The sender was silent for a long breath before the beeping picked up once again from the other end. The music wound into its own harp solo shape and sound, and the human envoy stared at the alien transmission device. It rested on a table before its human counterpart, a miniature wheel within a wheel.
The envoy had had this particular alien construction since the first voyage to their new home. He had still not deciphered the cue to make it actually sing, so now, he fidgeted with the dials of the thought-controlled device. The other end of the string trembled and quaked on an instrument. The envoy spun the wheel and fidgeted with the dials.
The alien sent out a series of vibrations that seemed to shake the ground between the envoy and the small device. He held the device studied it, stared at it, and after a breath, spun the dial again. The music slowly rose and fell, and the envoy held a breath.
The next piece of the song was a distorted image tracing in circular motion. The envoy's eyes widened and then he smiled, spinning the dial once more. The third piece was a distorted image of a tree, with leaves, and branches. He stared at the spinning and spinning dial on the other side of the device, his brow furrowed.
The envoy had seen this piece before and scratched his scalp. He looked over to the other end of the transmission to see that still their sole inhabitant, the woman with the extraordinary chestnut hair, sat there, staring at the device as well.
Too much time passed, and the envoy could not make it work. He had this lamp, for some purpose other than control of this device. So, he stood up and walked to his desk, taking the lamp from its hook and walking back to the device. He sat down at his desk, and the alien had noticed the only human in there, a lamp in one hand, and their device in the other.
An expressionless smile passed over their face, and their eyes flickered over to the envoy and their device. The envoy twisted and turned the little dials and pushed on it to give it more room. He did this with the lamp, and the lamp lengthened. The envoy smiled and put the lamp up to his lips. The other continued to stare at him, watching how he handled the lamp even with their device in the same hand.
The envoy sang into the lamp and the lamp dimmed, but there was no response. The envoy smiled, and put the lamp up to his ear. The lamp started to purr. The envoy tried again, and the lamp purred louder. The envoy listened more intently and followed the purring sound.
He spotted the wheel controlling the dials on his side. He quickly spun it around and scratched his head. He stared at the device, and he hummed a few notes into the lamp. The device purred and the lamp dimmed. It was a sound that the envoy knew well.
It was his own childhood instrument.
Now, the envoy had the idea.
He looked back to the device, and the envoy smiled. He slipped the lamp down to his lap and put the device to his ear, his eyes now intent upon the device that was throbbing in his hand again, and threw the lamp onto the table. The lamp widened.
The envoy sang. The woman at the other end of the transmission looked at the device and gasped. Its dials spun around, and the device began to light up colors. Blue and red flashing colors lit up the surface of the table where the device now sat. The musical language the envoy knew well began to seep out.
He hummed a note and it replied in kind. He hummed a more complicated tune and the alien device was more of a perfect echo. He stood up and sang a more complicated series of notes. The device sung its own song, but the envoy had composed this composition and began to sing over top of the alien melody.
The device began to light up colors in rapid succession.
The envoy began to sing even faster, and their device rapidly transformed colors, growing more and more intense. The envoy started slowly in tune, and then faster and faster, the colors intensified, and the envoy rocketed his voice to the point of pain. The colors were now beyond imaginable, as the envoy sang an endless and impossibly intense series of notes, lines and colors spiraling from what was now a blazing ball of fire that was swinging from his hands with his voice rising.
The envoy stopped singing and the ball of colors dissapeared. The envoy fell over the table, wheezing softly in pain. He breath heaved in and out. The envoy still sat down, breathing heavily.
It was quiet.
This was ridiculous.
Everything hurt.
The envoy had to get up.
The woman at the other end of the transmission stared. The envoy wiped his face, trying to bring himself up to his legs.
The envoy stood up and ran to the other side of the room, toward the window. He stretched his arms as far as they would go and opened the window, steping outside into the cooling night air, panting heavily. The envoy leaned against the window and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
The other end of the device had stopped singing.
And the envoy knew that he had done something right.
The envoy turned and faced his little room, eager to find out what the device had done.
The envoy's left eye twitched, the sound of the device slowing and returning to the regular frequencies of life. The envoy spun the dials and the device stopped, and the envoy stared at his device with a tinge of uncertainty.
The pendulum swung out of the device and fell to the side. The envoy turned around to face the box in the center of the table, and the envoy's heart skipped a beat.
The device stood a hand taller, now standing upright on the table. It began to hum, slowly. The envoy watched it, wondering what it would do. It hummed louder, and the envoy's face lit up with a grin.
The envoy started to pace around the device, staring into its eye.
It hummed louder and louder, and the envoy's face widened in joy.
The envoy picked up the lamp from the table and grabbed his device in the other hand. He raced to the other side of the table, and he knocked into the envoy's foot.
