They say that silence is golden, yet there are limitations to what the human mind can take. They say that after 45 minutes in an anechoic chamber the human mind begins to "hear" things that are falsely perceived sounds from memories to the sounds of our own internal organs functioning.

    There are a lot of scientific laboratories out there in our vast world that are used to study the deepest regions of space. From Ohio State University's "Big Ear" to the Arecibo... until it collapsed back in early 2020. There is also the Mount Kilauea Observatory and the already in orbit Hubble Space telescope, to the new James Webb space telescope. Needless to say, we as humans are fascinated by what may or may not lie beyond our natural and physical boundaries. That's why we have the studies of microbiology to the sciences behind theoretical physics. There is so much about the universe we still don't understand and much to learn. But what if there was something out there that didn't want us to know of its existence? What if there's something more than hostile out there in the vast expanses? We may never know until the day comes when it makes itself known.

   I sat there in my chair staring at my computer screen tiredly. Being a scientist is not all it's cracked up to be as you just sit around and look at screens and take notes. As I mindlessly flipped through papers, my colleague pulled my attention by throwing a Cheeto at my monitor screen. I sighed and looked up toward him.

    "What?" I asked.

    "You saw the emails right?" he asked turning back around in his chair. "The James Webb has been seeing these fuzzy patches and they don't think it's some kind of error."

    "We and several other observatories have looked and other radio stations have done full spectrum sweeps of the areas."

    "You remember the gamma-ray heartbeat from SS 433 right?"

    "Of course."

    "Those fuzzy spots have appeared in front of it and have since moved."

    "What are you implying?"

    "Well, it obviously isn't some sort of error if the spots are moving."

    "I understand Lyle, but what are you implying?" I asked him again and he tossed another Cheeto at the back of my neck.

    "I can tell by the tone of your voice you know damn well what I'm implying, you just want me to say it."

    "Come on, you may or may not be correct but in this field is that something we should really consider?"

    "Come on man, we ourselves don't even know the limits of our physical and natural universe, or hell, universes even."

    "I mean you're not wrong."

    "So what do you want to do?"

    "Well, I suppose to humour you, we should report the apparent moving of these fuzzy patches and see what other stations report."

    "Alright, I'll agree with you there," he conceded as he turned back to his computer and typed up a report. "Alright and now we again... play the waiting game."

    "Welp," I said slapping my knees before getting up. "I need a drink. You need anything?"

    "Just a cola," he said and I nodded, leaving the office and heading down to the breakroom for the fridge. I opened it up and saw a Coke and a Sprite so I grabbed them both and headed back up, tossing him the Coke can. "Thanks."

    "No problem." We sat staring at our computers for a while. "Oh, try not to talk about these fuzzy spots too much."

    "Why not?"

    "Well, like I said we don't know what's going on, or if they really are something or just some error we're chasing."

    "What's so wrong with that?"

    "I know your friend is one of those conspiracy weirdos, and I don't want him hanging around our front door."

    "Hey, I understand." We sat at our desks for another hour or so until it was 5 p.m. We stood up and grabbed our things to leave. "You gonna hit any of the bars tonight?" he asked me.

    "Nah, I think I'll just head home. I'm not feeling like any drinks tonight." I grabbed the rest of my papers and walked out of the room as he followed, locking the door behind us.

    "Let me guess, you're going to go home and monitor these fuzzy patches?"

    "Either that or play some video games."

    "Man, you really get some ass."

    "Come on, you know I'm trying to focus on work. Especially now since we've got these phenomena we need to watch." By now we had walked to our cars.

    "I understand too. Oh, and one more thing. You should stop driving that old Saturn. Get something new." Of course, he'd tell me that after climbing into his new Mercedes EQS.

    "Not even," I replied flatly as I turned the ignition key and reversed out of my parking space and drove home.