The derelicts were being found more frequently as humanity pushed out into space. We still didn’t know much about their previous owners. We believed them to be bipedal, standing at an estimated height of 2.5 to 3 meters. We assume them to be highly intelligent. What little we have figured out about their technology shows us they were far beyond us. Yet, thanks to these derelicts, we are making new advances all the time.
Unfortunately, we have yet to find any direct evidence they existed. No bodies, no photographs, videos, art… nothing. Not even clothing. We can only infer things based on what little furniture has survived. We have dated the derelicts, finding them to consistently be around 20,000 years old. It’s as if whatever happened to them occurred among them all around the same time.
This was the fifth expedition Jasmine Hollis had participated in and the second one she had led. It was also the furthest derelict anyone had yet to explore, nearly 200 light years away from Earth. While her focus was xenoanthropology, she had also dabbled in other xeno studies, from engineering to biology to even advanced physics. She couldn’t replace anyone on her team, but she could assist and give a second set of opinions or observations for most subjects.
While Samantha Hale and Mikhail Rogov were exploring other parts of the ship, she was assisting the team’s xenotechnoligist Lucca as he examined the strange object. So far no one had quite determined with it was for, nor why every derelict had one, but there were suspicions. The leading hypotheses were that it was a long range FTL communicator, a portal system, or a matter generator/convertor. She was betting on the portal hypothesis herself.
A large ring-shaped object, six meters in diameter, it was oddly plain. Smooth, without even an access panel within it. Scans showed it to be completely solid and made of a form of metal we had yet to replicate. It was also impossibly strong. We just didn’t have any tool that could take a sample of it. Unlike the rest of the derelict, it was pristine. The base it was set in was a different matter. Like the rest of the ship, it was in decay. Not what you’d expect, considering it was floating out in the system’s Oort cloud.
“So, Lucca, what do you think? she asked. She looked down to where he was crouched.
“Well, it’s in better condition than the previous derelict,” he said, standing up, “but it’s still pretty messed up in there.” He paused for a moment, in thought. “This one actually has remnants of the cables still in place. I might, and I can’t emphasize this enough, might be able to repair it.” Before she could say anything, he added, “Don’t get your hopes up yet, boss lady.” He grinned at her.
“Okay, got it. Pop the champagne right now,” she grinned back at him, crossing her arms across her chest.
“I’ll need some extra tools and supplies from the ship to do this,” he said. He looked back at the base the ring was set in for a moment. “Also help. This is going to be a big job.”
“Hey, if you actually think there is some hope here, I’m sure everyone will be happy to help.” She put her hand to her helmet, activating her comms, as the pair headed back to their ship. “Misha, Sam, we might actually have something here. Head back to the ship and I’ll fill you in there.”
“Acknowledged,” replied Mikhail.
“Gotcha, Jaz!” said Samantha.
Jasmine and Lucca made it back first. While Lucca began cracking open crates in the open cargo bay of their ship, she looked out of the large hole in the side of the derelict. Lost in thought, staring at the vastness of the universe, she didn’t notice the return of Mikhail. She only realized he was there when Samantha bounded up next to her, causing her to turn around.
“Whatcha lookin’ at, Jaz?” she said over the comms, excited energy practically oozing from her body. To her credit, Jasmine only flinched at the sudden appearance of their xenobiologist.
“Nothing but the vastness out there,” she said, gesturing towards where she had been looking.
With everyone back, she explained what had been found and their plan of action. Within a few hours, they had set up a small workshop near the device. With all their help, they quickly removed the panels of the base. With that done, the real work began. Lucca first mapped out everything inside the base. Jasmine took his basic map and converted it to a detailed 3D model. As he went through, slowly examining and removing each cable, connector, pipe, and more, the others assisted him. Mikhail took down detailed notes, while Samantha helped clear the objects away from the base, organizing them as she did so. Jasmine used the notes to add detail to the model she had built.
Unlike the first part, this part took several days of work. It was slow going to ensure every detail was captured. Partway through their work, their xenoarchaeologist Mikhail noticed something. “Something is odd about this,” he said.
Lucca looked up at him, pausing in his work. “What do you mean, Mikhail?”
“This is only cables, pipes, yes? Power,” he said, pointing at a thick cable. “That one looks to carry liquid helium,” he pointed to thickly insulated pipe. “And that pipe runs into a heatsink there,” he said, pointing just below the ring. He pointed out several more things before Lucca and Jasmine both suddenly looked up at him.
“There’s no circuitry,” said Lucca with confusion.
“No computers, nothing more than basic stuff,” said Jasmine at the same time.
“Is that weird?” asked Samantha.
“Only if this object does what we think,” Mikhail replied. “There is no control panel. No way to interact with it.” He looked up at the ring. “What are you?” he whispered.
Everyone took a break after that, giving it more thought. Before long they were back at it. Once they had finished clearing out the base, they began the process of putting together replacements for everything they removed. Thankfully, they came prepared for nearly anything, allowing them to completely repair it, at least as far as they could tell. After the repairs were completed, they gathered back in the ship. Every had spent the last several days living in their suits, not wanting to waste the time going between the ship and the object.
Samantha was leaning back in her chair, feet up on the table. Unlike the rest of them, she had gone for a gene mod, giving herself leaf green hair. She was also nearly as big as Mikhail, standing at nearly two meters. Much like Mikhail, she had spent a lot of time outside doing demanding work and her body showed it. Mikhail sat next to her, his grey eyes staring intensely at everyone. Lucca was leaned back in his chair, though not nearly as far as Samantha was. He ran his hair through his chestnut hair, happy to finally be back in loose, comfortable clothing. Jasmine was leaning on the table, hands clasped together. Her blue eyes were nearly as intense as Mikhail’s. Her black hair was kept quite short, mainly to avoid the hassle of it when she was in a spacesuit.
The crew was silent for a long moment. Before anyone could work up the nerve to start talking, there was a sudden yelp from Samantha, followed by a crash. Everyone looked her way, with all but Mikhail seeing nothing but legs.
“Uhh… you okay there, Sam?” asked Lucca.
Samantha giggled from her spot on the ground. “Oops, lost my balance,” she said between her giggles. Soon everyone was laughing along, the tension quickly bleeding out from the room. As she returned her set to an upright position, Jasmine started the conversation.
“Okay everyone, it’s time to make a decision,” she said, suddenly serious again. “We don’t know what this thing does, nor if these repairs are even enough to get it working again.”
Lucca took over. “We also don’t have the ability to power it for too long. A minute, maybe two tops. Any more than that and our ship won’t make it home.”
“Portals, communications, matter generation… all choices could be dangerous,” said Mikhail. “Assuming the hypotheses are accurate, of course.”
“Which is why we all have to make a decision,” said Jasmine. “While I may be in charge here, I’m not going to force anyone to participate beyond this point.” She briefly paused, “We only have one shot at this. Whatever we do, we won’t be able to repeat it on this trip. No one will be judged if they wish to stay with the ship.”
“I did not sacrifice everything to back down at the possibility of danger,” said Mikhail. “So long as it is not certain death, I will participate.” He paused for a moment, musing. “Perhaps even with certain death.”
“That’s the spirit, Misha!” said Samantha, strongly clapping her hand onto his back. “I’m not backing down either. This is what I signed up for! I wouldn’t miss this for anything!”
“Obviously, I’m not skipping out,” said Lucca. “I didn’t spend days repairing an alien artifact to sit back in the comfort of the ship.”
“I figured as much,” said Jasmine, a big smile on her face. “Alright, we’ve got to make some preparations beforehand. After that, we relax and sleep. We’ll do this in the morning and with any luck, make history.”
“Yeah!” shouted Samantha, jumping up from her chair.
With that they took to gathering supplies for the big event. Afterwards they took a well-deserved rest followed by a night of sleep in their beds. Come morning, they gathered up everything and once again donned their suits, heading back into the derelict. It took a couple hours to set everything up. They had run a power cable from their ship all the way to the object. They had also brought a large tank containing liquid helium under high pressure, keeping it at a nice and cool 2.1 K. Finally, they brought supplies to record what happened, as well as to explore if it was indeed a portal.
“Okay, I’ve got the helium running in a closed loop,” said Lucca. “So far it is gaining zero heat, though that should change once I hook up the power.”
“The drones are ready and waiting,” said Jasmine. They had both a flying drone and a tethered, tread-based drone.
“Recording equipment is active,” Mikhail stated.
“Everything is ready to go, then.” Sam briefly looked at Samantha, before looking back at his makeshift console. “Sam, plug it in.”
“Here we go!” said Samantha, connecting the power cable from the ship into the main power cable of the base.
Everyone was silent, not even daring to breathe. It felt like even the universe itself had come to a standstill. Later they would say it felt like hours, but in reality, it only lasted a few seconds before Lucca broke the silence. “It’s heating up rapidly!” He was monitoring everything they had set up, including temperature sensors attached to the heatsink below the ring. “Power usage rapidly rising!” He looked up just in time to see it. A small mote of light, no bigger than a cubic centimeter, appeared in the center of the ring. Suddenly it expanded, filling up the ring in less than a second. From there, it quickly expanded out from a flat disc to a sphere, constrained by the ring.
Jasmine was the first to regain her senses, activating both drones. They quickly moved into the sphere of light. The tether attached to the treaded one stopped moving as soon as it finished moving into the light, the wired connection cutting. Mikhail was slowly walking around it, taking it in.
Samantha was staring at in in awe. “Wow,” she said over the comms. It was a near whisper, far different from her usual exuberant self.
The drones returned 15 seconds after they had entered, seemingly unharmed. There was a sudden flurry of activity as they returned. The timers in their visors showed the estimated time remaining, based on power draw. One minute, 13 seconds remained. Only 35 seconds had passed.
Samantha poured over the sensor data. “Air is breathable, water and plant life detected nearby, 22.5 C.
1:04 remaining
“I can see buildings off in the distance,” said Jasmine, looking over the returned images. “Movement in the distance, looks like something flying.”
0:55 remaining
“The structures are damaged and appear to be covered in plant life,” said Mikhail.
“No pollution detected, no radio signals,” added Samantha.
0:41 remaining
“Running out of power, people,” said Lucca.
There was a brief pause, before suddenly their cargo hauler began moving towards the portal. Samantha pulled herself on top of it. “Go, my mighty steed!” she shouted. “Our destiny awaits!”
0:33 remaining
Mikhail began walking towards the portal. “I told you, Jasmine, I did not sacrifice everything to just give up.” He went through the portal as the hauler started to enter it, Samantha still sitting atop it with a wild grind on her face.
0:28 remaining
Lucca looked over at Jasmine for a long moment, before cracking a smile. “After you, boss lady,” he said.
She grinned back, before dashing forward, Lucca right behind her.
0:10 remaining
The three of them stood on a base that wasn’t in decay, Samantha still on the hauler, looking in wonder at an alien world. They didn’t even look behind them as the portal collapsed, right as their timers hit zero. They didn’t know what the future would hold for them, but they knew they had plenty to explore for a lifetime… or perhaps four.
Back on their ship, the computer sent back two files to humanity. The first was a set of recordings from each of the explorers, the last words they would ever speak to the rest of their species. To their friends, family, and colleagues they left behind. The second was everything they had documented. From the 3D diagram of their repairs to the portal base, to the measurements taken by the drones, the readings from the sensors Lucca had installed, and of course the multiple angles of recordings they had set up, capturing their last moments before vanishing into the portal.