I wasn’t myself. I was a seasoned explorer and had prepared for my mission for decades alongside my trusty crew. Unfortunately, the asteroid field around the planet had been like nothing that I had ever seen. The crew was banged up, but everyone had at least survived. Our landing craft had made the trip to the surface without difficulty, but our ship would require some repairs before we could even consider the return trip.

When our lander set down we were in the appointed area, but no one was in sight or registering on the craft’s instruments. As protocol dictated, we had made contact with the inhabitants of this new world from orbit and had arranged a meeting. This world was old and already part of the wider network of galactic commerce. This experience was new to me, but there were those in this world to which this was old hat. That is not to say that the technology on the planet was as sophisticated as on my world, but from what I had heard from those that planned this mission it was certainly different.

As I made my way out with my team, I took in the scenery before me. This time making the first contact with the inhabitants of a new world. The responsibility was immense, but I couldn’t help but pause to marvel at the beauty of Oberous. The light had a slightly golden quality that evoked a sense of serenity as it danced through the unbelievably tall trees of our wooded rendezvous location. As I took in the scene, I could feel Kayliegh my first mate tense at my side. I followed her gaze into the forest and saw them approaching. They looked like elves and were armed with bows, swords and staffs. Their weapons were primitive, but my instincts and the little intelligence that we were able to gather about the inhabitants of Oberous en route, told me that they were a threat.

I already knew that they could communicate, as we had done so without issue to arrange this meeting, but none of them returned my greeting. I repeated, “Hello. I am Bruce. I come in peace as an explorer to learn more about your world and your people.” The elven greeting party opened fire with their bows. Per protocol, I had left the landing craft’s fields to capture projectiles and radiation active during the encounter, so I expected us to be at an overwhelming advantage near our shuttle.

I momentarily hoped that the situation could be calmed, but some of our assailants began to strike with electric discharges and plasma attacks of shocking potency. I wasn’t sure how they were generating these attacks and we’d have to analyze the footage with the computer back on the ship, but for now we needed to retreat. I called out the order and the landing team wasted no time in embarking and getting the shuttle underway.

This pattern repeated itself a half a dozen times across the next month. There were always apologies for confusion and misunderstandings, but it was clearly disingenuous. This was a situation where protocol wasn’t going to work and we needed to adapt our tactics or give up and focus on repairing our ship and leaving. I choose to adapt our tactics. I mobilized four of the six landing craft from our ship simultaneously. Each with a senior team member leading the mission and no notice or warning to the supposed local authorities.

The four craft made for four different locations across the planet. Two of the teams got a variation on the usual greeting with a longer response time from the hostile forces that must have been tracking our activities in orbit and mobilizing immediately to intercept the teams so quickly. The other two teams got lucky.

My team made our way to an isolated mountain city with towering walls of white stone. It was an unusual location from what we could tell through orbital observation and we thought it might mean that it had some potential. We weren’t comfortable getting too far from the shuttle, but we set it down at what was essentially the bottom of the trail leading to the city and hiked the six hours up to its gates.

We were certainly dressed and armed, differently than the townsfolk that we encountered, but we were able to communicate seamlessly using the translation program prepared for the mission and our communication pins. We were stopped at the gate and asked about the purpose of our visit, but the guards were OK with our request to explore the town and stop by their marketplace. We did just that and were shocked by the diversity that we experienced. The inhabitants referred to themselves as the Fae.

I spent a few hours bartering with different vendors. I ended up purchasing a small compass that a very tiny elf-like lad with a serene smile said he had made himself. According to this young craftsman, the compass could be used for magnetic navigation or to follow magic particle density to rare treasures and opportunities. Magic particles seemed a little far fetched to me, but the team on the ship was learning amazing things from this planet every day and it only cost me some rations, a pair of sunglasses and all the tools and climbing gear that I had with me.

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The other team that wasn’t attacked on sight went to a bustling trade city deep within a jungle and also made contact with a diverse group of locals. After debriefing and getting some rest, we needed to focus on the next phase of the mission.We spent the next few weeks on the ship making plans and repairs.

***

I was in a rented house during university. It was winter and I hadn’t been to class in a couple of weeks. I remember it being cold, but I was playing Tetris. I played for hours. I was good, like really, really good, but the pieces got so heavy. They fell down to the bottom so fast. Eventually, I was overwhelmed and the whole screen filled up with the colorful block pieces. I wasn’t frustrated. It was a chance to play again. After the game is before the game.

***

I was walking a long, long hallway. It wasn’t maximally lit, but I could easily see down its endless distance. As I turned the corner at an intersection I found myself before an elevator. It was labeled Turbolift 273 in my heads up display. I took the lift to deck 388 and took the corner down another long, long hallway. I passed a couple of repair drones in hibernation mode and after about 30 minutes of walking I crossed into the aft section through lucky bulkhead 3000.

I wove my way through the floors and decks following my heads up display. I was deep in the diesel decks, an artifact of a time before cold sleep when biodiesel processing was a part of the energy ecosystem on some long haulers. There was no way that there was a vending machine all the way out here that needed to be repaired. I was already almost eight hours into my rotation. I had to stop for lunch on the way out and at this rate I was probably going to have to bivouac down and sleep under one of these generators before heading back.

Then my display lit up like a Christmas tree. There was a vending machine down here, there was actually a full barracks setup down here. Sleeping quarters, exercise quarters, mess, restrooms, automated vending–the whole shebang. Did two pages of the plans get stuck together during construction and the guys in the shipyard just not notice? This made no sense. What's more, how did one of the chicken soup dispenser nozzles get clogged? There was no way anyone had been down here in years.

We’ll at least I wasn’t going to have to sleep under a generator tonight. I called out to no one in particular, “Geeq you magnificent bastard. Why do you enjoy these stupid games so much?” Then I got to work.

***

Delirin was concerned. She was actually well beyond concerned. Something was wrong with Harris’ trial. She had never seen the falls like this and she had never heard of the rite of passage lasting this long. Harris had been meditating for over ten hours. Delirin would have pulled him out hours ago if she thought that she could do it safely. The Dream Tender jellyfish that lived in the falls had surrounded Harris shortly after the trial began. After swarming around him in a frenzy, well a frenzy for jellyfish, they picked Harris up and floated away into the middle of the falls with him.

Delirin could still see exactly where he was at due to the light generated by the jellyfish suspending him in the curtain of water. The Dream Tender jellyfish were truly magic creatures, as in they were probably more magic particle than flesh. Reaching Harris right now without a way to fly would be next to impossible and extricating him probably even more difficult. Deldes had left hours before for Eastern Tear,the wild elf village a few miles to the west of the alpine lake on the plateau. She was going to petition Elder Beluar Ilinerios for assistance. There was no one more likely to understand the strange events at the falls, but she wondered if Deldes could convince Beluar to come if he knew that a human was involved.

Just then the Dream Tenders began to pulse with a rainbow of pale colors, the kind that show up in the winter when a rainbow forms from high altitude ice clouds. They spread out slowly to reveal Harris, now apparently fully conscious as they lowered him back to the base of the falls. Before he was halfway to the ground Delirin gathered her wits about her and rushed to meet Harris with the journal and a fresh robe. Once the Dream Tenders lowered Harris into a sitting position on the same stone seat from which they had plucked him hours earlier, the jellyfish returned to their usual shade of luminescent blue and began to drift off across the falls.

Harris met Delirin’s eyes as he spoke, “You were right, that was pretty cool and I do feel a bit stronger. Wow, though, that was chilly. A real weenie shrinker. I actually remember the dreams pretty well, so I’d like to record what I can as soon as possible, but before that can you help me get over to the fire? My muscles are so cold and stiff that I don’t think I can walk properly.” As Delirin helped Harris to one of the split log seats by the fire she couldn’t help but laugh. It had been a weird couple of days and if Beluar showed up with things like this she was going to get an earful.