by Rashid Ahmed
Rafael said, “Good. This will give Lýsi further autonomy on Earth, like the elbow room we have in space. I’ve put together a proposal. Please send my files to group leadership for consideration.”
They arrived at their destination mid-morning the next day and were greeted at the facility’s dock, by an exceptionally fit tall man with long glinting steel-grey hair. He even had matching steel-grey beard, moustache and irises. He called out to them when they appeared on deck next to the gangway, “Hello my friends. I’m Gogh. Welcome to Marion Island, our base of operations for the near future.”
Rafael replied, “Hi Gogh. I’m Rafael.” Max nodded to Gogh. He had been advised that all current members of the group’s leadership team were only referred to by code name. Max understood this and appreciated that even the leadership of the group, was managed in a dispersed manner, keeping with their adhocratic organization.
Gogh didn’t wait to get started, “I’d like each one of you to keep your earpieces on while you’re here, except of course while asleep. We’re running a very tightly coordinated facility. Dr. Popov, you’ll take over the island’s operations. Please take a handover from our current facility head. He’s been assigned a new project that should give the group greater freedom.” Turning his head to Rafael who was on his right, he winked and said, “Thank you for pointing the way. Your inputs are being actioned.”
Driving up to a cluster of containers beside three intersecting runways, Gogh announced, “Most of our operations are underground here. Infrastructure like hangers are below ground too. While we’re way off the beaten track for most satellites, we get the occasional recreational sea vessel passing by. As far as the world is concerned, we’re only a bunch of researchers on the island.” They ducked into one of the windowed container units and down a few concrete stairs into a large industrial elevator. Gogh said, “We’ll head directly to the primary operations centre. I’ll show you to your accommodations and give you a tour of the island later. Right now, we’re plugged into the feed from Átt.”
No one else occupied the operations centre. Numerous screens showed various video feeds from inside each of Átt’s SSEVs, including Suður which had remained in the solar system.
“There’s the feed from Vestur. Ásta is pulling in Sven and Crystal’s capsules, using focussed gravity points from both the SSEVs,” Gogh stated as they entered. He said, “They made contact with the capsules a short while before you arrived.”
A large 3D volumetric projection, situational awareness feed or SAF, occupied the center of the room. The projection depicted all known objects within half an AU of Átt. It showed a line of moving dots connecting the capsules to Átt. The SAF also showed a blinking white dot, labelled ‘Hostile Vessel’. That was something which Kei had added on.
Absorbing the information with a single turn of his head around the room, Rafael said, “They won’t have time to get the capsules aboard through an airlock. They’ll arrive at the first point of rendezvous, well before they manage the task.” He said to the AI, “Patch me in to Jón, on Austur.”
Shun replied, “Channel open, go ahead and speak. I’ve intimated my counterpart Kei, who has let Jón know.”
“Hey Jón! It looks like you’re going to meet a mid-sized asteroid just as you grab the capsules. The asteroid is coming in on an intersecting trajectory, from above you. I suggest you clamp the evacuation capsules, at the SSEV interlock dock, previously occupied by Norður” Rafael spoke rapidly and briskly.
Jón replied, “Understood. Adding in post-capture instructions now.”
A few moments later, they had the capsules locked in. Jón spoke over the open common channel, “Sven and Crystal are fine. They’ll remain in the capsules until we’re through with the rendezvous. The approaching asteroid seems to have a cavernous space underneath. Our updated trajectory shows that it’ll engulf us and press Átt downward, into its own path. This is going to get bumpy.” He announced to Átt’s crew, “Everyone secure yourselves. Brace for impact. There’s an asteroid swooping in on us.”
The observers in the operations centre on Marion Island held their breaths. The crew on Átt barely managed to tighten their seat harnesses, when the vessel was pushed downward. Even with internal local gravity rapidly adjusting, the strain could be seen on the crew’s faces. The feed was crystal clear.
Jón announced, “We seem to be inside the asteroid. Within the cavernous space under it.” As he finished speaking, the crew were shaken about in a rough jarring motion, just like extreme turbulence in an aircraft. He added sounding strained, “Feels like either Átt, or the asteroid has hit something.”
The situational awareness feed rebooted itself and now only showed the inside of the asteroid. None of Átt’s sides were touching the walls. The impact must have been outside. The downward thrust continued for just another moment. Jón said loudly, “I’m receiving evasion related instructions through my diadem from the framandi. We’re to turn off all systems. Nothing is to indicate the presence of technology, or us. The framandi are showing me what occurred outside the asteroid a moment ago. They had the asteroid we’re in, collide with another one. This was followed by further collisions between smaller objects at the same location. I believe that the framandi would like to give the impression, that we were destroyed in a series of random asteroid collisions.”
Ásta added, “I’m seeing the same thing. Turning off all systems on Átt. Kei please do the same on the capsules, but make sure Sven and Crystal have enough air to breathe. The framandi will contact us over our diadems once we’re clear.”
Kei replied, “I’ve reminded Sven and Crystal about manual operating instructions. Powering down all systems including my own. One of you’ll need to trigger the manual systems restart, to power up Átt again.” It took just under three minutes. As Átt shutdown, the screens in the operations centre on Marion Island went blank. Only the feed from Suður SSEV remained.
Dr. Popov looked at his colleagues and said gravely, “They’ll remember their training.”
Rafael agreed saying, “Yes. Each of the crew is highly competent.”
Shun interrupted, “The rescue and recovery operation off Kuril Islands has been completed successfully. The personnel will be taken to Japan and then transferred to other Lýsi facilities. Gylfi Hallgrímsson and Katrín Magnusdóttir are on route to Marion Island.”
They waited anxiously for news from Átt, watching the screens intently.
Regroup
Framandi System, Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy.
It was a full two days later before anything happened. Ásta was imagining how she must be turning putrid, sitting in her suit. The relentless pressure she and the crew had undergone over the last couple of days, had taken its toll. Drifting off into deep sleep with periods of semi-lucid dreams, her brain was slotting memories away and rationalizing thoughts. She had just woken up from deep slumber and was imagining machines and people milling about, observing Átt from behind a vast transparent window of irregular shape. One of the observers seemed to be asking her how she felt. In her semi-lucid dream state, she smiled and responded that things could be better.
Jón brought her right back to focus. He reached out to her over her diadem, “I don’t know if you’re seeing the same things I am, but I have a feeling the framandi have us enclosed in a large hanger of some sort. I keep getting asked how I’m feeling!”
Ásta pulled herself awake and responded, “I thought that was just me. It must be the local species trying to get in touch with us. It’s been long enough. I think we should reactivate systems.”
Agreeing with his twin sister, Jón said, “I’m going to lower a viewing window panel manually first. If all seems well, I’ll let you know, and you initiate activation.”
There wasn’t any internal gravity or other G-forces being exerted. Jón released his seat’s harness and floated over to a section of the central operations area where a viewing window was installed. Groping around near the window, he located a lev
er embedded next to it. Placing a finger against one edge of the lever, he pried it out. It swung towards him on a hinge. Grasping the handle end, he turned the lever clockwise like he was hand cranking a car. Gradually, a section of the outer hull panel directly over the viewing window, slid outwards and swung away revealing the outside.
The external section of the vessel was bathed in amber light. Jón let his eyes adjust. Gradually he was able to make out details. They were very similar to the images he had seen in his mind. He thought to let Ásta know and his diadem responded, asking if it should link his mind to hers. Connected, she thought to him, “I’m ready.” Jón thought back, “I can’t be a hundred percent certain, but I believe we may be safe for the moment. Best we have power and all systems activated to deal with whatever we have before us.” Ásta didn’t hesitate. She hit the system initiation switch.
Kei’s voice came in over the crew’s headsets a moment later. The AI said “I’ve reactivated all your suits. I’ll turn on all critical systems first, test them and then work on support and tertiary systems.” Ásta thought that the AI probably meant it would check its own storage and processing before anything else. She smiled. Fortunately, reinitiating SSEVs didn’t take much time.
Sven spoke over their local common channel, “It’d be great if you guys could get Crystal and myself inside.”
Isla replied, “On it!” She programmed drones from each of the SSEVs to retool, exit and latch onto the capsules. Warning the capsules’ occupants, she said, “I’ve tasked drones to dislodge you and bring your capsules into the forward airlocks. By the way, the drones have reported that there’s human compatible atmosphere in the hanger area that Átt is in. We’ll restore our internal gravity once your capsules are in.”
There was no time wasted. Isla oversaw the capsule transfer. The twins Jón and Ásta ensured each system brought online was functioning within parameters. Stefán scheduled health checks for each of the crew. The universal docking ports between Austur and Vestur were opened, allowing Átt’s crew to carry out their functions more effectively. As soon as the capsules were placed in the airlocks, internal gravity was activated, and the crew prepared to receive Sven and Crystal.
Stefán suggested, “Standard procedure requires us to decontaminate the exterior of the capsules before opening the airlocks. We’ll go through the process.”
Kei responded, “Commencing airlock decontamination procedure.” Nozzles sprayed the capsules and drones in both airlocks with anti-contaminants for viral, bacterial and non-viral agents. The drones scrubbed themselves and the capsules through it all. Next a series of material decontamination procedures followed. Sven commented over the local common channel, “I’m glad our hosts have patience.” Crystal said, “They’re probably looking on curiously through whatever scanning systems they have. I just hope they’re not as inquisitive, when I’m in the shower.” That lightened the mood a bit and there was more light banter. Twenty minutes later, the procedure was over, and the airlocks were dried out.
Crystal was the first one out. She had exited her capsule which was aboard Austur. Without greeting anyone, she scurried over to the forward airlock on Vestur with Isla hurrying behind. Crystal enveloped Sven in a tight hug as soon as he came out of the forward airlock on Vestur. She said, “I’m so glad to be out of there. I’m even more glad you’re okay. By the way, you smell putrid.”
Laughing, he held her and replied, “It could be you; you know.”
Crystal looked up at his face, grimaced and said, “I’m not doing anything else until I’ve cleaned up.” She headed towards the rear personnel facilities on Vestur. Sven gave each of the crew a hug and said, “I’m going to freshen up too.”
Jón agreed but stopped Sven. He said, “We’ll all take turns. Now though, we’ve just re-established communication with Suður and Earth. There are a lot of worried people. Let’s all say hello first.”
They got to the central operations area on Vestur and brought up the communications interface, which linked each of their seat pads with the onboard gaupa. They were patched in on an intergalactic conference call. The gaupas easily connected peer-to-peer with each other, once an initial connection had been established between any two.
Gogh said, “I’m very glad you’re all okay. We’ve all been very anxious.” Lei spoke next from Suður, “I’d like to take time with each one of you to run through your experiences soon. We could even do it by connecting through our diadems.” Gogh cut back in, “We’ve been updated about your situation by Kei and Shun. Right now, you’ll want to prepare yourselves for contact with the framandi. At some point, you may wish to ask them what they’d like to be called. Perhaps that could be a gesture of goodwill on our part. Kei will update you all, on first contact do’s and don’ts. Lei and Eiji have reviewed a great deal of information about the framandi and shared their observations with us.”
He continued, “Long story short, they’re a civilization that’s seen intergalactic forces use their system, and afterward ours, as battlegrounds. After the last conflict, which occurred in our system, they aided our planet and us humans, get back to our feet. The framandi themselves have taken to remaining on guard, since there are a few active wormholes between their system and others. These lead to locations in both the Milky Way and in the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy. On their home planet, they maintain a population without evidence of advanced technology on the surface. This seems to keep any observing species disinterested. However, they also have a vast population spread across their system, living in habitats within asteroids, small planets and satellites. To accomplish this, they’ve developed high-density external shielding that looks like naturally occurring space bodies when scanned. They’ve maintained and developed their technology inside their habitats.”
Continuing his brief Gogh said, “You already know about their social groups. While they’re role based, every individual has the knowledge to take on all kinds of roles. Knowledge is built right into their DNA, donated by participating parents. Here’s the fascinating part. Once individuals have grown, any knowledge they do not want to maintain in their DNA or a second brain, they store in DNA based storage media. Just like the one left for us on Suður. While they’re different, the framandi are carbon based, like us. Presently, we don’t think they mean us any harm. Also, our recent interaction tells us that they are very open, frank and helpful with species they trust.”
Sven spoke for the crew, “We may not have prepared for this contact, but I feel we’re well suited to represent Earth and its people. I suggest that we interact with the framandi, while you’re all plugged in. Should we involve any others?”
Gogh replied, “I’ve taken inputs from the rest of Lýsi leadership. Earth is too divided and politically motivated. Unvetted parties may have vested interests. We will let the framandi know that this is the case during a future interaction. They should be aware, but we should not come across as weak.”
Stefán said sardonically, “If they’ve deciphered our DNA and interacted with us however long ago, they probably know we’re fairly aggressive as a species.” The conference call was terminated after a few other transactional matters were taken care of.
The crew on Átt ate and freshened up. While they were doing so, Kei had tasked drones to physically scrub all internal surfaces. Stefán had run each one of them including himself, through a thorough physical. After a brief rest followed by another meal together, they were prepared to contact the framandi. Till now, all their host had done was observe.
Jón and Ásta had already shown that they were able to communicate with the framandi by thought, through their diadems. They were assigned with explaining the expected conversation with the framandi, to the parties plugged in from Earth. The rest of the crew including Eiji and Lei on Suður, were assigned to directly access the interaction via their diadems. Kei was to monitor interactions and record them using AL-I’s processing module on Suður. Everything was simplified as much as possible, so there wouldn’t be any hi
ccups. All required parties were patched in via their gaupas. An additional gaupa was being produced aboard Suður to deal with the increased volume of queries being sent to AL-I’s data unit. They had prepared vast packets of information about Earth, it’s people and known history. These had been encoded into transmittable packets which the framandi could absorb. They were ready for contact.
Sven initiated contact, thinking through his diadem, “We would like to communicate and interact with you.” He got no response. He tried again, this time connecting his diadem to the gaupa on Vestur. “Here is some information about our recent history from planet Earth.” He initiated a transfer of an information packet to ‘Advisor of the Masked’; a known contact on the gaupa.
What he got back was a library’s worth of information appended to simple thoughts. The first was, “Welcome again.” This was associated with information about the framandi. The next thought was, “Your vessel was noticed in our system by another hostile drone.” Another few volumes of information. Then, “Our surveillance vessels on the far side of two separate wormholes have shown increased activity of possibly hostile forces, from where the drones originated.” Further information was appended. This was followed by, “Your vessels in our system, must always be ‘masked’.” Blocks of data rapidly flashed through the gaupa’s interface screen. The communication concluded with, “Your ‘selves’ must be modified to interact with ‘us’.” A final blur of information.
