[ WP ] Write about something that is disgusting or ugly in such a way that it becomes something beautiful -- without using the 'beautiful inside ' cliche .

Dr. Vikram Seward was seated in his workstation when we first encountered the signal. It arrived as a beeping; every sensor now receiving the same thing. A minor adjustment that Vikram had implemented earlier activated and we all jumped at the chance to avoid another slow week. His eyes lit up with excitement and we all scattered from our chairs to check our respective instruments and pull the readings. I can honestly say I was ecstatic. Here was our chance! *This is it, the big one that puts our cozy little station on the map! * I thought. `` Ms. Nussbaum, Mr. Lieche, can you start to extrapolate these figures?'' Dr. Seward asked. He was a kind boss; a gentle speaker with a warm smile under his shockingly black mustache. `` Right away!'' The two raced over and began to collect the readouts for their various calculations. I started to write the program to catalog all of the incoming data, and believe me there was a lot coming in. When we started it was all so exciting we did n't even realize the continuity, the steadiness. After 3 hours of nonstop readings and every console beeping we decided to stop collecting data. Vikram was a little disappointed but could see we were all exhausted. The beeping was starting to get on everyone's nerves. Everyone except Vikram's, he finally had his big break. In our field you do n't get chances like this one maybe once or twice in a lifetime of diligence and it was time for Dr. Seward to collect his due. He dismissed all the staff and collected our readouts. `` You should go home, Dr. Seward.'' I said. `` I'll head out in a bit. I just want to get a start on these figures!'' He replied with a laugh. `` Well do n't let that beeping get to you!'' I shot back and he chuckled. `` I'll try.'' 
 
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 The next day we found him asleep at his desk with his headphones in to cover the incessant beeping. Papers were scattered everywhere; all of them were covered in equations and symbols. I touched his back gently and he jumped. `` Oh, sorry there everyone!'' He looked around with weary eyes. `` I must have dozed off.'' He joked. `` I do n't see how anyone could sleep here with all this beeping.'' Ms. Nussbaum said. `` Dr. Seward, can we shut down the array? We're collecting more data every minute than we can analyze in a week.'' The look on Dr. Seward's face was one I'd never seen before. `` We will not shut down the array.'' He growled and then lightened up again. `` Before you let that beeping get to you, I've analyzed and interpreted the sound. Let me play it for you all!'' He grinned and turned to his machine and pulled out the headphones. A shrill sound exploded from the speakers: piercing static. Everyone in the room tried to cover their ears. Everyone except Vikram. It felt like my mind was being invaded. Each thought overwritten with waves upon waves of endless junk. My eyes watered and I wanted to puke. I looked up at Dr. Seward. He just kept standing there with his cheery grin as though waiting for us all to realize how pleasant it actually was. His expression shrank a little and he plugged in the headphones again. We all breathed a sigh of relief. `` In any case, back to work everyone.'' He mumbled and slipped the headphones back onto his head. 
 
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 It was n't the beeping that made everyone else quit, I think. It was Vikram. Since that moment he slowly devolved from the person he had been. First, he stopped going home and started to listen to the sound louder and louder from his headset. A few days after he stopped washing himself. When it came down to just the two of us, he stopped wearing the earphones altogether. In his last days, I think Vikram and I were more connected than ever before. I continued to interpolate collecting the sound, and he continued to extract it and play it for us. When he collapsed, I ran to his side. His eyes were bleeding, he had n't blinked in hours and he stank of human waste. `` Vikram! Tell me what these equations mean. Let me finish them if you're tired!'' I did n't even realize he was dying then. `` Keep collecting...'' He smiled. `` We need more.'' `` But what is it that you're calculating? I ca n't interpret this information like you can!'' `` It is light and motion. Shape and substance. The very symmetry of the ideal.'' He said. `` It is the dance of billions of planets and stars singing throughout the void. It is the void!'' He shouted and then began to cough violently. ``...'' He tried weakly. ``... the music of the spheres.'' He wheezed and then was still. 
 
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 I understood then what Dr. Seward had seen all along: the sound's untold depths, the layers extending endlessly. Before it had been a dulling white noise to me but now I knew certainly that it was perfection. Infinite complexity coupled with a symmetry that defied comprehension and demanded attention. I knew then that my choice was already made. I did n't bother to clean up Vikram's ruined, broken body. I felt he enjoyed listening to that endless static for as long as he could. I sat back down and continued to work.
