Along the little country road down to South Point, on the island of Hawaii, are isolated homes surrounded by windblown pastures–and then there is this:

We’ve all seen eccentric homesteads, but this looked like a bit more than even the most devoted communications hobbyist might come up with. Fortunately for our curiosity, there was a small sign on the corner of the property identifying it as part of the “Universal Space Network.”

Being a science fiction writer I’m inclined to take such claims literally. Naturally, my first comment was, “Wow. Impressive. The Universe is a really big place.”

Sadly, the Universal Space Network does not seem to be truly Universal. The network doesn’t seem to include alien worlds, but only this familiar one. According to the website, it’s a US-based company, evidently specializing in satellite tracking…which makes a nice cover story anyway! Personally, I find it more fun to imagine aliens huddled inside that little green house, communicating with their home worlds across the star lanes.