Answer, please answer

"Answer, please answer" by Ben Bova is a science fiction story set in Antarctica, where two astronomers serving in the military find themselves at the center of a global emergency. The story looks at the ideas of reaching out, searching the stars for other intelligent life, and the frightening possibilities of nuclear weapons. An optical astronomer and his partner Rizzo, are the main focus as they stumble upon a strange, repeating signal coming from a Cepheid variable star that is close by. They begin to understand an urgent message from an alien race, revealing that they have created advanced technology and nuclear weapons. The story builds tension by showing the aliens' history and fears, and revealing that their star ended in a nuclear disaster. It tells a cautionary tale about the risks of technology and humanity's weaknesses