Contact

David walked through the crowded halls of the facility, clutching a briefcase and a few hefty manila folders as he passed by scientists and technicians who were talking amongst themselves. As he walked through, he heard multiple conversations about the incoming transmission from the exploration shuttle that was set out to land on the exoplanet, Kepler. As David was turning the corner, towards the Command Center, he was met by his colleague and fellow Astrobiologist, Fredrick Kayne.

"Doctor Hayes, I was just looking for you," Fredrick said, walking up to David.

"Can it wait, Kayne? I need to get to Command before they broadcast the landing."

"Well, that's the thing. You see, we were running through the files that we got from the drones on Kepler and we seemed to have found something.... unusual," Fredrick said, shifting through a folder and pulled out a packet of a few pages and handed it to David.

David took the packet and briefly scanned the first page, "These are just the synopsis we got from the drones that successfully made it to the surface. I don't see why this is important?"

"Yes, it says that there was no life detected on Kepler, but we got word from the engineers that the satellites we left there have been sporadic and going offline from long periods of time."

David looked at Fredrick, noticing his face was filled with worry, and upon hearing that the satellites orbiting Kepler were going offline seemed to infect him too. He knew a few of the engineers who worked on them and was told they were the best satellites of the century and they were designed to survive deep space travel. If one were to be destroyed the entire facility would have been alerted, postponing the actual landing.

"Alright, let us take it up with the Director. He should be in the Command Center, overseeing the landing," David said, as he and Fredrick quickened their pace towards the Center.

"Do you think Director Quinn will listen to us? I mean...the engineers told him about the satellites...and we're still going through with the landing," Fredrick said, in between his shortened breath as they continued down the hall.

"If Quinn is not listening to the ones who designed the satellites and ignoring basic protocol for situations like this, then he's definitely not going to listen to us. But it is worth a shot."

"Well, maybe not me, but I heard you were tasked with monitoring the explorer's camera feeds to find anything that may lead to life. So, if anyone that's stationed here has a chance it'll most likely be you."

"I thought you said, the drones told us that there was no life on Kepler?"

"Yes, but after hearing this...I'm not so sure anymore," Fredrick said as they stopped at a set of doors, leading to the Command Center.

The two entered a massive semi-circular room, with at least two dozen personnel sitting behind monitors and chattering through their earpieces. Up above on the observation deck was a group of people in suits and lab coats, talking as they awaited the first transmission from the explorers. David's eyes peered towards a man in a grey two-piece suit, whose greying brown hair was slicked back. He watched as the man was gently caressing his neatly kept beard as his face was glued to the giant screen at the far end of the room.

David and Fredrick made their way up to them, hoping to get them to cancel the broadcast, "Director Quinn, we need to speak to you urgently," David said, as the brown haired man turned his gaze for a moment, before going back to the monitor.

"Not now, Doctor Hayes, Professor Kayne, we are about to receive the transmission from the shuttle," Quinn said, not even giving them the attention, they needed.

"But, sir, it's about the satellites," Fredrick said.

"What about them?"

"Well, they've gone offline for a few times the past week and protocol states that we need to abort the exploration before we figure out what caused them to act this way."

"I know, but it's too late now. Besides, we have already calculated that it must have been a nearby solar flare that caused them to go offline, but they are back online now. Now, hush, we are about to get underway."

"Sir, I think you should really consider..." David was saying, before an employee interrupted them from below.

"Director, we're receiving a transmission and have gone live," He said, before turning his head back to his monitor.

The giant screen flickered on, with a bit of static showing through the camera feed before giving a clear image. The camera panned around the red desert surface, before turning towards what seemed to be a massive structure in the distance. "Control...are you getting this?" The explorer said through his microphone, before the structure began to glow a low red hue. Soon after the screen went back to static, then black. The black screen then emitted a grey audio lines, giving off low sounds, before the audio lines began to rise.

"We've been waiting..."

Everyone in the Center was filled with a mixture of feelings, some awe as in they discovered extra-terrestrial life, but most of it was fear. The voice they heard was so calm and soothing, yet ominous, sending shivers down their spines.

"What the hell?" David muttered to himself, before the audio continued.

"We have heard the cries of help from your kind for so long now...and we have watched. Learning, evolving, racing against each and every one of your own kind to reach us, knowing our messages would lead you to us," The voice said, before the screen began to display photos of the Egyptian Pyramids and ancient temples all over the world, "Violence, Beauty, Truth...those are the answers that we strive to give to you....but it seems you already discovered them," once again, clips of various wars being displayed.

"Director, we need to close off the broadcast now!" Fredrick exclaimed. His face was filled with worry and fear, thinking of what the populations would think.

Quinn raised his hand up, "Shut up, Doctor..." was all he said, causing David to tighten his fist.

"Your kind looks to the brightness of the stars in hope of a new age, but all we've seen was lost lives in that light. In the light, there is only weakness. Only failure...only death. But, where your light takes, the dark will give...You will no longer be pawns and watch the lives of those you care for be lost. In the darkness of our gifts is only strength. Only victory...only life. We will return once again share our gift. Remember this...we are not your friend. We are not your enemy. We are your.... salvation. Respite lies ahead..."

The audio cut out and the screen went black, losing all communication to the explorers they had sent to Kepler. The technicians and everyone else watching stood there in silence, not knowing what to say or what they had just witnessed.

David was the first to gape his mouth slightly, "Director, what do we do?" He asked but was left unanswered as Director Quinn stood there in a stiff manner. David then slammed his fist onto a nearby desk, "Answer me!"

"It's too late, David. I need to speak to the government leaders and plan the worlds next move," Quinn said, turning around and walked away with his entourage of scientists. Leaving David and Fredrick with the chattering of employees and technicians as they tried to reconnect with the explorers or any of the satellites in orbit.

"Fredrick, what do you make of what just happened?" David said, catching his colleague off guard.

"Me?! Well, I... I don't know what to make of it. On one hand we just encountered alien life, but on the other it could've been some hacker messing with us."

"Come on, Fredrick, you know no one on Earth can possibly get into our systems."

"Right, right, so that was the voice of extraterrestrial life then?"

"Yeah, and it seems that they've been to Earth before," David said, thinking about the images of the pyramids and war videos, "And it looks like they'll be coming back."

"So, what do we do? From what I can assume is that the entire population is rioting in the streets or having panic attacks in their homes."

"What we need to do, is play our roles and prepare for what's coming."