Alien Perception

Subject: Congratulations on the Hard Work

To All GAIA Shuttle Development Staff,

As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, the launch was a resounding success. We wish to thank you so much for all the effort and extra time you’ve put into this project. Four months ago, we were theorizing about where we would launch our next deep space satellite, and today we find ourselves launching a manned shuttle to Pluto with the intention of making contact with whatever lifeforms sent out the radio signal that we received. This goal was only able to be achieved thanks to countless overtime hours, thousands of coffee cups and back of the napkin calculations, and, most importantly, you. We hope that you’re as proud as we are with what we’ve done together, and will keep you updated as events unfold.

Thank you for all your hard work,

Astrid Rose (she/her), Head of GAIA Space Program

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Subject: Weekly Meeting Notes

To All Mission Control Staff,

The following is a quick summary of all the major points discussed in our weekly all staff meeting. If you weren’t able to attend, please make an effort to do so in the future, as it is mandatory and encouraged. Additionally, some of the information presented may be time sensitive, so we ask for your attention.

Although GAIA launched without major issue, the communications array was slightly damaged as it exited the upper atmosphere. This is not something that can be fixed while in flight, and as such we will have to make do with limited communication between us and the shuttle. This means all communications must be run by your supervisor or me before being sent out, in order to optimize the limited amount of data we can send their way.

Additionally, only text files can be sent, along with MINIMAL low resolution images. This is true for both directions of transmission, so don’t expect video files to come our way, unfortunately. The first contact facilitation team has been notified of how this will have to affect their advising process, more details will be provided as they’re ironed out. The PR team has also been alerted that they’re not gonna have any video to show the public and are prepping for a briefing now.

Our second major note is that all shifts have been restored to pre-crisis times, and all the overtime that was logged has been approved, as the higher ups recognize all the work that has been put into cramming for this momentous event.

Next, the twice daily all staff memos/updates will now only be sent out once daily, as the urgency of our work has slowed somewhat now that the shuttle is safely out of the upper atmosphere and making its way to Pluto. 

Finally, I’ve been asked to remind all of you that when taking lunch outside of the control room you are not to leave plates behind anywhere. Although it’s likely that these plates came from one of the other teams on base, we should all make an effort to keep it as presentable as possible, if only to keep PR from freaking out again next time they have to lead reporters through here.

I know Rose said it earlier, but I would like to reiterate her congratulations on all our work so far. However, we’re not done yet, so please don’t start slacking off. Her words, not mine.

John Johnson (he/him), Head of Mission Control

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Subject: GAIA File Transfer 137

File Transfer to Mission Control from GAIA Shuttle

First contact has been established. Our report is as follows. We will wait for advice from the first contact team before furthering efforts, as the first impressions do not fit easily into our base flow chart. 

REPORT OVERVIEW

Species: annelida filum

Appearance: fuzzy worm on string toy

System of government: anarcho-communism

Culture: n/a

Threat level: yes

File Attachment.

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Subject: Fwd: GAIA File Transfer 137

To Astrid Rose, Sam McCann, and Percival Smith,

Attached is the file sent by the shuttle team detailing their findings regarding the creatures that attempted to contact us from Pluto. It appears that due to the limitations we’re working with in communication with the shuttle, the signal was intercepted by some hackers who decided it would be a funny joke to replace whatever resources our astronauts might have tried to provide with silly jokes. Sorry McCann, but you’re gonna have to improvise. 

Select members of my team have been alerted to this, and are trying to investigate how the hackers were able to access this information. They’ve been told to try to keep this quiet, so hopefully it won’t leak, but if it does I’m copying Perc so he can prep damage control.

If you want to change or relay anything I’ve started to do, Rose, that’s fine, I just wanted to get a jumpstart here. Time is very much of the essence. 

John Johnson (he/him), Head of Mission Control

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Subject: GAIA File Transfer Hack

To Johnson, McCann, and Smith

Johnson, thank you for taking quick action. Having read the report, it seems as though your initial hypothesis of outside interference is likely. Please continue having your people investigate possible programming flaws, both so we can patch them out and avoid future issues, and also possibly retrieve the missing data. Also please send a message out to the shuttle alerting them that we believe their report has been corrupted, and ask them to resend it.

Smith, it seems as though as of now the hackers have not chosen to go public with a ransom for the information, but you should prepare for this to be the case. Also prepare for the possibility of both us attempting to keep this under wraps, and the possibility of us announcing it to the public. I will alert you which course of action to take after consulting with the board. Please try to keep this to just you, and check over the confidentiality clauses for anyone the others need to let into the loop.

McCann, please prepare to send out a condensed version of your completely blind first contact protocol, as well as the protocol for a species that communicates entirely differently than humans, and one that has been customized for the data we received, on the slim chance that that is actually what was encountered. If you need to bring members of your team into this, do so, but please alert me when you do so that we can keep everything under control.

Astrid Rose (she/her), Head of GAIA Space Program

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Subject: Extra Work!

Perc and McCann,

Looks like we’re gonna have to put in the extra hours! Any idea if we’ll be able to get overtime off this? 

Joking aside, I’ve attached the list of people that I’ve let in on this for you to look over and inspect, as well as the notes from our most recent session where they let me know what they found. I know it’s not technically either of your jobs to look over this, but if you have a moment I’d appreciate you taking a glance and giving us a fresh perspective.

Also, McCann, please let me know when you have the protocols, as the delay in message sending is measurable, and we want to get back to them as quickly as possible.

- John

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Subject: Re: Extra Work!

Johnson and McCann,

Overtime seems unlikely, particularly because it appears that the board has decided to keep this on a need to know basis, so filing for too much overtime would tip off more people that something is not going according to plan. I recognize that you were joking, but this is a massive amount of work that we’ve had to take on, especially as I apparently have to do all the prep on my own to minimize leaks. I may send drafts your way to make sure they fit the exact actions you are taking. I may also need to bring in my coffee pot from home.

Rose has had her discussion with the board, and despite my advice they’ve decided to try to keep it under wraps. If this leaks it’ll be a shitstorm, but I guess we’re jumping on the ‘cover it up and try to hope it doesn’t leak without us and we can roll with it’ wagon.

On a more serious note, I’m confused why we have jumped to hackers as the issue instead of data corruption or some difficulty on the other end. In my experience, hackers are quick to leak the data to the public or blackmail the company for it, and don’t frequently corrupt the information and then do nothing. So either we were so vulnerable that a hacker did this purely as a joke, or a hacker is not the most likely solution. Or they’re trying to goad us into keeping it secret and then they’ll let the public know we have nothing to ruin our image. Perhaps I’m being paranoid, but nevertheless... I’ve asked Rose what her thoughts on it were, and she told me to relay the possibility to you, but to also keep the story as hackers, as that is still the most likely solution. 

All the people you’ve let in look alright John, just based on what I know about them and was able to dig up it doesn’t seem as though they’d be likely to leak.

Finally, I don’t wish to broach the subject with Rose now, as it seems as though she’s under enough pressure, but I find myself wondering why we didn’t up the security on the transmission signal once we realized that that would be our sole form of communication with the ship.

Please let me know when you’ve decided who to bring on board, Sam. Also I’d ask that you both send me any reports you may have, both for fact checking/accuracy of any potential press releases, and to satisfy my own morbid curiosity.  

Percival (he/him)

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Subject: Re: Re: Extra Work!

Perc and McCann,

Sorry to hear about the lack of overtime, Perc, hopefully you can keep it under control. I agree that the hacker angle doesn’t quite fit, but it’s the solution that makes the most sense, so I guess we’re going for it. I certainly hope you’re just being paranoid, but you’re right that it doesn’t quite fit, although (it pains me to say) I have less experience in this than you. It is, quite honestly, not our job to come up with theories, just to make sure that whatever Astrid decides is our course of action works out.

Good to hear my people sound like they won’t be the leaks, although I could’ve told you that myself, given how well I know them.

We did in fact increase the encryption on the signal when we realized we would be relying so heavily on one form of communication, and it wasn’t anything to scoff at to begin with. That’s part of why I’m so surprised that this is how it went south, although I agree with your sentiment that it would’ve happened somehow.

John

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Subject: Re: Re: Re: Extra Work!

Johnson and Smith,

I apologize for the delay in responding to these messages, it has been a very hectic few days. Attached is a list of the few members of my team who I have gotten aid from, for your use, Percival. I’ve also attached a document containing the updated requested first contact procedures, and will summarize it below in case you want to quickly get the gist of it.

As the creatures are smaller and presumably more delicate than humans, be aware of your surroundings and careful with your movements, but do not compromise your suit in order to do so, even if you believe it to be safe. If you feel as though you may not fit into a space they lead you to, attempt to politely raise awareness to the situation, but trust that they will also be able to recognize any difficulties that may come about.

With an anarcho-communist political system, we recommend attempting to endear yourselves to the people, instead of any particular leaders. Additionally, minimize any trade attempts and focus on diplomacy, as anarcho-communism is not particularly conducive to economic stability.

We noted that you marked culture as “n/a”, and wish for you to elaborate on this point. Even if the culture does not fit traditional models, it is clearly nevertheless there, as a cultureless species would not have anarchist tendencies. Please elaborate further so that we can advise. 

Overall, given the amount of information you have been able to gather, it seems as though at the very least you have been able to initiate contact and begun communication. Good luck!

That’s just a clip of it, mostly for your use, Percival. The full document to send their way is attached, along with the other pre-made protocols, although they should already have copies of those on the shuttle.

Sam McCann (they/them)

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Subject: GAIA File Transfer 139

File Transfer to Mission Control from GAIA Shuttle

First contact advisement documents have been received. The copy of our report on the creatures that inhabit Pluto that you forwarded back to us is indeed the version that we originally sent, and all the advice we received lines up. We are just as confused as you are, yet can safely say that hackers are not the problem.

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Subject: Fwd: GAIA File Transfer 139

To Astrid Rose, Sam McCann, and Percival Smith,

We’ve received confirmation from GAIA that they received our files, but it seems like we weren’t hacked? We upped the security on the transmission as best we could, and there were no signs at all that it was intercepted. This is in addition to the astronauts themselves apparently debunking the theory? So props to you Perc for guessing that, but it’s not really gonna help us anymore, because now we’ve got no clue what happened. One question I’ve got is how the astronauts were able to figure out this much information as quickly as they did. Quite honestly, I don’t think any of us expected a report this detailed until at least a few days (our days) after first contact, but apparently they just made contact?

Anyone have better theories? Or theories at all?

John Johnson (he/him), Head of Mission Control

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Subject: Re: Fwd: GAIA File Transfer 139

To John Johnson, Sam McCann, and Percival Smith,

Despite the ongoing mystery, it seems as though we should take the information that we have received at face value.

Johnson, please continue relaying all information that we receive to everyone on this thread. Also, although it’s not your job technically, I’d ask you to try to come up with other possible explanations if it turns out that we haven’t just made contact with sentient, anarcho-communist, cultureless, fuzzy worm toys from Pluto. You do seem to be very fond of coming up with them anyway, I’m just asking you to share them with me as they come up

McCann, it seems as though your advice has been received and given you have given enough backup variations that they should be able to handle second contact without any more revisions, so no immediate action is needed.

Smith, make sure to be on top of all the steps everyone here is taking, just to be ready to answer any questions we may have to answer about them. Additionally, prep for a press conference within the next couple of days. I think now that we can confirm it’s not something on our end, the board will probably be in favor of going public.

We’re not over the hump yet, but brilliant work so far.

Astrid Rose (she/her), Head of GAIA Space Program

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Subject: GAIA File Transfer 140

File Transfer to Mission Control from GAIA Shuttle

We were reviewing the footage we captured of first contact for the first time last night, and have realized that our perception of the species does not line up with the footage, from the visual perception of the creatures to our memories of what we learned from them. In fact, as the footage shows it, we stood there for hours, just looking blankly at what appears to be a cloud of gas. 

According to protocol, we wrote our reports on our experiences separately from each other, and all of us simultaneously hallucinating fuzzy worm aliens seems unlikely. All signs show that the lifeforms here are nevertheless not hostile, and appear to be attempting communication. However, perhaps their form of communicating with each other has caused strange modification of perceptions in humans. Should we attempt to adapt first contact protocols or retreat? Please advise.

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Subject: Fwd: GAIA File Transfer 140

To Astrid Rose, Sam McCann, and Percival Smith,

Guess that explains it.