At first, we thought it was a mistake, the galaxy is very big, but the possibilities of intelligent life are very few, there is not even a protocol for this kind of situations, a distress signal? Who made it? If outside of us, it would be communicated in the usual way, but it was a crude message, although very clear.
My work is almost robotic, do not happen many things in the infinite void of space, maybe that's why I was disturbed when Adam, the tech commander, sent me the message, however, I immediately controlled myself, a captain should never show insecurity before their crew.
Despite the complaints of Vladimir, the supervisor on board, I decided to answer the call for help without asking permission from my superiors, although it is true that our hierarchical policy is quite strict, duty calls me, an emergency can be very urgent and, as a hospital ship, I must fulfill my oath.
We made the preparations and jumped, in a few moments we were in a planetary system of a single star and eight planets, however, the distress signal had disappeared, and instead, it was replaced by different, vague, diverse and very strange signals.
There were so many, that Adam had to silence them, however, we could see and hear amazing things, they were physically identical to us, but with very strange attitudes, besides, we could not identify if they were in danger or not, in some images they seemed to be in war, in others, they partying, what to do?
We had no information that there was a colony there, I asked Vladimir, but he dodged my questions and just repeated that we should leave or otherwise he would have me expelled from command. However, we stayed there; I could not make a decision yet, what if that signal was from some comrades? I would never forgive myself; there is no worse way to die than abandoned in space.
Intelligent life? We were taught that we are the only life in this galaxy, that long ago our ancestors tried to find other intelligent beings, but they failed and, only wasted resources and time.
However, there were those signs, so I told Adam that investigates a little more, while I made time to make a decision. Apparently, everything came from a small planet in a habitable zone of the system, we call it: the blue marble, due to its peculiar color.
After a few hours, Adam brought me a report. The planet was habitable, surely alive, there was plenty of water. We had to get closer to see if there was evidence of intelligent life since part of the information obtained by the signals did not match what we observed from here.
I was still hesitating, until I saw "the structures". Imposing, beautiful, sublime, of different colors and shapes, an immeasurable visual beauty. It was at that moment that primitive emotions seized my will; I imagined all the glory achieved by being the one who discovered a whole civilization in the bowels of the empire. My superiors might feel humiliated, but in the same way, they would have to give me recognition and fame.
So I gave the order –not without facing Vladimir beforehand–, we would go from being a hospital ship to being a crew of explorers. We went through the storm planet, which had three interesting moons to investigate in the future, we went through an asteroid belt, then we went through the red marble and immediately we arrived at the blue one.
This writing was going to be my entry to a writing contest, but I didn't have time to participate. It's the first time I write something of this style –fiction–, therefore, I expect your opinions and criticisms in the comments.
