The king signalled to one of the guards, who came forward with a small golden box. It was made of a brown casing with gold edges around it. It was opened with a small key and shown to the king. King Zeropta looked into it and peered over the various items inside. There were several items packed inside the golden box. Eventually, he selected one and brought it out. He held it up in the light of the hall, as if searching for some details on its shiny surface.
He then looked at Kristen and motioned to her to come. Kristen stepped forward. “Have this,” the king stated, handing the small shiny item to her. “This device contains all the instructions you need to know with regards to how to trace and locate the makers. Once you get on board your ship, press these buttons and it will automatically connect to your main processors so that it can guide you. I must warn you, however, that the journey to see the makers is not going to be an easy one.”
“Is it going to be dangerous, Your Highness?” Kristen asked. “Yes, I am afraid it is going to be,” he replied. “And it is simply because in other galaxies, well, let me just say that they do not have the same beliefs and consciousness like we do here in our own galaxy and solar system. They can be quite extreme, violent, and unaccommodating. Unfortunately, you will have to steer through their orbits and their worlds in order to get to the end of the end of all galaxies. Not many have succeeded in venturing to such regions of the universe and still come back alive to tell the tale.”
“No one has ever survived the journey?” Kristen repeated. “I did not say no one,” he corrected. “I said not many. There are those who have tried and succeeded. And they came back to tell the tale.”
“Where can we locate such a person?”
“They are very few and they are also very hard to find. Not many people know about their identities. And a lot of them that do know refuse to tell. You see, because there are different views about the creation of the universe, so also there are different views about who the creators were. The universal truth or scientific fact is that the universe was created; it did not come to be of its own accord. And the universe was created by a being that is more superior to all of us. What we know is that the being is not just one, but that there might be more of them. Something like a team, a council, or a committee. All through time, we have always referred to them as the makers, but we really do not know how many they are. And some of those who have been successful in coming back from the voyage to see the makers have not been too forthcoming with details of what they saw. Many think they are just telling stories, making up things, and misdirecting people and their followers. But we who are representatives of our various planets in this solar system know that there have been successes in identifying the realm of the makers and perhaps making contact with them.”
“Your Highness, what are you saying to us, please?” Kristen asked. “Look, Captain, if it were not for the state of desperation that you and your crew members find yourselves in, I would have just suggested that you forget about embarking on any further voyage. Just go back home and accept your fate. The journey is perilous. I know, because on several occasions we at the Union meeting have sent expeditions and emissaries on such voyages. They were well equipped and properly armed with the best of our engineers. However, none of them ever returned. Even the messages they were relaying eventually stopped at some point, and we never heard anything from them again. Never. Do you want to embark on such a trip not knowing where exactly you are going to or even what your chances are for survival if you do?”
“Your Highness, we are willing to take our chances,” Kristen replied. “Already, our world is on the brink of extinction, so going back there without some form of hope will do none of us any good. We would rather take our chances and venture into space in search of the realm of the makers than to give up at this moment.”
“Very well then. When you connect this device to your ship you will be able to access as much detail as you will need to know, especially with regards to the locations of some of those who were fortunate to have come back from the voyage to the realm of the makers. My guards will escort you out of our planet, but not beyond our borders. I am afraid I cannot volunteer anyone to accompany you on this trip. You will have to embark on it on your own, without any assistance from my people.”
Kristen held up the device. “Your Highness, I think you have been more than gracious to us already. Considering all you have shared with us, along with the directions on this device, I am sure we already have received more than enough assistance from you already.”
“Then I bid you farewell. And may you find favour from the makers.”
“Thank you, Your Highnesses.” King Zeropta now stood up with his queen. As he did so, Kristen and her crew members stood at attention in respect. The guards surrounded Their Highnesses as they stepped down from the platform and walked out of the hall.
After they had gone, two of the other guards motioned to Kristen and her team. “Follow us as we escort you back to your ship,” he stated.
They followed them back the same way they had come.
CHAPTER THREE
“Captain, did you hear what I was saying?” Kristen shook her head and looked up at Lynda. “Sorry, what were you saying?”
“I was asking what do you want us to do with the device?” “Of course. Try to connect it to our main processor I want us to access it as soon as possible so we can know for sure where our next course should be,” Kristen stated. “In the meantime, I want you to still keep trying the radio. I need to speak to Director Edwards.”
“Okay, Captain,” Lynda replied, and left. It must have been several minutes after they had been escorted back to their ship and were airborne. Kristen looked around and saw their shuttle leaving Tiangrit—or as they had been told, Milda. She must have been lost in thought in the initial moments following their departure from the red planet.
Who would not be? Kristen wondered.
The revelations. The details. The information. All they had seen and heard was just too much to contain. Where was she going to start? She punched some keys on her console and waited. Only static was what came back to her over the radio. If only she could get a hold of Director Edwards. They had to determine what to make out of their encounter on planet Tiangrit.
“Hello, Captain!” Lynda was waving at her. “I have just loaded up the device data on the mainframe. I am going to bring it up all live on the main screen.”
“Go ahead, Lynda,” Kristen replied. Almost immediately, the main screen on the bridge came to life. They saw pictures of Tiangret solar system and planets, as well as their respective moons.
The scene in the video changed and there was a wide shot taken of the solar system. From the distance it was taken, the solar system had become smaller, and other solar systems were now shown. After a while, this picture also zoomed out and another different system was shown.
There were stars everywhere, with a lot of them shining brightly, even brighter than the sun. On the bottom of the screen, a message was scrolling which stated: BOUNDARY OF THE FOURTH GALAXY. The imagery was clear and showed large stars and planets of various sizes which were revolving at tremendous speeds.
“Captain,” Lynda called. “The device is interactive. We can ask it questions and make queries if we choose to.”
“I know,” Kristen replied. “But let it still play out for now before we begin to query it.” Even as they watched the remaining aspects of the device data, Kristen noticed she was gradually getting bored of watching the screen. It was more like a documentary of the deeper parts of space.
Kristen looked outside her window and saw the Mildan ship which was escorting them. If only we had gotten better help than a documentary video from them, Kristen was thinking. Soon, she saw that the ship had stopped.
A message came over their speakers. “We will now be retreating, Captain,” came the message. “In order to not violate space boundaries and interplanetary treaties, we cannot go further than this distance. We wish you the best in
your endeavours.”
For a moment, all crew members’ attention had left the screen and they watched as the Mildan ship turned and began to return back to the red planet that was far behind them.
“Now aren’t those some lucky people?” Lynda asked as she came over to Kristen’s side to observe the departing ship. “They are much more than lucky,” Kristen replied. “They are a people that are very, very lucky to have the kind of culture, leaders, and civilization they currently have.”
“I really envy them, Captain. I really do. If only our own leaders had been a bit more sensitive, a bit more caring and humane, all this would never have happened to us. We would not have ended up on this wild goose chase in search of some damned planet.”
“You are very right, Lynda. If only…but they were not. ” “And it’s not as if we can just walk up to any planet and say ‘hey, you all have got to help us because we could not help ourselves.’ After what the king of Tiangrit said, everyone in this solar system will be avoiding us as a race for fear of contaminating their people.”
Kristen sighed. “And where can we find an empty planet, for that matter? It’s obvious they are all occupied with inhabitants.”
“Lucky people,” Lynda repeated again. “How I wish we were the ones returning back to our own home planet as well.”
“Unfortunately, we are not, Lynda. We have to accept that fact and try to achieve our mission.” “Where can we really find a spare planet?” Lynda asked. “We just need to continue looking and looking.” “Without any guidance or direction?”
Kristen looked at the screen that was playing the data from the device. “King Zeropta said it would be able to guide us. Besides, with what we now know, it is better we search for the makers rather than search for an empty planet.”
“But no one has really discovered where they are located.” Kristen nodded. “I agree with you, Lynda. But it is also the same thing like the planet we are looking for. No one can say for certain where there is an empty and uninhabited planet.”
“So, what do we do, Captain? We need to have a course of action to pursue.” “You are right, Lynda. I vote that we should search for the makers. But while doing so, we can still keep a lookout for any uninhabited planets. We might still be lucky and see one. However, our focus will be the makers.”
“The makers?” Lynda repeated. “You are joking, right?” “Lynda, I am not joking. Assuming I had gotten Director Edwards, I would have told him the reason why we have to take such an action.”
“But why should we change our plans to something that has still not been substantiated?” “What has not been substantiated? The fact that everything in this universe was created, or the likelihood that our planet is doomed and is beyond salvation? Besides, we are not changing our mission plans, Tiangrit was the last coordinate given to us by NASA.”
Just then, one of the engineers called out to Kristen. “Captain, there is a transmission coming through!” he said.
“Okay, pause the video and amplify the transmission immediately.” The video, which had all this while been playing on the screen, was paused. The transmission then came on through the speakers. It was a lot of indistinct static which could not be immediately understood and deciphered. The static continued for a while, during which it would seize and then start all over again.
“Can you not enhance it further?” The engineer shook his head. “I am afraid it cannot be enhanced any more than this. It must be from a very distant body. We are still trying to determine where it is coming from.”
“Try and determine its source. We just might be able to locate it. In the meantime, make another attempt for Earth.”
“I have, Captain,” he replied. “We cannot get through to Earth as of this moment.”
“Well, do not stop trying. Keep on going at it until we do get through to Earth. We must get in touch with Director Edwards at all costs,” Kristen instructed. The static continued for a while. It just kept on making the same rattling and squeaking noise. Kristen listened to it for a while and then called the attention of the engineers. “Are you sure this is not a language, or some form of code?” she asked them.
“You think it is a code, Captain?” one of them asked. “Yes, I think it is,” Kristen replied. “Just listen to it closely. The thing just continues to sound with a kind of steady rhythm and pattern. I really want to believe it could be a kind of code or language. Can you try using our on-board language translators? See what they can make of it.”
The engineers typed some keys on their console. Some data streams appeared on the screen. After a while they looked up, shaking their heads. “Negative, Captain,” one of them replied. “It is not a language.”
“Maybe it is too advanced,” Kristen replied. “It might be an alien code that is too advanced for our system to decipher. Anyway, have you gotten any luck with the contact to Earth yet?”
“Not yet, Captain. We are trying but no connection is being made.”
“Okay. Discontinue Earth. Try for Tiangrit instead.”
“Tiangrit?” the engineer repeated.
“Yes,” Kristen nodded. “Let us try Tiangrit instead.”
“Why would you want to contact Tiangrit, Captain?” Lynda asked. “I figure we should send them a relay of this transmission,” Kristen explained. “Perhaps they might be able to make sense of it all and tell us what they can decipher.”
“Will they be willing to do it? Have you forgotten what they said?” “There is no harm in trying,” Kristen stated. “No matter what, we should still give it a shot. It is probably a code of some sort. Just get me Tiangrit immediately.”
“Yes, Captain,” the engineer stated. He started to work on their console and within a couple of minutes they were able to establish contact with Tiangrit. Once this had been done, the engineer waved at Kristen. “Captain, we are through with Tiangrit. You are good to go.”
“Thank you,” Kristen responded. She picked up the earpiece and placed it behind her ear. She then turned two dials on her monitor.
“Hello, hello,” Kristen said. “Can you hear me, please?”
“Hello, hello,” came the response. “Yes we can hear you, loud and clear. Please identify yourself.” “This is Captain Kristen, commander of the Atlantis from Planet Nivrus. We just departed your planet not too long ago after meeting with King Zeropta.” “Okay, Captain. Your identity has been confirmed. What can we do for you?”
“Please, we need your assistance. We have a signal we are receiving and we cannot decipher it.” “Then maybe you should ignore it.”
“No, we cannot ignore it.”
“And why is that, may I ask? Is it a distress call?”
“It could be. But we are not absolutely sure what it is.” “Then why don’t you ignore it?”
“I feel it might be a message, or a code.”
“Then what does the message say?”
“I cannot say for sure. That is why I am contacting you.” “Please, contact your base on your home planet. They should be the ones you should be talking to and not us.”
“But please help us!” Kristen begged. “You know the situation at my home. You know the reason why we are out here. We have been trying without any success to get in touch with Nivrus but there is no response. We have no other place to turn to. Maybe this message can be of help to us. That is why we are contacting you to please, please, assist us. Please.”
There was a pause. Kristen and her crew members looked at each other.
“Has the line been disconnected?” Kristen asked.
The engineer shook his head and pointed at the indicator on his console. It was still blinking, which meant the line was still connected.
“I need to get approval in order to render any assistance to you,” the voice said. “Let me contact His Royal Highness.”
“Many thanks,” Kristen replied, relieved. “Please give me a moment to seek the consent of the king.” They all waited on the bridge, watching the blinking light on the console.
After a while, the line came back on.
“Captain Kristen?” the unmistakable voice of King Zeropta asked. “Yes, Your Highness,” Kristen replied.
“What is this I hear? You are receiving a message?”
“Yes, Your Highness. But we do not know what it means.”
“Then why are you bothered about it? You should not be concerned with what you do not understand.” “I wish we could, Your Highness. But in our situation, we cannot help but take note of any clues we come across. Besides, this one has a pattern. I am quite sure it is a language, or a code; some sort of message.”
“So, I cannot really get rid of you people completely. I would have thought by now you would have left our solar system already. Can you see what I was saying about your leaders? Assuming they had been coming for the Union meetings, they would have been updated with copies of all languages in our solar system, with which you would be able to interpret any languages you might come across. I should actually not be listening to you. But it would be unethical of me to ignore you at this moment, not when you were my guests not too long ago.”
“Thank you, Your Highness. I am sure we will not have to bother you anymore.”
“It is all right. Where are you now? Can you relay your exact position to us?”
Kristen looked out into the black, star-filled skies. “I’ll get my people to relay our position to you.” “Okay. Do so. And also send us a stream of the message you are receiving.” “Thank you, Your Highness,” Kristen replied. She pointed at her engineers. “You guys heard what he just said. Send them our position, along with the message’s stream.”
The End Of The World Page 5
