SPACE GROUNDED

My sister is the only member of our family I haven't introduced you to yet. She is just twelve but she is so defiant, strong-willed, stubborn, just name it. I've always known that her defiance would lead her somewhere. And that somewhere wasn't a good somewhere.

"Jane, you're grounded. To your room", my dad ordered.

He looked at me, the tiredness masked by anger.

"You too, Judd. You'll be grounded for two weeks starting from tomorrow morning. No TV, computer, electronics and I'm seizing all your other books."

I watched Jane stride up the stairs and head to the door of her room. I suddenly lost my appetite.

I pushed my chair back.

"Goodnight, dad. Goodnight mum." I muttered.

"Judd, you not only defy me. You are also giving your sister audacity".

Those were the last words I heard before I stepped into my room. Jane was at her door.

"Sorry", she mouthed, I gave her a weak smile "Goodnight"; I whispered.

I changed from my top and jeans into something more loose fitting. I still wondered about how my punishment would be like. No electronics, no space books. I laid on my bed and felt the weight of my body pushing the mattress down.

I opened the encyclopedia and read. After all I am not grounded till tomorrow, I told myself.

**Quasars send out strong radio waves. Astronomers believe they are not individual stars but small, extremely distant galaxies.

Pulsars, like quasars, give off radio energy. But pulsars "beep", sending out a pulse of radio waves every second or so**

That gave me an idea. Since pulsar give off radio energy, and since radio energy operates on frequency, I could send a message across to the stars.

I just needed to find the right frequency.

I sat down polished timber chair facing a matching table and opened up my laptop. I pressed the power button and waited for the laptop to boot. The password input came on the screen and I moved my finger briskly on the keyboard.

After the laptop had been unlocked, I surfed the net looking for frequencies given off by pulsars. The least I saw was 678.20 hertz. So,multiplying it by the speed of sound in the air and light year, my final result was 1.316x10000000000000000000000 Hz.

Since I had gotten a reasonable frequency I connected my laptop to a satellite dish I had in my closet and stationed it at my bedroom window, at the top of the two-storey building.

Now, I needed something to write I thought for a while.

Dear Pulsar,

My name is Judd Ambrose and I am a human from earth. I want to get to space at least once. It is the closest I can get to actualize my dreams. I will really appreciate your help .

I pressed the send button and thirty seconds later, I received a reply

- ℅↓←Ω°μ§∆§♦′°)(«»`℅↓←Ω°μ§∆§♦′°)(«»`℅↓←Ω°μ§∆§♦′°)(«»`℅↓←Ω°μ§∆§♦′°)(«»`-

I didn't understand the meaning but I was elated. Did some alien folk just reply my message? I slept feeling happy.

From that day I knew something would change. Or not.

*****

Jane was at work on her phone. At twelve her IQ was sharp. She wanted to be a computer scientist. She could hack devices and specialized in coding and decoding. Her dad might have left her to become whatever she wanted to be, but Judd didn't have the liberty. First sons should follow the principles.

That was what Jane thought over and over till reality became a blank curtain.