"Why
are we out here again?" Margaret asked to no one in particular, even
though the only other person in the cockpit of their cargo ship was her husband,
Bob.
"We
are going to be spending the next year, making the solar system a safer place
by mapping the outer solar system objects. Plus, we are looking for new
deposits of minerals." Bob replied without looking up from autopilot
controls. "Remember, 'We are doing a great service to our people, making
space travel to the outer system safer for all!' At least that's what the guy
with the space agency said." Bob added with a bit of sarcasm.
Margaret
turned in the pilot's chair and, looking right at Bob, said, "No, really,
why are we out here?"
This
caused Bob to stop what he was doing and let out a small sigh. Turning to face
her, he said, "You know as well as I that we were desperate for the money.
With the big companies moving into the shipping business, it is getting harder for
the small little outfits to get work. We have hardly had any work in the last
year. Even though the pay is not all that great, they did pay for fuel and
provisions. This one run will get us all caught up with our creditors. If we
take another trip like this next year, we will be completely in the black."
"I know,
I know. I just cannot believe we are going to be stuck on our ship for a year
with those eggheads. They have next to no personality and no sense of humor."
"Come,
dear, it is only the second week of our trip. We won't even reach the outer
system for another four weeks." Margaret responded to Bob's words by
putting on her best pouty face. She really was not that upset, but she did like
being comforted by Bob.
Seeing the
pouty face, Bob put on his best smile, walked over to her, and held her in his
arms. "There, there, dear. It's going to be all right. I'll protect you
from the big bad humorless scientists."
Bob and
Margaret had been married for over ten years, and they still loved each other
very much. They had met in the air force, and after they were both out, they
were married. Although they had no children, they considered their ship, the
Meriwether, their baby. It has taken them five years to save enough for the
down on it, and they had spent the last five years running the more lucrative
but risky outer planets cargo routes. These jobs paid better as they were very
long duration runs, and much of the spaceways were not charted. The risks had
been worth it as they were still married, and the Meriwether was almost paid
for. The Meriwether might be a 50-year-old ship and out of date by modern
standards, but it was their pride and joy, and they would not allow anyone to
talk bad about her.
After a
minute of holding her, Bob loosened his hug and looked down into her brown
eyes. Whenever Bob was mad at his wife, all he had to do was look into those
eyes, and he would remember why he loved her so much. "All better now?"
he asked her.
She
nodded, trying to look as sad and cute as possible. She loved the attention Bob
gave her, and she knew that this look melted his heart. Many people considered
Bob a gruff and hard man, but he was like softened butter in her arms.
"Good.
Now back to flying this ship. I wouldn't want to crash into a planet because
you were busy loving on the co-owner." It was a running joke they had. It
was almost impossible to crash into a planet as there would be significant
collision warnings before they even got close. "Besides, I have to finish
programming this Autopilot. We've only been out this far twice, and I don't
trust the charts the government gave us." He walked back to what he was
doing.
She turned
back to the controls and said with a wry smile, "Fine, be that way, but
how do you know crashing into a planet is such a bad thing?"
"You
said the scientist don't have a sense of humor? Hmmm, maybe I should start
spending time with them."
The only
reply he got to the comment was to have a piece of paper thrown at him. The
little exchange had made both of them smile.
It was at
that moment that the collision klaxon began to sound. The alarm made Bob turn
towards his wife. "You WERE just kidding about crashing into a planet,
right." He said in jest.
Annoyed by
the comment, she replied, "Of course." Examining the sensor display,
she said, "Looks like we have a small asteroid heading our way. We will
cross its path in 6 hours."
"An
asteroid already?" he said, turning to the computer to check the charts. "There
is nothing in the charts about it."
"Well,
it looks like the eggheads have their first rock. Want to let them know?"
"Sure."
Bob turned to the intercom control and told Dr. Langley that they had the first
rock to examine. Dr. Langley was an older scientist, and Bob was sure he must
have pissed someone off to be stuck on this trip with a bunch of college
graduates to babysit. Yep, this was going to be a very long year. Turning back
to his wife, Bob said, "I wonder what it's made of? Maybe it's solid gold?"
"Hmm."
was the only response he got from his wife.
With a
little concern in his voice, he said, "What is it, dear?" He had
learned over the years that 'Hmm' from Margaret could mean something
interesting to something deadly. This far out in the system, he did not care
for either.
"Oh,
well, it's that asteroid. I am not sure it is an asteroid at all. Look here at
the scans of it." She pointed to the screen, moving so Bob could look over
her shoulder to see. "The mass isn't right, and see this?" She
pointed to the screen. "That looks like it could be an antenna dish."
"You
think this might be a piece of an old wreck?" He asked
"Either
that or maybe an old space probe."
"Really?"
Bob said as he looked up and out the front window. "Let’s see what the
eggheads find out. Maybe we can salvage it and sell it to some museum. Our
contract does say we have salvage rights to anything man-made we find on this
trip. I don’t think the government thought we would find anything out here.”
“Salvage
rights?” Margaret said with some excitement in her voice. “I just might start
liking those eggheads after all. Let’s just hope they say the right things.”
She said, raising her eyebrows the way she did when she could feel a big payoff
coming. She turned back to the display screen, trying to see what she could
make of the object.
**** Two days later
“Mister
President. I am sorry to disturb you like this.” Dr. Alicia Grover was a
scientist and astrophysicist. She was not a politician. She was never sure why
President O’Brian had nominated her to be his Secretary of Space. She hated
public speaking and politics in general. The only reason she could think of was
that she had dated the President when they were in college. Maybe she was the
only astrophysicist he knew, and he wanted a scientist to be on his cabinet. He
was not very popular in the scientific community,
“Well,
this had better be good, Dr. Grover. I cannot believe you asked the Secretary
of Defense to be here too. This had better not be about some rock that in 500
years may or may not crash into the planet like last time.” President O’Brian
did not bother trying to keep the displeasure out of his voice. O'Brien was a man
of action, and he did not care much for scientist types. He knew that science
was important, but that did not help him like scientists any better.
Security
of Defense General Calvin King let out a small chuckle, remembering how last
time Dr. Grover had called a major press conference and wanted people to start
evacuation planning of the planet because a rock could hit the planet in 500
years. If it did, then it would wipe out all life on earth. President O'Brien
was furious with her for trying to hold a press conference without going
through him first. He felt sorry for the scientist as she was so politically
inept, but with President O’Brian’s dislike of scientists, helping her out
could spell the end of his political career.
The
chuckle threw Dr. Grover off a little, but she continued, “No, sir, this is a
little more planet-shattering.”
That
comment made both of them sit up. Considering last time was about the end of
all life on the planet, what could be worse than that?
“Okay, you
have my attention. What is it?” President O'Brien said with a little
apprehension.
“Well, as
you may remember, sir, three weeks ago, we started operation Darkest Night.”
She paused, looking for some recognition in the President’s eyes but found
none. Why did she fill out reports for him if he was not going to read them?
“It was a mission to plot the course of outer solar system objects?” Still,
nothing clicked. “We were going to plot the course of all the objects in the
outer planets so space travel would be safer out there?”
Annoyed,
President O'Brien said, “And…”
Letting
out a small sigh, she continued. “Anyway, two weeks into the mission, long
before they even reached the outer system, they came across something.”
“And let
me guess, it’s going to crash into the planet,” O'Brien added in a snide manner.
Listening to scientists always made President O’Brian feel stupid.
“Although
it would have hit the planet, that is not the earth-shattering part. The object
is so small that it would have burned up in the atmosphere.”
“SO WHAT
IS THE EARTH SHATTERING PART?” O'Brien finally burst out. Dr. Grover had such a
bad habit of taking forever to say the simplest things.
“The
object is of artificial in nature.” She said, waiting for them to realize what
that meant. President O'Brien continued to have a lost look on his face,
obviously not understanding what that meant.
General
King understood, though, causing him to sit up and give his full attention to
the young scientist. Knowing the President would not understand what that
meant, he said, “Sir, it means that someone made it. It’s not a natural
object.”
“That’s
right.” Excitement had entered Dr. Grover’s voice as she felt she finally had
someone who could understand the importance of this find. “We think it’s a
probe of some kind, and it doesn’t match our records of anything we sent out
into space, not us or anyone else. Early dating puts the object at about
500,000 years old.”
The General
said for the sake of the President but did not take his eyes off the scientist,
“She said that it is not any of our old space junk, and they think it’s older
than any race on this planet.”
President
O’Brian just kept looking back and forth between the two and finally said,
“That’s crazy. Are you saying that little green men made it?”
The General
ignored the comment from the President. “Is it active?”
“No,
General, not that we can tell. The object looks like it has impacted with a
small asteroid as it shows some damage.”
“Then what
makes you think it’s a probe?” General King and Dr. Grover were in full
conversation, completely ignoring the President.
“We have
been able to figure out some of the parts that were not damaged. We have found
what we think is a camera and an antenna. Dr. Langley and his team are still
examining it.”
“So you’re
saying it's some type of surveillance device sent to spy on us?” The General
was in full military mode now.
“Honestly,
we don’t know. We have been able to figure out its simpler technology, but
other stuff we have no idea what it is. We need to do a lot more research and
get it to a real lab.”
“Where’s
the device now?”
“I ordered
the ship back to back to Newport station the minute I received the report. I
also ordered them to talk to no one about it.”
“Good
thinking, Dr. Grover.” The General replied. “How many people are on that ship?
Who all knows about this?”
“Well,
there is Dr. Langley and his team of five grad students, the crew of the
Meriwether, which I believe there are two and now the three of us. Dr. Langley
recognized the importance of the find and sent a coded message directly to me.”
At this
point, President O’Brian was fit to be tied. “Excuse me. Remember me? Command
and Chef? The boss of both of you? The guy in charge?” The President looked at
them both.
The
General finally addressed the President. “Forgive us sir. I was assessing the
danger to the national security of this new situation. This is a very serious
matter, and Dr. Grover was correct in calling this meeting. She was even
smarter in recalling the ship and ordering a radio silence on them.” General
King paused to let the importance of what he was saying to the President sink
in. “I recommend we continue the radio silence and send the ship with the
artifact to our facilities at Lunar Base Tranquility. We can keep better
control of the situation there.”
President
O'Brien nodded in agreement, but Dr. Grover asked, “You mean the Government
agricultural facility?”
General
King answered, “Yes, and no. We have a secret lab located there. The
agricultural facility is just the cover. It is top of the line lab, best in the
solar system.”
The
President finally spoke up: “Yes, that sounds like a good plan. Make it so.”
Turning to his Secretary of Space, “Dr. Grover, you did the right thing
bringing this to my attention. Knowledge of the secret base is a Top Secret,
and you are not to speak to anyone about it.”
“Thank you,
sir, but I have a request then.” She replied.
“Oh?” the
President replied.
“I would
like to go to Tranquility Base and lead the investigation personally. This is a
once a lifetime opportunity sir.”
President
O'Brien turned to look at his Secretary of Defense. After a quick nod from the
general, the President said, “Very well. General King will contact you about
your travel arrangements. You will also report all your findings to General
King. He will be in charge of this project. He will keep me apprised of your
findings. Remember, not a word about this to anyone.”
“Yes,
sir.” Dr. Grover replied with a huge smile on her face.
“You’re
dismissed.” Dr. Grover turned and walked out of the room. President O'Brien
turned to General King. “Are you sure it was a good idea to let her go to the
base? It’s a top-secret base, and she doesn’t have the clearance.”
“Sometimes
it easier to keep a secret contained when all the pieces are in one place,
sir.” General King replied.
“Ah,
that’s true. So do you think this thing is some spy device from some ET?” He
asked with a hint of jest.
Very
flatly, General King replied, “I don’t know, but that is what we are going to
find out.”
**** One month later
“Attention,
ladies, and gentlemen.” Dr. Alicia Grover addressed the collection of scientists
at the conference table at Lunar Base Tranquility. “I thank you all for being
here. I realize that you are all excited to get started. I am Dr. Alicia
Grover, Secretary of Space, for those of you who do not know me. I will be the
liaison to President O’Brian. To my right are Doctor Allen Polski and his
staff. Dr. Polski is in charge of this facility and will be leading this
project. To my left are Dr. Leo Langley and his team of graduate students. They
made the find and have been analyzing it for the past month aboard the
Meriwether. In addition, in the back of the room are Mr. and Mrs. Richardson.
They are the owners of the Meriwether and have graciously agreed to stay and
help any way they can.”
“Our
contract says we have the salvage rights on that thing. We are not letting that
thing out of our site.” Bob spoke out.
“Well,
there is that.” Dr. Grover replied, quickly changing the subject. She turned
her attention back to those at the table. “Speaking of which, where is the object
now?”
“The
artifact has been moved to the clean lab on sub-level 15.” Dr. Polski answered
her. “We have also loaded all of Dr. Langley’s findings into the base
computer.”
“Thank you,
Dr. Polski.” Dr. Grover turned to Dr. Langley. “Dr. Langley, what are your
latest findings on the artifact?”
“Thank you,
Dr. Grover.” Dr. Langley said as he stood up. His career had been going pretty
well until he had released a paper about a new theory on alien influence in the
species' development. He had thought the paper would open some eyes to new
possibilities and generate some discussion. Instead, both the public and
scientific community had ostracized him. It had been career suicide. In the
aftermath, his only choices were to either head this mission or forced into
early retirement, very-early retirement. Now he saw this as his second chance.
This would put him back in good standing with the scientific community. After
this, he would have his pick of jobs. “We have managed to figure out what most
of the probe does. The technology is pretty simple and comparable to our own
technology from about 150 years ago. There are instruments for measuring cosmic
rays, radiation, UV light, infrared radiation; it is all standard stuff. There
is even a simple camera. There are only three things we have not been able to
figure out. The first is what powers it. We know that it runs on electricity,
but we can’t find anything that looks like a battery or power supply.”
“Could it have
been destroyed by the collision the probe had?” asked one of Dr. Polski’s
staff.
“I have
considered that, but we don’t know. The damage is not all that bad, but it
could have been where the power unit was attached. That is something we
all get to figure out. The second thing is a canister of radioactive material. Electrical
wires are going to it, but we have no idea what it’s for. It contains a highly
toxic material, and judging by the level of decay; I would say that it is over
500,000 years old.” Dr. Langley knew that he should have included the graduate
students in that conclusion, but they were young in their careers, and he
needed this more than they did. He continued, “The last is the strangest part.
It is a solid gold piece on the outside of the probe. It has no function that
we can determine.”
“How do
you know that it has no function?” This time it was Bob Richardson asking.
“There are
no electrical circuits to it. There are some markings on it, but we haven’t
been able to figure what they mean.”
“Well,
gold is a great material for blocking x-rays. Maybe it is protecting
something.” It was another of Dr. Polski’s staff.
“I had
thought of that, and I believe there is a cavity behind it. I did not want to
remove it until we had it in a secure lab. Whatever it is, it must be something
pretty important to encase in that much gold.” Dr. Langley sat down, indicating
that he was done.
Dr. Grover
immediately spoke up. “Thank you, Dr. Langley. Given the limited equipment you
had onboard your ship, you and your staff have done a great job.” She turned
her attention to the rest of the people in the room. "I know you are all
excited to get to work on this so that we will conclude this meeting. Dr.
Polski, I expect a status report at the end of each day. The President is very
interested in what we find here.”
At that,
everyone got up and began walking out the door, talking in little groups.
**** Three weeks later
“I tell
you, it’s a battery!” Kelly Granger said.
Dr. Grover
decided to make a little visit to the lab to see how things were going. She
hadn’t expected to walk into the middle of an argument. Dr. Grover had
remembered what it was like when she was a grad student, doing slave labor so
others could take the credit. She had felt sorry for them, so she took it upon
herself to get to know each one of them. Kelly Granger was the brightest of all
the graduate students. She had a knack for remembering just about everything
she heard or read. She was getting a reputation as the walking encyclopedia.
Dr. Grover had watched the discussion go on for a few minutes and had to give
Kelly some credit. It took a lot of guts to stand up to both Dr. Langley and
Dr. Polski.
Nevertheless,
she could see that tempers were starting to flare, and no one thought clearly
when they got emotional. “Ladies and Gentlemen, please. We are all reasonable
people. What is going on here?”
Kelly was
about to speak, but Dr. Polski spoke up first. “We are having a difference of
opinion on the purpose of the container that radioactive material. We
identified the material, and to tell you the truth, it’s the most disturbing
thing we have found yet.”
“Why is
that? What is the material?” Dr. Grover could see that Kelly wanted to say
something, but Dr. Grover gave her a look that let her know that she would have
her turn.
“It’s a
material that can only be created artificially. About two hundred years ago,
some scientist created some of the stuff. It was determined that it could be
used to make a very devastating bomb and extremely toxic. As such, it was
banned. Knowing that this material can be used in bomb and as a toxin, it could
only mean that this probe was meant for hostile use.”
“That’s
not necessarily true!” Kelly could contain herself no more.
“And thus
our difference of opinion.” Dr. Polski added dryly before Kelly could continue.
Dr. Polski had been in charge of this secret lab for over five years and had
worked on many classified projects. He was a man who enjoyed his job and was
not bothered by its sometimes-questionable nature. He had published many papers
through the years and was well know in the scientific community. As for this
situation, although he thought Kelly to be impetuous, bordering on rude for
speaking back to full scientists, he much more enjoyed how she seemed to get
under Dr. Langley’s skin. Besides, her theories, regardless of how wild, did
seem to have some merit to them.
“What do
you mean?” Dr. Grover asked Kelly.
Dr.
Langley just shook his head as Kelly started to tell her explanation again.
“There is a paper that was done by Dr. Xing. In it, he proposes that you can
generate electricity from radioactive material. From what I remember of the
paper, I believe this is such a setup.”
“But why
would anyone create such a potentially dangerous source of power when you can
use a small fusion pack? It would be the same size, work in the same harsh
conditions, and be much safer! What you are saying just does not make sense.
Any intelligent race of beings wouldn’t create such a dangerous thing.” This
time it was Dr. Langley speaking with a lot of passion.
“What if
they never developed the fusion generator? What if this was created before they
developed such technology?” Kelly replied, not backing down one inch.
“So now
you are saying that some race, that never developed Fusion Generators, somehow
developed the technology to travel between solar systems to explore our system?
That just doesn’t make sense!” Dr. Langley continued.
“You’re
assuming that they sent it here on purpose. If you look at the age of the
device and the fact that the radioactive material is completely depleted, you
come to a different conclusion!”
“Not that
theory again, that’s just pure craziness. Please, the only logical conclusion
is that it was a functioning probe until it hit some space rock. Either they
flew to the edge of our system and launched, or it had some type of booster
that allowed it to travel between the stars.”
“Wait a
minute.” Dr. Grover interrupted. “What theory is this?”
Kelly took
a deep breath and, after giving Dr. Langley a hard stare, turned to Dr. Grover.
“In the early days of space exploration, we sent out probes, similar to this
one, to explore the outer planets. Those probes are still traveling somewhere
beyond our solar system. My theory is that another race built this to explore
their solar system. The probe then left their system and traveled into ours.”
“That’s
just pure crazy.” Dr. Langley blurted out.
Dr. Grover
just ignored Dr. Langley’s comments. “But at the speeds, those probes were
traveling, it would take centuries to reach another system.”
“Given the
carbon dating and dating from the decay of the radioactive material, I would
say about 500 centuries.” Kelly continued. That caused Dr. Grover to think a
bit. Kelly continued. "It could also explain the solid gold object and
cover plate we found.”
Dr. Langley
let out a snort. He had obviously heard this before.
Dr. Grover
asked, “How’s that?”
“Well,
what if the people that built this thought far enough ahead that another race
might find this?”
“Like some
cosmic message in a bottle?” Dr. Grover asked.
“Exactly!
We did something similar to our probes. My guess is that the disc is some
message from them and the markings on the cover tell us how to access that
message.”
“Please,
I’ve heard enough of this wild speculation.” Dr. Langley said as he walked
away.
“Hmmm,
that is a fascinating theory. Write it up for me, will you please.” Dr. Grover
said to Kelly.
“Oh, I
can’t believe you think there is any validity to this ‘Message in a Bottle’
theory!” Dr. Langley said as he turned back to the group.
“At this
point, Dr., I am not ruling out anything.” Dr. Grover said to Dr. Langley. Dr.
Langley just turned and stormed off. She continued, “Are we sure own species
didn’t create this probe? How positive are we that this was created outside our
solar system? Could it even be one of those old probes?”
Dr. Polski
answered her. “We are 100% sure it is not one of our probes as it doesn’t match
anything that was sent out in the early days. As for being created outside this
solar system, we are very sure. Many of the materials have impurities that are
not found in any manufacturing facility in this solar system, not to mention
the toxic material in that container. We have no facility anywhere that can
create that material.”
“Well, all
theories aside, the fact that this is proof of intelligent life outside
this solar system it pretty big news.” Dr. Grover said to no-one particular. It
had the effect of making both Dr. Polski and Kelly both stop and think. They
had been so caught up in the find that they had forgotten what the
ramifications would mean to the public.
**** Six months later
“Excuse me,
Mr. President; I wanted to give you an updated on the research being done by Dr.
Grover and her team.” General King said. They were in the President’s private
study. The President liked to come here at night before bed. It gave him a
chance to read the newspaper and feel like a regular person.
“What
research is that?” President O'Brien asked, indicating for the General to take
a seat on the other side of the desk from him. General King had become a close
advisor and a good friend. The General was one of the few people who were
allowed to disturb him in his study.
“Remember
the space probe some of her people found?” The General said as he sat down.
“Oh, yes.
Well, what did that team find and spare me the scientific mumbo-jumbo, please.”
The President said, holding his head in a mock headache.
“Yes, sir.
Well, Dr. Grover and her team are pretty sure that this is a probe for
exploring planets. It currently does not work, but they are not sure if the
impact it had was the cause of that or not. The technology is pretty simple and
comparable to our own from a century ago or so. There is some heated debate
about a possible power source. They believe they have also found some type of
message device, but they have been unable to read anything off it. The biggest
finding is that they are sure the object was created outside our solar system.”
“What’s
this message device?”
“It’s a
round disk made of solid gold. A solid gold cover that had some markings on it
protected it. They believe the marks indicate how to access the disk's
information, but they have had no luck yet. They have tried every known method
of accessing it and have got nothing.”
Gold?
Solid gold? I guess whoever built it must be rich.”
“Yes, sir,”
General King said, patronizing the President for not seeing the big picture.
How his man ever got elected President was a mystery to him. “There is an issue
of national security. There was a container of material. According to the
scientists, it can be used to make a radioactive bomb, or if spread into the
atmosphere, it would poison everyone on the planet. Very nasty stuff.”
“You think
this was an attack then?”
“The
scientists are not sure. There is a theory that the material could have been
used as a battery and that the battery is now used up. If it was intended as a
weapon, it was in a very poor delivery system.”
“You said
that they are sure an alien race created this? So are they trying to attack us?
Should be put together a proper response?”
“I think
it’s a little too early to be talking about a ‘proper response.’ I think that
first, we have to figure out who sent it and where they live. The most
significant finding is the fact that this was created by an intelligence, not
our own.”
‘Anyway,
why is that such a big thing?”
The
General thought, ‘the President can be such an idiot. ‘
He said, “This is proof that there is intelligent life outside our own. How do
you think the public is going to react to this? What about the religious vote?
They might take exception to any evidence that there is life out there.”
“Oh. I
hadn’t thought of that. And those people voted for me.” The President paused
for a moment. “Do you think there is anything else to be found by studying the
device?”
“No, sir.
Dr. Grover has pretty much concluded that the only thing left to find is what
the disk holds. They have also requested to try to build that
special battery to see if the theory is correct. That would require them
to use a material that was banned by an international treaty over 100 years
ago. I have tried to convince them that would not happen, but they are very
persistent. If it got out that your administration created this material, it
would be political suicide, sir.”
“Oh, well,
this is turning into quite the mess. Those eggheads will push and push to be
allowed to do their experiment, and if news of the artifact gets out, then it
will cause social chaos.” The President paused to think of his options, “What
do you think we should do?”
“I think
we should make the whole thing go away. The good news is that all the players
are contained in one place. A small accident should make it all go away. As for
the aliens, whoever they are, we need to start thinking about a defense for
them, in case they are hostel. Better safe than sorry sir.”
“Oh? Make
it all go away?”
“I have
arranged for an accident with some fertilizer at the facility. We have a full
cover story ready for the media.”
The
President thought a bit about this. “That would seem to make it all go away.” A
short pause, “But wasn’t there a ship and its crew involved?”
“Yes, but
both are at Lunar Base Tranquility. The crew, a husband and wife, would not
leave the base claiming they had salvage rights to the object. Since, as far as
anyone else is concerned, the ship, Dr. Langley, and the grad students are
somewhere at the outer edge of the solar system for the next year, people will
just assume something happened to them when they don’t return. Sometimes it’s
good to have all your eggs in one basket, sir.”
“Ah, good
thinking, very tidy. I like that you anticipated my wishes on this. Good job,
General.”
“Actually,
sir, we have had this contingency planned since the facility was built. That
was why we pick the agricultural facility as the cover. We do not build top-secret
bases without some plan for covering it up quickly.”
“I guess
that makes sense.” The President’s face went long. “Too bad we will have to
lose that gold disk.”
“No, we
won’t sir. I had shipped to our cryptology lab here last week.”
This fact removed
the long-expression from the President. “Okay, then. That base will be costly
to replace. I guess I will have to go to congress to get the funds.”
“Yes, sir,
but it is in the public’s best interest that this never gets out. The public
will be shocked enough at the loss of life.”
“I
understand. I guess it can’t be helped.” The President began looking at some
papers on his desk.
“Anyway,
here is a copy of the report on everything they found.” General King handed him
a folder with the report in it. “It includes a copy of the markings found on
the device and on the gold cover. It even includes a wild theory about the
origin of the device. I apologize for the scientific content of the report, but
it couldn’t be helped.”
The
President sighed. “I understand.” He opened the folder and quickly thumbed
through it. He stopped on the page that had the markings on it. Pointing to one
and said, “What’s this supposed to be?”
The
General stood up and looked where he was pointing and said, “The scientist
found it on the craft itself and believe it most likely to the name of the
probe.”
“You mean
this is some type of language? It looks like some type of scratches. See, look
at it yourself.”
The
General had read the report many times, but he humored the President. Printed
on the paper was Voyager. “Yes,
sir, but the scientists do believe it to be a name in some alien language. The
real question is where the people who built this now are and what are they
doing?”
“Hmmm.”
The President replied with a scowl on his face. “Okay. Anything else?” he added
as he closed the folder and tossed it on his desk.
“No sir,
that’s it.” The General was sure that would be the last time the President
would open that file.
“Well,
then have a nice night General.” The President picked back up his paper and
continued reading.
The
General got up and walked out the door. As he closed the door to the study, he
thought to himself, “It’s sad that all those people have to die at the base,
but the public is just not ready for proof of life outside our own. Whether
they meant to or not, whoever sent that probe has just caused the death of
hundreds of people and destroyed an entire base. If that does not constitute an
act of war, I do not know what does. This was definitely not the best first
impression.”
Written by: M.L.
Chrisman, 2006