The Research Program

Probing Homo Sonicus is a research program initiated by aliens aboard the starship Sombrero, which is currently visiting Earth on a surveillance mission. The focus of the research program is to understand more about human music; the aliens distinguish musicians as a subspecies of Homo sapiens called Homo sonicus. As the Sombrero zig zags across the stratosphere, sound-crafters from specific regions are captured and taken aboard the ship, where a machine known as The Proboscis is used to extract sonic information from the minds of the musicians.

Each week on Monday from 22:00 to 00:00, head research alien DX5 compiles a report for their home planet which includes the collected sounds of the abductees, along with updates of the ship's heading. On occasion, assistant research alien Jarvis steps out of the ship donning a human suit, and goes to record stores to collect further sonic artifacts to include in the report.