A white stonewall divides the world into inside and outside.
Footsteps and voices draw closer, abruptly breaking the silence of the courtyard.
Foundation Staff Member I: Did we get that progress report on the Laplace teleportation project?
Foundation Staff Member II: The teleport disk? Yeah, I guess it was a big success. They're already working on the field mission applications.
Foundation Staff Member II: Imagine if they could put it into mass production. I'd use it to commute straight to work. No more traffic.
Foundation Staff Member I: You'd better hope not. They'll start using it to summon us straight from home. It'll be like being on-call 24/7.
Foundation Staff Member II: Holy moly! I didn't think of that. Worse still, those Laplace workaholics would probably enjoy it.
Foundation Staff Member I: Well, it's not all bad. We got the data—real-time observation of the universe during the "Storm" from outer space. That's huge.
Foundation Staff Member I: I'll say, looks like the whole universe is getting reversed, though. I mean, at least it's nice to know we aren't alone.
Foundation Staff Member II: That's the spirit, man. Look for the silver lining.
Foundation Staff Member II: Why on earth wasn't that project an open volunteer call? Who wouldn't want to go to space? If I got the chance to spacewalk, I'd never let anyone forget it. You'd see it on my tombstone.
Foundation Staff Member I: I know someone on their team, Name Day. I'll ask him about it next time we're out for a drink. Too bad he is already out on another field mission.
Foundation Staff Member I: He's working for Laplace now too. Working two jobs at once, wow!
Foundation Staff Member II: Is that admiration I hear? I thought you didn't like workaholics.
Foundation Staff Member II: I just don't want to be one. Still, things are going better now. We'll have this little "Storm" problem solved soon enough.
Foundation Staff Member I: Shh, Alvin, did you hear that?
Foundation Staff Member II: What? Oh.
Music is rare in this place. But recently the ever-busy staff have felt in the right spirit to revisit old hobbies.
This is a well-known piece, one that once traveled with 26 other songs across the star fields, and still drifts there today.
Voyager: ...
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe.
Hissabeth: I know the piece. Pointer often plays that record in her office. She said it's a track from the Golden Record.
Hissabeth: The same record that Voyager 1 carries.
Name Day: Where would it have been in 1987? At the edge of the solar system?
Hissabeth: Its power won't run out until 2025, so long as there's no "Storm" to stop it.
Kiperina: What will happen to it when it runs out? Will it stop? Or be destroyed?
Hissabeth: No, nothing quite so bad. It just won't be able to send signals back to us.
Hissabeth: It will keep flying forward in space, continuing its endless journey. And if there is some alien life out there in the universe, they might find it some day.
Hissabeth: Perhaps many millions of years after the Earth is gone, swallowed up by the Sun or the "Storm."
Hissabeth: To spend so much time and resources on something that won't respond to us after such a short time on a universal scale. It sounds even more useless than our arcane skills.
When staring at the flickering lights above, it's hard to imagine that the planet beneath our feet is nothing more than a speck in the universe.
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty."
Han Zhang: They didn't send it out expecting to get a quick response.
Hissabeth: You're right. I suppose it's just like a friendly greeting.
A symbol.
Hissabeth: "Hi there. This is a gift from Earth, a place where life existed. We're trying to survive, but we may be defeated in time."
Hissabeth: Aliens or not, it's likely that it will just drift in space forever, but personally, I want to believe that someone's going to listen to that record one day.
Name Day: Maybe Ms. Kiperina can help us. If you see God up there in space, be sure to ask him what's his favorite piece on the record.
Kiperina: That kind of service is going to cost you. You'll have to pay up with your rib collection.
Han Zhang: Before we start thinking about that, we will still need to cross the year 1999, then we can figure out where that record will end up.
Voyager listens intently to every word. Some she understands; many others lie beyond her reach.
But she has something she wants to share with her friends.
A melody played for her teammates. A blessing and encouragement for a brave little astronaut.
A reply from 6.4 billion light-years away.
The message has been delivered. The recipient: a star that sings.
That is all.
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
Ode on a Grecian Urn
—John Keats
All: Three.
All: Two.
All: One.
Her species lacks what earth creatures call "hearing." But she has her own way of interpreting auditory information.
It's a melody unlike anything she's ever imagined—never felt before.
It comes from that faint blue dot:
Earth.
Невероятно.
Unbelievable.
Вечный.
Eternal.
Красивая.
Beautiful.
Foundation Staff Member I: Hmm, it sounds nice.
Foundation Staff Member II: Then keep listening. Wait, where are you going?
Foundation Staff Member I: Just let them do their thing. We should go now. We've got more work waiting for us.
Foundation Staff Member I: By the way, you were talking about those disks being prepared for field service, right?
Foundation Staff Member II: Yeah, but I told you everything I know. Ms. Pointer should give us the details in a few days.
Foundation Staff Member I: Not Ms. Hissabeth, huh? She seems real busy. I guess that's why she only sent one of her snakes to the victory party? I saw Windsong and Vila, though. Oh, and Kiperina was there surrounded by a bunch of kids, and they all stuck around right till the end.
Foundation Staff Member I: There were a few Zeno guys there too. Whenever there's booze, you can count on them showing up. I think I saw one of their pilots having a drinking contest with a newt. Crazy!
Foundation Staff Member I: They even roped in Mr. Ulrich. I caught Name Day desperately stopping Medicine Pocket from climbing up on a table to recite a speech.
Foundation Staff Member I: It was good fun. They even snapped a picture of it by the end.
Foundation Staff Member II: It's a shame I missed it. I heard Mr. Ludwig values employees' mental health, so at least he'll be hosting more of those parties soon, right? RIGHT?
The footsteps and voices fade away, and the sound of the violin comes to an end.
The star looks down on this land with curious twinkles. This distant blue planet. A one-in-ten-quadrillion miracle.
She has received golden, precious sounds and now leaves behind a voice of her own.
Voyager: humming
The first song she learned.
For the days at Plesetsk. For the days to come. For those she knew and remembers.
For the distant echoes of civilization.
Voyager: Please listen.
On this planet, she has witnessed sights she never knew existed.
Friends
Brave visitors.
The changing seasons, winding coastlines, warmth and cold, peace and conflict.
Poverty and wealth, cruelty and nobility. The rise and fall of civilizations, the birds slicing through the sky.
All on a single speck of dust in the Milky Way.
Voyager: How beautiful ... the stars are.
One seemingly useless exploration changes everything.
Just as a star from afar changes you.
1987 Cosmic Overture
