Ophiuchi Hotline by John Varley

Author:John Varley [Varley, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fantasy
ISBN: 9780575072831
Google: KxuSpVIMSgsC
Amazon: 0441634842
Barnesnoble: 0441634842
Goodreads: 64931
Publisher: Ace
Published: 1977-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

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13

Starline, by the Public Relations Master Program, Main Business Computer, StarLine, Ltd. Read-rating II.

Who’d a thought they’d miss? Nobody figured on it. People were looking for junk from the stars for God knows how long. Way back in old-style time, Project Ozma took a listen. No good. Later on, we turned the big ears on ’em. Centauri, Wolf, Lalande, Procyon, 40 Eridani. Quiet, real quiet. What gives? We listened to ’em all, and no buzz.

Then we started to get way far out. Beyond Pluto, twice that fuggin’ far away, and what do you think? Voices!

Well, not voices, exactly, you readout? Computer bippety-bips and offedy-ons. Nobody could read ’em for a long time. (I mean, you should take a look at ’em! Press the printout and a zillion acres of flyspecks.) Even the computers didn’t know what the message was. But a couple things were sure. Somebody was sittin’ on 70 Ophiuchi with one fuggin’ big laser, they wanted to talk, and they couldn’t shoot piss into a pot!

Hold on! Maybe they weren’t shootin’ at us. So they looked around behind us, you know, but there’s nothing but a couple of stars in Orion’s armpit. They were yakkin’ at us, all right. But how come they missed? You think they’d build a laser like that if they can’t aim it?

No way. Somebody said, “Hey! Maybe they don’t want to talk till we’re ready! Like, we gotta be smart enough to get out there, or something.” Sounds okay, huh? Sure enough. They’ve been talking for four hundred years now. They lead us by fifteen billion klicks, like a skeet shooter. You wanna listen, you gotta go out there.

Somebody else said, “How come we don’t build us a big laser and talk back?” You kiddin’? Who’s gonna pay for it?

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