“That will be our great pleasure, Keeran,” Lykke continued referring to the procedure with first contact for new planets to join the Gayan community; one of the few occasions Worders would expect to travel outside the home range in the course of their duties to show themselves directly to new human races. “I understand you want to return now but we have the essential preparations to arrange here. Can I ask you to please take your time and consider the pace of your actions? It is all too easy to get caught in the moment and rush along so that outcomes become unpredictable. In all truth you probably have more time than it seems. In any event we must take steps here to receive your message from Earth and be in readiness to welcome Earth to our community.”
Joe nodded; he sensed Lykke’s words calming him and he was more comfortable talking about his work project rather than his personal life and relationships. “Yes, of course we need to make arrangements here but Rafaello and Umberto are needed back on Earth.”
“Naturally,” Chiara replied. “The Pantuccis must return immediately and you will follow as soon as we are ready to let you go, Joe.” Chiara turned to the Pantucci brothers. “When you return, anything you find you need from us, do not hesitate to call,” she added.
“Of course, you will be the first to know,” Rafaello said, wondering if that was actually quite the case; it was not always clear in field operations that a call back to base was the wisest course of action. “OK, Umberto, time for us to be making the trip back past our friends in the Hyades,” Rafaello referred to the route back to Earth that would involve bypassing the home range of the Spargar empire after two-thirds of the journey. The Cavallo brothers stood to make the formal goodbyes to their Worders and then returned to their starship with Joe. Maria’s silvery prow was facing them, touching the lawn that sloped down and away to the brimming blue lake 500 yards below. Maria’s aspect was horizontal so that her stern edge was high against the slope with the docking ramp angled down to the ground.
Joe embraced the brothers in farewell. “Reassure the group back in Cambridge that I will be on my way to you as soon as I can get away from here,” he said. “If we need reinforcements don’t be shy to let me know. It will be easier for me to argue for them in person from here than to ask after I get back.”
“I think that would be a good thing to start right away, Joe,” Rafaello said. “Call me superstitious, but something tells me things are about to get complicated back on Earth so don’t hang about too much here. You know how those Worders like to mull everything over if they get their hooks into a returning Traveller.”
Joe shrugged and smiled conspiratorially with his old friends. It was clear that they were keen to get going. The call of imminent action pulled at them, caused by concern of what may be occurring back on Earth in their absence. Furthermore, the unease of being under the scrutiny of their superiors, the Worders, pushed them to climb Maria’s loading ramp enthusiastically with a sense of relief. Joe watched their broad backs as they climbed the ramp into the welcoming warm lights of Maria’s interior with a small sense of loss tinged with not a little envy. He turned to look back up the grassy slope to the Worder’s lodge and realised he wanted to escape this paradise and rejoin his companions as soon as he could possibly manage.
*
David Harrier received an alarm on his retro personal computer in his office in Whitehall. Several videos from military and civilian sources had detected another UFO emerging from the direction of the star constellation Taurus in the southern skies over Europe. It was similar to many others in that it appeared from nowhere travelling north at great speed, then, changing direction, it accelerated away again towards Earth’s atmosphere before disappearing. David filed all the available videos electronically by time and location with the other similar cases, noting their increasing frequency. Perhaps the increased pace of sightings was due to their additional scrutiny of the skies but he rather doubted that; his instinct said that his time of waiting for real alien contact was coming to an end. He could only hope that things would turn to be a friendly encounter but he was under no illusion that he had much control over the situation.
The new bright UFO that appeared on David Harrier’s video log was the Gayan spaceship Maria emerging from DMF drive adjacent to the red star Aldebaran as viewed from the southern United Kingdom. Maria looked like an earthly satellite travelling south but the Gayan starship slowed down, did a little U-turn south and dived down before disappearing, cloaked for the descent to its destination to the east of Cambridge. Satellites originating on Earth appear like stars tracking slowly along grid lines loosely following an imaginary longitudinal and latitudinal lattice surrounding the Earth. David Harrier’s intelligence community on the ground would register this appearance as another UFO but they could not conceive its meaning, just like all the other reports. They could conclude, however, that whatever the object was, it could probably hide itself at will so it was revealing its presence deliberately. That in itself suggested that whatever its purpose, it was becoming more overt, less concerned about actually being seen. Something or somebody was preparing the authorities for an upcoming event by drawing attention to themselves in a very obvious manner. This pattern of increasing appearances could be no accident.
THREE
Charlotte wheeled Professor Kitteridge in his chair from his office when a security team arrived at the Cosmology Department to do an electronic security sweep ahead of the Prime Minister’s arrival. She pushed him across to the coffee station for the general use of the department’s staff and perched on a table corner after serving them both a hot beverage. Christopher was nearby and he was the only other individual in the department who knew what the Prime Minister’s visit was really about. The rest of the team believed the visit to be as advertised for general consumption: the Prime Minister was visiting Cambridge to draw attention to the city for its high-technology innovation and how government investment could lead to the success of businesses springing up in its wake.
Christopher was becoming accustomed to his pivotal role between the Gayans amongst them and the rest of the scientific community at the university. His relationship with Charlotte was vital to this. They had grown up together and he trusted her implicitly. He hoped their feelings for each other were deepening all the time. His faith in her reduced the doubts and fears about the cosmic challenges that came with his intimate knowledge of her. Christopher had very recently felt himself becoming stronger in his personality. He knew himself to be growing fast into the maturity he would need to fulfil his crucial role as the intermediary between the earthly group and the alien Gayans that he now knew included his closest friends, especially Charlotte.
Since the drama of the Gayans defeating the Spargar force that fateful night in Thetford Forest, there could be no more doubt on his part of the reality of the situation he found himself in. He had witnessed the alien forces battle each other with his own eyes and seen the unearthly forces they could unleash. Equally he realised that the next steps had to be handled very carefully to maximise the potential for a good outcome. He was therefore very pleased to be leading the technical work that would be required to define and then send the message that could be collected by the Gayans in their own world. Christopher thought in his own mind this message would be collected and responded to by Joe, whom he now believed to be back on his home planet within the Pleiades star cluster. It was reassuring to think that his friend would be on the receiving end of his message rather than some faceless aliens. This thought gave him more motivation and urgency to get on with his work. Christopher was very pleased to leave the communications issues with the political authorities to Professor Kitteridge and Charlotte so he could focus on the substance of the message planning and delivery. Professor Kitteridge had the gravitas and authority to persuade the Prime Minister and her government of the importance of their mission. Professor Kitteridge was famous as one of the greatest thinkers of his generation and his physical incapacity me
rely accentuated his sagacious demeanour.
Where Professor Kitteridge looked the academic part in his neutral tweeds loosely draped over his diminished frame at odd angles, Charlotte looked exactly what she was: a physically fit and very attractive undergraduate in the first full flush of womanhood. She was also the latest woman of a hundred or so earthly generations that had been host to the soul entity that was Amily, Traveller of Dawn from race Gaya. This fusion of physical youth and ancient wisdom resulted in Charlotte being the most advanced woman ever to have lived on planet Earth. Knowing she would join the Professor for the important meeting Charlotte was dressed marginally smarter for the occasion, wearing heels rather than trainers and a flawlessly pressed light top in creamy gauze above new jeans that fitted like a second skin in her normal fashion. She had applied a minimum of make-up and lipstick. Her hair shone golden down to a point somewhere below the points of her shoulder blades. Christopher’s breath caught as he noticed twin loops of thick hair resting on the top slopes of her breasts in the sheer material. She smiled at him cheekily for noticing and he protested inwardly to himself that he had not been staring, just glancing.
“Are you quite ready, Charlotte?” Professor Kitteridge asked over the rim of his coffee mug, inquiring eyes peeping steadily up and through the thick meniscus lenses of his tortoiseshell-rimmed glasses. They had previously talked over the meeting plans at length so this was more a question of her emotional readiness to go into the meeting.
Charlotte was mildly amused that the Professor still held to the attitude of being the more mature person as their outward appearance suggested, despite him knowing that she had many generations of lives over hundreds of years in her recall that he did not. “I am quite ready, Professor, the question is more about the ability of our guests to handle the news that we are about to give them.”
“I suppose I am just filling in time asking daft questions to soothe my old nerves. You must excuse me, my dear,” he replied amiably.
The security men finished up their sweep and left Professor Kitteridge’s office as he and Charlotte recharged their hot beverages and returned to his desk, leaving Christopher to carry on his work with the other research students in the open-plan area. The security men became noticeably more agitated as they were informed of the Prime Minister’s car drawing near, pulling left off the Madingley Road into the West Cambridge site and taking a couple of turns around the uninspiring two-storey battleship-grey blocks housing the Cavendish laboratories. The parking lot in front of Professor Kitteridge’s cosmology laboratory had been cleared so the Prime Minister’s long silver Jaguar limousine could draw up opposite the twin-door entrance while her security cars blocked the access road to front and rear. The driver emerged first and confirmed all was in order with the security detail before opening the Prime Minister’s rear door. She swung long calves elegantly out of the seat and emerged in a navy-blue business suit set off by a large yellow bauble necklace. Brigadier David Harrier opened the far side rear door and stepped out in civvies; blue suit, white shirt and red Burberry tie with rearing knight on horseback motif. He thought he was doing a pretty good civilian impression as he stalked behind the Prime Minister into the building.
The Prime Minister was ushered into Professor Kitteridge’s inner sanctum and she bent over him effusively in his wheelchair. She took his hand warmly as if they were long-time friends rather than it being their first ever meeting in person. They smiled at each other with the over familiarity of famous celebrities coming together despite the pensive undercurrents of the nature of their meeting. The Prime Minister then turned to introduce David Harrier waiting patiently behind her. In turn, the Professor presented Charlotte Miller to their guests. Their respective proxy identities established, David and Charlotte joined the Prime Minister and Professor Kitteridge to talk around the large grey laminate meeting table.
More drinks were served and David reflected that the Professor’s choice of his attractive young associate was telling. His training indicated that such a young and unlikely associate at such a vital first meeting must have considerably greater significance than it appeared. This alert young woman looked like the economics undergraduate member of the Professor’s team that he had described and yet why was she his favoured companion to meet the Prime Minister?
“It is quite a surprise to find an economics student in a cosmology team?” David enquired of her innocently enough over a slurp of tea.
Charlotte turned to look at David and explained that all major science enterprises required a framework in economics in these most commercial of days. David heard her words to start with, but as he looked at her he found himself lost in the clear blue pools of her eyes locking his own with her gaze. Unbidden, he felt himself drawn in with a feeling of falling into another world. He fetched up rapidly in a memory of a first holiday with the girlfriend of his youth, a field leading down to the sea, a midsummer meadow ripening under a gentle Devon sun. It was a memory so real that he felt transported from this most important meeting of his career to another place and time.
“David… David?” came a shrill tone through his reverie and he realised the Prime Minister was addressing him directly. He snapped back from his episode and broke free of Charlotte’s scrutiny; was that fleeting amusement he registered at her effect on his concentration? Who is this woman? he thought as he said out loud, “Yes, Prime Minister?”
“Please, introduce your role, David.”
“Ah yes, of course, I act as the Prime Minister’s aide for logistical affairs across government departments – a Mister Fixit if you like between the various departments. I manage the ‘to do’ lists on major projects to make sure everything is captured and acted upon.”
It was Charlotte’s turn to reflect that the Prime Minister’s choice of associate for the meeting was telling also. This man was clearly high-level military affecting civilian manners for this occasion and yet not introduced as such. The Prime Minister would want to keep her options open and not take an aggressive stance by bringing a high-ranking officer along, at the same time wanting to ensure she had a direct contributor if there were any immediate national security issues arising. As in many meetings the leaders of the two sides were supported by associates with far deeper knowledge of the subject matter with the capability to create and drive the action plans resulting from this meeting.
“May I cut to the chase as it were, Prime Minister?” Professor Kitteridge started. “You must excuse me but at my age I like to get on with things as long as I can summon the energy.”
The Prime Minister straightened and became serious, actively listening, smile disappeared. “Of course, Professor,” she said.
“My whole career I have concerned myself with the fundamentals of the universe; its origins, its development, its future path. Inevitably this started with the physics of the motion of the stars in their galactic assemblies and later the chemistry of planets as we discovered them in their orderly groups around the stars, all made of the same stuff we are familiar with here on Earth. This is all serious scientific stuff but I confess that all along I am still the boy I once was, dreaming of going on adventures into space, seeing exotic worlds, finding new life. So I have always made special allowance for the possibility of life like ours out there among the stars. What kind of alien life exists on other worlds, where and how might we find it? You will appreciate this was not always easy as it could open up my work to public ridicule that could threaten the funding my research relied upon. I have had to be modest by necessity in my discussion of alien life for this reason and I tell you now that it has always featured much more fully in my thinking than I have been able to reveal to the public. Well recently my dreams and preparations were rewarded in the most exciting manner possible. I have now received first-hand confirmation that alien life not only exists but has been here amongst us on Earth for some considerable time, possibly thousands of years. I have considered what to do with this knowledge
especially as my time here is likely short. My doctors tell me I am already on borrowed time so I have an urgent need to pass this knowledge on and make sure it is used wisely.”
“So this is the reason for you reaching out to me and calling for this meeting here today, Professor. I can only thank you for your care and thoughtfulness, we are most fortunate indeed that you personally were chosen as it were to introduce the matter,” the Prime Minister replied.
“Ah – in some ways yes, Prime Minister, as indeed I am sitting here having called you, but in some ways not, as I have not been the immediate contact with the aliens amongst us, simply the leader of our little group here. That is the main reason I asked Charlotte to join us as she has had far greater exposure to these alien beings than I have, though I can confirm that I have certainly met them. I have absolute belief that they are not only real but they are preparing to make broad and overt contact with us on Earth. That contact must be handled positively and carefully if we are not to lift the lid on Pandora’s Box and cause chaos in the people.”
The Prime Minister turned her attention to Charlotte and regarded her a little like a hen inspecting a novel-coloured grain of corn. Her head appeared to articulate on her neck and rocked slowly side to side to look inquiringly at Charlotte from both aspects. “Can you tell us your experiences with these alien contacts then, Charlotte?”
“Let me explain just briefly for now. I was first contacted at primary school by aliens who became part of my childhood growing up. They told me that they were from another planet I now know to be Gaya in the Pleiades star cluster, which we also call the Seven Sisters. They told me they had visited for thousands of years and were here to help people on Earth and that I would play a special part in that. They became friends right through school and it became normal to hear their stories of life and travels across the stars. As I grew up, what started as childhood fairy tales turned into a realisation that I had marvellous knowledge beyond our normal understanding; but what would I do with it? I can see now that they were preparing me for coming up to university here where I have met other beings from Gaya gathering around Professor Kitteridge’s cosmology department. These Gayans are human beings very like ourselves; apparently there are many human races across the galaxy with differences of race and cultural beliefs just like we see here with the different races and peoples of Earth.
Edge of Revelation Page 4