Disclaimer: I do not own Robotech; wish I did, but I don't. Harmony Gold does.
Atlas
The others are infatuated with the prospect that sentient life exists somewhere out in the dark corners of space and that the Signal is proof. But if history has taught us anything it is that we should be guarded against this discovery, for we do not yet know if it is friend or foe.
- The Journal of Dr. Harold Penn
Rick shivered and pulled his cadet grey trench coat tighter against his body. He sniffled and watched his breath in the frigid air as he walked with Lisa towards the Great Hall in downtown Tiresia. The capital had changed considerably over the years since they had called it home; the city, finally healed from the wounds of war, had evolved into quite the sprawling intergalactic metropolis and the district around the Great Hall had seen the construction of numerous businesses, consulates, and upscale housing for the Tiresian elite. In many regards Tiresia was now a strange mixture of Greco-Roman architecture interspersed among the high-tech facades one would have found in neo Tokyo before the First Robotech War.
As they walked under a high-speed rail overpass he quickly glanced over at his wife; RDF standard issue all-weather trench coat wrapped tightly around her lithe figure, her long hair whipped behind her in the wind from underneath her white admiral's cap. Her business-like gaze was fixed straight ahead toward the Great Hall that stood watch over the skyscrapers and buildings that surrounded them.
"Damn it's cold," he said to himself. Lisa gave him a questioning look, the sounds of the city making it difficult to hear. He let out another visible breath in response, "Said its damn cold. Forgot how much I hated winter here." She nodded in understanding and let out an icy breath of her own, fighting with her hair as the wind blew it in front of her face.
Even as much as Rick hated the cold winters on Tirol, Tiresia had become something of a second home for the nomadic couple; Roy had been born and raised here, and the majority of their friends lived and worked either within the city or in one of the myriad of bases or stations nearby. They had initially decided to settle on Earth, yet over the past few months they had openly discussed the possibility of returning to Tirol. It was a strange feeling he had told her to not feel at home anywhere anymore; a stranger in a strange land as it were.
They continued at a brisk pace down the congested streets, weaving in and out of the throng of people along the sidewalk. The admirals returned salutes from the occasional RDF personnel as they passed, and several times were stopped by acquaintances eager to catch up, though Lisa cut the reunions short in order to meet their appointment with the Interworld Council. Finally arriving at the grand pyramid-like structure they made their way across the courtyard and up the flights of stone steps before entering through the large open doors.
Rick flashed his RDF ID badge to the MP at the security checkpoint just inside the Great Hall, casually returning the soldier's crisp salute. He waited on the other side of the checkpoint for Lisa, turning down a hallway to the right of the entryway as she rejoined him. Numerous pictures and paintings of various cultural and racial origins decorated the walls, the marble floor and high ceilings causing their boots to echo loudly.
They stopped in front of a pair of tall wooden doors halfway down the hallway, brandishing their badges once again for the MP guarding the assembly hall where the Interworld Council often held security-related meetings. The MP pulled out a datapad and verified their credentials before stepping aside, pulling the right-hand door open for them. Rick allowed Lisa to enter ahead of him, nodding in thanks to the MP before stepping inside the room.
The assembly hall was windowless and sparsely decorated; a large wooden oval table dominated the floor space in the room and a large vidscreen occupied the northern wall. Rick immediately located Max and Miriya sitting at the eastern side of the table. He placed his hand on the small of Lisa's back and motioned towards the Sterlings.
"Save me a seat, I'm going to talk to Gunther and see if I can't get any details out of him," she told him before heading over to where General Reinhardt was seated on the western side of the table, surrounded by an assortment of RDF brass. Rick watched her for a moment before turning away and heading over to where the Sterlings were seated. They looked up as he tossed his black rimmed admiral's cap on the table in front of an empty seat to Max's left.
"Well look who finally decided to show up. Hey boss," Max joked, adjusting his glasses with an index finger. Rick chuckled and shrugged out of his coat, draping it across the back of the brown leather chair before slapping Max on the back and sliding into the comfortable seat.
"Good to see you too old timer," Rick quipped with a grin on his face. He then nodded at Miriya who returned his greeting with a broad smile. "Still keeping him in line for me?" he asked her.
The Zentraedi rolled her eyes at him. "Hardly, especially now that you're here," she replied. "But still, it is good to see you again Hunter," she smirked, crossing her arms as she leaned back in her chair.
Rick couldn't help but laugh, happy to be back amongst what he considered his family. Leaning closer to Max he motioned for Miriya to huddle up and whispered, "Ok, so what the hell is going on? You two have to know something." He stared at the pair, waiting for a response. After a few moments Max readjusted his glasses again and looked back to his wife, giving her a questioning look before returning his attention back to Rick.
"We don't know, honest. Aurora wouldn't say, just that something big was going down and wanted us to be here," Max finally responded, Miriya nodding her head in agreement. Rick looked back and forth between the pair, finally accepting that they were telling the truth he leaned back in his seat and began to look around the room. He immediately recognized several members from the Robotech Research Group; Lang and Penn were seated at the northern end of the table with a nervous looking Louie Nichols between them.
Rick leaned back towards Max and motioned towards the scientists. "Looks like we're in for a magic show," he whispered. Max laughed loudly, drawing the attention of several attendees from around the room who stared at them; he shrugged his shoulders innocently at an inquisitive Miriya as she tried to decipher what had been so funny.
"They're at it again, aren't they?" came Lisa's voice from behind the trio. Rick turned in his chair to see his wife join them.
"Surprised?" Miriya answered with a wry smile.
"Hardly," Lisa laughed, leaning down to give Miriya a sisterly hug before removing her coat and taking a seat next to her friend.
"Anything out of Gunther?" Rick called down the table, his voice barely above a whisper.
"No," Lisa shook her head. "They're none too happy about it either," she motioned towards the assorted RDF brass seated across from them. "What about you two? Surely Aurora told you," she looked to her friends for some answers.
"We tried, but she refused to say anything. We were just telling Rick the only thing we could get out of her was that the meeting was of great importance," Miriya answered. Lisa let out an exasperated sigh and placed her admiral's cap in front of her and moved her chair closer to Miriya's. The two began talking in earnest while they waited for the rest of the attendees to arrive.
Several minutes passed as a few more personnel filed in, followed by the last of the Councilors who took his place next to Aurora at the southern end of the table. The din of conversations began to taper off and die as the meeting was called to order by Councilor Novius. The aging Tirolian stood up from his seat with great effort and cleared his throat, commanding the attention of those in the room.
"Thank you all for coming on such short notice," he began, clasping his hands in front of his white and gold robes. "I regret the need for secrecy as to the subject of this meeting, but as you soon will see, it was indeed necessary. Now, Dr. Nichols if you would, please proceed," Novius announced, turning the floor over to the young scientist.
The red-haired Louie Nichols stood up from his seat and engaged the vidscreen as the lights in the room were dimmed. Several charts and diagrams appeared on the vidscreen, including what appeared to be a three-dimensional display of a sound wave. "Thank you," Louie began. "Approximately one week ago this signal was received by the Tirol Comms Array," he continued as he reached down and clicked a few buttons on the datapad resting in front of him on the table.
The room immediately filled with a strange oscillating sound as the vidscreen began to animate the waveform. Rick narrowed his eyes, trying to concentrate as the noise reverberated around the room. He hadn't heard anything like it before, yet it was also strangely familiar; he could have sworn it sounded like a fetal heartbeat, yet it was less repetitive. Louie continued to let the signal play for another minute before switching off the recording, an eerie silence settling over the room.
"After performing extensive analysis on the signal, we have discovered numerous interesting properties about it. First, it is periodic and repeats every five seconds, though within the signal it appears to repeat portions with varying freq—"
"Son, please tell me you didn't drag us all the way out here just so we could listen to some white noise picked up by the comm net," interrupted one of the RDF generals. Rick looked angrily over at General Baldwin Richards who was leaning forward in his chair with arms crossed on the table. A holdover from the Southern Cross the man wasn't shy when it came to making his opinions known.
"Please General Richards, allow Dr. Nichols to speak," Councilor Novius implored, motioning for Louie to continue with his presentation.
By this time Louie looked beyond nervous, clearly out of his element in front of the senior RDF leadership. He glanced over at a still perturbed Richards before returning to his slides.
"Right, umm, as you can see here," he continued, using his datapad to highlight a portion of the waveform on the vidscreen for them, "there is a great deal of asymmetry within the signal, though there are portions that are repetitious. Taking these factors into account, along with the complexity of the signal and the precision with which it is repeated, we have come to the conclusion that it is most likely synthetic," he explained. "In fact, we have been unable to match its signature to any other on record."
Rick raised his eyebrows in surprise and shared a knowing look of concern with Lisa. His mind was reeling from the overload of information. Turning his attention back to the vidscreen he heard Lisa ask, "And where precisely did this signal come from?"
"Sorry, was getting to that ma'am," Louie apologized. Fumbling with the datapad he advanced past several more slides until the vidscreen displayed a star chart for a system Rick did not recognize. The origin of the signal was identified near the edge of the system, on what appeared to be a small planetary object labeled 'M31A-1'. "The signal appears to have originated from a small planetary body roughly the size of Luna on the outer ring of the Atlas system."
"And just where is this system located, out past the frontier?" a still annoyed Richards grumbled, once again interrupting the presentation.
Louie looked to Emil who nodded for him to continue. The young scientist cleared his throat and waited till he had everyone's undivided attention.
"No, sir. Atlas is located in the Andromeda Galaxy."