He stopped as she took him in her arms. “Kurt, you don’t know what it’s been like,” she said nearly sobbing.
He kissed her gently on the cheek and whispered, “It’s true then? What Jack was saying?”
“Yes. You were dead. I didn’t want to believe it when it happened. Even now I’ve been avoiding it. And now...”
“And now I’m here.”
“Yes,” she said and wiped her eyes. “I can’t tell what’s real. I’ve had nightmares since you ... since it happened. I woke up last night sure you were alive, but the bed was empty. I cried as I tried to crawl back into that dream with you – but, I couldn’t. Now you’re here. It seems real, but I don’t know. I know it’s not possible, but I want it to be true.”
Kurt kissed her again and just held her in the hallway. Nadya finally pushed back, wiper her eyes and said, “Let’s get you in to see the doctor.”
Kurt answered with a simple, “OK.”
Chapter 29 – July 29, 2124; 11:30:00
Jack walked into engineering and found Nadya briefing Kurt, Palmer and Claire on the ship’s status. She looked up at him and said, “We were just finishing up; I didn’t know you wanted to join us.”
“I wasn’t planning on it,” Jack replied. “But there’re some new developments I wanted to go over with all of you. I assume everything else is in order?”
“Yes, you’ll have my full report shortly. But to summarize, the aliens repaired nearly all of the ship’s structural damage. Plus, we’ve managed to get engines on line, and for what it’s worth, even have access to weapons.”
“That’s good news,” Jack said. Looking directly at Kurt and Claire, he continued, “I understand Helena’s cleared you both for a full return to duty.”
“Yes,” Kurt replied, “but I don’t understand why it took a day’s worth of tests and examinations to do it.”
“I’m just glad you’re back.” As Don walked in behind him, Jack said, “I’ve asked Don to join us. I just finished communicating with Alpha, and they’ve invited us to send a small group onto their ship for a face to face meeting.”
“Did they say anything about Alex?” Don asked.
“Yes,” Jack said solemnly. “They found his body where we stored it on the IPV, but it was too damaged to be revived. Alpha said something about that gas on G3 Alpha having a component that ravages the central nervous system while doing the obvious physical damage we saw. He also said that it looked like their enemy designed it to prevent his people from reviving any victims.”
His statement was met with stunned silence.
“Do you believe him?” Palmer asked.
“I think so,” Jack replied softly. “But it doesn’t look like what I believe is relevant right now. They are currently holding us and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. Since it seems that they aren’t overtly threatening us, our only move is to play along with them and see what happens.”
The room stayed quiet until Jack continued, “Kurt and Don, you’ll join me for this meeting. Palmer, as first officer, I’ll need you to remain in command here onboard the IPV.”
“I understand,” Palmer replied without emotion.
“When is this going to happen?” Kurt asked.
“As soon as we can get to the airlock,” Jack said with a smile.
“Don, are you OK with this?” Palmer asked.
Jack was taken aback by the question, but Don answered without hesitation. “Honestly, I don’t know. But I think I’d be more suspicious if they didn’t offer to meet with us by now.”
“What’re you going to discuss with them?” Nadya asked.
“A lot of that’s going to be up to them,” Jack answered. “I have some questions that I want answered, but there’s so much else I’d like to know that I wouldn’t even know where to start. I’ll update everyone when we return. Any questions?”
Jack surveyed the quiet room before saying, “Don, Kurt, let’s go.”
As they walked into the corridor, Palmer pulled him aside and said, “I need a word with you, sir.”
The others turned to wait, but he said, “Go on ahead. I’ll meet you at the airlock.”
Once they were out of earshot, Palmer continued, “Captain, we need to set up a protocol in case, for whatever reason, you don’t return right away.”
“Palmer, I really don’t think...”
“Captain, I’m just saying as a matter of procedure that we need to agree on this.”
Jack took a deep breath and said, “No, you’re right. We’ll follow a standard non-hostile protocol. The ship will be yours, but you’re to take no aggressive action unless you’re attacked. I’ll check in with you on the hour.”
“Understood.”
“Good,” Jack said, and proceeded down the hall to the airlock.
“Are we going to take any equipment?” Don immediately asked.
“I’m just bringing a recorder. Alpha said that there’ll be no need for environmental or biohazard suits.”
“You trust them on that?” Don pressed.
“Considering Kurt’s and Claire’s condition, I think we’ll be safe.”
Don nodded and said, “I guess. What’s next?”
“We go through the airlock.” Jack led the way and a moment later, opened the outer hatch. He squinted for a moment as he peered down a bright, white, alien corridor. “Alpha,” he called out. “Permission to board your ship?”
“Yes, of course,” was the polite reply. “Please follow the hallway in front of you.”
“Thank you,” Jack said as he stepped forward. He worked to suppress a rush of adrenaline as he slowly led the way. The corridor was straight for the first twenty meters before curving gently to the right. Their path then straightened again for what felt like the length of a football field. Straining his eyes to look ahead, Jack was finally able to make out a dark, blue-grey wall in the distance. The hallway ending in a dead end was puzzling, but he continued toward it. It soon became apparent that darkness at the end was actually the entrance to a much larger room.
Stopping at the threshold, Jack gazed into a large oval chamber. At first guess it seemed to be fifty meters across with a domed ceiling that rose at least twenty meters above them. The alien architecture was plain, but seemed designed to impress. The floor appeared to be cut from a single piece of polished black marble; the walls were comprised of the same blue-grey metal they had encountered on the other alien structures. Here though, there were no scorch marks or other signs of damage – just a smooth, near mirror-like finish. Light emanated from the line where the metallic wall met the ceiling, bathing the base of the dome in bright, blue-white light. The dome’s color faded to deep navy at its peak, reminding him of a twilight sky back home. A single glass table with three plain silver chairs sat at the far side of the room.
“Please come in,” Alpha’s voice announced.
They entered slowly and walked toward the table, admiring the simple, yet elegant surroundings. Don leaned toward Jack and whispered, “Where are they?”
“We will join you in a moment,” Alpha replied. “Please, take a seat and make yourselves comfortable.”
They reached the table and without hesitation Jack took the center seat. Kurt sat down to his left, but Don paused, standing behind the chair to Jack’s right.
“What is it?” Jack asked.
“I don’t know. I just don’t feel comfortable here.”
“Considering where we are, I’d be shocked if you did. Take your seat.”
As soon as Don complied, a large door appeared in the wall across from them, and the first of three aliens came through. Jack was surprised at their size: they could be considered humanoid with broad, heavy torsos that were anything but athletic. Their exposed thick, wrinkled grey skin, fit loosely on their bodies. At well over two meters tall, and a meter in breadth, he guessed that each must easily weigh three hundred kilos. Their similarity with humans ended there, as they had oblong heads that were broad near their necks
, but tapered to mouths that were little more than slits. The aliens’ large, jet black eyes lacked any obvious pupils or irises, making it difficult to tell in which direction they were looking. There were no discernable nostrils, and save for some slightly drooping skin, no other facial features. They didn’t walk, but instead sat in silver carts that covered their lower extremities and seemed molded to their bodies. The lead alien glided into place directly across from Jack.
Jack stood up and politely said, “I am Captain Jack Harrison. To my left is Lieutenant Commander Kurt Hoffman, our chief engineer; and to my right is Dr. Don Martinez our chief science officer.”
The alien in front of Jack raised its head slightly and Jack heard the words, “I am Alpha. It is our pleasure to meet you in person. On my right is ... you may call him Beta. His function is most closely analogous to your chief engineer. You may refer to the individual on my left as Gamma. He and I are scientists.”
The alien known as Beta looked to Alpha before turning to face Jack. A new voice, presumably Beta’s, said, “May we offer you something to eat and drink?”
“No, but thank you,” Jack replied.
A third voice which Jack assumed to be Gamma’s spoke, “I assure you that from our understanding of your physiology, it would be completely safe.”
The aliens’ movements were slow, and had an almost gentle appearance to them. Deciding he didn’t want to chance offending them by rejecting their hospitality, Jack said, “If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, something simple would be OK.”
Don glared at Jack, but their attention was quickly drawn to some motion at the end of the table. A group of silver-grey, spider-like animals appeared, carrying a bowl of fruit and three glasses filled with a clear liquid. Without thinking, Jack pushed back against his seat as they scampered toward them. Don on the other hand, jumped from his chair, exclaiming, “What the hell?” His voice trailed off as the creatures stopped in their tracks.
“I’m sorry to have startled you,” Beta said. “They will not harm you.”
Jack looked up at Don, who was frozen next to his chair, and said, “Don, sit down please.”
As Don took his seat, the creatures approached more cautiously, and left their burden just within arm’s reach. Jack didn’t take the food immediately, but instead watched the spiders retreat to their alien hosts. They nimbly hopped from the table into small compartments on the side of each alien’s cart.
Beta spoke again, “The glasses are filled with purified water. I believe you will enjoy the fruit. It is grown aboard our vessel and has a flavor that you would consider to be a combination of orange and strawberry.”
Jack picked up a piece of the round, yellow fruit. It was soft, like a ripe peach; but its skin was smooth and silky, unlike anything he’d ever eaten. He looked to his companions, but neither took one from the bowl. Jack brought it to his mouth, and took a small bite. The flavor was strong, but almost exactly as Beta had described. Its soft, juicy flesh justified his initial comparison to a peach. After finishing what was in his mouth he said, “It is very good, thank you.”
“I am glad you like it. It is one of my favorites,” Beta answered.
Don elbowed him gently and whispered, “Jack, how do they know so much about us? I mean, our language, the ship’s systems, the flavors we taste. Did they read our minds?”
The suspicion had just crept into Jack’s mind too. Before he could answer, though, Alpha spoke. “We did not read your minds. However, in order to first determine if you were a threat and to establish some form of communications, we did have to review your computer’s data libraries.”
“What, you just took a copy of our data?” Don asked incredulously.
“Yes. This was done while your computing system was disabled,” Alpha replied unapologetically.
“You can’t just take things like that,” Don shot back.
“It was necessary for us to understand your nature, and as I said, confirm that you were not a threat. Plus, it was obviously essential for establishing communications,” Alpha said calmly. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to speak right now. I believe that this is preferable.”
Before Don had a chance to continue, Jack said, “I think we understand your point.”
“Agreed,” Alpha replied.
“Since we haven’t had the opportunity to read or review any information about you,” Jack continued, “we do have many questions.”
“Of course,” Alpha replied. “We will answer whatever we can.”
“I guess the first are very basic: Who are you and where are you from?”
The aliens turned and looked at each other but Jack heard nothing. It was safe to assume they were discussing how to reply. After a few, seemingly long seconds, Alpha spoke. “Sometimes the simplest of questions are the most difficult to answer. As we do not have an audible language, I am unable to give you a word from our language that represents us. I guess the closest translation that I can provide would be, ‘Inhabitants of this region of space.’ But, that of course probably isn’t very helpful.
“As to where we come from, I assume you are asking about the world on which we originally evolved. The answer is again very difficult. Our species left its home world some one-point-six million years ago. Since then, we have spread across much of this region of the galaxy, and colonized about fifty planets. So the answer is, ‘yes’ there is a home world on which we originated. However, we are countless generations removed from it and only know of it from deep in our historical records. I would hardly say that I myself come from it. But to satisfy your curiosity and answer your question, it orbits a star listed in your charts as KIC 8462852. It is fourteen-hundred and eighty light-years from Earth, further along in the Orion arm of our galaxy. The planet is the fifth of ten, and is a watery world like your own.”
“One-point-six million years,” Don repeated. “I can’t even imagine what that must be like…” Don’s voice trailed off for a moment before he quickly added, “Why only fifty systems? We’ve already found nearly a hundred earth-like planets within five-hundred light-years of Earth. I think that it’s very likely, if not inevitable that we’ll visit all of them within a millennia or so. But you’ve been out here for…” Don took a breath before continuing, “sixteen-hundred millennia.”
“We have explored far more than we’ve colonized, but expand to live on other worlds only when necessary. There is no need to take possession or conquer them,” Alpha replied.
“Plus, I imagine that some of them must already be occupied,” Kurt said. “I mean; you must have found other civilizations.”
Alpha answered with what Jack could only interpret as a trace of sadness in his voice. “Though lower life is abundant throughout the galaxy, intelligent, technological races are exceedingly rare. Not counting you, or the one that is attacking us, in all this time we’ve found only one other. And they chose not to interact with us. We have found evidence of a few long dead civilizations, the most ancient of which is here in this system. It is the reason that we are here: ours is an archaeological expedition.”
“Archaeological?” Don asked, perking up.
“Yes,” Gamma answered. “About five hundred years ago an exploratory team of ours found traces of synthetic compounds on one of the planets in this system. We’re here to study what they left behind.”
“But it’s a dead system. The star’s a white dwarf,” Don said.
“Yes, but it was once alive,” Gamma said intensely. “A technological race lived here as recently as three billion years ago. They either died out or abandoned these planets when the parent star died. But imagine if they’re still alive and moved on from here – a race billions of years ahead of us. It would be amazing to see what they’ve become. We’ve only just begun our studies. So far we’ve determined that there were once three to four rocky inner planets that were consumed when the parent star went red giant. This erased all evidence of what was likely their original home world. At that time, it seems that they migrated o
ut to these outer planets. Though they were originally frozen, the enlarged, dying star had warmed them for a couple hundred-million years, making them habitable. After the star spent what remained of its fuel, it finally shrunk down to its present, cold, white dwarf state; these planets were left to freeze again. However, this frigid environment has helped preserve what they left behind.”
“My God,” Don said. “But, three billion years? It’s hard enough trying to piece together details of ancient Earth civilizations from five or ten thousand years ago.”
“Yes,” Gamma replied. “The technical issues in studying them have been somewhat challenging. Even the most stable compounds and alloys they were able to engineer experienced significant decay over that time period.”
“Were they much more advanced than us?” Don asked.
“That is difficult to say. Because of stellar drift over billions of years, it may not be possible to identify all of the star systems that were near them at that time, and determine if this race had visited or colonized any of them. From what we’ve seen on these outer planets though, it’s possible that they didn’t expand much further into space than your civilization. So in that sense, they may have been similar to you.”
Before Don could continue, Jack said, “This is truly fascinating, and I think we would all love to learn more about this later; but I think we’re getting a little off topic. Right now, we are here to get a better understanding of each other, and a better handle on our situation.”
“Yes, you’re right. Sorry,” Don said politely. “Could you tell us more about those other ships out there. Who are they?”
“Don,” Kurt said, “what are you trying...”
“It’s a major part of our current situation,” Don shot back.
“It is a fair question,” Alpha said. “The truth is; we don’t know who they are. They first appeared about six-hundred years ago, when they attacked the colony you visited on the planet you call Epsilon Eri-D. As you correctly surmised, we were in the last stages of terraforming the planet when they came. The approaching ships didn’t communicate with the colony – or even slow down. They just entered the system at high speed and within an hour had destroyed a mining facility we had on one of the asteroids and decimated our settlement on the planet. We received only two communications from the colony. The first was a message indicating that unknown ships were arriving and that our people were very excited about the possibility of making contact: it had been over four-hundred thousand years since we last contacted an intelligent race. The second transmission was from one of the last survivors before they killed him. He simply said he didn’t understand what was happening.
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