A Terrifying Landmark Historical Communication

20261022

Written for the Second Indulgence, Prompt #15

“Don’t worry,” Flynn grins at the team as we climb aboard the helicopter, “I’m expecting this to be pretty easy. Normally I’m flying this thing close to storms, and there’s barely any wind today!”
Thank goodness. I don’t cope great with flying. And the psychological translator is intended to be used in contact with the target. I don’t know if we’ll even be able to get close enough to the alien monster to initiate a connection. Even assuming our tech can connect to its psychic wavelengths.
But we have to try. Every other attempt to study this behemoth has failed. While it’s almost certainly too late to save our city, we might at least be able to get data to help other colonies.
Funny. To think that encountering alien life has been a goal for so long, the dream of most every interstellar scientist. And now that it finally happens it’s an unmitigated disaster. But then, we didn’t expect to encounter life like this - a beetle-like prismoid thing the size of a tower block bursting out of a terraformed planet and heading straight towards our habitat dome.
How had we not detected any sign of it? How deep was it hiding? Why did it surface now? And what on earth - or rather, JXK-04 - is it made of, that mining lasers and orbital bombardment didn’t even slow it down??
All questions I’m hoping to answer. Assuming I can get the psychological translator to work.
Flynn looks at the box I’m holding. “Ah, you’re the…”
“Veterinarian. Yes.”
I am painfully aware of how outclassed I am by the rest of the team. They’re all highly experienced at both research and operating in dangerous environments. Most have won awards in their fields. And here I am, my two qualifications being able to operate a psychtran unit and a lifelong inability to panic.
“Right. Flown before?”
“A few times. I get airsick if there’s lots of turbulence. I haven’t eaten in six hours just to be safe.”
“Alright. Don’t worry, I’ll be keeping it as smooth as I can.”
I nod. I don’t bother to point out that he might not get much say in that.
We all take our seats. Mine is right by the door. I set the psychtran up on my lap. Run through diagnostic checks. On the other side Carla is doing the same with her extendable boom arm. She’ll be operating the probe end of the device, getting it as close to the beast as she can.
“Ought to be easier than skimming a volcano” she declared during briefing. I hope she’s right.
All checks done. All systems green. When Flynn shouts “Who’s ready to make history??” we all give thumbs-up. I even manage a smile, though I doubt it looks as natural as everyone else’s.
The helicopter roars and we lift off. I peer out the window, watching as the eerily empty city falls away. The population was evacuated yesterday. When it became clear that we wouldn’t be able to stop the monster. It’s just us left, now.
Well, and the crew waiting in orbit, ready to collect us. This isn’t a suicide mission. Or at least, it’s not intended to be.
I repeat this to myself several times as the monster comes into view. An immense, undulating mass of some translucent grey crystal. It writhes and squirms, unerringly headed for my home. We have no clue what sense organs it has, but clearly they can pick us - or at least, our infrastructure - up from miles away.
Can it sense the helicopter?
My hands are white against the armrests as Flynn slowly brings us lower. Closer. We’re aiming to fly right alongside its head. In theory such an immense creature should radiate psychic output which is detectable across an air gap.
We’re about to test this.
“…It’s not reacting.” Carla reports. “I’m going to open the door.”
My stomach lurches as the metal slides aside and suddenly I can hear and smell the alien. A terrifying historical landmark event.
Grinding. Gritty, deafening, not-quite-regular. Like a slow-motion landslide. And the heat wafting up is intense. While the respirator thankfully dampens smells, there’s a pungent musk I can’t begin to describe. Like no animal I’ve ever handled.
Carla hefts the probe arm. Looks at me. I give a thumbs-up and turn my attention to the psychtran. As she extends the probe I’m definitely getting something. No idea how to begin to resolve this, though… I try the tuning knobs in turn, hoping to brute-force a cross-species connection across a gulf far wider than the designers of this unit ever imagined.
Alright, that might be enough? I lift the headset, pressing it against my skull rather than strapping it on. I might need to break the connection in a hurry.
Ah. Hm. It’s always so hard to put psychic communication into words. That’s why we have this technology. But I need to dictate something useful to Darrell, who’s waiting with a recorder and notebook.
“Um… feels like agitation? Maybe it’s upset by vibrations or something? I…”
The connection spikes, overwhelming my senses, and I gasp and drop the headset. Through ringing ears I hear Carla say “I think it knows we’re here.”
“Yeah.” Flynn’s voice is perfectly level.
I turn my head, and find the monster has fallen silent. Motionless. Except that its head is slowly lifting. Towards us.
The psychtran readout pulses. A steady, repeating signal. Is it… trying to communicate? I grab the headset and put it back to my skull and there it is, the first alien message in history.
“RUN!”
That’s the only part of the kaleidoscope I can parse. The rest is a blur of fear and darkness and something that can now breathe? A… That… Is that the planet’s core? Something bursting from the molten rock. An eye.
Oh god. It wasn’t coming to attack. It’s not angry. It’s scared. It wanted to warn us.
And it’s still screaming, desperately hoping I can understand.
“RUN!”

Prompt was “For three days, an enormous creature has been making its way towards your city. The military has failed to stop it. Millions have evacuated. Scientists can’t explain where it came from or what it wants. You are part of a small team that stayed behind to study it. That’s how you discover the truth: The creature isn’t attacking the city, it’s running from something.”

Read other stories written for this prompt here.