Discovering the Unknown

Discovering the Unknown(Shreyanshu) Discovering the Unknown

I reached ESRL (Extraterrestrial Species Research Lab) on a night where the icy winds brought with them an underlying feeling of the unknown. “With us, Dr. Ulmann”, said a guard. I followed, glancing at the vast infrastructure that had been invested in this herculean centre. ”Amazing”, I gasped. “We get these responses from strangers” chuckled one of them. The whole space contained instruments that seemed so unearthly, so distant, yet, felt so close. I was escorted in front of a door which read “Personnel only”.

A speaker beside the huge polished door spoke- “You may come in, Dr. Ulmann”. The door opened, revealing a table with 10 people seated, glaring at me. “Good evening, Gentleman”, I spoke. They nodded. The doors closed behind me, I was seated and the meeting, for which I had been called from England, began.

The general got up, “Gentleman, you have been assembled as you all are the best in your respective fields and we require nothing but the best for this project.” We nodded in approval. Approbation was really rare for me. ”We have got news from NASA that they have found a new planet”. Everyone’s face remained placid. “And there seems traces of life inhabiting the planet”. Everyone slid to the very corner of their chairs, in anticipation. ”We call it ‘Neptulia’, as it’s core structure is similar to Neptune’s.” Everyone’s eyes widened. “Moreover, we think we have made contact with their inhabitants.” Everyone gasped. “We need all of you to devise a system that can convert their language into ours, so we can continue our investigations.” All of us started discussing the matter, how will we make the device, the time, the assets, the knowledge it will require. “I’ll leave you gentleman for an hour”, said the general.

As soon as the general left, I stood up and asked for everyone’s attention- “I would like to propose to the General, that we should not be kicked out as soon as our work is done. We need to be a part of this project until it’s very end, agreed?” ”Yes”, they spoke instantaneously.

The wide doors opened and the general entered. ”What is the final decision?” he asked. “We think we are able enough to devise such a complex system.” ”Good” ”But we’ll need an enormous amount of capital” ”That will be no problem, people”. I wonder how quick he went from calling us ‘gentleman’ to ‘people’. Our importance was already plummeting. “Good, so we’ll start next week”, said the general. “One more thing, sir.” ”Yes?” ”I would also want us to be a part of this investigation till it’s end. No getting deported off this facility in-between the investigations.” Silence. The general went in deep thought. He must be assessing the pros and cons of agreeing. He pondered for a while and said- “Okay, it’s a deal.” We all nodded in approval.

We were then sent to our rooms in the facility where we came across a bunch of files. “PROJECT NEPTULIA” I opened the file and it had all the information regarding this planet. I sat down, looking through every detail, trying to understand Neptulia’s structure which was already seeming so intricate. It was a shame, really. I was called because I study planets. I need to be acing through this. Yet I was willingly giving in to the study, letting it take control over me. I couldn’t understand why this happens, even after 20 years of experience. I guess, that is the beauty of my subject. Humans are subconsciously attracted to things that are simple and refined. Planets agree to this concept paradoxically, they are simple yet so complex. This is the thing which makes them larger than life, so intricate and so luring.

“You are requested to go to room number 9A”, blared the speaker beside my door. I took the files and went searching for this room. I came across it at the very end of the facility. The doors unlocked and I saw a dimly lighted room with the general and the rest of the 9 members. I joined. “Follow me”, said the general. He is not addressing us as even ‘people’ anymore, I thought to myself. We walked across this thin corridor which had absolute darkness on it’s sides. Darkness that was eerie and endless. I tried not to look at it. At the end, the General turned around and said- “I welcome you all to the base station of PROJECT NEPTULIA”. Our eyes widened. The heavy locks lifted, the doors were opened.

Behind those doors was a totally different world. A world which was in hopes to reach another world. The world of Neptulia. The whole place was huge, HUGE. It was packed with people. People from different spheres. This is when it hit me. This was the moment I realized it wasn’t some small project. “Project” was an understatement itself. This was huge. We were escorted off to our stations where we worked for the next 10 weeks, devising and perfecting the LMD (Language Manipulating Device).

“Today, we are gathered for the testing of LMD”. My heart started beating. Others sectors of the facility were cut off of the power supply as the LMD fed off of large amounts of power. The silence was so prevalent that we all could hear LMD do it’s magic. All the bolts and screws turning, to speak in layman’s language. The radar turned, searching for a strong signal originating from Neptulia. 5 minutes, 10 minutes, we waited. After about 20 minutes, it started beeping. I ran towards the system to check what it had caught. “We have got one signal”, I spoke softly. “Pardon?”, spoke the general. “We have connected to one of their frequencies!!”. The whole station went in an uproar. I double checked to make sure and yes. YES. YES, we had successfully connected to them. Now, we needed to see if the LMD could actually translate their language into ours. The machine beeped again. A message this time. Everyone went silent. Beep-beep-beep. Silence prevailed. Beep-beep-beep and then came out of those speakers, the voice of them. Voice of the unknown. It wasn’t anything we imagined it to be, different from everything else. Unique. No one moved a muscle. After a minute, it stopped. LMD began it’s work. No beeping, No unearthly voice, just silence. “Time required – 2 minutes” – Said the screen. These 2 minutes will decide if all of this was worth it, if all of this time and capital invested amounted to something. This was it. The screen flickered.

Our hearts sank. It showed weird characters on the screen. None of them belonging to our alphabet. We had failed. The unknown would continue to remain the same. Out of our reaches, above our understanding. “Wait”, said the General. The screen was flickering again. “Wha—“, I gasped. And then we saw alphabets. One-by-one, they appeared. Their message was converted, it was in front of us, adorned on the screen of LMD. Silence engulfed the room. “We did it”, I murmured. “WE DID IT!!”, I shouted. The whole station applauded, exultant approbation. The General silenced everyone and asked me to speak the message. I was honored. I was the one chosen to narrate the message of a species inhabiting the farthest reaches of this world. I cleared my throat and read - “People of a different world, We Blutans send our kindest greetings.” It was just a sentence, but it packed in it so much. They called themselves “Blutans”. A name as mysterious as them.

For the next year or so, our time was completely and fully occupied in perfecting the LMD, improving our relations and trying to learn about them as much as we could. All of this, the discovery of a new life bearing planet was undercover. Whilst the human life above remained the same, oblivious to the fact that they co-exist with another world, another species. We had successfully established a healthy relationship with the Blutans and had learned so much about them. Yet, we knew that this was only the tip of the iceberg. 2 years from the first message, we decided to meet them. ‘We’, as in some selected people who’ll bear the intense job of representing humanity. LMD was now capable of transmitting and receiving data within seconds. We sent- “Dear Blutans, we have established a healthy relationship. We think that it would be good for us to meet.” 2 days later we get a reply – “We would also like to have a meeting with you, meet us at Alpha-Galaxy’s end 100 arcs from now” We sent – “Unfortunately we don’t understand ‘arcs’” They replied- “The time when the Moon rises and darkness sweeps across engulfing everything.” We could know so much from this. It meant, they had days and nights just like us. They also had a natural moon and an ‘Arc’ signified a day. 100 days from now, would be the 20th of November. Everyone marked this date in their respective calendars. It indeed was a day to remember.

NASA was asked to provide a spaceship which would take us to the end of this Alpha-Galaxy. NASA wrote back saying –“The end of Alpha Galaxy is 30 million light years away. We would require 3 months to build a spaceship that fast. Fastest ever.” Time was ample.

A team of 6 was made to go on that spaceship. While all of this was going on, I noticed that the General would go away abruptly in-between meetings, announcements and discussions. It was weird. Something else was going on, of which we weren’t told of. I tried implying this to the General, but he denied it every time. 10th November, the greatest day for humanity had come. The spaceship was magnificent. It was a beauty, glistening with sheets of carbon-fiber, roaring engines ready to shoot it off Earth and the letters – “E.S.R.L” adorned the hull. We all were overcome with joy and pride.

The spaceship was loaded onto the take-off station and the countdown began. 10-9-8—We’ll be discovering a whole new world, a world full of mysterious things, waiting to be discovered. Luring us into it. We, helplessly, getting lured—3-2-1. The engines roared, the launchers flared and the spaceship started ascending. It was beautiful. The fire off of it’s launchers engulfed it for a moment, making it invisible and then it rose out of the enveloping fire, shimmering as the sun-rays reflected off of it’s spotless body. It would take 10 days for the spaceship to reach it’s destination. These 10 days gave us a space for rest. After two years of continuous hustling, we had time to breathe. The time went slower. Although, the General still remained absent from most of the discussions. Weird, I thought.

Those 10 days passed swiftly, even though time had felt slower. We had not communicated with the Blutans during those 10 days. We received a message from the spaceship – “We are here. We are at the end of the Alpha Galaxy.” We sent the same information to the Blutans. They instantly replied – “We’ll be removing the invisible cloak from our spaceships.” Now we knew that they were far ahead of us technologically. “Wow, an invisibility cloak”, I gasped. Our spaceship could view theirs. We, at the base station could also see it through the cameras installed. Our spaceship couldn’t be compared to theirs at any level. Their spaceship was 50 times bigger and exploited technology in ways we didn’t even know existed. We were lifting the curtain off of many things. New worlds, species, technology and possibly more. The process was exhilarating. A metal-seeming frame extended from their ship towards ours. We were first alarmed but then the Blutans said that it was a bridge. Everything was new. It really was a new world.

Suddenly, there was obstruction in the signals. The communication started failing. Everything went haywire, panic settled in us. Everyone started running frantic trying to get a solution. 5 minutes passed, no response from either of them. (Our spaceship and the Blutans) LMD started beeping. It’s beeping made everyone silent once again. “Your people are safe with us, your ship was hit by an electro-storm. It is heavily damaged. You will regain contact with them once our mechanics restore the spaceship. Don’t worry, no harm will be done to them.” Everyone was awestruck.

NASA, the leading organization in making spacecrafts had invested enormous time and capital in that spaceship. The same spaceship which is so heavily damaged by the storm. It made us seem so feeble, and their spaceship? If our people are with them, it means their spaceship withstood all of that damage. Amazing. Their technology is leaps and bounds ahead of us. We can only Thank them for taking in our species in their home. We wrote – “Dear Blutans, Thank you for giving our people shelter under such circumstances. We are in debt.” All of this made two things clear – One, they possess unbound knowledge regarding technology. Second, they too, have a heart.

We waited, 3 days—4 days—and finally at the end of the 6th day the LMD beeped again. “Hey! Thomas, Captain of the E.S.R.L spaceship here. We are totally fine, thanks to the Blutans. We have learned so much. You all can’t even imagine that in the wildest of your dreams. You will be blown away. BLOWN AWAY. The knowledge of their existence makes the motive of ours so trivial. Too much to share, will meet you all in 10 days! Cheers.”

And we all stood in silence.
What could it be? What have they all seen that has blown their mind? What all mysteries are they bringing with them, or answers? Or both?


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{EPISODE 2 coming soon! Hope you all enjoyed it! If you did, suggest others to read it, share the story! :D Special thanks to Storystar.com for providing this platform.)