First Contact

Chapter 1

Gob sighed, waiting for everyone to settle down in the auditorium. They never enjoyed speaking in public, even more so when it is about something important. They stared at a monitor in the observation lab trying to calm his nerves.

"Overseer Gob" said Drak, using the formal greeting as was required on formal occasions.

"Observer Drak" nodded Gob, "Are we ready then?"

"We are still waiting on a few key audience members, we have some time before we can begin" said Drak.

Gob was frustrated, it is bad enough that they have to talk to such a large crowd but the wait was making it worse. Gob's face must have made this feeling obvious and Drak said "Might I suggest watching the archives again? That always seems to help". Drak left the room to give Gob some space.

"Good idea" Gob said softly and walked over to a monitor in the corner of the room, the monitor had a list of files and folders. Gob navigated through the files trying to find the right ones, leaning back in frustration every time the monitor struggled to keep up. Eventually, Gob selected a folder named 'Historical Archives' and played a file named 'Planetary History'. Gob had seen this multiple times already but there was no harm in watching it again if it helped.

***Planetary Archive. Part 12. Title: Planetary History***

Life on Planet Seb has always been hard. The surface of the planet is mainly composed of mineral rocks and mountains. The weather is harsh, with extreme storms occurring often and long lasting. These harsh conditions have resulted in most fauna evolving with hard scaled skins to protect against weather, small thin eyes to allow visibility in the dark and during storms and most life existed below the surface in the early days of the planet. That was until our species the Sebji came into existence.

Little is known about the origin of our species, what we do know is that we required light to survive but extreme weather on the surface forced us to burrow underground only venturing above the surface for sustenance. Our early ancestors were thin and feeble because they lacked proper access to light. As the cycles passed we built infrastructure underground using crystals found on the surface to build windows to allow light from the surface to reach our habitats. With safety and sustenance secured our species grew strong and intelligent. Innovation drove our technology, building different ways to improve standard of living. We began researching different ways to survive on the surface and once our technology advanced enough we build settlements and strongholds on the surface strong enough to provide shelter from the storms.

Since then the Stargazer programme resulted in the invention of terraformers that allowed us to master the weather and prevent these storms from passing through our habitats. Ecological concerns about overdoing terraforming resulted in majority of the planet being left untamed and our population being concentrated in 4 major settlements. There is Sebek which is the capital of the planet and the location for the Stargazers headquarters, then Sebdon...

Gob stopped the recording, and thought about how different life on the planet is today. The species went from trying to survive to living in comfort, being able to choose their own hobbies rather than doing whatever function was decided for them.

He opened another file.

***Stargazer Archives. Part 1. Title: History of the Stargazer programme***

Our civilisation was still young, satisfied with it's place on our planet.Our species spent most of it's time trying to survive. From taming wild animals to fortifying against the weather every citizen had a part to play, but not everyone contributed in the same way.

There was one who spent most of their time staring at the stars, an activity that the town leaders often called "wasteful". Fascinated by what was beyond our planet they used a metal scaffolding tube and a make-shift crystal lens to observe what was beyond the horizon. Their observation led to the discovery of a large strip of objects a little distance away from Seb, this strip is what we now know as The Blue Belt although that name would be established much later. This individual would spend the next cycle observing the belt and discovering other large objects we commonly refer to as 'Space Rocks'.

Some cycles later, this individual established the Stargazer Programme in the capital Sebek. The individual is ofcourse Gob, the first overseer of the Stargazers. He went on to...

Gob stopped the recording.

Gob had heard this story hundreds of times as a child, his ancestor is the reason why he joined the Stargazers after all.Gob's family had a tradition of using the same name across generations, something to do with a long lasting legacy but that was a concept Gob never fully understood. As a child, their ancestor's story is what inspired them to research the stars. This inspiration is perhaps the reason why Gob was so driven, and eventually promoted to being the current Overseer. Gob loaded another file named 'Branches of the Stargazer Programme'.

***Stargazer Archives. Part 5. Title: Branches of the Stargazer Programme***

The Stargazer programme comprises of 3 major branches - The Observers, The Watchers and The Book Keepers. The Observers monitor space around our planet and identify points of interests such as movement in the belt, space rocks with high mineral content etc. They record and analyse data collected by automated instruments. Several inventions such as the equipment our Rock Hoppers use and communication technology are a direct result of the work the Observers have done.

Once our species started exploring space, there were concerns that there could be conflict for control over assets in space. The Watchers were introduced as a means to think about possible threats to our society and to come up with possible solutions. Over the years though it became clear that this had not warranted too much attention and The Watcher programme pivoted to being a research and development branch that conducts though experiments on matters of security.

The Book Keepers manage resources and finances for the whole Stargazer programme. An Overseer is responsible for keeping watch over all the branches, coordinating communication between them and making sure that all grievances are heard and taken seriously. The Overseer is also responsible for providing direction to the branches and to set the long term goals of the programme itself.

Over the years, several factions of our population felt that it was also necessary to regulate the workings of the Stargazers programme. The Elders faction was introduced to be leaders of our population, who's primary function is to make sure that the interests of the general population are secured and the workings of the Stargazers poses no threat to the rest of the planet. Overtime however the Elders have become a more socio-political entity than a governance authority, the Stargazers provide reports to the Elders so that they may be informed in their decisions.

Gob was amused at the description of the Elder group, they never got along with them but understood their importance to society. Most of the Elder members today do not know much about space and what the Stargazers really do, they mainly concern themselves with politics and who gets to be in charge of the city every cycle. Every year a report is sent to them and every year they request for the language to be made simpler, recent reports have been quick summaries. Gob loaded another file named "The object from space"

***Stargazer Archives. Part 239. Title: The object from space***

150 cycles ago from the current date, a strang...

Gob was interrupted as the door swung open.

"We're ready for you now" said Drak