The Turning

The stars shone brightly through the vast window in Captain Seeger's quarters. It reached the floor and offered a perfect view of space, contrasting neatly with the grey walls within. They made time sink in, much like the grey hairs which made themselves known in the recesses of his groomed, black hair, which shone with the radiance of the twinkling stars beyond.

Seeger, now an old man, felt those grey hairs acutely, faded as they now were, much like those memories that now called to him. Beckoning like sirens from the great beyond. A lone sailing ship, prominent with giant masts loomed on the horizon of a mighty ocean, in a painting he had hung on a wall in his quarters.

It was a frigate back on Earth in what seemed like a distant memory of another time from the Napoleonic era. These ships would sail the seas, often aiding the fleets, which formed the backbone of naval warfare. Or, they would act alone, roaming the ocean waves on journeys across its great surface; bright and blue on some days; grey and stormy on others, mighty winds propelling their sails, steered by minds contending with what little they knew at the time.

Far more was now known about the Earth, of course, and the ship that Seeger now commanded was a top-of-the-line cruiser, the Admirin, a flagship designed for deep space exploration. Much like the ships of old, though, it was designed for combat, and this was something he bore in mind as he stared into the deep abyss which lurked just beyond his window.

A distress call had been received from this, as yet uncharted quadrant of deep space, and the Admirin Empire, originating from Earth, had sent this well-worn cruiser and its crew to investigate. Such a distress call was unnerving yet tantalizing, and Seeger, an aged yet brilliant commander and tactician, was the perfect man for this job. He had insisted on it.

When admiral, he had successfully commanded the largest fleet in the Admirin Navy against the Gentians, a particularly cunning and ruthless faction of the Admirins who had waged civil war against their less genetically modified and, in their eyes, inferior brethren. This short but bloody conflict cost many lives and the Admirins precious resources in their quest to expand in the known universe.

They had come far from their initial journeys into the cosmos, lone, gigantic ships traveling like arks bearing the fruit of new generations; immersed as they were in their own realities before arriving at the first habitable planets, which quickly became colonized, leading to their expansion and supremacy over a large swath of space.

Seeger was a man of science and began his studies as a scientist, later venturing into active service, feeling, he thought like a sailor must have done when journeying to the New World with Columbus or with Captain Cook to the vast reaches of the South Pacific. Virgin territories within reach as deep space called to him.

What lay, out here, beyond the Admirins reach? Nobody knew for sure. Indeed, there had been skirmishes with several unknown craft during the transits of the earlier pioneers. Nothing of any note had been gleaned from them, however, and so far, the Admirins had yet to formally encounter any kind of intelligent life, which disappointed many but left Seeger eager to discover...something, whatever it was.

Right now, he only knew they were fast approaching the origin point of the distress signal, a garbled message that seemed to be a replica of their own but with enough difference to indicate it was not. Somebody or something was trying to communicate, and it gave him chills to think he might be the one to make first contact.

Any scenario involving first contact was unpredictable; hence, the Admirins had their own contingency plans and why his ship, the fastest and amongst the most powerful in the fleet, was at hand, ready to strike. Its two gigantic, circular wings could converge into what was often informally called pincer formation.

It generated an energy field that was both a shield and a weapon, firing a range of energy bursts via A.I. if necessary while recycling anything fired against it. A formidable system that had already served the ship well in many battles, and he hoped it would help him again should the occasion arise.

He considered this with some confidence before staring again at the stars beyond, almost hoping to see something that would reveal itself: only infinite blackness and a field of stars that stretched to eternity. He smirked and called up a display screen, which appeared mentally in front of him and was activated by thought alone: it was time to dream, if only for a short while, while the A.I. onboard the ship guided them to their destination.

He lay back on his bed, which faced the window, and turned to look at the painting which lay to his right. Drifting off to sleep, he was suddenly hit by sunlight on his face, his senses emerging as he felt the deck of the somewhat primitive sailing yacht beneath him. It was an old beauty, a reminder of a different time and place as he went aft to take the wheel, feeling right at home again. He had been practicing on board this yacht for a while and let the sails catch the wind, carrying him further across time itself.

He smiled as the wind blew across his younger face, and sunlight danced across the water. It was a balmy day in summer, and seagulls were drifting lazily across the sky. He saw dolphins farther out to his right and, turning around, could see the distant outline of land fading rapidly. He relaxed into the wheel, feeling the soft embrace of the deck through bare feet and the cool sea air, which invigorated his senses.

This type of dream escape, otherwise known as the ViLu, an abbreviation for the Virtual Lucid, was his only chance at a relatively "normal" life as experienced back home on Earth. The Admirins had genetic memories which tied them back to the Great Mother, as she had come to be known, and he often dreamed of her and terra firma at night.

Those dreams were more the regular kind, designed to maintain some normality, while ViLu technology allowed anyone to experience whatever they wanted in a way approximating reality - an entire reality in itself, home to boundless creation. He was thankful for that and continued his long haul across the ocean where infinity lay, waiting. He smiled as the sun began to set on the horizon, flooding his face with heat and radiance as the ship carried him to who knows where.

He was startled from this reverie by his watch vibrating. This wasn't normal: it was usually reserved in case of emergencies, and he pressed down on the analog watch on his right-hand wrist with his forefinger. It brought him back to reality. Red lights were glowing like mood lighting at either end of his room, and he immediately looked out of his window: something was out there.

He stepped toward the window, the casing around it flashing blue as a portal opened, the stars moving backward and space opening up before him as he walked through another flashing doorway onto the ships' bridge. Only senior personal had access to the bridge and other vital rooms like this in case of an emergency, utilizing the Admirins advanced dimensional energy technology.

He moved forward calmy to "Captain on the bridge!" crew members busy at their stations, grey like most of the ship. More crew hurried in and out of the bridge. They were dressed much the same as he: each wearing a standard black and grey uniform that could transform into nearly any kind of visage required, a perk when dealing with diplomacy out here.

A humungous display screen, two stories tall, revealed the scene beyond as the ship's wings came together in pincer formation, a console and chair rising in front of the main bridge. The console enabled full access to the ship via biomechanical aids, including mental visualizations, if necessary, one option resembling someone playing with a model spaceship.

He reached the console and looked out at the rapidly emerging object beyond. It seemed small, tiny at first as it emerged from a portal behind it, a black abyss where no stars were visible. It seemed to stay in this position after a time, the front half almost resembling a snake's head but black as night, the energy distortion behind it hiding the rest.

He mentally ordered the viewscreen to enlarge, the whole of the ginormous structure now taken up by this thing from another world pointed in their general direction. Nothing could be seen but the black shape as it seemed to move in and out of space itself. The stars nearby seemed to dim in and out of existence as nearby crew members could be held exclaiming how extraordinary it was.

"Lieutenant Mikkelsen, if you would be so kind as to inform command that we have discovered something."

Mikkelsen, the ship's communications officer, nodded and began the process as Seeger kept staring at this bizarre life-form. It certainly seemed like one. The triangular head seemed to glisten occasionally before darting slightly and behaving like a suspended animal would in the deep sea.

"What the hell is that thing, sir?" Lieutenant Stevens, the chief science officer, asked, a tone of fear in her voice as the anxiety was palpable in the room.

"I'll be darned if I know," replied Seeger as he directly accessed the sensitive exploratory equipment on board the ship to send out whatever scans he could. Only one of the ship's systems was available at any given time via its biomechanical inputs, and he began the process as the creature remained in position as it had done throughout.

He was getting strange readings: some kind of energy field was distorting space-time around this thing, and he was about to turn around to address Stevens when the lights went out in the bridge, only to come on again. The creature had vanished, and all that was left was the field of stars beyond.

Seeger's jaw dropped, and he ordered the ship to go to battle stations: he didn't want to be caught with his pants down and ordered his crew to keep scanning as he disconnected from the interface. Nothing was registering: whatever this thing was, it was gone, and he was darned if he knew what it was.

"Sir, command is on the line; they want a status report," Mikkelsen relayed from one of the crew stations. The stations were suspended, row upon row in mid-air just above the floor in intervals, the idea being that each one could transform into its own independent craft should the worst happen; biomechanical sensors independently monitoring the environment around them at all times.

Seeger sighed and looked at him. "Nothing much to report, I'm afraid, tell them we saw an object of unknown origin and…"

No sooner had he said these words than the bridge was thrown into pitch blackness. The stars were blotted out; nothing was heard other than vague gasps as each pod within the bridge activated, encapsulating their inhabitants and casting soft, eerie, glowing light about the place. Seeger stopped in his tracks and listened. Nothing except his own heartbeat as a light suddenly appeared in the darkness.

It vanished again, and he was suddenly on board his yacht. It was now night, and the outline of a giant snake's head, appeared above him in the starry sky, two gleaming blue eyes emerging in the galaxy that now shone above. "Welcome home," an indistinct voice boomed yet whispered to him. "We can't wait to get started." The head disappeared, and the sun rose again: a shoreline now lay ahead, and tall, humanoid beings lay waiting on a ridge beyond.