220a | Homework 2 |“Radio Star”

Alison Rush








Dramatis Personae/Stellae

Echo2: Researcher/pilot on Project Echo, a manned scientific exploration mission to the Gliese 581 star system, scanning for signs of life on the system's planets.

Echo7: Another researcher/pilot on this mission. He and Echo2 have been alone in space for seven years, so of course things are getting weird.

Gliese 581: 11-billion-year-old red dwarf star, 20.3 light years from Earth; loves dystopian 80s pop and long walks on the beach.



Scenario

The Project Echo team makes a routine rendezvous in orbit around Gliese's third planet. They've been scanning the apparently-lifeless planet for signals, starting with gamma rays (just in case?) and working their way down the spectrum.

Our long-suffering, sleep-deprived heroes have just thrown in the proverbial towel* on the microwave band, and it's looking extremely likely that this boring, dead rock is home only to other boring, dead rocks...

...NOTHING COULD PREPARE THEM FOR WHAT THEY ARE ABOUT TO HEAR ON THE RADIO.



*Probably a bad move. If they'd only kept track of where their towels were, this entire plot device could have been averted.

LATE EDIT - 10/24 (original submitted 10/23) :

My sources for sound effects: