Chapter 1: Welcome to the frontier.
“Now, if you look out to the Atlantic you will see two more hurricanes have formed. People along the East Coast may have to endure another impact within the next week. On the other side of the country we see an unusual pattern of seismic activity. The ring of volcanoes lining the pacific seem to be more active. For now the quakes are minor but frequent. Officials are advising people to evacuate inland as a large enough earthquake could result in a devastating tsunami. Be sure to stay tuned for more updates, this is Penny Rogers with channel 8 news, signing off.”
I grabbed the remote from beside me and muted the television. I suppose it was good that I hadn't unpacked from the last hurricane that hit less than a week prior. I had only just gotten electricity back last night.
“David!” I called, “We might have to evacuate again.”
My roommate responded with a groan.
“what now?”
“Two more hurricanes in the Atlantic. One might come this way.” I said.
“You're joking right?” he said as he walked in from the kitchen, “ We had two Category 4’s in a month and now a new one shows up.”
“It isn't guaranteed to come this way.” I said, “I just want to be prepared if it does.”
“Nathan, if the news said to expect two inches of rain, you'd build an Ark. Just let me know if it starts coming this way.” he said.
Before I had a chance to respond the microwave beeped in the kitchen alerting David that his hot pocket had finished. He left me in the living room to keep watching.I unmuted the TV.
“Lead researchers are searching for the cause of these alarming natural disasters. Some are saying that global warming is the cause, others claim the change is too sudden, but one thing is certain these disasters are more common and more powerful than ever this year.” the news lady said.
At some point during her speech I zoned out. Perhaps it was time to move inland. If the weather kept up like this I would be spending more money on evacuation than my rent anyway. I let my thoughts wander to ideal living for a few minutes before the TV, lights and fans all shut off simultaneously.
“Ah come on!” David called back from the kitchen, “We just got power back.” he complained.
“Relax, maybe we just blew a fuse.” I said.
I walked to the laundry room to find the fuse box, attempting to use my phone as a light source, but it wouldn't come on. I could have sworn I had charged it.
“Hey! Do you know where the flashlight is? My phones dead.” I said to David.
He walked into the room.
“Here just use mine.”
He also tried and failed to turn on his phone.
“Great, my phone is dead too, and the power is out.” he complained.
Suddenly the lights cut back on and the electronics started buzzing again. Strangely enough so did our phones both to a blank but backlit screen.
The devices began spitting out a message in what sounded like chinese. The sound of the TV in the other room was the same.
“What is this?” I asked.
“I have no idea.” David responded.
We walked into the living room listening to the strange message. It came through everything with a speaker it seemed. The sound of the voice changed many times seemingly alternating through many different languages. Finally I heard English and recognized the voice as our president.
“People of the planet Earth, your galaxy is dying, we are broadcasting from the Andromeda galaxy to let all sentient life forms know assistance is on the way. We are here to prevent the loss of any species that has potential to join the intergalactic union as either a functioning member or a viable resource. Representatives will arrive in two Earth days to ensure the survival of the human race and others. Please do not resist us. We are your salvation.” The president’s voice announced before immediately changing to another language.
“Is this someone’s idea of a prank?” David asked me,“Hacking into our stuff and playing all of this alien gibberish?”
A prank wasn’t my first conclusion, I thought that it was very real something that came as a relief for two reasons. The first being the confirmation of life elsewhere in the universe, and the second because even though we were met with the unsettling news of galactic demise, we were also met with a promise of safety. The thought that it might be illegitimate hadn’t even occurred to me.
“How would someone do that though, it is on everything, and what about the power outage?” I asked.
“I don’t know, how could it be real?” He replied.
We discussed amongst ourselves for a few minutes before there was a knock at the door. When I went to answer it, there stood my neighbor Samson was holding his phone out.
“Hey, I was just stopping by to check something. Did you two by chance have this recording come up on your phones. It just showed up on mine and my TV and I wanted to see if this was legit.” he said. “And if not, I know you’re something of a tech expert Nathan so maybe you could fix it.”
I looked at his phone and confirmed it was still the same audio we received still cycling through various languages. Through the open door I could see other neighbors making their way out of their houses and looking toward one another as well, it appeared that the entire block at least was getting the same sound. Eventually everyone accepted it was happening to the rest of them and returned to their own homes.
About an hour or so later the message stopped looping. Our phones returned to normal and our televisions defaulted to the emergency broadcast system. Soon after the screen was overtaken by a live news feed from the white house.
“People of America,” Our president said, “ We are aware that you have received a message seemingly from an alien race. At this time we cannot confirm or deny its legitimacy, we are however looking for the cause of this interference. We hope to reach the bottom of this within the next few hours. America thanks you for your patience.”
I did not wait for confirmation. I began running around the house grabbing my valuables and necessities. I wanted to be ready, I found my already packed suitcase and stuffed it to overflowing then a backpack as well. David watched me in my fervent dash to prepare for a permanent evacuation.
“What are you doing?” He asked, “you don’t even know that it is real yet.”
“Real enough that the United States Government can’t tell the difference? I am taking that chance. Besides what do I have to lose if its fake?” I countered.
He couldn’t deny the logic, but still refused to pack himself. He claimed that he would pack in two days when the aliens arrived to carry him away.
The next day went by in a crawl. By that morning world governments around the globe had confirmed the message had not originated from earth. Each government established various plans gambling on whether the alien race would come in peace as stated or surprise us by attacking. It seemed the whole world was evacuating to somewhere or another. The roads were packed as people were advised into unused cold war fallout shelters while others gathered in crowds at airports and community centers depending on whether they saw threat or opportunity.
David and I separated, he was skeptic about aliens, but was even more so on their chances of peaceful interaction. I on the other hand was heading to a community center in kentucky where my Aunt lived. As much as I was looking forward to the extraterrestrial encounter, first I wanted to avoid the storm and that meant heading inland. The roads were packed and the gas stations were empty, the so called plan released by our government left thousands stranded on the road waiting for gas, gas trucks couldn’t deliver said gas because all the roads were blocked and there was no priority as everywhere seemed to need it all at once.I hadn’t expected it to be this bad, but I had raided the pantry of everything David had left earlier in the morning, and a can full of gas I had gotten during the hurricane before. I spent the entire day on the road and by nightfall the blockade of cars remained. I eventually parked on the side of the road somewhere in southern Georgia to sleep for the night.
When I awoke I was no longer in the backseat of my Buick, in fact I was nowhere I recognized at all. The walls were made of some sort of pristine white metal with seams in some places with a blue light leaking out from them. On 3 sides there were featureless walls, but the fourth had a blue barrier comprised of what looked like static from a Television set, and a panel in the wall with strange writing on it. The surroundings were the first thing I noticed, the second was my own lack of surrounding material. I was there in my birthday suit with none of my possessions to be found. There was however a silver lump coming out of the skin of my arm where a watch might be. On it a similar panel to the one by the barrier. As I was analyzing the new discovery a voice suddenly played from it.
“Ah, you are awake. Congratulations” it said.
“Where am I?” I asked in response.
“You are aboard the Dawn Seeker, a space faring vessel designed with the purpose of storing and transporting large numbers of exotic creatures. You are one the lucky humans who we saved.”
“Lucky? You mean you didn’t save everyone?” I asked.
I heard a strange noise which I could only interpret as a laugh.
“No everyone else is for the Intergalactic union, we only took a sampling from your planet. Now that your species is officially endangered you will make us rich?”
“Rich?” I asked, I hadn’t thought that aliens would care about money.
“The newest species to enter the cosmos, only 6 billion of them in the entire universe. Everyone will want a human in their ship, you will sell within 19 days 6 hours 39 minutes Earth Time”
The amount of time was oddly specific, but that was the least concerning of the problems.
“When you say sell us, do you mean like… Slavery?” I asked, worried that my sudden “salvation” was actually malicious.
“No no no, never something like that. We may not follow the same rules as the union, but we still have morals. You will not be a slave so much as well… a pet. Yes, you would be a pet.” He explained.
That wasn’t much better, and was certainly degrading.
“How can you condone selling sentient beings?” I asked, “We are not pets, we are independent thinkers. We can hold conversation with you and build and use tools.”
“I am surprised to hear this concern. I am no expert on your planet, but I believe hearing that your people once sold each even more ruthlessly. Either way, your input doesn’t matter. You will be sold as soon as we find a viable buyer, regardless of your desires.” it explained.
I sat back down on the spotless white floor, reverting to a fetal position subconsciously .
“You humans are weird. The voice came back, “are you all this pessimistic?”
“Forgive me for sulking, when I just found out I will be an alien slave.” I retorted.
“Pet,” it corrected, as if there were a large difference, “and you have just been invited into a world with far more possibilities than your species has ever imagined, why do you focus on the future. Instead learn about the present. Ask me anything?”
I supposed it couldn’t hurt.
“How do you travel faster than light?” I asked, having been curious if it were possible long before any sign of aliens.
“Our ships travel using hardlight propulsion and energetic distortion. Essentially we surround the ship in a light beam that acts as a solid and carries the ship along with it at light speed. To accelerate beyond this speed, we use a highly condensed energetic ring which compresses space in front of the ship while stretching it behind it. When it comes time to slow down the ring is projected from front to back normalizing space around the ship, then the hardlight is redirected opposite from us to bring us to a stop. Energetic diffusers within the ship remove the undesired effects of acceleration on the passengers.” it said.
It was fascinating , but I barely understood what was probably an extremely simplified version of it so I moved on.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I am a Sentient Exotics Management Intelligence, but you may call me SEMI.I am designed to welcome sentient species into stellar environments, and to help them accustom themselves with their environment. I was donated to the Dawn seeker by the Union. While the Union does not approve of buying and selling sentient creatures, they cannot stop the trade, so they at least wanted to make sure that the creatures Dawn Seeker took still received proper introduction. I am here for your benefit not that of the Dawn Seeker crew.” It said.
I hadn’t realized I was speaking to an artificial intelligence before, I guess that their technology far surpassed ours there too.
“Last question for now. Where can I get some clothes?”
End of Chapter 1.
Author's note: This story was inspired by the devastating hurricanes that struck Texas, Florida, and Georgia in early September. The original premise was meant to be a space bound Noah's ark, in which the aliens saved only a small portion of humanity, but during the writing I gained inspiration from a common internet prompt involving human and alien interaction where humans are the weird ones. So I decided to mix them together. Nathan and the other "lucky" humans begin their adventures in space here. I plan to continue the story in chapters from this point forward following Nathan through his new life in various intervals. Be sure to look out for the later chapters if you're interested.
“Now, if you look out to the Atlantic you will see two more hurricanes have formed. People along the East Coast may have to endure another impact within the next week. On the other side of the country we see an unusual pattern of seismic activity. The ring of volcanoes lining the pacific seem to be more active. For now the quakes are minor but frequent. Officials are advising people to evacuate inland as a large enough earthquake could result in a devastating tsunami. Be sure to stay tuned for more updates, this is Penny Rogers with channel 8 news, signing off.”
I grabbed the remote from beside me and muted the television. I suppose it was good that I hadn't unpacked from the last hurricane that hit less than a week prior. I had only just gotten electricity back last night.
“David!” I called, “We might have to evacuate again.”
My roommate responded with a groan.
“what now?”
“Two more hurricanes in the Atlantic. One might come this way.” I said.
“You're joking right?” he said as he walked in from the kitchen, “ We had two Category 4’s in a month and now a new one shows up.”
“It isn't guaranteed to come this way.” I said, “I just want to be prepared if it does.”
“Nathan, if the news said to expect two inches of rain, you'd build an Ark. Just let me know if it starts coming this way.” he said.
Before I had a chance to respond the microwave beeped in the kitchen alerting David that his hot pocket had finished. He left me in the living room to keep watching.I unmuted the TV.
“Lead researchers are searching for the cause of these alarming natural disasters. Some are saying that global warming is the cause, others claim the change is too sudden, but one thing is certain these disasters are more common and more powerful than ever this year.” the news lady said.
At some point during her speech I zoned out. Perhaps it was time to move inland. If the weather kept up like this I would be spending more money on evacuation than my rent anyway. I let my thoughts wander to ideal living for a few minutes before the TV, lights and fans all shut off simultaneously.
“Ah come on!” David called back from the kitchen, “We just got power back.” he complained.
“Relax, maybe we just blew a fuse.” I said.
I walked to the laundry room to find the fuse box, attempting to use my phone as a light source, but it wouldn't come on. I could have sworn I had charged it.
“Hey! Do you know where the flashlight is? My phones dead.” I said to David.
He walked into the room.
“Here just use mine.”
He also tried and failed to turn on his phone.
“Great, my phone is dead too, and the power is out.” he complained.
Suddenly the lights cut back on and the electronics started buzzing again. Strangely enough so did our phones both to a blank but backlit screen.
The devices began spitting out a message in what sounded like chinese. The sound of the TV in the other room was the same.
“What is this?” I asked.
“I have no idea.” David responded.
We walked into the living room listening to the strange message. It came through everything with a speaker it seemed. The sound of the voice changed many times seemingly alternating through many different languages. Finally I heard English and recognized the voice as our president.
“People of the planet Earth, your galaxy is dying, we are broadcasting from the Andromeda galaxy to let all sentient life forms know assistance is on the way. We are here to prevent the loss of any species that has potential to join the intergalactic union as either a functioning member or a viable resource. Representatives will arrive in two Earth days to ensure the survival of the human race and others. Please do not resist us. We are your salvation.” The president’s voice announced before immediately changing to another language.
“Is this someone’s idea of a prank?” David asked me,“Hacking into our stuff and playing all of this alien gibberish?”
A prank wasn’t my first conclusion, I thought that it was very real something that came as a relief for two reasons. The first being the confirmation of life elsewhere in the universe, and the second because even though we were met with the unsettling news of galactic demise, we were also met with a promise of safety. The thought that it might be illegitimate hadn’t even occurred to me.
“How would someone do that though, it is on everything, and what about the power outage?” I asked.
“I don’t know, how could it be real?” He replied.
We discussed amongst ourselves for a few minutes before there was a knock at the door. When I went to answer it, there stood my neighbor Samson was holding his phone out.
“Hey, I was just stopping by to check something. Did you two by chance have this recording come up on your phones. It just showed up on mine and my TV and I wanted to see if this was legit.” he said. “And if not, I know you’re something of a tech expert Nathan so maybe you could fix it.”
I looked at his phone and confirmed it was still the same audio we received still cycling through various languages. Through the open door I could see other neighbors making their way out of their houses and looking toward one another as well, it appeared that the entire block at least was getting the same sound. Eventually everyone accepted it was happening to the rest of them and returned to their own homes.
About an hour or so later the message stopped looping. Our phones returned to normal and our televisions defaulted to the emergency broadcast system. Soon after the screen was overtaken by a live news feed from the white house.
“People of America,” Our president said, “ We are aware that you have received a message seemingly from an alien race. At this time we cannot confirm or deny its legitimacy, we are however looking for the cause of this interference. We hope to reach the bottom of this within the next few hours. America thanks you for your patience.”
I did not wait for confirmation. I began running around the house grabbing my valuables and necessities. I wanted to be ready, I found my already packed suitcase and stuffed it to overflowing then a backpack as well. David watched me in my fervent dash to prepare for a permanent evacuation.
“What are you doing?” He asked, “you don’t even know that it is real yet.”
“Real enough that the United States Government can’t tell the difference? I am taking that chance. Besides what do I have to lose if its fake?” I countered.
He couldn’t deny the logic, but still refused to pack himself. He claimed that he would pack in two days when the aliens arrived to carry him away.
The next day went by in a crawl. By that morning world governments around the globe had confirmed the message had not originated from earth. Each government established various plans gambling on whether the alien race would come in peace as stated or surprise us by attacking. It seemed the whole world was evacuating to somewhere or another. The roads were packed as people were advised into unused cold war fallout shelters while others gathered in crowds at airports and community centers depending on whether they saw threat or opportunity.
David and I separated, he was skeptic about aliens, but was even more so on their chances of peaceful interaction. I on the other hand was heading to a community center in kentucky where my Aunt lived. As much as I was looking forward to the extraterrestrial encounter, first I wanted to avoid the storm and that meant heading inland. The roads were packed and the gas stations were empty, the so called plan released by our government left thousands stranded on the road waiting for gas, gas trucks couldn’t deliver said gas because all the roads were blocked and there was no priority as everywhere seemed to need it all at once.I hadn’t expected it to be this bad, but I had raided the pantry of everything David had left earlier in the morning, and a can full of gas I had gotten during the hurricane before. I spent the entire day on the road and by nightfall the blockade of cars remained. I eventually parked on the side of the road somewhere in southern Georgia to sleep for the night.
When I awoke I was no longer in the backseat of my Buick, in fact I was nowhere I recognized at all. The walls were made of some sort of pristine white metal with seams in some places with a blue light leaking out from them. On 3 sides there were featureless walls, but the fourth had a blue barrier comprised of what looked like static from a Television set, and a panel in the wall with strange writing on it. The surroundings were the first thing I noticed, the second was my own lack of surrounding material. I was there in my birthday suit with none of my possessions to be found. There was however a silver lump coming out of the skin of my arm where a watch might be. On it a similar panel to the one by the barrier. As I was analyzing the new discovery a voice suddenly played from it.
“Ah, you are awake. Congratulations” it said.
“Where am I?” I asked in response.
“You are aboard the Dawn Seeker, a space faring vessel designed with the purpose of storing and transporting large numbers of exotic creatures. You are one the lucky humans who we saved.”
“Lucky? You mean you didn’t save everyone?” I asked.
I heard a strange noise which I could only interpret as a laugh.
“No everyone else is for the Intergalactic union, we only took a sampling from your planet. Now that your species is officially endangered you will make us rich?”
“Rich?” I asked, I hadn’t thought that aliens would care about money.
“The newest species to enter the cosmos, only 6 billion of them in the entire universe. Everyone will want a human in their ship, you will sell within 19 days 6 hours 39 minutes Earth Time”
The amount of time was oddly specific, but that was the least concerning of the problems.
“When you say sell us, do you mean like… Slavery?” I asked, worried that my sudden “salvation” was actually malicious.
“No no no, never something like that. We may not follow the same rules as the union, but we still have morals. You will not be a slave so much as well… a pet. Yes, you would be a pet.” He explained.
That wasn’t much better, and was certainly degrading.
“How can you condone selling sentient beings?” I asked, “We are not pets, we are independent thinkers. We can hold conversation with you and build and use tools.”
“I am surprised to hear this concern. I am no expert on your planet, but I believe hearing that your people once sold each even more ruthlessly. Either way, your input doesn’t matter. You will be sold as soon as we find a viable buyer, regardless of your desires.” it explained.
I sat back down on the spotless white floor, reverting to a fetal position subconsciously .
“You humans are weird. The voice came back, “are you all this pessimistic?”
“Forgive me for sulking, when I just found out I will be an alien slave.” I retorted.
“Pet,” it corrected, as if there were a large difference, “and you have just been invited into a world with far more possibilities than your species has ever imagined, why do you focus on the future. Instead learn about the present. Ask me anything?”
I supposed it couldn’t hurt.
“How do you travel faster than light?” I asked, having been curious if it were possible long before any sign of aliens.
“Our ships travel using hardlight propulsion and energetic distortion. Essentially we surround the ship in a light beam that acts as a solid and carries the ship along with it at light speed. To accelerate beyond this speed, we use a highly condensed energetic ring which compresses space in front of the ship while stretching it behind it. When it comes time to slow down the ring is projected from front to back normalizing space around the ship, then the hardlight is redirected opposite from us to bring us to a stop. Energetic diffusers within the ship remove the undesired effects of acceleration on the passengers.” it said.
It was fascinating , but I barely understood what was probably an extremely simplified version of it so I moved on.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I am a Sentient Exotics Management Intelligence, but you may call me SEMI.I am designed to welcome sentient species into stellar environments, and to help them accustom themselves with their environment. I was donated to the Dawn seeker by the Union. While the Union does not approve of buying and selling sentient creatures, they cannot stop the trade, so they at least wanted to make sure that the creatures Dawn Seeker took still received proper introduction. I am here for your benefit not that of the Dawn Seeker crew.” It said.
I hadn’t realized I was speaking to an artificial intelligence before, I guess that their technology far surpassed ours there too.
“Last question for now. Where can I get some clothes?”
End of Chapter 1.
Author's note: This story was inspired by the devastating hurricanes that struck Texas, Florida, and Georgia in early September. The original premise was meant to be a space bound Noah's ark, in which the aliens saved only a small portion of humanity, but during the writing I gained inspiration from a common internet prompt involving human and alien interaction where humans are the weird ones. So I decided to mix them together. Nathan and the other "lucky" humans begin their adventures in space here. I plan to continue the story in chapters from this point forward following Nathan through his new life in various intervals. Be sure to look out for the later chapters if you're interested.