Hello everyone, and welcome to chapter one of First Contact, my very own Aliens/Predator fanfiction. Now, I'm also writing Broken Heart, Healing Soul, so I'll be using a altering update pattern. I'll update one, then the other, then the first again.
I had this idea from a very simple dream, then expanded the dream into a world, then a story. This story, unlike my other one, will let me get rather creative with the plotline and world itself.It also will have a different chapter length. Broken Heart, Healing Soul has chapters 3-5K. This story's chapters will end whenever I accomplished what I wanted to happen in the chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, shape, or form own the Aliens franchise.
XXX
Chapter 1: Engine Failure and Arrival
XXX
John woke to the sound of an alarm on his phone. It made an aggravating, loud, droning noise. That's exactly why he used it.
He reached over to his bedside table and deactivated his alarm, before sitting up. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked around the hotel room.
It was very basic, with beige walls, a single bed, and a T.V. with 50 channels. A door led to a simple bathroom with a bath and shower combination, and a simple toilet and cabinet.
He looked at the time and saw that it read 8:30.
Well shit, I must have slept through the first alarm! I gotta be at the meeting inan hour!
John jumped out of and flew through his morning rituals, before donning dress pants and a white shirt. He then threw on polished black shoes and a black jacket.
He grabbed his keys, signed out of the hotel, and hopped into his car, a black Viogo powered by a Ununoctium* Reactor.
Why do I even need to be meeting? I don't want to sit for several hours, answering questions the reporters ask.
John drove down the streets of Washington, D.C. He passed the White House, The Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, The Trump Wall, and several other symbols of American history.
But he wasn't here for any of that. He was here for the ISEA Headquaters,
The ISEA, or International Space Exploration Association, is a company which surfaced into the world of space exploration in the late 24th Century, specifically 2341 by Kyle Nixes.
It was funded by the UN in order to research the ability to move past the solar system, which humanity has struggled to do for a century and a half.
Their solution? A highly experimental Hyperspace Reactor. It was the first of it's kind, and, because of its nature, it was completely unknown whether it would work.
Naturally, they threw it on a ship and asked for volunteer pilots. Understandably, they only had one volunteer. John Calligan.
John arrived at the ISEA HQ and sighed with relief when he saw that he was ten minutes early. He quickly stopped the car and gave the keys to a waiting man.
He ran inside and was promptly directed to the meeting room. He fixed his pitch black hair and smoothed the wrinkles from his suit before entering the room and a boring meeting.
Inside the room were three tables. The left hand table seated reporters from various news websites whose purpose was to ask questions to help the general population understand the scientific mumbo-jumbo.
The right hand table held many dignitaries and officials. The farthest seat was empty.
At the center table sat five people, all of which were extremely distinguished and made John aware that this was an extremely important project.
On the left, the first man he recognized, was Kyle Nixes, founder of ISEA. He was a multi-trillionaire and the man who designed Project Exodus.
Next to him was was Ivan Karagee, head of the Hyperspace Reactor Development Team. He had several degrees in various fields of science, the most relevant being Quantum Mechanics.
At the center of the table sat the current U.S. President, Jeffery Apollo, an odd man with an odd name. He was second term, with years of politics. He often made jumps in reasoning that most couldn't comprehend. John understood him though.
Next to him was Morgan Vidrine, head of the ISEA's Department of Astronomical Mapping, whose job is to map the Milky Way and to plot a course for all satellites and ships launched.
Finally was Carl Rodriguez, head of ISEA's Engineer Department and responsible for the building of the Unto the Horizon. He designed his first life-size, self-aware android at age 14.
John took his seat on the right hand table, sitting on the end farthest from the door, signifying him as the highest ranking official at the table.
As he sat down, Kyle spoke up and began the meeting. "As we all know by now, this will be the last meeting before John is sent to the Pluto Research Station, where the Unto the Horizon was built*. Due to this, the reporters are advised to ask any questions while they can, as this will be their last chance."
One of the reporters sitting across from John spoke then. "For the sake of those watching this at home, why was the ship built so far out, and near to a space station?"
Carl answered the reporters question with a slight Spanish accent. "It was built so far out because the ship is immense. If it had been built near Earth, the gravity would have altered our orbit and damaged our satellites. That's also why it was built on a station, not a planet. It is simply too large."
"Why is the ship so large? What was it equipped with?" Another reporter asked.
Ivan answered this one. "The Hyperspace Reactor is a prototype. Due to it's nature, the only way to test it is to use it. Because of the lack of testing, we have no idea where John will end up, a fact he is aware of."
"This has caused us to outfit the ship with a massive amount of supplies for various situations. Life support systems, farms, entire rooms devoted to turning Carbon Dioxide into breathable Oxygen, tons of various metals, massive amounts of building supplies, even entire factories."
"Obviously, the Reactor is onboard, and it alone is two hundred meters across. (One meter is roughly one yard.) Then we have the Dark Communications Relay, which uses Dark Energy to slingshot the radio waves back here."
The first reporter asked another question. "This question is for you, John. So you have no idea where you'll end up, if you'll survive, or what you'll find? Why did you volunteer then?"
John spoke for the first time that day. He held a deep voice that was rather charming and could calm anyone. "We have a course planned. I should come out near VI-03, but it's not guaranteed. The ship might have a catastrophic meltdown, so I really don't know if I'll live. I volunteered because if I do die, I have no one to miss me and because I've always been an explorer at heart."
"Thank you for answering."
A third reporter then asked a question directed towards Ivan. "How does the Hyperspace Reactor work? The engines? Laymen's terms please."
Ivan smiled and spoke. "The real way is very complicated. Even I have a little trouble fully comprehending it. The simplest way is that is uses a mixture of Dark Energy and Gravitons to compress space and allow the ship to move at several times the speed of light."
"The ship's engines uses a new system of creating Antimatter inside the engine, condensing them, and ejecting them out the engine, providing an enormous amount of thrust. Afterwards, the Antimatter impact an atom, destroying the Antimatter, leaving nothing behind."
The panel and John continued to answer questions for another couple hours, before the reporters seemed to have run out of question.
Jeffery then spoke up. "Anyone else have questions? No? Then this meeting is adjourned."
At this, the reporters and the officials quickly filed out the doorway, leaving the panel and John alone. Kyle, Ivan, Jeffery, and Carl left as well to make the final preparations for John's departure.
Morgan walked over to John and smiled reassuringly. "It'll be fine, John. You'll enter stasis for two weeks as the ship's autopilot kicks in, you'll come out where expected, snap a few pictures, and come back."
John sighed before smiling at Morgan, "Thanks. I think I needed that. Three hundred thousand light years. That's so far away if something goes wrong. The engine, the Communications Relay, the Reactor, the whole damn ship is experimental!"
"Don't you want this? To be the first person to leave the Sol System? Isn't that why you volunteered, and went through four years of training and classes for this mission?"
"Yeah, that's exactly why. Doesn't lessen the nervousness though." John said.
"Thanks for the talk, Morgan. I needed this."
"I am happy to help. I need to go finish plotting the course, alright? Go get ready for the ship to take you to the Pluto Research Station."
XXX
"Quiet a sight, isn't it?" Said Jason Gilligan, the pilot of the Star Traveller, the ship that John was on.
Out the window a diminutive planet could be seen. Technically a dwarf planet, it was several times smaller than Earth. Pluto. Its moon was nearly the same size as the planet itself.
Not far from it, a massive space station was suspended, with the colors white, grey, and black dominant throughout it. Massive solar panels could be seen.
In the distance, an utterly massive starship could be seen. It looked at least six miles long and a mile wide. On the rear, four engines could be seen. They were powered down.
The hull was a bland grey. After all, it would take millions of gallons of paint to color the entire ship. It had a pointed tip, which struck John as odd. Why would aerodynamics matter in space? The words "Unto the Horizon" could be seen painted in a bright blue.
"Yeah. I haven't been this far from Earth before. I've been to Mars and Jupiter before, to train how to move in different gravity levels. That ship is a lot bigger seeing it than just being told how big it is." John replied.
"Gotta say, John. I don't envy you. That massive ship and being the only one on it? That'd give me the creeps." Jason said with a shudder.
"I know, but I'm also eager to be the first man outside the Sol System. Plus, at least they have an android on board."
The ship docked on the Research Station, and John disembarked. He then was escorted by a researcher into a room where a conference call was waiting for him. On it were the same five people that wereat the meeting two months ago.
"Remember John," spoke Ivan, "the ship will power the Reactor up automatically, and will cut off after precisely two weeks. All you need to do is enter stasis. Simple as that."
Nixes then took over. "Madison, the onboard Android, will deactivate your stasis one day before the ship exits Hyperspace. After that, you'll contact us for further instruction."
"I understand, and I'm ready." John simply said.
Jeffery then said, "Good. We expect to hear from you in two weeks. Don't let us down."
The conference call was then ended and John was escorted to a simple starship that he would pilot into Unto the Horizon's hangar, before activating the autopilot and going in to stasis.
Once there, he exited the ship to see Madison waiting for him.
"Hello, John. I'm Madison, the Android whose task is to held ease the burden of running this ship. If you'll follow me, I'll take you to the Control Room where you can run a Systems Diagnostic and prepare yourself stasis."
John nodded and began following Madison. After several minutes, they arrived at the Control Room. It was situated at the front of the ship, understandably, and had a multitude of windows, where Impact Shields could be seen at the top, ready to slide down and cover the windows. Cameras showed various areas of the ship and screens displayed the situation of various important sections of the ship.
John sat in the chair in front of the Main Computer and spoke.
"Computer, begin Systems Diagnostic."
"Beginning Systems Diagnostic."
"Dark Communications Relay- Online, Active."
"Hyperspace Reactor- Online, Deactive."
"Antimatter Engines- All Online, Deactive."
"Ununoctium Energy Reactor- Online, Active, Sufficient energy output at 25%."
"Oxygen Levels- Nominal."
"Artificial Gravity- Online, Active."
"Autopilot- Online, Deactive."
"Stasis Chambers- All Online, All Deactive."
"Impact Shields- Online, Raised."
"All systems online."
John smiled to himself and grabbed the PSC, or Portable Systems Controller.
Madison then escorted him to the stasis chambers, set the chamberhe would use to open after two weeks, smiled at John, and left the room.
He activated the Antimatter Engines, Hyperspace Reactor, lowered the Impact Shields, and deactivated the Artifical Gravity. He knew the gravity shut off when he felt himself begin to float slightly. He also heard a dull whine from the Engines and Reactor activating.
John set the PSC down and entered the chamber. He saw the top slide shut over him, encasing him in darkness. He smelled the chemicals in the air that put him to sleep.
I'm gonna be groggy as all hell when I wake up.
XXX
John awoke to see and feel Madison shaking his arm. He sat up, grabbing the side, and felt, like he correctly believed, very groggy. He saw Madison's smiling face and knew that everything was alright.
He still had to ask though. "Did anything odd or important happen, and are we on track?"
"It's a few hours before we come out of Hyperspace. Even after the stasis ended, you slept for a while." She said with a smirk.
"Anything else?" John asked.
"Nine days ago I felt an odd tremor through the ship, but no alarms went off so I figured it was the autopilot dodging an asteroid." Madison asked.
"Thank you, Madison. I'll head to the Control Room and perform another Systems Diagnostic." John said before releasing himself from the chamber and floating into the air.
"Make sure you activate the A.G. before you do." Madison spoke, then departed.
John reached over and grabbed the PSC and arranged himself perpendicular to the floor, before activating the Artifical Gravity and landing on his feet.
He walked down the halls with an odd feeling that the tremor Madison felt was significant.
He arrived in the Control Room and saw that the Impact Shields covered the windows, and sat down in front of the Main Computer and ran another diagnostic."Beginning Systems Diagnostic."
"Dark Communications Relay- Online. Active."
"Hyperspace Reactor- Online. Active. Set to deactivate in three hours and twelve minutes."
"Antimatter Engines- Three Online. Three Active. Top left Engine malfunctioning."
"Ununoctium Energy Reactor- Online, Active, Sufficient energy output at 25%."
"Oxygen Levels- Nominal."
"Artificial Gravity- Online, Active."
"Autopilot- Online, Active. Damaged Engine has caused the ship to be severely off-course. Autopilot can not fix course trajectory."
"Stasis Chambers- All Online, All Deactive."
"Impact Shields- Online, Lowered."
"One Engine failure. All other systems nominal."
John sat back and weighed the good and bad.
On the bad side, one engine was malfunctioning so it would be nearly impossible to choose where to arrive. Due to that they were hundreds of light years off-course.
On the good side, the ship was completely self-sustaining so he was in no danger of starvation, dehydration, or asphyxiation. The Autopilot feature was still running, so they wouldn't crash into a planet or asteroid at several times the speed of light.
I won't be able to fix the engine until I exit Hyperspace. Then I'll need to perform a space walk and discover the extent of the damage.
If I'm lucky? Its a damaged wire and I can replace it. If something needs to be welded, I'll have to enter a planet atmosphere that has the necessary gasses, otherwise the weld won't form right.
John busied himself by checking the various screens while he waited for the Hyperspace Reactor to deactivate.
XXX
Three hours later, the speakers kicked on and a voice emitted from them. "Exiting Hyperspace in 3...2...1...0."
When the countdown hit zero, a massive shudder shook the ship and nearly knocked John out the chair. After a few seconds the vibrations stopped and John relaxed his grip on the chair.
The voice kicked on the speakers again. "Hyperspace deactivation successful. Performing Location Diagnostic."
"Sector- Unknown."
"Region- Unknown."
"Solar System- Unknown."
Already figured that out. John thought dryly.
Just then the door opened and Madison walked in. "What's the situation, John?"
"Not good. That tremor you felt was one of the engines malfunctioning. I'm going to have to perform a space walk to see the damage. After that, I'll contact HQ and ask for what to do." John said.
"Really? An engine malfunctioned? I should have noticed that." Madison said.
"Don't blame yourself. No one could have realized an engine broke by a little shake." John said reassuringly.
John then exited the chair and walked to an Airdock. Once inside he opened a case and placed on a spacewalk suit. The suit was reiminicient of the 21st Century Astronaut Suits. However, they were more modern with temperature, air, humidity, and radiation monitors.
He de-pressurized the room. He attached a cable to a handle beside the exit and slowly made his way down the outside of the ship. As he did, he looked around.
There was a massive amount of stars, more than you could see if you were in an atmosphere. They were all colors; red, blue, white, and a few others that weren't stars. A galaxy could be seen, and, judging by the brightness, it was over a million light years away.
Several comets could be seen flying across the sky. Asteroids could be seen in the darkness; hulking shapes barely able to be made out in the blackness of space.
No planets or close stars were anywhere in sight.
I really hope the engine doesn't require a weld to fix.
As he rounded the corner, he groaned as he saw that there was a decent-sized hole in the side of the engine, where an asteroid had hit it. The hole was oblong, and around a meter across.
He turned around and went back into the ship. He entered the Airdock and pressurised the room. He left while keeping the suit on.
Once he returned to the Control Room, he was questioned by Madison. "Can you repair it now and why are you still in the suit."
"It needs to be welded, so I need to bring the ship into an atmosphere than can support an Arc Welder. The right gases need to be in the air, or the weld won't hold. And I'm still wearing the suit because it's actually rather comfortable."
He then sat down in the chair and spoke up. "Establish a Dark Comms Link to Earth."
"Establishing Dark Comms Link with HQ."
"..."
"Link Established."
As it said this, the screen lit up showing a conference room with the same five members, again, plus several reporters.
Nixes spoke up after silence for several seconds. "How are things on your end, John? I noticed that you are in a spacewalk suit."
"Not good, Sir. One of the Antimatter Engines was damaged by an asteroid nine days ago. I'm in a completely uncharted area. I already checked the damage, and I'll need to weld it."
"I'm going to try to find a planet able to support a Arc Welder in the atmosphere before repairing the engine. Any objections?"
He waited a few seconds while the signal to be transmitted back to Earth, them to receive the reply.
"No. Do what you need to do, John." Nixes spoke."Link Terminated." The computer said, signifying the others ended the link.
"Begin Planetary Search for planets with oxygen and hydrogen in the atmosphere." John told the computer.
"Beginning Planetary Search."
"Searching..."
"Searching..."
"Seven possibilities found. One probable match."
John sighed, then spoke again. "Plot Autopilot course for probable match.""Course plotted. Ready to depart."
John sat back on the chair and thought.
I'll have to use two engines to keep going straight. I can't use Hyperspace without all four Engines because at that speed, I would go light years off-course.
"Deactive bottom right Antimatter Engine."
"Engine Deactivated."
"Engage Autopilot to probable match for last Planetary Search.
""Autopilot Engaged." Came the computer's reply.
John felt the ship shudder as the engines kicked on and the ship began to move.
XXX
Several hours later, the ship shudder as the Engines shut off and the ship drifted to a stop."Arrived at Destination."
"Scan the Atmosphere for all elements, major and minor." John spoke. He couldn't see the planet due to the lowered Impact Shields.
"Scanning..."
"Major Elements- Oxygen, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, and Carbon."
"Minor Elements- Fluorine, Neon, Helium, Argon, Kyrpton, Xenon, and Radon."
"Several Unidentifiable Trace Elements."
"Presence of Life found."
John nearly fell out of his chair at that and shouted. "What!"
"Presence of Life found."
"Raise Impact Shields."
"Raising Impact Shields."
As the Shields raised, John could only stare in awe at the sight before him.
A massive planet made of gas, a Mega Jupiter, orbited a red giant star. Surrounding the planet were five moons.
They could barely be called that.
Each 'moon' was a Super Earth, several times the size of Earth. One had an atmosphere too thick to see through, two were barren, and one was covered in magma.
But the fifth...
The fifth moon had a massive continent, several times larger than Pangea, in the Northern Hemisphere. Bright silver lakes could be seen among the green continent.
Green... Life.
The very north showed a ring of ice circling the entire planet. It seemed that nearly the entire Southern Hemisphere was a silver ocean with countless islands dotting it. A nearly identical ring of ice covered the bottom.
XXX
After staring in awe for several minutes, John activated the intercom. "Madison, come to the Control Room."
"Establish Comms Link to Earth."
"Establishing Dark Comms Link to HQ."
"..."
"Link Established."
When the screen lit up, it showed Nixes and Carl in the room, speaking quietly.
"Sir, we have a situation. Get the others there, now." John spoke.
After several seconds, Nixes nodded and they left to get the other three.
John waited several minutes before they returned, and looked at him expantantly.
"I found a viable planet to perform the repairs, but..." John trailed off.
"But what?" Morgan asked, worried for her friend.
"Computer, connect Comms Link footage to forward external camera footage."
"Connection successful."
John didn't need the computer to confirm the operation, because he knew it worked when he saw the awestruck and disbelieving face on the panel members.
"You see? It has life. Life! We can't pass up the chance to perform some research on this planet." John said, excited.
Carl was the first to recover. "You could load a All-Terrain Rover on board once of the ships in the hangar and head down. The Settlet suit is more than capable of supporting you down there, regardless of conditions."
"What do you say, Sirs? Should I?" John asked, referring to Nixes and Apollo.
Jeffery Apollo nodded, and Kyle Nixes spoke up. "Yes. Go down there and explore that planet. Take Madison with you."
Nixes leaned forward and continued. "Your mission is no longer to test the Hyperspace Reactor. It is to explore and research that planet for the foreseeable future, and, if necessary, establish First Contact with whatever beings may be on it."
XXX
And that is the end of chapter one. Rather lengthy, but you can expect that for the chapters in this story. I also don't have a cover art for this story, but if anyone is willing to design one, I'd be grateful and you'd get all credit. Now, these bottom notes will be rather long some chapters because I will do two things down here.
1. I will repeat questions an answer them here..
2. I will be placing footnotes down here as well.
Footnotes
Ununoctium Reactors- In the 22nd Century, the world converted to Ununoctium power. Ununoctium is 118 on the Periodic Table and can not be found naturally. It is a clean power source that produces energy from the element's decay.
Unto the Horizon- A massive prototype starship that was so large, it was built near Pluto, in orbit. The size made it generate a miniscule gravity field, but enough to damage all satellites orbiting Earth and the Moon.
