Kuval, Manara Space Station’s administrator and senior scientist stared out his large oval window towards his home planet Amaria, a blue and green planet with cloud formations over most of the larger of the three continents. Must be raining today he thought as he reflected on his twenty years of service to ASI (Amarian Space Institute). Kuval could not believe the progress made so far in technological growth in the last few years, he was happy with the contributions that his station had made for this endeavor over the last year. Kuval then poured himself a hot cup of his favorite tea as he sat back down at his console in the center of his small office; a glass top desk with four black legs attached in a circular fashion and was surrounded by four walls, one of which had a large monitor screen on the right side of the office. His desk is adorned with a computer console a writing utensil holder, made by his son while in the first year of education. Also atop his desk were folders strung about with pictures and identifying papers of resent applicants for the apprentice program for the upcoming year. After many weeks of consideration of all the great applicants he had, he found his new junior apprentice to join his team. A Lovely short young woman with brown eyes and hazel eyes, twenty five years old and educated the ASI Technical Higher Learning Center Jualdia, with a degree in mathematics and science. He had chosen her not for her grades or degrees but on her application letter she had written. Linaria had spoken about her tough upbringing and efforts to make it through school while working at school library to earn her way through school and her dream to become a member of ASI Research Station Manara as a lofty goal to set.

Kuval sipped at his tea and then pressed the intercom button. A buzz is heard in the outer corridor. “Yes Kuval, what can I do for you?’ Anali, Kuval’s medium sized 24 year old research assistant with blond hair asked.

“Can you have Ardin report to my office please?” He asked politely.

“Yes sir, right away.” Anali put through a call to the stations associate scientist.

Kuval took another sip of his tea and set it down as his intercom buzzed. “Sir, Ardin is on his way up, he should be here in a few minutes.”

“Thanks Anali, that’ll be all for now.” Kuval waited a few minutes by sipping the last of his tea then setting the empty cup in a water basin attached to a wall. He glanced at his refection in the mirror hanging above the water basin and looked at himself. “I’m getting grey around the top; my age is catching up with me.”

“Nonsense sir, you’re still looking young and fit.” Ardin said with a chuckle as the tall 30 year old with brown hair walked into Kuval’s office. Kuval offered Ardin a seat, and as he sat Ardin asked. “I assume you have found our new apprentice for this year?”

“Yes, yes I have, and I think she will bring new ideas and talent to our staff here.” He said as he pushed a paper jacket containing Lanaria’s stats and letters in it over to Ardin. Ardin studied the material in silence for a few minutes and the set the file down. “Impressive sir, one of the top candidates, I agree; she will make a great addition to our staff.”

“Good, now that I got that done I need you to go down to Amaria and escort her up to Manara. Brief her on the way up as much as you can, then I will cover everything else when she arrives.”

“Ok sir, I will. When do you want me to head down to the planet?” Ardin asked a little excited, he always enjoyed taking a little time off on the surface for a little entertainment and distractions, he loved his work but it could be a little dull at times without new discoveries.

“Tonight and I want you back her in three days. I don’t want you to spend too much time indulging yourself. I want you back promptly.” Kuval handed Ardin another file containing a picture and name of the new apprentice.

“Yes sir, I will not let you down.” Ardin said a little disappointed at the time constraint place on him. Oh well he thought next time. As Ardin left the office, Kuval picked up the buzzed the intercom.

“Anali, can you put me through to Limie in ground control please?”

“Yes sir, just one moment please.”

Kuval spent the few minutes straitening up the mess on his desk as he waited for the communication to go through. Just as he finished putting away the files in storage the intercom buzzed once again so he could call Limie at ground control because the Jindan Manara’s only shuttle was on the planet for minor repairs and upgrades.

“Sir, I have Limie for you, Go ahead.” A clear deep voice could be heard over the intercom. “Limie here, what can I do for you Kuval?”

“I am good thank you; I have a new apprentice coming to the station in three days. Can you send the shuttle Jindan up to the station at once? Ardin will ride it down and pick up a student named Linaria. Please schedule them a return trip in three days please.” Kuval explained to Limie.

“I’m good, let me check the maintenance record and see if it’s ready to go.” Kuval could hear the tell tale signs of Limie checking the computer terminal at his end. “Yes, it’s ready to go. I will get you a pilot immediately and send it up within the next few hours.” Limie said with assurance.

“That’s great, thank you.” Kuval said with appreciation for the quick turnaround of the Jindan’s maintenance.

“Any time sir, have a good day.”

“You have a good day to good bye.” Kuval then ended the call by pressing a button on the communications panel then asked his assistant to make an additional call. “Anali can you put me through to the ASI commissioner’s office please.” He once again asked politely of his assistant.

“Just one moment sir.” Anali responded.

While waiting for the call to go through he used his computer terminal and reviewed the latest telescope radio recordings, pausing on a few and marked them for future scrutiny. Not too long after finishing his intercom buzzed.

“Sir, I have Commissioner Sural for you, go ahead sir.” Anali said as she transferred the call to Kuval’s office.

Kuval was happy to speak to his long time friend. “Sural my old friend, how are you this fine day?”

“I am doing fine Kuval, and you?”

“Great day here in orbit, I called to let you know that I have chosen this year’s apprentice, her name is Linaria and is from your own school, Jualdia.” Kuval said to his friend, happy with his decision.

“Yes, I know her, she is an outstanding student and will make a valuable researcher and assistant, I will inform her immediately” He said proudly knowing that other schools had just as good or even better candidates. “I am positive she will be ecstatic, when should I tell her to be ready to go?”

“In three days, Ardin will meet Linaria at the school and bring her to Manara the following day, please tell her of the departure day.” Kuval instructed Sural to convey the itinerary to Linaria.

“Ok, I will let her know the great news, can you send me the travel arrangements.”

“Yes, of course I am sending the information now.” Kuval punched a few buttons on his terminal and transmitted the information to Sural.

“Got it my friend, have you found anything interesting this week?”

“Just a few radio signals that I think will be a good first try with Linaria and her skills, but nothing exciting yet.”

“All right then, you have a good day, I will speak with you again soon.” Sural said to his friend.

“Ok, Bye my friend.” As Kuval ended the call he went back to his terminal logging radio transmissions for further interpretation.

Sural got up from his desk in the middle of a lavish office surrounded by book shelves, animal skin covered chairs, a red and yellow floor covering with window looking out on the campus of the school. He walked out the front door to the green of the courtyard he strolled to another building with the same red and blue colors three stories high. He made his way to the front door of student housing and walked down the left hallway of the first floor and knocked on the third door of the room on the right. A lovely young lady of twenty five opened the door. “Hello commissioner, what can I do for you today?” Surprised by the visit by the commissioner and gestured for Sural to come in.

“I am here to give you some wonderful news to tell you.” Noticing her expression changed from questioning to total excitement.

“Good news, what news is that?” She said with continued excitement and anticipation noticeable by here constant fidgeting knowing that she had applied for an apprenticeship on the Manara space station.

“As I am sure you are aware that the ASI station Manara was in the process of choosing this year’s apprentice. Well, get a hold of yourself, you are the one they have chosen, congratulations.” As Sural gave Linaria a quick smile and handed her the document with her travel itinerary.

“Oh wow, Kuval choose me. I can’t believe it. I am ecstatic!” Linaria was clearly excited. “When do I leave for Manara Space Station?”

“The day after tomorrow, go ahead and pack your things and go to the transport station and a scientist from the station named Ardin will meet you and take you up to Manara.”

“Ok thank you, I am so grateful for this opportunity I will pack up tomorrow and I will make you proud of me.”

“Of that I have no doubt.” Sural said with glee. “I am already very proud of you just for being selected.”

“Thanks again Sural, have a good day.”

“I will, you do the same.” As Sural turned and walked down the corridor.

Linaria slung herself on a chair and cheered to whole world. Her excitement could defiantly be felt. She sat and began to comprehend her future. She then took stock in the belongings she should take to the station. She then got up from the chair and almost floated towards her closet, opening the door and grabbed from the top shelf a bag in which to pack her belongings. She then thought to that she defiantly had too many things to bring with her. She thought, ‘I am going to have to box up some of my things and put them in storage for a while.’ Then she laid her bag on the chair and left her room in order to contact her mother and give her the great news. Linaria punched a few buttons and made a call to her mother Verana who was also a graduate of Jualdia school of music and was well known for the music she had composed.

“Hello.” A musical voice answered the communication.

“Mom, it’s me, I have some great news.” Linaria said excitedly she could hardly contain herself. “I’ve been selected as this year’s ASI Space Station Manara new apprentice. Can you believe it?”

“Lin my dear really, that’s wonderful. I am so happy for you Linaria; this is a wonderful opportunity for you. Congratulations you deserve it.” Verana said with glee and pride.

“Thanks mom, I know I will do my best and make you proud.” Linaria said with assurance.

“When do you leave for the station?” Her mom asked.

“The day after tomorrow, I am to meet a male named Ardin and he is to take up to the station and brief me on what is to be expected.” She told her mom.

“Well call me when you get there, and keep in touch with me ok.”

“I will mom, I’ll talk to you soon, bye.”

“I’ll look forward your first call, bye.”

As the call ended Linaria walked back into her room and lay on her bed contemplating her future. She then fell quickly asleep and dreamt of the trip ahead of her.

Linaria woke up early the next day. She had slept very well and was still excited about her selection. She then began grabbing her things and began to pack them into suitcases for her trip tomorrow. Linaria spent the rest of the day packing and organizing her things. Later that evening she decided to go and see her friends for some last minute fun.

Ardin found himself once again in the space port on Amaria, it had been almost two months since the last time he had step foot on his home planet. He walked out into the bright sunlight and into the square just outside of ASI’s transportation center. A large rectangular building with two floors and a tower with window’s all around in the center of the square. He briefly looked around and took a deep breath. He was certainly glad to be back, even for a short time. He then walked across the square to the community transport station and boarded a transport that was heading towards the school where he is to pick up Linaria. Ardin sat in a seat towards the front of the transport, a four wheeled vehicle shaped in a cylindrical cigar shape with large windows and 30 seats for passengers. It pulled away from the stop and Ardin put his head back and closed his eyes for the rest of the trip to Jualdia. Ardin woke up just as the transport stopped and he heard over the intercom. “Last stop Jualdia station.” He then got off of the transport and walked up the steps to the administration building. As he approached the center desk in the rotunda he saw a young woman sitting at the desk, he smiled at her and asked. “I am here to meet Linaria, I am from Manara Space Station, I’m Ardin, and can you get a hold of her and let her know that I am here to pick her up.”

“Yes of course, right away sir.” The young receptionist said. “You can wait over at those tables for her to arrive.” She indicated with her hand pointing to tables along the wall. She then went to her terminal and began to type.

Ardin then turned to walk away and then sat at an open spot at one of the tables, picked up a pamphlet and read it as he waited. After just a few minutes he recognized Linaria walk up to the center desk probably asking the young receptionist where he was sitting. Ardin then stood up and walked over to where Linaria was standing and offered his hand in hello. Linaria turned around and saw Ardin walk up to her, she then knew this must be her escort to the station. She smiled brightly as she shook his hand. “Hello, I’m Linaria; you must be Ardin from the station.”

“Yes, I am. I am pleased to meet you. I am here to make sure you get up to the station safely and I will brief you on the way up.”

“Oh great, nice to meet you to, I am totally excited about going to the station.” She said with glee.

“We are scheduled to leave for Manara in two hours; I hope you are ready to go.” Ardin asked.

“I am defiantly ready to go; I just have to grab my things and go.”

“That’s good, I will help you with your bags and then we will take the transport to ASI transportation station, have you ever been in space?”

“No, this will be my first time. I am really looking forward to it.”

“Well let’s do this then.” Ardin said with a smile.

Ardin followed Linaria out of the administration building towards student housing. Linaria opened the door to her room for what could be for the last time. On the floor just inside were three bags all packed and ready to be taken. Ardin walked into Linaria’s room and picked up two of the bags and Linaria picked up the last one.

“Is there anything else?” Ardin asked as he prepared to walk out with the heaviest of the three bags.

“Nope, this is all, let’s get going.” Linaria said as she walked out of her room and looked the door as she closed it.

Ardin lead the way across the school campus to the transport station. They waited a few minutes for the transport to show up. Once the transport arrived Ardin and Linaria boarded the transport to ASI transport station and sat in the middle. A few more students boarded the transport, the doors closed and the transport departed. Ardin asked Linaria if she had any expectations. “Linaria, what do you think of being selected for this assignment?”

“I feel ecstatic, and I know that this experience will be a great one, and that I will do my best to contribute to the mission.” Linaria said with a little pride.
“That’s what I was hoping you would say, Kuval had to pick just one person out of hundreds for this opportunity and he took a while to pick just the right candidate. After he told me I was coming to the planet to bring you up I read your record and knew he had chosen the right person.” Ardin said with true admiration for Kuval’s selection.

“Why thank you Ardin, I appreciate that.” Linaria said

After only a few minutes the transport arrived at the space port and Ardin and Linaria got off and walked towards the front doors. Linaria was taking it all in, turning her head side to side admiring all the Amarian Transport station and space port had to offer. Several green white and blue flags were flying overhead with the light breeze, the sun was just about half way across the sky as Linaria looked towards the deep blue and pondered what was to come. Ardin once again picked up a bag and walked into the front doors, holding the double glass doors open for his new colleague. As Linaria walked into the space port, she could clearly see the space transport on the landing pad and was surprised by its size.
The ship had a clean design to it, grey with green and white emblem of Amaria on the front and side with a triangular shaped nose with a large rectangular body and a door on the left side and a hatch on the rear, with emergency escape stenciled above it. Ardin could tell that she was intrigued and told her the name of the craft that would be taking them both up to Manara.

“That’s the Jindan; she’s going to be taking you to your new home for the next year.” Ardin explained.

“I can’t wait, can we board her?” Linaria asked excitedly.

“Of course, we will just put your things in the back and climb on in.” Ardin said as he guided Linaria into the shuttle craft for the first time.

Inside were to pilot seats in the front, a storage area off to the right side in the back with supplies stenciled with Manara Space Station. Ardin and Linaria set her bags next to a big grey box in the storage area. Ardin then gestured towards the seat on the left side of the pilot’s station and he took the seat on the right. Ardin could not help but see the confused look on Linaria’s face, sensing she had a question on her mind Ardin explained.

“Well we will just call this your first lesson in piloting the Jindan, you have to learn sometime. So sit back and listen and I am sure you will pick it up very quickly.” Ardin waited a few seconds for the realization of piloting the Jindan for the first time to sink in. “First of all we need to do a preflight of all in flight systems. In the right side of your seat there is a pocket an inside you will find the check list required.”

Linaria reached into the pocket with her right hand and pulled out a red rectangular tablet computer with a buttons on the bottom and right hand side. She placed it on the console in front of her and looked over at Ardin. “Ok, now push the lower left button marked with the square symbol and it will turn on the pad. In case of a failure of the pad there’s a copy of written instructions in a pouch under your seat.” Ardin instructed.

Linaria pressed the button marked with the triangle with her right thumb, as the computer pad powered up she could see the check list appear and it had ‘Welcome to the Jindan, press the enter key to continue’.

“The enter key is on the right hand side marked by a star on the button.” Ardin explained.

Linaria pressed the star on the pad and the check list loaded and listed all the procedures to get started. “There’s a lot here.” Linaria said with a little apprehension.

“Don’t worry; it becomes much easier as you get practice. You will get twice a week lessons until you are ready to pass the final check ride.” He said to calm her fears.

Linaria looked at the first set of instruction and began slowly inputting commands and pressing buttons on the front and left side console. The Jindan came alive as systems were powered up. Finally as Linaria finished the first set of instructions the last step was for the cabin door to close. As she pressed the switch for the door to closed she heard a soft whoosh as the door closed and the cabin pressurized.

“Ok, Linaria now that the preflight is complete are you ready?”
“Yes I am.” She answered with excitement.

Ardin began with. “All we need now is departure clearance and we can go.” Ardin was writing on a pad of paper and handed to Linaria.

“What’s this?” She asked.

“It’s our call sign and departure clearance instructions to ask departure control.

“Ok thanks. Departure control this is Jindan one zero six, request departure clearance to Manara Space station.” Linaria said perfectly and with confidence.

“That was very good Linaria.” Ardin said pleased with her performance.

“Thank you.” Linaria responded and departure control came through seconds later with the clearance for them to leave.

“Jindan one zero six, this is departure control, you have clearance to depart with an initial heading of one eight zero then climb to one zero thousand feet and then enter normal orbital approach.”

Ardin interjected immediately. “Repeat what they said with the clearance so they know you understood.”

“Yes sir.” Linaria took a deep breath and repeated departure controls instructions. “Departure control Jindan one zero six departing for Manara Space Station on an initial heading of one eight zero then climb to one zero thousand feet and then entering normal orbital insertion.” “

That was great Linaria, now let’s go.” Ardin said and pointed to power and pitch controls. “Now select full power and a 15 degree pitch on the pitch control.”

“Will do, by the way you can call me Lin for short.” Lin said as she adjusted the power and pitch controls. The Jindan then rose with grace and ease into the air, turning as it lifted above the space port. Off into the blue sky, higher and faster as it gained altitude.

“This is easier than I would have thought Ardin. Thanks for letting me pilot us to the station.” Lin said with glee and appreciation. “

You’re welcome; now once we reach 100,000 feet input the following into the navigation computer.” Ardin handed Linaria another piece of paper he had written on. Lin looked at the papers instructions and nodded her ok. Once the shuttle craft reached 100,000 feet a beeping sound could be heard in the cock pit. Lin entered the data the Ardin had given her and once she hit the accept button the Jindan accelerated at a great rate and turned full nose up towards space. A few seconds later the sky faded to black and the star could now be clearly seen. Off to Linaria’s right the moon of Amaria could be seen a reddish brown orb that lumbered in orbit of her home planet.

“Wow, would you look at that. This is great, it’s so…beautiful. I can’t believe the view.” Lin exclaimed with pleasure and wonderment of a child.

“Yes it is, now take a look overt to your right.” Ardin gestured towards the Amarian Space Station Manara. “Oh my, that’s…that’s amazing. I did not realize that it was that big.” Lin was exasperated with her new home for the next year.

As the Jindan continued turning the whole station came into view. A circular inter ring that has a dish antennae at the top pointing toward deep space. The center ring has four sections coming out in a spoke pattern at 45 degree intervals that are about half the size of the inner ring. The surfaces are white and dark grey in color. Each section has viewing ports on either side and they are spaced evenly and have an oval shape to them. The spoke closest to them was different from the others; it clearly had a docking port at one end obviously to accept the Jindan. As Lin took in all of this new experience she felt a rush of excitement and an almost childish glee as the Jindan approached the station.

“The station is amazing Ardin, what’s it like inside?” Lin asked.

“It’s like any research station on Amaria, work stations, offices and laboratories in each section. The center is the main section and houses all the computers and radio telescope receivers and is where we will be working.” The Jindan took a sharp right turn towards the spoke with docking port one painted on the side closest to the edge of the port. On the port door was written ‘Caution, do not open inner door prior to pressure equalization.’
Suddenly the Jindan came to a complete stop just a few feet from the port. Ardin explained the next task. “Ok Lin, now we need to get clearance to dock and use the thrusters here.” Ardin pointed to the thruster controls. “Just use one or two bursts on the right side to ease us over then when you here the proximity alarm hit this button here.” Ardin pointed to a button marked coupling lock engage/disengage. “I’ll request clearance for you while you study the thruster controls.” Ardin then pressed the communications button and requested clearance to dock. “Manara Space station this is Jindan one zero six requesting clearance to dock at strut one with two person and cargo on board.” Ardin completed the request and waited for clearance to come in.

Kuval’s voice came through the com and gave clearance. “Jindan one zero six, this is Manara, clearance granted and welcome home.”

“Alright, now like I said just one push on the thruster control, no more than one at a time, just to nudge us softly to the dock port and the engage the locking clamps.”

Linaria took a deep breath then reached over and pressed for right thrust. A small hissing sound could be heard as the Jindan slowly eased to the left and in a few seconds the proximity alarm sounded. Linaria had her finger lingering over the engage button and pressed it once. A loud clunk was heard and the Jindan was safely docked to Manara. Ardin looked over at Lin and said. “Now press the pressure equalization button above your head on the left and when it turns greet from red you may open the door.”

Lin pressed the button, a whoosh; the same as before on takeoff was heard once again. The indicator light flashed red three times then changed to green indicating a good seal and the pressure in the Jindan was the same as inside the station. Lin then pressed another button and the door on the left slid open with ease and at the same time the door to the strut opened and a white light illuminated the entrance to the station. As Linaria stood up and walked towards the back she noticed an older gentleman standing in the corridor, he was tall with grey hear and green eyes. “He sure looks distinguished.” She thought to herself. Linaria smiled at the new man as he entered the Jindan.

“Welcome aboard the Manara Space Station my dear, Welcome.” Kuval extended his hand in friendship towards Linaria. “How was your trip Linaria? By the way I am Kuval, Senior Scientist and Administrator her at Manara.”

“I am very pleased to meet you sir.” Linaria grasped is hand and shook it in greeting. “Thank you for this opportunity to be an apprentice here. I know I will do my best and try not to mess up.”

“Don’t worry about it Linaria, we are all known to make a few mistakes from time to time, just as long as we learn from them and not make the same ones twice, don’t you agree Ardin?”

“Yes sir, absolutely.” Ardin answered remembering his first big mistake and not backing up the nightly radio telescope recordings. Luckily he had recognized his mistake and corrected it on his own the next day. “Lin I know I have made a few myself.

“Well that makes me feel a little better. Thanks for your encouragement and acceptance.” Lin responded to their statements of not being perfect. She honestly felt better.

“Lin?” Kuval questioned both in general.

“Yes sir, I like to be called Lin for short. It’s what my mom has always called me since I was little.”

“Ok and you may call me Kuval, short for Kuval he snickered at his own joke.

“Well I guess a tour of the station is in order, I will have some of the maintenance personnel collect the cargo and put your bags in your living space.” Kuval directed her down the corridor toward the center of the station.

Lin was taking all of it in with excitement and glee of a child again. “I can’t believe this place, it’s wonderful, and how many people are working on the station Kuval?

“In total 17, three radio telescope scientists, including you, two computer engineers, five maintenance personnel, three support personnel who cook and clean, a doctor and two astronomers…..oh and my very special assistant Anali, she’s your age so you just might like her.”

Kuval lead Linaria into the center of the station turning towards the right, Ardin went to the left. “Sir I will me you and Lin in the computer center when you are done with her tour.”

“No problem, see you in a few.” Kuval answered back. “He’s probably going to raid the kitchen.” Kuval again laughed at his own joke.

“Thanks for the lesson.” Linaria told Ardin as he proceeded down the center corridor.

“You’re welcome.” Ardin said as he disappeared around the next corner.

“I knew he could not resist giving you a lesson in piloting the Jindan. So, how was it for you?”

“It was fun and easy too. Only hard part was the docking. I was worried at fist but got through it.” Lin answered Kuval.

Kuval continued showing Lin around the station, stopping at each cubicle and explaining its function. He showed her the communications center, astronomical center, medical bay, living quarters and engineers cubical. When they stopped at the dining hall there was Ardin sitting at one of the three tables eating away.

“Hi you two, enjoy the tour so far Lin?” Ardin wiped sauce from his chin that had dropped onto his chin.

“Let’s leave those two alone, they need their privacy.” Kuval laughed loudly obviously referring the huge sandwich that has all the fixings dripping out of it.

“You’re so comical Kuval, very funny.” Ardin even laughed at the joke this time.

Kuval then lead Lin to the grand finale, the computer and radio telescope center. A large door opened as they approached, a young woman with blond hair and about the same height as Linaria came through the door almost bumping into Kuval. “Whops, sorry Kuval, Oh hi you must be the new apprentice Linaria right.” Anali said she would have shook Linaria’s hand but had a handful of file folders and looked to be in a rush. “Nice to meet you Linaria, I will chat with you later I’ve some filing to do at the moment.”

“It’s no problem Anali nice to meet you to, call me Lin.” Lin shouted as Anali darted down the corridor.

“She’s a great assistant; I never have to get on her case on anything.” Kuval said with admiration. “She’s your room mate as well; I almost forgot to tell you.”

“That good, I was afraid I would be lonely up here, but now I’ll have someone to talk to.”

“Shall we go in?” Kuval gestured towards the still open door to the computer center.

Kuval lead the way and inside. Lin was astounded at the sight before her, computer consoles along the right side of the room, radio receivers on the left, and three work centers in the center all with access to the mainframe. Kuval took her on a tour of the space and explained each consoles purpose. Then he led her to the door at the end and stated. “And this is my office, and that desk with the big pot on it is Anali’s desk. Kuval continued and ended up at a desk with only a keyboard and monitor on it. “This will be your work space here.” Kuval said as he tapped on the metal surface of the desk. “You may do with it as you please. Just keep it clean.

Lin pulled out the chair that was under the desk turn it and sat at her desk. “It’s nice sir. I brought some pictures I can put on it, thanks.”

“Ardin’s desk is across from yours.” Kuval pointed to the desk with about ten folders strewn about the surface in a haphazard fashion. “He never cleans his desk; he’s usually down in the radio center adjusting frequencies. Well that’s the end of the tour; you may go to your quarters I showed you earlier and unpack your things. Dinner will be in two hours, I’ll see you then.”

“Thank you for the tour Kuval, I enjoyed it immensely.” Lin said honestly, and then she looked around the center of the room once again to take it all in. She then walked over to the door and walked down the corridor towards the living quarters. As Lin entered her new living space she saw that her bags had been placed on an empty bed on the left side of the room. She then walked over to the oval window looking off into space and then once again she got a look at Amaria. “Beautiful.” Lin muttered to herself reflecting on her new surroundings.

“Yes it certainly is beautiful.” Responded Anali as she entered the room they now were sharing, Anali also saw that Lin was startled as she spoke. “I’m sorry Lin; I did not mean to scare you.”

“It’s alright Anali; I was just enjoying the view when you came in. Don’t worry, I am ok.” Lin said as she smiled at her new roommate.

“Good, so what do you think of all of this?” Anali asked as she gestured around towards the rest of the station.

“It’s a lot to take in at first glance, but I think I will get used to all of what goes on here.”

“I’m sure you will Kuval was scouring the applicants for this position a great deal over the last month. I think his choice is a good one. Anali said in a friendly manner.

“Well thank you for being so kind so far, I am sure you and I will be great friends in no time.” Lin said with assurance and hope that they would truly become good friends. “How long have you been on the station?” Lin asked her new companion.

“Since the beginning, Kuval brought me with him after the station was brought online a year ago; I’ve been working for him since I left school. This is by far the best job I have had.” Anali said with pride and accomplishment in her voice.

“That’s great Anali, I just hope that I do well and contribute to our planets future in one way or another. I can’t wait to meet the rest of the crew. I’ve only seen a few of them while on tour with Kuval, they were all too busy to chat, but I am sure I will get to know them all shortly.”

“Oh you will meet all of them for sure, when Kuval said you were to meet him in the dining hall later, that’s for all of us to get together each night and discus our progress and anything else that comes up we need to talk about.” Anali explained their weekly get together's.

“Oh really; he left that part out, well now I am really looking forward to dinner now.” Lin said as she unzipped her back and began putting away her clothes in a reddish brown chest of drawers that was inset into the wall of her side of the grey and white room.

“Well I am sure you will enjoy it. Here let me help you put your things away.” Anali offered and then helped Lin put her things away. After about 30 min they had finished putting away everything and straitened up the room. “Well Lin I think we should go ahead and get ourselves to the dining hall.”

“Ok, just lead the way.” Lin said pointing down the right corridor with her hand.

“Just follow me milady.” Anali said as she chuckled.

Anali and Lin walked casually down the corridor and entered the large dining hall. Both of the tables had been pushed together into on long table, in a conference style. Once they entered they noticed that Ardin was already seated on the left of the head of the table in the first seat. Lin smiled at Ardin for a brief moment of recognition. Ardin then pointed over to the right side just across from him indicating were Linaria would sit this evening.

“Sit right over their Lin, would you like anything to drink while we wait for the others?”

Linaria made her way over to that side of the table Ardin had indicated, she took her seat and Anali sat right next to her. “Um… yes please, I’ll have Lindinberry juice.”

“I’ll have Amarian ale and one Lindinberry juice for Lin.” Ardin asked Emil the cook behind the counter.

“Sure Ardin, just one minute.” Emil said then turned to pour the drinks that Ardin has asked for. After pouring the drinks Emil came out of the kitchen and handed the drinks to Ardin and Lin. “Hello my dear, you must be the new apprentice.” Emil asked with a smile.

“Yes, I am Linaria but you may call me Lin for short.” Lin said as she stood and offered to shake Emil’s hand in greeting. Emil took her hand and shook it in welcome as the both smiled. “Welcome Lin, welcome to Manara and I hope you like what I have cooked for dinner tonight, roasted chinat.”

“I am pleased to meet you.” Lin answered, chinat is her favorite fowl. “Chinat that sounds good, I’m sure I will enjoy it.”

Lin sat back down still smiling and took a sip from her cup. At the same time Kuval followed be everyone else came into the dining hall. All of them took seats at the tables that had been put together. As they sat Emil came out and took the last seat open on the right side. Everyone at the table was talking to each other and the volume was loud.

Ding, ding, ding, ding, could be heard as Kuval stood up at the head of the table and hit the side of his glass with his spoon and spoke. “Can I have your attention please?” Everyone quitted down. “I would like to introduce to you Linaria, she is from Jualdia. She is also our very first apprentice scientist here on Manara.” Kuval pointed to Linaria and she stood up and greeted everyone with a nod. Kuval then began introducing all members of the team; he started with the doctor who was sitting to the left of Anali. “Starting on your left next to Anali is our station doctor Binaji, Across from him is our two computer engineers Celine ad Danie, then there’s Fianne who is sitting next to Danie.” Each person stood and gave a welcoming not as they were introduced. “Next to the doctor is Niara one of our station engineers, the other four are Fianne, Athia, Pardja, and head engineer Quint. Next to Quint is Amil and Emil, there brothers and our cooks and next to Pardja is Marna, he’s housekeeping. Next to him are Timit and our station astronomers. And that’s everyone.” Kuval then sat back down as all those in attendance greeted Linaria.

“Thank you all for that great welcome, you are all very kind. Please call me Lin.” Lin told them all as she shook everyone’s hand and finally sat down.

Amil and Emil both stood up at the same time and Emil spoke. “We will be right back with our dinner, roasted Chinat.” Amil and Emil went into the kitchen ad they both grabbed plates of food and put them in front of everyone. Each person politely waited for everyone to be served. Everyone chatted throughout the meal; they talked about all that Lin should expect while on the station and what they all did on a daily basis. When everyone had finished eating Amil stood up and said. “If everyone is finished please place your dishes into the wash bin in the kitchen, Emil and I will clean in here and put the tables back. Lin was the second to get up just after Kuval gathered his dishes and headed for the kitchen. Lin followed suit and placed her dished in the wash basin then left. Kuval and the rest left the dining hall for their living quarters. Kuval then said good night to Lin. “Lin I will see you in the morning, have a good night.”

“Thank you Kuval, I will.” Lin said as she walked back to her room, as she entered her room she went to the bathroom and cleaned up and then got ready for bed. She then sat at the desk were the communications panel in their room was. She pressed a few buttons and a call went through. “Hello mother, how are you?”

“I am fine Lin baby, how was your trip? Verana asked her daughter.

“It was fun, I got to pilot the Jindan up to the station. And I did well at it too. I also met everyone that works here at a big dinner get together we had tonight. Everyone is really nice.”

“That’s great dear, how’s your room?”

“Its fine, I have a girl named Anali as a roommate. She’s very nice and friendly.”

“Good, what else did you do today?”

“Well my boss Kuval had a coworker Ardin, he’s nice too by the way, teach me how to use the telescope and computers.”

“He's nice huh?” Verana questioned her daughter.

“Yes, nice, don’t worry I’ll be careful. I just wanted to tell you that I was ok and got here ok. I’ll call you once a week.” Lin told her mother.

“That sounds fine honey, you do well and I am proud of you. Have a good night.” Her mom said with excitement.

“Thank you mom, good night.” Lin ended the call then went off to bed as she was tired from this first exciting day and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

This is a NON TG element Science Fiction Fantasy. Follow the Amarian's as they discover radio and television signals from earth. Linaria continues to work on the radio signal discovery. Please comment on characters and flow.
 

And Now...
 
Amaria
Chapter Two
By D. L. Darrow (Sara D.)

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Chapter 2 Discoveries
 
Lin woke up the next day refreshed and ready to go, it took her a few moments to realize that it was day time. She had been used to the sun shining through her dorm room window back at school waking her up. She realized this would be something she would just have to get used to. However she was well rested and ready to start experiencing her new job. She went into the bathroom to clean up. As she came out of the bathroom she looked over to the other side of the room and saw that Anali was just waking up as well. “Good morning Anali, sleep well?” Lin asked her roommate.

“Very well, thank you and good morning to you too. You ready for your first official day of work?”

“Absolutely, I am so excited about this day.” Lin responded as she finished getting dressed for the day. She wore a grey and green jumpsuit that all the team members had been wearing the previous day. Kuval had given her three sets the day before.

Anali began getting herself ready for her day. “If you hang back for a few minutes I’ll go to breakfast with you.”

As Lin started for the door she stopped turned around and said. “Yah, ok that sounds nice.” She then walked over to the big window and once again looked off into deep space. “I think it’s more beautiful today than it was yesterday.”

“I was the same way when I first got here last year, but I have to admit, it never does get old.” Anali said as she joined Lin at the window after finishing getting dressed. She looked out the window for a few more minutes with Lin and asked. “Well I’m ready to go, shall we go eat.”

“Yes, I like the way these jump suits fit and look. They’re very form fitting.”

“You’ll learn to have a love hate relationship with them. The men like the way the fit us as well. If you know what I mean.” Anali explained the minor distractions she had caused wearing the thing.

Lin and Anali walked out the door of their room to the dining hall. As they entered there sitting at the table were Ardin and Kuval. They both had plates full of fruits and cereals in front of them. Anali and Lin grabbed trays and plated and filled up with what they wanted and sat across from Ardin and Kuval. As they sat Kuval greeted them. “Good morning ladies, how are you getting along today?”

“Fine thank you, Anali had been a helpful and a real dear since meeting yesterday.” Lin said with appreciation.

“That’s nice to say Lin, thank you. You’re nice too.” Anali said while lightly blushing.

“Well I am glad you two are getting along.” Kuval said and then turned and looked over at Ardin. “After breakfast will you take Lin to the computer center and get her fixed up and then both you two come to my office for a briefing.”

Ardin smiled and asked. “The usual computer access levels then.”

“Yes of course, and show her how to save and mark signals that will need further study as well. That should take you about an hour; let’s say we meet in my office in an hour and a half.”

“Ok sir, I take care of it.” Ardin then looked over at Lin and said. “Whenever you’re ready I’ll take you to get all of that done.

“Thanks Ardin, I’ll be finished in a few minutes.” Lin said and saw that Anali had given her a big smile and nod towards Ardin. She must think he likes me Lin thought to herself. Lin sat quietly as she finished her breakfast then she got up and Anali and Ardin followed suit. They all put their dishes away and left the dining hall for the central hub of the computer center. Once they entered Anali took her a seat at her desk and logged into her computer. Ardin motioned to Lin to sit at the computer at her desk. She sat down and waited for instructions. “So what do I do now Ardin?” Lin asked as she looked at the monitor screen sitting of the left side of her new desk.

“Well first of all we need to get you access to the system.” Ardin explained as he took the keyboard and typed his login information. Once the system had logged him on he then set up an account for Lin, as he did so she watched everything he did. Ardin then pushed the keyboard over to Lin. “Ok now just enter a password and you’ll be all set up. If you need anything printed out, the printer is right over there.” Ardin pointed to a printer on the left of the room. Once Lin entered her password Ardin instructed her on how to save files and flag them for further study. Lin practiced with a few of the newest radio recordings and when she finished the last one in the quiche Ardin showed her how to log off of the system. “Very good, you got the hang of that quickly. Well now that that is done well head on over to Kuval’s office for his brief.” Lin then stood up as the computer logged off and walked with Ardin into her new boss’s office for the second time.

As they approached Ardin smiled at Anali and told her. “We are here to see Kuval for Lin’s brief.”

“Go right in, he’s waiting for you.” Anali responded as she pointed towards the office as to direct them inside.

“Thank you Anali.” Lin said with a friendly tone. “Let’s have lunch together later and have a chat.”

“Ok Lin, I will meet you there.”

Lin and Ardin entered Kuval’s office, as they did Kuval stood up and gestured to two chairs that were placed in front of a large wide screen monitor hanging on the right side of Kuval’s office. They both sat in a chair and Kuval pressed a button on a remote that he had pulled out of his top left hand drawer. “Ok Lin, Ardin, here is the latest radio telescope intercepts. I have flagged the first three myself, the next two are from Ardin and the last one is one you flagged just a few minutes ago. I know you flagged two more but this one is the most interesting and we will look at it first.” A list of six radio signals with date and time stamps in them were listed on the monitor. Each file name had the operator’s name, time of signal, length of signal and sequence number. Kuval then pointed at the screen and the first radio signal was highlighted, and then scrolled to the bottom of the list, indicating it in bold which selected the file name of ‘lin1040_045.rt1’. Then a large graph appeared on the screen with variations of signal strength, quality, frequency and duration of recording. Kuval asked Lin if she could explain what was displayed. “Lin, why flag this one in particular, can you explain what we see here? Go ahead when you’re ready.”

Lin took a deep breath and began. “Well sir, as you can see by the strength and duration of the wave form and the duration of the signal it appears to be radiation surge in a fluctuating frequency it is indicating a possible discovery of a rotating star.” Lin finished with assurance that she was correct. Kuval an Ardin looked at each other briefly and then over at Lin.

“That is correct Lin, very nice catch. Since the point of origin is not known you get the privilege of naming this new pulsar Lin. That’s great for you, congratulations.” Kuval said with admiration.

“Thank you, I would like to name it Verana Sol, after my mom.” Lin stated with a smile and glee.

“Ok, I will take the necessary steps in naming this pulsar as ‘Verana Sol’ and log it in.” Kuval said with a smirk.

“Can you show me how that works?” Lin asked.

Kuval motioned for Lin to come over to his desk. “Here sit at my console and I will show you how it’s done.”

Lin sat at Kuval’s desk and waited for instruction. “Ok, now what do I do?”

Kuval instructed Lin on how to prepare the documents for naming a newly discovered celestial object. He also showed her how to schedule visual telescope time so that she could take a look at the pulsar itself. The astronomers would download the images onto the server for review later so each person could share and contribute to all the discoveries on Manara. After Lin finished she stood up and thanked Kuval. “There you go Lin, now you know how to do the request. It should only take a few days for ASI to process it. You will get a confirmation when it clears. Now that that is finished you may go to your desk, Ardin will you show her how to position the radio telescope and record a few local signals for a live demonstration?”

“Ok, no problem.” Ardin said and led Lin to her desk.

Lin took a seat at her desk and Ardin began showing her how to program the radio telescope to change position. Lin realized this was a little more time consuming than just looking at the recordings that Ardin showed her earlier. Ardin had showed her the outer most gas giant planet in their solar system. She was glad for the experience. Lin had learned of it properties in school, but this was different. It was great to see the data come in live and made it more real. ‘Thanks Ardin, this is great.”

“You’re welcome Lin; now if you have any questions just go ahead ask ok. Go ahead and try it out for yourself for the next couple of hours and see what you can find.”

“Ok, thanks again Ardin.” Ardin then took a seat at his own desk and logged in. He began reviewing more of the latest recordings as he had to catch up for the time he was away on Amaria. “I think she will do fine.” He thought to himself and began working.

Lin spent the next several hours looking for and studying signals from the telescope. She was truly enjoying herself. She just hoped that the novelty would not were off and become boring after a while. Lin was engrossed in a signal that she had just found and was startled out of her chair when someone tapped on her shoulder.

“Oh I sorry Lin, I didn’t mean to scare you. I just thought you might go and have lunch.” Anali said with a smile.

“It’s ok, I guess I was occupied by this signal and did not realize you had walked up behind me. Lunch sounds great, let’s go.” With that said Lin and Anali walked out of the room towards the dining hall for some needed food. As Lin and Anali entered Amil greeted them.

“Hello again Lin, how’s your first day going, and how are you Anali?” Amil said with a grin.

“I am doing fine, thanks.” Anali said and looked over to Lin.

“I’m having a great first day, I’ve learned so much already but I have a long ways to go to learn everything.” Lin responded with a great big smile.

“That’s great Lin, we are all glad you are getting along so well so far. Enjoy your lunch you two.” Amil said as he went to the kitchen to serve the two young ladies.

As Amil came out with their plates Rindan and Timit joined them at the table. Amil saw them and greeted them as well. “Good after noon gentlemen, I be right back with your lunch.”
“We are doing fine Amil, where’s Emil?” Timit asked as he and Rindan took their seats.

“He’s over in spire number one; he’s helping Pardja repair damage to the airlock.” He gave a stern look over at Lin. “I guess Linaria did not slow down enough and now it’s not sealing right.”

Everyone could tell that Lin had a terrified and worried look on her face. “Oh my, did I break something. Oh dear, I am sorry.” She said truly embarrassed. “I’ll go and see if they need any help.” Lin started to get up from her unfinished lunch to see if she could help. As she did everyone started to laugh, she now had a puzzled look on her face. “Why are you all laughing?” She asked the group. Then her expression changed to one of relief once she realized they were playing a joke on her. At the same time Emil walked in to the dining hall. “You guys, you got me. I was thinking my stay here was over before the end of my first day.” Emil then spoke once his laughter at Lin’s expense had subsided.

“Well it’s tradition to poke fun at the new guy here. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive us. But it’s all in good fun.

Lin sat quietly then began to cry, then broke into hysterics. Emily had a look of concern thinking he had truly embarrassed Lin. He went over to her and tried to comfort her. As he knelt down beside her she looked at him and smiled. “I got you Emil; I’ve been able to produce tears on command since I was little. It only works about twice.”
My mom figured it out pretty quickly when I was young, but I’ve seemed to take the bait and fell for it beautifully.” Lin explained as she now began to laugh, Emil’s expression changed into a big smile, he stood up and took his seat once again.

“Well she’s going to fit in here just fine.” Anali said smiling at her new friend. “I think Emil was almost going to throw up there, he was so worried. Great one Lin, I’ve got remember that one. You are going to have to get Ardin with that one for sure. Maybe we will run into him on the way back.” Once everyone calmed down they all continued to eat their lunches and talked about their day so far. Lin told everyone about her earlier discovery and everyone congratulated her. After finishing lunch Lin stood up.

“I should be getting back to work now, It’s been a really enjoyable lunch, and thanks again for the welcome.” Lin said smiling at Emil. Lin an Anali walked together out of the dining hall back towards the center of the station. Once down the hall they bumped into Ardin.

“Oh good, you’ve had lunch, I assume you were welcomed properly in there?” Ardin said with a smirk.

“It was awful Ardin, they all made fun of me, I’m off to Kuval’s office now to make a complaint.” Lin said with tears in her eyes once again.

“Oh my, could they have gone overboard.” Ardin thought to himself with a worried look on his face as he suggested the particulars of this morning’s prank. “I’m so sorry Lin, they should not have pushed it as far as this and make you upset. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you? It was my Idea.”

“Yes there is.” Lin said sternly, waiting for a few minutes for her payback to sink in. “You can now go and tell Kuval all about how you upset me and take the blame for all of this.”

“This girl has got talent.” Anali thought to herself, enjoying Ardin’s reaction.

Lin continued. “And further more I think you should be expelled from the station for such and outright unforgiving action.” Then she hit him playfully on the right shoulder in disapproval and giving Ardin a sick feeling and looked horribly embarrassed and sorry. “Are you sorry for this Ardin?” Lin asked overstated.

“Yes, please forgive me.” Ardin answered sweetly.

At this point Anali could no longer contain herself and began to giggle, which in turn caused Lin’s expression to change to a smile and she too could not hold it and laughed as well. Soon both of them were laughing uncontrollably in the middle of the hallway. Ardin’s expression changed immediately. “You were kidding the whole time? Why that was unfair, you are good Lin, you had me going. Yep you’ll fit in just right around here, especially around Emil and Timit. Well I guess I got what I deserved, I’m off to lunch. And Lin, very well done today so far, go ahead and get another couple of hours on the telescope and then we will get together later and see what you’ve come up with.”

“Ok Ardin, thanks for the laugh.” Lin said as she and Anali walked away towards the center once again. As they arrived Kuval came out of the door and said hello.

“Hello ladies, enjoy your lunch?” Kuval asked with a questioning look. “Having fun at Ardin’s expense I presume?”

“Yes, Lin here got everyone at lunch and Ardin just now. She got all of us pretty good.” She smiled at her friend, Lin returned the smile.

“Well I guess I will hear all about it as I am off to get lunch. Lin I have an area of space I would like you to look at over the next couple of weeks, it’s an area we’ve not studied yet. I sent the coordinates to your work station. See you two ladies later.” Kuval said as he left for lunch.

Lin and Anali took seats at their desk and continued their work. Lin looked at the coordinates Kuval sent her. The coordinates were in quadrant seven in the southern sky. An area that held many mysteries as the station had the only telescope capable of viewing this part of the sky. A telescope was under construction for just this endeavor but had fallen into some technical difficulties. This must be why Kuval wants me to study this area, to get a head start until the new ground telescope was finished in the next few months. Lin spent the better part of the next few weeks learning all that she could about this area of space and cataloging all that she discovered along the way. She would report to Kuval and Ardin at their daily meetings. So far nothing out of the ordinary had been found. Lin fell into a routine over the next two weeks. Anali and Lin had become fast friends along with Emil and Timit. Everyone on the station was getting along well working towards a common goal. Lin’s routine was welcome as she was really enjoying all that the station has to offer. It had just become her fourth week on Manara and Lin was steadily working on an area of space she had been studying all this while but in an unexplored area of it. She soon began adjusting the frequencies of the telescope and got excited when she discovered something exciting on a high band frequency. It looked close to what Amaria had using in communications circles but a few decades out of date. She immediately tagged the signal for further study and recorded it for about thirty minutes. Astonishment and curiosity overcame her as she stopped the recording. She got up from her desk and went over to Ardin. “Hey, I’ve found a very interesting and puzzling signal in quadrant seven. The one Kuval’s having looking at over the last couple of weeks. I think we should let him know.”

“Sure, ok. You have the file number handy?” Ardin asked with excitement leading the way to Kuval’s office. So far for the past few weeks Ardin and Lin had worked together well and could almost anticipate each other when it came down to a discovery noteworthy enough to present for naming, certification and Kuval’s attention. Ardin opened Kuval’s door and Lin followed him in.

“Yes, I have it written down on this pad.” Lin answered showing Ardin the white pad of paper she had in her left hand.

“Come in you too, I assume you have something to show me.” Kuval asked with anticipation, every time they had come in together there was yet another great discovery. To date, together they had found two planets of Amaria size, one red gas giant star and a super nova.

“Yes Kuval, our local discovery hog here has yet another file for us to look at.” Ardin said with a smile towards Lin. “I have yet to look at it, but Lin’s expression when she came over was enough of an excuse to show you for me.”

“Ok then, have a seat and we will take a look at it. I’ve already screened it briefly as soon as Lin flagged it. I must say, what you have found is extraordinary Lin. This could be a find of a life time if we are right.” Kuval grabbed the remote from his desk and then pointed it at the screen on his wall. The signal was now clearly displayed with all the data elements in a column on the ride side. “I immediately saw why you flagged this signal Lin, It is indeed very interesting.” Kuval then looked over to Ardin. “What do you make of it Ardin.”

Ardin studied the data from his seat, his expression changed to that of surprise as he stood up as to get a better look at the data stream. “You have got to be kidding me.” Ardin said with hesitation in his voice and then looked over at Lin. “Do you realize what you have found Lin? This signal is from a non terrestrial source, not from around here for sure. I my word, this is fantastic.” Ardin said with excitement.

Lin could feel a tingly sensation from her feet to her head as she realized what Ardin was saying, she has stumbled on an alien signal. That meant there work was going to pay off at last. She was now shaking with excitement as she was sure Kuval and Ardin must be, they both had great big smiles and then they both sat back down. Lin could not sit, she was still too excited. She looked over to Kuval and asked. “Are we sure this is not a naturally occurring radio signal Kuval?” Lin asked to be the voice of reason and not to jump to a conclusion to quickly.

“Yes, it’s defiantly not from our neighborhood, we will have to get everyone in on this one, figure out the distance and possibilities are endless. We need to tread lightly as not to cause alarm before we know what this means and is.” Kuval sated with more excitement than he could bear and took a drink of water from a glass that was on his desk. “Ardin will you go ahead and have Anali get a meeting together with everyone and I will disseminate tasks for everyone to accomplish. Lin you stay here in the meantime and we’ll look at this signal anew and see if there is more to it.” Lin pulled up her chair closer to Kuval’s desk; Kuval then had the live feed from the radio telescope liked to the screen on the wall. At the same time Ardin left the office and walked over to Anali’s desk to have her request the meeting. Kuval and Lin studied the live feed for several minutes until Ardin’s return. As Ardin entered the office again he told Kuval that everyone would be in the office shortly. Kuval then stood up turned the monitor off and motioned for Ardin and Lin to join him at a closet on the left side of the room, as he opened the door he handed each of them two chairs, they both got the idea and set the chairs up in a semi circle around the display screen on the wall. Kuval pulled out five more chairs, as Lin and Ardin finished setting up the last of the chairs Celine and Dania the two computer technicians arrived and walked into Kuval’s office.

“What the big news?” Celine asked of group.

“Lin has discovered something big, have a seat and I will explain once the other have arrived.” Kuval instructed them.

Celine and Dania took a couple of seats in the front close to the screen as they did the rest of station crew necessary began to arrive. The five engineers, Fianne, Niara, Athia, Pardja and Quint all arrived and took seats close together, followed by the astronomers Rindan and Timit all of them began to talk back and forth wondering why they had been called into a meeting with everyone. Generally if a signal or discovery needed conformation it was just sent to the operators for further study. After everyone was seated and calm Kuval stood up behind his desk. “Welcome everyone, I have called all of you here today to first let you know that Lin here has discovered something astounding, also to inform you of what we need to accomplish over the next few days. That being said, first all current projects are suspended until further notice without my prior approval, second, no outgoing communications are to be made with the same restriction, thirdly, I need everyone on their toes with this one. Finally here is the signal. Kuval turned the monitor back on with the remote. Everyone’s attention was now directed towards the screen as they were all curious about what Lin had discovered. “As you can all see at this point, Lin found a radio signal with a frequency close to that of what we on Amaria used decades ago. Also you can see by the strength and modulation of it indicated a great distance away but a powerful enough source to reach us. This radio signal has data in it. Which you all now realize the implications of such a discovery by now? So here are you assignments hence forth. Lin and Ardin are to start searching for and recording more of the signal, Celine, Dania, I want you to dedicate all computer memory to recording and backing up the signal; you may request additional computer storage from home as necessary. Fianne and the rest of you engineers I need you to make sure that Celine and Dania have uninterrupted power, and help with deciphering the data portions of the signal and assist Timit and Rindan in their distance and point of origin calculations. Timit, Rindan that’s your task. I’ll let that information sink in for a few minutes.” Kuval then sat down and watch as everyone erupted into mass congratulations to Lin and questions as well.

After several minutes Kuval stood once again and excused everyone from his office, Anali came in shortly after and helped Kuval put away the chairs with Lin. As Lin finally walked back to her desk she felt a little overwhelmed with the attention she had received. There was now a lot of pressure on her. As she sat Ardin noticed from his desk that Lin look apprehensive. “It’s going to be ok Lin; we will all help you in figuring out what this is and how to proceed from there ok.”

“Thanks Ardin, I will do my best to help in any way I can.” Lin said a little apprehensive. She felt that her contributions to come would be hard to come by and was wondering if Kuval had indeed made the right choice.

“Listen Lin, you have already contributed greatly so far, your skills as a researcher and scientist has surfaced since you came here. You should be proud of your accomplishments. No one could have done better than you.” Ardin told her and he meant it.

“You are the best Ardin, I feel better now. I guess I am just a little overwhelmed, but what you said helped. I know I will be able to help. I am excited beyond anything before this.” Lin responded to Ardin smiling and excited with what was to come. “I guess we should get back to work huh?”

“Yes, we certainly should. I’ll get started with your last recording and you get to the live feed and see what else you can find.”

Lin and Ardin had been working at their desks for several hours when Celine walked up to Lin’s desk thrilled with something she had found out. “I’ve found something interesting in the data; it indicates that there is defiantly more here. I have been working on a portion of the signal for over an hour and I came up to show you what I found, if I may?” She said indicating to Lin’s terminal and then opened a file she was referring to. “Here’s what I have been working on. As you can see here in the data portion there is a variation in signal strength, frequency and modulation, it indicates an audio track to the data. I was unable to decode that portion as of yet but here, listen to what I have extracted from the recording so far.” Celine pulled up the audio she had and played it for them, at first only static could be heard, but soon you could hear vocalization in the sound. It was defiantly speech of some sort. “As you can here it is something talking here, it’s a language far different from any here but you can hear the changes in pitch indicating educated speech patterns. There is more, I have the computer extracting more. It took about a half hour to extract this much.”

Both Ardin and Lin looked at Celine with amazement realizing what was in the signal. “I can’t believe this, this is incredible. Lin you are going to be famous. Ardin told them both. “Wow…… that is all I can say, wow.” Ardin was animated with excitement for all of them, he could hardly contain himself. As he looked at Lin he could tell by her mannerisms she was the same.

“This is wonderful news Celine, thank you for brining this to our attention. Kuval said as he walked up to Lin’s desk. No one had noticed him walk up. “Lin you should be congratulated again, this discovery will certainly change our planets view of the universe. I am certain you will be famous as Ardin said.” Lin gave them all a hug in appreciation.

“I am so happy that this has happened, you guys have helped me learn all of this since I arrived on Manara. I am proud to work with all of you; this is going to be a team effort. I don’t want to take all of the credit. Celine is the one who found the audio track, and I am sure everyone else will contribute to it as well.” Lin explained.

“That is very kind of you Lin, are you sure about this?” Celine asked Lin.

“Yes I am. Kuval will you wait and don’t announce this until we have more and then report to ASI our discovery.” Lin asked indicated everyone at the station.

“Of course, if that is what you want, then that is what will happen. You will ultimately get the credit for the initial find as that part is already done and logged in the system. But everyone else will share in the findings.” Kuval explained to them.

“Thank you Kuval, I feel much better, the butterflies in my stomach have finally stopped doing somersaults.” Lin said with a smile as she sat back down at her desk, Celine grabbed a chair and began helping Lin with the live feed. Lin began to see there was more and more coming in. After recording the signal for more than an hour Lin and Celine decided to take a break for dinner. Lin invited Anali and Ardin to join them. As they sat eating their dinner Emil took a seat at the table and asked about what all the excitement today was about.

“What’s going on today, everyone seems to be in a great mood but very busy at work. No one came in for lunch today.” Emil asked confused, normally no one missed a meal on the station.

“We have found a very interesting radio signal today and have been very busy analyzing it. I guess all of us were too engrossed in what we were doing and missed lunch.” Lin explained to Emil.

“Oh I see what type of radio signal did you find?”

“We can’t discuss the particulars yet; we are still unsure ourselves and are still working on it.” Celine told him. “I sure you will hear all about it soon enough.”

Lin cool tell Emil was a little disappointed about not being told what was going on. “Emil, it’s not that we don’t want to tell you about it, it’s just Kuval told us to not to talk about it too much.”

“It’s ok, you can tell him Lin.” Kuval said as he walked into the dining hall. “We can trust everyone on the station.” As Kuval grabbed himself some food from the kitchen Lin and Celine let Emil in on what had happened up to this point.

“Wow, that’s amazing Lin you should be very happy about you discovery.” Emil stated with a smile.

“I’m not going to take all of the credit; I’m going to share in the fame with everyone here.” Lin told Emil. “I’m sure Amil and everyone else will hear about this very soon.” As Lin finished speaking Dr. Binaji walked in.

“What’s everyone talking about? I heard a rumor.” Binaji asked everyone in dining hall.

“Well have a seat and I’ll tell you all, Anali will you contact everyone and tell them I would like a full staff meeting here in five minutes.” Kuval instructed realizing now would be a good time to inform everyone at once.

“Sure thing Kuval, I’ll get on it right now.” Anali then stood up and went to the communications panel next to the door of the kitchen. She pressed the intercom button for an announcement. “Attention all station personnel there is a full staff meeting in the dinning all in five minutes.” Anali made the announcement and repeated herself to make sure it was understood.

“Thank you Anali, we will just wait for everyone to get her then I will explain everything.”

Emil could not contain his anticipation as the doctor looked at him for answers. “It’s great news Binaji, great news.” In the next few minutes all of the staff arrived and took seats at the dining tables.

“Well I guess some of you are now wondering why you have been called here.” Kuval began to explain the events of the day. Once he finished the full story everyone congratulated Lin on her discovery. Lin’s face turned red in embarrassment as they did this. “Now that all of you know what’s expected I would like all of us to meet in central and report on any further findings as I am sure all of you including myself will be working late.” Kuval told the group. Dinner progressed for the next hour as everyone was updated on their individual progress so far. Everyone went back to their stations once dinner was over. Everyone including Lin worked late into the night. Several hours later one by one all staff member began to depart to their rooms as everyone was now tired from the day’s events.

Lin was sitting on her bed trying to unwind a little when Anali came in. “What a day huh Lin, I am exhausted, you?”

“You bet I am. I’m going to bed now.” Lin said as she lay down on her bed she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Lin woke up the next morning feeling much better and was sure today would go by smoothly. Not that yesterday was bad she thought, but very busy. She took a shower and began to get dressed; as she did Anali woke up rubbing her eyes and sighing. Lin smiled at her friend. “Sleep well?”

“Yes thank you.” Anali said yawning. “Give me a few minutes and we’ll go to breakfast together.”

“Ok, sounds good to me.” Lin answered her friend as she finished dressing. Then the both left together for breakfast. Once they had finished eating and cleaned up the both departed for the center of the station to begin work.

Lin sat comfortable at her desk and logged into her work station and began to work. She brought up the latest recording from the night before, as she had found something extraordinary once again. In rapid succession the rest of the team appeared in the center of the station, all with news of what they had discovered during the late hours of working. Kuval came out of his office and saw that everyone had gathered for their reports. “Good morning, it looks as if all of us had a late night. Does anyone have new findings from last night?”

“I do!” Lin almost squeaked as everyone stared at her. “You won’t believe what I found late last night. I was adjusting the telescope off access and doing frequency shifts to confirm the signal. Well I found a secondary signal on another frequency a few megahertz down from the first signal, and a much stronger signal than the first. I was so amazed by I recorded it for four hours last night. This signal was much easier to pick up as if whoever sent it upgraded the signal, almost as if it was sent several years later but with much more power. It has an astonishing amount of data also.” Lin explained hardly containing her excitement. “This signals much as the first will need expert decoding, we are going to need more help with this one I am sure.”

Everyone was stunned with what Lin had just said, unsure what this could possibly be. A discovery of this magnitude twice in one day was astounding too them all. Kuval could see the questioning looks on all of his team and thought for a few seconds more until he spoke. “I am sure all of you are as surprised as I am about all of this. Lin you did another amazing job, you are now famous even if you don’t want it. Let’s all take some time to digest this and meet again in my office in hour.” Kuval instructed everyone. “Lin may I see you in my office?” Kuval indicated toward his office with a smile, and bring up your newest recording.”

“Sure thing Kuval, I will be just a minute.” Lin said as she gathered a notebook off of her desk that had research information in it. She turned towards Kuval’s office and saw that he had leaned over and said something to Anali who was now on the communications channel which she had a head set for that was now sitting on her head. ‘I wonder who she’s calling.’ Lin asked herself as she walked into Kuval’s office. Kuval was sitting at his desk and as she took one of the chairs in the office the display screen came to life and she then opened her note book in order to tell Kuval the correct file number to bring up. “Sir the file number is lin0245_240.rt18.” Kuval selected the file and opened it. The monitor on the wall sprang into life and displayed the data Lin had recorded earlier. The wave form and frequency variations were defiantly more pronounced as the previous recording. This defiantly indicated a substantial amount of data. Not only audio but there is an indication of a very strong secondary channel that could be construed as video data. This was truly an extraordinary discovery Lin had made Kuval thought to himself as he studied the data stream.

“This is wonderful Lin; wow is all I can say.” Kuval said with admiration, he and Lin were startled by and interruption of the intercom buzzer. It was Anali announcing the call Kuval had requested.

“Kuval I have ASI commissioner Sural on the com for you.”

“Thank you Anali.” Kuval said to the intercom, the call was transferred to his office and began to speak to his good friend once again. “Sural my friend, how are you this fine day.”

“I am great Kuval, and you?” Sural responded wondering why his friend would be calling this early in the day.

“Wonderful, I have Linaria in my office with me, and we are calling you to discuss extraordinary discovery she has made yesterday.” Kuval began with excitement. “It’s so big that I had to call you first thing and explain.”

Sural could hear the excitement in his friend’s voice and got excited about what the news had been. Over the last few weeks Lin had indeed discovered a few new objects, stars and even a black hole. She certainly was a great asset to ASI and Manara space station.
“Is it that exciting my friend?” Sural finally asked after taking a deep breath.

“You may want to sit down; it might just blow you away.” Kuval warned his friend.

“I am sitting, spill it. What have you found Linaria? Go ahead my dear.”

“Yes sir, I will start at the beginning if that’s ok.” Lin said and felt as she might be sick; she grabbed a hold of herself and calmed down before beginning. “It a few weeks ago when Kuval asked me to study quadrant seven, you know where we found the latest star clusters. Anyways yesterday I stumbled onto what looked like an interesting signal. I recorded it and brought it to Ardin’s attention immediately. He was as surprised as I was and lead me to Kuval. Kuval put the recording on his screen and studied it for a time and then realized as Ardin and I did, this signal’s origin is not from around here.” Lin took a deep cleansing breath and let what she had said sink in for a few seconds.

“Oh my, um wow.” You could hear the excitement grow in Sural’s voice. “You are all in agreement then, that this is a truly a signal of extraterrestrial origin?” Sural finally asked not sure if he wanted what was surely the only answer that the well trained staff of Manara could give.

“Yes sir.” They all said in unison.

“I need to think for a second to take this all in.” Sural told them.

“Um, there is more to tell sir.” Lin told him with little trepidation.

“More, there more you say. I may have to schedule a trip to the station and get a briefing in person. If you are going to tell me what I am thinking you will.”

“Yes sir, we have confirmed that the first signal I recorded contains vocal data. And the signal I recorded late last night has the potential for video data in it.” Lin explained to Sural and let this piece of huge information sink in further, only silence on the other end could be heard as Lin, Kuval and Ardin waited for Sural to respond.

“What you have just told me is beyond amazing Lin. Kuval you and your team has done a superb job thus far. I would like to come to the station as soon as possible. When can the Jindan be back on Amaria Kuval?”

“As early as this evening letting you leave as early as tomorrow morning.” Kuval responded then looked over at Lin and Ardin. “Would you two like to take the Jindan down and escort Sural up to the station?” Kuval asked them with a smile of pleasure on his face.

“Yes, of course I would be delighted to pilot the Jindan again.” Responded Lin, it had been a week since she had been qualified as a pilot for the Jindan.

“I will go too.” Ardin said quietly.
“Well, ok then. I will see you two in the morning. I want a full brief on the way so I can be up to speed and able to assist you once I arrive. Kuval I will see you tomorrow afternoon, have Emil prepare a nice dinner for all as we will celebrate. As for now I would like to keep this classified for now on.”

“Sure thing Sural, see you tomorrow, bye for now.”

“Ok my friend, you sure now how to make a friends day brighter.”

“Call ends.” Kuval said to the intercom which disconnected the communication. “You too had better get done what you can and then head to the planet after lunch. Lin I am sure you will want to work on the signal a bit more so you can be prepared for Sural’s brief.”

“Yes Kuval, that is for sure. I will do my best not to embarrass myself or you.”

“Of that I am sure Lin, you have proven yourself most capable since arriving here, and you have my fullest confidence.” Kuval said with sincerity. Lin and Ardin excused themselves and went back to their desks. Lin worked on the signal for about three more hours when she was finally interrupted.

“Would you like to get lunch Lin?” Ardin asked as he put his hand on her shoulder.

“Why yes, thank you. I would have worked right through lunch hadn’t you came and got me.” Lin and Ardin departed for the dining hall. They met up with the rest of the crew who were all just starting sitting down to eat.

“I heard you two were headed down to Amaria to fetch the commissioner of ASI himself.” Emil asked them as they took seat at an open table.

“Why yes we are, we are leaving after lunch and coming back tomorrow. He wants to celebrate with all of us for the signal we found.” Lin told Emil nicely.

“Yes, Kuval just called and told me. Now I have to scramble to get a banquet together by tomorrow. Thanks a lot for the trouble Lin.” Emil said with a smile.

“I know you’re kidding me Emil, I’ll let it pass this time. I am too hungry to play your games right now. Can you just go away? Lin said laughing.

“Yes madam.” Emil said as he slithered back into the kitchen. He came out shortly and handed both of them their lunches. “I hope you like this; it’s a special selection of fish for our heroin.” Emil told Lin as he put down the plate in front of Lin.

“You’re just full of jokes today mister, aren’t you?”

“Always, you know me I can’t help myself.” Emil laughed at himself.

“Oh yes, we know you too well Emil.” Ardin said with a smirk. “You just can’t wait for someone to say something you can twist to humor yourself.”

“Yep, well I’ll leave you two alone.” Emil said with a wink towards Ardin as he disappeared into the kitchen. The sound of water could be heard as dishes were being cleaned in the kitchen.

“What was that wink about?” Lin questioned Ardin

“He thinks I like you and well he’s right. I do like you Lin.”

“You do, I like you too.” Lin said smiling

“Really, that’s great, I was hopping so. I did not say anything because I did not want to ruin our friendship.” Ardin told Lin honestly.

“Same here, let’s just see how things go, we should take this one day at a time.”

“I agree Lin; we will take it slow, for now.” Ardin said smiling back at her.

Lin and Ardin sat in silence as they finished their lunch. Then they got up and left towards Jindan’s docking port stopping by their perspective rooms for a change of clothes for the next day. Once they reached the Jindan Lin and Ardin boarded then Lin completed the preflight and departed for Amaria. They landed at the space port in short time. The grabbed a late transport to towards Jualdia school and stayed in a lodge near the campus. The next morning while finishing getting dressed after an early start Lin heard a knock on her door, she opened the door and it was Ardin. “Hello, good morning Ardin, you’re up early.” Lin greeted him with a warm smile.

“Good morning to you too, would you like to grab some breakfast before we head over to Sural’s office to pick him up?” Kuval asked Lin politely.

“Sure, I would like that.” Lin answered with a bigger smile than before.

Ardin lead Lin to the diner that was part of the lodge they were staying at. The café was small but nice. The server took their orders and came back with drinks soon after. Breakfast went by fast for them and soon they were on their way walking through the campus of Jualdia. A short time passed as they were enjoying each other’s company and arrived at Sural’s office.

“Good morning Linaria, Ardin nice to see you both.” Sural said to them as they entered his office. “I’ll be ready to go in a few minutes; I just need to grab a few more things.” Sural stuffed a few more papers into his case and grabbed his bag. “Ok I’m ready, let’s get a move on.” Sural followed Lin and Ardin across the campus to the transport stop and boarded the first one to arrive. In short time all of them had stowed Sural’s bags into the Jindan and were on their way to Manara space station. Lin briefed Sural on all that had transpired the last few days. Sural was truly astonished; this discovery truly meant that their understanding of the universe and their own world would be changing fast. Lin’s brief lasted over an hour when Sural patted her on the shoulder and told her that was a great brief. “Thank you Lin that was a great brief. I understand now why you had informed me so quickly. Now I think I will get a little rest for the remainder of the trip, just wake me up about a half hour prior to reaching the station. I don’t want to miss the view.”

“No problem sir, we have about another hour and a half. I’ll wake you up.” Lin told him as Sural then leaned back closed his eyes for the remainder of the flight.

This is a NON TG element Science Fiction Fantasy. More about the signal is found, Linaria and friends work together to get to the answer and plans are in work for a special visit. Please comment on characters and flow.
 

And Now...
 
Amaria
Chapter Three
By D. L. Darrow (Sara D.)

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Chapter 3 The Hidden Truth
 
Sural, Lin and Ardin got off of the shuttle and walked into the inner corridor of Manara Space Station. “Wow, now that was an exciting ride, thank you both.” Sural exclaimed.

“I am glad you liked the trip my good friend.” Kuval said as he walked up to Sural and gave him a friendly hug and pat on the back. “Welcome to Manara.” He said as they broke the friendly embrace and the two friends smiled at each other and began reminiscing about old times as they walked towards the dining hall. Lin and Ardin could not help themselves smile as the two were talking back and forth about years past and wondered if they too would be doing the same thing when they were older. Kuval explained the functions of the work spaces as they passed them along the way.

“Here’s the dining hall; I took the liberty of assembling all of the station staff here so we can all join in the brief.” All of the staff of the station had gathered in the dining hall and were in groups chatting as Kuval lead Sural and Lin to the head of the table were there were three chairs set up. “Hello everyone, please take your seats, Sural you take the seat on the right, Lin the one in the middle and I’ll take the last one.” Sural, Lin and Kuval took their seats along with the rest of the staff. “I am sure most of you know the commissioner of ASI Sural here. He is here because of our discovery and is here to help facilitate informing the chancellor and the rest of Amaria. He is also here to make sure we have enough resources allocated to make all of this happen.” Kuval explained to the staff of Manara space station.

Sural stood and greeted everyone. “Thank you for the welcome Kuval, as you said I am here to assist you in getting all of you what you need. Keep in mind that this will become a topic of high visibility once it’s announced. Be sure and warn your families of impending contact with news media that will surely want to know more about each of you. I am having the head of the journalism department come up to the station with two news crews in five days in order to record for Amaria your discoveries. Lin you will be our star and the leader of the team.” Sural instructed eloquently to the group then smiled at Lin and indicated for her to address the group on the plan they had discussed on the way to the station.

Sural had talked Lin into accepting the lead roll and the additional task of being the face of Manara for the news crews. “Thank you Sural for this opportunity to present to the world our discovery. I know all of you have already put long hours and have worked hard to accomplish our goal of translating the audio portion of the first signal. Our plan now is to dedicate most of our efforts in decoding the video portion of the second signal. We have over four hours to work with and I am sure there is probably more. I made the suggestion of having the space probe Shamist that is almost ready for launch reprogrammed and sent in the direction of the signal. If it works as I think it will we can use it as a booster and get more and better quality signal as its distance to the original source becomes less. I am sure all of you are surprised with this as the Shamist was to be utilized for other scientific research, but I think having this capability will greatly assist us in our endeavors. Two of you will continue to work on the audio signal. I would like you Niara and Athia to focus on that aspect. I know you have a great task ahead of yourselves and if you need assistance don’t hesitate to ask. Once we are done eating I will lay out everyone else’s tasks at a meeting in Kuval’s office in one hour.” Lin explained her and Sural’s plan and she then sat back down taking a deep breath. She was wondering if everyone would accept her as the leader of the team.

“As you all know Linaria was my choice for junior apprentice on Manara and has my full confidence in team leader for this, Linaria will you please stand up?” Lin stood back up with a confused look on her face. “Everyone please rise for an announcement.” Kuval paused for a second smiled at Lin and then made his declaration. “Linaria in recognition of your continued excellence and steadfast devotion to your duties Junior Apprentice I hereby give you the distinct honor and position as a full staff member and title of sis associate scientist for Manara Space Station and the Amaria Space Institute and now have the full rights and privileges of such an appointment. You have my congratulations.” Kuval handed Lin a certificate indicating her selection, and at the same time Emil came out of the kitchen with a cake with congratulations Linaria on it and as he placed it on the table in front of her everyone at the table stood and clapped fiercely in congratulations and each of them came up to her and shook her hand, all except Anali who gave her a great big hug. As she stood in disbelief and an incredible smile and red flushed face. "By the way this was their idea.” Kuval indicating everyone seated at the table. “Everyone insisted on it, I am sure they must have been thinking the same thing because each of them came to me within minutes of each other and my office was soon overflowing with your friends.”

Lin could not believe what has just happened, she could not be happier that at this moment, and could no longer hold back here tears. “I don’t know if I truly deserver such an honor I’ve only been here three weeks, thank you everyone, you are all great friends and coworkers I accept this appointment with happiness and humility.”

“We all love you Lin, you are most welcome.” Anali said holding back her own tears for her friend.

Another round of congratulations started as everyone come up to Lin and shook her hand or gave her a friendly hug. After everyone had made their way to Lin and took their seats Sural was the last to congratulate her and handed Lin a patch for her uniforms jumper that read ‘Linaria, Associate Scientist at the top and at the bottom Manara Space Station, ASI. “Congratulations Lin, you deserved this appointment. Kuval called me last night after you and Ardin left for Amaria. You almost caught me with the certificate when you got to my office earlier.”

“I can’t thank you enough for this; I will proudly serve ASI and all of you to the best of my abilities.” Lin said with modesty. Shorty after everyone finished their cake and final congratulations as the left only Sural, Kuval, Lin and Emil remained in the dining hall. “Thank you for a wonderful night Kuval.” Lin thanked them.

“You are most welcome my dear.” Sural said with a smile. “Now I think all of us should get back to work and prepare for our next meeting shall we?”

“Yes of course, Lin would you gather your research and notes then come to my office when you’re ready. You have about 20 minutes as the celebration when a little longer than I had planned, you are going to have to make up for lost time little lady.” Kuval snickered to Lin as all three of them walked out of the dining hall, leaving Emil to clear the mess.

“See you all later at dinner, nice job Lin.” Emil yelled towards them as the disappeared down the corridor.

Lin arrived at her desk with Sural following behind her, Kuval continued to his office handing Anali a folder as he past her desk. Lin offered Sural a seat next to her desk and then sat herself she then logged onto her computer and grabbed her research folder and jotted down a few notes as she waited for her computer to log in. Lin then opened up the live feed of the signal and began recording more so she would have more data to work with for the decoding portion of the project. Sural was sitting intently watching everything she was doing for several minutes.

“You have quite a knack for this. It took me years to master this type of system.” Sural said to her with little envy.

“I had help, Ardin is a wonderful instructor and well I kind of picked it up pretty quickly.” She boasted but not on purpose. Sural could understand that she was trying to justify to herself her new position.

“You’re doing fine Lin, just keep up the good work, and of course we will all help.” Sural reassured her.

“Thanks, well here is the latest recording from quadrant seven.” Lin pointed at her computer screen. “It defiantly has more data than expected compared to the first one. I am going to run a few algorithms on it and see if we can get a look at what seems to be an image. It will take several hours to run, hopefully we will have something by the time are meeting is over.” Lin then pressed for the program to run then picked up her folders and indicated to Sural Kuval’s office and got up and led the way. Lin smiled at Anali as the passed and went into Kuval’s office. Sural took a seat in the back row of chairs; Lin took a position to the left of the screen at a podium Kuval had set up for this occasion. Members of the team began falling in and taking seats as Lin was making final preparations for her presentation. Once everyone was seated she began by turning on the screen with the remote that Kuval had conveniently placed on the podium. Everyone was sitting in silence while Lin went over everyone’s responsibilities. “Celine, you Danie, Fianne and Pardja will work with me on the video portion of the signal, Timit and Rindan I need you guys to get distance and location figured out, Quint you’ll be helping them out with calculations, otherwise you can help Celine and the rest. I think we should meet every day to discuss any issues that may arise, and I think that we can best accomplish this during evening meal. This will give Niara and Athia a chance also to give us feedback on theirs as well.” Lin explained the project ahead of them. “Are there any questions at this point?”

“I have one.” Ardin spoke up wondering why he had been excluded in the teams. “What is my job going to be?”

“Oh yah, you, um well, I guess you can help out Emil and Amil in the kitchen.” She told him laughing.

“You are bad, you know that don’t you.” Ardin told her smiling at her joke.

“No I didn’t forget about you, you are going to have the toughest job of all. I want you to handle the arduous task of getting together three linguists and see if we can translate the language if at all.” Lin told him, the look of shear fear appeared on his face, he had realized the difficulty of not only the possibility of translating the unknown language but finding three linguists to bring to the station would be demanding.

“Thanks, I think. Sural do you have any recommendations as to who I could recruit for this insane task?” Ardin asked the commissioner of Jualdia.

“I might know a few; I’ll get back with you at dinner tonight. I will make a call and have some names for you to decide from by then.”

“Thank you, I will do my best.” Ardin then sat quietly as Lin finished her presentation.

“Now that you all know your tasks I ask that you all look at the extracted recording I will be sending you later today. I have the computer running an algorithm on the signal to see if we can get an image or an idea of what we are dealing with. That’s all for now, see you all at dinner.” Lin excused them and everyone but Ardin and Kuval remained.

“I hate you, you know that don’t you.” Ardin told Lin playfully. “Just kidding, I will have my choices to you by the morning.” He then turned to Kuval and excused himself. “See you at dinner.” Then smiled at Lin. “You too, BOSS!” He turned towards the door to leave and get back to work when He stopped and turned back to Lin. “Wait a second; I just had an interesting thought what if instead of three linguist I get two and on anthropologist as well, if we do in fact get a look at an actual picture we may want an anthropologist to give us an opinion on what we are looking at.” Ardin said with a smile as if he had an epiphany.

“That is a wonderful idea Ardin, Sural what do you think about it?” Lin asked.

“I agree an anthropologist will make a great addition. I will add a few of those names to the list as well. Kuval, how will these additions affect space available on the station?” Ardin then walked out as Sural asked about station capacity he wanted to make sure the station could handle the additional personnel.

“With adding those three to the 19 we have now we will have 22 bodies that will leave space for two more for a total of 24. So if you are thinking of brining some journalists aboard keep that in mind.” Kuval explained to him. “And we have enough supplies, food and water for another week with our current inventory.”

“Ok, that’s good news, I will defiantly be considering media presence in the future, but for now I want all of us to focus on the task at hand in the mean time. I will consult with the entire team before progressing that far. I don’t want that type of attention interfering with progress.” Sural assured them of his not wanting this to go public too quickly.

“Well that’s it for now, if there is nothing else I will get back to work.” Lin asked.

“No that’s it as far as I can tell; you did a nice job Lin.” Kuval told her.

“Thank you Kuval.” Lin smiled at Kuval as she left his office and returned to her desk. Sural remained in the office to get some names for Ardin.

Lin sat at her desk and brought up the extracted data that the program that she had been running to see how much had been completed so far. The status bar showed about twenty percent done thus far. Lin audibly sighed as this would take a lot of time to finish the rest. She then sent the data to Celine and walked out of the center office down to Celine’s cubical. As she entered the mainframe area she walked up to Celine and greeted her with a frown. “Hi Celine, I sent you the data that my algorithm extracted and it’s only twenty percent done. It’s going to probably take until tomorrow afternoon to finish the entire file.” Lin explained to her a little disappointed that they did not have more to work with.

“It’s fine what you sent Lin, this task is new and I know you’re doing your best. Don’t fret this is more than I expected in this short of time. You should be happy we have anything to start with, this small of a file will give us a chance to calibrate our machines and make it a bit easier to do that.” Celine told her squashing Lin’s fears.

“Thanks Celine, I guess we should get started.” Lin said humbly, Celine, Diane and Fianne worked on the signal for the rest of the evening, as a group they all worked as a team and came together and found the signal defiantly had off set carriers and that is far but that is as far as they had gotten. After closing out the work stations they had been using and go to dinner. “I think we should call it a night and get back at it in the morning it’s about five minutes until diner anyways.” Lin told them as she yawned and got up. The four of them walked slowly to the dining hall and took seats at the almost full tables. The four girls were the last to show and Lin grabbed the glass of water that was on the table and drank it whole. Diner appeared quickly as Emil and Amil placed the food on the tables, each smiling at everyone as they progressed down the tables.

“You look a bit tired Lin.” Emil said with a slight smile trying to brighten her up.

“Yah I am tired as are all of us I am sure, thanks for the smile Emil I feel better now.” Lin smiled back at Emil thankful for his sweet attitude. Lin then informed everyone of their progress so far and let everyone else update the team on their progress as well. So far the find of the offset carrier was the only progress so far. “I know all of you have put in a hard day, we should all get a good night’s rest and start fresh in the morning.” Everyone agreed and finished eating. As they all started leaving for the night Sural stopped Ardin just before he got up to leave.

“Ardin I have a list of names for you to consider here.” Sural explained as he handed him a folder with names in it. “Just don’t reveal the purpose to any of them until you have made your choice and then explain it to them once they agree and arrive on the station.”

“Ok I will get on it right away, thanks for getting this to me early; the extra time will be nice.” Ardin thanked Sural then walked out of the dining hall. “Hey Lin, thanks again for this opportunity to select these team members. I gave it more thought today and realized this is an important decision.”

“You’re welcome Ardin. Have a good night.” Lin was pleased that Ardin took to this task easier than earlier. She then walked out of the corridor towards her room.

“Good night Lin.” Ardin said to her as they separated in the hall.

As Lin walked into the room she saw that Anali had already changed for bed. “What a day, I thought It would never end. If you don’t mind I want to call my mom and give her the good news about my appointment.” Lin asked her friend.

“Of course I don’t mind, I finally get to meet her if I can.” Anali asked excited for Lin and wanted to meat Verana.

“Sure you can talk to her with me, you’re my best friend.” Lin said as she gave Anali a hug then they walked over to the communications screen on the wall. Lin placed the call and Verana Lin’s mother answered.

“Hello Lin, it’s nice to hear from you.” Verana said with a big smile, pleased to see her daughter again after a long week.

“Hi mom, this standing next to me is Anali.” Lin pointed to Anali and embracing her arm.

“Hi Verana, it’s nice to finally meat you.”

“Same her Anali, you are a lovely young woman, in fact Lin has told me all about you.”

“She’s done the same with you. How is your flower garden coming?” Anali asked because Lin had told her that her flower garden had been trampled by some rodents.

“It’s going fine, thank you. Lin so how are you doing?” Verana was anxious to here this week’s events.

“Things are wonderful, especially today mom. I have wonderful news.” Lin told her mom hardly able to contain her excitement.

Lin’s mom’s expression changed instantly, she knew that look was genuine exhilaration in her daughters face. “What the great news honey?”

“You’re not going to believe this but I have been officially appointed to the position as an associate scientist and a full staff member here at Manara.” Lin paused so that could sink in.

“Oh my Lin, that is wonderful, I am so proud of you. How did this come about?” Verana asked with joy for her daughter.

“It just sort of happened mom, it was a group effort. Everyone got together and told Kuval how good I was performing and he decided to give me a full time position. I can’t tell you how happy I am mom. It is simply magnificent to be offered such a spot.” She told her mom not able to hold back the tears of happiness that were welling up.

“Oh now you’ve got me started, now I am crying too.” Anali whipped tears off of her cheek and looked at the screen an saw that Lin’s mom was doing the same and then gave Lin a great big hug. “This hug is for you Verana since you can’t be here in person I’m doing it for both of us.”

“Thank you Anali, you are a true friend to Lin, and I consider you now family.” Verana exclaimed to Anali with affection, Thinking of her as family and becoming so close to Lin.

“That’s wonderful Verana, thank you; your daughter has been like a sister to me. I could not be happier.” Lin then gave Anali a big hug.

“Well Lin you have done well, you keep it up and don’t forget to call me.” Lin’s mom said with a smile.

“I won’t mom, it’s getting late and we have lots to do tomorrow and need to get to bed now. I love you mom, good night.” Lin told her mom as she smiled back.

“I love you to honey, sleep well Anali you too Lin.” Verana said not forgetting to include Lin’s new friend. “Bye.”

“Bye mom.”

“Good night Verana.” Anali said and reached up and pressed the disconnect button on the com panel. “Your mom is a wonderful woman Lin; I wish mine were still around.” She told Lin a little sad.

“I’m sorry Anali, I did not know.” Lin then hugged her friend. “You are part of my family now.”

“Thank you Lin.” Anali hugged her tighter and then felt tired. “We should get to bed now.”

“Your right, I am tired.” Lin and Anali broke the hug then changed for bed, once they booth laid down they fell fast asleep.

Lin had gotten an early start the next morning with Celine and her crew trying to get the visual convert and get a look at it. Things were progressing slowly for several hours and everyone was getting frustrated about not being able to come up with a translation matrix for the video.

Timit walked in with some good news and everyone was happy for the interruption. “I have some great news, Rindan and I with the help of Pardja have located the source and distance of the signals.”

“That’s great Timit.” Lin answered him with glee then asked. “Is it possible for to show us were it is on our star map?”

“Yes it’s possible, Celine if I can borrow a terminal I will show all of you now?” Timit explained as he Celine offered him her chair and computer terminal. He then brought up a map of their home galaxy, it had arrows pointing to discoveries that the station had made. All of which except one were within close proximity to the Amarian solar system. A single blinking red arrow was pointing to a far off location half way across the swirling spear shaped galaxy in a region of space known for great amount of stars. “As you can see by the long range image of the area we now know that the signal originated in this general area. It’s about 70 solar years away from us. If the Shamist is launched on time next week we should be able to get a better view of the area and see if we can detect a solar system by the end of the month.” Timit explained to Lin, Celine and the rest.

“That’s great news Timit; at least we know that the signal did not come from one of our other space probes or satellites for sure now.” Lin said to everyone relieved and glad for the confirmation of what they already suspected.

“How is it going for you so far?” Timit asked the group.

“We are having trouble converting the video, the encoding is far different from what we use and we are trying to decode it into a file type that will display on our system for us.” Lin explained the difficulties her and Celine were having, then Timit made a suggestion.

“I know you had Pardja working with Rindan and myself, but now that part is complete maybe fresh set of eyes will reveal what you are looking for.”

That’s a good idea; we need a break from staring at these computers for so long. Why don’t you let him know we would like his help?” Lin asked Timit and nodded her thanks.

“Sure, I will be right back.” Timit then walked out to get Pardja.

Lin, Celine and the rest then stood up to stretch and took a break while waiting for Pardja. It took just a few minutes for him to arrive. “Thank you for coming Pardja.” Lin explained to him the troubles they were having.

“I will gladly help ladies; this is one of my specialties. I took a secondary course in graphics media and video editing and transmissions. Maybe this will help.”

“I certainly hope so; we are at a loss for answers right now.” Celine told him with a frown.

“It’s nothing to fret about Celine; I had similar problems earlier this year with a project.”

“He’s right Celine, that’s why we are a team and work so well together, we all fill in where and when needed.” Lin then patted Celine on the shoulder for support.

“Ok, I’ll get started then.” Pardja took a look at what the girls already had done to this point and began writing his own decoding protocol. The girls sat wide eyed as Pardja’s fingers glided over the key board effortlessly and in a short time an image appeared on the screen and then a silence fell over the room followed by a load gasp by everyone. On the screen was a figure of a person not unlike the Amarian’s, there were differences of course, but the grainy picture made a full identification difficult. But at least they could see a partial image at last.

Lin then stood up and walked over to the communications panel and made and announcement and everyone in the room understood the reason. She pressed the general announcement button the spoke. “Attention all staff, this is Lin, please report to computer center immediately, we have found something amazing and you all have got to see this.” Lin emphasized the announcement and waited for everyone to show. “Pardja will you close that image for now, I want to see everyone’s reaction at the same time.

In a short time the rest of the station staff piled into the computer center were the mainframe was located. Whispering and chattering grew loader as the room filled up as they were wondering why they were summoned.

“Ok everyone gather round and pay attention to the middle screen as I pull up what we have found.” Pardja said with a big grin as he pulled up the image on the center screen. All those that had just gathered gasped as once again the screen was filled with the blurry image of a figure with a head and arms. Soon the room erupted in muttering conversation as they were talking about the image displayed. “So what do you think of Lin’s discovery now Kuval.”

“I….uh…um….I am at a loss for words, this is just astonishing, wow.” Kuval had trouble with getting his words started as he was extremely excited about what they were seeing. “Lin this is astounding, Pardja you did a nice job on that, is there a possibility of cleaning up the image?” Kuval finally asked.

“Yes sir, I will just have to tweak the program a bit and should be able to have more by the tomorrow evening. This is just one frame from the whole recording I would like to see more as I am sure all of you do as well.” Pardja explained.

“Oh yes of course we will want to see the whole recording, we are just excited about just seeing this little bit, it sure gives us a lot to talk about.” Kuval finally said and after a deep breath then looked over at Ardin. “How is your selection going Ardin, we will need those quickly now, now that we have an image and part of the first audio to work with.”

“Funny you should ask sir, I was on my way to tell you of my selections when the call came over to meet here.”

“That’s great, who did you choose?” Kuval said anxious to hear about Ardin selections.

“For the anthropologist I chose Dr. Surmat, he came highly recommended by his colleagues, and for the linguists it’s Dr. Gilia and Dr. Lumar.” Ardin let everyone know of his choices.

“That’s great timing, I know of Dr. Surmat well, Gilia and Lumar I have heard of. Their reputations are well known, nice choices Ardin, have you spoken to them?”

“Yes, they are only aware that they are needed for consultation on a secret project for ASI, and I told them to prepare to be away for a week or more. I will meet them at ground control this evening and brief them of the actual task on the way here.”

“That a great plan Ardin, you have my approval to leave at once.” Kuval said.

“I will go also, I need to be on the ground to help coordinated anything you might need, and that will free up space for other’s as you might need.” Sural told Kuval.

“Ok sir you two have a safe trip.” Kuval said to them both. “See you tomorrow afternoon Ardin.” Kuval said turning toward Ardin.

Ardin and Sural left and headed for the Jindan.

Lin stood and asked for further help. “I know it’s getting close to lunch but I would like everyone’s help in the continued decoding and translation of these images. Say let’s get back here in one hour, which gives us time for lunch.” Everyone agreed then they set off to lunch. Emil had a spread laid out on the tables as the team entered the dining hall. “I hope you all like the food Amil and I laid out for you, I know you all have been working hard, enjoy.” Emil told them with a bright smile.

Everyone sat and loaded their plates and then enjoyed the lunch. “Thanks Emil, this is great we needed that good food to keep us going, nice job.” Lin said thanking him and the rest agreed by nodding their heads as their mouths were full of food. The staff finished and then departed the dining hall for the computer center, all thanking Emil and Amil for the lunch as they did and were quickly at work again.

The team refreshed their ideas before getting back at it then Lin had an idea that she had just vaguely remembered something from her mathematics courses. “I have it, what if the originator of this signal uses math based on ten instead of eight.” Lin enquired the group then continued. “Wouldn’t that make more sense at the data we have been looking at?”

“Your right Lin this could be the key to all of our problems.” Pardja said with a sigh of relief, he was sure he would have taken a week to think of that. “I will tweak the program and run it on the frame from before and see what we get. Lin can you help me with the math on the conversion please?”

“Of course, just tell me the line you need it in and I’ll insert the equation into the code.”

“Line 1097 if you please?” Pardja instructed her. “Thank you for the help.”

“No, thank you Pardja this just proves that our team works together and we’ve accomplished a goal.” Lin thanked him for his efforts as well. Pardja took about an hour to rewrite the code and had Lin insert her equation into the code, once that was completed he made a back up copy and then looked over at Lin and Celine who were sitting next to him. “Are you ready?” He asked as he indicated the run command on his terminal that was highlighted on the screen.

“Yes.” Both girls answered Pardja simultaneously, then Celine turned around too Dania, Fianne and asked them. “You two ready to assist with extra data storage and memory requirements?”

“We’re standing by Celine.” Fianne answered for both of them, and had allocated more space to the new program.

“Thank you, you have a go Pardja.” Lin said after giving a nod to the two girls on the other side of the computer center.

Pardja than selected run and the system began to hum and the team began to wait for what was to come in the next few hours. They took this time to contact Niara and Athia and inform them of the new program and that they should use it for their efforts as well. Niara was the one who had answered the comm.

“Thanks for the information; we’ve been struggling for hours. We will try that on our next run.” She thanked Pardja for the copy of the program he sent her and got back to work.

The team in the computer center was waiting patiently at the terminal for the program to run. Pardja brought up the progress bar and it indicated 30 percent done after about 45 minutes. He looked over at his companion team and asked if anything else could be done. “What else can we do while we wait?”

“Not much, all of this area’s computer power is dedicated to the task.” Fianne Answered and no sooner than completing that sentence the com buzzer had suppressed all the other sounds in the room. Lin got up and pressed the com button to answer the call.

“This is Lin speaking.”

“Kuval here, I have great news Lin, the Shamist launched just over an hour ago and will be in place in two months.” Kuval told her with pleasure.

“Oh, that is great news and a week ahead of time.” Lin then thanked him. “Thanks for the update.”

“You’re welcome, ASI thought it would be a great head start, and we will be linked to it once it comes online and have full access to all its systems at that time, how’s your progress so far.”

“Slow sir, we have the entire system here occupied with decoding the images with a new program. It has promise so much so we sent a copy to Niara and Athia.”

“Ok good; keep in touch see you all at diner, bye.” Kuval finished then the com went silent.

Lin sat back down at the terminal she had called her desk for the last few days. She had not been to her own real desk since starting the work in the computer center. Oh well she thought to herself. Pardja brought up the progress bar from time to time, it was agonizingly slow. The team past the time by filing paperwork and walking around each of the servers making sure they got any needed attention. The day moved slowly until it was time for diner. The progress bar showed 33 percent done and would take well into the next morning to finish the entire recording. Pardja realized this and brought this up to the others. “The status bar is at 33 percent and is going to take until at least until tomorrow. I think it would be a good idea to leave it as is and adjourn until tomorrow.”

“That probably good idea, we have no need to sit here and stare at these screens while we wait.” Lin motioned with her hand towards the monitors in front of them. They then all secured their terminals and left for the dining hall were everyone had gathered and discussed the day’s events.

Lin was in her room shortly after and was sitting on her bed massaging her neck muscles as they were tight. She then dressed for bed and fell asleep in little time and slept well that night and woke up early again. She then grabbed a light breakfast stopped by her own desk to see if she needed anything from it and proceeded to the computer center to work. As she arrived Celine and Pardja were close behind, they all sat at their respective terminals and unsecured them. Pardja quickly brought up the results of the program that was running the night prior. To everyone’s delight the status bar indicated complete and ready to view. The teams attention was focused on the center monitor as Pardja linked the video to it. A video of what could only be of that of a person appeared on the screen. It was of an alien possibly male with dark hair with a tan shirt and tie on. In the background was what looked like a graphical map of a land mass with smaller graphics of what looked like clouds and water particles under them and text of some sort that no one could even begin to decipher. The man seemed to be talking and pointing at the map and gesturing across it, as the video played the scene changed to five graphics of what appeared to be a star with clouds in front of the first and second, then just the star on the rest with the same type of text underneath. The team was perplexed at what they were looking at. The scene changed again to that of another male with grey hair and a black jacket on. Pardja then pressed pause to stop the video at this point to reflect on what they had just seen. “I think we should stop at this point to ask everyone to the big screen in Kuval’s office and get everyone opinion on this.”

Lin could not agree more. “That’s a great plan Pardja; I’ll give Kuval a heads up and make an announcement to be in his office in ten minutes.” Lin then got up and informed Kuval and made the announcement. Ten minutes later all the station staff has gathered in Kuval’s office. Lin was the first to speak and answer the multitude of questions flying around the room. “I have asked you all here because my team and I have finally found a program that would decode and display the video of the signal.” Lin nodded at Kuval and the screen on his office wall came alive and played for everyone it stopped at the same point as before and Lin gave her opinion. “It looks as if this male person is describing the map behind him and indicating the text displayed in various regions of the map. Also as you saw the scene changed to a display of solar graphics with clouds and text under the five depictions. Pardja and I discussed this on the way here and have concluded that this person is discussing this planets weather patterns. What we are unsure of is weather this is a prediction of coming events or past tense. We are pretty sure it’s a prediction and is an information type of announcement, much like our daily weather announcements on Amaria. Then the scene moved to that of a second announcer which is where we stopped the recording and came to show everyone what we have found. Any questions so far?” Lin asked as she took a moment to breathe.

“Can we see the rest of the recording Lin?” Ardin asked as he walked in with three new team members with wide eyes and jaw’s on the floor.

“Your back, that’s great.” She then looked over at the three new people standing in the door way of Kuval’s office. “Welcome to our team.” She then walked over to the first and introduced herself. “Hi I’m Linaria, but you can call me Lin, I’m the team leader of this project.” She said to the balding anthropologist with thick glassed on his face. He shook her outstretched in thanks.

“I’m Dr. Surmat; I would like to thank you for choosing me for such an important project. I was sure this was a joke until Ardin assured us on our trip here.” Surmat said then let go of Lin’s hand. She scooted over to the next new victim and offered a hand to her.

“Welcome to Manara Space Station.”

“Thank you; I’m Dr. Gilia, one of the linguists.” Gilia a short round woman said with a smile shaking Lin’s hand gracefully. Lin scooted down one more time to the last new victim.

“Glad to have you part of our team.” Lin said gratuitously to the last.

“Thanks, I’m Dr. Lumar; I can’t tell you how much this assignment means to me. Thank you all for the opportunity to serve ASI.” Lumar nodded at all that were gathered. “This is quite a welcome, to see such a thing is extraordinary.” Lumar indicated to the paused video on the screen. Lin then stepped back and nudged Kuval to say something.

“Yes welcome all of you to the Amarian Space Institute’s Space Station Manara.” Kuval said to them all then began to introduce the rest of the team, and brought Ardin and the new staff members up to dated as of their progress. It took about an hour then Kuval asked for everyone’s attention. “Now that all the pleasantries are done and you have all been briefed of our progress, with no future ado, here’s the video from the start.” Kuval pressed start on the remote and the video played again from the beginning. As the video past the point where everyone had seen it before the announcer was indicating an inset video above his head. Everyone sat in silence as they were taking in what was showing before them. Kuval pressed a button to pause the video when the inset screen stopped and addressed the group. “Any thoughts about what we just saw?” Kuval asked the group.

“It looks as if the announcer is describing some sort of structural fire that was showing in the inset video to the viewers watching.” Dr. Lumar gave his opinion. “This must be like our evening news programs back on Amaria.”

“I agree, he’s obviously informing the viewers of what is going on and with the other announcer giving weather forecasts would make a lot of sense.” Lin gave her point of view.

Everyone was soon agreeing with Lumar and Lin and the room erupted in more questions to answer. Dr Gilia and Dr. Lumar were discussing the audio for a few minutes. Dr Surmat then spoke up. “I’ve been quite so far, as I was considering a few things I could discern from the video, the species is very close to that of an Amarian, the first has a skin pigmentation close to ours which means their blood is based on iron like ours. The hair and eye coloring are pretty close as well, and upper body build is about the same, it looks like the two that we saw share the same genders but like us have different builds. We can’t determine the exact height of the male because it appears they are sitting. It appears they have five fingers on each hand like us. The man in the second scene had a finger adornment which what meaning it has can’t be determined. As you can tell I am quite please at this discovery and paid close attention to the details. I will study it in closer detail later.” More questions were raised as Lumar finished his assessment. Then Lin broke the chattering.

“I think we should all consider studying each frame closely for clues to the language, and see if we can get more out of the video. Let’s finish watching what we have, there approximately 30 more seconds left to play.” Lin then nodded at Kuval.

“Yes that’s a good idea, it will most likely reveal more questions but it might answer a few as well.” Kuval stated to the staff, everyone got quiet and watched the last 30 seconds. On the screen the video played again and the play back split in two, on the left was a black background with white text scrolling up from the bottom, on the right was a small video playing of different scenes of several types. When the picture changed again the audio volume increased and the video changed to that of a male figure sitting in front of what looked like a large viewing screen that had its own video in it. He had a cylindrical metal container in his hand that he brought up to his lips and brown liquid flowed into his mouth. The expression on his face changed to one that emulated refreshment. And that’s when the video ended.

“Well that was interesting, that man must have been thirsty or maybe he was just showing that he liked the liquid to the viewers, just like we do here with Lindinberry juice.” Lin extrapolated her thoughts.

“The written text at the lift side of the screen seems to be organized and in a clear type set. It might assist us in translating this language; it will give us something to work with.” Dr. Gilia explained. “Dr. Lumar will need some space to work and few interruptions for a few days.”

“That’s not a problem; we will set you up with a couple of work stations later in the afternoon, Ardin will you see to their needs.”

“Of course, this way please. Ardin led them out of the office to an empty cubical next to the computer center. Kuval assured them. “For the rest of you I would like everyone to get back to working on the signal and see if there is more. Lin if you would stay behind a second.” Everyone left Kuval’s office and went back to work. Lin remained as requested. “Lin my dear, this proves life on another planet, we are all going to be famous. I would like you to be the face that announces this to the masses. I’ve already discussed this with Sural and he agrees this was your discovery after all.” Kuval asked her to be the planets newest celebrity in a roundabout way.

“Of course Kuval, I’ll do my best, when do you figure it would be a good time to announce this.” Lin asked wondering if were too soon.

“Sural will return to the station in one week with journalist and a camera person. We will prepare them and then announce at the end of next week.”

“Ok sir, I will prepare a speech for the occasion, Is it ok if I get help from the linguists?”

“It’s your team, use them as you see fit.” Kuval reminded her of her position.

“Thank you Kuval, I guess I need to get back to work.”

“I won’t keep you then, off you go.”

Lin left Kuval’s office and went back to her desk and worked on a schedule for herself for the upcoming week, she needed time for both the video recording and her speech she now had to write. ‘I’ll ask Lumar or Gilia for help when I check on them later’ Lin thought to herself, then went back to work on her schedule. After finding time for both tasks she got up and went down to where Gilia and Lumar had been given space. Inside on the table were two computer terminals that were linked to the computer servers in the next room. Gilia and Lumar appeared to be hard at work and were unaware of her entrance into the sparse room. She paused to watch for a minute then asked how they were. “Sorry to bother you, I just wanted to check on you and see if you needed anything?”

“Oh hi Lin, no Ardin got us everything we needed so far, be sure and thank him for us.” Gilia answered with a generous smile.

“Ok, if you need anything more, just tell Ardin or me. Oh and on another topic, if either of you has time I could use some advice on a speech I have to write for the announcement to the people in one weeks time.

“Um sure, that would be a great pleasure for me, I would be honored to help you Lin, just let me get some headway here and I’ll get with you after the diner meeting.” Gilia offered her help without reservation.

“Thanks Gilia I really appreciate the offer of help. I know we are all busy with this work, but as this team has already proven it’s a team that works well together.” Lin thanked her then left them to their work. She felt relieved that she would have help with the speech.

Lin then went back to work with Pardja, Celine and the rest of the video team for the rest of the day. Soon everyone was again gathered in the dining hall for the evening meal and sharing of each team discoveries. Kuval stood and welcomed everyone to the tables and thanked Emil and Amil for the great feast sitting in front of them. “May I have your attention please, I would like to personally thank all of you for your exemplary hard work today, and the discoveries have been tremendous and breathtaking. I can’t express how happy with all of you and especially Lin for heading up this great team of individuals.” He raised his glass in honor of all. “I toast you all and may our team preserver throughout; and the best is yet to come.” Kuval sat back down and then everyone began to eat and talk about their day’s events. The biggest discussion had been that of Niara and Athia they had the best news so far other than the video being played to the end. Niara was their spokes person.

“We have listened to the full audio of the first recording and found structure in what is being spoken. We forwarded are results to Gilia and Lumar fist thing this morning, well I think they should be the ones to announce what we have., Gilia, Lumar you have the floor.” Gilia and Lumar stood with huge smiles and the look of relief on their faces.

Gilia thanked Niara for the opportunity to speak. “Thank you Niara, well as Niara told you she sent Lumar and me the recording of the first signal, and comparing that to the text and audio of the video signal Lumar and I have been able to translate a few key sentences from the first and the entire second recording.” Gilia then let Lumar take over from her.

“What we have so far from the two recordings, the first is quite remarkable and answers a few lingering questions, one of which is how advanced is this civilization and will they be able to understand us. Yes the will and quite frankly pretty easily if we decide to respond at some point. Here is what we have.” Lumar paused for everyone to settle from the excitement and read from the paper he had folded in the top pocket of the jumpsuit he was wearing. “Discovery, Huston, what is your current roll rate? That was the first part now here is the second. Huston, Discovery, our roll rate is zero point five degrees starboard. That’s was the second part and now for the last. Discovery, Huston roll rate zero point five confirmed, we advise re-entry at 1830 Zulu. The rest of the signal was degraded too far to get more, but does answer a lot of questions. This portion indicates transmissions between a ground controller and a space varying vessel possibly in orbit of this planet and is evidence of our first question that yes they are technologically advanced.” Lumar paused to let this new information sink in then began again. “The second signal has even more information to work with; the fact that we had text and hand gesturing also aided us on translating this language as far as we have and is a great breakthrough in further translations to come. I will now turn this back over to Gilia for the next translation.”

“Thank you Lumar, I know each of you are probably wonder how we got this done so fast, all I can say is we got lucky and found a common root in the language structure, and as Lumar suggested, with the addition of the elements in the video assisted us in the initial translation. What we got from the video confirms earlier opinions, it’s from what this planet calls a news hour and we were looking at the reporter as he was called, give a weather forecast for the next five days and then switched to another reporter and he described a structure fire that had been three peoples home and was started by an electrical surge. The news hour ends with credits of names to those associated with the broadcast and then switches to an advertisement for a liquid drink of some sort.” Niara then sat back down and Lin and Kuval stood, Kuval smiled at Lin and indicated she could go first and sat back down.

“That was impressive, we now have more to work with, and we know that this species have advanced technology but about a hundred years behind Amaria, and it seems like us they inform the populous of changing situations and broadcast them as we do. No I suggest we finish our dinners and discuss what we should do next.” Lin sat down and Kuval stood up.

“Thank you Niara, Athia that was very informative, as to what’s next. ASI mandate is very clear any information, communication or signal of any sort that proves without a doubt alien life is to be reported to the Chancellor one the discovery is confirmed and evaluated. I will call Sural tonight and let him know of our progress. I once again congratulate you all for your hard work. Lin your team was come together nicely and I have been able to just run the station. That’s all for tonight, enjoy the rest of your meal and have a great night.” Manara space station was quite that night as everyone slept well after a long day of work.

Back on Amaria Chancellor Hemis an aging black haired man was having a hard time digesting what Sural had told him tonight. He was so astonished and pleased he told Sural to take him and a broadcast crew to the station the next day. He also requested for Sural to keep his visit secret as he wanted to surprise the crew of the space station.