The Quiet Between Waking

At 3:17 a.m., Nia calibrated the lunar array while Owen slept. For eleven years, their survey had listened for another civilization and found only static. Tonight, even the static stopped. On every monitor, the stars vanished at once. The Moon remained, bright and close, but beyond it lay perfect blackness. Owen jerked awake and seized her wrist. "I dreamed this room," he said. "You were asleep, and I was the only person awake." The stars returned. Then the public dream register flashed: every sleeper on Earth had dreamed from Owen's eyes.