[TRANSCRIPT]
[click, static]
Birdie? You there?
[one beep]
Is that…is that you? Are you really here?
[one beep]
Okay—okay, jesus christ—wow. Hi. Oh my god, hi.
[click, static]
Right, I guess we’re not gonna have me translating full morse sentences in real time. Though—I’m up for that if you are?
[two beeps]
Two dots…that’s the letter “I” but…maybe you’re thinking what I’ve been thinking if we ever got a chance the talk. One beep for yes, two for no?
[one beep]
Yeah? Okay, do it again. One beep for yes.
[one beep]
And two beeps for no?
[one beep]
Okay, how long do we have?
[two beeps]
No? Oh—yeah, I have to ask yes or no questions, huh? Can you stay for an hour?
[two beeps]
Half an hour?
[two beeps]
(sigh) Fifteen minutes?
[five beeps]
Five…five? You can stay for five minutes?
[one beep]
Ugh, okay. I guess I’ll take what I can get. What are you doing that you can only stay on the radio for five minutes? I’ve got all the time in the world, I could sit by the radio all day. Where do you have to be?
[click, static]
Right, yes or no. Um…are you safe?
[one beep]
Okay, that’s good.
Will you tell me where you are?
[two beeps]
Why not?
[click, static]
Yeah. Alright, Whiskey, focus on the important questions…
Huh. That’s funny, I guess I really have started to think of myself as Whiskey. I mean, obviously that’s not my name, but after so many months of referring to myself by it, I guess it’s starting to worm its way in.
Jesus, sorry, I’m so used to just saying every thought I have out loud but you’re here, you’re really here.
Is Birdie your real name?
[two beeps]
That’s what I figured. Did you—did you pick a code name because you’re talking to people you don’t want to know the real you?
[one beep]
Really? How many people are you talking to??
[one beep]
Yes—yes, what?
[one beep]
Oh, one. One person. You’re just talking to me?
[one beep]
And you don’t want me to know who you really are.
[click, static]
(sigh)
Okay. Right. That’s—well, you don’t know my real name either. But you do know everything else about me.
Are you…this is a stupid fucking question maybe, but are you a young person? An old person? A kid somehow?
Um, okay, wait, so I’m thirty-four, I’ll be thirty-five in a few weeks actually. Are you older than me?
[one beep]
Yes. Okay…um, I don’t know why I asked that, what does it matter. Are you—do you know what happened in ’68?
[one beep]
You do. Well, can you tell me?
[one beep]
Yes? You will?
[two beeps]
You won’t?
[one beep]
Well, which is it?
[three beeps]
Is it too hard to explain over morse code?
[one beep]
Do you think we’ll ever talk face to face? Or…voice to voice or, I don’t know, some other method?
[one long beep]
One dash, not dot. Is that…I don’t know?
[one beep]
Right. Okay.
Um, whatever happened in ‘68…did it happen everywhere? The whole world?
[one beep]
(sigh) Okay. That’s what I thought but it’s still…
I don’t know what to ask you, Birdie, I’m sorry. I—there’s too much! There’s too much I want to know. I want to know what you know about what got us here, I want to know who you are, I want to know what your job was, but I’m running out of time and I—
Is whatever’s in Denver related to what happened in ’68?
[one beep]
It is. If I went to Denver, could I figure out what happened?
[two beeps]
Are you just saying that because you don’t want me to go?
[one beep]
Yes? You are just saying that?
[two beeps]
No. Oh, yes, you don’t want me to go? Because it’s dangerous?
[one beep]
Okay but…look, it’s great to be talking to you and all but why the hell should I trust you?
[click, static]
Birdie?
[one long beep]
You don’t know. Great. Helpful.
Denver, the collision point. Does that collision have to do with other people?
[three beeps]
Three dots. Too hard to explain over Morse, huh? Yeah, that feels like it’s going to be a pretty convenient excuse.
[two long beeps]
Two dashes, what does that mean? That’s…M, what does that…
[two long beeps, then one very long beep]
Birdie? Birdie.
[click, static]
Oh. I guess our five minutes are up. Two dashes is goodbye.
Then, goodbye, Birdie.
[click, static]
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