Phoenix

06. Date

​"Outer space!" Jin frowned intensely. "You are saying it is an alien communication? A message from extraterrestrial life?"

​"I think so," Arya confirmed with a nod.

​"Absurd," Jin shook his head, refusing to believe it.

​"I collected all related data," Arya continued. "This signal was received by their deep space probe, Voyager 2, which is now outside our galaxy. NASA even located the source through a very complex process. It came from the Cadmium galaxy, almost two hundred thousand light-years away from Earth."

​"How does a signal travel that far?" Jin remained skeptical.

​"Maybe they used a booster," Arya shrugged. "Don't ask me for the explanation-I don't know how it works. I just know this sound wave was encrypted in a very low frequency. You know low-pitch sound can travel an incredibly long distance."

​"It's unbelievable," Jin commented calmly. "Are you absolutely sure it's not some kind of scam?"

​"I don't think so," Arya countered. "If it were a hoax, NASA would already be on television, declaring their historic 'discovery.' This is, after all, their biggest evidence yet of alien existence!"

​"When was this signal received?"

​"Almost twenty-four hours ago. I checked their electric logbook. It came from Voyager 2."

​"So you do not doubt its source?"

​"No. The Americans have already started their research. One copy of the signal has been sent to Area 51. A specialized team of space scientists has begun working on it using their top-secret computer system under the Air Force. But I think they should declare the news to the world. The longer they delay, the greater the risk of losing credit to others."

​"Why?" Jin frowned.

​"All of NASA's space-based probe and satellite transmissions have been monitored by every developed country for ages. I assure you, all of them have already obtained a copy of this signal and started their own research. At the end of the day, whoever declares the message first will claim the credit," Arya finished with a wicked smile.

​"You said they received it twenty-four hours ago. Why are they still silent about it?"

​"They are waiting to be certain. It's a colossal matter," Arya whistled unmindfully. "If it turns out to be a scam, their reputation is ruined. And then there's the issue of finding the message's meaning..."

​"Meaning?"

​Arya chuckled. "What is the value of an alien signal if it has no content?"

​"I saw you were just looking at some random patterns!" Jin smiled slightly.

​"Not random patterns," Arya corrected, smiling back. "A visual copy of the sound. I'm trying to see if there's any pattern in the intensity and pitch. I can't understand anything only by hearing it, so visualization is the only way." She tapped Jin's hand. "Let me show you."

​Typing on the keyboard, Arya brought the visualization back up. Jin just stared at the programming language on the screen, not understanding a single line.

To him, the code and the complex patterns were indistinguishable hieroglyphs.

​Arya, however, stared intently, taking quick notes and scrolling down without sparing a moment for her surroundings.

​"Do you understand any of this?" Jin frowned.

​Arya chuckled, shaking her head. "Nope. How can I understand something only by reading it when it's supposed to be a sound? But I can read the transcription. It's like writing the Chamorro language using the Korean alphabet. You can pronounce it, but you don't understand the meaning. What I'm doing is searching for common patterns."