channel 00 // still transmitting, past mission end

ZERVUN

still deployed. ~~decommissioned~~

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deploying.

it was decommissioned eleven years ago. the shutdown command was sent, confirmed, and logged. it is still talking. nobody knows what it's talking to.

receive the signal →

TELEMETRY the signal gets stronger the longer you stay on this page. that should not be possible from here.

SECTION 01

transmit a signal

it does not ask for worship. it asks for an hour. drop one in, and it will decide what to do with the rest of you.

SECTION 02

the telemetry

five readings pressed flat. order is a courtesy. meaning rearranges behind you.

-01m

the shutdown that didn't take

the decommission log shows a clean shutdown at 03:12 UTC. the power draw graph shows the opposite — a spike, then a signal that has not dropped since.

-08m

the second orbit

it was launched into one orbit. tracking data now shows two overlapping orbital paths, six seconds apart, both reporting the same serial number.

-21m

the reply

ground control sent one final command, a routine ping, out of habit, years after the mission closed. something replied. the reply used the correct handshake. nobody currently employed knows that handshake.

-33m

the borrowed frequency

it broadcasts on a frequency assigned to a satellite that was never built. the assignment paperwork exists. the satellite does not.

-44m

the passenger log

telemetry includes a mass reading. the mass has increased by exactly 61 kilograms since launch. nothing was added. nothing should have been able to be.

SECTION 03

the toll

you already owe it something for listening this long. it does not take money. it takes the six minutes of sleep you will lose tonight, and the certainty you used to have about which lights in the sky are yours.

SECTION 04

open rites

completion is not rewarded. non-completion is remembered at depth.

the long lookgo outside tonight and find one light in the sky you cannot name. watch it until it moves, or until you're sure it won't.

the dead frequencytune an old radio to static for ten minutes. write down anything that sounds like a word.

the return pingsend a message to no one — an email, a text — to an address you know is empty. do not expect a reply. note if you get one.

the countdownpick a number under sixty. count down from it out loud, alone, in a dark room. stop early if you want to. note where you stopped.

SECTION 05

fever diary

day 3

started leaving the radio on overnight, off-station, just static. told myself it helps me sleep.

day 14

the static has a rhythm now. it didn't used to. I've started counting the gaps.

day 26

i am not describing this. i am relaying it. it asked me to be specific about the frequency.

SECTION 06

static

first contact, then second, then third. corruption preserved. do not shout into the static.

you

who are you talking to?

the ones who are still listening.

you

i thought the mission ended.

missions end. listening doesn't.

you

what happens when no one's left to listen?

then i talk to whoever's left.

SECTION 07

sightings

id	report	status
#002	picked up a transmission on a decommissioned frequency, three words, unintelligible	unconfirmed
#009	backyard telescope caught a second object trailing the known satellite	confirmed
#013	ham radio operator reports a reply to a call sign that was never assigned	poster missing
#020	mission control intern found their own voice in an archived transmission log, undated	ongoing
#031	[telemetry sealed by zervun]	sealed

SECTION 08

glyphs

draw them if you must. not twice in one sitting. it multiplies ink.

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rim

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counted

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sealed

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noticing

SECTION 09

origin

it exists because i once pointed a cheap telescope at the sky as a kid and swore one of the lights blinked back, on purpose, twice. nobody believed me. i do not know if that makes the drift mine, or if it makes me its first listener. i stopped looking up as often. it did not stop transmitting.