Dark Matter (26 page)

'Do you mean aliens are going to land?'

'Well, err, no human spacecraft are due to return to Earth that we know of, so yes, it is logical that this is manned by aliens.'  The humour of the statement was not lost on him, he just didn't have the vocabulary to say it another way.  He thought for a moment,
perhaps commanded by aliens would be better.  So much is going to change, not just our language
.

'Do we know where it is going to land?'  Jay asked.

'No, not yet.'

'When are they landing?'

'We estimate in about thirty minutes given their current rate of descent.'

'Have they attempted to make contact with us?'

'I have no idea.  I'm not sure how anyone would know how?'

'So I guess we are not trying to make contact with them?'

              'Not to my knowledge, no.’ This was probably the most important moment in his career and he was feeling like a schoolboy who hadn't done his homework, again.

'OK.'  Jay said, thinking fast,
how would I react if I hadn't known this was going to happen?
  'Alert the Security-Council we will be meeting in fifteen minutes.  Call a meeting of the full council for after that.  Alert the media, tell them what we know, and that we are monitoring the approach, we will take all precautions necessary, not to panic or create panic.  Tell them I will come down hard on any organisation that does.  I will issue a formal statement after the Security Council and in time for the full council.  Most of all wake people up.'

William still stood there.

'William!  Get Going!’  Jayanti shouted at him.

'If you would like to call your news desk you may use the one of the phones in my assistant's office.  I'll need mine for a little while as I have some calls to make.  By the way, you are most welcome to hang around; after all I still owe you the second half of the interview.'

Jane was surprised how she was more shaken by Jayanti's helpfulness than the news that aliens were going to land.  She took the offer of the use of the phone.
The UN probably has priority on the communications network anyway,
she thought to herself.

11:00
              10 November  [06:00 10 November GMT]

Meeting of the Security Council, United Nations Building, New York.

The pressure on the Security Council members was just incredible.  This worked in Jayanti’s favour.  They had had only the briefest conversations with their respective countries.  They were totally out on a limb.  They could not agree on any substantial coordinated action.  All had increased their military alert status and were tracking the object.  They all denied it was anything to do with them before finally agreeing it was what it appeared, an alien vessel.  With scant minutes to go before the full council meeting, they finally agreed that they would speak with one voice to the full council, and that Jayanti’s would be that voice.  However the agreement was limited, she could not announce anything substantive.  This was good enough for her; just to stay their hands from any independent action was necessary whilst they gathered the measure of what the Earth was facing.

11:15               10 November  [06:15 10 November GMT]

Meeting of the Full Council, United Nations Building, New York.

Just as she was about to take the floor, Jay was informed that the latest projections put the landing zone in the northern hemisphere, probably somewhere in the West.

Jane and George were on floor of the UN council.  A hush descended over the giant room, as Jayanti took the floor and prepared to speak.  Network cameras beamed her image into millions of homes and offices all over the world as more channels took the live feed, interrupting normal scheduling.

Jay, suddenly aware of her audience and how many times this would be replayed, took a deep breath, relaxed and looked up.

'Ladies and Gentlemen.  What you have doubtless already heard is true.  We are tracking an alien vessel that is going to land on Earth.  We have not yet been able to establish communications with them.  We do not know why they are visiting.  What we do know is that they have been utterly peaceful in their approach.  The Security Council is united.  We will make no overt, aggressive action.  However, we are fully prepared to protect ourselves if necessary.  The vessel is expected to land in the Northern Hemisphere, in the West and it looks likely that it will land within the continental United States, probably on the Eastern seaboard.  This is an historic day, one that you will tell your children and grandchildren.  Humans are not alone in the universe, we have neighbours, and they are coming to visit us.'

Jay had kept it as light as she could.  People would be scared enough as it is, but by referring to them as visitors and neighbours it gave them a friendly feel. 
The truth is,
she thought to herself,
no one has a clue what they want.  Well OK, some people do.
  She wondered when the secret organisation would next make contact.  Jay continued, this time directing her remarks more to the council than to the general public, but still aware that the cameras were live.

'Delegates, I speak to you from my heart.  Not only as your Secretary-General, but also as a Mother and an orphan child from Delhi.  This is a momentous occasion and one that we should both embrace and recognise as the tremendous opportunity it represents.  I would like your support in opening a dialogue with the visitors on behalf of you all, and every man, woman and child on Earth.  I truly believe that we have much to offer and my hope is that they have much to offer us in return.'

The vote came back with unanimous support.

'Thank you so much for your confidence and trust in me.'

William approached her and whispered in her ear.

'Thank you.  I have just been given the latest update on the approaching vessel.  It is now confirmed that it is going to land within the continental United States, on the Eastern seaboard, most probably right here in New York.  If we make our way calmly outside we should be able to see it in a few minutes.'

'Follow me.’  Jay said to Jane and George.

The spaceship, that's what they were calling it now, dipped below the high cirrus cloud and gave the world below their first glimpse.  Just a spec against the clouds it was impossible to gauge its size, let alone make out any kind of detail.  The dark spot grew at a rapid rate, revealing what must be a fast descent.  As it came closer to the crowd waiting below, there were a series of gasps as some in the crowd started to realise the size of the spaceship.  More gasps as the ship came ever closer, its physical bulk becoming more and more obvious to everyone watching.  The media were in frenzy now, channels not even bothering to alert people to the switch from regular programming to live coverage, they just kept scrolling the same message.  “Alien spacecraft landing in New York City.”  Now the cameras could provide detail to viewers as to how it looked.  A long thick body, with two pods running along either side.  There was almost something of the animal about it. 

They could make out windows now.  More windows.  They were appearing all over the ship, what at first appeared to be solid resolved itself into a transparent material.  Size was becoming a real issue, so was the deep, resonating throbbing sound emanating from the ship.  It literally pounded the inside of the chest, like the heartbeat of a whale, sucking the air out of your lungs, then ramming it back in.  People started to move back, further and further as they recalculated the amount of the ground it would occupy once it landed.  Now the sound was both deafening and choking. 

The bottom of the ship started to draw level with the top of the UN building.  Suddenly seeing its size contrasted with something known, something solid, something of steel and concrete just overwhelmed.  This was the size of a large office building.  Three hundred metres long, seventy or eighty metres wide, and at least fifty high.  It settled on the East River, squatting on the water but not moving with it.  It's physical presence challenging the world to deny its existence.  This was no weather balloon, no ignited swap gases, no mistaken commercial or military jet.  This was real, this was here, this was alien.

UN staff were now pouring out of the building desperate to get a close up view.  Security personnel were surrounding the ship the best they could, trying and failing to keep people away from it, there were not nearly enough of them for something of this size. 

A section of wall on the front-end side of the body of the ship grew paler, and paler until it disappeared altogether.  The crowd on the left side of the ship could now dimly see the interior of the vessel.  Shapes were moving around inside.  A low hum accompanied the appearance of a walkway, flat and smooth it extended at an angle down to the ground, several people moving back out of its way.

Several seconds passed.  No one was speaking, some were hardly breathing.  Finally, the shapes moved out into the daylight.

They were clad in environmental suits or possibly armour.  They were bipedal.  They appeared to have arms and a head, but the suits covered their entire bodies.  White, translucent visors obscured their faces, or at least where their faces would be if they were human.  Twenty of the aliens appeared, all identically clad, all the same height and build.  Ten lined each side of the walkway, armed with what appeared to be some kind of rifle.  The security personnel who were within sight of this drew their weapons and trained them on the aliens.  The aliens didn't move. 

The first American troops arrived.  Eight open trucks with about a dozen aboard each of them.  They decamped.  The Captain in charge of them quickly assessed the situation and ordered her men to set up a semi-circle around the walkway four men deep. 
It isn't much,
she thought,
but it’s the best I can do until reinforcements arrive.

Jayanti Kapoor, having persuaded her security personnel that she needed to get to the spacecraft, was ushered to the front.  She stood there flanked by Jane and George who had hardly left her side since the news had come through.  The three of them, surrounded by security personnel looked up at the ship.  The size of it gave Jayanti vertigo.  She swayed slightly on her feet, and then regaining her composure took a few tentative steps forward.  Jane and George matched, but did not exceed her movements.  A few more steps.  A few more again.  Now she was standing about ten feet from the bottom of the walkway.

'Is this a good idea?'  George whispered out of the side of his mouth to Jane.

'You wanna leave?'

'Heck no, no way.  I just wanted confirmation that we are doing something incredibly dumb.'

'Don't worry George.  We are.'

'Sssshhh, something's happening.'  Jay said to them both, as sternly but as quietly as she could.

Jay was looking up the walkway into the ship; she could see more shapes moving.  Suddenly they burst into the light.

'Shit!’  Jay said, not realising how tense she had become.  Three figures walked out into the sun.

The figures were also bipedal.  They definitely had arms and a head.  They were not wearing any kind of environmental or armour suit.  They were dressed in clothes.  They were human.  At least they looked human.

12
Hope

11:30
              10 November  [06:30  10 November GMT]

Outside the United Nations Building, New York, USA.

Two men and a woman,
Jay thought to herself,
hang on, better not jump to conclusions, these are aliens after all.  Who knows how they reproduce?

The three aliens appeared unarmed.  They walked confidently down the walkway and onto the grass below.  Jayanti walked forward to meet them halfway across the grass.

The alien woman stepped forward. 

'Chuck al a tebo farn towe.'  She said.  She pulled an object out of her clothing.  She placed it in her ear and then pulled out another offering it to Jayanti.  Jay hesitated slightly before placing the device in her ear.

The alien woman spoke again. 

'This device allows us to communicate.'

'Thank you.'  Jay replied simply.

'You're welcome.'

'Who are you and what do you want?'

'We are human and we want to help.'

'You...you’re human?  You mean you come from here?  This planet?'

'No, no.  Sorry it is the way these devices work.  The words you hear are not literal translations; they are the words from your own mind.  Therefore, when I say we are human, that is how we think of ourselves in your concepts.  We come from the planet Sunarr, in the Sunarr Realm.'

'And where is that?'

'It's about eleven Kaligs from here, on the other side of the Shanuin Telvar.'

'How far is a Kalig and what is the Shanuin Telvar?'

'My apologies again your mind has no reference for these terms.  A Kalig is a measure of distance.  There are about fifteen and a half Kaligs in the Shanuin Telvar.  The Shanuin Telvar is that local cluster of stars in which we live.'

'Ahh, you mean the Galaxy.'

'As you say, the Galaxy.' 

That's interesting,
thought Jay,
I heard her say Shanuin Telvar again but this time it registered as Galaxy in my mind.

Jane couldn't take this any longer, only hearing one side of a conversation.

'What's happening?  What are they saying?'

Jane saw the alien female turn and speak to the alien male on her right, he held out something to her.  It was two more of the devices.

The alien female offered one to Jane and the other to George.  They both popped them in their ears without a second thought.  They continued to listen to the conversation.

'I would like, if it is possible, to address your planet.  I have a message of peace to deliver.'  The alien female stated quietly.

'Of course, I will make the arrangements.  However, could I ask that you return to your ship in the meantime?  I would consider it a gesture of goodwill.'  Jay watched the alien carefully for her reaction,
if she has reactions
, she thought.

'That would be most agreeable.  When you and your planet are ready, contact me with the device.'

'What should I call you?  I'm Jayanti Kapoor by the way.'

'I am called Shiwanevar.' 

Jay heard her pronounce it as She-Wan-E-Var, she also realised that she had started to refer to the alien as SHE, and now she would refer to her by name.

'I will contact you when we are ready for you Shiwanevar.'  Jay said, smiling.  Turning on her heel, she led Jane and George back into the building.  Shiwanevar and the other aliens returned into the interior of their ship and disappeared from view.  As Jay returned to her office, she removed the alien device and made Jane and George do the same with theirs, placing all three in her wall safe. 
Where
, she thought hopefully,
their signals would not reach them
.

For the second time that day, Jay called for a meeting of the Security Council, followed by a full sitting of the entire United Nations council. 

12:00               10 November  [07:00  10 November GMT]

Meeting of the Security Council, United Nations, New York, USA.

'No.  No I don't.  And I will tell you why I don't see them as a threat.'  Jay was replying to the British Representative, 'and that is precisely because they are advanced.  We have seen no overt use of force.  Their ship does not have any guns trained on us.  The only armed aliens we have seen could be nothing more than an honour guard.'

'With all due respect.'  The British Representative was becoming uncharacteristically animated, 'we have no idea what their weapons or guns as you put it, look like.  The whole ship could be a weapon for all we know.  History has shown us that the advanced nations do not come in peace, they come to conquer.'

'I think' the French Representative said, interjecting, 'that you are once again fronting the American position.  One that is typically Anglo-Saxon.  It is your history of which you speak, conquering other, less advanced nations.'

'I speak' the British Representative said, barely containing his increasing anger, 'only on behalf of the British people.  If you look at the whole of human history, you will find the strong conquering the weak, advances in technology become military advances.  All of our histories are so written.'

'I say,' the Russian Representative said, raising his voice over the others and dropping an octave as well, 'that we should let the choozhyezyemtsi speak.  If we like what they say, then good.  If not, well, they are but one ship.  I vote in favour, who is against?'

The Russian's ploy worked.  Whilst all of them had concerns and even reservations, none of them could object to listening.

'In that case,' Jay spoke for the group now, 'I will arrange to receive what we shall interpret as a diplomatic mission, albeit one from another world.  They will speak to the entire UN and the world in thirty minutes.'

12:30               10 November  [07:00  November GMT]

Meeting of the Entire United Nations, New York, USA.

The cameras had been rolling ever since the news broke.  The reporters interviewing everyone they could.  In the trading rooms of every country there was relative silence, all trading had been suspended.  Instead, they exchanged views about the possible financial impact of the alien’s arrival.  Much, they thought, would depend on what they would say, feeling that Tech stocks could go either way, some may fall as their technology is made redundant, others could rise where they could exploit the new opportunities.  The traders themselves were just like everyone else, curious bystanders who could only speculate on how life was going to change. 

Jayanti Kapoor walked out into the centre of the chamber; the assembled delegates fell silent as she looked up at them, preparing to speak.

'I would like to make the following motion: that we shall receive a diplomatic mission from the planet Sunarr in the Sunarr Realm and that we recognise their representative Shiwanevar.  All those in favour?'  The vote was almost unanimous, and the motion carried.

'I shall now invite representative Shiwanevar and err....’  Jay stumbled over her words.  She wanted to refer to Shiwanevar as her, as she appeared to be a woman, however this might not only be inaccurate, but cause offense, she settled on a circumspect reference.  ‘...and representative Shiwanevar's delegation to speak to this body.'  An aide walked up to Jay carrying a small steel briefcase, out of which he produced the translation device.  Jay placed it in her ear and spoke.

'This is Secretary-General Jayanti Kapoor of the United Nations of Earth.'  She felt self-conscious adding the “of Earth” but felt that it was appropriate.  'I hereby invite you and your diplomatic delegation to speak before this body on behalf of your people.'

A translator with the device given to George stood to the side to provide an official translate.

'Thank you for your invitation I am delighted to accept on behalf of the Sunarr.  We shall be with you shortly.'

Outside, the Sunarr ship was still resting on the water, it was still impossible to decide whether it was floating on the river’s surface, hovering, or something else.  Part of the ship resolved itself becoming translucent then disappearing altogether, the walkway extended across all four lanes of the FDR highway and touched lightly upon the grass.  The guards did not appear this time, Shiwanevar and the two unnamed aliens walked out into the daylight and made their way down the walkway and onto the grass.  An official UN aide was waiting at the base of the walkway.  He spoke to her gesturing towards the UN building; she smiled politely and offered him a translation device.

'This way Madam Ambassador.'  He said simply, barely conscious of the fact that the Ambassador was alien and not necessarily a her, his focus was on the dozens of cameras and knowing his image was going live to the world. 
If I fuck up now,
he thought to himself,
I do so in front of billions of people.
 

The combined police and army had created a path through the onlookers to the entrance of the UN.  The delegation walked calmly along, people photographing them as they went.  Journalists shouted a myriad of questions at them, but without translation, they went unanswered.

Shiwanevar walked confidently up to Jay in the chamber, her two aides, if that is what they were, held back, standing to the side.  Shiwanevar began to speak, her words translated by the UN official.

'Thank you for receiving us.  My name is Shiwanevar and I come from the planet Sunarr in the Sunarr Realm.  We are here on a peaceful mission.  We want to exchange knowledge and experiences.  I know that each of you must have a multitude of questions.  These will all be addressed in time.  From what little we know of your people we think we could help a great deal.  We have gathered that some of your people are hungry and thirsty, we can help there.  Some suffer from easily treatable diseases and conditions such as cancer, heart disease and other illnesses of the body and mind, we can help there.  The sources of energy you use are depleting and poisoning your planet, we can help there too.  We ask little in return, except that our knowledge and help be shared equally and openly.  This is why we would like, if it is agreeable, to send out representatives to your nations and offer our knowledge and experience directly, the quicker to help and to ensure that our help is spread evenly.'

'What do you want in return?'  The words escaped Jay's mouth before she could stop herself, but this was much more than she could internalise without reacting. 
Peace on Earth.  That's what this would mean, no more fighting over scarce resources, who has what.
 
There has to be a price
, she thought.

'We know that your planet has little to offer us in resources or technology.  That is no matter.  We will make our requests of your nations directly, based upon what they have to spare and can afford.  Where this is nothing, we will give freely.'

'You have enough personnel to send a mission to each nation?'  Jay asked, trying to confirm Shiwanevar's intent.

'We do.'

‘I believe that would be acceptable given that this body has unanimously voted to recognise your delegation,’

'Thank you.’  Shiwanevar continued, 'I will leave now and make the necessary preparations.  You can expect the first of the missions to leave shortly.'

'How shortly, is shortly?

'An hour.'

Silence fell across the chamber.  Jay’s own thoughts echoing those of the assembled diplomats. 
An hour is not an acceptable diplomatic timescale, a month might be achievable, to set all the required items in place.  A fortnight if the ceremonies are skipped.  A week at the very inside.  An hour is just not possible.
 

'I think that the nations of Earth would appreciate more time to receive your delegations.  There are matters of diplomacy that require handling, protocols that have to be observed.  There are sensitive issues that need to be addressed; your people will need to be properly briefed.'

'All of the nations have representatives here, do they not?’  Shiwanevar asked.

'Yes, they do.' 

'Well then, we will meet with each nation’s representative.  Once that is done they will leave and upon arrival they will start the knowledge and experience exchange.'

Jay felt ambushed.  Shiwanevar had moved around the diplomatic protocols issue deftly.  Having each nation's UN representative brief their delegation, the Sunarr would be assured a quick briefing indeed.  No country would want to stand on ceremony whilst its neighbour was given all kinds of technological secrets.

Jay was proved correct in a very short time.  One hour and forty-seven minutes after her speech, the first delegation from the Sunarr Realm took off.  The alien aircraft appearing out of the top of the spaceship, lifting vertically to ten thousand feet or so, before moving off at speed.  One after another took off, the last taking to the air a little less than five hours after the first.