The signal comes, as they can tell after a bit of triangulation, from space. Approximately 0.3 light-seconds out, just within the orbit of the moon.
The following few minutes are a scramble to contact Emergency Services, publish their livecaptures of the signal, and get the radio telescope operators at the Distant Island observatory onboard before the transmitter goes under the horizon.
The alien pauses in the middle of acting out some example scenarios for the linguists, to turn and look in the direction of the DSN transmitter. She idly fiddles with the end of her braid, and then cocks her head and turns in the direction of the Lunar Mapping Orbiter.
"[Exclamation of surprise]. You [unknown verb] [unknown word] [interrogative particle]?" she asks, turning back to the camera. "[Possible copula] increase [unknown word]."
She smiles.
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