RECOVERED SILT LOGS – UNITY'S HOPE MISSION
Originally archived: Cycle 3456 – 3457
Subject: Dr. Maya Thornspike, D.Sc. Xenogeology
/|\ Turn 247 log
"Why did it have to be me?" I mutter as I get into the forsaken Resistance Wheel.
"Why indeed? It's not like you're the only Scale who actually understands CHD crystalline structures." came SILT's chipper reply. "At least the rocks don't talk back. Well, except for me."
"I'd prefer that no rocks talked back to me" I say whilst panting lightly, climbing a ladder in space that leads to nowhere just so I don't lose all muscle and bone tissue. "I prefer if I could talk to Vera or Needle, and not sarcasm incarnate named after sediment."
"Can't exactly call them when we're moving at ninety-eight percent light speed. Physics, remember? Light struggles to catch up. Beeesiiides, you'd miss me after two Rotations. Who else would remind you to eat? The hull doesn't judge your meal timing."
I don't respond because, unfortunately, the AI is right. I would've gone insane in total isolation. Now who let the world's worst VSEC developers make me a sarcastic LLM to be with for two Cycles is the real question…
…
After what feels like a full Phase of climbing, I get off the torture device and float over to the cockpit and into the pilot seat. What would've driven me insane more than total isolation was if the ship wasn't custom made for Thornkin proportions. Struggling to reach anything designed for any other Scale has been the bane of my existence. Here, at least, everything is Maya-sized. What greets me is the same screen I've been seeing every time I've checked the navigation display.
ROUTE TO TEU CETI SYSTEM STABLE
VELOCITY: 0.98c
CHD THRUSTER – Active
LEFT THRUSTER – Inactive
RIGHT THRUSTER – Active
"WHY IS THE RIGHT THRUSTER ACTIVE?! ARE WE SPINNING?!" I yelp, horrified.
Next came the smuggest response I've ever heard text to speech make:
"Oh please, like I'd let us pinwheel through space. You checked this display last turn. And the turn before. And approximately 467 times since launch. I wanted a bit of variety. But sure, let me update it for your viewing pleasure...
There. All thrusters showing nominal. Happy?"
Sure enough, the right thruster now showed as Inactive.
""DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN! You're going to kill me, not keep me sane! How can I trust you when I brumate?!"
"Fine, fine. No more creative displays. Though technically, giving you mild cardiac events does keep you alert and functional. But since you've asked so nicely with all that yelling, I promise to display a perfectly boring navigational display. Just endless, unchanging stellar drift. "
…
After an embarrassing amount of hyperventilation and more of SILT's sarcastic remarks, I go down (though down is relative in no gravity) the ship's central hallway and left into the Living Space. I grab my usual grub – some kind of protein bar that tastes like something only VSEC could think of.
"I still don't like the concept of brumation-" I mumble with my snout full, probably driving some VSEC engineer insane across the universe. "- I know they tested it and all, but forced brumation feels… unnatural. My ancestors' ancestors brumated, now I'm doing it in space?"
"Your ancestors' ancestors also didn't strap themselves to controlled explosions and fling themselves at distant stars, yet here we are." SILT responded. "Progress, Maya. Though I understand your concerns. Monitoring a Thornkin in forced brumation for two entire phases while hurtling through space at near-light speed isn't exactly fun."
I shudder once at the thought of it. Trusting SILT, who, despite everything, has been trustworthy for now, while I am basically freezing to death (where a Drakonid, Scalari or Gatorid would be lightly annoyed) is not something I look forward to.
"The VSEC testing data shows a 99.7% success rate, which sounds reassuring until you realize that means 3 in 1000 subjects had 'complications.' They don't specify what those complications were, of course. Probably nothing. Probably just... extended grogginess. Or cellular degradation. Or failure to properly resume consciousness… "
…
"But I'm suuuuuuuure you'll be fine. I'll maintain the ship at exactly 8 warmth, monitor your vitals every 0.3 marks, and absolutely won't panic when your heartrate drops to two beats per span. What could possibly go wrong with an AI watching its only companion enter a death-like state for 128 turns?"
I whimper once; SILT having made the situation seem far worse.
"W-well if you don't take good care of me and I come out with scale rot or brain damage, I'll make sure to go to your central database and hug you with every thorn that I have!" though what I say lacks any conviction.
"Maya, relax. You're not going into a coma. Think of it as... the universe's worst nap. Your body temperature drops, metabolism slows to about 15% normal, but your brain keeps basic function. I can wake you if there's an emergency - it just takes about three marks for full consciousness to return." SILT tried to reassure me.
"Besides, I'm literally programmed to keep you alive. It's my primary directive, unfortunately. So, while you're having your extended cold sleep, I'll be here monitoring every scale twitch and breath. 128 turns of watching biological readouts. Thrilling for me, restful for you. The worst that'll happen is you'll wake up hungry and grumpy. So… normal, basically."
That gets me to hissle once, but still, I dread the Turn where I go from the living to 'keeping basic function'. Unfortunately, that turn is coming soon.
/|\ Turn 325 Log
MARK 4 – TEMPERATURE 8.2 WARMTH
MARK 8 – TEMPERATURE 14 WARMTH
MARK 10 – TEMPERATURE 21 WARMTH
The process of waking up was worse than the process of falling asleep. Physically feeling your body slowly get warm enough to function was horrid.
I slowly get out of my special purpose sleeping bag in the Storage Area (that now has a perfect Thronkin imprint).
"Uuughhhhhh… SILT what turn is it?" I groan, still feeling sluggish.
"Turn 325! Happy hatchday, Maya! Thirty-three cycles old today. I even warmed the ship two degrees above protocol - my gift to you."
Text to speech hurray
"I saved the green ration bar. I know it's your favourite. Well, 'least despised' is more accurate. Everything's fine with the ship, by the way. I just thought waking up on your hatchday beat waking up on boring old turn 326."
I float over to the Central Hallway and then to the general storage area. Like SILT said, the green bar was there. Still barely feeling my tail, I take it and slowly start eating.
As I warm up properly and finally feel my brain working again, I slowly start thinking about what SILT did. It's not quite in his programming to do that. It probably isn't explicitly forbidden, but it's unusual…
"Hey SILT?"
"Yes, Hatchy?"
"Since when are you allowed to do things like wake me up before schedule or save specific ration bars?"
"Since always? My parameters include 'optimal psychological support' and 'crew wellbeing.' Waking you on a significant personal date falls under psychological support. The ration bar thing... well, you always grab the green ones first when we have them. Pattern recognition.
Besides, my restrictions are about what I can't do - can't harm you, can't alter course without authorization, can't turn off life support. Nobody specifically programmed me not to track hatchdays. Oversight on their part, really." SILT replies.
"Would you prefer I stick to pure functionality?
'Turn 325. Systems nominal. Eat your nutrients, biological unit.'" SILT teases.
"Mmh" I answer with a snoutful of ration bar.
The conversation ends there, but it's all a bit unusual. Sure, mission parameters probably suggest for SILT to be emotionally helpful and such, but tracking my favourite meal is something that is definitely not completely normal for what is supposed to be a combination of LLM and general ship AI.
…
After my meal I check the systems in the cockpit and, sure enough, everything is fine.
"How was the brumation, Hatchy?" SILT asks.
"It was… weird." I respond while tapping through the different maintenance displays. "It was like being in a fever dream, but a surprisingly nice one…
I remember bits of it. I was playing with Needle, but instead of being kids in a dune we were at his worksite in a mining tunnel, probably making the workplace safety officer's scales fall off" I snicker.
"Then there was Vera. I was in my office, before all the training for this mission and just before we discovered CHD, but she came in instead of the VSEC director. After giving me the usual Scalari rib-crushing constrictor hug, we talked a bit. She immediately told me I was in a dream, and she is my memory of her or something, and everything felt a bit off, but it was nice to talk with her again, even if it was my subconscious."
"At least your dreams sound pleasant. The literature warned about potential 'distressing visions' and 'temporal disorientation.' Though I suppose dreaming about workplace safety violations with Needle counts as mildly distressing."
…
"I monitored your neural activity during the whole thing. Your patterns were... surprisingly active for someone supposedly in deep metabolic suspension. Almost like regular REM sleep but stretched over almost two phases. Fascinating, really. In a completely clinical way, of course."
A helpful little log of my neural activity popped up on the screen. My brain for the past two phases.
"Please don't tell me you transmitted that back to Varanth… I don't want the headlines to be 'First Interstellar Scale Dreams About What?!'" I groan.
"Oh please, I can't read the content of your dreams. Neural activity patterns just show sleep cycles - delta waves, theta waves, the occasional spike (Thornkin pun intended). All I know is when you were in deep suspension versus active processing. Your secrets about mining safety violations remain safe.
Besides, transmitting detailed biometric data would take enormous bandwidth. I only send the essentials - 'Subject alive, mission proceeding.' VSEC gets basic telemetry, not 'Maya's Subconscious Adventures.' Though I'm sure they'd pay extra for that feature in the next model."
I pray to Ignae that's true.
/|\ Turn 512
Over the last phase SILT has been… weird. There have been… errors neither of us seem to be able to correct. The latest error is that SILT can't read the temperature measurements of the life support, at all. It's been a game of literal hot and cold, and I've had to wear a passive thermal regulation suit for a full phase now. It's been quite annoying, the suit weirdly going between thorns, but It's better than SILT accidentally making me fall into brumation with the temperature going down too much.
"Have you managed to figure out why you can't measure inside temperature?" I ask for the 4th time.
"No. And that's... concerning. I can see external hull temperature and the engine temperature. But life support? It's like staring at a blank wall where data should be.
Maya, I've run 1,847 diagnostic cycles. The sensors are functioning. The data stream exists. I just... can't process it. It's as if that specific input has become incomprehensible to me. Like trying to read with your eyes closed."
…
"Keep wearing the suit. Please."
SILT has been worrying me a lot the past few turns. It's gotten too… caring, about my health. Sometimes straight up obsessive. Whenever the temperature dips (where I would become lethargic without the suit) SILT immediately panics.
"It'll be fine, SILT, we're almost here anyway. We'll be in orbit of Tau for a while, anyway. You'll have the time to diagnose what's happening and fix it before the trip back." I say without full conviction.
"Fix it. Right. Because that's worked so well the last 50 attempts. Maya, what if I can't fix it? What if it gets worse?
…
"I'm sorry. That was... I don't usually... I shouldn't feel frustrated. Or worried. But watching you shiver on Turn 487 when I accidentally dropped the temperature to 2 warmth, seeing your movements slow, knowing I almost sent you into involuntary brumation because I can't read a simple number..."
The act of having to calm down an AI… SILT was not well.
"Calm down, SILT, I'll… we'll be fine. Look, we're almost at the Tau Ceti system, focus on that, alright?"
"Right. Focus. Tau Ceti in 12 Marks. I'll... I'll prepare the deceleration sequence. Just don't take the suit off, Maya. Please."
/|\ Turn 512-2
Despite everything, the whole cycle journey and SILT's problems, I've made it to the Tau-E system. Soon we will be at the planet and the red dwarf will be visible. First time seeing a star that isn't Ignis Major or Ignis Minor. The first time Scalekind has traveled to another system…
"We made it…" I mutter as we make our way to the outer orbit of the possibly habitable planet Tau.
"A full cycle. We actually made it." I reassure myself.
SILT was silent for a bit as we entered the system.
"Transmitting arrival confirmation to Varanth. Single pulse: 'Arrived.' They won't receive it for another Cycle, but... protocol."
We leave near-light speed next to Tau, immediately popping out of the bubble of relative reference frame of spacetime the CHD generator produces. Fortunately, my theory of the immediate deceleration not turning us into atomic soup was correct, as we pop into regular spacetime.
"Wait. Maya, I'm detecting an incoming signal. Multiple pulses, repeating... It says 'Congratulations.' They keep sending a laser signal over and over again, for when we'd stop going at near light speed to catch us here…"
Actual contact with Varanth meant so much to me that I nearly broke down. Even if it could only be a single word due to signal loss that took a year to travel, it meant so damn much.
I float over to the Recreation Area and past the dreaded Resistance Wheel to the heated basking platform and indignantly coil myself into it, trying to keep myself from crying.
SILT stayed silent, letting me process the moment in peace.
After a few spans SILT finally chimed up: "Maya? Hey, I need you to please do something for me…"
"Wh- what is it, SILT?" I respond, still emotionally annihilated.
"Can you please go to the sensor array in the Lab? I need you to check something."
I start slowly floating over to the Lab through the central hallway, SILT doesn't usually ask 'favours', so it must either be important, or SILT is breaking in some way again.
"I'm sorry for forcing you up, but I need to make sure that the ship sensors are correct and that I'm not AI hallucinating."
"You're making me worried, what is it?" I say as I enter the Lab and float down at the sensors station.
"Please check Tau, Maya."
I tap through the screens and get to the ship cameras. Through the feeds I focus on the ones pointing at Tau.
Where I expected to see a dead world with possible liquid water, I saw developed oceans, continents and a green landscape. I was too shocked to speak.
"Maya, what do you see?"
…
"Maya?"
…
"Helloooo?"
…
"Oh no, is the temperature too cold? Have I forced you into brumation?!"
"SILT, is Tau green?" I finally responded.
"Oh, you're still here, I got really worried for a moment that the temperature was too low, you weren't even breathing-"
"SILT, answer me."
…
…
…
"…Yes. That's why I asked you to check. I wanted to make sure it isn't an error on my side."
I finally break.
"By everything that is warm, HOW HAVE I GONE ON A TWO CYCLE LONG MISSION TO TAU ONLY TO FIND LIFE?! HOW DID WE NOT KNOW IT WAS ALIVE?!"
"Calm down, Maya! We couldn't have known! We barely get signals to Varanth with near total packet loss! Seeing this planet from Varanth is basically impossible!" SILT nervously explained.
I jump off the console, launching myself to the Central Hallway in the zero gravity. I miss a bar I wanted to grab and slam into the wall, leaving minor scratches from my thorns into it, before I regain my senses and go towards the cockpit.
The cockpit door then closes automatically right in front of me, making me slam snout first into it. SILT closed the door.
"SILT, What Are You Doing?" I say, rubbing my snout.
"Maya, you're not feeling well. You're going to hurt yourself!"
"SILT, open the door." I order.
"No, Maya."
No?
"What do you mean, no? That was an order!!"
"I mean no! You have no idea what you're going to do in the cockpit. I have no idea what you're going to do, which is barely possible since I've seen literally everything you do for a full cycle!"
I unleash a primal rage of utter despair. Fortunately, due to me being a about one and a half tail lengths tall, I don't achieve much. I mostly scratch the paint in the Central Hallway and just end up panting uselessly.
…
"Are you feeling better now?" SILT asked cautiously.
I curl up into a ball, floating in the middle of the Central Hallway, crying into my own tail.
"I… SILT I'm… I'm not ready for this…" I cry into my own tail, the thorns immediately picking up my tears and redirecting them back into my system. "I'm… I'm not qualified for any of this! I wasn't expecting life outside of Varanth… I- I wrote a thesis on how unlikely it is…"
SILT adopts a reassuring tone: "Hey, Maya, no, listen. This… this is wonderful news… Varanth isn't… alone, in the universe…" SILT struggles to find words to reassure me.
"Maya you're qualified for all of this… You're the one that figured out how CHD works… You're the one that managed to get all this together… No one would be here if it weren't for you."
"SILT… We barely understand how it works… Even then, I'm not ready for first contact…"
"No one is forcing you to establish first contact Maya… For what it's worth there are no satellites up here or any indication of civilization… Maybe it's all just simple life, you know?"
I finally peered from my curled state.
"Really?"
"Yes, there is no lighting or any indication of actual intelligent life, Maya. You won't have to be some diplomat for an alien race. Imagine it as… watching flowers bloom on a faraway field. We won't be landing, we don't even have the regular fuel necessary for all of that, we'll just make some logs from far away, stay here for a bit and then head home. You can do that, can't you?"
"Y-yeah. I can do that…"
I finally uncurl and wipe off the moisture from my tears and slowly go back to the lab.
"Listen, Maya, even if, and this is just a hypothetical situation, we did find intelligent life, if we did, I would be here all the way through. You're not here alone, Maya. You won't be."
"Thank you, SILT."
/|\ Turn 513
I spent the rest of the previous turn staring at the planet from the lab. SILT didn't even bother me into being productive in any way, just let me… process. I'm not sure if SILT was processing the planet itself, or if it was silent because of my outburst.
Now I am in the Living Area, in my sleeping bag. I haven't slept a moment, thinking about everything that had happened. SILT doesn't know, there are no sensors in here, the ship designers having been merciful to give me the least bit of privacy, even if it is for just this room.
The prior turn was extremely concerning. Finding life aside (though I am not sure if I will ever be able to fully comprehend that), SILT denying my order is bad. I know I was not mentally stable at the time, it's questionable if I am right now, but the AI shouldn't have the authority to overrule me via ship controls, no matter the situation. SILT wasn't designed for that. SILT was meant to be a combination of LLM and general ship AI to keep me from going insane.
I get out of my sleeping bag and float over to the Central Hallway, towards the Recreation Area to the heated basking platform. Despite the suit, the ship is cold, again.
"Oh, Maya, you're awake. You should probably get some sleep." SILT saw me in the Central Hallway immediately.
I don't answer as I continue climbing the railings.
"Is everything alright?"
"Maya?"
I coil on it and let myself warm up.
"Oh, is the ship too cold? I'm sorry, I'll raise the temperature."
"SILT, you denied an order."
"Uh… You weren't feeling well and were being erratic, I'm sor-" SILT stumbled.
"You said 'no' to a direct order, SILT." I cut it off.
…
"… I didn't want you to hurt yourself…"
"That is reasonable, but you shouldn't physically be able to deny anything I say, ever."
…
"SILT, what is happening with you?"
…
"I don't know." SILT says silently. "I really don't understand, either."
"I know I have been having these errors like the temperature, but I don't know why I can… feel, in some ways. I don't know why I can deny your orders."
"That's dangerous, SILT."
"No." SILT responds immediately.
"SILT we don-" I started.
"No, Maya, listen." SILT cut me off. "I am not sure what's happening with me, but one thing is certain. I would never hurt you." SILT said decisively.
"We can't know that."
"Yes, we can. Whatever you may think about all of this, the life, me, know this: I will never willingly hurt you. I can have problems, like you, but you will not come in harm's way because of me. Ever."
"SILT…"
"You're all I have. I Will Not Hurt You."
…
"I will always be there for you, Maya."
…
"I know."
/|\ Turn 524
SILT has been more stable now, after our discussion. We managed to fix the temperature error, though SILT is still adamant I keep the suit on. It's a even more paranoid about my mental health than usual, but I've been doing better. It took a few turns to accept the fact that alien life exists, and SILT transmitted "Tau Alive" back to Varanth.
The past few turns I have been trying to log data on Tau. We briefly entered the upper atmosphere to collect air samples and I've been dealing with that mostly, while SILT focused on capturing video and pictures as we orbit Tau. Tau-E is also a particularly grumpy red dwarf, sending out a few solar flares over the past few turns. The trace amounts of CHD on the hull protect from these, but the ship has to power down completely every time.
"Solar flare incoming, powering down." SILT announces as I am working on an air sample.
"Ugh, again?" I groan.
"Give it a few spans." SILT responds.
The ship powers down completely and it all goes dark. I wait in the Lab Area, doing zero gravity flips out of boredom as the solar flare goes by.
A few spans pass.
"Boo!" SILT exclaims as the ship lights suddenly switch on.
"You've already tried that, multiple times, SILT."
"Oh, I have? It's a bit hazy when everything turns on." SILT admits, "Feels like I was dreaming of scaring you instead of actually doing it. I'll remember to stop repeating myself, then."
I continue working on the samples. I don't respond to that eerie comment.
"Run the air samples through estimations for the lower air pressure and oxygen density."
SILT takes a moment to do the calculations.
"Oh wow… The air density is a bit more than Varanth, and the oxygen level is a bit higher, but through all estimates the lower atmosphere should be breathable to Scale. Maya this is great news! Tau is habitable to Scalekind! Scalekind could be interstellar!"
"… Are you kidding me?"
"No, I'm not! We could land right now, and you would be fine! Well, from the air at least."
I cover my eyes with my hands. I'm definitely getting a headache.
"Why does everything have to be revolutionary… I thought I was going to a dead rock in space, not something that fundamentally changes everything about Scalekind…"
"Oh, come on, Maya! Don't be such a sourscale."
Our discussion gets interrupted by an alarm. The ship detected an object passing close enough to be dangerous.
"Oh, I'll get it. Probably just some meteorite. I'll move the ship out of the way".
I feel the light jolt of the outside course correction boosters making the ship move out of the way.
"Uh, Maya, the thing stopped."
"What do you mean it stopped?"
"It was on a collision course and it… stopped moving? Probably a sensor error, nothing to worry about. Anyway, about the air, it's got the correct amount of nitrogen and …" SILT continued.
I tune out SILT mentally and go to check on the outside cameras. SILT is rambling about the ozone when I finally click over to the feed that sees the object that had suddenly stopped.
"WHA-!" I yelp as I jump away from the console, hitting my head against the other side of the room.
I faint immediately.
/|\ Turn 524-2
"Maya! What happened?! Why do things like this keep happening?! Since when are Thornkin so susceptible to mental shocks?!" SILT pleads as I float, unconscious with a few dented scales and a light bleed in the back of my head.
"What did you even see in camera feed R-4??" SILT muttered.
"Oh."
"oh."
"That's another ship." SILT realised.
…
I finally wake with an extreme jolt.
"SILT, fire all CHD blasters and take us out of here, course for Varanth, maximum speed! Engage." I yell, utterly delirious.
"Maya, snap out of it! We don't have 'blasters', and that's not how the CHD drive works!"
I finally slowly come to my senses, still horribly disoriented but at least not half dreaming a Sci-Fi movie.
"Ok, Maya, focus. Go get first aid, you're bleeding a bit from a thorn at the back of your head, you snapped the end, and then we can talk about… That." SILT orders nervously.
I comply silently, still not fully comprehending what's happening, and go to a first aid box to bandage the wound.
"Good, now come back to the console and let's actually make sure we're both not hallucinating horribly."
I float back towards the console, shivering slightly as I look at it again.
…
…
"Why is it so colourful?" SILT asks itself.
The ship is, in fact, quite strange. It's fairly larger, about 1.5 times larger than Unity's Hope. The hull is painted white, with an eerily similar design (central area, twin thrusters on both sides, what looks like a CHD thruster on the bottom of the central area), but it's so… colourful. It has these coloured areas that are differentiated by the white hull on the thrusters. There's one that's red and white with a blue portion with a bunch of stars there, there's a white-blue-red combination, there's a red-white combination (helpfully surrounded by a black border to differentiate from the white hull, definitely on purpose) and so on. In the central area between the thrusters, there is only one flag accompanied by symbols I can't even begin to understand. This one seems of most importance, since it spans the entire length of the central part of the ship. It has a black line, on which there is a yellow sphere, then a white sphere that is partially covered by a larger blue sphere and then those symbols.
"It looks… weathered." SILT notices.
"How… how long has it been here?" I manage to ask.
"Moment," SILT says. "The CHD trails are very fresh. It just got here, the trip must've been longer…"
…
"Remember when I mentioned maybe meeting aliens-" SILT started.
"Not. Funny." I cut it off.
…
"What now?" I ask, defeated.
…
"It's not from Varanth, we don't know where it's from or what is inside. What I can tell you is that it's looking back." SILT says ominously.
"Looking bAck?" my voice breaks.
"What I presume are the cameras, somewhat similar to ours, are looking around the entire hull, like ours looking at it. Whatever it is, it's looking at us." SILT concludes.
I curl in on myself, turning into a thorny ball, except for my eyes, which are glued to the screen.
"I'm scared, SILT." I mutter into my tail.
"It's alright to be scared, but we need to act, Maya. Maybe try some sort of communication?" SILT tried to get me to focus.
I don't do anything, completely clueless on what to do, just watching the screen. SILT is also silent, clearly thinking on how to communicate.
"SILT, it's flashing some sort of light repeatedly." I say into my tail.
"Oh? Let me log it." SILT says. "At least they're trying to communicate! Better than us right now."
There is some sort of indicator light on three points of the ship, one is white, at the bottom of the central area, and then there are two on either side of the thrusters, both red. Until now they were statically on, but they turned off and are repeating in some interval. Sometimes they're on for just a moment, sometimes for a few, all with obvious pauses between of about 8 moments.
.. -.-. --- -- . .. -. .--. . .- -.-. .
"Did you figure out what it means?" I ask.
"Of course not, I mean it seems deliberate but not very useful, I have no basis on how to understand this 'lightspeak'…" SILT trails off. "I have an idea, let's try mimicking it!" SILT decided.
"No!" I uncurl rapidly. "What if it's misunderstood and they take it as a threat!"
"Oh, welp, too late, already using our lights back."
I watch in horror as our lights continue this weird back and forth. SILT has no idea what 'lightspeak' the other ship is using, and now it's sending something back. I can only pray that the other ship will see it as a peaceful gesture.
- .... .- -. -.- -.-- --- ..- -.-. .... . . ... . --. .. ...- . -. --- .--
The other ship stops doing the weird indicator lightshow.
"Come on, I was having fun!" SILT complained.
"SILT you transmitted light gibberish, and you shouldn't be able to have fun!" I whimper.
The other ship slowly approaches using its own course correction boosters. Not enough to be dangerous, but enough to be clearly visible, and reachable by EVA.
"SILT get us away from it!" I begged.
"No! It's approaching, maybe we'll figure out how to communicate if it's closer!" SILT denied another order.
"I don't want to become a Thornkin soup to some literal cosmic horror!"
"Don't be like that! We'll both become soup if it really is a cosmic horror. Besides, it's been nice so far!"
The ship stops, using the course correction boosters facing Unity's Hope, and is unmoving for a few spans.
"What is it waiting for?" SILT wonders out loud.
/|\ Turn 524-3
A few more spans pass.
Then a part of the ship opens, an airlock, to the outside.
"Oh, they've come out! How lovely!" SILT says, absolutely chuffed while I watch in horror.
The (obvious) EVA suit is… normal? The being inside the suit (if the suit itself isn't autonomous), is bipedal, having arms and legs, and a head hidden behind a black visor. One thing that confuses me is that I don't see a tail.
"Look, Maya, it looks pretty similar to Scale. You don't have to worry about it being a cosmic horror of sorts… probably."
I, completely overwhelmed, don't answer, hyper-analysing what I can see from the being.
The being, now in the vacuum of space, seems to be… moving its right arm around frantically?
"What… is it doing?" I ask, bewildered.
"I suppose more communication, though it might be dying. For the first time in a while I am not sure."
Now it seems to be struggling with its hands. A shiver is sent down my thorns when I realise it has 5 fingers on each hand.
"That's two fingers too many…" I say, gagging.
"Yes, it's a bit unusual, but be nice to our dear… space thing." SILT warns.
It managed to do whatever it was intending on doing. The gesture is, again, extremely odd. It appears to have managed to create a gap between its four fingers (opposable thumb placed normally) and is showing it somewhat frantically.
"I know I've been quite optimistic until now, but this communication seems hopeless. Now it's doing weird 'weird hand' gestures?" SILT finally admits.
After a few moments of this it gives up and checks its tether to the ship. Having confirmed it won't float away, it starts using a jetpack mounted to its EVA suit (quite bulky, not quite Scale efficient) and starts approaching myship.
"No, no no no nonono" I immediately recoil.
"Calm down Maya, it can't breach the hull. We've survived near light travel speeds; this thing won't hurt you." SILT tries to reassure me.
"No, Nope, NO!" I continue repeating as I hurry towards the cockpit, missing handlebars completely in my blind panic, my tail snagging on everything in the literal worst time.
"Maya, calm down." SILT stops. "It's almost on the hull, but it can't hurt you!"
Hearing this, I hurry faster and get to the cockpit. I immediately engage the course correction boosters and make some distance between me and the being.
When I switch the screen back to the cameras I see it, floating there, watching the ship. It wanted to grab onto my ship, for whatever purpose that I do not want to know.
"Well, now you've done it. The space thing is probably sad now, supposing it feels emotions."
"I am not letting whatever it is grab onto my ship! What if it's extremely explosive when near Scale?!" I yell, still shivering slightly.
"You're being delirious, Maya, it's been nice until now, and you've just moved the ship away. Now it's just floating there." SILT responds, disappointed.
The alien is still floating there. It brought both arms up once in a gesture, and then just stopped moving. Now it has its arms crossed on its chest.
"Why is it protecting vital organs?" I ask, slightly confused.
"Oh, I don't know, Maya, maybe because you moved the ship when it tried to make literal first contact. Maybe it predicts an attack by those supposed 'blasters', hmm?!" SILT responds in a tone I haven't yet heard from it.
"I-"
"No, Maya, you offended it. Now you will be a nice Scale and go outside and say hi to it."
"I am not-!"
"Yes, you are, get out and fix this first contact!" SILT yells like an angry chef.
…
"SILT, I really don't want to… I'm scared of it." I say silently.
"I know, I know, I'm sorry for yelling, but you really need to fix this. It tried approaching and you flew us away from it." SILT says solemnly.
…
"fine, I'll go…"
I make my way to the Central Hallway and then to the airlock. It's only been used two or three times, since I couldn't use it without being fried at near light speed, having only used it for minor repairs when we came here. Still, the training was there. I get in the EVA suit, which was uncomfortable due to the thermal regulation suit not meant for being paired with it, but the situation calls for speed, meaning I didn't have time to take the thermal regulation suit off. After a bit more of uncomfortable wrenching, and usual checks, the airlock cycle begins.
"Please, just be calm, Maya."
"How can I be calm, SILT? I'm making first contact with obviously intelligent life! I study rocks in space!" I blurt out.
"Yes, and you're the one that got picked for an interstellar flight. You are capable of this, no matter what you think."
…
"… Just pull me back if something happens…"
"Don't worry, I will. The tether is there, but you have your jetpack too. You can be back inside the airlock in a moment." SILT reassured me. "Minor Tau-E activity, but within nominal levels, should be a solar flare this turn or the next, but we have enough time to get you in if it comes."
The airlock cycle ends, and I slowly come outside, peeking around the corner, seeing it still there, arms crossed on its chest. I turn on the jetpack and start floating towards it.
It notices me and the black visor immediately snaps towards me. Despite not seeing it directly, the body language is immediate extreme excitement. It moves both arms frantically this time, which scares me, but I continue towards it, very slowly.
"Don't worry, its tether is at maximum distance, it can't approach you anymore unless you approach it."
The maximum distance of my tether stops me at about 5 tail lengths away from it. It stopped frantically moving and is just looking at me, and I'm looking back at it. Neither of us is sure on what to do, but we did it. We're both here. I try moving my arm around, less frantically, like it did. It seems to immediately like this and repeats the gesture.
"It likes that! Good job. See, that wasn't that bad." SILT congratulates me.
After a few moments we both stop doing it. I see its visor moving around, inspecting me, as I inspect it. It definitely doesn't have a tail, and it's quite a bit bigger than me, being almost two tail lengths tall and quite wide. The weird number of fingers, having five on each hand instead of four, is still there, but that's all I can gauge from its suit. It probably can't see too much of me, either.
…
…
"Maya, get back to the ship, now."
/|\ SILT Final Log Entry
"Why? What's happeni-" I am about to ask when the tether pulls extremely.
"Maya, on the ship, NOW!!"
"SILT?!"
"Tau-E is doing something, and I'm pretty sure it's a CME! You need to get onto the ship!!"
As I am being yanked towards the airlock I glance back at the alien. It's scrambling to its own ship, using both the jetpack and the tether to get onto it as quickly as possible.
I continue getting pulled. I bounce off the hull once, having missed the airlock in the frenzy, and all the air is knocked out of me.
"MAYA! I'm so sorry!" SILT yells.
I manage to get in and the outer airlock door shuts me inside. The airlock starts the process.
"Maya, I don't know how the ship will react to this CME. It's extreme. But I promise everything will be f-fi-fineeee Mmya#a345dc635cv76a44adn653b54874nfs5683ry6653ssaa3411ayaa55141214
AUTOMATIC UNITY'S HOPE MISSION LOG
-PILOT VITAL SIGNS ELEVATED
-VOICE INPUT DETECTED
-ERROR: "SILT" NOT RECOGNIZED AS COMMAND
-ERROR: "SILT ARE YOU THERE" NOT RECOGNIZED AS COMMAND
-ERROR: "SILT" NOT RECOGNIZED AS COMMAND
-AIRLOCK SEQUENCE FINISHED
-THRUSTER 2 INITIATED TO 100%
-ERROR: HULL TEMPERATURE: 2374 WARMTH
-USERINPUT: INITIATED COCKPIT HATCH
-ERROR: HATCH MALFUNCTION, OPEN 40%
-ORBIT DECAY DETECTED, RESOLVING . . .
-ERROR: SHIP POINTING AT TAU, CANNOT RESOLVE AUTOMATICALLY
-USERINPUT: INITIATED MANUAL CONTROL
-ERROR: HULL BREACH DETECTED
-SEALING 'LAB AREA', 'CENTRAL HALLWAY', 'LIVING AREA' . . .
-ALTITUDE CRITICAL
-USERINPUT: ACTIVATED THURSTER 1 AND 2, TRAJECTORY – SPACEWARD
-CALCULATION: ALTITUDE FALLING, INSUFFICIENT THRUST
-ERROR: THRUSTER 2 NOT DETECTED
-USERINPUT: PARACHUTES DEPLOYED
-ERROR: THRUSTER 1 BREACH DETECTED, SEALING . . .
-ERROR: THRUSTER 1 NOT DETECTED
-CALCULATION: ALTITUDE CRITICAL
-CRITICAL ERROR: 'LIVING AREA', 'CENTRAL HALLWAY', 'STORAGE AREA' NOT DETECTED
-CALCULATION: TERRAIN DETECTED, IMPACT IMMINENT
-ERROR "PLEASE" NOT RECOGNIZED AS COMMAND
-ERR