Starship Odyssey | ONC 2021

Chapter Twelve - The Minds of Mother Command

The aliens, like most aliens without a spoken language, had a rather dull and descriptive name for themselves. In this case they called themselves "Minds" and really didn't seem to make a distinction in this area between different species.

Each individual Mind was a 5-foot-tall boney pillar perched atop a primitive hover-platform and covered in tiny writhing tentacle-like protrusions in shades of red and purple. Hundreds of bio-luminescent firefly-like things buzzed around each pillar.

An image of three such Minds, as well as the coral-colored reception chamber in which they hovered, was projected onto a holographic screen Odysseus had helpfully materialized onto the wall of the bridge. It all seemed very low-tech but it met with the preferences of the aliens, so the Odyssey crew was happy to oblige.

While they aliens had no spoken language of their own they were quite proficient in Cryslish. They had already provided Odysseus with a wealth of data that had allowed him to even further refine his translation algorithm. At that point it seemed worthwhile to the crew to download the new algorithm directly into their implants, so they no longer needed Odysseus to translate.

"It truly is remarkable the different forms life takes," came the noticeably artificial voice of Sudden-Feeling-of-Hope, the most prominent of the three members of Mother Command, "Your body-plan is utterly fascinating."

Each time one of the aliens "spoke" the buzzing things all clustered up around a single point in a flurry of coordinated activity.

"Thank you," said Lulu. There was almost nothing she couldn't take as a complement.

"You must understand this moment has been one our people have pondered over for many centuries," said Esoteric-Fact, another member of Mother Command. "Contact with extrasolar life has been the subject of great works of fiction and some of our most valued philosophy. The search for such contact was the goal of great multi-generational projects. We longed to find other Minds, to learn from each-other's alternative perspectives. When we made contact with the Chorus-of-Notes we didn't even have a concept of war."

"We learned quickly," added Comfortable-Silence.

"The war with the Chorus-of-Notes cost us more than territory," continued Esoteric-Fact. "We lost something of ourselves. Of our innocence."

<They're at war with the Chorus-of-Notes!> Dr. Birdwhistle signaled the others, privately. <The enemy of my enemy is my friend.>

<Could you... ugh... could you not? For five minutes?> replied Lulu.

"It's true that contact with alien species is wrought with potential dangers," Lulu said, aloud this time. "We've been learning that ourselves of late. But the dream of your people was not an unrealistic one. In our home galaxy there are hundreds of intelligent starfaring species living together in relative peace. There is conflict, yes, at times even war, but more often than that there is incredible cultural exchange, technological sharing, the pooling of resources to accomplish what neither side could on their own. Yes there is danger. Opening oneself up to others is dangerous. I would still argue, however, it's worth the risk."

There was a long silence, as the Minds seemed to be sizing Lulu up in their own way.

"Experience tells me to send you away. That contact with aliens is not, and cannot, be what you claim," added Sudden-Feeling-of-Hope, "but your story has the scent of truth about it, and if what you say is true this might our second chance to become part of a grand community among the stars. We will, however, proceed tentatively."

"Thank you," said Lulu, "I understand your caution completely. I'd you would like we would be happy to give you a tour of our ship. Start with that."

There was a sudden explosion of activity from the buzzing lights. They began to intermingle with other another, until it was unclear which light belonged to which Mind.

*This must be how they communicate*, Lulu decided.

"This is agreeable to us. We will make arrangements for a representative to be sent over. We will re-establish communicate once this is accomplished. This conversation is now concluded."

The holoscreen went blank, so Odysseus dematerialized it.

"I guess we're not bad at first contact insofar as the Chorus-of-Notes are just a bunch of jerks," said Dr. Fido.

"Let's not start accepting any intergalactic ambassadorships just yet," replied Dr. Birdwhistle, "These just appear to be particularly amicable aliens."

"I'll take it," said Lulu. "I'm not interested in proving my mettle as a potential Contact agent. I'm interested in making some friends in this galaxy so maybe we can start working on a way home."

<I think you just did.>