Edge of Earth Orbit — Approaching the Gate
The alien gate loomed ahead.
Massive, dark, ring-shaped, rimmed with pulsing geometric symbols.
It wasn't just big — it radiated scale, making even Earth's orbiting megastructures seem like toys.
Energy rippled across its surface, as if the very fabric of space was flexing and warping.
Inside their sleek hybrid vessel, Julian sat strapped into the command chair, the System's interface glowing faintly at his temples.
Aya's voice crackled over comms.
"Gate readings spiking. I've never seen numbers like this."
Lenya's hands trembled slightly over her engineering console.
"The fold engines can barely hold stabilization. This is not a clean transition."
Vega grunted from weapons control, fingers twitching.
"Tell me when I can shoot something."
Julian's eyes locked on the shimmering ring ahead.
This wasn't just a jump.
This was a threshold — a point where space, time, and perhaps even identity bent into something new.
System Warnings
Inside Julian's mind, the System pulsed urgent alerts:
<< WARNING: COGNITIVE LOAD MAY EXCEED HUMAN TOLERANCE DURING TRANSIT.
WARNING: PHYSICAL PARAMETERS OF DESTINATION UNKNOWN.
WARNING: IDENTITY COHESION RISKS DETECTED. >>
Julian gritted his teeth.
"System — engage phase shielding."
<< Engaged. >>
The interior of the ship shimmered, overlaying their physical bodies with protective data sheaths — quantum-stabilized armor for minds, not just matter.
Aya's eyes widened as she felt it.
"This feels… weird."
Lenya gasped.
"Julian, this isn't just shielding. It's anchoring us — keeping our identities locked during the crossing."
Julian nodded grimly.
"Good.
Because the moment we enter that gate, we're no longer just travelers.
We're data moving through something alien."
Crossing the Boundary
As the ship aligned with the gate, the alien symbols pulsed in perfect synchronization.
A wave of energy washed over them —
and the ship lurched.
Reality twisted.
Colors bled into sounds.
Up became a question, not a direction.
Aya screamed, clutching her head as the neural interfaces overloaded with impossible input.
Lenya's voice came through fractured:
"Julian… systems… tearing apart…"
Vega bellowed something primal, fighting to hold himself steady as time fractured around them.
Julian felt the System surge — flooding his brain with stabilization code, locking his consciousness in place, even as the universe warped.
Through the distortion, he saw it:
a glimpse of something vast beyond the gate.
Not just a star system.
Not just a planet.
An architecture —
alien, ancient, possibly alive —
spanning light-years, pulsing softly in the dark.
The ship shuddered one final time —
and they were through.
The Psychological Toll
The vessel drifted, silent.
No one spoke.
Aya stared blankly at the console, eyes wide, tears streaming silently down her face.
Lenya sat crumpled in her chair, shaking.
Vega's hands gripped his restraints so tightly his knuckles had gone white, bloodless.
Julian, gasping for breath, felt the System gently easing his mind back into coherence.
He touched the comms.
"System — status?"
<< Crew cognitive integrity: 84%. Physical integrity: 97%. Vessel systems: holding. >>
Aya whispered hoarsely:
"I heard voices in the transit… but they weren't human."
Lenya's voice cracked.
"I saw… places. Memories. Things I can't describe."
Vega muttered:
"I just want something solid to shoot."
Julian sat back, exhaling slowly.
"We made it."
Outside, through the viewing panels, they saw it:
a vast alien system, unlike anything in human charts.
A sky of three suns, swirling artificial constructs, and a massive ring-world stretching across the horizon.
Aya's voice trembled.
"This… this isn't exploration, Julian.
This is first contact."
Signals Await
Suddenly, the comm systems flared.
A signal.
Not noise, not random pulses —
a structured, directed message.
Julian's heart raced.
He glanced at the System.
"Translate."
<< Incoming transmission: WELCOME, TRAVELERS.
PLEASE REMAIN IN ORBITAL HOLD FOR INDUCTION.
YOU HAVE BEEN OBSERVED. >>
Aya's breath hitched.
"We're not alone."
Julian smiled faintly, adrenaline surging again.
"We never were."
Orbit Over the Alien Ringworld
Julian's ship floated in the upper atmosphere, orbiting a ringworld so massive it distorted the starlight.
Alien signals pulsed softly in the background — structured, waiting.
Aya worked furiously at the comm station.
"We're holding as requested, but they're not sending more than basic anchoring signals."
Lenya tapped nervously at the energy readings.
"Julian… are you seeing this? The gate's residual energy is building back up behind us."
Julian narrowed his eyes.
"Like they're sealing the way back?"
Vega grunted.
"Maybe they don't want us leaving once we've seen this."
Julian's mind raced through System overlays.
This wasn't just about diplomacy.
It was a test — or worse, a trap.
First Strike: The Predators
Without warning, the ship's proximity alarms screamed.
Aya gasped.
"Unregistered contacts, fast approach! I'm counting four, no — six!"
On the main screen, sleek, spider-like vessels darted toward them, moving with inhuman precision.
They weren't part of the diplomatic group.
These were predators — hunters lurking in the outer reaches, waiting for new prey to slip through.
Vega jumped into action.
"Weapons live!"
Julian's System surged with data.
<< Shields at 92%. Hull integrity stable. Recommend evasive maneuvers. >>
But as Julian scanned the alien ships, he saw the problem:
they weren't just fast — they were phasing slightly out of normal space, slipping between dimensions, bypassing most conventional defenses.
"System," Julian barked,
"options!"
The System flashed an idea into Julian's mind —
a clever, desperate one.
The predator ships relied on partial-phase cloaking, anchored by a specific environmental frequency.
If Julian could disrupt that frequency… he could force them fully into this dimension, where Vega's guns could hit them.
Julian's eyes darted to the ship's stores.
They had exotic gases aboard, including argon and xenon, used for the fusion drives.
Mixed properly, ionized, and injected into the surrounding space…
they'd create a resonance fog that shattered the phase cloak.
Julian barked to Lenya:
"Reroute the drive exhaust through the aft dispersal nozzles, saturate with ionized xenon — now!"
Lenya's jaw dropped.
"You want to chemistry-hack the vacuum of space?"
Julian grinned tightly.
"Exactly."
Fight for Survival
As the predator ships swooped in, the Helios crew flooded the local space with glowing, charged gas clouds.
The moment the xenon hit the predator ships' anchor fields, their cloaking flickered — and they snapped fully into visible space.
Vega roared triumphantly.
"Targets acquired!"
Particle cannons blazed.
Two predator ships shattered in the first volley, spiraling into burning debris.
The others regrouped, circling like wolves.
Julian pushed the System harder, feeding it tactical predictions.
"Aya, lock their communication bands. Lenya, overload the next xenon burst — blind their sensors."
Aya's fingers flew over the jamming array, Lenya's eyes blazing with adrenaline as she overloaded the dispersal lines.
The next burst hit like a hammer, flooding the zone with charged particles.
Blinded and exposed, the remaining predator ships tried to flee —
but Vega was faster.
One by one, they fell.
Aftermath and Realization
Silence.
Only the soft hum of the ship's systems remained.
Aya collapsed back into her chair.
"Julian, how the hell did you think of that?"
Julian exhaled slowly.
"Gas-phase resonance and phase mechanics — it's basic, if you've been studying the System."
Vega snorted.
"Basic? I call it insane."
Lenya looked up, pale.
"That wasn't part of the official diplomatic welcome, was it?"
Julian's eyes darkened.
"No.
That was something else —
something lurking at the edges, waiting for anything that slips through the gate."
The New Challenge
Suddenly, the comm systems lit up.
A voice — calm, ancient, non-human.
<< Congratulations, travelers.
You survived the first threshold.
Now… the real induction begins. >>
Aya's face drained of color.
"That was the test?"
Julian smiled faintly, adrenaline still burning through his veins.
"Looks like we passed."
He turned to his team.
"Get ready.
We're about to meet whoever's really behind this."