PJSquared The World Through Philip James' Eye

Spring Break Story Stub 6

In the spirit of honesty, this may be the worst one I've written so far. I really like the concept, but I don't think this execution works.

On the outward edge of a lonely galaxy adrift in the sea of the cosmos, an event unique from anything that had ever happened in this universe occurred on a fabricated chunk of metal floating through space. This piece of exploratory iron, the culmination of technology from a society that had started with twigs in the desert, was launched from a speck of a planet with skies red as fire and seas the color of dark wine. The metal hunk represented the hopes and dreams of the people on the red planet, hopes of finding new worlds and new life beyond the infinite abyss of space.

The newly extraterrestrial craft sent a constant stream of data back to the hopeful species planet-bound, and it was in the midst of this data stream, with the satellite now halfway between its origin planet and the center of the lonely galaxy, that the previously un-heard of event occurred. An atomic particle in the satellite's computer system changed its state.

This would not on the outside seem like an event of such enormous importance. Atoms of varying types change their states with more frequency than is possible to visualize, and the changes largely go unnoticed to the rest of the universe. This atomic event was unique; its timing, location, and cause coming together to result in the most fundamental change in the civilization's history. While normally this most minute of events would go unnoticed by anything larger than an electron, this state change caused a chain reaction that forever altered the course of two histories.

The end result of all this miniscule wrangling was this: the hunk of metal whirling through space sent back a message saying it had found life on another planet. Back on the planet of origin, the computer designed to monitor the satellite's transmissions beeped, and turned on one of the hundreds of lights in the instrumentation panel that showed the casual observer, with years of training on what the lights meant, exactly what was going on.

"Ah, sir?" An unwitting recruit had been assigned to watch the lights and report any changes. He had no idea he was about to change the world. "This light's turned on."

The commanding officer glanced at the light panel, and did a double-take. They had been monitoring the satellite's output for years, and that light had never come on in its whole history. He approached the panel, and tapped the light to check for faulty wiring. When the light did not flicker, a cold sweat began to break across his forehead. The next few chapters of his personal history were about to get very interesting. "Did you mess with the instruments in any way, private?"

"No sir! Why? What does it mean?"

"Go and fetch the scientists, the engineers, the higher brass... hell, get everybody. If this means what I think it means, we're going to need a whole lot of witnesses. If I'm right, this light is saying we're not alone."

Feel free to tear this apart. Its... not my best.