Stretching writing muscles!
This was the question on every human's mind but first left the lips of Ensign Karmel. The immediate thing to do was obvious at the time, send the data back to the alliance, and wait for a response. After that, well, it was anyone's guess. It was up to command now.
Captain Ava had spent most of her time waiting, staring out the viewport. Looking down at the rust red and green planet below. Admiring city lights as they flickered to life on the dark side. She wondered at the strange coloring. An abundance of iron? Some quirks in the atmosphere?
They did not dare send a probe to check, did not dare compromise their position. Just outside the planet's atmosphere, they remained unnoticed. And would remain so until they were ordered otherwise.
It did not stop the crew of the Destiny's Reach from wondering. Or from having their computer slither its way into the local equivalent of the internet. They had questions, the United Territories must have them too. Ava was ready to take any flack her noninvasive inquiry may gain her.
The computer couldn't translate enough.
First contact. She never dreamed or imagined it could really happen. That she'd be the one to finally find intelligent life. Maybe that was a bit of a lie. She had certainly hoped but never thought it would actually happen. After nearly 700 years of interstellar travel, humanity had resigned itself to being alone. And the few that still did believe thought it would be a meeting of a superior or at least equals.
No one, not a one, imagined that they would find a single planet species instead of an empire. And Ava feared what that meant.
Aca shook her head, praying that was not the case. The Destiny's Reach was meant to enrich humanity. To give them new data and dwellings with every system visited. They were not meant to be harbingers of destruction nor subjugation.
She shook her head again, dismissing the thought as best she could. She blinked to pull up the image data they had managed to extract from the local networks. Images, so much easier than language to understand and all the more telling.
The first image streamed to her retina was of a feathered lizard, or so the species could be described. They were near universally sleek in body with a long tail and four clawed feet that each owned an opposable thumb.
Video of them had shown them all to be quick in movement, cling to surfaces, and tilted their heads rather expressively. Stretching and moving their necks as they tweeted and croaked their language. The rows of sharp teeth worried her, reminding her of old horror vids, at first. Further, observation showed a mostly insectivore and herbivore diet. That took the edge off the maneater nightmare.
They had gotten several biology charts from what had to be a university archive. But again the language barrier blocked them. The Rosetta Stone program was hard at work. Decoding each symbol and communication it could find. It was taking time, the words were simply too alien to decipher at an inspiring speed.
But it was making progress. There was a bit of a speed bump when the program realized it was decoding multiple languages. Multiple languages with the same roof instead of a single language. Easily corrected and they had since discovered what was hopefully the main language of the world.
It was interesting to note that their written word mimicked their body language as much as their speech. Words and symbols twisted, tilted, and even inverted mid sentence to give new context and meaning. It could turn a polite request to a death challenge.
Ava just knew that was going to be a headache in the future, whatever the higher ups decided. She had seen how they wrote memos. It was not pretty.
"Captain Ava, " a communications officer called from across the bridge. John Johnson if she remembered right a bit bland in appearance but made up for it in his devotion to the cause. It made him a bit flamboyant at times but he was nothing less than professional.
Officer Johnson looked up.at her, his face lacking any of his usual exuberance. Nerves had too firm of a grip on him. "A message from Earth… It looks pretty dense."
Captain Ava did not gulp. Her hands did not shake. And she most certainly did not hesitate as she crossed the bridge. To do any of that would be undignified, especially when so.many eyes were watching her.
Johnson backed away from the council as she approached, glancing between the screen and her. Maybe he was wondering why she had not taken the message at the Captain's station. Maybe he was nervous over what the message said. Or, maybe, he just found get attractive. Whatever the case she could not, and did not, let herself be distracted.
With that message she was going to shape the course of human, and even galactic, history.
She decompressed the message and several files popped out to greet her. A plan for a permanent moon base, with coordinates that would make it visible planetside. Next was a packet of logistics work, spreadsheets filled with rows of materials and people that would be shipped in over the coming months.
Last was a video file. A clip to be broadcasted plantwide as soon as the Rosetta program had a firm grip of the language. Command was very insistent that they send out the message as soon as possible, on repeat.
Ava, despite her best efforts, knew something showed on her face as she read the video's transcripts. She could hear the intake of breath, feel the change in the room as the crew started to whisper.
The transcript, and thus the video, was a short thing. Only a handful of lines but Ava felt they spoke volumes. A picture of humanity. A picture of the planet's moon. And three words to be spoken in every language possible.
Just wanted to write a snip on my favorite kind of HFY.
