by James Wilson
“Sir, I have an incoming communication from Mars, it’s a message from General Denton,” Muriah said.
The general opened the file, and General Denton’s face was projected into the room. “J.P, this morning I was on my way to Cleitus when just before arriving, it exploded right before my eyes. There is nothing left, and I believe Ambrosia is gone too. If I had not been in transit, I too would be gone. I’m now on my way to the Mars station and expect to be there in about three months. Sir, our launch capacity, all of our bombs, and our assembly plant are gone. We have no means to strike the aliens, and now they have shown what kind of destructive capability they have. We must find a way to reach a settlement with them.”
Realizing that Denton was right, General Gelhausen called Major Winter. “Kent, you probably have not yet heard the news. Our bases in the asteroid belt and on the moon have been attacked. We have no means to defend against any further attacks, and all of our ability to strike back is gone. We are entirely at the mercy of the aliens.
“What have you learned from the three captive aliens, Kent?” asked the general.
“Well, sir, progress has been slow at best,” explained the major. “At first we were unable to learn anything at all; then we found out that their voice communication is at a frequency so high it’s beyond human hearing. After getting over that hurdle and redesigning our translator to handle the higher frequencies, we were able to start to build up a database of nouns and adjectives. We were then able to go a little further with short phrases, like hot water or cold water, and pour water into a cup. Getting past that level however, has proven to be very difficult.”
Continuing, Major Winter said, “Part of our mandate was to find out why the aliens came to the Sun and the Earth and to find out when and where they are on Earth. We have not been able to make much progress on these basic questions. We believe that there are few, if any, aliens on Earth, as they led us to believe that the four of them came here as explorers.”
“How did they get to the Earth?” asked the general.
“This much we were able to learn, sir: they indicated that they took a small transport ship from the Sun to the Earth,” replied the major.
“Well, where is that ship now?” insisted the general.
“I’m afraid we do not know, sir. We asked them and they were able to show us in great detail where they had landed, but we were unable to find their ship.”
The general continued his questions. “Okay, what about the people that found the aliens? What do they know about their ship?”
Winter answered, “On the day we picked up the aliens, we asked, and the Texans indicated that they approached their complex on foot. The aliens told us the same thing. They parked their ship and went everywhere by walking or flying, sir.”
“Okay. When was the last time you talked with the people in Texas, Kent?” asked the general.
“It’s been a long time, sir.”
“Well, can you please call them again and see if they have any additional information?”
“Will do, sir,” Winter replied. “I’ll get back to you as soon as I know something.”
CHAPTER 67
THE SHIP RECOVERED
As soon as the major got off the phone with the general, he called Michael Friedlander.
“Michael, this is Major Kent Winter of the IPDC. We’ve never met, but I’m in charge of the aliens that we got from you back in ’51.”
“I’ve often wondered how you guys were getting on with the aliens. What can I do for you, Major?” Michael asked.
“Progress with the aliens has been slow. Their language is difficult for us to understand, and they have become bored and disinterested here on Earth. We do, however, think that the four aliens arrived here in 4851 on a small ship that landed about twenty miles northwest of your location. Do you know anything about that ship?” the major inquired.
Michael answered, “I may be able to help, but, I think my son Lenny is the one you need to speak with. I will see him this afternoon and ask him to give you a call.”
“Thank you, Michael. I would like to press upon you the urgency of this matter. Today three of our bases were attacked; we think by the aliens. We are hopeful that acquiring that ship may help us in communicating with the aliens.”
“I understand. I will try to contact Lenny right now and have him call you back immediately, sir.”
Within about twenty minutes, Lenny called Major Winter. “My father explained to me what happened today, Major, and that you are looking for the aliens’ ship.”
“Thank you for returning my call, Lenny,” said the Major. “Anything you can tell us would be helpful.”
“Well, sir, I have the ship. It’s in the same condition as the day I found it, and I would gladly sell it to you for one million in cash.”
Major Winter gratefully accepted the terms and made arrangements to pick up the ship the next evening.
CHAPTER 68
ACCESSING THE SHIP
After arriving in England, the alien ship was taken to a secure underground hangar not too far from where the aliens were being housed. A team of scientists and engineers was assigned to learn as much as possible about the ship. They couldn’t find anything on the surface except three shallow pockets which the landing skids would fit neatly into when not deployed. They also couldn’t find a single seam, button, or switch, nor could they gain any information about the type of material that the surface of the ship was made of, other than that it was extremely dense and like no material on Earth.
While the team in the hangar made no progress learning about the ship, Major Winter’s group was working with the aliens to try to gain some intelligence about the ship. They discovered that the ship was designed with simple security measures. Only the Eark assigned to the mission could open the ship’s door. They also found out that most Eark ships in general never had any weapon systems, as they had no need for weapons. These ships were used only for transporting the Eark and their materials.
After acquiring as much knowledge as they could about the ship from the Eark captives, they finally informed the Eark that they had recovered their ship. They explained that they wanted to communicate with the Eark leaders and asked if that could be done using the ship’s communications systems. Keiske was excited about the idea of talking to home again and took the lead in working with the humans on this. Day after day for many years now, he could think of nothing else but getting back to his family, as there was nothing for him on this planet. Viscos and Zoskerladne at least had each other to keep themselves company.
One of the engineering team’s technicians, Stacie, was working with the aliens to understand more about the ship. Keiske tried to explain to Stacie that the communication systems would not work if the ship was buried too far underground. Stacie assured Keiske that there were relay systems in the hangar that would allow all communication to pass through to the surface. Keiske also detailed how he would enter the ship and start the communication systems. General Gehlhausen had prepared the message for him to relay to the Eark leaders. Keiske insisted that he would first send a greeting to his wife and kids and that he would mention that Vensecosk and Zoskerladne were well, but they had lost Tevek after reaching the Earth.
Earlier, the group of Earth-bound Eark had agreed they would not mention to the humans anything about the Rovers or satellites in the Earth system. If the satellites were not still in Earth’s orbit, this experiment would not work anyway. Keiske just acted as if he did not know how the mechanics of the communication system worked, only that he could operate the controls and would recount the message as they had agreed.
The captives didn’t know that the humans had conducted several experiments on the Eark over the years. They put different drugs in their food in small amounts to learn what, if any, effects they would have. They found that the drug Halcion worked very well at putting the Eark to sleep. When Keiske entered the ship, he would be accompanied by Stacie and a guard armed with a tranquilizer gun
loaded with a high dosage of Halcion. If Keiske tried anything nefarious, they would put him to sleep.
While the teams were working on the ship with the captives, General Gehlhausen was determining what he would say to the Eark if they could establish a line of communication. He decided that he would not go to the council or consult with any of the regional leaders, but rather only inform them of his plans. Given the current state of our weapon systems and our complete inability to defend against the alien attacks, as well as the fact that we were still under martial law, he would take it upon himself to try to negotiate a peaceful settlement.
He also decided to bring in someone from the media to document what was about to happen. He asked Muriah to contact the reporter who broke the story about the aliens and see if she wanted an exclusive story.
“Make the necessary arrangements for her travel and accommodations, and let her know that she will need to sign an agreement that she cannot air anything without my approval,” he said.
CHAPTER 69
A PEACE TREATY
Keiske and the two humans entered the ship. Stacie was surprised at how simple everything looked until Keiske turned on the ship’s systems. When all the displays and controls came on, nothing looked simple anymore.
He switched on the communication system in the center of the front panel and began speaking. “This is Officer Keiske from the mission to P3. I would like you to please tell my family that I am well and miss them very much. Officers Vensecosk and Zoskerladne are here also and are doing fine. I regret to inform you that we lost Commander Tevek shortly after arriving on P3. The leaders of P3 asked me to relay a message to you. They would like to see an end to the hostilities between us and work to negotiate a peaceful settlement with you.”
After about thirty minutes, an incoming message was received. “Keiske, it is good to hear your voice. This is Lieutenant Tekla. Your wife and children are doing well and send their love. We acknowledge the call for peace from the leaders of P3 and would like to propose a cease-fire, effective immediately. We would like to set up talks so that we can work out the terms of a peace treaty between our two peoples. We also want you to know that any further communications can be in English. The leaders may speak directly to us if they wish. We will contact you tomorrow at this same time with more information and will listen to anything you have to say. After this transmission, please acknowledge that you will be able to communicate at that time or suggest a later time.”
General Gehlhausen, along with several others, watched the whole thing on monitors in the nearby conference room. Both Stacie and the armed guard were wearing small cameras. The general pressed the button to speak to the two humans in the ship. “Stacie, you can tell Keiske to respond. We will be here to listen and speak tomorrow at this same time.”
CHAPTER 70
FORMAL STATEMENTS
Following the encouraging conversation between the humans and the Eark, both sides spent several hours preparing for the next day’s talks. At Sol’s northern station, Admiral Nikodima prepared his statement. He met with each of the four humans individually to present his speech. He wanted to get feedback to gain a sense of how the humans would receive his comments.
The one thing that each of the humans insisted upon was to use the word “God” in place of the Denagrata Centurm. “With that word, you will be speaking their language,” said Tina.
Connie agreed. “Maybe you should consider saying something like, ‘We are all God’s children.’ Many humans take their religion very seriously, and using the right words will put you on the same page as them.”
Back on Earth, General Gehlhausen wanted to have tomorrow’s conversation with the aliens in the conference room, not in the ship. With a little help from Keiske, he ordered the necessary equipment to be put into the ship to relay the communications into the conference room. The microphones had to be able to handle the high-frequency Eark communication as the three guests would be speaking. He would also have today’s conversation broadcast to each of the regional leaders and the rest of the IPDC leaders. A meeting of all the leaders was scheduled for thirty minutes after the day’s communications were done. He wanted to involve the rest of the leaders in making the decision as to when they should broadcast the conversation to the rest of the people.
With their spirits lifted by the prospect for peace and the possibility of returning to their solar station, the three Eark were eager to do anything they could to help. The general told the Eark, “As a gesture of good will, after I complete my remarks tomorrow, each of you will be allowed a few minutes to speak. So if you have anything to say to your people back at the Sun, you will have a chance.” All three intended to take advantage of the opportunity.
As the time drew near, everyone took their seats in the conference room. Audio and video were streamed from the ship to the conference room and to the other leaders around the world. Right on time, Admiral Nikodima appeared on their screens.
“People of Earth, I am Admiral Nikodima, leader of the Eark of the twenty-seventh expedition from the Tenth Generation Star, Drakariea. First, I would like to apologize for the loss of Matt, George, and Roger Friedlander, and Doug and Greg Hill. We deeply regret the loss of their lives. I would also like to assure you that Drew, Connie, Joe, and Tina Friedlander are all in our care and doing well. Also doing well is Joe and Tina’s son, Solaris Friedlander.”
The admiral continued, “God created all life in the Milky Way Galaxy. Your people and mine are all children of the same God. We are brothers and sisters. The Eark have come to this star system at the request of God, not as his messengers, but as his servants. God has given us the task of harvesting the energy from the star Sol. We are to harness the energy of all the stars in the galaxy and send that power to the center of the galaxy as God has instructed. The Eark have been doing this for over 50,000 years. We did not expect to find life here at this system. In all the history of the Eark, over the thousands of stars that we have harvested, never have we come upon a system that had life of any kind. It is our intention to continue doing God’s work and harvest the energy from the Sun, but we can do this in such a way that it will not interfere in any way with life on Earth.
“We will now listen to what you have to say. If you have any questions, we will do our best to answer. I understand that we have just told you a lot and you may need some time to digest all of this information. We will be open to any questions you have at any time and will continuously monitor this channel for your correspondence. As a last point, we would like to arrange an exchange of the five humans that we have for the three Eark that you have.”
General Gehlhausen waited a minute before speaking.
“Good morning, Admiral. I am John Gehlhausen, Commanding General of Earth’s IPDC. Thank you for your comments. You have already answered one of my questions, so I will skip that one. My second question is, can you please tell us how many of your people have been here on the Earth, and when and where?
“Also, yes, you are correct: what you told us is a lot and we will need some time to think about it and get back to you with our questions. I’m sure everyone involved would like to make the exchange of our people for yours. How would you suggest we make the switch?
“Finally, as a gesture of good will, the three Eark here each will be allowed to make some comments. So now I will let them speak. We will contact you again soon with some follow up questions.”
In the meeting with regional leaders that followed the conversation with the aliens, General Gehlhausen suggested that the conversations with the Eark be broadcast to all the people of Earth, “There is no reason to keep this information from the people,” he said, and all the leaders agreed.
“Good,” continued the general. “As soon as this meeting is over I will distribute the files to all the media and post them for anyone to see.
“Next, I’d just like to either remind or inform everyone that after we attacked the aliens’ stations at the Sun, the Eark retaliated by destroying
our asteroid bases, Ambrosia and Cleitus. Our lunar base was also destroyed, and I just got reports that our neutronium production plant around Mercury has been destroyed as well. This leaves us with no weapons of any significance, no ability to produce more weapons any time soon, and we have no means to defend against whatever they used to destroy those bases. We are lucky that they are interested in peace because otherwise our future would be grim indeed.
“With that being said,” he continued, “we need only now determine what questions we would like to ask the aliens. What I propose is that after the video airs, we let the people submit their questions to the regional governments; then each region can submit three or four questions to us, and we will ask the top few questions to the Eark tomorrow.”
CHAPTER 71
BREAKING NEWS; PEACE LOOMS
Amie was waiting for the general when he came out of the closed door meeting with the leaders.
“We have agreed to release the video conversations with the aliens, Amie. That will happen within the next thirty minutes,” General Gelhausen said “You are cleared to report on where you are, the fact that we have recovered the ship, and with it, we have been talking with the aliens at the Sun. You can also mention that the video of the conversations will be released shortly. Do not give any details of the conversation; we will let everyone hear the whole thing all at the same time. When I return from my next meeting, I will sit down with you for an interview, if you would like.”
“That would be great, General,” said Amie. “Do you know about how long you will be gone?”
The general answered, “I’m going to have lunch with my wife. Why don’t you just meet me at my office at about one o’clock?”