I plan to live forever. So far, so good.

”The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us.” – Bill Watterson

“We have gathered here today to attend something which may prove to be the most important event in the history of our race: the first interstellar trip that uses the newly acquired technology of hyperspace travel. Behold – the starship Galactica!”

The ecstatic crowd was marveling at the beauty of the light-bulb shaped spaceship. Some individuals were grumbling, but one could only notice the general state of joy that seemed to have conquered the entire crowd.

“And here are the two members of the crew that is supposed to embark on this maiden voyage towards the stars. Let’s give them a warm welcome!”

The two climbed up the stage and waved at the crowd.

“They will now get into the Galactica and begin this extremely important mission. You all probably know all the efforts we have made in order to discover if there really is any intelligent life out there. And now, the moment of the truth has arrived. Bring us only good news, guys!”

After the goodbye speeches, the two crew members got into the spaceship and prepared for the launch. Those had been the most exciting moments in their entire lives. After a few minutes of straight ascension, the Galactica left the atmosphere and headed for the stars.

“Can you imagine this? It will surely turn out to be the most exciting thing we’ve ever lived…”

“You can bet on it, my friend! I’ve initiated the hyperspace launch procedures…”

“OK, let’s see if all this work has been in vain. Set the coordinates.”

“Coordinates are set. Main hyper thrusters online. All systems ready. The ship is ready to jump into hyperspace on your command.”

“Well, here goes nothing… Jump!”

“I never imagined this to be so short. I didn’t even get a chance to blink. It’s just as if nothing happened. I could only notice the instant change in the starry background. That’s the only thing that indicates that we have made the hyperspace jump.”

“I know we’ve been told about this, but I still hoped there was something more about hyperspace jumps. Instead, it’s all just a big change in the starry background. Nothing more…”

“Do you know where we are?”

“The computer is working on it…”

“How long is it going to take?”

“I’m not sure. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see…”

“Hey, there’s a bright star! Look, over there!”

“That must probably be the star located in the centre of the stellar system we’ve traveled to.”

“And what stellar system is that?…”

“I don’t know…”

“Wow! Look at it! It’s beautiful. I’ve never seen a gas giant from such a distance before…”

“It’s amazing all right… But we’ve got more important things to do than stare at a gas giant, don’t you think? I mean, the chances or finding life down there are practically zero. Besides, the ship’s computer has established our location. We’ve traveled about 1700 light years from home.”

“That’s pretty far away… But is this stellar system considered to be one of the places where we would most probably find life?”

“It’s the first on our list, in fact…”

“Look, another gas giant!”

“Yes. This is bigger than the previous one!…”

“This is another place where we probably won’t find life. But I’m running a scan on its moons. Maybe we find some intelligent life down there…”

“So, any signs?”

“Nothing yet…”

“Who would have thought?…”

“About what?”

“About life. The Universe has been around for what – 15 billion years? And our planet has only formed about 5 billion years ago… 10 billion years… That’s a long time! Couldn’t life have emerged on other planets during all that time? Can you imagine how advanced that race could be?! And what if they are here? What if they know we’re coming?”

“Nonsense!… If there really is intelligent life in this stellar system, don’t you think it would have colonized some of the other planets? Or at least start extracting minerals from asteroids, like we did. Look, this place is full of asteroids, and there’s no sign of technology whatsoever… We haven’t found anything ever since we left that gas giant. And we’re probably not going to find anything at all in this stellar system.”

“I’ve found a smaller planet. It’s solid rock! And it also has two smaller moons orbiting it!”

“That’s about the size of our home planet! Let’s get a closer look!…”

“Nothing. Only a faint trace of ice at the poles, yet it’s nothing but rock all over this desert planet.”

“We’ll keep looking…”

“Indeed we will. That’s what we came here for, and I’m not leaving until we succeed!…”

“You’re not going to believe this! I’ve actually found a planet partially covered by water! We have to get closer, but I believe that our search is over…”

“See?! I’ve told you! It’s thriving of life… Intelligent life!”

“How could you tell?”

“They’ve got artificial satellites in orbit… How’s that for a sign of intelligent life?!”

“What do you think we should do?”

“Nothing. We’ve accomplished our mission. We have found intelligent life! All we have to do now is go back and let our folks know about this…”

“What?! Are you insane? Are you going to leave such an important event such as the first contact with an alien race to someone else? How can you think of that, when we’re the only ones out here? No, I think we should contact this alien race…”

“I don’t believe that’s such a good idea…”

“And why is that?”

“Well, first, you’re not a specialist in alien languages. And neither am I. Second, we don’t know if they’re a peaceful race or not. What if we greet them and they fire at us?!”

“We fire at them, too!!! There seems to be no sign of space related machineries, except for the satellites… They’ve got no fleet, no nothing… They only have nuclear power, at the most. We’ll destroy them without taking any damage…”

“You’re the one who’s insane. I don’t agree with this course of action.”

“And who are you to disagree with me? Who’s the captain of this ship, you or me?!” ”

“…”

“Well, I think I’ve made my point then…”

“It’s been a lot since we’ve contacted them, and there’s still no reply!”

“Maybe they need time to decode our message…”

“Nah, they probably aren’t as intelligent as we thought…”

“You might be wrong about thins… Look – they’ve sent us something. It’s that big thing heading towards us. It’s got thrusters!”

“Thrusters?! It’s a nuclear missile!”

“What if it’s one of their shuttles?”

“A shuttle using thrusters? That’s impossible! It’s too dangerous… Could you imagine us using jet thrusters instead of atomic engines?”

“Well, no… But this race may not be as evolved as we are…”

“I’m not taking any chances. I’m going to destroy that missile!”

“You shouldn’t have destroyed it!”

“Why not? It was heading right towards us…”

“They’ve just sent us a message! They have managed to decode our salute and decipher our alphabet. And now they’re trying to tell us something… It says here that the thing you’ve just destroyed was a shuttle containing some of their most important leaders that were sent here to meet us. It also says that, due to our decision of destroying the shuttle, our races are officially at war, starting now!”

“That shouldn’t be a problem! We just have to go back and come with reinforcements. We’ll wipe out this race completely!”

“I still don’t think this wasn’t such a good idea…”

“I didn’t ask your opinion on this matter. Prepare for the hyperspace jump!”

“Preparing hyperspace jump. Main hyper… HEY! What’s that?!”

“What?”

“Over there! It’s a battle ship. It just appeared out of hyperspace… Look, there’s another! And another!”

“This is not good! Hurry! We must depart now!!!”

“I think this is their fleet. They certainly have the hyperspace travel technology. Their fleet must have been scattered all around the galaxy! And now it has returned. And I’ve got a strange feeling that this is not all of it…”

“Hello, ladies and gentlemen. It’s 5:00 PM Universal Time, and you’re watching Global Net News. This is Linda Thompson and I’m here to bring you the latest events. As you probably know, Earth has been contacted by an alien race yesterday evening. Our efforts to communicate with them have failed, as they destroyed the shuttle that was supposed to meet them in orbit. That shuttle contained the Global Governor and several other high-ranked officers. Therefore, the Confederacy has declared war on this race. Our fleet was gathered and it has managed to capture the alien ship, just when it was preparing for a hyperspace jump. Two four-legged bug-like aliens were found aboard the ship. The science team dispatched to that location has managed to obtain data about the location of their home stellar system. Preparations took 3 hours, but our fleet eventually left for that sector, to confront the aliens on their home territory. The battle was announced to have been short, as the 4 planets the aliens had colonized were wiped out in less than 14 hours. Their defending force has harmed none of our battleships. We have reasons to believe that this was in fact their first hyperspace trip, and therefore they have not managed to colonize any other stellar system, except from their own. That’s why we are certain that the four-legged aliens we have contacted yesterday have been completely extinct. Only a few specimens were captured and brought back for further study. This is one big step for the human race in becoming the strongest race in the Galaxy. May the United Human Confederacy rule the Galaxy! And now, sports…”