Space Oddity
Page 10
Dad nods his head, a sudden gleam appearing in his blue-green eyes. ‘Play communication channel records,’ he says, talking to the Quintessence like it’s the smart speaker at home. ‘Message received T-minus twelve Sol orbits ago.’
Strange lights flicker across the surface of the pebble-shaped device, like tiny black stars in the night. Then I hear the familiar sound of some strummed guitar chords.
‘Full volume,’ Dad says with a twinkle in his eye and the sound from the Quintessence swells to fill the Chamber of Judgement.
‘WHAT IS THIS?’ the Cosmic Authority demands, its tentacles flashing red in warning.
‘A song,’ I shout, raising my voice above the rising chords and the martial beat of a snare drum. ‘A song that shows you what it means to be alone.’
Then I hear David Bowie start to sing, telling the story of Major Tom as he lifts off into space.
I look around the vast chamber as ‘Space Oddity’ rings out. The strange alien faces that fill the endless galleries seem transfixed, swaying in time with the chiming melody as the Quintessence’s circuits translate the singer’s words into an infinity of alien languages.
Dad squeezes my hand as we listen to the song and I glance up to meet his gaze.
‘This is our song too, Jake,’ he says with a smile. ‘Fancy joining in?’
Staring up into Dad’s blue-green eyes, I hear the song start to lift off. There’s no time to be embarrassed any more. The only thing left to do is sing.
I nod my head.
‘Let’s do it.’
As the aliens watch we join in with David Bowie, Dad throwing his best rock star shapes as we sing about floating in space and how different the stars look today. From the galleries I see a forest of tentacles and antennae, all swaying in time with the song. Dad always wanted to be the biggest star in the universe and it looks like he’s finally made it.
The song is spiralling to a close, the singer telling us about this blue planet called Earth and how there’s nothing left that he can do. I realize now why Dad thought this was a distress call. It really sounds like the loneliest voice in the universe, begging to be heard.
And as the last notes of the song sweep into silence, I stare up at the Cosmic Authority. A flickering pulse seems to flow through its tentacles. Then I hear a strange ringing noise. It sounds like the chimes of some strange kind of alien bell, the sound of this coming from every corner of the chamber.
‘What’s that noise?’ I ask, turning to Dad in alarm. ‘What’s happening?’
But Dad just grins back at me. ‘They’re cheering, Jake.’
As the cheers ring out the Cosmic Authority descends, its tentacles shimmering with the same chiming light. It’s floating right in front of me now, its huge silvery eyes seeming to peer right inside my mind.
‘I’M SORRY,’ it begins with an apologetic flicker of its tentacles. ‘I DIDN’T UNDERSTAND BEFORE, BUT THIS SONG HAS SHOWN ME HOW WRONG I HAVE BEEN.’
‘So you’ll set us free?’ I ask, a new hope fluttering in my chest.
The shimmering space squid raises a single long tentacle, an emerald pulse of light flashing to the very tip of this.
‘YES,’ it replies. ‘I WILL RETURN YOU BOTH TO PLANET EARTH, BUT ON ONE CONDITION.’
‘What’s that?’ Dad asks, scarcely able to believe what he’s hearing.
Another firework display of lights pulses through the space squid’s body.
‘YOU KEEP PLAYING THE SONGS.’
‘I don’t understand,’ I say, but the Cosmic Authority starts to explain with a wave of its tentacles.
‘FOR US, THIS IS A NEW FORM OF COMMUNICATION. THE SONG THAT YOU PLAYED SHOWED ME SO MUCH ABOUT THE HUMAN RACE. IT TOLD ME ABOUT YOUR COURAGE AND KINDNESS, THE WAY YOU LOVE ONE ANOTHER AND HOW IT FEELS TO BE ALONE. BUT IT DID SOMETHING ELSE TOO. IT MADE US FEEL CONNECTED TO YOU.’
As the Cosmic Authority fluoresces, I hear the echo of Mum’s words as she told me why Dad loves to sing: Everyone’s connected when they hear the song. Even across the universe it seems.
The space squid’s glowing tentacles draw an imploring pattern in the air.
‘PLEASE PLAY US MORE OF THESE SONGS.’
Dad’s eyes goggle in amazement. ‘You’re making us intergalactic DJs?’ he splutters.
The Cosmic Authority lights up like a neon bulb.
‘THE SPHERE OF SILENCE PLACED AROUND THE EARTH WILL BE MODIFIED AND A SINGLE CHANNEL PROVIDED FOR YOU TO TRANSMIT ON. IF THINGS GO WELL, IN TIME, THE TRANSMISSIONS WILL BECOME TWO-WAY. WE WILL SHARE OUR KNOWLEDGE WITH THE HUMAN RACE, WHILST YOU SHARE YOUR SONGS WITH US.’
The Cosmic Authority turns its gaze towards me, the silvery moons of its eyes shining bright as rainbow pulses of light shimmer across its tentacles.
‘SO WHAT DO YOU SAY, JAKE?’ the alien asks. ‘WILL YOU HELP US LEARN WHAT IT MEANS TO BE HUMAN?’
I stare into these silvery moons and see my own reflection looking back at me. Human? Alien? It doesn’t matter. It’s what you do that counts.
‘Of course,’ I tell the Cosmic Authority with a grin. I glance up at the glowing balconies to see the aliens, all peering back at me. ‘And I’ll make sure the songs we play get you dancing out in space.’
WE’RE NOT ALONE
I can see the TV news crews still camped outside my house, the camera lights that illuminate the pavement outside my front gate so bright that nobody noticed the brief flash of light that beamed Dad and me back down in the middle of Ashcroft Road.
I hop from toe to toe as I wait for the effects of teleportation to wear off, my dad doing the same silent dance before the pain eventually fades away.
Glancing up I see the silent darkness of the Cosmic Authority’s ship disappearing into the night, the stars coming out again one by one.
‘Are you ready?’ Dad asks me.
I glance across to meet his gaze. He’s still dressed in his ridiculous silver ski suit, but at least Dad’s used the Quintessence to change his skin back from being bright green. We don’t want to create any kind of international crisis about an alien invasion.
I nod my head.
‘Ready,’ I reply with a smile. ‘Let’s go home.’
We start walking, making our way past the outside broadcast vans parked along the street and we’re almost at the front gate before the camera crews notice that we’re there.
‘It’s them!’
As the camera operators scramble for position, the reporters jump into life, firing out questions as Dad pushes open the gate.
‘Was that really a UFO?’
‘Can you tell us where you’ve been?’
‘Is this all some kind of hoax?’
I follow my dad, ignoring the camera flashes as the front door opens and I see Mum start running down the garden path to greet us, Damon and Amba grinning wildly as they follow close behind. But before I take another step forward I feel a hand on my arm, pulling me back.
I turn around and, leaning over the garden gate, Asha Barnes thrusts a microphone into my face.
‘Jake,’ she asks, her expression deadly serious. ‘Are we alone in the universe?’
I look down the camera lens that’s hovering over her shoulder. I think about what I saw on the Cosmic Authority’s spaceship: glowing squids and smelly space slugs, the endless galleries filled with strange alien races all swaying in time with the song. I remember staring at the stars glittering in the dark, each one a sun with planets spinning round it, just like ours. I felt really small then, but I wasn’t alone.
I shake my head with a smile.
‘No,’ I reply, the word almost popping out of me as my family and friends wrap their arms around me in a hug. ‘We’re not alone.’
Acknowledgements
In 1950, the physicist Enrico Fermi posed a question that has intrigued scientists to this day. Given the size of our galaxy, the Milky Way, which contains billions of stars, and the chances that many of these stars could have Earth-like planets orbiting them, and that many of
these planets could have developed intelligent civilizations, maybe in advance of our own, with the power to travel across the galaxy, Fermi asked one simple question, ‘So where are they?’. This simple question became known as the Fermi paradox and many scientists have come up with theories to try to explain why we haven’t yet found any evidence for the existence of alien life. In Space Oddity, I tried to write a story that provided one possible answer to this question and I’d like to thank the authors of the following books for helping me to understand more about humanity’s search for extraterrestrial intelligence: Human Universe by Professor Brian Cox and Andrew Cohen, The Aliens Are Coming! by Ben Miller and Aliens edited by Jim Al-Khalili.
Music also plays a very important part in the story, especially the songs of David Bowie, but I’d like to thank all the musicians who helped write the soundtrack to the writing of this book, especially Tim Burgess, whose Twitter listening parties reminded me of the immense power music has to bring us together.
Sincerest thanks to Ben Mantle for his wonderful cover art and illustrations. Huge thanks too to all the team at Chicken House, especially Rachel Leyshon, Rachel Hickman, Esther Waller, Elinor Bagenal and Barry Cunningham. And thank you too to my brilliant agent, Lucy Juckes.
Finally, I’d like to thank my family for all their love, support and understanding, especially my wonderful wife, Chrissie. I love you very much, you know.
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Published by Scholastic Australia Pty Ltd
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First edition published by Chicken House, 2021.
This electronic edition published by Scholastic Australia Pty Ltd, 2021
E-PUB/MOBI eISBN: 978-1-76112-362-7
Text © Christopher Edge 2021
From an original idea by Sarah Ryan © The Big Idea Competition Limited
Illustrations © Ben Mantle 2021
Cover and interior design by Steve Wells
Christopher Edge has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
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