Contact

The orbital bombardment only took a single rotation. I watched as the surface of the planet below transitioned from a landscape of greens, browns, and blues, to a gray-brown smudge of destruction with patches of orange smeared intermittently where flames roared. Our fleet’s heavy artillery smashed their ground defenses in minutes. After that, the operation was practically a joke. I couldn’t help but feel pride in the pit of my stomach. Or perhaps that was the motion sickness.

The lander lurched and I grasped at the titanium siding, closing my eyelids hard. Soon the jerking motions of the craft leveled off, but I still held my muscles tense and kept my eyes firmly shut. I felt a jab in the side and looked up.

“Get up, rookie.” The soldier looking back at me scoffed and shook his head. He was standing now, along with the rest of our unit, and adjusting his plasma rifle. The flared shoulder pads on his uniform indicated that he was our sergeant, the highest command on this mission.

“Get. Up.” he repeated, voice thick with impatience.

I shook myself from my stupor and stood up, tripping over myself in the process. I grasped one of the support bars that lined the ship and winced.

“Lower atmosphere breached. Initiating landing procedures,” an automated voice droned from the front of the ship.

I looked around at the others standing ready. They all pulled their helmets over their faces and sealed their atmo-suits, a preventative measure against the planet’s minorly toxic atmosphere. At a glare from the sergeant, I did the same. When I was finished fumbling with the various valves and clasps, the sergeant cleared his throat and stood at the head of the group.

“Let’s make this quick. We’ve got several quadrants to sweep today and I want to be back for dinner.” He twirled the rifle around in his hands and caught it against the floor with a flourish. Everyone in the patrol, myself included, mimicked his actions and let out a hearty grunt in response. “We take no prisoners. If you see a target, exterminate it.” Another affirmative grunt resonated through the squad, and our furious stomps shook the walls.

The lander jerked once more as it slowed to a stop and descended gradually. I stole a glance out the sole window in the craft – a small porthole toward the front. Dust and debris kicked up by the lander obscured most everything in a haze of brown, but I could make out rough crumbling outlines that must have been standing structures before the bombardment.

I felt a shove against my spine as the soldier behind me growled and pushed me forward. It was my turn to jump from the craft onto the foreign ground below.

“Let’s go,” the soldier behind me spat, frustrated.

I gulped and looked around for a moment. All of my muscles tensed in protest as I leaned forward and leapt out into the strange new environment. The fall was faster than I expected. I hit the ground hard and reached to brace myself, my plasma rifle spinning out of my grip and clattering to the ground. Even the gravity was different here. I shook my head and recovered. At the angered glances from those around me, I shuffled off to join the rest of the crew. I watched as my remaining squad mates leapt from the craft and landed expertly on two feet.

When the lander took off again, it kicked dust over our visors once more as we trudged away. When the roar of its engines receded, so did the whirling particles of filth the destruction before me became clearer. I saw fires rage at various points in every direction. Where there was no fire, there was only the remains of structures falling to pieces. Another step and my boot struck a hard obstruction – a chunk of porous gray stone – a common building material for primitive species like this planet’s. I caught my balance and swiveled around in time to see the signal from our sergeant to group up.

Using a complex set of hand signals, he split us all up into groups of two and assigned us separate patrol paths. Before we made first contact, it was determined that even the most advanced organisms on this planet posed little threat. A team of more than two would be unnecessary and inefficient, even if we had the misfortune of encountering one of them.

My partner, who I only recognized by the family crest he had tagged on the side of his visor, heaved a sigh as he walked over to me. Without a glance in my direction, he led on down the derelict pathway our sergeant had assigned to us. I had to jog to catch up.

As we vaulted and climbed over fallen debris, dread crept up through my limbs. My finger twitched on the plasma rifle’s trigger. I seemed to be alone in my angst as my partner maintained a cool, swift step.

In a flash, he stopped and primed his plasma rifle. I nearly collided with him before noticing. The rubble shifted and fell where he aimed his rifle. I could feel my senses heightening with anticipation. Or fear. A moment later and a limb emerged from the pile, followed by a head, long keratinous fibers sprouted from the top of its head and draped over the rubble. It was one of them. It wheezed and coughed desperately.

The sound of a plasma rifle rang through the air and it dropped, skin seared. Heat sinks hissed as my partner’s plasma rifle cooled.

I had never seen one of these aliens in person, only ever in the infamous vid that sparked this operation.

The vid showed first contact between our race and theirs. These meetings were always broadcast among the fleet, to our colonies, and even back home. Everyone was watching on that day. I remembered being disgusted by them. They looked so soft and limp, and they must have been the palest beings I’d ever seen.

We approached without weapons; we always do. A crowd of them approached our liaison at the first landing site. One of those things broke free from the crowd and sauntered up to her. It’s still under debate whether it was their leader or merely a decoy. Before any greetings could be exchanged, a swarm of them pulled out their primitive weapons and unleashed a flurry of projectiles on our representative. The broadcast cut off just as our armed personnel returned fire on the crowd, incinerating the thin, dry flesh of the creatures. The bombardment was ordered immediately after.

The memory of the vid made me shudder, my atmo-suit clicking and grinding with the sudden movement. My partner glared back at me and gestured toward a mostly intact structure, presumably spared from the bombardment by the taller edifices surrounding it. I nodded and followed his lead.

The entryway was blocked by a thick fibrous membrane, made from local plant life. It splintered and collapsed at a heavy kick from my partner’s booted foot. He waved me on, and I followed him through the portal into the dark cavernous space on the other side.

Once inside, the sounds of destruction became muffled, replaced by the heavy silence in the chamber. A quick click and the light at the end of my partner’s plasma rifle illuminated the darkness. I followed suit, fumbling with my rifle to find the switch for the light. Click.

Here, the only sign of the destruction was a hole in the ceiling where fallen rubble had caved the roof in. The rest of the room was arranged with different furnishings, this organisms’ version of chairs and tables, though at a glance they appeared extremely uncomfortable. My light fell on another of the fibrous membranes that sealed off the next room. Exchanging hand signals, I agreed to sweep this area while he explored the next. The peaceful silence shattered when his boot struck the next membrane.

I swept my rifle’s light over the area carefully. A faint glint across the space caught my eye. I looked back over my shoulder, hearing the meticulous searching from the next room, and loped over to where the shimmer had been – a strange object lying on the floor. I knelt down to examine it – a small chain looped through a metallic hole attached to some sort of strangely-shaped, hinged accessory. I picked it up by the chain and watched it twirl back and forth. It was heavier than I expected. In my clumsy grasp, the chain snapped. The accessory slid off of it and dropped to the floor. The hinges clicked open. Leaning down, I examined it once more, refusing to touch it again. Inside was an image of the aliens. One adult and one juvenile. The adult in the image bore a striking resemblance to the one just outside.

Footsteps from behind me drew my attention. I couldn’t keep him waiting any longer. I spared the relic one last glance, but when I looked back, it was gone.

I backed away and stood up straight, searching frantically. A shadow scurried away in the corner of my vision. I lunged in that direction, priming my rifle. The anticipation roiling inside me swelled to a peak as I dashed around the furniture toward the wall where the monster must have been hiding. I had it cornered. Nowhere to hide. When my light descended, the juvenile from the image stared back at me, moisture seeping from its overlarge eyes. It hugged its knees to its chest and whimpered. I could see the metal relic gripped tightly in its small fingers. The killing instinct that I hoped would carry me through this mission rushed out of me with one exhale. Pity replaced it as I breathed back in. This thing, disgusting though it was, was defenseless, harmless.

Another blast of noise and a flash of red light tore through the room. A piercing scream from the organism before me followed as I whipped toward the source of the blast. My partner had returned and was priming his rifle once more. Panicking, I looked back and forth between the screaming alien and my partner. A second later, another blast shook the room.

The screaming persisted, even as my partner dropped to the floor, motionless. The hiss from my rifle’s heatsink informed me of what I’d done. The juvenile stopped screaming, confused, and looked at me. I belted out a nervous grunt and raised my rifle again. It reached its arms up again to cover its face. Defenseless. Harmless. I lowered my rifle and dropped to the floor, shaking. I began to rock back and forth. What have I done? What will they do to me? What will that thing do to me?

It crawled from its hiding space and approached me. “Thank you,” the grating language spewing from it meant nothing to me and felt painful in my ears. It reached out and wrapped its short limbs around me. I froze, fearing the worst. Only a moment later, it released me and ran for the destroyed entryway. “You broke our door,” its words reaching no one. It stood there for a moment. Thinking, maybe?

“Can you come with me? My mommy says I’m not supposed to be alone.” The fleshy appendages at the end of its limbs beckoned me. I looked back at my colleague’s crumpled form. I shuddered at the thought of what punishment awaited me if I returned to the sergeant.

My response, a series of clicks and hisses echoing from my unhinged jaw, probably confused it as much as its language confused me, but still it smiled and wrapped its hand around the end of one of my long, chitinous fingers.

It pulled me from the structure and back outside. I looked back down the pathway, where my unit was surely congregating, and shivered. “This way.” I turned back and followed the Earthling.