Alien Caller Page 8

  He wore a costume that looked almost like a toga, though it was anything but the traditional white. Rainbow coloured swirls adorned his chest, while the background was a quite pleasing shade of lemon. Around his waist he had a tool belt like Cyrea’s but with only a few instruments dangling from it. None of them were in his hands. His friend was dressed simply in jeans and a T-shirt, the pants being modified with a denim sleeve to allow for the tail. On his shirt front he bore a picture of a surfer crashing out, and David realized he’d probably picked it up from one of the local stores. Maybe he was simply trying to look more natural to David, or perhaps he’d gone ‘native’. He like the others, also had a tool belt. His was crammed full of strange devices, but again none of them were in his hands.

  He had aliens in his home and they were probably armed! It should have been ringing warning bells but it wasn’t. Whether they were armed or not, he just didn’t feel threatened by them. Maybe that was the effect of having Alice in the room. Maybe it was his straight forward attitude. Or maybe David was learning to read them. Then again if they could keep hunters out of a valley for years with no explanation, maybe they could also influence him. It was something he'd have to think on after this was over.

  “As Alice has told you, we really just want to understand you a little better, so that we can become friends. But that is still to happen as your people are not yet ready to meet us. Still, it may be sooner than you think. Once your people have the antigrav drive, they will come out into space to meet us. You are natural explorers. And your technology is a mix but some of it is relatively advanced. All that’s needed is a single major break-through or perhaps two. That could be next year, or in a thousand years, depending on how your technology progresses. Our best guess though is that it will be within a century. As you might appreciate, that first meeting has to be done well, for all our people.”

  “I understand that. But why is it so important now? Well before we have the technology?” He had to ask, despite the fact that he could have guessed the truth. He had a fair idea of what men would do when they reached the stars. They would colonize, as they had since time immemorial, and God help the natives. It was the human thing to do. And he guessed they knew it too. That was why they'd come. Not to see what people would do but to prepare for that day. They were worried that a rogue world was going to launch itself upon them without warning. Rather like when the UN sent in fact finding missions into rogue states, looking for evidence of a threat to others. In short the Earth was North Korea as far as they were concerned.

  “Because you’re so close, and others know it. And they’re worried. There are other people out there. Many who look nothing like us. Many with strange ways of life and even stranger ways of thinking. People you will have a hard time understanding. In fact our two species are more alike than any other two species we have ever encountered. Not just in form and biology, but even in the way we see the universe. But your people will have to understand the others anyway, or learn to deal with them if they are to be accepted. And despite your people’s dreams, there are few free worlds for the taking. Habitable planets are for the most part inhabited. That is the way of evolution.”

  “Some of those worlds are inhabited by people much more advanced than yours. Some are even more advanced than our own. There are five people with interstellar societies. Societies with rules. There are many rules out there. Rules your people will have to learn. And comply with.”

  Despite the softness of his voice, there was a firmness in his tone. He was utterly serious about those rules, and David believed him. Besides, what he said made sense. Despite the dreams of his people, most scientists had always suspected that the best worlds would be inhabited, and that some of those would be by more advanced races. Humanity would not arrive there as the first explorer. Only as another race on the scene.

  “Conquest and war are forbidden by even more advanced races than ours, though we too support that law. And the punishments would be dire. No race in the last thousand years has even attempted to take another world by force and with good reason. Nor are they allowed to colonize worlds where even primitive people live. They are protected, much as your people have been and will continue to be. If you want new worlds, your people will have to build them, as do ours. Your people will also have to learn how to live with others, something your history shows you’re not too good at.” What an understatement, David thought.

  “We are aware of that.” He felt he had to say something to defend his people, despite knowing in his heart that many things humans had done were indefensible. And he knew that better than most.

  “No. You’re not. Your people say they are. Voyager One and Two and the SETI programme and so many other research vessels all suggest that you dream of meeting other peoples. But the truth is something else. Your people claim tolerance and peace, but your lives and history show the exact opposite. In truth a tiny change in skin colour or religious belief seems to breed intense hatred and fear, and irrational prejudice. The truth is that any stranger to your people is often considered an enemy. And you have no idea of just how alien things are out there. Evolution does not follow a single plan. It chases millions of them. An infinite variety of plans. Until the day your people set eyes upon them, meet them, and talk with them, you will have no idea. I suspect you also will have no way of predicting how you will react. Neither will we.”

  “But we do try.”

  “Yes, we know, but you will have to do better than try Mr. Hill. You will have to become everything that your people believe they can be. Civilized, peaceful, respectful of the rights of others and willing to obey the rules set out for all of us. For any transgressions will be punished. Punished severely.”

  “By you?” Yet even as he asked he knew the answer. It was in his sad, tired eyes.

  “By all of us. This sector is ruled by what you might call an Interstellar Council and every advanced race in this sector has a seat on it, including our own. All of us support its edicts. Consider us the equivalent of members of your United Nations. We all have a say, and we all have a role in keeping the peace. We take it seriously.” David had no doubt of that either. He just wondered what the punishments would be. Trade sanctions, visa restrictions, war. He couldn’t begin to guess. He wasn’t even sure he wanted to. Yet he had to ask.

  “Would you...?” It was all he was able to get out before his throat closed down of its own accord as he realised he was potentially talking about the end of the world. Fortunately his visitor seemed to understand.

  “No Mr. Hill. We would not destroy your people or your planet. We would not even harm them, or at least not willingly. But we will meet any threat, and counter it. And as your people are so fond of saying, we would take away your means of making war. More than that I cannot and will not say.” There was a tone of finality in his words and David didn’t want to try and interrogate him further on the point. Especially when he thought about the phrase, ‘take away your means of making war’. Just as the world had apparently done in the Gulf Wars.

  Iraq might not have been invaded or conquered, at least in the first two wars, but the cost to the offending nation was still horrendous. Its infrastructure had been destroyed, its people left abandoned, social structures were left in chaos, and hundreds of thousands were dead. In the second Iraq war of course, it had been even worse. Everything had gone to hell for the people as social chaos had erupted and tribalism had taken over.

  That could not be permitted to happen to Earth. Yet stopping it was something completely beyond his control, or in fact anyone else’s. And if his visitor was right, it could happen sooner rather than later. The moment that the Earth had space travel at its fingertips, exploration would begin. Soon after would come the problems as humans fought first with each other over territory and resources, and then with anyone else they might find.

  It was a story as old as humanity itself; colonization often by force, exploitation of native populations and their lands, conquest, cultural domination
and war. Throw into that the agendas of at least half a dozen major religions as they fought for new converts in strange lands and against each other, criminals escaping justice, piracy, theft and organized crime targeting space as a new frontier, some old fashioned terrorism, and you had a sure fire recipe for a disaster of galactic proportions.

  Worse would follow if and when they first went out there, humanity was met by an advanced alien presence which dictated to them their rules of behaviour. Politicians might seem to agree readily, but behind the scenes the militaries of many governments would be plotting furiously. Plotting ways to steal their technology, to take control of off world resources and sooner or later to build a defence force capable of repelling aliens and allow their countries to rule. And while these attempts would all be by individual countries rather than the Earth as a whole, everyone would suffer for them.

  These things David knew in his heart were all inevitable. And if the authorities found out that these people were here already, that trouble would start early. The government would act. Agencies would act. There would be secret political manoeuvrings, military action, and covert attacks. The longer that they could be put off by never telling anyone that aliens were already here, the better. And he knew he had to play his part. It was the only way he could protect his country. And his neighbours who would quickly find themselves on the endangered species list. Even the ones who knew nothing.

  All of which left him neatly impaled on the horns of a dilemma. He could trust these people, hoping they were as decent as they seemed, and everything might come up roses. But they could also be lying, preparing for war, and he could be failing his country. Or he could go the other way and report them. In which case if they were lying he might be saving his people from an early defeat. But if they were telling him the truth he'd be condemning all of mankind to a rough future.

  It was a lot to decide based on a single meeting, and a few impressions. But there was one thing that could take precedence over everything else. He could tell later if it suddenly turned out that these people were enemies. Even if he was captured. He could set up an email drop box with a timed release of information. But he couldn't untell what had been told. That he knew, had to be his guide.

  “Fair enough. I won’t tell anyone anything. For now. Not if what you say is true. But, and this is a serious problem. I’m an ex-agent, as apparently everyone already knows.” He was still somewhat bitter about the fact that so many of his secrets were public knowledge. Clearly he hadn’t been doing a good job of remaining unnoticed. Missing the fact that there had been an alien arrival and a conspiracy among his neighbours was also a black mark against his record. His skills were slipping.

  “I get interrogated every six months with lie detectors used by experienced analysts just in case I’ve been contacted by any enemies of the country. My next session with the white coats is in about five months, and I won’t be able to keep this from them. I’m skilled at lying, but they’re better at finding the truth.” Of course his visitors didn’t want to hear that, and he watched their faces fall just like any other man’s, but they still had to know. He’d given them a deadline by which time they had to leave, and they all knew that. Of course they had another option, and he didn’t like the idea of being killed by them so he could keep their secret, but it was a very logical solution. Still, looking in his guest’s eyes David could see no evidence at all that the thought had even crossed his mind.

  “Five months. Lar that’s just not good!” Oddly enough it was Alice who complained, yet it also matched perfectly with everything that she’d just told him. These people were her friends and she didn’t want them to go. “You must have some sort of way around it.” But he didn’t. David could see that much in his carefully neutral expression, and with it the unexpected idea that he didn’t particularly want them to leave either.

  “Maybe we can do something to affect their machines, but I don’t really know. It’s not something we’ve ever had to do before.” Lar turned to face her and then unexpectedly took her hand in his, patted it and held it close, a gesture with so much humanity in it that David was shocked by it. Shocked but also pleased as it confirmed so much of what he’d been told. Words were important, but a simple act of caring said so much more.

  “Still we have five months before then, and we shall make the best of those months. You and your friends will not be forgotten by us, and we will make sure of your health before we leave.”

  But Alice wasn’t so worried about her health, David could read that much clearly. It was about friendship. He thought on that as he watched Lar go to help his colleagues with their equipment, a floating stretcher of some kind which they were carrying in through the door.

  Clearly more had been going on here than just an alien visitation. His neighbours had been making friends, good friends, and so too by the looks of things had their visitors. That was something he liked, and also something he didn’t want to intrude on. Having so few friends of his own as most were dead or lost to time and the demands and secrecy of intelligence work, he treasured the memories he had of those he had once called friends, and he hated not being able to return to them.

  Yet like it or not he was a threat to that friendship. It was something to think on as he watched the others preparing to take Cyrea home to her own people and to her own friends.

  “So who won anyway?” Alice’s question brought him back to the moment, and he turned back to see her still sitting there, studying him closely. His elderly neighbour was grinning from ear to ear as she asked the unexpected question, and there was a distinctly mischievous light in her eyes, which caught David by surprise. But by then he’d already been through too many shocks already and it took him a second to understand her meaning, and then as he saw her surveying the wreckage of his living room, a few more to realize she was actually curious about their fight. Yet Alice hated fighting of all sorts. It was at the same moment that Cyrea seemed to grasp her thoughts.

  They both burst into life as they each explained that they had, and that they’d gone easy on each other, never really wanting to cause serious harm. They stopped just as suddenly as they each understood that the other was saying exactly the same thing, even though they had no idea of each other’s language. All the while Alice looked on and laughed quietly to herself, no doubt considering calling them children once again.

  “So Cyrea, you could have kicked his butt easily but instead decided to let him think he was winning to see what he’d do, and because he was kind enough to look after your injuries. And David you think you were clearly winning but felt sorry for her injuries and her gender, which is why you let her go.” They both looked at each other and then quickly looked away, embarrassed and confused.

  “Perhaps a rematch then. Without the weapons of course.” David started studying the far wall intently about then while Cyrea paid careful attention to his bookshelves. It wasn’t just the embarrassment of having been caught fighting by an elderly lady; it was the sudden memory of what else they’d felt as they struggled, and David suddenly knew that it hadn’t only been him.

  “It’ll be interesting to see who’s skills were the best. Whether strength and size beat speed and agility. Claws against fists. Human karate against Leinian eki. But you two would need a referee. Someone to keep the rules and make it a fair fight. No telling what you might do otherwise.” She didn’t know the half of it David thought, and then worried that she might. There was something distinctly mischievous in the old woman’s eyes.

  “But for now, Cyrea needs her rest and care. David you’re also exhausted. You’ve probably had little sleep and that’s been followed up by the biggest shock of your life. There’s been too much excitement for one day.” David tried to protest that he wasn’t really that tired though in truth he was. Two nights without much sleep, followed by major shock after major shock. Alice was right; he was exhausted, and he needed to process what he’d learned. He just didn’t want to let the moment pass.

  “Rel
ax David. You’re still bursting with questions, so many in fact that you can’t think what to ask first.” She apparently understood him better then he would have thought, something he wasn’t entirely happy about. But then she had already been through this herself he realised. She had a head start on him.

  “But you can ask them tomorrow as easily as today. Our friends will still be here, and they’ll still be happy to talk. I promise you that. And while you’ll no doubt turn back into an army agent man again in a few hours, they won’t try to harm you or force you into anything. The most they’ll do is leave, though that would be terrible enough. We don’t want them to leave.”

  David nodded. That much he believed of Alice. She was telling the truth. She liked these aliens, these people, and perhaps not just because of the way they looked out for her health. Alice was always a good judge of character, or at least so she claimed, and to her these people were decent enough. But then David had already found them much the same, or at least they gave a good impression of being decent. At least they did after one meeting. Still it was something that surprised him. He wasn’t sure what he had expected of an alien, but even among his own he found few people he could trust.