Filling in the Blank

Chapter 1

You will no doubt have many questions. I think it best I just start from the beginning.

The scene: it could have been anywhere, anywhen. There was me, in a state of bed-headed fugue, hunched over a piece of toasted bread, blissfully diminishing it a bite at a time. From the kitchen, the sound of Mary engaged in her own morning routine. Our son, Bryce, still in pyjamas, bouncing his way down the stairs.

"Hey Dad, you see those aliens?"

The toast will be followed by coffee and then a quiet walk to my office at the college. As daily rituals go it might not seem like much, but it holds us together. A cycle of contentment that could last an eternity, or so it felt. Sure there are some awkward facts – each year we get a year older. For Bryce this has happened nine times so far. Nine turns of the ratchet wheel, and yet the encroaching adult world has yet to rob him of the enthusiasms of childhood.

I look up. "Aliens?"

We bring up the article. He leans in against me, elbows on my neck, reading over my shoulder. Anomalous signal ... long base line array ... coherent radio transmission ... twenty-five light years distant ...

"Is it really aliens?"

"Could be. The person who wrote this article certainly seems to think so." I scan back over what it has to say. It's not much. "More likely to be people, I think. Then again, after all this time, who knows whether we'll still be able to call them people?"