First Contact

It was in the summer of 2020 when the first signs of extraterrestrial intelligence were discovered. It wasn't a signal from a distant star, nor an ancient wreck found orbiting pluto, nor a "flying saucer" warping out of phase space 5,000 feet above the white house. What it was, however, was a wake-up call from space. Someone's here and they are coming to answer the door.

It was just a simple asteroid on a long arc, until that fateful day, August 10th, 2020, when it blinked with the light of a star and was suddenly headed for a collision course with Earth, T minus six months.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, all of humankind's Big Questions were about to be answered. What did other life look like? How did it work? How would it talk? What sort of technology did it have? Was it friendly? Hostile? Were we about to be invaded, or showered with interstellar gifts? Would they even notice us? Should we send them a message? Should we get ready to defend ourselves?

Waves of panic rippled through the population, starting with a rash of suicides and murders. People assumed the worst; canned food and gasoline prices rose to a new high. Absenteeism was rampant. The global economy suffered the fastest drop in its history, and leaders the world over tried to placate their citizens. "Nothing significant is going to happen" they would say, with much more flowery language and hand waving and serious pauses then were ever necessary. "Just go on buying things and working hard and this will be no different than any other historical event." Right. Only the most significant discovery in human history. No big.

After the initial shock there was a kind of realization: We don't know anything about them, except that they are coming. Telescopes revealed nothing, and with only five months and three weeks left, every country with any space history to speak of scrambled to assemble a working space ship with a haste capable only by those staring into the headlights of an oncoming train. Wars stopped and anger seemed to be paused as the entire planet looked to the stars with a new fear, and perhaps a dash of hope.

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Recap:

Aliens are coming and you are an astronaut on a ship sent out to meet them half way.

It's the near future, so imagine space ships essentially as they are now, with minor improvements.

Meaning, heat absorbent tiles, free fall, reaction thrusters, lack of fuel (presumably these hastily prepared ships are packing just enough fuel to match the aliens' trajectory and maneuver for landing), EVAs, mission control, etc.

What advancements to space travel have been made in nine years? What sorts of ships would the various space-faring countries of the world assemble on such short notice? How would people approach an interaction with a real alien race?

I have a cool idea for an alien race, but I don't want to say what it is until the last moment just to keep it a bit more mysterious.

Open to suggestions on this, which is why I posted it. :D

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/npwmgkMxmnk/viewtopic.php

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