The Journey of North

Discoveries

One evening, my portable computer that was linked with the ship, beeped at me. Most everyone was away doing their own thing, and Sha'lastall was practicing brewing coffee since it was my favorite morning beverage. I opened the portable and ID'd myself to the system. SAMP's voice issued from the speakers. "Sir, sensors have detected a faint signal on the planet, Terran in origin," said the smooth voice.

"The sensors aren't just detecting my portable are they?" I asked.

"Negative Sir. The signal, while Terran in origin, is on a carrier frequency that was not used when we left Earth. That is why I just now picked it up on a random sweep. I am also getting incongruous information from the logs during cryo hibernation. I am currently extrapolating data from them now. Estimate 12 to 24 Terran hours before analysis is complete," SAMP stated.

"Very well SAMP, transfer the coordinates to my portable and I'll check out the signal. Let me know when your data analysis is complete," I informed the AI.

"Very well Sir; coordinates transferred. Good evening Sir." And with that, SAMP was gone.

I sat there studying the portable and overlaid the coordinates with a map of the planet that Te'erraxa had given me along with a translation program to make sense of the different data. With a little tinkering I was able to bring the coordinates up on the map. It looked like it was at the city center. When Sha'lastall came back with the coffee, I showed her the coordinates and told her what SAMP had told me. Her ears perked forward curiously while she looked at the readout.

"That looks like the colonist memorial," she said. "Why would a Terran transmission be coming from there?"

"I don't know. Maybe one of the probes we sent here a long time ago is buried there?" I asked.

She looked doubtful. "I don't think so, but if you want, we can go and take a look?"

I nodded feeling a bit shaky from whatever was wreaking havoc on my immune system. "Can we go tomorrow morning?" I asked.

"I don't see why not. I'll be sure we are up in time to catch the first rail to the city center," she said looking at me worriedly.

<<<>>>

The next morning I felt worse. A shower managed to wash away most of the sweat, but that didn't keep the tremors in my hands from making it fairly obvious I wasn't well. I managed to hide them in my new robe all the way to the city center with Sha'lastall watching me with an anxious expression the entire time.

"Are you sure you up for this Grrack'shai'ellet? You do not look well at all," she murmured nervously to me.

I shook my head to not only signify that I was fine, but to also clear away the double vision that kept plaguing me. "I have to know why a Terran signal is coming from your city center," I said in a somewhat feverish voice.

Sha'lastall escorted me to the memorial, holding my hand in support and to make sure I didn't fall down in my current state. The memorial was a large tower of a structure, but small in comparison to the buildings around it. Inside the building was another structure that looked a bit like the chopped off nose of some kind of spacecraft that had been converted into some kind of dwelling. The exterior materials were corroded and pitted from age and whatever color it had once been, was no longer evident now. Inside the structure, I was definitely sure it had been some kind of spacecraft at one time. There were odd consoles here and there as well as an old jump seat still fastened to one wall. In the middle was a plaque in Pe'roxenian which I couldn't read but the various consoles caught my eye and I shambled over to one. The top of the control panel was what looked like a flat touch panel which was no longer illuminated. Each one had, what looked like, a metal tag attached to it. The tags were corroded and marred but something nagged at me. Wetting the corner of my robe I rubbed vigorously at the metal tag removing centuries of grime and corrosion. Finally I was able to make out the etched symbols on the tag... 'Life Support Systems.' It was in English. Turning quickly to Sha'lastall I grabbed her robe dragging her over to the console and pointed. "That is English! That is my native language!!!" I shouted blinking my eyes rapidly as my vision kept doubling and wavering before me.

"How is that possible?" she asked amazed. "This was our first colony ship, our people came to this planet on this ship!" She gazed at the now cleaner tag and then back at me with what I could only describe as confusion.

My portable chimed with an awaiting message. Thumbing it on, I pulled up the message, it was from SAMP. It read:

Log files from the flight recorder have been reconstructed and analyzed. In the last 92 year sleep cycle, engines reported an anomaly and had to shut down. Systems went into standby mode and the ship traveled on inertia alone. I had to correct the total time you were in cryogenic suspension. Your total time in cryogenic suspension was 3477 years. Congratulations Mr. North, you are now the oldest living Terran ever. Systems will be going into standby until needed further. Complete log files have been uploaded to your portable. Have a good day Mr. North.

I read the message three more times before it clicked into my mind. I had been asleep for 3477 years in total. There was a Terran ship already on this planet when I got here. It had already been settled. Pe'roxcen, the name of the planet... Proxima Centauri, PE'ROX could easily be short for Proxima and CEN short for Centauri. Our genetic profile make up was a 98.817% match. What are the odds that that kind of match would be found between alien species? I started to shake all over now, everything clicking into place in my head. Asleep for 3477 years and the next ship had passed me in space and settled the planet ahead of me. They had adapted, changed to survive on this world. They had been here for over 3000 years. I looked up into Sha'lastall's wide, scared eyes as she was hit with wave after wave of incredulity and shock, and then I crumpled to the floor as darkness took me.

"ZACH!" Sha'lastall exclaimed as her Grrack'shai'ellet stopped shaking suddenly and slid bonelessly to the floor unconscious. She laid her large ears to Zach's chest and could still hear his heart beating, but rapidly as if in the middle of a flight or fight response. Remembering, she pulled down the collar of his robe to check his pulse and instead stopped dead. On the crook of his neck, where the natural hollow formed between shoulder and neck, was a patch of blue and black fur the size of one of her fingertips.