November's Book Discussion - Across the Sea of Suns by: Gregory Benford

Please join us as we discuss Across the Sea of Suns! Across the Sea of Suns is a 1984 hard science fiction novel by Gregory Benford. Radio astronomy on the Moon in 2021 reveals the presence of life by a nearby red dwarf, on a tide-locked planet. To investigate them and the message they are transmitting, Earth's governments confiscate the Lancer (a large colonization ship based on a crashed alien ship discovered in the Mare Marginis) and send it to investigate. In 2061, it arrives and discovers a primitive biological race of nomads broadcasting en-masse with organs adapted to emit and receive electromagnetic radiation; their transmissions were blurred by various nomads falling out of synch with the rest. Close up, the transmission is discovered to be an old radio show from the 1950s - the signal the EMs (as they are called) consider best to reply to Earth with.