Silent Signals on Mars

Living on Mars feels like standing at the edge of existence until night falls and the silence

gets so thick you can feel it pressing against your suit. The stars here don't twinkle,

they burn cold and relentless, watching you like a thousand frozen eyes.

Earth is just a pale blue speck you can cover with your thumb, a reminder of everything

you left behind. Then you see it, a flicker on the ridge, faint but deliberate,

pulsing in rhythm like a signal. You check the scanners and they scream unknown contact

for exactly three seconds before going silent. The dust around that ridge looks

disturbed, patterns too deliberate to be wind. Back inside the habitat,