Let me get this one thing straight. I’m sorry for what is about to happen. I really am. Just think of this as a heads-up for what’s to come next. What’s to come for the discovery we have made, and that it was probably best if we didn’t come into contact with any alien beings.
Before I get started, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jonathan Summers, and I’m formerly a researcher and astronomer working for NASA. At that time, I was working within the Deep Space Network facility, while keeping track of the James Webb Space Telescope. I was working with my colleagues: James Brown, Mason Park, Ashley Windle, and last but not least, our supervisor, Anthony Vincent. We were basically a skeleton crew, and due to budget cuts, we couldn’t hire more workers. Throughout my years, I’ve kept track of various signals from outer space, while the telescope provided us with vast and beautiful images of our galaxy. It was breathtaking, such a magnificent sight of what the heavens could offer. My colleagues and I, along with our supervisor, were awestruck with this.
Back in the early 2010s, we managed to pick up signals from planets within our solar systems as well as moons. It baffled us that such celestial bodies could produce sounds. Even our own planet, has a tone of its own, regardless of the fact no sounds could be heard in space.
Why am I telling you all of this?
Well, this is where I begin my story. We haven’t picked up much else at first. It was all the same, while the telescope kept us interested with more and more beautiful pictures of our galaxy, and we got a picture of the black hole in Sagittarius A from a distance, even though it appeared faint and blurry. But that was still better than nothing out of the ordinary. That was until, in July 6, 2022, the telescope provided us an image of a planet which appeared 156 light years away from us. The planet didn’t look like much at first, but then we noticed hundreds of tiny white lights or dots on it as we got a more clear view.
My colleague, James, asked if we had just found potential alien life in the galaxy. I thought the same thing as well. We all did. Anthony, without consideration or thought put into it, had the idea of sending a signal to that planetary system. “But what if there is life on that planet? More so, what if they’re not friendly?” I asked. That’s when we all stopped and thought about our actions at first. After a long hour of discussion, it was decided that we should send a signal, just to see if there really is a civilization inhabiting that planet. God damn us for that. Perhaps it was for the better that we should have left them alone. Then we wouldn’t have met our horrible fate.
Anthony sent a signal to the planet in binary code, a message, in hopes for a reply. If we ever got a reply, I hope they’re friendly. We expected that the signal should be able to reach the planet within 5 to 10 years give or take. What we didn’t expect was that sudden change in the time frame for that signal to arrive. Because at that moment, just then, we suddenly picked up signals coming from that direction. Somehow, it managed to trace the signal that was heading towards it and receive it in an instant. This left us shocked, baffled of the sudden change of events. “Did this planetary system just come in contact with us?” Anthony asked us.
We were astounded, but also horrified. That was impossible. Something simply picked up our signal, defying all logical explanations. What was supposed to be 5 to 10 years as we calculated, suddenly became seconds. Then even more shocking, we recieved a reply in binary code in an instant. Ashley was able to translate the message, which said: HELLO.
Upon tracing the signal, it came from that planet. Many questions came through my mind, one of them being the most prominent: Did we just discover alien life in the galaxy?
Of course, both Mason and James felt panicked, thinking they might be a hostile species. Anthony sent the message, asking how they managed to pick up our signal in an instant. Again, after being sent, the message was received quickly, and we received another reply shortly after, a long reply.
It translated:
OUR TECHNOLOGY IS SUPERIOR. REGARDLESS OF TIME, WE CAN RECEIVE YOUR MESSAGES WITHOUT DELAY.
Anthony then, asked the one key question that will determine our fate upon contacting them. He asked if they mean us harm. Once again, the message was received instantly, then came a quick reply. To our most and greatest relief, it translated: NO.
After going back and forth with sending and receiving messages, it was clear that this alien race meant no harm to us. They were just like us in some sense, wondering if there is alien life out there, even though their technology is as we can tell, is thousands of years ahead of ours. Interestingly, they have a reached a level of technology that defied all explanations, perhaps breaking Kardashev’s scale. They should have been millions of years older than us given their technology, only to find out they’ve come to existence at approximately 6,000 years before us. They were young in a sense, but still older than humanity in this case. Its like comparing a 10-year old to a Kindergartener, haha. It baffled us of their technology on the other hand.
A week has passed, since we were still keeping in touch with this alien race. They gave us instructions on making more efficient means of energy resources. Nuclear was one of these things, a form of fueling we already discovered. But there was also the idea of using crystals as fuel, a form of fuel we weren’t aware of. Crystals like ruby, diamond, emerald, and even sapphire, and even the most abundant and common of gems, stones, and metals, could be used as a fuel source that could last us for hundreds of years without constantly draining the planet’s resources. This interested us, and from what they learned of us, they said we do possess the technology to build such fuel. But from their dismay, they said we were only focused on building weapons of war than building technology that could also further our advancement of society, thus the capability to end fuel crisis and lack of energy was halted. They said we were a young and foolish species for taking such crazy actions, but still willing to help us by providing these instruction on how to build them. Some of our government officials were told of this discovery as well as what this alien race instructed us, and kept note of it, believing that alternative fuels such as nuclear and crystals can be beneficial for humanity as it is for them. Thus, we understood that this was mutual cooperation between two species who could one day come together and bring peace, and one day travel the stars together.
Unfortunately, this understanding was nothing more than a foolish wet dream.
On July 16, they stopped communicating with us. Strange, we thought. We always communicated with us and they always sent a reply. Did they, see that we were nothing more than a primitive species? Did they, decide to contact other alien races and push us away for good? After using one of our strongest telescopes on our world to look into the direction of the planet, the planet seemed normal. So then I asked: “Did they decide to stop communicating with us?” Anthony shrugged and thought something must have gone wrong. Perhaps our sender has malfunctioned and isn’t sending anything. But upon inspection, everything seemed fine. Then the only logical explanation we could think of, is that they’re no longer interested in contacting us. So it was decided, we left them alone. Our telescope was still focused on them, in case of any changes.
So far, nothing has happened, but we still hoped they would send us a reply. But like I said, nothing. So things were back to being like any other day, constantly looking for more intelligent life out there, and perhaps looking to receive more signals from other areas in space. But….
July 20, something had happened.
“Guys, have a look at this!” Mason yelled to us. The telescope provided us a view of the planet we previously came in contact with. Only this time, we saw what we assumed were huge ships flying ‘left’ and they’re heading to another location in space. Upon panning the telescope to get a look at what’s going on, we were met with an astonishing event. There were what we could describe as dozens more ships heading towards the planet, and the ones from the planet were flying directly in front of them. Nothing had happened for a few minutes, until it did. We started noticing tiny flashes of light in that area. It looked like a mixture of red, green, blue, and yellow flashes happening. But what astonished us even more, was when some of the ships appear to have vanished in the moment the yellow flashes appeared. That’s when, it dawned on us to the point Anthony asked:
“Are we witnessing a war going on?”
I prayed in vain, that wasn’t the case. Upon looking into the scenery, all of the ships that came from the planet were now gone. The only ones that remained, were a few dozen of those ships that came from space. After a few moments of observation, we suddenly received two messages from the very same planet. Upon receiving, they gave us two short messages. The first one, to our horror, translated:
WE ARE SORRY.
Then the second one:
WE HAVE FAILED.
After receiving that message, Anthony quickly sent a message, asking what was happening. It was received, but a reply never came back, and it was understood why when Mason called us to come back to witness another change of events. We all saw, to our terror and heartbreak, a huge flashing line of light coming from one of the bigger ships of the invading species, causing the planet to emit a bright, reddish-orange glow, which to our understanding, meant that the planet was burned from the inside out by an enormous blast, which appeared like a tiny line in the distance. A heartbreaking discovery it is now, to finally find alien life willing to cooperate with us, destroyed by a hostile species with far superior technology.
To our even more unfortunate discovery, one of those ships somehow picked up radio waves coming from our facility, leaving me and the others heart-pounded and shaking with fear that we might be next. Sadly, this turned out to be true.
One of the invading ships, sent us a message, in binary code. Ashley reluctantly translated it, and my suspicion and horror was confirmed. It translated to the following:
YOU WILL JOIN THEM.
Looking into the telescope, those ships as we predicted, turned to the direction of our planet, and is now heading towards us. Given the estimation of the speed they appear to be in and the distance, it at least made me happy to see that they’re not appearing to us in an instant, but that doesn’t change the fact we’re now staring at what will be, our imminent demise. Our supervisor, calculated the time it will take for the ships to arrive, and told us the following:
“It seems, we only have two months left on this earth. I strongly suggest you make the most of your lives before they arrive. Because when they finally reach us, it will already be too late. If you have friends and loved ones, spend time with them. Make amends to anyone you may have wronged in the past. Because in the end, none of it will matter.”
“But what about the rest of the population?” I asked. “They need to know about this.” Anthony then told me: “There is no point in telling anyone, because it won’t make a difference. Not even our own governments can do a damn thing about it. Nevertheless, our government needs to be told about this, else we’d be bombarded with questions, and perhaps police or even SWAT teams.”
I suppose, he was right. We all wept in tears before shutting down our facility and informing the government. They understood the gravity of the situation, and decided not to speak publicly about this. So now you may be wondering: Why am I telling you this if I’m suppose to be hush-hush about it?
Because like they said, there is no point. I suppose this also means there is no point in hiding it too. There is no point in obscuring myself and the discoveries we made. Like Anthony said, make the most of your lives here. Make amends, spend time with your friends and loved ones while you have the chance, anything you have on your bucket list. Because in the end, none of it will matter.
As for me, that’s exactly what I’m going to do with the two months we all have left.
But, I can’t help but wonder….if they will find a way….to reach us….sooner.