First Contact | A Hunter's Universe Short Story Part 2

Part 2: A Tumultuous Preparation

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“First Contact Protocol was established shortly after JumpTech by the Sol Imperius and lists steps for confirming and engaging with Intelligent Life. This protocol is intended to frame a realistic, simple set of steps to ensure the safety of both the sender and receiver. Before First Contact Protocol can be initiated, several checks must be satisfied: 

• The signal must be verified as unique and non-human by comparing it to the Master Signal Database. This must be done with an encrypted AI

• Visual confirmation is required. This can be either a signal analysis, but it is preferable that human eyes verify the non-human emitter

• If non-biological - ie, a satellite or non-alien - a sample must be analyzed, and DNA compared to Sol DNA structures. It must be unique. 

Once these condition are met, First Contact Protocol can begin and is as follows: 

• Immediately send all relevant data to Sol Imperius. A scientific representative can at anytime take over for the investigating party. 

• Attempt to contact the entity with known bands, including radio and laser. This message should be a string of natural numbers, followed by more complex relative formulas. These universal constants should be understandable by any entity capable of spaceflight. 

• Attempt to translate using a base 32 language pattern. Language AIs must be utilized to avoid insults or confusion. 

• Once understanding is established, communicate peaceful intentions and establish repertoire. 

• Contact Sol Imperius for further instruction.

It is imperative these steps are followed as closely as possible to ensure successful.....” - From the Official First Contact Protocol: Sol Imperius manual.

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 Arach side of the Sol - Arach jumpgate

The second her jump light turned off, Mel ripped off her harness and practically leapt out of her crash couch. She grabbed her DataTerm from its stand, plugged it into a jack in the wall and turned the screen on. A list of equipment popped up, and she navigated several screens without thinking until she ended up on the diagnostics screen. She methodically went through the checklist, making sure everything was exactly to spec. This was a familiar ritual for her, the systematic process calmed her anxiety. She had ran the same check prior to the jump, not even an hour ago. Everything checked out then and everything checked out now. She sighed and unplugged her deck. She sat on her bed for a minute shaking her leg before tapping open the call app on her deck. “Melly! I wasn’t expecting to hear from you for a while, how’s the investigation going?” Her best friend's excited voice bubbled through the speakers. Mel instantly relaxed. “We just jumped into the system. Don’t laugh, but I’m freaking out a little. Aracha is dangerous and I think our ship is flying through a pirate hotspot. Plus if I mess this up it means I’m a failure in my field and...” “Woah there” her friend interrupted, “where is this coming from? When I saw you off yesterday I couldn't have physically kept you from boarding that ship! You know you’re the perfect person for this assignment, that’s why you were picked.” Deep down Mel knew she was right. She had been studying ancient languages her entire life and no other researcher in history had translated more unknown text than her. “I know, I guess I’m just nervous,” Mel said sheepishly. “Thanks for talking to me, I love you”. After hanging up the call, Mel set down her deck, took a deep breath, and leaned back in her chair. She closed her eyes and ran through her preliminary plan in her head again. While she was thinking through potential application of binary to communicate with unknown languages, her deck chimed. The captain had sent a crew bulletin and was requesting everyone meet on the bridge. She pulled on her jumper and stepped into the ship's hallway. 

The Erebus was commissioned shortly after JumpTech became a mainstream technology. After several factions defected and established settlements in developing systems, the Sol Imperius needed a platform that could survey an entire system. As both military and expeditionary data needed to be collected and processed quickly before relaying it to the Imperius Fleet, the ship ended up a behemoth, boasting a bespoke omnidirectional sensor suite, a laser communication system, particle accelerator, and a host of military and scientific snub ships. The ship is capable of mapping an entire system and hazards in less than a week with a full crew complement. While it never saw military action, it held the title for most discoveries made by a single vessel. The ship itself was made up of seven mega-structures: two stacked in the front, a particle accelerator in the middle, three making up the end section and the final the engine suite. The front two structures contained the command center and sensor suite. The communications tower was mounted above the bridge attached to a movable base. The rear structure consisted of the hanger, habitation, and storage structures. The ship itself was shaped like an elongated top to maximize efficiency. It was powered by several nuclear reactors and was also equipped with a deployable solar field for emergencies. Mel was in missionary school when the ship was christened. It was one of the few programs that she was allowed to watch. It was what sparked her interest in science. It still didn’t feel real she thought to herself almost 17 years after that moment. She took a deep breath and unclenched her jaw as she walked through the door to the bridge. 

The Erebus’ massive bridge loomed in front of her, like a whale with its mouth open. From the entrance, she could only see what she guessed was half of the entire room. The room was made up of two floors. The first floor was a wide open work area boasting a massive holographic display in the middle of the room. Individual workstations were placed in groups sporadically throughout the entire floor, which was surrounded by a wall of conference rooms and labs that could be sealed off for privacy or safety. On either side of the holographic display was a grand white and gold marble staircase leading up to the command deck where the command crew piloted the ship. Mel’s team was gathered by the holographic display in the middle of the research deck, looking at the scans they had received in the briefing. Aside from her, there was a biologist from East Sol named Yuki, a radio astronomer by the name of Oliver from the Lower Pacific Areas, Rajid, a decorated marine biologist who studies with the the Yogiis, a geologist names Pa-ul from Sol Center, as well as an insurance adjuster names Erick accompanied by a corporate representative from The Imperius Science Division names Zazan, and finally Douglas], the mission commander. The team watched her as she approached the holotable, as the mission's only xexo-biologist, they had high expectations of her. As she surveyed their faces, she noticed Yuki could barely contain her excitement. She grinned instinctively at her and she beamed back - Mel remembered her from school and knew they shared similar beliefs about xeno-biology. “Mel!” She said in her singsong voice “Finally, a voice of reason! Rajib won’t shut up about how we’re all wasting our time investigating a SEE, but you’ve seen the signals! We all know this is more than that! Tell him!” Rajib rolled his eyes. “There’s no empirical, statistical or even spiritual evidence to suggest anything intelligent exist in the universe, let alone that they’re sending us radio signals to a low tech science station” Mel picked up on traces of his Bengali accent as he continued “Sure, there have been microbes and limited flora and fauna discovered on other planets, but they all share DNA with life on Sol suggesting panspermia dispersion, therefore making them part of us - or us part of them.” Mel and Yuki exchanged exasperated looks. Ever since spiritual meditation became mainstream, scientists and civilians alike started to measure everything by this baseline. While it was useful and led to a renaissance of the mind, it had greatly impeded scientific advancement for several years and Mel couldn’t stand it. “Rajib, you know that that theory has basically been disproven” Mel shot at him “Why  did you even come on this mission?” “Someone has to keep the mission grounded in reality” he shot back.Zazan nodded in agreement and interjected “The Sol Imperius selected Mr. Rajib exactly for this reason. Intelligent life, even basic,  is impossible and we’re here to keep everyone focused on the core of the mission, which is reconnaissance, damage assessment,  and insurance inspection. The scientific arm of this mission was only brought along as a formality to justify using the Erebus”. “Are you serious? If we find any signs of life you bet your fucking ass we’re going...” “That’s enough!” Douglas cut Mel off trying to diffuse the situation before it spiraled out of control. “We’ve all seen the same data, and nobody in any of the systems knows what’s to make of it. That’s why we’re here. We’re equipped to investigate both the SEE and the anomaly. And that’s what we’re going to do. Anybody have any last words before we start our briefing?” The questions was rhetorical but Pa-ul quietly quoted "If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself." Everyone was familiar with the Henry Ford quote, schools on Sol taught extensively of the prehistoric capitalists and every good corpo kept several quotes in their back pocket. Douglas eyed Pa-ul for a second, before proceeding “Alright then, let’s review the mission briefing”. He stepped forward and activated the holotable. 

After Douglas activated the holotable, several images and graphs sprung into life. “As we already know, a trader called in a SEE event approximately 4 months ago. Shortly thereafter they sent a followup report with anomalous signals that their computer was unable to decode and that they described as “alien”. We will be in range of their comms within the next couple hours, and we expect more data then. We will be entering orbit around the debris of Nemo Point. Remember, Nemo Point is in a deep orbit around the [gas giant], so we will have to manually break for about ninety hours. Once we arrive, we will be deploying two teams: one, led by Oliver will head to the wreckage and begin the accident investigation. Zazan will be second in command. SEE debris fields are known for being chaotic and cluttered, so you will take it slow and be safe. Sensors don’t pick up smaller debris,so it’s imperative you give your close range defenses time to acquire visual lock and clear your path. The second team will be led by myself and will head to the coordinates provided by the trader. Once we arrive, we will  investigate the radio signal source. As the shuttles are small and lack high quality analysis equipment, we will relay all the data back to Erebus for final analysis, hence keeping Oliver close to the ship. Mel will be my second in command of my expedition, and will handle first contact protocol if we discover alien life. These missions are both extremely sensitive and dangerous so you are all expected to operate with the highest amount of professionalism. I expect a high level of communication and while both teams have autonomy to act as they deem necessary, I have the final say in all decisions.” He paused and looked around, briefly making eye contact with each of the crew members. “Any questions?” 

Everyone looked around silently, waiting for someone to speak up. Douglas waited for a couple minutes to let everyone absorb the information, letting everyone sit in the thick  tension that permeated the room. After a couple seconds, Rajib puffed his chest and stated smugly “I presume I’ll be on the forward team with you sir. To keep things rational you know.”  Mel and Yuki] both stared daggers at him but before they could respond, Douglas responded “No. You’ve been entirely too confrontational and I need Mel focused on figuring out what we’re working with so First Contact Protocol can be carried out if needed. There will be no further discussion on this''. Rajib pouted and Zazan looked like he was going to object but after a look from Douglas, neither responded. Mel felt relief wash over her. She was used to people not taking her field seriously but she admitted to herself that she was intimidated by Rajib’s credentials and his pretension for causing conflict. “If there are no further questions, I’ll send the mission dossier to everyone's DataTerms so it can be reviewed. Take the next couple weeks to come up with a mission plan, run any training simulations needed so we’re ready to go once we’re in orbit. We’ll meet twice a week as a team to keep each other accountable and align our projects. Dismissed.” 

With the briefing concluded, Mel and Yuki went to the cafeteria together to discuss their initial plan ideas. The women were excited to work together again and had a hard time containing their excitement. While they both knew deep down it was extremely unlikely that they were going to encounter intelligent life, the fact that Mel, the leading xeno-specialist and one of the few trained in First Contact Protocol, was called meant that  the Imperius was just as baffled as everyone else - even if they didn’t want to admit it. They both sat down with their food and immediately jumped on their DataTerms. Mel already had an initial plan together and started explaining it right away. “Basically, the trader is claiming he received a radio communication that initially looked and was received by the flight computer but both he and the computer were unable to unencrypt the message. When he inspected the radio band further, he discovered traces of unknown frequency which matches an ancient signal received from the Sagittarius System. This signal was determined to be fraud initially, but the ancients believed it was from an alien intelligence. We’ve never followed up on it because it was assumed to be an ancient story, and even in ancient times the signal would have been millions of years old but this is  too convenient to  be a coincidence.” Yuki was nodding along excitedly, both having forgotten their now cold food. “My plan is to run local scans and get a full spectral analysis then compare it to the old signal. Before we arrive in the system I’ll be observing the system with Oliver so we can rule out natural signals. If we can confirm a signal match and even a slight anomaly on the detected object then I’ll satisfy the first contact protocols and I can start communication attempts.” Her pace had gotten faster while she was speaking, she was so excited. Yuki responded “This is a great plan! I’ll focus on getting samples from the anomaly and see if there are signs of organic or inorganic life signs. Hopefully I can recover some kind of DNA we can compare to the existing xeno-specimens. Any disparity will also satisfy the first contact requirements so we can start the protocol. Two ways to go about it, practically foolproof!” She looked down at her food and laughed. “Our curry is cold now. I’ve heard that makes it better, I guess we’ll find out tonight”. Mel giggled in return and they both dug into their food.