AntiGravity

I stared out over the vast expanse of space at the star moving ever closer. I closed my eyes, feeling the exhaustion from the day beginning to set in. I found the remote with my hand, flicking the switch to clear the tint from the window. Bright light flooded into the room, seeping through my eyelids. I smiled, ready to drift off into sleep.

The door to my chamber slid open.

"Alex!" Quinn floated into the room in uniform. "We need you in the control room. They're here."

I flipped the switch to dim the glass again, sighing with resignation. I unbuckled my clasp and pushed off the wall, drifting towards the closet as the red lights brightened.

"I'm sorry for disrupting you." Said Quinn, gently bumping against the landing wall and preparing to push off again. "We will be waiting for you."

I slipped into my suit as the door slid shut behind me, and looked out at the star on the other side of the window once more. I smiled. It wasn't every day that you get to be so close to a star like this one, and I was looking forward to spending some time in the vicinity. Part of me wished we could keep the windows clear all the time, but I knew that the blue light would drastically drop productivity and distract the crews. On the other hand, everybody had worked hard for days and maybe relaxation was what we needed.

As I touched the landing pad the door to my chamber slid open and I pushed off into the hall, thinking about how long we should plan to spend here. My mind drifted back to base, orbiting the Red Star alongside its six planets. I quite liked the Red Star's solar system, with its three blue planets and two helium giants. To seal the deal, the sixth planet happened to be an ice planet - and a water ice planet at that. Part of me wondered if that was where we first took off. After all, one of the planets did have thirty-hour days, which is congruent with the length of our days.

I touched the control room landing pad and the door slid open for me, revealing the clear window inside. As I floated in I couldn't keep myself from staring out at the bright star that lay ahead of us in awe.

"It's gorgeous, isn't it?" Remarked Jamie, smiling at the view with me.

"This is Alex you're talking to. No one quite appreciates stars the same way." Quinn was glancing between the controls and the view ahead of us, deep in thought. "We can see them electronically but I'm having trouble figuring out where they are with the star behind them."

"Tint the glass and glide left." I said, glancing at the screen over Quinn's shoulder. "Have we established a line of communication?"

"Not yet, commander, but it does look like the ship is sending out radio waves. Do you want to wait until we have visuals before attempting contact or shall I begin?" Maki asked, tinting the window.

"Have you attempted to interpret what they are saying?"

"We haven't been successful. It's the exact same message over and over, with nothing for reference. They could be saying hello, or they could be asking us to descend to planet. We really have no idea." Maki paused, thinking. "I'm wondering whether accessing their mainframe to obtain audio data would be too forward?"

"You can go ahead. We won't be interfering with their systems anyways - we're just trying to figure out how to talk to them. We can always apologize later. That is, if they are even aware of what we did and if they are upset about it." I looked out the window at the form that emerged from in front of the star. It looked small and antiquated in comparison to our ship. I turned to the one person that hadn't yet said anything.

"Andy?"

"Commander." Andy smiled at me, nodding in my direction. "Based on the data we have so far obtained the ship burns liquid fuel, meaning they likely are either not yet proficient in the use of other fuels or particularly favour this one due to its abundance on the planet. Based on this, I would say that it is likely they came from the blue planet, which is the only blue planet in this solar system, and it is very possible this is the first time they have ventured this far in one of their ships." Andy paused. "The language interpretation is ready whenever you are, commander. Anyways, as I was saying the blue planet does have unnatural shapes flying around its orbit which do not match any meteorites that we have encountered, which would suggest they have been created by these inhabitants and would confirm our theory that they are from the planet. Based on the size of the space craft, and my assumptions about their technology based on the appearance of the space craft, I would say that they are likely maximizing their fuel to matter ratio. If they are approximately our size there would be a maximum of twenty of them on board."

"Thank you, Andy. Please turn their message on through the speakers so that we may hear it, and attempt a rough translation." I watched the ship with awe as they drifted to us, a faint glow around where I assumed their thrusters were. A moment later strange sounds began coming from the speakers. I watched Andy and Quinn moving slender arms over their controls, listening to the repeating message. A few moments later, the strange message was replaced with familiar words until finally, the system settled on what it thought was the closest translation.

"This is commander Xenon of the Saint Lucia. Please state your identity."

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Stay tuned for Chapter 1 coming Wednesday, November 10th, 2021!

@Food_Bowl_27