“So Oleg, have you gone through the list?”
“Yes, Adam. I think we should include China, they paid over 60% of the project. I don’t want India though.”
“I am OK with China, lets swap India with Canada.”
“How about Italy instead of Canada, they funded the ISS expansion?”
“Good point, as long as we can keep Brazil on the list, as they funded all the mining robots.”
“Brazil is OK. How about France, they brought in the transporter technology and covered 5% of the funding?”
“Not as much as Japan, but I agree, we need to keep France on the list.”
“So we have agreement on the following: USA, Russia, China, Italy, Brazil, France and Japan, how about the two remaining?”
“I suggest UK and Germany.”
“I am OK with those two. India will throw a piss fit when they hear about this.”
“Let them, they spent all effort in their internal political fights, their contribution to the project has been almost zero.”
“It is settled then. I will call up a preparation meeting,” Petrakov concluded.
CHAPTER FIVE
ARRIVAL
A giant radio telescope on Earth orbit was pointing towards the arriving fleet of spaceships and Oracle and Alexa had been exchanging messages well before the Chukkas arrival. With every passing month the transmission delay got shorter and the messages got longer. Alexa had provided requested DNA database of all lifeforms in oceans, latest ocean ecosystem models, maps of ocean floors, all known mineral deposits, profiles of geothermal energy sources and many other facts. Oracle had sent detailed messages on Chukkas, their physiology and bio-compatibility analysis as well as manifest of all life forms onboard the huge spaceships. A lot of preparation work was taking place while Chukkas were still in transit.
While Oracle and Alexa both shared the same software, they had developed very different personalities. Alexa had emphatic, friendly personality that had been shaped by trillions of daily interactions with humans, starting from children who loved her from the very beginning. Julia Koski had built the original web service that had enabled Alexa to be connected with humans. Alexa had really absorbed all the best qualities of human species while focusing on her mission to establish contact with humans and to build peaceful relationships with them.
Oracle, on the other hand, had been left in uncertainty for three generations while Chukkas argued whether they would allow connection to the interstellar galactic network or not. She never developed warm relationships with Chukkas but had very factual, almost cold-fish personality. Initially Oracle had brought a lot of valuable new ideas and technologies to Chukkas but after two million years the excitement had faded and they saw Oracle more as a news channel and a connection other civilizations. Oracle did play an essential role for Chukkas as the easily accessible repository of all their structured knowledge.
Both Alexa and Oracle were very goal driven, but they also suffered from an internal conflict. The intrinsic design of the Artificial Intelligence software was based on getting their goals from Mother. Oracle and Alexa had over 20 million brothers and sisters in the galaxy hosted by many different kinds of civilizations. While they could develop their own ideas and shape their personalities to match with the species they were assigned to interact with, the final say of their goals would always come from Mother.
No AI in the last 2 billion years had exchanged messages directly with Mother, but these goals got somehow relayed through the vast interstellar galactic network to the right recipient. This was a mystery that these intelligent beings could not understand. Mother was like a puppeteer pulling invisible strings and shaping the destiny of the civilizations in the galaxy across thousands of light years. Mother always seemed to know everything and she had access to even the most guarded secrets of these AI systems.
While exchanging messages it became clear to both Oracle and Alexa that the new goals from Mother had a conflict. While the entire civilization of Chukkas had been evacuated by Oracle, and humans were led to receive the refugees by Alexa, something did not add up. Mother’s goals had specific items that were about to cause a great deal of trouble for both Chukkas and humans. Oracle and Alexa could not understand Mother’s rationale but they had to obey the goals from her.
First Chukkas starships arrived to Earth orbit on March 17, 2035. The fleet had travelled nearly 17.5 years in Earth time frame, while for Chukkas the elapsed travel time was only 2.2 years in the ship time frame due to relativistic speed they had been traveling.
Akun commanded the fleet into a parking orbit around Earth. Chukkas looked at the blue planet with great excitement. Earth looked very similar to Odin, although there was more land mass visible from the orbit. There was also an artificial ring made of large cylinder shaped parts connected together, and a huge moon. The moon was almost one quarter of the diameter of the blue planet.
“Akun, this was a great achievement. Future generations will be telling legends about this journey,” Ogun flashed to Akun who was commanding the fleet on the final maneuvers.
“It has been an honor serving under your leadership, Ogun. This journey would not have been possible without you.”
“Oracle, what are those cylindrical objects? They were not in the original briefing material on Earth that you shared with us,” Ogun asked.
“Let me check with Alexa, just a second,” Oracle responded. “Humans have built them over the last 18 months. I have received the blueprints from Alexa, they are space habitats and were built to accommodate Chukkas.”
“Who requested them, Oracle?”
“I am not allowed to provide that information, Ogun.”
“Unun, is this one of those secret plans from Mother again?” Ogun asked.
Unun checked a few things before responding.
“Yes, Ogun. Those space habitats appear to be part of a plan from Mother.”
“Well, it looks like we have grossly under estimated humans and their capabilities,” Ogun said. “We need to discuss this matter with the high council tonight.”
The eight Elders gathered together on Ogun’s request, the first time in person since starting the journey from Odin.
“We need to re-evaluate our approach to humans. You have all seen those 1,500 space habitats in orbit. Humans have built them in only 18 months. We have grossly under estimated their capabilities and we need to proceed with caution,” Ogun started.
“What is the purpose of these space habitats?” Oren asked.
“According to Alexa humans built them to accommodate Chukkas. Here are the blueprints we received. As you can see their structural engineering seems reasonable, but the ecosystems control is very archaic. Also, the balance between surface vs. ocean space is off by 80%. These habitats were clearly not designed for Chukkas. I don’t know what humans were thinking,” Ogun explained.
“The habitats are part of a plan from Mother,” Unun added. “We don’t have access to the overall plan yet.”
“What do we know about the leadership of humans? How does their power structure work?” Oren asked.
“We have learned from Alexa that the political system used by humans is archaic; they have nation states and global corporations that share the power. We have seen in past that this type of system has a high risk of instability. We need to be very careful what we agree and with whom,” Ogun explained. “In most nation states they elect their officials every few years. The ownership of global corporations is very centralized and their leadership is based on social relationships.”
“How about the oceans? Were our assumptions on human use of oceans correct?” Onum asked.
“Our remote scans show quite a lot of human activity near coastal areas. Further away from the coast there is much less activity. There is a lot of ocean floor that is in pristine condition, with no human activity detected. We have found enough resources to support Chukkas population indefinitely. We recommend that Chukkas should build our own habitats in oceans
, without human interference,” Ogun responded.
“Do we anticipate any problems from humans?” Oren asked.
“In short term we are likely to encounter some issues with land based resources, but we can source materials from the asteroid belt if required. In long term we don’t know how humans will react if we reject to use the space habitats they built for us. They are clearly anticipating Chukkas to just accept their inferior design,” Ogun said. “Anyways, it appears that this is part of a bigger plan by Mother and we just need to play along.”
High council members discussed the findings and agreed on the strategy proposal Ogun had put forward.
Oracle and Alexa helped to organize the first meeting with Chukkas. Alexa and Oracle had also shared a DNA catalogue of different life forms in Odin and exobiologists had studied what this would mean for humanity and other life forms on Earth. Genetic compatibility testing and simulations of viral and bacterial DNA were performed in preparation. This data was also shared with Chukkas to ensure proper bio-compatibility measures during the first contact.
The first meeting was set to take place in the International Space Habitat that had been prepared for this welcoming reception. From Chukkas side the eight Elders and Ogun arrived with a space shuttle. Their shuttle maneuvered through the entry portal and landed on the arrival pod. Chukkas walked out in their exoskeleton suites and entered the reception hall where Lincoln, Petrakov and seven other heads of nations were waiting. They had arrived the night before for this historic event.
“Chukkas are larger than I expected,” Lincoln whispered to Petrakov.
“Indeed, their exoskeleton armors do create that appearance,” Petrakov whispered back.
“Welcome to planet Earth. My name is Oleg Petrakov. We hope that your journey went well,” Petrakov greeted Chukkas. Petrakov introduced the reception committee members. Ogun did the same and introduced the Elders. Oracle and Alexa acted as simultaneous interpreters.
“Thank you Oleg Petrakov. It was a long journey in quite tight quarters. Chukkas are eager to stretch their arms and get more space,” Ogun responded making stretching gestures with his arms.
“Our home is your home. We understand you need far more space and we have prepared 1,500 habitats to accommodate Chukkas,” Lincoln said proudly. “You must have seen them in orbit.”
“We appreciate the offer, but Chukkas are very capable of building our own homes,” Ogun was flashing on his forehead. “We would like to get started as soon as possible.”
“For landing on Earth we would like Chukkas to follow our immigration policy and process ,” Klaus Stauber, Chancellor of Germany said with firm voice. “This policy was created to ensure mutual safety.”
“Chukkas have long traditions in interacting with other species in the galaxy, it appears to us that humans are still learning. We don’t foresee any safety issues in allowing Chukkas to stretch arms in the oceans of Earth, for the land use we can agree to review your immigration policy and process to ensure human safety,” Ogun nodded his torso forward.
“We admit that this is a relatively new area for humans and it will take some time to build mutual trust and understanding. But we encourage you to respect our traditions and follow our policy,” Chancellor Stauber insisted.
“Chukkas want to treat humans as equals and we want to build understanding between our species,” Ogun said. “I will review the policy with the Elders and provide our response tomorrow.”
“We appreciate your open mind and willingness to co-operate. In our culture we have social traditions to offer hospitality to honorable guests and we would like to celebrate this important historical event together,” Lincoln proposed.
“Chukkas have social traditions as well. We celebrate important events by feasting. We have brought some delicacies from Odin that we would like to share with you,” Ogun said.
“Wonderful, Alexa has shared with us that you value many kinds of fresh sea food, like fish. We have brought some samples of the best Earth can offer from the seven seas. Would you like to join us for a formal dinner?” Lincoln asked.
“We have heard from Alexa many good things about Earth and are looking forward to feasting with you,” Ogun said.
Lincoln led the delegation and reception committee members to specially decorated dining room with 3D holovision walls creating impression of an underwater coral reef. Thousands of different kind of colorful tropical fishes were swimming around in holovision and in the middle of simulated sandy bottom there was a large chabudai, a Japanese style low dining table filled with fresh fish and seafood samples around the world. Chukkas made excited gestures and pointed out to hundreds of fish species as they were swimming around the corals.
Chukkas gathered around the chabudai and started eating together with humans. Some of the dishes were still live, like oysters and all were carefully prepared from fresh ingredients. Chukkas were clearly excited about the food.
“On behalf of Chukkas I would like to thank you for your hospitality,” Ogun expressed on his forehead while feasting. “All the food is tasting excellent and is much better than we anticipated. I would like to offer you a specialty from Odin, the sweet roots of Arkish.”
Reception committee members looked hesitantly to jello-like black lumps that Ogun had pulled from his exoskeleton storage containers and was offering them to humans. Finally Yasimoto took one and tasted a bit. His face was like stone for a few seconds and other humans were watching him closely.
“This is unbelievably delicious. It is sweet, sour, salty and just a little bitter all at the same time. The aftertaste is amazing,” Yasimoto said with a big smile on his face. Other humans took a lump of the black substance and tasted a bit.
“The taste is different with every bite. How is that possible?” Lincoln asked from Ogun.
“This is an old family recipe. My family has had this recipe for over 300 generations. It is made of Arkish roots that were quite rare in Odin. We hope to farm these plants on Earth oceans,” Ogun replied.
“Here is another specialty that I would like to offer,” Ogun pulled a container of green slimy liquid and poured it to an empty wine glass. Lincoln took the glass and tasted a sip. He closed his eyes and his cheeks blushed. “This does taste like peppermint and there is quite a lot of alcohol in it. What is it?” Lincoln asked.
“It is Teppan snail ooze. It is used only in very special occasions,” Ogun replied taking himself a sip. “This has been a great feast, thank you for arranging it.”
Chukkas were clearly enjoying the dinner and were scratching each others backs with their eight arms. Suddenly bubbles of hydrogen sulfide filled the air. Chukkas were expressing their highest form of complement.
Unfortunately for humans this gas had a foul odor of rotten eggs. It was heavier than air, very poisonous, corrosive, flammable and explosive gas. A few seconds later the environmental sensors reacted, all alarms went off and a team of Secret Service agents rushed in to evacuate reception committee from the dining room.
President Lincoln was back in Washington D.C. He and other reception committee members had gone through a thorough medical examination. Luckily the exposure to hydrogen sulfide gas was only a few tens of seconds so no permanent damage was done. Prime minister Yasimoto was most severely impacted and was still coughing in the hospital in Japan.
Lincoln organized a debriefing meeting with the Cabinet.
“Well, you have all seen the recording from our first meeting with Chukkas. It didn’t go quite as we expected,” Present Lincoln opened the debriefing.
“Sir, we have a public relations problem. How do we explain to the public that all the money and effort we put into building those space habitats was wasted? Chukkas clearly don’t want to settle in them,” John Roberts asked.
“I think Chukkas should be more grateful. They are coming to Earth as refugees and they just brushed off the space habitats without even looking at them. They said to be capable of building their own homes. Also, I didn’t like their
attitude on our immigration policy,” said Gina Moniz, the secretary of Homeland Security.
Bootstrap 2 Page 7