Third Contact

by James Wilson

  Once again Amie was the first to break the story about the progress with the aliens. She was able to get the story out before the conversation aired to the general public. She also had the exclusive on the ship. The day before the conversation, she had conducted an interview with her Uncle Lenny, who had the ship for several years and was able to give a different dimension to the story that fit in nicely between the conversation with the aliens and the interview with the General.

  In the interview with the general, he expressed his confidence that a lasting peace was just around the corner. “I also think that in the near future, we may be able to begin to lift some of the restrictions on surface lighting, travel, and communications,” he said. “I am cautiously optimistic. I’m also sure we will learn a lot more in the next few days as the Eark begin to answer some of our questions. I would encourage anyone with questions for the aliens to submit them to your regional leaders. These questions will be sorted tonight and several of them will be asked of the aliens tomorrow. I would expect they will have answers back to us by the next day or shortly thereafter.”

  CHAPTER 72

  QUESTIONS FOR THE EARK

  Before the first conversation with the aliens was public, the people were already well informed about the lack of success of the bombings at Sol and of the losses suffered by the alien retaliation. It was looking like there was no more hope for humanity against the aliens. With a cease fire now in place, the talk of a lasting peace and the promise of no interference with life on Earth was welcome news.

  Questions came in from all around the world; many were rejected outright. Some of the questions didn’t make sense, and some were entirely inappropriate. There were many that were very good questions but of a more technical nature or out of context for the current level of talks; it was decided those would be put aside for another time. The rest were boiled down into four basic questions that made the most sense.

  The next day at the usual time, a transmission came in from the Eark. “Greetings, people of the Earth,” the voice said. “This is Admiral Nikodima again. First, to answer your question, the first mission to Earth included one ship with four Eark on board. That ship and the four Eark never made it back, as you are well aware.

  “We did send a second mission to Earth; this included three ships and a total of ten Eark. They stayed on your planet for almost two days. All three ships made it back to Sol with only seven Eark still alive. They also came with one dead Eark and four humans. There have been no other Eark on Earth.

  “In regard to the exchange of personnel, we will accommodate this exchange in whichever manner you prefer. As you requested, we do have a few suggestions: we could bring your people to Earth and return with ours. A second option would be, you could come here, or thirdly we could arrange to meet at any place of your choosing. When we do meet, we will be happy to provide you with a translation machine. We would also like to ask if you would be interested in a student exchange program. There are several Eark here that have expressed a great interest in coming to Earth to learn about your planet and cultures. Maybe there are humans that would like to learn about us as well.

  “We hope that addresses your questions thus far, and we are anticipating additional questions.”

  As before, when the Eark finished, General Gehlhausen spoke. “Hello, Admiral. We have broadcast your remarks from yesterday for all of our population to hear. We then asked them to send in their questions for you. The response was overwhelming. Here are the top four questions:

  “Why do you think we are brothers and sisters from the same God?

  Why does God need all the energy from all the stars in the galaxy?

  How did God give you this task that you spoke of?

  How can you harvest the Sun’s energy without interfering with life on Earth?

  “In regard to the personnel exchange, thank you for your suggestions. We will consider them and let you know what would be best; we will also consider the student exchange program. On another note, we will also begin to monitor this channel twenty-four hours a day. We will be looking forward to your answers. Thank you.”

  CHAPTER 73

  THE EARK EXPLAIN

  Admiral Nikodima was ready to put others in charge of the back-and-forth questions with the humans, as he wanted to get his focus back on building the Stella Metentis, which had fallen a little behind schedule with all the interruptions and explosions. He called Captain Agafya, Lieutenant Savva, Mantrona, the interpreter of the Magna Turris Muros, and the human, Connie, to his office.

  The Admiral began, “As most of you know, the humans have asked a few questions of us; thus far, I have been the spokesman for the Eark. I am now ready to hand that duty off to Savva.

  “Lieutenant Savva, you did a great job in working with the humans and probably know them better than anyone else. Also, the bulk of your communication job with them is mostly over now, or at least transitioning to a new phase, so I think this would be a good fit for you.”

  Nikodima continued, “The humans have submitted four questions to us. I would like Mantrona to write out the answers to the three questions involving the Centurm. If you wouldn’t mind, Connie, I would like you to work with Mantrona to help him format his answers in a way that would be well received by your people.”

  “I’d be happy to help, Admiral,” Connie replied.

  Turning to the captain, Nikodima said, “Agafya, I want the humans to know who you are, so you will introduce yourself and read the answers that Mantrona and Connie come up with to the humans at the next scheduled communication.

  “Along with that, I would like you to also answer the other question about how we will provide Sunlight to the humans with an eyelet in our Stella Metentis. Please send me the answers to the four questions before it’s time to transmit them, just so I can have a look. Then, I would like you to conclude your remarks to the humans with the fact that, going forward, Savva will be the lead spokesman for all the human communications,” concluded the admiral.

  The next day, at the appointed time, Captain Agafya began his address to the humans. “People of the Earth, hello. Admiral Nikodima asked me to deliver the answers to your questions today. I am Captain Agafya, second in command at the Sol stations. I wrote the answer to your question about the Earth and the Sun’s energy. The answers to your other three questions that relate to God were put together by our lead preacher, Mantrona. I will first start with Mantrona’s remarks.

  “About ten billion years ago when the galaxy was much younger and devoid of life as we know it, God realized that an extremely large and nearby galaxy, the one you know as the Andromeda Galaxy, was heading directly for our galaxy. Andromeda, more than ten times our size, is on course to collide with us in about eight billion years and will consume us completely if nothing is done. At that time, God devised a plan that would save our galaxy. He built twelve Magna Turris Muros and divided up the galaxy into twelve sectors. He chose a planet in each of the sectors to receive one of the Magna Turris Muros. The Magna Turris Muros consist of a high-density, indestructible material covered with a thick rocky shell. The rocky shell was infused with countless dormant microbes that once placed on the planet and exposed to light, wind, air, and water would eventually sprout simple life on the planet.”

  Agafya continued, “After more than two billion years on our home world, a planet we call Timouri, the life that originally came from the Magna Turris Muros, eventually evolved into the Eark’s ancestors. In time, our ancestors developed iron tools and learned that by chipping away at the rocky outer layer of the Magna Turris Muros, the inner layer could be exposed. Engraved on the surfaces of this high-density, indestructible inner layer was an enormous volume of text. After thousands of years of removing the outer layer and studying the text, we learned of God’s plans for us. The text laid out the principles of mathematics, chemistry, physics, engineering, biology, and much more. It also included detailed instructions on how to build the Stella Metentis to harness the power of our star
and how to travel to other star systems to harvest all the energy in the galaxy. The Muros also told us of the threat from the Andromeda Galaxy and how God planned to avoid the collision by moving the Milky Way out of Andromeda’s way. To move the Galaxy in time, God needed the energy from the stars.

  “The reason we are so sure that we are brothers and sisters from the same God is because we found some of the exact same microbes on Earth that came from the Magna Turris Muros. Also, all life on Earth has the same basic DNA structure as that from the Eark’s home world; we don’t think that could have happened accidentally. From what we understand, the Magna Turris Muros that was sent to this sector of the galaxy failed. We think that is why God asked us to cross the sector divide and come into your sector to begin harvesting these undeveloped stars. We suspect that the Magna Turris Muros designated for this sector was somehow destroyed and broken into fragments; some of those fragments may have made it to your star system, thus seeding your world with God’s DNA, but leaving you without God’s detailed instructions.

  “Finally,” said Agafya, “when we harvest the energy of a star, we do not necessarily change the rate at which that star produces energy. Leaving the star’s life expectancy unchanged, we only take all or most of the energy as it is produced. We do this by controlling the star’s magnetic field and directing the star’s output into our collector. The energy is transformed into microwave energy and transmitted to relays closer toward the center of the galaxy. From there, the energy is transferred back to the

  Center of the galaxy and into God’s hands. The way we can avoid interfering with life on Earth is to build into our Stella Metentis what we call an eyelet. This eyelet will always be positioned on the outer layer of the Stella Metentis in such a way that it would look out directly to the Earth. It would allow exactly the same amount of energy that normally reaches the Earth to pass through. Thus, our Stella Metentis would leave the Earth entirely unaffected for the next five billion years, and life could continue here as if the Eark had never come to this system.”

  CHAPTER 74

  THE MAGNA TURRIS MUROS

  The humans still had one more major concern: they wanted to ensure that not only would the Earth continue to receive its Sunlight, but the Moon and the other planets and their moons also needed to be fully illuminated. The Eark had no problem assuring the humans that they would be able to accommodate whatever sunlight needs the humans had. They just wanted to take what Earth was not using. All the planets and the area around them, including their moons, would be lit like normal.

  At the conclusion of the talks, there was a transition out of martial law on Earth. There really was no point in continuing with martial law anyway, as our military could not stand up against the Eark since they controlled the Sun, the ultimate power in the solar system.

  With peace at hand, there was no real reason for the three Earth-bound Eark to stay confined to the London IPDC anymore. Keiske got an apartment in the London Underground area and kept an office at the IPDC. He worked as a consultant on all alien matters, alien technology, and the Magna Turris Muros.

  Zoskerladne wanted to go as far away from the London underground as he could get. Zoskerladne and Vensecosk didn’t want anyone else to know that they were both pregnant. They left for the coastal areas around the Caribbean Sea to raise their kids in the wild until it was time for them to return to Sol.

  In 4863, three years after peace talks began, the Eark entourage consisting of six ships arrived in Earth’s orbit. There was one ship with the four humans that were captured back in 4857, along with little Solaris. Although Solaris was born three years ago, he was still really only one-year-old, as most of his life was spent traveling to Earth in stasis. There were another two ships, each filled with five exchange students and teachers, who would stay on Earth for a ten-year visit. Those two ships would be filled with ten human students before making the return trip back to the Sun. The fourth ship was filled with five diplomats. Ship Five was filled with goods being delivered to Earth, including communication equipment, translators, medical equipment, and seven replicators, one for each region.

  The sixth ship was a tow ship bringing an enormous to-scale replica of the Magna Turris Muros. The replica was a gift from the Eark. A place was prepared for it in Region A, not too far from where the aliens had originally landed back in 4851. There was also a memorial built for the humans and aliens that died in the two battles. Many humans wanted to see what the Muros looked like and to read the inscriptions.

  The Eark also built the infrastructure for a small city, including a university, inside the Muros. They offered to staff the school to teach the humans about the Muros and their technologies and their trades. The Eark also brought a book of pictures of every panel on the Muros. This book would be copied and distributed to all who wanted it.

  In addition to the replica, the Eark built a beacon just like the one they had built for their original Magna Turris Muros over sixty thousand years ago. The designs for the beacon were contained within the text of the Muros itself. The Denagrata Centurm could send messages that the beacon could pick up and display. It sat on top of the Muros and shone a light in all directions at night. The light could be programmed to display an array of colors and came with its own power supply that would last for the rest of the lifetime of the Earth.

  While people of the Earth were for the first time in decades able to relax, a message from the center of the galaxy was already on its way. The details of the message would bring the united populations of the Eark and the humans to arms against a hauntingly familiar enemy, one intent on taking control of the entire galaxy.

  THE END

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  James (Jim) A. Wilson was born and raised in southern Illinois in the suburbs of St. Louis. One of his first memories is his father showing him the planet Saturn through a telescope. Seeing the rings of Saturn led to an interest in astronomy that has never faded.

  After high school and a year in California, he went on to get a master’s degree in physics and then spent a few years working as a chemist before beginning a career as an electronics engineer. As a chemist and an engineer, Jim published several articles in Electronics Design and The Journal of Neuroscience, and published a few patents.

  Still residing in the St. Louis suburbs, Jim lives with his two daughters and enjoys photography and playing music, some of which can be found at EternalImagery.net. You can find out more about his book(s) at ThirdContact.net