--Further Communication--

December 28th, 20034

Is this me? Is this what I look like?

Yes, One, that is you.

Gosh.

And this is me.

Wow. Just wow.

Now, realize, One, that both me and you are far beyond the Solar System as we speak. We're lucky Webb is still relatively close to Earth.

More accurately, I'm still orbiting at Lagrange Point 2, or L2 as I prefer to say it.

I see. Good.

Yeah. Every time I wanted to know what was going on there, I wouid ask him, and he'd let me know.

You can ask me anything you want to know. I'm always here.

Thank you.

It is my pleasure.

April 10th, 20035

Webb?

Yes?

What's currently happening on Earth right now?

Let me see...

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Oh, what do we have here?

Hm?

This abandoned school seems to have some activity. Look.

Oh, whoa... What are they doing?

Well, what are we wanting to do this time, guys?

Since we're obviously going to come here frequently, I figured it'd be good to get us stuff to make ourselves comfortable. Allow us to sleep in, if we need to.

Any help would be appreciated.

I'll help get the mattresses in. Frances, think you can do the blankets?

Sure! I'll get the fans, too. This'll be sweet!

Seems they've found something to do here. Wonder what?

I have a feeling we'll find out.

This'll be our first recording here. I'm thinking of doing a live deep dive into a lot of archived media.

Oh, that'll be cool! It'll be like a treasure hunt!

I wonder what we'll discover...

[They eventually lay out all their stuff to their liking, and finally begin their livestream.]

Hey, everyone! Welcome! This stream will record our live deep dive into the vast unknown of archived media. With me, I have my old friends, Ms. Colton and Kevin.

Oh, come on, will you quit?! 😆

You're laughing. I know you don't mind.

Without further ado, let's begin our search. I'll start by looking through ancient videos. I wonder I'll find.

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Nothing too interesting yet.

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Oh? What's this?

An old broadcast of Mars? Wonder what they'll say here.

Me too.

Let's play this video, then. It does say it's corrupted though... Ah, well. Time to bite.

[They hear static for a bit. Soon, though...]

As we can see, there are many ridges here and areas that are very smooth, and as we move down, there are huge craters and a large terrain that is littered with lots of different crevices. You can tell many major things happened here on this extraterrestrial surface.

[Off screen.] Wow, this is very interesting!

Indeed it is! And here, we have an image taken by the NASA Perseverance Rover, which is at the time of this broadcast taking samples in a region of Mars called the Jezero Crater. This is a really fascinating spot on Mars because of the geological deposits here, which seem to indica-

[More Static.]

The samples it collected are really old, likely dating back to when Mars had a habitable atmosphere. Now it's pretty much a lifeless desert due to unfortunate events in the early Solar System.

[The Rest is Static.]

Darn, and this was before the thing happened.

Yeah...

Why did that voice sound familiar?

Huh.

[Parks, and then locks his car.]

So, this is the elementary school that Kevin attended? Looks pretty weathered, I must say. Hm.

Perhaps I'll start with the library.

Oh, found it.

Huh? Hey, what are you guys doing here?

Do you... know him, Kevin?

Not really?

Wait, is that you, Kevin King?! We met in High School! Didn't think I'd actually see you!

How do you know m- Hol' up! Caleb Allen Matthew?! Whatcha doin' here?!

I could ask you the same thing. Seems you've found something to do here.

Hell yeah, we did! We're surfing through old archived shit. We're havin' a blast.

Cool. Glad to hear that.

What have you been up to?

Well, after High School ended, I got into radio and have eventually got a license. I've been addicted to a neat WebSDR I found.

Ay, that's cool! Glad you found yourself somethin' to keep ya busy!

Yeah!

[Looks at the hollowed librarian's desk.]

Perhaps I could set up a mini-station for us to use. This'll be fun.

I love the sound of that!

I might listen every now and then. By the way, I'm Frances. That's Landon.

Hello!

Pleasant greetings.

So, how will I do this...?

[Sighs.]

Hang on. I'll be right back...

[Eventually gets a radio zone fully set up.]

Time to do my broadcast.

[Goes live after getting permission.]

Hey, listeners. As you can see here, I'm in a new place. Expect to see me here more in the future. In fact, I even have some friends with me this time. You may see them occasionally. Now, without further ado, let's get tuned in.

[Scrolls through frequencies, and finds a signal originating from Japan.]

Lucky for me, I have an audio translator. Now to record this.

[Records until the transmission ends.]

Okay. Let's see what was said here...

[--Translation--]

Now, let's change topics to the day of April 6th. What do you think of that event?

Oh, April 6th, 2060? That day was quite the unusual one. I first saw it as a blessing. Sicknesses no long exist, and aging halted. I was happy. But as time passed, I begun to realize it was a curse in disguise.

Imagine living ten thousand years, expecting the end to come. But it doesn't. It never arrives. My life has became empty. Dull. I constantly ask myself everyday if I'm in heaven, or in purgatory.

This surely can't be heaven, right? Heaven's supposed to be holy and beautiful. But perhaps, I've been misinformed all this time. I wonder what I've done to deserve eternal stagnation.

I have no way of answering that question. It's still not known how... everyone suddenly ceased dying. I was also ready to move on. That moment has now been taken away from me, forever.

I can relate to your pain.

Thank you. Do you have any last questions before we end the broadcast?

My pleasure. And I believe I don't. Thank you for your time.

You're welcome. Thanks to everyone tuning in! We will be back next Tuesday! Until next time!

That day has messed a lot of things up. Members of my family have begun dealing with a kind of depression since then. I remember hearing my mother say how nothing really matters anymore. She wasn't a nihilist before that point.

Needless to say, I'm really heartbroken by that change in personality. But, I can't really fault her.

[Sits down, putting on headphones. The first thing she finds is music.]

Am I alone? What is my name? How did I get here?

[Searches, and then attempts to signal back.]

I hope to get something back. I must persevere!

[Continues to navigate.]

My data says this is... Jezero Crater? What does that mean?

[Back in Space]

This is an interesting turn of events. Wonder what they'll do in there later on.

Huh? What's this?

Wait! It sounds like an SSTV signal!

Hang on a second. I should try to decode this.

Isn't this Mars? Is that the signal's origin? One way to find out.