Space, 6/12/2055

Maybe there was a little bit of a heartbeat. How?
We have been travelling in the emptiness for two months. One month ago, we got stuck in the middle of nowhere because our spacecraft had some malfunctions, and we are still in the same situation.

The astronauts with me are the most qualified. We were amazing, hardworking and we trained as much as we could. Our goal was to reach Saturn to test technology and understand if there are useful resources to help humans settle. After Mars and Venus, we wanted to expand more.

We studied Saturn and its changing over years. Years ago, we couldn’t even think of landing on Saturn because of its soft surface, its extreme temperature, its pressure and the impossible communication with the Earth. We couldn’t reach that far away signal. Thanks to our conquest of Mars, now we can, we can reach distant signals.

I’m the pilot. I’ve dreamed all my life to control a spacecraft and travel in the galaxy.
James is the commander. He has a wife, children and a comfortable job. He needed some spice and joy in his life.
Kate is the flight engineer. Maybe searching for a challenge? Maybe feeling lonely? The only thing that I know about her is that she loves her job and she knows how to do it.
Lastly, Carly and Michael are our mission specialist and support crew. They wanted to do one last mission together, as married. Saturn was Carly’s dream, she studied years about it. Michael came just for her.

Everything was planned to go smoothly, however we got damaged by the ice particles and debris in the rings that surround the planet. Right when we were next to it. One of our engines is off and if we try to use the others we would explode.

I thought we were dead. Until now.
Our radar made a sound. Maybe there is somebody out there?
We stayed up days and days just to figure out what that little “tick” was. After one week, we didn’t find anything. No hope anymore.

Not until something hit us. Maybe an UFO with aliens or maybe just another rock.
“AAAAA.. There’s no way” someone screams from the back of the spaceship, Kate. “There’s something coming towards us”.
What?

There’s a spacecraft, same engine as ours, same structure but different. However, I can clearly see “NASA” on it so I have no doubt there are humans in there.
I don’t know why it wasn’t shown on our radar. All our spacecraft are controlled and monitored by our station on Mars, visible on every single radar.
And if it wasn’t controlled by our ground station on Mars?

I noticed one thing, though. This spacecraft looks old. What if they still depended on Earth?
The station on Earth is active just for connections with Mars. There aren’t spacecrafts connected to the Earth anymore.
And now I see, the name of the vehicle is “Alenia 08”.

Carly used to speak about the Alenia missions often. Alenia was the first commander that led a spacecraft to Saturn. She never reached the planet but every single mission to Saturn was called after her. So, if they’re “Alenia 08” and we are “Alenia 19”, they must have been stuck here for decades.

As soon as we get to our answer, they get to us. We open our doors but I don’t see humans.
I see aliens.