You never get a second chance to make a first contact

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. But the cries of a little girl have moved a whole galaxy.

The large number of ships that entered the system known by the locals as ‘Sol’ has been growing steadily for the last standard rotation. So much so, that the galactic police ordered the main reactors of any ship above fifteen Tera Bromings of power output to be shut down in order to keep their presence undetectable to the planet below. “This backwater little system is too primitive to be exposed to interstellar travel”, was the guideline given to any ships taking the trade rout that came to these parts. We, from the Galactic Society proudly follow the prime directive “We must give every species the chance to grow into members of the Galaxy’s Society without interference.”. But now the flagship of the galactic fleet was inbound and considering an intervention unlike anything ever witnessed in the known history. Having dropped from Tullet Space just minutes ago, the Spactulova, docked with the lead Galactic Police vessel where the grand fleet admiral will personally be briefed on the current situation and give the all-clear for the intervention to commence.

The main blast doors to the bridge at the lead Galactic Police vessel opened with a slow hiss. “Grand Admiral, welcome sir.” Saluted the galaxy police captain. “At ease captain, I am told that time is of the essence, I wanted to hear the full story from the commanding officer at the scene, so start from the beginning.” Ordered the grand admiral. “Yes sir. Please, follow me to my personal terminal so I can give you the details of the situation.” Replied the captain.

Having relocated to the captain’s terminal the briefing starts. “Four hundred and thirty simple rotations ago, at the 9th hour approximately, the trading vessel Barough detected elevated levels of data being transferred in the planetary network around Prika 3, known by the locals as ‘Sol 3’ or ‘Earth’…” The captain started. “Please give me the short version captain.” The grand admiral cut, and the captain continued. “Yes sir, I will skip the formalities. The crew assumed the transmissions indicated a technological breakthrough of some sort and decided to investigate as dictated by the protocols. However, they soon found out that it was in fact a sociological development that caused as stir in the communication web the locals call ‘social media’. During their investigation they identified the apparent cause of the ruckus as a series of ‘Chirps’ sent by an individual under distress…” “Clarify the term ‘Chirp’ captain.” Cut the admiral. “A ‘Chirp’ is a primitive limited text-based message sent using the ‘Chirper’ platform. The locals use those to express in concise form their feelings, political views and news to, sometimes, millions of other individuals that ‘Follow’ them. Basically, it is a simple and fast way to express themselves with text before the fleeting moment passes.” The captain explained. “Well, that sounds like any information acquired from it would be unreliable at best then.” The grand admiral said. “Yes, normally we ignore such traffic as useless, but the investigation brought to light information that caught the attention of the crew that started to follow the story as a sort of entertainment.” Clarified the captain. “And a year later we have this ruckus? Resume the briefing then captain you have captured my curiosity.” Said the grand admiral with a gesture for the captain to proceed. “As it turns out, there are some parts of the surface of the planet that are controlled by tyrannical powers that limit the access of some people to the network as a whole; In addition to limiting other basic freedoms. One young female individual from one of these regions was able to find a backdoor connection into the network and send messages, ‘Chirps’ if I may, exposing the horrible situation she and her people had to endure. She called herself SurvivingGirl97. Of course, the prime directive blocked any actions on the matter, but the crew started looking at her story as an inspirational tale, almost like a ‘reality drama’. They took to cheering for her, waiting anxiously to her next ‘Chirps’ and the word spread amongst the civilians that started flocking to the region to get the most updated news on the well being of this brave little girl.” The captain continued. “Yes, an impressive tale, I wonder how she was able to punch through whatever network blockers the government came up with. But I don’t see how any of this justifies an intervention…” The grand admiral reflected, and the captain enthusiastically cut. “It seems she gathered scrap materials while working as forced labour together with her now deceased parent and they built a standalone antenna boosted by excess electrical charge from a nearby damaged power converted. The short bursts of energy allow the antenna to broadcast 45 words at random intervals. Thus, the choice of using the ‘Chirper’ platform to communicate with the outside world. It is quite ingenious to be frank. It seems the antenna is also able to receive the outside world broadcasts since she has replied to other users when possible and even collaborated with foreigners to create avenues for monetary help to reach other individuals fleeing similar situations all around the world.” Added the captain. “It is very commendable.” The grand admiral murmured moved by his words, but tears were unbecoming of his rank and position. “I see that this young female is deserving of admiration and these government’s deserving of our scorn, but it is not the duty of the Galactic Fleet to intervene in the development of primitive worlds. Many planets had similar histories before joining.” The admiral said disappointed, but still the captain continued enthusiastically. “Yes sir, we are all aware of the limitations, but the developments that came after may sway you. Half a standard rotation after the starting event, after a respectful portion of the galactic civilian population had become captivated by her struggles and bravery, the situation had a downturn. Suddenly she started ‘Chirping’ messages such as ‘I hope all my friends out there have been able to escape their captivity with the help of our donation funds and partner merchandize. I may not be able to help much longer… #ContributeWhileYouCan’ and ‘They did another sweep of the area today. I don’t know how much longer I have. Please #ContributeWhileYouCan, so I have the chance to see as much good done before…’. We have summarized from the ‘Chirps’ that the government has found out her operation and is slowly closing in on her. Her parent was recently executed together with fifty random other people as a scare tactic to stop her broadcasts. Two days after the main media exposed the killings she ‘Chirped’: ‘Today we lost many, many, important people that I have never met, but were my people due to the struggles we suffer together, but none as important as him who helped me so much… #WeSaveWhoWeCan #WeMournWhoWeLost’. She probably did not clarify it was her parent who was killed in order to reduce the attention on her identity. You see sir? If nothing is done this brave girl will die.”

“I see… and since the civilian population is so involved in the issue the galactic government has been pressured into action. However, this is a matter for the locals to resolve. Since these ‘Chirps’ caused such a commotion, the other governments on the surface must have been pressured just like us to act.” Argued the grand admiral. “Yes sir, the information we gathered clearly shows overwhelming support to her cause from all over the world, but she is also using what they call a ‘Virtual Private Network’ to hide her location from the monsters that hunt her…” Catching his inappropriate choice of words the captain continued “Excuse my choice of words… to hide herself from the tyrannical powers that hunt her. This means though that the locals with their limited technology are unable to discern her location in order to send help. Not even her partners know any way to contact her directly except for her ‘Chirper’ account. And, anyway, she refuses to be extracted because, if she did, she would be putting others at risk. Sir, I beg you, we must intervene. With the technology available to us breaking the encryption would be a simple matter. We could then use our matter transportation technology to extract her…” The captain said with tears in his eyes and slowly losing his composure. “I see you have become involved in the situation personally too Captain…” Said the general. “I am sorry sir, it is unbecoming of an officer to behave like this…” Said the captain trying to regain his composure. “It is of no matter. If it was not for my years of experience, I would be moved myself. Such a strong-willed young female… girl, deserves better than being left to die under such conditions.” Said the admiral with a hand in the captain’s shoulder, then ordered. “Private, initiate decryption procedures and find that girl. Broadcast our findings and updates to keep the public from acting on their own.”

Then a buzz of words and active workers started moving around the room working to find the young girl. The Main screen started showing the progress. A slowly rotating image of the planet below started zooming and slowly showing the location of the signal. On one of the two large land masses. On the north section of that landmass. Close to the west coast. Visual scope images showed a large city full of palms and greens. “There must be something wrong sir, the location doesn’t match the information we have on their current geopolitical delimitations.” Said the Captain. “With respect sir, the equipment is in perfect shape and the software cannot be wrong, perhaps the previous information is outdated or incorrect?” Said the computer technician. “Sir we have received another ‘Chirp’ it reads ‘They are here, this will be my last communication. #ContinueToContributeAtAllCosts #SaveLives” said another technician. “Is there a life sign close to the source?” Exclaimed the grand admiral. “Yes sir only one, but..” “Then beam her up! It is now or never! Directly to the bridge, it will be a big shock.” Cut the grand admiral. Following his orders, the transport technician worked as fast as he could. The hum of the mass transport started low and grew into a buzz and from a beam of light thumped a heavy, sweaty male wearing nothing but a small cloth strapped around his waist. The small clinks and quiet pings of the computer were the only sounds for a long moment. Then the captain boomed “Private lock again, you go the wrong individual! Fast she might still be there!” “There is nothing to lock on to sir. This was the only life form around the transmission point.” The technician said. “Then the coordinates were wrong! Check the computer calculations by hand if necessary.” The captain continued. After a long couple of seconds, the adult male on the floor started “Tahw? Ohw? Tahw si gniog no? Era ouy sneila??” After a while being ignored the man got up and seized an officer close to him by his collar screaming “Tahw era uoy gniog ot od ot em?!”. “Turn on the translator for him, maybe he knows where the girl is. Now!” The grand admiral ordered. “… anal probe me?!” the large man finished. “What?” Asked the grasped officer quizzically. “You, human, do you know where we can find SurvivingGirl97?” Asked the grand admiral. “What? You speak my language?! Please! Don’t hurt me! I… I… Have connections, money, I can get you stuff from earth if you want, maybe I can lure some people for you to do your… Whatever you do to people! Just don’t do it to me! Please!” Cried the large adult male. “Shut up, we are not going to do anything to you. Where is SurvivingGirl97?!” Inquired the Captain. But the grand admiral gestured him to silence. For a quick second the room was quiet as the grand admiral faced down the shrinking human. “Don’t tell me…” Said the admiral. After a couple of seconds of seconds of silence. “SurvivingGirl97? That’s… Uh… not me no. Never heard.” The man said quietly. “But the coordinates… The… Messages… They came from your transmitter.” Said one of the lower rank technicians. “Ok, look… I just wanted some time on the spotlight… I… It was just a joke. No harm done right?” Argued the large male human. The grand admiral held the thick bridge of his nose-like structure noting that the whole room was quiet while the pieces fell into place. Little did he know that the whole galaxy stopped for a second to absorb the sheer stupidity of the situation, since the whole affair was being broadcasted by the grand admiral’s own orders. The admiral breathed in and started “Lieutenant, take this man to the sick bay. See if they have any anal probes for him and transport him back to his house. Then leak the coordinates to SurvivingGirl97’s whereabouts.” Ordered the grand admiral. And with dead eyes and a weak salute the Lieutenant carried the man away while an ensign vomited in the corner. “Fuck this planet…” said the grand admiral.

The fleet left in awkward silence and we never tapped into that planet’s communications system again. Sometimes the galactic police still stop vandals from pranking the man with abduction and anal probing and even stopped some more enthusiastic haters from nuking the planet as a joke. But even then, the locals still have the gal to send us prime numbers to say HELLO.