This piece was contributed to (and printed in!) the Anthrocon 2009 conbook.

A race of aliens called the Rutejx intercept one of the Pioneer probes and study the metal plaque with the info about Earth on it, including the two naked figures. (Obviously, I had to leave out a few artistic details in the human figures so the picture would be suitable for the conbook.)

Pronunciation note: the digraph 'jx' represents a sound in the Rutejxian language that cannot be pronounced by human vocal apparatus, but can be approximated by the 'zh' sound as in "measure" or "bonjour".

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