Farah Rishi - I Hope You Get This Message

“Now what?” asked Cate.

Adeem ran his hand through his soot-covered, oily hair. It was a good question, but he had no idea how to answer.

The radio broadcast was still going. The owner of the radio, a thin, balding man with round glasses, turned at the knob and scrolled through different channels. Adeem rested his gaze on the radio and let his eyes blur at their edges. For a moment, he thought he’d fall asleep, right there, standing.

Until he heard a voice.

“Testing, testing… This is the UFOs & U channel, your local source for all things alien and, now, all things human. We’re out here with Jesse Hew—I’m sorry, folks, I’m being told he would like to stay anonymous. But I’m here with a special guest, and today, we’ll be on the air with your messages, locally, and soon, internationally. As soon as we find out how. But as soon as we do, prepare your earbuds, because love, my friends, is on the air. Stay tuned.”

Adeem turned around suddenly.

His brain buzzed with a thousand thoughts at once. Of course . Radios still worked. Hell, they were the only things that still worked. Maybe he didn’t have his radio on him anymore, but his portable radio wouldn’t have been enough to reach Cate’s dad and Leyla, anyway. He needed a bigger rig, something like Rosie’s. A rig like a radio station. He knew how to make an internet radio station, and though he’d never used a radio station before, he’d figure it out.

Leyla had reached him through the radio. Radio could help him again.

“Hey, Cate…” said Adeem, slowly. “Any chance your dad would be the type to listen to the radio?”

“I wouldn’t know, but I imagine everyone would be listening to the radio right now. Why?”

He grinned, his chest flooding with a much-needed swell of energy.

“Because I think I have a plan.”

SCION 12: If we disable the Anathogen virus, Earth itself will be rid of humanity in due time, and rid itself of any chance we have to restore the composition of its atmosphere back to a hospitable state. We are at risk of losing our best chance at a new habitat, all in the name of continuing a project that has long proven to be a failure. Our choice here is clear.

SCION 4: We have conflated their value for far too long. Humanity arose as an accident of evolution. Who is to suggest such an accident will not happen again?

SCION 11: Even so, such a mutation is exceedingly unheard-of.

ARBITER: We are far beyond discussing the value of humanity. We must come to a decision.

SCION 7: Indeed. The problem we face is not simply finding a solution that helps us sleep at night. The problem we face is deducing a solution to finding a home where we may survive. Project Epoch is but a single factor; our best chance, perhaps, but not our only chance to find a new Alma.

SCION 3: Alma may be old and weary, but I am proud of our home. It has sustained our people and allowed us to reach levels some on Earth would call godlike. Almaens may boast of no disease, no war, and no corner of the universe left unexplored. We have accomplished far beyond what humans can possibly comprehend. But we must face the fact that now, our people are our home. What gives us the right to storm the home of anyone else?

SCION 13: And for all their faults, humans are imaginative and creative and capricious and full of possibility. I am curious to see what they do. I believe they deserve the chance to show us.

SCION 6: At what cost?

SCION 13: The same cost we all must face one day.

ARBITER: Are we closing in on a decision? We have but hours left to disable the Anathogen.

\Dear\Alma:

Ms. Khan says sometimes putting thoughts to paper can help sort out your feelings. Laying down tangled strings, she calls it. I call it bullshit. But I figure I’m full of bullshit anyway, so what have I got to lose? Gotta sit here anyway, since Tom won’t let me help with the radio.

Anyway, I don’t think you exist. I don’t think there are aliens out in the universe, and if there were, I don’t think they’d give a damn about what us humans do out here. I don’t even know if God exists.

And if you did exist, you probably wouldn’t care about me, anyway.

But in case you do, or in case you’re watching, or in case you’re mad at me because I made a dumb machine that supposedly talked to you, I just wanted to say thanks.

Sometimes, it feels like no one’s watching me at all. I guess it was nice to feel like I mattered, if only for a little while.

So I’m going to make things right. Maybe that’ll matter in its own way.

Adeem worked fast—relatively speaking, considering the end of the world was coming even faster. Maybe it was the prospect of being able to use a radio again, or maybe it was because they were in the eleventh hour, but before Cate could come up with a better idea, Adeem was already fighting his way toward a group of people around a portable radio, inspecting the radio, and jotting down some numbers.

It was all Cate could do to follow and keep up.

A little past midnight, they were standing in front of a seemingly ordinary house: olive-green panels, a flat green roof, peeling white-painted windows. Small—not much bigger than a trailer home. But modest. Cozy, even. Except that the roof was covered in antennae.

“That radio station broadcasts from here,” Adeem explained.

“Why does that not surprise me?”

Jets soared overhead. Apparently, Roswell had an air force base, and Cate was beginning to realize why so many people congregated here, of all places. With a military and air force base, and a history of alien encounters, maybe Roswell was actually a relatively safe place to hunker down.

“So, what, we go in, and you borrow their radio?”

“That’s the plan.”

Adeem took a deep breath and knocked on the front door. No one answered.

A crash followed by a scream resounded in the distance; Cate couldn’t tell whether it was a scream of terror or one of bliss.

Probably terror.

“They were just broadcasting, so I know they’ve got to be home.” Adeem chewed the inside of his mouth and began walking to the side of the house.

“Please don’t tell me you’re going to peek through the window.”

“I wasn’t, but that’s actually a really good idea.”

“Adeem!”

Adeem grinned and sidled through some tall grass to get to the backyard.

Cate followed.

The back of the house had an extension that jutted out awkwardly, and the windows were covered in blackout curtains. There was a single door here, too, painted bright red. Adeem raised a fist to knock, but instead, he swiveled around so fast, Cate thought to duck so as not to get punched in the face.

“What are you—?”

“Sorry, sorry,” Adeem said. “I just thought of something.”

“ Another plan? We’re not even done pursuing this one, and—”

He nudged his glasses onto the bridge of his nose. “Cate. I was thinking of your… your…” She noticed, even in the darkness, he seemed to be blushing. “Your bucket list. I know you said you wanted to kiss someone, and there’s only one day left, and in case the world really is ending, I was just wondering… since, uh, last time I checked, I have a mouth and all… Would you maybe want me to? Because I could, if you want.”

Now it was Cate’s turn to blush. “I mean, that’s really sweet, Adeem, but here’s the thing. I have been kissed before. But this time, I don’t want it to be just a Hey, the world is ending, so let’s do this kind of kiss. I would rather hold out. You know, for the real thing.”