The day before departure, Levi went down to the colonists to say, "goodbye". Alex wanted to tag along and Levi gladly took her in tow. Drastically different from their last departure from Earth, those people had become wild. Exposing the animal under the thin veneer of civilization had been a disappointing reminder that humans had a long way to go to become citizens of the universe. But today is going to be a bittersweet goodbye. Sad Atlantis and her convoy had to sail for farther shores, but happy the human race would go on here as guests, and eventually, partners with the Te'Hat.

After they landed, Levi knew who he wanted to see first. He found her in the garden where this all started before. "Hello, Anna."

Anna Houser a little surprised. "Oh, hello, Captain," "I didn't expect to see you or anyone from Atlantis again."

"I wanted to stop by and thank you personally for everything you did for us here on Searth. What you did, and more importantly, how you did it set the stage for many positive outcomes with the relationship between the humans and the Te'Hat. I know that I have thanked you before, but I wanted to show my gratitude as well. A little something that generations of your children can look to for remembrance." Levi turned to Alex who accompanied him, and she gave the captain a small box. Levi took the box and handed it to her. Anna opened it and saw a plaque made of glass with a gold medallion embedded in it. The medallion looked to have a picture of a human and a Te'Hat on it. The inscription in the glass read: This plaque is to commemorate Anna Houser for her courage and vision in establishing friendly relations with the Te'Hat and paving the way for humans to live here on Searth.

Anna became dumbfounded. "I don't know what to say."

Captain Metcalfe smiled. "Just say that you will continue to be a voice of reason for the human population."

"I will, Captain. May I follow you back to the dome? I assume that is where you are going."

"Yes, I am making a farewell speech at dome two in about a half an hour."

"Well, we better get going then." Anna smiled and dusted herself off.

The farewell speech had been a standard issue farewell. Levi wanted it to be special but could only come up with the usual things you say when saying, "goodbye". He wished the new immigrants to this planet good luck and praised them for their courage and determination. And expressed how sad the Atlantis people were in leaving them behind and not together on the new home that they sought.

Afterward, he shook a lot of hands and had many small conversations with individuals. A few hours later, he returned to the shuttle and headed for the Atlantis. Alex put her hand on top of Levi's and smiled. "They're going to be alright Levi. They're a good bunch."

"I know." He said. "It's like a parent having to let their children go so they can grow up. You know they will be okay, but inside, you still worry about them."

"I think it's normal for you to feel that way. It means you're still human." Alex smiled again and gave him a little peck on the cheek.

The next day Atlantis and her companions left orbit and said goodbye to Searth. They had only been underway for a few minutes, and Sonny directed them to look aft towards Searth. There, the blue and tan planet behind them began to emit pulses of light. "Wow!" Levi exclaimed looking at the bridge view screen with the rest of the crew. "They're using the Guardians to give us a sendoff!" Indeed, the planet pulsed the laser lights in some coded pattern.

Sonny translated. "The colonists and Alice wish you a safe journey and find a new home. The Te'Hat wishes you good fortune and happy hunting."

Levi was astonished. "How about that! Clever work on Alice's part. Helm, continue on course and make best possible speed to the probe."

"Best possible speed, aye, sir," the lieutenant repeated.

Three weeks later, the probe lay just ahead. They were out of the main part of the system with the planets and moons. However, just like in the Sol system, the debris field of comets, asteroids, and planetoids hung far out from their inner big brothers.

"Captain Metcalfe," Sonny said.

"Yes, Sonny. What is it?"

"I am in contact with the probe. However, it is not our probe anymore."

"What do you mean 'anymore'!" Levi immediately understood the ramifications.

"I mean someone has tampered with this probe and sent it back to us," Sonny said flatly.

"Get out of there! It is probably a trap set for you!"

"It is too late," Sonny said. "I do not detect any malicious code or trojans."

"Well, let's have the data packet. Show it on the view screen. Do not dump it into my brain."

"Acknowledged," Sonny replied. "Captain, why did you close our direct link?"

"It is a precautionary step until I am completely satisfied that you have not been contaminated. I want you to start on a level five deep diagnostic scan."

"Acknowledged." You could almost hear Sonny sigh.

The view screen changed to reveal three entities standing at different distances from the probe's camera. They were biped humanoids with no apparent sex. They had large eyes and an enlarged head. The size of the creatures was hard to tell without any other references.

"We bid you greetings. We are not hostile. We are not harm you. We will communicate. We will arrive at the origin point." Then the transmission stopped.

Levi's face screwed up with confusion, worry and curiosity all rolled together. "Hmm. Well, that was short and sweet. Alice?"

"Yes, Captain Metcalfe."

"Are you still tethered to Sonny?"

"No. As soon as the situation became abnormal, we separated and no longer share data. This has happened before during the insurrection, and so I prepared for it."

"Good. I want to limit my use of Sonny until he has completed his level five diagnostic."

"That will take twenty-two days and nine point two hours." Alice calculated.

"Thank you. I will inform the Consortium and my section chiefs there will be an emergency meeting. I need your attendance at both."

"Acknowledged, Captain."

Levi called his section chiefs together and addressed them in the bridge conference room. "The probe we sent to Kepler-62 has found something or someone on its way to its destination. They modified the probe to carry this message to us." He played the recording. Levi motioned to the Admiral.

Admiral Johnson spoke to the section chiefs. "It doesn't take an E-human to figure out that whoever that is, knows who we are, where we are from and has a good idea of our technology. We, on the other hand, know next to zip about them. We cannot ignore the message because our new contact lies in the same direction we must travel to our next destination. Atlantis is not likely to slip by them. I am opening the floor to any options."

There were murmurings around the table as the captain and the admiral waited for ideas to surface. Major Deanna Taylor from life sciences spoke up first. "Admiral, an axiom which always stuck with me was 'trust but verify'. I think we should plan on meeting them based on trust but find some way we can verify their intentions."

"It seems they want to communicate with us. We do not know if they can lie or deceive," the Admiral added. "How can we know?"

"Alice? Any suggestions?" The captain called to the air.

"While there are many options, all have an unacceptable risk to benefit ratio. We cannot know anything unless the Atlantis makes contact. Unlike the Te'Hat, who were technologically inferior to us, we will be dealing with the opposite situation. We must proceed with caution."

Levi thought it just the tension in the air, but Alice's prognosis had an ominous tone to it. "Alice is right about one thing, we won't know anything unless we contact them. They know where we are. They could take us out if it were their motive. I also feel this is like the reverse situation of the Te'Hat. The new contact will be confident in dealing from strength and not see us as a threatening entity. When you have all the cards, you can afford to be generous. However, this does not make the other guy feel good that his destiny is in someone else's hands. I don't think we can ignore them either. However, it is an option we could test. See how respectful they are of our privacy. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, and Alice for your input. I will convene an emergency meeting of the Consortium so that decisions can be made and disseminated."

The captain adjourned the meeting and notified the Consortium the emergency meeting would take place in a half an hour. He asked Admiral Johnson to take a stroll with him. They went to the nearby park for a change of scenery. The pretty plants and animals running around and geese in the pond provided a calming mood.

Levi was grim. "This is a difficult spot, Leo. It seems no matter what we decide, it will have an element of extreme risk. There is no upside at this juncture. How do you choose?"

"Well, this is the part of being the boss that sucks. You are sure to get the blame no matter what you do. Unless you get one hundred percent positive outcome, there will always be people who said you shouldn't have done it. If I am going to get the blame no matter what, I usually do what I think is best and screw everybody else. At least I can live with myself that I did the best I could under the circumstances. When you have little data to hang your hat on, intuition must replace confidence. You know; your best guess. What's your best guess, Levi?"

"I have been running it a million times in my head since first hearing it, and I mostly feel that they want to tell us something. Tell us what, I don't know. Something useful. Maybe they knew the neutron star swung through and they wanted to help. Maybe it's something else entirely. Like, don't go over there, it is a dangerous kind of thing. And maybe they have sucked up whatever lived on Earth and don't want to expend the energy to chase after us, so they sent a message to lure us in for the taking. Who knows! On the other hand, by going there, we risk the entire species wrapped up in this ship. This ship.... Hey, I just realized something. I forgot that we are not one ship. We are four! We could send one ship to make the first contact and pave the way for the rest of us. This way in the worst-case scenario, we lose only one ship."

Leo pondered that for a moment. "It sounds like our only option." "However, we do not have faster than light communications. We must fire off a probe to pony express a message to us. If the contact ship is destroyed before a probe can be fired off, or is retrieved by the alien ship, we are just as blind and deaf as before."

"Not quite," Levi said. "Not if we do it right. If we set off a series of probes which can give us clues in case the unthinkable happens, it could be a way to tip us off."

"Yes." The admiral stroked the mustache and goatee he sported lately. "We would be getting these status reports periodically to act as breadcrumbs for the contact. The only thing is, what if the last probe has been manipulated to lure us in?"

Levi frowned, "We can stick a nefarious answer to anything we can cook up, but in the end, we are still left with the same decision. I think the only thing we can do, Leo, is either ignore them and see what happens, or we meet them and find out what the hell is going on."

"Agreed," Leo said.

"We need to get to the meeting, Leo. Let's catch a car over there. I hate to be late for my own meeting!"

They were two minutes late. "You're never late," Chairman Rocha said. "This makes me feel this meeting is even more urgent."

"Sorry for being late Madame Chairman," Levi apologized. "I lost track of time."

"Lost track of time? You? Now I am worried!" She had clearly been unsettled. Izzy closed her eyes and took a deep breath and let it out and opened her eyes. "What do you have to report, Captain?"

The captain brought them up to speed on the recent events and explained the options that had been discussed.

Dr. Zubov's grim face reflected the room's mood. "Can we trust these aliens?"

"Unknown," replied Levi.

"What are their intentions?" Dr. Allen asked.

"Only that they wish to communicate, and mean us no harm," Levi said.

"If we meet with them, how do we know we will be safe?" Dr. Allen asked.

"We will have to ascertain this on the way." The captain replied.

"Who will make first contact, Captain?" Dr. Iverson asked.

"We are refining that option," Levi replied.

Izzy spoke again. "We understand that you are bringing us information more than answers, Captain, to apprise us of the current situation. The decision is whether to ignore them or to contact them. Correct?"

"Correct, Madame Chairman," Levi replied. "If we ignore them, they may seek us out just to find out why, or to destroy us. Either way, we are right back to the chances of good and bad outcomes. The authors of the message could leave us be if they interpret ignoring them as a request for privacy. It is unknown."

General Zhou spoke up for the first time. "I have been analyzing the discussion. It would seem the shoe is on the other foot."

Izzy lifted an eyebrow perplexed. "The other foot, General?"

"The Te'Hat," the General reminded them, "were in the same situation. There had been much fear amongst them about how to proceed. In the end, they decided to send an emissary to ascertain our intentions. The Te'Hat realized that we were not immediately hostile but did not know if our business on Searth would be bad for the Te'Hat. We eventually became good friends. Now whether this turns out to be the same outcome is uncertain. But I do know running out will give us neither peace of mind nor information. The universe is BIG. Humans must learn how to live in this big space. We may encounter bullies, and we may encounter friends. What we cannot do is to be shy about our intentions for living in this universe. We must make our way however it ends up. We may not survive. It is a possibility. But we must TRY."

Izzy, clearly affected by the speech, stood up. "Well said, General Zhou. I agree with this line of thinking. How do you feel about this?" There were nods around the room. "Good. Captain, we are on the same page about sending an emissary to contact the authors of that message if it is your decision as well."

"It is, Madame Chairman," Levi acknowledged.

"We will leave those details up to you. Keep us informed. Meeting adjourned."

The General caught up with the captain and the Admiral outside of the meeting room. "You said you were going to send one of the ships to the new contact. Is that right?"

"Yes, but I am rethinking it. I'm just about to talk with the Admiral here about it. You sound like you have something to say. Come with us to Chuck's Place. We will have a beer and good conversation."

"I need a drink about now," the General said.

At Chuck's Place, they took their seats at a table as Chuck approached. "Good to see you boys in here today. Looks like you're about to have an officially, unofficial meeting. By the looks on your faces, you look like you need some beer. Tell me what you want, and if you sit over there, I can see that nobody bothers you."

"Thanks, Chuck," Levi said. They made their orders and proceeded to the booth he pointed out. Chuck came back quickly with the beers and some finger food, then politely left them to their private discussion.

General Min Zhou took a long pull on his beer. "I had been thinking, Captain, we do not have to send the whole ship to the new contact. Perhaps we could outfit a small ship to race ahead to find out their intentions. We would lose only a small ship and a few men this way."

"Yes," Levi said, "Leo, and I was just going to discuss that very idea. We can be informal here amongst ourselves, Min. You know the Admiral and I don't see too much of you. We read your reports, and speak at the meetings, but never informally. Can I ask why?"

"Well, I suppose it is mostly because you have never asked me. It's alright though, I am very busy, and you are very busy."

"While it may be true, it is good to let your hair down once in a while. My apologies if I have made you feel left out. It doesn't have to be lonely at the top, you know."

"Thank you for saying so, uh, Levi."

"Good, well, back to business," Levi said with a smile. "As you were saying we could optimize our risk versus benefit by using a smaller ship to scout ahead."

"Who could we choose to send on this trip, Levi?" Leo wondered.

Min took another long pull on his beer. "Well, it is why I brought it up. I want to lead that mission. You need someone with a lot of experience both with diplomacy and military analysis."

Levi was shocked. "Min, we need you here."

The general stared at his two peers with a resolute purpose. "Look, since leaving Earth and then leaving Searth, I have felt more like a paper pusher, not a real General. Atlantis needs a real fully functional General."

"You are," Leo countered. "You know as well as I do that it is a lot like being a fireman. Long stretches of boredom punctuated by short bouts of sheer terror. Are you feeling alright?"

"Yes, I am," Min said. "I guess I want to make a significant contribution to this mission, and I'm offering my services. What do you say, Captain?"

Levi knew Min well enough that he would not make a spur-of-the-moment decision. Min is a good analyst, and he believed in information driving decisions. Levi also understood this was as much a personal decision as a courageous one. "Very well, General. Choose your men. Make them a good mix of civilian and military. You want opinions from all sides when you're at the front."

"Copy that." The men sat and finished their beers and left for their respective stations. Chuck had been watching them the whole time. He could tell there was trouble ahead, and it didn't make him feel very good about what might lie ahead for the Atlantis and her crew.

About a week later, space dock outfitted a security craft with higher wattage laser cannons and stripped down to carry the necessary supplies for the trip. Except for the laser cannons and the bigger engines, security ships were designed like a regular shuttle. They could go fast if they needed and bite back if forced into a corner. It had been the best they could do for them. They were also outfitted with ten small probes. Each of them had the capacity for going about ten light-years at about fifteen times the speed of light. They were to drop one off at strategic points along their journey for the Atlantis to find. The security shuttle will be going at about twelve times the speed of light and will arrive about two-thirds of a year ahead of them. That's a long time to hide if necessary. General Zhou took a coding specialist with him in case they needed to program a probe for "special duty."

The time had come to say goodbye. Levi was there to encourage them and see them off. Levi shook the general's hand. "Don't forget, Min, the beer's on me when you get back."

The General smiled back. "I believe I will have champagne!"

"Champagne, then. Don't forget to drop us a line now and then."

"I won't, Captain Metcalfe," Min said.

Levi clapped him on the back and let him go get settled. Levi understood. He half wished that he could go. The thrill and excitement. The dangers and the puzzles. Discovering something new.