Hyperwaves

When the radio waves finally reached us, we were excited and we were surprised.

Excited because there was life out there, surprised because we weren’t expecting them to come knocking on our door.

But we were even more surprised when we deciphered the message and found instructions on how to reach the next level of communication technology: Hyperwave Communication.

It wasn’t as if we could ignore it, because it was staring right at us; and it wasn’t as if we could reply and engage in a real time conversation asking questions, because we did not yet possess the technology to do that.

The research took us through a rocky path.

People died from radiation.

Buildings imploded.

Vast amounts of land were rendered sterile.

And it wasn’t just the lab research that was dangerous.

Whenever there were experiments, there always seemed to exist a risk of destroying life in a random direction, often in a remote part of the planet.

Experiments were attempted in orbit, but it almost seemed like the chance of accidental death was even higher.

Public opinion swung back and forth, but most of the time it was against the whole thing, and it took several decades of on and off efforts until we finally mastered the technology.

The only real advantage that the general public saw in the research was that, quite often, the scientists involved would also perish.

But others would soon follow their steps and resume everything: the investigation, the experimentation, the annihilation.

And all that without even mentioning the economic cost: the huge toll that this had on the population, the negative impact on the economy, all while results weren’t being achieved.

But we endured.

We persevered.

And our species finally mastered Hyperwave technology.

The first receivers were finally engaged, and the first messages were suddenly received.

The public could finally breathe in relief, knowing that the technology worked properly and that nobody else would have to die because of it.

We sent a message back even before we decoded theirs: We had made it! We were alive and thriving!

No one replied.

Just the same old message coming in, over and over again. A recorded signal from a civilization that had long abandoned their emitting station.

We soon managed to decode the message.

And then the riots began.

And the government was overthrown.

And the scientists were put in jail.

Science paid the price and life became much harder.

And, at least for a while, no one would be allowed to follow the message’s instructions in the pursuit of interdimensional waves.