As captain of the stealth craft Nox, you have been contacted on an encrypted frequency by Ambassador Irfan of the Federation. He assigns you a high-priority mission, which must be executed within forty-eight hours. The destination: Nonnara, a large icy moon in the Vulpecula constellation. Harangued for many generations by neighboring species, the inhabitants rarely show their faces. Rumor has it that they—the Nonnids—are actually shapeshifters. Indeed, their natural state is to take no physical form at all, preferring to create the facsimile of humanoid faces, or masks, only when necessary for the purposes of interaction. Because of this, they have been interpreted as phantoms and poltergeists in the myths of many different species. When they do appear, the phase-shift is accompanied with a twanging, echoing sound. Rumors also suggest that they prefer to remain underground, in the vast society carved out of the nearby asteroid fields.
Now, however, you gather from the Ambassador’s vague statements that they are seeking to join the Federation. Only veteran officers like yourself would be sent to this fraught and violent region, where space skirmishes are common between the Nonnids and their adversaries, the foxlike Vulpeculans. If neighbors get wind of your arrival in the region, the conflict could escalate, as the Vulpeks don’t appreciate the Federation’s presence nearing their territory.
The mysterious Nonnids are known only from their art, including the magnificent Opus collection: 550,000-year-old artefacts held sacred to their people. The crown jewel is a gleaming, legendary sword made of superionic ice recently rediscovered by Federation exo-archaeologists. It is said to be black and as tough as any Earth metal, but emits a subtle but very real golden halo.
But you have a small problem. The substance of your assignment was sent as a written message, typed in the obscure “Alien A.” The success of the mission, and potentially the lives of your crew, depend on your ability to correctly decrypt the message. To translate the message, you will need to find the glyphs, which are hidden somewhere on this website. (Hint: Try the database’s RESTRICTED FILE on his species.) When you find the Ambassador’s message, read and translate the glyphs it contains. Then, return here to answer the quiz question. [You can select 1 or 2 of the options below]
