GENERATION 02 / AM · 530–1700 kHz
People who heard the station from somewhere else, and answered.
AM travels at night. It bounces off the sky and lands a long way from home, and that is how the station was heard by people who were never meant to hear it.
Gen 2 are the Return Signals: a keeper, a courier, an operator, a light in the sky, an observatory and a passenger. Six people from other places who picked up {OFFBAND} and answered.
{OFFBAND} 530 kHz
Some signals need a light to follow.
He tends a light that guides lost transmissions across a sea without shores, and his lantern has caught a signal he has never seen before.
A QUESTIONWhat does he believe is waiting on the other shore?
{OFFBAND} 870 kHz
The sky is picking up a signal.
She appears where transmissions bend through the sky and leave ribbons of light, and now that light has somewhere to go.
A QUESTIONWhat does a broadcast feel like to someone who once existed as light?
{OFFBAND} 1010 kHz
A delivery addressed to tomorrow.
He carries undelivered broadcasts between worlds as sealed letters. His newest one is addressed to {OFFBAND}, and dated tomorrow.
A QUESTIONDoes he open the letter, or insist only its recipient may read it?
{OFFBAND} 1200 kHz
For the first time, his own line rings.
He runs a switchboard that connects callers who should never reach each other. He doesn't know who is calling him.
A QUESTIONWho, or what, does he expect to hear when he answers?
{OFFBAND} 1420 kHz
One dead star is playing {OFFBAND}.
Her instruments pick up broadcasts from stars that should have gone silent long ago, and one of them is still playing the station.
A QUESTIONIs the station reaching the stars, or are the stars remembering it?
{OFFBAND} 1700 kHz
At last, the train stops.
She rides a sleeper train whose route runs between worlds. When it stops, the doors open onto {OFFBAND}, and the radio in her suitcase is already tuned in.
A QUESTIONWhere was she trying to go, and does she still want to get there?