​There was a time Branson could move 50 dreams in a single night. After 10 years dealing dreams, he’d become the top ace. It was a hungry world out there, and he was damn good at feeding it. 
 
He took a hard-right turn, leaving the poorly-lit sidewalk and entering an alleyway littered with spilled garbage cans and indistinguishable shapes wrapped in shadow. His steps echoed off the cement buildings to either side, announcing his presence to the scurrying rats and the vagrants who battled them for real estate. 

Science Fiction | Theoretical Physics | Alien Civilizations

We’re all so busy looking down at our feet (perhaps at our glowing screens), we forget to look up…and wonder what might be looking back. Is there other intelligent life in the universe? What would happen if they contacted Earth? How would human civilization respond to such a communication? Would we band together and welcome our visitors, or would we separate into factions, divided by our feelings about the merits of saving the human race?