Barry put them up and they got an image of two creatures talking to each other across a wooden table. They had narrow eyes, large skulls, reptilian skin, pointed ears, and maybe fangs. In fact, yes, there were fangs. One of them smiled and they appeared. They recognized the creatures immediately. “It’s the ice world,” Hutch said.

Yes. It was the alien depicted on the statue.

“Wow.” Wally couldn’t restrain himself, raising his voice from the front porch. “We’ve done it. We’ve found them.”

Derek was slow to celebrate. It looked good, but he was going to wait to see some results. Beth and Ken were also calling out from the front porch. “Beautiful!” “Who would have thought they’d look so good?”

“Well done, Hutch.”

It was a great day! She couldn’t resist leaning over and shaking Derek’s hand. “You were right, champ,” she said. “With a little bit of luck, you may get to sit down and share a lunch after all with some high-tech aliens.”

•  •  •

The two creatures continued their conversation. They had blue-tinted skin. One wore a gray uniform and a beret that, at home, would have implied a military unit. Despite that, there was a smoothness and grace that suggested it would have been a natural dancer. The other simply had baggy pants and a pullover shirt with a collar. But it was twice the size of its companion. A male, probably. Despite the saurian appearance, it looked amicable. But the conversation between them seemed intense.

“Maybe it’s a police procedural,” said Ken.

“There are other transmissions,” said Barry.

Derek looked over at Hutch. “Show us.”

Someone on a street was speaking to a camera. Then the transmission apparently changed sources and two of the creatures on a stage were yelling at each other. “Probably a presidential election,” said Wally.

Barry ran through a series, keeping each on for a minute or so. Some broadcasts were putting out data, which may have been where to get liquor, clothing sales, whatever. Others might have been comedies or news analyses. One in particular looked like stand-up, complete with a laughing audience. The big news there was that they laughed. They had a sense of humor.

They were covered with scales. And they had noses that consisted only of a pair of orifices in the center of the face.

“I wonder what they’re saying.” Derek grumbled something. “I’m tired of language problems. We need a translator. When the hell is somebody going to invent one of those?”

Hutch took them back to the telescopic images. On the ground, the creatures were engaged in conversation, hanging over fences, riding cars along curving roadways, sitting in boats.

They were still far out from the world, but the technology looked capable of detecting them. Hutch told Barry to let her know immediately if there was any sign of a reaction to their presence.