Dangling Conversations

by Ed Lerner

  “There's a big ‘but’ in there somewhere.”

  “Think of the most bureaucratic dealings you've ever had with the government. This is worse. On top of a clumsy committee process, we've got all of the international politics. Amazingly, most prospective announcements get inanely entangled with nineteenth-century colonialism and worries about possible Third World misperception. Apparently our paramount mission is to build up humanity's self esteem.”

  “Then come back to NetSat. I need my chief strategist.”

  “Barb ... let's not go there. This work is too important.”

  It wasn't the answer she wanted. She brightened as a safer topic came to mind. “Hey, I owe you a compliment. Your recommendation paid off.”

  Dean guessed she meant the wrap-up memo he'd written on his way out the door at NetSat. He had a visceral dislike of loose ends. “The constellation reconfig?”

  “The same. As you proposed, it was an easy software fix to keep our satellites and ground stations from broadcasting directly on a Lalande 21185 line of sight. We'll lose a little capacity, but we maintained our launch schedule. It sure beat trying to start over on a new frequency to accommodate your ET buddies. That could've put us out of business.”

  “I'm glad it worked out.”

  Her wristwatch beeped on the hour. “Gotta run. Listen, it was great seeing you, and I do want you back sometime.”

  After a goodbye hug she left and he finished his late lunch. The conversation had put an unaccustomed monetary perspective on the task force's work: the cost associated with foregone use of spectrum. That was in addition to the cost of investigations, UN-sponsored and other, about which several countries were already complaining.

  The epiphany came during his last taco. How about ET's economics? Even without knowledge of how ET allocated resources, it stood to reason that ET had made a major investment to contact Earth. His transmitter, and its power requirements, had to be enormous. For how long would his society, whatever form that took, be willing to operate it? Was that why ET had gone off the air?

  Congress cancelled NASA's SETI program in 1993, when the agency was only spending about a nickel per taxpayer on the effort. Luckily, some private institutions had ponied up the money to keep the search alive. Many developing countries were now objecting to UN funding of the task force. Would ET's society work any differently?

  There was a new urgency to decoding ET's full message, and answering while, Matthews hoped, ET was still listening.

  CHAPTER 6

  With intellectual discipline that many found intimidating, ET's message continued to expand a common vocabulary. Some speculated that much of ET's delay in responding had been time spent formulating the elegant reply.

  Animations of motion introduced mechanics and ET's notation for the calculus. Cartoons of atoms with emission spectra identified elements and ET's symbols for them. Cartoons using the element symbols showed simple molecular representations, which were used to illustrate a simple chemical reaction. An image of a simple wet cell labelled with its chemical reaction provided a symbol for voltage, beginning a review of electrical engineering.

  The purpose for all of this common vocabulary was still unknown when the task force was summoned to present its status to a philosophically divided COPUOS.

  * * * *

  “The Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space will come to order.” Ambassador and chairman Juan Roderigo, although Harvard-educated, spoke in his native Spanish.

  Only the steering committee had been invited, but Bridget had wangled Matthews a guest pass in view of his liaison duties. As a guest, he was expected to observe silently. He donned an earpiece, wondering how long it would take to adjust to English in one ear and whatever in the other. English was the worldwide language of technology, trade, and air traffic control; diplomats had no such standardization.

  Undersecretary-General Kim spoke for his task force. The message summary passed quickly, boiled down to the diplomatic level of scientific literacy. Bobbing heads around the horseshoe-shaped table suggested that the summation had been understood. ET heard us; after an unexplained delay, he answered; he was now building a common vocabulary with us.

  Roderigo paid the obligatory compliments to Kim for the hard work of the task force. The ambassadors from the US, Russia, Japan, Peru, and several western European countries followed suit. Then the manure collided with the ventilator.

  Maurice Mbeke of Congo spoke in fluent French, but the ambassador's message, like his dashiki, was distinctly afrocentric. “I think—no, I know—that I speak for many others in asking why the aliens have expended so much effort in communicating with us. We will resist interstellar colonialism, physical or cultural.”

  Matthews was not entirely surprised: this was a perspective with which Matthews had become familiar, though not accepting, from innumerable discussions of the Media & Education committee. What did take Dean aback was the level of support Mbeke had. Speaker after speaker, especially from the nations who'd recently joined COPUOS, endorsed what Matthews thought was a head-in-the-sand view of the situation. To the physicist's astonishment, even some industrialized countries shared a concern about ET.

  The Russian ambassador, Anatoly Shuskov, took the floor. “I ask the indulgence of the committee to have a distinguished member of my staff comment in my place.” Once permission was granted, Shuskov ceded the floor to General Antinov.

  “Ambassadors, thank you for hearing an old soldier. I am proud to have defended the Soviet Union for many years. I am proud to have taken part in Russia's transition to democracy. As a past member of the rocket forces and the cosmonaut corps, I believe I have credibility in defense and space matters.

  “Ambassador Shuskov asked me to assure the committee that our forces have searched for evidence of coming aliens. We found no such evidence. As a cosmonaut, however, I tell you frankly: if ET did visit us, it would mean that his technology exceeds ours as an aircraft carrier exceeds a sailboat.”

  The simile came painfully close to accusing ET of gunboat diplomacy, a comparison not lost on the Chinese ambassador. Matthews wondered whether the association was intentional.

  “I am known for being direct. If ET can come, and opts to, he will. Nothing we say or do will stop him. If ET wishes only to talk, we may choose to listen. I urge COPUOS to listen.

  “It is better to know what ET can do than to not know.” His eyes swept the committee. “I will state clearly what most only hint at: some nations have had cause to fear the superior technology of others. Where nations differ has been in their response to that challenge. Those who learned eventually prospered. Those who clung to their old ways soon suffered.”

  Pausing for a sip of water, Antinov studied his audience. Some of the former certainty was gone from their faces. “Nothing this committee can do will reduce the risks of new knowledge. You may decide not to listen to ET, but you cannot stop other countries, universities, corporations from listening. From learning. You may hope to keep ET's message from your society. You will be no more successful than you were at keeping out blue jeans or rock and roll.

  “I give you a final thought. The cost of restricting knowledge is onerous. It takes a police state to even try.” He smiled sadly. “We Russians learned that lesson well.

  “And to bear the burden of such restrictions, only to see other countries master new technologies from ET ... that would be truly a tragedy.”

  * * * *

  “...So since we were made in God's image, some bug-eyed thing across the galaxy can't be one of God's creatures.”

  “Interesting point, Rick,” said the deejay. His enthusiasm sounded forced.

  “The way I was taught, God sent his only begotten Son to redeem us. Jesus died for our sins, right here on Earth. That tells me that ET must be damned.”

  “As a good Christian, is it your duty to bring Jesus’ message to ET?”

  “You're not listening. They're not in God's image. They're damned. In my book, that makes them
devils.”

  * * * *

  When COPUOS reconvened for a second day of hearings, the opponents of the task force had fine-tuned their approach. No one sought to rebut Antinov's defense of listening. Perhaps it had registered that ET was no longer talking.

  The skeptics today turned to exaggerated praise. The task force has done the hard work and ET's message was in the can. Anyone who was interested was welcome to finish deciphering the message.

  Oh, yes ... and please leave your budget at the door.

  There was a whispered consultation among the steering committee, sitting behind the long table set across the open end of the horseshoe. Bridget grabbed a mike. “We need still to talk about the Reply committee.”

  By prearrangement among the developing countries, today Ambassador Smythe of Belize led the attack. “ET learned we are here. He told us he is there. What's the added benefit of exchanging postcards?”

  “I feel that acknowledgement is the least we can do, Madam Ambassador. ET has shown us the extraordinary fact that we are not the only intelligent beings in the universe. I also believe it is in our self interest to maintain and enhance the dialogue. We have so much to learn.”

  “Surely the least we can do is nothing.” Several ambassadors smiled. “We can discuss proper interstellar manners on another occasion. I'd rather you expand on your second point. I'm struck not by how much we can learn but by how little. The task force has diverted some of the world's best scientists to a rediscovery of arithmetic.”

  Bridget squirmed in her chair. Perhaps she felt sandbagged by the lack of Commonwealth solidarity from an official of a former British colony. “Madam Ambassador, I think that summation gives insufficient credit for our work. We have made great progress in building a common vocabulary.”

  “What indication has ET given of having anything to say?”

  “We haven't finished reading his message.”

  “Which is to say, none.” Smythe smiled humorlessly. “And what conclusions has the Reply committee reached on an answer from Earth? I believe the answer there to be the same.”

  Bridget squared her shoulders. “Again, I could refer to interim progress. Surely it is not unreasonable to take some time in deciding how to respond to a whole new civilization.”

  “What can you tell me about this civilization? What do they look like? Do they breathe oxygen? Are they ruled by parliaments or potentates?”

  “The part of the message we've decoded does not address cultural and biological matters.”

  The ambassador checked her notes. “Can you say what planet of their sun they live on?”

  “No.”

  The steerers looked down at the table or around the room, everywhere but at two debaters. Matthews, seated behind Bridget in the visitors gallery, seethed.

  “In fact, ET's signal intentionally hides all evidence of the planet he's from.”

  “I believe that to be a mischaracterization of why the signal is at a constant frequency,” replied Bridget. She was also starting to get angry.

  “But ET has not shown what planet he's from, even though he's shown he knows what planet we are from.”

  “Not in what has been decoded so far.”

  Smythe looked to her colleagues. “We staffed the Reply committee with veteran diplomats. It is no surprise to me that they have no draft response. How could they reply to an alien race that has offered absolutely no information about itself?”

  * * * *

  If Bridget had seemed angry by the end of the exchange with the ambassador from Belize, Matthews was furious. The questions had all been variations of, “Do you still beat your spouse?” Any direct answer was either an admission or an apparent evasion.

  Bridget had, quite properly, pointed out that ET's message was only partially analyzed. That worked fine once or twice; after that, it came across as an excuse.

  He gave her credit for maintaining her composure. Perhaps there was no politic way to tell an ambassador that she was full of crap. Antinov's performance yesterday had been one of a kind, and only his unique career allowed him to pull it off.

  Roderigo called a recess. The ambassadors converged to one end of the room; the steerers huddled at their table. Matthews felt alone in a crowded room, watching COPUOS move towards declaring victory and disbanding the task force.

  No COPUOS action could stop analysis of the message; ET's full text was on the Web for all who cared to see. There were also plenty of antennas beyond task force jurisdiction listening for the resumption of ET's signal. A UN withdrawal of funding, if it happened, would only slow the analysis.

  No, the real problem would came later, after the analysis. It was not merely appropriate for Earth's answer to come from the UN level. Two days after Xu's press release, the General Assembly had passed an emergency resolution. With its hasty ratification by three fourths of UN member countries, an international treaty now required that any response come only under UN auspices. Mbeke, Smythe, and their ilk showed little interest in okaying any such transmission.

  Protocol be damned. He started pushing through the crowd to the American ambassador.

  * * * *

  Alexander Klein had an imposing resume. He had earned PhDs in history and international studies from Yale at 22. He was tenured at Stanford at 27. At thirty, he was a senior staffer on the National Security Council. The UN ambassadorship was his second cabinet-level position.

  Klein overruled the aide attempting to shoo Matthews away. They stepped into a small chamber off the COPUOS hearing room. The ambassador heard Matthews out, asking occasional questions and jotting notes. Glancing often at his watch, Klein kept the conversation ruthlessly focused: absent a compelling new argument, the hearing was moving towards shut-down of the task force. Matthews hoped he was making that case.

  Roderigo's gavel fell. Ambassadors, witnesses, staff and observers all took their seats. The chairman recognized Klein.

  After a flowery introduction, Klein took some notes from his jacket. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Dr. Satterswaithe, might I impose on you for a bit longer?”

  Bridget nodded.

  “I'd like us to step back from the text of ET's message, or rather from the part of that message so far decoded. I've been led to believe that it might be instructive to consider the broader context.”

  Klein glanced again at the notes of his consultation with Matthews. “Would I be correct in understanding the following? In just the last few weeks we've been given proof that humans are not alone in the universe. In fact, we have neighbors who can see our little world here.”

  “That's right, Mr. Ambassador.”

  “And these neighbors not only have better telescopes than we do, they have better radios as well.”

  “Again, that's correct.”

  “That's a lot of knowledge from a supposedly secretive source.” Klein studied his notes again. “And the signal that conveyed all of that knowledge to us, was sent by a transmitter far more powerful than anything we've ever built?”

  As Bridget agreed once more, Matthews worried that Klein was overdoing it. The Third World delegations had already shown more discomfort with possible culture clashes and perceived inferiority than the physicist had thought possible.

  “Thanks for keeping me clear on these points, Doctor.” Klein took off and polished his glasses, the image of a harmless college don. “Some of my esteemed colleagues have raised a concern, and I am not unsympathetic, about the cost of the task force.

  “I have reason to believe that these are not the only costs. If I could refer you for a moment to your ‘day job,’ would I be correct in my understanding that radio spectrum is a valuable resource? An economically precious resource?”

  Bridget leaned forward with a renewed confidence. She (and the ambassador) had gotten it. “Very much so. For example, we had to disrupt the plans of a global satcom company to avoid interference on ET's channel.” She had in mind NetSat.

  “I see. Presumably our Lalande friends have to
sacrifice the same frequency to communicate with us?”

  “Yes.”

  Klein turned his attention to his fellow ambassadors. “I find that my perception of ET differs from some of my colleagues. For example, I feel that I know a lot about him. He's curious: he wants to know more about us. He's smart: he knows a few tricks we might like to learn. He's serious: whatever effort we've made to hear and understand his signal, it must be far smaller than the investment ET made to formulate such an elegant message, to reserve valuable radio spectrum just in case we answer, and to devote a transmitter the likes of which we have yet to build. We would know none of that if our neighbor had simply chosen not to tell us.”

  He tucked his notes—perfectly delivered, so far, thought Dean—back into his jacket. “It's said that money talks. ET has dedicated quite a lot of whatever he uses for money to this endeavor. I think he's entitled to have us hear him out.

  “I predict,” and here Klein paused dramatically, “that by the time we've finished the processing of ET's message, we'll have discovered a request for information from us.” Matthews silently mouthed his prediction along with the ambassador.

  “I think we all should keep an open mind about how, what, and when to answer ET. For surely, if we do not reply, it will be his committees deciding not to throw good money after bad.”

  He smiled once more at Bridget. “And then who can say what amazing knowledge we will have forfeited?”

  CHAPTER 7

  The steerers were disinvited from day three of the hearing, where COPUOS would decide the task force's fate. Bridget and Dean sought distraction at the Statue of Liberty. She had never seen it; he'd visited it at the age of eight.

  “That is one handy connection you have with Alex Klein,” she offered on the return ferry. It was the first violation of a tacit no-business policy.

  “Oh?”

  “I've been holding back, too. It appears you were right about ET requesting information.” She paused as the ferry's horn blasted. “Although it's generally impractical to decode out of sequence, the analysts have scanned ahead in the message. They figured that a sneak preview might suggest in advance technical specialties we should add to staff.”