They had been weightless for five days other than an occasional rocket burn to achieve an optimal orbit. The life scan had taken longer than Savanna wanted, but it was now complete. There was no evidence of unusual or obviously harmful life or environment. The lock on the door to the signal room clicked as Savanna stood outside. She grasped the handle and tugged. It resisted. When she placed a foot on the wall and jerked hard, it opened.
Inside was a small space for an operator and a simple set of four lit, labeled buttons, a switch, and a small, black screen. The back of the room was a shielded container from floor to ceiling. Within the container were several electrons, paired with electrons back on Earth contained in an almost identical box located in a bunker in Switzerland near the Great Hadron Collider site. The direction of spin of these electrons had never been determined. Three of these buttons, labeled with etched writing on gold plates, were for determining the message to be sent. Button number one said “habitable, optimal target planet.” The label on button number two read “borderline habitable, not optimal.” The message above button three said “not suitable for habitation.” Pressing a button resulted in determination of the spin of certain electrons. Once the spin was determined, the paired electrons on Earth would simultaneously “flip” to the opposite spin. Electron spin information was conveyed instantly, not bound by the constraints of traveling at the speed of light but governed by a quantum mechanical property. The identical message was sent twice, a redundancy for confirmation. Earth could know immediately that REAP 23 had found the perfect place. Savanna moved the switch up, activating the four buttons. The black screen lit up, and writing appeared. Holding down the top button, a fail-safe mechanism to prevent inadvertent sending of the message, Savanna punched button one three times in a row, as instructed by a message shown on the screen.
Three seconds later, a series of clicks was followed by a few words displayed: “Habitable planet message sent, have a nice life.” She wondered what the message said if she had hit the other two buttons. Would it have been different? She left the room coming up with messages for the last button. “Thank you for your sacrifice.” “Heaven waits.” She decided that the second button should say, “Still in hell, different division.” Or “Good luck with your bad luck.”
Maricia was awake when she returned. “I sent the message,” Savanna said.
“Is that good?” Maricia asked.
“I think so.” Savanna began to wonder if anyone was going to respond to the message. Was anyone listening? Did the bunker still exist? How had life changed since they left? Had she known the circumstances on Earth at that very instant, she would have been deeply distressed.