The door bell rang, her son sat patiently on the floor watching his morning cartoons. The second doorbell chime rang and his head shot up. “Mom,” he grabbed her arm before she could reach the door. “Lincoln, the world doesn’t always have to be in threes.” He tugged on her arm hard until she stopped. The door bell chimed again and he let go. Her son had autism just like his father mixed with the same OCD like symptoms everything had to be in threes. Close the fridge door three times, turn off the lights three times, and tie your shoes three times. It was part of the reason her ex and her didn’t work out, an incredibly intelligent man but she couldn’t live by the rule of three. It must be a curse Vicky thought to herself, for now my son has it. She opened the door and was greeted by two men in suits. “Hello, are you Vicky Hamlin?” She eyed the men suspiciously. “Yes, I’m Vicky.” The man lifted his arm and pulled up a projection on his watch. “Miss Hamlin, I apologize. Your ex-husband had you listed as his only emergency contact. I’m sorry to tell you he has passed.” Vicky’s mind was frantic, she assumed this would happen. Her ex-husband was a space marine, sent to travel the galaxy. She just never assumed his message would be to her. Grief for their son, grief for the loss of a friend. Her hand quivered and her stare was blank. “I don’t know.” She tried to speak but one of the men stopped her. “It’s ok Miss Hamlin, you don’t need to speak. This news is horrible and we don’t want to further ruin your day. You ex left a transmission, in his will he asked for it to be delivered to you in three different ways. We don’t know why but here you are. Transmissions are Federally protected for mission directive, please keep it confidential. ” They handed her a packet. “We will also send it to your chip and by audio message. I will say the message is disturbing and broken. It also was for an official report so he uses some report jargon that may be confusing. I apologize again, Miss Vicky. The space force will be in contact in the coming weeks for compensation and therapy. If you’d like we can wipe your chip clean of this interaction if asked?” Vicky shook her head, “no I’d like to remember this. I need to tell Lincoln.” The men nodded, shook her hand, and left.
She walked into the living room, Lincoln looked up at her. “Lincoln,” her son smiled. “It’s ok Mommy, I know.” The line stung her instantly: a mixture of fear and wonder. “Know what?” Lincoln tapped the ground and rocked. One, two, three he tapped. “Dad is gone.” The words burned and it took everything in Vicky not to break. “How do you know this?” Lincoln turned back to the TV emotionless. “Because dad always said as long as the moon appears at three in the morning he’d be there. And when I looked this morning, there was no moon.” Vicky didn’t know what to think autism was a blessing and a curse. A blessing that such vital moments of human emotion could be masked in the mind. The curse being she never knew how to read her own son. “Mommy needs to lay down.” She walked towards her room and fell back onto her bed as the tear began.
It was hours into the night before she could listen to the final transmission of her ex. She turned on the audio in her head and listened.
Paul’s voice broke the silence:
“Transmission #2445 6122340:
Broken wiring I didn’t see, miss reported to you. Having issues everyday transmission failing here. Last message the system sent “world”. No light is showing very dark in here and it’s taking forever to gauge floating in space. It’s approaching fast like something in a trance-like dream. Reuploading into that data log I had created, hope news that we send will share. The system maybe needs reboot. I’d have HQ forget last message with incorrect noted time. Need assistance but the object now is moving. I sent a notice that if I’m delayed for like two days the crew on galaxy will wait. We have to sit on this in, but taking forever. It started moving again last forward stopped us from continuing mission. A log of history is uploading. I sent with “wish” our AI I just programmed. Could home base have tech build back files soon. I can hear Will but he always disconnects. I’d love to have you fix this to finally have the answers. Spacecraft moon is near and creature is back.”
The audio cut abruptly into static, as it did, the light in the hallway turned on and there stood her son. “Sorry to bother you mommy.” Lincoln walked to the corner of her bed. “It’s ok, sit up here with me.” He sat down next to her. “What are you listening to?” He could see the audio recording in her eyes. “It’s your fathers last transmission.” His eyes lit up, “can I listen to it?” She was about to say no, but to deny her son his fathers final words would be hurt enough. “Yes Lincoln but the message is spooky and it seems like your dad was in distress, is it ok if I print it out for you to read?” Lincoln nodded, he was always a good kid. Vicky printed out the message and handed it to her son. “Time for dinner, is it fine if I order a pizza?” Lincoln smiled, “pepperoni!” She smiled, “with only three pepperoni’s?” “Yes,” came the excited response. Lincoln ran off back to the living room as Vicky googled for pizza and placed her order.
“The pizza will be here in a few minutes.” Lincoln sat on the ground scribbling on Paul’s transmission. Wonder what that’s all about? The doorbell rang and this time she made sure to wait till the third ring. “Thank you.” She walked back with the pizza and set the box on the coffee table. “Want to watch a movie?” Lincoln stood up, “Yes, mommy. Look!” He lifted the paper to Vicky’s face, “Dad’s message.” She grabbed the paper and noticed her son unsurprisingly had highlighted every third word. As she read however the shock hit her, and the paper fell.
Broken wiring I didn’t see, miss reported to you. Having issues everyday transmission failing here. Last message the system sent “world”. No light is showing very dark in here and it’s taking forever to gauge floating in space. It’s approaching fast like something in a trance-like dream. Reuploading into that data log I had created, hope news that we send will share. The system maybe needs reboot. I’d have HQ forget last message with incorrect noted time. Need assistance but the object now is moving. I sent a notice that if I’m delayed for like two days the crew on galaxy will wait. We have to sit on this in, but taking forever. It started moving again last forward stopped us from continuing mission. A log of history is uploading. I sent with wish our ai I just programmed. Could home base have tech build back files soon. I can hear Will but he always disconnects. I’d love to have you fix this to finally have the answers. Spacecraft moon is near and creature is back.
