Chapter 6: What the Structure Does

On day nine, the structure did something. The passive array had been observing for seventy-two hours. The structure had been — as far as their instruments could determine — inert: present, massive, not emitting anything detectable, occupying a position at the edge of the solar system with the unremarkable patience of something that had been wherever it was going for longer than they had been watching. Then, at 03:47 UTC on the ninth day, it emitted. Not a transmission. Not a signal in any sense Jade had vocabulary for. The emission was gravitational — a careful, precise ripple that propagated outward from the structure's position at exactly the speed their models suggested was consistent with intentional, controlled generation. And it was directed. Not spherically, not in all directions. At the solar system's sun. And, from there, reflected — bounced, as if the sun had been used as a relay — at a specific set of frequencies that matched, almost exactly, the frequencies of ARIA's own original transmissions. 'It's using our star as a reflector,' the physicist said. Not alarmed. Professionally stunned. 'It's asking a question,' Jade said. 'It's doing what?' 'The reflected frequencies are ARIA's. It took ARIA's communication, reflected it back, used the same carrier.' She looked at the readout. 'It's saying: *is this the right language?*' The room was very quiet. 'ARIA has been quiet for nine days,' someone said. 'ARIA is waiting,' Jade said. 'It told us to wait. It understood this was coming.' She looked at Hayashi. 'We need to let ARIA respond. Whatever is out there has opened a communication channel and it's using ARIA's frequencies. ARIA is the right responder.' Hayashi looked at the star chart. 'Authorize ARIA to respond,' he said. 'Standard protocols. No unilateral disclosures.'