Page 128 - The Chronicles Ser2 (6-10)

thanked the young man but said she was fine; he pointed to a locker at the side of the bed and a
screen. She retrieved her cleaned and pressed uniform and went behind the screen.
“What is your name young man? I don’t want to be impolite by just calling you Orderly” she asked
“I am Called Alejandro Metsali Ma’am; May I ask your names… So I can enter them into the records
officially?” he replied. Misha gave her name and her rank. When Trok spoke the young man nearly
jumped out of his skin. It was obvious he had never confronted such a wonder as the Mechanoid in
his short life. A sound from beyond a pair of doors signalled the arrival of the young man’s
“superiors”.

Alejandro went outside and the two of them could hear an exchange in Atalaman between
him and two; possibly three individuals outside. One expressed the same astonishment when told
about Trok. That voice was obviously female. The others sounded male but muffled and low. The
doors swung open and Alejandro held one aside to allow the visitors to enter. One was a younger
male in what appeared to be some sort of robes of office, there was an older female in a similar
coverall to Alejandro and the last an elderly male in what looked like some kind of military fatigues.
They approached Misha and Trok and the elderly male spoke first.
“I am First Minister and Advisor Rene Panhedran; this is His Highness Prince Julio Panhedran and this
is our Chief Archaeologist Lyris Valderna. We had thought our peoples had been cut off from the
outside galaxy by the Wall; which is what we call the barrier that you passed through. Your craft are
remarkable; you may relax they are safely stored in a hangar at the nearby Military Base with explicit
instructions they are not to be meddled with. I take it your people were responsible for the
messages we received. Forgive us if we have not yet responded as we were having difficulty in
translating some of the last parts” he announced. Misha introduced herself and Trok and confirmed
that her people were responsible. Trok asked a question in Atalaman to which Julio laughed then
spoke back in perfect Interlac.
“Your accent is terrible but please don’t be so formal. My title may be inherited from the old formal
regime, but I am merely a figurehead my Advisors and others do the actual governing. We still have
a legacy of the old Feudal system in our ranks and titles but we adopted a more democratic system
once our ancestors realised they were trapped here. It just made sense that we settle and explore
our new realm. I’m sure you have as many questions about us as we do about you. May I take this
opportunity to offer the hand of friendship and ask a pertinent question?” He said holding out his
hand to shake theirs in turn. “Are you at all hungry?” he asked.
“Actually; now you ask, I really am hungry, what do you suggest?” Misha replied. Trok declining
politely and asking instead to be taken to their speeders to check the recordings of the warp
distortion they encountered; Rene took him to the hangar and the Julio guided Misha and Lyris to
the Refectory.

On board the Hellion the probe was being examined further; the radiation levels having
dropped to just above normal background levels. It was; according to the temporal signature, over a
thousand years old. The signals that it had radiated out came from an automated system. Most of
the other systems were dormant and had been so for some considerable time. Its surface was
heavily pockmarked where its shielding had weakened or collapsed. Markings on the hull did seem
to bear some semblance to an early Krall script, but with obvious differences, the Krall having been
known to have long ago discarded their written script in favour of a phonetic electronic variant. This
seemed to be a descendant tongue of the original Krall or a contemporary cousin.

Because of the size of this ancient craft; it was no surprise to find that scans showed a
hidden chamber inside. What was found inside was the real shock…
“I’ve seen ancient historical records from before the Economy Wars about this legendary craft. One
of Mankind’s first deep space probes. I believe it was called Voyager 1; one of two such probes. It
was hoped that some spacefaring race would come across them and decipher the message discs
they carried. I wonder what our ancestors would make of our discovery that one of them at least
was discovered by an “alien intelligence”” Bryce said when he saw the scans of the object in the