Dead Land Journal July 21st

There is someone else out there!

I have developed a bit of a routine. Once a week I go out and do the shopping. I have also been going around to the local gas stations measuring how much fuel is in the underground tanks and then adding what I hope is the proper amount of fuel stabilizer to it. Like I said, gas is plentiful, but it does me no good if it goes bad. I visit the local grocery store pick up some canned goods, get some gas for the generators that I keep running and check the radio.

Incoming messages are saved digitally on the computer's hard drive. And there have been a few "messages" recorded. So far though, these have all been just short bursts of static or maybe a single tone. While these could be signs of someone trying to communicate with me, they are most likely radio interference from some kind of automated machinery that is still running. For all I know they are secret alien broadcasts and the aliens are watching me. Better not go there, I am paranoid enough as it is.

So today when the computer showed an incoming saved message I almost did not check it. But the time stamp on it showed that it came in less than ten minutes after last night's 8 pm broadcast and it was four minutes and thirty five seconds long. Unfortunately I could not understand a word of it. It was all in Chinese. At least I think it was in Chinese. The signal was weak and staticky. The speaker sounded elderly. His words were slow and there were long pauses between words sometimes. Two years before he died, my father had stroke and he spoke in much the same manner.

I think it was definitely in response to my message. I am hoping he makes contact again, but I have also decided that twice a day is not enough. I will be setting it up to run hourly for a while and see how that does.

I will record a new message and see if that generates another response from my Chinese friend. Maybe I can get a Chinese For Dummies book so I can actually understand what he is saying.

© 2009 R. Keith McBride