[ WP ] The sun just flickered .

“ Trent, call me back as soon as possible. There ’ s something you should see. The data is… well, just call me ASAP. ” 
 
 Dr. Trent Moore pulled his phone away from his ear, staring at the name from the message, half reading the name and half trying to figure out just what the fuck James meant by that message. In his 14 years of knowing him, he ’ d never seen him act this way about anything. Except maybe when he ’ d bought a new motorcycle or got his paper published in the Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, arguably one of the largest achievements of his career. 
 
 This felt different though. 
 
 Trent put his phone in his pocket, and grabbed his coat to head out the door. He hesitated for a second, contemplating calling James back to get more information. He shook it off and decided that this just felt like something he needed to hear in person. 
 
 After the 20 minute drive, Trent parked in the ‘ Visitor ’ spot outside the SoHO ( Solar and Heliospheric Observatory ) building. James was a lead scientist that had been with the program since the launch of the satellite. 
 
 Trent was buzzed in and walked directly to James ’ office, but it was empty and unkempt. Usual. He continued down the hallway to the operations center, hearing a jumble of voices as he got closer. James spotted him almost immediately. 
 
 “ Trent, thanks for coming. I know you ’ re probably very curious about my cryptic voicemail, so instead of trying to explain the last 8 hours to you, I ’ ll just show you what we ’ re all buzzing about, ” James said, leading Trent to a computer station with a rather large monitor. He sat down in one of the office chairs and James went to the mouse. He paused. 
 
 “ Before I play this, just know, there ’ s only 3 people outside this building that know about this, and they are all paid a lot more than any of us. Combined, ” James said, sternly. 
 
 He clicked the mouse and the screen began showing an animation of the sun. Large coronal ejections and normal solar features played out. This went on for a few seconds until the whole disc of the sun appeared to dim. Like someone turned the brightness down on their phone a few notches. After 3, maybe 4 seconds, the normal brightness returned. The science clock on the screen kept running, and about 10 seconds later the dimming repeated. Trent watched as this repeated over and over until he finally stood up and James paused the footage. 
 
 “ What exactly am I looking at James? I don ’ t understand what ’ s going on, is this a malfunction? Is the sensor experiencing power problems? I don ’ t ge—, ” 
 
 James held his hand up. “ Trent, what you are seeing is real data. Confirmed by data synced to our system from over 20 solar observatories around the world. This is real, and this is happening. And we don ’ t know what the fuck it is, ” James said. 
 
 Trent took a deep breath, letting it our sharply. “ So I take it we ’ ve got the government keeping a tight lid on this, right? How long until this is known? Until the other observatories start talking? ” Said Trent. 
 
 “ Well, we have n't been able to keep the others in the dark without some trouble, and the dimming isn ’ t seriously enough for the bystander to notice too much by just being outside. But in a few minutes we ’ ll be sending out a message written by the president ’ s PR team. It describes pretty much everything you just saw, which should keep the panic down. But they left out one important detail, ” James said, looking up at Trent. He had a grave look on his face. 
 
 “ What did they leave out? I don ’ t get it, ” Trent said. 
 
 “ They left out the fact that the intervals and durations of the dimming spell out a message in binary, ” James said, his eyes locked onto Trent ’ s. It was making him nervous. 
 
 “ The message says ‘ WE ARE COMING. PREPARE FOR ARRIVAL. ”
