Science fiction has long speculated about the possibility of first contact with an alien species from a distant world and how we might be able to communicate with them. But what if we simply don’t have enough common ground for that to even be possible?

It starts with a signal. Faint, strange, and unlike anything humanity has ever recorded. Within hours, it escalates into an event that changes the course of history as an alien arrival on Earth unfolds. Whether they come for peace or conquest, the first ...