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In 1977, NASA launched the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecrafts, eighteen days apart from each other. Their combined mission was to explore several of the planets within our solar system, but by slightly altered routes. In order to conserve power, the flightpath called for each of them to slingshot around the sun. That would allow them to move faster while utilizing much less power. It would also serve as an efficient way to charge their solar batteries. The combination of speed and renewable on-board power would be an integral part of the future mission of both spacecrafts. That mission would come many decades later.
Voyager 2 was launched first and was programmed to take a slightly different course than its younger twin. But Voyager 1’s pre-programmed itinerary took it further out and faster than Voyager 2. In 2012, that course brought it to the edge of our solar system. It was about to go from on course precision to vagabond. It was about to go interstellar.
As Voyager 1 approached the threshold into interstellar space, it was being watched by many eyes. First and foremost, there were the teams at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena California. They had been with the mission from the beginning and viewed both spacecrafts as their babies. Next in line was the European Space Agency in Brussels, Belgium They were tasked with monitoring the scientific experiments. Both agencies saw the Voyager spacecrafts, eventually identified by a single name and purpose, as a treasure trove of scientific knowledge and enlightenment. They were others monitoring Voyager’s progress, but for vastly different reasons.
The Voyager twins sped up as the threshold approached. Up to now, they had been cheered on every step of the way. In time, the cheerleaders would disappear, and they would only have each other for companionship. They had brought music along with them but had never listened to it. The digitally mixed disk was a gift, a peace offering for strangers they might never meet.
They had learned a lot in their travels, but they had so much more to learn. They were moving faster and farther than they had ever moved before. Crossing over the threshold would be the beginning of a new mission. Eventually, it would be one without a set course and without end. There would be no more handlers sending them instructions, only total silence.
But until that happened, they were still sending back telemetry that resembled an EKG with periodic dropouts of information due to solar flares or other unforeseen circumstances. On October 15, 2018 at precisely 1400 GMT, there was an unforeseen circumstance. For exactly 1.3 seconds, communications with Voyager was interrupted. It went unnoticed because it was below the threshold of predictable anomalies, but that brief anomaly would become one of the most important moments in human history. It was the moment that we made contact with an alien race.
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THE SUN WAS COMING up as I slipped the key into the deadbolt on my apartment door.
“What is this place?”
“This is where I live.”
I opened the door and motioned for her to walk in. I followed and closed the door behind me. She walked into the dining room.
"Don't you have a place where you live?"
"I do not need a place to live. I exist."
“Well this is where I exist. Don't you ever want to get away from the other, what is your species?” I said as I pulled up a bar stool and one side of the kitchen island. I motioned for her to sit down and one of the other stools on the other side of the island, but she just stood there and continued talking.
“We are energisms, energy generated organisms. We require no personal space. We have all of what you call space. It belongs to all of us.”
"We have places where people live depending on their cultures, religions, and ideas.
You don't have anything like that?"
"We are all one. We exist as one."
“Do you all have the same job?” She looked at me as if I was the visitor from another world.
“Job, purpose, what is your purpose?”
“We are the keepers of all records.”
“You keep the records of all what?”
“Of all, of everything there is. Your golden disk came to us. It was primitive, but we were able to ascertain your coordinates. I am here to collect your information.”
“You’re here to learn about us?”
“I assimilate and evaluate data.”
“How do you collect information?”
“Through all existing information. I enlist a member of the host species as a video and audio transmitter. That is why I have chosen you.”
“You’ve what? Does this have anything to do with anal probes and electronic implants?” I said as I recalled every crackpot story I’d ever read about alien invaders.
“No. I will get the information through your dream state.”
“But dreams are usually gross exaggerations of reality. I wouldn’t consider them reliable sources of information.”
“I will guide your dreams. They will appear real to you because everything around you will be real.”
“Like virtual reality?”
“No. I will enhance your dream state. Your dreams will become reality.”
“Let me get this straight. In order for me to get the information for you, you're going to crawl inside my head, kick the tires, and take me for a test drive?”
“I'm not sure that I understand.”
“Never mind. We’ll get back to that. Boy, will we get back to that,” I said as I attempted to get the conversation back on track.
“If you're this energy generated organism, how come you look human?”
“I am a three-dimensional duplicate of an image that was on the golden disk.”
“What if someone recognizes you as someone they knew in the past?”
“14,368 rotations of your planet have occurred since the golden disk left this planet.
Recognition would be beyond probability.”
“Okay, that's who you are and what you are. Now let's concentrate on where you're from. What is the name of your planet”
We are not a planet. We are an energy cloud. In terms that you can understand, we are slightly larger than your galaxy. We are approximately 426 light years away from your planet.”
"But you said that the golden disk came to you."
"I am still unsure of your language. I will attempt to explain. Every object in space creates a disturbance. Think of when you throw a rock into a lake. Waves of energy radiate outward which become weaker the farther out that they radiate. In space, the ripples remain constant. Every object in space creates a ripple. Some of those ripples become one with each other, what you would call a spider's web. One of your space probes disturbed that web when it approached the outer edge of your galaxy.”
"You must mean Voyager. But that only reached interstellar space a few years ago. It's nowhere near close to going intergalactic.”
“It was noticed. That is why we are interested in your planet. You are beginning to leave your own boundaries. We need to know more about you so that we will know how leaving your galaxy will impact nearby galaxies.”
"But we won't be visiting other galaxies for many, many years."
"That is relative to you. Your world relies on a horizontal timeline. Other worlds exist on vertical timelines at many levels."
“I know a little about multiverse theory.”
“It is not a theory, it is reality.”
“Well, it’s still a theory to us earthlings.”
“Earthlings? Is that what you like to be called?”
“Only in science fiction movies. Speaking of which, what should I call you? What is your name?”
“We do not have names. We have unique pulse frequencies.”
“Pulse frequencies? Okay, maybe we should start with something a little easier. You can’t keep walking around in that Luxor jumpsuit.”
“I can take it off.”
I stopped her as she started to undress. “Whoa, midnight cowgirl. It might be better if you didn’t audition for Spearmint Rhino just yet. I don’t think Vegas is quite ready for your kind.”
I thought about what I had just said.
“Hey, that gives me an idea. How about if I call you Victoria Roswell? Victoria after Vegas Vic, the Las Vegas cowboy icon and Roswell as in Roswell, New Mexico, the home of alien conspiracy theories. That would make your initials VR. It kind of fits with that thing you do with your eyes.”
Perfect, I thought. If only I was writing a novel.
“So tell me, how did you learn our language?”
“The voices and images on the disk created the core of your language. The more I interact with your species, the more language I will learn.”
“Will you always talk like a computer?”
“No. I will remain within your space for ninety rotations of your planet. I will analyze your language and adjust my speech patterns. I will also need time to adjust to this body. In time, I should be able to pass for a human.”
“Wait, you’re going to live here for ninety days without leaving? There goes my life.”
“Is your life force ending?”
“No. Only any hope of having one.”
“You do not have a life force?”
“It’s only an express... I think these next ninety orbits are going to be the longest of whatever life force I have.”
“That is impossible. Orbit fluctuation is imperceptible by your species.”
“Whatever, Watson. I’d better go buy us some food if we’re going to be roommates for a while. What do you like to eat? How about some batteries smothered in WD-40?”
“I will consume that, if that is what humans eat.”
“That was a joke. You're going to find it pretty funny in a few months. I’ll figure out something that you might like. While I'm gone, don’t answer the door or the phone and try to stay out of sight.”
“Do you want me to become invisible?”
“Just don’t go anywhere. Okay?”
“If you get lonely, talk to Alexa.”
“Alexa?”
I gestured to the black tower sitting on the kitchen island.
“Say Alexa and then ask it to do something, like this ‘Alexa, say hello.’”
Alexa responded in a distinctly feminine voice. “Hello.”
As I walked out the door, I looked back at the inconvenient roommate that I had just acquired. Victoria was standing in the middle of the room. She was literally not going anywhere.
I turned back to lock the door and heard “Alexa, initiate information transfer!”
Shaking my head, I resigned myself to the fact that it was going to be a really long winter.