Bbs2 -bobby-s Nightshift Parts 1 2- Here

I'm in. What now?

Bobby’s thumb hovered over the transmit key. The BBS2—a clunky, beige terminal with a monochrome amber screen—hummed in the dead silence of the KZ-99 observatory’s basement. His nightshift was supposed to be simple: monitor the automated star-scans, log meteoroids, and drink terrible vending machine coffee.

The terminal beeped. A file transfer prompt.

BBS2://NIGHTSHIFT.ACK//SOURCE:UNKNOWN//MESSAGE:BOBBY. WE SEE YOU. BBS2 -Bobby-s Nightshift Parts 1 2-

He typed:

Bobby looked at his reflection in the dark glass of the terminal. For years, he had told himself the nightshift was a dead-end. Lonely. Forgotten. But now, for the first time, he realized: he had never been alone.

The next line appeared:

He hadn't noticed any gap. But now, scrolling back through the logs, he saw it: every night at 3:00 AM, the data stream glitched for exactly 0.7 seconds. For eleven years, day-shift dismissed it as a power flutter. Bobby, alone with his thoughts and the hum of the machine, had subconsciously flagged it as wrong.

He was awake.

3:00 AM. TONIGHT. TUNE TO FREQUENCY 0.0. LISTEN TO THE SILENCE. YOU WILL HEAR THEM MOVING. DO NOT BE AFRAID. THEY ARE WHY WE WATCH. I'm in

"At 3:00 AM, the sky is not empty. It listens. You are now one of the listeners. Your first task: tonight, when the glitch occurs, do not log it as a power flutter. Log it as 'contact.'"

The cursor blinked. Then:

End of Parts 1 & 2.