Leap of a million light years (Kerry)

To my morning-after eyes the glass-topped coffee table at my elbow has the look of something from outer space. Several glasses are scattered around a central bunch of bottles. Various splashes and spills of indeterminate substances, and occasional cigarette butts and broken crackers recreate the mysteries of space in a mundane, domestic, celebratory way.

Across the room Chris is lying with his legs draped over the body of another colleague. I recognise May’s floral print dress but her head is hidden behind the couch. Klaus is snoring loudly on the couch he commandeered early in the evening. Stan has collapsed on the carpet at my feet. It was late when he joined us but it didn’t take him long to get into the swing of the celebrations. I seem to remember shoving him off the divan at some stage during the evening. There wasn’t room for two.

I ease myself painfully into a sitting position and give Stan a little kick to start the process of regaining consciousness. His only response is a muted grunt; perhaps because his face is buried in the shag pile. I give him a full-on shake. He turns, opens his eyes and acknowledges me.

“Come on, Stan,” I coerce him. “Shake a leg. We’ve got work to do.”

“Ah, Toni,” he mumbles as though his brain is processing in slow motion. “That was some party.”

“Judging by the bottles, we had quite a bit to drink. It won’t help us today with our work unfortunately. We are expected to be at the press conference in an hour.”

While Stan gathers himself together, I wake the others.

The five of us form an exceptional team and yesterday we had a breakthrough after years of working together. We detected human-like signals from outer space, maybe a million light years away. That was worth a big celebration.

As the night wore on we had argued about the kind of civilisation that might have existed so long ago and that would have had the technology to send radio signals out into the universe. The whole concept was so confusingly mind-blowing that the discussion degenerated into a one-way haranguing from Klaus on his version of existentialist theory and the absurdity of human existence.

“Klaus,” I murmured as I moved over to where he stood savouring a strong coffee, “how would you like to take the lead at the press conference this morning and let the journalists in on some of your theories of human existence?”

“Sure. I can do that,” Klaus responded with a glint in his eye. “I can take them though my theory of extra-terrestrial beings as well. Maybe even touch on UFOs.”

My mind began to wander as I drained the coffee pot. The mention of UFOs set me thinking about crop circles, alien kidnappings and close encounters of the third kind. Our discovery was another giant leap for mankind.

We would certainly make the headlines this time.