Nightmare - A Short Story by @jinnis

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Nightmare

By jinnis


Bugs had always creeped me out, even as a kid. Their gleaming eyes, the pincers and scrawny, chitinous limbs, their ability to reproduce, to morph from larvae to crawling and flying insects, their sheer endless variability and capacity to build states with a common mind.

I kept clear of those creepy-crawlies as best as I could. Which wasn't easy once other kids found out about my phobia. My bottle of bug spray was my best friend, and I carried it everywhere. While other girls discussed the pros and cons of lipsticks and nail polish, I knew exactly which ingredients in which kind of repellent worked best on which bug.

Needless to point out that I wasn't the outdoorsy type. I preferred a book to a camping adventure. And when I had to decide on my field of study, I chose linguistics as a mostly bug-free subject. Besides, I was good at it. So, when the space program searched for linguists, I volunteered.

The reasons were simple. The paycheck, and the fact there are no bugs in space. Sterile environment, no pest control needed, as every environmental parameter was controlled by default, and the only living organisms aboard the ship were the crew. My friends and family called me nuts when I told them I didn't know about the mission's goal. But that couldn't deter me. They'd called me nuts for years, with fewer reasons.

When I went aboard the shuttle that would bring me out to the space dock, I knew I'd made it. This was it. Bug-free heaven.

As I'd suspected and hoped, two other top-notch linguists and I had been called in to help translate a possible alien communication. Aside from the three linguists, our team comprised two decoding cracks and three computer whizz kids. The last member was an AI called Lucy. She lived in a metal cube of twenty centimetres side length with a mini propulsion system that allowed her to float along when we were ushered from the shuttle into the newest Orion-class jump ship.

The next day, we were underway to the Sagittarius arm of the galaxy. While everyone except Lucy was sent into hibernation during the jumps, the captain allowed us to work with the fragmented communication during our recovery stops.

The recordings sounded like random static at first, but with time and Lucy's unbreakable stamina, we succeeded and isolated repetitive sections. That's where the hard work began. Our team was undecided: were these sound sequences really a language or just random noises? I had my doubts, but then, one late shift when everyone else was asleep, I stumbled over the key. At first, I thought I was seeing patterns where there were none. But then, Lucy confirmed the aliens played a garbled version of the golden record back at us.

It was like finding the Rosetta Stone. From there on, it was a piece of cake. We sent out our first tentative message three weeks later, just before another jump. Our techs told me not to build up too much hope, as we'd leave it behind with the jump. They promised to send during transit but told us chances were slim hyperspace communication worked.

The answer was in when I fought my way back to consciousness after the jump. Seemed the aliens had communication means far beyond our own. Strange enough, what worked for sound didn't apply for images, though. Whatever potential visuals we received translated to dark grey squiggles on a black background.

"Perhaps their eyes work on different wavelengths." Joe, our transmission guru, suggested. "Or it's simply a matter of not working in hyperspace."

Two more jumps and we would know. In the meantime, we exchanged long, carefully crafted messages. It was a linguists' dream. They called themselves kana, and their translator was named A'cha'ha. In time, I felt I knew them better than my human companions. We even cracked some tentative and rather intellectual jokes.

Then the captain announced we reached our target system. Finally, A'cha'ha and I talked in real-time. Their voice was melodic and mesmerising. I could have listened to them for hours. We set up a meeting for our ships in the high orbit of a blue-green gas giant. Finally, there would be a direct exchange between the kana and humans, although a virtual one at first.

After a lengthy back and forth, the command crew decided that A'cha'ha and I would be the emissaries instead of the captains. After all, it was us that had established a working link bridging the species.

I was giddy with anticipation. How would A'cha'ha look? What should I wear? In the end, I stuck with my working coveralls. I made a special effort on my hair, though.

I stood on the bridge, rubbing my sweaty palms against my trousers, the muscles in my neck tense as ropes. The captain chuckled when she handed me a cup of coffee. "Relax, Collie. You'll do just fine."

Then Joe announced the visuals coming in.

I gasped, sudden dizziness flooding my brain. My fingers clamped around the hot cup in my hands while I stared at the monstrosity filling the screen. Strong mandibles fitted with sharp pincers, compound eyes shimmering in all the colours of the rainbow, bristles covering the diamond-shaped, chitinous head scales.

My knees buckled, the hot coffee spilt on the floor, and the captain rushed to my side to support me. "Collie, what's wrong?"

I shivered, pressing my face against her shoulder. "They—have you seen them? My worst nightmares."

"Just ignore their appearance, Collie." She patted my shoulder. "Think of all the work you've done. This is our chance to make them our friends for good."

I swallowed, biting back tears and curses. Then I heard A'cha'ha's melodic voice. Soothing. The captain was right. I had to fight my childish phobia. Here and now, I couldn't treat the aliens like they were just a bunch of overgrown bugs. I closed my eyes and listened to the voice of the kana translator. The lilting melody of her words calmed my fears. I took a deep breath, and then I translated.

"Of course, it matters. They are mammals for god's sake. This is a living nightmare."

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