The Saga Of The Starduster

Chapter 1

Noise

Noise from a distance solar system set off the detection equipment. Pointing their antennas in the direction of the distant star, gibberish through their receiving equipment filled the communication center.

Analyzing the sounds, while recording them for the Council, the Ularins pinpointed the solar system from which the noise was emanating from, while making a note of it on their star charts.

Using the RF as a beacon, the Ularins were able to pinpoint the source from an area with a yellow star. Sending their findings back to their leaders, the scout craft went on to scan the billions of star systems under their control.

Captain, we have another mission for you. The leader of the council said to him while flipping through the report.

"Always happy to explore sir, where to this time?

The Regulators picked up some EM (electromagnetic emissions,) while patrolling near this section right here. He said while pointing to an arm of the galaxy where nebula and other cosmological events were occurring.

Are the radio emissions and other noise, appear to be created by some form of intelligence?

The repetitive nature of the sound appears to be created by an intelligence of some sort. We need to know who, or what made it, and if they are peaceful, or if they can add anything to our species.

The trip across the galaxy was long. The crew discovered many new worlds that were still in their formative process, with little chance of sentient life on them.

The Starduster was not a science vessel but more for exploration and seeking out contact with intelligent lifeforms. Most life that developed space travel, had managed to evolve technologically, without destroying themselves. There were some exceptions, however.

Some were self-serving to the point of hostile, to any race of being. Treating the inhabitants of such planets like insects, they would exterminate them if they got in the way of the harvesting of their natural resources.

The Regulators were an amalgamation of advanced beings, who watched out for poachers, or modern-day pirates, from any world that had sentient life. All races with space travel capabilities agreed upon these standard peace accords. Failure to comply was met with harsh penalties, up to and including death by the destruction of their craft.

The Ularins were one of many races, who were part of the Regulators.

Chapter 2

We come in peace

The engines of the Starduster were non-responsive from the plasma burst. Power couplings fractured, killing the source of energy to the engines. Tidal forces from the moon's gravity, grabbed the Starduster, much like the tentacles of Captain Nemo’s Giant Squid. No electric sparks were going to thwart the efforts of this squid.

Sparks! Could the energy from the solar flares be used to recharge the power cells? The captain thought. Instead of shielding his ship from the sun's plasma, what if …?

The planetoid’s surface was beginning to grow large on the monitor screen, as the Starduster’s trajectory changed. Deploying the collectors, while simultaneously rerouting energy from them, appeared like an act of desperation, it was.

Feedback from the power inverter, caused flashes of electricity to fly from the control panel. Working amongst the chaos, the crew directed the star’s energy to the source of power, used for regulating the engines.

The linear attributes of the power inverter, went into oscillation from the feedback. Adjusting the polarity of the flow-controlling matrix reduced the sparks dancing on the wires. Lights from the dead power cells, started to illuminate once again, as energy from the collectors was now flowing correctly.

The Starduster was poised to slide behind the moon, thus cutting off the last hope of collecting energy from the Sun. Sensors picked up another power surge in the area, but with all of the activity, no one paid it too much attention. The very force that seemed to have killed the engines, was now about to be concealed by the moon.

Allowing the planetoid’s gravity to pull the Starduster towards it; was a dangerous gamble. If the engines failed to start, the next crater on the surface would be, the Starduster. The Starduster’s velocity was past critical, without an engine start, the craft would soon crash into the moon.

Power from the cells, was still well below recommended levels, for an engine restart, as the moon eclipsed the sun. Energy from the collectors fell to zero.

It was now or never, pushing the right buttons, all they could do was hope. Cheers reverberated throughout the Starduster, as the usual sounds of the engines were perceived once again. Changing trajectory, the Starduster veered away from the planetoid, using the gravity assist from the moon, to leave it behind.

How could the engines have been affected by a plasma discharge, from the sun? The Captain questioned. Calling to his engineer, Can you pull a log of the events that precipitated the engine malfunction?

The log indeed showed the plasma discharge, however; this was a different kind of energy then plasma from the sun.

Captain, we were shot at! His engineer reported.

Who has that kind of weapon in this sector, more importantly, why shoot at us?

Can you isolate where the blast emanated from?

That planet close to that moon might have thought we were up to something. The first officer theorized.

Can we tell precisely where the blast came from?

Not with the data I currently have.

The captain ordered the Starduster to turn around and to head back to the area that the event occurred. The blue planet was on the monitor, as they scanned for any similar energy burst.

Disabling all solar collectors, thus hardening the ship against attack, the Starduster moved closer to the blue planet. A blip on the scanner pointed out objects in low orbit around that world. Hundreds of them were in geosynchronous orbits around the earth. Some were moving along predestined paths. Others were dead, and drifting. Moving towards an object that was drifting, the crew probed it electronically.

I guess this answers our question about life in this world. The captain said.

Some of the satellites were not emitting any signal; they reasoned that they must be dead.

Moving close to a satellite that was lifeless, and losing orbit, the captain had his crew bring it onboard. Learning about this civilization's technology, may be crucial in dealing with them. Parking above it, matching its course, the crew manipulated the tiny craft, bringing it inside the cargo bay.

Once the atmosphere was restored in the cargo bay, he and his science officer went inside. The satellite became an instant ice ball, caused by the humidity in their environment, contacting the frozen metallic device.

Let me know once it warms up enough to dismantle it.

Running scans against the alien machine rendered nothing. Electromagnetic Emissions were originating from the planet below encompassing most of the RF spectrum. Deciphering the encoding scheme, produced audio of different kinds.

With all of this noise, you would think that this planet would have been visited before. The science officer said.

Maybe, they can protect themselves against hostile races, and don’t care. The captain offered.

Maybe they are so arrogant; they believe that they are the only ones out here?

Arrogant, or ignorant? Another bridge officer asked.

Surely not, with all of these worlds out here, only a fool would consider such a thing. The captain said.

The noise from the receiver echoed through the Starduster.

Can you make anything out of it, Asked the captain? Demodulating the signal, while narrowing the filter, it appeared that the frequency was actually being modulated. Adjusting their receivers, soon there were words, and phrases, extolling the virtues of big butts, in a rhythmic cadence.

To the crew of the Starduster, it was gibberish, but it gave them some idea about the inhabitants below. Tuning the receiver some more, a different sequence of sounds came through.

The gunman killed 14 hostages before turning the gun on himself.

Can we try and decipher this, so we have an idea what we are listening to? The captain asked. Up until now, the communications from this blue planet were gibberish, noise. Much like the sounds that animals make, this is what the sounds of the blue world were to this species. After figuring out what mode the RF was transmitted in, the next obstacle was to decipher the content.

Applying several different algorithms, looking for some keywords, or standard sounds to reference, was paramount. Much like tuning old fashion televisions, tinkering with the algorithm produced some keywords, that they understood.

The explosion killed …. Static … while officials have yet to determine the motive. Responsibility for the … static …. However, the Irish officials believe that it was a terroristic plot to disrupt …. Static.

It would appear that they know we are here, they appear like a violent race. The captain said.

It does not appear that we are the target audience, sir. I need to work on the algorithm some more, but the signals would give the appearance that they have internal strife on their world. His communications officer stated.

There is video in this signal captain; let me try and clear it up.

Try; let’s see what we are getting ourselves into. He said.

The screen came to life with images of vortices. Giant creatures were coming from them with enormous mouths, and teeth, devouring life forms that were humanoid.

Those creatures live in their atmosphere. They use vortices to move from one place, to another to hunt their prey.

On this planet, it appears that the humanoids are the prey, of the superior flying creatures.

I am not so sure; those humanoids are fighting them off, with that device attached to that one’s appendage.

That humanoid is part mechanical; It appears to have a weapon attached to that female’s appendage.

They wear external protection; the elements must be dangerous to them.

The creature that lives in the clouds must be superior! another bridge officer offered.

I found another transmission, Sir, should we see what it offers?

Yes, this feeding frenzy is too violent for me to watch.

Humanoids were lined up on a green field. Their external covering signifies some detail, which was lost on the Ularins.

Are they about to do battle? The captain asked.

Is that brown thing and explosive device?

No, it appears that they are trying to obtain it, unless they have honor in their own destruction.

Wait, maybe it is; that one is kicking it away from him.

It appears that we need to communicate with them, to figure this out. The captain said.

Captain, there is another craft in a lower orbit, that appears to have two life forms inside it.

If it is those things that fly through the air, I am not prepared to deal with them. He said.

It has the humanoids in it, sir. The life forms are too small to be those flying things with teeth.

In low orbit, a rather large craft compared to the others in the area, was now on the scanner. Catch up to that, let’s see what that is. The Captain said. The Starduster sprang to life, with the graceful movements of a ballet dancer, spiraling down towards the craft.

The cosmonaut on board ISS looked through the portal in disbelief, as the Starduster took up station next to them. His excited thick Russian accent made it hard for the American onboard to understand him. He did, however, appreciate his pointing finger and his demeanor.

Looking out the portal, Don was dumbfounded to witness this craft, which was now parked beside them.

Are there any weapons on that ship? Asked the captain.

Other than low-level radiation, there is nothing on that, which can harm us. Said the science officer.

Will it fit into the cargo bay?

Cargo bay four has enough room and capacity. We will need to keep it gravity neutral, as to not damage the craft.

Do we know anything about their atmospheric needs? He asked.

From our readings, they have much less humidity than us, but other than that, compatible Captain.

And we are sure it is the humanoids?

Yes, Captain.

Do you have that communication processor working so we can talk with them? He asked.

Enough that we should be able to sir. The engineer said.

Let’s find out why they shot at us.

The Starduster dwarfed the ISS as it maneuvered on top of it.

Sergey went to the safe producing a pistol.

Sergey, what are you thinking? Don asked.

I don’t want to go down without a fight? Sergey, if they meant us harm don’t you think that they would have merely destroyed us? Sergey looked at him blankly as it was evident that his anxiety level was through the roof.

Sergey, we are here to do what? To explore and learn new things … right?

Dah, but not to be eaten by aliens from another planet!

Do you really believe a race that advanced; with the ability to travel trillions of miles are looking for humans as a food source?

Grabbing the gun from Sergey, Don put it back into the safe.

Calm down … It will be all right ...,

It will be fine until they start to marinate us! Sergey said.

"Sergey, if they are going to eat us; I will go first, once they taste of me, they will change their mind.

Sergey calmed a bit as they watched the Starduster maneuver over them. A giant door opened, exposing a large empty area with strange markings, and symbols, on the walls and ceiling. He even had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, as this was entirely out of their control. A bluish-white light emitted from the cargo bay as the ISS slowly left orbit, moving vertically upwards, inside the belly of the beast.

Broadcasting the events back to earth, all communication was lost, once the ISS was inside, and the large doors closed. Ice suddenly formed on the portals, and outside the ISS. What the hell … Why the ice,

The only way there could be ice, is that they are filling the vacuum with some sort of gas, Shortly, the portals iced over, as did the entire outside of the ISS.

Again with the Ice! The captain exclaimed. Warm it up in there!

Large infrared lamps came on, slowly bringing the temperature of the ISS to above freezing. Copious amounts of water hovered around the ISS.

Check this out Sergey; it looks like rain that never falls!

Using readings from the sampled gas, he knew that it was breathable.

Is there a way to listen to what is going on outside the ISS? Sergey asked.

Well, how about we open the hatch, and listen to them that way?

You want just to open the hatch and allow the rest of our security to be gone? .

Sergey, they could come in here with a small can opener … Cool your jets. If they eat me than you can tell me that I told you so. He said chuckling as he opened the hatch. The look on Sergey’s face was priceless, as he tried to put Don’s words into a context that he understood.

Examining the rest of the samples, there were no biological dangers present. The atmosphere in the cargo bay tested safe. Opening the hatch, he stepped outside the ISS to let the aliens see what they were. Stepping outside into the cargo bay of the Starduster, the cargo bay was massive.

Looking around while hanging onto the ISS; he found that there was no gravity. Moisture in the form of very tiny droplets hung in the air, as if suspended in some imaginary orbit around the ISS.

Greetings you there, do not worry we will hurt you, The voice said over the speaker."

Don felt a pang of anxiety, as the we will hurt you sank in.

I hope you mean that you will NOT hurt us he replied, hoping that they could understand the difference."

I am glad it is those humanoids. The captain said.

The silence was deafening as he waited while looking up into small windows.

A bluish light filled the rooms behind them, with the occasional silhouette of something looking at him.

We will … not … hurt you the voice said."

Don’s heart returned to a somewhat regular cadence as he heard the word not.

Is your atmosphere suitable for us?

The cargo bay was huge. The ISS did not begin to fill it. The rows of windows that lined the bay were several stories high. Turning his attention to the ISS, he looked down to discover that the ice might have caused damage. The ISS was not designed to survive liquid freezing as ice, as it just had. Several panels were loose as were the seals around portholes; the ice expanded pushing things apart.

Yes, our atmosphere is suitable for your consumption. Are you peace loving?

We are peaceful people … We will not harm you …

A door opened several floors up, about the size of a double car garage door.

A guided line came out of the door making its way to where Don was holding onto the ISS. When the line reached hum, it became rigid as if it turned into a solid rod, about 500 yards long.

If you would hold onto the rail … we will bring you into the decontamination area.

Don, looking forward to the first contact, was understandably anxious about who or what he was meeting.

Sergey, stay with the ISS. Let me visit with our friends, and I will get back to you via the radio. Sergey was more than content to stay on the ISS. Going back to the safe, he was going to retrieve the gun. And leave the gun in the safe, Sergey!

Don and Sergey had become friends over the months, and he could just about read his mind. Holding onto the rail, it started to contract pulling him away from the ISS, toward the open door. Getting closer to the blue light of the room, he could see what looked like two creatures waiting for him. They were wearing a protective suit, much like a space suit, that he might wear for a spacewalk.

Pointing to a handrail, he grabbed it. Once he crossed the threshold, gravity had been restored. He fell flat on the deck, as the gravity was much stronger than he was used to.

The two creatures helped him stand, as they led him over to a table.

From what he could see, the aliens inside the suits were humanoid.

Placing a device under his ear, close to the base of his skull, he