Sci-Fi Shorts: What Is It, Leavine?

What Is It, Leavine?

By Adair Cole

“What is it, Leavine?”

“Dunno, Lord Sjaack, we found it about half a lightyear off mining C#876.  I’m bringing it in now.”

A group of artisan rank engineers wearing environmental-protection suits wheeled in a large table, on which there was a large weather-worn box plated with gold foil, a large disk on top and a stick of dark metal pointing out of the side.

“It looks like some kind of ship,” Sjaack said with awe.

“Could it be alien?” Leavine asked, its mouth hanging open.

“No, it couldn’t be… it must be an old probe falling back after all this time,” Sjaack said while slowly approaching the object.

“Be careful lords! The object has some kind of radioactive power source that seems to have broken,” an engineer called out in warning.

“It’s fine, we’re up to date on our injections,” Leavine said while waving them off.

Sjaack walked around the box inspecting it, and then saw something different under the foil, and called out, “Engineers here!  I found something!”

Leavine sidled up to Sjaack and asked him in a low voice trembling with anticipation, “What is it lord? What have you found?”

“It looks like some kind of image engraved beneath the foil… artisans, pull back the foil so we can see it!”

The engineers swarmed around the area and, after a few minutes of carefully removing the foil with specialised tools, managed to clear the engravings without causing too much damage.

Sjaack then walked up to the engravings and closely studied them.  It had drawings of what looked like a hydrogen atom, but more importantly what seemed to be two different and entirely alien creatures on it, and weirdly a large line going from a planet in a model solar system to a picture of the ship.

“Lord, I think I’ve found something!” Leavine called out bubbling with excitement.  “It’s a white circle attached to the ship,” Leavine said, while Sjaack rushed around to see it.

Sjaack saw the white circle and thought, “Those symbols on it look like some kind of writing, perhaps it is alien.”  Sjaack then asked “Lord Artisan, how old is this ship?”

“The tests aren’t finished, but we think it’s been in space for at least 30 years, probably 35,” the chief engineer told him.

“How did you find it?”

“One of our repair teams picked it up next to a solar plant near the G2V class star C#876.”

“Ok, just carry on with your scans and tell me if you find anything.”  “Leavine!  I want you to assemble all the best language experts and astronomers you can get your hands on. We might have something alien here.” Sjaack called out.

“Really my lord, aliens?  Actual aliens?  With green skin, massive heads and five eyes! Actual aliens!”  Leavine bubbled out excitedly.

“Yes Leavine, actual aliens, now go and get that team,” the lord said while giving Leavine a friendly shove.

“Yes Sir!” Leavine said with a salute before promptly marching out of the room.

 

A few weeks later

 

“How long until we arrive my lord?” Leavine asked Sjaack.

“We’ll be in the star system in a few minutes,” Sjaack replied.

“How did you find this place?”

“We found a map of pulsars on the larger disk, which we tracked here to this star system.”

“Did we ever figure out what the symbols on the second disk meant?”  Leavine asked.

“No idea,” Sjaack answered

“I’m sending you our first clear images of the planets,” the pilot called out.

A monitor lowered down from the ceiling and flickered to life.  Sjaack and Leavine looked at the monitor and saw an oceanic planet with several large landmasses with large strips of light on them.

“Look there! Lights! Cities!” Leavine cried out.

“There are aliens,” Sjaack said with a gasp.

“How will they speak?  I hope they’ll be friendly,” Leavine thought aloud.

“No sign of that giant net though, perhaps the line to the ship was something else,” Sjaack remarked.  “Pull us near the planet so we can pick up their signals,” Sjaack ordered.  The pilot then fiddled with a few buttons and took the ship to a lower orbit.

“We’re not picking up anything on the X-Wave, sir,” the pilot said.

“Try radio signals; this planet doesn’t look very advanced,” Sjaack suggested.

“We’ve got something now, I’m sending through to you,” the pilot said with the click of a button.

A weird electronic noise with regular and rapid beats filtered in through the speakers.

“I think it’s music, alien music!” Leavine exclaimed with excitement.

“I like it,” Sjaack said, and then Sjaack started tuning the radio with a nob until a frequency where the aliens were talking was found.

“The translators are learning the language.  Permission to land, your lordship?” the pilot asked Sjaack.

“Permission granted,” Sjaack replied.

“Anywhere in particular?”

“Put us down near the signal you tracked,” Sjaack commanded excitedly.

The ship then pulled out of orbit and after an uneventful re-entry landed on a bluff overlooking about a dozen primitive buildings and one small radio tower.

“What are the conditions out there?” Sjaack asked.

The pilot began to read from the ship’s sensor data: “Slightly higher gravity, much lower atmospheric pressure, plenty of water, high oxygen levels, no poisonous substances detected, all within tolerance.”

“It should be safe, but be careful, bring extra medical supplies, and begin the acclimatisation procedure,” Sjaack told the crew.

After about fifteen minutes the hatch was opened, and they saw an alien world.  The sky was deep red near the star, which melted into a dark purple as their eyes travelled across the sky, only for their gaze to be caught by wisps of clouds that caught and reflected the light of the star. Behind the clouds were stars too numerous to count.  Then they saw the village beneath them, with bright yellow fields waving in the breeze, and weaving their way over creeks and around many forested hills which faded into distant mountains.

After the awe wore off, Sjaack ordered everyone out, and told Leavine to get ready for a trip to the village.

“Armor up, we don’t know what the aliens will be like,” Leavine told their guards, and went to help ready the guards.

Sjaack, already being armed, went to the edge of the bluff to scout out the village.  The town below seemed to be largely agrarian, with few and primitive machines, and the houses largely made of wood and clay products.  Seven of the aliens were visible and were gathered around a fire near one of the buildings. They were short and thick, oddly coloured creatures, that looked just like the pictures engraved on the space craft.  Looking for a route down to the village, Sjaack saw a basic sand and cement road that came within a hundred meters of the ship.

Leavine then crept up behind Sjaack and whispered, “Lord, we’re ready, and waiting for your orders.”

“Guards, we are going to the village, take the gift carriage down by that,” Sjaack commanded while pointing at the road.

“And make sure to not look intimidating, we don’t how they will act when scared,” Sjaack added as an aside.

They went down the road towards the village, and on the way passed by many large and unusual four legged creatures covered with large black spots.

When they arrived at the edge of the village, Leavine said “Give them a warning, how about horn three?”

One of the guards fiddled with a pad on the gift carriage, and a loud trumpet noise sounded repeatedly, making sure that no one could miss their announcement.  The creatures from the fire came around the building into the street, and more came out from the buildings.  One ran into a rickety wooden structure beside one of the houses.

Leavine then stepped forward and said, “We mean you no harm, and we bring gifts to prove our intentions.”

The guards then pushed the vehicle towards the crowd.

The creature that had gone into the wooden building came out with a basic projectile weapon and shouted, “Stop right there!  I know what you’re up to!  It’s a bomb isn’t it!”

“They’re aliens! If they wanted to kill us, we’d be dead; just look at the gifts,” another one of the creatures shouted.

That creature then stepped forward and took the gift carriage back to the crowd to look at what it contained.

“What are you?” one of the smaller creatures asked.

“We call ourselves the Falex,” Sjaack answered, and then asked “What do you call your species?”

“We’re humans,” the creature answered.