Toni raised an eyebrow. “Okay, so maybe you do understand what I do. But the signals still aren’t going to make more sense to you in their raw form, unless you’d been hoping I’d make you copies to take back to someone who actually speaks the language of the stars.”

“Really, I was hoping you’d play them for us.” Graham seemed possessed of an almost-supernatural calm, like he had been playing games of verbal tag with this woman for years.

In a way, he had. Graham had always been happier to fight with words than with fists, and unlike me, he really wanted people to like him. Part of that was in the code-switching he did so easily, jumping without hesitation from one set of linguistic metaphors to the next. It made him an effective communicator and the life of the party, and I loved him for it, even as it could draw things out until I wanted to scream.

“Why?” asked Toni. She jerked her chin toward me. “Hoping she’ll be able to translate it for you, tell you it says ‘we come in peace’ and then you can go home feeling good about yourself, like the invasion isn’t on its way? Because I’m pretty sure that even if she says that’s what it says, that isn’t what it says at all. Nobody who takes this much time to infiltrate is coming in peace. Even if they’re lousy at infiltration.”

“I wouldn’t lie,” I said, before Graham could volley the ball back into her court. “If it doesn’t say they’re coming in peace, I won’t pretend it does.”

“Oh, no? Have you gone native? Is this going to be like Avatar in reverse?”

Graham blinked, looking between Toni and me. Finally, he settled on Toni. “Are you saying you actually believe Stasia is an alien?”

“Oh, no,” said Toni, making her eyes wide and guileless. “Gosh, golly, not at all. I maintain a cliché conspiracy wall for all sorts of things I don’t believe. Come back next month and you can see my wall explaining how The Blob was originally a documentary and that’s where all the high-fructose corn syrup in your breakfast cereal comes from.”

“Pretty sure the Blob was an alien too, Toni,” said David.

She snorted, as if that didn’t make any difference. Which maybe it didn’t. This was all ridiculous.

“Can we stop this and just hear the signal already?” I asked.

“Not until I believe you’ll tell the truth about what it says,” said Toni, folding her arms. At least that meant she wasn’t typing anymore. She glared at me, and there was a shattered menace in the expression that I hadn’t been expecting. “I’m not here to help you.”