Language Barrier

A neat little sci-fi piece I did in November of 2008...


"Language Barrier"


“Transit error. Dropping into Realspace now”
Oh what the hell.
I keyed off the book reader. My reading would have to wait.
The ship slammed to a stop, or at least it felt like it. Realspace was so slow.
“Transit error. Realspace location shown on main nav display”
I looked up at the nav screen and saw a pretty blue and green planet hovering in a black void.
“Planet designation Sierra Oscar Lima 3”
I pushed the auto orbit button and waited a few seconds.
“Auto Orbit malfunction. Auto Land sequence initiated.”
I pushed the override button really hard.
“Command Override malfunction. re-entry in 14 minutes.”
This was not good. As a matter of fact, this sucked.
“Landing coordinates plotted. On main nav screen.”
I saw the blip located in the southern corner of the smaller northern land mass.
The auto land system was bad. It never seemed to get it right. I was in for a rough ride.
I slid the control keypad out from under the console and tried to override the system
If nothing else, it passed the time until I started my re-entry.
“Re-entry mode initiated”
My seat slid back, the console went to the stow position, and I was committed.
For the next few minutes, my little scout ship was a bright stream of fire and heat across this planets upper atmosphere. I was a shooting star.
“Auto land commencing”
All I could do was hang on.
The only thing I remember about the landing was the noise. There was a lot of it.
I undid my harness and popped the hatch. Breathable atmosphere. That was a plus.
I had already set off my emergency locater beacon. The Patrol guys would find me soon enough.
Maybe I will do some sightseeing first.
I called up the data on the planet I had found myself on.
Pretty generic place. Kind of in the middle of nowhere, but worth a look.
The main life forms here were similar to me anyways.
No record on tech levels, or any language samples.
Great. I was the first one here.
I grabbed the recon kit from the aft compartment and headed west .
I figured that any locals would have seen my re-entry and I has spotted a few settlements as passed over them. I always liked to meet any new contacts half way. A little less threatening that way.
The language barrier would be a problem, but I had enough training on how to get around it.
Hey, thats what the Scout Fleet was for.
I walked up to the top of the small hill and saw the first signs of habitation.
It was a metal plate with alien lettering on it posted next to some sort of raised artificial surface that was layed out in a perfectly straight line.
I had no idea what it said.
Thats when I saw the alien machines coming toward me. Large green wheeled vehicles, with black sooty smoke coming from what looked like exhaust stacks.
Well, time to put on my game face. I loved my job. First contacts were always so important.
I glanced up at the metal plate and wondered what it said.
WELCOME TO ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO