Third Imperial Prince, Seyth Vareshin, Sharias.
26/12/4838 IC
05/05/2035 AD
I feel like I'm being dragged to the front, before something stops me. I open my eyes to find that I almost fall off the backseat, but Alvric manages to stop me just in time, reaching from the driver seat.
"Ugh, what is going on, how long have I been asleep for?" I groan.
"An hour, but it's time to get ready. We have arrived." My butler Alvric replies.
I sit up with a good long yawn. While Alvric helps me tidy up my wrinkled clothes, I try to recall how I ended up here.
Oh right, with a car, a plane and then another car.
So why am I here? Ah yes, something about keeping up an appearance of peace, harmony and friendly relationship.
The people over at Foreign Affairs apparently think that it will make a good impression if I, the future administrator of the IASC and third prince, come over to watch the completion of this Ivakur flyby mission. However, dad shot the idea down and only let me go to watch the very last part of the mission, instead of the entire 3-day mission.
That's completely fine by me. Absolutely amazing in fact, I would rather stay home than go anywhere. After all, not even the best toilet can match the one I have at home.
Alvric leaves the car and walks around to open the car door for me. After taking a sip of water from a bottle, I knock on the window and Alvric opens the door.
I calmly step out of the car onto the red carpet, maintaining a regal and elegant look. Calmly, I walk forward, each and every step carefully measured to ensure uniformity. Bodyguards move to flank my sides, Alvric following behind me.
None of these soldiers are mine, they are assigned from the Imperial Guard, according to the emperor's orders. I may be able to do whatever I want at home, but now, I am one of the many faces representing the fatherland, so I must maintain the image of a prince.
A company of Serene's National Guard stands at rigid, almost perfect, textbook attention. Their bayonets gleaming, almost blindly, from the early sunlight and camera flashes.
I can feel my drowsiness slowly disappear as my biological clock reconfigures itself. After all, 7 hours difference in local times is quite a pain.
I look straight forward, fighting my urges to look back to see if the rest of my entourage is following me. If I do that, it will make the whole delegation, and whoever plan this whole thing, look unprofessional and incompetent. So look straight forward, I must.
Even while looking straight forward, I can still make out a few escape routes in case things go South. Granted, all of them involve using journalists and citizens as meat shields, but I am sure the diplomats can smooth things out.
Though, if things get to that point, I'm sure my guards have a much better plan, instinctively created even. That's their entire job after all.
I look over my reception party. The 2 men who I immediately recognize as Velshar's Minister of Foreign Affairs Hivar Klen, and the director of the space center and program Robert Smith. Other than them, I notice no one else important. That is probably true. considering how much effort Alvric has put in to drill the identities of important people into my head.
Hivar smiles as I approach, a distinctively fake one to those with enough training. Robert also smiles, a genuine one, except that it is directed to my right, not me.
As I approach, Hivar raises his right hand, "Your Imperial Highness, I am the minister of Velshar Foreign Affairs. My name is Hivar Klen. It is an honor to meet you."
I accept the handshake and reply, the usual, "The honor is mine."
It is supposed to be Robert's turn to greet me, but he seems to be more excited at the prospect of meeting whoever is to my right. Enough so that he only wakes back to reality when Hivar sneakily, well, almost sneakily enough, elbows him.
"Greetings, your Imperial Highness. I am Robert Smith, director of the Serene Space Program. I am glad you can be part of this monumental day."
"My warm greetings to you too. May I ask why today is such a monumental day?"
"Yes, of course."
…I wonder when this awkward staring will end.
…1 second.
…2 seconds, I can't afford to look like a fool.
…3 seconds, Hivar is trying to elbow Robert again, but misses.
…4 seconds, ah, there we go, the realization in Robert's eyes.
…5 seconds.
"Ah, um, I will explain to you as we walk.", he gestures for me to walk alongside him as Hivar sighs in relief.
As we pass through the main doors and are walking along the hallway, he explains:
"This is the furthest probe we have ever sent and thus, the furthest artificial creation away from our world. Unfortunately, the project has met many hurdles and setbacks."
Not the least were the lack of interest and funding.
"But, we have done it. Thanks to your support, we have collaborated with the IAPC to solve the many issues and make it a reality."
Wut…Oh yeah, those papers that required my signature to cover the expenses for scientific exploration. It did say something about the Ivakur, not that it was going to be a probe, nor did it say anything about collaboration.
Or it did and I should stop skimming over these kinds of papers, especially when there were so many of them with the same title.
"With this, we will be able to see the dark side of Ivakur, hidden from time immemorial by the tidal locking of Ivakur relative to Tashan. Not to mention, this will be the first probe to enter deep space and orbit Ignisar, our star, directly. Plus, it will also be the first gravity assisted trajectory to be utilized."
To shorten, it goes around Ivakur, gets pulled by Ivakur's gravity. Then it breaks free from Tashan's gravity and orbits that flaming ball in the sky, usually known as Ignisar.
"Not only will the probe collect information about the dark side of Ivakur, but also everything on its path. The most valuable research may be the gravity assisting technique, which will reduce delta-v cost for future missions, setting up the foundation for future space travel."
When will we get to wherever he is leading me to? I know this is part of my job, but still.
"Anyway, we have arrived at the control center."
Thank Fatherland.
A large screen shows the probe's trajectory. Considering the unplugged cables connecting to it, clearly it is normally used for overall monitoring of many more objects than just this probe. Anyway, not my problems to deal with.
Below the giant screen, there are many people focusing on their task of monitoring the statistics that the probe sent back. Although a slightly more focused look reveals that most of them are actually monitoring other artificial space objects.
"We have decided not to bore you with the launch. Instead, we bring you right to the moment when the probe is about to get in position for the first images of Ivakur's dark side. Please excuse me, I have some work to do."
With that sentence, he leaves to join his employees.
I signal for Alvric to come forward. Quietly whispering in his ear:
"Is there anything after this?"
His expression remains unchanging as always, "Oh yes, many things such as dinners with several important figures, watching local tournaments and a deal that requires your signature as a symbol of imperial approval."
Desperately fighting my urges to yawn, I look over to my right to see Elva Rinholt, the deputy director of IASC and former director of IASC before I was sent over. Granted, with my knowledge, or rather the lack of it, she still retains the same authority, and even slightly higher pay, as before.
Presently, she is waiting to talk to me, "Your Imperial Highness, I wish to consult with the director here about several details of our collaboration agreement."
"As you wish."
She immediately runs off…to an entirely different direction to where Robert went. As she peeks over the scientists' shoulders and does what would be considered as espionage if I wasn't here, I focus my sight on the computers to avoid messing up my poker face.
The logos seem familiar, oh, of course it does, it is one of Vareshin's companies or corporations, I have never been able to remember which one. Let's see, that is one of ours, that is also one of ours, the other one is…Hey, does Serene have any computer making industry at all?
All of these are ours, from different corporations and companies for some reasons, most likely to remain below our information network's notice. Large orders are more noticeable and easily bugged. The Imperial Intelligence Service should have known about this, but I should notify them anyway, just to look dutiful if nothing else.
I think the author is forgetting somebody. Ah right!
"By the way, Alvric, where is the minister of Serene Foreign Affairs?"
"He broke off a while ago and is talking to our deputy minister of Foreign Affairs right now."
"Wait, the deputy minister of Imperial Foreign Affairs is with us?"
"Respectfully, you should be more careful with your own entourage. However, he was a last minute addition by the order of the emperor. The idea itself had been proposed by your eldest brother, Alric Vareshin."
Hmm, they have ignored me for the last few years, focusing on their own competition. I wonder what has changed. "How did you learn about this?"
"It was written in the letter. Again, for the umpteenth time, please stop skimming official paperwork."
Huh, nothing has changed then, just part of their competition.
The large screen starts to flicker as the view changes into real time imagery captured by the probe's cameras. The screen flickers for a while until an engineer hits its side with a sledgehammer. The imagery immediately stabilizes as the hammer impacts the screen, showing the video feed at, …one…two…three…four…five, 5 seconds per frame.
Robert and Elva quickly return. Robert begins, "Ah, the probe must be near the surface. For the sake of saving electricity as this one wasn't prepared with any solar panel, so we have to rely on batteries. Still, it should still be a spectacle to watch with the best cameras that we could find onboard."
The view of Ivakur is, well, quite incredible, to those that can't just walk into a room and get a bunch of close-in images from colossal sized telescopes at least.
Soon the probe passes over the metaphorical border separating the dark side, or far side, and the near side of Ivakur. Only now does it seem interesting.
Craters of varying sizes litter the surface…and that's about it. Just like the near side, it is grey and dark grey, except a small area where the high concentration of metal results in a bright reflection of sunlight.
Robert helpfully explains it to me with a voice that I, unfortunately, can't seem to tune out, "The craters came from the many meteoroid impacts that Ivakur suffered from without the safety of an atmosphere. Meteoroids are often rich in all kinds of raw materials, both common and rare."
Elva follows up with the part that I need to care about, "The last part may just be what is needed to gather interest for our missions. It means that the rare minerals are far closer to the surface and thus, more easily found and mined."
She glances at me, "The initial investment will cost an arm and a leg… or two… or an entire person. However, the LONG term returns will pay it off with a large interest."
Hmm, that's something to put into the reports, both the marketing and the fact that she marketed it at this moment to me. I should say something to show that I am listening, nodding along can only get me so far.
"The area dense in metal should be a good starting place, won't it?"
Robert perks up, "Oh yes, most definitely. In fact, let's zoom in on that. Ormin!"
"Yes, director!"
The video on the screen quickly enlarges, focusing on the metallic crater. Of course, the resolution is still bad enough that it is just 9 white pixels. However, the lenses will be swapped out and moved around to increase the resolution in that specific area soon, I hope.
I am not exactly up to date with the newest technologies, but, if I have to wait for long, they would prepare chairs, or snacks, or drinks. Plus, I am sure they have made quite a number of modifications to it so that it fits the mission better.
Just as I have guessed, the next frame shows up to 64 pixels in total, enough to make out the crater's edge. The second frame allows me to make out the deposits more clearly. This time, there are too many pixels to count individually. Conveniently, there is a counter at the bottom left corner of the screen, 1024 pixels.
The third frame is odd. I can make out the edge of each deposit now and each one seems… circular. The fourth frame lets in some more details, like the fact that these deposits can be clearly categorized by sizes. As for the fifth frame…
Oh, who am I kidding with? Those shiny black squares are clearly solar panel arrays.
"Mr Robert, what are those deposits really?"
"Respectfully, your Imperial Highness, I have no idea. We will look into them. For now, let's assume that the visit is a success and continue on with your diplom…"
The man, who, as I recall, replied when Robert called for Ormin, interrupts him, "Sir, those, uhh, deposits are sending signals to us, or rather, to the probe."
Robert turns to me, "My apologies, your Imperial Highness, I will deal with this."
Robert turns back to his crew, "Alright, what does the signal say? Whose base is this?"
Ormin shakes his head, "The signals say nothing, just seemingly random noises. However, the frequency does change each time."
"Alright, send our probe's comms frequency back to them."
"Yes sir, uhh, what should we send with it?"
"The same random noises that they send to us. Actually, repeat it thrice and amplify it to our probe's limit so that they know it isn't a reflection."
"Understood."
While they are doing that, I walk to our deputy minister, Hadran, "Hey, that isn't one of ours, is it?"
"Yes, that isn't one of ours. In fact, I don't think it is anyone, but I have to check with the IIA to double check. Unless, of course, the IASC's monitoring system has missed a FEW launches somehow."
Not ours, not the Serene's, probably not the Kovask's, so…alien? That can't be right, the only other planet in the habitable zone is Marexis and the scientists are certain that there can't be life there due to the complete lack of a magnetic field and atmosphere.
However, if this is truly not the work of any nation on Tashan…There goes my peaceful, laid-back life.
—————————————————————
Danh, aboard the Pioneer, orbiting a moon that is orbiting a gas giant which is currently 5 AU from Tashan.
"The AI at Ivakur had initiated peaceful First Contact with the avarin 30 minutes ago. Whoever in control of the probe responded with acceptance, allowing us to figure out the comms' frequency and that they can process and respond with the same information that the AI had sent them.", Khánh Linh reports.
"By the way, what had the AI sent them?", I inquire.
"The date."
"Alright."
Well, light lag is a pain. At this point, the probe is probably outside its communication range with the colony. Yet, only now I am aware of what's going on there. Still, I would rather stay as far as possible from the potential front as I can.
Back to my job, I need to figure out how to communicate with them ASAP. Unfortunately, the infiltrator has only acquired the Vareshi's language, not of these guys. Not to mention their encoding as well. For now, we can only communicate gibberish, neither of us can even know if the other side uses binary or not.
Luckily our infiltrator is still there, recharging with its radioisotope thermal generator, RTG. Plus, the Serene is still an ally with Vareshi in name, so they should have Vareshian linguists.
I wonder what was the AI's actions, "What is the AI currently, I mean, was doing 30 minutes ago?"
"Trying to establish a binary system with them using pulses and math.", Khánh Linh immediately replies.
"How?"
"1 pulse, then 12, then another 1 pulse, then 15 and then 2."
"1 plus 1 equals 2?"
"Indeed, they reply with the same structure for 2 plus 2 equal 4. Then the AI switched to counting from one to ten. The original signals were used as an invitation to reply. So far both sides have communicated addition, subtraction and multiplication. At the time of the latest transmission, they were moving on to division and factorization."
Huh, guess the AIs are really good. I mean, most of them are copies of Khánh Linh, with the same structure for both hardware and software, just smaller. The ones in leadership roles anyway, the rest are genuinely just AI from 2024, trained with a dataset that Khánh Linh, or the local leader AI, generated for each of their roles. I do wonder if any of them will betray me, especially Khánh Linh.
Then again, if they want to, I can be removed with ease, so there is no point to worry about something that I don't have any control over.
Now, onto something that I have control over, "What are the issues you want to bring up to me?"
"To start, there is a period where our observation systems on our base can't monitor avarin satellites, stations and spacecraft. Not to mention the lack of resolution from such a range."
"And your proposed solutions."
"Just one, spy satellites to their world. They will build a system to monitor us soon, so this may be the last chance for a covert launch."
"Go for it. Do we need any improvements with the server down there to deal with the data?"
"That's actually the next item. Yes, we need a much better supercomputer to deal with the potential amount of data that we have to process."
"Approved. Actually, why are you telling me this? Isn't it more efficient for you to do this without consulting me?"
"Two reasons. One, you are my master, all of this belongs to you and so I must request your permission to use any of it. Two, I lack the creativity you have, you may see some insights that I can't."
"Huh, anyway, what's next?"
"Well, there is the issue of the infeasibility of the navy plan. The fake and real navy are currently indistinguishable from each other. The necessity for high delta-v in planetary warfare means that the fake navy will be extremely ineffective, while the real navy is just good enough for its task."
"Wait, what, I get the part about the lack of delta-v, but can't the real navy be made any better?"
"Yes, there are few researches and projects on space warfare and for the few there are, most focus on ground-space combat, not true orbital war. There wasn't any need for space warfare when both sides had been on the same planet."
"Well, abandon that plan then, just build a spaceborne navy. What plans do we have so far?"
The computer screen switches to the overhead, uhh, out-of-plane view of the entire star system.
She begins, "Alright, here is the general idea."
Multiple spaceborne shipyards are highlighted, "Most of our deep-space-worthy start out here at these shipyards, the smaller ships that are created on site are almost entirely limited to the immediate orbit, due to the lack of propellant and fuel."
Multiple orbits between the gas giant and Tashan are highlighted, "These orbits will have our refueling station, regularly resupplied by transport ships. These should reduce the need for our ships to carry along large amounts of drop tanks, while still maintaining enough propellant, full internal tanks preferably, for combat."
Then some bases are highlighted, "These are the bases that can produce propellant, fuel and oxidizer, which are liquid methane, fissile and also liquid methane and liquid oxygen, respectively. Alongside the colonies and the capital below us."
All the important orbits, bases, colonies and current ships in transit are highlighted, "These must not fall to the enemy hand, whether by protecting them or, if the situation calls for it, nuking them."
Unfortunately, there are many of them, so protecting them all would be complicated and costly. Luckily, there are many of them, so losing a few won't be a problem. Though losing each one does mean less industrial production to either recover or expand, which can dangerously snowball into complete loss of everything.
And then there is that, "What is the progress of operation Door Knocking?"
"The AI latest report said that the preparation had only been completed for the critical components and the operation, if started immediately, would complete only half of its designated objectives."
"Any objective completed is an objective completed. Change its focus to ensuring the operation's success."
"Affirmative."
I do hope that the operation will be forgotten and left in the dust forever, but it will be entirely based on the success of me securing peace on Second Contact. Considering my knowledge and personality…Yeah, I can't see it ever happening.
I wonder what's going on over there.
—————————————————————
Seyth Vareshin
Huh, it is indeed First Contact. The Serenians scientists are running around, trying to glean off as much info as possible from the 20 minutes long conversation with that alien base.
As for me, I am being dragged back to Zanthara. The deputy minister's reaction is quick and decisive. The entire trip is to be cancelled and I am to be brought back to the palace immediately.
Outwardly, of course, he said that this event was a surprise and a great source of excitement for me, due to how much interest I have in space exploration, so I was in no condition to continue with the planned trip. Personally, I believe that I did a pretty darn good job at pretending that I was excited.
Naturally, they did bring along a radio strong enough to send the intel back to the central government and, just in case, we also bring along a Vareshian journalist and her crew with us. In fact, she is right next to me.
I should talk to her, "Look, I know that this is very much kidnapping, but we do need those notes and camera films of yours. Don't worry, you will be well compensated after this."
She seems tense and scared, quite understandable considering what is going on. She speaks, weakly, "Can this be the Return?"
The return of what…First, make the face of deep thinking. Hmm, based on the mirror in front of my face, it is adequate. Never think that the mirror for last minute preparation before showing up to the press can be used like this.
Now what was I thinking about…Oh the Return. That is a commonly held belief stemming from the evidence of other 'races', people with different bone density and structure. They abruptly disappeared about, based on the autopsy of their corpses, 5 thousand years ago.
The sudden disappearance at almost the same time has led to belief about some kind of exterminators. The few recovered clay tablets describe people with extraordinary technologies that were invincible to all, but the most skilled of warriors. She must think that the aliens are the returning exterminators.
But the aliens can't be our ancestral cousins' exterminators, they have only appeared now. Had they been here back then, they would have much more advanced technologies with all the time they had for development.
Unless, they had to deal with some kind of apocalypse of their own, so called filter, preventing them from fully exterminating all of us and advancing further. Now that they have sufficiently developed back to their original level, they return to complete their job.
That can't be true, there are countless other possibilities. Such as natural disasters, plague, drought and even a filter of our own. But, what if it is true and I end up being unprepared for it. What if we will lay dead from our own naivety.
As the car stops at the airport's entrance, I finally cough up a reply: "I don't know, but we should prepare as if that is a certainty." Better being wasteful than being dead.