SILVER MEDAL "RECOMMENDED READ" IN THE 2024 AUTHOR SHOUT READER READY AWARDS. Is anybody listening? Dr. Alessi Byrne has spent her life studying spatial anomalies to prove string theory. Her work seems to be nothing more than theoretical research until an anomaly opens over Antarctica and transmits a three-word message: Is anybody listening? The message isn't the only thing to emerge from the anomaly. Something on the other side is having compounding consequences on the planet, and Alessi's team is unable to crack the code to discover who or what is sending the communication. In desperation, Alessi secretly sends a reply, and the answer questions everything she knows about science, life, and the universe. Alessi has proven her theories; but at what cost?