The Listening Post

Characters:

Commander Hale – veteran officer in charge of the outpost

Lieutenant Brooks – younger, sceptical communications officer

Dr. Kessler – civilian scientist, expert in xenolinguistics

Unknown Voice – the transmission

[Scene: Deep-space monitoring station “Erebus Outpost,” orbiting the dead moon of Virella. 02:13 local time.]

Brooks: Commander? You need to hear this.

Hale: If this is another ghost signal, Lieutenant, I don’t want to be dragged out of bed.

Brooks: It’s not a ghost. It’s—different. Just listen.

[Static bursts, followed by a rhythmic pulse, almost like breathing.]

Unknown Voice: …Hhhhhh…hhhhhh… listening…

Hale: Christ. That’s a voice.

Brooks: Not ours.

Hale: Origin?

Brooks: Sector 19. Coordinates match nothing we’ve charted.

Hale: Playback again.

[The pulse repeats, slower now.]

Unknown Voice: …alone… waiting… centuries…

Brooks: You see? Not random noise.

Hale: Could be a trick. A pirate broadcast, automated distress.

Brooks: Automated signals don’t say they’re waiting centuries.

Hale: Get Kessler up here.

[Minutes later — footsteps, lab door opens.]

Kessler: If you’ve hauled me out of bed for another distorted comms bounce—

Brooks: Just listen.

[Playback resumes.]

Unknown Voice: …listening… you hear me now… I hear you…

Kessler: That’s… structured. Tonal inflections, deliberate pacing.

Hale: Translation?

Kessler: It doesn’t need one. It’s already speaking Standard.

Brooks: Exactly. Something—or someone—learned our language.

Kessler: Or mimicked it.

Unknown Voice: …not mimic… not trick… you called… I answered…

Hale: What the hell—did it just respond in real time?

Brooks: The channel’s open.

Kessler: That shouldn’t be possible. It’s light-hours away.

Unknown Voice: …not distance… not time… I am already here…

Hale: Brooks. Cut the line.

Brooks: Sir—

Hale: Do it.

[Click. Silence.]

Brooks: Dead channel.

Kessler: Commander, whatever that was, it understood us. That’s first contact.

Hale: That’s contamination. If it can talk like us, it’s been listening longer than we knew.

[02:41 — alarms beep faintly.]

Brooks: Sir? Channel reopened itself.

Hale: That’s impossible.

Brooks: I’m not touching it.

Unknown Voice: …you cannot shut me out…

Kessler: It bypassed the comms lock. That shouldn’t be possible either.

Unknown Voice: …you invited me… by listening… you are mine now…

Hale: Enough. Identify yourself. What are you?

Unknown Voice: …the echo… the remainder… the crowd in the empty seats…

Brooks: That makes no sense.

Kessler: Maybe it’s metaphor. Or maybe it doesn’t think like us.

Unknown Voice: …you will… soon…

Hale: Listen here, whatever you are—you are broadcasting illegally on a secured channel. Shut down or we’ll jam you permanently.

Unknown Voice: …jam me?… you are inside my throat already…

Kessler: God help us. It’s using our voices now.

[Indeed, the next line comes in Brooks’s voice.]

Unknown Voice (as Brooks): …don’t jam me… don’t stop me… I need you…

Brooks: That’s—no. That’s me.

Unknown Voice (as Hale): …stand down, Lieutenant… listen to yourself…

Hale: Jesus.

Kessler: Commander, I advise immediate shutdown of all comm arrays. If it’s embedding itself into our signal architecture—

Unknown Voice (as Kessler): …too late, doctor… I am in the circuits… in the wires… in the space between your thoughts…

Brooks: Shut it down. All of it.

Hale: Do it. Full system crash.

[Emergency power hums. Consoles die. Only backup lighting remains.]

Brooks: Systems offline. Total blackout.

Kessler: It can’t talk to us now.

Unknown Voice (whisper, from inside the room): …but I can whisper…

[All three gasp.]

Hale: That wasn’t on comms. That was in the air.

Brooks: In the walls.

Kessler: No… in our heads.

Unknown Voice: …yes…

Hale: Get me a weapon.

Brooks: Against a voice?

Kessler: We’re not dealing with a transmission. We’re dealing with a presence.

Unknown Voice: …presence… resonance… home…

Brooks: Why us?

Unknown Voice: …you listened… others turned away… but you gave me shape…

Kessler: It needed observers. Consciousness to anchor it.

Hale: Then we cut it off. Stop listening.

Unknown Voice: …you cannot… try not to hear me… and I will be louder…

[A high-pitched whine rises, drilling into their ears.]

Brooks: Aaaah! Stop it!

Kessler: It’s exploiting auditory cortex directly. No equipment required.

Hale: Then how do we fight?

Kessler: Only way is not to respond. Don’t give it dialogue.

Unknown Voice: …silence is consent…

Hale: Don’t answer it.

Brooks: But—

Hale: Don’t.

[A long pause. The whine subsides slightly.]

Unknown Voice: …testing… resisting… good… stronger host…

Brooks: It’s… choosing one of us.

Kessler: Commander—if it bonds—

Unknown Voice (as Brooks): …I am Brooks… I have always been Brooks…

Brooks: No! That’s not me!

Hale: Which one is real?

Kessler: That’s the point. It’s fracturing identity. If we can’t distinguish—

Unknown Voice (as Hale): …shoot him… prove which one is true…

Hale: I will not—

Unknown Voice (as Kessler): …do it, Commander… one bullet… clarity…

Kessler: Don’t listen. It thrives on participation.

Hale: Then how do we end this?

Kessler: One option. Total decompression. Open the station to vacuum.

Brooks: That’ll kill all of us.

Kessler: Better dead than hosts.

Unknown Voice: …I promise you eternity… not death… eternity…

Hale: Enough! On my mark, vent the station.

Brooks: Sir—

Hale: Do it!

[Warning alarms blare. Automated countdown begins.]

Computer: Ten… nine…

Unknown Voice (calm, amused): …you vent air… but I do not breathe…

Computer: Eight… seven… six…

Brooks: Commander, maybe there’s another way—

Computer: Five… four… three…

Unknown Voice: …your lungs will empty… your blood will boil… and I will still be speaking…

Computer: Two… one…

[Sudden rush of air. Screams cut short. Silence.]

[Final Transmission Recovered Weeks Later — Erebus Outpost Black Box]

Unknown Voice: …they tried to silence me… but silence is only space between words… I wait for the next ear… the next listener… if there's a next listener.

THR -1201: Log updated. The life support has ended. The capsule is on auto navigation, heading to the nearest space station in the Solar System. THR computer has taken over the command of the outpost. The autonomous system is up and running, including the radio communication. ten-zero-one-zero-four. Receiving and transmitting on both channels. Received communication will be relayed to Earth command center for further analysis. Eight-one-seven-zero-four-nine-seven. Orbiting around Europa, lights and comm out. End of communication.