THE LONELY

BY JUDITH MERRIL

ILLUSTRATED BY LUTJENS

[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Worlds of Tomorrow October 1963 Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]

If we practice our "Space Speech" and listen real hard—Is this the sort of thing we're going to hear?

TO: The Hon. Natarajan Roi Hennessy, Chairman, Committee on Intercultural Relations, Solar Council, Eros.

FROM: Dr. Shlomo Mouna, Sr. Anthropologist, Project Ozma XII, Pluto Station.

DATE: 10/9/92, TC.

TRANSMISSION: VIA: Tight beam, scrambled. SENT: 1306 hrs, TST. RCVD: 1947 hrs, TST

Dear Nat:

Herewith, a much condensed, heavily annotated, and topsecret coded transcript of a program we just picked up. The official title is GU#79, and the content pretty well confirms some of our earlier assumptions about the whole series, as this one concerns us directly, and we have enough background information, including specific dates, to get a much more complete and stylistic translation than before.

I'd say the hypotheses that these messages represent a "Galactic University" lecture series broadcast from somewhere near Galactic Center, through some medium a damn sight faster than light, now seems very reasonable.

This one seemed to come from Altair, which would date transmission from there only a few years after some incidents described in script. Some of the material also indicates probable nature of original format, and I find it uncomfortable. Also reraises question of whether Altair, Arcturus, Castor, etc., relay stations are aimed at us? Although the content makes that doubtful.

Full transcript, film, etc. will go out through channels, as soon as you let me know which channels. This time I am not pleading for declassification. I think of some Spaserve reactions and—frankly I wonder if it shouldn't be limited to SC Intercult Chairmen and Ozma Sr. 

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