First contact
Chapter 1
In a galaxy far in deep space, just after midnight on the planet of Plaska, a lone astronomer was sitting in an observatory. Watching the bank of no screens before him, looking for a sign, some kind of response to the radio signals beamed routinely out into space, which would give an indication of intelligent life somewhere among the stars.
Suddenly tiny bleeps started appearing first on one screen, then there was a shower of dots on all the screens. Warning alarms went wild throughout the observatory. The astronomer quickly got on the communicator to the authorities.
This was the moment they had had waited for hoping against hope that someone or something out there in the murky darkness of space would respond to their radio waves. It was a history in the making. It was also a moment of great trepidation.
What would the extraterrestrials appearing on the observatory’s computer screens be like, would they be friendly or could they be hostile.
At the people’s palace, King Krain flanked by guards quickly walked to the throne room with princess Nina at his side.
Advisers and military personnel respectfully rose to their feet from the oblong desk around which they had been seated as king Krain proceeded to the dias beyond the long table where they had been seating watching the giant monitor on the far side of the room. Technicians were manning a bank of consoles along the walls of the throne room.
King Krain proceeded to dais and sitting himself on the throne, asked the supreme commander of all Plaskarite forces taking his
seat close to the throne as everyone in the room proceeded to sit at the long table,
“General what is the situation for which I have been roused this late at night?” king Krain asked momentarily taking his eyes away from the giant screen in front of him to face the general.
“Your majesty”, the supreme commander replying, ‘just after midnight a fast moving fleet of space craft was detected by observatoryl approaching the planet’. ’It is what you are seeing on the screen”.
’Are you telling me what I am seeing on that screen are space ships from another world?“, king Krain asked incredulously.
’Yes your majesty the age old question we have grappled with over whether we are alone in the universe or there is other intelligent life out there has been whether other question remains”, calmly replied the general.
“Which question is that, general?” curiously asked king Krain.
“The critical question is whether they come in peace?′
“Have any attempts the space craft been hailed?” asked King Krain.
Yes your majesty, we have tried communicating with them on all the sub space frequencies but they have neither to our hails or slowed down the speed of their approach to the planet.
“Maybe they did not understand the hails the attempts to communicate with them, suggested King Krain.
’IT hat’s unlikely your majesty, we tried various translations using algorithims that are basic to the formulation of intelligent speech.
’General are you suggesting..
’Precisely your majesty, I i m afraid they appear to be hostile”. At their current velocity they will shortly be within range of our defence satellites long range lasers.
An automated voice from the monitor suddenly broke in as though in agreement with the general, ’Long range lasers online, firing in 5 4 3..
All eyes were on the screen as the gap between the alien vessels and the defence satellites which were now in view rapidly diminished.
Lasers smashed into the lead vessels of the advancing alien fleet.
