by Greg Curtis
“The ancient Mentan’s played with the DNA of both our races, and probably all the other creatures that walked our worlds. They played God as it were, and for that crime they are even now suffering terrible shame. But on the other hand we truly can know we are not alone. Tell your people that. We are not alone. That we have actual brothers and sisters among the stars. Family who truly belong there. Not because of their technology, not because of their humanity, but because of their fundamental decency.”
“Tell them also that we do not yet belong there. We are not ready for meeting any other peoples, to walk among them as equals. Not when we cannot yet deal properly even with our own. How can we expect to be dealt with as one people when we are not one? If we cannot speak openly and freely among ourselves, how should others know how to speak with us? Why should they trust us when we cannot trust ourselves?”
“These are all questions we as human beings must answer before we can leave our home world behind and embrace life among the stars. And they are questions that only we can answer. No one else can do it for us.”
“In the meantime at least every man, woman and child, should know one thing. If we are ever to have any hope of reaching the stars, of our children or grandchildren setting foot on new worlds, we must first set our own world in order. No more wars. No more hunger. No more poverty. No more division between people, between races or religions. No more prejudice. No more secrecy. No more murder. No more destruction of our own world around us through pollution and greed. These have to be our goals for the next century at least, and we will be judged on them.”
“We cannot leave our world until we are one people. One peaceful and tolerant people. One people ready and willing to stand side by side with all others in peace.”
“The Leinians will be staying on Earth for that time with your permission. Staying as our guests, and granting us the wisdom of their counsel. If we are to reach the stars and help our people I would suggest we should grant their request.”
“They have said that they will set up an embassy, and will expect to be granted all the rights and freedoms of any diplomat. But unlike any others, they will only deal with the United Nations. No individual, no organization and no country will be negotiated with separately. This is their word as they have given it to me.”
“Nor will they grant us any technology. Not without first having assessed very carefully its likely effects on all the people of Earth. Both its potential for causing harm or helping us. And if and when they do grant us any help it will be to the world as a whole and never to an individual, a country or a group. Nor will they allow their wealth to affect ours. There are things that they might wish to buy from us, and their currency will be mineral wealth and perhaps some surgeries for those too ill for our medical science to treat. But they will not buy so much as to affect the economies of the world at all, and in time when we are ready, they will give fair recompense for any technological advances we may have made, as they allow us greater access to space.”
“No more do they have any concern or comment with regard to our religions. None of them. All religions are accepted by the Leinians, provided they do not permit the harming of others. Any others. They are secular and the law is the law.”
“There will also be at least one new rule to learn from this very day. Genetic re-engineering of people and animals, the same human technology that rebuilt Dimock and nearly destroyed us all, is banned. It's too dangerous, and all the other societies that have flirted with it, have suffered tremendously. Those that survived.” He was clear on that. The Leinians hadn't wanted to put it in to the speech, but David had insisted on it.
“They will also grant us the knowledge of the history of the space faring races in this sector, and the creation of the Interstellar Community Council which I pray our grandchildren will one day be able to become members of, as something our people can study. For it is through that history that we can see why they have set these conditions upon us. They do so for our own protection as well as theirs.”
“Also tell your people this. As a world unready to enter the Interstellar Community but within its boundaries, we are protected. We always were. No hostile aliens can attack us, even if there were any nearby, and no invasion would ever have been allowed. Also, I’m pleased to be able to report with absolute knowledge, that all the so called alien abductions in the press over the last decades have nothing to do with any aliens from this sector of the galaxy. Such a thing would be completely illegal. And there are no aliens who look anything like the little grey men drawn by UFO people. Other than the Leinians, they’re all far stranger.”
“These things they have given their word to me on and I am well satisfied that they will keep their word.”
“So tell your people this. Today, tomorrow and all the days that may follow, our world, our very universe has changed, and we are no longer alone. This is a great day, and one we should celebrate. But for us it is also business as usual. Everything has changed, and nothing. We are not alone, but those who have arrived are only friends we have yet to meet. There are no enemies waiting for us out in space. Neither has our world changed. What a house was worth yesterday it will be worth tomorrow. The people’s stocks and shares haven’t changed in value either. There is no need for panic as the mad man is dead and we are safe.”
“This is a great day.”
Speech given he stood there for a while, wondering what else he could say. Wondering if there would be questions. Wondering if he knew how to answer them. But instead they surprised him. They clapped.
At first it was just a few, most of them probably as unsure of what came next as he was. But they were joined, and soon the entire screen was full of people standing and clapping, shouting applause and looking as though they'd just been to a rock concert. There were even tears in some of their eyes. Tears of relief. And tears that he could feel welling up in his own eyes. The sense of relief, the feeling of justice having been done and guilt having finally been lifted from him, it was simply too much.
It was lucky then that the transmission was cut before he began blubbering like a baby. Instead he did his best to keep his emotions under control and started dressing in a jump suit someone had thoughtfully brought for him, all while hoping that no one noticed his lapse. And wishing that someone had brought him the jumpsuit earlier.
“There’s another call for you.” He was interrupted in his efforts by another one of the officers calling out to him, and he turned to face the wall again and Cyrea’s relieved face. At least she didn’t look angry, but he was sure that would come. She could never allow him to risk his life. Not even when it was to save the world. He loved her for that.
“It's over.” He couldn’t help but smile at her like a child with a new toy. It wasn’t just the relief. It was the remembrance that he had a wife, and soon a family. For the first time in longer than he could remember he had a life.
“It's finally over, Love. I promise you that. I’m free, and so are you. That bastard is never going to harm another soul. Least of all you.”
“I heard. But it's not quite over yet.” Suddenly he noticed the sweat starting to soak her brow, and the look of pain and concentration on her face, and he realized there was still one thing more to be done. Cyrea was in labour. No wonder she wasn’t angry or upset with him.
“I’m coming Love. Fifteen minutes at the most.”
Chapter Thirty Six
“You know Love, I don’t need to go back.”
“Mmm?” Cyrea was still wrapped up in their daughter, holding her, playing with her, and his words didn’t register for a little while. David didn’t exactly mind either. He was just as involved holding Cyrea’s sandwich and watching the two of them playing on the balcony floor. Besides, the decision for him had actually become quite easy. He’d made it weeks or months ago, maybe even before Hope had been born. He’d just never put it into words.
“To Earth. I don’t need to return on the transport.” Finally he caught her attention,
and she stared at him, suddenly unsure of what he meant. She shouldn’t have been. He’d told her many times about his past. About being an orphan, a military man and then an agent. He had almost no real connection with anybody on Earth other than Cyrea, and she wasn’t a local. Nor did he have any duty to return. The Leinians were now known to his people, so there was no great onus upon him to reveal them. Nor were they a threat to anyone. If anything they were the ones threatened by the association with humans. Besides, in dealing with both the Mentan and Dimock and then arranging the first formal meetings between the Leinians and the United Nations he figured he’d done his duty to both Leinia and Earth.
Besides in the two full weeks they'd spent back on Earth, his life had been one of sheer drudgery. Every day he would dress, get whisked away to wherever the next meeting was, do the introductions, usually to the embarrassing sound of applause, and then sit down and shut up for however many hours the meeting lasted. It wasn't easy being a hero, but considering that no one had even suggesting arresting him for treason or the countless other laws he'd broken, it had its advantages.
Of course he wasn't actually supposed to be a part of any negotiations or talks, just the introductory speaker. The Leinians could handle their end, and the UN didn't want anything to do with him. He was a hero, saviour of the world as the media kept claiming. But as far as anyone in authority was concerned, he was also a renegade agent who had betrayed his own country. Some in America would even have liked to have charged him. But it was difficult to do that when across the world they were renaming schools and parks in his honour.
As for the Leinians, they too were heroes. Flavour of the month. But that would change. Sooner or later, perhaps in a few years, the adulation would wear off, especially when people realised all that they could do for them but refused to.
That was their problem though. His was his family. And he hadn't been able to spend any time with his family during all that time. After two weeks of that he'd been desperate to flee for Leinia. And no one could really say he owed them anything more. He hoped.
Living on another world might be challenging. It already was after only a month and a bit. But at least it was safe, and Cyrea would have her family nearby. On Earth, neither would be true. The various ultra secret groups would always have been nosing around, spying, looking for any hint of new technology or a way to advance their political agenda. It went with the job. And as a spy, make that a former spy, he had a fair idea of the terrible lengths they’d go to get that information.
It was because of that, that he’d insisted every Leinian, and every human closely associated with them, needed a marker. A way of being located anywhere in the world if they were abducted. A way of knowing if they were in trouble. A way that was unable to be detected or blocked by his people. The Leinians hadn’t liked the idea and nor had their human charges, but they had reluctantly agreed, accepting his superior knowledge of the way his people operated, and within a day the best part of four thousand people had been operated on. They had even done it before he and the others had landed with the base ship near his home. The Leinians had taken his advice one step further and marked not just themselves and their contacts, but also everyone that an outsider might conceivably think was a contact. It was good, sound paranoid thinking at its best and he was pleased by it.
“That would be nice. I’d like to stay a little longer. Maybe another month or two. And my parent’s would love to see Hope for a while longer.” Which was an understatement. They craved seeing the little one, even to the point of driving the two of them away so they could baby sit. They weren’t even subtle about it. And Cyrea’s grandparents were worse, but then he liked that in them. He smiled to himself. Cyrea still wasn’t getting it.
“We can stay as long as you want, - a month, a year, ten. It doesn’t matter. I don’t need to return at all.”
“But it's your home.” Finally she understood, and she was shocked. She shouldn’t have been. He smiled at her, and kissed their daughter.
“You are my home. You and Hope. Wherever you want to be is where I want to be, always. Despite your best attempts, the Earth is not and never will be your home.” She tried to protest and he stopped her.
“Back there, you would be an outsider, and despite my best efforts, I couldn’t guarantee your safety. I have too many enemies, and my world has too many problems. Grief, even my old employers will be wanting to kill me to keep me from talking. But here you are safe, you are welcome, and I’m happy just to be with you. On Earth I can provide you with enough money to be comfortable. But all the money in the world couldn’t compete with what your people can offer, and not just for us, but for Hope.” Which was only the truth. He was a husband and father against all odds, and he had to act like one. Which meant first and above all else, he had to protect them. Here they were safe. Nowhere else could he guarantee that. Not even in the mission, as the Leinians called their ship.
Again, on his advice, they’d set up their embassy in their spaceship in the Wrath Valley. It had a number of advantages, not least of which was that if they had to flee, they had a ship ready to leave at a moment’s notice, while the entire area was ringed with the Lienian’s nearly invisible cameras. It also put the various intelligence agencies on the back foot as they discovered they had no local operatives and little chance of placing any who wouldn’t be spotted instantly. Meanwhile, since there were no roads, access to and from the ship was purely by flitter or on foot, another security precaution. And by making the diplomats come to them, it also sent a message to the world and especially its leaders, that the Leinians were not interested in political games, and not amenable to any of the usual diplomatic finesses. They had set out their agenda on the first day, and it was pretty much the same one he had stated from space. They would not be budged. It was a take it or leave it situation, and that was all there was.
The President and his people were somewhat upset about having an alien embassy on their own land, camped in the middle of a national park of all things, and especially when that embassy wouldn’t deal with them directly but only through the United Nations, but they had little choice. To reject the Leinian Embassy would have been political suicide for any government since the people loved them. Besides, the thought of them setting up camp in any other country would have sent them climbing the walls. And to sweeten the deal, the Leinians had agreed to perform some of their medical miracles, a thousand operations per year, on U.S. citizens at their discretion. They didn’t get the technology they wanted, but it was something for the President to take back to his people. Something more than the rest of the world had. It was actually quite a sweet rental deal.
“I’m a father now, against all odds. And we have a daughter. We - I have to do the absolute best that we can for our daughter. And the best I can do is to raise her as a Leinian. A place where she can grow up happier and healthier, live a more fulfilled life, never worry about health problems, gain the best education possible and a career to be proud of. I can’t give her that on Earth.”
“But it’s a huge change. I mean, won’t you miss it? Your home?”
“Some. But not as much as you might think. I have no family there, only here. No real friends either, only acquaintances and other agents. And on Earth, regardless of how the public might see me, I’m a renegade agent. If the government wanted they could charge me with some rather serious crimes. And the other agencies, while they might be wary of tangling with your people, wouldn’t lend me the same courtesy. Here I’m just another member of the public. An average citizen.” Which wasn’t totally true. He felt out of place, especially being so much taller than everyone else, and he sometimes had the horrible feeling when he looked in someone’s eyes that they were remembering his berserk rage or worse still, his killing of Dimock. There was just a trace of fear lurking in the corners of their eyes. But those he spoke to soon warmed up and none seemed to want to distance themselves from him. In fact they were all remarkably friendly and helpful. To the point wh
ere he sometimes wondered whether he was in a TV show and they were all actors. Surely real people couldn’t always be that nice?
He’d quickly grown used to the people’s appearance. So much so that he occasionally startled himself when he walked in front of a mirror and saw a human being staring back. That had made him feel self-conscious, and for a while he’d tried dressing in the local garb, hoping to blend a little better, only to discover that there was no true local dress. The Leinians seemed to dress however they wanted, and jeans were just as acceptable to them as any of the hundreds of different styles of clothes they wore.