Exceptional

The gentle hum of the sub-light engines was the only sound that broke the otherwise total silence in the darkened room. That was, until the tranquil quiet was shattered by the alarm clock on the bedside table lighting up and playing a rather distorted and loud rendition of the star wars anthem. A loud groan was emitted by the room's only occupant, who rolled over in bed and checked the time.

9:04 AM

The man groaned again. 'The admiral's gonna have my ass' he thought miserably to himself. Thankfully, not being military personnel meant he could have a clock that didn't run on military time. Frankly he could have adjusted to the official timeframe in the past eighteen months, but now he only hadn't because it irked the enlisted men to no end. He sat up in bed, only to hit his head on a low-hanging support frame. 'Why in Lucifer's name did they have to outsource the ship's construction contract to the chinese?' he mentally cursed for the several billionth time. Rubbing his forehead and cursing under his breath, the man reached over and turned off the alarm. Most people would call him weird for making his alarm the theme from a nearly six hundred year old movie franchise, but he told himself they simply didn't appreciate the classics. Besides, it's not like there wasn't enough stuff weird about him already.

He slowly got out of bed, stretching his sore muscles. He flipped on the light next to him and took in the rather spartan decor. The walls were bare metal, no wallpaper or ornamentation. Besides the single bed and nightstand, there was a military grade footlocker at the base of the bed, a small chest of drawers in the corner, and a metal desk and office chair to the right of the bed. A door to the left led into a closet that they had so flatteringly dubbed a 'washroom'. All the furniture save the footlocker looked like it had been bought out of the Ikea discount catalogue and assembled by blind dwarves with no fingers. Needless to say this was one of the 'V.I.P.' rooms.

The man began to go about his morning routine, something that had been drilled into him over the past year and a half. After a quick shower, he went over to the sink to brush his teeth. The person that stared back at him from the mirror was a young caucasian male, about six foot five, with a trim, somewhat athletic build. It always surprised him how well in shape he was despite his rather sedentary lifestyle. He had straight, shoulder length hair and a well trimmed beard. Despite being in his mid twenties, his hair was a stark white, which when combined with his pale skin and strange eyes, it gave him a somewhat unnatural look.

'Oh how accurate that is....'

Ah yes, his eyes. They were a pale, sickly, yellowish colour, with pupils a bit too small and irises a bit too big. Even though he'd had them since birth he had never quite gotten used to seeing them in the mirror. They were....well.....creepy. Since everyone else found them just as unnerving, that was one of the few things he could put on the relatively short list of things about him that were normal.

His inner musing were interrupted by a beeping sound from the room proper.

“Doctor Ackerman, you're wanted on the bridge” came a cold, female voice over the ship's intercom.

“And a lovely morning to you too, Jessica” the man said in a voice thick with sarcasm.

“Just get your ass up here, Phil. The admiral's riding my ass like his prize pony.”

“Really? You didn't seem to mind it so much when I did it” he teased, knowing full well the reaction it'd have.

“Just shut up and get up here. And if you mention that again in front of anyone, I swear to god I'll use your nuts as a puck for the next fleet hockey championship” she hissed back, her voice dripping with venom. Phil knew it was more then an idle threat.

Returning to his room, he opened the drawers and got dressed. He put on his favourite blue blazer and slacks, a white dress shirt, and his lucky red and white striped tie. After grabbing a data pad from his desk, Phil headed out into the hallway. Bright, white lights shone down upon a bare metal corridor, lined with doors to the other V.I.P. Rooms, one of which was the admiral's, another the first mate's, the rest being empty. A few crewmen were going about their business, but they quickly scurried out of his way when they saw the doctor coming. Entering the lift, he punched in 'Deck 1' on the panel. After about five seconds of movement the lift stopped, and the computer said in a generic female voice “Now arriving on Deck 1: Bridge”

'Ah, the beauty of living on Deck 2....'

The doors opened onto a cavernous, square room. The floor was lowered in a sort of U shape around a central walkway. Banks of computer consoles lined every wall on the lowered floor, with dozens of crewmen buzzing around like workers in an ant hill. Higher up, three out of the four walls were taken up by what was essentially a giant window, looking out into the vast expanse of space. In the centre of the room on a raised dais were three chairs, two of which were in front of more consoles and were flanking the third chair in the middle. It was one of those big, fancy, spinny chairs with buttons on the arm rests like you would see in old 21st century sci-fi shows. And sitting in the big, spinny chair was a short, balding, and very irate man in his mid sixties who Phil recognized as the Admiral. On his right was his first mate, Captain Bert Statin, a decorated military officer whose bald head was a variegated tapestry of scar tissue, his expression unreadable, and to his left was none other then Major Jessica Oliver, a young woman of about Phil's age, with shoulder length auburn hair and a slim frame, who shared the Admiral's annoyed demeanour. Noticing the newcomer, the admiral spun around, his glare only intensifying at the sight of the doctor.

“Ah, and at last the good doctor graces us with his presence” he said, his gravely voice doing little to dispel the ungodly amount of sarcasm in those words.

“As always, I am fashionably late” responded Phil, not even the slightest bit irked at the admiral's tone. “Now what did I miss, something about hockey and ponies?” Jessica's frown increased a hundredfold, while Captain Statin's scarred lip curled upwards ever so slightly, but otherwise his expression remained stoic.

“Major, if you could fill in the good doctor”

“Of course, Admiral” the Major responded rather reluctantly. “I would like to point out that if Dr. Ackerman arrived on time, I wouldn't need to repeat myself. Furthermore,-”

“Your opinion is noted, Major. Now please, continue” the admiral ground out, sounding almost bored. He probably was. Frankly it was getting old. The intense animosity between the doctor and the ship's information officer was a favourite topic of gossip among the crew, and had even started circulating amongst the other ships in the fleet. One of Jessica's most hated rumours (and therefore one of Phil's favourites) was that they had previously been engaged in an amorous relationship, which meant she got quite a few sideways glances from the crew due to the doctor's......condition. Of course Phil was smart enough to neither confirm nor deny the rumours, but had let slip once that both she and him had been in the 'Orbital Bone Zone', as he had put it. She had nearly thrown him out the airlock before Captain Statin calmed her down.

“Anyways” she said through gritted teeth. “As you know, we entered the system dubbed 'Solaris', coined for it's oddly erratic solar orbit, roughly seven earth hours ago- wait where'd you get that coffee?”

Phil looked up from the inexplicably acquired coffee mug, which had emblazoned on it 'Universe's #1 Dad', with a confused expression. “Oh! You mean this coffee! Yeah I borrowed it off of some guy.....some guy named Gabbo...something....anyways, continue.”

“What do you mean you borrowed-”

“Doctor! Major! Focus!”

“O-of course admiral, sorry. It won't happen again.” Jessica took a second to compose herself. “As I was saying, out of the five planetoids in the system, two are inhabitable. The first is a cold, desert world with a barely breathable atmosphere and no water deposits, but an extremely high amount of mineral deposits. The second has a breathable, oxygen atmosphere, Earth-like gravity, and 70% of it's surface is covered by water-”

“Then send a mining ship to the rocky one and a colony ship to the Earth-y one. I don't see why you needed to drag me up here.....” Phil said sounding rather annoyed, before taking another sip of his stolen coffee.

“It's inhabited.”

Phil nearly choked on his coffee at that. Sputtering, it took him a second before he could gasp out “WHAT!?!?!”

“The planet's inhabited” she repeated.

He looked momentarily confused. After a second he said “Which one, the rocky one or the Earth-y one?”

“Which one do you think” she deadpanned.

“Oh, right.”

The admiral cleared his throat. “Well, doctor, as the Exploration Fleet's Anthropological and Behavioural Analyst, as well as our Extraterrestrial Relations Liaison, what is your suggested course of action?”

“And you said we didn't need one of those...” muttered Captain Statin, who the admiral silenced with a glare.

“Well......” the doctor took on a thoughtful expression. “What do we know about them?”

“Absolutely nothing” was the Major's response.

“Then how do we know they're there?”

“We can see extensive urban areas on the planet surface, and we've picked up a few scattered radio signals. They also don't seem to have any artificial satellites, so their technology level is probably pretty far behind ours.”

“Hhhmmm.....” Phil tapped his mug a few times in thought. “Send down a few probes to learn as much about them as we can. Try and learn about their culture, values, and beliefs. Determine whether they think like us or not, and whether they're a threat. If they're too alien for us to relate too on any meaningful level, we'll have to think of something other then just opening up relations. And remember, Stealth and subtlety should be key factors here. We don't want to freak them out and cause mass panic. We shouldn't reveal our presence until we're sure that the shit won't hit the fan. After that, we'll take it from there. Sound like a plan?”

The admiral smiled, a rare sight. “For once, doctor, someone on this tub has what seems like a good idea. Congratulations.”

“I'll make sure I don't get used to it, sir” he responded with a smile. Jessica was fuming over how much cheek he was giving the admiral, but both of them just ignored her.

“Alright then. Helmsman, take us in closer to Solaris III, but make sure we can't be spotted. Major Oliver, send the news down the grape vine, and get the probes ready to launch. Also I need to speak with the captains of the mining ships on diverting them to Solaris IV. Doctor, get over to sensor control, I want you to be the first to get a look at these things, and whether or not they have tentacles” the admiral shuddered involuntarily, but everyone either didn't notice or were polite enough to hide it. “Captain Statin, accompany Dr. Ackerman and make sure he has a tactical and strategic viewpoint should these things be a threat. Alright people, daylights burning! We've got rocks to drill and aliens to spy on, move it!”

“Yes sir!” chorused the bridge crew before scurrying to their assigned tasks, save for Dr. Ackerman who simply nodded before leisurely walking to the steps that lead down to the lower command deck. Turning on his chair, the admiral looked out into space, at the approaching form of Solaris III, it's similarity to earth sending a strange chill down his spine. It wasn't fear, no, it was determination, and perhaps even curiosity.

“Alright you alien goo-bags” he whispered to himself “What're you hiding.....”

*********

“Spike, what're you hiding?”

“Gah! U-uh, h-hey Twilight! J-just doin' my chores, hehe. I'm not hiding anything!” the little dragon laughed nervously, while obviously hiding something behind his back.

“You should have finished your chores hours ago” the purple alicorn said skeptically. He was sweating profusely and with every step she took forward he'd take one back.

“Spiiiiiike.....” Twilight tried to get a look at what he was hiding, but every time she tried he would turn so she was still looking at him straight on. After about a minute of this awkward dance, the purple alicorn sighed. “Fine, keep your secrets” she said as she turned and walked away. Spike let out the breath he had been holding.

“But....” she said, turning around. “You're forgetting one thing.”

“Oh yeah, what's that?” She didn't respond, but instead instantly disappeared in a flash of light. Confused, Spike looked around, only for Twilight to reappear behind him and telekinetically yank the object from his grasp.

“I can do that” she said smugly, finally getting a look at what he was hiding. “Oh it's just a magazine- wait, 'Tales from the Dark Tapestry – Issue #17: H.F. Passioncraft vs. The Cthulhoids'” she read aloud from the cover of what she now knew to be a comic book, which displayed a lanky unicorn stallion in a suit and tie battling with some tentacled horror in the vastness of space. Turning it over, she read from the back. “'Behold! The horrors of space! Delve into frightening true stories of encounters with maddening creatures from the Dark Tapestry, the black emptiness between the stars, where the laws of our reality are but a distant memory. Watch as heroes battle monsters from a madpony's nightmares, or succumb to insanity themselves-' Uggh! Spike how can you read this trite?! I thought I raised you better then that!”

“But Twilight, it's all true! And it's totally awesome! In this one part, the Cthulhoids try and suck out Passioncraft's brain with a bendy straw! But then he totally-”

“Spike! Not only is that not awesome, it is most definitely not true! First of all, the real H.F. Passioncraft was just a writer, and a very disturbed stallion at that. I admit I enjoyed his stories, disturbing that they may be, but he was the first to admit they were one hundred percent not real. What they've done is take a classic of cosmic horror and reduced it to....this. Passioncraft would be spinning in his grave! ......Well, for that and the fact that we now have pegasi and earth pony members of Parliament, but that's neither here nor there.”

“Furthermore” she lectured, continuing with her tirade. “The Dark Tapestry, the so-called 'emptiness between the stars', is exactly that, emptiness. As in, an absence of everything. There's no Cthulhoids or Yothians or Inter-dimensional Crawlers, and even though archaeologists have discovered fragmentary evidence that a race of intelligent, bipedal serpent creatures did exist at one point, they are long since extinct and certainly didn't bargain with eldritch creatures from beyond the realms of conventional sanity.”

“Oh come on Twilight! If the universe is as big as you say it is, then there's gotta be aliens out there somewhere!” the dragon responded with a huff, smoke trailing from his nostrils.

“Maybe there are, but they certainly don't come from the Dark Tapestry. And even if there is a race of intelligent creatures out there powerful or advanced enough to traverse the void of space, why in Tartarus would they want to come here! They'd take one look at our backwards world and run back to whatever nebula they crawled out of. Seriously Spike, you can't believe everything you read.” Twilight rolled up the comic book and levitated it over to the waste basket. “Now go get ready for bed, it's getting late.”

“Geez, way to suck the fun out of everything, Twi” Spike mumbled as he headed for the bathroom, shoulders slumped. When she was sure he was gone, she glanced around to make sure nopony was looking, despite knowing they had been completely alone (a habit she'd developed out of sheer paranoia). Seeing that the coast was clear, she levitated the comic book back out and quickly hid it underneath her pillow.

'I just want to see how badly it compares to the original' she convinced herself. As she waited for Spike to finish up in the bathroom, Twilight walked over to the balcony. The cool, night air was just cold enough to be refreshing. Taking a deep breath, she looked up at the sea of stars before her. She'd always loved the night sky, and now thanks to Luna's return she had someone to thank for it. 'Wow, the princess really out did herself this time.....wait, what's that?' She gazed up quizzically at a cluster of stars she didn't recognize, a few of them flickering oddly. 'I don't remember that being there' just as suddenly as they'd appeared, the strange, flickering stars vanished. All of a sudden, Twilight got the feeling of being watched, but it too, passed quickly. Before she had time to ponder it further, she heard Spike call her name, indicating the bathroom was free. Shrugging, she headed back inside.

'It can wait till morning'