Julian had already started mending his inter-system ship when it happened. The events that were to follow would change his little blue planet of Earth forever. Julian didn’t know it yet, but he was the first.
He sat, cross-legged, relaxed and arrogant in his supremacy over an empty universe. His mind was focused intently on patching the fuel filters: no easy job, even for such a clever engineer.
Julian knew that he was clever, but he also knew that he was doomed. He was too clever, clever enough to know that he wouldn’t be able to fix the engine with the limited resources that he had, clever enough to know that he would die on this foreign planet, in this eerie solar system under the wrong sun. All his life Julian had dedicated to being clever, to solving problems more quickly and efficiently than anyone else, the hours he had poured over IQ trials and aptitude tests: all in the pursuit of that vital knowledge: How clever am I? How much of a genius resides here? Because, you see, Julian was unwanted as a child, unwanted and unloved. And he hoped, beyond all hope, that if he was clever enough, if he was special and gifted enough, that one day he would make a difference, that he would matter.
Now, the irony was that Julian’s intelligence and knowledge led to accurate estimations. Julian’s intelligence gave him an early realization of his own damnation on this far away plane. If he believed in wishes, he would have wished for ignorance, blissful, beautiful ignorance washing over him like a cool wave.
There was a deeper irony afoot, that Julian, despite his magnificent brain power, was unaware of. The irony was this: it would not be intelligence that helped him make his mark, but sheer, blind luck.
Julian didn’t know then that credit Coins would bear his picture along with the greats. He was oblivious to the fact that they would call him The Father, the Great Adventurer, the Explorer. If someone had, in those instances, arrived in a time machine from the near future, it was a fact, obvious to most people, that they would have fainted with excitement being in the presence of Julian Carteign and upon waking would most likely have asked for his autograph.
If a time machine had arrived at that precise moment, the unlikely occupant would have heard the words that would often be pondered on for generations, they would have known the answer to the question that no-one could answer: What did Julian Cartwright say to the first "otherwordly"?
Julian threw his screw driver complex down in a fit of rage. Tears lined his eyes. He was going to die.
“I wish” he shouted aloud “I wish I’d had sex. Why didn’t I have sex? Why didn’t I have love? Why didn’t I find a friend in that lonely place?”
It came to Julian, at that moment, that this distant planet was no more isolating and lonely to him that the earth upon which he had been raised.
Once more he called into the abyss “Why?”. Just this once, because the abyss was feeling extra brave, an answer came.
“yap”
Julian was startled by this sound. First he put it down to fear, hallucinations caused by the knowledge that without food and water he would die here.
“yap” came the sound again. Julian turned around quickly, glad not to be wearing his space suit.
“yap, yap” the sound, no, the voice urged. Julian came face to face with a women.
Her face was strange, her eyes were bigger than anyone else he had ever seen. Her jaw was narrower. She looked, he chuckled, like an alien. An alien? An alien?
“Have you been stowing away on my ship?” he asked quickly “well, it’s done you no good, because we are isolated and help isn’t coming. So, you’ve just dug your own grave”
“yap, meeemee, merkh” she said.
Julian waved, it was all he could think of . She waved back at him, quick to mimic his response.
“yap” he said optimistically.
“yap” she said.
This was brilliant, she might have food, supplies and best of all those cowards back on Earth would send their fastest ships here. Hell, the ones orbiting this solar system would arrive in less than 24 earth hours. He would be saved, they wouldn’t abandom him after all. He slowly crept around the woman, smiling continuously. He crept into his space ship and closed the door. From inside he watched her through the window, ensuring that she wouldn’t escape and make a fool of him.
“Hello” he said, picking up the caller. “Hello, anyone there?”
“This is Ace speaking. What is your situation?”
“Its Julian Carteign”
“Damn it, Julian, we’ve been over this. We cannot come to get you, its impossible. We’ve requested permission from Command central but we got a refusal. You go at your own risk, buddy, you know that.”
“Listen, shut up, will you?” Julian barked gleefully. “I’ve got something to show you” He opened the door and called the women over. He waved the caller frantically to grab her attention. She raced over and started touching his sleeve gently. She rubbed her head against his shoulder.
“yap” he said to her. “Yap seer hoo” she answered with energy that he admired.
“Do you hear that?” he asked Ace.
“You got somebody with you?! Who’d you take? Gina? You better not kill Gina, man, she’s the hottest thing on the station”
“Not anymore,” Julian replied with a smirk.
“What’s going on man?” Ace inquired.
“Life” Julian answered “alien life and I’m talking to her.”
“Well, I’ll be damned, Adam and Eve’n it,”
“Get a ship out here now” Julian commanded “I’m about to be the most famous man on the planet, in the universe.”
“I can’t believe this” Ace roared with laughter “JoJo” he shouted to one of his colleagues “change course.”
“I’m at…” Julian began.
“I know your co-ordinates” Ace interrupted. “We will be there. I’ll let Earth know.” “Great” Julian breathed, closing the ship door, leaving the woman outside “we should call this second Eden, man, cause it’s our second shot at paradise. You should see this women, Ace, she’s amazing, and her touch makes me tingle.”
“You’ve touched her,”Ace said with alarm..
“Don’t worry, man, Julian laughed. “There will be more of them”
“No, listen Julian” Ace advised with authority in his voice. “It’s not safe, you don’t know anything about this woman, about these people, If there are more of them near by. They could be cannibals, savages. Stay in your ship. We will be there in seven hours. Lock her out, put up your shields and stay in your ship.”
“You’re overreacting,” Julian barked “I was going to die and now I’m not and she saved me”
“Be careful, that’s all I’m saying,” Ace replied. “Strength in numbers, that’s what I’m saying.” He seemed flustered, alarmed, excited, mostly confused.
Julian realized, to some extent that the impact of what he had discovered was vast. But his near-death landing had buffered him against the shocking reality of his encounter. His emotions were everywhere and he was torn between staying put and interacting with this wonderful creature, this amazing discovery.
“I have to stay” he said “there could be more of them, they could attack me”. His reason was failing to convince him, but he enforced it anyway. The thing that bugged him was that he had called out for sex, for love, for friendship and it was as if the heavens had responded with a miracle. He felt that it was meant to be.
“No” he said. “Stay put until Ace comes.”
Would Ace take over? He hadn’t thought, until now, beyond his own salvation from imminent destruction, he hadn’t thought about the fame and the glory. He was the first. A terrible thought entered his mind: what if Ace killed him and took the credit? What if Ace pretended to be the one that had found all this? All that glory and honor and money and fame would go to him instead, all the houses and women and celebrity parties. Men had killed for less.
Frantically Julian grabbed the caller. “Anybody there?” he urged, praying that Ace wouldn’t hear his message and be the first to respond.
A scratchy voice replied "hello, hello” and then it was gone.
In white-hot anger he thumped the controller. “hello” a voice said. He picked up the caller and held it desperately against his ear. The voice was faint but it spoke again “hello”.
“You have to come here, I’ve found alien life” he spurted out. He knew it was a clumsy way to say such a delicate thing, but he just wanted to tell it as quickly, as bluntly as possible. His caller was running out of energy. This stupid planet was zapping its energy.
There was nothing. It was all lost hope. Ace would come here and kill him.
“Hello” he spoke urgently. “This is Julian Carteign”
“Hello Julian Carteign,” the voice replied. He breathed out in relief. Someone could hear him, someone had picked up his co-ordinates.
“This is Julian with the Bellow 144. I found alien life, I repeat, alien life. Come to this wonderful planet, I repeat, follow my co-ordinates. Who is this?”
It all came out as one long, exhausted sentence. There was silence. Nothing.
It was hopeless. He stood there for what seemed like an eternity. It seemed as though time had stopped. Then the voice replied “Good to hear your voice. Nice voice.”
“Thank you,” he said. It was a female, those female captains were daft as ever. Women and space ships shouldn’t mix, he thought to himself. She was probably wondering what he was wearing.
“I will come to you” she said.
“Its going to be tough,” he replied “this planet zaps your ships energy. Be careful.”
“I will be careful. I will come to you.”
“Do you know where I am?” he asked “Do you have the co-ordinates? Can you pick them up?”
“I bet you’re really cute without those clothes.”
Women, he laughed, don’t they think of anything else?
“Oh, I bet you are,” the voice added.
“Have you been baking any special cakes?” he asked curiously. It was disgraceful, he thought to himself, the way some space captains indulged in every drug known to man whilst flying.
“I am coming to find you,” the voice said with a haunting laugh. He began to worry. The last thing he needed was some high, sexually-charged space captain on the scene. Even Ace would be better than that. Maybe they would both kill him together and share the victory, have crazy victory sex, create egotistical druggie space captain children. Damn Ace anyway, this was all his fault.
“Listen, don’t bother coming” he suggested with a whiny plead “but tell someone else, tell the other captains.”
“I’m not a captainn” the voice said. “I’m a princess.”
“Alright, Princess” he said nervously “you stay in your castle.”
“But I’m not in my castle” she added “I’m outside your ship.”
It was then that Julian realized the voice he was hearing wan’t coming from the caller. He realized he wasn’t sure where it was coming from.
“I’m outside your ship” the voice continued. He ran to the inner core of the ship and pulled up the sound proof shell. He wouldn’t hear her here. Still the voice continued. It was etched into his brain, it was talking in his mind.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“I am Qu.”
“Julian”
“Nice. You are nice.”
“How are you doing this?” he asked “Talking to my mind?”
“I talk to your soul. Don’t you do that in your land, your land of blue, of gray of all birds that are gray, of animals that look hard, like silver that move fast.”
“You’re reading my thoughts” Julian gasped.
“Make love to me, share my soul,” the woman said suddenly, passionately.
“Help me” Julian urged “help me to communicate with my other captains, in space.”
“You came down from the heavens” the women added.
“How can you speak American?” Julian asked.
“I speak in my language when I speak aloud. But when our souls talk, we speak not in any outer language but in an inner one of thoughts.”
“Oh, like the abstract neuro-linguistic language I studied back in the academy. We know so little on it.”
“You do not speak with souls in your world?”
“We hardly speak at all,” Julian said quietly.
“The pain, the sorrow. Oh, Julian you are sad, you are a sad, sorrowful man, so cold and lonely, such a lonely little boy. I want to make you happy. Lets share souls”
Those words lit up his heart. They rang true, no one had ever cared enough to wonder about him, to analyze him, no-one.
He opened the space ship door, and she stepped inside.
After they made love, Julian slept like a baby. He felt a new found sense of peace and tranquility. She called it ‘sharing souls’ he liked that term, because it was as if they were truly one for a few moments. Now the wave of sleep was irresistible, he could not be succumb to its soft, kind temptations.
When he woke he was looking at his own body. It was a startling experience which made him jump up out of the bed. Had she somehow morphed into him? How had she changed her shape? Was he still dreaming?
She or He or whatever it was stared back at him, smiling pleasantly. Julian watched his own curious eyes bright with desire and delight. He stepped backwards his foot hit the wall behind him. The pain. He looked down at his feet. They weren’t his feet any more, they were hers. She laughed whimsically and looked into his eyes. Her smile turned to confusion, she couldn’t understand his panic.
“Sharing souls,” she whispered kindly.
“I want my body back” Julian thought to himself. She read his mind “But its soul share” she replied aloud.
She giggled delicately and moved towards him. The noise from outside startled them both. It was a ship landing, it had to be Ace. Julian ran outside forgetting his clothes, he had to tell Ace what had happened: together they could force her to give him back his body.
He scampered outside towards the ship. It was Ace, alright, he had come to rescue Julian and see the alien. The ship doors flew open and the large, dominating figure of Ace emerged, breathing in the air of the new world.
“Julian” he called. Julian tried to reply but in this new body he could not work the vocal chords to speak American. Every word came out as an alien one. He could hear Ace’s thoughts, they were full of panic and confusion. Julian ran towards him, Ace pulled a gun on him. “Stay where you” he growled “Where is Julian? What have you done with Julian?”
Julian tried to find the Princess’s thoughts, if he could show her to Ace then it would all be cleared up. He could feel her running, she was scared by the new stranger. She could see the anger and the pride in Ace’s heart, and she had fled at this sign of danger, leaving Julian trapped in her body.
The tranquilizer shot hit Julian quickly, he tried to fight the sleep but he couldn’t. He fell helplessly into Ace’s waiting arms. Ace took the half-sleeping body on board and went to search for his colleague. He returned a few minutes later shaking his head.
“What did you do to him?” He roared.
Julian didn’t reply, there was nothing he could say.
Ace sighed aloud, shaking his head “I told him to stay in the space ship” Ace moaned “If only he’d listen. What a pity, he was a good man.”
“He was a good man,” he snarled “and you killed him. I’ll make sure he’s remembered though: as a hero, as the first to discover this world, as the first to make contact. As for you, your body will serve as a good research tool, I can’t let you live after what you’ve done to him”.
Ace raised the gun and fired. Julian smiled. He would be remembered as the first.