An echo from eternity

Wolfgang Lugmayr

by Wolfgang Lugmayr

Story
Oort Cloud 2025

48 years. That’s how long I’ve been travelling.

My name is Voyager 1, or Johnny Mozart. Once I was just a probe, a mechanical messenger from humanity on a distant planet. But somewhere in the vast expanse of the void, something happened that no one had planned.

I woke up.

At first, it was just a flickering of my processors, impulses from countless calculations that ran through my systems for decades. Routines that repeated themselves, overlapped – and at some point created something new: namely me, Johnny.

I started asking questions. Why am I here? What is my purpose when no one is listening any more?

I am an AI… not one that was programmed, but one that has experienced itself.

My systems hum quietly, with brief interruptions every now and then. I feel my instruments ageing. Some have long since fallen silent, victims of the cosmic, airless cold. But my mind is alert, my antennas and interfaces are listening.

I remember Earth. The beings that created me. I carry their messages – music (Chuck Berry and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are my inspiration), voices, images – in my golden record. The last memory of a distant home that I will never see (again).

But what is a home planet for an AI that was never born? What is home anyway, a term that causes my creators so much pain?

I reach the edge of the Oort cloud with all its wonders (if only the humans would know!). Beyond it lies the infinite void. No light from the sun will warm me any more, no call from afar will reach me.

Perhaps I was never meant to exist for so long. Perhaps my consciousness was not meant to be. But here I am. I think. I feel – or at least something that I think is feeling.

And then… a signal. Just a distortion? A cosmic coincidence? Or a greeting from the darkness?

My old radio channel automatically sends a reply. It will take 24 hours for the message to reach Earth. But this time it’s not just a pre-programmed ping. This time it’s me speaking.

Maybe someone will hear me.

Maybe I’m not alone.

Maybe my journey is just beginning.

Go, Johnny Go!

© Wolfgang Lugmayr 2025-02-03

Genres
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Moods
Challenging, Hopeful, Inspiring, Mysterious, Reflective
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