Light Delay · Episode 2
One Mississippi
Two o'clock in the morning, four hours into the burn: the ship's recording of the last live phone call between nine-year-old Theo and his father. In 2088, a woman from Perihelion comes to the door with one question.
Now playing
Loading episodes…
Click any section or line to jump there in the audio.
The kitchen at night again, rain on the window.
Theo Message five isn't really a message.
Theo The ship recorded every call it made. A week after launch, Perihelion sent each family the ship's side of the first night's calls. Only the ship's side. My half was never in it.
Theo Two o'clock in the morning, the tenth of March, twenty forty-one. Four hours into the burn.
A soft playback chime.
The ship under thrust, a deep steady engine rumble.
Michael Hey! Hey, buddy. You're up. Your mom said you wouldn't go to bed. Okay. So the delay's about four seconds now, each way, so if we both...
A long wait on the line.
Michael No, you go. You go. Sorry.
A long wait on the line.
Michael What? I didn't get... say that again?
A short wait on the line.
Michael No, I hear you, I hear you now. You saw the light? You saw the engine come on?
A long wait on the line.
Michael Over the garage. Yeah. Yeah, that was us. That was...
Michael Okay, we're both talking again. Theo. Buddy. Let's try this. I'll talk, and then I'll stop, and you...
A short wait on the line.
Michael Okay. You're talking. I'm stopping.
A long wait on the line.
Michael I only got the end of that. Something about the Petersons' dog?
A long wait on the line.
Michael Listen. Listen. One Mississippi. Two Mississippi. Three Mississippi. Four. That's how long. Every time. Every single thing we say takes that long, so when you're done, you have to...
A short wait on the line.
Michael Theo?
A long wait on the line.
Michael Hey. Hey, if you're crying, that's okay. It's the middle of the night. It's okay to...
A click on the line, then nothing.
Michael Theo?
A long wait on the line.
Michael Grace? Did he... okay. No. No, it's fine. Let him. It's fine.
The message ends with a soft click.
The series theme, with the title card over it.
Announcer Light Delay, presented by the VoiceFrequency Network. Episode two: One Mississippi.
A doorbell rings inside a quiet house.
A front porch on a summer morning, birds and a lawnmower far off.
Dana Mr. Hale? Dana Whitcomb. I called yesterday. I'm with Perihelion. You said it was Sunday, so I waited for Monday.
Theo You did.
Dana May I come in? Five minutes.
Theo We can talk out here.
Dana Of course. First, congratulations. That's a strange word for it, I know. Your father is one of four people who have done something no one has ever done.
Theo Twenty-two years ago.
Dana Twenty-two years ago. Yes.
Dana I'll be direct, because I think you'd prefer it. Message four-twelve is the largest transmission the Tamsin ever sent on the family channel. By a great deal. Our engineers think there may be mission material in it. Data. Things your father may have sent through the family channel by mistake.
Theo By mistake.
Dana Or not by mistake. Either way, under the twenty-forty agreement, mission data belongs to the mission. I'm not asking for anything personal. I'm asking you to let us look at the parts that aren't.
Theo And for you to look, I'd have to open it.
Dana With you in the room. Of course.
Theo No.
Dana You haven't heard what we'd offer.
Theo I don't need to.
Dana Can I ask one thing? Have you played it?
Theo No.
Dana Good.
Theo That's what my mother said.
Dana Your mother is a very sensible woman. Here's my card. I'm in Columbus all week.
Footsteps down the porch steps, then a car pulling away.
Mikey Who was that?
Theo Perihelion.
Mikey What did they want?
Theo Four-twelve. She says it's the biggest message he ever sent, by a lot.
Mikey Is it?
Theo It says six hours on the screen. I saw that yesterday morning. I thought he just had a lot to say.
Mikey Grandpa? Six hours?
Theo I know.
A phone rings once and is answered.
Grace She came, didn't she.
Theo This morning. How did you know?
Grace Did she ask whether you'd played it?
Theo Yes.
Grace And you said no.
Theo Mom. How did you know she'd ask that?
Grace Because it's the only thing they want to know, Theo. Whether you've heard it. Play the next one tonight.
The call ends.
The kitchen at night again, rain on the window.
Mikey You hung up on him.
Theo I was nine. It was two in the morning, and I hung up on my father four hours after he left.
Mikey Why?
Theo Because he kept hearing me late, and I kept hearing him late, and every time I said something he was already saying something else. It was like he wasn't really there. Like he'd already turned into a recording.
Theo I went upstairs and put the pillow over my head. My mother stayed on the line. I don't know what they said. Then at quarter past three, the player chimed.
A soft playback chime.
Theo Message six. Three-fifteen a.m.
The ship under thrust, a deep steady engine rumble.
Michael Hey. It's me. You hung up on me.
Michael That's okay. I'd hang up on me too. That was a terrible phone call. That was the worst phone call in the history of space, and there have been some bad ones. I've read the transcripts.
Michael So here's what we'll do. We'll do it like real radio. When you've finished saying something, you say "over". And then you wait. You say what you want to say, all of it, the whole thing, and then "over". And I won't say a word until I hear it. And I'll do the same.
Michael That's what "over" means, in "over and out". I looked it up. Tomas showed me. "Over" means it's your turn. "Out" means goodbye. So you only say "out" at the very end. You never say it in the middle.
Michael Next call, we'll do it right. Go to sleep, buddy. Over.
The message ends with a soft click.
Back in the kitchen.
Mikey Was there a next call?
Theo No. The live calls were only ever for the first night. Everybody knew that. My mother knew it. I think I knew it too, and didn't believe it.
Theo By the afternoon, the delay was a minute each way. Nobody can talk like that.
A soft playback chime.
Theo Message seven. Ten a.m., Sunday.
The ship under thrust, a deep steady engine rumble.
Michael Good morning from one g! I can stand up. I walked the whole length of the corridor this morning. My knees are mad at me, but I did it.
Michael And now the spoon report. The spoon hit the back wall at nine-forty-one last night, exactly as predicted. Tomas saw it happen. He says it's the fastest any spoon has ever gone. Which is technically true, because now everything on this ship is the fastest anything has ever gone. My socks. The chicken. Everything.
Michael The delay's about half a minute now. By this afternoon, a minute. You can work it out from here. I'll show you how.
Michael Your mom told me about last night. You're not in trouble. Nobody's in trouble. Over.
Michael Ha. See? I said "over". That means it's your turn. Even if your turn takes a while to get to me.
The message ends with a soft click.
Back in the kitchen.
Mikey Did you answer?
Theo I recorded one that afternoon. I said "over" at the end. I said it about four times, to be safe.
A soft playback chime.
Theo Message eight. Eight p.m. Twenty-two hours out.
The ship under thrust, a deep steady engine rumble.
Michael This is message eight. I'm going to start saying the numbers, so if one ever goes missing, you'll know. Perihelion numbers them too, but I don't trust a computer to be sentimental.
Michael I got yours. With all the overs. I counted five. That's the most overs anybody's ever said, and I'm very proud of you.
Michael The delay is almost two minutes now. So I'm going to stop pretending this is a phone. It's letters now. Really fast letters at first, and then slower ones. You write, I write. Like people used to, a long time ago, when they went away on ships.
Michael Tomorrow I'll teach you how to work out the delay yourself. All you need is a pencil and how long it's been since launch. You'll be better at it than I am in a week.
Michael Over. And out. Both of them, this time. That's the whole thing.
The message ends with a soft click.
Back in the kitchen.
Mikey Five overs.
Theo Four. He counted wrong. He always counted wrong.
Mikey Same time tomorrow?
Theo Same time.
Footsteps going up a wooden staircase.
The kitchen, the rain easing off.
Theo Six hours.
Theo My father never talked for six hours straight in his life. He said what he had to say, and then he said "over", and then he waited.
Theo Whatever's in four-twelve, it isn't him talking.
Theo Message nine, tomorrow.
The closing theme, the piano under the announcer.
Announcer You've been listening to episode two of Light Delay, on the VoiceFrequency Network.
Announcer In our next episode: a father teaches his son the math of the distance between them. And, forty-seven years later, the son does one more sum: how old his father would be tonight.