Hosein Kouros-Mehr - Extinction 6

Beth hears a commotion and walks to the window to find protestors congregating outside. “They’re making such a big deal out of this. I’ll bet your radio signal is just random space noise.”

Austin balks. “…well…”

“What?”

“…there’s more I didn’t tell you. The decrypted code is an old rock song, ‘Johnny B. Goode.’ It’s being transmitted across the Galaxy.”

She shrugs. “And?”

“The same track was carried on Voyager 1.”

“You mean the probe from the 1970s?”

“Yes. It has been flying through space for the last century. We think an intelligent species intercepted our spacecraft and broadcasted the song back to us with an embedded signal.”

“A countdown?”

“That’s right.”

Beth’s eyes widen. “Incredible…”

“What?”

She paces the room silently and then raises a finger. “Don’t you see? Someone in space communicated something intended for us. They want to get our attention.”

Austin’s crosses his arms. “You think they’re trying to tell us something?”

Beth walks to the window. “They probably discovered Voyager 1 and realized they have intelligent friends nearby.” She looks to the sky. “They’re trying to speak with us, Austin…”

“To say what?”

9:59, 9:58, 9:57…

She glances at the timer on the television. “I don’t know, but we’ll find out soon.”

The shouting outside crescendos. Beth spots protestors picketing and throwing rocks at the building. “Why are these people so angry at us?”

“They hate our success,” Austin says. “We’re the largest corporation in the world. It comes with the territory.”

Beth pauses. “That doesn’t explain it. Remember Amazon? They were the biggest monopoly of all time before the government split them up. There wasn’t this much hatred against Amazon.”

“You’re right.”

“For some reason, they think we’re holding something back from them.”

Austin cocks his head. “Well, did you read the Telegraph article this morning? It portrayed us like the Illuminati.”

“Who leaked the story to the press?”

“I don’t know, Beth. There must be someone out to get us.”

She nods. “I know a person who fits that profile—Manos Kharon.”

“GoldRock?”

“Yes. I bet they’re behind this. They’re trying to sabotage our business and change our operations.”

“But why?”

“To make money, I guess. Manos is a shady businessman. Whatever his intentions, he’s hell-bent on the Information Tariffs. We can’t allow GoldRock to take over.”

Austin crosses his arms. “We have to stop him. I’d like to handle this the old-fashioned way, with a punch in the face.”

“You can’t restrain a bully like Manos with violence.” She takes a deep breath. “If we fight back tit-for-tat, we will lose our way and defeat ourselves. There’s only one way to handle him.”

“How?”

“By innovating. Instead of violence, we must turn to compassion and win back the hearts and minds of our customers. We have to return to Google’s core mission and advance technology for the betterment of society.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“Well, there’s one issue that threatens all life.”

“What’s that?”

“Climate change. The world’s sixth mass extinction is underway. We have to stop it before it’s too late.”

They jolt as a rock smashes into the window and ricochets off the bulletproof pane. Outside, protestors set fire to trash bins on the quad and hurl objects at police. On the television, an angry mob shouts at a reporter. Beth glances at the timer.

5:59, 5:58, 5:57…

She mutes the volume. “We can’t be distracted by this madness. The planet is on the brink of catastrophe, and the only solution is to end the use of fossil fuels immediately. That’s only possible with a powerful clean energy technology.”

“You’re right.”

She looks at him. “What’s happening with Project Titan?”

He sighs. “I was hoping you wouldn’t bring that up.”

“Why?”

“We haven’t made any progress.”

“None at all?” She grows sullen. “That’s not what I want to hear.”

“I’m sorry to say this, but the TransAtomic executives duped us. Their blueprints are garbage.”

“You’re kidding me.” She flushes and rubs her face with her palms. “That’s unacceptable. You must succeed. There is too much at stake.”

“Look, their nuclear reactor will never work. There is no way we can trigger the fusion reaction.”

“You can’t give up, Austin. You have to find a solution.”

Austin shrugs. “We’ve tried. We’ll need a gamma-ray gun to heat the zirconium shield to 100 million degrees, but that kind of power source doesn’t exist.”

Beth grimaces and paces the room. “This isn’t the Austin Sanders I know. What happened to the guy who solved Project Bodi and designed the world’s first Augmented Reality smartglasses?”

“That was forty years ago… I forgot about that—”

“You were once a pioneer. What happened to you?”

He looks down. “I’m not sure.”

“You can’t seem to innovate anymore.”

He closes his eyes. “You’re right. I used to be a genius and I feel like a shadow of my former self.”

She stares callously. “You should retire, Austin.”

“What? No way!” He looks up with an irritated expression. “Beth, this isn’t our first failed investment. You can’t blame me for Project Titan.”

“Don’t you see the big picture? Without clean energy, nothing will stop the climate crisis. Fusion is our last hope. In a few years, most life on Earth will be gone. Just my luck to be at the helm of the world’s biggest company during Earth’s sixth mass extinction.”

2:32, 2:31, 2:30…

She shakes her head in defeat. “We should have stopped oil drilling decades ago, but human greed made it impossible to break our addiction. Now it’s too late. As methane levels climb, global warming will accelerate and collapse the planet’s ecosystem. By 2100, San Francisco will be completely under water…”

They stare at the television.

1:59, 1:58, 1:57…

The sounds of gunshots reverberate off the wall. Beth and Austin drop to the floor in panic. The screams outside intensify as protestors race through a cloud of tear gas and disperse from the area.

“This is insane,” Austin whispers as he points to the screen. “People have lost their minds.”

She turns up the volume. “Violence is escalating in major cities across North America as the countdown enters its final minute…”

24, 23, 22…

They sit in terror as the timer ticks away.

4, 3, 2…

Silence.

Beth and Austin stare at each other as protests die down. On television, the shouting gives way to an eerie stillness. Doomsdayers discard their placards and head back to their homes.

Through his smartglasses, Austin scans his social media feeds. “What happened?”

Beth stands. “We’re still here. So much for the end times.”

“Protestors are leaving the area,” the reporter on television says. “The countdown appears to be a hoax.”

Beth turns off the screen. “So much for your message from space. Looks like you misinterpreted the radio signal.”

Austin heaves a sigh. “This is so embarrassing. Everyone knows it came from my department.”

“The scenario seemed implausible from the outset. An encrypted song from Barnard’s Star? Sounds like science fiction to me.”

Austin chuckles nervously. “You’re right. Well, it’s back to Monday as usual.” He grabs his belongings and heads for the exit when suddenly his smartglasses buzz with an incoming call. He accepts.