Chapter Text
Twice as many stars as usual...
Rui always loved the space.
Since he was little, for his third birthday, his grandparents got him a blanket with the night sky on it. He used to look at it for hours before going to sleep, mesmerised with the stars and constellations that he couldn't look in the sky.
That love for the space always stayed, even when other kids didn't, even when he was alone. And as he grew up, it only intensified. It stayed, no matter what.
★
His birthday came again, seventeen years old, bug number if you ask him. Things have changed a lot since he was three. But most importantly, he learned to do machines and robots.
As usual birthdays, Nene came to his house, and they just stayed in his room doing nothing but talk about random things while they were doing other things. It was that way since Rui was 12 years old.
"And a boy from your class asked me out." Nene said, not looking up from her game boy.
"Oh, how lovely! Did you accept this time?" Rui said while fixing a machine, clearly knowing the answer.
"No, never. And what do you mean with "this time"? It only happened like twice!" The girl protested. "By the way, what are you doing?"
Rui smirked. He was waiting for that question. With pride, he got up and showed Nene a little machine.
It was like an old game console, but instead of buttons, it had a keyboard below the screen. It was metallic grey, and the back was open since Rui was still fixing it.
"Let me show you my new invention!"
Nene looked at the machine for some seconds before looking at Rui again.
"... a weird game boy?"
"Oh, no! My dear Nene, this is more than what it looks like. The thing is that it's not finished. I still have to put the antenna." Rui explained.
Nene looked at Rui, clearly concerned. She already knew what that was. The "I want to talk to aliens" project, as she called. Last time, the machine exploted on Rui's terrace, and a part of that machine went flying into Nene's house, breaking a window.
Of course, the last thing Nene wanted was another broken window. "Are you still with that idea? Do you want to pay another broken window?"
Rui just shrugged and smirked. "Oh, Nene, it was just one time. I learned my lesson, that's why this version is smaller and has no quimical that can explote. And don't you want to know what can be out there in the space?"
"You're probably just going to catch the waves of some human satellite and find nothing..." Nene said.
"The space is really whide, Nene, out there can be millions of species we don't know about random that don't know about us." Rui sat down again and started working at the machine again.
"And they probably have different waves or are too far away from us..." Nene sighed. "It's a bad idea, I tell you. And even if you watched something, what if it's dangerous?"
That idea didn't even come to Rui's mind. What if he finds something dangerous? What if whatever is out there in space is hostile? But... what would be better than finding out?
★
Nene left some hours later, and with her three slices of cake desapared from the kitchen. Rui kept working at the machine until it was past midnight.
02:10
It doesn't work.
02:25
A problem with the battery, an easy fix.
02:30
Finally, he finished the machine, time to see if it works... he pressed the button to turn it on, and the screen lit up. First 30 minutes, nothing. It's already 03:00 AM, he starts to get impatient.
30 minutes later, he taps his foot impatient. He was starting to lose hope. The machine was supposed to be fast to at least find a satellite or something.
40 minutes later, he had already given up. Yet he kept it on, just in case. He was starting to feel sleepy. It was already 04:10 AM, maybe he should catch some sleep... tomorrow he has classes...
Connection found! Send a message?
Rui looked at the machine, the text in the screen glowing like the stars Rui loves so much.
"Yes, yes, yes! Cmon', work! Please, please, please..." He said while typing a message in Morse code (he felt it was more useful than English, even if the message was in English).
Just a simple "Hello from Earth".
He didn't really expect a response, but he was wishing for one. Five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes...
A message lit the screen, and it wasn't his.
"Hi."