Radio Heartbeat

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. It is such a strange terminology to use and deafening adage to throw around. Outer space seems nearly empty like it almost the perfect vacuum; but even in the most remote location of outer space will have gas, dust, radiation and even gravity. In reality there truly are no such things an empty space. We could try to gather everything in it’s space and it would never truly be empty; maybe deep down we wanted it to be empty. Maybe then we wouldn’t be so scared.

Everything matters. Every action. Every wish. Every dream. Every failure. Every hair. Every inch. Every second. Every taste. Every smell. Every sight. Every lack of. Every thing matters because it is all truly connected. With how the news feeds they human conscience and tribulations people drag each other through; how alone do we truly want to be with ourselves?

The sky opens us up to opportunities we couldn’t dream of. The outer space is filled with a soup of hydrogen and helium everywhere, the burnings of stars and then dying out over a long time and heavy elements enthralled by gravity will turn into a cloud or a rock. Us humans do not transform into anything else but hatred; perhaps that is the rock formation.

The idea of intelligent life dancing outside of ourselves is truly terrifying only because we already truly know ourselves. I presume it is only natural to fear for oneself what you have done to another; because why wouldn’t they if they are more powerful than you or more intelligent than you? Where is the humanity? I shrug off the idea as a I glance into the sky with a cheap telescope from online and think the only new ideologies we have are all redundant concepts we have been arguing about since the dawn of time. We haven’t changed anything at all; except how to kill each other faster.

The days have been brutal and as much as we may fear intelligent life outside of our realm appearing or trying to communicate with us; I’m confident our own planet is returning the favor before we could discover anything else.

**buzz buzz**

Science news flashing across the major networks about space. What is this about? I click into the article and only see a live tv option.

“Diane, it seems MIT astronomers at some universities across the United States and Canada detected what they are calling a “heartbeat” radio signal billions of light years away from Earth. This signal lasted up to 3 whole seconds which is apparently 1,000 times longer than the average radio burst. Astronomers are saying the sound would repeat every .2 seconds in the form of a heartbeat. Elaine is on the scene with Daniele Michilli a postdoc in MIT’s Kavli’s Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research; Elaine!…”

“Thank you Wendy and Diane, This is Elaine reporting to you live with Danielle Michilli. Danielle grabs the microphone enthusiastically “Not only was it very long, lasting about 3 seconds, but there were periodic peaks that were remarkably precise, emitting every fraction of a second - boom, boom, boom!- like a heartbeat. This is the FIRST time the signal itself, is periodic!”

Elaine lets her finish her sentence before regaining control of the microphone again “That is all we know as of right now. There was a clear repeating pattern detected coming from space; the longest Fast Radio Burst recorded. Origins remain to be unknown; but maybe we’ll find a signature to go with that call. Thank you for tuning in and this is Elaine; back to you Wendy and Diane!”

The news continues with vague small talk attempting to discuss the radio signal but they do not understand it; they are only reporting what they are capable of reading on the teleprompter. I bet they don’t even know that the first radio burst was discovered in 2007 or how many more we have received after that. I can’t picture them knowing about CHIME an interferometric radio telescope that observes the sky nonstop and is so sensitive to fast radio burst; it could hear a heartbeat. The last major one was in 2019 with one that repeated for 16 days.

These signals have been repeating a lot over the years. Between the lights in the skies that we see or don’t see and mock each other for; I wonder whose on the other end? Is it someone whose been watching our destruction of ourselves over color and religion and how others live their lives by our own standards for the sake of meaningless control. If there was intelligent life trying to communicate with us, are they laughing at how stupid we are? Are we what school trips in space would look like the way we take classes to the zoo? Are we being warned not to destroy ourselves? Is it that inevitable? Is it “God” coming back? How angry will they be again and how many of us will die for the bad choices of others? Or worse what if the instinctual fear of what we do to others will be done to us by another species is true? What if what we put out is making it’s way back to us?