Civilization

King And The Eleven

The captain's remark stung Kluzor right at home. The planet having an intelligent life form was somehow personal to him, and he immediately began to start scanning the sector. “Why would you say that cap?" Kluzor asked trying to figure out if it was another cruel joke at the expense of his belief. Not looking at Kluzor the captain replied, "There are artificial satellites orbiting the planet. Also, I am sure I picked up a radio signal of a woman screaming or singing I am not quite sure which." Both of them are now deep in their work to find proof of life but for a millisecond Kluzor's mind diverted to the book he was reading just before they entered this star system. It's a children's fantasy novel, but some people believed the events that occurred in the book to be true. He brushed the thought out of his mind and continued his scan when the captain yelled, "Found it!" Kluzor rushed towards her and in the console he could see definite signs of life. As their ship and the planet's rotation was in such a position they could only see the star's reflection on it and not the dark side of it. With the rotation and a careful observation revealed the dark side of the planet to be sketched with light. Without a doubt the light emitted is the work of an intelligent civilization. Then the cherry on top revealed itself, as the reading suggested a satellite was not as much as a satellite but a station of some sort with the planet's inhabitants residing there. Although at first glance it will look like any other satellite orbiting the planet, but a closer analysis of the data reveals it be a low orbit space station and heat signatures confirms it to be occupied by the planet's native life form.

Still in the process of comprehending this groundbreaking discovery Kluzor suddenly started to laugh hysterically. In between his laughter he only said, “I knew I was right. I knew it." Although it took few moments for the captain to understand what he was saying, but she knew all too well what Kluzor is saying. As she knew how her navigator has been ridiculed and laughed at for believing a children's fairy story about a king who sends his best scientists on an exploratory mission to the unknown. It is written that king was desperate as his planet was in brink of being engulfed by its own star, so the audacious king gathered his most brilliant and brave scientist with the mission to find a new home for their race. The scientists were never heard from again, it was thought that they were lost or have died in the vast emptiness of space. Although the king did manage to save the people, but the loss of the eleven scientist was deeply felt. The story from the book takes place twenty-five thousand years ago thus something which should not be forgotten turned to children's tale and fantasy. But now here in this very moment Amelia thought to herself how similar the solar system is as the book tells that the scientists have found a young star with nine planets and a blue planet thought to have liquid water and oxygen in its atmosphere. The sudden realization of the truth struck hard for if this is the system from the legend then these aliens are not aliens at all instead they might be the descendants of the scientists. "Our ancestors" she whispered.

"My king, I have dedicated my life to serve you, to counsel you whenever I am able to, and I am afraid my predictions were correct. Our life providing star has burned out all its energy, and soon it will collapse in on its own gravity producing so much energy that will result in the destruction of our planet and all the other planets in the system. I urge you to look at the evidence I have gathered and the unmistakable signs of our stars collapse so that you can ensure the survival of our species. You are the only one with the foresight to help us all, your grace." After the minister of science finished his plea to the king the director of PDACO (plantery defense against celestial objects) started speaking, “Your grace there is no cause for such panic. You have created the agency to predict and prevent such disasters which my esteemed colleague speak off. Our top scientists assure me that our planet is in no imminent danger. As for the stars unusual behavior, it is in the star's nature to be unpredictable." Throughout the whole meeting the old king did not speak neither did he look up from the piece of paper he was studying since the meeting started. After the director finished talking no one else spoke and the room fell into an uncomfortable silence. Feeling the unmistakable discomfort of the room the king finally looked up and said, "Thank you all for your time and opinion on this issue. I believe that's all for today's meeting and if there's nothing else to discuss then we will end today’s session here." The old minister tried to protest which was stopped by the king with a simple hand gesture. Instead, he told the old man to follow him to his study.

With the meeting various members started to leave the old minister followed the king to his study. As they entered the room the minister noticed there were books, papers and parchments everywhere thus there was barely a spot to stand on the floor without stepping on something. Seeing the old man's distress the king remarked, "You have to forgive the mess old friend I have been very busy of late." The old man chuckled and said, "Have you forgotten that you are the king a single gesture of your hand and the room would be cleaned, old age finally getting to you my friend?" "Ha-ha you very well know how the process work. Everything is where it is supposed to be, and it is absolutely necessary it remains that way otherwise my plan won't work." The old man understood the process but was confused as to what plan the king speaks off. Realizing his friends confusion the king continued, “Don’t tell me you thought I was listening to that oaf and not going to do anything about the star situation, and you tell me that old age is getting to me. My dear friend the first time you mentioned the stars collapse I began my own research and I believe I have a solution to the problem. I need your help though as the plan I have in mind is one of the most ambitious and dangerous. It is the only way I can ensure our species survive. So what do you say old man, you with me?" The minister did not need to reply as his smile gave it for him.

Kluzor closes the book and looks at all the puzzled face of his shipmates. The whole crew was awakened by this time and Kluzor was reading to them a chapter from the presumed fable of the very same king whose plan was to send his talented scientists on a mission to find his people a new home. Kluzor finally spoke breaking the silence, "The chapter is aptly named 'The Savior' and so we look upon the descendants of those brave eleven scientists. Indeed, they had found a beautiful place to call home. I know I would have loved growing up on that blue planet better than where we all grew up that's for sure." "Don’t be so sure that these are our people. We have no evidence to suggest that those scientists ever existed even if they did there is no way of telling if they made it all the way here." Before Kluzor could reply to the first mate's remark the captain shouted, “Enough! This is no time to bicker. We need a plan of what should be our next step." "We make contact of course." Kluzor said enthusiastically. Amelia smiled and replied, “Don’t be a fool Klu. There are protocols we need to maintain in case we encounter alien life or have you forgotten your lessons." "Since when do we follow protocols?" “In this situation we must. The first contact is very crucial and needs to be handled diplomatically and none of us thankfully are no diplomats, so there is only one option." “You are not seriously thinking about contacting them, are you? You do realize we would be arrested on spot for all our, ahem adventures." the young engineer voiced her concern. Amelia thought for a second or two and then said, “We will contact the fleet and provide them the coordinates of the planet. We will leave no information hidden and after that they can decide what to do with the information. In the meantime we plot a course to our original destination, collect our payment and forget our near encounter with aliens." "But...” Kluzor tried to protest, but the Amelia immediately shouted, “That’s an order you pirate scum or the airlock for you." No one spoke after that as they all very well know when the captain has spoken her wishes. After few seconds the crew took their place as the journey back will start soon. Kluzor wanted to beg Amelia to leave him here, but he knows without him, they won't survive the binary star system. With a heavy heart he started to plot the course to their original destination. Although Kluzor won’t be able to meet the survivors’ descendants but knowing that he was right all along warms his heart. The pirate navigator started their journey with a smirk on his face because he can’t wait to tell others what they found, oh how he will laugh and tease the non-believers he thought as they left the solar system.

Amelia glancing at Kluzor could see him day dreaming, again, as they were not moving she thought it Klu's fault. Before she could say anything Klu remarked, "Huh, this is weird.". "What is it?" Amelia asked and looked at her screen which showed the navigation system is offline. Also, the navigational array is malfunctioning. Amelia knew they were not going anywhere before they could fix the error.

Kluzor was running a ship wide diagnostic when Amelia said, "Huh, this is weird, the whole system seems to be settled but it didn't show when we did our initial sweep." Amelia continued, "Interesting, there's a ship between the third and forth planet. It's trajectory is the forth planet and it seems to have been launched from the third planet." "Kluzor start making repairs to the navigation system. We need to move to a more secure location and start making thorough sweep of this system. I want to know if anyone has tracked us when we did our sweep."

"Oh my god, Captain look!", Katie suddenly shouted breaking the silent which engulfed the crew as they were busy carrying out Amelia's latest command. Looking up at Kate first and then where she was pointing Amelia saw the last second of what looked like a nuclear bomb detonation. Amelia realized that it was the third planet were the bomb went off and Kluzor exclaimed, "it can't be, no, no!".