Last Contact (Baxter)
Short summary
England, near Oxford, 2008-2009. Caitlin visited her mother Maureen to deliver news about the Big Rip, a cosmic event where dark energy would tear apart the universe. Caitlin confirmed the event would occur on October 14th. As an astrophysicist, she explained how the expansion had accelerated unexpectedly, giving humanity only months rather than billions of years.
Throughout the months leading to the end, Maureen focused on her garden, planting vegetables and building a pergola. Meanwhile, alien signals from distant civilizations flooded in through Maureen's phone. As October approached, society gradually broke down, with people abandoning jobs to be with loved ones.
On the final day, Caitlin gave her children sleeping pills after an early Christmas celebration, while her husband stayed with them. She brought a special recording device to her mother's garden, designed to gather data until the very end. As they sat together in the pergola, Maureen realized all the alien signals had been saying goodbye.
The ground burst open. The scrap of dewy lawn flung itself into the air, and Maureen was thrown down, her face pressed against the grass. But she was still holding Caitlin. “Goodbye,” Maureen yelled. “They were just saying goodbye.”
Detailed summary
Section subtitles are editorial.
March 15th. The announcement of the Big Rip
Caitlin visited her mother Maureen in her garden on a chilly March day. Maureen was working on her lawn when her phone pinged with news of another alien civilization discovered in space. This was the fifteenth such discovery that year, and Maureen proudly mentioned her small contribution to the discovery through her participation in a search network.
Though Maureen could tell from her daughter's stressed appearance that she had come to deliver difficult news, she allowed Caitlin to share it in her own time. They chatted about Caitlin's family and Maureen's garden plans for her new cottage. Maureen mentioned how the previous owner, Mrs. Murdoch, had let the garden run to seed.
Eventually, Caitlin revealed she would be on BBC Radio 4 that evening following a government statement about the Big Rip. She explained that the Hawaii observatories had confirmed their predictions: all galaxies beyond the local group had disappeared from deep space observations. The universe was being torn apart by dark energy.
“It’s all to do with dark energy. It’s like an antigravity field that permeates the universe. Just as gravity pulls everything together, the dark energy is pulling the universe apart... In the end it will fold down to the smallest scales.”
Caitlin then revealed the most devastating news: the end would come on October 14th at approximately 4 p.m. The Big Rip would tear apart every bound structure in the universe, from galaxies down to atoms. Though they had long known about dark energy, the acceleration of expansion had caught scientists by surprise.
“No more Christmases,” Maureen said suddenly. “If it’s all over in October.” “No more birthdays for my two either,” Caitlin said. “November and January.” “Yes. It’s funny, in the lab, when the date came up, that was the first thing I thought of.”
As they continued walking through the garden, Maureen's phone pinged again with another alien signal. She mentioned that these signals had been increasing dramatically, though no one had been able to decode them. Maureen believed the messages didn't need decoding, but Caitlin didn't pursue this thought.
June 5th. Building a pergola and preparing for the end
By early June, Caitlin arrived at Maureen's cottage with materials for a pergola they had planned. They unloaded wooden panels, beams, and iron spikes from a van borrowed from the garden center, which could no longer rely on regular deliveries or staff as people began abandoning their jobs to be with family.
Caitlin mentioned that her husband Bill had quit his new job at Webster's engineering firm, though he had barely completed his induction. Their children were still attending school, which was continuing for now.
Over lunch, they discussed how Maureen's garden was thriving. She had planted vegetables instead of flowers, a practical choice as supply chains broke down and supermarket shelves became increasingly empty. They talked about how people were coping with the approaching end - most continued with their routines, though infrastructure was gradually failing.
Maureen's phone continued to ping with alien signals, though they had decreased from their peak as the Rip had already begun folding down into the galaxy, causing stars to disappear. Caitlin mentioned that some scientists had hoped the alien messages might contain a solution to the dark energy problem, but if they did, it was too late to decode them.
“I don’t think the messages need decoding,” Maureen said. Caitlin looked at her curiously, but didn’t pursue it.
Caitlin explained that some scientists were building a shelter in Oxford that could survive the Earth's destruction for about thirty minutes, allowing them to gather final data. She had been invited to join but hadn't decided yet. Before leaving, Caitlin suggested they ask Maureen's neighbor Joe to help with laying the concrete base for the pergola.
October 14th. The final day of the universe
On the morning of October 14th, Maureen rose early to work in her garden. She listened to the final episode of The Archers until her radio battery failed. She spent the day raking leaves and pruning roses, even planting daffodil bulbs around the pergola that would never bloom.
As she watched a band of goldfinches feeding on Michaelmas daisies, the light suddenly began to fade. The sun rushed away, taking all light with it. Within minutes, complete darkness fell. Prepared with a torch and rush lights, Maureen made her way to the pergola to wait for the end.
To her surprise, Caitlin arrived with her own torch. She explained that she had chosen not to take the government-issued pills that would have allowed her a peaceful death. Instead, she had given her children an early Christmas celebration that morning, complete with stockings, a tree, and presents. Afterward, Bill had put sleeping pills in the children's lemonade and planned to take his own once they were peacefully asleep.
“I wanted to see it through,” Caitlin said again. “After all I was in at the start—those supernova studies.” “You mustn’t think it’s somehow your fault.” “I do, a bit,” Caitlin confessed. “Stupid, isn’t it?”
Caitlin had brought a special device - a sphere made of space shuttle heat shield material containing sensors that would continue recording data even after the Earth was destroyed. The tiny machines inside would gather information until the expansion reached molecular scales, though no one would ever retrieve this data.
“Mum, there’s one thing.” “Yes, love.” “You said you didn’t think all those alien signals needed to be decoded.” “Why, no. I always thought it was obvious what all the signals were saying.” “What?”
Before Maureen could answer, the ground began to shake violently. As the Earth's crust broke apart, Maureen was thrown down with her face pressed against the grass. In the final moments, as houses, trees and people were flung into the air above a furnace-red glow from below, Maureen managed to yell her answer: "They were just saying goodbye." But she couldn't tell if Caitlin heard her before everything ended.