"What do you mean you don't think there is intelligent life out there?"

"I mean exactly that!"

"But, out of the entire cosmos? You don't think there is one iota of another civilization?"

"No, and your crazy to think otherwise."

"Fine. I bet you $50 that our satellite installation gets a signal from intelligent life, or that intelligent life comes to Earth, within two years!"

"Your on, dude! Easiest $50 I'll ever make!"

"Hey! You two! Get back to work! Double time!"

"Yes, Sir!"

Military life. I thought I had finished with it years ago. But here I am. Working at a remote satellite instillation, in the middle of nowhere. Even after seven years, I'm still stuck in the force. What a great way to spend your mid-twenties. I can't wait for my three-day pass. I finally get to go back into town. See my family. My friends. Well, my friends besides Brad.

I met Brad shortly after I was transferred to this area of the country. I was stationed here at the Rimedot Satellite Installation as a security measure. Against what, I had, and still have, no clue. Brad was the first to welcome me. We kind of bonded since then. A brothers-in-arms kind of thing. There were two others with us, but they got transferred out shortly after I got in. I never really got to know them. I can't even remember their names.

The RSI (Rimedot Satellite Installation) is located in the desert areas of Arizona, near the border of Mexico. Luckily, within an hour or two of my hometown. Before being transferred here, I only got to see my family once a year. Twice if I got lucky. But now, I get to see them near once a month. It's a good thing too. Lately, it seemed to me that my family was drifting apart from me, because I never saw them. Being transferred here is actually a good thing, in my opinion.

Even though we were stationed here as "security," the staff treats us like shit. They don't respect us, they think we are always in the way, no matter what, and they think we are just plain stupid, trained only to shoot anything that moves. But what they don't realize is that me and Brad have been trained on the use of their satellite equipment more than they ever will. Just one of the perks of being in the military. Me and Brad still get a good chuckle when the staff messes something up, and they have no idea how to fix it.

The staff was particularly pissed today, so, Brad and I decided to take our "security measures" outside, near the entrance to the entire satellite compound. There is a 10-foot, barbed wired, electrocuted fence surrounding the entire instillation, with only one entrance. It is very easy to guard, as you could see an armadillo coming quite a few miles away. And also, to our luck and comfort, there was a small, air-conditioned guardhouse next to the entrance, with field of vision in 360. And also to our un-ending luck, there happened to be a UMD player there, left by the previous guard.

"Why do you listen to this old stuff?"

"Hey, Bohemian Rhapsody is a classic man. A classic! And besides, did you happen to have been able to smuggle a UMD to our post?"

"…No."

"Exactly. So that means we listen to my music, since the radio wont work with those giant hunks of junk so close."

"Ya. You would think with satellites that huge, you would be able to pick up a decent Swedish Polka station!"

"…Swedish Polka? What the hell, Brad?"

"…What? What's wrong with Swedish Polka?"

"Brad. Your insane."

"Oh come on, Evan. Like what you listen to is any better. Japanese?"

"Hey! At least I can understand what they are saying! That's probably more than you can say about you and your Swedish Polka! And besides! I haven't even played any of that. And I don't plan on doing that, cause I know you hate it."

"Well, now I shall call you a true friend! All hail, Evan Koss, the True Friend!"

"Oh just shut up already! Fine. Let's play this one then! I find it quite fitting for us."

"What song is this? I don't think I've ever heard it before."

"Ya. They aren't that well known. It's called 'Soldiers of the Wastelands' by Dragonforce."

"Hahaha! Fitting, indeed, my friend! Fitting indeed!"

"See? Not all my music is…Shit. Hide the UMD player. We got an H5 coming our way. And by the looks of it, it's the Commander's."

"What? Why the hell is that old fart coming all the way out here?"

"How the hell should I know? Just hide the UMD player, give me my UMD, and lets get outside to 'greet' him."

We hurriedly cleaned up the guardhouse, and stood outside, one of us on each side of the entrance, hands on our weapons. We stared at the H5 coming at us for quite a while, the dust coming from behind it making it look like an entire battalion of H5's. When the H5 got within earshot, I moved into the center of the gate, along with Brad. I put up my hand in a 'stop' position, demanding the oncoming vehicle to stop at our "barricade." Brad and I hadn't been out in the sun for long, but we were already sweating buckets from the heat, sun, and the amount of gear we had on. When the vehicle finally got to in front of the gate, it stopped, and the passenger door opened. And, as I had suspected, out came the Commander. Brad and I quickly went to attention, out of habit more than anything.

"At ease, you two." We placed our hands behind our backs, and put our feet apart. "I bet your wondering why I've come out here. Well, if we go into Rimedot, I will explain everything. I don't think you two like it out here much. And I bet you'd like to hop on the back, too." The Commander smiled, and winked ever so slightly. I glanced at Brad, and he had a smile across his face. He saluted the Commander, and then ran to the back of the H5.

"C'mon, Evan! What are you waiting for? I know for a fact you love riding on the backs of these beasts more than me!" That was true. But there was something weird about the Commander. He was usually a lot less chummy at the beginning of our meetings.

Ever since I joined the force, the Commander had been there. He had become like a grandfather, or even second father, to me. Whenever he got the chance, he would spend more time with my unit than others. I think he saw something in me. And when this little meeting with him had happened, it seemed to me like he did the same with Brad.

The ride back to RSI was quite an enjoyable one. The back of the H5 was endlessly bouncing, the wind blowing hard in our faces. One of the only fun things we ever got to do in the force was ride on the back of an H5. When we arrived back at RSI, the Commander escorted us to the main control room. As soon as he entered the door, a senior staff member assaulted the Commander.

"Commander! There you are! Thank the heavens! We have been waiting for you for hours!"

"Yes, yes. What was the urgent matter you wanted to discuss with me?" The staff member was about to start talking, then suddenly seemed to see that Brad and I were standing directly behind the Commander. He eyed us questioningly for a moment, then the Commander spoke. "Don't worry. They are here because I wish for them to hear this."

"…Very well. Well, it started about six or seven hours ago." The staff member led us to a large panel of tapes, with a computer right next to them. He sat down at the computer, and selected various things. "At first, we thought it was just feedback from the Moon, or a foreign satellite or something. But then it just kept coming back." He clicked once more, and the tapes started playing. At first, there was only slight static. But then, there was structured and timed static, like someone screwed with the audio of a VHS tape. "As soon as it got organized like this, we quickly began isolating it, and clearing it up." The static slowly became less and less, and changed to a dull hum. "But then we came across this, only an hour or two ago." Suddenly, the hum became grunts. Deep, throaty, beastly grunts. I was floored. It sounded like communication! "We were absolutely amazed at this! It seemed to us that we had finally located an intelligent life form! So, we went through protocol. We sent out a signal that is usually done tomorrow, which is a series of beeps. What this is intended to do is stimulate a response from the other side, which is to complete the series. We received the completed series in less than 10 seconds!" The senior staff member was practically bouncing in his chair at this point. The Commander seemed to have grown more and more serious, the more that the senior staff member revealed. "And then recently, we sent out a radio signal. The signal we were getting stopped for about a half an hour, but then started up again, two-fold in intensity!" The Commander suddenly put his hand on the staff member's shoulder.

"How many people know of this?"

"Um…about six. All of us here on post. Why?" 'Why?' You don't ask the Commander 'why?' Ever.

"Bentley. This never happened. Understood? You tell your entire staff that as well. What you have discovered here today, must never, under any circumstances, leave this room. Give me the tape of the signals you recorded, and burn the rest. Destroy all evidence of this. Never speak of it again. Are we clear?" The senior staff member looked as if he had seen a ghost, been punched in the gut, and told that his wife had left him for another man, all at once. I pitied the poor man then. His entire life he had been waiting for this moment, communication with an Alien species. And the Commander had stripped all of that away from him. I understood why the Commander did this. It was all safety and precaution. But I still couldn't help but feel pity for the man sitting in the chair before me.

"Y…Y-Yes, sir." The staff member slowly turned back towards the computer screen, did a few things, and out popped a disc from the panel of tapes. He took the disc, handed it to the Commander, and then unplugged the computer. He walked to his colleagues, who all looked the same as him. "Destroy it. All evidence."

"Let's go boys. You need to come with me." I glanced at Brad, and he looked at me with the same "What the hell is going on?" look. A thought crossed my mind, and I smirked.

"You owe me $50, fool. Pay up." Brad almost burst out laughing, from the expression on his face. The Commander chuckled.

"Screw you! You know I don't believe in this kind of stuff!"

"You cheap bastard!" I punched his arm, and followed the Commander out of RSI, and inside his H5. I didn't know where we were being taken, but the ride was a long and eerily silent one.