"Radiological Alert!"
Johannes hit the intercom switch of Red Station 608. Shift C was awake now. The intercom would wake the others though. This was an all hands event, per protocol.
He spoke normally, the pin on his collar picking up the sound of his voice to project. "Crew Alert. All hands to meet in conference room MCS in 15 minutes. Shift C, begin preparation sequences for Rendezvous Pod One."
Johannes let go of the intercom switch and exhaled the pressure he didn't realize he'd been holding in his lungs.
The computer in front of him had all the data he needed. From here, it was all up to their actions.
They could save these people.
He gestured and the computer dimmed, after sending the data packet to Conference room MCS. Johannes left the room and walked through the station.
It was a small home, but it was his home. The others came and went in shifts, working their due aboard the small vessel on the float about a Red Dwarf. Even at the breakneck speeds they traveled, it was still quite the journey out to the station. Only Johannes stayed the duration. This was a job for them. It was his life.
"What's the word, Jay?" came a voice as Johannes walked to the conference room.
"You can't wait the 13 minutes for me to tell you, Kep?" said Johannes with a smile. When folks first got to Red Station 608, most didn't like it when Johannes smiled at them. "uncanny" was the word they put in their journals and letters back home. He grew on them though.
"You know I'm impatient."
"It was in your dossier, yes."
The pair laughed and a few more figures emerged from their quarters to join them as they all walked. The questions continued, but Johannes kept his lips sealed to the matter at hand. They'd all know at once and they'd be happy with that.
When they entered the room, some people were already sitting. Many had packets of food, fresh from the mess, steaming in front of them. Everyone had coffee.
The group around Johannes found their places, sitting and joking with crewmembers as they did. Johannes walked to the front of the room and surveyed his people. They were aboard his home. They were his people.
He felt a pride at that. These were the best. The hopeful. They worked to help, sacrificing years of their lives back home to do so, wherever home was.
Shift C stumbled in last. They didn't have food and were wearing their work-suits. Daniyal, head of the shift, nodded at Johanes as he entered last. He closed the door behind him as his team sat down at the table, before finding a clear spot of wall to lean up against. Rendezvous Pod One was all set. This was real.
There was a knock on the door that Daniyal had closed and the man looked surprised. His face didn't change when he saw the figure on the other side waiting to be let in. The faces around the room all changed to various degrees of surprised as they saw the new face entering.
Isaac. His features matched those of Johannes exactly.
"Holy shit," said Kep.
"Now that we are all here," started Johannes, his voice solid in the spacious room. Loud enough to stop any other side talk generated from the new face. "I can tell you all, that we have a live one."
There were murmurs around the room.
"Radiological Alert came from this planet," Johannes gestured up and the screens in the table lit up with data from the computer. Behind him a large projection of the same data appeared. "The data arrived promptly from our in-system monitor probes - yes, those old bugs do still work - and as such, we are looking at information six years old."
"So close," said Cassandra, sitting near Johannes. It was meant to be under her breath but the words had come louder than she meant.
"Correct, this one is close enough we may have an impact. The planet orbits Caelum Custodes Apex. At our speeds and accounting for dilation, we will reach the system in 96.188 years from moment of departure. Those being planetary years. You'll see the conversion to our time before you.
"With that said, this is a voluntary mission with approval by my hand alone. You will be gone a long time, and there's little accounting for what happens when we arrive."
The pings registered around the table as people tapped their option to volunteer for the mission. Johannes smiled.
Everyone wished to go.
"Thank you," he started. "As you can see, Isaac will continue to monitor the station in my absence."
"You're going, Jay?" shouted Kep, a few rows back.
"Of course. Stewarding Civilizations is what I was created for. Managing you all is merely my day job."
Everyone laughed at that. Isaac approached the front of the room, and Johannes nodded at his brother.
"Shift A is to return to statis. Shift C will continue preparation for Rendezvous Pod One."
Tension filled the air as everyone knew what Johannes would say following Isaac, but all still needed to hear it.
"Shift B will join me on the expedition. A, and C, it has been an honor and my pleasure serving with you. I wish your time at red Station 608 to be fruitful and successful. Notice has been sent home to provide replacements in Shift B's absence-"
"No one can replace us!" shouted Kep. Johannes was glad to have him with on the voyage ahead, despite the noise.
"You know your protocol. Dismissed."
Johannes watched as all the people, all [his] people stood and did as their orders dictated. It was a wonder to watch. Such selfless people. His life was different than theirs. He was created for this purpose.
They chose it.
96 years. They had almost a century until their arrival at the planet that had detonated its first nuclear device six years ago. The clock was ticking.
Would 96 more years be quick enough to arrive before this civilization ended itself with its own weapons?
--
Johannes was watching the stars when the notice came in. Even after the ping alerted him to new information incoming, he stared out a moment longer. They were moving so fast, one sixteenth the speed of light, impossibly fast, yet the stars did not so much as move. What a wonder space was. What majesty for life to experience. What a waste it would be to wipe oneself out before all could see such wonder.
Removing himself from his daydreams, Johannes looked down at the alert.
He smiled and woke the crew. they'd want to see this.
"So, they're still kicking it?" said Curi.
"Ever the optimist, aren't you," laughed Kep.
"Yes," interrupted Johannes before the group could get started with side conversation. Though, he could not help but smile. "They've sent out a high-powered broadcast. Its only purpose would be notification of extraplanetary life forms to the existence of the people below."
"And this was...?" started Curi.
"Four point one eight seven years ago," Answered Johannes. "Approximately twenty-nine years planetside."
"They're developing quickly," said Haala.
"They always do after nukes," said Curi.
"Not always," said Kep.
"Correct," continue Johannes. "This is a good sign though. They are looking outward rather than inward. Signal is fuzzy, but we can gather information from their general broadcasts as well."
"What are they shooting out in the galaxy?" asked Kep.
"Benign entertainments and news signals in addition to the scientific focused broadcasts. The direct signal I woke you for only lasted three minutes long. It was a concerted effort for contact. Everything else is a byproduct of their broadcasts planetside to themselves."
"Can we see any of it?" asked Curi.
"Of course. Check your personal devices for a feed. I'll allow the next three hours of waking time before stasis."
"Three hours is barely enough to stretch out our legs!" cried Kep.
"Any longer and I'll have to feed you, then it'll take hours to put you back down again."
"Baby Kep is hungry though, not sleepy," laughed Haala.
Kep punched him and the pair laughed.
Curi walked away to watch the feed Johannes had granted access to.
Much of the signals he received would be impossible to parse without direct survey of the solar system where the planet resided. Johannes had focused the sensors of the Rendezvous Pod to gather as much information as the planet in question was putting out.
The data was not surprising, but it did not make him happy.
War continued. The population was divided throughout landmasses on the planet. These made clean divisions for country and culture that were exploited by the general hunt for resources, both real and ephemeral. It was as all civilizations before had faced.
But so few of those had survived.
That was his job though. Save what he could. Save who he could.
Johannes was proud to come from a civilization that cared for others. One that survived its filter stage and flourished without committing suicide. One that saw the wonders ahead, those that came beyond war and death.
One that could build a machine as advanced as him and treat it with the kindness they used on their own people.
Life was not perfect. But they worked towards that perfection.
"How do you do it, Johannes?"
The machine was pulled from his thoughts and saw that Curi returned. Johannes had been walking, letting his subconscious check the data points and information of the pod as he consciously let his mind wander.
"Curi?"
"Can we sit?" she asked, before Johannes could reply though she continued: "And I'd kill for a coffee."
"If you ingest anything, you won't be able to sleep for another four hours."
"I know that, and I'm ok with the time awake if you are."
"It’s not quite protocol, but such is life."
She smiled and that made Johannes smile in turn. They walked to the small mess hall.
"Start a coffee for me, I'll check on the others and return shortly." Curi nodded and Johannes continued his walk. He checked ship systems as he went, before reaching the rest-bay. Kep, Haala, Offchiss, and Stein were all there already. They stood in various states of relaxation. Kep and Haala were chatting, Offchiss still looking at the feeds on his tablet, and Stein looked longingly towards his rest-pod.
"Ready to tuck us in, boss?” said Kep, noticing Johannes.
"Not quite, but as long as you've got a warm milk and the noise machine on, I think you can handle tucking yourselves in." The people laughed. "Where's DeGroot?"
"Her and Richards were finishing up something before they came back to bed. You seen Curi?" said Kep.
"Good, can I trust you to get everything as it should for when I put you all down?"
"Can do, boss, Curi coming in a second wave then?"
"She wanted to chat."
"Thanks for taking care of us all, boss. I'll get the teenagers to come home on time."
Johannes nodded. Kep was a good man. Johannes knew he had more he wanted to discuss, but he kept it in for now. That didn't make him good, but it made him Kep. Some of the big questions are ok without answers.
But sometimes its ok to still ask them.
Johannes finished his lap, trusting the men and women would get themselves ready for another long sleep. It would be approximately fourteen years planetside until the next check in, if he woke them per schedule.
When he returned to the mess, the comely scent of coffee filled his nostrils. It smelled like childhood and home and comfort all wrapped in one. Curi was sitting, her pod of coffee, yet steaming, but with a few sips already missing.
"How do you do it Johannes?" she asked again as he sat.
"Which 'it' are we discussing, Curi?" he said with a smile as he took his first sip. The coffee was warm and wonderful.
"See the information we see on these people and still hope that there is any chance of our success?"
"You saw the wars, I suppose?"
"Bodies floating in swamps and forests, and rotting in deserts, or revolutionaries and citizens in the streets.
"They broadcast atrocities on their news, curated and censored, leaving so much room for the real thing to be so much worse."
"And you know how much worse."
"We do. That's what we do!"
She was getting heated, almost standing up out of her chair as Johannes saw the emotion mounting like pressure in a balloon.
"We hope."
"What?"
"We hope they can be like us, or better than us." Curi didn't speak as Johannes took another sip of his coffee. She joined him, but with none of the relaxion he felt at partaking the drink. "You know our history, you know how close we came to annihilation. How many times we almost wiped ourselves out throughout the building of civilization."
"What if we're the only ones."
"Odds aren't high for a species such as ours, you know that. Life builds for itself, and it’s hard to reconcile that with something greater: the other. Collaboration evolves only to a point naturally, then it is up to each person and each species to take it beyond that.
"You saw the wars and the competition and the speeches and riots and darkness of the people we fly towards. But you should have known they were capable of that the moment we received a radiologic alert."
"It could have been simply a test."
"I believe it was. But we do not evaluate in a vacuum. You know our nuclear story. It was a weapons test. I've confirmed testing has continued with hydrogen bomb capabilities and testing having been completed on this planet. They have used very few of these weapons though. They know the power they grapple with."
"How can you still hope then?"
"The people created vehicles which reached planetary orbit only a few years ago. People of their surface have walked on other celestial bodies within their local system. They are building something greater. The people fight but it is not out of anger or hatred alone. They fight for what they think is right and what will come next. Horrible things come from this, yes, but this crucible is also where greatness is born."
"You've seen everything?"
"Every transmission that planet sends out to the stars reaches our eyes and ears. As we get closer the signal noise only decreases. They're growing."
"Do you think they will make it?"
Johannes looked at Curi. There was hope in her eyes too. Hope matching his. It had always been there. No one signed up for their job without it. Sometimes hope is simply so hard to find. He lied.
"I do."
They finished their coffee and worked together for the next four hours while Curi remained out of stasis. The others entered rest on time and without error or complaint. Soon, Johannes was alone once more.
He stared at the stars as they went by, barely moving despite the speed of the pod.
--
Johannes loved exponential growth. The perfection of an upward curve satisfied his mind. His mind, so much more than circuits and a neural network with implanted intelligence, as the sum of neurons lead to much more than its parts.
He watched the exponential growth balloon on the planet they hurtled towards at one sixteenth the speed of light. Their signals grew louder, more efficient, and more targeted towards space. As the ship grew closer the noise of the background radiation of space decreased in volume.
He saw more of the planet and the people he worked towards. He prepared all the required documents and planning to contact the people on their arrival.
There could be contact now, the ship had communication arrays enough to reach Red Station 608 and even their home systems. But he would not communicate with the people they headed towards yet.
Their arrival would begin talks. Signals without an appearance had gone poorly in past contact situations.
Everything hinged on first contact.
Everything hinged on the people below though too.
Time passed so slowly. Day by day, waiting for arrival. Johannes would never sleep like the people aboard his vessel, bathed in rest as they were. He physically could, but emotionally never would make that leap. There was always work to do. There were always thoughts to be had.
He had been given a gift in his life, and he would not squander it. He watched the days tick by, turning into months and years as he approached the planet. racing against time and basal instincts to save a civilization from almost certain destruction.
--
"Are we there yet?" said Kep. His eyes were bleary with statis fluid and his muscles moved slowly as he woke up."
"We are," said Johannes. He checked the other pods as the rest of the crew slowly came out of their slumber.
"Really!?"
Johannes nodded. "Can you prepare a meal for the crew?"
"Coffee too?" said Kep with a nod.
"Of course."
"We celebrating?"
Johannes tried to smile, but he knew Kep would see through him anyway.
"I see. I'll prep the food."
Johannes whispered his thank you so quietly that Kep didn't hear.
When the crew had gathered and started their meal, Johannes stood to give his eulogy for a planet that had called itself Earth.
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Love ya!
Max