Welcome to Flying On The Fringe. Below is the second installment of a short story that won second place in one of the contests at the Ozarks Creative Writers conference in 2015. If you missed the first installment, just scroll down—it appears just below this entry. Hope you enjoy reading it.
First Contact
Installment 2
The open door revealed an atrium, perhaps a kilometer in diameter, populated with a wide variety of plants, some as tall as large trees on Earth. Most specimens had silvery-blue foliage. Several had blossoms that ran a full spectrum of colors, including some that fell into an ultraviolet range that Jack was only able to see with the aid of his helmet.
“Wow,” breathed Jack. “Peri, I’m going to take some samples.”
“I don’t recommend that, Jack. The flora could be poisonous, or even aggressive. And you don’t want to do anything to rile the natives, although I still haven’t seen anything that would qualify as fauna. Jack, there is now another object approaching the station!”
Jack spun a hundred and eighty degrees to look at the nearest viewscreen. A small blinking red dot drew steadily nearer the station, approaching a point at the next spoke starboard from his present position. The screen shifted to an external view of the station. Three of the rings split apart, one section rotating up and the other rotating down so that they formed a circular receiving area.
“Peri, shields up! Get those engines ready. I’m going to stay a bit longer. I’d really like to get a look at these guys.”
On the viewscreen, a sphere ten times the size of their own cargo vessel was now visible on the far side of the circular opening in the station’s rings. The newcomer slid neatly into the space created for it. Four arms moved out from the rings to secure the ship. An announcement sounded in the alien language.
“Again, bad idea,” Peri said. “They might not be too happy to see you.”
“Yeah, I know. But you don’t make history playing it safe. I don’t intend to let them see me, if I can avoid it. I just want to get a look at them.”
“Please don’t do anything dangerous. Just get a quick look and then run.”
“Roger that.” Jack headed for the junction of the next spoke. He found a “tree” with a thick trunk and ducked behind it as the connecting door slid open.
Jack had a hard time wrapping his head around what he saw—a giant eye surrounded by a translucent blob with tendrils trailing off behind it. Sort of like a jellyfish with a huge eyeball. The thing floated through the air as easily as the ones on earth swam.
In spite of his efforts, it spotted him behind the tree. It uttered an almost supersonic shriek that forced Jack to grab for his ears, forgetting he still wore his helmet. The jelly-blob darted back into the connecting chamber and the door hissed closed behind it.
“Hey, Peri, I just scared the daylights out of an alien.”
“Jack, please return to the ship! Don’t take any more chances.”
“Okay. I got to see it anyway.”
Jack turned and headed back to the spoke where his own ship was docked. He’d only made it a few steps when the door where the alien had come from slid open again and aliens flooded into the atrium. Great moons of Jupiter—too many to count! Jack turned to run for the door, but you don’t run in magnetic boots.
He felt a sharp stab in his right shoulder and saw a spray of blood. Then two more sharp jabs in his back. He looked over his shoulder and ducked as another tendril snaked toward him. He pulled his laser pistol and fired a warning shot above the group. They surged forward.
He made it to the door that led to the spoke where his ship was docked. It was already connected to the core and opened immediately. He pressed the button and the core-side door hissed shut.
“Peri, I’m under attack, I’m injured, and I’m coming in hot!”
“True to your profile. Engines ready.”
He had to wait for the chamber to sync with the outer ring, which gave him a chance to shed his boots.
When the door opened, two dozen jelly-blobs were already waiting for him, tendrils flailing. Now weightless, Jack pulled himself back into the door chamber. But with aliens on both sides, he had nowhere to go.
“Peri, they’re just outside our airlock!”
He fired another warning burst, but they ignored it. No choice but to make it count. He shot one of the aliens. It exploded, spraying thick liquid and tentacles everywhere. Jack’s head nearly exploded from the cacophony of high-pitched shrieks.
They scattered momentarily. Jack used their momentary confusion to shove off hard from the wall of the chamber. He scooted past and under the flailing aliens. “Peri, door!” The airlock hissed open just as he nearly slammed into it, and he hit the far wall of his ship’s docking bay. The airlock hissed closed behind him.
Peri didn’t wait for further orders. She shoved off from the near wall and blasted for the cockpit. Jack shoved off right behind her and landed in his seat two seconds later.
When Peri released the ship’s airlock connection, the station released simultaneously.
“All engines, full reverse,” stated Peri. “No resistance from the station. No attractive force. Speed five hundred kph and climbing.”
“Get us back through that wormhole. Are they following?”
“No. Speed 10,000 kph and accelerating. Now experiencing gravitational pull from the wormhole.”
“First contact or not, when we get through that wormhole, you drop a V-bomb and close it,” ordered Jack.
“Please countermand,” Peri said. “That would create a black hole that would eventually swallow the Earth.”
Jack rolled his eyes. “Countermanded.” Good thing she was smarter than he was. “I want to know the instant anything comes through that wormhole.”
“That won’t be a problem. It’s gone.”
“What do you mean, it’s gone.”
“Just that. It’s closed up.”
“Son-of-a . . .No one’s ever gonna believe that jellyfish story!”
