Dreams Can Come True

An experiment and a first contact

It is the day after the release of the HTV and you are getting ready for the day's chores. You have decided to start the day with some exercise. You quickly get yourself set up. You put some of your favourite music on. You soon get lost in your thoughts. Today will probably be one of the more interesting days for you. After your exercise you will be working on the latest SPHERES tests. Your thoughts are interrupted by Daniel drifting lazily over your head. He is pulling one of the cameras. You assume it's because he wants to take some photos from the Cupola.

"Good Morning Daniel," You say as Daniel drifts past you. You pause the music in case he wants a conversation.

"Morning Annie. How did you sleep," He responds as he twists to face you.

"I slept alright how about you?" You reply. You start to think that sleeping is the hardest thing on the ISS. At least you can sleep anywhere.

"If you don't mind I'm going to take some photos from the Cupola," Daniel excuses himself. Your assumption was correct.

"That's fine," You respond. After an hour of exercise you pull yourself to the Columbus lab. You get to work on setting up the experiment. You are soon joined by Thomas. You are glad for the company. He is however working on a different experiment. You quickly get the SPHERES set up. You double check everything. You get to work on making sure you can keep control of the SPHERES.

"Annie would you like some help?" Thomas asks as he looks over from his experiment.

"Not yet but thank you for the offer," You respond. You have it under control for now. You set one of the SPHERES spinning. You double check the readings that you are getting. After ten minutes of playing around you finally need Thomas' help.

"Thomas can you help me with the next part of the experiment?" You ask.

"What would you like help with?" Thomas replies as he places the iPad he has been using back into its spot. He carefully drifts towards you.

"Can you make sure that this one doesn't go anywhere it's not supposed to?" You say as you gesture to the object that you mean. Thomas gives you a nod. You give the object a good spin. You try your best to intercept it with the other object. It deflects off and Thomas skilfully grabs it for you.

"Here you go," Thomas remarks as he passes the object back. After an hour and a half of conducting the required SPHERES experiments you find yourself in the Cupola. You are amazed at the view you are getting. Your admiration of the earth doesn't last long because you still have some work you have to do before lunch. You pull yourself towards the "Columbus lab again. You get to work on repairing one of the experiment racks. You are struggling because you were told not to disturb the experiment.

"Come on," You utter. You have decided the best course of action is to ask the ground for help. You quickly get the headset on.

"Station to ground do you receive?" You begin the communication.

"This is ground, go ahead," Comes the reply. It is a bit fuzzy. Odd. Maybe you are out of range of one of the communications satellites.

"How should I go about repairing the greenhouse rack without disturbing the plants?" You ask. At least the others are not watching.

"Make," The signal is cut off by some kind of clicking. You try your best to overcome the jamming. It doesn't take long for the clicking to become coherent English.

"I'm sorry for hijacking your signal but I wanted to say hello," comes the reply. It sounds like something from a sci-fi TV show. Mission control is going to have a field day. Hopefully it's just someone messing around with amateur radio. Thomas soon joins you. He has a worried look on his face.

"Tom, we have been hijacked," You announce.

"Yeah I know. Look at this," He pulls the camera towards you. You look at a photo of a weird asteroid. Looks like you have made first contact. Hopefully it will be peaceful. You have definitely been watching too much sci-fi.

"Can you identify yourself please?" You ask the hijacker. Hopefully he responds with something you can actually pronounce.

"My name is Karis," He responds. The communication soon comes to an end. Karis restores your communication link with the ground control. You quickly explain what happened to the CAPCOM. You can tell that he is relieved but you know that Karis would have caused a massive fit between Moscow and Huston. Five minutes later everyone has gathered at the Zvezda's galley table. There is an intense debate about what the next step should be.

"Despite the fact that our guest hijacked the signal I do believe his intentions were harmless," You insist. You can feel the glares from the Russian crew members. It is becoming an interrogation.

"How can you tell just by one communication," Ivan retorts.

"If Karis was hostile he would have attacked us by now," Thomas responds. They are all offering good points but you get the feeling that you should talk to Karis and get the full story.

"I just don't trust something I don't understand," Daniel adds. The debate goes on for another ten minutes. The only reason why it comes to an end is because of the fact that Olivia and Artemi have started to make lunch. You start to wonder what kind of technology Karis would have. At least it doesn't take long for Artemi and Olivia to finish with the food. Olivia passes you the packet of food. You carefully rip open the packet.

"I think we should talk to the ground regarding our situation," Akira suggests. You are surprised that no one suggested that before.

"I'll do it once we've eaten," You confirm. You all get to work on eating your respective meals. At least the easiest part of the first contact is over. Maybe you should ask if you could invite Karis over to the space station.

"Thank you Olivia," Thomas remarks as he finishes his food.

"No problem," Olivia replies. The next couple of days will be different.