First and Last Contact
by
Kevin Wasser
Night fell upon the Realm; a strange period of time, which brought both peace and terror equally to those that, lived in its strange lands. But this night was different from others that had visited the Realm. Above a remote jungle in the Central Realm, the stars shone brighter then usual, as if hinting at the strange events that would happen soon. The denizens of the jungle that night were soon witness to a spectacular display of shooting stars streak across the sky, filling one with a sense of the vastness of the cosmos. So it was a great surprise to the denizens of the jungle when one of those shooting stars of that great vastness came plummeting right down onto the jungle with a thundering crash.
At the center of the crash, lying now in a mix of vegetation and marsh, there was a strange craft, which lay headfirst in the murky water. From the back of the craft, their opened a door, and out into the near waste high water stepped three beings, the likes of which the Realm had never seen before. They were shaped similar to humans, yet far more stocky and having much more hair then any human ever would. If a human of Earth were to see them, they would immediately think of the mythical creature called Bigfoot. The creatures waded over to a firmer piece of land, and from there took out many instruments in an effort to take stock of their situation and their surroundings.
"What do the scanners say, Altok?" said one. The one named Altok took a minute to reply.
"It is difficult to say at this point, Sigiro. The scanners are encountering an intense amount of interference. The reason for the interference is, as of this moment, unknown. All that I can deduce is that the bioscans show multiple life forms of various sorts on this world, at various levels of civilization. I do detect energy levels are off the scale-"
"Any danger of radiation?" Interrupted the voice of the third creature, a female.
"None, Velona, my love. Though I am unable to classify this energy as of yet, I would presume we are on a world capable of supporting our kind just fine."
"That would depend on how the natives take to our presence," came her stern reply. Sigiro was the next to express an idea. "Is it possible the interference you are encountering, Altok, is what was responsible for scrambling our navigation censors back up their in orbit?"
His companion pondered the though. "I estimate it has an eighty-five percent chance of probability. We should have been able to dodge that meteor shower just fine, but as I recall now, the closer in proximity we got to the planet, the less our systems seemed to function properly. It is possible the energy detected is responsible for all our system's malfunctions."
"So what do we do now?" Velona asked.
Sigiro spoke for them all. "We carry out our mission. Tomorrow we scout the planet, conduct our study, and repair the damage to the ship. If conditions are favorable, we return our findings to the Elders, and go from there. Tonight though, we sleep in the ship. Let's get back inside and find out how Elra and the young ones are doing."
With that, the three companions moved back into the ship, closing the door behind them. None of them had noticed the bulbous, yellow eyes that had watched their every movement from deep inside the jungle cover.
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The next morning the group was outside the ship setting up a temporary "headquarters" for their expedition. There were a total of 4 adults, and 6 children. The leader Sigiro gathered them around, and discussed what should be done.
"The damage to the ship is not as bad as first thought. Granted, it will take a few days time, but that will leave us plenty of time for exploration. Velona, you're the master mechanic, so I leave you in charge of repairs. The children are to stay with you and not wonder off. Feel free to put them to use in helping out with repairs."
Sigiro smiled at the groans from the children, which followed, but new it was for the best.
"Altok and Elra, you are to come with me on our first scouting mission. Bring along your scientific equipment of course, Altok, and we may need the translator device, Elra, in case we run into any sentient creatures."
"Just give me a minute to get the kids set up for the day," came to pleasant voice of Elra. She was the caregiver for the children on this mission, and regretted leaving them behind. But she knew Sigiro considered her to be the best at interstellar diplomacy, with her outgoing nature, and that she might have a chance to use her empathic skills before this day was over.
She also knew that Sigiro considered her much more then a good diplomat, as she caught their leader watching her work out of the corner of her eye. "I wonder if he will propose to me before this voyage is over?" she thought to herself.
Later on, the three found themselves trudging through the jungle, taking in all that was around them. Pretty soon they came upon a muddy river. Altok seemed thrilled by the discovery.
"There is at least a 60% chance this river forms the heart of this jungles ecosystem. Furthermore, though preliminary tests reveal the water is of very bad quality, I believe I can run some tests and purify a sufficient supply for our own needs."
Elra had her own ideas. "Sigiro," she said sweetly, "May I scout on down the river while you two collect samples? I won't go far."
Sigiro knew her wandering spirit was kicking in again, but he couldn't say no to her smile. "Alright, but don't go far. We will catch up shortly."
Sigiro watched her go, but instead of helping Altok, he decided to survey the land, at least half-heartedly.
"She's beautiful, is she not, Altok?"
"Yes, my friend, and a fine mate should you ever choose to finally settle down," came his reply.
Sigiro frowned, but knew his friend was right. For some time now, he had dedicated his life to searching the galaxy for a new planet for his race to populate. Their original home was a planet called Axon, which lay for off in this planet's northern sky, according to navigation controls. The Axonian leader grew solemn for a minute as he recalled the reason for all these expeditions. It was only two hundred years ago that the planet Axon had come to be a wasteland, thanks to a terrible being that had descended one night on the planet. They knew no name for the being, but the Axonians would later take to simply calling it "the Entity". And they would have plenty to remember the creature by as well, as it's strange combination of storm and fire swept madly over Axon. Try as the Axonians might, their technological achievements couldn't withstand the attacks of the Entity. In the end, the Axonians were forced to evacuate their homeworld. Yes, they had sufficient space travel technology, but had never colonized more then a few moons in their own solar system. The Axonians were a peace loving race, and now that they had been scattered to the far reaches of the galaxy, they ran the risk of being destroyed entirely by such aliens as the war mongering Cringons; or even worse: the possibility of being devoured by the Star Spawn.
The Elders of Axon had their race regroup in a gathering of ships; it was their new home, which they simply called the Armada. The Elders had decided that if their race were truly to be safe, they would have to recolonize another planet. But such a search had been going on for some time…
Sigiro was brought back to the present thanks to the constant gibbering of Altok over some vegetation, which he called, "fascinatingly remarkable". The Axonian leader sighed and looked over the vegetation himself. He quickly took notice of a radiant flower, which he thought might make a good gift to Elra. Plucking it from its stem, he breathed deeply of its scent, until interrupted again by Altok.
"Sigiro, don't breath in that flower! I haven't run a test on it yet. You don't know what affect it might-"
But both of them stopped as a cloud of spores leapt forth from the flower and covered Sigiro in a red haze…
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Elra walked down the side of the river contently. She had wanted to be away for Altok's constant chirping; to take in the beautiful surroundings of this bazaar world. Gazing into the river, she wandered what type of aquatic life this world had, if any. Staring into the murky water, she suddenly noticed what appeared to be a couple of eyes looking right back up at her.
Her face grew pale as she realized these were not any type of fish's eyes…
***********************
Sigiro stood coughing and sputtering as the red mist dissipated. But now it was Altok's turn to gasp in amazement. Where Sigiro the Axonian had once stood, there now was a frog like beast, which stood upright and looked like he had walked straight out of the bog.
"Well, don't just stand there!" Sigiro literally croaked. "Bioscan me! See if I've contracted any native diseases! That pollen couldn't have been good."
Altok simply replied, with a smile creeping upon his face, "My friend, I think I can say that you have caught something. But I'll save my diagnosis until I have my eyes checked!"
It was then that Sigiro gazed at his hands, and croaked in terror. Running to the river, he was able to see in his reflection what he had become.
"This is horrible!"
"And yet," came Altok, who was now pulling out his scanner, "It is remarkably fascinating!"
Running his scanner over his Amphibian friend, the scientist forgot all about the friend part of him, and focused on the amphibian.
"Preliminary tests show that the spores of the flower have amazingly altered you biochemistry. You not only look amphibian, your very DNA has been altered to match that of an amphibian like creature! It is unthinkable that such a plant could exist in nature, and yet I've witnessed it with my own eyes! I told you not to pick that flower…"
"A little too late I might add! Besides, I saw you looking at the vegetation."
"Only after I had scanned it," the scientist replied. "Take notice that I didn't pluck anything either."
"What you're about to notice is me getting hostile with you Altok! I'm not one of your test subjects! Do you think it's reversible? I can't go back- to the Elders like this!"
What he had started to say was "And let Elra see me like this!" It was a moment later that they heard their female companion scream from down stream. Whatever reservations that Sigiro had had about letting Elra see him like this vanished as he dashed, (or more likely hopped) down stream to where the scream had originated. The two aliens burst onto an even more bazaar scene then the one they were just at, for here were several of the bogbeast creatures, which were now leaping back into the forest and the water.
"Elra, are you okay?" croaked Sigiro. Elra gasped at the creature with Sigiro's voice, which she had once been able to recognize.
"Sigiro?!? It that you?!? What happened?"
But Altok interrupted their bazaar reunion.
"So, there are more of these bogbeasts. They must be some sort of Xenomorphic lifeform. I wonder if they were originally not bogbeasts as well. Elra, what happened here?"
Elra said, "I was gazing into the water, when these creatures appeared. The surprise of them walking out of the water is what made me scream. I had just managed to calm them down when you two charged onto the scene.
Elra turned back to the bogbeasts, who were eyeing them from the water and forest.
"It's alright," she called out peacefully. "These are my friends. They won't do you any harm. And hey, one of them even looks like you, for some reason."
Elra's soothing manner eventually won the creatures over, and the slowly emerged from the forest. Altok took detailed scans of each creature, as they came forward to gather around Elra. Some embraced Sigiro as if he were a long lost friend.
Elra pulled out her translating device to see if the creatures were trying to communicate in an intelligent tongue. Upon flipping on the device though, the language she heard came through stilted and broken.
"You are friend. We can tell. And he is just like us. He is brother! HAHAHA!"
Altok wondered aloud, "Is the translator device broken?"
Elra nodded. "No, I don't think so. It's possible that interference you detected is distorting the audio. Or maybe they simply sound that way."
But Sigiro was quickly loosing patience.
"Altok, are these creatures like me? Am I going to end up gibbering like a moron?"
"Take heart my friend," came the scientist's reply. "I believe these creatures were born this way. My scans of the flower you inhaled, along with scans of these creatures, reveals that they are inexplicably linked though. Let us engage them in conversation, in hopes of shedding light upon this mystery."
After an hour of painstaking communication, (conversation filled with several croaks and broken phrases), the three aliens determined several things. They learned that there was several other various lifeforms on this world, which would indeed complicate colonization. When they asked the Bogbeasts about the flower, they learned that they grew the root and bulb of the flower as one of their crops back at their small village. Upon the flower reaching a certain age, they would perform a tribal ritual that would include taking the bulb out into the jungle and leaving it. The bulb would eventually blossom and release a cloud of spores if it were ever plucked. But just determining that left the three aliens with headaches.
"Why couldn't the Elders have supplied us with some good Babel Fish," Elra exclaimed. "I can't figure out this race, and the translator isn't helping."
"I think I've figured it out! This is amazing!" Altok exclaimed. "Apparently they can reproduce through normal methods, but when their population decreases significantly, these flowers bloom and 'catch' new, potential bogbeasts, who I suspect end up having to join these creatures, thus adding new genepool material to the race. It's a failsafe system to make sure the race doesn't become extinct; a remarkable evolutionary step, which works quite effectively, the likes of which, I've never seen. Since they are apparently a cowardly race, I presume they fall victim to predators a lot, so this failsafe system of repopulation must work overtime. But which came first: the flower, or the Bogbeast?"
"Who cares?" interrupted Sigiro. "Can it be reversed?"
Altok's face turned grave. "So far, I can detect that they have no means of reversing the transformation. And we certainly don't have the scientific instruments to reverse a scrambling of DNA. I'm sorry, Sigiro, but this could be permanent."
With that judgement uttered, Sigiro and Elra looked at each other with a sadness matched in both their eyes.
"Now I can never ask her to be my mate," Sigiro thought.
But the sad moment was interrupted by a strange booming noise, which was slowly getting louder…and seemingly getting closer. The Bogbeasts leapt back into the water before the aliens could get an explanation. But the explanation presented itself a second later.
High above the treetops, a stone giant stomped through the jungle.
"Who goes there?" It called out. "Show yourself! No one can escape Golem!"
But this shouldn't be possible!" Altok gasped. "A creature made of stone, which moves and talks?"
The stone giant named Golem turned its head to where it had heard the voices coming from. It started walking towards them.
"Altok, shut up and follow the Bogbeast's lead!" Sigiro exclaimed.
With that, the three aliens dived into the river. The giant stepped exactly where they had been mere seconds ago, but paused as if wondering where to look next. A second later, he heard noises coming from the place where that star had crashed last night, the one which had attracted him this way in the first place. And so it was to there that he resumed his march.
A few seconds later, the three aliens, along with the Bogbeasts, reappeared out of the water.
"That was a strange encounter." Altok said, stating the obvious as usual. "But I believe I know what is going on in this world now."
"Wait a minute!" Elra interrupted. "If this Golem was listening for us, what if he hears Velona and the children? Sigiro, they could be in danger!"
Without another work, she rushed off to their encampment, followed by Altok and Sigiro. The bogbeasts followed their new friends as well, but at a much further, (and safer), pace.
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First and Last Contact, part 2