Tevun-Krus #50

Prime Contact - @JJMarmite

And, of course, his stubbornness eventually paid off.

One can only imagine the jubilation there must have been in SETI Command – now renamed 'Avarice Entertainment Interstellar Entertainment Division' or AEIED – when the first reports came back revealing that an Earth-like planet had been discovered and that it contained life of sufficient similarity for the next stage of the scheme to be viable. The probe was set to remain in orbit to scan and absorb all it could from below while the Second Phase was launched; advanced Flat-Space drives (a recent addition taken as a prize in a corporate firefight) would see it there within weeks, long enough for AEIED to learn all it needed to learn.

The planet was nicknamed 'The Set' (official Avarice Entertainment International designation: LV-426) and extensive observation of its surface and its natives proved everything that could have been hoped for and more besides. Its inhabitants were sufficiently analogous to humanity to be practically identical, though in a stage of development roughly similar to the early to mid medieval period.

This was so perfect a set of circumstances that Mr. Red very nearly wet himself out of pure joy. Several of his closest confidents and cronies had less luck with their bladder control, but such accidents were acceptable when emotions were running this high. So many champagne bottles were uncorked that one unlucky intern lost an eye, and at least two people were hospitalized from carbon-dioxide exposure. Good times were had by all regardless.

Everyone waited with bated breath for the second phase to begin; the enormous and vastly expensive Second Phase Probe emerging from Flat-Space a little ahead of schedule to rapturous applause back at AEIED. Already television networking managers were being massaged and plied with promises of the most thrilling entertainment event they or anyone they'd ever know would get to witness. An entirely new channel was forged; millions of viewers glued to sets displaying only a blank screen such was their desire to see what was being promised to them.

The Second Phase probe arrived in orbit around The Set exactly on time and started its pre-programmed tasks. It elegantly split along its seams, separating into its various components which began to descend through the atmosphere of The Set like so many fiery comets. The natives – awestruck by the sight – fled to their leaders for guidance but their kings and queens were just as dumbfounded as their subjects, unable to do anything but stare upwards as the blazing objects soared overhead.

Meanwhile, the Second Phrase probe busily seeded billions of cameras across the planet, ensuring good angles on every possible scene. The tiny, almost microscopic machines flew hither and thither, viewing everything and sending it back through their relay-hubs back to the master-hub which still hung in orbit, broadcasting everything back home on a super-fast tight-band connection. Those at AEIED watched with hungry eyes, knowing what would come next and eagerly awaiting it. Plastic sheeting had to be pulled over the consoles to stop the drool from interfering with the equipment, such was their desire.

The Second Phase probe's remaining sections split further, a different section landing in what the research had deduced where the most prominent kingdoms and landmasses on the planet. Landing with earth-splitting force they struck deep, burrowing and cracking through rock and becoming as immovable as mountains. Glowering, ominous obelisks of hardened steel and high-technology they awaited the approach of the natives, who did not disappoint, flocking to the probe-sections in droves.

At this point, it started being televised, as this was the start of the action. The viewing public had already been worked into a frenzy by a tightly-executed marketing campaign that had seen remarkably few casualties given its quality. The teeming mass of humanity crowded around their eight-by-fourteen tele-walls to watch the next great event in human history – first contact with another alien species via the medium of high-calibre entertainment.