Prisoners of Sol 8

The portal ride was as discombobulating as the first time, though at least we’d known what to expect. It was like pressing a rewind button—everything felt heavy and crushing, while my muscles seemed feeble and my breaths were too short. I found the presence of mind to press the switch during transit, since the lighter thruster output wouldn’t do a thing under Sol’s physics. Thousands of scientific instruments were trained on this point in space, scrutinizing it under every criterion imaginable, so Earth would see us at once. We had to be ready to identify ourselves, since it would take about an hour for our message to reach Pluto Station. 

Sofia decided to send the transmission back to Earth, with a full video message of us both to confirm our identity. “Pluto, this is Science Officer Aguado and Captain Carter of the ESU Pilgrimage, returning from the other side of The Gap. It is a portal to another dimension, where the physics are unimaginably different—everything that we touched or built was faster and stronger, including our physical abilities.”

“I mean that we could run two hundred meters in five seconds,” I had interjected, as she paused, a bit shaken by the rough transit. “With our bare hands, we could dent metal and send heavy objects flying through the air. Unbelievable stuff that you have to see.”

“Our vessel became out of control due to this, since it would rocket up to speeds beyond our value of c with ease. Space travel is like catching a transatlantic flight in their universe. By they, I mean that our ship crashed. We were rescued and had repairs gifted by an alien species who call themselves the Vascar; they cared for us on their planet, and a military officer named Mikri shadowed us for the duration of our stay. I would say we became friends.”

“We owe him our lives,” I agreed.

“We wouldn’t have made it back without their aid. The Vascar helped us locate the portal bridge—it appears some drone was sent through, which tipped off its exact locale—and returned us with a tether, so they can easily pull us out without the…costly limitations of our physics. There are a few things they’ve told us with a reasonable degree of certainty. One is that they think that Sol must be artificially created, and that they only know one species capable.”

“The Elusians. An interdimensional empire. Mikri didn’t say much other than that he didn’t want to mess with them.”

“Preston is correct. The second part is that the Vascar stated they are in a war, which has them…in a desperate place. This conflict is against ‘The Alliance,’ three races who wish them extinct. I have my thoughts on this, but I’d like to elaborate when I can lay out my observations and theories in real time. The Vascar did request that we aid them in the war, and offered portal aid, technology, and intel on the Elusians in return. It is my assessment that they would not be angry if we could find a diplomatic solution, but they believe it is impossible.”

”The Vascar are strange and reclusive, but they don’t deserve to be eradicated. Mikri said he estimated his species wouldn’t last a decade without us, and he’s exacting with his words. Extremely logical.”

Sofia drew a shaky breath. “I’ll be working on a full briefing of everything I can remember; I didn’t dare to put anything in writing there, as the Vascar are extremely mistrustful and believe it’s…inevitable that we’ll turn on them. They may not have reacted well to any hypotheses about them. Something to consider with how close to the vest we should play this. At any rate, we’ll be back at Pluto Station in three days’ time. Looking forward to seeing some human faces.”

We had received periodic messages from Pluto Station in the meantime, insisting on a month-long quarantine and extensive testing; their concerns had gone through the roof when I passed along that there was a neurological pandemic on Kalka. Sofia had given me a strange look when I said that on camera, so I was quick to clarify that Mikri was certain it couldn’t be passed on to humans. The ESU station monitors seemed nervous and shocked while speaking to us. They forwarded us some news broadcasts about our mission, as well as the reaction in the present day.

“A public vigil is being held for astronauts Sofia Aguado and Preston Carter at the ESU’s Lunavator in Toronto. Millions of people have poured out and left flowers in memory of the brave pioneers, who vanished after crossing The Gap two months ago. A spokesperson for Pluto Station had this to say,” a narrator had intoned, while I stared in shock at clips of my memorial and random photographs of me looking All-American.

A written statement appeared in yellow font on the screen, with the ESU’s half-blue, half-green flag in the background. The broadcaster read it aloud. “All of mankind must pay homage to the courageous souls who risked everything in the name of science. It is through their sacrifice that we will continue to learn and be inspired about the nature of our universe. We mourn the loss of two of our finest, but we will not stop. We will carry on in their names; the human spirit will prevail in spite of this tragic setback.”

It was a stark contrast to flip to the broadcasts of the present day, with the ESU’s Executor announcing that aliens and multiple other dimensions exist. Journalists aboard Pluto Station were clamoring to get exclusive interviews with us, as the word of our return spread like wildfire throughout the Sol System. I wanted to talk about Mikri, and all of the silly moments we shared—how fucking weird the guy was! 

The data that the Vascar had shared about the other universe’s physics had been forwarded to our people immediately; that was what the ESU led with. The idea of hopping through the gap and having super-strength was the object of public fascination. Scientists were drooling at the idea of flying a trillion miles an hour, and seemed to forget English when they read the value of c in their universe.

Human engineers were rewriting the book, already working to build ships and other machines that would work under their bonkers physics—and in ours. The schematics of the revamped Vascar spacecraft gave them a place to start, since reverse engineering this vessel would jumpstart the process. They were chomping at the bit to get their hands on our beautiful ESU Pilgrimage. I wasn’t sure why I longed to go back through The Gap, rather than returning to my people. Oh, who was I kidding: I knew exactly why. There was so much more I wanted to know about our alien friends; the public was right there with me! When that little “ETs exist” fact dropped, humanity was whipped up into a fever. 

The mystery only stoked the flames of conversation, since the obvious first question was what they looked like; all Executor Singh had to point to was those faceless black suits—and to pass along our answer that they’d never taken them off. Who knew what theories human civilians would come up with when we explained that they didn’t appear to share any of their needs. I could imagine Mikri’s horror if he found the content the internet had cooked up in record time, despite having little to go on. Maybe he would’ve been heartened by the public gathering, attended by millions, to show love for the Vascar, or by the unanimously-ratified ESU proposal to send supranational diplomats to Kalka. 

The war isn’t public knowledge yet, because the brass want to know the specifics; leaving this clouded in mystery and letting imaginations run wild would lead to panic, whatever Mikri’s assertion about the Alliance not being a threat to us meant. I don’t know whether to lobby to help them, since it’s getting involved with a war on the other side of a portal! But I don’t want the Vascar to be slaughtered…

“Why couldn’t you tell us anything, Mikri?” I lamented to the ceiling.

Sofia scrunched her nose, sensing my restlessness as we waited on the landing dock for them to set up a sealed walkway to quarantine. “The Vascar think we would hate them. We have to do our part to make sure humanity doesn't demonize them, Preston.”

“Everyone won’t be busy enough demonizing the Elusians? Every ‘expert’ who’s remotely qualified is screaming on TV about why they locked us in our solar system. I can practically hear the sound of every streaming service crafting their theories in story form, and creating their superpowered characters to send through the portal.” 

“They could just make a movie about us. I’m sure they will.”

“I’ll accept that as long as I’m played by Barry Milton. He’s a spitting image of me.”

Sofia scoffed. “You do not have that kind of six-pack.”

“Sure I do. I’m so strong that I punched Mikri halfway around his planet.”

“We’re not sure why you agreed to punch the alien in the first place, from your reports on these…physical tests,” came a breathy voice from inside a Hazmat suit, wearing a head-mounted camera. “Dr. Kendall Ryan at your service. Welcome back to Pluto Station. You’re heroes around here. It’s really changed the atmosphere in this outfit; we’re gonna ride the coattails of that success and keep the train rolling.”

”This all needs to be thoroughly planned out. The Vascar will be a delicate matter to handle, and we need to throw ideas of what it…means to be human, or things we’d expect them to know, out the window. Mikri didn’t show much emotion at first, but by the end, I could tell he cared for us,” Sofia said, grabbing her papers into a neat stack.

“From the details we’ve collected, there’s a lot that doesn’t add up in the Vascar’s story. Do you have any advice about diplomatic strategies?”

“It’s just vital not to take tone-deaf remarks personally. They can be persuaded with logic. I would say not to pressure them, and to let them share in their own time. They fear us, to the point that Mikri believed friendship between our people was impossible. I intend very much to prove him wrong—and I hope the ESU shares that thought.”

”Mikri said that ‘they,’ as in the Alliance, wanted the Vascar to be mindless slaves. His species is really obtuse, sure, but who the hell would think they deserve that? I wonder what these Alliance pricks would have to say for themselves,” I grumbled.

Kendall folded her arms. “We should approach them before even considering opening hostilities. The best-case scenario is that we negotiate a truce, and lift the shroud off of this whole mess. Now, will you come with me to the laboratory?”

“Sure thing. I’d kill for some real food—no offense to Mikri’s attempts. What he gave us was edible, at least; who knew with alien grub, but it wasn’t like we had a choice, other than to starve.”

The lady in the Hazmat suit didn’t respond, stopping by the ajar ramp to disembark the ship. She appeared to be listening to something in an earpiece, but I could see her body language shift; this was a person who’d heard a shocking piece of news. Sofia shared a glance with me, perhaps wondering just as I did if there was an issue with our health. What had gone wrong, that they suddenly weren’t allowing us off the spacecraft? Weren’t there media waiting outside the tunnel for their pretty photos? Dr. Ryan didn’t care about the publicity, instead resealing the ramp. She gestured with a gloved hand back to the seat.

“Another spacecraft emerged from The Gap—of nonhuman origin. A few days behind you,” she informed us in a quivering voice. “The feeds reached us now, and there’s a looping broadcast. We must investigate and leave at once: before this vessel gets anywhere near Pluto. Are…are you ready to spend a few more days out in space?”

Sofia blinked in confusion. “We’re more than willing—at least, I think I speak for us both there—but why us? I’m surprised you wouldn’t keep us for observation and debriefing.”

“You’re requested by name.” Kendall hurried back over to the cockpit, and powered on the ship’s radio for us to hear. “Listen.”

“I need your help. Please, humans; it’s Mikri of the Vascar,” a distinct mechanical voice that I’d know anywhere played out over the radio. “I must speak with you, because there is so much you must be told. I’ll…only speak with Preston Carter and Sofia Aguado. If this is agreeable, send them to meet me on my ship. Thank you.”

I buckled myself into the pilot’s seat in a hurry, and Sofia was right alongside me. It appeared Kendall was tagging along as a third crew member, to record Mikri’s ship and to serve as backup. The nerves of meeting aliens had long since left for me, but other humans hadn’t been exposed to the Vascar like we had. This was the first visitor to Sol who was not of our species. Why had our strange friend followed us through the portal so soon? What did he want to speak to us about; had something happened, which made their circumstances dire enough to come clean, in the few days since we parted?

A part of me was excited about the chance to show Mikri human society, but it sounded as if something was very wrong. After the Vascar had helped us in our time of need, it was the least we could do to go sailing out to his rescue. My mind raced with the possibilities of everything he might have to say; if the alien was here to provide details about his people’s predicament, I hoped the answers weren’t as terrible as he had made them out to be.

A/N - Chapter 8! Preston and Sofia make a triumphant return home and share the news of the Vascar’s multiverse with the rest of humanity, learning, with Dr. Aguado offering some pointed remarks and implying she’s kept her theories to herself due to the delicacy of the situation. We learn how Earth reacts to the news, and what they thought of the astronauts’ disappearance in the meantime. However, a planned quarantine and debriefing are disrupted as Mikri follows the astronauts through The Gap, a few days later—promising urgent news.

Why do you think Mikri chose to follow the humans, and what does he want to say to Preston and Sofia? What do you imagine the ESU will do with the news they’ve received, now that they know what’s possible on the other side?

As always, thank you for reading and supporting!