Outside Context Problem: Book 01 - Outside Context Problem

by Christopher Nuttall

  Jane spoke into the silence. “You’re all forgetting one detail,” she said. “They’re coming here. How long do we have?”

  “Not long,” Jones said. “The ship may alter its speed, but if there’s no significant change, in six weeks that bastard will be orbiting the Earth. Just six weeks…”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Area 52, Nevada, USA

  Day 25

  “I’ve got the popcorn,” Alex said. “Did you bring the wine?”

  It was probably the oddest date he’d ever been on, but as long as they were not permitted to leave Area 52, there was little choice. He’d convinced Jane to watch the World News Network’s In Focus, a weekly show that focused on the issues of the day. Inevitably, the WNN had chosen to focus on the arrival of the alien mothership - and the alien request for a meeting.

  “Only a single bottle of crap I borrowed from the dispensary for medical reasons,” Jane said, with a wink. Alex chuckled as she passed over the bottle of cheap wine and two glasses. “I don’t know if we can get drunk on that stuff, but we could have a lot of fun trying.”

  “How true,” Alex said, flipping through the channels until he found WNN’s live feed. The introduction music was already playing as the screen focused in on a woman holding a microphone, facing four guests who looked uncomfortable under the cameras. Alex recognised one of them, another was wearing a General’s dress uniform – and a beard, in violation of regulations – but the other two were strangers. “Here we go.”

  “Welcome to In Focus,” the woman announced, as the camera closed in on her. It was probably just a coincidence that she was showing a remarkable amount of cleavage. “I’m your host, Mariko Tam. With me tonight are former General Dave Howery, US Army, Father Andrew, Chairman of the American Interfaith Relations Congress, Thomas Anderson, the well-known science-fiction author and Doctor Gary Young…”

  “Professor Young,” Young injected.

  “A leading researcher into UFOs and alien contact,” Mariko concluded. “Later, we will be looking into Congress’s hearings on NASA’s failure to deliver a working space program and rumours of who will be chosen to meet the aliens. First, however, a brief rundown on everything that’s happened since the world turned upside down.”

  Alex snorted as a brief montage of news clippings, from the SETI press conference to the President’s speech, played as the narrator explained everything that had happened since the first signal had been detected. It sounded bland to him – it only included information that was in the public domain – but it allowed Jane a chance to pour the wine. Alex took a sniff, considered suggesting that it should be poured back into the horse, and then decided to drink it anyway. In his experience, news shows involving UFO researchers tended to get exciting.

  Jane touched his shoulder as she sat down next to him. “Do you know him?”

  “Gary Young?” Alex asked. “Only by reputation. I was never allowed to go public as the Air Force’s man on UFOs. He’s got a reputation for being a sober researcher, not a crackpot, but he firmly believes in Roswell and dead aliens in the Pentagon.”

  “It’s not as stupid as it sounds,” Jane pointed out reasonably. “We do have dead aliens in this complex.”

  Alex shrugged as Mariko turned back to her guests. “Mr Anderson, as a well-known science-fiction author,” she said, “what do you think this means for us?”

  Anderson was a young man, around thirty, Alex decided. He had short dark hair and a goatee. When he spoke, it was with a distantly English accent. “Everything will change,” he said, firmly. “The discovery of alien life alone would reshape the world, but the aliens are coming here, for good or ill. The aliens say that they come in peace, yet they cannot help but have a massive effect on our society. The entire world will change when they land.”

  Mariko smiled at him. “Do you believe that they are hostile?”

  “There’s no evidence one way or the other,” Anderson said. His voice sounded oddly stilted, as if he didn’t quite believe his own words. “It may not matter. The first contact between the Europeans and the Indians – the Native Americans – were devastating for the Indians. They never really recovered from the shock and ended up marginalized on lands the white man didn’t want to take. The white men didn’t always mean ill – there were missionaries who wanted to convert the Indians to the Christian faith, believing that without conversion they would go to hell – yet it hardly mattered. The impact on their culture was staggering.

  “These days, when we locate a tribe that may have remained unaware of the wider world, we try to leave them alone, or introduce ourselves to them gently,” he continued. “The effects can still be staggering. We may find ourselves in the same place even if the aliens mean well. If they’re hostile, of course, all bets are off.”

  “It seems unlikely that an advanced race – and they must be advanced, because we can be fairly sure that they didn’t come from our solar system – would harbour hostile intentions,” Gary Young pointed out. He was a balding middle-aged man, but there was a spark of vindication in his eyes. Alex knew that the UFO Community had been indulging in gloating and claiming that the discovery of the alien mothership proved that they’d been right all along. “The more advanced a society becomes, the less likely it is to be so…undeveloped as to harbour hostile intentions.”

  “Human history says otherwise,” General Howery said, sharply. “Who put a man in space first? The Soviet Union, a state that was a prison camp above and a mass grave below. There’s no iron law of history that says that an advanced society must have advanced morals – or even that we will agree on the same morals.”

  “True,” Anderson agreed. “The Spanish had brutally simple intentions when they probed Spanish America; they wanted gold, gold and more gold. They destroyed two mighty civilisations in the process. They were more advanced than their opponents and crushed them with ease.”

  “And let us not forget that terrorists used advanced technology, technology we take for granted, to start a war with us,” General Howery said. “The aliens might have stolen the technology off another race or a subgroup of their own race. We dare not assume that they’re friendly just because they are more advanced than ourselves.”

  “They came all this way,” Young countered. “Why would they have done that unless they wanted to trade? I doubt that interstellar conquest is cost-effective.”

  “We know nothing about their technology,” Anderson said. “We do not know how much it cost them, relatively speaking, to launch that ship at us. We may be looking at a project so expensive that it bankrupted an entire solar system, or something that cost them the equivalent of a handful of dimes. In the time of Queen Elizabeth I, sending a ship to Asia or America cost plenty of money and the results were sometimes unrewarding. Two hundred years later, travel all around the world was commonplace and the British Empire was built on trade. The advancement of technology propelled America forward and turned the world into a smaller place.

  “We know nothing about the economics of interstellar travel,” he added. “They may be interested in trading, or they may be interested in invasion, or they may just want to say hello. I believe that it is dangerous to assume anything until we know for sure.”

  “How true,” Mariko said, into the silence. “Gary, what is the UFO Community’s reaction to the discovery of a genuine alien ship?”

  “There has actually been an upsurge in UFO reports for the three weeks prior to SETI’s announcement,” Young said. “The reports literally skyrocketed after the announcement and…well, most of them were fakes. There was a man who claimed that he’d been taken onboard a flying saucer by two women with pointy ears and invited to have sex with both of them.” There were some chuckles from the audience. “It’s always been hard to separate out real reports from fakes and the discovery of a real alien craft has only made our task harder. We do believe, however, that the upsurge in reports before the craft became public knowledge is indicative of alien interest in our societ
y. They certainly knew who to talk to.”

  “They did,” Mariko agreed. “And what do you people feel that the aliens have in mind?”

  “The UFO Community is split on the issue,” Young admitted. “There are some who believe that the aliens are friendly and welcome the chance to meet with them. There are some who have drawn up elaborate scenarios featuring alien abduction and crossbreeding and fear that the aliens are hostile. There’s no consensus and probably never will be.”

  “Oh?” Anderson asked. “I used to read a lot about UFOs. The little grey aliens were supposed to have abducted thousands of people and put them though humiliating and painful medical examinations. If those reports were all true, surely it suggests that the aliens are hostile? They certainly seem to show a frightening lack of concern for human feelings.”

  “That is something that the UFO Community has debated for years,” Young said, slowly. “We may well have misunderstood what the aliens were doing. Let me give you a simple example. I went to my doctor for a full check-up and he gave me a full examination, which was rather humiliating although not that painful. I couldn’t help feeling violated when he examined my delicate parts even though I knew that he meant no harm. It was very different from being arrested at an airport and strip-searched – perhaps even cavity searched – by a security guard. In one, it was a medical procedure that you would consent to; in the other, it was a procedure forced upon you out of suspicion. The procedure is not that different in the two cases, but you didn’t consent to be searched and would have found it humiliating – and it would have made you furious.

  “Abductions – the reports we find creditable – tend to take place at night, when the victim’s mind is often hazy and tired,” he added. “It is quite possible that they gave details that their mind made up – not lying, but sincerely believing their own words – or that the experience was less frightening than they believed it to be. Worse, most of the details of abductions have fallen into the public mind and victims, under hypnosis, have constructed stories that are far too similar to real accounts.”

  Alex smiled as Young launched into a lecture on the problems associated with hypnosis. “He’s one of the people who believe that aliens are good and people in the government have been covering up their visits,” he said, taking another sip of his wine. It didn’t improve with age. “He generally gives the aliens the benefit of the doubt.”

  “He does have a point,” Jane said. “There are medical procedures that are frightening even when you’re fully informed.”

  “True,” Alex agreed. He winked at her. “The problem is that if you added up all the different types of alien reported by witnesses, you might well end up with over a thousand different types of alien. They can’t all be real. The discovery of the mothership and real aliens doesn’t mean that everything ever written about UFOs and alien contact is real. One of my predecessors used to wonder if the aliens were deliberately sowing false information to confuse the human investigators.”

  “Why not?” Jane asked. “Our aliens are doing the same thing.”

  “If we assume that the alien abductions are real,” General Howery was saying as Alex looked back at the television, “we have to accept that the aliens have repeatedly committed acts of war. The purpose of the military is to defend the citizens of the United States. Taking civilians from their homes for medical experiments – abducting our citizens – is very definitely a hostile act. We would have to assume that massive ship is carrying millions of invaders and treat it accordingly.”

  Mariko spoke before Young could protest. “Do you believe that the aliens pose a direct military threat?”

  “There is no way to know,” Howery said. “The President’s decision to mobilise is a simple – and very wise – precautionary measure. If the aliens are limited to moving only at slower-than-light speeds, it seems unlikely that creating an interstellar empire would be a viable task. We didn’t develop empires until we developed the ability to keep the colonies together – and we revolted and threw off the yoke of Britain, despite Britain having far more military power than the Thirteen Colonies. Waging war at such a distance was an impossible task.

  “If the aliens can move at faster-than-light speeds, it is quite likely that interstellar empires – or political structures – can and do exist,” he added. “We will have to wait and see.”

  “And if it does come down to a fight,” Mariko said, “could we win?”

  Howery’s face went blank. “You should know that I couldn’t speculate on that,” he said, coldly. “You never know who might be listening to this broadcast.”

  “Smart man,” Alex commented. He’d placed General Howery now. “It’s almost a shame that he had to retire.”

  “We have not yet heard from our religious representative,” Mariko said, carefully. “Father Andrew, what is your position on alien contact?”

  “We’re all very excited,” Father Andrew said. He looked like an older version of Father Ted. “The Church has long accepted the existence of other forms of intelligent life – angels and demons being among the most prevalent – and the thought of sharing information with religions that developed on another planet is fascinating. I understand that some of the more fundamentalist believers are questioning the…humanity of the aliens, or claiming that they pose a threat to human religions, but I like to think that they merely pose a challenge, one that we will overcome.”

  Mariko smiled. “A challenge?”

  “We are told that God created man in his own image,” Father Andrew said. “The aliens, however, might look nothing like us. Are they too created in God’s image?”

  He leaned forward. “Some of my fellows believe that the aliens will have holy books akin to our own,” he added. “Others believe that the story of Jesus will have its counterpart among alien religions. Even more believe that the aliens will have no religion and we have a duty to bring them the Word of God. Learning the truth and then deciding how to act on it will be a new challenge.”

  “You’ve used that word twice, Father,” Anderson said. “Has it occurred to you that the aliens might attempt to impose their religion on us?”

  “Humans have long attempted to force their religions on other humans, and so you may well be right,” Father Andrew said. “We could hardly complain if the aliens treated us as we treated each other. I believe, however, that the alien religion would find no fertile ground on Earth – assuming, of course, that it even exists – and I don’t think that the aliens will attempt to try. It would be uncivilised.”

  “Human history is also full of humans who have acted against their religions in the name of what they believed was a greater good,” Anderson added. “The aliens may see it the same way.”

  “They may,” Father Andrew agreed. “I do not believe, however, that God will ask us to undertake an impossible task.”

  Anderson snorted. “Ah, but who decides that the task is impossible?”

  “Thomas, you gained renown with your Moonstruck science-fiction series and your There’ll Always Be An England alternate history series,” Mariko said, quickly. “How do you believe science-fiction will respond to alien contact?”

  “We’ve been planning it for years,” Anderson said. There were some chuckles from the audience. “I do not believe that there is a possible scenario that hasn’t been explored by one writer or another. Yes, a great deal of quality science-fiction will be invalidated at a stroke, but that doesn’t mean that science-fiction will be useless. We have writers who have explored the uses of new metals and materials without ever seeing them developed; books we can use to plot out the colonisation of the solar system. Classics such as Footfall or Higher Education will still have relevance even after alien contact.”

  He paused. “There is a more interesting development,” he added. “The entertainment industry pumps out hundreds of old movies a week. The Sci-Fi Channel was due to show Earth Versus The Flying Saucers on Tuesday, until they pulled it and replaced it with ET. I had a loo
k through the listings for the next week and there’s no Independence Day, no Alien, nothing involving hostile aliens or alien invasion at all. What do you think that means?”

  “Perhaps the executives believe that the aliens will be annoyed by alien invasion movies,” Young said. “I believe that movies concerning the Nazi Period in Germany were pulled from overseas broadcasts for the same reason.”

  “They’ll probably find them laughable,” Anderson said. “I do think that someone is trying to shape public perception and portray aliens as being friendly.”

  Mariko leaned forward, exposing the tops of her breasts. “Do you believe that they are friendly?”

  Anderson considered it. “The aliens may be more like us than they seem,” he said. “They may not be wise monks or savage warriors, but people. They may have their hopes and fears, their heroes and their villains, their…”

  “But do you think they’re friendly?”

  “I believe that they will want to deal with us on the best terms possible, to them,” Anderson said, shortly. “Gary had a point. They may feel that they’re doing the right thing and we may feel that we’re being cheated. We may find ourselves selling Manhattan Island for a handful of beads. We have to deal with them carefully and watch our backs.”

  General Howery smiled. “And we need to avoid giving offence,” he added. “They have space superiority by default. They won’t need antimatter bombs and nanotech to seriously damage Earth. We may have to adjust to living in a universe where the real powers are alien races born on a dozen worlds thousands of light years away.”

  “And if the aliens are truly hostile,” Mariko asked, “will we fight?”

  “Yes,” Howery said, flatly.

  “But there is no reason to assume that they are hostile,” Young said. “We shouldn’t greet them at gunpoint.”