by Joe Crouch
“Could this be some sort of code, a hidden message?” he paused, “Or is it really just rubbish and we’re running in circles.” Defeated, Lawrence fell backwards into his chair and propped his head up on in a hand, letting his mind work subconsciously, most of his brilliant ideas stemmed from moments like these. Just if we had someone brilliant on that ship to assist…
* * *
“First, you drill into my brain, installing god knows what god knows where now you want me to be your translator!?” Sean raged looking around at the two alien beings that had gathered near him, “Am I a prisoner, a slave, or both?” He was sat in a chair the aliens had provided for him, in fact, they had outfitted the room he awoke in with various Human comforts. “Get me back to my people now,” he demanded, standing and puffing his chest out at the same time. The larger of the two aliens let out a sigh, or what seemed to be the alien equivalent, and pushed him back into his cushioned chair with a finger to his chest.
“These are your people, Earthling,” the alien boomed, seeming frustrated, “Our translation software is far from perfect yet, so either you help us establish contact or we sit here worried that we insulted your people.” He couldn’t help but be surprised, these aliens had just stopped an attack on his home world, been nothing but courteous to him, apart from a bout of laughter at his expense, after saving his life and were now worried about insulting a relatively primitive race such as ours - What's the catch, he thought.
“Alright, alright, I’ll give you a hand,” he stood, gazing at the closest alien, it’s expression one of confusion. Thinking for a moment, it clicked in his mind, “It’s a Human expression, it means I’ll attempt to assist you.” The alien smiled and walked away, giving the impression that he should follow. They made their way through barren corridors once again, this time, the hum of the power was gone, replaced with a cold silence that was disconcerting. Arriving at what appeared to be just a piece of any other wall, the being waved one of its hands in front of it, the familiar hiss rushed through the corridor as an opening appeared leading to a room. They stepped through, ensuring to avoid the small bulkhead. He gazed around in what seemed to be an empty boxed area, nothing but its off-white walls and lighting were present. Once again, the alien stepped over to a wall and motioned, a terminal appeared from nowhere, its screen flickering into life lighting up the beings face a faint yellow. After a few more moments, a hum of power seemed to engulf the room.
Turning towards what seemed to be the origin of the sound, all he could see was more walls, but before he could say anything the room flashed into life. The walls changed from their off-white to a perfect black as the lighting dimmed, the entire room had become almost pitch black. Staring up towards the ceiling, he noticed four glowing emitters and within seconds they let out a flash of light. When his vision returned, he saw a massive hologram circling in the middle of the area, it was a visual representation of the Milky Way. The colours were intense, the blues, reds, and various other shades represented the different stars. Large hazards such as black holes were clearly marked out in pulsating spheres, they must mark a no-go zone he thought. The alien wandered over, stepping through the hologram and placed his hands on a specific star, the image zoomed in, the colours rushed past as if they were travelling from the observer's point of view.
“This is our home system,” the alien said, turning to face Sean. He looked on before nodding, eventually turning back to inspect the image. Hundreds of thoughts and questions rushed through his mind. He noticed the star was the same colour as their own, a vibrant white, it had six planets in orbit, four relatively close to the star and two outliers.
“So answer me this,” he interjected, once again turning to face the two aliens, “What do you call yourselves, and what is the name of your system?” Glancing at each other, the aliens paused for a moment before looking back towards the Human.
“The system is called Bar’Riel, it is our home system where our races origins began. We grew as a civilization there and made mistakes, but is not our capital system.” The alien straightened its back, “That we are not prepared to share just yet, but we hope our two races can reach some form of cooperation,” it stared at Sean, smiling. “So, will you help us in replying to the signal that is originating from your people?” Sean thought for a moment, before continuing.
“I will, but you still haven’t told me what you call yourselves.” A silence followed before one of the aliens perked up, looking at Sean, matching his gaze.
“We are the Ioutions, and we are here seeking an alliance…”
Chapter 4
“E-Oh-Tons,” Sean articulated, struggling to pronounce the newly revealed name. Staring blankly at him, the two Ioutions didn’t know if the Earthling was attempting to be insulting or was just incompetent, they suspected the latter.
“Eye-Ooo-Shuns,” the alien replied, gesticulating wildly at the same time.
“Eye-Ooo-Shuns,” he repeated, breaking the word down as much as possible. The aliens smiled and clapped their hands together, giving him a private but sarcastic applause. “I got it… Ioutions!” he rejoiced, feeling a smugness envelope him, “Well now I’m about ready to conquer the entire galaxy.” Staring at one another, the Ioutions broke down into a fit of laughter, giving him an odd sense of accomplishment.
“So, are you ready to contact your people’s representatives?” the smaller of the two Ioutions asked, its green eyes and shining bald head went well with the purple jumpsuit it wore, “Their burst transmissions have been filling up our buffers.” Sean knew that he was about to be at front and centre of the most historic moment in Human history. He hoped that his presence would not shock his commanders or the public when word got out, he knew his race tended to shun or even discriminate against things they didn’t understand. It’s not like he volunteered for this, by all accounts he had died while drifting in space after the Arrakis had been chewed apart. Feeling the question burning in his chest, he asked.
“So, how did you recover me exactly, I thought that was it and I was gone,” both alien’s expressions went blank, their demeanour became different and stilted. One of the beings opened its mouth, as if to say something, but was cut off by the larger, more imposing creature.
“We detected your life signs, so we made sure one of our shuttles came to pick you up,” the alien answered. “You were the only recoverable Human we saw, so we made is a priority to bring you back here and give you a new life.” The wording made him react, his eyes wandered up to meet the large, placid green eyes of the towering alien. Its extravagant grey jumpsuit decorated with various memorabilia, Sean suspected it denoted its rank and accomplishments.
“Give me a new life, that’s a very odd way of putting it… Do you mean you revived me?”
“Yes, yes,” the Ioution grumbled, “Silly translators, I’ll get our engineer to inspect the computers.” Satisfied with the answer, he let it drop. Moments later, the door hissed open, a third Ioution stood in the doorway motioning for them to follow, once they stepped outside the third creature wandered off in the opposite direction.
“So,” Sean remarked, “What exactly are your names?” Stopping, the escort of two turned to face him.
“I am Feghouli-Azer-Taren, Captain of the Mar’Ell, and to my left,” it motioned over, “This is Yumie-Azer-Taren, the ship’s weapons officer,” Sean looked on confused.
“You’re both from the same family?” he asked, “The Azer-Tarens?” Feghouli-Azer-Taren chuckled before responding.
“No, nothing like that. Azer is our planet of birth and Taren is our year of birth.” Sean looked at them both, interested in what they had to say, he thought for a moment before replying.
“Right, Fez and Yumie it is.”
“You-Me,” Yumie sighed, looking at the Human with a hatred he hadn’t witnessed yet, “Not yummy.” Sean couldn’t help but smirk at the infuriated alien, they aren’t all fun and games he decided. Nodding and giving a sarcastic bow, he continued to follow the Ioutions a
long the hallway towards what he guessed would be their communications room. Hissing open, the door retracted to one side allowing the three of them to step through, staying behind the two Ioutions he allowed them to take the lead. They sat down at a large red terminal and brought up various displays, each one flowed with its own unique set of information. After a few moments, Yumie pushed himself up off the console and motioned for Sean to take a seat. Once he had settled in, Fez leant over and handed him a helmet, who wasted no time in sliding it on.
Exploding into life, the dark visor began to glow as a stream of information filtered across his vision. “Look at which piece of information you wish to access, use your mind to manipulate the display,” Yumie instructed. Sean looked at the screen, attempting finding the data he needed, a ‘file’ that seemed to contain English characters fizzed passed, reaching out with his mind, he managed to find and open the needed information.
“I am General Michael Hagen; I command the united armies of the Terran Empire. We would like to request an audience so we can discuss terms,” an Earth voice played through the internal speakers within the helmet.
“General Hagen?” he wondered, “I’ve only ever heard his name, apparently, he’s a hard-ass over anything and everything.”
“Will he be a problem to our communications?” Fez quizzed.
“I doubt it; with our losses, I imagine he knows we are outgunned at the moment.” He turned back to the console, “How do I answer their hail attempts?” Fez leant over, patching him into a different system.
“Once again, think about answering and the computer will attempt to establish a connection, we didn’t receive a reply when we tried.” After a moment, a connection was established.
“I am General Michael Hagen of the united Terran Empire, state your intentions,” there was a slight delay as the computer translated the message into a multitude of languages.
“Tell him we mean no harm and we’re hoping to open a permanent line of communication so in the future we can discuss any pressing matters,” Fez stated.
“Sir, this is Private Sean Maguire of the TEF Arrakis, I was rescued by the ‘Ioutions’ and am sitting with two of them now, relaying any messages they have.” He paused, glaring at the console, “They say they mean humanity no harm and wish to open a line of dialogue between them and us.” He could hear frantic action coming over the channel, obviously not expecting a Human to reply.
“Pvt. Sean Maguire, the Arrakis was destroyed, how exactly did you come to survive that?” a new voice asked.
“It’s an incredibly long story, Sir, one I will explain when planetside, but for now, I have no reason to believe the Ioutions are anything else than genuine,” again he waited for a reply, this time, General Hagen spoke.
“How do we know you have not been compromised?” he asked. It was a legitimate question, the alien technology seemed to be far beyond anything Humanity had, and altering his own mind could be entirely possible, am I compromised? he thought this whole ordeal has gone suspiciously smoothly.
“I’m not sure what guarantee I can give you, Sir, all I can do is assure you that my mind is my own.” Muttering came through the comms channel as a faint conversation happened away from the microphone.
“Very well, Private, I’m sure there is a lot for us to discuss,” Michael paused, “Are the… Ioutions willing to release you, a debrief would be most appreciated.” Sean turned his head to face Fez, he was met with a slow nodding.
“It appears so, Sir.” Fez placed a hand on his shoulder, wanting to interrupt.
“Sean, I would like to accompany you down to the surface and meet this General. Does he speak with authority for your race?”
“He speaks with authority for our armies,” Sean corrected, “If you’re looking to discuss something with a political inclination, you would be better off with the President of the Empire, either way, It's way above my pay grade.” Tilting his head at the Human colloquialism, Fez eventually nodded under the assumption his Human companion was talking sense.
A few more pleasantries were exchanged and plans drawn up for an inconspicuous landing, even though an Ioution shuttle had to be used.
* * *
“I’m not sure what to think about it, Lawrence,” Michael replied. Since the conversation had ended, Ryan Smith, Lawrence, and Michael had been in full discussion, the implications of what had just happened finally settling in. Aliens had made contact, not only that but they seemingly saved humanity from an unknown adversary and wanted to cooperate. What they actually wanted, or needed from them was a mystery, they looked to be advanced well beyond anything they had, yet they wanted to talk.
“I just don’t understand it,” Ryan confessed, looking as perplexed as he was worried, “What would they need with us? They must be able to tell that they are centuries, if not millennia past anything we possess. Is it natural resources, or is that too cliché?” He asked. The group smiled but remained in thoughtful discussion.
“They call themselves the Ioutions,” Michael mentioned, taking the time to look around and gauge a reaction, “We don’t know what they want, or even what they need, shall we wait until they arrive and cut out idle speculation?” Agreeing, the team stood down and relaxed, knowing there was nothing they could do. Arrangements had been made with the President of the Empire, or ‘Potty’ they enjoyed calling her, to visit and protection squadrons had been assigned in case of any threat.
After an hour of waiting the group stood up one by one and moved towards the assigned meeting room, the General remained resolute as the team around him was engulfed with anxiety and nerves at meeting a truly foreign species. The door opened to reveal a large room with a wooden conference table situated in the centre. Grabbing seats adjacent to one another, the trio waited anxiously for the President to arrive. It wasn’t long before she walked through with an armed escort in tow, her fluid motions as she moved across the room displayed the confidence of someone who knew what they wanted and how they were going to achieve it. The finely crafted suit that sat neatly on her medium frame seemed to accentuate her fine features, not in a way that made her attractive, but one that seemed to emphasise her power and authority. She nodded towards the trio, her dark brown hair seeming to not move, every fibre was perfectly crafted in place. She took a seat at the end of the table and laid out a myriad of documents in front of her, looking up, she began to speak.
“Gentlemen,” she spoke with a harsh tone to her voice, “It seems we have much to discuss, and you two,” she pointed towards Lawrence and Ryan, “How is it that the Institute is yet again right in the middle of another ‘Humanity altering event’,” She barked with a certain amount of disdain in her voice this time. Lawrence leant forward to answer.
“It is the nature of our work, Ma’am,” he replied, “When you are on the cutting edge of technology, sometimes unfortunate events occur.” Lawrence looked at the President and smiled.
“Quite.” She flicked through her paperwork, “It seems, this time, you have outdone yourselves, bravo,” she remarked without looking up. Lawrence sunk back into his brown leather seat, feeling like he had just been told off by his teacher. The government of the Terran Empire relied heavily on the technological advancements made by the Institute, it was privately owned and answered to investors, but the government would take a not-so-subtle ‘nudge-nudge’ approach when they wanted something done. The newly unveiled HS Drive being a prime example. They wanted Faster-Than-Light, FTL, travel, and had obviously not thought through the consequences. Now humanity seemed to be at war with one alien race of unknown origin, and a second which wanted to land on the home world.
“When is our… guest expected to arrive, General,” one of the president's advisors asked.
“Within the next hour, Scott, Private Sean Maguire and the Ioution named ‘Fez’-” Everyone in the room turned to look at Michael and seemed to be thinking the same collective thing, what a stupid name. “- will be landing at pad three and an armed escort will bring the
m here.”
“Fez,” the President questioned, shaking her head, “Is that its actual name?”
“I believe it is a nickname Private Sean gave to it, Ma’am,” Michael responded, looking to his right as he heard snickering coming from Ryan. “I’m sure everything will be explained upon arrival, Camilla.” The President gave him a questioning glare from above her glasses at the casual use of her name in a formal setting. Letting it slide, she continued reading.
“How do you think this will go down, Law?” Ryan asked, leaning into Lawrence.
“I’m really not sure, hopefully Fez turns up with tea and alien shaped biscuits and we all have a jolly good time,” shaking his head, Ryan returned to his seat and crossed his arms. Lawrence had only been half joking, he was expecting the meeting to go smoothly but there was always an underlying current that something may go wrong, a certain danger, especially with six Ioution craft still stationary above Earth. He pulled out his pocket computer and loaded up the broadcasts from his drones in orbit - There they were, the six ships still sitting there, motionless, the sun reflected off their surface giving them an intense glow. He put the computer away and returned to a heated conversation between Michael and an Admiral that was sat opposite him.
“There is not a chance, not on God’s green Earth that I hand over operations of the reserve fleet to the army,” the Admiral barked with a certain disgust in his voice. Hostilities between the army and navy were ongoing, they had been throughout history, they had a mutual respect for what the other did, but the navy was always seen as the pompous brats who always got their way.
“I just think it would be better if everything fell under a single command in a time of war, that’s all,” Michael pleaded, hiding a wry smile. He knew what he was doing, goading the Admiral into being unprofessional in front of the President. Nothing would come of it, but eventually, she would intervene, as she had done before, and put the Admiral in his place, the look on his face was always worth the effort.
