Gob stared at the big screen in the monitoring lab, watching and waiting for the capsules to do something. Drak replayed their arrival on Kar’s request, everyone watched as the monitor displayed a large black capsule partially exitting the belt. It retreated back into the belt and after some time exitted fully and was followed by several smaller capsules.

“It was as if it was peeking to see if there was any threat on this side of the belt” said Kadd

Once the large capsule came to rest, the smaller lined up in formation in front on it moving towards a nearby rock hopper vessel. Only after the rock hopper had started leaving towards the planet did the capsules retreat back to their formation in front of the large capsule.

“Should we perceive that as a threat? Or as a possible approach to maje contact with us?” asked Mul. Gob had to fight the urge to answer immediately, realising that the question was directed to Kar instead.

“I…I cannot say for certain” replied Kar, who’s hesitation worried both Mul and Gob. Then after a moment or two, Kar continued with the usual composure “We know very little of their current technology, or of their strategies in general. It would be irresponsible of me to amke any assumptions regarding the motive behind their actions.” His formal tone and firm voice strangely felt re-assuring for everyone else. “Overseer Gob, you said the Kom had sent us a signal?”

“They did” answered Gob, “The signal was to inform us of their imminent exit from the belt, one curious thing is that our sensors recorded the partial exit of their vessel before they sent us the signal. Perhaps this was their way of probing our intention? Another interesting thing is that when the smaller capsules were approaching the rock hoppers, none of the capsules including the large one was transmitting any form of communication. Not even to the rock hopper vessel.”

“Should we perceive that as a threat then?” Elder Mul asked again.

“I agree with Watcher Kar” said Gob, “It is far too early to draw conclusions, and we do not have enough information to make any assumptions about the Kom. At this point I think the best course of action is to try to contact them, Elder Mul I was hoping you could help us craft an appropriate message. This will be first contact with an intelligent species, making it vital that we do not appear hostile”

“Of…Ofcourse, I will start work on a message right away. Elder Kadd, let us begin” said Mul, clearly caught off-guard with Gob’s willingness to let the Elders be involved.

“In the meantime, can our equipment in space help us gather any information about their vessels?” inquired Kar

“We have tasked every piece if technology we have in this lab to observe and collect as much information about the capsules, but it will be some time before we get any conclusive information. For now all we can do is wait.” replied Gob

After what seemed to be forever, Elders Mul and Kadd returned with their message prepared. Kar was communicating with the rest of the Watchers, and Gob was reading reports that were constantly being printed out by the various machines in the lab with Drak assisting him. Mul waited for them to notice, eventually Kadd pretending to drop something and the others realised that the Elders were back.

“We have come up with a suitable first message” said Mul, “It welcomes the Kom and asks them about their intentions while not giving away our suspicion”. Mul handed the message to Gob for inspection.

Gob read the message, noting the various strikes and edits that had been made. It was impressive how much effort the Elders had put into making the message sound as neutral as possible. “Ah, the wording makes this sound like an innocent inquiry rather than a question. That is good, it is important that the Kom do not think we suspect anything. That being said, going forward it is also important that we do not assume the worst. While we have our doubts, letting them bias our opinion of the Kom will not lead to anything good. Observer Drak, please send a signal to the Kom with this message”

Drak took the message from Gob and began configuring on of the work stations to send a signal. After some time, a large dish like structure tilted towards the position of the large capsule in space and hummed as it surged with power.

“Is that what we use to communicate with the Kom?” asked Kar

“Yes, it’s design is inspired by the technology present in the first object we received from them. While we have developed more advanced means to communicate, I felt that receiving a signal in a format and via means familiar to them might make the Kom feel that we are attempting to understand them.” explained Gob

It was quite some time before the Kom responded.

“They greet us in the same way we welcomed them. They explain that their species explores space to learn how to advance their technology and has hoped for a long time to meet another intelligent species. They do not mention anything about their technology declining and have not asked for help on any matter, they simply repeat their request for information about the mineral composition of our surface.” said Gob “This might sound strange, but I think we should provide them with the information they want”

“We still do not know what they want!” said Mul, “I do not think it is wise for us to give them all the answers they seek without us getting any in return.”

“They can get the information they need from basic sensors and equipment which they probably already possess, my guess is that they want to skip that step and simply want us to give them the information.” said Kar “I agree with Overseer Gob’s recommendation, although the report we do send them should not be very detailed. Just a basic report of what minerals are common should be enough to satisfy our visitors for now. Hopefully this will help begin a dialog with them.”

Mul was visibly upset, looking to Kadd for support. Surprisingly Kadd said, “I agree with Watcher Kar and Overseer Gob, if this information is so easy to attain it is better to use it as a way to establish communication rather than a cause for the Kom to suspect anything”.

Not completely ‘wasteful’ after all, thought Gob.

Mul was taken aback, “Very well, Overseer Gob if you will”. Gob and Drak began pulling reports from old files and transmitted them to the Kom.

This time their reply was quick. Gob waited for the report to finish printing, read it and then said “They…They are requesting coordinates for a safe area to land. They want to meet”

Chapter 5

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