him ten minutes to complete, but his story lasted for over an hour. It was so entertaining that about half way through it, even Tessslan and Lyemad had forgotten their differences and were engrossed in the narrative.
At the conclusion of Slabriel’s story, the ship was already well on its way to the Paylee system. Paylee is a Red Giant star with two planets: Noteorius Minor and Noteorius Major. Noteorius Major is a gaseous giant with thick clouds of poisonous gases. It circles very close to Paylee, which causes the dense clouds to churn violently from the heat and gravitational pull. It is an extremely inhospitable place and is of no interest to Bellmus or his colleagues. Noteorius Minor, on the other hand, is of great interest. Even though there has been no communications, Electerus had picked up some signals that they figured only intelligent life could make. The anticipation on the ship was intense. They would soon meet their first beings from another star system on Noteorius Minor.
During the four-day trip, excitement filled the air as the three worlds swapped different stories and legends. At one point in the voyage, Lyemad realized that the Warp-ship needed a name that was worthy of its mission. After much deliberation and debate, they settled on “Volkran”—the name of an Electerian explorer who made the first flight into space. He stayed in orbit around Electerus for thirty minutes in a ship that he built himself. He had a dream of one day meeting aliens from another world, but he died before ever realizing his dream. However, his historic achievement was the starting point on the path that was now about to culminate with meeting aliens from other worlds. Everyone agreed that it was an appropriate tribute to his vision.
Coming out of warp close to Paylee, Bellmus ordered, “Sensor report!”
Lyemad, studying his instruments and screens carefully, responded, “I read an atmosphere similar to Graznos,” he paused slightly while rechecking another screen, “I have life forms!” he said with a crack in his voice. “They are concentrated in small cities spread out across the countryside. There is one large city that is central to the smaller ones.”
“Send a broadcast on all frequencies of a repeating tone sequence of the first six prime numbers. Two-second delay between numbers, five seconds between repeats. Shine a laser beacon at the main city synchronized to the tone. Run it for thirty minutes.” Bellmus commanded.
“I hope no one starts shooting at us before they figure out what you are doing,” said Lyemad sarcastically.
“If they built elaborate cities then they have some form of measurement with sub-divisions. They would have figured out that they could not divide certain values into equal parts. No matter what language they speak, those values will always be the same,” answered Bellmus in a reassuring voice.
“I know what you are doing, I just hope that whoever is down there understands it before they hit us with some unknown weapon,” said Lyemad, genuinely concerned.
About twenty-five minutes passed when Bichael (pronounced like Michael with a B), the Communications Officer and an Angelian, cried out with a high pitch voice, “Oh! Sir Bellmus, I…We…They are responding! It is the same sequence with one more prime number added to it.”
“I guess we have your answer Lyemad. We were not vaporized by any super weapon,” Bellmus said, returning a little of his sarcasm. “Tessslan, take us down slowly—just to the east of the big city by that large clearing.”
It was about mid-day when the Volkran entered the atmosphere of Noteorius Minor. The planet orbits Paylee at a great enough distance that the climate ranges from tropical to frozen, depending on location and time of year. It was a warm summer day with clear skies, except for a few scattered green clouds in the upper atmosphere. Just as Tessslan was about to cut through one of the clouds, Lyemad yelled, “Go around that
At the conclusion of Slabriel’s story, the ship was already well on its way to the Paylee system. Paylee is a Red Giant star with two planets: Noteorius Minor and Noteorius Major. Noteorius Major is a gaseous giant with thick clouds of poisonous gases. It circles very close to Paylee, which causes the dense clouds to churn violently from the heat and gravitational pull. It is an extremely inhospitable place and is of no interest to Bellmus or his colleagues. Noteorius Minor, on the other hand, is of great interest. Even though there has been no communications, Electerus had picked up some signals that they figured only intelligent life could make. The anticipation on the ship was intense. They would soon meet their first beings from another star system on Noteorius Minor.
During the four-day trip, excitement filled the air as the three worlds swapped different stories and legends. At one point in the voyage, Lyemad realized that the Warp-ship needed a name that was worthy of its mission. After much deliberation and debate, they settled on “Volkran”—the name of an Electerian explorer who made the first flight into space. He stayed in orbit around Electerus for thirty minutes in a ship that he built himself. He had a dream of one day meeting aliens from another world, but he died before ever realizing his dream. However, his historic achievement was the starting point on the path that was now about to culminate with meeting aliens from other worlds. Everyone agreed that it was an appropriate tribute to his vision.
Coming out of warp close to Paylee, Bellmus ordered, “Sensor report!”
Lyemad, studying his instruments and screens carefully, responded, “I read an atmosphere similar to Graznos,” he paused slightly while rechecking another screen, “I have life forms!” he said with a crack in his voice. “They are concentrated in small cities spread out across the countryside. There is one large city that is central to the smaller ones.”
“Send a broadcast on all frequencies of a repeating tone sequence of the first six prime numbers. Two-second delay between numbers, five seconds between repeats. Shine a laser beacon at the main city synchronized to the tone. Run it for thirty minutes.” Bellmus commanded.
“I hope no one starts shooting at us before they figure out what you are doing,” said Lyemad sarcastically.
“If they built elaborate cities then they have some form of measurement with sub-divisions. They would have figured out that they could not divide certain values into equal parts. No matter what language they speak, those values will always be the same,” answered Bellmus in a reassuring voice.
“I know what you are doing, I just hope that whoever is down there understands it before they hit us with some unknown weapon,” said Lyemad, genuinely concerned.
About twenty-five minutes passed when Bichael (pronounced like Michael with a B), the Communications Officer and an Angelian, cried out with a high pitch voice, “Oh! Sir Bellmus, I…We…They are responding! It is the same sequence with one more prime number added to it.”
“I guess we have your answer Lyemad. We were not vaporized by any super weapon,” Bellmus said, returning a little of his sarcasm. “Tessslan, take us down slowly—just to the east of the big city by that large clearing.”
It was about mid-day when the Volkran entered the atmosphere of Noteorius Minor. The planet orbits Paylee at a great enough distance that the climate ranges from tropical to frozen, depending on location and time of year. It was a warm summer day with clear skies, except for a few scattered green clouds in the upper atmosphere. Just as Tessslan was about to cut through one of the clouds, Lyemad yelled, “Go around that
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