Devon Taylor, a 20 year-old physics whiz, has heard a lot of strange sounds coming from space as part of his job assisting Dr. Evan Swift at the radio observatory -- but something tells him this signal, coming from the direction of Certus? (In the short story, it is the constellation Cetus), is special. Devon's suspicions are confirmed when he takes a tape of the signal home and his 17 year-old sister, Joyce, and her boyfriend, Vic, react as if they have heard the most beautiful music in the world.