[Audiobook]

Lucas arrives at the location provided by the drum, a barren landscape in the middle of the wilderness

And there, driven into the Earth, is an enormous metal cylinder pulsing with energy and music

This, is the Drum

The sound was not coming from a distant star, but here, on Earth

And Lucas isn't the only one to discover the secret

Camped out around the Drum, are hundreds of people just like him

Men, women, humans of all shapes and sizes, a mass of lonely dreamers searching for an answer... for the Drum... the message... everything

Lucas is not alone anymore

They welcome their newest arrival

Before Lucas can even get settled, spotlights on the horizon. Helicopters slice through the air, humvees bound across the plain, encircling the crowd

Loudspeakers blast the government's message, telling the crowd to disperse

They have decoded the alien messages, and believe them to be declarations of war

This location is their point of attack

The drum is a weapon

They must destroy it

A moment of crisis... Lucas is caught in the middle

Should he trust these voices of authority?

The leaders of his world?

Can he trust this otherworldly message?

Who was Vee?

Why did she leave, and will she ever return?

But Lucas and the crowd hold firm

The drum is an instrument of peace

It brought them all here, together

A standoff ensues

The dreamers, the searchers, the believers, the hopeful versus authority; law and order; the government machine

Tanks and soldiers surrounded the crowd, like villagers hunting Frankenstein's monster

Pistols instead of pitchforks; napalm instead of torches

They threaten the crowd, they intimidate

The soldiers will open fire if they do not disperse

It's for their own good

But Lucas and the others will not leave

They will not let these automatons, these government drones, destroy that which they don't understand