by Ruby Winter
I immediately raced back towards my desk as fast as my black stilettos could take me. I sat on my chair and swiveled to face my computer, my eyes rapidly scanning the data pouring in. After a couple of minutes, my eyes widened.
“There’s a pattern,” I muttered. The data was forming a very specific pattern I had never seen before.
Holy crap, they were sending a message.
I quickly printed out the data on my desk, took out a pencil, and went to work.
The chaos in the office continued, and I was the only one seeming to notice what was going on with our work. I didn’t bother saying anything because I knew these guys would be pushing in their thoughts, and I didn’t need the distraction. I was never a team player, anyway.
30 minutes later, I finally deciphered a message, although I didn’t know if my work was right. Still, it was better than nothing.
“David! David, come look at this,” I said as I stood on my chair, waving my manager over to me. He was still watching the news along with most of the employees, while a handful of people were busy taking photos by the window.
I even saw one of them take a selfie with the ship in the background, and I just rolled my eyes.
“What is it, Jennifer?” David asked as he came over to me, a few curious people following him.
“It’s a message,” I revealed, handing the paperwork over to him. “It’s a hidden message. I deciphered it from the data feed.”
His green eyes grew wide in surprise as he looked at me before reading the message. He looked up at me again, his brows furrowed and fraught with urgency.
“Are you sure about this?” he asked, and I nodded.
“I’m ninety-eight percent sure,” I told him. “I have double-checked and triple-checked it already. It makes sense, David. It makes sense why our satellites went offline. They were using them to send us this message. I deciphered it. It has to be right.” I said.
“Roger!” David called his assistant again.
“Yes, sir?” he asked.
“Get me the President on the line. Now!” he barked.
“Right away, sir!” Roger answered frantically before scampering off. David looked back at me, raising the piece of paper I gave him tightly in his hand.
“I’m going to submit this now. Good work, Jennifer Rose. Keep at it. I’ll be right back as soon as I’m off the phone,” David said as he walked away.
I grinned and stood up a little taller, feeling proud of that single praise.
“What did it say, Jennifer?”
“What’s going on?”
Being bombarded with questions by the group was thrilling, to say the least, but I couldn’t tell them anything yet. The message was too important, and if I told these guys, I’m pretty sure it would be all over social media sites in no time at all.
So I kept quiet and told them they would have to ask David.
“Jennifer!” I heard someone cry. I turned around to see Roger running over to me. “Jennifer, David wants you in his office right now. The President wants to speak with you,” he said. I blinked at him in disbelief.
“With me?” I chirped, pointing at myself. Roger nodded impatiently.
“Hurry! Come on!” he grabbed my arm and ran with me all the way to David’s office before pushing me through the door and closing it behind him. I saw him press his back against the door as a lot of our coworkers tried to eavesdrop, some of them going as far as to squish their heads against the glass.
David held up his hand to me, and then pressed the speaker on the phone.
“Mr. President,” he said. “I have our data analyst, Jennifer Rose, here on the line with me. She’s the one that found the pattern in the data and deciphered it.”
“Hello, Jennifer Rose,” The President said, his voice coming out from the speakers, and making me shiver with nerves. Is this how it feels to talk to the leader of your country?
“I commend you on your excellent work. If I am to believe this message, then it looks like it requires a response,” he continued.
“Yes, sir. That seems to be the case,” I answered.
“I see. Then will you be able to respond to them?” the President asked. “Can you create a message and send it back to them?” he asked.
I mulled it over in my head, thinking about ways it could be done. Hmm, maybe if I did the pattern backward…
“I think it’s possible, sir,” I finally said. “But I would need some time…”
“Good. Now I’m going to read the message I have, and you confirm if I received the correct information. This is just so everything is clear,” he said, before clearing his throat. “Can you confirm that the message reads: Humans of Earth. We are the Revians. We come from a planet we call Harpo. We request a meeting with your leaders in peace. We bring you a message,” he said.
“Yes, sir, Mr. President. That is exactly what it says,” I said.
“Thank you, Jennifer. Now, here’s what you’re going to do,” the President instructed, and I leaned closer to the speaker, bracing myself for his next words. “I would like you to work on a response, but do not send it yet. The response must say that we agree to the meeting, and it will take place on the rooftop of the building you are currently in right now. I repeat, only work on the message. Do not send it,” he ordered.
“Okay, Mr. President. I’ll begin working on the message so it’s ready for release when you need it, and I am not to send it without your go signal.” I reiterated.
“Precisely. David, we will be in contact. Your entire department shall be placed on lockdown. Please commence with the lockdown procedures,” the President instructed my manager next.
“Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. President.”
David pressed the button and hung up before we looked at each other in amazement.
“This is it,” he said. “We’ve trained for this.”
“Yes, I suppose we have,” I said, shaking my head and still in disbelief over what was going on. “I just… I didn’t think it would ever happen,” I admitted.
“Yeah, well…,” David trailed off, shrugging. “Are you ready?” he asked, and I nodded.
“Let’s get started.”
Chapter 2
Lt. Axon Roan
One week before…
I’ve been on some of the most dangerous missions our race has ever encountered, and because of this, I was often sought out as the warrior a Captain wanted at his side.
So, when Captain Weko asked me to come to his office, I knew he was going to ask me to join him on something important.
“You wished to see me, Captain?” I said as I walked into his office, located in the Nosiva Village, capital of our planet, Harpo.
“Yes, Lt. Axon Voan. Thank you for coming so quickly,” he said, nodding from his desk. “I have just been ordered by the Council to embark on a very important and dangerous mission, possibly the most important mission in the history of our race,” he said.
I nodded politely. All captains started off their pitches like this, and the only time I would be able to verify its importance, was after I was already in the thick of it.
“You are the most talented warrior Harpo has ever seen, so of course I would want to offer you the opportunity of a lifetime,” he finally requested, folding his hands together. “So, would you like to join me?”
I nodded and stood at attention. “It would be my honor, Captain.”
“Very good,” he nodded once more before standing up. “We leave in an hour.” I looked up at him in alarm.
“Captain, if I may, that leaves very little time to prepare,” I told him. “The only time we were ever given such a small window was whenever an invasion by our sworn enemy the Compiers was about to happen.” I furrowed my brows. “Captain, are we under attack?” I asked.
Captain Weko shook his head.
“No, we are not, our planet is safe,” he said.
“Then why…,” I started to say, but he c
ut me off.
“The Compiers want to eradicate us, and they are planning for an invasion,” he said, his face grim. “And Lt. Roan, this invasion could very well mean the extinction of our race.”
“What are you talking about, Captain?” I asked.
“It has come to the attention of the Council that the Compiers mean to visit Earth. We do not know if they are invading them, or if they are just planning to alert humans of our presence,” he answered.
“What? But that is impossible, not to mention foolish of them,” I replied, confused by the Compiers’ plan. Humans think they’re all alone in the universe.
Why would any species willingly go and alert them to our presence? I thought to myself.
“The Council believes the Compiers’ real purpose for the visit is to alert humans that our Revian females are barren, and that we have been abducting human females from their planet to breed with them in order maintain our race. The Council believes that by doing this, humans will stop us from taking any more human females, which inevitably will lead to our extinction.” The Captain said.
“I see. It makes sense,” I said, nodding. I guess the Compiers do have a semblance of intelligence, after all. “So what are we going to do? What is this mission the Council has given you? Are we to fight the Compiers in space and prevent them from getting to Earth?” I asked.
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “We have thought of that, but the Council thinks no matter how many ships we take out, the Compiers will eventually find a way to get to Earth, even if it takes years,” he said.
“It’ll be a never-ending slaughter,” I murmured, already imagining what could happen. I looked at him again. “I await your orders, Captain.”
“We’re going to Earth, and we must leave now so we can get there before the Compiers do.” he said, and I blinked at him, surprised the Council came up with this as the solution.
“What?” What will we do on Earth?” I asked.
Earth didn’t need to know of our existence. It would only complicate and possibly prevent us from taking human females for mating.
“We’re going to ring them a message. The plan is to let humans know of our existence by meeting them in peace, and then alert them of the Compiers coming invasion. We’ll tell them the best way to defend themselves against the Compiers, and then we leave immediately. With our information, humans will be more than capable of defeating their attack.” The Captain continued.
“I know what you’re thinking, Lieutenant, but the fact of the matter is we need human females to keep our race going. If the Compiers get there first without humans being warned, then there is a big possibility they will annihilate humankind, and by de facto, our race too, and then what would we do?” he stated.
“I understand, but do we mean to tell the humans our females are barren, and that’s why we’ve been taking their females and mating with them, to continue our race? I’m not sure they will understand, and it will only create distrust,” I responded.
“No,” Captain said, shaking his head. “We will keep all of that a secret. Our only mission is to deliver the message and tell them about the Compiers, and then leave. Is that understood Lieutenant?” he said.
“Understood. I’m ready for further instructions.” I replied. The Captain raised a small projector device in his hand and handed it to me.
“The rest of the brief is in here. I’ll meet you in the landing port in half an hour,” he said before leaving. I operated the device, and it projected my orders in the air, reading them as I left the Captain’s den.
***
A week later, we arrived on planet Earth. We landed on the planet’s most densely populated city, not trying to hide our arrival, and choosing the location because we thought the Compiers would go there first. As our ship hovered over the city, our first step was to peacefully communicate with the humans.
We sent out a message requesting a diplomatic meeting, and then we waited, knowing the humans were not as advanced in technology, and would take them some time to decipher the message.
I stood on the flight deck of our ship alongside the Captain, staring out the windshield overlooking the city. Compared to my village, the humans’ city looked urbanized and metallic; their shelters looked like tall boxes that obscured the view of the sky.
It felt a little suffocating, but maybe humans preferred it this way. Earlier as our ship was making its descent, the city was very busy, but in the moments since we arrived, everything started to change, and it became apparent they were to a large extent terrified of us.
“Lieutenant, now that the message is sent, it will only be a matter of time before they respond. Make sure our channels remain open at all times. Until they respond, our ship doesn’t move at all, we are on lockdown. We do not want them to see any movement and misconstrue it as aggression. We’ll just sit here and wait until we’re invited and given instruction.” the Captain said, rattling off his orders in quick succession.
“Understood. I will double check that all channels are open,” I said, moving into the back of the ship.
We had twenty warriors onboard a fully operational battleship, but our canons were tucked away, pulled into the walls, and covered by a sleek shield so the humans wouldn’t realize we were a military ship.
“Watch the communication lines,” I ordered, watching as the crew keyed in my instructions to the monitors. “We should be receiving a response from the humans within 24 hours or less.” I surmised.
“Lieutenant, we are getting something!” one of my men shouted at me from across the room. I walked over to his station in surprise.
“Already?” I blurted out. “That was fast.” I was expecting them to take a little longer, to be honest, that is impressive.
They must have a very good person deciphering, which makes it easier, and gives us more time.
“Let us make sure it’s not an anomaly, but in fact a message from the humans,” I ordered. He was working hard to write down the message before handing it over to me.
“They have accepted,” I murmured, glossing over the message quickly. “They want to meet. They even attached a time and location here. I’m taking this to the Captain now. Keep me informed if any more messages come in.” I stated before leaving.
I made my way back to the flight deck, tapping the Captain on his shoulder before handing him the message. He scanned the reply carefully, nodding at certain points before putting the message away.
“Good. This is good. Lieutenant, you and I will take the smaller ship and go to these coordinates. Put them in the system, and let us see where this location is,” he said.
“Yes, Captain,” I said. We headed off into the main control room, and I entered the coordinates the humans gave us. On the windshield of our ship was a projection overlay which pinpointed a building ahead of us in the distance.
“It’s not too far from here. We leave in a few moments,” the Captain ordered.
About an hour later, the Captain Weko and I went alone, despite our team of warriors’ protests, and insistence they protect us. The Captain thought it would be viewed as a hostile act to bring warriors with us, so we took our chances. We landed on the roof of the building, and I looked around.
“There is no one here,” I noted, frowning as I turned to the Captain. Could this be a trap? I clenched my fists and tensed up, tuning my senses for any possible threat.
“Give it a minute. They’re probably watching us, getting a sense of who we are,” Captain said, raising his hand up for me to calm down. “Our appearance must be shocking to them. Come. Let us get out and stand calmly away from the ship with our hands clasped together in front of us.”
“Yes, Captain,” I nodded as the hatch descended, and we stepped out of the ship.
We slowly and carefully walked to the middle of the roof, standing side-by-side with our hands together in front of us so they would see we were unarmed.
And then we waited.
&
nbsp; Finally, a door opened on the roof. It was sticking out like a small hut, and a man and woman walked out, both of them with wide and very frightened looking eyes.
My eyes immediately zeroed in on the woman. All humans were so small to us because of our eight feet height, but this woman was quite small and petite. She was just over 5 feet tall and wore a tight black skirt accentuating her hips, and brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. She wore a form-fitting grey shirt with buttons down the middle, hugging her body in all the right ways. There were black stockings on her legs, and she was wearing footwear humans called, “high heels”. She seemed to be trembling a bit, and her bottom lip quivering as she stared at us. Her hands were clammy and white as she clutched a small board tightly against her chest.
I could not take my eyes off of her. I had seen many human females, but there was something about this one that drew me to her more than any before.
I had to have her.
The human male cleared his throat and began to speak softly to her.
“Should I try speaking to them, or should you write down a message in their communication pattern?” he asked her, and I couldn’t help but quirk my eyebrows.
Was she the one who deciphered our message so fast?
“Try speaking to them first,” she whispered back to him.
“Wel-come,” he turned to us, greeting us in a very slow speech. I looked at the Captain, trying to restrain a grin. The poor human probably thought we didn’t know their language.
“You are… welcome…here… in…peace,” he continued. The Captain smiled.
“Thank you.” The Captain began. “We are happy to accept your most gracious welcome, and we thank you once again for meeting with us,” the Captain said, bowing his head slightly, and I followed suit.
“Oh, you speak our language,” David said, looking a little gobsmacked and flummoxed. I saw the human female laugh at this exchange. Her smile was captivating.