Story: The Flying Submarine

       "The Flying Submarine"

Somewhere inside a top secret military base.

“Sir, I’ve been further investigating the UFO that has spent the last week circling earth,” said the top computer expert at the base.

“Did you get anywhere?” asked the General.

The computer expert nodded his head once, “Yes, Sir. I managed to pick up on a radio frequency coming off the UFO. It appears to be a file containing a video titled ‘Open Me’. Should I open it, Sir?”

The General is quiet for a moment, thinking over the options. “Yes. It may have information that could be valuable to the President in making his decision.”

The computer expert clicked play and all but one of the screens in the room went dark. A video began to play on the one screen.

The screen lights up to an older man sitting in front of a desk, staring into the camera. “Congratulations, whoever you are. You have picked up on my frequency and found this video. Since that probably means my ship is growing closer to your planet, it also probably means that you’re contemplating whether or not shooting my ship out of the galaxy is a good idea. I can assure you, from my prospective it is a very bad idea.”

From somewhere behind the camera, you could hear someone talking to the man. But it was too far from the camera, you couldn’t make out what was being said. The man is amused by whoever is talking to him. He gestures to the person, “Why don’t you come into the frame of the camera and help me make our case?” In response you hear a scraping noise, like something being dragged. Then five seconds later, a girl appears in the view of the camera, dragging a chair.

The man claps his hands together as the girl sits, “All right. My name is Dr. Steven Harvard, and this is my niece, Emery.” The girl, Emery, gives a little wave to the camera. 

“This submarine that you see, we call her Inventionem, is a space ship. It is home to six of us. We come from a planet called Terrae.” The doctor says.

Emery leans in close to the camera, like she’s going to tell a secret, “Now you might be expecting some sad story from one of those net dramas,” Her voice gets high pitched and dramatic as she attempts to act out one of the dramas, “OH NO! Our home planet is slowly being destroyed. We must venture out to space and find a new planet!” she stops her acting, shaking her head. “But no, that is not the story.”

It’s easy to tell that the doctor is amused again, but he stays focused. “It’s actually a much simpler story. About fifty years ago, scientists on Terrae who specialized in studying the galaxies discovered an alien frequency. It was coming off of this satellite orbiting around the atmosphere. They would later learn this satellite was called The Voyager. It was an unmanned satellite, tasked with finding information about the planets and the galaxy. They were content with leaving it alone,  simply monitoring it and if it posed a problem, they would deal with it then. 

“After two weeks of monitoring it, it crashed on Terrae, no one was hurt, but everyone was a bit freaked out. So the satellite was investigated, inspected inch by inch. They found no weapons or anything harmful on it. But they did find a golden record. It would change a lot.”

Emery continues where the doctor left off. “It was later discovered that it was actually called ‘The Golden Record’. On the record was music, greetings, and scenes. All of them from a place called Earth. This motivated the people of Terrae to attempt space and galactic exploration for the first time. It took fifty years for it to work.” 

 “This,” the doctor says while gesturing at the walls and the room, “is the first space ship from Terrae. We wish no harm upon those we come across. We are curious. We wish to learn more about our neighbors in the galaxy, to become friends and allies.” The doctor pauses to look at the corner of the screen.

“Our time is coming to an end, I’m afraid. I hope this explains enough for you to trust us a little bit. This is The Inventionem signing off.” Their faces are cut off by static.

The room was completely silent when the video cut out. After a minute of staring at the blank screen, the computer expert addressed the elephant in the room. “What do we do, General?”

The General was at a loss of words. When the Golden Record was launched all those years ago, they failed to come up with a protocol. After a deep breath, the General said, “Get me the President.”

THE END.