21st June 2076 – 3rd Galactic Step

Armstrong Explorer Starship

Alpha Transition Portal

Altair System

The ripple in space appeared suddenly and violently, casting out waves and pulses of dithering blue and white energy. Then out from the centre of the distortion came a glowing white bubble, which fizzled and popped into nothingness, leaving only the pristine looking Armstrong spaceship behind. Then the interstellar portal disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

Viktor looked at his instruments and saw that his vessel had only been inside the tunnel of light for about fourteen minutes and yet they had been travelling at an amazingly fast speed. Now he had to work out just where the passage had taken them. He called up a star map of the whole known galaxy and asked the computer to calculate their position. He stared at the point of light which he knew was the sun and then at the next closest star and hoped that they would be somewhere near the two stars.

When the computer finally placed a ring around the Armstrong's new location on the map, Viktor gasped loudly.

"What's wrong Viktor?" Lara said in a soft confused voice.

"Altair, we're in the Altair system," Viktor said croakily and the brown-haired man at the flight station just turned to stare hard at the scientist with his mouth wide open.

"That can't be," said the pilot, "Altair is over three times as far away from Earth as Proxima Centauri is. The computer must be wrong."

"Mr Shenka, run the locator again, please. Mr Kraft, give me a status report on the engines and internal systems," Isaac Jenkins said as he removed his helmet and rubbed his head.

Viktor ran the locator software again, but this time he checked the computers calculations at every step, just to make sure it was not malfunctioning.

"Engines are at optimum readiness, Sir," Angeles Kraft called, as he sounded out his report. "Somehow though the three G boost sequence was shutdown nineteen hours early when we entered the... the... whatever that thing was."

"That's odd," Jenkins said, perplexed by the strange series of events. "What about the hull, is it still intact?"

"Yes, we're sitting pretty Sir, if only we knew just where that was?" Kraft said cheekily as he cast a sidelong glance at Viktor.

The screen bleeped again before Viktor and again it had come to the same conclusion, but this time he had monitored its processes and found the navigation computer to be working correctly.

"Confirmed Captain, we are on the outskirts of the Altair system. Sixteen and a half light years away from our own Sun."

"Really?" Captain Jenkins asked incredulously.

"Yes Sir, really," Viktor said honestly, and then he turned to Lara and unbuckled her seatbelt. "I think you'd better go back to Adriana and Toby now please dear?"

Viktor watched her go, he hated to send her off when she looked so scared, but this could be a potentially querulous situation and he would prefer that Lara be away from the command deck so that she would not witness her leaders arguing.

"Now what do we do?" Angeles said in a loud angry voice. "We could be stranded here forever."

"Get a hold of yourself Mr Kraft," Captain Jenkins said confidently. "You knew when you took this mission, that it was unlikely that we would ever see the Earth again. We'll just have to make the best of the situation."

"Captain, if I may be so bold as to point out," Viktor said slowly and carefully. "Our mission was to find a new home for Humanity, it's possible that the... the worm hole might have actually helped us."

"You might be right Mr Shenka," Jenkins said rubbing his chin. "Is it still there?"

Viktor triggered the sensor net and looked at the readings that filled his screen from the immediate area. A line of text ran across the screen, telling him that something called the alpha transition portal was directly astern of the Armstrong. How had a new navigation point been suddenly entered into the ships data banks all by itself?

Then a new message light lit up on the side of his console, it was from the medical bay. Viktor read the message aloud and his eyes lit up alarmingly. "Message from medical Captain, several members of the crew have reported hearing confusing voices in their heads, and they want to know what's happening."

The captain was silent for a few moments, but then he snapped his fingers suddenly and twisted to look at Viktor. "There was a voice in the tunnel wasn't there?"

"Yes Sir, and I think that whatever it was, has done something to the Armstrong too. Not only did it switch off our engines, but it's also added in a navigation point for the worm hole, although it calls it a transition portal." Viktor said wildly.

"What was it, do you think?" Angeles Kraft asked as he pulled out a Christian cross pendant from under his suit. "Could it have been...God?"

"I really don't know Mr Kraft, maybe," Jenkins said softly, then he went very quiet again as he contemplated the existence of God.

The light flickered on again and Viktor read the new note, which was requesting a response to the earlier question from the medical. "Captain, medical is still awaiting a response."

"Yes, yes," replied the captain irritably, "patch me through to all speakers and I'll tell them what we know."

"Yes sir," Viktor answered as he tapped in the relevant commands to open an internal communications channel, then he nodded at Jenkins to let him know he was on.

"This is Captain Jenkins to all stations," Isaac said clearly. "The Armstrong has just passed through a worm hole in space which has taken us almost seventeen light-years to the Altair system, where we will begin our search for a new home. I know that you all have many questions about what just happened, and I can assure you that I have just as many, but what I don't have are any answers... yet. For now, we will continue with our..."

"Captain!" Angeles Kraft shouted, suddenly cutting off his superior's speech. "Contacts ahead! Three of them, they're on a direct intercept course at extreme long range."

"What?" said the captain, then he realised he was still broadcasting all over the ship. "Contact alert, all personnel to battle stations. Repeat all personnel to battle stations."

General alert was sounded and the red flashing lights on the command deck began spinning quickly around again. Viktor killed the transmission as directed by Captain Jenkins and adjusted his scanning equipment to look towards the new contacts that Mr Kraft had detected. One of the ships was giving off a slightly different signal and it was larger than the other two vessels that were close behind it.

"What can you tell me about them, Mr Shenka?" asked the captain.

"Not much sir," Viktor said as he worked feverishly to get a clearer scan of the contacts. "One of the targets is different to the others, it doesn't appear to have a conventional power source and its engines are a complete mystery to me. The other two however seem to be using conventional combustible fuel-based engines and I think they might be chasing the lead target."

"Are they fighting?" Jenkins said and Viktor thought the poor soldier looked completely out of his depth. At no point in time, when the mission had been discussed, had the possibility of being propelled across the galaxy in a rainbow tunnel or meeting other alien life forms even been considered. The idea had just been to find a new home at any cost.

"I am reading the occasional build-up of energy inside the two following ships, but really if you want to find out more, we'll have to get closer," Viktor said. "It is also possible that this system belongs to someone else, and we could potentially be invading their territory which they might consider to be an act of war. Another war is, however, something that we could definitely do without right now."

"Maybe Mr Shenka," Isaac replied, "but if we go over there to ask them for permission to settle here, we would be putting ourselves in the middle of their battle. That kind of first contact could also inadvertently get us pulled into their war as well."

"If the portals still behind us, why don't we just go home and come back another time?" Angeles asked.

"Sir, that would just be a waste of our journey and effort," Viktor said as he eyed the flight officer slyly. "I don't think there would be any harm in getting a little closer and investigating the situation."

"Fine, Mr Shenka," Captain Jenkins said stiffly. "Maintain alert status and plot us an intercept course that brings us in on the targets from different angle. They may not know this portal is here and I don't want them turning up on Earths doorstep."

The jet-pulse engines flared, and the Armstrong glided up and away from the invisible space gateway. The ships trajectory arc took the human vessel up, over, and back down on top of the unknown spacecraft or at least that was how Viktor chose to interpret the route. Of course, terms like up and down did not really have any meaning in space, because there was no gravity and technically any way could be up, depending on a person's orientation.

As the Armstrong got closer, Viktor managed to get a better scan of the incoming targets. The lead ship had a stub nose with a multitude of bumps and ridges running along the top of it, while at its rear were four little wings, two of them poked straight out horizontally, while the other two rose up at a forty-five-degree angle. One of the most confusing things about the ship was its power source, it seemed to be fluid, constantly flowing back and forth along the hull, going to wherever it was needed. While its engines seemed to be completely non-existent, yet it was moving at a speed that was marginally quicker than the Armstrong.

The other two ships seemed slightly more conventional. At least they had flamed hot internal combustion rockets and a measurable energy generator. It was their shapes that made then seem so odd, both of the small space vehicles were cylindrical, with the flat ends at the front and rear, which made them look thoroughly un-aerodynamic. Out from the side of each of the tubes was a single egg-shaped pod, that seemed to be the spaceships weapon, for every now and then, the egg would pulse, and several streams of electrically supercharged protons would stretch out towards the other large bumpy ship.

"We're approaching the targets location now, Sir," Angeles said while the small monitors fuzzed with static briefly, before clearing into a video image of the dull orange bumpy ship with its throbbing pink liquid energy channels and the two black and red cylindrical star ships. "Shall I engage Sir?"

"Not yet Mr Kraft," Captain Jenkins said, and he turned to stare at Viktor. "Mr Shenka, can you try to contact the vessels to arrange a meeting to discuss ownership of the Altair system, please?"

Viktor nodded and composed a short message, which he hoped sounded friendly and then he transmitted it to the nearest black nosed tube like, spacecraft and hoped that they would be able to understand his message.

The cylindrical craft seemed to stop in mid-flight and shudder for a second or two, then it shifted course to fly straight at the Armstrong. Electricity jumped erratically from point to point upon the egg-shaped weapon pod and then the artificial lightning flew across the massive distance between the two ships and zapped against the Armstrong's upper hull. The lights inside the ship dimmed slightly and two of the red spinning bulbs popped loudly, but other than bursting a few light bulbs the Armstrong sustained very little damage from the attack.

"Mr Kraft, begin evasive manoeuvres and bring us into range so we can shoot back at that thing," Jenkins shouted, and Viktor wondered just how much more powerful the enemies attack would have been if they had been closer.

"Yes sir, moving in. Hold on to your seats." Angeles said as he hit a few controls, sending the Armstrong into a high-speed turn that cut the ship across into the cylinders blind fire zone. Viktor watched it all on his monitor as his Explorer class vessel forsake its name and became a war machine again, which made him very sad. Maybe Lance had been right when he had said that war never ends, here they were billions of kilometres away from home and they were still fighting.

Viktor's stomach felt like it had suddenly been ejected into space as the abrupt change of direction caught him unaware and made him feel very sick. Then the first cylinder ship came into view right in front of the Armstrong's twin heavy lasers. The incandescent beams of light leapt outwards, cutting through the frictionless space like a sharp blade through fabric and smashing into the side of the tube, just above the egg-shaped weapon pod. The pod exploded outwards and the surge from the destabilised electrical field buzzed over the vessels hull, piercing it in several places and eventually igniting the ships fuel cells. The ship exploded into a mixed ball of flames, lightning, and metal debris.

"Gotcha," Kraft shouted successfully, but his merriment was short lived as the second black and red ship slipped into the Armstrong's rear quarter and fired its primary weapon. This time when the electrical jolt hit the ship, all the power went out for a few moments and then came back on violently. Sparks and embers flew everywhere on the command deck, several monitors exploded outwards and glass shards cascaded into the cabin. Viktor and the other crew members grabbed their helmets and quickly sealed them, just in case there was an compartment breach and to protect their eyes and face from the floating glass.

"Damage report," Captain Jenkins said, his voice muffled by the thick globular headgear.

"We lost main electrical power there for a second," Viktor shouted over the roaring combat. "Engines are still fully firing, and the hull is intact. We do have several fires burning in the crew compartments, but they are being dealt with."

"Ok, Kraft, bring us around slowly, we need to finish that target quickly, before it can do anymore damage to us."

"I'm on it," Angeles said, dropping all formalities during the heat of battle. The Armstrong accelerated suddenly and cut back on itself, to fly straight towards the other cylinder ship. Then Kraft hit the firing studs again and two more white-hot laser beams slashed down the side of the tube, rupturing the soft metal skin and sending metal panels spinning off into space.

The shot was not enough to kill the enemy, but it was enough to deter it from continuing its assault on the battle scared orangey-pink vessel that it had been chasing. The cylinder flipped end over end and boosted away from the combat as fast as it could, and Viktor breathed a big sigh of relief.

"Target is moving away now Captain," Angeles Kraft said jubilantly.

"What about the other vessel? Where's it gone?" Captain Jenkins asked.

Viktor checked his instruments and found that the odd luminously glowing ship was settling into a parallel course and coming up close beside the Armstrong.

"They're coming up beside us Captain," Viktor said. "It looks like they want to come aboard, Sir."

"Ok Viktor," Isaac said less formally, "Turn the lights on around airlock two on the starboard side and then come with me. I think I might need your brains for this first contact situation."

"But Sir!" Mr Kraft said in an outraged voice. "What if they're hostile?"

"We'll have security guards with us and the whole section will be sealed off, Mr Kraft. Now be good and keep the Armstrong flying steady and be ready to boost, should there be any trouble, ok?" Captain Jenkins said sternly as he pushed himself out of his seat and floated towards the door. "Coming Viktor?"

Viktor unplugged himself from his chair and drifted across the room towards the access corridor. The captain caught him at the door and the two of them set off towards the airlock. Along the way, they met four armed guards that Isaac must have summoned earlier; they were all carrying short-barrelled laser rifles with cruel looking serrated bayonets on the end.

When Isaac and Viktor got to the airlock a message light was already blinking on a nearby console. It was from the command deck, and it said that the alien craft had deployed a short boarding shoot that had just magnetically attached itself to the Armstrong's outer hull. Viktor relayed the message to Captain Jenkins and gestured for him to have a look out of the nearby window.

The captain then floated over to the small, toughened glass porthole to look outside and Viktor pushed off from the console to join him and see what was happening. Out in space Viktor could see a long thin dark coloured tube that was stretched out between the two starships, and something was travelling along it. Viktor could not make out what the objects were, because the docking tunnel was just so dark. It was not until they reached the outer airlock and Viktor tapped the release switch to open the first hatch that he got a good look at the strangers.

Two very tall and slender figures entered the small room; they were covered from head to toe in long black gowns that Viktor though looked like rubber suits. Condensation completely covered their tiny visors and their longs necks twisted awkwardly to peer around at the inside of the airlock.

Viktor pushed the activation button, which closed the outer doorway behind the two gaunt aliens, and then he turned the dial that filled the chamber with air. The two new guests looked around urgently, they were startled by the sudden hissing noise as the room pressurised to normal Human levels. Then Viktor saw two little dull pink panels on the outside of the alien's uniforms begin to slosh and swirl about as if they were filled with water. One of the aliens looked down at his pink glowing screen and swished one of his four fingers through the display, then he reached up to remove his soft rubbery helmet.

When the mask came away, Viktor found himself staring into the face of a giant lizard man. The alien's head resembled that of a gecko, with lots of spiky crests and bumps around the eye sockets and over the creature's flat brow. The reptile's bluish-scaled skin looked cold, and it glistened brightly as globules of water dribbled down over its short muzzle.

Captain Jenkins nodded to Viktor, and he clicked the final switch to open the internal door to let the two lizard men onto the ship. The door swished open, and the first reptile strode forward on his long whispering legs, he stood a full head and a half taller than Viktor, but his body was so very much thinner. The second lizardman had also removed his helmet to reveal a smaller and younger looking brown blotchy skinned alien face, with much bigger crests that his taller companion.

The blue skinned lizard opened his mouth, and a series of chirps and clicks came out in what Viktor guessed must be the language of the aliens. Again, it sounded very similar to the noises that were made by the tiny little lizards that had been native to the southern region of Australia, back before the bombs fell. Viktor tried to listen carefully for any recognisable syllables or sounds, while the captain walked forward to greet the visitors.

"Hello," Jenkins said as he waved his hand gently from side to side.

"Kik-ko" replied the lizard man as he tried to copy what Isaac had said.

Then the captain widened his arms, gesturing at all the other men and women in the room, and then he said "Hu-man."

The smaller brown lizard came forward at that point, obviously understanding what the captain was trying to tell them, for he too did the same action as Isaac and simply said "Chem-ach-ie." Then he put his hand on his rubber clad chest and said "Ra'Kash." Then he pointed at his companion and said "Da'len" by way of an introduction.

Captain Jenkins followed Ra'kash's lead, he introduced himself and Viktor to the pair of aliens, and then he stepped forward and offered Da'len his hand in friendship. Viktor followed his leader's actions and presented his hand to the smaller brown lizard at Dal'en's side. The lizards looked at each other and then they both held out their hands too, Viktor gently took hold of the coldblooded lizard's sticky paw and shook it gently, then he let go and stepped away.

Da'len looked puzzled by the action, but he did at least seem to be smiling, or that is what Viktor thought his expression most resembled. Then the big blue Chemachie, reached around his back and produced a small container of bright pink liquid, then they both knelt down before Captain Isaac Jenkins and Da'len placed the jar into his hands and said "Cha'len'su."

Then the two reptilian humanoids got to their feet, waved at the humans in the same way that Jenkins had greeted them earlier and then they turned and left. Silence filled the room as Viktor worked the controls to let the Chemachies go back to their ship and continue with their journey.

"Wow," was all Captain Jenkins could say. "I never thought in a million years that I'd be one of the first men to meet and greet another alien life form."

"That was amazing," Viktor said as he peered at the small tub of glowing pink gelatinous gunge that he suspected was the source of the Chemachie's power. "...and so very, very intriguing."

A message light flashed on and off suddenly on the communications unit. Viktor went over and read it aloud for the captain. "Command deck to the Captain, the Alien vessel is moving away now. It's not heading for our Earth transition portal, but instead it is going off to another point on the far side of the system. There's something else Captain, but I think you'd better come see for yourself."

Isaac looked at Viktor with a worried expression and he beckoned him to follow him back up to the command deck. When they drifted in their eyes were instantly drawn to Angeles's monitor for on it was the image of a bright green and blue planet, with only a few stringy grey clouds weaving over its surface.

"Look what I found," Angeles said proudly, "and preliminary scans seem to think that it's got atmosphere too."

Viktor stared in wonder at the new world before him as his eyes read the early reconnaissance report and his eyes filled with tears of joy.

"I think we've found our new home!"