Among twenty snowy mountains, the only moving thing was the eye of the Blackbird.

            - Wallace Stevens  

Angie looked over her crew and smiled. They were unlike any crew she had ever worked with. She was accustomed to military types, flyboys who considered themselves the best of the best, or astronauts that were like Marty--overzealous and overconfident. This crew was diverse and unpredictable. Despite being forced through an abbreviated basic training, these people were scientists not warriors. She had to keep reminding herself of that fact.

The crew had assembled in the briefing room expecting either General Wilson or Clarence to show up. They were surprised and alarmed when Arthur Wasserman entered the room, and worse yet, he looked upset.

"I am sorry to inform you that Clarence Wilmunson has passed away last Sunday evening. I have been appointed temporary administrator. General Wilson has been called back to the Pentagon."

Marty and Angie exchanged looks that said: Something's up.

Arthur pulled out some papers from a folder. "Your next mission is to beta Canum Venaticorum in the constellation of Canes Venatici. This is a yellow-white main sequence dwarf star much like our own and has been shown to have an Earth-like planet."

"Beta CVn was designated one of the top choices in HabCat,” George said. “Has SETI detected any signals from there?"

Arthur glanced down at a paper. “The ATA picked up one, but the signal doesn’t fit any anticipated pattern. In fact, they claim it sounds like bird chirps.” He looked up. “It sounds like they’re getting some kind of a background signal.”

"When are we going?" Angie asked.

"I believe it's the twenty-third. The repairs and re-fit should be completed by then."

“If I recall,” George said, running a hand through his thinning hair. “Beta CVn is around 27 light years.”

“Twenty seven point three five,” Arthur said.

“That’ll require two jumps,” George said.

“Not really. The worm drive has had some improvements made to it. You can jump at least ten parsecs at a time now.”

“Has anyone tested it yet?” Marty asked.

“That’s what you’ll do on this mission.”

Marty and Angie exchanged concerned looks. The rest of the crew seemed unconcerned.

Arthur continued. “The weapons have been improved as well as the scanning equipment. You should have an easier time of it on this trip.”

Angie raised her hand. “If there are intelligent aliens in this system, are we supposed to make contact?”

“That depends on the situation,” Arthur said. “Neither NASA nor the military has a master plan in place to cover a hypothetical contact situation. Despite the fact that the HabCat study and the Kepler Mission picked this star as a good candidate for a habitable planet and a possible home for intelligent extraterrestrials, there is no reason to believe that you’ll find either. If you should happen to locate the home world of the Roswell aliens, you are to return to Earth as quickly as you can. That’s the only order on the table. Otherwise, you may do any investigations you feel necessary.”

“What if the aliens attack us again?” Marty asked.

“Your orders are to defend yourself but not to commit any unprovoked acts of aggression. We have no delusions of destroying their species or their home world. To do so would establish an ugly precedent. On the other hand, we must show them that we are capable of defending ourselves.”

“Understood,” Marty said.

###

Marty flopped down in a lawn chair next to George, took a swig of beer and looked over at his drinking buddy. “What do you know about this star that we’re going to?”

George glanced over at him for an instant before returning to watching a desert sun’s last hurrah. “It’s called Chara. That’s Greek for joy.”

Marty gave him a mock grin. “Oh, joy.”

“It’s a G0 V class star with a luminosity of 1.2, a 5860K temperature and its age is around four billion years. It doesn’t have much variability and its metallicity is similar to that of our sun. Basically it’s a near match to our sun.”

Marty laughed. “I love it when you talk technical, George.”

Both men turned to look when the screen door banged.

“So this is where you chaps are,” Tyler said as he strolled up.

“Yeah, we come out here to get away from the women,” George said.

That didn’t seem to surprise Tyler. Marty pulled a beer can from an ice chest. “Want a beer?”

“Yes,” Tyler said, accepting it. “Thank you.”

“I thought you Brits only like tea,” George said.

“We do, but we also like to slip down to the pub for a pint now and then.”

Marty gestured to him. “How come you’re not drinking then?”

“We Brits like our beer a tad warmer than you Yanks.”

Marty and George laughed.

“Tell me something, Tyler,” George said. “There was this diplomat by the name of Stewart who arranged the Moboti deal between the government and the Mujumbi rebels. Are you that Stewart?”

“Yes, I am,” he said without any signs of gloating.

George’s eyebrows rose. “Why would they risk someone of your stature on a risky mission like this?”

“They must consider it important.”

“How are you going to broker a deal with aliens?” Marty asked. “No one has ever made contact with them.”

“That depends,” Tyler said.

“On what?”

“On whether these aliens are interested in a deal. The only way that we’ll know that is by making contact.”

“Good luck there. The only contact with them has been to exchange weapons fire,” Marty said.

“Such encounters often precede diplomatic exchange.”

Neither Marty nor George could refute that premise.

Inside the barracks the conversation was less serious.

“Where are the men?” Lia asked.

“They’re out in the sandbox drinking beer,” Angie said.

“Oh that’s just great,” Ferris said. “It’s the night before the big mission and they’re getting drunk.”

“What did you expect from men?” Angie said. “They’ll make it to muster. They’ll just be a little hung over, that’s all.”

“Do you think that we’ll run into the bad aliens again?” Uma asked.

“You never can tell,” Angie said. “Hopefully, the destruction of their weapon may keep them at bay for a while.”

“I hope so,” Uma said, pouting. “I didn’t join this project to shoot aliens.”

No one disagreed with that sentiment.

###

The X-2001 sat bathed in bright lamps while an army of technicians poured over it in last minute preparations. Marty and Angie, along with their crew, had assembled in a line at a hundred meters from the activity to await their final orders. They were dressed in NASA standard: Khaki pants and light blue tees, which were decorated with the NASA logo and each crew member's particular national flag. They had laid their duffle bags at their feet and stood patiently waiting.

They perked up when Arthur approached with a bounce in his step. “Good morning.”

All of them replied in unison.

“We have the X-1001 and the X-1002 out scouting your initial course. So far they’ve reported no sightings. Hopefully, you won’t be interfered with.”

“Who’s commanding the X-1002?”  Marty asked.

“Brad. We’ve added several new people to the solar system project. Brian has taken the X-1001 out to Europa and found quite a few new life forms under the ice.”

“Could I see their reports?” Ferris asked.

“You’ll have ample time to read their reports when you return,” Arthur said. “Perhaps you will discover many new life forms on this mission.”

“She will,” Uma said. “There’s plenty of life out there.”

“I’m sure there is,” Arthur said, smiling. “These are exciting times.”

Amen to that, Marty thought.

Arthur received a signal from an engineer. “Well, it’s time.” He smiled. "Good luck."

Angie made the first move and the rest followed her to the elevator, which could hold five people at a time. The men allowed the women to go first. By the time that the three men got in the elevator, the hangar had been abandoned. A sudden feeling of abandonment permeated the men.

“I say,” Tyler said as the elevator rose to the main deck. “Is this jump process difficult to endure?”

“Not really,” Marty said. “It’s just disorienting. You get the feeling that you’re being distorted.”

“It may be worse now that we’re jumping nearly ten parsecs at a time,” George said.

Marty slapped Tyler on the back. “Don’t sweat it, Tyler. I’ve been through it on two missions and I’m still intact.”

Tyler wasn’t consoled. “Thanks, I think.”

When they arrived at the command deck, the men found the women already in their launch chairs.

“How soon till launch?” Marty asked after he sat down in the navigator’s chair.

“Ten minutes,” Angie said. “Delphi is still going through pre-launch checks.”

“Mission control reports that we’re authorized to move out to the runway, Angie.”

“Execute, Delphi,” Angie said.

“Yes, Angie.”

The main screen displayed a slowly rising hangar door as the ship began to taxi out of the hangar. A flat moonlit landscape outside the hangar had no runway lights to show the way.

“I hate these night launches,” Marty said. “It reminds me of missions out of Riyadh. We often took off in pitch black. You couldn’t see a damn thing.”

“I guess they don’t want anyone picking up our launch from a satellite,” Angie said.

“Who are we hiding it from? Russia, India, China and Africa certainly know about it.”

“Maybe they’re trying to hide it from the aliens,” George said.

“I hope it works,” Marty said. “We don’t need them interfering with this mission.”

“How can we stop them?” George asked.

“We have plenty of weapons,” Marty said. “We have six more powerful antimatter bombs now, several thermonuclear torpedoes, more powerful particle cannons and an enhanced energy beam weapon. We can certainly defend ourselves.”

“Sounds paranoid to me,” George said.

“Why are we going to this particular star?” Uma asked.

“It has the highest probability of having an Earth-like planet around it,” George said. “It’s a very close copy of our sun and was probably formed in much the same way. The Kepler Mission has detected an Earth-sized planet and SETI has detected signals from this system, although, their people can’t interpret them.” He turned around to Lia. “Maybe when we arrive there, you’ll have more luck.”

“I hope so,” she said.

“We are cleared for launch, Angie.”

“Execute on count, Delphi.”

“Yes, Angie.”

The ship rolled a hundred meters and then flew straight up. The images on the main screen displayed a rapidly shrinking planet Earth.

“We’re lining up for the star’s projected location,” Marty said. “We’re up to a thousand kilometers per second.”

“How fast do we have to go before jump?” George asked.

“About twenty percent of the speed of light,” Marty said. “That’s why we can jump ten parsecs now.”

“What amazes me is how fast we can accelerate to speeds that were once considered impossible,” George said.

“Actually, ion drive was once touted as a means of reaching speeds like that,” Marty said. “Of course, it would require months to reach those speeds with conventional ion propulsion. We can do it much faster because of Antigrav.”

“This Antigrav system sounds impossible,” George said.

“I’ve heard that it came from the Roswell investigations on the crashed alien spaceship,” Marty said.

George chuckled. “You mean that we stole the idea from the very aliens that have become our enemy?”

“That would be ironic, now wouldn't it?” Marty said.

“Ten minutes until jump, Angie.”

“Thank you, Delphi.”

“You are welcome, Angie.”

“I say there, how did they create this computer you call Delphi?” Tyler asked.

“As I understand it,” Marty said. “Delphi is constructed from quantum circuits, which are too small to see with even an electron microscope. They claim it can perform a thousand exaflops. I don’t know about that, but I do know that we depend on Delphi for everything. When it went down on our last mission, we were helpless.”

“I do hope that this Delphi of yours never fails,” Tyler said.

“Amen to that,” Marty added.

"Jump in one minute, Angie."

"Execute on count, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

The final minute counted down in silence. When the deck elongated into spiraling lines, some just closed eyes and prayed. Tyler displayed typical British stoicism: He bit his upper lip. Marty noticed that the deck seemed to be squeezed much tighter than the last time. Angie felt that the tingling sensation was more pronounced. The others were too scared to notice anything.

After several minutes of madness the deck snapped back with an alarming suddenness.

"We have entered normal space, Angie."

"Bring us down to five thousand kilometers per second, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

The forward engines screamed to life.

"I say," Tyler said calmly. "That was quite interesting."

"That's putting it mildly," Marty said.

"Are we there yet?" Uma asked.

Marty activated his navigational console. "We're a little over two billion kilometers out."

"We may as well get to our stations people," Angie said. "We need info."

The crew moved on shaky legs to their respective research stations.

George was the first to report. "We don't have to worry about not finding planets. This system is loaded with them. There are five gas giants and at least six inner planets. Number four and five show water and oxygen peaks."

"There are water and chlorophyll peaks in the spectra of both of those," Ferris reported.

"We'll have to decide which planet is better," Angie said.

"They appear to be identical," George said. "I'm showing both four and five to be at 1.1 AU."

"How can that be?" Marty said. "That would mean that they occupy the same orbit."

"That's what it means. I don't know how that's possible. An arrangement of that sort would require a delicate balance of gravitational forces."

"I'm picking up a decent RF signal from four but nothing from five," Lia said.

"I don't get it," Marty said. "I'm detecting energy signals from four but not five. If these two planets are identical why don't they have similar signals?"

"That's a good question," George said. "I can see a sizable moon around both. We're too far out to discern mass or diameter."

"Change course for the fourth planet, Delphi. Decrease speed to 3000 kilometers per second."

"Yes, Angie."

"When you get tired feel free to go to your cabins," Angie said. She turned to Marty. "I'll take first watch."

He nodded.

###

The command deck was illuminated by red lamps, a technique to improve night vision through telescopes. George and Ferris spent most of their time peering through eyepieces that were electronically connected to powerful telescopes. Despite the use of coronagraph filters to block the star's bright light, eyestrain was a professional hazard for both.

Marty rubbed his eyes and turned from his navigational screen. "How's it going over there, George?"

"Good," he said without taking his eyes off his eyepiece. "I'm seeing more of the planet's surface now. There are well-defined oceans and land masses. I'm also seeing clouds. Anna has put together a nice profile on the atmosphere. It has slightly less oxygen but is breathable. The rest is similar to ours: nitrogen and traces of argon and carbon dioxide and, more importantly, water vapor. Ferris says that the chlorophyll peak is strong and indicates a lot of plant life. She also detected methane."

"Sounds interesting. What about the fifth planet?"

"It's a clone."

"That's wild." Marty got up and went over to George's station. "If there are intelligent aliens on the fourth planet, they probably don't realize that there's a planet just like their own on the other side of their star."

"Not necessarily. If they have science, especially astronomy, and they make careful observations of the other planets, they could deduce the existence of the fifth planet."

"That would certainly spur them on to developing space travel."

"It probably would."

They both looked up when Angie came on the deck.

"Any activity?"

"Nope," Marty said. "We're in full stealth mode and running on minimal power. We should be invisible, especially with a matte black exterior."

"Status, Delphi."

"All systems are nominal. Weapons are on standby, Angie."

"Thank you, Delphi."

"You are welcome, Angie."

All three turned to watch the appearance of Lia."

"You're supposed to be sleeping," Angie said to her.

Lia frowned. "I'm having trouble sleeping. I'm pissed about not being able to figure out the RF signal."

"What do you have so far?" Marty asked.

"Not much," Lia said as she punched buttons that brought her scanning station to life. "The signal is not a carrier. It's a bunch of variable pulses."

Marty studied the pulses being displayed on her screen. "What did SETI do with this?"

"They ran it through a digital audio converter." She typed on her keyboard. A steam of bird chirps and whistles came from a speaker. "They came to the conclusion that it was a natural signal."

"Why would it be so variable? Most natural signals are regular in nature." He pointed at the waveform display. "Is anything buried in the pulses?"

"The pulses are the signal. What would be buried in them?"

"Maybe the pulses are made up of pulses," Marty said.

Lia immediately began typing. The resolution of the waveform increased to show variable pulses inside the main pulses. "I don't believe it. These have to be in the gigahertz range." She turned to Marty and grinned. "That could be the video."

Marty grinned. "Go for it."

Uma, Ferris and Anna appeared.

"Can't anyone sleep on this ship?" Angie said, frowning for emphasis.

"I'm too excited to sleep," Uma said.

Tyler shuffled in, yawning. "I say, what's all the fuss about?"

"Well," Angie said after a sigh. "That makes it unanimous."

###

The command deck had a full compliment the next morning. Everyone awaited Lia's latest effort to extract video from the alien signal. When she transferred the result to the main screen the crew stared at it in rapt silence. The figure in the video was thin and had what looked like a blue tube for a head. The face had beady little eyes and a funny nose or mouth. No one was sure which.

Marty couldn't resist. "Get a load of this dude."

"The gender of that individual has not been determined," Lia said.

"Assuming it has a gender," Marty added. "Is there sound with that video?"

Lia hit a key. "The only sound is the main signal."

The deck was filled with bird chirps and whistles.

"Sounds like an aviary," George said.

"Wait a second," Marty said, moving closer to the main screen. "This alien has feathers sticking up from its head. And, look here. This is a beak." He turned around. "This is a bird."

"Yes," Ferris said. "It's wearing some sort of cloak. See the collar. There’s a medallion on the left shoulder."

"Well, Lia," Marty said. "All you have to do is figure out what this bird alien is singing about and you'll be all set."

"Thanks for nothing," she said, sounding disgusted. "People have been trying to interpret bird songs for centuries without success."

"Yeah, but they didn't have pictures to go along with it."

Images of flying birds and strange structures were being displayed alongside the bird alien.

Lia's eyes widened. "Holy shit!" She began frantically typing on her keyboard. "I can run the translator on this."

"We are approaching the ninth planet, Angie."

"Display tactical, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

A graphical representation of the ship and nearby planets appeared on the main screen. A plot of the ship's projected course was overlaid.

"We need info, people," Angie said.

"The ninth planet is a giant," George said. "Equatorial diameter is 130,000 kilometers. It has an extensive ring structure and lots of satellites. I'm seeing a large moon at 700,000 kilometers with a diameter of nearly 6000 kilometers. It has a sizable atmosphere."

"Yes," Anna said. "I’m detecting nitrogen, oxygen and water vapor."

"There are oceans and a lot of it is liquid," George said.

"How could that be?" Marty said. "This is a long way out from the star."

"Could be from internal heat," George said.

"Take us down to an orbit around the large moon, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

Marty looked at her. "Why?"

"There may be life," she replied. "Besides, Lia needs more time."

###

"We are in a stable orbit, Angie."

"Thank you, Delphi."

"You are welcome, Angie."

"Prepare an atmospheric probe for launch, Delphi, and transfer control to Ferris."

"Yes, Angie."

"There's a lot of cloud cover," George said. "And, I'm picking up lightening."

The sound of the probe's launch echoed. As soon as it was clear, Ferris flew it into the atmosphere.

"The winds are strong," Ferris said. "I'm showing supersonic winds at 50 kilometers." After a few minutes: "I'm down to 10 kilometers and I'm still measuring winds over 150 kilometers per hour."

"Wild planet," Marty said.

"It's not a planet," Angie said.

"Close enough."

"There's a good deal of ice at both poles," George said, "But the oceans are mostly liquid. There are some land masses, but they appear to be around volcanoes, and some are active."

"Readings are coming in," Anna said. "Mostly nitrogen, twenty percent oxygen, two percent methane."

"Where did the oxygen come from?"

"I'm picking up chlorophyll peaks," Anna said. "There could be sea plants."

"Check this out," Ferris said before she switched her probe's imaging to the main screen. A long neck with a small head appeared above the water.

Marty stood up. "What the hell?"

"That's a very large sea animal," Ferris said.

"It looks like the Loch Ness Monster," Marty said. "Is it making any noises?"

Ferris punched some keys. A wailing, siren sound filled the deck.

"Another alien heard from," Marty quipped. "Hey, Lia, is that creature saying something?"

She gave him a mock rebuking look. "Yeah, sure. It's saying that it’s having a baby."

The women laughed.

George didn't pay any attention. "This planet has a decent magnetosphere but I'm reading an anomaly similar to the alien devices."

"How can you detect the moon's magnetosphere?" Marty said. "The gas giant has a strong magnetic field of its own."

"The moon is far enough away from the planet to measure differences in magnitude and direction."

"Where is the anomaly?" Angie asked.

"It's on a volcanic island at coordinates 22.3W and 40.5N."

"Take the probe to those coordinates, Ferris," Angie said. "Whatever you do, don't fly directly over the island."

"Yes, ma'am," Ferris said. "Good bye, Nessie."

The main screen displayed a choppy ocean with whitecaps at least 50 feet high. In the misty distance a large blackened Chandra reared its ugly head into a misty alien atmosphere. Ferris pulled the probe up short and began a slow circle around the lava-strewn island.

"It's right there," George said, "On that small hill next to the volcano."

Ferris stopped the probe and placed it in hover mode. She zoomed in on the location.

Angie shook her head. "Shit."

"That's an alien device," Marty said. "No doubt about it."

"Are we going to shoot aliens?" Uma asked.

"No Uma," Angie said. "We're going to get the hell out of here. Ferris, bring the probe back up."

"May I take a water sample?"

"Yes, but make it snappy. Delphi, when the probe has been retrieved, take us out of orbit and continue on course to the fourth planet."

"Yes, Angie."

###

The fourth planet's main screen image was about the size of a full moon on Earth. Like a polished blue marble clothed in wispy white streamers, the planet was radiantly bright against a black background filled with stars. Nobody paid attention to it.

Angie walked up behind Lia. "Having any luck, Lia?"

"Yes. I now can determine the gender of these aliens."

Marty walked over to her station. "How? They all look the same to me."

"It's easy. The males have their medallion on the right shoulder; the females have theirs on the left. Also, the males have a smattering of white feathers on their heads. The females do not."

"Yeah, but how do know that they're males?"

"It's the manner in which they're greeted," Lia said. "It took me a long time to figure that out."

"I take it that you're able to translate their language?" Angie said.

"Sort of. It turns out that the whistling is a song that conveys information by changes in tone and meter and the chirps are punctuation. The chirping precedes a song to identify it as a statement, question or hypothetical and to establish tense and mood. The only other aspect of the language is timbre, which identifies the individual."

"Do they use a written language?" Marty asked.

"Yes, but it took me quite a while to understand it. I finally realized that it's based on a form of musical notation, a measure is roughly equivalent to a word."

"That makes sense," Marty said.

"How about you, George?" Angie said.

George gestured to the main screen. "This planet is larger than Earth. The equatorial radius is 6625 kilometers. Land area is 40.2%. Gravity is 1.2 g. Sidereal rotation is 25.2 hours. The mean surface temperature is 290 K. There's obviously an iron core because it has a strong magnetosphere. The troposphere is over 20 kilometers--just right for birds."

Marty grinned at George. “Are you trying to tell us that this planet is for the birds?”

"Check this out," Lia said, gesturing to the main screen to which she had transferred an alien video.

"The bird people are sitting," Marty said. "I thought that birds don't sit."

"They don't," Ferris said. "These birds are obviously not like our birds."

"If these are birds, why do they wear cloaks?" Marty said. "They should have feathers."

"I have a theory about that," Lia said. "I think they're naked and they don’t have wings."

"You mean that they lost all their feathers?" Marty said.

"Just like we lost most of our body hair," Ferris said.

Marty grinned. "Oh well, at least these aliens have asses."

"Only you could come up with that," Angie said.

They laughed.

Marty gestured to the screen. "Why are they sitting?"

"From the translation it appears that they're being questioned."

"Are they on trial?"

"No. I think that they're candidates."

Marty smiled. "How about that! They're politicians."

"If that’s true," Ferris said. "It indicates that these aliens have an advanced democratic civilization."

"You may be right," Lia said. "I have seen videos in which they appear to be casting votes."

"I've detected something in orbit around the planet," George said. He displayed it on the main screen. "It's at 200 kilometers."

The object appeared egg-shaped with three egg-shaped dishes protruding from its blue surface.

"Is that a small moon?" Marty asked.

"I doubt it," George said. "It appears to be manufactured."

Marty zeroed on it from the scanning station. "It's definitely powered. I'm picking up RF from it."

"Must be a satellite," George said.

"I agree," Angie said. "They have space capability. Stay alert."

"Breaking thrust will commence in one minute, Angie."

"Thank you, Delphi. Put us into orbit at 250 kilometers."

"Yes, Angie."

###

The alien planet slowly rotated below, revealing an unfamiliar surface obscured in many places by clouds encased in a deep blue, almost liquid atmosphere.  Large green continents seemed to be floating on azure seas like giant islands on idyllic oceans. It was an impressively beautiful sight.

"The sky is filled with birds," George said. "No wonder these creatures look like birds."

"I don't see any major structures, except for these large conical objects." Ferris said. "I can't tell if they're some sort of plant."

"That looks like a building of some sort," Marty said. "There are flat roads coming up to it."

"It looks like a straw peasant hat," Uma said. "How big is that?"

"A hundred meters in diameter," George said. "There are thousands of much smaller such structures in the trees of the surrounding forests."

"Those trees are unlike ours," Ferris said. "They're humongous, and the leaves look like giant propellers."

"Are we going to go down and meet them?" Uma asked.

"No," Angie said. "We have no idea if they're aggressive or violent. If they do have space capability, we have no idea how advanced it is."

George was excited. "Whoa! What's this?"

He switched a view of a winged egg to the main screen.

"How large is that?" Marty asked."

"About twenty meters long."

Any doubt about its function was swiftly dispelled when a second identical object flittered down on flapping wings and landed next to the first.

"That's an aircraft," Marty said. "Very strange design, though."

"Not really," George said. "Having evolved from birds, it is no surprise that they would make their aircraft to fly like a bird."

"This planet is going to be difficult to send a probe to," Angie said.

"Maybe we should try the insect probes," Marty said.

"Yes. We can fly the Biometric Mother above the major activity."

"Hey! You guys want to hear some translations?"

“Yes, Lia," Angie said.

Lia switched an alien video to the main screen. A female alien was being interviewed by a second female. The translator displayed the text and spoke it.

"What has happened to the ones on the other?" the second asked.

"We do not have knowledge of that," the first said. "We have no signal."

"You do not know of the swift wind?"

“Swift wind is lost.”

"What are they talking about?" Marty said. "What is the swift wind?"

"You'll have to excuse the translator," Lia said. "This language is difficult to interpret."

“Check this out,” George said.

The image on the main screen was reminiscent of a freeway with many egg-shaped objects moving along on a ribbon of some sort of smooth material. The road appeared to end at the edge of a forest. As the cars approached this end of the road they spread their wings and took off.

“Flying cars!” Marty said. “They’re more advanced than we are.”

“The Biometric probe is ready to launch, Angie.”

“Thank you, Delphi.”

“You are welcome, Angie.”

“How high do we have to be to avoid the bird activity?” Angie asked George.

“I’ve detected birds as high as three kilometers. The flying cars don’t go much higher than that. You should be safe at four kilometers.”

“Launch the Mother, Delphi. Take it down to four kilometers above the planet’s surface.”

“Yes, Angie.”

“When the Mother is at working height, turn the insects loose,” Angie told Ferris.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“What’s to keep the birds from trying to eat them?” Marty said.

“They’ll regret it if they do,” Angie said. “The insect probes have energy shields.”

“Divert the video feeds to the Ops screens,” Angie told Ferris.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“The Mother is at four kilometers, Angie.”

“Good. Keep it moving, Delphi.”

“Yes, Angie.”

“I’ve launched four insect probes,” Ferris said. “The signals are being fed to the Ops screens.”

Four Op station screens lit up with various views of sky and ground. Ferris took control of one of the probes and transferred control of the other three to George, Uma and Anna. The insect probes had wingspans of twelve inches and the thin gossamer wings could beat at several hundred beats per minute if necessary. Built to resemble dragonflies, these probes could operate in stealth mode, making detection difficult.

The images on the four Op screens showed scenes of sky, clouds and ground. A strange looking bird approached Anna’s probe and tried to grab it in midair but a flash of bright light gave proof that the bird was unsuccessful.

“He won’t do that again,” Angie said.

Uma flew her probe to an alien tree house and hovered over the top for a few seconds before sending it into the hole in the top of the structure. Aliens inside the structure appeared to be eating while reclined near a pit.

“It’s the family meal,” Marty said. “What are they eating?”

“It looks like some sort of worms to me,” Anna said. “It’s hard to say.”

“Hey, what did you expect from birds?” Marty said.

George directed his probe to a strange structure that resembled an amusement park ride. The ramp was a thousand meters long and dove into a steep pit before rising at a forty degree angle on a long ramp to skyward.

“I think I’ve found their space launching facility,” George said.

“They use a launch ramp,” Marty said. “That’s an old idea that has never been successfully used by us.”

"Check out their space craft," George said.

"They look like eggs with rocket engines. I wonder what they use for fuel."

"I'll snoop around, but these probes have limited detection capability."

"I think I've found the place where they make their cloaks," Uma said.

The screen displayed a dozen aliens working on what appeared to be weaving machines. Six more were busy sewing.

"They must store them here," Uma said, pointing to an image of hundreds and hundreds of hanging cloaks.

"Hey, Uma," Marty said. "Do you think that you could snatch one of those cloaks and bring it up to Mother?"

"I don't see why not, but it may attract birds. Does it matter which gender?"

"Not really."

Uma turned to Angie. When she got a nod, she made her probe grab a cloak in its talons and immediately fly up. At one kilometer her probe attracted a large bird that resembled an owl. When she saw the bird approach with its sharp talons bared, Uma abruptly stopped her probe and allowed the attacking bird to fly past before continuing her probe's assent.

"Nice move," Marty told her.

"This is weird," Ferris said, switching her screen to the main.

Marty stood up. "What in the hell is going on here?"

"It appears to be several naked bird aliens walking around on a raised platform with a large group of cloaked aliens sitting around the platform watching them. I don't know their gender."

"The audience is male," Lia said. "I think the group on the platform is female."

"What is this: the aliens’ idea of a porno theater?" Marty said.

"I don't think so," Lia said. "The males in the audience act as if they really don't want to be there."

"How can you tell?" Marty asked.

"They're not saying anything. In fact there's no noise. These aliens can turn their heads nearly three hundred degrees, but they're not moving. They can be very agitated, but this group looks bored or even disgusted. Also, the naked aliens are not staying on the platform. They only go around once and then others take their place."

“Maybe they’re being inspected, not ogled,” Ferris said.

"We can argue about this later," Angie said. "We need more info."

"I found their fuel,” George said. ”It's in these egg-shaped tanks, but I can't translate the markings."

"Feed it to my station," Lia said.

She ran scans of the inscriptions through the computer to translate to bird talk.

"It comes out as aerated air on the one and liquid of carbon and hydrogen on the other."

"Aerated air is hydrogen peroxide," Anna said. "The other is probably a hydrocarbon of some sort. Hydrogen peroxide has been used in the past, but it's very dangerous."

"Maybe they've learned how to tame it," George said.

###

"I think I know what that business with males watching naked females is all about," Lia said.

"Really?" Marty said.

"As it turns out, this is a matriarchal society and evidently there's a problem getting males to mate."

"So, they make them watch naked females as a stimulus?" Marty said.

"No. It's not that simple. They force each male to choose a mate from the eligible females."

"Why do they make the females parade around naked?" Uma asked.

"I think it represents an ancient ritual," Lia said. "A ritual that goes back to before they clothed themselves."

"That's crazy," Uma said, sounding disgusted.

"No, that's alien," Marty said.

"Is there any indication that the males enjoy it," Angie asked.

"I can find no evidence of humor or pleasure. It is obviously a very serious ritual."

"We are developing a fairly reliable picture of these aliens," Tyler said. "They are obviously sentient and have evolved a stable society. They have created an advanced technological civilization but cling to tradition, a civilization with no evidence of violence or strife."

"It's a good start, but we haven't been here long enough to be sure of that," Angie said. "However, they do seem to be peaceful." She turned to Anna. "What have you found about the cloak?"

"It's a female cloak. Actually, it's more like a long gown. The material is woven from some plant that resembles flax. They treat it with chemicals to cause the strands to become stronger and more entwined. There was a pair of slippers in a pocket of the cloak. We're still trying to determine its material. The medallion is made from a fired ceramic that is silicon and fluorine based, and we found a chip inside it."

"An electronic chip?" Marty said.

"I think so, but it's based on germanium, not silicon."

"Interesting," Marty said. "Maybe it's a communication device."

Lia turned from her station screen. "People, we have a problem."

"What is it?" Angie asked, trying not to sound alarmed.

"They've noticed our probes and are arguing about the source. There's an observatory on their moon, and it has reported energy signals from our direction."

Angie was alarmed now. "Oh shit! I forgot about their moon."

"I've discovered the observatory," George said, switching the image to the main screen.

"Looks like a big egg," Marty said. "Everything looks like an egg."

"Take us out of orbit, Delphi, and set the quickest course to the fifth planet."

"Yes, Angie."

###

The main screen displayed a planet similar to the last. The surface features were different but all other physical parameters were the same. There were no satellites in orbit or any other sign of space technology.

"There is no evidence of sentient life here," George said. "This planet appears pristine."

"The vegetation is completely different," Ferris said. "I'm not seeing any large animals at all."

"I'm picking up a magnetic anomaly," Marty said. "It's at 27.6N and 62.3W."

Marty displayed the location on the main screen and zoomed in on a small hill. "Yep, that's it."

Angie turned. "Take us out . . . ."

"Delay that," George blurted out. He turned to look at a surprised commander. "Look at this first."

The main screen displayed an obviously crashed bird alien spacecraft. The large egg-shaped ship was cracked open and there was debris scattered about. A bird alien stood near it close to what looked like a teepee made from sticks.

"That's a female," Lia said.

"Why is she naked?" Uma asked.

"Maybe her cloak was damaged in the crash landing," Marty said.

"This is an expedition from the other planet," George said. "They obviously knew of the twin planet."

"Wait a second," Marty said, his eyes filling with realization. "This is what those aliens were discussing on Lia's video. She's stranded here."

"I wonder how long she's been here," Uma said. "She appears to be alone."

“It’s not our problem,” Angie said.

"Wait a minute," Marty said. "We can't just leave her. She'll die. The last thing that we want to do is come out here, spy on these extraterrestrials and then ignore their plight."

"What do you propose we do?" Angie said. "Take her with us?"

"Of course not, we can take her back to her planet."

"I don't know if that's safe," Angie said. "We don't know what she'll do when she sees us or how it will affect her people. More importantly, we don't know if we'll be infected with some alien disease or infect them with our diseases. You know what happened when the Spanish conquistadors came to the new world."

“We should be okay,” Ferris said. “We’ve been immunized with antiviral and antibiotic prophylactics. Theoretically, transfer of infectious agents between dissimilar species is unlikely. Let’s face it: our DNA has to be completely different.”

“We’re not sure of that,” Angie said.

Marty smiled at her. “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.”

She lost her frown and then smiled back at him. “You know what this means, don’t you?”

“Yes. We’ll all have to go through decon and be isolated for weeks before they’ll allow us to go free.”

Angie addressed the crew. “You’ve heard what he wants to do. I don’t know what the risks are, but if everyone agrees, we’ll do it.”

“We came out here to find intelligent species,” Uma said. “I, for one, can't wait to communicate with this extraterrestrial.”

"Mr. Sinclair is correct in his wish to convey good will," Tyler said. "We will be judged by what we do out here, not what we say."

"I agree with Uma," Lia said. "I would love to see if the translator can make communication with this alien species practical."

"This is what we're out here for," George said.

"Count me in," Anna said.

"I'm the exobiologist," Ferris said. "I have to go."

"Prepare two Landers for launch, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

Angie pointed at Marty. "You'll take Lia and Tyler down. I'll take the others."

He saluted her with a satisfied grin.

###

Marty dove his Lander into the planet's atmosphere and guided it to a clearing near the alien crash site. He waited on Angie before popping the hatch.

Angie led her group to Marty's Lander. Uma and Anna carried rifles; Ferris and George carried instruments.

"You go first," Angie told Marty. "This is your crazy idea."

He smiled, turned and began walking toward the crash site. When he, Lia and Tyler were twenty meters away, the alien came out of the wrecked spacecraft. She displayed no evidence of fear or shock. Silent at first, she broke into song.

"Who are you?" the translator said. "What are you?"

Marty stepped forward with Lia at his side. His words were translated into bird alien song.

"We come from a planet that circles a distant star. We see that you are stranded. We wish to give you aid."

She seemed confused at first but recovered. "How do know our spirit speak?"

Lia shrugged. "A bad translation," she whispered.

"We use a device to translate our speak to yours and yours to ours."

"Are you alone?" Lia asked.

"Yes. The spirits of the others have gone out."

"Do you want our aid?"

The alien did something unexpected: she bowed her head. "I have no other."

Marty turned to Lia. "Now for the ice breaker." He removed the cloak from a plastic bag. "We have a gift."

The alien looked up and stood silent for a moment before quickly coming to Marty, singing like mad.

"The translator couldn't handle that." Lia said.

There was a moment of eye-to-eye staring before the alien accepted the cloak.

"Where did you get this? This is not used."

"We were at your home planet," Marty said. "We appropriated it from where it is made."

She didn't reply, instead putting on the cloak by slipping it over her head, pulling the collar together and fastening it with the medallion. She slid her feet into the slippers.

"I appreciate you," she said.

"We acknowledge," Marty said. "We see that your leg is injured. If you come with us we will attempt to heal the injury."

"Where do you take me?"

"Our ship rotates around this planet. When we go up to our ship, we can take you back to your planet."

"What time will this require?"

"One rotation of this planet around its axis."

She stared for several minutes before replying. "I accept."

Marty smiled. "We wish to record images so that we can provide you with proof. Is this acceptable?"

"I accept."

Marty turned to the others. "Let's get a shot of us with Birdie near her ship. Then we get the same shot at the Lander."

"Oh, that will give her people something to talk about," Angie said.

Marty gave her a smirk. "It'll also prove that we were here doing our job, not goofing off."

She gave him a frown.

###

Report on first contact with the stranded alien on the fifth planet: The bird alien, which we called Birdie, weathered the trip back up to the ship with no sign of stress, as far as we could tell. She displayed no emotion and made no noises. It is quite possible that she was frightened out of her wits, but she came with us freely. I am certain that she regarded us as alien as we did her, but she exhibited no sign that she was frightened. We wanted to help her but we had no guidebook to help us. No human had ever done this. At this point our contact with her had gone beyond science and was now a spiritual experience. After meeting her, none of us could deny the existence of a supreme being.

After the Landers were secure, the crew assembled on the equipment deck to determine the next step. The alien was obviously in need of medical attention, but no one had any idea how to proceed.

“Why don’t you and Lia take her to the Med Station,” Angie said to Ferris.

Ferris turned to the alien. “Come with us and we will attempt to heal your injury.”

“I accept.”

The Med Station was designed to provide medical assistance using an automatic doctor. The principal diagnostic device consisted of a scanning unit.

“This is a scan device,” Ferris told the alien. “Remove your cloak and lie on this table.’

Without hesitation, the alien removed her cloak and climbed on the table. Ferris looked at Lia before activating the scanning unit. Images of the alien’s body soon appeared on a screen.

“Look at all the ribs,” Ferris said. “She must have dozens of ribs, but I don’t see any breaks.”

“Look at the left leg,” Lia said. “Is that a break?”

Ferris moved closer to the screen. “Yes it does, but I don’t think it’s completely broken through.”

“How long since the crash?” Lia asked the alien.

“One hundred twenty-five rotations of the planet.”

“It hasn’t healed probably because of the stress and poor diet,” Ferris said. “Maybe the stimulator would help that.”

“We don’t really know what her bone structure is,” Lia said.

“I’m reading mostly calcium and copper,” Ferris said.

“Copper?”

“That must be what their blood is based on. I think the stimulator will work. We may as well try it.”

“You may feel this,” Lia told the alien.

The alien didn’t react, even after Ferris activated the stimulator. It was hard to tell if she was in pain. In fact, it was hard to discern any emotion. Maybe these aliens don’t have that problem.

“I surprised that her skin is so smooth,” Lia said. “I would have thought that she would look like a plucked chicken.”

Ferris smiled. “Obviously, their chickens don’t look like our chickens. I suspect that there has been quite a bit of evolution from the original bird species. Her skin is a pale yellow. She must not have pigment cells like ours.”

“What I find weird is how she can bend her arms and legs. No bird has that capability.”

“Earth birds don’t,” Ferris said. “Look at her hands. They look like claws but they’re not. They have three fingers with an opposable thumb, if you can call it that.”

###

When Lia and Ferris brought the alien back up to the command deck, the rest of the crew noticed that she wasn’t limping and she seemed more active.

“We used the stimulator on her leg,” Ferris said. “We also hydrated her.”

“Good,” Angie said. “We should be back to her planet in a few hours.”

“You may sit here,” Marty told the alien. “We will soon be at your planet.”

The alien stared at him for a moment before sitting. Her attention was diverted to the main screen, which displayed a close view of the star.

“We are under a million kilometers from the star,” Angie said. “The shielding protects us from radiation.”

“Display forward, Delphi,” Angie said.

“Yes, Angie.”

The main screen showed a blue white object that upon magnification showed a disc.

“There is your planet,” Angie said to the alien.

The alien did something different. She rotated her head to look at Angie. “What is the rate of velocity?”

“Your ship measures seventy-five meters. We are moving at two thousand of a thousand of those meters per click of that timer.” She pointed to a digital clock that had an audible click every second.

The alien rotated her head to watch the image of her planet slowly grow in size. She didn’t react to Angie’s answer to her question.

“May I question the alien?” Uma asked Angie.

After Angie nodded her approval, Uma sat down beside the alien, and she watched the alien rotated her head like an owl to look at her. “We observed a happening in which females with no cloaks walked around in front of males. What is the purpose of this?”

“You are referring to the gathering. It is the one concession that males are permitted for the sake of procreation. The males must choose a female for mating and this is how it was done in the before time.”

“What is the before time?”

“It is the time before females commanded.”

Uma smiled at her. “Thank you?” This was translated as “I appreciate you.”

Tyler was next. “I have some things for you.” He showed her a twelve inch disk of copper clad titanium. “This contains images of our planet. The instructions on how to extract them from this disk are engraved on this side.” He showed her. “The other side has tiny groves in which the information is encoded. Your scientists will be able to encode it so that you can view and hear the sights and sounds of our planet.” He showed her another disk. “This contains images of us with you. We also have encoded the images of the moon that rotates around your ninth planet.”

The alien accepted a plastic bag that contained the disks. “I appreciate you.”

###

The X-2001 was in orbit around the bird alien home planet, and the crew had assembled on the equipment deck to bid their farewells to Birdie. Marty, Lia and Ferris were instructed to take her down along with a box that contained samples she had collected on the fifth planet. Angie smiled at Marty and wished him luck. Uma had a tear in her eye. Anna looked unimpressed and George was glad that he wasn’t going. All in all it was a good sendoff.

“There’s a clearing about five kilometers from a major settlement,” Angie told Marty. “She told us that it was a good place to land.”

Marty nodded. The chosen took their places in the Lander after helping the alien in. The alien seemed calm, but that was only from a human perspective. When the Lander was launched, Marty took his time breaking to enter the atmosphere in order to avoid subjecting the alien to unnecessary G forces. He also gently set the Lander down in what appeared to be a field of some sort of yellow grass. They helped the alien out and began walking away from the Lander. Within a few minutes a squadron of bird planes arrived and landed to surround the Lander. The appearance of so many aliens alarmed Marty and his crew.

“Ah, let’s just back up slowly and get the hell out of here,” Marty said. “Did any of you bring a weapon?”

“I brought the translator,” Lia said.

“I brought a scanner,” Ferris said.

When a large group of aliens approached, the female that they had brought here, raised her hand, or claw, and everyone stopped in their tracks. She began to vocalize.

“She’s telling them to remain at distance,” Lia said. “She told them that we are her saviors.” Lia grinned at Marty. “Oh, you lucky dog. You rescued a high official of the government. She is obviously a leader that can issue orders.”

Marty smiled. “I’d rather be lucky than smart.”

“Will you return?” the alien asked.

“We will,” Marty said. “We have much to learn from one another. When you are ready we will come.’

“I appreciate you.”

“We will take our leave now,” Marty said. He turned to his crew. “Smile a lot and back up.”

They were allowed to get back into the Lander and take off. What had happened here would become a very significant historical event. Future space cadets would study this first contact between humans and an extraterrestrial intelligent species and learn from it. The lesson: a little kindness and respect goes a long way.