EON-4

Get daily updates of Earth's first contact with extraterrestrials

• EON-4
• Produced by American Cybercast
• Sponsored by Apple Computer
• Netscape 2.0 Required

ny attempts to keep the existence of the EON-4 project or its mission classified "Highest Top Secret" (as it had been until very recently) are no longer feasible. Hence the Web site EON-4.

The story is basically this. Presented as an actual occurrence, EON-4 details the history of our first contact with an extraterrestrial species and the events that follow. Given enough information by the Sentients, our extraterrestrial friends, to make prolonged space travel by humans possible, the EON-4 project has sent a team of explorers to make face-to-face contact (21K .JPG).

The group, Explrr Tm I, is sent. The team comprises U.S. Navy Captain David M. Crocker, who promptly dies during the trip (the page is dedicated to his memory), a Russian doctor named RuAlona Renee Kalinova and John Eric Lange. On May 15, 1996, the historic first message from Explrr Tm I arrives on Earth.

On the EON-4 Web site, messages from the Explrr team are updated daily. They include text and pictures which describe the events Explrr Tm I is experiencing. This, of course, includes contact with the Sentients and other species (some not so nice, or intelligent). In this fashion readers can experience the travails of Explrr team members and their insightful impressions of Earth's new friends.

American Cybercast (producers of the popular site The Spot) have done an impressive job in launching this Web site. It is easy to initially get lost in the amount of information that Cybercast uses to make the EON-4 project seem as real as possible (including the types of computers used -- Apple, of course!), but the Navigation Guide makes exploring a seemingly complex Web site fairly easy.

Visitors can enter the site either through the Public Path or the Secured Path. Registration allows the visitor to enter through the Secured Path and receive Level 3 access. This allows them to read the incoming messages from Explrr Tm I, the analyses of the messages by Project Headquarters, and the return messages. But much of the rest of the information is available through either path.

The site is, to say the least, graphics intensive and perhaps prohibitive to the modemly challenged. But waiting for images to download is usually worth it, especially in the RBNN Earth-Alien Contact Hub, where team messages are received and analyzed. The pictures tell as much of the story as the text itself.

A nice addition is the EarthCom BBS, which allows visitors to exchange ideas and impressions. Judging by the number of messages being posted to the BBS, EON-4 already has a sizable following.

Overall the site is an excellent addition to the growing list of dramatic Web sites. While the story offers little that is new to science fiction buffs (wormholes and tall, gangly, large-headed-and-super-smart creatures, etc.), the unveiling of the story, day by day, is an engaging plot device and many visitors will find themselves hooked.

Great site, but how will it end? -- Alex

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