Gustoff stared at the man’s hand and then as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, he sighed.
“I guess we may as well shake hands. Today is a big day - today we find out we’re not alone - today we find out that there is more to life than just us. Today, a new era of knowledge begins," Gustoff said, embracing the man’s hand in a firm shake.
“My name is Randy, Randy Gustoff. I’m a scientist here. The only scientist on this planet in fact. Pretty much the only man that believes that there is more out there. Now I have proof, proof that I’m not crazy. I’ll be ever so glad to help you on your quest to get back on board your spaceship."
The man smiled, he let go of Gustoff’s hand and relaxed.
“Good, my name is Timson, and I’m the Commander of the pod ship that crashed on your planet. Our mission directive was to track down signals coming from time capsules that the government on Earth had sent out to various locations a couple hundred years ago. In these time capsules, there were books and other relics of human history. The purpose of the time capsules was to communicate with whatever lifeforms may come across them. To brief them on the essence of what it is to be human. And honestly, it’s good to see that at least you have learned a lot from us. Millions and millions of light years away, and it turns out that Earth has a baby brother. A Second Earth. And we are ever so glad to meet finally."
Both men nod their heads in agreement. It indeed was a monumental day. Gustoff had finally found purpose in his life. And that purpose was grand. Grand in the sense that finally he knew without a reasonable doubt that the colony wasn’t the only thing floating in space. But the question remained, how would Earth react to such a finding? Would they embrace their baby brother? Or would sibling rivalry destroy them both?
Chapter Two
Commander Williams and his men are feeling nervous as they approach the Orion Traveller. The medium-sized ship they are in rattles and shakes as they slowly approach the blackened and darkened craft. The Orion Traveller is quite an impressive beast. A hulking piece of machinery floating high above the mysterious planet where the survivors lay in wait for their rescue. But before Commander Williams and his men can get to the survivors, they have to find out why the Orion Traveller isn’t responding to their communications.
It appears that their communications are down as well. Commander Williams has put it down to the fact that they went through the Jump Gate and whilst doing so, unfortunately, the comms on the medium-sized ship were zapped and frazzled. The only way that they were going to get their communications backup is if they boarded the Orion Traveller. Hopefully, there’s somebody on board that can help them fix their problem.
As the Commander approached the darkened ship, a gut feeling was making itself known within the pit of his stomach. And that gut feeling was the feeling of complete and utter fear. A fear so deep that it seemed like it was escaping every pore in the Commander’s body. His skin felt tight. Like it was suffocating him. Constricting tightly. Williams wasn’t the only frightened one. The men on board were also frightened. Scared of the unknown. And the unknown was becoming even closer by the second. The Orion Traveller was no longer a blip on their radar, or a ship in the distance. Now it was real. Real close. Close enough to touch. And that’s exactly what they were about to do. Boarding the Orion Traveller would be difficult. They didn’t know how the people on the ship would react to them. Space had its protocols. Just because they were from Earth didn’t mean that they would all get along. There were many sectors and many different companies out there. The all fell under the same umbrella of The Company Corporation, but the subdivisions would always remain divided, such was the nature of humanity, segregating each other since the dawn of man.
“That thing’s massive,” the recruit said, pressing his face against the porthole. He stood there gasping at the grandness of the Orion Traveller. He’d never seen such a magnificent looking ship before. It was the biggest he’d ever seen.
“Yeah, it’s pretty big. But let’s not get carried away here, it’s just a ship. A ship that we need to board as soon as possible. If we don’t get our comms unit in order; then we might not be able to get this mission started. Plus, no comms means the people at the Jump Gate can’t communicate with us. And if they can’t reach us, then that means we won’t be getting through the Jump Gate and we’ll be stuck in the Andromeda Galaxy for the rest of our bloody lives," Commander Williams said as he steadied the ship. His radar started to ping. A beeping sound followed. It was the trajectory sensors. It sounded off as the crew approached the Orion Traveller. The beeping would become even more consistent as they got closer to the ship. And once they reached the Orion Traveller, the trajectory sensors would help them align the vessel with the docking station.
“But if we can’t get in contact with the people at the Jump Gate, then we’re stuck here?" The comms guy asked, staring at the idle screen in front of him. The blank screen only reminded him of the severity of their predicament. The comms were probably the most important thing on the ship not including the engines of course. If the comms went walkabouts, then they were stuck. If the engines went, then they were stuck some more. So the Orion Traveller was their only hope. Their only hope of survival.
“Yeah, as I said, we’re pretty much fucked,” Commander Williams said, the beeping from the trajectory sensor starting to grate on his senses. He was usually a patient man, but the stress of this situation was absolutely getting to him. And the more Williams thought about it, about the fact that they were indeed fucked, the more he realised what a stupid mission this was. He didn’t know these people, but he assumed that they had families. People at home. On planet Earth, waiting with baited breath to find out if their loved ones had made it to the Andromeda Galaxy just fine. And if they hadn’t, then it would be on him. Solely on him. And that was a lot of weight for a Commander to carry. Especially one that wasn’t used to running such critical missions as this. Usually, these sorts of operations were left to the Generals, and Commander Williams dreamt of becoming a General one day, but under the current circumstances that he found himself in, that day could wait. After today, after this mission, if they survived it that is, Commander Williams was rethinking his position in the fleet. Maybe he didn’t have what it took to continue in his military career. Maybe he was just better off in a less stressful job. A job that didn’t involve putting other people’s lives in harm’s way.
“Don’t worry about it Commander, we all believe in you, let's just board the ship and take things from there, what do you say?" One of his crew members said. Williams didn’t bother looking behind him, by now he recognised all of their voices, but right at that moment, he was too engrossed in aligning the ship with the Orion Traveller to pay attention to small talk. Because that’s what is was … small talk … a pep talk … he didn’t need building up, he wasn’t no damn recruit, he’d get them out of this just fine. So he ignored the goodwill gesture from his fellow comrade. The beeping coming from the trajectory sensors was overwhelming. It brought a hush over the whole of the ship. Everybody went silent.
“Steady, steady, steady…," Commander Williams uttered under his breath.
The ship was steadying out on command. Even though the Commander was feeling such strong torrents of emotion running through his core, he was able to tame the beast that was this star ship. And after only a few minutes of holding his breath while keeping a firm hand on the controls, the ship was securely docked into place with the Orion Traveller. As soon as the ship docked, the beeping from the trajectory stopped. The hush over the vessel ended and his crewman burst into cheers. Williams himself was smiling. He’d done it. They were docked. And that meant only one thing; they were out of danger. A docked ship is a safe ship as his own Commander used to tell him when he was just a lowly deckhand. The smile on Commander Williams’s face grew bigger. His teeth were showing. His hands had relaxed. Easing his hands off the controls, he felt the metal and plastic coating the various instruments on the dash panel rel
axing as well. In the stress of docking the ship, he’d managed to hold the levers in a vice-locked-grip. But now that grip had dwindled. And Commander Williams's shoulders felt light. The proverbial weight had been lifted off them.
But Williams and his crew were unaware that they were far from safe. For the Orion Traveller held many dangers. And those dangers would become common knowledge soon enough at the expense of the Commander and his ragtag crew. But Williams wasn’t the sort of man that went out without a fight.
And a fight there would be …
***
Earth:
The men in suits sitting at the conference table are feeling a little nervous. In reality, they’d been planning for this for a very long time. They had certain protocols in place. Protocols that would stop the blackness from spreading. But that didn’t mean that they enjoyed these meetings. If the Universal Press, Earth's number one news outlet, picked up on this meeting, then the men in suits would have a lot to answer for. There would be many questions. Questions that these men could not answer. If they did, and the world came to know how close it was to being destroyed, a panic would grip the core of the planet, spreading from country to country, enveloping all of humanity within it.
It started off innocently you see. All they wanted was a better life. A better economy. But with their quest for great riches and perfect health, a beast was awoken. A beast so terrifying that if the public knew, the world would stop spinning on its axis. Not physically of course, but the people on Earth needed to remain ignorant. Sometimes governments have to do things that are questionable. The public would not know how to process certain events. They would be at a loss for words. But the government doesn’t have time to speak any words, let alone be at a loss for them. So it was done. Protocols were set in place. Protocols that would stop the ignorant from becoming informed. For with knowledge comes death. And with death comes the end. And The Company could not and would not allow the end to become the present. They would not let this hiccup become the end. The end of everything. They’d all worked far too hard to let that happen. Too many people had invested in this project. And if the project failed, then it would also become the end of them.
“I’m glad that you all found your way here today. It is with great distress that I announce that Protocol One must be initiated. It is with a heavy heart that I inform you, my peers, that we have lost contact with the Orion Traveller,” the man at the head of the table said. He was short - but powerful. He wore an expensive suit that the mere peasants of Earth could only dream of being able to afford. The economy was hurting. But The Company was flourishing. The Company didn’t have to worry about debt. They controlled debt. They owned debt. It was something that they invented. A global economy. The chance to flourish. A universal credit system. The planets above and the stars beyond was their goal. And they would reach it. A couple hundred years ago they did just that. They reached their goal. But things have changed. In an attempt to find life out there in deep space, they came across something much more important. A resource. A resource with infinite potential. But, that potential grew into something far more sinister.
And the blackness was born.
There was a mumbling in the room. The men in suits were sitting at the conference table. They were worried. Protocol One existed solely for the purpose of a cover-up. And the company weren’t great fans of covering stuff up. Universal Press were known for being able to uncover various secrets. They’d done so on many other occasions. It made the men in suits uneasy. For nearly eighty years, their ancestors had been able to keep the blackness a secret. And then the torch was passed on to them. But now, now the flame was dwindling. The light was extinguished. And they were in trouble. Soon everything would go dark and the blackness would consume everything.
“What can we possibly do? There are too many people in the loop. You have the crewmembers on the Orion Traveller. And then you have the rescue team. That’s a lot of people to silence. I don’t know about you guys, but that sort of thing doesn’t come naturally to me. Life is life. And taking one is the same as taking one million,” one of the men said.
The room erupted into agreeable grunts. Nobody in the room liked to kill. They were businessmen after all. And businessmen were only interested in the bottom line. The people - their people, the people they controlled - were far more valuable to them alive than they were dead. It was elementary business. They made their money from tax. And you couldn’t tax the dead. But then there was the moral issue of taking a life itself. In their case, it was taking more than one life. It was taking many. Five men on the rescue mission ship. Many more on the Orion Traveller. But, unfortunately, it was all they could do. The men were contaminated now. Infected. And infection had to be dealt with at the root of its cause. Stopping the spread was paramount. But they had something working in their favour. And that was the Andromeda Galaxy and the fact that it was two-point-five-million light years away. That was plenty of distance. Their secret was safe. But the only way it would remain safe was if protocol one was initiated.
“It’s all we can do; that’s why Protocol One exists. Its purpose is to stop the spread. Once we contain the spread, we can continue to use it for our expansion. You need to remember; it’s not a virus. The only purpose of a virus is to destroy or to inflict some form of malice on its victim. We’re not dealing with a virus here. We’re dealing with power. If it finds its way into the wrong hands, it could spark the end of our very existence. So we have to weigh out our options here people. We either allow the power to fall into our enemies’ hands, or we contain the power, stop it fluctuating, and harness it to continue our way of life,” the man at the head of the table said. It was a good speech. His cohorts agreed. Protocol One was their only choice. It was their only option. And although it saddened them, it was all they could do to stop anybody finding out the secret to humanities greatest technological feats.
There was a quick stint of silence in the room. The men around the conference table were reflecting inwardly until the leader stood up and nodded. The other men around the table also stood up. They looked at each other and then somebody new came into the room. The men turned to see who it was, and as expected, they were greeted by the person they’d all been waiting on. The person was carrying a briefcase. He gently set the briefcase down on the table. The leader nodded at the young man who’d brought it in. He waited for the man to disappear back through the door, closing it behind him. The silence and anticipation was electrifying. There was a buzz in the room. The time had come. The leader opened the briefcase. He then fished into his front pocket - pulling out a key. He slotted the key into a device. A glass cylinder came rising out of the case. Inside the glass cylinder was a button. Before the leader pushed it, he nodded at his men. And the men nodded back at him.
“So it is agreed. The power remains in our hands,” the leader said, just before pushing the button.
***
“So tell me what Earth is like," Gustoff said as he sat down at the end of the bed he’d woken up on. Now and then he found himself looking down at his stomach. He remembered it bleeding before he woke. But now, now he was just fine. Fit as a fiddle. It was like he hadn’t been shot all - like it never happened. But Gustoff knew it happened. And he was still finding it tough to trust anybody. Especially the new people. But he had to know, he just had to know what life was like on Earth. All he’d ever known was the colony. So finding out what Earth was like made all the sense in the world to Randy.
Timson smiled as he sat next to Gustoff on the bed. The wood frame creaked a little as it struggled to keep both men's weight from fracturing and splintering the timber. Timson looked at Gustoff and shrugged his shoulders.
“Earth? Kind of like here. Loads of different faces. Loads of buildings. Bigger than the ones in the colony. But quite similar. To be honest, I’m impressed at how your people managed to copy Earth’s infrastructure so well. I take it you found those crates, the ones that were sent by Earth, or, at least, one of them righ
t?” Timson said. Gustoff nodded, all the while looking down at his sandals. The sandals were made out of Beachwood and bamboo found in the island bush.
“Yeah, we found a few of those crates. The elderman keep them now. For a long time, they saw the boxes as religious artefacts sent from God. But I knew that there was something more to them. And it turns out I was right. I mean, here you are, in front of me, a real life being from outer space. It’s a spectacular thing. Knowing that my life was not wasted. Knowing that you exist. That the elderman were wrong. And that there truly is life out there.”
Timson smiled. It was weird hearing Gustoff talk. Gustoff’s accent had a certain twang to it. A twang that wasn’t exactly familiar. But it was there. And it was hard not to notice it. But Timson knew that there was no reason to be afraid of Gustoff or the people of the colony. They were so far behind in their technology that they just didn’t possess the ability or the know-how to destroy on the same level that humanity - humanity on Earth that is, had. So there was no point in being scared. If anything, the people of the colony were in need of their help. And Timson wanted to help as much as he could. He found Gustoff and the people of the colony fascinating. There was a story here. A story as old as humanity itself. Good versus evil. Evil being the elements on this planet. Timson remembered battling the elements in the pod he and his crew were in when it crash-landed on their planet. There were electrical storms. But the area in which they landed on appeared to be calm. So maybe there were more people like the men, women and children in the colony somewhere on this planet.
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