Memorial: Journal Entry of Patrick Teller

September 29, 2031

I've been at Lagrange Point 2 (LP2) for only a month and already I've managed to make an enemy of General Hajicek - only the most powerful person overseeing the Derelict Program.

Being hired to study the six alien bodies on the derelict, as chiché as it sounds, is the opportunity of a lifetime. Only five years ago, as a graduate student, I had serious doubts about xenobiology as a career path. We were still speculating about the best place to find life on Mars when the Derelict arrived. Suddenly xenobiology is the hottest field in academic study. It makes one feel a bit like a very lucky fortune teller.

My first impressions of the alien mummies was that they were big lizards but their physiology was fascinating. Their body style is not too far removed from ours with bilateral symmetry but all their vital organs are encased in a tortoise like shell with fascinating silica-like properties. And they even have blue blood! Chemical differences aside, it is clear that they were intelligent. They made use of technology that enhanced their bodies, had a symbolic language of some kind and, in the opinion of at least one of my colleagues, may have maintained ritual superstitions.

Spend any time with them and it becomes clear that the old movies never really did extraterrestrials justice. The stories were always so one-sided. Alien comes to earth, eats someone, destroys something, kills people, et cetera. These beings were of little threat to us, aside from maybe catching some exotic virus or germ frozen dormant for the last 10,000 years. Their lives were extinguished in some accident or catastrophe that their technology couldn't save them from which makes them seem as fragile as us.

I can't help wondering if there was someone they left behind on their world. Is there some planet where their history records that this vessel was presumed lost like some Greek trading ship on the ancient Mediterranean Sea? Does their history even remember them? They say that it is important not to anthropomorphize when doing this sort of studywork but it is hard to separate oneself from those kinds of thoughts when lab work gets tedious.

The General, on several occasions, has remarked that it is important to "know our enemy" when asked what our studies hope to accomplish. Some think he is just using a military metaphor to get a point across. My feeling is that it is something deeper and more primitive. After all, there's a good number of people who are afraid that we're looking extermination in the face. Some of the military minds around here have speculated aloud that the ship just "looks" like something military. But you'd think that after 10,000 years somebody would have come to claim it. The fearful seem to think that because the aliens are more technologically advanced, they would want to wipe us out. It's more of that movie-thinking coming into play.

I realized that these were once thinking, feeling, beings and they deserved some sort of respect. Some way to acknowledge that they were intelligent beings and not simply experiments to be studied.

I brought up the subject at a recent staff meeting. The General, in his famous Texas drawl explained the situation very bluntly.

"Son," he bellowed, "do you think I'm running an E.T. funeral home here? I'm not havin' a memorial for a bunch of dead aliens. Hell, I don't even know if they were religious!"

He addressed the rest of the room for effect and to ensure my embarrassment was complete, "Our job here, for anyone who is unclear, is to learn as much about these critters as we can. Learn where they came from, why they are here, how to use their tech and, if necessary, how to defend ourselves should the time come."

After the meeting I plodded to the examination lab and began the long biohazard suit-up and coms check process. I proceeded through the pressure doors to the main lab and silently moved to where the six extraterrestrials were lined up for the day's rounds of tests. Our executive team and the various techs were gathered listening to the morning briefing but I wasn't getting any audio on the open channel.

"What's going on?" I said and someone signaled for me to switch to the lab-only channel. I heard the familiar voice of our xenobiology lead speaking.

"-launched themselves across the galaxy and found their end far from home." she said, "Their influence will have a profound effect on the inhabitants of our world for centuries to come. Though they are lost to their home they have been found here. Now let's recognize their sacrifice with a moment of silence."

The channel became quiet and a few heads bowed around me in contemplation. Then in a less reverent tone she continued, "Just because some people can't see past the end of their medal-covered uniforms doesn't mean we can't privately pay respects to fellow explorers." I saw her eyes fix on me with a grin, "Now let's get back to work, folks."