by Lucy Snow
Contents
Before You Begin...
Chapter 01 - MELISSA
Chapter 02 - ARK
Chapter 03 - MELISSA
Chapter 04 - ARK
Chapter 05 - MELISSA
Chapter 06 - ARK
Chapter 07 - MELISSA
Chapter 08 - ARK
Chapter 09 - MELISSA
Chapter 10 - ARK
Chapter 11 - MELISSA
Chapter 12 - ARK
Chapter 13 - MELISSA
Chapter 14 - ARK
Chapter 15 - MELISSA
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CHAPTER 01 - MELISSA
6 hours before I met Ark…
Sleeping in space took getting used to, and I hadn’t gotten used to it yet. I tossed and turned all night, trying to snatch a few moments of rest here and there where I could, but thoughts of the impending negotiations still snuck in just as sleep was about to take over every time.
That was dumb; staring at the ceiling for what felt like the hundredth time that night. To be fair, in space, the very idea of night lost all meaning. The sun, and by sun, I meant any star we were close to, or the ship’s lighting system if we were too far away, was always shining up here.
Come to think of it, “up here” didn’t really mean anything either, it was just a convenience for a species who had lived with gravity as long as it could remember. The ship had artificial gravity, though, so at least I could keep using ‘up’ for now.
But night, no, night didn’t mean much. The various suns were always shining, but the surrounding space was always dark. So in one sense of the word it was never night, and in another sense of the word, it was always night.
Space had a way of playing funny tricks on your mind like that, I had realized long ago, on my first trip, uh, up. That had been shorter, just a week in space, just a pop up to see what things were like, testing out the new systems built with Kreossian technology.
Since then there had been many trips into space, testing out various components, various systems, and then testing myself, all to see if humanity was ready for the next step.
The next step. That was what people called it on Earth. In the 50 years since the Kreossians had made their presence known, no one had been able to come up with a better name for what was going on.
Finally, I sat up in bed and looked out the porthole directly to my left, a giant circular window out into the dark nothingness. Maybe the weirdest thing about being in space was seeing that utter blackness, that emptiness, out most of the windows. It was a night without end.
Of course, it wasn’t entirely empty. I squinted, reaching up to wipe the vestiges of bad sleep from my eyes, and chuckling about the irony that I didn’t feel rested at all, but still had the physical results of sleeping all over my body.
There it was. Earth. Off in the distance there, high and to the right. Small and getting smaller, though not visibly so, by the minute as I sped away, toward the station, toward the meeting with the Kreossians.
The station. Yet another in our line of obvious but boring names for things. Still, on Earth, if you mentioned ‘the station,’ everyone knew what you were talking about, even if they didn’t speak English.
Of course, pretty much everyone spoke English now, in addition to whatever other languages they spoke. Questions of cultural appropriation were long gone.
The ship. That’s where I was. On the ship, heading away from Earth toward the station. With Ambassador Fuller. To meet the Kreossians.
Two humans traveling farther out than any humans had ever been, on a mission of diplomacy. Not just diplomacy, of exploration.
Everyone on Earth was waiting with bated breath to hear about our travels, what we would see, what we would hear, who we would meet, and most importantly, what we would learn.
It was a huge honor, and each time I thought about it, I pinched myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. Nope, I thought, still real. Good thing too, or there would be trouble.
Soon Ambassador Fuller and I would arrive at the station and meet the Kreossians for the second time. After that, who knew? The entire planet had speculated. Would they lead humanity to enlightenment? Show us how to travel across the galaxy? Kill us all?
Very few people thought that last one was a possibility, but their voices were occasionally shrill and loud.
Ambassador Fuller had been at first contact 50 years ago. How insane was that? To meet aliens for the first time, to be the first human to stand in the presence of a creature that had been born on another world, and traveled all that distance to visit us…
The cold metal of the ship’s floor was icy against my feet, and I shuddered the first time the they came in contact. Unlike in the sci-fi TV shows, humans didn’t travel in luxury in space, yet.
They were more concerned with making sure the crew arrived at their destination in one living, breathing piece, rather than creature comforts.
I marveled as I got ready, trying to put it all together and make sense of it, still unable to reconcile working with the man who had been there on that fateful day.
The way people told the stories now, it was if the clouds had parted and the Kreossian ship had come down on a pillar of light. I was sure the reality had been much, much different, but Ambassador Fuller never wanted to talk about it, beyond what was in his book, like he was embarrassed to have been present at the most important moment in human history.
Maybe this negotiation would end up being the second most important? Quite the resume Fuller was building for himself! I chuckled. As if he needed it - Fuller had led an impressive life in the 50 years since he had instantly become famous the world over for standing tall and speaking for humanity before the Kreossians.
Fuller had carried the plans back from that fateful meeting, and had been instrumental in convincing the people of Earth that it was time to put away the petty squabbles of ancient and recent history and start working toward something new, together.
And how the people of Earth had responded! It really was breathtaking, the transformative power of something like first contact.
The last 50 years had been tumultuous, no doubt, but there were very few who would disagree that everyone was better off now. The arguments and infighting over poverty and scarcity disappeared within a few years - the realization of Earth’s relative insignificance was a powerful unifying force.
Within a decade, poverty and physical suffering like war had been completely eliminated. Simply put, the people had more important things to worry about and work on.
Borders between countries and artificial groupings around races disappeared next. Everyone was one thing, a person, in front of a giant sea of stars and other life forms. That was all that mattered, building something together with other fellow people.
The combination of all these effects in such a relatively short amount of time had been profound - people were happier, more focused, less stressed, and proud to be working together. Of course, there were dissidents, people who preferred war and strife, but they were few and far between. Even the staunchest of critics had been forced to admit that first contact had fixed nearly everything wrong with life on Earth.
And what was humanity building together now that t
hey were unified under one goal? The station. The plans Ambassador Fuller had brought back from his meeting with the Kreossians were for a space station. The Kreossians had told Fuller that when Earth was ready, the people would build the station from those plans, and then the Kreossians would return to discuss the future of Earth and its place in the galaxy.
Of course, as soon as was possible, Earth had built the station. And just as promised, the Kreossians had sent word that they would meet with Fuller and his aide on the station a year later. That year was just about to end, which meant the meeting was coming up. Tomorrow, in fact.
I finished preparing myself and went to Ambassador Fuller’s room next door, hesitating before knocking at first, but after committing to doing so, rapping against the door with strength. “Ambassador, are you awake?”
He didn’t answer, so I knocked harder. My heart sank in my chest. What if something had happened to him? Fuller was getting on in years and hadn’t been in the best of health lately. In fact, the research, construction, and deployment schedule of the station had been accelerated just to accommodate Fuller’s declining health.
The Kreossians had made it clear they only wanted to talk to Ambassador Fuller, and the people of Earth didn’t want to do anything to disrupt things. The additional speed had caused some friction, but everyone had managed to adjust in time.
To build all of this, to come all this far, only to have something happen to Fuller along the way, would be unimaginable. I knocked harder. “Ambassador! Ambassador Fuller! Are you alright?”
The door opened, suddenly, and I felt the rush of air behind me entering the closed off space. Ambassador Fuller stood on the other side of the doorway, taller than me by a good 4-5 inches, a big smile on his gracefully aging face. “Of course, my dear,” he practically shouted into my ear, “never felt more alive in my life!”
“That’s great to hear, sir.” The Ambassador was not quite dressed for their arrival at the station, still wearing his sleeping robes from the previous evening, so I stepped forward and Fuller moved out of the way, letting me through the narrow doorway. The door closed behind us, leaving us in Fuller’s room. It was much bigger than mine, but still just as threadbare. Ambassador Fuller, despite his exalted status on Earth and the adoration the people of the world showed him wherever he went, was not one for extravagance, I knew.
“How have you slept, Melissa?” He sounded almost fatherly.
I reached up and covered my mouth, stifling a yawn, which was odd for so early in the morning. “Alright, sir. Could have slept better, but I’ll rally. How about you?”
“Never better, never better.” Fuller’s face and voice were tinged with clear glee, and I was sure he was thrilled to be ‘roughing it’ again, as he was fond of calling it. “We’re really roughing it now, aren’t we?” he asked with a twinkle in his eye.
“That’s for certain, sir.” Fuller sat back down on his bed with a thud, which I could tell even from across the large room was because the bed was programmed to be much, much harder than mine was. The ambassador really did enjoy ‘roughing it,’ as he put it.
“When do we arrive?” Fuller looked at me impatiently as I began to clean up his room and take out his robes for the day. “No, not those, Melissa, lets go with the green ones.”
“Yes, Ambassador. We are scheduled to dock with the station in less than an hour, sir, plenty of time to get ready and eat a little bit.”
Fuller waved his hand away at the last part. “Nothing for me this morning, Melissa, just a little of my tea.”
That was strange. I started the tea preparation, and bit my tongue at first. “Are you-“ I stopped in mid sentence, hoping Fuller would miss the small outburst.
“Yes, Melissa?”
“Nothing, sir.”
“Out with it.” Fuller crossed his arms over his chest, and sat straight up, a sphinx waiting for the answer to a riddle he hadn’t yet asked.
“Well, sir, I was just wondering…” I trailed off again, concentrating for a moment on the tea.
“Yes? Come on, let’s have it. I’ve got nothing but time.”
It wasn’t that I was anxious about asking Fuller a direct and personal question. We had been working together for years now. This was a step further than that, though. “I was just wondering if you were nervous about the meeting coming up.” I glanced over at Fuller to see his reaction, but he sat stony-faced.
Then he brightened, the laughter boiling over till he was roaring, the sound of his laughs echoing throughout the room. “Is that all you wanted to know? Of course, my dear, don’t feel shy about asking such questions! The mental state of a negotiator is critically important, especially on the first day of the conference!”
I felt relief wash over me. Despite working together so long, it was still difficult to get a read on Fuller’s emotions. It had been easier months ago, but as the conference with the Kreossians drew closer, ever closer, he had begun to act more erratic, more…youthful, almost.
Eventually, Fuller calmed down and collected himself. “To answer your question, though, Melissa, yes, I am nervous about the meeting.” His voice took on a wistful tone, like he was suddenly transported to somewhere or some-when else. “This has been my life’s work, preparing us for the Kreossians, ever since that day 50 years ago…” He trailed off.
I had heard Fuller’s story of first contact before; his first person account published in memoir form had become the most popular book in human history; the world wanted to know everything they could about the Kreossians. Nevertheless to be able to work directly with the man himself, ask him questions about what he had seen and experienced, was a treat I made sure to appreciate every single day, even if he almost never gave me a straight answer.
The tea was finished - I poured two cups full, added the honey and milk we both took, and gave a steaming mug to Fuller. He accepted it, cradling it in his palms and looking at the liquid, breathing in the fumes, like it held the key to life itself. I watched as he took a deep, long, sip, ignoring the heat; it was still too hot for me to drink. “Ahhh, that really hits the spot. At my age, my dear, there are very few things to look forward to besides the perfect cup of tea in the morning.”
Now it was my turn to laugh, and Fuller watched me chuckle with a smirk on his face. “Did I say anything funny?”
I shook with laugher, nearly spilling my tea, but steadying my hands at the last possible moment, watching a drop fall over the side and hit the cold floor. To my amazement, the drop instantly disappeared, as if absorbed by the floor itself. What wonders these Kreossians had shown us already! “I’m sorry, Ambassador, it’s just that I found what you said to be ironic, given who you are and what you’re about to do today.”
“We, Melissa, we.” I smiled at the acceptance. “And yes, today isn’t really a normal day, is it? It’s not every day that your life’s work comes to fruition.”
“About that, sir.” I put down my tea and stood up, starting to tidy up again. Fuller had thrown his few things around the room during the evening after I had left, and I felt like it was my duty to fix things up. It wasn’t as though Fuller would have any guests here besides me, but I liked to keep things clean.
“Yes?” Fuller watched from the bed, his eyes sharp and tense despite his apparent ease and his advanced age.
“Anxiety and nervousness aside, are you at all worried about what the Kreossians will say?”
Fuller furrowed his brow. “How do you figure?”
“Well, we just know so little about them. In fact everything we know about them came from your meeting with them 50 years ago, and the plans they left us for the station. That’s…that’s not a lot to go on.”
“And what do you think their intentions are?”
I looked back at Fuller, stopping what I was doing to make sure he understood my feelings. “Oh, sir, don’t get me wrong, I grew up thinking the Kreossians want the best for us, but isn’t it, you know, possible they have, uh, other intentions?”
