Counterfeit Constellations
mystery◐ TeenPriya grabbed her telescope and aimed it at the blue dot. Up close, it didn't twinkle like a real star. It held perfectly still and pulsed, slow and steady, like a heartbeat. That wasn't natural. She started counting the pulses, hunting for a pattern.
The pulses weren't random. Three short, three long, three short, over and over. Priya knew that one from old movies. It was Morse code for SOS. Someone, or something, was sending a distress call from inside the constellation. She had to find where it was really coming from.
What happens next?
2 ways forwardPriya traced the angle of her telescope down to the horizon. The signal wasn't deep in space at all. It lined up exactly with the old water tower across town, the one shut down for years. The "star" was a light on top of it, aimed straight up. She grabbed her bike and went.