a poem by Alan Simmins

The mysterious radio signals recently discovered by The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) with the use of the Square Kilometre Array Radio Telescope, commonly known as the SKA, cites the exact origin of the signal as unknown, but evidence suggests they may be coming from within the galaxy core, decoded and translated into English by scientists at the Kennedy Space Center, released the message as saying, “Greetings, live ones, though if you have the technical knowhow to receive this message you are probably dead, nearing death and destruction, or soon to be doomed to extinction.  High tech consumer societies tend to expire abruptly once the consumables become exhausted, as they do. The structural demands are too great and few last a significant span of time. Here are the numbers, 99 out of 100 don’t make it. Yes, many try. You are not alone. Evolution is homogenous and life is teeming everywhere. We are the fortunate few to have survived. Here is our advice. Be frugal and don’t eat so much. Most societies outgrow their ability to feed themselves. Try not to implode. Less greed helps slow self-destruction. Note: To those who call us dark matter because they are blind, you can’t destroy what you can’t see.  What the blinded see totals less than 5%. They see the stars and galaxies that failed and burst into flames, and the slum worlds that form from their debris teaming with warm blooded creatures, fire worshippers, vermin and the hell they create. Burning stars attract, whither, and eventually are swallowed by night.”  

There were other translations.  NASA offered this warning: “Greetings, fellow fishermen.  If you are out here trawling for delicacies and got a taste for legs, BBQ, or deep fried breaded crab legs, (or did they say man legs?), we’re getting reports they found the eastern quadrants are teaming with stock, and easy to net.  Might be worth going the extra distance.” 

My favorite translation came from Kepler’s Planet Hunters.  “Greetings, citizens of the universe. Anyone out there? We are from the planet Hoc, twelfth sister to the 10^th brother planet Orison, Milky Way.  Some say we crashed here 2,000 generations ago, and we have forgotten where we came from.  Planet Hoc survivors calling home; we fixed the radio. Do you read me? Are you there? We also won the war.  We are good for a thousand years if we can get along. Were we always this way? We have landed on a planet without fossils.  How far can a race born of culture go without a history and solid knowledge from where we came? Advanced from where? What is the basis for our folk music?  Can there really be no place in the universe to listen to the radio but here on Hoc? I don’t believe it. I know you are out there. What are you up to? Say hello.  We miss you. Say something.”    

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