Chapter 1: Arrival

"Arrival" is the first chapter of the fanfiction GODZILLA: Monster Universe by The King of the Monsters.

Synopsis
After making a journey of 1,400 light years to the "Promised Land" of Kepler-452b, the passengers of the Interstellar Emigration Ship Oratio begin to awaken from their long hypersleep. Admiral Kazuma Aoki chronicles the first moments after the ship's arrival and introduces the reader to the members of the ship's Central Committee.

Story

 * Journal of Admiral Kazuma Aoki, commander of the Oratio; date unknown

Today, I was awakened from hypersleep. As the commander of this vessel, I was awakened before anyone else on the ship as it approached its destination. If I am being honest, I never expected this day to come. I thought that when I fell asleep in that icy cold tube with 9,999 other people that we would never awaken again. Strange as it may sound, I took some form of solace in that belief. We had lost our very home to a monster who we could not defeat, and decided to turn tail and run to an unexplored planet over a thousand light years away where we would certainly meet a miserable death if we ever arrived. They always said dying in one's sleep was the most peaceful way to go, and I had hoped in vain that would be my end.

As I recovered from the shock of being kept in stasis for at least two thousand years, I made my way to the bridge of the ship, still left as it was on that day in 2048 when we all resigned ourselves to this ridiculous fantasy of escaping the horrific fate we built for ourselves. I checked the navigation systems: we were indeed approaching the orbit of Kepler-352b, our "New Earth." The date interface was completely out of order, displaying an incomprehensible mess of symbols which if they were meant to be intelligible they had to be in the Exif or Bilusaludo language. I checked to see if by some miracle we could establish contact with the Aratrum or the United Earth capital in Buenaventura, but of course there was no such luck. I peered through the bay window on the bridge to see the horizon of the planet looming in front of the ship. The duty then fell to me to awaken the other members of the Central Committee. I could only hope they survived the voyage like me. The existential horror struck me as I operated the controls to open their hypersleep pods. Maybe I was the only one who made it. My beloved Azusa, all of those families, all gone leaving me as the last remnant of humanity aboard a prison of metal floating 1,400 light years away from my birthplace. My panic was alleviated as the other Central Committee members walked onto the bridge together.

Lieutenant General Kuro-elu Numa-nu, the Bilusaludo Supreme Chieftain, entered first. In very Bilusaludian fashion, he looked completely unaffected by the long sleep and sudden awakening and wore the same stern yet strangely smug face he always did. Numa-nu was the highest-ranking Bilusaludo that was part of the emigration to Earth. His uniform was adorned with golden badges commemmorating his countless military achievements. He otherwise looked like a middle-aged man in perfect physical health, save for the horrific burns over the left side of his face. In place of his missing eye he now possessed a mechanical one indistinguishable from a normal one save for the eerie glow it gave off in low light. Numa-nu often claimed it made his vision superior to any humanoid possessing two perfectly-functioning organic eyes. He was joined by his subordinate Tsulu-elu Dalu-da, a massive brutish-looking fellow with his uniform struggling to contain his bulging forearm muscles. He really looked like any other Bilusaludo grunt, save for his impressive beard which covered everything beneath his nose. Despite his appearance, he was said to be Mugal's "brains" and was no doubt his most trusted confidant.

Next came the other humans serving on the committee. Commander Takaki Aso, a veteran of Operation: Eternal Light as part of G-Force; heralded as one of the operation's great heroes along with Hachiro Jinguji and Unberto Mori. Aso was my superior officer in the United Earth for years, and I always held immense respect for the man. He approached everything with a soldier's perspective and while his temper sometimes got the best of him, he was a truly commendable leader. Everyone expected him to be appointed Commander of the Oratio, but to everyone's surprise he chose me, who had only been serving as a United Earth ace pilot for about 5 years. I never will forget the faith he placed in me, though I always fear it was misplaced. With him was Major Sho Kuroki, my colleague in the United Earth's air force and the closest thing I had to a friend while I was there. People often commented that we could pass as identical twins, but I never really could get behind his no-nonsense attitude. I needed some levity in the horrific theaters in which we found ourselves. Nevertheless, Kuroki was a talented pilot and a great comrade. Last of all was Captain Frank Glenn, an astronaut-turned diplomat who was critical in the negotiations with the Exif and Bilusaludo that led to the United Earth's formation. Glenn was fluent in Japanese so I managed to hold quite a few conversations with him whenever we met. I always found him to be a genuine man, never afraid to speak his mind or shout some obscure American slang whenever he got heated.

And at last the two Exif members of the Committee. First came High Priestess Namikawa, the ship's head of clerical and medical services. Namikawa was always very quiet and reserved, but she clearly knew more than she would let on about any situation she was in. We were told Namikawa was not her real name, she was one of many Exif missionaries sent to Earth in secret prior to the monster apocalypse, and adopted the human name "Namikawa" while working in Japan, a name she stuck with even once her Exif nature was revealed. She was followed by the man she always accompanied: the big cheese of the Exif faith. Pope Sanctor, the undisputed head of the Exif faith and arguably the single most influential man in the United Earth. Sanctor was a wizened old man, he looked ancient by human standards and was said to be nearly 400 years old. His black robes, in contrast to the purple garments of all other Exif Clergy, were adorned with three golden vertical stripes, which he claimed were the closest thing us mere mortals could use to visualize God.

With the Committee members gathered, the time came for discussion of how next to proceed. Namikawa opened with a prayer, invoking God's guidance over his children as they arrive at the "Promised Land." Sanctor remained silent as he looked intently at Namikawa while she prayed. Aso and Kuroki bowed their heads though to my knowledge neither man was religious, nor was I. Glenn did the same, though I caught him glancing toward Namikawa several times, and she even seemed to briefly return his gaze once or twice. Numa-nu and Dalu-da both grimaced condescendingly as the Exif priestess called upon God, as all Bilusaludo held their technology above all else, even supposed deities. When the prayer concluded, Namikawa took her seat and Numa-nu almost immediately began to speak.

"While it seems the Exif's seemingly infallible Gematron Calculation has failed to account for how much time has passed since our departure, we have no doubt arrived at the aperture of Kepler-452b. We must immediately send a landing party to the planet's surface to ensure it is hospitable for us before we proceed further."

Dalu-da silently nodded in approval to virtually every statement his superior made. Glenn interjected that we should first ensure that all passengers made the trip safely and assist in their awakening. Numa-nu and Dalu-da both sneered at Glenn before I stepped in and said Glenn was right. In a rare display, Sanctor spoke up.

"Perhaps we should not be so hasty my child. While the well-being of our brethren is of the utmost importance, we would not want to awaken them only to learn that our new home is inhospitable and allow hopelessness to consume them all once more. While I have absolute faith that God has guided us to the land of milk and honey, I concur with Numa-nu's decision."

Numa-nu shot a self-satisfied grin in my direction before continuing. "I have several men who would be more than willing to take the bold first steps into this uncharted terrain. Our race inhabited this same sector of the galaxy and have explored planets similar to this one, though none of them showed as much promise as this one."

I somewhat hesitantly gave Numa-nu approval to awaken his men and organize a landing expedition to the surface, then asked Namikawa for assistance checking the vital signs of the ship's hypersleep pods to get a rough count of how many survived the trip. She nodded in agreement, and Glenn asked to join us. Aso and Kuroki stayed behind to check that the ship was running properly, but more than likely simply took the opportunity to catch up with one another. We entered the ship's medical ward, a maze of many different glass rooms each filled with any number of truly alien machines. These machines were supposedly the paradigm of medical technology in the universe, created with the latest advancements in Bilusaludo technical expertise. Namikawa led us to a room with screens covering the glass walls. She pressed a button which brought up a graph displaying all 10,000 pods on the ship and the life signs within. She quietly exclaimed, "God has truly blessed us this day!" as the screen shifted to a display stating that life signs were present in all of the currently-occupied pods. I of course would not be satisfied until I was able to hold Azusa in my arms again. I politely asked Namikawa to open my wife's pod, and to my surprise she agreed and input my wife's information into the computer and opened her pod.

"Go see her kid. I know what you're feeling right now" Glenn told me with a wink. "I'll stay here and keep the lady company." Namikawa briefly blushed before turning and smiling at me before I left the room. I suspected some things went on between those two, but it was never any concern to me nor did I have any real proof. I took an elevator to the floor where my wife's pod was, and upon arriving ran across the floor until I found her, kneeling naked on the ground covered in cold slimy fluid. I quickly grabbed a towel from a compartment on the side of the pod and threw it over her.

"It's okay babe, we're here. You're just..."

"Coming out of hypersleep, I know" she responded between shivers. "I'm not a scared little girl like in one of those old science-fiction movies you love so much. And you can cut out the 'babe' business."

I smiled and laughed quietly, overjoyed to see centuries of being frozen didn't change her in any way. She looked up and smiled back as I led her to our cabin. I sat on the bed as Azusa showered, feeling as though I really had been separated for her for an eternity even though we had been asleep the entire time.

Azusa Gojo, as I knew her when I met her, was a biologist working at an institute in Kyoto. When the institute was inevitably destroyed, she and her boss Professor Omae relocated to the United Earth's Mount Fuji facility. That's where I met her. She truly loved her work, and showed compassion for the monsters whose carcasses she analyzed that I never saw from anyone. She used to tell me they were the result of nature adapting to conditions we created. They were no different from humans as they established themselves as the apex lifeforms eons ago. I fell in love with her immediately, but she always saw me as a nosy creep, a military man snooping into the business of scientists. She was responsible for studying a G-Cell sample the Bilusaludo intended to somehow work into the construction of Mechagodzilla. She was amazed at how a creature like Godzilla could evolve and believed he was a true miracle of nature. I had never seen Godzilla regarded by a person with any attitude other than hatred. I for one became increasingly skeptical of Project Mechagodzilla; it seemed like the Bilusaludo simply wanted to create their own monster to conquer the Earth in Godzilla's place. When I came to Azusa with this concern, she finally saw something in me that resonated with her own feelings. She became my closest confidant and finally my wife just before we left Earth. Since I was to be the Commander of the Oratio, I was able to ensure she was brought along. She was hesitant to abandon the planet she loved so much, but I believe she truly did decide to come along because of me. I had brought her here, now I had to make sure it wasn't for nothing.