(Page 1 of 2) Ratings War by Dan Bieger
 (1 rating)
|
SUMMARY: March Flash Fiction Contest entry.The tournament had been in progress for decades, the winner a designation oft claimed but never supported by objective data. Lack of a clear winner did nothing to commercial sales and everything for the careers of producers, directors, readers, et al. A century in and nothing had changed including the fact that their audience continued to shrink until it now included only those souls sold to the networks' political agendas.
There came a day when the news available truly did reflect a shift in the way humanity could or should or would perceive itself. SKA-high detected, translated, and passed on the first reception of a signal from another star. Not just a signal, a message. The news came to the world in the usual way as an API news story that read:
ETI Confirmed
Manchester, UK, Affiliated Press Intercontinental, December 30, 2041, Owen Daniel.
Over the last month, the Jodrell Bank SKA-High received, translated and identified a radio signal from the vicinity of Sirius A, the signal carrying no more than the simple message: we are here. Scientists working the data note that the message we sent at the end of the last century said not a whole lot more than that we, too, are here and anything more would depend on information exchange. Exchange implies two or more parties and, till now, there was only us. The message from Sirius A changes that notion forever.
The networks could not resist the bait and the competition was on:
HNN <Holographic News Net> hit the air first with:
ET Phoned From Home
Manchester, UK, Affiliated Press Intercontinental, December 30, 2041, Owen Daniel.
Over the last month, the Jodrell Bank SKA-High received, translated and identified a radio signal from the vicinity of Sirius A, the signal carrying no more than the simple message: we are here. Scientists working the data note that the message we sent at the end of the last century said not a whole lot more than that we, too, are here and anything more would depend on information exchange. Exchange implies two or more parties and, till now, there was only us. The message from Sirius A changes that notion forever.
Kit News Channel followed quickly with:
British Cite Jodrell Bank Data As Proof Bible Is In Error.
Another of the seemingly eternal attacks at the uniqueness of man as God's creation arrived today from the University of Manchester. API is reporting that over the last month, the Jodrell Bank SKA-High received, translated and identified a radio signal from the vicinity of Sirius A, the signal carrying no more than the simple message: we are here. Scientists working the data note that the message we sent at the end of the last century said not a whole lot more than that we, too, are here and anything more would depend on information exchange. Exchange implies two or more parties and, till now, there was only us. The message from Sirius A changes that notion forever. Or so they say. When we see the data, we'll know better.
Not to be outdone NSNBC <Nanosoft Nonjudgmental Broadcast Channel> hit the air with:
Where There's A Signal, There Must Be A Message
The API report that over the last month, the Jodrell Bank SKA-High received, translated and identified a radio signal from the vicinity of Sirius A, the signal carrying no more than the simple message: we are here.
| 
