Endless space. The darkness shines like a beacon into the soul. Simon slowly breathes in. And out. The white opaque of tiny water drops forms a translucent blurred circle on the round window that allows him to receive the frontierless view into the blackness of the universe.
He observes how the tiny drops of mist gradually vaporize again, letting the glass regain its flawless transparency. Breath. Breath is the sign of life. That is how it is written in the old scriptures. Old, muffled, ancient. And yet, accurately enough to appreciate the value of breath.
I am still breathing. I can still do it.
He closes his eyes and feels the warmth of his eyelids enclose his own windows to the world. How well this feels. There is still some warmth in those tiny chambers of the space capsule where he and his colleagues reside. He opens his eyes again.
Somewhere, out there, lies the answer.
The answer to everything. The answer to the history of humanity.
Or just the answer that he is a bottomless fool.
“Hey, Simon, ya’ still brooding?”
Jenny laughs a little while approaching the side. She is always the one to cheer Simon up. All the others keep their distance from him, consider him to be spooky, weird. But not Jenny. Without a sound, she floats through the round tunnel, leading up to this tiny place with the round window. The gravity panels are turned off. Hesitantly, Simon turns his face to her and remarks solemnly, “Just fighting cabin fever.”
She shrugs. “Well, duuh, that’s the high price for us all, having grown up in a society of individuality and privacy: cabin fever!”
Now, Simon is nearly on the verge of laughter. That’s just Jenny! Sometimes, one might think that she is superficial due to her constant humor, but actually, she bears a lot of knowledge behind the comedy. And maybe that is also the reason why she is not set aback by Simon’s weird theories. She is smart not to condemn him.
“Well, I guess you are right,” he replies shyly while smiling and gets hold of the nearest handle before getting ready to return to the control room with her.
The team of the ‘Hakhoqer‘, a formidable scientific spaceship equipped to endure long in-depth travels, has its own good routines to tackle everyday tasks in the control room. Far away from earth, they still keep schedule of day and night. Though here, in the void, there is no rhythm of life detectable in the endless space outside. So, it’s morning where it is not. After the refreshing breakfast from the lush rations of the ‘Hakhoqer’, it’s a good change for everyone to work through the checklists quite quickly before the next rest phase begins.
“The graph shows no intrusion in the radiation range. Seems safe,” utters Daphne in her grumpy throaty voice while looking at her work tablet and crossing the room freely with a gentle float. She is the captain, and she fills this role with professional severance that keeps each member at a respectful distance while soothing everybody in fair neutrality and competency.
“We will remain unintruded, I am pretty sure. This is a daydream’s exploration and all we have to do is observe black with black and black,” scoffs Brian as he types something into one of the terminals.
Daphne glares at him like a hawk. “You hold it down! We got a job to do and that is all to contemplate about!”
Simon has heard the conversation while he and Jenny are about to enter the room. „Stop it, Brian! I know that this is not your favorite mission, but one tiny sloppiness can cost us all!“
All six members of the crew turn to Simon, while Brian mumbles, „We fear ghosts. That’s all that it is. Ghosts!“
With a deep sigh, Simon goes on, addressing the whole crew. „We went this far and here we are. This is not the right place to doubt my research. You can scold me when we return and have found nothing. I don’t mind. But until then, you need to believe this. Because…. because if you don’t, and if I am right with my theory, it will cost all our lives.“
Silently nodding, they return to their routines. Simon and Daphne join their work. Relieved, the doubted researcher feels how his muscles ease a bit.
Another day saved. Another time I could keep their sentiment in check. But for how long?
Weeks go by as the ‚Hakhoqer‘ floats through the void without being stirred. This mission runs as low as possible on energy. Because if Simon Gitborn's research is correct, these plains are the territory of a highly evolved species. A species that is not only sentient but also extremely sensitive to detection of any energy sources. A species that was once part of human history.
Well, that last sentence is bollocks according to current science. Scholars were able to support parts of Simon’s theories. Yes, a species could roam this sector. Yes, and if so, they must be highly advanced. But no, there is no indication that they have anything in common with humans. It’s very unlikely.
But Simon knows well how they are. He saw them himself when he was a small child in colony Alpha 3. And he was the only survivor of that colony. Since then, he has dedicated his entire life to being able to lead a mission of this kind. Experts nearly put him into an insane asylum. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, they said. But somehow he managed to stay in the sane world and get the money for this special spaceship, which looks like a tiny asteroid from outside.
Night has fallen, theoretically. Jerome is on the night shift. With most of the lights and engines shut down to avoid emissions from the ship, he cautiously presses the button to get the results from the graph. A soft “Bsssd tz bsssd” sounds from the device that was deliberately less modernized than the rest of the ship. He eyes intently at the small zigzag lines on the paper. “Holy shhh!” he gasps, pulling the paper closer to his eyes. Then, he quickly handles himself through the tunnels to the captain’s quarters.
“Daphne! Daphne! It’s me! We have an intrusion!” he hisses through the comms at her door. A crackle returns, but then the comms are suddenly dead. Daphne opens her door.
“Hush! No unnecessary electricity when we suspect an intrusion! Remember the briefing!”
“Sorry, the many weeks must have made me like jelly.” Jerome apologizes. “Shall we wake the others?”
“Yes, we must! Briefing in the control room in 10 minutes,” whispers Daphne back while fetching some stuff to head there as well.
Ten minutes later, the whole crew is assembled in the room. Silence. As instructed, they make as few sounds as possible. Then, Simon whispers to all of them.
“If I am accurate, we now cannot use the radar or the radiation scan. We got our dampened windows at each side of the ship and there we need to rely on our very own eyes. Please remember, they are deadly.”
Now, even the emergency lights are shut down in all tunnels. The crew separates in pairs while one of them remains in the control room with its front dampened window. Then, after a while, they find that there must be something suspicious at the starboard window. Swiftly, they delegate Simon to get there.
Cautiously, Simon joins Brian and Jerome who observe the starboard window. A small shiny spot in the distance flashes close to the rear of the ship. Silently, the two colleagues nod towards Simon. Then, they all gaze at the shiny speck without uttering a word. Minutes pass, and it nearly becomes half an hour until Simon dares say something. “Well, it may take hours until we see more?”
Jerome nods. “It could be. Unfortunately, the graph does not show the velocity of the intruders in relation to us.”
And Brian clears his throat before he murmurs, “I think I need to apologize.”
“Don’t.” Simon interrupts him. “I wouldn’t believe myself if I hadn’t seen … .”
He is about to finish his sentence but can’t. His mouth remains stunned open while he stares into space outside. Terrified, his colleagues follow suit.
A large bizarre structure appears right in front of the window! It consists of numerous delicately long spikes holding a solid core which may contain an interior space. Where did this come from? It must be a second ship of the intruders that they did not perceive earlier.
The three men dare not move. Or breathe. Well, they breathe as slowly as they think they can.
Breathe. I am still breathing. And I see them!
Simon cautiously moves his left hand to indicate to Brian that he needs to get the others.
Minutes later, the others join them at the window to gaze at the alien ship, and soon Simon retreats to the control room with Daphne and Jenny to discuss the next steps.
„This is the end of our mission, or just the beginning,“ Simon gasps as he feels safer in the control room.
Jenny narrows her eyes and asks him. „Well, if you were right about one thing, I wonder if you were right about the next: Is it true that they understand all languages, but not Aramaic?“
Humbly, Simon nods. „Yes, that is what the scriptures say. But I think they meant it the other way around: They understand Aramaic, but not so much other languages. But I have this theory that, for some reason, the scriptures wanted to hide their true language.
Daphne approaches him with interest. “So, you learned Aramaic for this encounter?”
“Yes.”
“And what else do you know about them?”
Simon sorts through his thoughts to find priorities to convey to Daphne. Then he adds. „Nothing specific, but there are indications that they are not divided into male and female as we are.“
Daphne snickers and gives Jenny a push. “Well, at least we got you here with some two-sides experiences.”
Intimidated by that, Jenny turns up her nose jestingly. “You know, just because I am trans, I am not an expert on Simon’s aliens, honey!”
“Yeah, just trying to pull your leg,” grins Daphne and Jenny squeezes ironically her eyes in response.
Brian enters the control room with some exhausted expression. “Well, given to the fact that Simon was right about almost everything. I have just one question: Are we all going to die?”
Daphne solemnly counters. “Well, you should have queried this with yourself before signing the contract. Simon was always honest with us.”
Simon crouches down on one of the chairs, holding on tightly due to the lack of gravity. “Yes, I was. And now, given to reality, I am quite scared myself now.”
Jenny nods in understanding. “Well, you are also the one who got traumatized by them.” And she adds a sigh. “Alas, now we find out whether they kill any human who encounters them or not.”
On this point Brian tries to argue, “But they have not realized yet that we are more than just an asteroid, right?”
Having said that, a sudden bump echoes through the whole ship, being followed by a clang – clang – clang done by Rose, another crewmate, who just hurries into the control room. “They seem to enter the aft!”
##
The whole crew assembles at the aft, staring at the wall of the ship that shields them from exterior space.
“Is it really wise that we all gather here while they enter the ship? They could kill all of us at once!” Jerome asks cautiously and Daphne soothes him with her usual bold way. “It would not make a difference. If they see one of us, all of us are doomed. So, giving them a nice welcome together is our best chance at this.”
Brian rumbles as expected, “We should have brought weapons.” But Simon shakes his head. “As advanced as they are, all weapons from earth are just signing our end of existence if we face them like that. No no no, our best chance is to be polite.”
“If you say so.” Brian gives up on this.
At that moment, a screeching sound emits from the wall in front of them and with a crackling light a gap is cut into it, outlining gradually the dimensions of a door. With a loud clang, gravity kicks in, the cut piece of steel wall falls down and with that, they also bump onto the floor of this section.
Aching, they all try to get into a somewhat upright position as they see a silhouette of a tall human-shaped figure with large feathered wings stepping up in front of the floodlight that almost blinds them. All their faces turn bloodless in anxiety. The impressive figure moves slightly forward towards them and now, they are able to recognize a humanoid face with shining dark eyes.
The winged entity glares steadily at one after the other. Simon tries to overcome his paralysis and gets himself onto his legs. Hesitantly he utters what he has learned so many times.
„ ܫܠܡܐ ܥܠܘܟ݂ܘܢ ”
The impressive angel raises their brows. Suddenly, a shrieking sound echoes in all of their heads, and they try to cover their ears. But the angel does not move their lips. Abruptly, the sound ends and instead, a clear voice of multiple entities jingles.
<Not bad. But still, you cannot return home, humans!>
“We are all screwed,” utters Brian.
The angel turns around and waves one hand casually.
<Come. You will need to sign the damned immigration papers.>
THE END