Chapter Three Voyager One

The Kos team’s spaceship had narrowly escaped disaster. Conden, though visibly crestfallen, continued to pilot the ship with utmost seriousness, all while accepting Kos’s criticisms. By now, the distance between the ship and the Kelt system was growing ever greater, and every crew member breathed a sigh of relief. One of the mantid crew remarked, “Now we’re safe. Even if the Kelt soldiers used their fastest vessels, they couldn’t catch us.”

Kos said, “Let’s take a break. Please let the mantids handle the cockpit.” While the rest of the team rested, a single mantid remained in the cockpit, vigilantly monitoring every system. Suddenly, many crew members were jolted awake from their slumber as the ship’s alarms blared once again. The system warned: “The ship is about to traverse the Centauri trinary stars. The space environment and gravitational forces here are extremely hostile.” For safety, the meticulous Conden took over from the mantid, resuming direct control of the ship to ensure the team would complete their assigned survey mission as planned.

Because the solar system wasn’t within the area designated for this mission, there was no need to pay it extra attention. Yet as the ship skimmed the fringes of the solar system, even the regions beyond the Walter Cloud were rife with solid matter, posing a serious threat to the Kos team’s ship. All members navigated with utmost caution, especially as they needed to clear some solid objects directly ahead. The ship’s advanced debris clearing system destroyed several small meteoroids. Suddenly, the scanning system detected an object emitting unnatural radio waves, immediately catching the astronauts’ attention. Kos, with his seasoned experience, instantly judged from the radio signature that this object was not a natural formation. He decided they would capture it.

Kos retrieved a miniature disc-shaped drone from his case. He opened a window on the ship and released the drone into the blackness of space. Using thermal imaging, the disc swiftly tracked its target. At last, the intelligent device extended several octopus-like tendrils from its center, securely ensnaring the object. Once caught, the object lost all inertia, offering no resistance as the drone reeled it in. The drone then returned efficiently and safely to the mothership, bringing the captured object into the ship’s hold. This device was none other than Voyager 1, launched by humans from Earth.

Kos examined the newly captured artifact carefully, then announced, “Our survey mission ends on a perfect note. I hadn’t expected such an extraordinary find. Before the Sphere Chief’s rebirth, we’ll present this as a gift—I’m sure the Chief will be intrigued.” In the ship’s cabin, the crew gathered around the device, most suggesting it be discarded. After all, the crew had spent years operating throughout the galaxy, and such devices were hardly a novelty; most, upon analysis, turned out to be crude products from primitive civilizations. To them, this was mere “crow drinking water” technology.

Still, Kos, ever the astute veteran, paid closer attention to this device, having discovered a nuclear isotope battery within its structure. He decided to bring the artifact back to Quartpa for scientific analysis. Thorough as always, Kos transmitted a full hologram of the captured object to Director Yanan at the Quartpa Space Administration, requesting his assessment.

The dim red light of Quartpa’s parent star filtered through windows crafted from dark matter. Director Yanan and his mantid assistant basked in the starlight to aid their digestion. The mantid informed the Director that the Kos team had sent a message from the front lines.

Yanan swayed his body and drifted into his office, carefully reviewing the materials Kos had sent. With Kos’s special note about the nuclear isotope battery, Yanan, experienced and worldly, instructed the team to bring the artifact back in person to Quartpa.

Kos said, “Dear crew, after some time, our ship must again pass the treacherous Kelt system. Everyone, prepare for defense.” Conden replied, “I’ve already reprogrammed the navigation system. This time we’ll skirt the Kelt system, though it’ll cost us a little extra time.” Kos beamed and praised Conden as the team’s finest astronaut.

In his office, Director Yanan was as busy as ever, his mantid assistant by his side. Suddenly, a four-dimensional screen activated automatically, emitting Quartpa’s distinctive radio language: “Dear Director, a report from the front.” Yanan had anticipated this, and instructed his assistant, “Please step out for a moment.”

“Understood,” replied the mantid.

Yanan, holding a device resembling a pen, fired a slow orange beam at the screen. Instantly, the four-dimensional screen opened a video channel, connecting directly with the returning Kos team. Yanan observed the Voyager device in high definition and exclaimed, “Well done. You’ve finally returned, and with a priceless artifact.”

At Yanan’s request, the Kos team didn’t land their ship by conventional means, and there was no crowd of Quartpa Space Administration staff to welcome them—everything was conducted in secrecy and silence.

With no entourage, Yanan and Kos took the Voyager 1 artifact into a small, silent chamber floating a hundred meters above the ground. This was a secure, confidential room, impervious to gravitational waves, radio, or microwaves. Yanan, brimming with curiosity, examined Voyager 1. Due to Quartpa’s gravity, the device adhered heavily to the floor. Yanan drew out a pen-like tool and aimed a beam of dark red light at Voyager 1; instantly, it floated like a balloon, free from external gravity, allowing examination from all angles.

After a brief consideration, Yanan and Kos decided to invite a panel of authoritative experts to study the artifact. Top Quartpa scientists and engineers soon floated into the secure chamber. Once a mechanic had disassembled Voyager 1, explaining the function of each part, the experts were left disappointed. The device’s design revealed that its creators’ intelligence was far below interstellar standards—less, even, than that of the mantids. Voyager 1 was a crude probe, the product of some primitive lifeform in an obscure star system. The seasoned Quartpa scientists and engineers had seen such devices before.

One physicist observed: “All the components are made entirely of positive matter, with no anti-gravity capability. Its external design fails the most basic spatial topology principles—it can neither manipulate nor withstand the effects of space-time, and it lacks even an inertia controller.”

For the Quartpans, Voyager 1’s technology was akin to “a chimpanzee using a stick to fish for termites”—utterly unremarkable and not worth studying. The assembled scientists grew impatient, feeling Yanan and Kos were making a fuss over nothing. Uninterested, they made clear they would not waste any further time and promptly departed.

Sensing he might be mocked, Yanan gently requested that the scientists at least perform one final test on a disc-shaped object. At a glance, a technician recognized it as a simple magnetic audio recorder. Since Quartpa lacked an atmosphere, its inhabitants’ ears functioned differently from those of Earth; they heard by detecting radio waves. The technician quickly converted the recorded sound into a radio signal for the group to hear.

Once the audio finished, only a Quartpa naturalist commented, “This is not a mechanical sound, nor a natural phenomenon. It is the vocalization of a rare sexually reproducing animal in the galaxy—its features resemble those of Talr planet creatures, but it’s not one of their species. We can’t decipher the meaning, not due to any lack of intelligence or technology on our part, but because the creators’ mode of expression is so crude.”

Another scientist added, “No offense, Director, but I too find this device uninteresting.” The invited experts and technicians all excused themselves in orderly fashion, drifting away.

After the meeting, only Yanan and Kos remained, both a bit disappointed and dejected.

Yanan mused, “If this device is from the Talrans, then what is their purpose? The Talrans’ technology has advanced rapidly, achieving unparalleled feats in certain fields of information science. If this really is their work, why would they abandon advanced technology for something so primitive? Could it be a deliberate ruse?” A succession of questions troubled Yanan’s mind.

Kos replied, “Since our naturalist has already noted this device might be connected to our old adversaries, the Talrans, we shouldn’t simply throw it away. I propose we invite our foremost Quartpa biologist to examine it—perhaps he can find traces of Talran biology.”

Yanan elegantly swayed his two linguistic antennae in strong agreement.

Upon Yanan’s invitation, the top Quartpan biologist floated into the secret chamber and scanned the device thoroughly with his biological analyzer.

He declared, “This object is covered in biological traces—deoxyribonucleic acid—matching the Talrans to ninety-nine percent similarity.”

Yanan and Kos were both astonished. The two resolved to invite Chief Aibot himself to join in further study and discussion of the Voyager 1 artifact.