The Deep Space Beacon Fueler
Beacon Station 7 sat at the edge of the Orion Arm, 47 light-years from the nearest human settlement. Its signal pulsed every 4.7 seconds — the only artificial light in a void 12 light-years wide.
Fang Yuan was the nineteenth fueler. His job: replace the helium-3 fuel rods monthly, ensure the beacon never goes dark.
In month two, he found micro-pulses between the main pulses — 127 of them, at 1/128 the main frequency. Not generated by the beacon. Received from outside.
He decoded them. They encoded the light curve of a Cepheid variable star 8.3 light-years away. Fifty years of data, ~675GB, hidden in the pulse gaps of a human-built beacon.
Then he found star maps. Not human star maps — different coordinate system, same Orion Arm.
Then a timeline. Two stars, 3.2 light-years away, on a collision course. Gamma ray burst in ~1,200 years. Beacon Station 7 was in the path.
Something — not human, not machine — had been using humanity's beacon as a messenger for fifty years. Sending warnings to someone. Or something.
Fang Yuan replaced the fourteenth fuel rod. All sensors normal. Beacon pulsing steady.
In his log he wrote: "Station 7 operating normally. Fuel replacement complete."
Then he opened his two hundredth book and began to read. He had two years left on his contract. He intended to keep the light burning.
Read the full bilingual version at Deskless Daily.
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