The six of them sat together in the common area, seated around a small table with several items piled on top of it. There were a few news magazines in disarray, a few partially empty bowls of dry orange chicken and the standard smoking tray with its burnt cigarette butts sunk down into fine grains of ash.

Regan sat leaning back into his seat, his feet placed casually on what room was left on the table in front of him. But he didn't feel as relaxed as he appeared. When Reuban had come to them with this startling piece of information, Regan had hoped that he would have taken to the news with a larger degree of expectation and happiness instead of this unnerving anxiety he felt. He felt disappointed in himself – he'd been jabbering on for years about the almost certain possibility that they would soon make contact with an intelligent life form. It was inevitable at this point – of all these microscopic organisms, at least a few were bound to evolve into something multicellular, something with intelligence of its own. And not just primitive intelligence either! Those things – beings, he corrected himself – they were obviously capable of interstellar travel! It was likely they might be of superior intelligence to humans; the mere implications of this thought should provide him with a sense of conviction and vindication for his own ideas and ambitions.

And now that it had happened – now that they had the opportunity to actually communicate with it – he felt nothing but apprehension.

Regan gripped the cushion of the seat with his right hand, while the left remained relaxed on his lap. He was a medical doctor for Christ's sake! He should be excited, he shouldn't be sitting here like a burnt-out toaster waiting for some wussies from NASA in front of him to make these decisions! If they were successful, if this species was willing to be cooperative in initiating communication, then he, Mender Regan, would undoubtedly be the first in conducting a cursory examination of their anatomy. Of course, there would be a more rigorous follow-up to it, but just the primary exam would be enough to garner him more prestige in the medical field. Why the hell wasn't he excited?

Mender Regan leaned forward and grabbed the bottled water off the table. He held it in his hand, turning the bottle around for a few seconds, while thinking. If he wasn't thrilled, the least he could do to maintain his reputation amongst this crowd would be to feign some excitement.

'So...getting back to the code, have you cracked it?' said Regan.

'We're doing that right now as we speak,' answered Reuban referring to Jarreck and Yuya back at the control room.

'I think that's of primary importance. That we figure out what the heck that thing means before we take any further action.' said Reuban.

'And if we don't...?' said Barnaby with his cigarette between his lips.

'Why don't we just take things one step at a time?' said Lexington, who had been seated in silence while listening to the conversation. 'No use rushing into things like a bunch of gung-ho cowboys.'

'I'm sorry, are you calling me a cowboy?' said Barnaby with an insinuating expression.

'People, people...' said Reuban, holding his palms out in appeasement. 'No one's calling anyone anything. I know we're all kind of tired and this...this whole incident is a pretty big piece of news to take in. But it's here and we have to deal with it in the best way possible. And that means no petty arguments.'

'All I'm saying,' began Lexington as he looked at Barnaby, 'is that this is an extremely important decision we're about to make. A small one on our part – yes – but with undeniably large consequences. We have to think through this one, take our time.'

'But how much time before this chance escapes us?' persisted Barnaby.

'I say we go in. We request permission to board – say our intentions are peaceful-' began Regan before he was interrupted.

'Oh you mean that that "take me to your fucking leader, we come in peace" horseshit is going to work dandy. And yeah, they're gonna roll out a fucking red carpet inviting us to come inside. Sure.' muttered Barnaby. He leaned back and inhaled his cigarette deeply.

Regan turned to him in annoyance. 'I'm on your side – what the hell's the matter with you?'

Reuban bent his head down and rubbed his brows together. This little committee meeting was not going as planned. The last part he wanted to play right now was nursemaid. 'Look. We are not going to get anywhere with this. If you all want to discuss your bloody personal issues with each other well then, be my guest. But take it somewhere else. And if you feel that you're of an incompetent frame of mind to have this meeting now, then we'll do it later. So what'll it be?'

Barnaby closed his eyes and sighed. 'Yeah...alright,' he waved his hand towards Reuban lightly. 'Let's get this done with now.'

'Okay.' spoke Reuban. 'I agree with Mash. We wait to see if this code can be deciphered. We'll give it a time frame. If it can't be cracked in the time frame given, we come up with an alternate decision.'

'Have you alerted any external party to this news?' asked Omitsu.

'By that you mean the company or NASA?' asked Reuban. Omitsu nodded. 'No.' he answered.

'Why not?' asked Regan.

'Because he's afraid that it'll be out of his hands if he does so. And there are certain risk factors involved, certain members he does not want to place in jeopardy on the basis of company orders.' explained Omitsu.

At that moment, everyone looked to Helen, who was seated at the opposite end of the room, reading a book. Reuban thanked himself silently for not involving the child in this unstable discussion. They had forgotten that she was even in the vicinity, and some of them felt slightly ashamed for their behavior and their words before their younger companion. If she had heard them, of course.

'I agree with you completely.' spoke Omitsu. 'I don't see any reason for why you wouldn't mistrust the company's handling of this situation.'

Barnaby laughed. 'And you're saying we're a competent bunch?'

'Most of us are.' shot back Omitsu. She then turned her attention back to Reuban – she had no use for bickering with people that annoyed her – ignoring them seemed to work much better. 'But I disagree with your other decision. I think we should try and follow Regan's suggestion.'

'Enter into the abyss? With all due respect, Dr. Omitsu, I think you're being a little over-optimistic about all this,' commented Lexington. 'We don't know anything about these beings. If we can't establish a communication link – what then? Do we just board? I don't know about you, but if I were them I would most certainly view that as a hostile maneuver.'

Omitsu smiled. 'Maybe I am being optimistic, but what other choice have we? Sit still and simply gape at them through the windows? I think I speak for everyone on board this ship when I say that that's just not an option.'

'I can't authorize sending any of you on board.' said Reuban as he shook his head. 'I can't take that kind of risk.'

'Then don't. Send out the probes.' said Regan.

'That still involves us docking with the other ship,' said Lexington.

'I'm not going to let a mechanical robot land the first foot – no, wheel – on board.' said Omitsu with annoyance.

'I believe that Dr. Reuban is in charge of this expedition, so no matter what any of us think – what he says goes.' spoke Lexington.

'The expedition that Doctor Reuban is in charge of is the one on another planet. This new expedition does not fall under his jurisdiction anymore.' Omitsu stared back at Lexington.

Reuban looked on without a word. She was perfectly right according to company protocol. How convenient for her to choose when to trust and distrust their orders, he noted.

'So that leaves you in charge then, I suppose?'

'I didn't say that.' argued Omitsu.

'Oh great. This is just great. All this meeting has accomplished is that no one's in charge. What's next on the agenda? What everyone's favorite barbecue sauce is?' said Barnaby.

'Shut up.' said Omitsu, not lifting her gaze on Lexington. 'Let's bring it down to a vote. Plain and simple. All those in favor of boarding, raise their hands.'

'We're not representing the entire body. We need everyone here.' observed Regan.

'Then get everyone, for Pete's sake.' said Omitsu through gritted teeth.

'It's not a fair vote, Omitsu. I want to board that craft as much as you do. But under different circumstances. I have my niece to think about. If this goes wrong and something happens – we're going to be held accountable for it. And I'm not willing to do that.' Reuban leaned in. 'You agreed with me earlier – that you didn't believe in placing everyone's lives in jeopardy.'

'I agreed with your idea of not involving the company on this one. As for jeopardy, what's discovery without any risks involved?'

'We can solve this entire mess by doing something very simple,' interjected Barnaby. 'Contact the company.' he said with an exasperated sigh.

'No bloody way.' said Lexington.

There was a brief moment of silence that followed. Judging from the lapse in conversation, everyone but Barnaby seemed to agree with Lexington.

'Alright. Then wh-' began Regan before he stopped midway. 'I think you're wanted up in the cockpit, Reuban. Light's flashing above your head.' Regan pointed out.

Reuban looked behind him, and rose from his seat. 'Alright. Let's just put this meeting on hold.'

And then as he walked off, he muttered to himself. 'I could use a time-out anyway.'

'She's pulling away...' Yuya pointed to the screen.

Reuban looked in closer and saw a flashing white dot in the midst of several others on the location grid. It didn't move in any direction on screen, but the numbers on the bottom were increasing steadily, indicating that the ship was getting further from the Aurelius with each passing second.

'How fast is she going?' asked Reuban.

'Fast enough to be out of our range and detection in the next thirty minutes.'

Reuban sighed. If anything was going to act as a catalyst for the decision-making process, this was it. 'Jarreck?' said Reuban, as if he was asking for the other man's confirmation on this new situation.

'Yuya's right on the money. I ran some calculations and looks like we'll be blind to her movements in exactly thirty-two minutes and counting. That is, if she doesn't change her speed anytime soon.'

'Do you think this is a reaction to having detected us?' asked Reuban.

'Can't say.' shrugged Jarreck. 'Wouldn't blame 'em if it was though...' he added.

'If you guys are planning on making a decision – now would be an excellent time to do so.' said Yuya.

'The expedition's out of my hands now, Yuya. According to damned technicalities in company policy. What I say doesn't count much-' began Reuban.

'Since when?!' interrupted Yuya in angry surprise.

'Since this isn't the same expedition he was assigned to lead.' explained Jarreck, catching on. 'But then who's in charge?'

'That's the sticky part.' said Reuban pursing his lips. 'Again, technically, we're supposed to report back to NASA or the company. But since we've temporarily broken communication...'

'...we're temporarily leaderless.' finished Jarreck.

'Shit.' cursed Yuya. 'But that doesn't eliminate the million dollar question. What's it going to be?'

Reuban breathed in deeply, threw his head back and stared at the ceiling for several moments. He knew what it was going to be right from the start. He knew that despite his misgivings and apprehensions, he would undoubtedly decide to board this other craft. It was in his nature as someone with an inquiring mind. How could he even think of passing up such an opportunity?

Helen.

The girl was not stupid – she would almost certainly see what kind of dilemma stood before them, and might even see how vital it was for them to establish contact with this species, but would she understand that there were certain risks involved? Did he? Almost certainly he did, but where exactly could he draw the line between which phenomena were better left undiscovered and which weren't?

The truth was, he couldn't.

'Alright boys...' he said as if finally resigning himself to a long weary task, 'looks like we're going to have to tail her. We'll decide whether we're ready to board her when the time comes. But for now – let's just take it as a given that we're going to set foot on that ship.' Reuban scratched behind his ear. 'Let's keep a safe distance though, alright? Jarreck, keep working on that transmission code. Yuya, I want you to send out a message to them in multi-communication forms – let's hope that they're able to make out of one of 'em at least.'

'What do you want me to say?' asked Yuya.

'Tell them that our intentions are peaceful and that we don't intend to harm them in any way. If they receive this transmission, we would appreciate an acknowledgement in return. If we don't receive anything, tell them that we will dock alongside them and send an investigative team in. Tell them again that our intentions are peaceful – our only purpose here is discovery.' stated Reuban. He turned towards Jarreck. 'You said it'll take about two weeks to catch up with them? Even if they're traveling at the velocity they're at now?'

Jarreck nodded.

'Can't we speed up the process?' asked Reuban.

'Sure we could – this ship's capable of greater speeds than what we're used to. Everyone'll have to go into cryo then, but that could mean that no one's awake if a transmission of any sort comes through to us.' explained Jarreck.

'We could set the stasis duration to be interrupted should any thing of the sort happen,' said Reuban, thinking.

'Yeah...we could do that.' concurred Yuya. 'So what'll it be, Cap'n? The maximum speed we can set this baby on would get us there in two days.'

'No – that's too fast. If I were them, I'd probably interpret that as some kind of pursuit. How about a week?' replied Reuban.

'Consider it done.'

SEVEN HOURS LATER

Helen stood in front of the bathroom mirror and stared into it. The conversation that had taken place a few hours ago – she had heard it all. The disharmony, the cursing and the inconclusive results...everything. She had imagined that they would go on bickering for a solid twenty-four hours or so. But soon, something had happened that had wedged them all tightly in a corner – and a decision had to be made soon.

She saw her uncle come hurriedly back to the rest of the group. They spoke in more intense, lowered tones than before and also seem to reach a decision much faster. She knew then, by the look on Reuban's face what was going to happen.

Her uncle broke the news to her, and did so in such a way as if some beloved family member had passed. She could not understand why his expressions were so worried, so concerned. This was terribly fantastic news to her. She was on board just when it happened – when human beings were able to make contact with an intelligent species for the first time! She would be in history books as one of the passengers on board, she would be the coolest person in school. And that was only if you thought about the immediate consequences!

She grinned at herself in the mirror and spoke, thinking about what she would say to the media when she got back home. 'And here's the youngest explorer on board, ladies and gentlemen...Helen Reuban, can you recall your first emotions when you heard the news? What's your perspective on this issue?' Helen touched her chest lightly. 'Well, I was shocked – obviously – but so excited. I realized that all we know about science and maybe even our existence could change in the breath of a moment. I-'

'Helen,' came a voice from outside the bathroom, startling her out of her vocalized musings. 'You talking to yourself, kiddo?'

'Uncle Jakob,' she said as she walked out to join him, slightly embarrassed at his discovery.

'Come on, everyone's going back into the ol' freezerio.' He led her forward gently with his hand. And then he added, as they walked down the corridors towards the cryo-sleep capsules, 'You sure your mom's going to be okay about this? Once she gets to the airport to pick you up and finds out you haven't arrived – she'll skin me alive.'

'Oh, so it's your neck you're worried about, hmm?' teased Helen. And then she said, more seriously, 'Well she won't be alright – at first. You know mom. But you said that once we've established contact with the company, we can then send her a message...Which reminds me, why can't you just do that now?'

'Contact the company? Um...for reasons that I kind of would rather avoid discussing until later on. Besides, I'm probably wrong – but better safe than sorry, huh?' answered Reuban.

'Sounds serious.'

Reuban didn't answer, so Helen continued to speak. 'Yeah, well...I think she'll be okay. I hope so. Anyways, she won't start panicking until our three weeks is up. Besides, this is really, really important. Probably one of the most mind-blowing discoveries man will make. Don't you think so?'

They reached the sleep pods and began to get into the capsules.

Reuban took a deep breath and smiled. 'Yeah. I've been getting that a lot lately.'