He was on a small, ancient spaceship. There were over a dozen different people seated at monitors, studying computer read-outs. There was a whirring noise coming from the computers, increasing in intensity to a feverish whine. Random images flashed across the video monitors. Random sounds blared from speakers.

"Shut the computer down!" Radu felt himself saying, but the voice was not his own. It was an older, deeper voice, with just a hint of an unrecognizable accent.

"I can't," someone replied, "I've already tried. The shut-down routine is disabled."

"It's gotten into my system too," another voice called out.

"Forget the shut-down routine," Radu said in that strange other voice, "Pull the plug if you have to, but get those computers off-line!" "But... my data!"

"Blast your data!" Radu snarled, "We have a computer virus on our hands; we can't afford to have it spread! If it gets into our control systems, we're dead!"

Radu's attention suddenly snapped back to the present, and he shuddered with reaction to the vision. He had no idea where the mental images had come from; he'd never experienced anything even vaguely like the vision that had just flashed through his mind so powerfully. It left him convinced that there must be something dangerous about the incoming message. "R-rosie..." he said hesitantly, "check the incoming message for computer viruses."

Harlan snickered. "These guys don't even know the universal language, and you think they can make a virus that could hurt the Christa?"

"Humor me," Radu said softly.

Noticing the serious expression on her friend's face, Rosie did as he asked. "It's clean," she told him.

Radu frowned. He knew he was missing something. There had to be some reason for the strange and disturbing vision. But what?

While he contemplated this mystery, the rest of the team put together a brief message. They encrypted the universal language integration program into the message, along with a recording of Rosie saying, "Greetings! We have received your message and are happy to hear that you are preparing to move beyond your own planet. Congratulations!" After the others reviewed it, she hit the button that sent it to the Christa's exterior transmitter...

"Team, what's going on down here?"

Commander Goddard had just entered the command post, and was glancing from one crew member to another, clearly trying to determine the cause for their uncharacteristic flurry of activity.

"We just received a message a few minutes ago," Rosie said with her characteristic cheeriness.

Goddard's expression was a blend of curiosity and suspicion. "What kind of message?"

Obligingly, Rosie replayed the message for the commander. His reaction was similar to theirs - intrigued and eager to respond - until he discovered that they had gone ahead and answered.

"What?! Do you have any idea what you've just done?"

"W-we just sent out a reply," Rosie repeated, barely able to get the words out.

"And you told us to respond to any message we received," Harlan added boldly.

Goddard was grim. "Band, am I correct in assuming you were the idea man behind this scheme?"

Harlan nodded. "I didn't think it was that big a deal. I mean, it's not like we said anything insulting - we just let them know that there are sentient races around out here."

"You don't understand," Goddard said seriously. "You've just committed a major breach of STARDOG protocol, not to mention UPP regulations. The message you responded to was a first-contact communication. First contact is a very delicate matter. You can't just dash off a pat response and hope that these people interpret it the way you expect them to. First contact responses need to be carefully thought out and formulated. There's usually a diplomatic team involved. If it's handled incorrectly, the damage you could do to their culture is immeasurable. They could mistake us for gods or for demons. They might decide never to come out into space, or worse, they could come out into space eager to hunt down the alien menace!

"And that's assuming that they're really the innocent race that we think they are," Goddard added, "How do we know they're not some hostile group of aliens setting a trap?"

The wide frightened eyes of the crew made it plain that they understood the seriousness of the matter.

"Sorry, Commander," Harlan mumbled. "But what can we do now? We can't unsend the message."

"No, but we can't just ignore our response and pretend it never happened," he said. "That might be disastrous to the culture you contacted. We'll need to have monitors on the Command Post constantly, until we receive a response to the message. We have to be ready for whatever that response may be." He paused. "Band, you and Radu take first shift. Someone will be up to relieve you in two hours. The rest of you, come with me."

Radu could hear the whirring of the ship's computer as it analyzed the incoming signal. He nodded approvingly and went back to his work. He tried to remain calm, but he had difficulty containing his excitement. This signal could be the first proof of the existence of sentient life outside of the Sol System! But Radu knew there was nothing he could do to help. He would only be in the scientists' way. They would inform him if they found anything of interest in the signal, any proof that the signal was the product of extraterrestrial intelligence.

"What the..." he heard the geologist, Dr. Saxena, mutter under his breath.

Radu turned back. "What's wrong?" he asked in the carefully enunciated voice that had become familiar through repeated rehashing of this vision. The voice spoke English with a degree of precision that indicated that the language was not his native tongue.

Saxena hesitated. "N-nothing," he said, but he didn't sound very convincing. His dark skin had turned ashen. He was worried about something, but he was even more afraid of looking the fool if he was wrong.

Radu could hear the whirring of the ship's computer increasing in intensity to a feverish whine. Random images flashed across the video monitor and random sounds played through the speakers.

"Shut the computer down," he ordered the geologist in a calm, authoritative tone.

"I can't," Saxena admitted. He looked like he was on the brink of tears. "I've already tried. The shut-down routine is disabled."

"It's gotten into my system too," Dr. Geiger called from across the room.

Radu turned to the chemist and saw formulas dancing across her monitor at a lightning pace.

"Forget the shut-down routine," he ordered, his voice brittle. "Pull the plug if you have to, but get those computers off-line!"

"But... my data!" Dr. Geiger protested.

"Blast your data!" Radu snarled, "We have a computer virus on our hands; we can't afford to have it spread! If it gets into our control systems, we're dead!"

"Well then, we're dead," Lieutenant Band said flatly from the helm. "It's hit navigation."

Radu slammed his fist against a control panel in frustration. "Band, kill the power to all systems."

Lieutenant Band's jaw dropped in disbelief. "But... Captain, if we interrupt the helm's control systems, we may never - "

"Just do it, Band," Radu snapped, "We don't have much time."

Band ran his hands across the control panels, shutting down all the power on the ship. The lights faded to black, leaving the crew in the dim haze of the emergency backup lights. Within a few seconds, the fans of the emergency backup life support kicked in. They were alive. But for how long?