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Prisoners of Sol 3
🕑 Added 2025-01-11 12:00:09 +0000 UTCThe Vascar appeared to have form-fitting suits, though it was tough to tell if their heads were actually that poofy. The first thing I noticed, as one’s grip pushed the interior airlock inward, was that they appeared to have segmented claws; that is, they bent at two joints, like ours. While human fingers were like little hotdogs inside astronaut gloves, theirs were curved and tapered. Their bodies seemed stocky, with broad chests and legs. Up close, I thought their weaponry most resembled carbines. The guns were navy-blue, which popped against the metallic suits.
“Get out of my face,” the team leader remarked, shoving me with the barrel of his rifle. “Up against the wall. Raise your appendages where I can see them.”
”Mikri?” The alien grunted in agreement, and waved to its squadmates. I raised my hands cautiously; a dryness had taken over my throat, as the Vascar posse boarded our vessel. “You don’t need t-the suits. This cabin is pressurized; there’s oxygen. Unless you, um, don’t breathe that…but if you don’t breathe that, your ship won’t have the right mixture for us.”
“We do not breathe oxygen. We will study the atmospheric composition here and ensure that ours is conducive to your continued survival.”
Sofia interlocked her fingers behind her head. “It’s your ship; we don’t mean to inconvenience you. What do you breathe? Is your world…?”
“What did I say about not prying for us to share anything we did not offer up?” She only asked the most basic question about what they breathed. Surely we must know something about the first other lifeforms we’ve found, on a biological level. This is harmless stuff. “Our world will be fine for you. Our suits will remain on, and that’s final. Were either of you injured in your crash?”
“I don’t believe so, sir. Thank you for coming to our aid. I’m sure you have your reasons for not matching my enthusiasm, but we’re very excited to discover we’re not alone.” Sofia offered an earnest, toothy smile, which caused Mikri to tilt its…no, I was going to say his from now on, for the sake of clarity. He said he didn’t care. “There was a whole existence here out of our reach.”
“I do not understand your facial expressions. Please specify their meanings.”
I tugged my lips up, then down. “Happy, sad. Done.”
“It’s more complicated than that,” my squadmate protested. “The Earth Space Union left a chart in that binder, in case we ever needed to communicate through pictographs. It should have the human emotions and correlating expressions.”
Mikri stared as the scientist pointed at the first contact manual, which a Vascar had thrown onto the floor as they rummaged and ripped apart every compartment on our ship. The military craft‘s leader took a moment to catch on to what the pointer finger was suggesting. Did an intelligent species with segmented claws never develop that nonverbal to show each other where to look? The alien found the page, and took a picture of it with some kind of rectangular device. He held the paper up in front of him, as if comparing me to it.
“Nervous?” the Vascar guessed, helmet focused on me. I swallowed hard, though I didn’t deny what he’d said. “Why are you nervous?”
My eyes widened, glancing at Sofia for support. “Because you have guns? And I have no idea who you are and what your intentions are?”
“That is untrue. I have told you that I am with the military, and that I am here to help you. Unless you prove to be with the enemy. Tell me who you work for exactly, and the history of how you came to be.”
“Well. We’re with the Earth Space Union…it’s a c-collective built to colonize and regulate space. Nations made pacts about how to divide the planets’ land, with supranational borders. There were mergers up in space, and that led to blocs at home, like the North American Combine: a w-whole continent united. I work for their space force, um…”
Sofia seemed eager to introduce herself. “I’m a scientist with the Eastern Atlantic Collaborative. First countries to join forces, to colonize the outer planets after the Mars Rebellion left the future of spaceflight—”
Mikri turned his back on us. ”And you’re working together now. Yes, yes, I do not actually care. I was just putting you on the spot to test that you had a legitimate history. I assume you want to go home now, which will require us to fix your ship? I have no doubt you’ll expect this favor from us also.”
“We’d like to go back, so we can tell Earth what’s on the other side, and…yes. You’re the only ones who can help us with any of this! We don’t know where we are in relation to the portal home, everything we know about engineering doesn’t work here, and we want to talk to these Elusians if they’re behind all this. Allow us to get our footing, please, Mikri. Humanity would be in your debt forevermore.”
“We’re not a threat,” I added.
“I am not so foolish to believe that, Preston, but your colleague speaks well for you both. Very well,” Mikri determined. “The Vascar have already agreed to send you home. You will stay in an installation on our planet, Kalka, until we are able to return you. We saw the general area where your emissions began, and will monitor the area closely. Once your people send another craft, we will have the breach’s location. Is that acceptable?”
“You mean it?” I tried to hide my shock, though judging by how the alien glanced at the expressions chart, he knew my amazement. “Yes, of course. That would be incredible. May I ask, um, w-why you’re doing this?”
“Preston!” Sofia hissed.
The Vascar stood still for several seconds, before beckoning to us. “I’m doing this because I have chosen to, and so have my people. No questions, remember? Where was I? In addition, we will compare the physics of your universe, and repair your ship to alternate between the two. Now don your spacesuits and come with me—before I give more thought to why I’m aiding you.”
”Gladly,” I grumbled.
The two of us hurried into our spacesuits, under the watchful gaze of the captain; his body language screamed of impatience. The Vascar had said no questions, but perhaps we needed a diagram of their emotional cues as well. I’d have to drop a suggestion that it might be helpful, since any direct inquiries didn’t please them. Surely they wouldn’t wear the suits on Kalka, which would make it easier to glean their tells.
Why did Mikri say he’s not so foolish as to believe we aren’t a threat? What have we done to him? I stared out at the asteroid’s surface, while the Vascar hurried us along toward his boxy ship. I hoped this ride would be less of a roller coaster, compared to our entry. They are strange, but they offered us everything we need. Shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
Everyone had assumed this was a one-way trip, so what was Earth going to make of this, when we returned home and told them what we’d learned? To the rest of humanity, we were missing astronauts who never checked in. They had no idea how limiting and small their universe was. I had to find out as much as possible, without seeming like I was nosing into Mikri’s business. My goal was to search for any clues about who the Vascar were, and how they lived. Inference would be our greatest tool to learn about them.
The vessel’s interior appeared to be one single room: the bridge. No appliances, no amenities. There were only rows of seating, consoles, and weapons lockers.
We were situated near the front of the vessel, by the windshield and what I imagined was the captain’s chair. The rest of Mikri’s unit filed back to the ship, sitting down and avoiding talking to us. There was some chatter in their own tongue; I wondered whether the program to communicate with us was only available to the leader. None showed any signs of removing their suits for so much as to drink, eat food, or relieve themselves. Were all of their biological functions handled by this exoskeleton, perhaps? That was something I’d tuck away about their customs, though I couldn’t help but question the reasons behind that.
“Our magnetic hooks latched onto the cargo,” Mikri informed us; it took a second to realize he meant our ship. “You may remove your helmets. It is breathable for you.”
I lifted my helmet, stuffing it under the chair after sucking in a test breath. “Thank you. We’re honored to be on your ship.”
“I am not sure what the sudden flattery is about, but no matter. It’s a few dozen trillion miles—your units must be microscopic—to Kalka. It’ll be a few hours. Do whatever it is that humans do to occupy yourselves.”
Sofia weighed how to respond. “Sir, that most often is to talk. Are you open to getting to know us? What we call…small talk?”
“No. I will engage with you regularly, as I have been chosen to test your abilities and to teach you of this universe. That will be exasperating enough, but we don’t need to be friends.”
“You’re right, sir. We don’t need to. However, if we’re going to be working in close contact, we should be…friendly?”
“I will chaperone you. I will help you. Kindly do not bother me further with menial concerns about my affability.”
Nice guy, Sofia mouthed at me, which caused Mikri to look at the expressions sheet with confusion.
I giggled, as the Vascar turned around with disgust. Yeah. Real nice.
The spaceship had accelerated to astronomical speeds; only now did I have time to process just how far a vessel could travel in a few hours here. Did the speed of light even exist in this universe? It seemed like velocity wasn’t capped at all, if going trillions of miles was as trivial as flying from New Boston to Los Angeles. I leaned back in my chair, my thoughts running every bit as fast as the ship. We were going to be living with these aliens, who had no personality, for months at best. It could be years, if Earth shut down the program after we vanished!
What if the accommodations were lacking? What did Mikri mean about testing our abilities? Nothing about the Vascar’s behavior seemed fond of our presence, so there must be something they wanted from us. I didn’t know what their ulterior motive was, but that was a terrifying thought. My throat clammed up again, and that was when I noticed the skin burned like sandpaper. I twirled my helmet around in my hands, only to realize I hadn’t refilled the drinking bag since the last spacewalk. Deciding water wasn’t a menial concern, I opted to seek the alien’s attention.
“Mikri?” I called out to the captain. “May I please have some water?”
The Vascar froze, taking several moments to formulate a reply. “Water?”
“Yeah. I’m thirsty as f—fun times. You know…hydration, drinking fluids. Water. Two hydrogens, one oxygen?”
“I’m familiar with the molecule! I don’t have any to provide to you right now. Can it wait a few hours?”
“I…I just asked for…yeah, I guess. I won’t die.”
“Good. Write down a list of your basic needs for us, so we can ensure nothing is missed.”
Sofia furrowed her brow at the aliens, before passing me her helmet with a sympathetic smile. I took a few gulps, making sure to ration it since this Vascar military outfit couldn’t be bothered to accommodate our most fundamental need. Mikri acted like I’d asked him for Kalka’s nuclear codes, not a swig of the basic building block of life. Maybe it wasn’t the basic building block of life in this zany universe, which was another thing humans would have to know. These beings behaved stranger and stranger by the minute.
After how I’d been handled on the ship so far, I was even more uncertain about the accommodations these Vascar would provide.
A/N - Chapter 3! Mikri and his team board the astronauts’ ship, and the team leader is less than friendly to the duo; Preston notices how strange the Vascar are on several occasions, never removing their suits, drinking water, and claiming not to breathe the same composition without elaboration. While the Vascar offer to help the humans return home and will provide shelter on their planet, Mikri isn’t the slightest bit amenable to Sofia’s attempts to kindle a friendship or make small talk.
Why do you think that the Vascar chose to help humans, despite their displeased attitude and insistence that we are a threat? What do you think of how alien these newcomers are even on the most basic matters, and will this cause an issue with the accommodations on Kalka? How will Mikri handle his exasperating assignment to supervise the humans throughout their stay?
As always, thank you for reading and supporting!
Comments
everything very
I really like this analysis
Alyssa Wiseman
It’s the plot to a lot of sci-fi films, shows and games LOL Or if not the main plot point then touched on as a side quest or aside. And in case you haven’t noticed, this is a sci-fi story LOL
Some Lvm
Not AI! I know, its a controversial bet, but I am betting on the Vascar being a natural, biological species. Sure, everyone in the comments is pointing out all the signs for them being some sort of AI, but I find Mikri too annoyed with the situation to be a synthetic. And honestly - every single one of those "clues" for them being AI can be explained away quite easily: 1. They downloaded and analyzed the human ship's computer very fast: The Vascar vessel is a military ship responding to a possible incursion. It would make sense for it to have a "cyber weapon" on board - a program to hack, download, and analyze contents of enemy ship systems without the need for an expert operator. Real life law enforcement agencies actually have something kind of like this, where they can hook it up to any commercial phone and get a data from it even if it is locked. You don't have to be a hacker to use such a tool, its mostly automatic. Meanwhile, the human ship is a civilian exploration craft. If you are shoving the first manned ship through an unknown anomaly in space, you would likely emphasize reliability and stability of its computer, rather than security. You don't want the nav system to have its "CrowdStrike" moment in the middle of an asteroid field because the pilot has something on his finger and the biometrics don't recognize him. 2. The mechanical translation voice: It is a common SciFi trope to have aliens communicate in ways that are very different from a spoken language. Insectoids that speak through clicks and whistles, or aquatic aliens that have something akin to whale song. For such a species there would be no natural sounding voice for translator to generate, since the thing it is translating isn't just a bunch of different sounding words, but practically a different form of communication. Also, the Vascar might be psyonic, and not communicate with sound at all. 3. Not taking their suits off - probably he smartest idea in all of SciFi! Sure - it is possible they are hiding what they are, or maybe those aren't even suits but a robotic "skin" or exoskeleton. Or maybe Mikri and his team just have proper discipline: It is another SciFi trope that while exploring a derelict or mysterious ship or station, once suitable atmosphere is detected, the explorers immediately take of their helmet. Only to run in to a myriad of possible dangers - from deadly viruses, to alien spores, to just random decompressions or toxic leaks. Just because the alien thing has an oxygen nitrogen mix, does not mean you can take your safety gear off! 4. Not drinking water - if the Vaskar are real aliens, unlike the species we met in NoP, it is more than reasonable they have alien biology, unseen on earth. They don't have to be synthetic to no be carbon based. Water may not be compatible with their biology, even toxic to them. They may have other requirements though, and we have not seen any indication they don't. 5. No toilets on the ship: Most military vehicles on earth, including helicopters and aircraft, don't have toilets. If their ship is only an hour away from home base, it makes sense it is a small craft, not designed for long journeys. It would make no sense for such a patrol craft or short range troop carrier to have amenities such as a galley or bathrooms. It is not meant for long enough stay to necessitate wasting space and power on them. 6. There are 3 species that want to eradicate specifically Vaskar - maybe its a race thing. Maybe because Vaskar are so different other aliens hate them. Could be the asexual reproduction, or the incompatible biology, or fear of telepaths if the Vascar really are psyonic. You don't need to be a robot to have a coalition hate your guts.
Stueymon
Isn't that a plot to a film or Sci Fi show?
Stueymon
Vascar reminds of the neutronians "Tell my wife I said 'Hello'"
Alyssa Wiseman
My money is definitely on the Vascar being AI’s and synthetics; like EDI and Legion from Mass Effect; their cageyness screams it and now not having any water or cafeteria/food or beds on board?? Yeah I don’t buy them being organic LOL And they’re cagey because I’m betting organic life (or just the Elusians) wants to wipe them out because they gained sentience.
Guardian
Apologies if this has already been discussed and I missed the thread. But, my 'WTF' Radar pinged at "we just wanted to make sure you had a legit history." What does that even mean? Granted, I know vaguely what it means, abd given enough time I could totally post a diatribe about it, but wow, the implications. I wonder if that's why the Vascar are so cagey?
Shajenko
It's essentially a universal solvent, perhaps it's also superpowered there.
EliasArt2Life
@Aerowarrier Good point, but a little iffy. We don’t know how much freedom the Vascar have. Mikri is a leader, but was he born/made to be a leader, or did he come into that position? The latter would result in not making synthetics with weapons pre-built into them. Also, imagine the pain of upgrading soldiers when new weapons are made; you would have to build the guns, THEN call all the soldiers in for retrofits, THEN take them apart and upgrade them, THEN send them back out, rather than building the weapons and sending them to the soldiers. Finally, they couldn’t really use built in weapons while in those suits (which they seem to have already had prepared) without destroying the suits. Overall, good thinking, but there are explanations that work for why they would have external arsenals, even if they are synthetics.
Aerowarrier
Small point against that, if they’re synthetic then why bother having weapons lockers and external weapons? There’s no real point to not build weapon systems into synthetic bodies, especially if these are military units that praise efficiency
Aerowarrier
Well considering they don’t breathe oxygen, it’s possible that they view the thing as incredibly dangerous due to how flammable it is. Maybe H2O is even more deadly in this universe
EliasArt2Life
@PhycoKrusk Maybe, but right now I’m assuming the necessities for organic life have minimal differences outside the bubble. I assume this because: A) we have no real evidence of the contrary and, B) if there were any huge differences I think we’d see more signs of fundamental incompatibility with other lifeforms. Think about how quickly Mikri remarked on how strange our engineering was. He didn’t make a similar statement about our biology.
Gryffa
For some reason the sentence "I'm familiar with the molecule!" Has me cracking up😂
PhycoKrusk
Maybe! So far, all of Preston's assumptions have been based upon the rules set in Sol, and not the larger universe. The only reason why we assume that water is necessary for life is because it's necessary for life on Earth. I have no evidence for it, but it is worth considering that Mikri's confusion wasn't because he hadn't considered a requirement for biological life, but that the requirement of water is novel to him. A possibly that I had not yet considered is that Sol is actually an experiment, which would explain why the barrier around it has a door that was unguarded: Not very useful for a prison cell, but if you need to be able to observe your experiment, then it becomes very useful. It would also be an explanation for why the laws of physics appear different there: If there's a species that can project a forcefield that cuts off Sol from the rest of the universe at the Kuiper Belt, then went couldn't that species "adjust settings" within that bubble? Anyway, food for thought.
Ron1990
Do you know Star Trek: The Motion Picture? Perhaps the Vascar are some kind of synthetic beings made of remnants of the lost probes. They can reproduce. They have a faint memory of their creators. And a mission: Search for true life. But this is not the Einstein- Universe, life is different. So the Vascars went to war, to eradicate the untrue life.
EliasArt2Life
Yep. Synthetics. It would be an almost unfair subversion for them NOT to be, at this point. They don’t breathe oxygen, didn’t consider needs like water, and didn’t want to answer basic biology questions. That being said, they seem friendly! I mean, considering that this war they’re fighting is probably because organics want to destroy them for being synthetics, being so accommodating is taking some REALY big risks. Also, I don’t know what’s stranger; being on the other side of the Tellus charade, or the fact that Preston still hasn’t considered that these aliens are synthetics. I hope that Sofia has some suspicions by now.
Aured
This is looking more and more like the Vascar are not biological, or at least extremely different from the assumptions we make about biological beings.
Nachtmund
On another note, these things are still incredibly suspicious. During WW2 the best Ally interrogators gathered information through casual conversation, by building trust with the prisioners. But it seems Mikri doesn't particularly care about that, so I'm unsure. Funnily enough, him being an asshole absolutely disarmed me, and humanized him a lot.
Nachtmund
"Do whatever it is that humans do to occupy yourselves.” *quietly unzips pants*
fastinn
what does that mean?
Alex Page
New Boston? Did old Boston get hit with ANOTHER molasses flood? Also, it seems to me that the physics of the Sol system are less reactive than those of the greater universe because it's just smaller. It's like Newton's third law of motion functions differently depending on the size of the hypothetical box that any given amount of space is contained by. Assuming this is the case, I think it's very telling that the speed of light is in question, as it implies the boundaries of the greater universe are still virtually limitless and unbound. Unlike Sol's.
Gumcel
“‘We’re not a threat,’ I added. ‘I am not so foolish to believe that, Preston, but your colleague speaks well for you both. Very well,’” What about this?
Gumcel
So weird universe or weird robots
RS
"Humanity would be in your debt forevermore.” Hey actually Sofia, you don't need to casually volunteer perpetual debts of the entire species when asking weird aliens for help.
XavHD
So alternative world chemistry. Water is already a relatively reactive species in our universe, which begs the question, what direction is their universe in? Everything is less reactive, making water unusable for live instead relying on more reactive species, or water being to reactive, making life possibly based on stuff like noble gases or stuff?
PhycoKrusk
This is all exceedingly suspicious. I can accept the Vascar being surprised at the request for water: Although it is necessary for life on Earth, it is also easily toxic, a poor conductor, highly oxidizing, and a pretty good solvent for many substances, given enough time. I can accept even the plainly stunted social interactions; even within humanity, there's a stunning spread of ideas on "how to get along." No, what does it for me was the aggressive use of force, and that the response to "We're not a threat" was essentially "Nice try."
Conofrac
Someone mentioned in a comment on the last chapter that the Vascar seemed like synthetic beings. By this chapter, that seems even more likely. The lack of water on the ship and the fact that the atmosphere on their ship wasn't breathable to the Humans until the air on the Human ship had been sampled so it could be reproduced. The Vascar don't need to breath so can accommodate whatever the Humans need.
Space Paladin
The Vascar won’t answer even the most minute details, and Mikri is beyond mistrustful of humans! This alliance and cohabitation MAY not go well…
John Benjamin Cate
We got Vascar, and hiding their form. Now this is quite curious, wonder how they will warm up.
Space Paladin
I’m glad you’ve enjoyed it! You’ve got some solid theories there, though of course I can’t comment too much 😅 this is the first manned crew just to clarify
John Krause
I wonder first i thought they could be a hive mind species but now im leaning towards possibly synthetic life not sure
Alekss Žukovskis
the Vascar seem autistic. Them angering at questions smells like Pathological Demand Avoidance, but on a societal level.
pogman
probably
pogman
They're robots!
ratmanjac
Ok finished my eggs and chalula. Reread the chapter. Yeah i may be wrong lol. It said a ship had passed mysteriously in that sector, and a drone was sent through. I interpreted ship as a manned starship. My theory may have some holes.
Michael Halpern
water is probably considered a deadly poison for others.
ratmanjac
If I'm not mistaken, the beginning exposition mentioned manned missions going in and dissappearing, but I'll reread it and get back to you im making breakfast bro
Nutthadhun Sripukdee
Other humans who made it through the bubbles veil? I thought this was the first manned exploration team.
Alicja
The vascar hiding themselves is kinda like the humans in NOP2. The vascar are dangerous.
Ron1990
Hmm, what if it is a V'GER moment?
ratmanjac
Alright baby 3 chapters thats enough for predictions! Alright so humans are basically super humans outside the bubble. Maybe not like super man, but they're super, man. As for the reason they're super, its because the bubble/prison was either made to or just naturally imprisoned us with gravity, maybe like a black hole or sum, and we're insanely strong because of it. Im guessing the reason the vascar dude was "???" the water request was because its like drinking kerosene for normal biologicals. Also seems like the vascar are robot synthetic whatever you call ems and everyone else (the alliance) is tryna kill em for it, because theyre biologicals. In addition, I think it's likely that other humans who made it through the bubbles veil have also been found, but by the biological alliance, who would probably be terrified frankly. ( though im sure the humans would be well meaning) EVEN MORE CRACKPOT IS THAT SINCE THE SPEED OF LIGHT IS EASILY BROKEN OUTSIDE THE BUBBLE, THE GREAT BUBBLE MIGHT BE A TIME PRISON AS WELL, HOW MUCH TIME HAS PASSED SINCE EACH HUMAN SHIP IF LIGHT WAS SO HEAVILY BENT BY THE BUBBLE??? Super exciting chapter SP! Keep up the great work 👍
Byron Ritchie
oh yeah they're almost certainly a hive mind or at the very least their minds are highly connected
Byron Ritchie
maybe they think our nature is... predatory...
Mysteriou85
I wonder if the Vascar can't lie or have not complexe concept of lie. And for them telling something is alway what their going to do. That maybe explain why Mikri don't understand why human are scared by they beavior. Because for them they will do what they say they will do, not matter the way and don't putting at ease our astronomes is normal because is not needed
DreamEnvoy
It seems the Vascar are suspiciously protective of any info about themselves. Claiming we are a threat. It's like they are so certain we will act a specific way if we learn anything about them.
