Summary

Pages 96 – 106 (Past) Dr. Banks arrives at a small encampment constructed around one of the aliens’ communication devices, a large oval object called a “looking glass” that seems to connect the aliens in their orbiting spacecraft with people on Earth (narration reveals that there are nine such devices in the United States and more than 100 in total around the world). Gary Donnelly shows her into the tent / portable laboratory erected around the device, and the two of them set up their recording equipment and computers. Narration reveals that there are similar linguist / physicist teams set up around the world at each glass. Shortly after a communicative connection is established, a pair of seven-limbed aliens (“heptapods”) appears in the glass, and Dr. Banks attempts initial communication, establishing the beginnings of a common verbal vocabulary. When she tries to reproduce the sounds made by the heptapods, they...