weeks since we last met.”
“We have had some trouble dealing with your appearance.”
“So I’ve seen. I didn’t realize your society was so fragile.”
“Obviously, neither did we. We need to talk to you about how to keep things under control. First, stop sending technical advancements to our scientists. We really appreciate the information, but receiving so many changes in such a short time is disruptive. Earth’s scientific community functions under very strict guidelines when it comes to reviewing and accepting new discoveries. You are overloading our systems.”
“Okay, though I have already given you nearly all I had planned to for now anyway. What else?”
“Your mere presence here has put a strain on our governments and this institution. I guess the question to you is, what can you do about it?”
“I’m aware of that, but there is not much I can do. I can’t be accountable for the reaction of your people to my arrival. It is your responsibility to control your population. I have to admit that the reaction is not what I expected.”
“What did you expect?”
“I thought when I arrived here, I would talk to all the nations of your planet through the UN and work with you to improve your standard of living through a combination of scientific/social/political advancement. Your species seems somewhat volatile.”
Gaylord thought, that seems somewhat naive for someone who has studied our societies to the extent Physolan claims he has. Even our recent history has been rife with conflict over territory, religion, resources, etc. Earth society is not known for its tolerance or flexibility.
The remainder of the meeting consisted of UN members badgering Physolan to do something about the near rioting his presence had caused worldwide and to not interfere with the world’s internal and external political arrangements. The contradiction in this seemed to be lost on the members but not on Physolan, who was growing more bored by the minute. Physolan made it clear that he had not interfered in any way with Earth’s politics, in spite of protests by the members to the contrary. Gaylord did not believe Physolan was a liar or that he was even capable of lying. The representatives were trying to pass the blame for their countries’ chaos onto his shoulders in the hope that he could correct the problem but in a way that would not affect their control of the reins of power. This was so blatantly clear that Physolan felt little compunction to respond.
Finally Physolan said in a calm voice, “I will state again that I have not interfered in your internal affairs and will not do so for the time being. That applies to your current problems as well as my plans to improve the standard of living on your planet. When you have reached a point that you believe we can move forward, please feel free to call on me again.” With that statement, he vanished in a flash of light.
As usual, the room exploded into shouting. As some of the discussions began to take on more of a heated nature, Gaylord decided it was time to leave. He tried to signal to Jason, but Jason was being swarmed by a group from the African confederation, and he gave up. As he headed by to his office, Gaylord continued to be amazed at Physolan’s displays of naiveté and childlike wonder with his obviously brilliant analytical mind. Maybe it’s too analytical and not emotional enough.
It wasn’t until the next afternoon that Jason got around to calling Gaylord to his office. When Gaylord arrived, Jason was on the phone but signaled for Gaylord to take his usual seat. Jason talked for another five minutes then hung up. He looked at Gaylord, and Gaylord could see that his eyes were red with dark half circles under them.
Jason spoke in a subdued voice, “Whatda you got for me?”
“We went through the data we took during the last visit, but we didn’t get much. The sensor registered something, but exactly what we don’t know.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“Well the video showed Physolan and the his voice was recorded as previously, but the infrared, UV, and other sensors showed only a blob of light. We couldn’t get anything other than the visible light and sound. Of course, we did pick up the X-Ray emission when he popped in and out again.”
“Why does that not surprise me? At least it is consistent with rest of this situation. FUBAR.”
“Sorry I can’t be more help. How are the UN members handling it?”
“Obviously, the meeting with Physolan did not resolve any of the issues that his visits have created. If anything, this visit put the members more at each other’s throats. Each country had it own agenda as to what it wants from Physolan. The third world countries want improvements in their living standards and more representative governments. First world countries want to benefit from the scientific advancement without losing their control of the world’s resources and finances. And the rest want something in between. The membership is even more divided that it was before. Not only do we still have those that think he’s a fraud and those that don’t, but also now some of the member countries want him to go away, even if it involves military force. Especially the Chinese.”
“That would be a very bad idea. With the technology that he has already shown us, he could easily wipe out any country on Earth with minimal effort. We don’t even know if the figure we see as Physolan is a real person or a holographic projection. We could probably target his ship based on gravitational estimates, but he could be masking that as well. Plus, as I’ve told you before, Physolan seems to be aware of almost everything that’s happening on the planet. The chances of taking him out with an attack are ridiculously small. It would be suicidal.”
“No kidding,” Jason said sarcastically, “I know that it’s a stupid idea, but how do you suggest we stop almost 300 individual countries from making a try if they wanted to. All the Unions have atomic weapons. Hell, the UN has to come together on what it wants and doesn’t want from Physolan.”
“Seems to me that Physolan has his own ideas as to what we want.”
“That makes it even worse.”
Just then Karen, Jason’s pretty secretary, said over the intercom, “The president is on line 1, sir.”
“Sorry Gaylord, I have to take this. Get out there and find out what’s going on with the general populations, not only here but overseas.” He hit the com button, and Gaylord heard the president’s voice start talking. The voice did not sound happy.
Gaylord began to check with his contacts that he had managed to set up over the last month across the globe. Most of them were collogues he had worked with in the scientific, financial, and diplomatic arena over the last twenty years. They were using him for the same purpose. He also monitored the news media, but the news services in the US had dropped to such a low quality that they were not only useless but downright wrong on most things.
The picture that began to emerge was that the requests for assistance from the people around the world were still coming in by the millions, but most advanced nations had managed to set up a system to channel the inflow. They were summarized and sent to their representatives at the UN. Of course, there was little the UN could do with the requests since there still wasn’t a way to submit them to Physolan. But the political agitation was developing into an even bigger problem. There was rioting in a number of countries with people calling for more political freedom, even in countries that already had it. Rebel groups were stepping up their activities, either because of the possible help of Physolan or simply because the governments were already being destabilized by other pressures. Gaylord couldn’t see how this was going to get any better.
To make things even more complicated, the idea that Physolan may also be capable of reading human thoughts became a matter of public record, confirming to Gaylord that he had not been the only one to come to that conclusion. People began to view Physolan as a spiritual figure. Cults sprang up all over the world and in almost all the major religions. People were beginning to believe that Physolan could be the savior of mankind, sort of a second coming of Christ. They began p
raying to Physolan for help. The major religions were appalled by this trend and labeled it as sacrilegious. But it didn’t seem to slow down the practice even when some religions, like Islam, began to kill those who would even suggest it.
On the evil alien side, there were also groups, some backed by their governments, that began to label Physolan as an alien bent on subduing the Earth to his will. These tended to be very military, very motivated, and not very bright. Gaylord began to think of them using the fear of Physolan as a way of controlling populations than in really believing what they were preaching. In a number of countries, these militant groups would attack those that were petitioning the government for Physolan’s assistance and that belonged to the quasi-religious pro-Physolan groups.
Financial institutions had no idea what to make of this new situation except that now was not a good time to make an investment. The stock markets of the world were fluctuating between extremes and driving investors from the capital markets and into commodities and durable goods markets.
It was clear that the political, financial, and religious institutions around the world were going to break down if all the countries did not come to a consensus as to how to deal with Physolan. Even though the US was less vulnerable to the
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