probably best to just get on with this. The trouble was that there was still silence, nothing new to translate, no signal coming in. He stood there in silence for several seconds, feeling increasingly embarrassed. Worse, he couldn’t take his eyes off Ted, convinced that the moment he did, the man would do something.

That was when a completely different man, toward the front of the hall, started shouting. “You’re evil!” he yelled. “You’ll bring the aliens down on all of us!”

He ran forward, and even though he had a press pass, and was dressed smartly in a suit, there was something wild in his eyes. He charged at the stage, and Kevin saw him shove Luna out of the way as he went, sending her sprawling to the ground.

“Luna!” Kevin shouted, but there was no time to help her, because the man was still coming, and now Kevin could see that he had a knife. He grabbed Kevin, and the next moment, the man was behind him, the blade pressed to Kevin’s throat.

“You’re trying to bring them here. You’re trying to let them destroy us all. I have to stop you, whatever it takes.”

Kevin had never been so frightened before, but the strangest part was that most of that fear wasn’t for himself. Luna was lying still where the man had knocked her down, and now Kevin was wondering if he might have stabbed her, just because she got in the way.

“Easy there, friend.”

While Kevin had been looking at where Luna lay, Ted, of all people, had gotten up onto the stage, and he had a gun held expertly in both hands.

“If you put the weapon down, we can talk about this,” he said.

The man behind Kevin didn’t move the knife from his throat. “It’s talking that’s the problem. He’s talking to them. He’s bringing them here to kill us! No, stay back!”

He punctuated that order by pointing the knife at Ted’s advancing form. With the knife gone from his throat for a moment, Kevin did the only thing he could think off, and let himself fall to the floor.

Two shots rang out, so loud they seemed deafening. Kevin heard something metallic clatter to the stage, and something soft followed it a moment later. An instant after that, and Ted was there, pulling him to his feet.

“Don’t look around. There are things a kid shouldn’t have to see. Run to the others.”

Kevin wanted to do all of that. He wanted to run and see if Luna was all right. He wanted to run to his mother, who was, even now, pushing her way through the chaos. He wanted to do all of that, but he couldn’t, for one simple reason.

“There’s a signal coming!” he said.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Kevin could feel the next message coming, the signal starting in his headphones, the beginnings of a translation working their way up through him. This was happening now, whether he wanted it or not.

“I don’t think we have much time,” he said. “I can feel it coming.”

Already, people were crowding around him. His mother was there, wrapping her arms around him as if she might protect him from anything that came. Dr. Levin and Professor Brewster were there, both looking worried. To Kevin’s relief, Luna was back up on her feet. She hadn’t been stabbed. Kevin ran to her, hugging her.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“That depends,” she said. “How many of you are there supposed to be?”

Kevin shook his head. “Don’t joke, I was worried about you.”

“You were worried about me? I wasn’t the one with a knife to my throat.”

Through it all, of course, the cameras kept rolling. They weren’t going to stop in the middle of something this dramatic.

Professor Brewster was there, looking as though he was afraid Kevin might break. Or maybe it was just that he was staring at the dead man behind Kevin, the one that he didn’t dare turn to face.

“What’s happening?” he demanded. “Why are we not getting Kevin out of here?”

“He says there’s another message coming,” Ted explained.

Kevin didn’t know how to explain it any clearer than that.

“Well, hold it back until we get you to safety,” Professor Brewster said, but surely he had to know that it didn’t work like that by now.

Kevin gritted his teeth. “I can’t control when the message arrives. I just receive it and translate it.”

“Why… why is it a problem if you get the message here?” Luna asked. She sounded shaky, which was understandable given everything the two of them had just been through. Even so, she was the one asking the right questions, not the professor.

“Because it will be the coordinates for the escape capsules,” Kevin said. “I’m sure of it. What else could it be?”

“You remembered the numbers for the system before,” Luna pointed out. “You could remember this.”

“What if it’s a long list?” Kevin countered. “What if I miss something?”

Luna pointed to the cameras, and Kevin realized she had a point. All he had to do was speak, and everything he said would be recorded by so many cameras he couldn’t count them all. It would be around the world in an instant.

He went over to them, and even as he did it, the signal hit him.

The strings of numbers seemed to last forever. No wonder the beings sending them had given Kevin a warning that they would be coming. They’d wanted to give him a chance to prepare to record them in some way, so that the information wouldn’t be lost. Each time Kevin finished repeating a string of numbers, a new string of digits and symbols began, barely giving him enough time to take a breath. He was translating it as it came, shaking with the effort of doing it, or perhaps just with the aftereffects of everything he’d been through in the past few minutes.

He recited the numbers and letters in a long, almost endless string, but the truth was that, for the first time since Luna had helped him to work out the connection to the Trappist system, he didn’t know exactly what any of it meant.

Finally, the stream of numbers came to a stop, and Kevin stood there, trying to catch his breath.