He turned to look at his little family. Chasma was sound asleep in her small bunk bed, and Vera was already under the covers, reading Arthur C. Clark’s 2067 on her pad. The Russian commander grabbed the square container at his feet, sat down at his desk, and placed the box right in front of him. He meticulously unlocked the six clamps holding the hermetically sealed top, lifted the cover, and slowly removed the object from inside. Unwrapping the towel surrounding it, he carefully laid each corner out to reveal the alien artifact.
“A Zarfha sphere. An alien artifact from another world. Wow!” he thought, staring at the white object. In truth, the artifact belonged to all the colonists, not just Dedrick, but he felt overwhelmed at the moment and for a good reason. How many times had he seen it in his dream? In truth, he had no idea what the object was for, or what it could do, but just looking at it here, as real and solid as any other object in the room, was overwhelming. He delicately grazed its surface with the tip of his fingers. To his surprise, the material felt almost familiar. Had he closed his eyes, he could have sworn he was touching glass. Carefully holding the sphere between his fingers, he placed it directly on the desk and gave it a gentle spin. The object spun freely with ease for a few seconds, before coming to a stop. He stared at it with disappointment.
That night, Dedrick, unable to sleep, spent a good portion of his time trying to make the sphere do something, anything. Ultimately, he was hoping he could make it levitate in some way. The Russian tried many things including talking to it and even rolling it on his forehead at one point, but none of his attempts succeeded at getting any reaction from the enigmatic object. He eventually fell asleep in his chair around 05:00 AM, exhausted.
A trip in space and time
The inhabitants of station Mars First were all gathered in greenhouse II. Two days had passed since the first encounter with the beings. As promised by the one named Jorh, the colonists had been contacted telepathically and asked to come back to the cave for another visit.
Chasma was listening to her dad attentively, her doll Sylvia in her arms.
“We have to think about our safety first. Since they asked for Chasma, I have to be there. I know you’re all impatient to learn more about—”
“Listen, Dedrick, yes, you’re right, we need to be careful,” Sabrina cut him off. “But I think I speak for all of us when I say we all want to go. I could hardly sleep last night. We’ve all chosen to come to Mars knowing the risks. And the reason we did was not because it was safe. It’s to discover new things, to go beyond what we know, and live an adventure like no other, right?” She looked around the room, finding approving nods. “Well, this is it! Here we are, in one of the most profound moments in history. Of course, we all want to go!”
Although Liu and Tendai were usually the ones with reservations when it came to dangerous situations, even they appeared to agree with Sabrina.
“Ok, well, if that’s how everyone feels…” He scanned the room, meeting only approving eyes and nods. “OK, then, that settles it. I’ll see you all in the garage in half an hour.”
No one had much to say on the way there. They were all absorbed in deep thoughts. There was a mixed feeling of fear and excitement in the vehicles. A few hours earlier, when Dedrick had received a clear telepathic message from the aliens, his first reaction had been one of absolute surprise. After the initial shock, he had wondered how far their telepathic abilities stretched, now that they were awake. They had quickly apologized for their unannounced cerebral intrusion. They had asked if the humans could come back to the ship, stating it would give both species a chance to satisfy their respective curiosity about each other. They had also requested the presence of Chasma. By now, there was no doubt in anybody’s mind that the five-year-old possessed an innate ability to communicate with the aliens in a way none of them did or could.
Dedrick wasn’t the only one who had not really slept much the night before. The events of the previous day were still mind blowing. Although fascinatingly exciting in many ways, the unknowns of the situation at hand were equally frightening to most of them. Of course, that wasn’t the case for Chasma, who appeared simply as happy and relaxed as ever. For François, the whole experience was beyond overwhelming, but his curiosity far outweighed any of his fears. And the more he thought about it, the more incredible it all seemed.
“Aliens, on Mars, alive after millions of years spent asleep in a spaceship! How is that even possible? And what were they doing in that cave in the first place? If we freed them as they said, that means they couldn’t get out of those pods by themselves. So, who put them there, then? Could they be dangerous? What if we released some monsters sent on exile to Mars for a good reason?” A late seventies Superman movie came back to his mind, where three alien criminals are outcast to wander in space, locked in a glass prison.
“No, I doubt that’s it. These beings could have killed us all already if they had wanted to. Something happened to them after the destruction of their world. And what about the others? We counted twenty-six pods on that ship… Are they all awake now? I didn’t think about that until now… Gosh, twenty-six giants, and us… And how far do they come from? What star? How fast can their ship travel?” he wondered. All questions he was aching to get answers to. Now feeling less intimidated than he did at first, after the initial shock of meeting face to face with the imposing beings, François was determined to ask every question he could this time. He took another look at his wrist display, making sure his camera and audio recorder were functioning perfectly, and his suit batteries were fully charged.
An hour or so later, the colonists were greeted by the three aliens.
“Welcome back, friends,” announced Jorh as the group entered what Dedrick guessed was the main deck of the ship. “You are correct. This is what your people would call the control room, or the cockpit of our vessel. Please, take a seat.” He pointed, with a sweeping hand motion, at a row of twelve oversized chairs in the center of the room. They were arranged in a semi-circle around a circular platform. The two aliens named Gahneo and Mahhzee were already occupying the two seats at each end of the curved row. Approaching hesitantly, the eight humans each picked one of the chairs, climbed on awkwardly and turned to face the central platform. Just as the hibernating pods had the day before, the seats began hovering in place about a meter above the floor as soon as each person had sat on them. Vera, who had taken her daughter with her on her chair, was asked to let Chasma have her own.
“Don’t worry, I promise she will be fine,” had said Mahhzee. Chasma had complied with an unworried smile.
The chairs were the most comfortable pieces of furniture the humans had ever experienced. Hovering silently, they felt a slight floating sensation, as if on a very calm body of water. A feeling Sabrina may have described best when she had said out loud it felt like “sitting on a cloud of pillows.”
Jorh approached one of the empty chairs, and with a smooth hand wave, made it float to the large gap between Mahhzee and Gahneo. After sitting in it, he addressed them all.
“We know you have a lot of questions for us. We do too, even if we already know a lot about your people, having ‘listened’ to all these years. There is always more to learn, but all in due time. We know you have reservations about our intentions, and we understand. This is why we thought it would be best if we answered some of your questions first.”