“I don’t believe it,” I whispered, pulling away from my telescope. “That can’t be right.”
But when I peered into the dark sky above me, all I saw was what I saw every other night. There were a few glittering stars in the sky, and the moon was waning. Beyond that, I couldn’t see any sign of the planet I’d been watching. No matter how hard I looked, there were no answers. Nothing to account for what I’d seen.
“What is it, Lain?”
My research partner, Kara, slid back in her swivel chair to look at me. We were sitting side by side on a large balcony, each of us consumed by our own telescopes.
“Something’s happening on Planet 139,” I said, looking down at my desk to scribble some notes. I pushed stray strands of wavy blonde hair out of my eyes for the fifth time that day. That’s what I got for forgetting my hair tie at home.
“What do you mean? They’ve been dormant for years,” Kara said, standing from her chair and moving to my side.
“See for yourself,” I said, offering her the telescope.
Kara bent over and peered into the dark tunnel.
“Oh my god…you’re right,” she breathed.
What I’d seen didn’t make sense. The alien race I was studying seemed everything but exploratory. And yet I had just been the first woman—no, the first human—to witness the launching of a spacecraft. Of any kind. Even the Vellreq, who were so open about so many things, were secretive about their crafts. Somehow, the alien race managed to cloak them far from where any human eye might see them as they came and went.
“What are they doing? Are they traveling somewhere?”
Sure enough, the spacecraft was hurtling beyond the atmosphere of Planet 139, and I watched in awe. The craft was round and robust, with a huge fuel tank resting on the outside of it. I had no idea what the purpose for it might be, but it was groundbreaking to finally see the launch of an alien craft in person. I memorized every detail I could, right down to the rust-colored bolts holding the craft together.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” I said. Kara nodded.
“This is extraordinary,” she agreed.
Research into alien colonies was a budding science, and I was one of the lucky few chosen to document it in detail. The pioneering research group was known as the Orion Project, and really it was the project of a lifetime, conducting research that would pave the way for exploration in the field of alien lifeforms for generations to come. Our conduct and methods were a turning point for an entirely new scientific field. Every little detail counted.
And yet, they had Kara and I, the only two women on the team, researching the planets with the least activity. Go figure.
“You’d better get back in here and take down the records, Lain. You’re going to be famous for this.”
“Famous? It’s not like I built the ship,” I mumbled, taking Kara’s place at the telescope. Still, my hands were shaking. Kara was right. This would launch my career.
I had been assigned to this job by my superiors with the intention of researching the peaceful alien race that had been accidentally discovered during a mission to explore the black holes plaguing our galaxy. Lucky for us, they were just close enough to Earth that the new super-powered telescopes and satellites could give us a constant stream of information.
Still, our access to and understanding of this information was limited. All we really knew was what we had heard and experienced first-hand through dangerous pilgrimages through space.
What that really meant was we hardly knew anything. And now, it seemed possible that my peaceful alien race might not be so peaceful after all. The rule of thumb seemed to be that if an alien race left their planet, something bad would soon follow. Whether it was a famine they were trying to escape or an attack on or from another alien race, only time could tell.
We’d just begun to develop communications technologies with the helpful race that frequented Earth. They called themselves the Vellreq, though they never seemed to say the word Vellreq to each other when speaking in their mother tongue. I was certain they had their own name for themselves, but nobody seemed to care about that hypothesis. What mattered most to the Orion project was that the Vellreq entrusted us with bits and pieces of information as they saw fit. I’d never met a Vellreq in person, though most of the team worked closely with them while conducting research.
I finished scribbling my report and put on my headset, keeping one eye closely on the ship. It was heading west, into a cluster of meteors that had been deemed unsafe for travel. If this was an exploratory mission, my race, nicknamed the Kartugians, were headed for disaster.
“All eyes on Planet 139!” I exclaimed into my headset. “Unknown vessel traveling west toward meteor field. Launched at approximately 0300 with no known agenda!”
“Copy that,” a man’s static-filled voice said into my ears. “We’ll take it from here.”
But I wasn’t about to let them take over on one of the most exciting things I’d ever seen happen on my job. Instead, I took control.
“Is there any way to get a feed inside the meteor field in sector 16?” I asked. If we weren’t able to keep our eyes on them, we might lose track of them for good.
“Affirmative. Locking in on sector 16.”
“Good,” I said, opening my laptop and typing furiously so I could keep track of the feed.
The little ship was heading through the meteors, spunky as ever, not bothering to stop or even slow down. We had never seen a ship come through here before, and it struck me as bizarre that they would try to navigate it with such intention. They were surprisingly bold.
“Keep the cameras focused on the ship,” I said. I typed in a command that recorded the activity on the screen. “This is important.”
“Roger.”
“Can you believe this?” Kara whispered. She had her computer on the feed and was watching the bizarre events unfold with the same astonishment as I felt.
“I don’t think it’s a warship,” I murmured. “Look at how bumbling it is. It’s almost like…”
“What?” Kara prompted when I trailed off. But what I said just sounded so silly.
“Well…it’s almost like they’re just going out for a joy ride,” I finally said.
Kara laughed, and we watched the little ship as it navigated the meteor field. I felt a strange sense of pride as they dodged the meteors, again and again. I could almost hear exclamations of excitement, and in my head, I compared them to humans who enjoyed high-adrenaline sports.
I was really enjoying the show, but suddenly my stomach dropped. I had to blink hard and rewind my footage before I could even begin to believe what I had seen. As suddenly as it had come, the little ship disappeared into thin air.