Houston, We Have A....

To: President Hoover                                    From: Tillia Mischulani

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW                     Return Address: N/A

Washington, DC 20500                                 

Dear President Hoover,

I hope that this letter finds you well, although I know it will come as quite the surprise. I understand the shock you must be facing right now, thinking that this is some sort of weird joke, but I beg of you to finish reading before making a decision whether to take action or never think about this again. My crews very life depends on the action that I hope you take. Please, I beg of you as I write this as swiftly as I can to get all of the words out, I beg that you take my words into careful consideration. Four lives depend on you. But please, hang with me as I start from the middle, and end before the end.

Everyone always thought that when the aliens came, everything would change. That they would be intelligent and understand how the universe works. That they would be able to explain cutting-edge mathematics and technology, that they would be so far advanced that our minds would barely be able to handle the information they provided. This was not the case.

Much like on Earth, the only aliens that were in the know were the ones that needed to know. Much like how my little sister used a cell phone or her computer without knowing a thing about how the system works, the aliens that traveled across the systems to our lovely little planet knew very little about the technology they wielded other then how to operate it to get the desired results. That didn’t necessarily mean that they were completely useless to us, but the tension that built when our best scientists and engineers asked questions that were responded to with blank stares, could have been cut with a knife. Or so I heard through the news reports that came over from the planetary office.

I would like to tell you more about the little green blobs with three legs, no arms, and the one piercing violet eyeball that was shared between them in turns, but I was not there on Earth when they came. I, having had trained for forty-five years, since I was fifteen for this exact job, was already out of our solar system. Now, you may be thinking, they sent 60-year-old women into space?! Well sir, they did. When you reach the age I am at, very little surprises you anymore. At this age, no one cares enough about continuing their life for decades to come to be fearful of the unknown. We welcome it, we welcome the chance for any new adventure before the universe takes back what is rightfully it’s.

So now that you have the very basic information, let me tell you about what the aliens did provide to us. As I was floating towards the edge of the milky way in the ship named after my mother, Annibelliam, we received a direct broadcast that pinged to the window at the front of the ship. “Directional Change Confirmed” it stated. I yelled for the crew who came rushing in to join me, we all stared at the screen, at the words.

“Houston,” I called through the radio, “We have a….”

“I’ll stop you right there,” called the ground team.

That’s when we learned, the only truly important information we gathered from the green blobs with one eye between them. That’s when we learned that there was a mirror close to where we were, and we were being directed in that direction. A MIRROR, in SPACE! My crew members were shocked, but I was not. As I stated before, I am at the age where I more then expect the unexpected. I welcome it.

I asked for what we were supposed to do to the mirror, I held my breath as the minutes passed without an answer. Finally, a member of the ground teams voice came through, “Go into it, explain what you see for as long as you can before we lose contact.” My mouth remained closed while the crews dropped to the floor. Suddenly, the sound of horror surrounded me as the crew realized that this was basically a suicide mission. I grinned. This is exactly the adventure I had trained so hard for.

Days passed, maybe months, it’s hard to tell when you have been up in the cosmos for so long, but finally, the mirror came into view. First, a tiny speck in the vast, endless, nothingness that was never truly nothingness at all. Then, as I got closer, it stretched and stretched until it was the only thing I could see through the front window. The reflection of our ship was the only thing visible in it, surrounded by a bright white light that seemed to come through the center.

My team had abandoned ship days ago, more willing to go through the horrifying death by space then they were to discover something new. I shook my head at the cowardice, we were as good as dead either way, may as well explore one last time. I could not stop them as they jumped from the ship. Their screams as they floated away from the ship, away from each other, will forever haunt my mind. Thankfully, I only have a few more days to be haunted by it. Here I sit. Waiting.

As I sit here, as I inch ever so closer to the mirror in space, I must ask one thing of you. If we had had escape pods that could get us back home no matter where we were in the universe, my crew would be safely on their way back instead of being torn apart by meteors at this very moment. If we had finished the technology that we have been working on for over 100 years, my crew would have had a choice, not being a choice between death and the unknown, but between living and exploring. So, I beg of you that you start on that technology now. Get the ball rolling, as so the saying goes. Start on this project now so that maybe my crew members, who I had grown closely to even though you may not think so through the words that I write, could get a chance to stay alive. Please, start now so that Lukita, Joshialo, Markeyyl, and Yayloma will have the chance to turn back.

Their hopes and dreams lay with you now,

Tillia Mischulani

Date: 19^th of July, 2189

***********************************************************

I close the letter and lick the seal, knowing that it was most likely in vain but needing to send it anyways so that if I should die, I could do so easily and without regret. My mind wandered to the days shared with my crew, with my sweet Joshialo. But he had chosen to end his life without me, he did no follow me into the only death I had ever wanted to have. I had never thought him a coward, but now, I knew that he was. Tears stung my eyes, but I quickly swiped them away. Standing up, I went into the back room where the date transporter stood. Placing the letter in the small box, I dialed in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500, DATE: 1931

“Houston…. I am closing in on the mirror”

“Tillia, what do you see?”

“I am roughly 9.5 KM out, there is light coming from the inside, but I can not tell from where. The reflection of the ship is the only object I see.

“I am roughly 8 KM out, the light grows brighter, the spaceship bigger, the mirror wiggles.

“I am roughly 5.5 KM out, the mirror is shaking now, like it knows that I am close, I can faintly see the details of my ship in it.

“I am roughly 3 KM out, the light grows brighter, the details on my ship coming into view. It is so bright, it is so large, it is so beautiful.

“I am roughly 1.5 km out, something is not right. The details on the ship in the mirror… they look…. They look off, Houston.

“I am roughly .5 KM out. The ship in the mirror, the person in the ship in the mirror, they match my movements but, Houston, that is not my ship. That… that’s not me. It’s… green. With one big eyeball….

“I am .1 KM out, I see clearly now. This is not a mirror at all. The mirror is a disguise…. But what... what is that?

“Houston, this is not a mirror… this is a window. A window to a universe that is indescribable in our language, so much like our own but in every single way it is different.

“Bright lights of every color in existence and imagined… they shine out at me. The green blob waves. It took out it’s own eye and passed it behind itself, to who, or what, I do not know. But Houston…. Houston…

“Houston, we have a….”