The Golden Record

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. But man's first voyage into the interstellar void is infused with screams. The blood exsanguinating screams of the end of humanity.

Aspar sighed, slumped in his chair, desk a mess with crumpled cups and mugs of stale coffee. One more time. I'll listen. For good measure. He played the clip again. The voices of numerous languages greeted him, one after the other. Not that he wanted to, but he mouthed along to the ancient phrases long forgotten, having been stomped into his neurons. He had pinned a cluster of photos to his dashboard - primordial space craft - and studied one probe with a large dish on the front.

About 12 seconds into the sound clip, a ghost-chill crept along his back. Over the blithe voices stating hello in their language, he could make out the faint, wretched screams of a woman. There was some more to it, but it was difficult to make out.

He checked his chat window, the one labelled 'SIYA', but there was nothing new. She should be done by now, by the way she talks shit. No longer able to fight his heavy eyelids, he succumbed, resting his head on his desk. Atlas allowing the world to roll off his back.

Thats it. 15min nap. Just 15.

He pieced together the puzzle they had worked hard and long on, assembled in his mind, before sleep, the cousin of death pulled him into its clutches.

Incessant beeping rouse Aspar from his catnap. His monitor glowed indigo as text flickered to life across the screen. He rubbed his dark, baggy eyes. How long was I out for? He checked the clock. A whole hour? Shit.

: I N C O M I N G T R A N S M I S S I S O N :

// Decryption Successful //

ASPAR, I hope this message finds you well. I finally located the files you requested. Made it out nearly intact. Who knows how long my scrubbing will keep them off my scent. Navigating the fractured clouds is not an easy task. Happy hunting.

- VETRO

: E N D T R A N S M I S S I O N :

Here we go. Aspar jolted up in his chair, more awake than what a double shot of espresso could do. His fingers gestured, bringing up the dashboard. Various photos— daily life of the ancients, primordial spacecraft, young star systems—were strewn about. A sound clip began to play.

"We cast this message into the cosmos..."

He pinched his fingers over the attachment in the message, turning the file to unlock it. A map of a rocky planet with brilliant blue oceans materialized in the holofield. He flung his fingers open, motioning for the holofield to zoom in on the planet.

"Of the 200 billion stars.. which may have inhabited planets and spacefaring civilizations..."

He zoomed again, the terrain flying up to meet his face, becoming a cityscape encrusted with buildings. He closed his fist, halting it. There, in a desolate industrial park, sat a gray two-story structure. He rotated his hand slowly, fingers gripping an imaginary ball. The building spun in sync. Red letters appeared on the other side.

United Record Pressing.

Unassuming. But so integral.

He flung his fingers again, and flew through the building's walls. He glanced at a grainy photo in the corner of the monitor— machinery with an apparatus craned over a flat black plate. Searching the building room by room, his eyes scanned for a match.

"..a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts..." The clip carried on as he worked.

Down a hallway, through double doors, a room stuffed with array after array of equipment. His lips curled into a slight smile. Gotcha. A similar match to the fuzzy photo.

"..hoping someday, having solved the problems we face, to join a community of galactic civilizations..."

He held up his thumbs and forefingers in a rectangle shape, pinched them, and slid the screengrab into the chat window labelled 'SIYA'. Fingers dancing, he tapped out a message.

A: found something. got the ruby chisel, asymmetric lathe and everything. check it out.

The screen blipped as a response came in.

S: You could color me impressed, if you hadn’t taken so longcould definitely pick up sonic resonance on that cutting stylus. you get the location too? i can run a data pull, see if there's any security footage. oh, and i've got a gift for you too :)

A prompt appeared asking Aspar to accept the file transfer. He sat there staring for a moment, anxious thoughts invading his mind. They had been working on this for the longest time.

Could this be it?

His desk and chair shuddered, lights flickered, extinguishing his doubting thoughts. He went to the window. A large shadow loomed outside, engulfing everything in darkness. Tremors shook the house as the monitor and lights flickered. He checked the calibration of the clock on his desk.

Shit. Earlier than I expected. He accepted the file transfer. The progress bar filled.. 50%.. 73%..

Crack! A bright flash ripped through the heavens, sizzling tendrils snaking across the darkness. A gigantic chunk of rock soared overhead in the upper bounds of the sky, casting the massive shadow. Smaller rocks collided into it, crumbling into finer chunks. Remnants of his shattered homeworld, locked in orbit as they rotated past.

Crack! Another strike of lightning as the opposing magnetic fields flared. The power cut out. A low whine faded as his monitor and holofield ceased.

Aspar scrambled to his bed, flipping the mattress to reveal his backup batteries. He forced forward the handle, gripped tight in his hands, and fired them up.

His equipment sparked back on. The download bar continued filling. He typed into the chat.

A: mag-storms now. Sooner than usual. Got the reserves running.

Siya’s avatar shimmered, her incoming message blipping.

S: omg you need to hear the clip. NOW

96%. The progress bar took its sweet time.

The darkness subsided and the rumbling of the storm grew faint. That’s odd, main power should’ve kicked back on by now.

The room shook, knocking Aspar off his feet. Objects crashed from the wall shelves. An explosion boomed in the distance.

He rushed to the window. A massive fireball erupted several blocks away, filling the air with thick smoke. A pair of fighter craft sliced through the ashened clouds, roaring low to the ground.

Daevas hunters?! He slammed down his equipment and swept them into his sling bag. Assholes used the mag-storm as cover.

He raced out the door, hopping the railing of the stairwell and tumbled out the main entrance.

His greyspec awaited on the terrace, its twin tails fluttering. Its muted hue changing to reflect its emotion. It had no intentions of budging. Aspar’s heart pounded, as he heard the jet-screams of the Daevas fighter approach. “You stupid beast!” He fumbled through his pocket, pulling out a biscuit. The beast glowed orange.

“Half now, half when we make it there.” Breaking it in two, he tossed one to the beast. Its twin tails wagged in delight.

He scampered into the chamber on its back, sealing the enclosure. Weapon fire showered down in staccato shots. He hooked his boots into the hitches and pressed them hard. The outboard kickers activated, spurring the grayspec into action. Grunting, it paddled its twin tails and hovered off the terrace into the air.

Warp glands swelled along its tails, as it swam, paddling the fabric of space time behind it. It glided between the building of the city. The Daevas fighters screamed towards it, unleashing a maelstrom of cannon fire. He yanked the control stick, barrel-rolling the his greyspec hard to the left, and dropping towards the lower level. The fighters followed in tight pursuit.

The greyspec swooped up, swimming faster now towards a waterfall in the distance. If I can make it to the falls, I can lose them in the refractions. The space-time ripples given off by the greyspec's paddling, made it hard enough to hit it with pinpoint accuracy. Let alone coupled with the refractions of the dropping water -- it'd be damn near impossible to get a visual on the greyspec's location in real space. 

His comms started beeping maniacally. It was Siya calling. Always the perfect timing. He ignored it.

A salvo of cannon fire slammed into the back of the greyspec, blasting off a chunk of its protective scales. It howled and bucked about wildly, spiraling into the river below. Aspar wrangled it back in line. An even-keeled temperament was not the species strong suit.

Aspar stomped his hitches, sending the outboard kickers smashing into the greyspec's hindquarters. It groaned and mashed its twin tails, propelling forward with immense speed. Aspar pulled back on the control stick, and the greyspec climbed up into the waterfall. Tremendous roiling liquid pummeled the greyspec, pattering like taiko drums on methamphetamines.

The greyspec tore out the top of the falls, in a splashing geyser, straight into the atmosphere.

The comms blared again. Aspar sighed and answered it. "Was in a bit of a pickle. Daevas fighters damn near roasted my ass."

"Oh yeah, I saw. Nice maneuver up the waterfall, gotta give you props on that."

"What? How - "

"I hacked into your system. Bout a month ago. Caught the action through the cam."

Aspar's face broiled red with embarrassment. Before he could respond, Siya blurted out, "Did you watch the clip I sent this morning?"

"Of course. Soon as I got it." He did not. He was busy playing VR games.

"Sure. So you saw how they yelled up close at the stylus for it to pick up as they etched the master plate? This lady's screaming all the way from the hallway. Took me awhile to get a hang of these archaic wave files. But I think I got it. Enhanced. Cleaned and isolated."

She played the file. Aspar could clearly hear the woman's screams now.

"Seems like she was some scientist. Warning not to send out that probe. "

Just then, one of the fighters reared up and fired, blasting Aspar and his greyspec out of the sky.