Eating together was always nice. It really helped to give a sense of family to the crew that we all ate together whenever we could. There was a real effort to make dinner a whole crew affair and you could tell that Fer'resi and Mitchel really go all out for dinner. Omar was the only human who touched the ca'olin, but he ate enough to cover all of us. I guess it really is an acquired taste.
As much as they tried to hide it, I could tell everyone was worried about me. "I'm sorry I scared you." I said, after we all sat down. "If I knew that was going to happen, I wouldn't have touched the directory stone, honest!"
A few tight smiles across the table. Fer'resi was the only one who didn't look worried for me. He looked... jealous? "It really is amazing that it happened Melody." He took a bite of ca'olin. "I think you're the first human to ever touch a directory stone." He stopped and looked thoughtful. "Though I don't know for sure. Since we don't have a record of this happening anywhere else, I can only assume you're the first human to..." He trailed off. "I'm sorry, I am rambling. I know that humans never really used them, and any of your ships that have an addressing module have a K'laxi built one with K'laxi addresses in them. I wonder if it happens when any human touches it..." He trailed off again, lost in thought.
"But, what does that mean?" Omar asked. Omar worked with Far Reach on the laser batteries and also the matter printer - he boasted he could make anything with Far Reaches help. I've seen the matter printer in action, and I believe it. The arms whirring overhead moving almost too fast to see, and then... anything appears on the platform. Clothing, parts, even weapons. You think of it, and it can be made.
Fer'resi shrugged. "Without any more humans touching any other directory stones, we have no idea. This one is clearly special, maybe it would have happened to anyone who touched it."
I took another sip of my coffee; it was my own supply, and it was divine. Just a quick press, but it's always better when you make it yourself. "But, what about what Captain Q'ari said? She said you said I shouted in an unknown language?"
Gene nodded here. "It was super weird. It was like you were chanting or something. We recorded it, but Far Reach and Far'resi both agree it's nothing known."
"I even tried working back from the phonemes to see if we could find something shared." Far Reach said. "But other than the fact that it's pronounceable by humans and presumably K'laxi, that's all we know so far. For all we know, you were shouting the terms and conditions that we had to agree to use to use the Warp Gates!" Far Reach chuckled at his own joke. There was polite chuckles, but people weren't really in a joking mood.
As dinner wound down and Chef Fer'resi brought out some human candy and K'laxi nuts to chew on, Captain Q'ari stood. "Now that we've eaten and talked about what happened yesterday-" This was my first indication that it's been a day since we were on the Gate asteroid. "-It's time to discuss next steps. Commander Perinem, if you would?"
Fer'resi stood from the table and walked to the front. Behind him a screen appeared with the tablet one side, and a listing of symbols on the other. "As I had mentioned previously, we have never come across a table with so many addresses before. These-" He clicked a remote and 15 of them were highlighted. "-represent every single address that is known to us currently. They're all here on this one table. Literally centuries of work finding and deciphering the various tables we've come across in space and they're all right here." He shook his head and smiled wryly. He clicked again and the rest lit up. "Which means that these other 35 addresses - or I should say, likely addresses - represent some other points in space unknown to us. At this point, I can only recommend starting from the top and entering them into the addressing module and see where they go. We could be methodical about it. Enter one, explore, come back here, enter another, explore, come back here and so on."
There was a murmur from everyone at the table. "But this means that this mission suddenly got a whole lot longer." That was Ava Williams, who works in environmental systems. She makes sure we have air to breath and water to drink and that our waste is processed safely. She's also not bad to look at, though we've barely spoken. I should remedy that. Maybe tomorrow.
Fer'resi nodded. "Yes. If we were to continue on without a break, I estimate that going to all thirty five addresses would take 5 years or so."
Upset noises from the table.
"But, that doesn't mean we have to do them all at once." Captain Q'ari said, speaking clearly over the noise. "We've gone from figuring that we'd have two or three addresses to explore at most to thirty five. We've officially moved beyond our original scope. Let me tell you all here, we are not going to be gone for five years. We will continue with our original plan of two or three addresses and then home. Then, another exploration team can be sent out to try the others. There is no reason to expect that we'll have to try them all."
"Additionally," Fer'resi added. "I suspect most of them will be empty systems. You notice that I've said that we K'laxi have found 15 addresses. Yet, other than K'lax we only have two colony planets. We have 5 other Starbases not counting the Joint Human/K'laxi Starbase Picaresque which means than 6 of the addresses known to us go to empty systems. It's entirely likely that the majority of addresses we have here also go to empty systems. We could visit quite a few quickly if that's the case."
Kieran asked "So then, where should we go first?"
Captain Q'ari replied. "As Fer'resi mentioned, unless someone has a better plan, we were just going to go to the first address on the list and work our way dow-"
"No." I said, interrupting. "Start with W̷̮̱̿͝ï̵̠̜͛̀l̶̜̞͛̇Ð̵̼͕̾̇§̷̯̩̈́̔ ̷̰͚̅̋ð̴̧̞͐̕£̴̞̻̐͘ ̶͇͍̀̈́ß̵̤͇̉͗ê̵͍̦̑̈'̶̯̭̓̕m̸͉̖̂̒å̷͎̍̃ͅŗ̸͖̋͛å̷͇̘͋͆."
Everyone stopped and turned as one to look at me. When I realized what I did, I blushed a deep crimson red.
Mei'la was the first to recover. "Uh, what was that?"
"I don't know! I just know that's the one we should start with."
"O-Okay." Captain Q'ari said. "Can you tell us why?"
"Um..." I wracked my brain. "It's the one that... feels right."
"So wait." Gene looked at the list and then back at me. "You can read them?"
"No? Er, Yes? Er, I don't know?" I was starting to get a headache. This was all very confusing. I knew stuff, but only if I didn't try and think about it. It was like the opposite of having something on the tip of my tongue. If I just let it flow, I knew their answers, but if I had to stop and explain why, it floated away.
"Okay then," Fer'resi said kindly. "Which one is- er" She doesn't even bother trying to pronounce it. "-the one you said?"
I pointed, "the 5th one down. With the squiggly on the bottom."
They all stared at the entry. "I mean, maybe because we've been told to look at that one... " Mitchel says cautiously "But it does look a little different than the others. Is the text like, bolder? More prominent?"
There were murmurs of agreement.
"Fascinating." Fer'resi said, looking at it closer. "I do believe you are correct.
Captain Q'ari shrugged. "It's as good of an option as any. Maybe even better than any. Does anyone have an objection to taking Melody's suggestion."
Nobody had an objection.
"Then it's settled. Tomorrow morning, we'll put that address into the addressing module and activate the Gate.
****
The next day, after breakfast, we all gathered on the Command Deck. With there being only 12 of us, there was room, though it was tight. Far Reach said that they would watch the systems so that everyone could see the gate activate.
"Lieutenant Mullen." Captain Q'ari's uniform was pressed, fresh and sharp. I think she brushed her fur until it shone as well. "Has your address been entered into the addressing module?"
Hah. My Address.
"Yes Captain. The entry for W̷̮̱̿͝ï̵̠̜͛̀l̶̜̞͛̇Ð̵̼͕̾̇§̷̯̩̈́̔ ̷̰͚̅̋ð̴̧̞͐̕£̴̞̻̐͘ ̶͇͍̀̈́ß̵̤͇̉͗ê̵͍̦̑̈'̶̯̭̓̕m̸͉̖̂̒å̷͎̍̃ͅŗ̸͖̋͛å̷͇̘͋͆." has been input." Funny. The more I say it, the easier it is to say. I'm still not sure what the words mean though. When I say it, I feel like, a tingle? Something odd anyway. It feels very... emphatic.
"Far Reach, are we ready to depart?"
"Yes Captain. All systems are green. We can leave at your command"
"Lieutenant Mullen. Activate the Gate."
Like I did the first time we arrived, I sent the hello ping to the gate. This time, with an address entered into the module, the Gate reacted differently.
The ring out in space attached to the asteroid started to glow. Dim at first but with a blue almost like Cherenkov radiation it started to grow in intensity. Almost painfully bright, the blue increased in intensity until there was a flash and a sensation of almost like being on a dinghy in heavy seas. A feeling of up and then down and...
"The gate has responded and is active. We may traverse." I said, more calmly than I felt. We were going to use my address! Where was it going to go? Would it be safe? I had no idea, though a small part of me figured it would just be another boring empty system.
Captain Q'ari nodded. "Proceed best speed, Far Reach. Traverse the gate."
As we approached, it was almost like the Gate got further from us the closer we got to it. I knew it was some kind of optical illusion and our reports about Gate traversal and our own experience said it happens, but every time it's still weird to see.
We touched the gate and...
A rumble and tinkle of debris
"Hard contact!" Gene shouted, peering at his station. "We've entered a debris field."
"It's pretty messy out here" Far Reach added. "Nothing too large. I don't think we'll be damaged so long as we go slow."
"Proceed best speed then Far Reach." Captain Q'ari said, stoically. "Release point defense array to destroy any debris that gets too close."
From his station on the Command Deck, Omar confirmed. "Point defense, aye. Free and tracking."
"Lieutenant Mullen, any contact?"
I scanned the area but it appeared like there's nothing. "Negative contact. Active scanning with friendly K'laxi and Human signals, no reply."
As we proceeded along at a very slow pace, the amount of noise from the debris field lessened until Far Reach said "We have traversed the debris field. Recommend we stop and get our bearings."
Captain Q'ari nodded. "Agreed. All stop relative to Gate." There was a little feeling of movement as thrusters fired and then it dissipated. "Commander Desmen. Tell us where we are please."
Um'reli Desmen was a short K'laxi with fiery red fur. She's our navigator and was extremely skilled. She's served on many K'alxi ships and this was her first tour with a joint crew. She was no nonsense and I didn't really know what to make of her. I had a feeling she was still getting used to a mixed crew.
"Aye Captain. Scanning stars for known pulsars and magnetars, one moment."
While she worked, we all busy ourselves with other tasks, though I'm pretty sure we were really just waiting for word about where we were. The Captain said we can order a beverage if we wanted. I requested some coffee and Q'ari got tea, but everyone else abstains.
After about a half an hour Um'reli spoke up, visibly distressed. "Captain. I think I have our location narrowed down. I apologize for the delay, I ran the numbers three times to make sure they were correct."
"That's all right Commander. Where are we?"
She gulped. She didn't want to answer. How bad was the news?
"Captain. As near as I can tell, we've traversed the diameter of the Milky Way. We're about 95,000 light years from home."
My head goes light. Ninety Five Thousand Light-Years from home. If we could train a camera on Earth, the light we'd just be getting now would be from before the last Ice Age. The first ever houses would be busily being built.
Captain Q'ari stared at her, mouth open slightly. "Commander, are you sure?"
She nodded. "Yes Captain. Within my ability to be able to measure, and confirmed with sighting of 4 known pulsars and 2 magnetars for triangulation. We're on the other side of the Milky Way."
She blinked, and her ears twitch. "Far Reach. Can we link home?"
A pause.
A longer pause.
"Captain Q'ari, I'm not sure. I know the coordinates of The Joint Human/K'laxi Starbase but I don't know if we have the power to make a link that deep. It's never been attempted. I'm going to conservatively say no, that's too far to link. If we get into a bind or it's an emergency, I'd be willing to try it, but for now... I think we're stuck traveling the Gates."
Just then, my station lit up. "Contact. We're being pinged." I said, shakily.