My friends call me Jerry. I'm an astrophysicist working on an important project: the search for intelligent life outside our planet.

It's tough working on the far side of the moon; but there's no better place for a radio telescope. When we're on the side of our moon away from the sun, there's no interference from the sun or the planet, and we can search the skies for possible radio signals that indicate the presence of intelligent life. Those signals might be in the form of a regular pattern, something like music (although the sound might not be music to our ears), speech, repetitive sounds, or something we can hardly imagine.

We don't know whether there is intelligent life on planets of other stars, but we're pretty sure there's no such life in our solar system. Our planetary probes have demonstrated that fact. Our twin planet, closer to the sun, is covered with sulfuric acid clouds that would make life as we know it impossible. We've sent many probes away from the sun to the next planet out, the red planet. There are signs of possible primitive life, but no signs of anything with intelligence. The giant gas balls even further from the sun are beautiful-especially the giant orange one and the planet with the wonderful ring system-but we haven't picked up any radio signals that would indicate the presence of intelligent life further from the sun than our planet. We're alone in the solar system; but are we alone in the galaxy? I and my fellow scientists are on the moon trying to find the answer. And our search may be nearing its conclusion.

Today could be a great day in the history of our search for life. For the past five years, I have worked on the physics of a new type of radio antenna that is capable, at least in theory, of picking up ordinary radio transmissions from planets as far as 15 light years away. For our first test, we will target the third planet of a G type star about 11 light years away. The planet is in its sun's habitable zone, and our astronomers have detected an atmosphere and the presence of liquid water and fairly high amounts of oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon – all necessary for life as we know it. If the antenna works properly, we may be able to detect an indicator of intelligent life.

I'm pleased to have the honor of turning on the new antenna. It should take about 10 minutes to warm up and be focused on our target; then we hope to hear exciting things. Let's start now. What we hear will be broadcast throughout our planet, as soon as I see the red light indicating that we're on the air. There's the light. Let the broadcast begin.

"Good morning, afternoon or evening, fellow citizens. This is Jerry, your radio astrophysicist, broadcasting from the far side of the moon. The broadcast is being picked up by satellite, beamed to another satellite, and then transmitted to the entire planet.

Today we may find out if there's intelligent life in another solar system. The new antenna is on, and we're ready, we hope, to receive the first signals from another world.

"Wow, what a lot of noise! There's static, and so many radio signals coming from the planet that there must be intelligent life there. Let's see if we can zero in on one specific signal.

"Yes, we have it. The noise is absolutely awful, but there's a rhythm to it. It sounds like terrible moaning and groaning, but there's a strong beat, and a cacophony of sound that might pass as music if one had no taste for music. One of my engineers is signaling me. What does she want?

"Thank you, Sue. You've made a recording of the first sounds and have transliterated what might be words into our language. The words, if they are words, are nothing like anything in any known language, but they sound something like this:

'You ain't nothing but a hound dog'

"Fellow residents of Ross b, my antennae are quivering with the impact of what we've discovered today. The planet's sun, Sol, is a yellow G star that's nothing like our beautiful red dwarf sun, Ross. How can there be life under such a harsh light, and on a planet as far from its sun as Sol 3? Yet life there must be. Surely nothing in nature could produce a sound as awful as what we're hearing. The discovery of life on Sol 3, possibly even intelligent life, means that we are no longer alone in the universe.

"This is Jerysneed Zyzygnat signing off for now. I'm proud to have been part of this historic day."

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