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Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/campfires.php/item_id/2087185-Across-the-Universe
by Twiga
Rated: 13+ · Campfire Creative · Fiction · Contest Entry · #2087185
The Power of Science Triumphs over Hatred and Illustion
[Introduction]
Hi everyone, Considering what happened in Orlando, it is becoming more and more apparent that someone needs to spread the work against the forces of ignorance that power terrorism

This is an RPG Fanfiction,and a Science Fiction one the Goal of the Protagonists might be a bit...Abstract, as they must use the power of science to save the universe, how that is going to be accomplished we'll work that out along the way
Name: Nessie

Sex: Female

Age: 22 Earth Years

Species: Gene-Augmented Elasmosaurus (The pinnacle of Genetic Engineering, Not only has Humanity Uplifted dozens of Modern Earth Species but they have also brought Extinct Species back from the Dead and uplift them as well...This has led to the creation of the Federation of Humans, Animals and Extra-Terrestrials or F.H.A.E)

Occupation: Empath and Telepath, she can read both Emotions and Thoughts which is very handy for detecting intentions of creatures whose language can not be understood

Looks: Bright Blue Scaled walks on Four Flippers (For some unknown reason while we have been able to Gene-Augment Mesozoic Animals to have Sapience and Capacity for Human Speech, we still struggle with giving them both hands with opposable thumbs and bipedalism we're are currently looking into this)

Bio: Nessie is the Empath and the Telepath of the Spaceship Cosmic Voyager sent by F.H.A.E. to explore and uncharted sector of the Universe

Favorite Food: Raw Fish (Most Fish and Insects have not been uplifted because A. They are needed in their place in the natural ecosystem and B. Carnivorous Species need something to eat)
Name: Solarak

Sex: Male

Age: 49 Earth Years

Species: Human

Occupation: Scientist

Looks: Big forehead, tiny eyes, thick glasses, bad posture

Bio: Solarak is one of the Science Team on the Spaceship Cosmic Voyager sent by F.H.A.E. to explore and uncharted sector of the Universe

Favorite Food: Lemon Meringue Pie
The Team was currently in Cold Sleep as the Cosmic Voyager had been shot through Hyperspace to get to this distant part of the universe in a very short amount of time, thus every organic being has to be put into suspended animation to avoid getting torn to pieces by the intensity of traveling through Hyperspace
Name: Shepherd

Sex: Male

Age: 35

Species: Maug(a genetic hybrid of both human and canine, Think Barf from Spaceballs.)

Occupation: Security Officer

Looks: A German Shepheard with borh human and canine features.

Bio: A tough but loyal member of the crew, geneticly trained to keep the ship from being overrun by hostile aliens.

Favorite Food: Kibble.
Name: Lobo

Sex: Male

Age: 35

Species: Uplifted Wolf

Occupation: Classified

Looks: Humanoid Grey Wolf, White chest and belly, dark grey everywhere else.

Bio: Classified, Redacted, Need-To-Know, Don't ask.

Favorite food: Rare Meat, Extra Rare. Will eat fruits, vegetables, and cooked meat.
Solarak was one of the first crew members to be awakened from Cold Sleep. His eyes flickered open as the temperature inside his sleep capsule reached normal levels.

"Ah, what dreams I had!" he said. "I just wish I could remember a few of them."

The capsule door opened smoothly and Solarak stepped out. "What's our status?" he asked the ship.

The ship responded in one of it's feminine voices: We are in orbit around a planet capable of sustaining life, Doctor Solarak. Other members of the crew are being awakened."
Nessie awakened slowly as she was cold blooded, she opened her eyes and yawned, She heard the sounds of Shepherd and Lobo waking up, the Canine Underpinnings of their voices
In the ship's galley, Shepherd is eating his kibble out of a bowl. When Doctor Solarak came in "Hello Shepherd, how are you feeling today?" Shepherd says "Still a bit stiff from the hyper sleep, but other then that, I feel fine." "Have you seen Lobo?"
Lobo wen to his quarters, and opened a specially sealed case, pulled out a VR headset, and a disk. Inserting the disk into the headset, he put the device on his head.

"Greetings, Agent," a voice said. "One of our classified ships disappeared in the area of space some time ago. It is up to you to locate it, and send back reports. Try not to let the other members of your crew find out about your mission. Good luck."

Lobo took the headset off. His bosses were smart; not even his name or location had been mentioned.
Solarak looked at the crew members sharing the table with him.

Nessie was the odd one. Hard to get used to her unusual appearance. Shepherd, on the other hand, reminded him of King, his dog when he was a boy, a smart dog who could roll over, shake hands, or stand up on command. Of course, Solarak was careful not to ask Shepherd to do any tricks.
"We have reached the uncharted sector of the Universe." Said Nessie "Where do you think we should start?"
Shepherd says "Sense this is an uncharted sector, we should explore it carefully. There's no telling what dangers we may find here."
"Yes, it's best to be very careful," said Lobo.

The others looked at him, unsure of his position on the expedition. The best that they could come up with was that he was Military Intelligence.
"Fortunately," said Solarak, "I have devised a computer program to deal with this situation. It has examined the characteristics of the local stars and their planets and come up with a list of the most likely to be interesting. We can start there. Are we all in agreement? Show of hands."

"Sounds good to me," said Shepherd.

"Ship?" said Solarak. "Did you hear that?"

"I did," said the ship. "I have altered course. We will be at the first star on the list, Star #C-371-2210, in approximately 1 hour and 27 minutes."
Nessie said "This is all so incredibly exciting!"
"Not really," said Lobo. "It's like being a nudist artist - exciting at first, but after a while, the excitement wears off, and it just becomes another day at the office, and soon enough, naked men and woman become just as invisible as those wearing everyday clothes, and you share a cup of coffee with them like every other man or woman. Same with Communal showers and nudist beaches - after a while, you get used to it."

"You'd suck the fun out of anything," said Shepherd.
"Life isn't about having fun," Lobo said. "It's about duty, honor, commitment, and achievement."

Nessie and Shepherd exchanged looks featuring raised eyebrows.

"You're right about duty," said Solarak. "But I have no problem with it also being fun. Now as for me, I still get excited when we investigate a new solar system. Who knows? One day we might discover something really amazing."
Just then they saw something come into view it was as large as a small planet but it wasn't in orbit it seemed to be moving the opposite direction as they're spaceship and it looked like one enormous grey marble spinning through space
Shepherd says "Now that's Interesting, a moving planet/ What do you think makes that one move." Lobo asks "A spaceship?" Nessie says "It can't be a spaceship, it's too big to be one."
"That's what they said in Star Wars," said Lobo. "Just because we can't make them that big doesn't mean someone else can't."

"What do you mean?" Shepherd asked.

"To use a low-tech example, the Rhine River was once the limit of the Roman Empire, and the German tribes on the other side thought that they were safe, and would launch raids across from it," said Lobo. "One Roman general, I forget his name at the moment, ordered his men to build a bridge, which they did, crossed it with several thousand troops, destroyed several villages, withdrew, and dismantled the bridge. The message was simple - we can go anywhere we want, and you can't stop us. It put an end to the raids."

"A bridge did that?" Nessie asked.

"Xerxes did something similar when he invaded Greece, built a pontoon bridge out of old boats across the Hellespont to have his forces invade Greece with, which saved him from conquering the tribes of people further north that he wasn't interested in, meaning he could focus on the Greeks sooner," said Lobo. "Didn't work out as he planned, but the message was still clear, he could go anywhere."

"Didn't he meet up with those three hundred Spartans who gave him trouble?"

"Plus seven thousand others," said Lobo. "And that bought time for everyone else to get ready."
Solarak had been studying the computer monitors and having a low conversation with the ship. "That grey spinning marble is hollow," he said. "Scans indicate it may contain life forms."

"So it really IS a spaceship!" said Nessie.
"Should we try to contact it?" Nessie asked

"We came here to explore this uncharted sector of the universe." Said the Human "Part of that entailed reaching out to unknown life forms."
"Just be careful," said Lobo.
"Always a risk," Solarak said, "when you make First Contact. They might think we're hostile. Ship!"

"Yes, Solarak?"

"Send a message canister toward the grey marble. Let's see how they react to a small object approaching them."

"What about radio contact first?" Lobo asked.

"Already did that. Ship scanned the spectrum. They aren't broadcasting anything on any frequency and they didn't respond to anything we sent their way. If they blow the message canister apart at least we'll know they're in there. If they retrieve it, we'll know they aren't trigger happy. If they ignore it, we'll have to assume they have mechanical or sensor failures, or they are just lacking in curiosity."
But just as Solarack said that they got a message on their radio in Perfect English

"We got your radio message, we merely decided to keep it secret and tune into to you until we wished to reveal ourselves."

"Who are you?" Asked Lobo

"You shall know my name in time." Said the Voice it sounded like a Young Human Female "In the meantime you may refer to me as Number 6."
Shepherd says "Sounds like a advanced being, on the plus side she doesn't sound hostile." Nessie says "Number 6 eh? my huntch that they're Captain is Number 1."
"Or, they could of been the sixth child their parents had," said Lobo. "The Romans were known to name their children after numbers, and so have many others over time. In a way, we still use numbers in our names, especially in situations where people have the same first and last names, like with all of those James Smiths, or whatever name was, or is, common in that time and location. After all, we all have an Identification Number we have to memorize, so that we can pay our bills and earn a paycheck, we just prefer to use names in polite conversation."
"Attention, Number Six," said Solarak. "I am Solarak. May I speak to Number One, please?"

"For now you may only speak to me," said Number Six. "Why are you here?"

"We are an exploratory team, flying through the universe to satisfy the curiosity of our civilization. We wish to know as much as we can about the stars and planets that fill our galaxy."

"I understand," said Number Six. "Then you are peaceful and have no weapons?"

"We only carry the weapons we would need to defend ourselves if we are attacked."
"I see." Said Number 6 "Then we will come closer to your Spaceship so you can board us."
"Any issues with that?" Shepherd asked, as he looked at Lobo.

"Only to be cautious," the wolf said.
When they were close enough to extend the boarding tube, Ensign Roberts went over to establish contact with the grey marble. He was one of the expendable junior officers. When he got back, he said, "It seems okay. Apparently they breathe the same air we do. I spoke to one of their expendable junior officers. From what I could see, they aren't radically different from us."

"That's odd," said Solarak. "I wouldn't think we'd travel a zillion miles through space only to come across a civilization that resembles our own. There is something fishy about this."

"They are not fish, sir."

"No, I meant... never mind."
They walked down the Boarding Tube, their they saw what looked like a perfectly normal human woman with Blonde Hair and Blue Eyes

"I am Number 6." Said the Woman
Shepherd looked around "Hmm, this is more then just a ship. Most ships have central atmosphere suitable on which lifeforms contain, this one has an actual atmosphere like it's a planet." Solarak. asks "A space ark?"
Lobo remembered the report about the missing ship - part of a classified project for colonizing distant planets, with over two thousand people on board. Two hundred of them had been those with blond hair and blue eyes. Granted, the woman didn't look like one of those missing, and it wasn't like blond hair and blue eyes was a rare combination - but there was something about her that didn't seem right.

"How long has this ship been out here?" the wolf asked.
"A long time," said the woman called Number Six, "but we never grow older so I don't know how long."

"Don't you have clocks and calendars?" Lobo asked. "Don't you keep track of time?"

"I suppose we have those, but I am not interested in them."

"Well, could we talk to someone here who IS interested in time?"

"Perhaps later..." Said Number 6 "At the moment the one I am most interested in is You Solarack."

She started holding his hands in a way that was a bit too forward for the tastes of Nessie, Shepherd and Lobo

"We have had a bit of a Crisis for some time..." Said Number 6 "Our Males have become afflicted with a mysterious illness that we can not seem to cure, Almost all of our Men are in the sick bay, In order to compensate for our loneliness we started breeding our animals into Humanoid Shapes, Is it the same where you come from Solarack, is that why you brought your...Pets?"

Nessie, Shepherd, and Lobo, bristled calling Uplifted Animals 'Pets' was a bit of racial slur on Earth

"She didn't mean any harm." Nessie said quietly "She doesn't know it's a slur on Earth."
"Someone might want to tell her that," Lobo muttered.

"Anything you might want to add?" Shepherd asked quietly.

"Be on the lookout for anyone who came from Earth, or someone descended from someone from Earth."

"Why?"

"Let's just say that a colony ship disappeared in this region of space about fifty years ago," said Lobo. "Everything else about it though, including who the passengers were, is classified."

"Why's that?"

Lobo looked at Shepherd. "Telling you that we have a missing colony ship in this region of space is bending the rules as it is. Anything more, and I'll be talking myself into a noose for High Treason, and that goes for your neck as well, along with the rest of the crew. So don't ask me, unless it would be beneficial for the rest of us, like a medical emergency."

"So, the colonists were important people?"

"Important enough for the mission to be Classified."

"Military Intelligence?"

"Yes, and No."

Shepherd looked at the wolf. "I see. You have your orders."

Lobo nodded. "I'll tell you more if it is necessary, but not unless it is."
Solarak gently removed Number Six's hands from his own. "These are not my pets, they are my coworkers. We are all equal members of the exploratory team. There is no disease where I come from, which is the planet earth. Judging by your appearance, I believe that must be where your ancestors originated."

"Then you and I might be related," said Number Six.

"Possibly, but unlikely."

"Can you help us with the disease that afflicts our males?"

"Can you bring one of them to our sick bay? We'll see what our ship has to say about his illness."
Number Six frowned for a moment "Let me see if it is even possible to move them." She said "In the meantime please come in and enjoy our hospitality."

The Four of them Entered the Grey Marble
Shepherd found himself surrounded by children all of them with Blond hairs, both girls and boys, they called him 'doggie man' normally he doesn't act like a real dog but he cannot disappoint the children and he was having fun.
"Tell me," said Nessie, as she looked at Lobo. "These missing people, are they criminals or some such thing?"

Lobo looked at her. "If you're thinking about terrorists and the like, the answer is, thankfully, no. Some of them were, undoubtedly, petty criminals though, but nothing that was really important enough to worry about. So, we don't need to worry about something like a Fourth Reich thing or whatever going on."

"So, what were they?"

Lobo shook his head. "I can't say. I have my orders."
"You are so mysterious," Nessie said. "Look! Snacks."

A table had rolled out into the room and piled on it were a number of dishes holding small tidbits of food. Solarak sampled one of the little sandwiches piled up on a plate. "Yummy! The people of the Grey Marble eat well."
Number 6 took Solarack by the hand

"Could you come to the sick bay to see our Males?" She asked "Leave the...Non-Humans behind."
Number 6 took Solarack to a strange Chamber

"What's this place?" Asked Solarack

"You have seen too much." Said Number 6 "We must destroy you and your comrades."

She pushed a large red button, a siren started blaring "KILL INVADERS! KILL INVADERS!"

Solarack screamed "YOU EVIL WOMAN!" And Ran past her to find his Non-Human Comrades

"Quickly!" Said Solarack "We must get back to our ship!"

They raced back to their ship with the Blond People chasing after them, they quickly dismounted and sped away

They later found out that the Humans of the Grey Marble were Humans from an Alternate Dimension come to Colonize this Dimension, they had killed the members of the Missing Ship many years ago. F.H.A.E. sent an entire fleet to destroy them

Author's Note: I think I will not do any more Campfire Entries to Steve's Contest

The End!

© Copyright 2016 Twiga, Steev the Friction Wizurd, Hertzman, BIG BAD WOLF is hopping, (known as GROUP).
All rights reserved.
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