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Chapter Text

Aldrin Research Lab on the moon Lucas-27d III (Sally)
Year 2087, Approximately 1 1/2 days after landing on the moon’s surface aboard the Segan Spacecraft

Sweat clung to my cheek as I drilled through the gray and rocky terrain before me. The vibrations of the drill echoed through my body with every small clump of ground I hit. My hands were starting to ache from the constant pressure needed to hold onto the drill and keep it steady. It didn’t help that these suits were somewhat restrictive on any movement I made, especially my fingers. All that I wanted to do was head back to the lab and take off the damn suit, but I needed to get these precious samples before I could do that. Platinum, and a whole lot of it. They deemed it necessary for us to make this moon our little “FOB” for future resource gathering and planetary research. It’s pretty easy to understand why they want to make this place a gigantic quarry. This moon is practically made of platinum, and it’s all ripe for the picking. While one side is interested in all this precious material, the other is greatly more intrigued by the planet the moon orbits, Lucas-27d. Astronomers were pretty excited to point out that this planet may have an extreme possibility of life thanks to its promising properties, a close 96% probability. Even though its system has been in the sky for as long as humans can remember, it took until 30 years ago for astronomers to get a real good look at it through our great Lucas telescope. A large gas cloud obscured a whole lot of it, giving us barely anything to work with, but thanks to the Lucas telescope, we were able to finally look through that cloud into the system. Honestly, from here, it seems very likely for the possibility of life to be true. Oceans and land masses are clearly visible on the surface, along with plenty of visible weather, almost too much in fact. Although pretty far away, you can just make out the basic design of the planet. Once we finish building this small research lab, our next priority would be to have a rover sent over to the planet to conduct further research on this chance of life there. It would be an insane scientific marvel if we were to discover any sort of life on a distant exoplanet, especially if it is habitable for the human body.

“Russel, what’s your status on those samples?” The strong words of Captain Levine sounded in my ears, causing me to suddenly pause my drilling.

“Working on it, Captain” A brief sigh left my mouth.

“Lisa and Jeff already made it back from their own moon excursion. The same needs to happen with you, understood?”

“Yeah, yeah, I hear you, but I can’t exactly rush this y’know.” I set the drill down beside me and began to stretch my hands the best I could.

“Just get what you can for now, I need all of y’all here to help get this communications array up and running. We ain’t going to be able to talk with the folks of Earth unless we get the damn set up.” She wasn’t wrong. We were pretty far out from any other satellites to help transpond messages. It would take days, maybe even months for any communication to even reach our ground team on Earth and the Moon. This communications array would cut the time down significantly making it a pretty vital component to our mission here.

“I’m sure you all can do that without needing my help. I mean, I wouldn’t want y’all to have to wait up on me.”

“This isn’t up for discussion Bob, I need you here, that’s an order.” I can hear the agitation in her last few words.

I squatted down to pick up the drill with a heavy sigh, loud enough that Captain Levine could definitely hear the audible complaint.

“Aye aye captain, I’ll finish up and head on over.” I looked back up the hill to where my LRV was parked.

“Watch it Russel.” And with that, the communication ended with a small click. Now, I could return back to my exhilarating task of drilling into the ground for some damn rocks.

 

After shutting the samples container and stowing it on my chest, I strapped the small drill to my side and began my ascent up the hill. Although not entirely strenuous, the climb had to be slow and careful to ensure I didn't make a mistake. A simple slip could be the death of you, no matter how low the gravity is here. These damn suits aren’t exactly maneuverable. One thing that never got easy with this job was the eerie quietness that comes with this sort of task. You’re completely alone and all that you can hear is your own breathing and heartbeat. Although they advise us to never be by ourselves when we go out, the crew agreed to brush over it to maximize what is completed every day. Sure, it keeps things a little safer having a Goose to your Maverick, but that plus one can be busy working on the small solar array or maintaining the LRV’s. But right now, I could really do with some conversation.

As I climbed out of the small crater, I took a quick breather as I looked for the LRV. Still where I parked it, thank God. Why would it not be there? Paranoid much? Get it together Bob.

As I stowed away the drill and samples container, the comms came alive with a small click.

“Hey Bob, hurry on up would ya. The Captain is getting pissed with your absence.”

Dale, the prized hick. It was good to hear anyone out here.

“Well tell her I’m on my way. I just got out of that damn crater...”

“We all got some share in this little building project buddy. Ya need to hurry your ass up and do your part. Double time, come on!”

“Christ, alright! I’ll get there as fast as I can. But if I crash and die out here, it’s going to be on y’all.” I stated as I began to start up the moon rover and begin my drive back to the lab.

“Just get ov’r here. You ain’t gotta build the damn thing, you just have to calibrate the positioning of the dishes.”

“Why the hell won't any of y’all do it, huh? Lisa can do it. It’ll save you from the stress of having to wait on me.” The LRV shook and bounced as the terrain changed with the rocky surface.

“Levine wants to ensure we all hold to our responsibilities. If one of us flakes out without repercussion, then everyone else will, ya understand?”

“Fine… I should be there in about, uh, 5 minutes.”

“Copy that, I’ll tell the Captain.” And then, just like earlier with Levine, the communication ended with a small click.A small sigh escaped my mouth as I looked out towards the moon’s horizon. It never ends. Having no atmosphere means you can get a real good look at the land ahead of you along with the distant speckles in the dark sea. You never get used to looking out at the beautiful stars, no matter how long you’re out here for. Vast open sea of dark space littered with stars and planets, systems and galaxies, clusters and superclusters. It can get to your head much easier when you see it with your own eyes. That sort of existential dread that comes with picturing our own existence amidst that open sea of black. Just a simple speck in all of that. The universe won't even know we existed if we were to die off in the next hundred years. Just a microscopic blip in the timeline of our universe.

My deep questioning of our own existence was cut off by a strong rumble in the ground below me. Something of an earthquake, it caused me to veer off and make an emergency stop before I could crash. The shaking was strong enough to cause me to topple over in the LRV, barely catching myself before I could faceplant into the center controls. Something like this could easily knock over any building, no matter how strong.

Shit.

Reaching down to my wrist, I tried to connect communication with the rest of the crew.

“Shit, are y’all alri-?” I tried to ask as I attempted to right myself up into the seat. What ensued was a volley of yells and loud commands.

“Lisa, get back! Grab Jeff!”
“What the hell happened”
“Captain, the relay ain’t stable!”
“Jeff, Jeff, can you hear me!”
“Just get him the fuck away from there!”
“He’s too heavy!”
“Y’all move! The damn thing is coming down!”
“Damn it! Lisa!”

All I could do was listen to the chaos that was happening without me.

“HOLY SHIT! MOVE!”

“AAGHH!”

What followed was what sounded like the microphone being crumpled up and broken.

“Lisa! Hold on, we’re com-” Then another, followed by an eerie silence.

By now, the rumbling had stopped, but I couldn’t move. What the hell happened? What made me snap from this state of shock was the sight of rock and terrain in the air before me in the distance. With that, I started to speed back to the lab in hopes that what I heard on the comms wasn’t as bad as I imagined. As I drove closer and closer to the lab, the stream of rocky debris in the air continued, some even began to plummet to the moon’s surface. That wasn’t of concern at the moment as the fate of my crewmates was in question.

As I pulled up to the lab’s location, the true carnage of the situation came into clear view. The tall communications array had toppled over onto a portion of the lab, specifically the garage and air lock. This would explain the immense amount of garage equipment and structural debris spread about the place, along with a great portion of the airlock several feet away from the lab. Amidst the field of debris and metal, several bodies lay, some motionless, some barely moving.
I practically jumped out of the LRV and ran the best I could over to the closest body. As I approached them, I noticed the protruding piece of metal coming from the helmet.
Holy fuck…

Dale. We were just arguing earlier, and now he has a piece of the array lodged in his skull. It broke through the visor, opening his body to the cold environment of the moon. It did not look good. I had to hold back the sudden urge to vomit as I went over to the next closest body, luckily this one was still moving. It was Captain Levine struggling on the ground.

“Captain! Can you hear me! Captain!” I knelt down to get a better view of her. The visor had a wide and branching crack.

“Aghh… Bob.” She mustered out through pained gasps and grunts. Her face was starting to turn a strange hue of blue.

“Your suit is compromised, Captain.” I tried my best to remain calm while trying to seal the crack with my hands. It was not helping.

“I can…see that…Russel.” She told me through pained breaths, somehow giving a sarcastic response in her state.

“Shit, hold on, I’ll try and find something to seal up that crack.” I told her as I got up, breathing heavier and heavier as the situation worsened.

“Russel…it’s…it’s…too late…”

Ignoring her excuses, I began to look around for something to help, anything. Time was of the essence, and she was losing oxygen with every second. I couldn’t let her die like this. All that lay around me were pieces of scrap and debris, nothing of use.

“Aghh! Oh God, help! It hurts! ” Another straining voice sounded through the comms. It was Lisa.

Looking around, I saw an arm moving frantically under the rubble of the communications array. I tried my best to get there as quickly as I could, but the suit deeply restricted my movement.

It was not a pretty sight. Pieces of the array had punctured her lower abdomen. She was essentially pinned under a big segment of it. Next to her was the body of Jeff with his visor completely destroyed, his face frozen and destroyed in an awful way. Lisa’s screaming snapped me out of my disbelief.

“H-Hold on, I’m going to uh, try and lift this up off of you, okay?” I told her as I tried to get a solid grip on the debris pinning her. Her wails continued as I tried to figure out how to go about this. If I remove the debris off of her, the piece stuck in her will be taken out, compromising her suit further.

“Listen to me…” Her pained cries continued.

“HEY! Listen to me! Once I get this off, you need to try and seal up that breach. You understand!”

She gave me a pained nod with tear filled eyes.

“A-Alright, on three. One…two…three!”

With a pained grunt, I began to lift up the piece of debris pinning Lisa. The sound of Lisa giving a pained yelp told me the piece that was stuck in her had been removed, allowing me to throw the piece over next to her.

“Fuck, keep presure on there.” I told her as I tried to block up the breach.

“I’m going to find something to seal it up, okay?” She applied her shaky hand to the wound, trying her best to keep pressure. With that, I got up once again to look for something to seal both Levine and Lisa’s suit breaches.

Shit, shit, shit. Nothing among the debris could help. I have to check what’s left of the garage.

Suddenly, as I made my way to the garage, rocks and segments of terrain began to start falling all around me. Looking up, I could see the incoming rain of debris falling towards us. I quickly turned back to the garage and began to b-line it to cover. The closer I got, the more frequent the rain of debris became. A segment of that debris landed right in front of me with alarming force, enough to shake the ground beneath me. Tripping over it, I stumbled into the garage, barely missing another rock that flew past my head. Finally under the cover of the garage, I began to search for anything to help seal the suit breaches as rock rained down on the lab.

“Robert! Aghh…don’t leave me out here!” Lisa cried out to me through the comms.

Turning towards the blown hole in the garage, I could see the raining rock and debris slam into the surface. The situation was getting worse and worse. Without a second thought, I ran out to try and get Lisa to safety.

“Hang on! I’m coming!”

I could feel smaller pieces of the moon’s surface hitting all over my suit as I moved to help Lisa. She was on her side looking over to me, holding her gloved hand over the wound. As I reached her, another large chunk of debris slammed into the piece of communications array next to her, stirring up dust in the process. I felt around in the cloud of dust to try and get a hold of her. After finding her, she let out a yelp as I tried to get a grip on her suit. The low gravity can only do so much to help in pulling a fully grown human in a bulky space suit. Slowly, I began to drag her back to the safety of the garage, trying to dodge as much falling rock as I could. It felt practically apocalyptic as the sky rained down. Her pained yelps were the only thing I could hear as I witnessed the moon practically fall on itself. Looking back, I could see that we were just a few feet away from the garage, but just as I reached the hole in the garage, a large chuck of falling debris crashed into us, sending me flying into the wall behind me. Then as quick as it happened, darkness. Cold, quiet darkness.

Chapter Text

Cold, quiet darkness.

“Caution, Caution, Oxygen Reserves, 30%, Caution, Caution.” The monotone and robotic female voice range in my helmet, waking me from my unconscious state. A deep and searing pain radiated off my whole body like I had been dipped in boiling water. Looking around from the position I was in, I noticed that the rain of debris had stopped outside. With a strained moan, I tried to sit myself up, but the pain kept me down.

“Come on…get up.” I told myself as I tried another attempt at sitting up.

With a second painful grunt, I was able to sit up against the wall before I could reach my limit and pass out from the stinging pain in my body. After taking a breather, I took an assessment of my current situation.

Lisa. Her motionless body lay still near the hole of the garage. The suit looked slightly mangled, like a small car had hit her, arms all bent up in grotesque ways. Awful. Everyone else was surely dead as well. I never made it back to Levine to seal up that crack in her visor. I couldn’t help her when she needed it. Dale had to have died a quick and painless death, but I'm not too sure if Jeff did too. His face painted a different picture. The garage was no good along with my only other way back to Earth. No communications array meant no communicating with anyone back home. The saved fuel for the Segan’s trip back that was stored here had been compromised, damaged and thrown out onto the moon’s surface like trash. What about the rest of the lab? The array looked to have only damaged the garage and its respective airlock with it. Painfully turning my head, I looked towards the airlock that connected the garage to the main lab and living area. Still intact from what I can tell, but I would have to get up to check.

Dammit.

“Caution, Caution, Oxygen Reserves, 20%, Caution, Caution.” The same alert went off in the helmet. It was a good motivator to say the least.

With one last pained groan, I slowly rose up to my feet with the help of the counter next to me. Using the wall as support, I made my way over to the airlock, trying not to notice my dead crewmate a few feet away from me. With a switch of the control panel, the airlock hissed to life, allowing for me to open up the hatch and enter. Once inside, I closed the hatch behind me, allowing for the depressurization process to begin. After some hissing, the control panel gave the all clear for me to go inside. That checks out the concern for a sealed lab and living space.

After opening up the hatch and stepping inside, I began to quickly take off the bulky spacesuit that practically stuck to me. With a quick click, I lifted the round helmet off my head, allowing for me to breathe in the “fresh” air of the lab. After the helmet came the rest of the suit. A few clip flips and zippers later and I was free from the constricting coffin that was my spacesuit. Standing only in my coveralls, I noticed the complete mess the lab was in. Equipment, chairs, and books, all strung around the floor like a bull had a temper tantrum in here. The lights were on, that was good. The temperature was moderate, alright. I could breathe, that’s also good. With the essentials checked off my mental list, the full weight of my situation finally fell heavy on me in the silent lab, enough to cause me to slowly stumble to the ground on my hands and knees.

My crewmates were dead, they were all fucking dead. We had been on this mission for several years now. This mission meant leaving our loved ones and family behind. We were family when we couldn’t have one. Now that family was scattered about the outside surface, mangled and dead.

I should have been quicker…

I could have been able to do something…

The pressure built and the dam broke as tears started to pour.

“GOD DAMMIT!” I yelled out while pounding the floor below me.

“Fucking…Dammit!” I struggled out in shivered breaths.

“Seriously…why me…” Not only was I completely on my own and some of the closest people I knew were now dead, the destruction of the communications array and stored fuel meant I was truly left to die here. I couldn’t call for help. I couldn’t report the crew’s death. I couldn’t leave. I was here to die alone on this God forsaken moon.

“I should just walk out and accept death, to join the rest of my crewmates…” The tiny voice in the back of my head tempted me.

I got up with shaky legs and slowly moved to the nearest observation window. The carnage of the accident was in full display. That little voice kept telling me to go out and join them, to end it now rather than later.

 

But, that wouldn’t be fair for them. We came all this way to make a potential discovery of a lifetime. Captain Levine would slap upside the head if she knew I even considered abandoning the mission. No option to puss out now. If I gave up now, all of this would be for nothing, including their deaths. I couldn’t let them down, especially now that we stand on the cusp of great discovery.. I’ve got to follow through with the mission, with or without a crew, a communications array, or a way home.

“Get it together man…you got work to do.”

Wiping my eyes of the dried tears, I walked back to the main lab/living area. Messy was a light way to say it. Everything was displaced and on the floor. That earthquake of sorts did quite a number on the lab. There was plenty of work to be done on the facility as a whole, but this mess inside came first.

 

Just like that, everything that wasn’t broken or destroyed was put back up to the best of my ability. Now it only looked like a tired burglar broke in instead of a raging bull. The chairs and cabinets were straightened up and put back into place. Luckily much of what was stored withstood the shaking and survived. With a stretch of my arms, I decided to finally check out the living quarters’ situation. Instead of an airlock leading into the area, a simple curtain separated the two rooms. Pulling them aside and walking in, I was able to get a good look of the status of the room. It was in less of a mess than the main lab room. Just some personal items of the crew, pictures, nicknacks, and some clothing, layed spread out on the floor. Right near the entrance lay a cracked picture frame containing an aged picture. It was captain Levine and a couple of her presumed friends from when she was in the Air Force. They all had arms around each other, posing in front of a couple of aircraft with each of them smiling towards the camera.

Not exactly something I want to see after the accident.

After walking over and setting the frame down on her bunk, I began to pick up all the other items that were spread about the floor. A few other pictures, some loose clothing, and small memorabilia were all that really made up the mess. What caught my eye though was a weathered and blue IPod Mini. I wasn’t too sure who it belonged to, but my best bet was Jeff. I would sometimes catch him bobbing his head like he was listening to music when he had some free time on the Segan. He must have found a way to play it through the ship’s headset, or he could have just snuck on some earbuds.

“I’ll make sure this doesn’t go to waste, Jeff, no matter what sort of music taste you may have. Hopefully it's a good one…” Luckily most of us had yet to fully unpack when we landed. It seemed like almost all of our respected personal belongings containers remained full in their cubbies. Explains the lack of complete destruction here compared to the lab. Sitting on my bunk, I let out a deep sigh as I mentally prepared myself mentally for the next task at hand.

 

The airlock let out a hiss before giving the all clear to open the hatch. Stepping inside the garage, I was quick to notice Lisa still laying near the blown open hole, lifeless and cold.

“Just get this over with…you can do it…” I tried anything to make this easier.

I began to walk over to her, slowly getting a better picture of her state the closer I got. I wasn’t able to get a good look when I first went inside, but now I wish it stayed that way. Her face had been completely smashed in along with the helmet. Her body remained in a mangled state, arms bent into irregular angles and her body crumpled near her chest.

“Fuck me…” I tried my best to hold back the urge to vomit in my helmet as I began to try and drag her back into the garage. I couldn’t look at her as I brought her body over to the other side of the garage. I rested her body against the wall on the far end of the damaged room, trying my best to remain calm. With a sigh, I ventured back out to get the next body, Jeff. He was back where I left him, only this time his arm was pinned by a large segment of the ground. With a struggle, I was able to free his arm and get a full picture of his state. Almost like Lisa, his helmet took a heavy blow, further damaging his face. That urge to vomit crept up again. At least his limbs were normal from what I could tell. A short trek later, Jeff joined Lisa in the far side of the garage. Now came Levine’s body. Surprisingly, she remained untouched by the raining hell, simply laying back on the ground just as I remembered. Kneeling down, I got a good look at her condition. Everything remained the same from when I first tried to help her…

“I-I should have gotten here quicker. I could have been able to actually help you, along with everyone else…”

 

“Dammit…”

Her face was blue and still, yet she did not have a look of terror on display like some of the others from what I guessed. Her eyes simply remained closed like she was asleep, not caring about what lay in wait for her after death. After taking it all in, I started dragging her, to move her back to the garage to join the rest of her crew. Now, all that was left was Dale’s body.

He was in a different spot than I last remembered, most likely being moved from the falling debris. The mangled leg was a clear sign of that being the case. Just as before, that piece of metal was still lodged in his head. I couldn’t have him looking like that. Standing over him, I took hold of the piece of metal debris and gave a quick tug. Nothing.

“Shit…It’s stuck in there good man…”

Once again, I gave another tug, but this time I felt it give a little.

“Come on…get out of there.” I said through a strained jaw. With one last tug, the piece of metal quickly slid out of his skull, causing me to stubble back. Tossing the piece of scrap aside, I looked over at his face. A large hole presented where his left eye would have been. A portion of his brain was visible among the carnage. Once again, holding back the urge to vomit, I brought the last body of the dead crew back to the lab’s garage, their temporary resting place on the empty moon.

It was an awful sight. The people you learned to love, the same people that had lives to live and memories to make, lay dead under a tarp in a garage on a far distant moon that took several years to even reach. They didn’t deserve this fate, but it was the fate they were dealt.

After dealing with the bodies of the crewmates, the next priority was an assessment of what was functional and what needed repairs outside and inside the facility. The check of the facility took about 3 hours. Some things were damaged from that “cosmic accident” while others remained functional. Some solar panels were destroyed, but a great majority survived with only minor damage to the larger parts. The short end communications equipment remained functional, but that wouldn’t be of any help out here. The oxygen recycler and backup tanks were all good, aside from a few dents here and there. The main pressurization equipment took a hell of a hit when the garage got wrecked by the communications array, but luckily the airlock connecting the main lab with the garage was alright and stable. Much of the bigger equipment and the garage got dealt the unlucky hand as most of it was thrown about outside. The two LRVs took some heavy hits, rendering them nonfunctional, and the stored tanks of fuel for the Segan had been compromised, unfit for use. With the LRV’s out of commission, I couldn’t get to the Segan to make an assessment of its condition without walking for half an hour to get to it. There wouldn’t be much use of the ship anyway without fuel. Aside from all that, the main equipment needed to continue the research was functional and ready to use, meaning my mission wasn’t quite over yet. The food situation was another thing. As morbid as it may sound, the lack of other people in the facility meant that all the food brought here didn’t need to be shared. This meant I had enough food and water to keep me alive for 2-3 years. It should be enough time for me to get shit done.

There was still plenty to be done, but the stress of the whole situation was leaving me exhausted. Entering the living quarters, I made my way over to my small bunk in the corner of the room. I slowly fell onto the simple bed, letting out a rough sigh as I let my body try and relax for once. The absence of any talking really added to the whole “all alone” feel. The silence was starting to become more prominent now that it was just me. This sort of silence would be enough to drive me insane in a few days, but luckily I had a way to treat it. Taking out Jeff’s IPod, I scrolled through his wide collection of music to see if there was something of interest in there.

“Steely Dan huh?” Now, all that I needed were some earbuds. A quick look in his personal belongings container provided the much needed equipment. Plugged in and playing, I lied back into my bed for what felt like the first time in ages, allowing the music to lead me into a deep and comfortable sleep with its righteous guitar playing.

Chapter Text

Aldrin Research Lab
8 days after the accident

Looking out to the moon’s surface from the viewport of the main lab, I finished up my prepackaged meal, chicken parmesan. Once a pretty sight, the moon was now a constant reminder of my complete loneliness thanks to it taking my fellow crewmates. The only thing to truly get my mind off of the whole thing was doing busy work: maintenance and measurements, food and water stock checks, any mundane tasks to just keep my mind busy, including cleaning up after the accident itself. Thanks to Jeff’s Ipod, I have yet to go completely insane. His wide range of music tastes allowed for me to explore some different genres I would have never thought to check out. Yacht Rock quickly came to be a frequent player in the music that I would have going when trying to sleep. After the fourth day of my lone mission here, I started to constantly have music playing when I got the chance, anything to overtake the silence that filled this lab now that it was just me. Even the music I didn’t really like started to rub off on me the more I listened to it. It wasn’t like I could trade it out with anything else.What was on that Ipod was what I got, and I had to make it work one way or another.

Aside from all the mundane tasks I’ve been doing, one thing that has started to bother me other than my dead crewmates in the garage was the short range communication equipment. The thought of sending out a message has been in my head ever since I checked it for any damage after the accident. I knew I wouldn’t get anything back from Earth in my lifetime, but I would at least have a final message for them to hear, even if they completely forgot about us by then. What has been keeping me from actually doing that is what I would even send. It’s essentially my will or my final message to the people of earth, of course it would take forever to come up with the right thing to say.

Leaning back in my chair, I looked to the corner of the room where the communication equipment sat attached to the wall, working and functional. Pretty enticing.

“Might as well try…” Getting up from my spot at the viewport, I walked over to the small corner and took a seat at the “desk” where a multitude of components stood attached to the main portion of the equipment. What mattered the most was the small keyboard sitting in front of me. Starting up the equipment, the small monitor attached to the wall lit up, displaying a variety of programs and applications ready to be used by the crew. Fooling around with the main messaging program, I now was able to have it send out a message without a direct responder to receive it, it would simply be transmitted out into space and hopefully reach Earth or one of our satellites in due time. Now for the main concern, the message itself.

There was a word limit of about 300 to ensure quick and easy transmitting of the message, so I only had so much to work with.

“Just start typing and it’ll flow out as you go, just like highschool english class…” I fucking hated that class…

 

Aldrin Research Lab Lucas-27d lll

This is Robert Russel, crew member of the Segan Spacecraft and of the Corps of Discovery Mission. Approximately 7 days ago, one day after our landing on the moon Lucas-27d lll, a catastrophic accident occurred when a presumed asteroid made contact with the moon’s surface. This asteroid strike resulted in a great expulsion of energy on the moon’s surface along with falling debris. Before this event occurred, my crewmates were occupied with establishing our long range communications array outside the main facility. I was not there to witness what happened when the asteroid struck the moon, but the damage was certainly enough to make an accurate guess of what transpired. The array was not fully constructed yet when the event happened, meaning the structure of the array was not fully sound. The shaking caused by the asteroid strike was enough to cause the structure to topple over onto the lab's garage. Crewmate Jeffery Ford was working on the upper segment of the array when the incident happened. He fell from the upper part of the array, damaging his helmet's visor, resulting in his death through asphyxiation. Crewmate Lisa West was at the base of the structure when it fell onto the garage, resulting in her becoming pinned and impaled by the array’s debris, later succumbing to falling terrain crushing her body. The damage on the garage’s structure resulted in sudden depressurization, causing an explosion of sorts. This would evidently end the lives of Captain Tonya Levine through asphyxiation and Dale Finch through trauma to the head by debris. It was a tragedy. I should have been there. I am alone now. I will only make it for a few years with what I have here. I will continue to do what me and my crewmates trained for until then. Goodbye.

Transmit Message

I leaned back in the seat after sending the message, letting out a shallow sigh. It was good enough. They deserved to know what happened to them, not me. I made it out alive, they didn’t. I could always send another message, but what would be the point? Send updates on the mission years later when I’m dead?

Closing the program, I got up and went back to my seat by the view port to resume my “lunch break”. The message got me thinking, I’m going to basically work myself to death on this moon. There is nothing else to do but work, unless I want to take a walk outside on the moon’s surface. Even then, the moon’s surface isn’t much to gawk at, nothing but hills and small craters. I could try finding some DIY activities to pass the time. Moon golf might be a cool idea…
The last of the lukewarm coffee was the sign for me to get back to “work”, processing samples of the moon’s terrain and filing them away.

 

2 days later

 

One thing they never really mentioned about living in a low gravity environment was how difficult it is to sweep up dust off the ground. That’s probably because they never meant for us to sweep anything up considering they supplied the lab with a vacuum cleaner. Problem was, that vacuum cleaner was thrown out of the garage onto the moon’s surface at such speeds that it was ripped apart and spread all over the ground. Now I’m stuck trying to sweep up moon dust that keeps blowing into a small cloud above the ground every time I brush over it.

Before I could try my 27th attempt at sweeping the dust, a small notification that came from the corner of the room stopped me in my tracks. Looking over, I could see the monitor lit up with the system notification. That wasn’t normal. Nothing needed calibration because there was no responder to calibrate to. The equipment itself was in good shape, so there wasn't anything to notify me of to fix. To investigate further, I made my way to the lit up monitor on the wall, taking a seat at the desk in the process.

 

Signal Data Error
Transmission Location: Unknown to Records | Refer to Provided Data
Decryption of Signal Data Failed due to Ineffective Encryption Code
Please Provide Appropriate Encryption Code

“What the hell…” I sat there staring at the pop-up, trying to fully understand what exactly this meant. A signal transmission had just been sent to the lab, a completely unknown signal. The data couldn’t even be decrypted because the computer had no means of translating the damn thing. This sort of signal data was completely unknown to all of humanity, so much so that the programs we installed in the equipment beforehand couldn’t even recognize it. It couldn’t be any of our satellites or some stray signal from Earth, the computer would have been able to name its origins. Instead, all it gave was an approximate direction the signal came from.

I quickly wrote down the coordinates and raced my way over to the lab’s automated telescope controls. With a shaky hand, I imputed the provided coordinates, causing the telescope to come to life. Through a tiny window on the display screen, I could see the telescope rise out from its hatch behind the lab and adjust to the provided directions. I waited patiently with anticipation as the main camera came alive on the screen. Grey.

“Huh, the telescope must be faulty…” I tried to reason. The gray image started to ever so slightly shift and move. Then it came to me, the image is too zoomed in to see anything. My heart sank at this realization. Whatever the telescope was aimed at, it was close by. Reaching down to the controls, I started to adjust the zoom of the telescope. Slowly, the screen was taken up by more slowly moving gray with a mix of white and blue. The telescope zoomed out enough for me to notice that it was in fact a storm cell, one that was slowly moving over a planet. Then the important details came into view. Green segments of the planet poked out through the other various storm cells along with a violet shaded ocean. The full picture of the planet finally came into view.

“No fucking wa-” I then quickly pulled up the lab’s records of planets in the system in another window. I started to scroll through the images until I came upon the planet that resembled exactly what the telescope was looking at, Lucas-27d. I leaned back in my chair, taking it all in.

“No. It’s-it’s got to be behind it…” I tried to reason again. I stood up from my seat and walked back to the communications equipment, double checking the coordinates. They were in fact the same.

“Has to be behind it…” I said under my breath. I walked back to the telescope controls and shut it off, returning the telescope back into its hatch. I must be crazy already, or paranoid, or both. Letting out a sigh, I walked to the living quarters to rest off this self prescribed paranoia.

It had to be some sort of fluke in the system, or a problem with the dishes outside. But I would have known about the problem earlier when I did my routine check of the lab’s equipment. It could have been a stray signal from Earth, some kid sending random signals into space, but the computer stated that the location wasn’t in any of its logs. All this was keeping me awake, hopefully the music might block out the concerns spiraling in my brain.

“Can’t be serious…” I decided to try listening more closely to the music playing in my ears to distract me from that annoying mental problem. But no matter how hard I tried, how deeply I concentrated, that little voice in the back of my mind kept speaking its little ideas and hypotheticals. Dammit, I had to move around and do something. It was driving me insane.

 

Nothing occupies the mind more than Pink Floyd and star gazing on a moon. I had only about 35 minutes of oxygen in this suit, enough to give my brain a mental break. Lying back on the roof of the lab, I gazed up at the distant stars, letting the music take me where it wanted me to.

“Holy shit… this guitarist can fucking play…” I said to myself as the music played in my ears. This was what I needed, a really good distraction from it all. Just me, the music, and the universe before me. But just as I started to drift off into a nap, a grumble came from my gut, and it wasn’t a sign of hunger, but it was something more serious.

“Damn those prepackaged meals…” I quickly sat up and climbed back down to rush into the facility. Nature was calling, and she had a lot to say. I practically tumbled through the lab trying to both take off a space suit and clench my ass to prevent the floodgates from opening. Bursting into the bathroom, my mind had no room for any other concerns than the one about to happen on the toilet, and I was perfectly fine with that.

 

Meanwhile

 

The large metallic object continued its closing in approach to the moon’s orbit, silently moving with the momentum from its original lift off. The passengers, unbeknownst to Bob, were just as curious as he was of the stars and what possibly resided in them. The signal which Bob sent 2 days ago only added more promise to their own personal mission to that moon. Someone was out there and they had the means of communication, proof of life outside their own.

 

Aldrin Research Lab

 

I practically had to limp out of the bathroom thanks to the physical onslaught that I had to endure. I made a mental note to limit even more the amount of prepackaged meals I would eat in order to save me the pain I had to endure 20 minutes ago in that bathroom. Falling into a nearby chair, I rested my body with a loud sigh, only to be conveniently cut off by a small notification from the communication equipment. My head bolted up like a hound dog sniffing out an escaped fugitive. I ran over to the corner and basically crashed into the desk, earning a loud groan from my mouth.

“What…” The same system message as before. Just like last time, I got the coordinates of the transmission's approximate location. And just like before, I applied those directions to the telescope, and just like before, it was trained on Lucas-27d, only this time the point of focus changed locations. Instead of being trained on the left side of the planet, it was trained a little more to the right. That transmission didn’t come from behind the planet like I thought, it came from its surface, and it moved accordingly with its rotation. I was dumbfounded.

“Fuck me, who the hell is on that planet?! What the hell is on that planet?! H-how the hell are they sending me signal transmissions?! Holy shit..HOLY SHIT…This means aliens are real…THIS MEANS ALIENS ARE FUCKING REAL?!” I was utterly shocked out of my mind.

I sent the chair flying as I suddenly stood up and ran to the communications equipment. They’re trying to communicate with me…They need to know I’m receiving their messages, whatever they could be. I need to send them a transmission, anything to acknowledge that I see them. I hastily opened up the program and began typing.

 

Aldrin Research Lab Lucas-27d lll

This is Robert Russel, crew member of the Segan Spacecraft and of the Corps of Discovery Mission. I am receiving your messages, but I cannot decrypt them at this time. You may or may not understand anything I’m saying. It's a little idiotic of me. Either way, this message is simply to acknowledge that I hear you on the planet, but I cannot understand what you are transmitting to me. Hope you are friendly with outsiders. It is good to know I’m not alone out here.

After finishing the last sentence, I quickly transmitted the message right back to the approximate location of their last two signals to me. I was both ecstatic and scared, not sure of which to fully go to. On one side, I was super excited that I wasn’t alone out here and that there really is life outside of our own, a sentient one at that. But on the other hand, there is now proof of sentient life on a planet I am orbiting, and they are most likely going to be keeping an eye on me just as I am going to keep an eye on them. For all I know, they could be on the same boat as humanity and thought they were the only ones out there, but they could also have experience with other life outside their own. I couldn’t be completely sure on anything since I’m only working with empty signal transmissions and a location on a habitable planet. But for now, I’ll just have to wait for a response.

 

Whoever or whatever sent those signals responded once again, just like before. It was all too crazy to comprehend. I know that aliens exist on a planet nearby, and they know I exist on their moon. With this confirmation of sentient life out of the way, it was best to deal with the other daily duties that needed to be completed. I had sat there and waited around 30 minutes for a response, so it was nice to get up and do some simple work to help ease the excitement and stretch my limbs.

 

The music did little to help ease the excitement of the whole situation as I climbed up to the solar array on the lab’s roof. One might think Fleetwood Mac to be a pretty good band to help calm down to, but for some reason it just added to it all. A sort of other worldly feel, almost dreamlike. In fact, this whole situation is dreamlike, and the music was just adding to the overall feeling. I couldn’t do anything about it now that I’m out here, it's not like I could just take the suit off to change the song real quick. Whatever, the solar arrays needed to be checked and maintained anyways.

As I worked on cleaning the solar panels, those little hypotheticals came back. I started to wonder what these new beings may look like. Are they like the little gray aliens we came up with? Maybe they’re gelatinous and have no bones? How would they speak? Telepathically or maybe through certain frequencies. They could have multiple eyes or mouths. They could have large jaws with jagged teeth. They could be extremely violent. They could also be extremely xenophobic to aliens like how most rednecks are on earth…

“Shit, what if they want to enslave me? They might give me the ol’ U.S. Government treatment: dissection, experiments, all that…” I might have to consider the possibility of needing to defend myself if they ever come here.

By now I had essentially cleaned up the solar panels of the small array. They were just dusty, so the job was pretty quick and easy. Now, all I needed to do was head down and take stock of the lab’s materials to see what I went through the past week. I stretched my back and looked up, letting a deep sigh in the process.

“Pff, climbing down never gets easi-” As I turned around to head to the ladder, I was caught completely off guard by three figures standing several feet away from the facility, seemingly staring right at me.

“Oh my God…” Is it them, those things that sent those transmissions? Their figures in fact did not look very human. The legs were all bent back in the middle, yet they stood upright. They looked like they were leaning back with a straight neck, like some well distinguished bird. Were they wearing a spacesuit? It most certainly looked like a spacesuit, kind of similar to our own older models but more unique, more alien. It was pretty creepy to see them standing down there. I mean, when you know that anyone else that could have been on this moon was dead except you, It's pretty alarming to see 3 people just show up out of nowhere. For all I know, I could be hallucinating, but it's only been a week or so, clearly not enough time alone to start going insane, right?

I gave a weak wave out of habit, half expecting them to give one back. They didn’t, they just stared at me for what felt like ages. I couldn’t even tell if they were even alive from up on top of the lab. The creepiness of the situation was not settling at all. Have I actually gone insane this quickly? In order to test this theory I had to get a better look. I made the effort to fully climb down the roof to still see them staring at me. Dear God they might actually be real. Holy shit, I hope they don’t want to kill me.

“Ha.. Robert Russel, first human to make contact with alien life forms. Don’t fuck this up man…” The little pep talk did little to help the utter dread mixed excitement that filled my body, only getting worse the closer I got to meeting these new guests.

Chapter Text

Reality was really setting in the closer I got to them. I was going to be the very first human to interact with life outside of our own. If I ever make it back to earth, I should get a fucking Nobel Prize for this, and other cool stuff of course. I slowly made my way to them, hopping back and forth with each step in the most non threatening way I could.

The closer I got to the trio, the more I noticed the individual aspects of their appearance. They were a little shorter than me, only by a few inches. Their suits were a bit more darker and less bulky looking than ours. They had what looked like small hiking bags attached to their backs. They definitely looked way more flexible in their own suits than ours; I could only have the movement flexibility of a senile old man in this thing. Their helmets seemed less spherical than mine, almost like strange ovals with little tubes and what I assumed was a light attached. All over the surface of their suits were little reflective dots strategically and orderly put. Their small blue visors reflected me approaching them, giving me a better way to compare my own appearance with theirs. They still had that leaned back look with their weird bent legs. There was a strange symbol on the center of their chest, like an orange crescent with a bunch of lines going through it. Could be their own version of NASA or some big organization for I all know.

When I got closer to them, the one in the front of this triangle formation they had going on turned and looked at one of their companions, almost like they were seeing if the other could replace them in their position, a cry for help in a sense. They must be feeling the exact same way I am, nervous out of their fucking minds. I was sweating bullets in this suit from the anticipation and stress. The only thing keeping me from going into a panic attack was the background music playing in my ears from the IPod. I now stood a few feet away from them, looking down to meet their gazes.

If I’m being honest, I have no idea how to do this whole “first contact” thing. I’m hoping they at least have some sort of plan like that to ease this awkwardness we were sharing. It didn’t seem like it as the companions of the one in the front were looking back and forth to each other, likely sharing the same concern of what to do next.

“Just stick with how you normally greet someone and work from there…” I told myself.

Just as I would do with anyone else on Earth, I slowly reached a hand out trying to initiate a handshake. Of course, they just stared at my hand as it remained extended out. One of them looked down to their friend in the front, seemingly trying to look where my hand was pointing at. I returned my hand back to my side after my failed first attempt at a greeting. Luckily humanity wasn’t present to see my embarrassing display of a greeting. Maybe I could just show them how we do it.

I then pointed at the one in front of me, then back to myself. I then slowly shook my own hands, trying to show what I hoped was an easy demonstration of how humans greet each other. They had to be smart enough to understand what I was getting at, I mean they made it to the moon for fucks sake.

All they did was kind of follow my hands as I did the demonstration. The one in the front looked back to their buddies, likely talking something out, if they even talked at all. It looked sort of like a team huddle as they occasionally looked back at me before going back to communicating with one another. I just stood there waiting, wondering what their next move would be. After a quick moment, they broke up from their little huddle and stared back at me. I guess I should try demonstrating it again? Couldn’t hurt…

Just like before, I pointed to the one in front of me, then back to me, then shook my own hands like a dumbass. A part of me was somewhat glad the rest of the crew wasn’t here to see me make a fool of myself and all of humanity.

“Let’s try this again…” I stuck my gloved hand out, waiting to see if they caught on or not. And just like that, the one in the front very slowly and carefully reached out to my hand. Holy shit…Only then did I realize it had some strange hands, three main digits and two thumbs from what I could tell. After what felt like a lifetime, our hands finally met. I slightly squeezed to get a better grip, causing them to jump a little. After they realized I wasn’t going to rip their hand off, they relaxed just a bit, giving me the okay to shake their hand. The frontman’s companions watched intently as I shook their buddie’s hand. I slowly let go of their hand and brought it to my side. Their hand remained extended for a second before returning it to their side like I had. The three then looked at each other, almost like they were saying “you seeing this shit?” It was a little hard to know for sure as I was basing much of their emotions on their body language. It then hit me…

“Holy shit…holy shit…I shook an alien’s hand. What the fuck…” I chuckled a little at the absurdity of it all. Suddenly to my surprise, the other two walked forward with extended hands. Looks like they all want to greet an alien. Before I had to make a decision on who’s hand to shake first, the one on the left looked to the other one on my right, then backed up a bit, most likely letting them go first. At least they're polite from what I could tell, or maybe they just told them off…

As I shook their hand, they looked back to their friends, almost like how a little kid would look back to their parents when they interact with their favorite mascot. It was almost like they were posing for a photo with the way they were behaving. Only then did it hit me that they might be broadcasting this to the rest of their people on the planet. They must have cameras on or in their helmets. Maybe those little reflective dots on their suits are cameras. I’m honestly a little jealous. They get to record this monumental moment for their history books while I just get to enjoy it like going to a concert and not recording anything.

After the second one got their share of shaking hands with an alien, the third one practically ran over to me, catching me off guard. They had their hand practically in my face as I tried to reach up to shake their hand. Just like the other one before them, they looked at the other two as I shook their hand. This time though I could actually feel them shake my hand as well instead of me doing all the work. When I was done shaking their hand, the frontman pulled back their friend away from me, giving me some breathing room.

“Human greeting established…now what.” I stood there awkwardly as I didn’t really know what to do next. Maybe I could take them inside the lab, let them get a good look at me and the equipment. Then again, they might be extremely reluctant to go into an alien’s “home”, I know I would. They might also think I’m extremely hideous, but they do seem pretty happy to interact with me. They must have figured I’m not hostile with the whole handshake thing, or with how I haven’t killed them yet with some strange alien weapon. Come to think of it, I approached them unarmed, who's to say they did too? Oh god…It's probably best not to start getting all paranoid in front of the aliens.

Just as an ounce of doubt was starting to creep into my mind, they started doing something. The one in the front directed their hand to me, then back to themselves, just as I did with my demonstration of a handshake. They then turned to their buddy on their right with open arms, almost like they were holding an invisible box from the bottom. Their friend did the same, except they had their palms facing down to the ground. They then met their hands to each other's forearms, one holding on the top of the other’s while the bottom set of hands held the top one’s forearms. They then bent their heads a slight bit before releasing their grips. The frontman then looked back at me, most likely checking to see if I was paying attention.

“Huh, a little more personal than a simple handshake…” The frontman then walked up to me the same way they did with their friend. Trying my best to copy what their friend did, I held my forearms out to meet theirs. They then gripped onto my arms; I followed suit gently, trying not to spook them like I did before. Their buddies looked like they were leaning in to get a better look at the “alien greeting” happening. The frontman then did the little head bow they demonstrated before. I tried my best to replicate the action. I lifted my head up to see all of them staring at me. A little creepy when you can’t tell what sort of emotions they have behind that reflective visor.

I slowly dropped my arms back to my side after the greeting was done. The frontman looked back to their companions again, and just like with the human handshake, the other two wanted in on greeting me their way. Luckily this time, they were a little more calm with their approaches. The eager one from before had a way better grip on my arms than the other two; it was a little alarming to say the least. They also just kept a hold of my arms even after the little head bows we did. The frontman even had to come over to practically pry them off of me. It was all really weird. Never in my life would I imagine I would be greeting aliens in the way they did with each other. I should be more excited, but the strangeness of it all helped subdue that inner excitement.

“Caution, Caution, Oxygen Reserves 30%, Caution, Caution” That automated voice sounded in the helmet, causing me to groan in frustration.

“Dammit. Well, hope they’re okay with me going back inside the lab…” I looked behind me to the lab, then back to the trio. Couldn’t hurt to try and invite them. They seemed to notice me looking at the lab. I then stepped back a bit to let them see the lab. I then directed my arms to the lab, hoping to see if they understood the invitation. They looked at me, then to the lab, then back to each other. They got back into a small huddle like before, likely discussing if they should go with me or not. I just stood there waiting for their decision, slowly going through that remaining oxygen reserve with every passing second. They took occasional glasses at me and the lab before going back to talking with each other. This was taking too long.

Considering that I didn't really have a choice to stay out here with my oxygen reserve going down, I decided to start heading back to the lab. Maybe seeing me walk away will hurry them to make a decision. It in fact did as they seemed quite alarmed as I started on my way back to the lab. I turned around to see them making their way to me, like ducklings hurrying to catch up with their mom. I guess they’re coming with me then.

With every little glance I took behind me, I saw them staring at the facility, observing all the little details that were presented. One such detail they seemed stuck on was the remains of the communications array next to the garage, a constant reminder of what happened. Once we reached the hole of the garage, they seemed a little hesitant to venture in. I mean, the garage didn’t look too inviting with the broken lights and trashed LRV. I then motioned for them to come along with an arm directed inside. After a second, the frontman of the trio slowly followed after me as I made my way over to the airlock. They kept up with their observations as they took note of all the “alien” stuff around them. In reality, they were just observing junk like it was made of gold. It made me chuckle a little as they stared at the wrecked LRV that sat in the middle of the garage. Sure, it was pretty much useless to me, but for them, it was as if a flying saucer was parked there. Luckily they didn’t notice my crewmates in the corner under the tarp…

They were even more reluctant to enter the airlock as I stepped into it. Like a scared teen at the entrance to a haunted house, they very slowly made their way inside. It was a little alarming how much they actually trusted me.

“I ain’t got all day y’all” I quickly shut the hatch before switching on the depressurization sequence. They looked around frantically as it happened, obviously spooked on what was happening in here. They seemed to calm down when they noticed me not reacting like them. Just as quick as it happened, it was over. The control panel gave the all clear, allowing me to open up the hatch to the main lab. They stood back as I opened it up, allowing them to finally see the inside of an “alien” lab.

Now that I was back inside, I could finally get the helmet off so that damn sensor would stop bugging me about the oxygen reserve. They watched carefully as I stepped into the main lab, taking note of everything they were seeing. There wasn’t too much to gawk at, just some measuring equipment, a few controls here and there, and a couple of tables and chairs. Then again, I’m not for certain what all is truly alien to them. They slowly made their way inside one at a time. While they were busy goggling at the room’s contents, I started to take off my suit’s helmet. Only when it started to lift up off my head did they notice me taking off my space suit. I could practically feel them staring at me as the helmet fully came off, allowing me to breathe the lab’s provided oxygen.

Saying it was awkward would be an understatement. It basically felt like I messed up my big part in the school play with the strength of the stares they were giving me. I took out my earbuds and paused the music on the IPod, allowing me to finally have some silence. I quickly wish I didn’t because the silence didn’t make things any less awkward than it already was.

“U-uh, welcome to the Aldrin Research Lab?” I said with open arms like a complete dumbass. They all kept staring at me. I could feel myself starting to sweat from the strange stage fright I was enduring.

“Ahem…The name’s Robert, Robert Russel. Y-you can just call me Bob.” Holy shit this is a lot harder than I thought. I pointed to my chest.

“Bob, okay? Bob.” I tried my best to teach them my name despite not knowing how they even communicate. The frontman then turned to their friend then back to me. The one they seemingly talked to reached up to some strap near their neck before unclipping it. They then brought around whatever that strap was connected to, that same little bag I saw on their backs. They then opened up the side, reached in, fiddled around, and pulled out a small circular item. They then set the bag down next to them before messing around with the small metallic item they had. The side facing them lit up with a slight “beep”. Their other buddies just watched them hold the item out in front of them for a few seconds. The supposed screen of the object then beeped again, causing the three to look back at each other, then to me. This little thing was my first encounter with alien technology, and it was peaking my interest. What did it do? Was it calling someone? Was it scanning something? Were they recording more data? All I could do was stand there and stare, waiting to see what happens.

The front man gave one last glance back to their companions before reaching up to their helmet. An audible hiss could be heard as they pressed something on both sides of their neck. A small click sounded as they reached under their chin and to the back of their head. Just like that, the helmet started to rize up off their head. It was now my turn to stare at them taking off their helmet, curious of what the first confirmed alien humanity has ever met looks like.

“Woah…” I said under my breath as I finally saw what one of my guests looked like. They had on what seemed to be some sort of head cover, like an open face balaclava. The first thing that caught my eye was in fact their eyes. Their assumed brow made their eyes look menacing like an eagle’s. They had deep purple slit pupils that only added to the menacing factor. The rest of the eye had a lighter mix of purples, making the whole eye look like a prized gemstone. Under these eyes were little dark slits, like someone had gotten a black marker and made a line a bit under their eyes. Their face had sort of a cream color. The other thing that caught my eye was their strange “mouth”. It almost resembled how a crab’s mandibles sit in their face. A barely visible line split down the middle of the mouth. The corners kind of curved up near the end, almost resembling a grin. This strange mouth was a dark brown with little specks of cream near the corners. What looked like feathers fluffed out near the sides of their face that were open from the head cover. They were much darker than their face, having an almost dark maroon color to them. This dark maroon color was seen near the middle part of the brow that pointed down, and it was seen near the corners of eyes almost like thick eyeliner. The area where a nose would normally go was just a smooth face that lifted a bit near the end that met the strange mouth. The only comparison I could think of for this facial structure would be that of a motocross helmet but more smoothed out.

As I was staring at their strange facial features, the other two followed suit, taking off their helmets and allowing me to see the rest of their faces. The frontman looked to take a deep breath in through its assumed nostrils above their mouth before pulling down their head covering, revealing the rest of their head. Like how a peacock might open up its tail feathers, the rest of their head was covered in layers of what looked like feathers, and they almost sprang out from under the cover. The main color of dark maroon was all there, but some accents of yellow, orange, and blue were present in the tuft of feathers near the brow, giving off a “crown” look. The feathers kept going to the back of the head until it met at a point, almost like how tail feathers meet on different birds. Their eyes returned my stare as they clipped their helmet to their side, causing me to focus my attention on their companions who were also removing their helmets and headcovers.

The other two had only slight differences in appearance, mostly in the feathers and eyes. One had a more tealish green look to their eyes along with dark turquoise feathers. They had a much more “extravagant” display of their feathers with vibrant reds and dull greens for their “crown” and in the rest of the layers. They seemed to have more layered feathers than the frontman along with more around the fluffs on the sides. The eyeliner marks were also a lot more pronounced than the frontman’s. The other companion had a similar look to Green Eyes, more layered feathers and pronounced eyeliner marks. Their eyes were a warm red, like a large ruby. The feathers were mostly white with bits of black in the layers. The crown contained shaded greens and browns with a single red feather peeking out behind the ones at the front.

They all equally stared at me with their menacing looks. It felt like I was going to be attacked the moment I took my eyes off them. Purple Eyes blinked for a second, giving me a chance to notice that their eyelids close diagonally, probably the most “alien” thing about them. It was like we were all having a staring contest, waiting to see who would break first.

“U-uh, well it's nice to have a…a face to look at instead of a visor…” Red Eyes’ crown shifted a little when I spoke.

There was that silence again, along with the menacing staring, and the extreme awkwardness of it all. Before I could die from the awkwardness, a few weirdly pitched hums and clicks sounded out in front of me. It was Green Eyes. That weird mouth moved a little when those sounds happened. The frontman turned to them and sounded off more strange hums and clicks. Now I know how they communicate…

What ensued was a small conversation between the trio, filling the quiet lab with strange sounds of humming and clicking. I just stood there like a lost child, not understanding a single thing they said to each other. Their small chatter subsided as the frontman returned their attention to me, glaring with those damn eyes. They then directed their hand to themselves before making another strange sound: a quick hum that rose in pitch before being cut off by two clicks, one with a “ni” hummed in there and another with a “nouh” hummed in as well. Must be their name or what they are called. They basically did what I had done earlier when I first introduced myself.

“Ha…what?”

Purple Eyes just stared at me for a second before doing it again, pointing to themselves then sounding out that strange “name”. I pointed to Purple Eyes then tried my best to replicate the odd sound they made.

“Hh…Hnn-!ni-!noh?” I sounded slowly like a dumbass.

Purple Eyes’ eyes seemed to light up, along with the other two standing there watching me try and communicate with them. A little wheeze left the frontman’s mouth as they turned to look at their companions in astonishment. A flurry of quick and loud talking between them ensued.

“It wasn’t that impressive…” I said under my breath, confused as the wild sounds filled the room.

They then turned back to me with Purple Eyes repeating the same sound for their name to me. I tried my best at replicating the sound again, only to get another wheeze and some hums and clicks from the rest of them. Are they fucking laughing at me? Purple Eyes did it again, this time as fast they normally talk. I tried once again at the speed they normally communicate with each other, but to me I sounded absolutely idiotic. Green eyes tapped Purple on the shoulder, getting their attention. They seemed to chat for a second before their focus was once again back on me. Purple Eyes then motioned to me with their hands.

“What? I’ve already tried that shit like 3 times, I ain’t getting laughed at for trying to speak an alien language, okay?” They once again directed to me, yet I still didn’t fully understand what they were getting at. They seemed to sigh before pointing to themselves like before and stating their name. They pointed back at me again.

“Fine, it’s the last time I’m trying this though. I sound like a complete dumbass over here… Hnn-!ni-!noh.” Purple eyes shifted their head before pointing to me again.

“What…what is it? I’m saying your name, that’s what you want right?” They repeated the cycle again: pointing to themselves, saying their name, then pointing back to me.

“I don’t underst-....ooohh, right.” It finally hit me, they want to learn my name too. I then pointed back to myself. See how they like it…

“Uh, Bob, BOB…okay? Bob.” I tried my best to better enunciate my name to help them understand better. Purple Eyes stepped forward to try their best at the name.

First they let out a slow hum, then they tried to move their mouth around to get a sound close to my name. After some trial and error, they started to figure out how to get the sound right. It looked like they were moving the underside of their mouth/jaw thing to get the “bah” and slight “buh” sound. It was a little rough, but after some time, I could start to hear the name “Bob’ come out of their mouth. I wanted to laugh, but I was honestly impressed with what I was seeing. When they finally got as close as they could get, I let out a wheeze similar to how they did earlier to indicate to them that they got it.

“Yeah, yeah, Bob. That’s me. You got it!”

“Bob.” They pointed to me.

“Hnn-!ni-!noh.” I pointed back in confusion.

The two other onlookers looked back and forth to one another before holding on to each other's shoulders. They started to let out little high pitched hums and a few wheezes. They must be pretty stoked about this or they’re laughing their asses off.

“Bob. Bob. Bob.” Purple Eyes kept saying my name over and over again while looking back and forth to me and their companions going crazy.

“What the hell is going on…” The strange display reminded me of how absurd this all was. I invited 3 feathered aliens into the lab and learned how to say their names while also teaching one a human name. I then suddenly realized how long I had been standing up for as my legs started to ache. We should probably sit down if more is going to be shared between us…

While they were “laughing” and talking, I walked over to the nearby table. They quickly followed behind me as I pulled up a chair to finally sit in. They watched as I leaned back in the chair with a sigh. Noticing they were just watching me, I directed them to the other seats. They looked over to the chairs, then to me, then back to the chairs before ultimately pulling up a seat at the table. At least they know what a seat is. They looked over at me from across the table, possibly waiting to see what I would do or ask.

“Well, If I’m going to learn their name, I might as well know y’alls as well.” I directed to Green and Red. They just stared back at me like usual with those intimidating eyes.

“Right…this is going to be a long day…” I said under my breath as I tried to ready myself for the upcoming struggle of communication between us that was going to unfold. At least I’ve got some real company since the accident…even if they’re not human.

Chapter Text

Purple Eyes watched on in amusement as the other two tried to teach me their names. Every attempt made me sound like a complete idiot, and it felt like I was one with how they wheezed at my poor attempts. I’ve come to learn that their version of the “nod of approval” is just raising their head up a bit, almost like a reversed nod of sorts.

“This is getting too much for me, y’all. No disrespect for the language, really, It’s just that…These sounds are a little complex.” I pleaded, knowing very well that they did not understand a thing I was saying. Green Eyes looked back and forth to their companions before restating their name again. This would be the last of the three’s names I would have to learn. Red Eyes’ was difficult enough after learning Purple’s, but now the stupidity of what I was saying has started to turn me away from this entirely..

“!noh-Mhm-!ne…?” I gave my best with the strange phonetics. An alien nod is sent back to me. Oh thank god… This isn’t really fair. They can easily figure out my name and only my name. They don’t have to learn two other different ones like me. I leaned back in my seat, enjoying the tiny bit of satisfaction I got from this accomplishment. It wasn’t too comfortable. This made me realize I hadn’t fully taken off the suit.

With a sigh, I slowly got up from my seat, causing the three to quickly get up, most likely expecting me to take them someplace else or to do something different. I tried to motion for them to sit back down. I wasn’t exactly going anywhere, I was just getting more comfortable.

“Whoa hey, no need to get up. I'm just trying to get comfortable is all. Sit. Sit.” My dramatic arm movements seemed to be clear to them on what I wanted. They looked back and forth to each other before sitting back down in their seats. They watched on as I began to exit out of my suit, one half at a time. That stage fright awkwardness was back again with their deep cutting stares. As I lifted up the top half of the suit, I couldn’t help but turn away a bit from their gazes. I know they’re just as curious as I am, but it all felt too predatorial. Like a tiger keeping eyes on their prey before finding the right moment to strike. I’m not going to lie, it was giving me some strong paranoia.

With a long sigh, I finally set down the lower part of the suit, revealing my blue and white coveralls self to the three alien onlookers. I turned around to finally meet their gazes. They were all seemingly tracking and noting every little detail that was displayed in front of them. After letting them get a good look at the human in the room, I walked back to the table and sat back down.

“Much better…Now, what next?” I said to the three across from me. At this point, it was easier for my own mental health to just act like they understand me. I haven’t talked with anyone for days, so this was something I was going to enjoy, even if we can’t fully communicate. Purple Eyes started to mumble to their companions, likely discussing something. That subtle waitroom awkwardness is back again. Come on, think. They are your guests, treat them like it.

“Right, introductions are done, now for the human guest experience.” I mumbled under my breath.

“How about some refreshments?” I leaned forward to the three, causing them to stop their discussion. They gave back blank stares.

I began to motion myself drinking from an imaginary cup, hoping they would understand. Green Eyes replicated the motion, most likely trying to get a confirmation of what I was trying to say.

“Yeah, drink. I have water. Let me get you three some water.” I said with a grin and an alien nod as I got up and made my way over to the small dining portion of the room. Just like with me getting up to take off the suit, they tried to get up from their seat and follow after me, but I quickly stopped them before they got too far from the main table. I guided them back to their seats, hopefully getting them to fully understand that I want them to stay there. They just looked back with a curious expression, well, what I would call a curious expression.

I grabbed some cups and a squeeze bag of sealed water before rushing back to the table. I must have looked like a fool running around with how sporadic I was moving. I placed the cups down in front of them and took my seat. They continued to stare as I opened up the cap to the nozzle of the water bag and began to pour the water into my own cup. I then set the bag down on the table before lifting up the cup for them to see its contents.

“See? Water. We drink water. Uh, do you…can you drink water?” I said as I placed the cup back down in front of me. Purple Eyes leaned forward to look back at the liquid in the cup before looking back to their colleagues. They then slowly dipped their gloved finger into the water cup before bringing it up to their mouth. A small space opened up, allowing them to place the finger in their mouth to get a taste. We all sat there and watched as Purple Eyes assessed the water. They then gave a nod to their friends and to me, a sign that my water was good for them to drink.

I then finally poured the water into their respective cups before setting the water bag down in the middle of the table. I gave a “cheers” before taking a sip of my water, a gentle introduction to human culture for them. They then slowly reached to take their own sips of the water. It was a little weird to see an alien drink from a cup. It didn’t seem that they had lips, so it was hard to tell if they were even pursing anything to help manage the small flow of water into their mouths. All I saw was a little opening for the water to go through and the strange mandible-like things on their face contorting a little. They set their cups down as they finished their sips of water. Right, now we have a common practice between species, sharing a drink.

As I relaxed a bit into my seat, a question came to mind, “How could I make communicating easier?” While the three were continuing their quick sips of water, my eyes were drawn to the couple of folders stacked sloppily on the far side of the table with a single pen clipped to one of the spare sheets.
“Holy shit, why didn’t I think of this…” I reached over to the folders and paper and grabbed a few with the pen as well. I could try a Dr. Louise Banks method of communicating with these aliens, drawing pictures. At least with images, they don’t need to understand my human grammar to understand what I am trying to get at. They only need to see what I draw and hopefully they pick up what I’m throwing down. And maybe they could do the same for me.

I grabbed a blank piece of paper from the folder and the pen attached to it, only for me to freeze with the pen hovering over the paper. What should I draw first… Earth? The crew? Our mission? They should at least know why or how we got here. I began to draw the Solar System with the main focus of Earth on one side of the piece of paper. The three across the table from me became very interested in what I was doing, leaning in closer to try and get a sneak peak at what I was drawing. After finishing the drawing, I spun the paper around to face them. They eyed down the drawing before looking up to me.

“Home.” I pointed to myself then back to the drawing of Earth. I then drew an attempt of the planetary system we were in, more specifically Lucas-27d and her three moons, on the opposite end of the paper. I pointed to the third moon orbiting the planet. They followed my finger to the small circle on the page then back to me. I then looked around the lab then pointed down to the ground.

“We are here. This lab is here.” Purple Eyes looked around then back to the drawing. They seemed to connect the dots as they gave me a confirming nod. I then pointed to myself before slowly drawing a line from Earth to the moon orbiting Lucas-27d. I then set down the pen and leaned back into my seat, letting them get a good look at the drawing I just made.

“We came here to explore your planet. To look for possible life. It was very promising from afar, but now it’s even better than what we expected.” I chuckled a little bit at the realization. Purple Eyes handed the paper to Green Eyes who seemed pretty eager to get a closer look at the drawing.

“You being here is probably one of the most incredible scientific discoveries since DNA’s structure was figured out.” I said aloud. This little meeting really does jumble up a lot of what we thought about life outside our own. Come to think of it, Fermi's paradox is all messed up now considering we were the ones to venture out and meet an alien civilization. The problem is that this scientific discovery lives with me and only me until they decide to send some others here after a while. At least I get to bask in the achievement of being the first human to come in contact with an alien civilization.

After Red Eyes got an equal look at the drawing, Purple took it back and picked up the pen. I watched on as they began to draw on the flipped side. It looked like a diagram of their planet and possibly the moons.They’re drawing skills were way beyond mine from what I was seeing. It was incredible the amount of detail they were putting down at such quick speeds. They then flipped the page back to me, giving me a better look at the masterful drawing they just did. It was Lucas-27d on one side with the three moons lined up on the other. Purple Eyes then took the pen and tapped at this one spot on the planet before making a smooth line from the point to the third moon. They then turned the page back to them and began to draw again, but this time it looked like a top down view of the moon’s surface, or at least one part of it. Once again, they turned the page back to me, revealing an incredible depiction of the moon’s surface. They then draw a small circle on one spot then a small square at another. They then tapped the small circle with the pen’s tip before drawing a line from the spot to the square, except the line seemed to bend at different points. They then finally tapped on the square before looking back at me.

“Ee. Auh. Hheah…” They looked around and imitated my finger pointing to the ground.

Woah, that’s a little creepy. I gave an alien nod back, showing that I understand them. Purple Eyes once again took the paper back and looked to be thinking. They then began to talk with their colleagues before finally starting to draw again. Red Eyes laughed a little while watching Purple Eyes draw. It was a little hard to tell what exactly they were drawing, but it seemed to be three figures. They stopped drawing, looked at the paper for a second, then turned it around to me. They said something to Green Eyes while I took in what they had drawn. Must have been a joke with how they both laughed a bit before turning their attention back to me.

It appeared to be a drawing of three figures, two that were generally the same size while the third was much smaller between them. It had to be a depiction of their species or their physical biology. A line connected the two bigger figures with a line in the middle going to the smaller one. Right, reproduction, two makes one or more. Luckily the detail put into this drawing helped me to figure out more about their biology than I could ever do myself. One of the two bigger figures had a more extravagant “crown” of feathers on their brow than the other. The one without the great display of feathers had a bit larger of a jaw than the other. In general, one had a greater display of feathers while the other was more conserved with its feathers. The body proportions were also a bit more different between the two. The arms of the one with a smaller display of feathers were a bit wider than that of its counterpart. The other, while having more feathers over all, had some markings on the front of their body, something the other one didn’t have. They also appeared to have a slightly wider lower half in comparison to the other. Their legs looked relatively the same with their weird animal-like bends. Their legs did seem to carry quite a bit of muscle in comparison to their upper body.

As I was trying to take it all in, Purple Eyes once again took back the paper to draw again. This time, they seemed to be talking with the others while drawing the next image. It was almost human like how they seemed to chat with each other while one continued to draw. Kind of like how the dad’s would talk around the grill while one flipped the patties and kept watch of the grilled food at the backyard bbq. Before I could let out a chuckle at the sight, Purple Eyes quickly flipped the page back to me, revealing a back view of the figures from before at a side-by-side comparison.

With this new set of drawings, I was able to discover that they in fact have what I would call “tail feathers”. They didn’t seem to be huge, but just enough that it didn’t just look like a tuft of feathers on their lower back. With a strange reveal, it seemed that the one without frontal markings had markings on their back while the other one with frontal markings didn’t have any markings on their back. And the one with back markings had a more extravagant display of “tail feathers” while the one without back markings didn’t.

From my best guess, they are showing me the two sexes of their species and their visible distinctions, and from what I can tell, one has to give birth. I can’t tell how this birthing happens, for it could be a mammalian style or an oviparous style of birth. I mean they’re aliens for goodness sake, they could have a completely different style that we don’t even have any understanding of. But from closer inspection and general understanding of human biology, having wider hips generally signifies a wider pelvis and a wider pelvis signifies a female. Wider pelvis for giving birth… That means the one with frontal markings is the supposed “female” of the two while the one with back markings is the “male”. Then again, this is all from comparing their biology to human biology. I could be completely wrong, but my hypothesis seems very likely to be true based on the so-called “data”.

Purple Eyes then pointed to the “male” before pointing back to themselves. He then pointed to the “female” before pointing to Red and Green Eyes. I gave a nod in return. I guess I should return the explanation, even if I can’t give as much detail in the drawing like Purple Eyes did. I reached over and grabbed another piece of paper from the folder along with the pen. I gave my best attempt at the male and female bodies, yet it still looked like a sort of jumbled mess. I tried to replicate that one Leonardo drawing of the man but with both sexes except it looked pretty bad. I then tried to draw a child between them like Purple Eyes did with his, and it looked just as bad.

“Shit that looks bad. As you can see I’m not really an artist. I work better with space stuff if I’m being honest.” I told them as I reluctantly flipped the page to them, showing off the poor attempt at a detailed depiction of both the male and female sex. Like with Purple Eyes, I pointed to the male figure before pointing back to me. It then occurred to me that they needed a female to compare the drawing to just as Purple Eyes did with his companions. Right…

An idea came to me after a few seconds, causing me to suddenly get up from my seat. The three were a little surprised, but I tried my best to assure them that it was all okay. I then quickly rushed into the sleeping quarters. I began to frantically look for the crew photo we had taken a week before the mission’s lift off. After looking inside my personal belongings container, I finally found a copy of it attached to a book’s cover. It was all of us in our space suits without the helmet sitting down and posed in front of a picture of Earth with the U.S and Canadian flag off on either side. We were all smiling, ready to take on whatever the mission had in store for us. Ambitious…

I then quickly made my way back to the three at the table. They seemed to be talking with each other when I came back to my seat. I quickly grabbed their attention when they saw I had something in my hand.

“This will make things easier…” I then pointed to the male figure drawing then back to me, then to Jeff and Dale in the picture. I then pointed to the female figure drawing then back to Lisa and Captain Levine. I then set the photo down on the table next to the drawings to let them get a closer look.

“Bob.” Green Eyes surprisingly stated as she pointed to me in the picture.

“Yeah, that’s me. That’s Dale, Jeff, Lisa, and Captain Levine.” I told them while pointing to each of them in the photo respectively.

“Aeuh…” Red Eyes attempted, most likely trying to say “Dale”.

“Dale. See the tongue? DALE.” I tried helping them, even though I didn’t fully know if they had tongues to begin with. It was almost like teaching a baby how to speak and use its mouth to change how words are said. Suddenly, Red Eyes opened their “mouth” enough for me to get a small glimpse at the inside of their mouth. They did in fact have what looked like tongues, and it seemed like she was trying to copy what I was doing with my tongue to get the “D” and “L” in his name. I looked a little dumb with my mouth all open repeating Dale’s name over and over slowly, but luckily it was helping Red Eyes in saying his name. The other two even joined in on the small phonics lesson. It was a little strange seeing their weird mouths move around, but it was pretty cool to see them progress in speaking my language. After a little while they were able to finally pronounce the “D” and “L” in his name.

“Dale-uh. DALE-UH” They all kept repeating the name over and over like a proud kid who learned a smart word from their science class.

“Y’all learn pretty quickly, little envious here.” If it takes this long for them to even pronounce a name, it's going to take forever for them to understand our grammar. At least this is a start. I then stood up with a groan.

“Alright. I say we take a break from all this exchange of drawings and stuff. It’s all been quite a lot to take in, so how about a bit of human culture, eh? Follow me.” I motioned for them to follow as I made my way to the sleeping quarters. They quickly got up and followed me inside the room, stopping to take in their surroundings.

“Have a look around. I’m sure you can discover more on your own than me doing a show and tell of what’s all in here. Plus, I’m sure the rest of the crew would have wanted to show off what they had to their first alien guests.” I said as I sat down on my small bunk, watching them look around. I then motioned my hand for them to explore some more. They eventually caught on and began to look around and pick through the stuff that was all in there.

First, Purple Eyes started looking at the various pictures that were at the different bunks, picking them up and strangely holding them in front of his body before putting them back where he got them. Next, Green Eyes was looking through Dale’s personal items container, eventually pulling out what looked like a magazine. It was in fact a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit magazine, go figure. It was kind of funny how innocent Green Eyes was as she looked through the pages. Finally, Red Eyes was looking through one of the closets, pulling out shirts and observing them before putting them back inside. What caught me off guard was the acoustic guitar she suddenly pulled out.

“What the hell? Since when was that there?” I said as she looked all around it. My sudden statement caused her to look over at me, noticing my eyes stuck on the instrument in her hands. She then walked over with the guitar before presenting it to me. I reached out and grabbed the guitar.

“Holy shit. This has Jeff written all over it. And it's got a pick! Well I’ll be damned.” I chuckled as I held the guitar. I then slow strum the guitar to check if it was tuned. The sound echoed out in the room, catching the attention of the other two. They both walked over to where me and Red Eyes were, watching me as I listened closely to the sound of the strings.

“And it's tuned right! Y’all want to hear some ‘human culture’?” They just stared back at me, not understanding that I was even asking a question.

“Right. Man, its been since I left earth that I last played a guitar, and that’s a fucking long time. Hm, how about some Jack Johnson? My little nephew always liked this one…” I then warmed up a little, cleared my throat, and finally began to play. While my singing voice was a little rough, they had nothing to judge off of besides me, so at least it wasn’t all that embarrassing. They simply watched and listened as I played the song. To keep me from getting stage fright from their burning stares, I kept my eyes on my hands along the neck of the guitar. I began to get carried away, forgetting about what was all around me, simply letting the music sound and guide me. I suddenly felt the bed shift on my right mid way through the song, but I kept on going like nothing happened.

It honestly felt good to do this again. It was one of those things I knew I had to leave behind if I were to go on this mission. I was okay with doing that, but it was still something I enjoyed doing as a hobby. I mean, who wouldn’t want to do something that they enjoyed again?

As I reached the end of the song, reality began to creep back in.

“Is this how it’s supposed to be? Is this how it’s supposed to be?” As I said the final verses and played the final notes, I looked back up to the “crowd”, only to still see all eyes trained on me. I looked to my right to see Green Eyes sitting on the bed next to me, staring back at me with her dangerous eyes. I suddenly heard thumping as I turned to see the other two hitting their upper thighs with a slightly closed fist, nodding their head while doing so. Green Eyes began to do the same, causing me to finally understand that this must be their version of clapping, very strange. I’m the first musician to play for other worldly beings, I’ll be damned.

Even though it was very strange, I was starting to enjoy the company around here, even if they were aliens. Simply having some people around me was helping with the onset loneliness I was getting since the accident. If only they could enjoy this with me.

“Thank you, thank you. You’re too kind. Wanna have a look at it?” I handed the guitar to Green Eyes who was somewhat caught off guard. I could hear Red wheezing as Green slowly held the guitar. Purple started to say something to her, and it must have been some affirming words because she finally seemed to have some confidence in the instrument. She held it flat on her lap and began to randomly strum some of the stings, most likely exploring the instrument. She then settled on just strumming one string and moving a finger up and down on the fretboard, almost like a slide guitar. It started off as a random selection of sounds, but after a little bit it started to actually sound like a practiced piece of music. It was strange, it sounded like a weird variation of classical guitar playing. I couldn’t exactly pin it, but I guess that’s the reality of it, I was hearing alien music. It was kind of crazy how quickly she picked up on the instrument, maybe they have something similar to it.

I sat there astonished as she continued to play the alien tune. That wheezing came again, causing me to look at the other two who were looking at me. Red said something to Green which caused her to momentarily stop her playing. More laughing ensued between Red and Purple. Suddenly, Green kicked the leg of Purple, causing him to stumble back a little. It was a little hard to piece together what exactly was happening between them. Were they joking about her playing? Were they laughing at her attempt? Either way, it was best to try and diffuse whatever was happening before it could get any worse.

I then tried my best at replicating whatever their version of clapping was in an attempt to try and calm them down.

“Hey, that was pretty cool. You could be a pretty good slide guitar player on Earth if I’m being honest.” I then gave a thumbs up out of habit.

That didn’t work. In fact, I might have just made it worse. Those two started to laugh again with Purple laughing the hardest, causing Green to suddenly hand me the guitar before lunging at him. It was a little alarming how quickly she jumped at him. The two then tumbled in the air for a second before hitting the ground and sliding into the frame of the bunk across from mine. Red backed away just enough to get out of the way of the tumbling space chickens fighting on the ground. Sounds of loud grunts and weird hissing echoed throughout the room as the two fought. Me and Red then tried to separate them, but it was a little hard to do so in low gravity without falling over yourself. What ultimately happened was Red getting caught up in the mini brawl on the ground. Now a few yelps could be heard from Red as she tried to break it up the best she could.

“Fuck me. I just tried to help…” I squatted down and quickly grabbed Purple in a bear hug, yanking him up surprisingly fast. Red was able to get a hold on Green from the ground. I backed up a little to keep Purple from getting kicked in the face by Green. Instead of grunts and hissing, what I would assume to be yelling replaced the air of the room, causing me to wince at the loud noise. I was getting fed up with this dumb shit.

“JESUS CHRIST! CALM THE FUCK DOWN YOU TWO!” I yelled out, causing them to finally shut up. Both Green and Purple were breathing pretty hard, and it seemed like they might have roughed up their faces a little in the scuffle. It looked like Red was whispering something to Green which helped calm her down. Purple started talking between his heavy breathing, hopefully trying to bring down the situation.

“Are we good? I don’t want to let you go if you're just gonna attack her.” Red let go of Green before helping her up to her feet. I guess that was a sign I could let him go too. I set him back down on the ground before sitting back down on my bed. Green suddenly walked out of the room, causing Purple to try and follow her before he was stopped by Red. A quick exchange of words was enough to make Purple forget trying to follow Green out there. Red pushed Purple over to the bed, forcing him to sit down next to me. I scooched over to let Red sit too out of habit. I must have guessed right as Red sat next to Purple, holding a hand on his shoulder as he sighed and rubbed his lower jaw. She must have gotten a clean hit on his face when they were scuffling on the ground. Red started to talk with Purple, likely discussing what should be done next.

It wasn’t right for me to make judgment calls on stuff like this when I have zero clue about their cultures and how they work, but from a human standpoint, both Red and Purple were in the wrong here. Then again, I also have no idea the relationship the three have with each other. They could all be related for all I know and this was just some sibling banter. I guess I have to just let them deal with it and just stick to the sidelines for now. But that doesn’t mean I still can’t show some human generosity and sympathy. Maybe some simple cups of water can help deviate the tension between the two, maybe redirect their attention to the fact that they are guests at an alien’s home. It’s the best that I can honestly do at the moment, and it wouldn’t hurt to try, right?

Chapter Text

I let out a sigh as I arose from my seat on the bed. I gave a friendly tap on Purple’s shoulder as I made my way out to try and fix whatever had just happened.

“Hey, just take a minute to gather yourself, alright? I’ll be right back. Keep an eye on him, Red, don’t want him making fun of me while I’m gone.” I joked with the two, but they would ultimately not understand what I was getting at. For once, they didn’t try and get up and follow after me. Maybe they did understand what I was trying to do…

I slowly made my way out of the sleeping quarters to head out on my mini mission, make everyone friends again and possibly show them more cool human stuff. Problem is, my plan could backfire just like earlier and cause another brawl on my lab’s floor. Maybe some water can help smooth things over between the two.

As I walked out the room, I could see Green sitting on the ground a few feet away from the entrance. She was breathing hard like Purple, most likely overexerted from the sudden fight. She had the upper part of her suit taken off and lying on the ground next to her. She had what looked like a simple gray flight suit on without the arm sleeves. Tufts of the supposed feathers poked out from the collar and ran up her arms to her shoulders. A mix of different shades of dark green and brown layered her arms which gave a unique speckled look. We met eyes for a split second before I decided to just keep going to get the water and cups. As I got to the table we were sitting at before, I could feel her eyes burning a hole through the back of my head. I had to just keep cool in order to not make things any more awkward between all of us. It was easier said than done. I grabbed the water bag and three cups from the table and started to make my way back to the sleeping quarters. Green Eyes just stared at me as I made my way back across the room.

I felt a little conflicted with the current situation. One part of me wants to keep things neutral so as to not bring any possible offense to them. I didn’t know their cultures and customs, I didn’t know how they dealt with personal issues, and I didn’t know how they showed care for one another. What all I had was my own human idea of helping, and my first attempt at relying on such assumptions resulted in a brawl on the ground in front of me. And now the other part of me wants to try that same route again in hopes that it will go well this time. It’s a gamble, but my inner uncle is coming out at the sight of her sitting on the ground clearly frustrated, a sight I am pretty familiar with. Those few months of coaching my little nephew’s soccer team helped with learning how to cheer kids up when they feel discouraged after losing their game. That could really come in handy right now. But they aren’t kids, they’re aliens. They won’t even understand me. But maybe just the action of it could still have an impact on her…

Fuck it.

I decided to walk over to Green who was still sitting on the ground which caught her off guard by my sudden redirection. I leaned up against the wall and slowly slid down into sitting on the ground next to her. I let out a sigh before handing her a cup which she slowly accepted. I tried not to look her in the eyes in order to keep my confidence going strong, as I couldn’t afford to start feeling put off with her predatory eyes. I motioned for her to let me pour some water in her cup. She seemed to understand and slowly held out the cup to me. She just kept looking at me as I filled up the cup, almost like I was an alien serving her a drink in their space lab on a moon. Once I filled up the cup just enough and stopped my pouring, she immediately began to drink up the water. She must have really been worn out to down the cup that quick. Now came the hard part, helping to cheer her up. You got this Bob, just imagine she’s one of the kid players on your nephew’s team after they lost a game.

“Hey. Uh, things kind of seem pretty bad right now, yeah? You’re upset, I get it. He might have said something that pressed some buttons that shouldn’t be pressed, but we gotta put that behind us, okay?” Her attention returned back to me.

“We have moments where our emotions get the better of us, especially when we’re angry. It can make us do stuff we’ll regret later, and it can hurt others and push them away. Take it from me, I’ve let my emotions take control of my actions before, and it did in fact hurt people and drive them away. Please, don’t make the same mistake I did. Okay? Don’t let those bad emotions win. Trust me.” I let out a sigh of relief. I turned to look at her, only to meet her eyes staring right back at me. A shiver ran down my spine.

“ Ahem… Now come on, I’ve got something cool to show you and your crewmates.” By the time I finished my little pep talk, Green had finished the last drops of her water. I got up with a groan and reached down to give her a hand. She stared for a second before gripping my hand. Only then did I realize that I truly took the hand of an alien and not just a gloved handshake like before. To be honest, it was nice to actually feel some life in the hand this time. I pulled her up to her feet rather quickly, causing her to let out a tiny surprised yelp. I must have forgotten about the low gravity.

Even though I knew she didn’t understand a lick of what I had said to her, a part of me felt like my pep talk might have made a difference in the situation. That or the fact I simply sat by her side and gave her some water might have done something. While this whole situation wasn’t as serious as I was making it, these three could be the only few people that I will interact with for the rest of my life. I didn’t want things to feel all awkward here for them. In fact, I wanted things to be enjoyable and interesting for both parties, but that can’t happen when two of them have some strange tension between each other.

Green picked up the upper half of her suit from the ground and began to make her way back into the sleeping quarters. I was a little relieved that I didn’t have to direct her inside this time like I have with the whole lot of them. I walked in after her to see that she had already started talking with Purple. It seemed like things were going fine from the clear lack of fist fighting happening. I walked next to Red and handed her a cup before filling it up. She surprisingly gave what looked like a “thank you” with her cup, holding it with both her hands and raising it up slightly while lifting her chin up. I gave an attempt at replicating her gesture with my own cup of water. I turned back to the talking duo as things seemed to quiet down.

“Are things cooled down now? Because I would love to try and show y’all something crazy.” I gave Red the bag of water suddenly which caused her to fumble with it before finally getting a hold of the thing without somehow spilling anything. I then reached down into my left pocket and fished out the IPod with the earbud still plugged in. Red had surprisingly begun to pour Purple a cup of water. I guess she figured out how to use the thing.

“Now, I only just found this out last night, but apparently Jeff loaded some videos on this thing.” I held up the small device for the trio to gaze at.

“If I’m being completely honest, I had no idea that you could put videos on this little thing. I mean, the quality isn’t all that great, but I’ll gladly take what I can get in my current situation…” I looked down at the IPod in my hand. At this point, all human media was better than nothing, even if I couldn’t make out the fine details in the picture quality.

“Anyway, aside from the various music videos loaded into this thing, Jeff had some nature videos loaded in as well. Pretty convenient if I have to say.” The trio kept their usual puzzled stares as I went on.

“Now, it would be pretty difficult to try and share this between the four of us, and considering we only have one pair of earbuds, it’s going to be a problem. But don’t worry, I think I know how to make this work.” I set down my cup on a nearby counter and walked over to one of the small tables on the ends of the bunks. I had luckily found the charging cable for the IPod in the rest of Jeff’s stuff a bit ago when the battery was going down. I had it plugged into one of the station’s research laptops to charge for the longest time without even considering I could mess with the IPod from there. It had only occurred to me just this “morning” before my surprise guests showed up.

“If I can’t get this to work, We’ll have to just pass it around or take turns.” They watched as I walked over to the laptop on the table. I then plugged in the IPod to its cable and opened up the laptop, looking around the files to see if anything popped up. As I was searching, one of the three walked up behind me and peered over my shoulder. Then another walked up behind me. And then the other followed. Now they were all watching what I was doing from behind my back, making me a little nervous as a result. After what felt like a century of scouring the laptop, I finally found what looked like the IPod’s files. And after a quick look inside, I found the video’s mp4 files.

“Jackpot…” I was practically salivating at the possibility of watching any human media, especially with my three alien friends that would most likely love to see a bit of Earth.

“Please work for me, I’m beggin’…” I winced as I clicked one of the nature video’s file. A little window popped up with a loading circle, and after an excruciatingly long minute, the video actually began to play.

“Holy shit…” I said under my breath.

“HA HA, Yes!” I raised my hands in triumph, causing the three behind me to jump back a bit at the sudden movement. Luckily no water was thrown about from their cups as a result. I quickly paused the video, got up, and “ran” to the main lab area to fetch the papers we had drawn on from earlier. The three were practically frozen in place, likely scared from my sporadic movements. I ran back into the sleeping quarters with a tight grip on the pieces of drawn-on paper.
“R-Right, uh. Home, HOME.” I said to them while pointing to the crude drawing of earth.

“Home. This is home.” I then pointed to the laptop.

They followed my finger to the laptop, then back to me, then finally back to the laptop.

“J-Just watch this, okay?” I then reached over and clicked the play button, resuming the video before sitting back down. They all looked at each other, likely confused with whatever was happening, before looking back at the screen. A large red “N” appeared before disappearing as the screen faded into a shot of the moon. An old English voice then began to speak.

“Just fifty years ago, we finally ventured to the moon.” The view of said moon then slowly shifted to reveal a small earth that had been hidden behind it.

“For the very first time, we look back at our own planet.” The view of the moon then changed to a close up of the slowly rotating earth in all its beauty. I was too engrossed in the video to notice that the three started to practically lean in to look at the screen. As the earth rotated, the darkside began to take over, revealing all the webbing lights that covered the planet.

While my three alien guests were focused on this new world filled with alien life, I was suddenly hit with a strong case of homesickness at the sight. For them, it was a monumental moment to see an alien homeworld, but for me, it was a reminder of what I left behind. All of humanity, its history and the people a part of it, were there. Except me…

As the video progressed, scenes of Earth and its nature started to show. Schools of brightly colored fish in a clear blue ocean, a large tiger moving through the tall grass, and a polar bear with her cub walking through the snow were just a few of the scenes displayed on the screen. We were all just taking in the visuals, perfectly distracted from the current situation we were in. But the longer the video went on, the greater the homesickness became. It was almost nauseating. Nostalgia, memories, my life, it was all hitting me in quick waves. Flashes of my late mother, little brother, and my dad almost made me fall out of my chair with the gut punch it gave me. It hurt. It really hurt.

Shit, now it was my turn to feel bummed out.

I decided to rest my head into my hands on the table, trying my best to help aid against this onset jumble of emotions. It didn’t seem to help, as now my leg began to nervously bounce along with my mental anguish. It was starting to become too much. It felt like my brain was about to overload and fry itself. My eyes felt damp as everything began to quiet down around me. It felt like my insides were twisting up into a painful knot. I shouldn’t be acting like this, especially not around my alien guests. This is bad. They shouldn't have to see me mentally freak out while watching a simple nature video.

It finally became too much for me to handle. I was about to stand up and walk out the room when I suddenly felt something on my shoulder. Reality kicked in, the bouncing stopped, and the onslaught of memories and homesickness started to fade.

“Bob.”

I lifted my head up from my hands and looked to my right. An alien hand resting on my shoulder with its alien owner looking down at me with her dark, emerald like eyes. Instead of that same feeling of worry that usually came from their predatory stares, it somewhat felt more sentimental this time. Almost like I could see some bit of emotion through her eyes.

She then said something to me. Complete nonsense, yet I could still feel the sentiment behind it. She might be worried. Makes sense, their alien friend who has been pretty normal the past hour or so suddenly starts to mentally break apart after watching a video on their alien device.

“I-I’m okay. Really.” I wiped the wetness from my eyes and paused the video.

“I’m sorry. I guess I really miss home.” I let out a slight chuckle. Green looked back to the screen before returning back to me, her hand still resting on my shoulder.

“Huh-oh-muh…” She spoke out suddenly, catching me off guard.

“Y-Yeah, home.”

“Home.” She quickly corrected herself in the pronunciation. She then pointed to the screen.

“Bob. Home.”

Woah.

I give a nod back, something to tell her she was right. The other two started to quietly talk to each other after Green gave me somewhat of a sentence, something I could actually understand. She then turned to them and started to talk. A small conversation ensued between the three, all while I was sitting there essentially waiting to see what transpires next. She rested her hand on my shoulder again, reached over, and closed the laptop in front of me. They must catch on quickly to stuff if she figured that out, or maybe they have an equivalent on their planet.

As they were talking, Purple walked off from the group seemingly talking to himself. He was holding onto a piece of his suit on his chest as he talked. It seemed likely that he was communicating with someone through a radio of sorts. The girls seemed to stop talking as Red walked off towards Purple. Green then grabbed my arm and pulled me up from my seat. It was a little alarming at the sudden assertiveness she had, and for some reason, I went along with it. I had been the one to practically dictate what we were doing, so it only felt fair to let them do the same. She then started to pull me along out to the main lab area with the other two behind me.

We had gone back to the table area near the airlock from before. She then began to put the upper half of her suit back on. The other two just secured their helmets back on their heads with audible clicks and seals. Are they wanting to leave? Do they need to go back to whatever machine that brought them here? Maybe they want to explore the outside of the lab. I went along with whatever they had planned and began to also suit up. As I was doing so, it looked like one of them was stowing away the drawn pictures into a small pocket on their suit. They must have snagged them while I was busy talking with Green in the sleeping quarters. I also saw that she finally put her helmet on as the other two began to walk over to the airlock. I finally joined them as I locked my helmet to the suit and secured the seal.

They waited patiently as I opened up the airlock door for them. Just like when we first came into the lab, I initiated the depressurization sequence, waited for the signal, and finally opened up the door to the garage. Instead of me guiding them out, this time they walked ahead and went on out the blown open hole of the garage. Either Red or Purple looked back to see if I was actually following them. Maybe they really are leaving?

They continued walking out from the lab with me behind them until they suddenly stopped not too far from where we first met. They all looked at each other, most likely talking or discussing something. The one in the middle then nodded to Green. I was lucky enough to remember which one she was when they were all suiting up earlier. She then opened up one of the pockets on her suit and pulled out a strange rectangular and metallic device. It was all black with a little reflective piece going across the middle. She then walked up to me and held it out for me to take. I slowly took the device in my hand. Is this a gift? Are we really exchanging gifts?

“Shit, I don’t have anything good to give back to them…” I said under my breath as I started to pat down my suit in search of anything I could easily trade. Then, with a stroke of genius, I quickly reached up to my shoulder and took off the velcro mission patch. It had the crew’s names and an image of a bright star with 5 bands of yellow light coming down onto a cropped part of earth on the bottom. I then held it out for her to take, just as she did with me. She looked back to her friends before slowly receiving my gift. She held it up to her visor before carefully putting the patch in a pocket.

We all shared an awkward moment of staring after the exchange before the one in the middle, most likely Purple, turned around and began to walk. Red followed suit. Green then gave me one more glance before following after her crewmates. As they began to walk away, I sheepishly gave a goodbye wave to my alien guests.

Surely they’ll be back. They won't just leave an actual alien and go back to their home.

 

…

 

They’ll be back.

 

As I watched them move farther out, they finally disappeared from my view as they went behind one of the distant hills that covered the moon’s surface. I let out a sigh as I turned around to face the lab. The wreckage of the communications array still lay next to the garage along with all the other pieces of scrap and debris I had piled up. The lab was not a pretty sight at all. Why did it have to happen? Why did it happen without me?

I began to walk back to the lab, letting out a deep sigh in an attempt to ease this growing concern in my body. A concern of what the future would actually bring. Too many questions, too many concerns, too many worries. I need someone, anyone.

“I wish I could have saved y’all. I don’t think I can do this all on my own.”

 

“It’s too much…”

Chapter Text

Chapter 7

“I feel sorry for him. He most likely does not know why we left so suddenly.”

Lameno let out a rough sigh that sounded through the helmet’s comms. Seemed like the weight of this sudden change in our original mission was finally setting in for him.

Countless days were spent preparing and training for our mission to one of the moons to gather extensive research on the lunar surface and to gather remnants of the asteroid that was projected to strike it. Suddenly abandoning all that preparation in the middle of the mission is sure to build up some stress and anger. I do not blame him.

“He will be fine. He has nowhere else to go, and Home Lead cannot bear waiting long for an update, especially with our current situation.” Lameno kept his pace as he led me and Syntellia back to the lander. Luckily it wasn’t that far from Bob’s small facility. Only issue was the craters we had to scale on the way there.

“I could go for a break to eat. That water really did start up my hunger.” Syntellia mentioned as we finally got sight of our lander, the Myrvry. The white and gray finish on the hull shined bright from the star’s light as we stepped out of the crater. Its large and streamline appearance was definitely the talk back at Home Lead. It was the most modern and up to date spacecraft we had constructed, housing the most cutting edge technology we had available. It was practically a luxurious home turned high end spacecraft. Being one of the very few chosen to man this beauty of a lander did cause some rivalry and hard feelings back at Home Lead with my other companions. It is definitely going to get a lot worse after this whole situation with Bob.

“I agree, I doubt he had food we could actually digest without causing some serious problems.” As much as I wanted to learn more about him and his people, we still have our natural needs. Syntellia mentioning food caused me to suddenly feel hungry as well. I guess all this learning and excitement made me forget about needing to feed myself.

“I will deal with the report back to Home Lead. You two can go ahead and get yourselves fed.”

“What about you? Surely you’re hungry too.” Syntellia mentioned to Lameno as we made our way to the lander’s main airlock.

“Home Lead is going to have a lot to say, and they will want to hear everything. I’m hoping they will have us do some actual planned objectives for our apparent new mission instead of just making first contact.” He reached out to the small access panel on the lower side of the lander and pulled the switch to send out a ladder for us to reach the airlock.

“I’ll survive missing a meal. If they’ll have us go back to Bob, I’ll be sure to pack some food to eat, so don’t worry yourself.”

“I’m sure they’ll want us back out getting more information from him as soon as possible than just waiting on a full detailed report back from you. We don’t exactly have time to spare.” I reasoned with Lameno as the ladder slowly made its way down to us.

“Well, you know Home Lead, nothing is ever that efficient with them. It's all about details and specifics…”

We finally made our way up into the airlock. The doors closed behind us, allowing for the whole system to do its job in getting us access into the lander. After a short time, just like with Bob’s own airlock, the doors finally opened for us to enter.

The Myrvry was as spacious as we could make it with the constraints of low gravity. The main cockpit looked very standard for most spacecraft, but the true luxury lay in the operating systems and controls. Manning the Myrvry was as easy as walking. The cockpit also housed incredible technology that made quick and seamless calculations to make landing and takeoff a breeze. No longer does one have to worry about crashing into the lunar surface or into an orbiting station anymore. The lower half of the lander housed the small living quarters along with all of our food and water supplies. Having some sense of space in the Myrvry is better than most other landers we have. The fact we have a separate “room” for us to sleep in makes this lander extremely luxurious.

Once the doors closed behind us, we began to pry our Modular Environment Suits off.

“We got lucky with the alien breathing oxygen, like, really lucky.” Syntellia tells me as she takes off her suit’s helmet. I followed after her with my own helmet, pulling down my head cover which in turn caused my plume to look like I just woke up from some rough sleep.

“It doesn’t seem like he breathes the same levels as us though. When I took that reading of the oxygen levels, it was about a 94% similarity to our own. Makes sense why I got so winded…” I exchanged a glare at Lameno. An awkward moment of silence was shared between all of us.

“Uh, well at least he should be okay with breathing on the planet’s surface.” Syntellia tried at easing the tension.

“Already thinking that far ahead? We aren’t even sure if he should even be allowed to step foot on our home.” Lameno finally chimed in as he set his suit on the latch in his respective cubby near the airlock.

“What do you mean?” I ask as I finally get out of my own suit.

“There are still a lot of other factors we need to look into before deciding on bringing him back to our home. Possible unknown diseases we have no cures for that he might be carrying. Harmful bacteria he could bring that might be detrimental to our planet’s ecosystem. His food could be harmful to us. His medicines could be harmful to us. His breath could even be harmful to us. The list is very long, okay.” He had a very stern look in his eye. As much as I wanted to go on the defense, he was right in his concerns. There really was a lot to consider.

“Look, I’m excited too. We just made history not too long ago, and I would love to show him all the great stuff we have to offer, but we need to make sure he is safe to be around, for our people, for our home. We cannot be lazy with this, understood?”

Me and Syntellia each gave a respected nod of agreement.

“Right, then enjoy this small break while we have it. And just as a precaution, disinfect yourselves before getting in the food or water supply. You’re released.” He let out a sigh as he turned around and went to the main cockpit seat to get the report in back to Home Lead.

Me and Syntellia silently made our way to the ladder down to the crew living quarters. I was starting to get really hungry.

“Always so serious, wish he would just open up into that childlike amazement and curiosity for a little bit. The last thing we need is to die from stress over the mission.” Syntellia jokes as she heads over to the supply shelves. I let out a slight sound of amusement to try and lighten things up.

“He’ll drop dead first before either of us.” I reply with a laugh.

Me and Syntellia shared a nice moment of laughter before she handed me a few sealed packets of disinfecting cloth.

“He wasn’t wrong.” She teased as she ripped open one of her packets and began to wipe down her arms and face. I gave her a quick glare and followed suit with my own disinfectant packets.

 

“It was quite the shame we had to hurry off, I was really enjoying the scenes of his home world. It looked very beautiful.” She told me as she balled up the cloth and put it through the disposal bin by the supply shelves.

“It really did, but it was a little strange with how he was reacting to it.” I threw away the used up cloth and sat down in my small bed nearby.

“What do you mean?” Syntellia joined me at my side, pulling her legs in and turning towards me while leaning on the wall separating the beds.

“You did not see how he was acting? He looked quite in distress, almost in a strange state of mourning.” Memories of the weird moment came back to me.

“I must have been too focused on the screen to notice. Are you sure he was in distress?”

I let out a sigh as I remember the view of him with his head in his hands leaning over the table. It was a rough sight at the least. His body language was much more different than earlier when he was drawing the images and talking to us.

“Well, maybe not in complete distress, but he did not look okay, Syntellia. He was also shaking in his seat and not even watching the screen. Something just felt off about it all.” I let out a sigh.

“Well, if I were in his position, I would be a little bit unwell at the sights of my homeworld that I left behind.” I grimace at the point. It was rough to hear, but she could be right.

“He seemed to break out of it when I asked him about his home.”

“You also touched him ungloved.” She gently poked at my arm with serious eyes.

“It helped him didn’t it?”

She took a moment to think before nodding in agreement.

“He’s also completely alone here. You saw the image he showed us at the table. The others with him, I saw similar images in the room he took us in. There were also more beds in there besides him.”

“I wonder why he didn’t mention anything besides their names…” Syntellia had a confused look on her face. I began to rationalize.

“Something must have happened before we showed up. They could have possibly been away from the facility while we were there.” I tried to reason.

“We stayed there for quite a while, Nylae. They would have returned at some point.” She was not wrong. It was hard to make a strong conclusion though with such little evidence. He was an alien afterall. Anything that was strange to us could be normal for him.

“Ugh, I have too many questions. Most of which I will not even get an answer to.” I sigh out in frustration and lean back onto the bed.

“Hey, next time we visit him, we’ll see where the rest of his friends are. Well, at least try and see where they are. Or we could just try and ask him where they are.” She got up from the bed and walked over to the supply shelves. I slowly sat back up.

“We just need to be patient with everything, alright?” She reached into one of the food shelves and threw me a sealed pack of marinated mahla. The sight of the packaged food reminded me of my hunger again.

“Lameno was right, we should enjoy the break while we have it.” She tells me as sits across from me on the floor already digging into the prepackaged cooked meat.

As I began to dig into my own food, my mind trailed off to Bob. He was incredibly interesting. So strange yet somewhat similar. Where were his friends, his crew? Why is he here on one of our moons? Is he truly safe to be around? Should we be worried? If he really is safe to be around, then what does that mean moving forward? He could come back with us, but then what? Too many possibilities.

Too many questions…

…

But it would be nice. To show him our planet, our people, our cultures, our nature. We could show him our technology and maybe he could share his. We could learn about each other's worlds. He could even sing his songs and play his music for us. It is all too incredible, but I can’t help but dream.

I wish he could be here with us and not by himself.

“Hey, Nylae. Do you wonder how he is doing right now? I am.” She asked me suddenly. I thought for a moment.

“I’m not sure, but I hope he is doing okay since after we left.”

 

****

 

“♪ Well I’m stadin’ on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, and such a fine sight to see ♪” The zero-impact wrench rumbled in my hand as the fixed solar panel was fastened to its frame on the lab’s roof.

“♪ It’s a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford, slowin’ down to take a look at me ♪” I hooked the tool to my suit’s harness and got up from my kneeling position. As I backed up, I tripped on the tool box and fell on my back with a deep thud. My head came a bit too close to the edge of the lab’s roof.

“Agh, shit.” I groaned in frustration as I attempted to stand myself up. I gained sight of the culprit for my fall, made sure it was all shut and secured, and then proceeded to punt it off the lab’s roof. I watched as it went farther than I expected, skipping on the lunar surface before finally settling in a cloud of dust and rocks.

“Fuck you.” I sighed as I made my way off the roof. Luckily I had just finished the maintenance on the solar panels before I kicked the tool box off the roof. I would get it back another time, it's not like someone was going to steal it. I let out a deep sigh as I made it down the ladder.

“♪ Take it easy, take it easy ♪” The music definitely helped to ease the stress. After my alien guests suddenly left, I had to keep myself busy in order to save me from another mental overload. The true weight of it all came to me after they left.

I had a chance. It may not be a sure chance, but it was still better than nothing. Aliens exist, and they might be my saviors. How they’ll do it, I’m not sure. If they came here, then that means they achieved space travel. I could possibly hitch a ride back to their home planet, but that still opens up too many factors to consider.

Their planet could be very dangerous on the surface. Their food could kill me. Their wildlife could kill me. Their environments could kill me. All these possible ways to get hurt, and they can’t even help me. They don’t know human biology. They don’t have humanity’s lifetime of medical research to effectively help me. I know what was required in order to be a part of this mission, but that's only helpful when I’m in the right state of mind and not writhing in pain from some extreme alien illness I picked up. I can’t even communicate to them how to help me either. Essentially, if I get so hurt or sick that I can’t even help myself with the knowledge I have, then I’m fucked. This sort of thinking quickly got my brain stressed out, but luckily there was plenty to do around the lab to get my mind off it.

I made my way into the garage. The “air” felt wrong every time I went through it. Their faces staring at me under the tarp in the far corner. They ask me why I wasn’t there, why I wasn’t quick enough. Too late. Too late. I can’t do anything now but walk by their corpses everytime I go out. It hurts.

I quickly get inside the airlock to try and escape it. Once the lab’s door opened, I rushed in.

“Shit, I gotta deal with that. But not now…” I sighed as I got out of my uncomfortable suit. I ran my hand through my dark brown hair as I looked over the main lab. There were still rementes of their visit on the table. A few pieces of paper and some pens. I kind of wished they left the drawings.

“Look on the bright side of things, man. You’re going to be alright. You’re surviving.” I told myself as I walked over to the viewport. I let out a yawn and looked down at my digital wrist watch.

8:47 p.m.

“Right. Long ‘day’”. I began to walk off to the sleeping quarters. Maybe some rest could help to give my poor mind a break from the stress.

I pulled out the IPod with the earbuds still plugged in from my chest pocket, browsing through the countless songs to find one good enough to sleep to. I sat down on the small bunk, slowly laying back onto the covers.

“Come on…” After browsing through the hundreds of songs, something caught my eye.

Night Moves

After clicking play and turning down the music a bit, I relaxed deeper in the bed as the song went on. Sounded like something my dad listened to…

“Good enough. Good enough…” My eyelids got heavier as I let my body finally relax until I drifted off into a deep sleep.

 

****

 

“I can’t wait to get back home to eat some real food.” Syntellia groaned as she threw away her finished meal packet.

“First thing I am going to do when I get back is to celebrate with a feast of all the food I took for granted.” She stretched her arms out in front of herself with a sigh. I let out a slight chuckle which caught her attention.

“A feast?” I laugh out loud.

“It’s an apology to the wonderful foods I never truly appreciated until now.”

“Is the prepackaged food that dreadful? I think they taste pretty good.” I throw a piece of the marinated mahla into my mouth. She points a finger at me.

“Some of us aren’t okay with eating the same thing over and over again. You never were much of a cook, so I wouldn’t expect you to understand.” She grabbed a small container of water and began to drink.

She was right. I never really cared to try and cook anything unique or interesting. I guess that was because of the lack of time I had to do so. Home Lead liked to keep me busy. I usually just settled on the precooked meals they had at the facility or whatever I had left back at home.

“Maybe after all this, they could finally give me an adjustment to my work time to allow me to learn from your wonderful teachings of all things food and cooking.” I joked while pointing a finger back to Syntellia. She walked over to me with a happy open plume.

“That would be wonderful! I could finally open up your eyes to the wonderful world of variety!” She teased as she sat next to me with an arm around my shoulder.

“Hey, maybe we could include Bob. Show him all the great foods and culture we have. I could teach both of you in the process!” She squeezed my shoulder in excitement.

A weird feeling arose in my stomach at the thought. It would be great to show off to Bob all that we have to offer in food. He could learn how to cook our people’s cuisines, and maybe he could teach us how to cook some of his people’s food. There would be so much to do with him.

“Well, that depends on if he can actually eat anything without possibly dying from it.” And just like that, my dream was slowly snuffed out at the realization. He was an alien we barely know anything about. It was a risk.

Syntellia noticed my bummed expression. She pulls me in and rests the side of her head next to mine.

“Hey, that doesn’t mean we should lose all hope. I’m sure he can enjoy some of the food. Even then, he can still learn about it all. At least there is that.”

“At least there is that.” I repeat back to her as I let out a deep sigh. She lets go and stands up.

“Have hope Nylae, have hope.” She walks over to where she left her water by the supply shelves. I finish up what was left of my food and throw the package away.

“I hope he can even come back with us. Home Lead could end up deciding on leaving him here for another crew to get while we return back.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Nylae. The Myrvry is the perfect spacecraft for bringing him back with us. We have two open seats and plenty of room for anything he wants to bring back. Think about all the precious alien technology Home Lead would love to get first access to. Also, they love to be cost efficient, so I doubt they will waste resources like sending another crew up here.” She was back to pointing at me like a mother talking sternly to her misbehaving child.

“Have hope, Nylae! It is as easy as that.”

“It is not wrong to be realistic about all of this. We can’t just think it will all work in our favor.” I told her as I grabbed an identical water container from the shelf.

“I am being realistic, Nylae.”

“Sure you are…” I say under my breath before drinking from the water container.

“You sound a lot like Lameno, you know.” She stated as I finished a quick swig of my water. I gave her a quick glare before silently walking back to my bed. She just sighed and walked to her own bed across from mine before laying down on it. The small crew quarters was quiet enough to hear the ongoing conversation Lameno was having with Team Lead up in the cockpit. It was difficult to make out anything distinguishable, but before I could listen in enough to hear anything meaningful, the talking stopped. Me and Syntellia shared a look of curiosity before Lameno suddenly started to make his way down the ladder to the crew quarters. He let out a deep sigh as he finally made it down before turning to face us.

“I hope you enjoyed your short break and got some food in you, because we are going to be pretty busy from now on.”

Me and Syntellia share another look of curiosity.

“Home Lead wants Bob and as much of his stuff we can carry back home as quickly as possible. While many concerns were shared amongst the team back at Home Lead about Bob and all that could go wrong, they can’t exactly afford to keep him on the moon.” He told us as he rubbed the back of his neck.

That strange feeling from earlier was creeping back up as a result of the exciting news.

“Our mission, as of now, is to ensure he gets back to Home Lead safely and secured. They don’t want him possibly contaminating anything either, so he will have to be in his suit for the majority of the trip back. Another thing, we don’t have a lot of time here, so communicating to him that he needs to come back with us is the most crucial part about this. If he does not understand or refuses to go, then we are going to have a lot of problems, well Home Lead is.” He stares right at me.

“Considering you and him have a better ‘connection’ than me and Syntallia, you have to make sure he understands and agrees to come with us if we can’t get through to him. It would be best to use drawings as our main way to communicate with him; he has shown to better understand what we have to say that way.” He tells me with a serious look. I give him a nod of agreement in response.

“We’ll be flying in and landing next to his facility to make sure things move quickly, so get suited up and ready to get this done, alright?” He told us before heading back up the ladder.

After he disappears into the upper level, me and Syntellia share an excited look before jumping out of our beds and following after him.

My heart was now pounding out of my chest in excitement. Those dreams were looking to become reality soon. Bob was coming back home with us? It was all too good to be true. I’m sure Syntellia was feeling the same way when she heard the news. We were practically rushing to get up the ladder and into suiting up for our new mission.

As we made it up into the main floor, Lameno was already halfway through suiting himself up. Me and Syntellia rushed towards the cubbies and began to swiftly equip them. Syntellia let out a slight chuckle, catching my attention.

“This is crazy.” She said aloud while she put on the upper half of her suit. At this point, Lameno was all geared up, aside from wearing his helmet. He had seated himself at the main cockpit and was starting up the Myrvry.

“You just now realized that.” He called out to Syntellia from his seat.

“Well, no, but it feels more apparent now.” She told him before finally finishing getting herself suited up.

“Just wait until we get back to Home Lead. It is going to be all sorts of crazy.” Lameno joked as the engines of the Myrvry roared to life. Me and Syntellia quickly finished up and ran over to get secured into our seats.

“Initiating lift off, get secured and ready.” He told us as we settled into our seats. The floor began to shake and vibrate as the Myrvry was starting to gain enough power to lift off the lunar surface.

“I’m locked and secured.” I told Lameno as I tugged on the straps to make sure they were well fastened.

“Same as well.” Syntellia reported back.

“Understood.” He told us as he finally initiated the liftoff sequence, causing the Myrvry to push off the lunar surface and into flight. The loud vibrations slowly started to dissipate as the Myrvry began its short trip to Bob’s location. At this point, the powerful technology on the spacecraft took over the controls, allowing for us to simply enjoy the short ride. It didn’t take long until the sight of Bob’s facility came into view on the cockpit’s view screens.

“Here we are. Let’s get this done quick and easy. Understood?” Lameno announced to us as the Myrvy began to slowly land just outside the facility. Me and Syntellia gave quick nods back to him.

The loud vibrations came back as the spacecraft’s landing gear finally made contact with the surface before settling into a quiet rumble. The signal light on the controls indicated a good landing, giving us the sign to unbuckle and get moving. We all silently made our way into the airlock, ready to disembark and get on with the mission. With helmets secured, the door behind us closed before the depressurization sequence began. A small moment of silence was shared between us until Syntellia spoke up in the helmet’s comms.

“I hope he is ready for us. It would be pretty unfortunate if we showed up when he wasn’t here.” She joked in a possible attempt to lighten the serious mood that lingered in the air lock. Lameno slowly turned his head towards Syntellia, most likely eyeing her down for even suggesting that possibility. But she wasn’t wrong, it would be really unfortunate if he was not aware we were at his facility.

The door to the outside finally opened, giving us a view of the alien facility. The roof reminded me of the first encounter, how we first spotted Bob high up there with his arm raised up. What was he trying to do there? I would need to ask him about it later after all of this is done. Lameno could be heard letting out a deep sigh on the helmet comms.

“Well let us hope he knows we’re here. I wouldn’t like to be waiting outside for too long until he finally notices our presence.” He said as he bent down and began to descend the ladder. Syntellia turned and looked at me.

“Let’s hope.” She said in a joking manner as she followed after Lameno.

Yes, let’s hope.

 

****

 

The water rippled as the bait was taken, causing me to quickly set the hook. The water splashed as the fish fought back against the reeling.

“Hey, you got ‘em son, reel it in!”

I continued to reel in the line, fighting against the fish's thrashing attempt at escape, but I set the hook too well for him to escape. After a few seconds, I reeled in the fish to my position, slowly pulling it up by the line and grabbing it by the lip.

“Not bad, looks like a one pounder.”

“More like one and a half.” I replied as I lifted up the fish to get a better look at it. A good ol’ largemouth bass. Its green and pale scales shimmered in the bright orange sunlight as I held it up for my dad to see.

“No, I think it’s a one pounder.” He teased with a soft grin as he reeled in his line.
“One and a half.” I say as I unhook the plastic bait from the fish's mouth. Dad simply just laughed as I tossed the fish back into the now calm pond. The sound of the splash echoed around, bouncing off the trees around us.

“Well, this has been fun, but I think we should get going.” He told me as he pulled his bait out of the water.

“What? Why? They were just starting to bite a lot more.” I complained as he turned around and began walking away.

“You got to wake up, Robert. Job ain’t going to finish itself.”

The sounds of the pond went quiet, only replaced by a subtle hum in the back of my mind.

“What?” I tried to follow him, but my legs would not listen. The humming became more present, turning into a deep rumble in my core.

“You have work to do, so make us proud.” He turned to face me with a soft smile. The humming and rumbling became more and more pronounced. Dad’s figure began to distort with the vibrations, along with all the scenery around me.

“Wait, wait, wait. Hold on, What work? We were supposed to go fishing!” My words became whispers and my sight became hazy. The noise and vibrations became too much for me.

“Dad. We were supposed to go fishing.”

My eyes shot open, revealing to me that I was still stuck in this damn lab. It was weird, though. The vibrations were still happening. I groaned as I sat up in the bed, removing my earbuds to try and find where that vibration was coming from.

“What the hell?”

I stood up from my bed and made my way into the main lab area, but just as I got there, the vibrating stopped. Looking around, I tried to find the source but found nothing. Maybe I was truly starting to lose my sanity. I stood in the middle of the room, looking around to see if anything was out of place. Everything looked to be normal, but weirdly enough, the viewport was dark.

“Was I asleep for that long? Couldn’t have.” I looked down to my watch, only to reveal I had been asleep for only about an hour. I then walked over to the viewport to investigate.

“Holy Shit…”

Chapter Text

NASA Johnson Space Center
Houston, Texas
June 4, 2078
46 hours until launch

 

The worn out leather chair groaned as I leaned back and stretched my arms behind my head. The smell of fresh brewed coffee and old carpet cleaner lingered in the room as the meeting with the administrator concluded. Dale let out a tired laugh as he rubbed his head.

“It’s starting to get real, huh?”

Jeff finished a sip of coffee with a sigh, looking over at Dale with a grin and raised brow.

“What do you mean?” His rough east coast accent grew with the remark. “Was it not real for you when they pulled you into that dark and spooky office with all the executives to convince you to do this mission in the first place?”

“Well, yeah, but I’m talking about all these long meetings and final preparations before we truly get sent off.” Dale leaned back and crossed a leg over his knee. “It’s almost like we’re about to be shipped out to invade a country or something.”

“You’ll be venturing into a part of space we know the bare minimum of, not invading it, but it’s pretty close.” The chief flight director across the table from me noted as he packed up his stacks of files from the previous meeting.

“That whole rundown of our life insurance did set the tone for something like what Dale is getting at.” Lisa chimed in as she ran a hand through her hair in an attempt to stay awake. Tonya let out a soft laugh from across the table.

“They do that with everyone before going up there, it’s just procedure.” She told us while looking through a copy of the flight plan for Saturday’s launch.

“You know…” She paused for a moment before cracking a slight smile. “A plan for everything.”

Dale let out a yawn as he rubbed his eyes.

“Also, couldn’t they have chosen a better time for a meeting than one in the morning?” He threw his hand up in frustration.

“They’re testing your mental fortitude, Dale.” I joked sarcastically as I leaned back onto the table, trying my best to stay equally awake.

“Yeah right, I’m sure most, if not all of this could be told through a simple email.” Just as Dale finished, the door to the conference room opened up. A man in a dark suit and wired earpiece stepped aside, letting through another man to stand at the front of the table. The administrator followed behind him, standing off to the side near the flight director. Everyone immediately stood up, waking us from our dreary state.

“Good evening. Well, technically good morning.” The man laughed.

“M-Mr. President. I wasn’t told you would be visiting?” The flight director stammered as he hurriedly collected his belongings into a neat stack.

“Please, sit. I promise I won't be long.” He reassured us with his soft southern accent that he was quite known for..

We all immediately sat down in our seats at full attention without a lick of dreariness we once had.

“As much as I would like to stay for a while and meet with you all separately, I have a flight to catch in about twenty four minutes out to Berlin. Peace talks are expected to last the next couple of days, so please excuse my absence on Saturday.” He gave us all a gentle smile before clapping his hands together.

“Now, how are we all feeling? Ready to make history I hope.” He grinned as he opened his arms out to us.

“We are more than ready, sir.” Tonya responded with her militant respect. He then pulled out a chair and sat at the front end of the table.

“I wanted to speak with you personally before your departure Saturday. It's very essential that each one of you is in peak condition, both physically and mentally, before embarking on what is undoubtedly one of humanity's greatest steps forward in progress.” His eyes stared into each and every one of us seated at the table.

The room went quiet as full attention was put on him.

“I am sure you are feeling a mixture of anticipation and perhaps some natural apprehension…” He leaned back in his seat with the sound of squeaking leather and ware. “This is understandable. The weight you no doubt carry is immense, not merely as representatives of any single nation, but as ambassadors of our entire planet.” He then pointed to each one of us slowly. “You embody humanity's collective aspiration to explore, to discover, and to understand our place in this vast and expansive universe.”

The air in the room became heavy as his words brought about the true tone this mission held. His voice then began to soften.

“I want you to remember what brought you here in the first place, that fundamental curiosity about what lies beyond our known boundaries. That same curiosity has driven explorers from every culture and civilization throughout human history.” He leaned forward towards the table. Let that shared human instinct guide you all as you journey out beyond our solar system into the unknown."

His textbook smile came back strong and vibrant.

“What awaits you on the other side of Harper 13 is truly remarkable, a cosmic treasure of opportunity hidden among the countless stars. Now, while your mission specifically focuses on researching this new system and establishing a lunar laboratory on one of its moons, your commitment and bravery to take part in this incredible step forward for mankind will be remembered for generations.” He paused for a moment to slowly look at all of us once again. “This mission is the culmination of decades of international cooperation and advancements, of brilliant minds from across the globe working toward a common goal of discovery.” His tone then became much more serious.

“Now, I must acknowledge the personal sacrifices each of you is making. While we remain here, continuing the work that supports this mission, you brave five will be venturing further than any humans have gone before, committing years of your lives to this mighty endeavor, and leaving behind this planet you call home.” He grasped his hands together on the table. “Even as you emerge from Harper 13 in a place so new and unexplored, during a time where you may feel forgotten or alone, know that all of humanity stands united behind you.”

He then stood up from his seat and pushed it back in before looking all of us in the eyes with a wide grin.

“With that, I hope to see you all back here safe and sound after this is all done. I’m certain we’ll have quite the welcome party prepared for your arrival, and I’ll make sure of it.” He let out a soft laugh that helped lighten up the mood. “Please, enjoy your time here until Saturday's launch. I’m sure you five are going to have a very busy month after meeting up with Ed White Station.” He gave us all a soft grin, starting up a few chuckles around the table. His words seemed to spark up a once lost dream that was the reason for me choosing this line of work.

“Stay safe on your journey out there now, and Godspeed y’all.” And with that, he gave a nod to us all and left the room with those who came with him. A small silence filled the space, yet everyone had a slight grin waiting to let out a laugh or two. Lisa was the one to finally break the silence.

“Yeah, I’m with Dale on this, it’s starting to get real.”

 

…

 

Aldrin Research Lab
2087

 

Its large frame practically took up the majority of the view. It was sleek and imposing, looking like a strange mix of a small commercial jet and a stealth fighter. Although the spacecraft we took here was much larger all together, if broken up, this alien machine reigned the biggest in comparison to our ship’s individual segments. Its large landing gear were dug deep into the lunar surface, leaving no possibility of the strange spacecraft being moved. The assumed wings looked to simply mold around the main body, giving a similar look to that of a flying wing. The hull, a simple mix of dull grey and white, loomed over the viewport. It was practically parked right at the front door of the lab.

“I guess they came back…” I said to myself as I bent my head to try and get a better look at the beast from the lab’s viewport. As I gazed up at what I presumed to be the front of the spacecraft, a sealed door slowly opened about two thirds up the side of the hull. The frame surrounding the entrance suddenly began to extend out by a few feet before slowly coming to a rest. My face was practically pressed up against the thick glass in hopes of getting a better look at what was happening. A long ladder then began to extend down from the end of the small walkway. As it came to a stop above the lunar surface, three familiar figures emerged from the spacecraft’s entrance. One by one, they began to slowly descend down the ladder.

With that, I quickly rushed over to get my EVA suit on.

“A little heads up could’ve helped…” I groaned as I hastily put the segments of my suit on, practically bouncing around in an attempt to get my legs snug. As I finally got the upper half secured and sealed, I went back to the viewport to check on my returning guests, only to meet an upclose gaze with one of them. We both seemed to jump back, only with me slamming back into a table as a result.

I hissed in pain as I fell onto one knee, reaching behind me to try and ease the soreness in my lower back. I looked up to see them trying to figure out what had happened to me. I gritted my teeth as I slowly rose back up to the viewport. I met their gaze in confusion once again before trying to see where the others had run off to.

In an attempt to communicate, I pointed over to the airlock.

“You want to come in? Yeah?” I told them while pointing my hand over to the airlock’s direction, hopefully correctly communicating at guessing where they were going.

They essentially followed where I was pointing on their side, turning their gaze to my left before returning to me. They then lifted a hand towards the same direction and shook it a bit, giving me the sign to head out there to meet them once again. I then gave a thumbs up, which most likely fell on unsure eyes, before rushing over to the airlock. I quickly secured and sealed my suit’s helmet, got inside the airlock, and waited for the pressurization sequence to finish.

Just as expected, once the airlock doors to the garage opened, three alien figures stood waiting for my arrival. Before I could even walk out to greet them, they suddenly hurried into the airlock. One of them even began to push me to the door connected to the lab which caught me off guard.

“Woah, woah, hey, easy.” I protested as they were now essentially trying to force their way into the lab by pushing me towards the airlock’s controls. I then grabbed one of them by the shoulders, forcing them back to give me some breathing room. I must have been more straightforward than I expected, as they all seemed to immediately back away from me. That recurring awkward silence came back as we all shared gazes in the airlock.

“Sheesh, do you want inside?” I directed my arms to the lab’s door. Strangely, they all practically gave alien nods in unison.

“Uh…alrighty.” I turned back around to the airlock’s controls. “Just, ask next time, okay? Pushing someone into their own door is not a great strategy for trying to get invited inside their home.”

With a few switches and button presses, the pressurization sequence began again, and before long, the door to the lab opened. It seemed like my attempt at teaching them about manners went on deaf alien ears as they once again started rushing inside while dragging me along by my arm.

“Dammit, do you need me to throw you across the room or something to get my point across?” I groaned as they pulled me over to the table from our first interaction. One of them reached inside a pocket on the front of their suit before pulling out some sort of bland tablet that had a blank white face on one side and matte grey around the rest. Attached to the side was a sort of stylus. They then set the tablet on the table before forcing me to sit. I lifted back the helmet’s tinted visor to give me a clearer view of what was going on.

“Good lord, what’s got y’all acting like this?” I said as I watched one of them presumably talk with the one who brought out the tablet. They gave a nod before walking away towards the rest of the lab. I immediately turned around to track them walking over to the sleeping quarters.

“Woah, hey! Where are you going!” I tried to call out before my attention was brought back to the table thanks to a few noticeable knocks on it. I turned back around to face the two others that were now sitting at the table with one of them messing with the tablet. Just as I was about to ask what was going on, the tablet was then slid over to me with a picture on it, a simple drawing.

Two circles, one small, one large. The larger one looked to be detailed in resemblance to the planet. That meant the smaller one was a moon. One of them reached over and touched my hand before putting two fingers on the moon drawing. They repeated this two more times. I give them the alien nod of understanding.

“Yeah, I’m here, I get that, but what-” Before I could ask any question, they reached over with the stylus and drew a line connecting the moon with the planet. I looked up at them and gave another nod. They want to go back, or they need to go back, whatever it is, they are leaving. The one with the stylus sat back before starting a weird game of alien charades. They pointed to me, then towards themselves, then out to the viewport. They then made their hand flat on the table before making what I presumed a lift off motion, making the flat hand move up before flying away. The message was very clear, they wanted me back on their planet, but that didn’t exactly explain the urgency and rushing.

They watched for a response from me as they ended their mimicry. I gave them a simple nod.

“Y-Yeah, please, go ahead. I would love to get out of here. It would be amazing actually!”

The one doing the hand motions turned to their companion before they both returned their gazes to me. The subtle sound of movement could be heard behind my head through the in-helmet speakers, causing me to quickly turn around and see the other one holding a small device in front of them. It looked as if they were showing the device everything around them. They must be scanning it all for research or record considering they won't be back up here anytime soon. Maybe I should start doing my own research on these guys…

A hand touching my arm brought me back to the initial “conversation” I was having at the table. A new drawing now laid before me. A simple 2d drawing of a rectangular figure next to a group of stacked boxes fully surrounded by an even bigger box. What I presume to be their ship was put right next to the large rectangular box. I watched as they drew a line moving out from the figure to the ship. Then another line from the boxes to the figure through into the ship. Judging from their earlier drawing, the figure is me, and they want me to get on their ship. The stacks of boxes must be my belongings, or whatever they want me to bring back. Simple enough, maybe even better than what I expected from them coming back here so suddenly. The problem is, this was unexpected. I would need a hell of a lot more time to properly stage everything and figure out what I need to bring back. It took us about a day to even get the bare necessities of this lab up, and even more time moving everything into it. Guessing from all their eagerness to get inside, they don’t have long, which means I don’t have long…

Shit.

I leaned back and let out a sigh.

“I get it. I’m moving out.” I joked as I got up from my seat. They immediately followed me, most likely ready to run after me and continue their bombardment of drawing and charades to get their point across.

“Damnit, it felt like we just moved everything in a day or two ago…” I said to myself as I made my way over to the airlock. As expected, the two quickly ran over to get my attention. One of them grabbed my arms while the other lifted up the tablet for me to see. I nodded in hopes of getting them to understand that I in fact knew what they were getting at and was fully onboard with the plan.

“Guys, I get it, okay? I’ll go with y’all, but I can’t just bring everything without the containers we initially had them all packed in.” By now, I was practically dragging them along as I made my way into the airlock. The other one that was checking out the lab saw what was happening and ran over to us.

“I’m not leaving y’all! Seriously, just-. I’m getting what I need to pack!” I was yelling out, but ultimately, I knew they wouldn’t understand thanks to not only my helmet keeping me from speaking aloud, but also the fact they are aliens who don’t understand a lick of English. I hoped my one understood method of showing agreement with them would work, but it seems they didn’t fully comprehend it. Maybe I just have to show them my intent, but first I had to even make it inside the garage where the surviving containers were. It would be even more of a challenge now that there were three of them holding me back from getting into the airlock.

“Would y’all seriously let me go!” I protested as they were now holding me down from walking away. At this point, being polite was out of the picture. I then stopped moving, causing them to loosen up on keeping me in place. I then turned to the one holding onto my right arm. They looked up at me, before slowly removing their grip on my arm. The one holding onto my other arm followed after, finally giving me the chance to move my body. I then grabbed the one on my right by the shoulders before moving them around behind me. They all were now standing together as a group before me.

If I start walking away again, they’ll probably tackle me to the ground. But if I’m quick enough…

The only chance I got to move is right now. If it comes to it, I’ll have to get physical…

And with that, I quickly turned around and made a run for it. Just as I expected, they ran over to try and stop me. It was fine, I needed them to actually see that I was trying to pack up for their plan. Just as I got into the airlock, they grabbed onto my arms and waist, but this time I wouldn’t just let them hold on. I practically threw the one holding my right arm onto the floor as I quickly started the pressurization sequence. They quickly got up and grabbed onto my arm again, this time with a stronger grip than before. The one at my waist was seemingly trying to get me on the ground with how they were pulling.

“Agh, Just. Let me. Show you!.” I struggled as I tried to pull them away. The door to the garage finally opened, prompting me to then use all my force to shove them off my arms. I threw the one holding my left arm out onto the garage floor before using all my strength to pry away the other one holding my right arm. With one swift movement, I pushed them onto their friend who laid on the floor of the garage. Now I could simply remove the one at my waist by prying their arms off me. I then took hold of a sturdy piece of their suit on their chest and threw them onto the dogpile with their two other friends. I then made a break to where I left the surviving containers from the accident. Once I finally got a hold of one, they all suddenly lunged at me, knocking me down onto the ground with a few bounces. The container was still in my hands, but they were all on my back holding me down.

“Shit…Look! Look! See, I’m packing!” I struggled as I lifted up the storage container for them to notice. I couldn’t even see what was happening, but after a while, they started to get off of my back. Once I was free again, I slowly made my way back onto my feet, making sure to not seem suspicious. They watched carefully as I started to slowly walk back to the airlock. In an attempt to gain their trust again, I motioned for them to follow back inside. They all got real close as they followed me back into the lab’s airlock, most likely in preparation to grab me in case I made a run for it again.

Once back inside, they continued to follow close as I made my way over to a nearby shelf that contained some spare suit parts. I then opened up the sealed container and began to put a few parts inside as a show of intent to my closeby watchers.

“See, I understood what you were telling me earlier. I just needed something to pack my things into.” I pointed to the container, hopefully showing what I was trying to accomplish. They just continued to watch me closely.

“Right, whatever…” I sighed as I now seriously began to pack the necessities of what I would need for this move of location, which in this case, was everything in the facility that wasn’t just a few lab tools and instruments that weren’t useful. Shit that’s a lot, and I don’t think I have enough containers that survived the accident.

Right, just grab what you really need: food, water, medical, hygiene, clothing..

I should hurry though, they really seemed to be short on time…

I then began to frantically pack, opening up the many closed shelves and throwing around the items in an attempt to filter out what I would need and what I wouldn’t. The trio seemed to finally understand that I knew what I was supposed to do and backed off. They even let me run back into the garage to get the rest of the containers.

When I came back inside, I saw that they were all spread out around the lab, holding up those same little devices like they were snapping photos of the place. I decided not to focus on it but instead on the sudden burden of moving out from the lunar lab.

Shelf after shelf, I filled the containers with as much packaged food and water I could muster. Next came the countless amounts of medical supplies. Unless they could learn quickly or had similar treatments, any illnesses or problems I had on the planet would have to be fixed by me. Luckily they made sure me and the crew were trained and informed enough to help one another if a medical emergency were to happen. But if I were to break a bone or suffer something so serious it required surgery or advanced treatment, it would have to be up to me to fix it.

The medical cabinets were now bone dry as every container of pills and medications were all thrown into a container along with all the other medical instruments. There was still some room left in the box, just enough for all the hygiene products I could throw in. As I made my way to the lab’s restroom to get all the items, I noticed one of my alien guests looking around inside the sleeping quarters. They were holding that little device, doing the same “scanning” motion as they looked around the crew bunks and cubbies. They then reached into Dale’s cubby and pulled out a small book. They closely examined it before freezing once they noticed me staring. They then quickly returned the book before quickly walking out of the sleeping quarters.

I was then reminded of our current situation, prompting me to quickly head on into the restroom. While I’m sure they have water readily available for me, I still need the soaps to truly clean myself with. Toothpaste and all the extra packaged toothbrushes. sponges, rags, bars of soap, shampoo, towels, and a few things of deodorant now occupied a shared space with the medical supplies. As I opened the door to the restroom, one of my guests almost ran right into the container I had in my arms. They quickly backed away, allowing me to walk by. But just as I went past them, they hurriedly ran into the restroom. This was all getting too weird…

 

After about eighteen minutes of rushed packing, several containers lay stacked in the middle of the lab, reaching up to about my upper torso. It was a lot, the absolute essentials and a few needed tech items from the lab, but it didn’t feel like it was enough. It felt like there was more missing, but I wasn’t sure what…

Vigor! It was still packed and secured around the back of the lab. Sure the container it was in was pretty beaten up from the hail of rock and lunar surface chunks from the accident, but the rover was practically untouched. This meant all of the highgrade analysis equipment it had was still good. It's a shame, Vigor was meant to be the first manmade object to reach the surface of Lucas-27d. It was equipped to gather samples and readings of essentially everything around it. We needed to know everything about the planet before we could think about setting foot there, so the engineers back on Earth put in their combined genius in this beast of a rover. Although it has been put on eternal hiatus, what it carries could come in handy in giving details of what's around me there on the planet. This means I would have to either bring the whole thing with me or take it apart…

But for time sake, Vigor would have to be the last thing I deal with before leaving. I guess I could try bringing some non essentials with whatever spare containers I have left. A quick check of the stack gave me only two containers worth of space left for me to fill with whatever I wanted. As I looked around to try and get an idea, that little moment with one of the alien guests looking at one of Dale’s books reminded me of all the stuff I completely forgot to get. All my truly “human” stuff. I quickly passed by one of them staring at the communications equipment as I made my way into the sleeping quarters. Clothes were something that really should have been a part of the “essentials” that I initially packed up, but luckily I still had two containers to throw in anything I forgot. While it still felt wrong to pack some clothes from the other’s closets, a small part of me felt like they would understand my current situation. Shirts, shorts, sweats, and anything that could even fit me was crammed into one of the containers, including a few sets of the flight suits from both my own closet and the others that would fit me. I then slid the container out of the room and grabbed the last one that wasn’t packed full.

I stood at the entrance of the sleeping quarters, looking around to all the bunks that were once occupied by those I considered family. It felt wrong to even think about taking anything of theirs away, but that small part of me truly believes it's for the best. Their belongings they brought with them all the way here from home could be used in a great way. They would still play a part in possibly teaching and sharing about humanity with these natives of the planet, even if they weren’t there to see it.

I let out a deep sigh as I walked over to Dale’s bunk. His cubby had a sizable collection of books and magazines. During the times we would have the same shift on the Segan, I would usually find him reading when he wasn’t busy with the routine checks and reports.

Upon closer inspection of the cubby, that Sports Illustrated Swimsuit magazine one of the alien guests was looking at way earlier was stacked on top of a few more magazines. Yeah, they don’t need to learn about that.

Among his collection of books were The Divine Comedy, Cujo, The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds, and Lord of the Rings. A unique mix. While most, if not all of these are not suitable for simply teaching about mankind, especially The Divine Comedy, they could still be some interesting reads if things ever slow down.

After throwing in the books and leaving the inappropriate magazines, I moved over to Jeff’s bunk. His guitar was laying on the bed. I would definitely be bringing that with me, along with his IPod. That little piece of technology had enough music and media crammed into it to teach a whole planet about human culture and music. Aside from some personal photos, momentos, and a Santa bobble head he got at a Christmas party the year we were training for the mission, all that was really taking up the space was two packs of guitar strings and three guitar picks kept together in a small plastic bag. Seems like all that he really put effort into bringing was his guitar and IPod. I don’t blame him though, having some music to listen to while spending a few years out in space can really save a man from going insane.

Just as I began to move on to Lisa’s bunk, one of my new friends quietly walked in before immediately walking out after I noticed them. It was almost like I caught them trying to sneak in with how fast they left the room. This whole thing kept getting weirder and weirder.

Brushing off the strange encounter, I moved on to Lisa’s cubby. Stacks of notebooks and sketchbooks took up the majority of the space, but those were all sitting on top of what looked like a thick leather bag. Interest peaked, I carefully began to take off the items to investigate the bag. After leaving all the notebooks and such on her bed, I opened up the bag to see a great collection of pens, pencils, and various drawing supplies. I guess this is where she kept all her art stuff.

Just as with Dale, during the times when we shared a day shift, she usually spent her free time drawing and writing in her notebooks and sketchbooks. She would sometimes show off her work: skilled drawings of landscapes, animals, and sometimes us. Considering I might be drawing pictures for a great majority of the communications with these new people, this bag and her work could help out a lot. Maybe her drawings could be a way to reference things about Earth, or simply just to show off some more human culture in art.

I threw the notebooks and sketchbooks into the container along with the leather bag before finally moving on to Tonya’s bunk at the end of the room. Strangely enough, she only had two things put in her cubby, two containers to be exact. One small one and one big one. I picked up the smaller one and opened up the lid to only find photos and three flash drives inside. The photos seemed to be family and friends, along with the one of us we took a week before the launch. Picking up the flash drives, I weighed the idea of even taking them. For all I know, there could be some very personal stuff on them. I would never forgive myself for invading the privacy of my dead captain, but who knows. I could always just check the names of the files to be sure if they are okay to look at.

With my mind made up, I took out the flash drives and set the box back in the cubby taking out the bigger one. It felt significantly heavier than the smaller box which only piqued my interest even more. I opened up the top of the container, only to find the top of a bottle. After pulling out the heavy glass bottle, the dark amber liquid was a clear enough sign as to what it was. A full liter of bourbon. Well shit. How’d she get this on here? It looked untouched, so obviously she wasn’t drinking it on the way here. Maybe she was saving it for something special? Probably for when stage two would arrive here with the other crew…

Well, I think she would have this cracked open if she was around for first contact.

I looked down at the bottle before letting out a sigh as I decided on bringing it with me.

“It’s as much of a celebration for me as it is for you too, Tonya. We sure as hell made history...” I said to myself as I grabbed the flash drives and packed them into the container with the bourbon. The last stop would be my own bunk. Aside from a notebook and a few photos of me and the crew, the only things I bothered bringing was a camera and a cheap camcorder. With making human history and all, I wanted to try and capture our progress with the mission. It would be something to show the people back home, a place so distant yet promising. Of course, we had cameras installed on our helmets, but those weren’t capturing the moments in the Sagen. Moments that showed off what our jobs truly were and what we were doing all the way out in space. But after we landed, I didn’t have the time to take any photos or videos. It also felt pointless to document my loneliness and soon to be demise after the accident, but that’s all changed now. Come to think of it, why haven’t I been keeping a record of all this? Dammit, I should have recorded or even taken a photo during first contact!
Shit, I need to do this now before I leave…

I quickly took the camera out from its small bag and hung it around my neck before packing up the rest of my stuff. Before rushing out of the room, I made sure to grab the guitar from Jeff’s bunk. I used my foot to slide the container out of the room until I met the gaze of the alien guests standing in the middle of the lab. One of them quickly came over and picked up the container off the ground, allowing me to walk without the risk of tripping and slamming head first into a table. The one holding the container set it next to the stacks of the rest of the boxes in the middle of the room before turning their attention to me as I rested the guitar against a few of the boxes.

As they watched me, I quickly turned on the camera, struggling to navigate effectively thanks to the thick gloves of the suit. After finally getting it to work with a quick test photo of the ground, I turned my attention to the three standing behind me.

“Right, okay, uh…stand next to each other now, and stay still.” I said to deaf ears as I tried to guide them to stand correctly for the photo.

They all seemed to just stare in confusion as I waved my arms around in an attempt to get them to stand close together. After a minute of struggle, I decided to just move them into place with my own hands, physically moving them by their shoulders to stand correctly. They all looked back and forth at each other as I made them shimmy next to one another for the photo.

“OKAY, okay, just stand. STILL. And look here.” I told them with a raised hand as I painfully set the timer for the photo. I then set the camera on the table in front of the group before running over next to them while pointing towards the camera to guide their attention.

I straightened my posture and made sure to look clean and official. Confused as to what to do with my hands, I gave a thumbs up like a complete dumbass. But just as I realized that I indeed was looking like an absolute dumbass, the camera snapped the photo.

“Dammit…” I said to myself as I walked over to the camera to take a look at the results. The group just stood there, obviously confused as to what had happened. It came out somewhat okay. At least their heads were somewhat directed towards the camera. As I looked at the photo, something caught my attention. The one on the opposite end of me was also giving a thumbs up. I let out a laugh of astonishment. Now I didn’t feel like a complete dumbass. In fact, I felt like I just made history, again! First real recorded evidence of alien life, and they were giving a thumbs up with me in the photo! Well I’ll be damned.

I then turned my attention to the one who copied my hand gesture in the photo, giving a thumbs up again in the hopes of seeing them possibly copy me just as they did in the photo. They sheepishly turned to the other two before copying me again. I let out another slight chuckle in amusement before turning off the camera and walking towards the containers.

With the camera fully put away with the rest of my belongings, it seemed like we were ready to go. Like my dad did before any family vacation, I made one last mental check of everything I needed before leaving the lab all behind. Aside from the need to check out Vigor around the back, one thing continued to creep up in my mind. If I was truly going back with these three to their home, I most likely wouldn’t be back up here again in a very long time. I would be leaving behind all that I didn’t pack up.

 

Including their bodies.

 

I know they deserve a better place to rest than the ruined garage, but it just felt so wrong. They deserve to not die in a place so far from home, or to be buried on a moon that doesn’t belong to our own solar system. Yet, being kept under a tarp in the garage is no better resting place. I haven’t even looked at their bodies since I moved them there after the accident. I just can’t bring myself to look at what I could have saved and who I failed in their time of need. Yet, I can’t just leave them without some sort of goodbye or farewell. But I won't leave them here forever…

A tap on my arm brought me back to reality, pulling my eyes away from the lab’s airlock. One of the alien guests extended an arm towards the airlock, likely referring to the question of leaving. I gave them a nod before giving one last look around the lab and imagining what might have been if things turned out better. I then grabbed a stack of two containers and began to make my way over to the airlock. The three then began to follow suit, grabbing a container or two and staging them at the airlock. After quickly moving it all inside, the airlock shut, ran through its procedures, then opened up for us to move.

The interior of the lab’s garage was not one to enjoy being around. The light from the airlock and blown hole was all that barely filled the garage, leaving the far corners dark and eerie. It didn’t help that their bodies were in one of those exact dark corners of the garage.

You have to do it, Bob.

No matter how much it hurts, you have to do it.

As we walked out of the airlock with the containers, I set down what I had and slowly made my way to my crewmates hidden under that large plastic tarp in the dark corner of the space. The closer I got, the heavier everything felt. Each step felt like something was pushing me down in my head. An accident, a mistake, a failure to help, a forever reminder of what shouldn’t have been. Their large combined silhouette took up the corner, barely visible until I had to switch on my helmet's lights. Only then did the full picture weigh upon me. The tarp’s glossy surface reflected a bit of the helmet’s light. I stood as close as my legs could take me. With a shaky hand, I slowly began to take off the tarp to look at the faces of my only family I had out here, faces of those who depended on me to do my job. My heart dropped at the grim sight of their figures. Pale, broken, torn, and bloodied faces practically stared back at me. Their suits were torn and damaged, but Lisa’s was simply mangled.

The air in my suit felt like it was slowly sucked out the longer I gazed at their lifeless bodies. It then became harder to breathe as suddenly everything around me began to slowly haze, yet their bodies and lifeless faces remained clear for me to see. My legs began to give out and shake, causing me to stumble back into something. Two arms caught me and held around my waist, keeping me from falling over onto the floor of the garage. Just as quickly as it started leaving me, the world around me came back into clear view. Their bodies still leaned against the wall, yet now there were two others standing at each side of me. The arms around me helped to get my footing back and stable. I turned to see that my new friends were gathered around me, bringing me back to the situation I was in. You’re leaving, Bob. You won’t be back here for a really long time.

You can’t leave without telling them.

I took a slow and painful breath as I looked at the people I loved, the people I shared years of my life with, people I considered my family in this far off part of the cosmos. Suddenly all the memories I shared with them came back again like a flood, hitting me as if they died right here in front of me and not out there in the dust and rock of this moon days ago. I never truly said goodbye after what happened, putting it off like something would change for the better, like they would be alright after all. But this, staring at the reality of it all with their ruined and empty bodies. There was no way of not accepting it.

They’re dead, Bob, and you can’t do anything to change that.

My eyes started to blur with the growing tears daring to start flowing out.

“Dammit. I tried, okay? I really did.” My voice came out weak and quiet. “None of you should have to be here like this. Y’all have so much more waiting for you back home than me. I would gladly take your place if it meant you got to go back home to it all and not stay her in this fucking garage on this godforsaken moon.” The tears flowed down my face as my breathing became heavy with every word I said. Clearing my throat, I attempted to regain my composure.

“I’m going to be leaving here soon, and I won’t be back for a while.” A smile slowly began to form as I spoke out to them. “We stumbled upon something so much greater than we could ever imagine. Fucking aliens.” I let out a small laugh at the absurdity of it all.

“They visited the lab, and they’re actually pretty nice company. I’m going back with them to their home on Lucas. I made sure to bring some of y’alls stuff with me so that you’ll still contribute to my best attempts at teaching them about us.” I took a deep breath to finally calm myself down.

“Hopefully I’ll be around when Stage Two shows up to relieve us. I’ll make sure y’all get brought back home and your contributions to this mission are remembered.” I let out a deep sigh as I looked out to my crewmates.

“I have to go now, but I’ll be back later, I promise.” I then gave them a final wave goodbye before turning my attention back to my alien friends waiting on me. The one that was on my left suddenly bowed his head at an angle before stepping aside. Did they understand what was going on? It felt too familiar, something of a sign of respect some might give back at home. It was both comforting and confusing. Hopefully once better communication is established, this whole thing could be explained to them, as I am sure they have many questions regarding the crew.

I smiled before walking past them to pick back up on moving out. A hidden joy we discovered while moving into the lab in the first place was the low gravity of the moon. While some equipment was still a struggle to deal with, most of the goods we brought were very easy to move around. It was the tedious back and forth from place to place that really made us tired. So luckily, this move out process will be just as easy, maybe even easier. At most, we each carried a stack of two containers carefully out the garage and towards their ship. Quick and easy, but Vigor around the back of the lab would be a different story.

I set down my stack near their ladder with the other three following after me. One of them began to head up the ladder, but before one of the other two could follow, I stopped them with a hand on their shoulder.

“Hold on second. There’s still one more thing I have to get.” I turned up to the one at the top of the platform and held my arms out to signal for them to stay there. Hopefully they won't chase me down like before. The two next to me stared at each other before continuing to watch me.

“Just, let me get this thing real quick, okay.” I held my hands up to the two by my sides. “Don’t try to tackle me again, now. Don’t. I’ll be right back.” I didn’t even bother to wait for them to understand as I turned around and slowly made my way around the lab. After a couple of steps without resistance, it seemed as though they actually understood what I was getting at.

 

As I rounded the side of the lab’s exterior, the sight of the protected life support systems and Vigor’s moving case came into view. It was a simple metallic block with a couple of release hinges and locks. It reached practically to my height and took up a great chunk of space behind the lab. If Vigor were to fully deploy, it would reach up to about the height of a lifted pickup truck. In fact, it was no bigger than our own LRV’s here at the lab, so it was no question that Vigor in its entirety wouldn’t be able to come with me back to Lucas on the alien ship. This would mean I had to practically take it apart to grab its most important equipment. In the main protected casing of the rover housed a collection of high grade yet compact analysis tools that could be used by the rover when navigating the planet’s surface: various spectrometers, chromatographs, and even a GRP. Although it would be interesting to see for myself, I’m sure there are many of them on the planet that could simply explain to me their planet's subsurface features without having to go out and scan the ground myself.

With a few flips of the locks holding the container together, the walls slowly came down to reveal the tucked away rover. Its various mechanical arms and wheels were all folded together in the middle. Although taking the equipment casing out would be as simple as sliding it out from under its cage, the folded up pieces around the main body blocked that simple ease of access.

I let out a groan as I bent down to start forcefully unfolding each mechanical arm and its various mobility system parts out of the way. Luckily, the intense training they put us through back home before the mission helped prepare me not to break anything, so far. It wasn’t pretty. All its parts were angled and positioned in very incorrect ways, but luckily they were made to be flexible, just not exactly the way the engineers who built the thing would have imagined.

“I’m sorry about this buddy, but you’re no good to me just stuck here in your box.” I groaned as I pushed away its large main arm from the center. “I just really need what you got hidden away in ya.”

After angling away the final piece that was blocking me access to the main casing, I was finally able to carefully slide it out. Just as expected, it was the heaviest thing yet that I had carried here on the moon. With a little strain and a slight stumble back, I was able to get a good hold of the main equipment casing.

“Shit your heavy.” I complained as I slowly turned around to start heading back to the alien ship. I almost fell back again in surprise as one of them was standing close right behind me.

“GAH! Son of bitch! You can’t keep doing this to me!” I jumped back and yelled out as I tried to regain my footing from the jump scare. They must have sensed my frustration as they slowly began to back away as I continued to walk by them.

“Jeez. Almost made me drop literally thousands of dollars of scientific equipment on the ground…” I said to myself as I tried to calm down. I shouldn’t blame them. They’re curious and they’re weary of me. They always got to have eyes on me. But seriously…

Can I get some personal space?

As I rounded the lab again, I could see the other two hoisting up the packed containers with a cable of sorts connected to the top part of the extended platform. The one on the bottom noticed me as they sent up what looked like the last container. They gazed down at the large rectangular casing held in my arms before looking back behind me at the other one who followed me. I motioned towards the equipment casing.

“This is the last thing, I swear.” I stated as they gazed up towards the platform. The one at the top must have grabbed the container, as the cable that brought it up came back down to us. The one next to me grabbed the strange hook at the end and looked around the top of the heavy box in my arms. Before I could attempt to help them out, they hooked up the cable through one of the main handles I was holding onto. They gave tug to confirm it was on securely before presumably telling the one at the top to start pulling it up. The casing then steadily left my grasp as I watched it ascend up to the extended platform.

As it creeped over onto the platform, I gave one last look at the lab. This was it. We hadn’t even finished building the damn thing and I was already leaving it for good. Just as I was taking a lot with me, I was leaving a lot behind too. The only family I had out here was going to be left behind in some ruined garage. At least there’s a better chance for me to survive long enough to get with State Two if I went along with my new alien buddies. Only then would they get a better resting place.

There’s no turning back now.

I turned back to the one by the ladder and gave them an alien nod. They luckily understood that I was ready and stepped back a bit from the ladder. Here goes nothing.

I slowly made my way up the ladder until I reached the top of the platform. I grabbed onto what I assumed was a small railing for support and pulled myself up. The one that was up here pulling up my packed goods came over and checked to see if the others were now coming up as well. Vigor’s equipment casing sat nearby. The view from the platform allowed me to see the entirety of the roof of the lab. Damn this ship was big.

As I was occupied with taking in the views, the other two finally made their way up onto the platform with us. One of them motioned for me to follow along to what I assumed was their airlock while the other grabbed the last moving item container. The one at the front made their way over to this panel stuck tucked away in the lip of the airlock. After messing around with it, the door opened up to a small space inside. It was then that I started to get excited at the realization that I was about to set foot in a real alien spacecraft. They all made their way inside as I followed behind.

The door shut, leaving us in complete darkness for a moment. A loud drawn out hiss could be heard before the door in front of us slowly opened up. One by one, the lights in the room flickered on with the sounds of soft chimes and hums.

“Woah. Kickass…” I said to myself as the alien crew made their way inside. I slowly followed behind them and stepped out into the relatively small room. To the left, several seats were positioned in front of a wide clear view out the front of the spacecraft with various instruments and buttons jutting out below the screen. This must be their cockpit of sorts. It looked somewhat similar to that of an airliner's cockpit, except instead of just two seats, there were three in a line closest to the controls and two more situated behind them. A small hatch resided a few feet behind the cockpit area.

To the right, what looked like a short hallway went on until it met another door. A hatch just like the one behind the seats also sat near the end of the hallway. Various short rails and handles lined the walls and ceiling, along with what I assumed were thick cables running in and out of the walls. Everything was dark in shade and barely reflected the lights. There were patches of the walls, floor, and ceiling that had a dark fuzzy texture, almost like that of a bath towel. The sound of equipment being put away and short conversation brought my attention around to the others.

They didn’t have their usual dark space suits on. Instead, they were all wearing those same tanktop-like shirts with what looked like shorts and tall socks that reached up to just below their “knees”. They were all matching with these equally dark uniforms except for two symbols which situated on either side of the shirt near their neck. They seemed to be specific for each one of them.

“Finally, I can know who I’m talking to now.” I told them as I continued to observe them outside their suits. Now I could see that their strange alien “feathers” practically covered their whole body. The various colors they each had made them equally stand out. The layers of their colors made them mix into different shades and hues, and when the light hit them, the brighter colors popped out beautifully. It honestly made me feel like I was the odd one out here. I was then finally able to see their fan shaped tail “feathers” they had drawn before to show the differences between the sexes. Just like the crowns on their heads, the tail “feathers” had vibrant layers of their colors. I was practically in awe at the added uniqueness of their appearances.

I was actually so busy staring at them that I didn’t realise that they had finished putting away their suits in these locker-like compartments near the airlock. I only stopped staring once Green Eyes turned around and essentially locked eyes with me. I quickly averted my attention elsewhere in embarrassment. Luckily, Purple Eyes gave me the opportunity as he had started heading off down the hallway with my equipment casing before disappearing behind the main door at the end. Hopefully she didn’t think that I was rude or anything. Actually, maybe it wasn’t? Who am I to know what’s rude or not for them. Man, I really hope they help share some social cues and rules. Like come on, I’ve got to be on my best behavior, now!

That familiar sound of a wheezing laugh could be heard where the other two were standing along with some quiet discussion. Oh come on. Now I’m a joke or something? This ain’t going too good. I didn’t even bother to look at them as I slowly made my way over to the main cockpit area. It felt oddly familiar to our own flight controls arrangement on the Sagan. Plenty of switches, lights, and maybe a few screens covered the area. What looked like two “c” shaped stick controls sat near the front of the first three seats. Even more switches and buttons were stuck onto the stick controls. The presumably blank screens that fit in the middle of the controls reflected back my figure.

Suddenly, two more figures came into view behind me in the reflection. I turned around to see Red and Green Eyes. Red came by me with a short phrase of their alien words and sat into the seat behind me before pulling over two straps down to her waist and ending with a small click. The seat suddenly began to recline back slightly along with the stick controls. Green Eyes grabbed my arm and pulled me over to one of the seats behind the main three near the flight controls. She gently ushered me into the seat like one would at an amusement park ride.

“Whoah, hey. Take it easy. I’m going.” I complied and sat back into the snug seat. Before I could attempt to copy what Red did with her seat straps, Green leaned over and reached up by my head. From my view, I was able to see that their “feathers” were more like thick tufts of hair shaped to look like a traditional feather. Before I could really get a look at it, she leaned away as she pulled down my seat’s straps and secured them to these two protruding buckles near my hips. It seemed that there was actually one more strap that connected the two that ran across my chest. She gave a quick tug and a few words before looking me up and down. Her eyes squinted a little before walking around to the seat in front of me as my own seat reclined as well.

What was that about? Was it the staring from earlier? Has to be. It looked like she was making fun of me with that look. Did I lose their respect or something? Dammit, Robert. Stop over analysing everything. I’m sure it was nothing…

 

I’m sure it was nothing.

 

It seemed like we were about to lift off with how quick they were to get seated and secured. They started talking to each other a lot more now, and I just had to sit back and go along with whatever they had planned. I couldn’t really tell what was going on up front with the seats blocking my view, but it looked as if they were getting everything started and running. That was when Purple Eyes came back and took his seat on the far left end of the three chairs. He too was immediately getting busy with the flight controls. He reached down to his left and pulled up what looked like one of those semicircle shaped headbands that go in the hair with its wide teeth. Although, this one looked like it had earmuffs on either end and had wires running all through it. He pulled it over his head around to the other side near the base of his neck before pushing the band up into the backside of his head. The teeth of the band seemed to intertwine with their thick layers of hair feathers, allowing the earmuffs to sit snug on both sides of his head. It must be their form of a headset, albeit a rather bulky one.

That subtle hum from earlier now became louder and more prominent, almost like the loud sound heard before an airliner begins takeoff.

“Ha, holy shit. This is crazy. This is craaazy.” My excitement grew as the hums turned into rumbling and shaking. A few chimes went off as the crew flicked a few switches and barked phrases at each other, only adding to the chaos of noise filling the space. My seat began to vibrate and shake as the noise reached a new level of loudness. Before I could voice my concerns, gravity slowly started to feel a bit stronger than before. As I looked out from the cockpit’s wind screen, the distant hills and craters on the lunar surface began to slowly sink down out of sight.

Well I’ll be damned. I’m really doing this.

I felt a little bad considering I was just having fun with this whole takeoff while the others were probably stressing over the whole thing. I really wanted to help out in some way, but I fear I would just make things worse. I’ll make it up to them at some point.

Before long, the sight of the moon’s surface was replaced with the dark space I was all too familiar with. The loud noise kept up as the forces pushing down on my body increased. This felt all too familiar, from the simulator at the training facility, to the actual training mission around our own moon. It was in some ways nostalgic. I doubt the alien crew was feeling nostalgic in any way with this liftoff. I assume we are attempting to get back into orbit before heading back to Lucas. Maybe they have a station in orbit like us? Oh, that would be kickass. Alien spaceship ride to alien space station?! Actually, maybe not. That drawing they showed me back at the lab just showed a straight shot back to their planet. Maybe they’re really in a hurry to get me back? That, or they don’t have enough fuel to lag around? There isn’t any real way of knowing at the moment. Maybe they could bring that little tablet out to explain some things?

As I ran through my many questions inside my head, the general loudness that kept up from before seemed to go down in volume along with the active forces on my body. The general commotion between the three also seemed to tone down. From what I’m guessing, they’re getting this thing into orbit. Suddenly, my body began to slowly float up from my seat before getting pulled back in thanks to the seat’s restraints. Another familiar sensation I knew all too well.

As the three up front continued to work with the flight controls, the clear screen above slowly began to fill with the sights of the moon we just left. My assumption that we were getting into the moon’s orbit became true as I noticed that the various shadows from the craters on the surface slowly dragged off to the right of the view. We must be picking up speed considering the clockwise rotation the moon has. That will definitely be something I have to get used to when I get to their planet. A complete 180 of what my brain is used to for day and night cycles. It will be interesting, but I’ll have to learn to deal with it.

The noise gradually came down back to that subtle hum from before. A few words were shared between the three before Red and Green Eyes started to mess with their seats.

Man, I gotta give them some better names than their eye colors. Let’s see. Red eyes. Almost dark cherry red. Hm. Cherry? Cher? Yeah, that’s a real name. So, that’s Cher. Now, Green eyes. Dark green, almost gem-like with the subtle sparkle. Let’s see, Green gems. Jade? Maybe. Peridot? No, too bright. Emerald? Eh, her eyes definitely look like it, but it ain’t exactly a fitting name. Well no, what about Emmy? Yeah, Emmy. Why not? Awesome, so Cher and Emmy. Now Purple eyes, that’s going to be a tough one. Shit uh, grapes, plums, amethyst…

Damn, is that all I could come up with? Well, I can’t work with grapes and plums for a guy’s name, but what could I do to make amethyst work? Thyst? No. Ame? No. Uh…Amet? Sounds close to Emmett. Sure, what the hell. Amet. So my new alien friends are Amet, Cher, and Emmy, amazing.

Well, Cher and Emmy seemed to unbuckle themselves from their seats, allowing them to free float out around the back of them. Cher used one of the railings on the ceiling to push herself to the seat next to me before grabbing onto the head rest to stop herself from flying away. Emmy said a few words, one of them being my name, as she made her way towards me. I pulled my head back as it looked as though she was going to slam right into me, but before she could, she grabbed onto the side of the seat and came mere inches away from headbutting my helmet.

“Woah, now. Watch where you’re going.” I joked as she started to unbuckle me from my seat. With two releases, she pulled the straps back over my head where they reeled back into a secure place. She quickly shifted aside as my body began to lift off from the seat. Ah, my best friend, weightlessness. The couple of years we spent coming here on the Sagan essentially made us all pros at moving in weightlessness. Sure, we had our own form of artificial gravity with the centrifuge module, but the rest of the Sagen was still in microgravity as we made our way here. I wonder if I can have a little fun with this…

I quickly held onto the base of the seat and looked up to check if it was all clear of anything important. I was given the all clear with the space being empty of important tech or instruments. I then held onto the head rest behind my head and lightly pushed off the floor. I then pulled my arms and legs in while still holding onto the seat as I flipped backwards over the seat. Once I made it over, I grabbed onto the side of the seat to steady myself.

“Ha ha, I still got it!” I clapped my hands together and pumped my fist in celebration. Subsequently, the fist pump caused me to start spinning forwards. I quickly bounded myself upright again only to hear more quiet laughing from the two. Cher said something to Emmy which resulted in even more laughing between the two.

“Yeah, keep laughing. It’s all real funny seeing this alien make a fool of itself, huh? Pfft.” I decided to ignore them and instead stretch out by lightly launching myself out into the main area. I flipped upside down and hooked my boots under the railing on the ceiling to secure myself. I then stretched my arms out and let out a slight yawn. I then reached down to my wrist to press the sequence in to unseal my helmet until I suddenly remembered I wasn’t in my lab anymore. I was in their ship, and there could be stuff in the air that’s not meant for a human to breathe in. Dammit. I’ll just have to rely on my suit’s filtered O2 recycler for the time being. Luckily they breathe the same thing as me, so at least there's plenty of oxygen for the suit to use.

“Agh, how long am I going to be stuck in this damn thing?” I complained as I leaned my head back in minor frustration. Oh man, what if it’s actually going to be a long time? How am I going to deal with the food situation? Even worse, what about the bathroom situation. My heart sank at the various possibilities of what might happen, the best option being to just rely on the MAG for the easy part. I might have to just run the risks and take this thing off when I absolutely need to.

“Bob.” A familiar alien voice called out. I looked towards Emmy as she floated over the small opening behind the cockpit seats. She guided a hand down to the opening.

“You want me to go down there?” I asked her. She only responded with a blank stare. I quickly checked to see if my voice was carrying out through my helmet’s short range speaker. A few sequence presses confirmed my assumption. With the problem fixed, I voiced my response again.

“Sorry, You want me to go down there?” I responded this time with a pointed finger towards the opening. She nodded and motioned for the opening again.

“Bob.” She motioned her hands like she was trying to tell me to come over to her. I agreed with a nod and slowly pushed myself over to her location. I spun my body around and held onto the edge of the opening before pulling myself into the new area.

Upon entering, I found out that this was their crew quarters. Around five little bunks in the wall on one side with the others being occupied by closed up shelves and various sealed containers. What looked like a small door sat at the corner of the room. Only three small lights illuminated the room enough to see just about everything.

As I made my way deeper into the room, I noticed Cher searching though one of the shelves. What she was looking for, I had no idea.

“Quite the little home y’all got here.” I held onto a nearby railing while looking over the whole room. Cher looked back towards me and said a few words before going back into her search. I suddenly felt a hand grab onto my arm. Emmy came into view as she basically used me as a brake as she slowly made her way towards Cher. I watched curiously as she called her out and showed her that same grey tablet from before.

Woah, wait. Are we drawing pictures again? Perfect, just what I needed!

Emmy motioned the tablet towards Cher, who immediately stopped her search through the container and instead followed Emmy as they both went to one of the bunks on the wall.

“Bob!” She practically called out as she beckoned to me. I slowly followed over to her by the bunk before being stopped by Cher. She told me something as she went over to another part of the room before coming back with what looked like a towel. She grabbed onto my back as she flew over, which caused us to go into a light spin as a result. Luckily, Emmy was there to stop me, except she did so when I was completely upside down.

“Woah Woah! Calm down, would ya? Y’all really like to get all up in my personal space, huh?” I complained as I felt Cher practically climb around me towards my legs, but before I could protest any further, she began to quickly wipe down my boots with the towel. And just as quickly as she cleaned the underside of my boots, she let go and jumped on back towards the bunk. Emmy then flipped me back around before she pulled me along towards the bunk. By this point, I was basically disoriented with how fast everything went down. She rushed me into one side of the bunk while they crowded the other side. Luckily, their bunks seemed to be just as long as a full size bed, so there was at least a little room between us. Although, I basically had to squat into the bunk to not hit my head on the ceiling inside. Still, everything was happening too fast for me to fully realize.

“Let’s just calm down, now, please?” I asked them as I slowly returned back to reality with a few deep breaths. They didn’t seem to care about what I had to say as they each stuck a single foot under what looked like deeply tucked in sheets. It then made sense as to why they did this as my head continued to lightly bang into the ceiling of the bunk with every shift of my body. They were basically sitting on the bed thanks to their secured feet. I attempted to copy what they did, but it was a little hard to see where my boot was going thanks to the limited mobility I had. I had to simply “feel” around for the sheet to pull a boot under.

“J-Just, give me a second. I almost got it.” I told them as I struggled to get a hold of the tight sheet. An all too familiar wheezing laugh came out of Cher as Emmy reached over and thankfully assisted me by lifting up the sheet enough for me to slip a boot in. Well, now I know why Cher attacked my boots with a towel. I wouldn’t want any moon rocks and dust on my bed either.

“Ha, thanks…” I awkwardly told her with a nod as I finally “sat” down onto the bed just like them, except I had my other leg floating freely over the edge of the bunk. It looked weird, but it was the most comfortable position I could get myself into.

Emmy then held up the tablet and squinted. The little fluffs on the sides of her face lifted a little and puffed out a bit before she turned the tablet to herself. She grabbed the tablet’s stylus and began to draw on it. We were close enough that I could easily see her emerald eyes darting around the tablet as she drew. Cher began to watch Emmy as she worked away on her drawing while occasionally sharing glances at me. And whatever she was drawing, it was taking a bit longer than our previous interactions. Maybe she was making something more detailed? Maybe a map or a depiction of the course we were taking back to Lucas? Whatever it was, it was taking some time to work on. Might as well start my “research” on my new alien friends considering how close we are in this bunk.

Alrighty.

Locals of the planet Lucas in the Hnoss system. Hm. Maybe Lucasians? Yeah, that sounds good. Ok. Lucasians observations. These bipedal beings have a unique set of “hair feathers” that cover their whole body, as far as I can tell. These “hair feathers” look like normal feathers found on avian types back on Earth, except these feathers appear to be just uniquely shaped groups of hair that have the appearance of feathers. They all seem to have unique layerings of colors. How this set of colors is chosen could ultimately be up to genetics, as it would normally be for most other animals. Perhaps the sets of colors could be related to location or maybe even race? There is still more to discover. Their heads have what might be described as a crown of “hair feathers”. This crown consists of large groups of these hair feathers in well oriented layers of colors. They seem to start at the assumed brow and gradually converge into a sort of point at the back of their heads. They have these small tufts of these hair feathers on both sides of their head around where one might find an ear. This brow of theirs is very reminiscent of birds of prey and their “hunter-like” face construction. This brings me to assume that they are possibly a predatory species. Their eyes are presumably slightly bigger than human eyes. It’s hard to tell thanks to the dark shade around their eyes which give them an even more predatory look. A much darker shade of their color set converges into a point off the sides of their eyes, almost like thick eyeliner. The eyes themselves are rich in color and depth. The pupils, Irises, and sclera seem to either go along with their color set, or simply be affected by genetics, but they generally are dark in color. They seem to have vertical pupils, and I have observed briefly that they do dilate, further confirming my assumption that they are a predatory species. Their faces seem to be covered in a very short and lightly colored layer of these hair feathers. Their “noses” seem to be a subtle long bridge that meets to the top of their mouths. They appear to have four nostrils, two larger slits and two smaller slits. They also have what looks like a dark line that runs parallel with their eyes on either cheek. What it’s for, I don’t know yet. It could simply be natural markings or maybe something more complex. Their mouth/jaw is the most unique thing about their face. It’s hard to judge if they have lips or not, but these strange mouths seem to be flexible enough for complex pronunciations. It’s almost as if they have an organic mask that is segmented up into seven parts. The main front part is actually three segments instead of four as previously assumed. There is indeed a subtle split down the middle starting at the top, but upon closer inspection, the split ends just an inch or two from the bottom of their jaw. The split intersects with a horizontal separation where the two parts of the mouth move to speak. Their mouth, when opened, looks as if they are naturally grinning. The bottom part seems to be one main segment, while the upper half is split up into six, three on each side of the middle split. A smaller middle part, a medium sized middle part, and a larger end part that ends with a raise up to the start of the tufts of hair feathers. From that intersection in the middle, the bottom part of their mouths dip down an inch and even out into a horizontal path again before picking up near the ends. To put it simply, it’s strange. The parts flex and shift when they talk, so at least it’s safe to say they aren’t rigid pieces. They are also dark in complexion, making it harder to tell if these mouth/jaw parts are covered in the same short hair feathers as the rest of their face.

Alright, now for the rest. The hair feathers stack down their necks before converging into a larger collection of the hair feathers on their chests and shoulders. From their shoulders, they layer down to the elbows where they meet with the other layers from their forearms, resulting in another tuft at the elbow. These layers seem to thin down a bit until they get to the tops of their hands. Man, their hands. I didn’t even realize until further inspection that they indeed have six fingers with what looks like two thumbs and four other fingers. The palms of their hands look to be related to the color set as well as having a darker shade of color. Not much else could be observed about their upper bodies considering they are still clothed. It’s safe to assume these layers of hair feathers follow the trends set by their arms with the variations in layer lengths. Their legs are interesting as well as they more resemble the structure of land animal legs on Earth. The closest example would be the leg structure canines or cats have. Three segments and two main joints before their feet with the first joint bent in with the other slightly bent forward. Now their feet are also strange. It is hard to make out the exact shape and appearance, considering they are wearing a type of sock, but they generally have what looks like webbed feet. They have four toes, or parts: three at the front and one at the back. Its shape is close to that of larger birds back on Earth, like an Emu. The middle part is slightly longer than the other two while the back part extends as far as the smaller two at the front. The webbing is not extreme, but this could also just be part of the sock’s design. Size wise, they appear to be slightly larger than their hands.

Physically, they look like they could be pretty quick with how strong their legs look. They’re also pretty light in body mass, considering I was able to fight off three of them from my body at the same time. Maybe their thick coats of hair feathers hide a much skinnier body? Who knows. From what I could gather during a brief exchange of info back in the lab, there are different indicators of sex solely off the display of hair feathers on their bodies. For females, their chest and head crowns were more pronounced and fuller. They also exhibited unique markings on their chest while the males did not. But for the males, their markings were on their backs, and instead of a fuller display of head and chest hair feathers, their back and tail feathers were more pronounced. Upon close inspection of my new alien friends, the females do indeed have a greater frontal display than their male counterpart.

There is more to learn, obviously, but I’ll hold back on the excitement of discovery until I meet a lot more Lucasians in person. Maybe they’ll help out and teach me more than what I could simply observe.

By the time I finished my deep observations of my two friends before me, Emmy flipped around the tablet to show me her finished drawing.

“Holy shit. That’s incredible!” I was shocked as she showed me a detailed drawing of me from her point of view. There was even shading?! Good God, how long was I staring at them for? Dammit Robert! Stop looking like a complete weirdo.

Before I could punch myself in the face through my helmet, Emmy quickly handed me the tablet with the stylus after seemingly saving the drawing for later on the screen.

“Oh no, wait a second. I ain’t no Leonardo, okay? I’ll just end up making y’all look ugly.” I protested to the enthusiastic duo, but Emmy kept motioning towards the tablet in my hands. I gave a reluctant smile. “Really?”

“Bob. Ehlly.” She told me with those same squinty eyes she had earlier. That last part surprised me a little. Maybe she thought I said draw or something similar. It was honestly kind of cute. Yeah, why not? They get to learn something from it anyways, even if the drawing is a piece of shit.

“Okay, okay. I’ll also do a drawing. Just, bare with me now. It might take a while…”