The Last Carrier

The contractor's ledger says Bellwether Relay was disconnected on 4 November 1991. The power company agrees. Yet at 02:17 the following morning, three coastal receivers log its call sign. The transmission lasts nine seconds. It contains no speech, only the measured sound of someone walking across a tiled floor. The final step is followed by a chair scraping backwards. A maintenance photograph shows a green light in the control room. The photographer remembers darkness. On the back of the print, in handwriting no one recognises, is a time: 02:16:51.