Okay. So maybe I was mostly playing along with the whole fake-a-mission-from-aliens mission. My mom calls this my Simon Says mode, where I do what I’m told and don’t ask questions, because, hey, that’s what keeps you alive in the game. Maybe it’s even simpler than that: Maybe I like Agate, and I want a friend. But maybe, just maybe, her idea about keeping the SETI scientists employed is—like my therapist always used to say—“worth exploring.”