Wen Shi immediately knew who it was. The President of the United States. She consciously tried to keep her voice steady—and it turned to be much easier than she thought it might. “This is her messenger. Before we meet, I have the solution to Brocard’s conjecture to share.”
“Say nothing.” There was a long pause on the other end of the phone. “We have a lock on your location—I’m sending an SUV to pick you up. Two of my secret service agents will escort you to a secure location. Stay where you are,” the Commander-in-Chief ordered.
Wen Shi wasn’t thrilled about ignoring the President’s orders, but continued with the plan. “I’m sorry, President Duran, but that arrangement won’t work. We need to meet in the basement of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History after it closes. Don’t draw attention to yourself as you arrive. Have someone meet me at the main entrance—facing Madison Drive NW—at 9pm, and I’ll allow you to choose the most inconspicuous entrance. I’ll be in a pink hoodie and blue jeans.”
President Duran paused, likely speaking with advisors and possibly other world leaders while on mute. “Okay. See you at 9pm.”
Wen Shi killed time by eating, calling her parents, and visiting the vacant museums. She was kicked out within an hour, though, as all the museums were prematuring closing. Outside, she found the roads leading into the area were blocked off. Eventually, she saw the trickle of people passing through the area dwindle to nothing. A couple of hours before 9pm, she moved to the corner entrance of the Museum of Natural History. She stayed hidden in the shadows until 9pm sharp, when multiple black SUVs pulled up.
She saw a bevy of bodyguards, military personnel, and world leaders exit the vehicles. This is why Sigyn is being so deceptive—she needs less opinions and agendas in the room when she starts negotiating.
President Duran approached her, with armed security ensconcing him. Two personnel reached her before the President, patting her down for weapons. Within a couple of minutes, she was able to hand over the solution to Brocard’s conjecture. The paper was passed to someone behind the President. The individual clutching the paper paused, and his eyes briefly went wide before nodding and affirming its veracity. She was led into the museum through the main entrance, and downstairs to a windowless room. This isn’t inconspicuous at all—is COPUOS attempting power play?
Wen Shi sat at a round table with the United States’ President across from her. Formally dressed men and women, representing countries from France to China, took up the other available seats. Entourages of advisors and armed security swarmed behind each leader, conferring with each other and then whispering to their commander. President Duran nodded after one of his aides relayed something private in his ear, and the man then moved to dial a number on the conference phone sitting in the center of the table. Wen Shi wasn’t made aware of the specific members who had dialed in, but she was certain they were leaders of other countries prominent in COPUOS, such as Russia and Japan, that weren’t in the room. I wonder how the leaders of Tokyo, Moscow, and London feel that we ended up meeting in D.C… I’ll likely have to contend with a small amount of unavoidable resentment in the near future. Wen Shi’s thought process was broken by President Duran.
“We appreciate the request for discretion, but we are committed to providing a united front against any alien threat, and will only communicate with potential extraterrestrial allies when the permanent members of the UN Security Council are present.” Everyone facing Wen Shi was exuding a bold determination and surety; their ignorance of the situation led to a deafening over-confidence.
“I now understand why Sigyn has taken great precautions when initiating contact with Earth’s leaders. None of you have comprehended the true threat Earth faces,” Wen Shi said. Members around the table exchanged glances of fear and confusion with one another. “The current state of your combined militaries pose no more threat to the observers of Earth—or the aliens that came to help us—than a pack of wolves to a military tank.
“A single, well-trained soldier of the observers could easily destroy large portions of a major city before being subdued by Earth’s most advanced weaponry.” Wen Shi was careful with her words; she didn’t want to reveal the names of the alien civilizations, yet. “By drawing so much attention to our meeting, you risk them discovering our whereabouts and killing us all.”
With those words, a subtle panic rippled across the room. The military and political leaders surrounding her struggled to show a calm and confident countenance to hide their fear and embarrassment. President Duran began to speak. “We—”.
“—didn’t think this through,” Wen Shi interrupted him. Her previous hesitation to address world leaders faded and was replaced by an assuredness that they needed her help to grasp the reality of the situation. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but we don’t have much time. I was sent here as the first layer of contact to avoid putting Sigyn in this exact situation. Apart from ensuring confidential discussions with COPUOS, Sigyn also wants to avoid competing agendas and unclear lines of communication with Earth.
“I will stay in D.C. and explain Earth’s historical role in the galaxy, as well as its current predicament, to you all, but Sigyn will need a number she can use to contact the Federal Council leader of Zurich directly. It must be a secure line.
“No attempts should be made to determine Sigyn’s location. Even moving satellites to spy on her may result in giving clues to the observers as to what we are doing. That must be avoided. To be clear, the threat of violence for such actions does not come from our alien allies, but from the observers monitoring our society. At this point, Sigyn is putting her trust in you all to take the smart path.”
Silence followed, with President Duran speaking first. “We need time to discuss—we’ll give you an answer within 24 hours.” Other leaders nodded in agreement.
“Unfortunately, we can’t wait that long. You have 30 minutes before the deal is off the table. I’ll be outside waiting for your answer,” Wen Shi said as she pushed away from the table. She left the room and allowed them to deliberate. There was a bench down the hall where she sat and timed their conversation. I can’t show weakness. If they aren’t done in thirty minutes then I need to reenter the room and, if I’m barred, I must leave. Wen Shi didn’t ruminate much on what she would do if they required more time. She made up her mind and simply watched the timer. After exactly 30 minutes was up a U.S. secret service agent retrieved her from the bench and escorted her back to the room.
This time, the French President, Byron Calmat, addressed her. “We will give you a contact number for Zurich’s Council member—Emilia, who is now on the phone—but we request that all correspondence with her be recorded so that the leaders of COPUOS can hear firsthand what transpired.”
“That’s reasonable, for now. If it becomes a burden for communications in the future then we may need to come to a new agreement.” Wen Shi turned to the speaker phone. “Emilia, expect a call from Sigyn soon.”
Wen Shi left a voicemail for Sigyn with the number to reach Emilia and the details of the agreement. She then fielded questions from the room well into the night. She explained the basics behind the Primordials, why a force behind the moon was necessary, the rationale for the Aesir’s actions, and eventually, toward the end of the night, mentioned the names she had been withholding the entire time.
“Before we wrap up, perhaps you all could answer a question for me: why haven’t you asked for the names of these civilizations?” Wen Shi asked the room.
The leaders around the table exchanged baffled expressions with one another. Many opened their mouths to speak, but didn’t utter a syllable. South Korean President, Lee Jung-hee, was the first to respond. She looked around the room slowly as she spoke. “We’ve coined terms for the two civilizations internally—I’m not sure why the mangled, translated names into any of our languages would hold any significance.”
“Sigyn is an Aesir. She is here to free us from the Olympians.”
President Jung-hee hunched
forward, her face twisted in thought. Many other members around the table backed up slowly. The security teams in the room read the confusion of their commanders and inched their hands toward their firearms. Wen Shi hoped someone would speak up, but felt she had to douse the kindling before the room erupted in flames.
“Obviously, these names are not merely coincidental—these Olympians have interacted with us in the past. In fact, I’m not sure how many thousands of years they’ve had an eye on us, but I can say with certainty that not all of our ancestors’ mythology is fictional.”
“This is Norwegian Prime Minister Einar Rostad,” an eager voice said over the phone. “And what of the Aesir? If they have connections to our Nordic forefathers then there is much I must ask Sigyn.”
“That’s not something I’m able to answer. Sigyn can—” Wen Shi was cut off by President Duran, whom looked directly at her while he spoke.
“I think we’ve pestered Wen Shi enough for one night. Let’s get some rest and meet with our advisors—we’ll think clearer in the morning.”
A strategic maneuver to leave the room in a show of authority, while also attempting to generate a personal connection with me by feigning concern of my well-being. There’s no harm in playing along—I could use some sleep. “Thank you, President Duran. I look forward to continuing to facilitate discussions between you all and the Aesir in any way I can.”
* * *
Lugh was checked into a hotel in Zurich with Sigyn. His gamble worked in Iceland and the two found a pilot willing to smuggle Sigyn into the country. Lugh had spent the trip trying to strike up general conversation with her, but found it difficult as she was either meditating or deep in thought. The only real conversations he had with her were when he inquired about science-related topics, such as the Aesir’s genetic augmentations or the Primordials’ physiology. Even those had to be done in private though—they were limited to small talk while flying or moving through public.
Lugh awoke on the couch to find Sigyn was already up and watching the live COPUOS feed in the bedroom. He went to start a pot of coffee, but realized he felt energized. I only slept for four hours at most last night… His thoughts were interrupted by Sigyn.
“How do you feel this morning?” She was wearing the same grey military pants he saw her in earlier, but with only a black tank top on her torso.
Lugh paused before responding. You’re obviously checking her out—stop! “Oh hey—I feel great. Wide awake and energized after only a few hours of sleep—that’s not typical for me.”
Sigyn smiled back. “That’s great.”
“Any word from Wen Shi?”
“Yeah. She called a little bit ago. I’ve contacted the Federal Zurich Representative, Emilia, and plan to meet her, a German physicist, and a British general in a hotel room upstairs later this morning. I’d like you to join me.”
“Of course! I’ll need to clean up first. What are we supposed to do before then?”
“I plan on meditating and doing more research on your world—the research methodology you and Wen Shi showed me has been very helpful, thank you.”
Lugh blushed a little. “No problem.”
“You’re welcome to do whatever you like, but you should be aware of the few new broadcasts that came out of Africa. You can look up their exact wording, but they are essentially stating that we are lying to humans and our ultimate goal is to sabotage your race, preventing you from ever competing with us within the galaxy.”
Lugh felt a pang of concern. “I’ll be sure to do that in a bit— it won’t take long. I first want to burn off some of this excess energy at the gym; although, to be honest, I feel like I could run for days.”
“You better get used to it,” Sigyn said as she smiled. She then turned and headed back to her room.
Lugh watched her petite frame glide away. Snap out of it, Lugh—go to the gym and stop thinking about Sigyn. He grabbed shoes and headed out into the hallway. “I’ll be back in an hour or so!” Lugh yelled as he left.
The fitness center was a relatively small room with three types of equipment: treadmills, a bench rack, and a multi-purpose structure. Lugh eyed the treadmill first. I guess I’ll run to warm up?
He set the speed to his usual warm-up pace—10 kilometers per hour—but he felt like he was walking. He titrated the speed up until he hit its max: 20 kilometers per hour. There was a television in the room, tuned to the live COPUOS broadcast, which he watched as a distraction. He found a disturbing pleasure in knowing details about the extraterrestrial “crisis” that no other human, except Wen Shi, knew.
It became a game for him to listen to the broadcast and internally score the report as if it was an essay in class. You identified the falling object as a spacecraft, which was good, but you failed to independently recognize the force behind the moon and the ancient research facilities scattering the globe. D+.
While watching, Lugh saw the few messages from Africa Sigyn referred to earlier. He didn’t find them especially compelling, but he already developed a bias in favor of Vili and Sigyn. “…you’re being lied to…the intruders on your planet want to make fools of you…they are jealous of your rapid technological progress, worried you’ll supplant them in the broader galaxy…” It just sounds fake.
After hearing the same report cycle twice, Lugh realized he had been running for 25 minutes. He turned down the machine and jumped off. Panting, but not fatigued, he walked over to the bench. Normally, he would stack 25 kilograms on each side of the bar and, including the weight of the bar, rep 70 kilograms 3 to 5 times for 3 to 4 sets. Feeling good, he put 30 kilograms on each side and laid below the weight.
Reaching out, he easily plucked the bar off the rack and began benching. This might as well be a watermelon. Lugh stopped and looked at the weight rack. Fuck it. I’ll just put it all on and see if I can do it once.
Lugh increased the weight of the bar to just shy of 200 kilograms. He got into position and took a deep breath, lifting the weight off the rack while exhaling. One….two….three…. Lugh racked the bar and let out a large sigh. Ok, well I absolutely can’t do this indefinitely.
He used the weighted bar for another set of bench press, and then took a crack at some bicep curls, but with less than half the weight. After a few sets, he realized he had eaten up nearly an hour at the gym, and was starving. I’ll end with some pull-ups and then find some food before heading back to the room. He approached the multi-purpose structure and grasp up to the bar at the top. Pulling his weight upward, letting himself down, and repeating, Lugh found that he was getting more bored than sore. I think I’m around 20 reps? I’ll get to 35 and then get out of here.
Lugh left the gym and headed to the breakfast lounge for the quotidian morning buffet. He filled two plates to the point of overflow and headed back to his room. I can always come down to get more if I’m still hungry.
He made two more trips to the buffet before showering and heading out with Sigyn.
* * *
Sigyn was leading Lugh to the room Emilia reserved for their meeting. Sigyn was now dressed in her full armor—grey pants and black diamond quilted patterned jacket. She noticed Lugh glance in her direction and then down at his clothes. A red long sleeve flannel and blue jeans…It’s not like he expected to run into aliens and meet with world leaders when he traveled to Norway.
“We’re here.” Sigyn announced. “You ready?”
Lugh answered with a nod.
Sigyn’s knock was quickly followed by the door being opened by a man not tall enough to look Lugh in the eye. He was in formal military attire, his suit adorned with numerous medals. Sigyn noticed the short layer of facial hair clinging to his face. He likely didn’t have time to shave before being rushed to Zurich.
“You must be the military officer,” Sigyn said.
The man stiffly nodded and grunted in response.
A blonde woman, taller than Sigyn and dressed in a black pantsuit, shot out from behind the man. “This is John Peterson, a General in
the British military. I’m Emilia. Please, come in and sit.”
Sigyn led Lugh as they made their way through the kitchen and into the living room. An older looking man with salt and pepper hair sat on the couch sipping an espresso. He stood up and approached them with his hand outstretched and wearing a wide smile. “It’s nice to meet you, my name is Heinrich.”
“Hi. I’m Sigyn and my human colleague here is Lugh.” She turned to greet Emilia and the British general.
“As per the agreement in Washington D.C., we will be recording our conversation here today,” Emilia said. “Is that still acceptable?”
“Yes. We might as well get right into it. I’m aware Wen Shi has filled you in on the basics. In short, I’m here on the behalf of the Aesir to create an alliance with Earth in order to relinquish the grip the Olympians have over both our people.”
“What’s in it for Earth?” General Peterson asked. “How do we even know you’re telling the truth about the Olympians? The idea that ancient Gods are actually aliens, who are currently striding about the Earth, some of whom are actually the ‘bad guys,’ is quite frankly a little preposterous!”
Sigyn ignored his last statement. “I suppose you wouldn’t recognize the destroyed Olympian research facilities around Earth or the remnants of a once-functioning Svalinn shield, but why else would we come down here? We already freed your planet from its filtering system—” Sigyn noticed Heinrich’s inquisitive expression. “—the Svalinn shield around Earth worked to block all signals of life outside this system.”
Heinrich rapidly responded with questions. “How does that work? How long has it been in function? Did you permanently remove it?”
“That’s enough, Heinrich,” General Peterson said authoritatively. “At this point, the political details of this engagement are more important than the scientific ones.”
“I’m not sure that’s true,” Sigyn replied. “We’ve already given you the solution to two difficult problems you’ve been facing in mathematics and physics, and we plan on guiding Earth through thousands of years of technological progress over the next 12 months.
The Gods Who Chose Us Page 29