by Greg Curtis
New laws would have to be enacted, and new ways of thinking brought in. It would be a long slow business, beginning from the very start of school. Children would have to be taught that other people who hopped, crawled, slithered or flew, had exactly the same rights and responsibilities as them. But at least he knew children could learn such things. It was their parents who would be the problem. And the world they had created.
Though he didn’t say it too loudly, David was becoming more and more concerned about the impact on the world if and when the Leinians were found out, and the one thing he was sure of was that sooner or later they would be. Cyrea’s accident only highlighted one of the potential risks. A greater one was one or other of the intelligence agencies doing some research, for the Leinians had already made significant impacts on the local community. Better health, the bio-remediation of a dangerously polluted lake, the opening of a spent gold mine which was now producing more than ever with no staff, and no doubt awaiting federal health and safety inspections.
Each of these events on its own could be explained, but taken together they formed a pattern. One that might not make sense to anybody for some time to come, but still enough of an oddness to register on several databases. He’d told Cyrea that, and even as he shopped she was going to speak with her superiors about it. Perhaps, he hoped, they could cut back on some of the excesses of their impacts thereby delaying the inevitable. It would not however, prevent it. Even if they packed up and left right then, he knew it would not prevent discovery. Nothing would any more.
Therefore as he told them, it was vital that they prepare for that day. Not just for the agents who might come and perhaps create problems for them, along with innumerable tourists who would ride into Redwood Falls in their droves just to catch sight of an alien. Not even for the locals who would become their victims. But for the rest of the world who would be shaken to their core by the news. The financial markets, the United Nations, a thousand religious sects, some of whom actually awaited alien landings as the sign of the apocalypse, the internet which could actually collapse under the data-streams that would be demanded of it, and so forth. All would be vulnerable, regardless of the peaceful intentions of their visitors. Though he no longer had any doubts that they were peaceful.
But if he, an agent with knowledge of the most secret of black box operations had been shaken, he had no idea how the rest of the world would react. And though the Leinians didn't want to admit it, they thought they'd be gone first, he was sure that day was coming.
In desperation he was beginning to prepare a crude impact assessment of what that news would do to the world; not to stop it, but merely to try and help them minimize the damage. It was only a project in its infancy, and Cyrea was carrying his first draft back with her even then, but he could see at least some of the pitfalls ahead and was planning for them.
The markets could be stabilized by an immediate announcement that no new technology and no large amounts of mineral resources would be released by the Leinians and that the Leinians also wouldn’t be purchasing any companies. The religious sectors needed to be appeased with a flat statement that the visitors were not here on a higher mission from God and that they accepted all religions provided they lived in peace. The health sector, though in many ways it was wrong, would be bolstered by the knowledge that they weren’t being replaced with advanced medical technology and so forth. It was only a beginning, but he hoped it would be a good start.
Governments of course, were more tricky. Some would perceive the Leinians as a threat no matter what they said. Others would take it as a western imperialist plot since they had landed in America. Some would want their technology for themselves, others would want their immediate expulsion and if possible, destruction. The governments were the next stage of his project, and one he wasn’t looking forward to, if only because he knew what a complex mess it would be. What might appease some would infuriate others.
The only solution, though the country would call him a traitor for even suggesting it, was for the Leinians to insist on dealing directly with the United Nations. As a body they might not be the most well organized or cohesive group in the world, but they were the only ones with the ability to speak on behalf of all nations, and the only group that could hold the respect of everyone else. They had the mandate that no one else could claim.
Though it might be considered as both self-serving and a form of insider trading, David had also felt the need to grab up plenty of shares in the two largest chip manufacturers, figuring that if and when the Leinians were found out, they were one of the few stocks that would go up in value. Perhaps a long way up. The news alone that the Leinians valued them should see to that, even without the extra sales. The rest he had reinvested into blue chip companies with large asset bases, figuring that even if they didn’t make a large profit now, their assets ensured their continuing value and his financial security.
Futures though, and any other high risk investments he wouldn’t have kept for all the tea in China. Once news of this magnitude hit the markets, there would be a rush to stable performers and good or bad the more speculative shares would come crashing down. He was advising his neighbours to do the same, those that had such things, so that even if the world fell apart they would have some security. The last thing they needed was to be bankrupted at a time when every agency, embassy or spy on Earth would be trying to move into the district. That would make them too vulnerable.
He had also suggested one other option for investment; the land around the lakes. Long term even without the presence of the Leinians it would rise steadily in value as pristine wilderness slowly gave way to civilisation. It would rise faster when people realised the lakes were no longer so polluted. But short term, once they were made public, the land would perhaps quadruple in value, as every world power and every intelligence agency tried to find a place to set up shop next to them. David had already started investigating purchasing another twenty acres of old forestry land adjoining his property, and though it looked like it might cost him a couple of hundred thousand dollars or more, he planned on going through with the purchase. And maybe when the time came, the Leinians would help him to convert it into productive land instead of a scrappy forest covered mess.
Besides, as he told them, if they were going to set up an embassy eventually, something they had no plans to do but which he considered inevitable and essential, it should be near Redwood Falls, to save the hassle of moving and stymie the various agencies from setting up shop. It would help make clear that Leinian law and values were the important ones in all negotiations. And though it was perhaps unworthy, if the mission stayed put he could continue to live in his rustic paradise. He hoped his neighbours might be able to do the same especially while the land was still cheap.
Still that was something he could worry about another day. For the moment he had to worry about simply getting his goods on the checkout and hoping he wouldn’t overload the bench. Or that the operator wouldn’t burst out in laughter in front of the entire store.
He got through it though. With a polite smile and his bags packed by a rather frazzled looking young lady with strangely dyed hair, he was presented with the shockingly large bill, and a few moments later wheeled his purchases out of the store.
As he got the groceries to the truck and started loading them in, bag after never ending bag, a new worry appeared. A woman approached him, the strangest expression on her face. He’d never seen her before, or perhaps just never noticed her, but he knew from the moment he saw her face that she’d seen him before and he could immediately guess where.
Without asking she began helping him load the truck, and while he would have liked to believe it was simply good manners he guessed she had another reason.
She was a pretty woman, with long streaky blond hair and brown eyes. She was tall, and obviously very fit, her bare arms showing the firm muscles of a rower or swimmer. From the clothes she wore he guessed that she worked locally with one of the tour groups. P
robably guiding people to hunting and fishing spots. In age she could have been anywhere from 25 to 35, though he would have gone for the younger end of the range. She should have been a happily married mum. But her face told the story that belied her looks. She was both sad and scared of something, and very nervous. He could guess why, but he didn’t hurry her along even when the groceries were finally loaded.
She didn’t even open with a hello.
“What was it like? I mean, not details or anything, but was it normal?” She stressed the ‘it’ slightly and he knew instantly what she was talking about. From the fact that she couldn’t meet his eyes he knew one thing more. She not only knew the facts, she’d seen the tape. David tried not to cringe as he thought of all she’d seen, but wasn’t totally successful. Fortunately she didn’t seem to notice or care.
“It was very ... pleasant and seemed very normal.” He really wanted to tell her to mind her own business and go away, but he simply couldn't. And so instead he told her something of what she wanted to hear. Even if it was humiliating and intensely private. And of course, pathetic. But he couldn’t think of anything else to say, but then he suspected she didn’t care. She wasn’t idly curious. She was far too nervous. There could only be one explanation. She liked one of the Leinians.
“And the,… the fighting?”
“That was just us being stupid. Just at the start. Never again.” He felt his cheeks going red and knew there was nothing he could do. Groceries finally in the truck, he made to take his trolley back to the stand and found her blocking his path. She wasn’t finished, much as he wanted to turn dig a hole and bury himself in it.
“And the Leinian. It was okay for her too. Not… different?”
“Cyrea is very happy. Very satisfied. And when we compare notes, we don’t find anything different to what we’d expect.” His face just kept getting hotter. “So, want to tell me about him.”
He’d hoped that that would kill the conversation before he turned any redder. But strangely enough, she did and he found himself trapped and having to listen. His name was Dafi, though she’d nicknamed him Daffy, and she saw him once or twice a week, whenever she took the day off and travelled through the lakes region. It didn’t really surprise him. A lot of the tour guides only worked three or four days a week. Long enough to bring in enough money to live on, while they indulged their own interests and went kayaking or trekking through the region.
Heather and Dafi had met about a year before, when she’d been climbing the back ranges, and quickly found a love of the outdoors in common. Dafi was a biologist with the ship, studying the local plants and fungi, and Heather had soon become his personal guide to the woods. Since then they’d often gone away for weekends, or just day trips, whenever their schedules allowed.
But what had started out as friendship had become something more. They looked at each other and feelings emerged. When they occasionally touched their senses reeled, and everything they said suddenly seemed to have two meanings.
For months things had been slowly heating up, and they’d tried to stay apart, and to cool it down, but things hadn’t worked out. Dafi was still dependant on her guiding him through the region, though David realized that was just an excuse. He could have requested another guide. Heather too was always in the region, hiking or paddling her way through the land she loved. But she could have gone elsewhere. Even when they tried to stay apart, they kept running into each other.
Which David wanted to tell her was a deception. They didn’t just run into each other, they wanted to and they planned it whether they would admit it or not.
As she spoke he found himself torn. He knew how well things were working out between Cyrea and himself, and he really wanted it to work so well for others. If nothing else it would mean that they weren’t the only ones. But then he also didn’t want to be suggesting to a human woman that she should run to the arms of an alien man, no matter how nice they seemed. The red blooded male in him simply baulked at the concept.
In the end all he could do was answer her questions and tell her that at least the physical side of it for him and Cyrea seemed normal and nice. It wasn’t actually what she wanted to hear, though he didn’t understand that until much later. She wanted him to say it was either the most wonderful thing to have happened since sliced bread, or else that it was so terrible that she would be better off running. She wanted him to make her decision for her. But he couldn’t do that.
As he drove off he saw her worried face in his rear view mirror, and wished he could have known what to say to make her happy. But he also knew he had told her the truth, and there was little more he could have said. It was in the end up to her and Dafi to make their own decisions.
But he also knew that Cyrea would be delighted to hear that maybe a second couple might soon appear on the scene, and that was a happy thought.
He pushed his foot down a little harder on the pedal, wanting to tell her the good news sooner.
Chapter Nine.
“Cyrea?” The meeting chamber was completely empty and for a second David wondered if he’d found the wrong room. Again. After all the ship was enormous, even submerged under a forest, a feat of engineering and space ship piloting he still didn’t understand. It surely spanned at least a mile across in a perfect circle. It could well have two meeting chambers. It could have a dozen and he was after all, forever getting lost. One yellow painted steel corridor looked much the same as any other; featureless. Especially when the Leinians didn’t even use rivets and welds as the navy would. But then this was a space ship not a more ordinary sea faring one, and the technology involved in travelling the stars, even though ancient history to them, was far beyond anything humanity had yet developed.
So were their directions, and he was rapidly becoming certain that he was lost again. It was an annoyance, especially when he’d gone to some trouble to learn his way around the ship.
Knowing his weakness, David had spent some time with Cyrea, mastering Leinian numbers which were thankfully enough, base ten, and learning their letters which were not nearly so simple. Forty letters in the alphabet including ten distinct vowels, it seemed that they didn’t want to have any letter relate to more than one sound. Despite that it seemed to him that he should have been able to find his way around the ship. But “seemed to” and “were”, were two completely different things. It didn’t help that the residents on board the ship liked to decorate extensively, and so every junction and entrance of every corridor which should have been marked with just a letter, number, letter combination usually had an ornate artwork surrounding it, obscuring the simple geometric lines of their characters. It also didn’t help that Cyrea wasn’t there. But she had work to do, mostly as he understood it keeping an eye on the public areas and monitoring for illegal activities aboard ship. She had to return to work after all.
The first time he had been on board the ship it was ostensibly so he could have a sit down with one of the focus groups on board to discuss how things were going with their research, followed by a medical check-up at Cyrea’s insistence and lunch in one of the three main cafeterias. In reality he suspected she’d just wanted him to become at least a little familiar with her people and their world and after all their time together he'd somehow found himself unable to refuse. He simply couldn't bring himself to believe that these people were enemies any more. But while she’d been with him at least finding his way along these endless corridors of yellow metal had been straight forward.
Still, he’d managed to find his way to the first three hour session of the morning, and even found himself interested as the scientists had gone into detail on their efforts to restore the pristine quality of the local lakes and forest. It seemed they liked pollution on Earth even less than the locals, and they had the technology and will to do something about it. That was something to think on when the time came and their presence was exposed. Most people hated pollution in theory even if they didn’t always recognize it, or realize they were causing it. The L
einians however, had the knowledge to make Earth a less polluted world, and that should count for something when it came to stopping the expected panic and maintaining order on the day of their exposure. Surely greenie aliens would be much more acceptable to humanity?
Maybe that was a part of why he’d agreed to help in their efforts along with twenty or thirty other locals, all of whom seemed to be able to find their way around the huge ship more easily than him. His help might consist of only wandering out in his putt putt once or twice a month to take some samples, and also carrying with him a piece of calibrated soil monitoring equipment, but it was something he felt he should do. Both as a local who wanted to live in a pristine paradise, and also as a security man who needed to know a little more about his visitors. The latter was after all, why he’d finally come on board the ship, that and Cyrea’s insistence.