Neighbors

by Brian Whiting

  turned to the others in the room.

  “They don’t know that Kalibri sent us this information already.”

  “Not all of it, sir. The amount of information here is far larger than

  Kalibri supplied.”

  Alex considered this.

  Please allow us time to review this

  information. We will need to make

  a decision and consider how to

  proceed from there.

  Naturally.

  “Start reviewing this information. I’ll be back.”

  Alex walked to the subspace room near the bridge, lost in thought. For

  the first time, he actually wanted to hear from Grissom, and there was no

  better way to test the subspace comms system.

  “Tight beam to Earth, Attention Grissom. Attach our activity logs and

  this message.”

  Alex typed a short message on the screen.

  “Yes, sir.” The comm officer transmitted the message, his fingers flash-

  ing across his screen.

  Alex watched him for a second, then headed back to the digiform room.

  “Sir, I suggest we retreat to the outskirts of this system. We are still

  awfully close to the planet, and I’d like to put some distance between us.”

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  “Lanora, you can make decisions like that without getting my permission. You’re asking for something reasonable that puts the ship in a safer

  position. Raise the bar a little over which things you require my permis-

  sion on.”

  She gave him a curt nod and left the room.

  Jack was sitting at the desk reviewing the information the digi-

  forms provided.

  “What are we looking at?”

  “Sir, this is a far larger map of the galaxy than the one Kalibri provided.”

  “Damn. Every time I discover a lie from Kalibri, it’s harder for me to

  trust them!” Alex looked at the larger map on the screen.

  The map was far more detailed than the colored blobs that Kalibri sent

  him. Alex noticed large sections of space missing information.

  “Excuse me,” Alex said, sitting down in the chair.

  Why are there these missing sections

  in the map, void of information?

  Theans only traveled to stars

  similar to theirs. Their biology is

  very sensitive to various forms

  of radiation.

  Alex looked back at the map and realized all the stars with detailed

  information were of the same hue, and size. Their exploration was disorga-

  nized and resembled a game of hopscotch. Alex thought about how many

  stars and systems they passed to get to the Thean homeworld.

  Alex walked to the nearby display screen on the wall and messaged

  the XO.

  Take us home.

  A blue hue lit the room, indicating that the ship was going into FTL

  transition, and everyone had two minutes to strap into a chair. Alex and

  Jack walked out of the server room, each to their respective cabins. Many

  people in the hallways were doing the same thing.

  Most work areas had appropriate chairs within their area, of course,

  but not all areas did. Anyone in a bathroom had the unfortunate luck of

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  having to strap themselves to the toilet. The crew already called the experience ‘rim splash’, though no one had yet experienced it.

  Alex made it to his chair within his cabin and strapped in.

  * * *

  “I don’t like this part.”

  “Do you know why it’s like being hit by a bat?” Fena asked.

  “Because within a second, we are warping the properties of space

  around us, then we shoot off towards Earth faster than the speed of light.”

  Fena smiled at the sarcasm. “Remember, I did the test drives.” Fena

  gave a sinful smile and leaned her head back against the headrest. “What

  we experience now was nothing like the initial jumps before it was properly

  calibrated. My joints still hurt at times.”

  Anyone looking at the ship from the outside would notice an odd visual

  distortion, as though the ship itself became blurry, like looking through ice.

  Parts of it were superimposed, and other parts disappeared.

  Inside the ship, nothing appeared to happen, apart from the sudden

  slam the body felt against the chair. The field that encompassed the ship

  acted as a bubble of altered space, and anything inside it experienced nearly

  absolute zero inertia. Good thing too, because going standstill to light

  speed instantaneously would turn everything into vapor.

  “I don’t get something. If we are not supposed to experience inertia,

  why does my head hurt right now?” the sensor operator asked.

  Fena arched her back as a slight pain radiated through her body.

  “You know it can’t be inertia.” Lanora pointed to her pen still laying on

  her chair. “If it were, that pen would have flung off somewhere.”

  “Then what is it?”

  “Do I look like a theoretical physicist to you?”

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  Chapter 22

  Alpha Centauri

  THE PAST COUPLE of months were eventful. The UEF Enterprise

  returned home to find construction of a sister ship to the Enterprise was well underway. A trial period was authorized after much debate between

  the UEF and digiforms. One digiform was intergraded into the Enterprise’ s ship systems. Many safeguards were put in place in the event they needed

  to disconnect the digiform from the ship, the easiest one being that they

  simply pull the plug from the tank and cut its access to everything.

  Several meetings occurred upon their return. The main topics included

  what to do and where to go. Alex made a case for heading straight to some

  of the more advanced races that had a friendly temperament, eager to give

  humanity a leg up. Grissom was of the opinion that they needed to find out

  more about their backyard before they crossed the street. The command

  council sided with Grissom, and UEF Enterprise was sent to recon the nearest star to earth.

  Advancements to the sensors and communications were made to the

  UEF Enterprise, thanks to the new files provided by the digiforms. More could have been done to the ship, but Alex was eager to leave, considering

  the mind-boggling distance between Earth and the nearest star. It took only

  a few days to arrive, thanks to the Thean FTL technology, and they were surprised to find how similar to their own system their destination was.

  “Arriving at Alpha Centauri,” Fena beamed.

  Alex smiled as well, remembering all the times he heard that in various

  video games and movies during his childhood. The ship arrived at the far

  outer edge of the system, simply blinking back into existence.

  “Scans complete. There is a small asteroid belt, hardly worth mention-

  ing. Three smaller planets orbit Centauri B. Centauri A has a small moon

  or large rock orbiting it. There no signs of artificial structures, no signals.

  No threatening objects nearby.”

  “Centauri three is in the habitable zone.”

  “Put us in orbit.” Alex took a sip from an enclosed cup of coffee.

  The UEF Enterprise accelerated towards the planet, thanks to the dark

  matter propulsion technology. Alex always forgot to secure his things, so

  his data pad had floated away from his chair, and when the drive activated,

  it was gently pushed against the far wall behind him.
>
  Alex fidgeted with his new headset, which allowed faster communi-

  cation between the XO and Captain in times of crisis. However, it was

  primarily the easiest method of communication to the integrated digiform

  on the ship. Without including the entire bridge crew in the conversation.

  Alex wanted to try this method over the previous setup he had with Kalibri.

  “Congratulations on your first unknown system scan.”

  “Thank you, Symboli,” Lanora said with a small smile, referring to the

  digiform that spoke.

  “According to my protocols, I advise you not to explore the planet

  on foot.”

  “Oh… Why is that?” Lanora asked with curiosity.

  “There is a risk to our lives with insufficient benefit to warrant the risk.”

  “Well, how would we know what the benefit is until we explore

  the planet?”

  “Would you like me to adjust my protocol?”

  “Please do,” Alex said as he pulled up telescope images of the approach-

  ing planet.

  The planet was mostly red. Near the north polar region, the terrain

  changed to a golden color, a small amount of green visible near the very top.

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  “Yes!” Alex shouted, startling the bridge crew. He quickly moved the image from his display screen to the bridge viewscreen. The crew uttered

  excited exchanges, congratulatory handshakes, and hugs.

  “I do not understand your crew’s reaction to the image?” Symboli

  asked, wary and curious at the same time.

  “There’s plant life! We discovered plant life.”

  “I see,” Symboli said distractedly, as though he was taking mental notes

  of their reactions.

  “Forget orbit, I want to be to hundred feet from the surface,” Alex said

  excitedly, leaning forward in his seat.

  Fena made a change in course.

  “Sir, I strongly recommend you reconsider. If there is primitive life,

  you will pollute their existence with the sighting of your ship.”

  Alex recalled movies in which tribal nations formed new religions or

  crazy conspiracies based on such sightings. Lanora inadvertently repeated

  Symboli’s concern to the entire bridge crew, though it was directed to Alex.

  Alex realized the concern was voiced not just for the crew’s benefit, but for

  his own.

  This way, Alex could agree with the XO and maintain an orbit over the

  planet, and no one would think it weird Alex suddenly changed his mind.

  “Okay. Well, let’s do some low orbit images and scans first. Then we

  can go lower.”

  Even though they were still in space, they were also near the outer-

  most layers of the atmosphere. The high-powered upgraded camera system

  on the lower deck did a great job providing excellent quality images. Alex

  quickly allowed the crew access to all of the images and the crew spent an

  hour pouring over photos of various regional terrain.

  “Lanora, are you satisfied there are no intelligent species down there?

  How do you feel about collecting samples?”

  She looked over at Alex. “Sir, I think we can afford to send a shuttle

  down, as long as we start off near one of those huge open fields. Stay away

  from the dense vegetation areas.” A big smile formed on her face.

  “I’ll lead the team!” Alex said as he jumped out of the chair.

  “Alex, I am compelled to inform you that you are not authorized to

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  visit the planet in such a manner. The UEF Command council forbids it in section twenty-two, paragraph—” Symboli said.

  “Sir,” Lanora said loudly, sympathy coloring her voice.

  The bridge crew looked between her and Alex. Alex, knowing what she

  was about to say, decided to sit back down. “You should be the one to go,”

  he said hesitantly, though he couldn’t completely hide his disappointment.

  * * *

  Lanora selected the maximum amount of people the shuttle could fit, plus

  another shuttle to hold an ATV and space for collected items. Her shuttle

  touched down, the ramp slowly opening to the landscape. Armed security

  personnel filed out of the shuttle, and Lanora followed several scientists as

  they disembarked.

  The ground was extremely thick, with what looked like leaves growing

  out of the ground, something akin to grass but with a vine-like webbing.

  A few scatted trees in the near distance had large leaves growing directly

  out of thick branches, and the branches and wood appeared to be a very

  pale brown.

  “It’s not breathable, not enough oxygen content. Too much nitrogen.”

  The crew slowly stepped out and walked among the leaf-shaped grass.

  One of the scientists used a shovel to remove samples of vegetation, dirt

  and whatever else was in that little spot into a sealable glass container. Then they repeated the process but tried to salvage the roots of the plants by

  removing it with their hands.

  The crew continued their conversation over the group channel.

  “There’s no water source around, nor cloud coverage to produce water.”

  “Maybe these plants don’t grow with water.”

  “That would be so cool!”

  “I’m losing suit pressure!” one of the security guys said calmly.

  “Go to the shuttle and try to fix it.” Lanora turned to look to see if

  she could tell which one of the wandering EVA suits had pressure issues.

  Finally, she spotted one returning towards the shuttle.

  “Do you need help?”

  “Nah, I’ve got it.”

  Lanora continued walking towards the nearest tree. It was approximately

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  ten feet high and forty feet wide. The overly-large leaves seemed unnatural.

  She hesitated, then walked under its shade. Reaching out, she put her hand

  on the trunk of the tree. It was very firm. The truck had elongated bark

  scales, more closely resembling fish scales than random bark. The pattern

  was only broken by the branches, which she found a little disturbing.

  One of the scientists approached from behind to collect samples from

  the tree.

  “What do you think the purpose of these large leaves are?”

  Lanora looked back at the man. “Are you kidding me? You’re

  the scientist!”

  “I thought you knew everything?” said the person entering the shuttle

  with the suit problems, the door closing behind him.

  “Hey, George, help me over here. I’m trying to pluck this rock out of

  the ground.”

  “Coming.”

  With great effort, Lanora ripped one of the large leaves from the tree. A

  reddish-brown substance oozed from the tear and solidified after a minute.

  It was no surprise that the scientist pulled out a scalpel and scrapped the

  substance into a tiny sample jar.

  “Worms!”

  “Really…again?”

  Several people on the team channel chuckled.

  “Nah. I just wanted to say it. This looks more like a caterpillar, though.”

  The caterpillar crawled along a small vine plucked from the ground.

  Commander Bogdan held the vine and watched as it walked from the vine

  to the tip of his index finger. Then it rubbed its face in the fabric of the suit.

  “Weird.”

  The thin one-inch caterpillar was intently focused on the suit. It was


  tan in color, both ends looking identical, solid black with fine hairs sticking out in various directions. Some of the scientists walked over to see it. Most

  were still mesmerized by the planet and the stimulating visuals of their

  wonderful surroundings.

  “Hey, I’m losing suit pressure!”

  Everyone turned to see one of the other scientists walk towards the

  closed shuttle.

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  The Bogdan continued watching the caterpillar, even as it finally broke the suit seal. His helmet turned a red color and indicated the suit was

  losing pressure. A barely-visible wisp of vapor exited his suit near the face

  of the caterpillar.

  “Hey, open the shuttle. I need to get in,” said the second scientist, now

  standing outside the shuttle.

  There was no response from inside.

  “Hey grunt, open the shuttle.”

  “Don’t panic, he’s probably got his headset off. Switch to the shuttle

  comms and tell the pilot.”

  The familiar sound of someone entering or leaving the communication

  channel buzzed in their ears, a partial static and beeping sound.

  The scientist flicked the caterpillar off his finger with his other hand.

  “I’m losing pressure too; the caterpillar ate a hole in my suit.”

  “Okay, that’s it, the mission is terminated. Return to the shuttle,”

  Lanora said calmly as she switched channels.

  “I can’t open the shuttle door yet, my suit is completely off, I’m still

  trying to fix it.”

  “Don’t we have extra suits on the shuttles?”

  “No, we don’t.”

  “Several more people are losing suit pressure. You need to put your suit

  back on and be quick about it.” Lanora switched channels.

  “Oh my God, oh my God, my suit!”

  Everyone was talking over each other, some trying to be helpful, some

  consoling. More than one person began to panic.

  “This planet is going to eat us alive!”

  “Everyone shut up!” Lanora threw her hands into the air and waved

  vigorously. Not everyone turned to see her.

  “Those losing suit pressure head to shuttle two for now. Once everyone

  is inside, close the ramp, keep your suits on. I want everyone else to wait

  outside shuttle one, and buddy-check each other for these caterpillars.”

  “I’ve got some on my boots!”

  “Yeah me, too.”

  “Okay, everyone start looking at their legs.”