Ara

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### Biography

A final round of committee meetings was held to decide who should fill the remaining crew position. Suddenly, the lights flickered and blue smoke rolled into the room. During a period of darkness, an unknown entity materialized within the room. The bureaucrats sprung out of their chairs and made a desperate dash for the exits. The figure slowly closed their fist. Violently, the doors crumpled inward, sealing off any possible escape. The humans backed themselves against the room's corners. Sobbing and screaming reverberated against the room's walls. The figure extended the open palm of its other hand in the direction of the squirming humans, before swiftly pulling it back. Calcium was ripped from their bones. Iron was extracted from their blood. Potassium rushed from their synaptic clefts, providing their brains one final sensation of euphoria. Silence filled the room as the being inspected its work. Perfect metallic crystals fell before its feet. Order had been restored. Satisfied with its work, the being left the room. On the way out, it smashed a display case, stripping a mannequin of the astronaut suit it was wearing.

The launch was moved up to the next day due to unusually pleasant weather; even the smallest amount of wind or rain could jeopardize the rocket. The launch command center was frustrated at the selection committee for not replying to their messages, but they were relieved when they received word that the astronaut was on the way. The final astronaut appeared in the crew locker room, seemingly out of nowhere. It was fully suited up, which was unusual because of the difficulty in putting on the cumbersome suits. However, everyone was too busy making their own final preparations to pay much attention. The three astronauts were loaded into the rocket and readied themselves for takeoff. There appeared to be some glitch with the communications system, since they couldn't hear anything from one of the astronauts. The other two crew members tried to make visual contact with their teammate, but they noticed the new member had forgotten to pull off the opaque protective cover from the visor. They quickly forgot these concerns; after all, they had been looking forward to this moment for years.

Once in orbit, the crew were free to move about the command module. The new crew member didn't seem to be interested in casual chit-chat: he didn't respond to the other's attempts to start a conversation. He appeared to be fixated on a distant constellation, one that they were coincidentally using as a reference for navigation. Finally, Keith was fed up. "Enough dammit! If you don't tell us your f\*\*\*ing name, I'm going to kick you off my goddamn ship," he yelled at his silent team member. The astronaut briefly looked at Keith before turning back to the stars. He pointed at the same collection of stars, and then pointed back at himself. The ship's AI interpreted this as a request for information on the stars: "Constellation Ara: Latin for 'Altar,' this solar system contains several sunlike stars and several planets, which scientists suspect may be capable of sustaining life." The two other crew members looked at each other before returning their gaze to the mysterious astronaut, realizing neither of them had a clue who was in that suit...