The Galactic Alliance, the greatest known intergalactic power, with at least hundreds of planets spread across dozens of systems. This alliance has always made great efforts to explore what remains unknown to them. However, for hundreds of years, these exploration missions have become mere commercial pretexts, serving only to facilitate intergalactic communication and trade. Indeed, while many expeditions are still planned today, their main goal is now to find various new resources. Considering that they already knew everything, the scientific interest of these missions has been largely neglected.
This did not satisfy Captain Argueiss. He and his team of scientists had invested a lot in this mission. It was the first time an explorer vessel had ventured so far into this vast universe of unknowns. Moreover, their small exploration vessel was equipped with a lot of analysis tools, giving them high hopes of gathering considerable data, and if possible, before the central unit ordered them to report back to the mother ship. The mother ship, on the other hand, was a colossal floating city, designed for long trips, fully autonomous and equipped with numerous shuttle launchers. A true space aircraft carrier. This worried the captain, for as soon as they arrived, he would have no say in the matter. Political and economic concerns would quickly overshadow their research. This is why he and his crew had agreed on several rules:
Firstly, none of them should report or emit any recognizable signal to the Alliance, at least not until a vote within the crew established the need for it.
Secondly, any data collected must be recorded twice, with one copy for their own analysis. This should help them avoid certain procedural issues they deemed unnecessary.
Lastly, every crew member has the right to express their opinion clearly and debate without judgment.
Argueiss knew that everyone wholeheartedly agreed with these rules. He had handpicked his crew based on their shared interest in the unknown. They all acknowledged that the Alliance's tedious protocols would hinder them from gaining any new knowledge from their mission. On board, there was Omoun, a signal processing engineer, an expert capable of predicting the content of a planet using data from his state-of-the-art 7kb20 radar. Malnora, a cybernetic researcher, was present because she wanted to test a new robotic prototype under high-stress environmental conditions. Moreover, any opportunity to circum
Among those mens, there was Omoun, the signal processing engineer. A kind of expert capable of predicting the content of a planet based on few analyses from the latest generation 7kb20 radars of which he was very proud. Malnora, a researcher in cybernetics was present because she wanted to test out a new robotic prototype when they are subjected to a high level of environnemental stress. But also, and above all, because any pretext to escape the norms of the alliance was a good opportunity. With her expert hands, Malnora was also involved in the maintenance of Kineta, the artificial intelligence responsible for the spaceship.
The AI, named Kineta – as IA249K didn't seem appropriate – had sparked a deep affection among the crew, now that they had given it a name. Kineta took care of piloting the ship, handling vast amounts of data, and catering to the whims of the vessel's inhabitants.
Paul, the researcher in new biology, had justified his presence due to the remote possibility that one of the unknown planets might harbor some form of life, be it advanced or rudimentary. When a new planet is discovered, Paul's responsibility is to document, analyze, and advocate for its preservation in its natural state. This responsibility had often pushed him to overwork himself, as arguing with time-starved and underinformed salespeople can be a challenging task.
Moreover, Ën Tamay, the cherished psychologist, was tasked with ensuring the crew's well-being. Without her, these researchers gathered in a single place wouldn't be able to engage in team debates for more than 5 minutes. Kineta even appeared to express gratitude towards her. The rest of the ship consisted mainly of robots, which took care of maintenance tasks, serving as versatile tools and willingly taking on risks in place of the biological crew.
Today was a special day for them, as they had spotted a planet with unique blue reflections, reminiscent of UI215{Halmarath} – one of the most beautiful planets in the Infinity system, and incidentally, its capital. It was also home to Malnora. After sharing her fondest memories of Halmarath's brilliant blue sky and sunsets with a tinge of green, she had persuaded everyone to make a slight detour for, let's say, curiosity's sake.
Now, a mere tens of thousands of kilometers away, they could gaze upon UV1244{Nekea}, the blue-tinted planet. Despite the thick atmosphere, it was clear that the planet had three continents, each surrounded by an immense expanse that appeared to be water. One of the continents was disproportionately large compared to the others. To the south of this landmass, a vast forest seemed to dominate, occupying at least a third of the continent. Noticing this, Paul smiled; such a forest could only mean one thing to him: UV1244{Nekea} harbored life, and the mere thought prompted a single tear to trickle down his cheek. With excitement, Ën Tamay exclaimed, "Magnificent!" though it remained unclear if she referred to Paul's reaction or the azure expanse encompassing their entire field of vision. Malnora, meanwhile, struggled to find words. As if frozen in awe of the planet, she stood motionless, eyes wide. Kineta, the ship's AI, alertly announced,
"Arrived at anchorage point, 76 thousand kilometers for initial analysis," providing subsequent calculations that only Omoun seemed to fully comprehend. Nonetheless, Argueiss, in a tone reminding everyone of his role and that they were not on vacation, declared,
"We don't have time to waste. Initiate preliminary analyzes; we will savor this moment once we know what we are dealing with," he said firmly. Later, in a calmer tone, he added, "Kineta, scan the planet."
The AI responded affirmatively and followed orders. The ship bombarded the planet with multiple waves at different times in order to ensure, with minimal margin of error, data validity. The scan repeated itself at various temporal periods to account for the movement of scanned surfaces. As a result, a multidimensional planet representation was projected onto the command table, fully interactive and complete with various analyses. The crew was able to understand several aspects:
First, the planet's composition, primarily water, albeit abnormally iron-laden, giving it a slate-blue tinge. They also discovered their current location, with the scanner grouping elements according to geographical position. This allowed scientists to observe the positions of the planet's various biomes. After classifying them, the crew determined that the largest continent seemed most likely to harbor developed life forms. In the south, there was a forest, central plains from east to west, and cold mountains to the north.
To the crew's delight, a deeper scan analysis confirmed the presence of thousands of distinct species, grouped regionally. Argueiss stepped aside, deep in contemplation, causing a long pause among the crew. Omoun, the analyst, eventually broke the silence by asking whether he should contact members from the mother ship of their expedition.
They all simultaneously burst into laughter, clearly understanding that under no circumstances should they allow the mother ship to interrupt their analysis. Omoun knew it too, as doing so would be a death sentence for any life on UV1244{Nekea}. Moreover, the scanner had revealed various precious resources, including those necessary to generate the energy for intergalactic travel. Not to mention the valuable metals and numerous mineable minerals that would excite the entire mother ship's leadership. Argueiss answered, maintaining his mocking smile, "Of course not, Omoun."
Omoun chuckled in response, "I didn't expect otherwise!" and resumed his analyses. Meanwhile, Paul remained captivated by the data, not taking his gaze off of it during the entire conversation. He discovered not only that the planet harbored life but also that a few species seemed capable of founding civilizations. Indeed, the scanner allowed him to deduce that by observing the behavior of the different identified species: how they moved, where they lived and gathered, and so on.
While still uncertain, they now had hope that their assumptions were correct and wanted to confirm them; hence, Paul proposed to get closer to Nekea. Nobody objected, so Kineta performed the necessary maneuvers, guiding the ship to the next geostationary point. They were now so close to the planet that they felt like they could breathe its air as they resumed their analysis.
These analyses indeed confirmed their hypotheses, as civilizations inhabited Nekea. Now, they could see habitats and cities, rudimentary but sufficient for establishing the presence of conscious species. However, they did not rank high on the evolutionary potential scale, according to the Alliance's civilization measures—allowing only for time-gaining or, at best, the relocation of certain species to other worlds. This would be true unless they had proof of the species' ability to understand and adapt to more advanced technologies like space travel.
Argueiss and his crew had considered this scenario, with its conscious, civilization-building species, yet still lacking a few criteria for official entry within the Alliance. Having considered this, he concluded that if he gained a few months, he could enact a seemingly absurd yet plausible plan.
The plan was to supply the alien species with advanced technologies through their own means, presenting only proof of their successful use. While nothing in their contract prevented the researchers from proceeding thus, until now, no one had attempted it. Paul estimated that teaching the basics of advanced technologies might take a few months or, optimistically, a few years. Omoun, on the other hand, anticipated the Alliance's arrival at six months: two for self-initiated contact and four for travel time. While this limited their room for action, they still had hope. In fact, they had every reason to celebrate their discoveries.
Argueiss ordered the ship's AI to continue its approach towards Nekea to plan a landing. To do so, the AI inched the vessel towards the planet's closest anchor point since the ship was not designed for self-landing. The plan was to launch exploration pods towards the planet. Now, the ship was visible from Nekea, so they carefully chose their coordinates within the forest, with minimal visibility, with marine life that rarely looked up at the sky, in the far south of the targeted continent. They did not want to scare its inhabitants—they feared their arrival might be misinterpreted, causing fear instead of interest.
Once they had anchored, Kineta shared a reassuring message emphasizing their successful arrival. They then began to configure each pod, but suddenly, they heard a faint metallic creak. It seemed insignificant, yet this detail caught their attention; such things should not occur in a highly sophisticated spacecraft. Everything should be carefully calculated for long, interstellar trips, even multiple lifetimes long if not for stasis modules. The control panel indicated no issues, and Kineta found nothing wrong. However, as hours passed, they could find no defect, which worried them all the more.
Ën Tamay tried to reassure them, saying that it was probably nothing. But her serious expression revealed something was wrong. Suddenly, as Argueiss prepared to turn away, a second creak echoed through the cabin. He froze, pondering a storm of possibilities but found no logical explanation. Finally, he regained his composure and made a tactical decision:
"Something is wrong; search everywhere, recalculate everything!"
However, he already knew that this time-consuming exercise would likely not resolve the issue. Soon, they learned that despite the IA's flawless reputation, the ship had already unanchored. It drifted slowly towards Nekea—a path that could lead to nothing but trouble. The gravity of Nekea would soon pull the vessel faster towards a catastrophic collision.
Regaining control over the IA required meticulous maneuvering. Malnora feverishly worked to switch to manual mode, while Argueiss tried to persuade Kineta to return to the anchor point using logical reasoning and mathematical proofs, but despite all their efforts, Kineta refused to relinquish control to either of them. Omoun double-checked all his calculations in hopes of making a mistake, but when nothing irregular was found, he realized Kineta had been right in a way.
They were indeed anchored to a stable point; the ship should not move. Unfortunately, another, louder noise echoed through the cabin. Worse, the vessel was poorly positioned concerning Nekea, exposing it to strong gravitational pressure, swallowing them like a meteor. Fire and friction marked their swift, violent descent, resonating throughout the continent only the forest bore witness to their fatal crash landing.