by Dorian, Mars
Treasure on a tray.
eLoom's eyes glowed and it wasn't just because of the lab's spotlight. The scanner zoomed into the hull's surface. Details updated on her HUD. With the help of her extra twin-arms, eLoom moved the object around the pedestal and tried to capture every close-up detail in stunning hyper resolution.
360 degrees, all the way.
When she zoomed into the nano-realm, eLoom squealed.
Her assumption was right.
She had discovered something alien...
4
eLoom carried enough passion to burn through the ship's hull layers. She wanted to shout the news into every Newtype network but decided to tell only one unit—for now.
eVax, the wisest compeer within the ship's perimeter.
Message: sent.
eVax arrived two minutes and thirty-two seconds later and looked as if a battery had exploded near his face.
"What is it this time?"
She rotated while two of her cybernetic arms still worked on the alien object.
"It is a cyborg."
"What?"
"It seems to be charged by some kind of internal powercell that reduces its vital function to an absolute minimum. Probably a measure to ensure its survival on the hostile environment of asteroid Pandora-5."
She updated her Tri-D images to his feed. The bombast visuals flashed his optical sensors in rapid succession. eVax had to step back and O-shaped his mouth.
eLoom added her thoughts in verbal form.
"I can't interact with it, yet, but I'm working on that."
"What makes you think it is a cyborg?"
"It does react to its surrounding. If you zoom into the surface, you can see it's made of nano plates that shift direction based on the angle of incidence, which means it's smart. The question is—how smart? I will know. Soon. Sublight-soon."
eLoom's smile was about to break out of her snowy cheeks. A warm glow devoured her body. But good old eVax didn't share her sentiment. He looked almost distanced.
Confused.
"That is...good."
"Good?"
She let it burst out.
"Good?"
Passion dominated her body and used her lips.
"This is THE discovery in the history of humanoids. I have found the first life form on a strobing asteroid. Celebrate. Recharge. Marvel."
Her energy kept flowing into her limbs. She would have embraced everything in a wide arch if hadn't been for the two ersatz arms still attached to her back.
eVax at least made an effort to smile.
"You are right, it is amazing. Sorry, I'm still baffled by your solo-trip to the asteroid."
He gestured left and right as if to look for eavesdroppers.
"eTrinity is sending a cautionary report to the nearest relay. She says your ruthless behavior wasted resources."
“I didn’t waste anything. I traveled to the asteroid myself.”
“You are a resource.”
eLoom bit her lips, which she had never done before. Here she was, making the discovery of a life cycle, and her compeer denounced her for deviating from protocols. This wasn't the way of the explorer. This was the attitude of a coward.
She said,
"Since when is excitement a crime?"
eVax focused his blue iris.
"No one said anything about a crime. It is about your emotional outbreaks. We are worried about you."
The next phrase seemed to be stuck in his throat.
"You almost behave...like a human child."
The phrase contorted his face.
As if his spit tasted like acid, corroding his mouth. But to eLoom, it wasn't an insult. She remembered luminaries from ancient Earth, flesh-based beings with many faults, not nearly as perfect as her.
But they still longed for knowledge.
Like her.
They wanted to debunk the mysteries of the universe.
Like her.
"What is wrong with sharing the traits of human offspring?"
eVax shook his head in disgust.
"I pretend I did not hear that."
He looked over her shoulder and focused on the foreign object with partial interest.
"Analyze your finding and share it with us. And watch your energy levels—your last recharge was over 29.3 hours ago."
"Thanks for reminding me, papa."
eVax wrestled with his lips and narrowed his eyes till only stripes of blue remained.
Oh, how he must have burned from the inside.
"Please, do not call me that. It is becoming patronizing."
"Leave me alone in my lab, and I promise to drop the Terran slurs."
eLoom bowed and rotated toward her testing stage. eVax rolled his eyes and aimed at the exit gate of the deck. During his mid-float, he rotated 180 degrees one last time and said,
"I wish you much success with your discovery. But make sure you do not become obsessed. We have come so far with our collective and must not revert to our primitive roots."
eLoom couldn't, wouldn't, hear him.
She was already back in her world, where only the hulled testing stage, the nano-microscopical scanner and her two extra cybernetic arms existed.
A world filled with wonder and new discoveries.
Ready to get debunked…
5
For the next hours of local ship time, eLoom burned with curiosity. She analyzed every surface pattern and checked possible matches via the database. If possible, she would have attached five more arms to each of her sides to speed up the process. There were simply too many questions: where did the object come from? Was it sentient? How did it function?
Thousands of more questions stormed through her neuron highways. The only thing eLoom could claim with clarity was that the organism stayed in some kind of hibernation to preserve its energies. Speaking of preservation, the warning voice of the local aid echoed through her brain.
"But I'm in the middle of work."
She checked her biometric avatar on the upper-left of her HUD. The emerald color had changed into a green-yellow mix and flickered. eLoom had more than enough power to work for another five hours without fearing any trouble. But then again, it had been an eventful time. Plus, her crew was watching her process, anticipating another screw-up on her side. She already peeved them by solo-venturing toward asteroid Pandora-5. Refusing the recommended recharge times would taint her reputation even more. eLoom held still and exhaled deeply. Watched the round-shaped organism and pressed her lips.
"Fine. You win."
The aid sounded its delicate voice.
Imagine all the discoveries I’ll miss by going off the grid, eLoom thought.
But the discussion was over. eLoom sealed off the organism behind the transparent hull, shelved her exo-arms in the locker and moved her body into the clearance area for the decontamination process. Before she traversed the shutter gate of the science lab, she winked at the organism behind the sealed section.
Do not run away from me, hear me?
The object didn't reply.
eLoom floated back to the central core of the spaceship and found every other crew unit still inside their pods, checking their protocols and preparing for the recharge. eLoom slipped inside her capsule and ignored the looks of her compeers. She closed the hull when eVax pushed his arm between the opening. His face revealed a smile, but she was too annoyed to welcome it.
"What is it now?"
He grimaced at first but quickly swapped to a smile—one that couldn't look any more artificial.
"Nothing. I am just glad you came to your senses. It feels good to follow protocol once in a while, doesn't it?"
She tilted her head.
"No, it do
es not. I have already wasted 12 minutes and 45 seconds."
He exposed his smug grin and was unable to brush it off. eLoom closed her eyes but could feel eVax staring at her through the hull.
"Are you going to sing me a lullaby now?"
He grumbled.
"That would be childish, eLoom. Besides, do not be mad at us. Everyone is doing their part of the protocol, to the best of their abilities.”
No, she thought, I'm more curious than all of you combined.
More driven and determined.
And I'd outwork every single one of these pod-poopers with half a recharge.
Thank tech she had her privacy on, or else everyone would have leaped from their capsules to start another endless protocol debate. eLoom needed to store her energies for the work that truly mattered.
I.e. deciphering the mysterious object.
A scientist and explorer of her caliber had no time for petty interpersonal problems. That's why she forced her lips upwards and said,
"You are right, eVax. We are all working hard. Thank you for reminding me."
eLoom tried to make it sound sweet, but eVax must have guessed that she was faking it.
With a half-hearted smile, he said,
"Good recharge, eLoom."
"Same to you."
Finally alone inside the pod, she dimmed the lights till the perfect darkness enveloped her body. The sounds of her surrounding tuned out till only the humming of the life support system remained.
Her consciousness offlined.
Thousands of thoughts dropped to hundreds, shrunk to dozens, flatlined to only one: what was the object?
6
It was the last thought eLoom would ever have, because neither she, nor anyone else of her crew members, would survive this flight...
7
Over 56 Millions of kilometers away, another race 'learned' about the new life form entering the solar system.
Planet Earth, the American Commonwealth (AC), Earth, 1210 hours EST, September 15th
The feeds of every authorized AC citizen burned with breaking news. Everyone wanted to know what had happened on Mars. One prominent media channel, the Raptor News Network, offered an exclusive look.
Fade to: Washington Prime, RNN studios.
A blonde reporter with bleached teeth and upgraded bosom smiled into cam 2. The spotlight gave her skin a relaxed tan. Yet, the anchor woman's voice sounded intense. Behind her elegant figure, a 3D screen pixelated into existence.
"This is Lauryn Miller-Smith, reporting live for Right For You. According to the newest intel from the Space Intelligence Agency, an unknown life form has invaded our solar system. The alien has breached the territory of the Newtype-controlled Mars and destroyed one of their civilian spaceships. The unarmed vessel and its crew were on a scientific mission to discover new asteroids in order to explore the origins of our galaxy."
The anchor woman intertwined her hands and put up a sad face. No one in the studio doubted her words.
“Every crew member died in space. Our thoughts go to our distant allies."
She paused for dramatic effect. A faint melody played in the background, some atmospheric tune from a melancholic war movie.
"The intel also states that the explorer ship has crash-landed on the Martian surface area called the Midlands. Experts believe the alien life form has survived the impact.”
The blonde anchor flipped open a 3D projection with the footage of the Newtype vessel spiraling down the thin atmosphere of the red planet. A trail of glowing debris floated through the layers. The video sample was shown over and over again.
Anchor Lauryn continued.
"We have yet to see footage of the alien itself, but if the crashing cruiser is any indication, we're dealing with a hostile life form that kills humanoids and damages private property with no sense of remorse. The worrying question arises: since the alien has survived the impact on Mars, when will it reach Earth? And more importantly, will it be a danger to the brave citizens of the American Commonwealth? To stay updated on this issue, stay on our channel.”
She leaned back into her chair and expressed a pro smile that looked as real as her teeth.
"This is Lauryn Miller-Smith, reporting for Raptor News."
The skewed 3D letters of the Raptor logo blasted on the screen, followed by a thunderous special effect and ear-hammering sounds. A manly voice roared from the off.
"Raptor News—if you heard it from us, it must be right."
eQuality Media, located in the SoCal Collective of the AC's West Coast, shared their version of the first alien encounter. Two anchors identifying as transhuman, pronouns: xir, xiz, wearing metallic skin and cybernetic limb replacements, sat behind a transparent newsdesk.
"This is Aiden LaCroix and JoJo Ming. Welcome to our daily Minority Report, live from the Los Angeles community."
Soothing blue tones flavored their cam recording and gave the two anchors a tinge of calmness.
"PTSD-warning. The following footage may aggravate people who have a fear of civilian ships crashing down. Viewer discretion is strongly advised."
JoJo Ming added her comments.
"This is the greatest day ever, Aiden. A non-cis migrant life form has visited our solar system to meet our lovely Newtype siblings. Too bad the encounter was sabotaged by technical failure and thus negatively colored this very important moment of our history."
Aiden nodded and brushed through her short hair, reminiscent of black cables plucked into sockets.
"Humankind has waited thousands of years and now finally met another life form. Fellow earthlings, the dream has come true. We are still waiting for actual footage of the intergalactic migrant, but some experts claim that it has an extraordinary intelligence which probably surpasses ours."
JoJo agreed.
"I hope so, I really do. Plus, I'm really glad that it chose contact with the Newtype first. Our cybernetic siblings will properly deal with the migrant in a respectful and non-aggravating manner. Our so-called Commonwealth would have welcomed the life form with open nuclear silos. It would have vaporized any hope of peaceful interaction."
Both transhumans synced their nod of approval and looked directly at the cam.
"Wah. Our newsfeed is already drowning in questions. But please, everyone, keep it clean and respectful. We do not want any macro/micro-aggressions sabotaging this epic event."
JoJo read some of the many questions, 1292 in total.
DVD, Die-Versity-Dave, wrote,
"Can the life form communicate with us? Does it eat, and if it can, does it eat meat or is it vegan?"
Aiden crossed its fingers.
"Jeez, I hope it's vegan. Maybe it can show some of our regressive old farts how to eat responsibly without killing another life form. That would spark a revolution."
"That would be sweet. The other question I'm asking myself is—which gender will the life form identify as, or will it be free of gender?"
JoJo shrugged.
"I don't know, but for the sake of our future, I hope it will identify as female/trans/liquid. Any other identification would be problematic and thus endanger the peace of our diverse population."
Both anchors could agree on that one.
They goodbye'd their audience with jazz hands and announced the next segment. Their logo carefully blended into the screen, albeit in a slow manner to avoid over-stimulation and PTSD-triggering. A whispering, asexual voice sounded from the off.
"Listen and believe the Minority Report—the voice of the downtrodden."
All the way back on the East Coast, Washington Prime to be exact, the most important and powerful people of Earth switched off the holo news and craned their heads at the most important leader of the free world...
8
"What the hell?"
Said the president of the American Commonwealth, Lucas C. Wright. He swiveled around his chair, but no matter how much he moved around, the president couldn't nail a comfortable position. He finally realized
that it wasn't the elevated chair that caused him the unease, but the footage on the 110 inch wall-screen. No single media outlet should have had access to the footage that the Space Intelligence Agency had acquired from its confidential informants. Not even the outlets supporting his legislature. But with today's interconnectedness, not even the Agency could keep things secret anymore.
One leak and the intel was potentially available to every authorized citizen.
Bummer.
The president's elite staff sat around the square-shaped table and glued their eyes to the wall-screen.
Some grumbled, some shook their heads. Everyone's face was flushed with worry. Including the Newtype representative’s. She played with her shoulder-long hair and said,
"Sir, language."
The president looked around in a melodramatic way.
"Why, are we live?"
His advisory board shook their heads in unison.
"Then who gives a shit."
The president rewound the footage of the cruiser spitting debris into the cosmic void as it targeted a trajectory toward the Martian surface. He watched how the vessel crushed through the thin Martian atmosphere, over and over again. In fact, he watched the material from every satellite angle available, and the longer he stared onto that 110 inch screen, the more he hated it.
"I hope this is a special effect."
He shook his head in disbelief and addressed the Director of the Space Intelligence Agency.
"Is this some passive-aggressive decoy maneuver from our so-called allies?"
The Director played with his tie.
"I'm afraid not, sir. Our experts have already checked the footage multiple times. They say it's legit."
"Goddamn it."
He leaned into his chair and wiped his thick, sausage finger past the mighty chin.
"Where the heck is the life form? All I see is a damn ship crashing down."