International Space Station, 12:30am, 12th June 2062
Alarms. Alarms were everywhere. Ringing here. Ringing there. NASA headquarters would never forget those alarms.
‘Houston, sensors have picked up activity on the surface of Mars. Permission to launch shuttle and begin recon mission’ came a request from the Space Station.
‘Permission granted for fly over only’ came the reply.
‘Copy that. ISS out’ Two astronauts headed for the Shuttle Bays, entered and then launched and headed for Mars.
‘Huston we are launched. ETA two minutes’ said one of the Astronauts.
‘Copy’ was the reply. Two minutes passed and the sight that confronted them was over whelming. A ship has crash landed on Mars. The Astronauts looked at each other.
‘I’m picking up strong EM readings’ one of them said.
‘Huston, we have reached Mars. What the sensors picked up was a crashed alien ship. Sending through images now’ there was a pause as the images reached Head Quarters and then.
‘That’s incredible. Run scans. See if you can find any life on board’ was the response. And so they did. After the scans were completed they replied.
‘Appears dead. Anything on board must’ve been killed in the crash. Life Support appears to be working though. Permission to board the ship’
‘Permission granted. See if there’s anything you can salvage. Report back in ten minutes. Huston out’ the Astronauts changed into the suits that had been worn in the sixties when man first landed on the Moon. Despite the major advancements in technology, the design of the space suits hadn’t changed drastically. At the very least they were by far lighter and easier to walk in. they landed the Shuttle inside what appeared to be a docking bay of the alien ship. With a torch in hand they opened the door and explored the ship. They could tell that the ship was in a way even before it had crashed. It had obviously been through a battle and got its ass kicked. Every console they tried had been burnt out and with the EM readings they both new it wasn’t the crash that had caused it. When they reached a door at the back of the dock they received a transmission from NASA.
‘We need your status’
‘We’re in, what I’m guessing, is some sort of docking bay. We’re at a door about to check out the rest of the ship’
‘You have ten more minutes and then you are to return to the ISS with any technology recovered’
‘Copy that’ they opened the opened and saw that the corridor beyond was significantly smaller than their entrance in terms of height. The beings that constructed the ship must’ve been small. They had to crouch to continue to move through. Sparks flew and electricity also cracked throughout the corridor, which was dark and littered with pieces of metal. The light from their torches washed over the rusted brown surfaces of the walls. They knew it was safe, but something didn’t feel right. They felt that the ship was leading them into a false sense of security, that they were being watched. Finally they found a working console on the edge of a large circular room, much bigger than the surrounding corridors. As they searched through file after file on the holo-screen that was projected in front of them, a door that they hadn’t come through closed on the other side of the room.
‘What was that?’ one of them said.
‘I might’ve accidentally closed it. Hang on. I’ll see if I can open it’ the other replied. But no matter what he tapped on the screen, the door wouldn’t open. He put it down to not knowing what he was doing.
‘I can’t open it. At least the way we came is clear’ he said. They continued, managing to stream the data to the ISS eventually ten minutes rolled around.
‘Time to go’
‘Just a few more seconds’ and then there was a scream and he turned around. His colleague was being held in mid-air by a foot long talon sticking through his chest. The talon belonged to a monstrous creature that they had not seen before. Something told him he needed to run, but fear kept him rooted to the spot. He was unable to move as a second talon pierced his chest. That was Humanity’s first encounter with the Tallentiri; they would not meet again for another six years.
