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A Timeline Deviation Short

This story is part two of the 3I/Atlas Deviation short.

I’m watching as the loading bar slowly increases.

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It’s 3am and I’m wishing that I had splurged on the communications subsystem. Damn my frugal heart. After 23 minutes I’m sitting at 5%, at this rate it’ll be another seven hours until the packet is fully downloaded. Sitting back in my chair, I think about my Dad. If he is looking down on my right now, I’m sure he would be laughing. According to my calculations, his ashes should be emulsified into the coma of 3I/Atlas. The USS Frank Carver was programmed to autonomously release its hard drive, communication module and battery ten minutes prior to crashing into the interstellar object. This happened about thirty-five minutes ago. The signal was picked up by my antenna twenty-three minutes ago.

Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I shake my head. “Seven…. Hours!” I yell. My voice sounds heavy and tired. I hear clonking footsteps ascending the stairs outside my room. Dirk is programmed to investigate unusual noises. Laughing, I spin my chair to face the door and wait. The knob slowly turns and the door swings open. Stepping in, Dirk scans the room. Sensing me, it turns to face me. “Good morning, sir, I am investigating a noise. Do you have anything to report?”

“I do not Dirk, do you have anything to report to me?” Smiling, I wait to see if my update to Dirks logic subroutine has worked.

“I have sensed a loud noise on my audio inputs and a slight vibration that appears to line up with a person yelling on my vibratory pickups.” Dirk waits for my response. This is exactly what I was hoping. The last time this happened; Dirk ended up in a cycle of asking for reports.

“Great work Dirk, can you playback the sound that was picked up by your audio sensors?”

“Yes sir, please authorize.” A scrolling message runs across Dirks facepiece that says “Authorize”.

“Nine Nice Zero Seven.” I recite.

“Thank you, Daniel, authorization accepted.” A new message scrolls by that says “Playback”.

“Seven…. Hours!” My voice sounds grainy through Dirks speakers. Laughing, I tell Dirk to disregard the event. Turning, the tesla robot heads back to its base station in the kitchen.

Well, that burned five minutes. Turning back to my desk, I look at the progress bar.

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I drum my fingers on the hard top of my desk, mimicking the music from a horse race. It’s 3:07am and I’m tired. Picking up my phone, I set a six-hour timer and toss it onto the empty side of my bed. Pulling my shirt over my head, I stand up and pull the covers to the side. The bed is cool as I lay down and pull the covers over me. Dirk’s charger beeps, signalling that he has initiated a charging cycle as I drift off to sleep.

BOOOOM!

An explosion rips me out of my slumber. My house shakes around me as pictures fall off walls, and I hear dishes hitting the ground in the kitchen. My door swings open, revealing Dirk standing in the doorway.

“Good morning, sir, I am investigating a noise. Do you have anything to report?” Shaking my head, I wipe the sleep from the corners of my eyes. “No Dirk, I do not have anything to report. Do you have a report for me?” Dirks head turns to me, the word “ALERT” Scrolls across his face screen. “Sir, there has been a series of loud noises and seismic activity that is unusual for our location.”

“Gee, thanks captain obvious.” My feet hit the cold floor as I shuffle over to the window. Peeking outside I see a large crater in my front yard. There is a glowing orb located at the bottom. The light is pulsating in what appears to be a random pattern. Turning away from the window, I get startled by Dirk who has positioned himself directly behind me.

“Geez! Dirk buddy, you scared the hell out of me.” My head shakes slowly as I chuckle.

“Apologies sir.” The alarm still scrolls across the faceplate. “I recommend retreating to a secure location Mr. Carver.” The interaction feels weird. A noise yanks my attention back to the front yard. I watch as the orb opens, an eight-legged monster crawling out of the opening. My heart skips a beat as fear consumes my emotions. Turning I push Dirk, turning him around.

“Run Dirk!” The scream feels muted as we both start to run. I try to run faster but my legs won’t obey my commands. The feeling is of running in waist-high water. Stopping at the door, Dirk turns to me and motions for me to speed up. I dig deep, trying to increase my speed to no avail. At that moment, the window we were looking out of explodes. Glass shards spray across the room, some imbedding into my back and head. I don’t feel pain. Finally making it to the door, I turn to see the creature climbing into the window. The time it took to make it from the front yard to my window doesn’t feel right. The monster’s abdomen gets caught in the opening briefly before it tears the trim off the window and slides into my room. Frozen, I can’t move. Dirk pulls at my arm, trying to get me to leave but I continue to watch as the Alien creature leaps towards me, its jaws chomping at the air.

“Ahhhh!” I scream as I sit up in bed. Frantically, my eyes survey the room, all I see is the light coming off the screen saver on my computer. I breathe out a sigh of relief; it was just a dream.

The timer on my phone starts to sound. Searching my bed, hands still shaking, I find it under my spare pillow. My head slumps into my hands as I sit on the edge of the firm, memory foam, mattress. Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves, the realization hits me like a freight train. I shoot up and run to my computer. Wiggling the mouse, the screen saver ends and shows the progress bar in the centre of the monitor.

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“So close!” I yell out with excitement. Hearing Dirk disengage from his charging station makes me chuckle. I might have to work on that subroutine a little bit more. As Dirk makes his way up the stairs, the data pack finishes loading. A window pops up showing multiple folders.

· Temperature

· Speed

· Telemetry

· Inferred spectrometer

· Radio

· Laser

· Systems

· Photography

· Pressure

The one that I am most excited about is the folder labelled Photography. I double click the folder, opening another window. Images start to populate my screen. There must be thousands of thumbnail sized images filling my view. Squinting, I try to pick one that has the comet visible in it. I find one that looks like it has a small speck and open it. The green glow is evident as soon as the image opens fully. I start tapping the arrow to the right of the screen to progress through the images. With every click, the comet gets bigger and the glow shines brighter. After somewhere around three hundred clicks, things get weird. Picking up my phone, I text Charlie.

Hey Charlie,

Get over here ASAP!

My mouth goes dry as the logical part of my brain starts to take over. Maybe its lens flare, or distortion from the comet’s coma? I know in my gut that it isn’t and my stomach flips to confirm it.

Looking at the time, I see it’s just before 10am. I rub my eyes again and return my focus to the computer screen. My phone buzzes again. It’s Charlie, his reply is OMW.

Is this what I think it is? I can’t bring myself to advance to the next photo without someone here with me. My palms are sweaty and I’m starting to feel a little sick to my stomach.

“Good morning, sir, I am investigating a noise. Do you have anything to report?”

My heart jumps into my throat as I spin around, hands curled into fists. Dirk, the ever so helpful Optimus Robot just scared the living hell out of me.

“Damnit Dirk! Do I have to program you to knock before entering a room?” Lowering my hands, I laugh.

“If that is a task you would like me to initiate, the answer is yes. Would you like me to exit, knock, then re-enter?” Red letters scroll across Dirks face. Investigating in progress.

“No, Dirk, and the noise was me.” These robots have come a long way but still have a good distance to go.

“Thank you for confirming. Can I assist you with anything else sir?” The scrolling letters disappear from the face screen.

“Ya, Can you make me some toast Dirk? Peanut butter and jelly.”

“Affirmative sir.” With that, Dirk turns and heads towards the kitchen.

My phone starts buzzing frantically. I pick it up. Looking at the screen, it says, Incoming Call: Elon Musk. With a smile, I accept the call.

“Hey Elon.” I say, waiting for a response.

“Dan, did you receive the data?” Straight to the point as expected.

“Yeah, I’m looking at the images now. I’m seeing some weird stuff.” My voice trails off as I look back at the image on my screen.

“Really? What kind of weird stuff?”

“Well, I haven’t gotten too deep into the images yet, but I don’t think it’s a comet.” Squinting, I’m 90% sure it is a ship.

“Spit it out Dan.” Impatience fills Elon’s voice.

“I think it’s a ship.” The last word almost gets stuck in my throat as it comes out.

“Nice one, what does it look like?” He laughs with the question. Quickly, I zip all of the data and email it to him.

“Elon, I’ve just sent you the data. When you get it, open the photography folder and scroll to image 366.” If Charlie doesn’t get here soon, at least I can go through the images with Elon.

“Got it.” He goes silent, the only sound is the clicking of his mouse.

I hear a car racing down my laneway and slide to a stop outside. My front door slams open and footsteps pound across the floor and start up the stairs. Charlie bursts through my bedroom door, sweat pouring off his face and staining the armpits of his Dr. Pepper t-shirt.

“I’m here!” He yells, coming to a stop beside me, panting heavily. As his eyes reach the image on my screen, he stops breathing.

“Right?” I ask him rhetorically.

“Ok, Dan, the images are load…. What?..... uh, Dan?” Elon is in shock, the sentiment in my bedroom is the same.

“I told you man, I think it’s a ship.” We start scrolling though the images. With every click my sureness increases until finally, filling the majority of the image on our screens, is an alien vessel.

“Holey cow Dan.” Elon says quietly.

“That is the understatement of the year my friend. 3I/Atlas is an alien ship.” I sit back in my chair and look up at Charlie. His jaw is wide open, eyes glossy, and I think he might even be shaking a bit. I hear Elon say something under his breath. I think it was “she was right” but it was so quiet I’m not sure.

“Dan, I have to go. I’ll call you later.” With that, Elon hangs up.

I continue to advance through the images. At the point when the USS Frank Carver releases its communication payload, a lower resolution camera takes over. The images are still clear, but I can’t zoom in as close. Each image shows the Carver getting closer to the ship. I’m expecting it to hit, deconstructing itself all over the hall of the ship but an airlock door opens. The ship that I’ve spent the last few years of my life building is swallowed into the dark opening and disappears from view. The last image is just a bright light. I close the window and open my ships communication software to check the status of the ejected probe. I’ve lost all contact as the data stream shows nothing. Spinning my chair around, I find Charlie sitting on the end of my bed. The look on his face is a cross of terror and confusion.

“Dan?” Charlie says with an absent look in his eyes.

“Yes Charlie?” I reply, leaning back in my chair.

“Dan… what… is… are…” He is having a hard time forming a sentence, so I try to help him out.

“Charlie, it’s an alien ship and yes, I think it’s coming here.”

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