Red Dot: Contact. Will the gravest threat come from closer to home than we expect? (25 page)

What orders? That was the question that instantly confronted Duggard and other top-level officials who read the message. Were they going to turn Washington, D.C., or Earth, into a mist of subatomic particles? Go on to a different planet? Return to their home planet? Continue peacefully as planned?

All that anyone outside the White House knew was that D9 maintained its frightening silence while continuing its course. But everyone realized the ETs had been attacked and responded with a weapon of awesome destructiveness, aimed at the warhead in outer space. The prospect of an attack by D9 loomed larger than ever.

In America, the sudden increased risk and the shooting of the President actually brought the country closer together. As in crises from Pearl Harbor to 9/11, Americans rallied around their leaders. The public approval rating of Duggard—and Douthart—soared. Also following historical precedent, the shocking attack by homegrown rebels decimated support for extremist groups. Most radical groups on the left and on the right disavowed violence in the face of slumping membership numbers and falling financial support.

To the rest of the world, however, political chaos in America heightened worries that the US couldn’t provide reliable global leadership in response to the ETs, making the world even more vulnerable. With D9 now possessing a reason to attack, and only three days from orbit, the specter of every-country-for-itself grew larger. Virtually every nation implored the ETs not to attack; many of them implied or said outright that if D9 retaliated, it should do so only against the country that attacked it—the United States.

Even in the US, Duggard and other leaders knew support could evaporate if the threat of annihilation continued. For now, government and private institutions around the world held together—barely. Already, in isolated places in the US and around the world, firemen, bank employees, and others abandoned their posts. The ultimate fear was complete anarchy—every household for itself, with panicked policemen, government officials, and churchmen joining the frenzy.

Duggard, groggy from lack of sleep, tried to deal with a flood of crises on Thursday, October 13. Just like Douthart, the Acting President came to hate the flash of the yellowish-orange light in the Oval Office that summoned her to the Situation Room

Every recent and past antagonism or grievance had become an open wound. Major battles flared along the border of India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers, triggering the dreaded light. Two hours later, the blinking yellowish-orange light signaled that hardline Russian forces had made bloody advances against Ukraine and other former members of the Soviet Union.

Again like Douthart, the Acting President found that with American resources spread so thin, there was little she could do to influence events except appeal to other countries’ self interest. And she brought her own brand of straight talk to the diplomacy.

“You know, President Zarkov, the world is a dangerous place now,” Duggard said to the Russian leader on their hot line. “America is the richest, most influential country in the world. Sooner or later, you will need our help—really, really need our help. I promise you, you will not get that help unless you roll back the aggression you’re demonstrating now. And you know well that it’s a lot harder to roll something back than it is to stop doing it in the first place. Mr. President, … stop … the … invasion,” Duggard said, emphasizing each word.

Terrorist attacks killed and maimed thousands around the world, mainly in the Middle East. There, Duggard had to let violence rage unless it directly threatened US lives. She and other international leaders now desperately held a last line of defense: keeping nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction under control and preventing a collapse in the global financial system.

By late Thursday night, the exhausted Acting President had to get some sleep, and let lower-ranking officials try to manage the chaos, except for the most urgent emergencies.

The next morning, Friday, October 14, two days after the coup, the mute spaceship was two days from orbit and its closest approach to Earth. A feeling of helplessness and desperation filled the Situation Room as Acting President Duggard entered at just after 10:00 to preside over an NSC meeting.

Nervous chatter around the room subsided as Secretary of State Whiteton said, “Remember the day we learned about D9, when Al raised the question of whether we faced a greater threat from ETs or from our own fears?”

“Yes,” replied Duggard, “and I foolishly thought he couldn’t be serious; of course it was the aliens.”

“It looks as if they are working together to destroy us,” Whiteton said.

The Acting President, with an expression of surprise on her face, turned abruptly to look at Whiteton. “You know what, this morning the thought occurred to me that the ETs are just going to keep silent to let us tear ourselves apart. I wanted to ask our Denver One experts if they could think of other reasons for D9’s silence.”

All eyes turned to Claire. By now, most of the inner circle at the White House knew that she and the President cared deeply for each other. Douthart had undergone two operations, but was still in critical condition, and his life still hung in the balance. Claire had seemed to recover enough to perform her job, but Denver One had sent Ahmet with her, just in case. She’d finally convinced him to go back because he would be needed to handle communications with D9 as rapidly and accurately as possible.

“We have discussed this a lot,” Claire said. Her voice was even, but her usually alert and cheerful face was an unexpressive mask. “There are no obvious answers. Two possibilities are that it may be a deliberate tactic to foment disturbances on Earth, or it may be another manifestation of their communications problems. In the end, we thought a third possibility was slightly more likely.”

Even the sound of rustling paper ceased as attention was riveted on Claire. “The ETs said they had orders to follow if they were attacked. It’s very possible those orders call for a devastating response. But there are two other factors to consider. One is that our messages to them and electronic news reports make it clear the attack was made by a small faction and that established institutions regained control and voluntarily aborted the attack. The other is that there are many indications that D9 was on a peaceful mission, and that they respect our life on Earth. We think it’s possible the ETs are wrestling with whether to follow their ‘orders.’”

“Well, I doubt that,” said National Security Advisor Peterman, voicing the skepticism of many in the room. “Creatures that advanced have to have a big, divisive debate at the last minute about a crucial issue like this? It doesn’t seem likely. That would mean they are as fucked up as we are, but just have cooler toys. I think we have to admit we have no idea what they’re up to.”

Claire responded in a dry monotone. “We realize these hypotheses are very speculative. But as advanced as they are, they still may have disagreements among themselves.” She arranged a piece of paper on the desk in front of her. “At Denver One, we came up with a message to D9 that we think hits the right notes if we assume the ETs’ mission was peaceful. And if they intended from the start to harm us, there’s not much else we can say.”

Claire looked down at the paper and read the message, which said in part: “Now the uncertainty caused by your silence causes serious disturbances throughout the Earth. We urge you to clearly reassure us of your peaceful policy as soon as you can.”

Duggard and the Council approved the message after making a few tweaks, and the Acting President told Claire to send it in her name over both the secure and the open channel “to show the rest of the world we are trying to solve this.” She asked everyone to stay in or near the Situation Room in case D9 responded promptly. Then she and Whiteton waited until Claire finished her call to Ahmet, and walked with her to the Oval Office.

On the way, outside the presidential secretary’s office, they saw new carpet and fresh paint that replaced blood stains from the gun battle. The secretary rushed to hug Claire tightly and whisper, “He’ll be fine.”

Duggard, Whiteton, and Claire had barely settled on the sofas in the Oval Office when the secure, direct line to Denver One began to buzz. Duggard quickly went to her desk and answered the call, putting it on speakerphone. D9 had already replied on the line to the Acting President, though not on the open line. Ahmet said he would read the message word-for-word: “We must know in official way and the details of the attack and the (undecipherable) of people who were involved. We must know the roles of the people. We must know what steps your justice system will take. After we know this information, we will determine if the steps of (undecipherable) justice system sufficient. If it is sufficient, guarantee not to retaliate.”

The Acting President, who had been leaning on her desk with both hands, listening to the message, straightened up and said, “Thank God, that gives us some hope.”

“I agree,” said Whiteton. “But I see at least two potential problems: With our system of justice, we can’t assure the ETs that the plotters will be found guilty—unless they plead guilty—let alone guarantee what their punishment will be; and what is their definition of ‘sufficient?’”

“Well, let’s get started on it so we can end this crisis as soon as possible,” Duggard said. Clicking on the intercom, she said to the secretary, “Get everyone back in the Situation Room.”

By the time the Council re-assembled in the Situation Room in the basement of the West Wing, the ETs had sent a separate message over the open channel. Duggard and NSC members read it off a monitor. “Our mission is peaceful. Respect great for your people and cultures. No one not guilty in the attack will be harmed. Now working with US government to end peacefully.”

“I guess that’s us,” the Acting President said, with a hint if a smile that faded almost instantly. The Council hammered out a message they hoped would provide details of the coup and its perpetrators and clarify the points Whiteton had raised: informing them that the US system gave the accused
certain rights and asking them to explain what they meant by “sufficient” steps.

Claire said, “I must caution you that communicating with D9 is more difficult than it may look. We see the relatively clean final product from experts at the Language Unit at Denver One, but getting to that point takes time and is not precise.” As Council members indicated they understood, Claire went to a quiet, secure room to relay the message to Ahmet.

“Explaining our justice system and finding out exactly what they expect will be tough under any circumstances,” Claire said. “Can you get that through the word-scrambler between you and D9?”

D9’s messages had progressed a long way from the gibberish Denver One received at first. But still, the messages came from and arrived at D9 slightly garbled, evidently because they had to pass through some esoteric communications technology that had not been perfected.

Not even Claire, and certainly not the members of National Security Council, realized how laborious it was to make sense of communications between Earth linguists and D9.

“It’s like sausage making,” Ahmet liked to say, “except the sausage also grinds you.” Each component of the message needed to be sent separately to make it easier to understand. Then the other party often needed to send a message to clarify garbled parts of the original, and the clarification itself might need to be clarified. Finally, acceptable components were put together to make a message of varying degrees of reliability.

“It’s a real back-and-forth process, but David and I have had a lot of practice, and we kind of know how we each work,” Ahmet said.

“David?” asked a bewildered Claire.

“Oh, yeah. Early on I asked our contact in D9 what name I should use. He told me his real name was unpronounceable by us and asked me to give him a name that would be familiar on Earth. I said, well, it kind of depends if you are a male or female, and he said male would be more appropriate. So I named him David.”

Still bewildered, Claire was speechless.

“But his friends call him ‘Dave,’” Ahmet said, bursting into peals of laughter.

“I’ve got to ask,” Claire said, smiling and shaking her head, “what does David call you?”

“Ahmet, of course,” Ahmet said, as if surprised at the question.

“Oooo-kay,” said Claire. “Listen, when you’ve got a clear message, also send us the give-and-take between you and … David. It might give us a better feel for how well he understands our meaning and vice versa.”

After Claire left, Ahmet went into his office and settled at his desk. The desk top was almost totally covered with personal items, memos, studies, scribbled notes, maps, and other material, but if examined closely, was surprisingly uncluttered—Ahmet arranged it all so he knew right where to reach to get a note on calculations from yesterday’s staff meeting, or whatever else he wanted. He paused a moment before working with a highly advanced creature from thirty thousand light years away on a project that could determine the outcome of the first meeting with another world. He savored the same thrill of adventure and intellectual challenge he’d had poring over the writings of Egyptian scribes from thousands of years ago.
Do I have a great job, or what?
he thought. Then he hailed D9 on the secure line and, using the initial for David, typed: “D., Ahmet here.”

He first transmitted a slightly edited version of the details of the coup given by General Peoples to the Secretary of State. He knew the ETs would come back to him with any questions. Nailing down the details of the plot would be time consuming, but relatively straight forward, especially with many of the facts available unofficially in voluminous news reports. But explaining ethical and legal concepts and precisely defining the terms in the negotiations would be tricky. For example, Ahmet soon learned from David that the ETs used infallible lie detecting technology; there was no need in their system to protect the rights of defendants through a lengthy trial.

Ahmet started the daunting process of explaining US legal concepts and procedures with one simple phrase. “All surviving suspects for attack in custody.” Within seconds, David replied, “In ???, in emhat?” Ahmet quickly
answered: “In custody, not free, under control, custody.” David responded almost immediately, and went back and forth with Ahmet, clarifying garbled transmissions and explaining unclear concepts, steadily putting together sentences and paragraphs. The exchanges were swift, with Ahmet and David anticipating each other’s responses, as in a rapid-fire game of chess. But the rhythmic, efficient process more resembled two men sawing a log with an old-fashioned crosscut saw, alternately pushing and pulling in a coordinated effort.