Antares

   Aslana was reclined on her chair, barely looking at all the screens she had in front of her. She had been commissioned with surveying a barren part of the Cosmos no one really cared about. Neither did she, but it was her job and she complied. After the first hour, however, she had bored herself to death by watching the screens with practically nothing showing.

 That had not been the idea she had had when in college, trying to decide what to do next. Antares space station was hiring but becoming an actual astronaut also interested her. People saw them as adventurers and explorers and she wanted that, to feel that she was doing something special.

 She decided to become an astronaut and went to Star City, near Moscow, to become one. With at least fifty others, she trained hard for a whole year but at the end of the process only ten were finally chosen. It had been decided they were the only ones fit for space travel. Aslana was not chosen. Her performance on skill and intelligence tests was formidable but the physical demand of the career had proven a bit too much for her.

 However, her tutors had recommended her to the Science Academy of Moscow, who were about to open a new observatory orbiting Triton, near Neptune. The observatory was located, funny enough, on Space Station Antares. So she had wasted a whole year of her life to do almost exactly what she had thought of doing when coming out of college.

 And now, there was Aslana, sitting on her chair, legs up on the dashboard, looking at Triton through one of the many windows in the space station. Antares was home to about five hundred people and its builders were already trying to get the permission to build another wing to it and get five hundred more to come and live almost at the edge of the solar system.

 Aslana enjoyed it sometimes, and other times she hated it. She loved space and she hated people there. They got to be so annoying, judgemental and hypocritical. Well, there were some people that were very kind and lovable too but they weren't a vast majority.

 Suddenly, an alarm made Aslana fall from her chair. The sound had come from the dashboard, which she hadn't been looking. To be honest, she had fallen asleep for a couple of minutes, tired and bored at the same time.

 She sat down again, combed her hair with her fingers and started tapping and clicking and writing. The signal seemed to come from a quadrant of empty space. Of course, it was not actually empty but nothing really big seemed to be there. Yet, the alarm had been set off.

 She ran all the tests, to know if the signal was actually foreign in origin or a Earth signal bouncing between the stars. After a half hour, she could certify that the pulse, the call if you will, was from deep space. No human had traveled there. There was a science base in Haumea and that was it. That was the farthest place humans had gone from home. But this signal was from deep space and, somehow, it had reached Antares.

 Aslana aligned every dish available towards the quadrant from which the message was coming. The pulse got weak at some point and then strong again. It was like the people, if that word could be used, were having problems keeping up the strength of the pulse.

 When the woman activated the audio machine, she let a loud squeak come out from her mouth. The sound was awful, it was like if a thousand bees and wasps had suddenly entered the station. She screamed because of the volume, which was unusually high. She thought that, for sure, someone in the station might have been woken up by the sound.

 And that reminded her. She should report what was going on immediately. The machines were all recording the event but she needed to send a message to Earth, for them to check the message out. Very large telescopes had been built on the Moon, capable to trace the message more accurately that what little potential the Antares station had.

 - Moon base Tycho, this is Aslana Tromaterova. I'm in charge of the observatory for the night. I have    detected a pulse coming from this space. I'm sending the coordinates encrypted in this message.          Please check. I'm monitoring the event. All tests have been done. Waiting for instructions.

 She sent the message, which would take several hours to reach the Moon. Meanwhile, she started playing with her audio machine to clean up the noise she was hearing. Aslana moved every knob, button and switch and listened carefully. After a while, she thought she had heard something, like a mumbling. She did her best to clean the sound with the computer, but, of course, the distance had disrupted the signal and it wasn't coming clean.

 Then Aslana remembered a class she had received at Star City, when an old german professor had taught the everyone how to clean sound and video feeds coming or going from space stations. He said it would help tremendously on occasions of distress or emergency. One thing he had said was that sometimes video could help clean sound waves. The sound could be translated by a screen and then cleaned properly.

 So Aslana did just that. One of the many screens helped her accomplish something she thought would have been impossible due to the circumstances. After two hours on it, she had finally cleaned the pulse. And the woman was very nervous, unsettled.

 She had not thought of the signal to be dual, to be sound and video at the same time. But it was. Aslana realized she was the first person in History to see the face of an extraterrestrial, a being from another planet. They were different, true, but she could see humanity in them, in their eyes and behavior.

 There was some data being sent on the video feed too. It was on some other language but she could conclude, from the video and some of the statistics, very similar to human ones, that they were on a ship. And that this ship, was in deep trouble. Some of the creatures seemed to be controlling a fire and others ran in several directions.

 Then something happened that almost made her fall from the chair again: the creatures spoke towards the camera, probably asking for help. And Aslana cried, realizing they would die there in the middle of nowhere, only been heard by one human woman so far away.

 The woman cleaned her face and decided to do something useless: send a message. Judging from the distance between her and the quadrant they were calling from, Aslana knew all of them were already dead, probably for many years, maybe even hundreds of years. They had died alone, horribly. So she wanted to honor them by sending a message. She thought her words carefully and then sent the message, which she later sent towards Earth with all the data relating to the event.

 It was important to her to do this. She had been alone half her life and, with this gesture, useless maybe but sincere, she wanted to tell anyone hearing that they would never be alone, not while there were others around caring for their well being.

 When her shift ended, she spoke briefly with her boss and told him she was very tired but that all the data had been sent to Earth and was saved in the station's main hard drive. The boss granted her her wish and, as she laid down in bed, she realized she still had a life in front of her and that she could do whatever she wanted with it.

 - My name is Aslana. You will never know me and I will never know you. But I wanted you to know    you have a friend now and I hope I have one or many too. I'm a human and is probable you won't        understand what I'm saying. But I trust someday you will. And when you do, I want you to know        that we,  I, will always be here for you. We are now bound to each other and I will try my best to        keep this  promise. Sorry for your loss.

Far & Below

* This is a recording made on January 1st, 2237.

My name is Amelia Granger. My ID number is 208341295. I am the medical officer on space station Hawking, currently stationed near Jupiter's moon, Europa.

For me, this is day 53 in the spaceship. Today we celebrate new year's although we're really celebrating our achievements in the last days.

Scientific officers Namadi Gutembe and Ali Ro released their heated missile yesterday. The device successfully penetrated the surface of Europa and in around five hours, got to the inner ocean of the moon. They released the probe resting inside the missile and have already discovered over ten new species in the liquid environment.

However, no creature shows any degree of intelligence. They are all botanic life, showing no reaction to the tests done by the probe. The officers decided to let ir roam around the ocean for the night, as we had a party on board.

Captain Michaud and first officer Ramirez joined us too. We are currently over 20 people inhabiting the station so the celebrations went on for several hours. Having no alcohol, we all ate a lot of cake and dried fruits and many other things we have in the galley. Our cook is worried we may not have enough until the next ship comes in with food. We're a month away from that.

I ran tests the last week of December to every single person in the ship. I'm glad to say only one individual appears to be affected by the gravity issues and the sun's radiation. It might be nothing but I want to be sure as one patient with cancer would have to immediately leave for Earth to receive proper treatment.

Engineer Kaamat has been specially kind, showing me every single machine they make and finish here before it's used. It's thrilling to see everyone work in what they love. Sometimes I would love to have more to do around here. Keeping the diets in order and giving check ups every so often gets boring really fast. But I guess it's better for everyone if I don't have a lot to deal with.

Nothing more to day. Granger out.

* January 9th, 2237

This is Amelia Granger. ID number 208341295. Medical officer on space station Hawking, now near Europa.

Things have drastically changed this past week. First, I'm sorry to announce scientist Griselda Coon has cancer. We have already sent word to Earth for them to pick her up. She's not well, at all. She has started fainting, vomiting and is now quarantined in her room. It's not contagious but its better if she keeps away from others.

It isn't cruelty. It is because everyone has been too busy looking at the recent findings. The Europa probe has discovered many more species but we are looking at two in particular. The first one appears to be a whale, or so I understand. It seems it's not as intelligent as the ones we have on Earth but its pretty big.

What concerns all of us is the other one. We have had no sight of it but there are traces of the species all over. It appears it is a marine creature that is able to walk overground. Scientists are still not sure if the creature has ever pierced through the snow but it is possible.

What makes it possible is the fact that a rover we had seen prior to the missile lunch, has been destroyed. We have no idea how or by what. The site of the destruction has been scouted with instruments but there are no major traces of the rover or of the creature.

I have to be honest. I am scared and I think many of the others are too. Not only because the rover was destroyed but because the creature appears to elude us on purpose. Everyone says it must be smart because the instruments and the probe are too advanced for primitive live to hide from them.

Oh, I almost forgot. There is something else. We have received word from Space Station Africa, over Earth, that our next shipment of food has been delayed. Apparently there are shortages on Mars and they need our supplies to help the communities there. We understand but this makes our cook go even more crazy. Now I have no issues controlling diets.

We hope they come for Coon as soon as possible. I hear they might take her to Titan, to the new hospital orbiting around it. I hope that is true. She needs help.

Granger out.

* January 12th, 2237

Amelia Granger here. This entry is rather hard, in so many different ways.

I have always loved what I do, helping others and trying to make everything better for everyone. I came here because I thought it would be a challenge, a field of lessons to make me a better professional and a better person too.

Mrs. Coon has died. It happened yesterday. We never received word from Titan and no ship departed Earth to pick her up. Apparently Mars has been hit by solar wind and the situation is critical so every space station is now on its own. We have her in a secure bag, here on medical bay. It makes me shiver, the thought she's dead and close to me. I never thought anyone would die.

It's not stopping, either. First officer Ramirez and Science officer Ro are both down here, in the infirmary. Apparently the sun is also affecting us. The station has changed its position and all windows had been blocked by metal, to protect us. I am certain that if we don't receive help, these two new patients may face the same fate as Mrs. Coon.

What also has the crew in critical state is the fact that the communications with Earth having been down for the last few hours. Many were expecting to tell their families what was going on in here but that is not possible at the time. I haven't spoken to my father since I came here, but that's for different reasons. Lack of communications don't affect me much, except for the wellbeing of my patients.

There' something else, of course. As the chores in the station are limited, I have been helping around and I was in the lab when the alarm went off. I twas another attack on the surface. Some equipment left there by a flying probe was destroyed. The strange thing is we now know what it is.

Pictures were taken by cameras and a probe was sent after it happened. I am not a biologist but the creatures looks like... Well, like a monster I once saw on a movie. I think it was one of those old monster movies from the museum. The creature has a three legs, no real feet. Its like a tree that way. But its upper body resembles the one of a human. It even appears to have a chest.

It has no arms. Nothing like that. Biology head Yu told me they believe it uses it's legs as arms. The most impressive part is "the head". Not really a head but a promontory on his shoulders, as if it all was the same section of the body. No eyes but rather a black line that appears to turn on and off. Some reading say heat emanates form that slid. No mouth either.

We are all scared now, not even the biologists are eager for their discovery. At least three have been sighted above ground and the marine probe has detected one. They swim fast, really fast.

I think we will have a lot of time to investigate them, that is if they...

...

Sorry. It was the speakers. The captain wants us all in his chambers. He says the probes have been destroyed and that he got another warning from Earth.

To be honest, I'm not leaving the planet ever again.

Granger out.

Keljbalāh

It was a small moon, orbiting a hot, unwelcoming planet. Keljbalāh was all green, spotted with blue lakes and small settlements all around. No more than one million Keljbalans lived on the small moon. They were mainly farmers and enjoyed a simple life. They worked only to feed themselves, each family receiving a crop. It wasn't a property as such. The whole moon was their property, of every Keljbalan. If someone had a bad crop, their neighbors would help them. No problem, no ulterior motives, no evil.

Keljbalans had light yellow skin, due their conception of "mush". Mush grew all over and could be cooked into hundreds of dishes, combined with fruits and vegetables grown on the dark side. Most people lived in the light side but they thought that, with basic technology, they could bring light to the dark side and so they did.

Keljbalāh was peaceful, never having wars of any kind. They did have disease but the species was intelligent and used their natural resources to take care of the sick. Poverty was unknown as well as richness. They were advanced but preferred to be at ease, enjoying their time alive.

One day, however, the moon witnessed a historic event: an eclipse. They didn't occur often but, when they did, every Keljbalan would look to the sky and thank the Sun for everything he allowed to exist.

The day of the eclipse many people gathered with their families, on fields, mountains and arounds lakes, to contemplate the all mighty sun. In a matter of minutes it turned black and many gasped and screamed and laughed. The moon was all dark for a time. People held hands and kissed and hugged. It was their most special event.

The the sun returned to its normal state. But something was wrong. Some of the Keljbalans interested in astronomy, where looking at the sun with telescopes. And what they saw when the planet left was very strange.

In a matter of minutes every person knew, as no secrets existed on the moon: a small object, apparently increasing size with the passing of minutes, was detected in front of the Sun. The object was not another planet as its shape was similar to the arrows some Keljbalans used to hunt flying animals when in the forests.

Now, every person had to go home. And they all thought about the same thing that night: what's the object? Other people? A small moon? Some kind of transport?

The answer came two weeks after the eclipse. The ship, almost exactly like an arrow, landed near the largest settlement. And did nothing for a whole day. People from every part of Keljbalāh came to see it. The hull was silver, a color not many Keljbalans had seen, only the miners. The apparatus had some windows around, but no one to be seen.

The following day, a big door no one had seen before, opened and a ramp was deployed. People that had stayed to see more of the sip, gather close but not too close. From inside the sip, two creatures stepped out. Different from Keljbalans, their skin was light blue and they were tall and with big eyes. Slids insted of a proper nose and three toes on each feet and three fingers on each hand. They wore capes, the same colors of the blueberries that grew by the lakes.

The creatures then bowed and it appeared it was hard for them. Not because they didn't want to but because of their large bodies.

  - We are Xysperians. We are explorers. We spent a day before coming out as we were learning your   language and your physical traits.

Everyone was a bit scared but mostly intrigued. The creatures seemed peaceful and decent. No one understood how they had learn to breath and speak in a day but more questions arose.

Some villagers took them to take a stroll around the fields and up to a hill from were the largest lake in Keljbalāh could be seen. They explained their history to the explorers and they just listened.

The following days, more Xysperians came out of the ship. They said they were from a planet with a dim red sun and that they had explored the galaxy looking for other life forms. They had thought, for a time, they were alone.

Keljbalans asked them about their planet, their traditions, their food. And Xysperians did the same. They shared meals, jokes, work and stories. And the two species rapidly became friends.

After on week, the Xysperians got back to their ship and stayed there for another whole day. They told the Keljbalans they had to meet and talk about some important issued and that they would now soon enough the results of their discussion.

Not just waiting this time, Keljbalans thought their new friends might leave soon. So every single Keljbalan came to the valley were the ship had landed and organized a feast, like no one had seen in years on the planet. They wanted to give the best to their friends.

The following day, Xysperians enjoyed the feast. The food was delicious, and it was accompanied with dances and tales and laughs. Everyone had a great time.

But when the food was almost disappeared, the visitors told their hosts they had important news to share with them: they had come to this system as they had detected life with their scientific knowledge. They had actually detected life in at least a hundred other places in the galaxy. But they had chosen to visit Keljbalāh as another discovery led them to.

An asteroid was coming and would hit Keljbalāh planet with strength. The Xysperians thought that event would finish life in the moon, rendering it barren, if not destroyed.

It was hard for the people of the moon to pass from great happiness to that hollow feeling you have after receiving terrible news. The Xysperians said they would share every piece of information with them as they revealed the reason why they had come to Keljbalāh: they wanted to save them.

So for the next ten years, Xysperians and Keljbalans worked together to build three massive ships and then they had a day called Koflar: the day of ripping. The day they had to leave the place that had given them everything. Every single one of them left something on the ground, a memory that would stay there forever.

They boarded their ships and the Xysperians led them to a new planet, a place where they would relocate close to their new friends, to built something even better for everyone. Due their extraction from their home world, all Keljbalans developed blue lines on their bodies, different from everyone. They said they were there to remember them of their origins.

Twenty years after, the asteroid hit the planet and debris hit Keljbalāh, transforming it into a ball of rock, with no life or heart. The planet, however, slowly became habitable and it appeared to be the new hope of this system.