[ WP ] The Kepler telescope discovers a massive Earth-like planet not far from out Solar system . The returning images are stunning . Suddenly , the planet 's eyes open .

'It's... it's beautiful,' said Dr. Murray, brushing her hair aside absent mindedly as she sat down to gaze at the images onscreen. The planet displayed before her was a glorious green colour, the amazing hues coming from the vast amount of greenery covering its surface. 
 
 This was what she had been hoping to see ever since she had joined the Kepler team: an Earth-like planet with an atmosphere like our own and, more importantly, capable of sustaining life. It was a sign, perhaps, that humanity might have a second chance to live, should Earth ever die off. 
 
 She waited as a few more images compiled, zooming in on the planet's surface further and further. The enhancements and rebuilds that had started on the telescope in 2019 were showing their worth now, by allowing the Kepler team to see this new world in detail they never could have dreamed of. 
 
 Now she could make out weather fronts, a large peninsula near the northern pole of the planet that reminded her a little of an inverted Africa. There were a few oceans, although from what she could tell they were quite a bit smaller than Earth's, covering only about a third of the world's surface. 
 
 Then she realised she was thinking of it as being the same size as Earth. Thinking that it had less water than here was silly. She checked the measurements. This planet was around thirty thousand kilometres in diameter; nearly three times larger than Earth. That meant that the oceans of this planet were almost equal in volume to a large portion of our entire planet. 
 
 She shivered, wondering if there might be any intelligent life on this thing. So far, they had detected nothing that would betray the presence of sentient life, but that meant nothing. The massive forests covering most of that planet's surface area could easily mask any emissions from the telescope's vision. There could be whole cities under the green canopy of those plants, and humanity would never know. 
 
 She sat back and watched as the planet slowly rotated on the screen in front of her. This had been worth coming in early for. Now she would get to reveal this to her colleagues and the wider world. The first properly Earth-like exoplanet ever discovered. She stared at the screen, lost in thought. 
 
 She wondered if they would consider naming it after her. Murray's Planet, she thought. No, Murray's Worl- 
 
 Then a pair of massive eyes opened on the planet before her. 
 
 Dr. Murray screamed and fell backward on her chair. Her head hit something hard, and she blacked out. 
 
 * * * 
'Come on, Sarah,' said a man's voice.'Wake up!' She felt someone patting her cheek hard. Groggily, she opened her eyes. One of her colleagues, Dr. Michael Branston, was standing in front of her. She groaned, then suddenly sat upright and grabbed his wrist as she remembered what she had seen. 
 
 Calming hands pulled her back down, and she realised that several more of her colleagues were in the room, two more of them restraining her. 
 
'Calm down, Sarah,' said Branston.'It's all okay. You just banged your head and fell unconscious for a while.' 
 
'No!' said Sarah, looking at him frantically.'The planet! My planet! It has eyes, Mike!' 
 
'What?' he said, his thick brows contorting in confusion.'Sarah, you're concussed. You're not making any sense. Try to relax.' 
 
'I'm not concussed!' she shouted.'I was watching a new planet that the telescope found, and then a pair of eyes opened on its surface! It's *alive*, Mike!' 
 
'Is that why you banged your head?' he said.'Or maybe, was that something you saw after you banged your head?' 
 
 Sarah sighed. This would take some real evidence to prove.'Right, let me *show* you,' she said calmly, hoping her relaxed demeanour would get through to them. 
 
 Branston stared into her eyes for a moment.'Okay,' he said, letting her up.'Show us.' 
 
 Murray stepped carefully over to the monitor she had been seated at and plonked herself down in the chair. She woke up the screen and navigated to the view of the planet. It was still there, and there were the eyes. Two of them, hundreds of kilometres across with huge black pupils and green irises. 
 
 She heard a collective intake of breath behind her and swivelled the chair to face the shocked expressions of her colleagues. Branston was staring at the screen with his mouth open, as was everyone else. 
 
'*Now* do you believe me?' she said. She turned back to the monitor.'Our first contact with another world is n't going to be with a species on another world. It's going to be with that world itself.'
