Outward Borne

by R. J. Weinkam

  Perhaps this should not have been a surprise. Our own history has been such an extreme example of these same trends and tendencies. Obviously, we have pushed our climate and population to the edge of permanent decline; so many once common resources are now scarce, and at one time several nations had the capability to destroy all civilization in an hour. Fortunately, we backed off from that, which might offer some hope.

  The ObLaDas have won popular respect for their accomplishments, for succeeding for so long on such a difficult mission, and for being the only species in the entire galaxy that was able to achieve interstellar travel. Instinct, genes, hormones, which dominate ObLaDa behavior so strongly are now recognized and appreciated within our own species. After centuries in which instincts were thought to be confined to the lower animals, even to the exclusion of their thought and reason, we have now started to look at ourselves and find a role for our instincts in our own behaviors and passions. While I would like to see how this develops, my body has failed me. Diagnosed with an odd form of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma two years ago, I seem to be among the unmentioned fifteen percent not included within the achievable cure rate. We-who-need-not-worry-about-retirement have a shorter-range focus on things.

  Fortunately or otherwise, the critical moment arrived. It was my chance at success or failure. The ObLaDas returned the Voyagers to Earth in the hope that they could contribute in some way to the formation of a sustainable civilization. It was their belief that this would require some form of planet-wide government, but they had no idea how it might be made to happen. Earth, with its tradition of warring nation-states, and economic dominance and exploitation, was far removed from this ideal or, as it now appears, necessity. DePat sought to use the Outward heritage to directly or indirectly advance these ideas. He had some limited success, which I see as his legacy, but the question of global governance, an actual decision on the question, has now advanced to its tipping point.

  Over the years, one by one, inclusive commissions have been established to address our critical issues of sustainability. The ILUC, or its new name, the Land and Oceanic Commission, was the first. The mix of treaties that had governed the open oceans were eventually replaced by the Commission, and after the Fallow Land Scandal, it was strengthened, given the right to pass laws, and to exercise enforcement powers. But the fact remains that the coastal nations assigned rights over their territorial waters and coastal rivers only after the damage to fisheries and the environment were in crisis.

  The crisis-beget-commission model continued, as mass famine and consecutive pandemics forced all but a few religious fanatics to support formation of the Habitation Commission, which was empowered to determine the population capacity of regions across the planet, and to recommend steps to control the population at sustainable levels consistent with our now-declining energy capacity. Economic competition had long since replaced military confrontation as the battleground between large nations, but persistent small wars and revolutions argued for worldwide disarmament and creation of the Intervention Commission. That commission had the task of organizing crisis management and arbitration efforts in troubled regions before their problems became acute.

  In the end, the Moderation Commission proved to be the most influential. Nothing was more competitive or powerful than our societies’ drive toward economic success. Our interconnected global markets were all built on the expectation of continued growth and ever increasing earnings. These historic benchmarks, however, are unattainable and incompatible with an economy facing a declining population and planned contraction. New standards of merit were needed, as were financial regulations that rewarded no-growth, break-even performance as being successful. Stabilization of the financial markets was a big job, though not one that I particularly understood, but it was of critical importance.

  The Oceanic Commission has had formal lawmaking authority for some time, and now there is a move to expand that level of power to the other Commissions. A global charter has been proposed that would increase the status and authority of the International Commissions. Passage would require nations to relinquish more of their authority, their sovereignty. This is ever hard to do, and factions in several countries are in opposition to the charter. It was a critical make-or-break point.

  It was widely believed that if the Charter were defeated, it would bring about a revival of nationalism, with nations and corporations once again jostling for their own primacy. Supporters of the charter were initially optimistic. The commissions had functioned very well and effectively. Countries almost always adopted the rulings that were recommended by the Global Commissions, and popular opinion favored approval of the charter. But as always, the ones with something to lose were more energized than those that might gain some vague future benefit. The preliminary vote count did not look promising and they were worried. This time I did not need to force myself into a conference, or push data onto a committee. One of the larger organizations working in support of the charter contacted me for help. I could, and I was eager to do so, I told them, but I did not say how it was to happen.

  When DePat organized the ObLaDa memory cube data, he kept one area of knowledge apart. In fact, he removed all reference to it. It was the content with the greatest potential to change the planet and he insisted that it be withheld until after some viable form of permanent worldwide governance had been established. The information would help that body succeed, he believed, but he did not want to risk having it be known by an unsettled world. It now seems that I may never see that day. I decided not to wait, however. It became clear to me that this was something that I must do by myself. We had a considerable staff within the Outward Institutes, but their skills were in research, patents, and presentations so they would be little help in dealing with the massive national delegations that surrounded the Charter Council. I decided to go there alone, keep my plans confidential, meet the Council, and make an offer that I hoped would not be refused.

  Gerald Lorentian was President of the Charter Council. We had never met, but I knew of him. He was head of the EEC when we negotiated the location of three Outward Institutes. It was a small coup for his administration. I hope he still felt some small obligation; perhaps he did, for he agreed to meet me for dinner. I had only been in Zurich in passing, but the Council agreed to arrange for my stay, something I considered a good sign.

  Gerald was seventy-three, with a long history at high levels within the EEC, and an unexpected personal interest in marginal agriculture. He was tall, distinguished, with a famous wavy gray mane, and the gracious bearing of the old school. We met at the Alden Hotel and walked to a nearby restaurant. He brought an aide, Heinrich Jostelin, who had either a phenomenal memory or a hidden recorder, because the verbatim text of our conversation ended up in Gerald’s personal files.

  Lorentian knew who I was by reputation, and I had no difficulty convincing him that I wished to represent the ObLaDa legacy. In fact, when I explained that I was there to offer something of wide interest to the participating nations, he had no hesitation in accepting that this may be so. He did not ask for clarification just then. After we had finished dinner, Lorentian ordered Kier Royals and sat back. Time to turn to the business at hand.

  “There is a portion of the ObLaDa legacy that has not yet been disclosed,” I told him. “It includes information of some great and enduring value, perhaps of more import than the totality that our Institutes have yet produced. I intend to describe this advance to the Council, but I will not provide the enabling information, the details that are needed to make it operational, until after the Charter has gained final approval. I can assure you that the capability that I will describe is great enough, beneficial that is, to sway nations to support the Charter, even those that are leaning against it at this time. I would like to make this offer personally, with your assistance, of course.”

  “Do you expect to address the Council yourself?” he asked.

  “Indeed, sir, that is my intent. I feel confident that you are in a positi
on to make this possible.”

  “The Charter Council is a serious and prestigious institution. It has well considered and approved procedures, and there is no provision for private citizens to approach the Council.”

  “Be that as it may, Mr. Lorentian, I doubt that your procedures anticipated the fact that a citizen may have information of great importance. I understand that you, as President and presiding officer, could make the necessary exception to allow me to speak, should you wish to do so.”

  “But that is just it, Mr. Keifer, I do not wish to do so. I have the respect of the Institution that I have been honored to represent, and I intend to honor its precedents. The most I could allow myself to do would be to read your proposal to the Council myself.”

  Lorentian was a life-long politician, who had grown manipulative and officious in his old age. Perhaps he had always been so, but I, in my old age, can be grumpy as well as imperious, and I was no longer completely naive.

  “President Lorentian, I am not a diplomat by nature nor inclination, but I have become familiar with the rougher side of politics. What I have to offer is very important and powerful information. I expect that it will change the position of even the most adamant opponent and win unanimous support for the Charter. The nations will see it as something that is more valuable than any degree of sovereignty they would relinquish to the Charter Council. This may all occur with your support, as the visionary leader who enabled this important development, or in the face of your opposition. It would not be good for a politician to be on the losing side of this proposition, especially at the end of his career.”

  The color drained for Lorentian’s face while Jostelin’s turned beet red. “I am sure you do not mean to threaten me, I only agreed to speak with you as a courtesy.”

  “I am sorry that I am not so polite or diplomatic as the gentlemen you are accustomed to deal with, but I do mean to threaten you, as you meant to intimidate me. I mean to speak to the Council and I mean to win acceptance of the Charter. It would be a nice cap to your career, Mr. Lorentian, and for you, Jostelin. Don’t you think that mine is the better way?”

  He maintained the facade of being shocked by my incivility for a while, but Lorentian had not maneuvered through the brutal infighting of the EEC without hearing much worse. At any rate, before he left the table, Lorentian agreed to sponsor my position. I would no more than a half an hour.

  I had no pretty pictures, no spectacular videos, no charts, or scientific analyses. I would turn over the last major piece of ObLaDa knowledge to the people of Earth and state my terms, and leave them to make their decision. My appearance was announced without any fanfare, Lorentian’s last display of petulant authority, but speculation was quick to develop and interest rose along with it. This time there were no leaks, no clips or hints appeared online.

  There was an unusually large live audience for the address, most people watched condensed versions of such things on line, especially when language translation was required, but this time there seemed to be a keen interest in being part of the event. I was determined to be very brief and to the point, hopefully not too blunt, but enough to bludgeon some leaders into accepting world governance by making it in their self-interest to do so.

  During the salutation, I struggled to get the quaver out of my voice. I am usually fine with these things, once I get started, but this had gotten to my nerves.

  “One of the most significant events in the million-year history of the planet ObLa occurred some five thousand years ago. It was then that they made contact with an alien civilization for the first time. ObLa was eventually able to conduct prolonged communication exchange with several different planets, long before any space flight was possible or even envisioned. Since the difficulties in conducting and interstellar voyage of any kind were so vast and so extreme, none of these alien planets considered their contacts to be a threat, or even a competitor. They freely communicated all of their knowledge and expertise in the hope that it would be of some benefit. The ObLaDas learned of other worlds, and shared information with them - all of their science, all their technologies, all of their histories. ObLa has participated in this exchange through the millennia to the present day.”

  There were a thousand ambassadors in that audience, men and women from most of the world’s nations. These were people that spent their lives in meetings such as this, often without listening to one word being spoken. Now the room had taken on a strange quiet, even the translators were talking in whispers.

  “Interplanetary exchange conveyed a great deal of new and important knowledge. Indeed, the Outward Voyager could never have been built if it were not for the energy production, propulsion system, and fabrication technologies that the ObLaDas received from other planets. I understand that the people of ObLa considered the translation and interpretation of alien communications to be their most significant and rewarding endeavor. Each planet in the network sends forth a constant stream of information about itself and what it has learned of the world around it. There is no dialog, but it seems to have worked well enough. At the time that our people left the Outward Voyager, eight planets were actively participating in this exchange, and there is one that listens but does not broadcast. These planets have been in constant communication for centuries, constant streams of information crisscrossing the galaxy, and all of this knowledge, all that had been accumulated on ObLa, was conveyed to the Outward Voyager during its journey. I am stating here today that I have the core of that knowledge.”

  I held up the Voyager memory cube, my only prop, although I doubt that anyone could really see what it was. A growing murmur swept through that large room. I waited for it to subside.

  “We on Earth are still struggling, after centuries of effort, to achieve energy production consistent with a sustainable environment. I can assure you that such knowledge exists. Proven and effective new techniques for treating diseases can be adapted for our use. As far as our sciences have advanced, there is much more that has already been discovered on other planets. All of this knowledge would be of great value. We would all benefit, but only if we were able to control it.

  There is more. The network of alien civilizations that ObLa has established is open to new members, indeed, they are eagerly sought. We, the people of Earth, could converse with all of these advanced civilizations and share directly in their new knowledge and advances. On behalf of the ObLaDas, the People of the Outward Voyager, and for those Voyagers who returned to Earth and who have maintained and protected this knowledge in anticipation of this moment, I offer to make interplanetary knowledge and communication available to the World Governance Council. My one condition, a necessary prerequisite, is that the Global Charter receive unanimous and unconditional acceptance by all nations of Earth.”

  Now the buzz started. It was electric. I could feel the excitement as people realized what might be possible.

  “Why this condition?” I continued when I could. “The knowledge that can be gained by communication with our fellow beings will make it possible for our species and our civilization to maintain itself in perpetuity, but that knowledge will be beneficial only if it is in the hands of a governing body that is truly working in the interest of all people, equally, and without bias. For the first time we are on the doorstep of creating such a responsible body. Now we must take that step up. We must have world governance. You can all see the consequences should any one nation monopolize interplanetary communication and the knowledge that it will bring.”

  “The ObLaDas hoped that the people of Earth would reach the point where a viable world-wide governing body might be established, one that could be trusted with this transformative and enduring potential. In anticipation of such an outcome, I can tell you that a message was sent from the Outward Voyager to the communicative planets two hundred and sixty years ago. By now, those planets will have begun sending their greetings to a powerful receiving/transmitting station located in deep space. That station is relaying their communications to Earth.
That signal is now striking our atmosphere, but to receive that signal, you will need the exact coordinates of the space-borne transmitter, its frequency, and appropriately designed receiving equipment. Even with this information, it may take several years to get everything in place and achieve first contact. If any are considering to go alone, to attempt to make contact and exploit it rewards for your individual benefit, you should know that that would be impossible. It would take centuries to detect the alien transmission, if it could be found at all, for it is not being sent from any planet or solar system, but from coordinate in apparently empty space. Believe me in this, it cannot be done, it is the reason that we have thus far failed to find any alien signals, in spite of centuries of continuous effort.”

  I waited for some time before continuing. I hoped to obtain some sense of the mood, but I could not. They were excited, but it was like a child before a Christmas tree. They were greedy for the presents, but there must be more.

  “We can all see that the Global Commissions have been a success over the years, and they will be even more effective once the Charter is in effect, but you have heard and debated all of this many times over. Now the ability to communicate with alien civilizations, to share in their knowledge, to make our own contributions to the universe, is one more reason to support the creation of a global government, and move into a new world dedicated to a better future.”