Always set the dial to 141.3 during the silent hour. Not 141.2, not 141.1, 141.3. The .3 is extremely important, do not forget it.
These were the instructions given to every broadcaster who worked in The Radio Tower. It was also the very first rule Andrew was told during his orientation.
He did ask his co-worker what would happen if they were to accidentally change the dial setting to something else—surely someone must have done it in the past, right?
The answer was shockingly unclear, in fact not one of his co-workers ever considered setting the dial to anything but 141.3, “Well why would we ever do that? We were told where to turn it, and that’s what we’ll do.”
Andrew dropped the question after that, and with it any lingering bits of curiosity he had. If no one was asking, then it must not be something worth asking at all. Really, would a single digit make any difference? He scoffed at the idea.
……………
Andrew had settled into a routine a little after he started working at The Radio Tower. He’d leave his single-bedroom apartment by 9:45 pm, and catch the 10 pm bus. As he waited for his stop, he’d listen to the broadcast coming from The Radio Tower, everyone did. By 10:30 or 10:45, he’d reach his stop, a small convenience store with a few gas pumps. He’d go inside and buy some snacks. A bottle of DesTeaNy—the green one, that was the only valid choice—and a microwave meal. He’d eat it during his lunch break.
After paying for his food, he’d head out and follow the sidewalk up front for 7 minutes, reaching the security booth by 10:55. The Radio Tower was surrounded by thick concrete walls, topped with cameras, and barbed wires. At the booth, a guard—usually Steven—would check his credentials. He’d swipe his ID, and head past the walls.
After that, Andrew would head up the winding path that led to The Radio Tower’s base. The security checkpoint was situated quite far from The Radio Tower, so the walk typically took 15 minutes. By 11:10, he’d be inside The Radio Tower. He’d place his belongings inside his locker, and wait patiently in the break room until 11:30. 11:30 on the dot, he’d clock in and start his shift, heading into his designated room in The Radio Tower. He was always alone in this room, but he could sometimes hear the voices of his co-workers as they passed by the closed door.
There wasn’t much in the room. A comfy ergonomic chair, a table set up with various dials to change frequencies, an LED display propped up above the table, and a comfortable set of headphones that played whatever was coming from The Radio Tower at that given moment.
Since Andrew had the overnight shift, there wasn’t much he had to do in terms of tasks. From 11:30 pm to 4:30 am, he’d slip on his headphones and switch through the various frequencies as dictated by the LED display above the control panel. The screen flashed and beeped when he had to change frequencies, giving him a short countdown once he had to do so. He’d change frequencies every hour or so. At first, Andrew found it a bit difficult to match the timing of the display, but he quickly got the hang of it. He’d match the turning of the knobs and dials before him with the countdown on the display. Every beat was 5 turns on the right knob and 2 on the left.
He’d take his lunch break-could it even be called that?-at 4:30 am. Heating up the meal he’d got from the convenience store. He’d eat and would head back to his room by 5 am.
At 5:25 am the LED would flash again, this time more urgently than before, and a small robotic voice would chime in amidst the beeping.
“The Silent Hour will begin in five minutes. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
“The Silent Hour will begin in four minutes. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
“The Silent Hour will begin in three minutes. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
“The Silent Hour will begin in two minutes. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
“The Silent Hour will begin in one minute. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
At 5:30 on the dot, Andrew would switch to frequency 141.3. And everything went quiet. It was as if the whole world stopped. The ambient noise from the radio, the soft whirring of the machines, and the faint discussions co-workers had off to the side, they all stopped. There was nothing but silence, overwhelming silence.
From 5:30 until 6:30 am. This was how long it lasted, the silent hour.
“The Silent Hour is now over. Please change your frequency to One-Thirty-Six-Dot-Eight”
At 7 am, Andrew would clock out. Heading back down The Radio Tower, out the security checkpoint, and straight to the bus stop. By 7:45 he’d be home, and by 8 am, he’d fall asleep.
This was his routine.
……………
10 pm, catch the bus. 10:45, buy his lunch. 11:30, clock in for work. 4:30 am, he eats his lunch. At 5 am, go back to his room. 5:25 am
“The Silent Hour will begin in five minutes. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
“The Silent Hour will begin in four minutes. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
“The Silent Hour will begin in three minutes. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
“The Silent Hour will begin in two minutes. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
“The Silent Hour will begin in one minute. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
6:30 am, the silent hour is over. 7 am, he’s clocked off. 7:45, he’d get home. 8 am, he’d fall asleep.
Again and again. Day after day. This was his routine.
……………
Andrew stared at the flashing LED display. The silent hour was approaching, it was 5:28 am and his hands were slowly turning the dial. 140.9, 141.0, 141.1, 141.2. And he stopped, why was he turning the dial? Why did he have to stop on 141.3? Would it really make a difference? Maybe he could just wait and see what happened….No, he shouldn’t, this was routine, and he shouldn’t break it.
“The Silent Hour will begin in one minute. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
He should turn the dial, just one more click on the right one, and everything would be fine. Just one turn.
5:30 am, The Silent Hour has begun, radio frequency set to 141.2.
Andrew held his breath and waited. And waited. And waited some more. At 5:45 am, nothing happened, the world was still quiet. He waited and waited yet again, 6 am, still nothing. He waited and waited, 6:20 am, would nothing really happen?
Andrew let out a sigh, on the one hand, he was disappointed. For how important his co-workers had made the frequency setting seem, it was a bit shocking that nothing actually happened. But also there was a sense of relief. Nothing had changed.
6:29 am there was a soft buzz, a distant voice “....Can you hear me?”
“The Silent Hour is now over. Please change your frequency to One-Sixty-One-Dot-Seven”
……………
The next night, Andrew did the same thing, this time, changing the dial to 141.1 and waited.
The world fell silent and time slowly passed. 6:28 am came and a faint buzz sounded from the speakers. “The Silent Hour will begin in five minutes. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
“The Silent Hour will begin in four minutes. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
“The Silent Hour will begin in three minutes. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
“The Silent Hour will begin in two minutes. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
“The Silent Hour will begin in one minute. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
“.......You can hear me right? Please listen to what I have to say! You need to keep on listening, this is the only time I can talk!”
“The Silent Hour is now over. Please change your frequency to Two-Twenty-Four-Dot-Nine.”
……………
The following nights, Andrew did not switch his frequency to 141.3 and waited for that mysterious voice to speak some more. His monotonous routine now had some excitement in it thanks to the voice. He didn’t know who they were, or how they managed to talk through his headphones. It’s not like he could ask them, all he knew was that the only time they could be heard was during the silent hour.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
This particular night, Andrew wanted to try something new. Rather than waiting in the breakroom until his shift started, he went to his supervisor and asked for a microphone.
“Huh? Why would you need that?”
“I just wanted to try recording something, that’s all.”
Despite the confused look his supervisor gave him, Andrew’s request was granted and he was given a plug-in microphone. He waited impatiently until the Silent Hour came.
“The Silent Hour will begin in five minutes. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
“The Silent Hour will begin in four minutes. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
“The Silent Hour will begin in three minutes. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
“The Silent Hour will begin in two minutes. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
“The Silent Hour will begin in one minute. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
At 5:30 am, Andrew plugged the microphone into his control panel and waited. 6 am, the voice spoke.
“Hello? Are you still there?”
He felt his pulse jump and he brought the microphone to his mouth and whispered “H-Hello?”
There was silence, and then the voice spoke again.
“Oh God, you’re really there! Please, whatever you do, you have to keep on listening.”
Andrew frowned and asked “Why? Who are you? And how are you speaking to me?”
“That doesn’t matter! Just listen, please. Now that you can speak, this will be easier.”
“What do you mean? What will be easier?” Andrew started to feel frustrated, he could talk to the voice, but despite that, they did not answer any of the questions he had.
“My name is bzzchstchs and I need you to-”
“Wait, I didn’t catch your name.”
“That’s not important! I need you to-”
“The Silent Hour is now over. Please change your frequency to Five-Zero-Five-Dot-One.”
Andrew stared at the LED display, the voice was gone, the overbearing silence was gone, and The Silent Hour was over.
He would try and talk to them the following night.
As he got ready to head home, Andrew’s supervisor stopped him and asked “Hey, are you done with that microphone?”
“No, I think I’ll keep it a little longer, sorry.”
……………
Night after night, Andrew tried his best to communicate with the voice. He never got their name, he didn’t even know if he was talking to a man or a woman. He really knew nothing about the voice except that they wanted him to talk.
Every night, the voice asked him questions. His age, his routine, his hobbies, his likes, and dislikes. It had gotten to the point where the voice knew more about him than he did them. It was honestly quite frustrating. The voice didn’t speak to him every night, sometimes they never spoke, and other times they barely managed to get a word in before the Silent Hour finished. But tonight would be different, he could feel it.
“The Silent Hour will begin in three minutes. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
“The Silent Hour will begin in two minutes. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
“The Silent Hour will begin in one minute. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
Andrew took a deep breath and plugged in his microphone, 5:30 am the voice spoke.
“Hello! Are you there?”
“Yes, I’m here. Where have you been?”
“I’m sorry, I only have an hour where my voice is heard. Sometimes I miss it.”
Andrew latched onto that “Oh? Do you have a job or something similar?”
“....Something like that, yes.”
“What do you do?”
“Oh, random odd jobs here and there. What about you? Are you always awake at this hour?”
“Yeah, I have the overnight shift at the Radio Tower.”
“What’s that like?”
“Pretty boring honestly. Talking to you has been the most excitement I’ve had.” Andrew admitted, feeling a bit bashful.
“You flatter me. Hey, you never gave me your name.”
He blinked “It’s Andrew.”
“Andrew what?”
Andrew frowned “Why is that so important?”
“Well, I want to know more about you. You’re the first person who’s heard my voice in…… let's just say that it’s been a long time.”
Andrew couldn’t help but feel a bit of pity for the voice, how long have they been alone? Surely he could indulge their curiosity. “It’s Oliver, Andrew Oliver.”
“Is it wrong to say that you sound like you have blond hair?”
Andrew chuckled, “You’re actually right.”
“I knew it! Then are your eyes blue?”
“Nope, they’re green.”
“Andrew Oliver, male, blond hair, green eyes, 32 years of age, and single.”
“Did you write all of that down?” Andrew asked, chuckling again, this time a bit nervous.
“Thank you for the information you have given me.”
“The Silent Hour is now over. Please change your frequency to Three-Seventy-Eight-Dot-Seven.”
Andrew stared at the microphone, the wire mesh looked opaque, a solid black hole. As if it had just stolen his words.
……………
“The Silent Hour will begin in five minutes. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
“The Silent Hour will begin in four minutes. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
“The Silent Hour will begin in three minutes. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
“The Silent Hour will begin in two minutes. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
“The Silent Hour will begin in one minute. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
“The Silent Hour is now over. Please change your frequency to Zero-Two-Zero-Dot-Nine”
……………
“The Silent Hour will begin in five minutes. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
“The Silent Hour will begin in four minutes. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
“The Silent Hour will begin in three minutes. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
“The Silent Hour will begin in two minutes. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
“The Silent Hour will begin in one minute. Please ready your dials to frequency One-Forty-One-Dot-Three.”
“The Silent Hour is now over. Please change your frequency to Two-Thirty-Six-Dot-One”
……………
The voice never spoke to him since. Andrew couldn’t help but wonder if he offended them somehow. Were they mad at him? Did he do something wrong?
It was 6:20 am, the Silent Hour was about to finish, and still no word from the Voice. Then there was a buzz.
“Andrew, come outside. I’ll meet you there.”
Andrew jumped and stared at the blank LED screen. It was the voice! They were here? How? Did they want to meet outside?
Andrew didn’t think twice, he got up, ripped off his headphones, and dashed out the door to his room. He ran to the base of the Radio Tower, out into the outdoors, and stopped. Right in front of The Radio Tower was a man. Blond hair, vivid green eyes, and a toothy smile.
“Hello, Andrew.”
That voice sounded so familiar, who was this man?
“I’m sorry, do I know you?” Andrew asked.
The stranger simply smiled and approached Andrew, saying, “Of course you do.”
Andrew took a step back and asked, “Then… who are you?”
“I’m Andrew.”
“Andrew what?”
“Oliver, Andrew Oliver.”
Andrew frowned, “That can’t possibly be true.”
“Oh? Why not?”
“I’m Andrew Oliver!” He snapped, stopping his retreat and glaring at the stranger. “Quit playing whatever stupid prank this is.”
The man chuckled and stopped in front of Andrew. “No, you’re not. Not anymore that is.”
“What… do you mean?”
The man placed a hand on Andrew’s shoulder “You’re a stranger, and you shouldn’t be here.”
“.........What?”
“Hey! Who the hell are you?” Andrew heard a man yell. The stranger turned around, there was a guard approaching them from the security checkpoint. It was Steven.
Andrew let out a sigh of relief, “Oh it’s you, thank God. Take this lunatic away, he’s acting like he’s me!”
Steven frowned and strode forward, grabbing Andrew’s arm harshly. “This is private property, you’re trespassing.”
“What- No! I work here!”
Steven ignored him and turned to the stranger. “Hey, Andrew is this guy bothering you?”
“I’m Andrew, not him!”
The stranger sighed, “He took my ID, I’ll admit I’m a bit embarrassed about that.”
“Stop lying! I’m Andrew!”
Steven snorted. “Good joke, you look nothing like him.” He turned to the stranger and said, “I’ll get you a new ID, just stop by the booth on your way back home.”
The stranger nodded and smiled bashfully, “Thank Steven, you’re a lifesaver.” The man waved and said, “I’m going to head back in, see you at 7.”
Andrew watched as the man who claimed to be him walked inside The Radio Tower, his retreating back growing smaller and smaller as Steven dragged him away, throwing him outside the concrete walls.
“Steven, you have to believe me, I’m Andrew! I’m Andrew Oliver, not him!”
“Yeah, yeah, save that for someone who’d actually believe you.”
As he sat there, staring at the Radio Tower, he heard a faint buzz and a voice-
The Voice.
“Thank you for giving me your name, Andrew.”
“The Silent Hour is now over. Please change your frequency to Three-Twenty-Four-Dot-Nine.”