This was a usual day, with a usual man walking down a usual street. He moved very slowly and suddenly looked at the sky. What do people think about when they look at the sky? Somebody imagines pirate ships and exotical beauties, someone dreams of space battles and conquests; the others just admire the antique beauty of the stars. The man walking on the street was thinking about sattelites. Being more exact, he was thinking about what the hell he bought an old, second-hand, sattelite phone and why he needed it. The man was extremely angry with himself and felt like giving somebody a thrash, but, alas, there were neither cats, nor dogs in the street to shout at. The street was entirely empty. The man sighed and came towards the house.

It was his home. He saw the faint projector lights in one of the windows, and asked himself, whether he was used to leaving home without turning the screen off. As he knew it was wrong, he thought, "Something must have happened. Or will happen. But soon, very soon." He took the door handle.

The door opened, and there was something in the air. Silence. It was a silence, which made you feel cold and ill at ease and wanting to shout at the top of your voice to make sure you were alive, close your eyes and try to calm the shivering hands. And a scary idea came to the man's mind. The house was empty. Not merely empty, there was emptiness there unable to be made full. For he, the owner, was hollow too, and nothing could destroy that anxious hollowness inside. Yet there was one more thought jumping in his brain — something was going to happen.

The man heard an odd noise upper and moved towards the stairs. There you are — the set was not turned off, it worked, though with some difficulties. The man grinned — another sattelite toy, bought by him in an antiquary shop for not so little money. At the time there were pictures changing, and sounds metamorphosing and yelling in his brain. He saw a children programme, then some 50-years soap opera, then a comedy, then…

And then the screen darkekned. But not the way it was shut down, but as if it threatened, called the man somewhere, the darkness all around him… It was in the room, and there was an eternity, an infinite sea of fear and threat, demanding to visit it and forget about everything, everything…

Dhivering, he turned it off. The darkness disappeared.

He came towards the phone. The unfortunate device sounded sort of crying. The man came and took the receiver. He heard a terribile noise falling at him. He asked for a Connection Service. The telephone trembled and tried to call the required place. Breaking for several times, it at last connected him and some kind of a sleepy tired person, and let them have some sort of speech.

— Is this the connection? — a silly question indeed. Of course, he knew who he was speking with, — why the hell nothing works alright?

— Hindrances.

— What do you the hell mean by hindrances of a sattelite?

— Space ones.

— Again I don't understand anything. Where from?

— Magnet storm.

— But my sun calendar…

— …didn't show anything, 'cos these are not sun hindrances, do 'u understand?! By the way, you take our working time!

The man was astonished by such rudeness and decided to get the truth by all means.

— So what kind of hindrances it is?

The answer — again — was expressionless and monotonous:

— low-frequency unknown sigals from space unable to identify the source is unknown diffuse significantly unstable changing rapidly… — he could speak this way for a very long period of time, but was prevented by the phone dying.

Waiting, he thought. The worst trial for a human is waiting. When you know that something must happen, but does not yet… Uncertainty. It thrashes your soul by cutting it for thousands of pieces, but the worst thing about it is that you can do nothing with it.

He looked at the phone again. It seemed that something had changed in its look. The man did not notice the receiver appearing in his hand and himself listening to the silence. Silence… It seemed that that peace was empty, but the man began speaking with the phone: "Why?…" The telephone was quiet. Did he seem to hear a faint breath? Surely, not.

— So who are you? — he asked again. And again the breath?

— You know, I was always afraid of death… — he continued, — I don't know why. I always was to think that way, and I did, fearful, like the others. But now… Now I understand that an alive man dying is not so awful as a living but dead body. I always tried not to let these thoughts appear, but now they are… stronger than me. When nothing can fulfil your life, you understand that you are already empty…

— Maybe, yet? — the voice defeated the phone peace and made the man tremble. A quiet, feminine voice. So alien, though so familiar.

— So you exist… Was this you who…

— Yes. Sorry for the broken screen, I'll made it 'ok.

— And how far are you?

— Oh, you cannot even imagine. This is not… important.

— Why didn't you do that before? Did you know about us?

— Well, I couldn't help knowing about you. You, the humans, always send diverse signals, check out the Universe. Did the idea that we just don't want to get in touch with you ever come to your mind? However…

— Sorry?

— I don't know. Something made me link up with you, your planet, through this sattelite. I even don't know what…

— And I seem to know. You're lonely. That's all like me. Some force persuaded me to take the receiver and speak to the silence, and there…

They talked, talked all evening, all the night. I really shouldn't reproduce their talk, for there're both philosophocal ideas and private problems, and in fact everything they eanted to tell each otoher. And the dawn began with the screen suddely turning on.

— We speak from… — he did not understand the title, — where a space rocket is taking its start at the moment, in which the first human will be sent off our galaxy, looking for intelligent life forms.

— Did you hear? — he asked, — Did you hear what they said? Someday I shall fly to you inside such a rocket, we'll meet, I'll see you…

He heard nothing, but felt a tear leaving her cheek and staying at her smile.

He sat still for the whole day, wondering if they could speak once more, looked at the sky and thought about the rocket that flew there, and the lonely traveller dreamt of something extraordinary. He was thinking…