Jacobi has this to say about the origins of the story, while working the "dogwatch" - the graveyard shift on Saturday nights in case significant news came in:

"When I tired of reading, I strolled over and watched the teletypes. They're fascinating instruments, and when one is freshly steeped in astronomical facts and postulations, the mind is apt to seize the nearest stimuli and lead itself into queer channels... Cosmic Teletype had its real genesis at one lonely February night at my cabin at Red Cedar Pont, Lake Minnewashta. Outside a blizzard was raging. Inside the wood stove was aglow, and I sat listening to 'short-wave.' The last station I remember receiving was a plane calling it's landing base. When I awoke the next day, the fire was out, the cabin was icy, and I had the story."