At 4am, Quinn tiptoed to the kitchen for a glass of water. He watched the setting Moon. The huge object orbiting the Moon was too small to see with the naked eye. He heard strange noises coming from the bedroom, so he rushed back. Nisha, Priya, and Sophie were struggling to talk in their sleep but couldn’t utter a word. After about 20 seconds of this, they woke up and gasped for air. Sanjay and Amy woke up in a panic.
The girls jumped onto the bed with Nisha.
“Neesh, what happened?” Quinn said.
“The voices are back, and they’re more intense. The visions are fully dreamlike. I imagined the Moon, and the view shifted somehow, and I saw the earth, our Earth. I gotta tell the DHS right now.”
After Nisha alerted the DHS she tweeted, “#WeirdSounds and #WeirdDreams likely coming from object orbiting Moon. #Astronomy.”
Priya and Sophie trembled under the covers.
“What happened in your dreams?” Nisha said.
“The voices came from everywhere,” Priya said. “Like a loud ringing in my ears. I couldn’t understand them. I imagined the Moon, but I couldn’t visualize the aliens. I had a view of the Earth out of a window.”
“That’s what I noticed too,” Sophie said. “I imagined things moving inside. They might be machines or something. I might have been dreaming. It’s not as though I really saw them.”
News of the voices and dreams spread around the world. The stock market opened down 5%.
Quinn made breakfast for everyone while they waited for the President’s planned press conference on the big screen. She walked to the lectern.
“Good morning,” the President said. “As you may know, an unidentified object about 20 miles in diameter is in orbit around the Moon. We know nothing more than this. The objective of a planned resupply mission to the lunar base station by SpaceX has been changed to orbit the Moon so we can observe the object. The mission will launch this afternoon, six hours from now. That’s all the information I have for now. I won’t answer questions since I know nothing more. Thank you.”
Quinn smiled.
“That’s the shortest speech she’s ever given, don’t you think Neesh?”
“Yeah, that’s because she has nothing to say. She doesn’t know any more than me. Everything I know about this I tweet to the world. I want to be as transparent as I can be.”
Nisha walked over to her computer and tweeted, “We must all be careful about first contact. Don’t provoke them by transmitting greetings. #Astronomy.”
“Mom?” Priya said. “Do I still need to go to school anymore?”
“Of course. Why do you ask?”
“If the aliens come down and destroy us, nothing will matter. I might as well enjoy what’s left of my life.”
“Why do you think they would destroy us?”
“Because they always destroy us or take us over in the movies.”
Nisha glanced over at Quinn and smiled.
“Pree, I’ll admit this is the best excuse I’ve ever known for avoiding school, but you should go. I know I said you could stay home earlier, but let’s take this one day at a time. Sophie and Amy, you should go too. We don’t know what’s going to happen and regardless of the outcome, more education leads to better opportunity. We may need your knowledge to help our human species. I doubt they would destroy us. They may not care about us one way or another other than basic curiosity. This might be a probe. Living beings might not be inside the spaceship.”
The kids got ready and left for school. Nisha walked into Quinn’s studio where he worked on a new sculpture. Nisha examined the clay figure closely, trying to push recent events out of her mind.
“What has your brilliant mind concocted now? I can’t tell what this represents.”
“Isn’t it obvious Neesh? This masterpiece is a mother and child looking to the sky. I watched you and Priya using the telescope and I got inspired.”
She turned her head sideways and walked around it, attempting to get a distinct perspective.
“Oh, I understand now. I can’t decide whether you’re a genius or crazy person.”
“I’m a crazy genius.”
He gave her a big hug.
Nisha walked back to her computer and performed another analysis of the Twitter data. The voices were coming from the object in orbit around the Moon.
She tweeted, “The object is orbiting the Moon every two hours. Living occupants may or may not be on board. We must keep an open mind. #WeirdSounds #astronomy.”
Soon afterwards, the voices returned, and paralyzed Nisha. A minute later, she ran into Quinn’s studio.
“Something is different now Quinn.”
“Neesh, you look like you’ve seen a ghost. What’s different?”
“The voices are back, but they aren’t the same.”
“What’s not the same?”
“The voices sound more direct, as though they were trying to communicate or affect us in some way. They weren’t random ringing in the ear like before. I still don’t understand them. I felt static and hissing. The voices entered my mind in the same way as when I think. They paralyzed me for a few seconds. They released me and I ran back here to see you.”
Nisha sprinted back to her computer with Quinn behind her.
She tweeted, “There’s something different about the voices. Paralysis? More soon. #WeirdSounds #astronomy.”
Nisha got an incoming message.
“Quinn, Pree messaged me. Something happened. She wants to come home from school. I’ll be back.”
She rushed out of the house and arrived at Priya’s school in a few minutes. Recess began. Priya spotted Nisha first and ran to the car.
“Mom, I want to go home,” she said. “I’m sick to my stomach again. So is Sophie. They left Amy alone, but she is going home to her house. Sophie and I became paralyzed for a minute when the voices came. They affected us directly this time. Then I walked out of the classroom, but I had no control of myself. I felt self-aware, but I could do nothing but watch myself walk. I snapped out of the trance once I walked out of the classroom. Some of the students in my class laughed at Sophie and me.”
“Let’s go home,” Nisha said. “It’ll be okay. We’ll figure out what’s happening. I had a similar experience, but I didn’t involuntarily walk around. They paralyzed me for a few seconds.”
“I felt like a machine being remote controlled. I couldn’t stop myself,” Priya said. “But I was thinking the things I did. It was voluntary, yet it wasn’t.
“Are you serious? You lost control of yourself? That’s like hypnosis. I didn’t experience that.”
“Kind of. The motions were put into my head as though I thought them myself. Then I almost threw up, like I was dizzy.” Priya said.
They arrived home. Nisha advised the DHS of the latest developments and she tweeted, “New #WeirdSounds development: My daughter felt remote controlled/suggested for 30 seconds. Anyone else notice this?”
Nisha heard noise coming from the bathroom. She rushed to the closed door, where Sophie stood.
“What’s wrong?”
“Pree’s getting sick.”
“I’m okay,” Priya said, behind the door. “I’ll be fine.”
Sophie cleared her throat repeatedly. Nisha put her arm around her.
“Let’s go into my office,” Nisha said. “We’ll wait for her there.
Sophie watched as Nisha communicated with the scientific community. Eventually, Priya emerged from the bathroom and sat with them for a couple of hours.
Quinn listened to the business report on the radio while he worked in his studio.
Reporter: “World stock markets continued to drop throughout the day with the US averages down 8% by the close of trading. At one point, the market dropped 5% in only a few minutes when Twitter’s now famous astronomer and WeirdSounds poster Dr. Nisha Chandra sent out a tweet stating her daughter had been remote controlled by something. Many others also reported becoming remote controlled once Dr. Chandra broke the news. The victims were young.”
Quinn ran into Nisha’s computer room.
“You were on the national news because of the tweet you sent out about Priya becoming remote controlled. I guess I need to listen to the news to find out what’s happening with my family.”
“Sorry. I saw how focused you were, and the girls needed to be by themselves. So, I didn’t call you in.”
“Oh, okay. Well, you can move stock markets now.”
“No way,” Nisha said as she turned to Priya.
“Way Mom. Ten million people follow you. The major news services follow you too. Many thousands more follow you every few minutes.”
“She’s right,” Quinn said. “People listen to you now. You’re a celebrity.”
“I don’t want that,” Nisha said. “I want to educate people about science and astronomy. I want people to know what I know. I wish I could turn back the clock. I’m getting too many interview requests. I need to do my work.”
A few hours later, the SpaceX mission lifted off and headed for lunar orbit. No transmissions coming from the object in orbit around the Moon had been detected with standard instruments. Only static.
Sanjay arrived home after school.
“How was your day, Sanj?” Quinn said.
“Not good. A classmate sleepwalked in the middle of class. Some of the other students made fun of him like they do to me sometimes. I hate them.”
“It happened to Pree and Sophie too,” Quinn said. “We need to figure out what to do.”
“What’s happening Mom?”
“I’m not sure yet,” she said.
Later in the evening, Nisha, and her family along with Sophie watched a live video feed of the space flight to the Moon on the big screen as they ate dinner. After dark, they walked outside and gazed at the Moon and the object in orbit through the telescope.
“Mom,” Priya said. “Do we need to go to school tomorrow?”
“I think you should,” Nisha said. “We should continue to lead our daily lives. We shouldn’t let these events stop us from living. You can’t let bullies at school rule your life either.”
“Mom?”
“No Pree, you should go.”
“But—”
“Keep going for now Pree. If events turn for the worse, I’ll find a way to home school you.”
“Fine,” Priya said. “But if I get hypnotized and sleepwalk into the street and get killed, it’s your fault.”
Nisha smiled and looked up. She glanced at Quinn.
“Can you believe Pree? She thinks one little alien-induced remote controlled sleepwalk can get her out of going to school.”
Nisha paused when she saw Priya wiping her sweaty hands on her pants.
“Sorry Pree. I’ve become used to these voices. Only a week ago, we thought we were going insane. Okay you can stay home tomorrow.”
“Yes.” Priya said. “I’ll still do my homework.”
“I’ll do mine too,” Sophie said.
Priya peered through the telescope.
“The ship looks like a little dot. How can such a small spacecraft affect us this way?”
“I’m not sure,” Nisha said. “Remember, this ship is 20 miles in diameter. At first, I think we overheard their transmissions. Now, they’re intentionally transmitting to us.”
“Why can’t the voices be heard by everyone?” Priya said.
“There’s something about the structure of our brains which allows us to be tuned in.”
“What do they want?” Sophie said.
“I’m not sure if they want anything. They might be stopping by to observe us. They might be playing with us in the way we play with bugs.”
They watched the object orbiting the Moon for a while and walked inside. Nisha hurried to her computer to read the latest news.
She tweeted, “Listen to children affected by #WeirdSounds. Share your experiences here. Something is different now. #Astronomy.”
Nisha watched the replies scroll down the screen. She motioned for Priya and Sophie to come over to the computer.
“Listen to this. Most of the children who heard the voices ended up sleepwalking like you. They got sick too, from dizziness and anxiety.”
“Is this good or bad that others are sleepwalking?” Sophie said.
“I think it’s bad,” Priya said. “They can hypnotize and control all of us.”
Sophie watched the comments scroll down the screen.
“I want this to end.”
“Me too,” Priya said.
Priya glanced at Nisha, who studied her Twitter stream.
“Mom, I’m tired. Can we sleep in your room tonight again?”
“Sure,” Nisha said. “Get the sleeping bags. I’ll be in soon.”
For an hour Nisha watched her Twitter stream, which included the latest news from all over the world. Quinn and Sanjay came in to check on her.
“It’s time to go to sleep, Neesh,” Quinn said. “The way things are going; you’ll need all the sleep you can get.”
Nisha yawned.
“Okay. I’ll admit I—”
“Admit what? Hello?”
Sanjay frowned.
“They’re at it again Dad. They’re in a trance.”
Quinn glanced back at Nisha.
“Neesh?”
They studied her for a long minute. She finally woke up.
“Ugh. Excruciating.” Nisha said. “I couldn’t move, but I watched you trying to get a response from me. I couldn’t do anything but watch. The sounds were in my mind, and I felt paralyzed. I had no will to fight. I need to alert people.”
After she notified the DHS, she tweeted, “The owners of the #WeirdSounds paralyzed me. They’re doing this to us intentionally. I’m sure of this. #Astronomy.”
She watched for the replies. As she anticipated, many people experienced the same thing.
“Quinn, where’s Priya and Sophie?” Nisha said.
“They’re in our bedroom. Or I think they are.”
They ran back into the bedroom. They were standing in a corner of the room huddling next to each other. Nisha tried to get them to wake up.
“Pree? Sophie?”
Priya ran into Nisha’s arms with Sophie close behind.
“Mom, they hypnotized me. I almost couldn’t stop them. They wanted me to leave the bedroom. I had to force myself to stop. Two different people existed in my own mind. I wasn’t afraid in the moment, but now I am.”
“Me too,” Sophie said. “The sounds are the same as always, but now they’re affecting me more physically.”
“It’s okay, we’re here,” Nisha said.
She hugged Sophie too and realized it might be impossible to protect them from whatever this was. She couldn’t protect herself either.
“I’m tired, but I don’t want to go to sleep,” Priya said. “They might take me over again.
“Me too,” Sophie said. “I’m definitely not going to sleep.”
“Okay guys, you don’t need to go to school tomorrow.” Nisha said.
“Okay,” Priya said.
Sophie smiled weakly.
Nisha shook her head at Quinn.
“You know things are bad when they don’t get excited about a day off from school.”
“You’re right about that,” he said.
Nisha wrote one last tweet for the day, “The entity in space briefly hypnotized and controlled my child. Watch out for this and watch over them. #WeirdSounds #astronomy.”
They had trouble sleeping that night.