It's All Been Done

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"First contact is an exciting challenge, but it is also fraught with danger," Miss Davenport said, standing uncomfortably at the edge of the central command console in the ComPost. "It can be extremely difficult to determine how an unknown species will react to first contact. In some cultures, the mispronunciation of a single word can be a deadly insult! Discovery of the existence of alien life can challenge the foundations of deeply held religious beliefs, or can seem to fulfill ancient prophecies! Those attempting to initiate contact have found themselves treated as gods, demons, and everything in between."

For a change, none of the students had any trouble paying attention to Miss Davenport's lecture; even Bova was riveted by the discussion. Students who usually complained, "when are we ever going to need to know hyperspace geometry?" could clearly see the relevance of studying first contact.

The unfamiliar atmosphere that went along with having class in the command post was only adding to the tension of anticipation. It had been nearly twelve hours since the cadets had sent their reply message, and there was still no response from the aliens. Goddard was clearly uneasy about the whole business, and that was making the crew extremely edgy. For perhaps the first time in their lives, the students had actually been grateful to Miss Davenport when she suggested holding an impromptu class session on the ComPost to help explain why first contact could be such a difficult situation.

"I am certain that you are already familiar with at least one first contact experience: that between the humans and the Rigelians at the end of the last century," Miss Davenport continued. "However, as I told some of you yesterday, there is much in this story that is not taught at the elementary level. Last night's reading assignment should have introduced a few facts that you were not previously aware of."

At those words, the students gave each other nervous glances. Although their instructor had gone out of her way to inform each of them about the revised lesson plan and reading assignment, Harlan and Radu had not taken her any more seriously than the group in the lounge had. As the human had said, "Isn't it a little more important to make sure we aren't attacked by hostile aliens than to read about something we already know?"

"Let's start with some background, shall we?" Miss Davenport began. She displayed a star map of the region around the Sol system. "As we now know, the area around the Sol system is devoid of other advanced species. Until first contact with the Rigelians was made, humans had more or less accepted the belief that they were the only form of intelligent life in the universe. Human space exploration was focused on expansion within the Sol system, colonizing Luna, Mars and Europa.

"The Rigelians, on the other hand, came from a sector densely packed with intelligent life forms competing for territory and resources. They had never met an advanced race that had not made contact with other intelligent species. They had been traveling for nearly two generations, trying to find a habitable solar system after their own had been destroyed by an interstellar war. Their trip had lasted so long that there were very few left with personal memories of planetary life, so they were in no rush to settle down. They knew the hazards of interstellar war, however, and they wanted to settle someplace quiet and out of the way... someplace like the Sol system."

Miss Davenport turned and fired off a question suddenly. "Rosie, in what year did the first contact between humans and Rigelians occur?"

"Twenty-one eighty-six," Rosie replied cheerfully.

"That is correct. Suzee, what first drew the Rigelians to the Sol System?"

Fortunately, Suzee had an eidetic memory and could recall every word she overheard in Catalina's elementary classes. "The Rigelians picked up a primitive, 200-year-old signal that Earth had beamed into space," she recited. "A series of prime numbers and some simple binary code. They sent out a scout ship to investigate."

"Very good, Suzee. Mr. Bova, where was the Rigelian scout ship located when it first made contact with people from Earth?"

"About five AUs outside of the Sol System," Bova said in a bored tone, rolling his eyes. "And the Earth ship they made contact with was just passing Pluto, near where the Starcademy is located today."

"Well done, Mr. Bova." Miss Davenport commended. "Yes, Earth's communications technology was quite primitive at the time, and the two ships had to be remarkably close for the Earth ship to be able to pick up the Rigelian communication."

So far, the questions had all related to basic information that everybody learned at the elementary level. The students had demonstrated their command of the basics. Miss Davenport decided to move into more advanced material. "Mr. Band, what was the name of the Earth ship that made contact with the Rigelians' transmission?"

Harlan appeared cocky and self-assured, as usual. "The Acheron, under the command of Captain Nathan Band," he said proudly.

"That is partially correct," Miss Davenport said tartly.

"What?"

"The ship was the Acheron," Miss Davenport agreed, "but Nathan Band was not her captain."

Harlan looked confused. "So what did... what did my great-grandfather do?"

"He was the cook," Suzee muttered.

"Lieutenant Band was the navigator," Radu realized, finally beginning to understand the significance of the visions – no, memories! – that had been hounding him for the last twelve hours. "The captain's name was..."

"Yes?" Miss Davenport encouraged.

"The captain's name was Radu?" Radu said as if it were a question.

"That is correct!" Miss Davenport said, beaming broadly.

Radu shook his head in disbelief. "Why did an Earth man have an Andromedan name?"

"Radu is, in fact, a common name among Earth people from the state of Romania. Captain Radu Tepes of the Acheron was Romanian."

In the back of his mind, Radu could hear the voice that both was and was not Harlan's saying "Crazy Romanian."

Captain Tepes smiled down at his young navigator, Lieutenant Nathan Band. Band yawned back at his superior officer. The captain could not repress a chuckle. "I suppose that this 'cargo run' is not as exciting as intercepting pirates and smugglers in the shipping lanes, eh Lieutenant?" the captain said.

The young lieutenant shrugged indifferently.

"I tell you, Lieutenant, this is important work that we are doing. The Cerberus Platform will be of great historical significance. Some day, you will tell your grandchildren about this."

"Yeah," Band grumbled softly, "I'll tell them not to go out into the middle of nowhere with a crazy Romanian."

"I heard that," Captain Tepes informed his navigator.

"This was in the reading material I prepared for today's class," Miss Davenport said tightly, "Didn't any of you read the assignment? Mr. Radu?" Her voice jerked the young Andromedan out of his reverie.

"Huh? Uh..." What did she ask me? "C-can you repeat the question?"

"What was the original mission of the Acheron?" Miss Davenport repeated through clenched teeth.

Radu drew a blank. Like the rest of the class, he hadn't read the assignment, but he was at an even worse disadvantage than the others: he was neither human nor Rigelian. He had not studied the first human-Rigelian contact before coming to Starcademy, as the others had. He had no idea what the original mission of the Acheron was.

If I don't say something, he realized, she's going to get irritated. She can already tell that we didn't do the reading assignment – or, at least, that Harlan didn't do it – Radu wasn't sure if he could trust these strange memories, but they had been accurate so far. Radu took a deep breath and plunged in, repeating what the voice in the back of his mind had said.

"The ... the Cerberus Platform?" Radu tried.

Miss Davenport eyes twinkled with approval. "Very good! And what was the Cerberus Platform?"

Radu drew a blank. The only thing Captain Tepes had said about the platform was that it would be of great historical significance. Radu wasn't sure where these memories were coming from or whether he could get any more information from them. As he watched a scowl develop on Miss Davenport's face, though, he realized he had to say something. Come on, Captain Tepes, Radu thought, help me out.

A new memory flooded Radu's mind. Almost without conscious volition, the words came out of Radu's mouth. The voice was Radu's, but the speech patterns were Captain Tepes's: clipped, precise and lightly accented. "The Cerberus Platform was to be the first continuously-manned space station located outside of the Sol system. Cerberus Platform orbited Sol at a distance just beyond Pluto's orbit. After twenty years of construction, they were ready to bring Cerberus online. The Acheron brought the equipment needed to complete the platform. They also transported twenty scientists who would be the first to man the platform."

For a few moments, the silence was deafening. Miss Davenport could not believe that one of her students had managed to reel off such an imposing statement.

"Very impressive, Mr. Radu," Miss Davenport said with a rare smile. "Your use of resources is commendable. As a matter of fact, you have reminded me that I wished to play that recording for the class."

After pressing a few buttons on her CompuPad, she projected an image on the screen. The recording showed a man in his late thirties or early forties, with dark hair and a swarthy complexion. As the recording began to play, it was clear that it was a portion of a longer speech - a standard promotional video. "The Cerberus Platform will be the first continuously-manned space station located outside of our solar system. Cerberus Platform will orbit our sun at a distance just beyond Pluto's orbit. After twenty years of construction, we are ready to bring Cerberus online. The Acheron will bring the equipment needed to complete the platform. We will also transport twenty scientists who will be the first to man the platform."

For a moment, Radu could not breathe. The recording exactly matched his memories, right down to the most minute detail of Captain Tepes's accent and vocal inflection... but he was certain that he had never seen this recording before! The perspective of the recording was wrong: Radu did not remember seeing Captain Tepes speak; he remembered standing on that podium, reciting that speech. Impossible! he thought. It's just my imagination!

"A refreshing display of ingenuity, Mr. Radu," Miss Davenport declared. "Perhaps the rest of the class would do well to adapt a bit of your resourcefulness."

"Hey, Radu, you've got something on your nose," Harlan muttered. "Something brown."

Squirming uncomfortably under Miss Davenport's unaccustomed attention and Harlan's all-too-familiar snide comments, Radu prepared himself for an unpleasant class period. When Miss Davenport gets started on something, he thought ruefully, she never stops... We're going to be hearing about this for the next two weeks. I should have just kept my mouth shut.

To his great relief, however, Miss Davenport suddenly turned her attention to Bova, trying to rouse him from his ever-present stupor. "Mr. Bova, how did the Rigelians initiate first contact?"

"They sent a message," Bova said, as if that were obvious.

Miss Davenport pursed her lips in displeasure. "Thank you for that penetrating insight, Mr. Bova," she said dryly. "Would anyone care to enlighten us as to what kind of message they sent?"

"They said, 'We come to you in peace and friendship.'" Harlan said, "Everybody knows that!"

"I'm sure that is what they taught you at the elementary level, Mr. Band," Miss Davenport replied sharply, "but the purpose of this lesson was to teach you the truth behind our first contact with the Rigelians, the truth that they do not teach you at the elementary level."

The students looked back at Miss Davenport blankly.

"Did anyone, other than Mr. Radu, review the materials I prepared for today's lesson?" she pleaded.

No one answered.

As Harlan would have said, that was the "straw that broke the horse's back." Or something like that. At any rate, Miss Davenport's attitude suddenly changed. She folded her arms across her chest with finality. "Well! I am not going to do your studying for you," she informed them frostily. "If Mr. Radu can read this material, then so can the rest of you."

Radu could almost feel the eyes of his classmates drilling through him. He winced, knowing that they would make him pay for this.

Miss Davenport continued, "You have one half hour in which to complete the reading. When I return, you will receive a test on the material that it covers." With that denunciation, she stormed out of the ComPost.

Turning to where Goddard stood at the central control console, quietly observing the whole scenario, Harlan tried to appeal to his sense of reason. "Commander, can't you talk to her?" he said. "I mean, we've been busy waiting for a response from these aliens! We've had other things on our minds! We can't be expected to waste our time reading stupid history assignments about things everybody knows!"

"Nice try, Band, but not this time," the commander replied firmly. "I asked Miss Davenport to prepare that lesson, because I thought it was important. There's more to the first contact with the Rigelians than they taught you in school. You need to know this, so you won't make the same mistake they did."

"What do you mean, 'mistake'?" Harlan asked. "Contact with the Rigelians was the best thing that ever happened to both sides! It was the beginning of the UPP!"

"If you had read Miss Davenport's lesson, you'd know what I'm talking about," the commander said. "Now go down to the lounge and study. I'll keep an eye on things up here."

As soon as they got to the lounge, the other students clustered around Radu.

"What are you trying to do?" Harlan asked angrily. "She would have been perfectly happy to break down and teach the material if you hadn't come out with the perfect little student act..." He continued, with the world's most horrible British accent, "'Now, students, I refuse to subject Mr. Radu to this lesson again after he's done such a nice job of brown-nosing...'"

"But I didn't spend any more time studying than you did!" Radu insisted. "We were on watch until 20:00 hours last night, and then we went down to the galley for some dinner... and then you convinced me to play Fernahernan Three-Level Spiz until it was time for lights-out."

Suzee looked skeptical. "So how did you pull off that speech? You can't expect us to believe you just plucked it out of thin air."

"N-no, not exactly," Radu said quietly, looking uncomfortable.

Harlan's face had an irritated expression. "Then what did you do, exactly?"

"I don't know!" the young Andromedan blurted out. "I've never seen that video clip before. I've never even studied the human-Rigelian first contact before! But the whole story seems..." He struggled for the words. "Well... it just seems familiar to me. I just ... remembered it. Not as if I studied it, but ... as if it was something I did. Like that speech was something I said."

There was a long silence, as the others looked at him skeptically.

"Feel free to step in with an explanation," he challenged suddenly.

"Well," Suzee speculated, "even if you hadn't specifically studied UPP history before, you might have heard about it somewhere." Her inadvertent choice of words seemed to spark her own interest. "Yes, of course!" she continued excitedly. That must be it! With your sensitive Andromedan hearing, you could have overheard a history class at Starcademy and not even consciously realized it! Maybe you heard about the first contact situation there, and your mind just put the bits and pieces together! And that would explain why you didn't remember seeing the video... because you didn't see it, you just heard it!"

Harlan snickered. "Not likely. Even if he had heard the speech before, he can't remember a passage he reads three minutes before class is due to start. How's he supposed to remember, word-for-word, a speech he accidentally overheard years ago?"

Suzee looked slightly offended. "Memory is tricky stuff," she said haughtily. "Lots of things can cause abnormally accurate recall. The captain of the Acheron has the same name as Radu; that association may have enhanced Radu's ability to remember the information."

"But... why do I remember it as if it happened to me?" Radu wondered.

"It's called paramnesia," Suzee explained, "a flaw of memory, such as an error that causes dreams, fantasies or hallucinations to be remembered as real events. The mind can play some strange tricks on you."

"I don't think it's as simple as that," Bova retorted flatly. "Sounds like a shoma trace to me." Rosie nodded in agreement.

Suzee rolled her eyes impatiently. "You don't really believe in that stuff, do you?"

At those words, Radu looked slightly apprehensive. "What's a shoma trace?"

Suzee snickered. "A memory of a past life," she said barely containing her amusement. "It's some silly old Rigelian thing. Catalina told me about it."

"It's not silly," Bova snapped. "It's one of my people's basic beliefs." He turned to Harlan and Radu, who seemed more open to the idea. "It's all part of the cycle of life: we're born, we live, we die, and then our shomas move on to new bodies and start over. Trying to learn anything or accomplish anything is basically futile, because you'll just die and have to do it all over again."

"Oh, it's not like that at all," Rosie chided sweetly. "You're born, you live a good life and make lots of friends, and then you stay close to your friends throughout all your different lives! I mean, Harlan and Radu are best friends now, even though it took them a while to realize that they were friends. Maybe Captain Tepes was good friends with Lieutenant Band in that lifetime, and that's why Radu is here with Harlan in this life!"

The young Andromedan looked skeptical. "Well..." he said diplomatically, "I'm not sure if Captain Tepes and Lieutenant Band were exactly friends."

"Yeah," Bova added excitedly. "I'll bet Captain Tepes treated his crew really badly, and so his punishment in his next life was getting dumped on by Lieutenant Band's great-grandson."

Suzee shook her head. "This is so stupid!" she said, "If we really live lots of different lives, then how come almost nobody remembers it?"

"W-well," Rosie said hesitantly, "some people remember it... "

"Do you remember it?" Suzee shot back aggressively.

"N-no," Rosie said quickly, an uncomfortable expression on her face.

"Of course she doesn't," Bova added defensively. "The trauma of being born makes you repress all those past life memories."

"Oh! But Radu wasn't born!" Rosie said, seeming to recover quickly from her embarrassment. "Not like us, I mean. He was hatched from an egg! He didn't have the trauma of being born! That's why he can remember his past life!"

Harlan was blunt. "I don't buy it."

"Which part of it?" Radu asked, irritated at the casual way the human brushed off Rosie's thought.

"That this stuff is just coming into your head from out of nowhere. I think you studied for Miss Davenport's class, and you're just not willing to admit it."

Radu was more than a bit uncertain himself as to where this information was coming from, but the theories Bova and Rosie had proposed made more sense than anything he'd been able to come up with on his own. Harlan's casual disbelief in the entire situation, however, had gotten under his skin. "Can't you be open-minded, just a little bit?" he asked angrily. "I may not be able to explain it, but I know what's happening to me. Ask me something. Something only someone who had been there would know. Didn't your great-grandfather tell you anything about the mission, besides that he was the captain?"

It was a dangerous bluff. Radu wasn't certain he would be able to recall specific details on cue, but he was reasonably certain that Harlan didn't know anything. He remembered Harlan's excitement when he had made the discovery, during research for Miss Davenport's family tree project, that his great-grandfather was on the Acheron mission. Radu realized that the human had probably never heard anything about this great accomplishment from his ancestor. You know how Harlan is... he jumps to the best conclusion he can reach from the smallest amount of information. He never heard or read that his great-grandfather was the captain. He assumed it... and he was wrong. And I just threw that back in his face. Radu was about to apologize, but it was too late.

"Yeah, my great-grandfather told me something, all right," Harlan snapped in an aggressive tone of voice Radu hadn't heard him use in months. "He told me not to go out into the middle of nowhere with –"

"–with a crazy Romanian," Radu finished.

Harlan stared at Radu. "How did you know that?"

"I don't know," Radu answered honestly.

Before the students had a chance to assimilate this strange new turn of events, they heard Commander Goddard's voice crackling over the intercom. "All hands to the command post," the commander announced grimly. "We've received a reply to our message."

Click here for Part 3 of It's All Been Done