Double Take

Centuries after Chicago buries a time capsule celebrating the achievements of 1960s America, travelers from another world uncover it and recover its carefully preserved recording. The program was designed to present humanity at its noblest: a grand documentary of democracy, progress, and the everyday citizen’s place in an enlightened civilization.

But the broadcast’s polished message conceals the volatile reality behind its production. During an exhausting day of rehearsals, desire, resentment, vanity, and professional rivalry flare among the actors, musicians, technicians, and celebrated director responsible for the broadcast. None of that turmoil reaches the listening audience, which hears only a magnificent portrait of a supposedly golden age.

Now an alien intelligence, equipped with senses and assumptions unlike humanity’s, examines the recording. What seems clear and flattering to its creators may communicate something very different to observers from the distant future. This witty science-fiction story explores how easily culture can be misunderstood—and how revealing an accidental message may be.