From the moment that we discovered space flight, humans have looked at the night sky and wondered if there was life out there in the endless black. We wanted to find others like us, other voyagers sailing through what was arguably the most hostile environment to life as we know it. Some were afraid that these travelers wouldn’t be friendly, that they would seek to conquer or exterminate, but many of us hoped that we would find friends whom we could explore the furthest reaches of space with.
It was February 12, 2059, Earth and all the billions of souls that called her home were going about their daily lives like normal. All, that is, except for a select few. In research facilities, institutions, and even the odd eccentric with a powerful telescope at their disposal who happened to be looking at Saturn at the moment were all scratching their heads or actively trying to get space telescopes turned in the planet's direction.
There was an anomaly in orbit above the planet. At first glance, many simply thought it to be a large asteroid that must have got caught in the gravitational pull of the planet. However, after an hour had passed and the object maintained its position around the planet, people started to seriously begin questioning what this thing was.
It was about at this time when the first high resolution image came in of the object. Everyone who saw it collectively lost their shit. Phone calls were made, higher ups alerted, leaders all over the world were informed, and a silent, hidden, panic overcame those in the know. It got to the point where certain countries militaries were preparing their armies under the guise of training exercises. As the shadows around the Earth moved in preparation and planning, all desperately trying to keep the general public from knowing, another alert came in. It was moving closer.
It was approaching Earth at a pace that scientists could only call ludicrous. It was faster than any space ship or satellite that we had fielded to this point, and the egg heads had estimated that it would only take two days to make it from Saturn to Earth. The speed of preparations and deployments increased exponentially, with even nuclear options being activated as a last resort.
There would be no hiding this from the general public, they would find out about it sooner or later as it would eventually get to a distance than even a hobbyist would be able to see it. Governments broke the news to the public as gently as they could, which no matter how you slice it, was like throwing a brick into a glass window while praying it wouldn’t break.
Unsurprisingly, everyone lost their shit. People started praying, driving home to their families, stocking up on supplies and rioting. The entire world fell into chaos for but a single day, and when the dust settled, there were only empty streets and deserted alleyways. The only people who were out of their homes or doomsday shelters were those who decided that they would spend their last day on earth getting drunk and the owners of the bars who both joined them and figured they would make a quick buck in case this whole thing blew over.
The day it was scheduled to arrive the world was deathly silent, waiting with baited breath for what was about to happen. Those with their eyes on the sky watched as it appeared even on the most basic of telescopes. To the average viewer it was still a grainy mess that was hard to pick any details out of, but there were those who had better images who then proceeded to share them all over the internet.
Those who had not seen it before expected maybe a ship, or a fleet, but what they got was more like an eldritch nightmare. Chitinous exterior devoid of any semblance of a face or identifiable features. Large tentacles erupted from its body, several of the wriggling things from what we assumed to be its back with a few coming out its front. Its coloration was largely dark, yet there were some images that showed certain parts of it seemed to glow. Calculations that took into account distance and relative size from the magnification put it at a couple miles wide and just as long, not counting the tentacles. This being looked like it wouldn't be out of place in a Cthulhu Mythos story, maybe one of those eldritch gods made real.
It was approaching the moon, the world braced for impact, and then... it stopped. It took up position around the moon, making sure that it was always in sight of the Earth. The lunar base started taking pictures like mad, sending them, and several video attachments of a more personal nature, back to Earth. Many up on the lunar surface were shitting their pants, thinking that they would be the first target for the leviathan creature and thus sent what could have been their final words home. If you had a strong enough microphone, it wouldn’t have been surprising if you could hear the collective hearts of humanity hammering in their respective chests.
The day passed without incident, and people began to wonder what this creature, or possibly biological ship, was doing. The world's leading minds were reviewing the photos, videos, and readings from any instrument that they could use. The military was stuck in a holding pattern as they had no way to deal with it while it was in space. Nukes or missiles couldn’t possibly reach it at that distance, it could simply float off lazily in any direction to avoid them, and considering the speed it showed before, even launching a blanket of weapons at it would be unlikely to work.
And so, Earth was stuck, waiting for it to do something or for the worlds scientists to figure out what was going on. After another day had passed with nothing happening, people started to cautiously come out of their homes, starting a new concern of an anxious population all clamoring for answers to their local governments. There was even an “alien watch” set up which showed a livestream of the anomaly as it continued to maintain its position. This helped some people cope with the fear of uncertainty, at least a little bit.
Behind the scenes, researchers, scientists, engineers, biologists, basically anyone who held a PHD or was considered an expert in their field were working tirelessly to try and find a solution to what could be the single greatest crisis to humankind. They were sending out numerous signals to the alien being in an attempt to establish communication, but received nothing in reply. At least, nothing yet.
It was on the third day since it took orbit around the moon that those listening to it in every known spectrum of communication that we considered possible noticed that amidst all the noise being sent to it and around it, there was a signal coming from it. The signal, once isolated, was almost like radio waves, though not quite. This kicked up a whole brainstorm about what it could be saying, what its method of communication was, and how we were to respond to it if it did turn out to be the way it talked.
The longer that we listened to it, the more familiar the signal became. It started looking more and more like a standard radio signal as time passed. We then realized that it was a distinct possibility that while we were trying to find a way to adapt our communications to it, it was doing the same thing for us.
It was only another day before the signal it was sending out was almost indistinguishable from a regular radio signal. The eggheads were now working to decipher this signal, to figure out what this alien lifeform wanted and what that meant for humans in general. It wasn’t that hard; it was doing a damn good job at mimicking us and we only needed to make some minor adjustments to get a clear message. The message itself, however, was another issue entirely.
“Are you parasites?”
It was checked, double checked, and triple checked, there was no mistaking it. Everyone who knew of this message, you guessed it, lost their shit. Parasites was obviously a negative thing to be associated with, but in what capacity did it consider us to be so?
There was a long debate, but we decided to try to talk it out with the alien to find out what it meant and if there was a way to avoid conflict. The message chain that happened after that was as follows:
“Forgive our ignorance, but what do you mean parasites?”
There was an uncomfortable few minutes before the reply came. “We have only known parasites to be so small.”
So, it turned out that it wasn’t a ship, but an actual gigantic space capable organism. “Why would being small make us parasites? What do these parasites normally do?”
“They leech off us, erode our insides and bleed us for their own sustenance.”
“We assure you, we have never seen one of your species before and do not consider ourselves parasites.”
There was a very long pause that left those waiting for a reply squirming. Finally, it spoke up again. “I have never heard of a parasite speaking before, though you do talk so slowly it was difficult to understand and even more so to copy.”
Many theories started flying in the communication room, mostly people seemed to be in agreement that they use some sort of fast moving or high energy radiation to speak just based on what it said. “We are not parasites; we mean you no harm and do not want there to be fighting between us. Maybe we could help you? We have many doctors and biologists that can try to help cure you of these parasites. We understand if you don’t trust us, but it is an offer of goodwill between us nonetheless. We only wish to be friends.”
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“I will consider this offer.” it said after a moment.
And so, the waiting commenced yet again. Everyone looked on nervously as it drifted around the moon, sometimes changes positions slightly or falling into an orbit. It was a full day before we received the awaited reply.
“Are you still there?” It asked, which ended up startling the person who was on shift at the listening post.
“Yes, yes we are.”
“I have made a decision.” You could hear a pen drop in the room as everyone listened in. “My health is deteriorating; I will probably be dead before my next molting cycle regardless. I will allow you to attempt your cure, but know if you are lying and you intend to feed off me, I will kill as many of you as I can before I die, and my corpse will serve as a warning to all who come after me.”
“We will do our best to assist not harm, please stand by while we talk about how best to do so.” There was a conversation with the other nations of the world for the next few hours about the best location to conduct this medical examination. It was decided that a flat expanse of artic tundra near one of the poles would be the best location, out of the way, not likely to get civilian traffic, and very little to destroy up there should things go south.
The creature confirmed that it could exist within an atmosphere, though finds it oppressive, and we guided it to the location that we wished it to set down in. Countries around the world had already mobilized in preparation for its landing and had set up a forward operating base.
It must be said, that when you view something large from astronomical distances, it does it no justice when you actually get up close to it. The simple act of it coming through the atmosphere and touching down upon the barren land was enough to make anyone falter. It was like a mountain was dropping out of the sky, only this one was alive. It touched down a few miles away from the base and everyone could feel the earth shaking slightly when it did.
The moment it landed, people got to work, setting up perimeters, taking readings, and making sure that it wasn’t going to do any harm by remaining here. It was slightly radioactive just sitting there, giving off the same level as an x-ray would while idle, when it spoke though, the reading spiked for a bit, meaning that everyone who was anywhere close had to wear special suits to block out the radiation as well as anything else that may be present.
The alien creature was rather curious about the mechanical equipment and vehicles we fielded for this operation, and the engineers were given the task of keeping it occupied with idle conversation about the subjects of mechanics while everyone else continued to work. When enough information was gathered about the safety of this whole operation, the biologists and doctors began their line of questions.
They gathered as much medical information about their enormous patient as they could just from what it would tell them, and then some general information about the effects of the parasite on their bodies, what they should look for, and how can they tell. After a sufficient amount of information was gathered, admittedly less than they would have wanted, a team was assembled to enter the body via one of the tentacles that turned out to be a sort of breathing tube, impossibly massive in scale for a living being and could fit several trucks side by side with little problem.
The team itself consisted of several doctors, biologists, and a small security force just in case. Everyone on the outside followed their progress through camera systems attached to their suits. The walk through the tentacle into the main part of the body was rather lengthy due to the scale and soft terrain that was the inside of this alien's body, but they reached what was the entrance to the lungs.
The biology of the alien was... well, alien. The lungs seemed to be a serious of additional tubes with a powerful contracting force that is able to suck in gases and then distribute them to the parts of the body they are needed for processing. It seemed that the gasses themselves were not pulled into the bloodstream here at the very least.
Everyone stepped with caution, not wanting to cause any unintended damage to their unusual patient or trigger some sort of biological reaction that could put them in danger. The team proceeded deeper into the body, choosing a random path to go through.
Along the way they started to notice a change in the condition of the flesh. There were signs of inflammation, tissue damage, even open wounds and a puss like substance were present. It was all rather disgusting and obviously infected, borderline septic.
Suddenly the security team called for everyone to hold, one of them seeing some movement ahead that didn’t look like any part of the body's natural undulations. Security inched forward, weapons at the ready. They were told to be careful with the weapons and not to fire unless absolutely necessary, we didn’t know how much damage such things could cause if unleashed inside the alien.
Everyone was focused on the feed from the soldier's head cameras as they moved towards the area in question. Then, their lights illuminated what was now identified as one of the parasites they were looking for. It was like someone took a centipede, gave it a hermetically sealed shell, installed a circular mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, and to top it off, made it the size of a fully grown man, maybe bigger.
It was currently latched on to the flesh of the alien, evidently feeding on the blood. The security team froze and called in for instructions on what they should do. Before they could get a reply, the parasite detached from the fleshy wall, having been disturbed by the team. Its circular mouth dripped with blood from its victim as it began to screech at the security team.
It charged at the team, well, charged in the academic sense, it was actually a bit slow. The team took several steps backwards, trying to keep an equal distance from it while demanding orders on what to do. Eventually, they were told to shoot it, but be careful with the placement of the shots.
The team took aim, and when it got close each of them took a single shot at it. Several holes later, the thing dropped and thrashed about a bit before falling still. They waited for a moment to see if it would do something else, and one of the soldiers gave it a quick poke with the end of their gun to see if it would react. It appeared to be quite dead, so the team was given the order to grab it and extract from the alien.
They made it out of the gigantic alien with their prize in tow. The leaders developed a new plan of attack. These parasites were obviously dangerous and aggressive. It would be unwise to have unarmed people inside the body of the giant while unknown amounts of these things were present. So the new plan was to send in the armed forces first to clear out as much of the body as they could get to while the eggheads pulled apart the parasites to study them.
Teams of soldiers sporting advanced hazmat suits were sent into the alien, splitting up and heading down the various tubes and passages throughout the body. It was a smart move as it turned out. The poor giant was absolutely infested with nightmarish parasites, chewing on its innards and leaving infected wounds behind. The teams exterminated them with extreme prejudice, and it became apparent that even missed shots did minimal damage to the insides of the giant. If there was an area of particularly dense infestation, the alien claimed that it caused an itching sensation when they unloaded upon the parasites.
Before long there were piles of parasite corpses stacking up outside the giant, the science team did not want for subjects to pull apart. They found out that it was a toxic substance in the mouth of the parasites that helped them dissolve the flesh of the giant in order to get to the meat and blood beneath that was causing all the infections and rot. Everyone not currently cleaning out the alien's body was assigned to figuring out a counter agent for this substance.
After a solid two days of teams entering and exiting the alien, it was confirmed that the last of the parasites were evicted. Medical teams were sent in with gallons of disinfectant among other supplies to do what they could for the open wounds and infections until the scientists could fix the tissue damage from the parasite's caustic bite. The treatment did work in some of the lesser afflicted areas, but the really nasty places needed a more specialized cure to fix.
After another three days of non-stop testing, the team found the cure. It was applied with all haste, effectively neutralizing the toxins eating away at the alien’s insides. After everything was settled in and the big fellow had some time to rest and recover, they conducted one last examination and questionnaire.
“So, we’ve done one last sweep through your body, no sign of parasites, your wounds are healing nicely, and the infected areas are clearing up. How do you feel now?”
“Amazing! I haven’t felt this good since my first molting. It’s like all the pains that I’ve had to live with are just gone.”
“That is wonderful to hear, so you don’t experience any discomfort or pain from moving? How about feelings of lethargy or sickness?”
“I feel a little itchy, and some places are a bit sore, but compared to what it felt like before, I feel like I have a new body. I need to tell everyone else about you, you work wonders for being so small.”
“You are saying there are more of your kind?”
“Of course, and many of us suffer from the same infestations. Not even our young are safe, they end up inheriting the parasites from their parents who must feed them before they are big enough to get food by themselves.”
“That’s awful! If we can help, we will gladly do so. We would only like to know more about you, and maybe you can help us in the future as well.”
“If you can cleanse us of these parasites, then I am sure that others would be willing to repay you for what you have done.”
“We look forward to meeting your people and hope that we will have a long friendly relationship with you.”
“I am confident we will, I estimate it will take at least thirty rotations of your planet for me to bring some others back with me.”
“That quick? You can move that fast through space?”
“Of course, especially now that I feel like a newborn again.”
“Why did it take you two days to get to our planet from the sixth planet in our system then?”
“I didn’t want to crash into your planet, I can go fast, but it takes time to stop.”
“I see, that makes sense. Do you need anything before you leave for your trip?”
“I’ll just grab something to eat from that sixth planet of yours before I leave, unless there's a reason I shouldn’t?”
“None that we are aware of, but what do you eat there?”
“We process the gasses into a form that is capable of sustaining our bodies.”
“Interesting, we may need to have a more in depth look at how that works the next chance we get.”
“As long as it isn’t painful, I'm sure you can get a few that would let you. I’m going to head off now, thank you for everything once again.”
The surrounding area was cleared of all personnel and equipment before our new alien friend lifted off. We watched as they made their way back to Saturn to apparently grab something to eat before disappearing with a bright flash. Earth started celebrating our first contact with an alien race that ended in friendly terms, there was hardly a sober person to be found anywhere.
After everyone had a chance to celebrate, production on the counter agent to the parasites venom as well as tankers full of medical supplies were produced like crazy. Areas all over the world that were empty enough to house our future patients were set up for use. The world awaited eagerly for their return and for all the things that we might learn from our new giant friends.