Infinity Beach - Jack McDevitt [177]
A new tone sounded in the speaker.
A blip.
And then a pair of blips.
And then three.
“Coming from the turtle,” said Kane.
Four.
And five.
Tripley banged a big hand down on the console.
They continued counting through to eight.
Joy reigned. They pumped fists, embraced, shook hands. And there were a few tears.
“My God, they’re really there,” said Tripley.
“Are we getting this?” Emily asked Kane. “For the log?”
The captain looked directly at the imager. “Yes,” he said. “They’ll be watching this in classrooms a thousand years from now.”
Tripley broke out four glasses and a bottle of wine.
And they got another blip.
Then a pair.
“They’re counting again,” said Tripley.
Three. Five.
Eight.
They looked at one another, waiting.
“Eight,” said Tripley. “What comes after eight? They’re waiting for an answer.”
Emily shrugged. “Thirteen,” she said.
“How do you figure?”
“Each number is the total of the two preceding.”
“That’s good enough for me,” said Tripley. He switched the transmitter to manual and tapped out the response.
The signals came again: One, two, three, five, seven.
“Primes,” said Emily.
Tripley grinned, enjoying the game immensely. “Eleven,” he said.
Emily stood near the window, looking out at the tiny craft. “I think it’s time for a visual.”
Tripley agreed. “Good. But what do we show them?”
“What are they most curious about?”
“Us,” said Yoshi.
“Yes.” Tripley was beaming. “Let’s have someone say hello. One of the women—”
“Why one of the women?” asked Emily. “I think everybody should get on the circuit. Let them see what we’ve got.”
“Okay. Let’s do it this way, though. Emily, you’ve been looking for these people a long time. You go first.”
Emily looked genuinely moved. “Sure,” she said. “I can live with that. All right.” She was already jotting down notes.
Kane was obviously vastly pleased. “Their language skills might not be a good fit.”
“This is not for them. It’s for those kids a thousand years from now.”
“—Who are also listening to this setup,” Yoshi reminded her.
“It’s all right. They’ll understand.”
Emily sat down and signaled she was ready. Tripley adjusted her image and hit Transmit. “You’re on,” he told her. She looked directly into the imager and smiled her brightest smile. “We know you can’t understand any of this,” she said, “but we want to say hello to you anyhow. Greetings from Greenway. Can we assist you in any way?”
The others followed. Tripley spoke with warmth of his hopes that this chance encounter would produce long-term benefits for both races. Yoshi wished a good fortune to “our interstellar friends,” and expressed her hope that this marked the beginning of a new era for everyone.
Finally it was Kane’s turn. He didn’t look as if he expected to be called on in this endeavor, but when Yoshi identified him as their captain and reported he had something to say, he rose to the occasion. “We’re happy to meet you. If we can be of assistance, please let us know.”
With that, he switched off.
“Well,” said Tripley, “how’d we do?”
“I thought you guys were outstanding,” said Kane.
“Any sign of a response?” asked Emily.
“Not yet.”
Kane sank back into his seat. Tripley asked whether it was likely the turtle-shell would have compatible equipment to receive a visual image. Kane assured him it would.
They waited. The minutes dragged by. And a white lamp blinked on. “Incoming,” said Kane.
It resembled a butterfly.
In her living room, Kim, expecting to see a misty thing, leaned forward surprised. Her pulse began to race.
The butterfly looked at them out of cool, golden eyes. They were not compound, but were rather quite mammalian. It had a thorax and mandibles and multiple sets of limbs, apparently six altogether, but it was difficult to be certain. Spotted red-gold wings moved slowly.
It wore a surprisingly mundane green blouse. The lower half of the body was not visible.
There was no