The Habitat Keeper: First Contact

First Contact

HUMANITY. WE HAVE BEEN QUIETLY OBSERVING YOU FOR CENTURIES. MEET US IN THE ORBIT OF IO ON STARDATE 67454.3

"What in the hell?" Captain Laurence Montgomery muttered out loud. He looked around at his crew to confirm he wasn't imagining the enormous letters floating in the middle of the solar system. Everyone was just as speechless.

He quickly regained his concentration. "Officer Colm, let's see if we can pinpoint the source of that text. Clearly this isn't a natural phenomenon"

Colm nodded from his console. "Scanning, captain. I'm locating a source. Near the center of the Tau Ceti sys... Wait, what?"

Montgomery turned to face Colm. "What is it, crewman?"

"Sir, this must be a sensor error. The positioning of the source keeps moving, on a lightyear scale. It's already in Proxima Centauri. Each location isn't anywhere near a habitable planet."

"Could it be a vessel of some kind?"

"Unknown, sir. It keeps moving every time I almost get a lock on it"

"Get me the admiral on the comm."

Colm's pupils zigzagged diagonally in coordination with his fingers gliding across the virtual keyboard. He queued up command to initiate an emergency communications channel with Admiral Flores. He looked to Montgomery once he had received an acceptance response. Montgomery nodded back, indicating he was ready for the onscreen discussion.

The Admiral appeared on the central viewscreen. He looked fit but the signs of aging were clear: streaks of gray hair running through the sides of his head, wrinkles becoming more prominent on his forehead. It supported a wise elder trope well enough and Montgomery figured the Admiral enjoyed the perks that came with such an appearance.

"Captain. Are you able to pinpoint the source of that thing?" said the Admiral, immediately jumping to the point. Montgomery silently acknowledged to himself that the Admiral must have known that Space Station Centos 2 was in the best position to attempt to pinpoint an origin of the mysterious message.

"Sources, admiral. We're seeing some kind of origin but it keeps shifting to other points in space before we can get a lock on it. "

The Admiral's eyebrows raised. "I see. Has this shift occurred immediately prior to attempting to scan it?"

"Yes, sir. It's still ongoing at the moment as well. Officer Colm. Do not re-initiate scanning this time. Keep tracking its position using the Star Tracker. Let's wait a considerable period before trying to scan it again."

The Admiral smiled. "I take it you get my point. We can't be too cautious with this, Montgomery."

"Absolutely. Though I will say I understand the secrecy. If this truly is an alien race, maybe they want a controlled meeting. Perhaps some kind of a final test before they welcome us into the galactic brotherhood."

"I'm no xenophobe, captain. I too grew up on stories of first contact and have always imagined the day you're referring to. I'm just a bit skeptical that this is it. Though I will say that nothing in this message indicates hostility. They want to make contact, not combat. If they wanted to attack, they'd be here already. "

The captain pondered the admiral's words silently, and then turned to Officer Colm. Colm reattempted the scan. "Sir. It moved again when we tried to scan, but now? It's invisible to our star tracker."

Officer Soro chimed in "Looks like the text is also gone. Unclear how they managed to imprint that message just in the middle of space. Our scanners aren't detecting traces of anything."