by Don Viecelli
* * * *
The spaceship slowly approached the ISS. The alien commander was exercising caution. It was the first time any ship of this size had entered a solar system with intelligent inhabitants as advanced as these beings. They knew that the civilization on Earth had advanced satellite communication and radar systems and would be able to detect a ship of their size if it were not for the solar storm that had paralyzed their networks, at least temporarily. Just to be on the safe side, they had blocked all signals from any working satellite within detection range. However, they would not be able to block visible view of their ship from the humans on board their space station or from any Earth based telescopes capable of seeing this far into space. It was not their intention to stay undetected anyway. They were on a mission. One they hoped was not too late.
There were over five thousand Tularians on board the spaceship. It was an exploratory ship dedicated to exploring the universe, enhancing the knowledge of their race and embracing new races ready to be included in the family of space explorers already discovered. The race on Earth was almost ready for the next great leap in their civilization; space exploration.
It was the unpredictability and sanctity of life itself that brought the aliens here. It was an emergency signal from one of their exploratory spacecraft with four Tularians on board that made this unusual visit necessary. Fortunately, they were just outside of this solar system when they received the emergency message that the spacecraft had been damaged and was forced to make a landing on the planet for repairs. The message came just after the spacecraft’s trip to the sun and the return trip to study the planet when they discovered the orbiting space station with one of the occupants working in space. It was good news to the Tularians since it showed much progress since their last visit twenty years ago. They received two transmissions afterwards, one regarding the human in trouble and one when the spacecraft was damaged by an explosion of some sort. Now they only received distress signals from the planet below.
Normally, the Tularians would not interfere with any inhabitants of a planet, but this time was different. With deep convictions and known risks, the captain of the missing spacecraft decided to help this human being. The commander knew why and did not question his judgment; only the results were of interest to them. Something unpredictable had happened and the spacecraft was damaged. They feared the worst since no further message had arrived from the captain. Now, they were receiving signals from the emergency locator beacon that was on board the spacecraft before they lost contact. The locator beacon served two purposes. It pinpointed the location of the downed craft, and it reported the status of the crewmembers. It appeared from the signals of the memory disks, what they called Mo-Li, that all four crewmembers had perished in the crash.
This was a very sad occasion for the Tularians. For one reason, the captain of the spacecraft was a well-known and respected explorer as were all members of his space crew. The second reason was the chief navigator was the eldest daughter of the commander in charge of the spaceship. It was Tularian custom that the bodies be recovered for proper burial and the memory disks returned for safekeeping. The ship data on the disks would be removed for study and recorded in their databanks for future reference. The disks with its former owner’s memories would be left undisturbed to be passed on to the next family member or whomever the owner designated or destroyed if so wished. In either case, the first duty of the commander was to recover the missing bodies and disks and perform the necessary ceremonies before leaving this solar system. The commander decided to do what the captain of the spacecraft had tried to do—save the lives of the human beings in the orbiting space station below him. They were in a desperate situation.
* * * *
It was Commander Bonario who noticed the first signs of help from the alien spaceship hovering above them. The spaceship was illuminating the space station with the same kind of bluish light that had enveloped him when he was outside during his EVA. It was blocking the sun’s solar radiation as they entered the daylight side of their orbit.
“What’s it doing now?” Alex asked.
“It’s emitting a blue light,” Major Helms answered. “Maybe they’re studying us.”
“I think they’re trying to help us,” Commander Bonario said. “I recognize the light.”
“Some friends you have, Commander,” Alex commented good-naturedly. They could use all the help they could get.
“We’re getting normal current readings from the solar panels, Commander,” Major Parker added. “Do you want me to try turning on the generators?”
“Yeah. It’s worth a try. Maybe we can rotate the panels now, although the spaceship is blocking our view of the sun.”
“I don’t think it matters, Commander. The solar panel readings are normal, as if we were receiving light from the sun anyway. We have full power now. The generators are working normally.”
“Try the thrusters, then. Let’s stop the spinning and see if we can move back into proper orbit. Alex, how’s the radiation level?”
“The readings are dropping. Your friends are helping, Commander.”
“I wonder how we can thank them,” Major Helms said casually. They were all thinking the same thing and wondered what would happen next.
“I don’t think they showed up because of me, guys. They’re probably looking for their friends. My guess is they need help or they didn’t make it. Major Parker, any word from ground control?”
“Only static, Commander. I’ve tried everything. We’re sending messages every five minutes. So far, nothing’s getting through.”
“NASA is probably going crazy right now. This is the longest we’ve ever been without communications,” Major Parker said.
As the crew worked to restore power and communication systems, the PC monitors in the command module blinked on. They continued emergency shutdown procedures to conserve power and recharge the battery backup systems. The crewmember in the return vehicle reported all systems were functioning properly now. They could leave the space station anytime they choose to. They could use the onboard navigation software programs for landing purposes if necessary. It would be the first time anyone tried to land a space return vehicle without help from ground control, but that was part of the design. It was risky, but the alternative was worst. Now, the risks aboard the space station were reduced. They just were not sure how long the spaceship above them planned to stay around.
Everything appeared quiet for the next hour. They continued to orbit the planet. So far, no communications with NASA ground control. Everyone was at their stations. Alex was monitoring the solar wind conditions. It was beginning to slow down. He still couldn’t communicate with any solar monitoring satellites, but he could use his telescopes. Major Parker had every available camera pointed at the huge spaceship hovering above them and was recording every detail. Commander Bonario and Major Helms were checking all monitoring systems and running though checklists to see what was damaged and what was still functioning properly. So far, things were under control. Just to be on the safe side, the other crewmember was busy completing preparations for departure if that became necessary.
It was Major Helms who first noticed something unusual happening on one of the PC monitors. A strange program started running on the monitor, first one screen and then on all screens in the command and control module. The crewmembers stopped what they were doing and starred in amazement at the data flashing before their eyes. Someone was controlling their computer systems. “What’s going on here?” Major Helms asked.
“Someone has gained access to our databank and is transferring all of our data,” Alex commented after studying the application program. “It’s got to be the aliens.”
“Can we stop it?” Commander Bonario asked.
“I’m trying, but nothing is working. We could try turning off the power,” Major Parker said. They all tried shutting down their computer systems, but nothing they did stopped the data from flowing. After a few minutes, the data ju
st stopped and the screens went blank. Then the screens came alive again.
“Hold it! The information is changing. We’re starting to receive something,” Alex said.
“They may be trying to communicate with us,” Major Helms said.
Character letters appeared on the monitors, both in small and capital letters. It was the English alphabet. Next to the letters were additional characters, alien symbols. It was the alien alphabet. There were fifteen additional symbols. They used 41 characters in their alphabet. Next came words. It started with all words beginning in A and continued through words ending in Z. There were so many of them and they flew by too fast to read. It took twenty minutes to receive them all. It had to be equivalent to the official Oxford English Dictionary; only this dictionary included additional alien words, which probably doubled the size.
Then came math and scientific knowledge, numbers from zero to trillions, geometric symbols, mathematical equations, ratios, formulas, scientific principals, everything known to man, all shown with the equivalent alien symbols and meanings. It would take months to decipher before anyone knew if the aliens had only provided information that was known to man or information that was new and would advance human civilization.
Pictures followed next with words and meanings, both in English and in alien words; some in sentences. The data was compressed, but it still almost overwhelmed their computer memory systems. There seemed to be a lot of pictures and data on the Sun. Alex was particularly interested in what they were sending. They were at the limit of their computer capacity when the data stopped. So far, an hour had passed since the first transmission. The astronauts wondered what would happen next. They didn’t have to wait long.
A sentence appeared on the screen followed by a computer-generated voice. The voice was highly pitched but recognizable. The words were spoken in nearly perfect English. From the brief delay, they could tell the computer was doing the translation to English speech. The aliens had decided it was now time for voice communication. “Greetings, we mean no harm. We seek your assistance. We wish to speak to the Commander of your space station.” The Tularian commander had decided to take a direct approach and appeal for help.
Commander Bonario was the ranking commander on the ISS. They all realized the significance of this occasion. It would be as important as the first words spoken on the moon. He looked at the others and spoke into the computer microphone. “This is Colonel Julian Bonario of the United States Air Force. I’m commander of the International Space Station. It is a pleasure to greet you on behalf of our government and welcome you to our planet. How can we help you?”
“Commander Bonario, my name is Commander Orlutinion. We are from the planet Tular, 50 light years distance from your sun. We greet you. We are on a rescue mission looking for one of our spacecraft and crew that is missing. We fear they have crashed on your planet. We received a data transmission from the ship before it was lost. They sent these images.”
A picture of the space station appeared on the screen. Then a picture of an astronaut appeared. As the picture zoomed closer, every detail was vividly clear, including a clear picture of the face behind the helmet. Everyone onboard the ISS knew who it was. “Do you recognize the astronaut in this picture?”
“It was I, Commander Orlutinion. Your crew helped save my life from severe radiation exposure. I am sincerely grateful.”
“You are most welcome, Commander. The captain of our spacecraft did what he thought was best in the circumstances. Do you know what happened to our spacecraft and crewmembers, Commander Bonario?”
“No, I have not received word from our people on the ground. The spacecraft was damaged by an explosion from one of our solar power generators. Some of the metal fragments hit your ship. I saw it leave and fly towards our planet. I have not heard what happened to it. We can find out as soon as we reestablish communication with our ground control people.”
“We would be most grateful, Commander. We fear the worst has happened. It is most desirable that we recover our crewmembers and the devices they carried on their bodies. They are sacred to our kind and must be returned. Then we will leave.”
“Commander Orlutinion, we are not certain when we can get the information you require. Our communication links are still down due to the solar storm. It may take some time to reestablish communications.”
“We understand Commander Bonario. We shall leave you shortly and retreat to a more distant orbit. It was not planned for us to contact your race so early in your development cycle. However, we do not want to leave your solar system without our crewmembers and objects so dear to our race. Please contact your leaders and pass on the information we have given you. There is much knowledge to share with your race if you wish to join us as partners in space. We have given you our language for translation purposes and scientific data on your sun because we deem it necessary for your development. If this proves beneficial, we will share more information in the time to come.”
“Thank you, Commander. We will try to get the information as soon as we can. How shall we contact you?”
“Just transmit the data towards your sun, Commander Bonario. We will receive it and respond.” The transmission stopped and the monitors went blank.
Suddenly, the blue light out their windows disappeared and the spaceship slowly retreated a few kilometers and then just vanished. The astronauts sat there in amazement. The spaceship was so big. How could it just disappear from view so suddenly? Then a worst thought occurred. What about the solar storm and radiation levels? Alex was the first to respond. “The radiation is rising, but not as fast as before. The storm must be subsiding. The worst is over.”
Everyone breathed a sigh of relieve. The space station was back in the proper orbit and the spinning was stopped. Sunlight was now visible in the cabin windows. They were passing over the Northern Hemisphere and could see the continents below. Major Parker decided to try the communication link with Houston ground control. At first, they only received static noise from the receivers. Then gradually, as he tried different channels, he started to get a signal. He concentrated on the strongest signal and changed frequencies. He could hear a voice at last. It was mission control in Houston.
“ISS, come in please. This is mission control. Please respond. ISS, come in please. This is mission control.” The voice message kept repeating itself. The voice sounded desperate like it had been trying for a long time to get through. It sounded so good to Major Parker.
“Hello, mission control. This is Major Parker. We hear you, loud and clear. Who’s speaking?”
“Hello, Major. This is Lee Chen, CATO officer. It’s good to hear your voice. We’ve been trying for hours to contact you. The satellite system was knocked out by the solar storm. We just got some of them working again. What is your status? Is everyone all right?”
“Our status is improving, Lee. We’re all fine. We lost electrical power and all communication links early this morning and just recently restored it. We’re stable now and all systems are almost back to normal. Did the first crew return vehicle land safely?”
“Yes, all crewmembers are safe. They landed just before we lost your signal. Major Parker, there was a large UFO near your space station for the last two hours. It just disappeared from our radar screens. We saw pictures from our ground telescopes. What’s going on up there?”
Commander Bonario decided to jump in. He waved to Major Parker and started to speak. “Lee, this is Commander Bonario. We have a situation here and I need to speak to the NASA Administrator immediately. It’s very important.”
“I understand, Commander. The Director is standing beside me. I’ll advise him to locate Doctor Tannenbaum and patch him through. It may take a few minutes.”
“Good. I’ll wait. Meantime, I’ll have Major Parker start downloading some data we just received. It will be a very large data transfer, so route it to a spare database on a secure link. It will take at least an hour to download all the data.”
“Where i
s the data from, Commander?”
“It’s from the UFO, Lee. We had another visit from the aliens and they want our help on something. That’s why I need to talk to the Administrator. Major Parker will download the voice conversation we had with the aliens and the pictures we took. After you and the Director listen to it, we can discuss it. NASA will have to open another UFO file. I don’t think anyone will question the evidence on this one.”
It had been a close call for the astronauts aboard the ISS. The danger was not over, but the worst of the storm had passed. The ISS was no longer in danger of falling from orbit and the crew was still on board. The events of the last six hours had been truly amazing. They weren’t sure what they should do next. There was so much to do. Alex immediately started to study the information the aliens had sent regarding the sun. Something in the message had worried him. Why were they so interested in our sun, he thought? Something must be up and he was going to find what it was. It could be a scientific break though and he wanted to be the first to know about it. Major Helms took over the task of monitoring the radiation levels in the space station. They were falling fast. She decided to monitor the health readings of the remaining crewmembers to make sure no one had been overexposed to the X-rays and Gamma rays they had received. The crewmember from the return vehicle had returned and was helping to restore power and computer systems and checking the life-support systems. All was slowly returning to normal aboard the space station.
Commander Bonario and Major Parker were sitting next to the communication system waiting for word from NASA. It took almost fifteen minutes before the link was reestablished. “ISS, this is Lee Chen. I have Doctor Tannenbaum on the line. He’s speaking from Washington.”