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The Lonely World- Part 18
🕑 Added 2022-01-09 21:03:41 +0000 UTCI began to explain, “When in doubt, stack the deck. Right now, those aliens are freaking out. They know we found them, but they don’t know how we did it. They know their ship’s weapons could destroy us in a single attack, but they also know that it won’t work if we are too far away because our deflector would destroy it first. But here is where the bluffing comes in… they don’t know if that probe is armed”
“Captain, the aliens are hailing us!” Yensin announced.
“On screen.” I ordered and sat back in my chair. The screen flickered and displayed the aliens. The one onscreen was some kind of lizard or reptilian creature, with scales all over the exposed parts of its body. It had a semi-flat head, and a wide toothy mouth with many exposed parts. It reminded me almost of a crocodile or an alligator, but crossed with a gecko. I admit seeing it was a shock, but I kept my composure and remembered the protocol that was drilled into me incase this ever happened. “Greetings, I am Captain Eobard Lewis of the USS Expanse, and Earth Vessel. Who are you?” While speaking, I was obscenely aware of how these were the first word ever to be spoken to an alien, and that they would likely be taught in schools for centuries, so I was treading carefully. There was a moment of silence, and the alien looked off screen for a moment, but finally returned and a computer voice began speaking in the background; it was most likely a translator like ours. After the voice stopped, the alien spoke. Its language seemed to be a series of hisses and grunts at different pitches, but soon he finished and the computer voice spoke again. This time in our language.
“We are monitoring station 553 of the United Federation of Planets and Inhabited Systems. I am this station’s captain, Sughis Guh.” The alien said. I glanced over for a moment to my officers, they were whispering and exchanging looks. Some were writing notes to one another so as to not make noise. I didn’t know which part of that sentence garnered more attention: monitoring station, or United Federation of Planets and Inhabited Systems.
“Monitoring station.. can you elaborate; what are you monitoring?” I asked. After a moment, the computer voice began, and the alien listen carefully. He remained quiet for what felt like ages, probably not wanting to show his hand too much, but also recognizing that he was in a bad situation.
“We are monitoring humans, and the progress of your society.” He explained. I was surprised, but I shouldn’t have been. We knew they were watching us, but I didn’t expect them to be watching all of us.
“Why? We couldn’t possibly pose a threat to such an advanced race, we can’t have any technology worth taking. Is it just curiosity?” I wondered.
The computer translated, and the captain replied, “We watch your planet out of caution. Your species in uniquely… powerful. Many expansionist races in the galactic community would take advantage of that, so we watch your planet and the solar system you inhabit.”
“You’re protecting us?” I asked. Admittedly, I didn’t expect that. “If that’s true, why did you upload a malicious AI to the HMS Valkyrie.. another Earth Vessel?” The captain looked over to the side for a long while, even after the computer finished speaking.
“My station has no record of such a task being ordered to us. However, we are not the only vessel that has entered Human territory on orders from the federation.” He explained.
“I thought you said you were protecting us?” I asked confused.
“We are protecting ourselves from you species, or from what others may do with you. But if another vessel has done such a thing, then this station was not involved.” The alien told us. As he explained this, the two ships we were with, the Hermes and the Elizabeth, finally arrived at our location, and they were both apparently on red alert. I was able to tell by the flashing red lights along the hull of the ship. As soon as they entered visual range, Yensin pulled them up on screen for us to confirm it was them. We sent them an order letting them know that no hostility was expected, but to remain on red alert. Also on screen was an alert that my second in command had been informed what was happening and was on her way back to the bridge. “I have a question for you Captain Lewis.” The alien said. “Why have you left you solar system when you were alerted to your planet’s quarantine; and in force no less?” While he was speaking, my second in command, Lieutenant Teresa, had arrived back on the bridge as was getting a status update from Yensin.
“My ship and our escort ships have not yet left our solar system. This is the planet Jupiter, the fifth planet from our sun, and the first gaseous planet in our system.” I explained. After the computer finished speaking, I heard hisses and grunts from off screen, then the captain asked for clarification.
“Your species accepts gaseous bodies as planets? This was unknown to us. We would like to send you a star chart of what we had assumed was your species system, would you please update it to your current recognized borders?” He asked.
“One moment Captain Sughis Guh, I need to confer with my officers.” I said. He agreed and we cut the comms line for a moment.
“Sir, I don’t recommend this. It could be a trick, a way for them to upload another AI.” Teresa stated.
“I’m aware, but we can’t risk losing the chance of establishing diplomatic relations with them. Yensin, if we ripped the transmitter out of one of our probes, would we be able to use its hard drive as a go-between for us and the station?” I asked.
“Yes sir, if we modify a probe so that it can only receive data, then isolate it in a faraday cage, and disarm it, then any risk of transmission of an AI would be negligible.” Yensin said.
“Does that sound reasonable Lieutenant?” I asked.
“I would also like to make it so that the probe requires a hardline interface to exchange data with a modified PRAS. That way we could examine the charts without posing any risk to our ship’s systems.” She suggested.
“Agreed, Yensin, contact Engineering and have a PRAS and probe undergo the modifications.” I ordered.
“Aye sir,” Yensin said and began issuing the orders over comms. With that, we reopened communications with the station and informed our convoy of what was happening.
