Signal from Andromeda

By Marie Bongiovano

Twelve-year-old Jayden Rivera is obsessed with UFOs and grieving the loss of his father, a former NASA engineer. One night, while using his dad's old shortwave radio, he picks up a strange signal. At the same moment, a power outage hits his town and a drone-like shape streaks across the sky. The next morning, Jayden rushes to tell his best friend Amara and they follow the trail to a cornfield where they find a mysterious symbol burned into the ground. Footprints lead them into the woods, where they discover a damaged metallic sphere. The sphere unfolds into a floating alien drone, which they nickname Lux. It speaks in broken phrases, asking for help and if Earth is "ready."

Jayden takes Lux to his dad's old shed and helps it recover. Lux scans everything it can, learning rapidly and asking strange questions about humanity. Jayden embraces Lux's curiosity, while Amara remains cautious. Meanwhile, black SUVs and drones appear in town, and the kids realize they are being tracked by government agents. Lux reveals that its mission is to decide if Earth is ready for contact with its alien creators. The more it learns about Earth's wars and pollution, the more its programming changes, and it begins to question if humanity is too dangerous.

Government agents close in, and Jayden's mom accidentally alerts them to Lux's location. Lux is captured and taken to a military base. Jayden and Amara argue about whether to let it go or try to rescue it. Searching through his dad's files, Jayden discovers blueprints that show how to hack into Lux's systems and realizes his dad may have known about the aliens. Determined to save Lux, Jayden and Amara sneak into the base using his dad's credentials. They find Lux heavily restrained and being reprogrammed. As they are caught, Lux makes a surprising decision: it overrides its own code, breaking free without violence.

Lux uploads a transmission back to the Andromeda system, declaring, "They are not perfect. But they are worth knowing." It vanishes in a beam of light, leaving Jayden and Amara to wonder about the future. Later that night, Jayden's radio buzzes with a new message: "They are imperfect. But they are becoming." A single star in the Andromeda sky pulses and then disappears, signaling that the aliens have received Lux's report and suggesting that first contact may be closer than expected.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0F38QQTZ3
• ISBN13: 9798316289820
• Release Date: April 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 154 Pages
• Weight: 0.47 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"