chance to play on Eon. Lay also revealed to O’Hara
that he was glad to be out of the tents. Matters regarding
construction of the colony had him stressed. The captain tried to
empathize.
Suns moved across the sky. Soft clouds melded
into one another, changing shapes and size. Then, it happened.
“ Admiral Lay, this is Doctor Jenson. Do
you copy?” the voice asked.
“ This is Admiral Lay, we copy. What do
you have, Jensen?”
The camp’s monitor station had been geared to
receive new transmissions and relay them back to Presh, where more
sophisticated equipment was used to sort through various channels,
frequencies, and energetic wavelengths. Presh station said a form
of communication was coming in from somewhere outside the Gemini
system. It was a signal unlike anyone had ever witnessed. Someone
was responding.
The satellite, project overseer at Presh came
in on the camp’s channel. “Sir, we have a transmission coming in.
We are recalibrating our transistors...it’s a repeating signal,
Sir. Attempting to trace...it’s coming from the Spider, Sir,”
Jenson gasped.
The Spider was a nebula one hundred and
thirteen light years from the Gemini system. No Humans had reached
that far and had no plans to investigate. It was more reasonable to
finish the Eon colony before moving to the next closest area, the
DaVinci system. Plans for anything further weren’t feasible until
DaVinci was secured, so they had zero information on that area of
space.
“ This is amazing,” the admiral replied.
“What does the signal say?”
“ We’re attempting to decipher. It’s
going to take some time to translate, Sir,” Jensen
replied.
The admiral turned to O’Hara’s crew, who were
all standing ready. “Ladies and Gentlemen, you’ve outdone
yourselves. I must admit, I didn’t think anything was going to
happen, but transmissions from the Spider? Seems impossible…now
listen, a signal doesn’t mean there’s intelligent life out there,
but I’ll head to Presh. From there, I’ll send out coordinates to
the Eon colony.
“ By the time everything is up and
running, there’s a possibility we’ll be able to make contact,
assuming we’re dealing with real, live aliens and not some old
transistors. If these beings can work with our network of
wormholes, we can schedule a face-to-face meeting in about fifteen
years.”
“ We can send satellites out their way
with some of our own frequencies in conjunction with the
frequencies we pulled from the beacons, making a sort of language
bridge,” Swain added. “This way, we can communicate for the whole
fifteen years before they arrive.”
“ I know we’re all thinking it, so I’m
just going to say it,” O’Hara frowned. “It’s possible they’re
hostile, and equally possible that they may not want to meet us.
With any luck, though, we can avoid any sort of problem with
Swain’s idea.”
The admiral also praised the idea. The
wellbeing of Eon was of the utmost importance. Commending everyone
for their hard work, he left them for Presh.
While he took a shuttle from Eon, the Phoenix and her crew were ordered to stay behind and assist
Rear Admiral Shaw with the continued colonization. O’Hara and crew
traded ideas about the possibilities of an exchange with aliens.
The captain was worried that his mission might be affected
negatively; being solely responsible for starting a war with aliens
was a frightening thought, but his friends reminded him that they
had all banded together, so they were all equally responsible. Day
added that there was no reason to get pessimistic.
Meanwhile, scientists on Presh sent
satellites towards the Spider. A total of thirteen were sent, one
for every wormhole leading to locations in the Spider’s vicinity.
Satellites traveled at just under light speed, but the procedure
was not unreasonable for a long-term goal. The satellites carried
every deciphered marking from the beacons along with the
corresponding, Human languages. These
that he was glad to be out of the tents. Matters regarding
construction of the colony had him stressed. The captain tried to
empathize.
Suns moved across the sky. Soft clouds melded
into one another, changing shapes and size. Then, it happened.
“ Admiral Lay, this is Doctor Jenson. Do
you copy?” the voice asked.
“ This is Admiral Lay, we copy. What do
you have, Jensen?”
The camp’s monitor station had been geared to
receive new transmissions and relay them back to Presh, where more
sophisticated equipment was used to sort through various channels,
frequencies, and energetic wavelengths. Presh station said a form
of communication was coming in from somewhere outside the Gemini
system. It was a signal unlike anyone had ever witnessed. Someone
was responding.
The satellite, project overseer at Presh came
in on the camp’s channel. “Sir, we have a transmission coming in.
We are recalibrating our transistors...it’s a repeating signal,
Sir. Attempting to trace...it’s coming from the Spider, Sir,”
Jenson gasped.
The Spider was a nebula one hundred and
thirteen light years from the Gemini system. No Humans had reached
that far and had no plans to investigate. It was more reasonable to
finish the Eon colony before moving to the next closest area, the
DaVinci system. Plans for anything further weren’t feasible until
DaVinci was secured, so they had zero information on that area of
space.
“ This is amazing,” the admiral replied.
“What does the signal say?”
“ We’re attempting to decipher. It’s
going to take some time to translate, Sir,” Jensen
replied.
The admiral turned to O’Hara’s crew, who were
all standing ready. “Ladies and Gentlemen, you’ve outdone
yourselves. I must admit, I didn’t think anything was going to
happen, but transmissions from the Spider? Seems impossible…now
listen, a signal doesn’t mean there’s intelligent life out there,
but I’ll head to Presh. From there, I’ll send out coordinates to
the Eon colony.
“ By the time everything is up and
running, there’s a possibility we’ll be able to make contact,
assuming we’re dealing with real, live aliens and not some old
transistors. If these beings can work with our network of
wormholes, we can schedule a face-to-face meeting in about fifteen
years.”
“ We can send satellites out their way
with some of our own frequencies in conjunction with the
frequencies we pulled from the beacons, making a sort of language
bridge,” Swain added. “This way, we can communicate for the whole
fifteen years before they arrive.”
“ I know we’re all thinking it, so I’m
just going to say it,” O’Hara frowned. “It’s possible they’re
hostile, and equally possible that they may not want to meet us.
With any luck, though, we can avoid any sort of problem with
Swain’s idea.”
The admiral also praised the idea. The
wellbeing of Eon was of the utmost importance. Commending everyone
for their hard work, he left them for Presh.
While he took a shuttle from Eon, the Phoenix and her crew were ordered to stay behind and assist
Rear Admiral Shaw with the continued colonization. O’Hara and crew
traded ideas about the possibilities of an exchange with aliens.
The captain was worried that his mission might be affected
negatively; being solely responsible for starting a war with aliens
was a frightening thought, but his friends reminded him that they
had all banded together, so they were all equally responsible. Day
added that there was no reason to get pessimistic.
Meanwhile, scientists on Presh sent
satellites towards the Spider. A total of thirteen were sent, one
for every wormhole leading to locations in the Spider’s vicinity.
Satellites traveled at just under light speed, but the procedure
was not unreasonable for a long-term goal. The satellites carried
every deciphered marking from the beacons along with the
corresponding, Human languages. These
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