Once TV signals are transmitted, they don't stop. Once transmitted, they travel... forever.They pick up speed as they go. By now, the first TV programs ever made have been traveling for over 50 years. They are well beyond our solar system.
All of those characters from cowboy serials, variety hours and quiz shows are sailing into the 51 Pegasi system. They are the first true outer-space voyagers. They sail endlessly, intact, forever chattering in the cold darkness.
And as we listen with our instruments, as we learn to listen farther and farther into space, we can hear them. We listen farther and farther, and all we hear are repeats. And as our instruments become more sophisticated, we only hear them better... speeding away... the sound of speeding away... like a phone, ringing... unanswered.
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