by M. D. Krix
No wonder such story made it to the front page. Nothing like this had ever happened in Worldsend Beach, or anywhere else, and the world was shocked.
Interest would have faded quickly, though, if not for the explanations given by the mad woman. She pretended that the Black Lord had made her do it. Not only did he suggest her to do so, he took possession of her will and forced her to do his bidding.
“I was like a passenger of my own body, witnessing the horrible acts I was doing but unable to stop them.”
The entire world has been divided for some time. On one side those who believed her and warned the public about the many mind-control experiments made by the government. On the other side, all those who thought she was a cold-blooded monster struggling lamely to escape from the sentence she deserved. She finally was considered delusional and committed for life to a special center. She most likely died there, forgotten by most.
***
This story is only the most famous—and horrible—, of a long list where an intervention by the Black Master of the Aliens was suspected. None has ever been confirmed, but how could have someone come with a definite proof?
As it is, the five-headed shadow and its multiple legs never came forward to say, “Yes, I controlled some people mind and forced them to behave according to my will.”
Looking back, most of Nacer’s decisions and actions seem so incredibly unlikely that the hypothesis of the invader’s lord using him is very plausible. However, plain stupidity can’t be ruled out. Or an overdeveloped ego that caused him to do anything just to be praised. Or the total incapacity to measure the consequences of his acts, a characteristic that became typical of those raised by Virtualia. It is sad to remark that many of them had lost the ability to make the difference between fiction and reality.
As I said, a lot of theories have been sustained and presented as the only correct explanation. I’m afraid this is just another question that will stay unanswered.
In any case, Sergeant Greta and Nacer Cornelius were the one in charge of Worldsend Garrison when the events took place. Their motivations can be discussed at length, in the end only the facts remain.
Those are the ones I want to tell.
Chapter 2—Contacting the Aliens
From the first day they took possession of Worldsend Garrison, Sergeant Greta and Nacer Cornelius’s objective was clear. They wanted to contact the aliens, and they were supported in this by both the president and the public.
Getting in touch with an extraterrestrial intelligence had become a worldwide obsession, fueled by the affirmation made by many influential individuals that Worldsend Garrison had been receiving audio transmissions from the Dark Shadow for some time.
This is hard to understand why, everywhere around the globe, people believed that those creatures from a different planet were the answer to all of their problems. Specialists in psychology, anthropology and other less famous fields of study, all gave their informed opinion on Virtualia, but none of them honestly knew what they were talking about. At least, they never convinced me.
It is striking to think that the vast majority was utterly confident that those beings were coming to share advanced technology with us. Nobody seemed to pay attention to the fact that they had no weapon or armor, and that they were actually being defeated by our own superior competence in science, engineering and robotics.
In the same way, it is hard to understand why they were expected to give us peace.
Apart from minor local disputes—like the destruction of Igereiger some decades ago—, our planet hasn’t witnessed any major war for centuries. The only ongoing conflict has been against the alien invaders. Yet, they were supposed to be the ones bringing worldwide stability and freedom.
This is also something that has been discussed at length afterwards, with everybody blaming the garrison and the government for this absolute incongruity. After the events, people suddenly turned their coat and magically forgot their own revindications. They were scared, and needed to hold someone responsible for the disaster. Public defiance contributed to the further weakening of the already shaken Peace Corps.
Yet, I remember perfectly that, at the beginning, only very few of us dared to voice worries about the real intentions of the creatures coming from outer space. We had centuries of war and thousands of deaths to back up our doubts, but they were outweighed by the hopes for a better life shared by millions of citizens.
***
Expectations were high, and the disappointment at the lack of results was proportional. The first weeks of fruitless messages sent towards the rocks where the Dark Shadow is supposed to live dampened the general enthusiasm.
Some started to say that it would not work. Others blamed the slaughter that happened during the last alien incursion in our world. This theory was significantly relayed by Nacer Cornelius, who had a natural gift to stir public’s opinion and surf on the trends appearing on Virtualia.
His speech soon got viral.
“I understand you all placed great hopes in us. We all share the same desire for the Institute to succeed quickly in contacting the aliens. The stakes are high, and we all want to benefit from the knowledge our extraterrestrial friends have to offer. Happiness, eternal life, love and prosperity will come, do not doubt any second about it, but not as easily as we all wish.”
“Those have been six long weeks since we started to send messages of peace without getting any answer. This is a very long time, and it is understandable that some of you are losing faith. However, we mustn’t forget that those weeks of friendly communication follow centuries of extermination. The last effort made by our visitors to contact us lead to the death of thousands of their agents.”
“We can’t slaughter them the way we did, and then complain because they do not answer immediately to our calls for peace and harmony.”
“I am confident they heard us. Yet, we must be patient. We must gain their trust. It will take time, but we will succeed. Worldsend Garrison and the Institute for Alien Communication will manage to get in touch with our guests from another planet. And I’m sure it will happen soon.”
And, just like this, he received again all the support he needed.
He obtained additional staff and funding, and the back-up of the entire world. By then, his love story with Sergeant Great had become public and the “stolen” pictures of their romance flourished on Virtualia. They could have been easily blamed for giving priority to their personal life rather than their mission, but instead they got praised for their ability to find love despite the permanent stress of their responsibilities.
Most likely, this renewed interest and support in their attempts to contact the aliens would have faded again after a couple of weeks but luck—or destiny, or something else—, decided otherwise.
***
Sixteen days after Nacer’s speech, the very same day a paper in Karabia published a picture of Sergeant Greta in bikini swimming in the bay with her boyfriend under a title “Do they sometimes work?” an announcement came from Worldsend Garrison.
This was nothing out of the ordinary. One of the first decisions taken by the new Commander was that the fort shouldn’t be surrounded by secrecy and mystery anymore. Daily reports about the activities of Worldsend Garrison were made available on Virtualia.
At the beginning, everybody wanted to access them, and the servers crashed a couple of times. However, the interest faded soon when the public realized no juicy revelations were made in those communications. No weapons of mass destructions were being developed in Worldsend Garrison, nor were they planning any experiment to create a hybrid between humans and wyverns.
That’s why relatively few people read the announcement when it was made. Nonetheless, some journalists were doing their job among those who saw the report, and in a matter of hours the news was everywhere.
Worldsend Garrison had received a transmission from the Black Lord.
It was blurry, unclear, and the audio was basically white noise. Th
e computer couldn’t give more details, and the AI was unable to analyze anything. As usual, the Dreamer who got the message had no recollection of it.
It was nothing new, but once again the Institute for Alien Communication became the center of all attention, just when the interest was about to quaver. Instantly, everybody started to hope for the next transmissions to arrive, and the daily reports were awaited by billions of users.
As always, further communications were caught and analyzed by the AI. The visual rendering gave a clear idea of when and where the visitors would come. They were shared on Virtualia, and the entire world knew that twelve wyverns were to appear above the waters at the southern tip of the Karabia Peninsula on November the thirteenth, at 8:45 AM.
The Institute claimed that the audio recordings were of inestimable value and a great leap forward in the quest for alien communication. Most of those who heard the beeps and clicks had doubts, but at that point the trust in Worldsend Garrison had never been so high.
For her first invasion as Commander, Sergeant Greta acted like all her predecessors would have done and ordered for twenty drones to be sent over the bay. They were to take position in a defensive line and stay there until the arrival of the aliens.
Her instructions differed from those of the previous Commanders in only one aspect. The shooters in the war room were forbidden to open fire at the incoming creatures. They were to peacefully wait and see what happens.
***
The entire world witnessed the following events.
As a matter of fact, nobody saw anything when it happened, as always. With all the digital images showed afterwards on Virtualia, it’s easy to forget that the aliens were invisible to the naked eye. Only trained people can distinguish them, and most of them were in the war room at that time.
The hundreds of thousands staring expectantly at the horizon on the piers of Worldsend Beach observed absolutely nothing but some drones being sent above the water, floating there for less than half an hour, and coming back to the eastern platform of Worldsend Garrison.
There had been no battle, no death.
The wyverns had approached, and stopped at a safe distance from our defensive line, where they remained for ten minutes, hovering above the bay. Then they turned back and vanished in the haze, where the Dark Shadow was waiting for them.
This has been celebrated as a great victory.
For days, Sergeant Greta and Nacer Cornelius talked to the media, explaining how this was the final proof that our visitors didn’t come with belligerent intentions. The public opinion listened to them. Soon President Puhi and the King of Valkya issued a common communicate in which they officially congratulated Worldsend Garrison for the first successful step towards Intergalactic friendship.
At that point, no one said anything against welcoming the aliens. Not even I.
Deep inside, I also wanted to believe.
Chapter 3—Alien Communication
Everybody agreed that Worldsend Garrison and the Institute for Alien Communication changed the course of History on that fateful day. After this, things could never be the same anymore.
Maybe the president and other relevant leaders received the information earlier, but even the best experts didn’t suspect anything until the daily report was issued. It was short, and mysterious, stating only that an official announcement would be made later by the Commander of Worldsend Garrison and the Head of the Institute for Alien Communication.
In less than an hour, the entire world was buzzing. It made no doubt that something of uttermost importance had happened, and everybody knew that only one such thing could be expected. All hopes were confirmed during the press conference held only two hours after the daily report had been made public on Virtualia.
Sergeant Greta spoke first, reminding everyone of the work done in Worldsend Garrison and their ambition to establish contact with the extraterrestrial visitors. She talked about the transmissions received for years under the form of visions that were sent to some of our men. Then, she recounted the late discovery of hidden audio messages in those dreams.
She listed the facts, explaining them patiently. This has been a clever move.
As a member of the Peace Corps and Commander of Worldsend Garrison, her credibility was high. The information she gave was public knowledge and already confirmed. When she finished her presentation, this was obvious to everyone that things were being done seriously and that any data coming from the Institute could be blindly trusted.
After the Commander’s speech, Nacer didn’t have to back up his affirmations with facts or explain how he reached his conclusions. He basically delivered the news everybody had been waiting for months:
“We have managed to decipher the messages sent by our otherworldly friends. The code has been broken; the language translated. We are presently communicating with an intelligent form of life coming from another planet.”
He paused for a while, letting the revelation sink into his audience’s mind.
“They received our signal. They understood that we want to put an end to the fight and start an era of collaboration. They agree. The transmission sent before their last visit is clear, and I’m now sharing it with you.”
“We believe in peace. We want to talk. No more killing.”
“This is what they said, and this is what they did! As you’ve all observed, they didn’t show any sign of aggression or hostile behavior when they came and we didn’t start to murder them. They are true to their word, and we must do the same!”
The rest of his speech was a long monologue full of promises of happiness and opportunities for time and space travel. Nobody really paid attention. We were all too busy commenting the fact that after centuries of conflicts, we had managed to talk with our enemy.
And he seemed to be rather friendly, for a foe we had been fighting for so long.
***
The following months have been chaotic. Once the communication started, it couldn’t stop. Everybody had something to say to the aliens, and people showed an abiding interest in everything the Dark Shadow had to tell.
It had been clarified since the beginning that we were talking directly to their ruler, whose name couldn’t be translated. Sergeant Greta, President Puhi, the King of Valkya and the Chief of the Free Western Territories were regularly conversing with him.
But, mostly, it was Nacer Cornelius who was in contact.
He was Head of the Institute for Alien Communication, so this was absolutely normal and logic. Nobody suggested that the information he transmitted should be questioned, or the recordings checked by a third party.
Writing this now, I realize how gullible we have all been. Maybe all the data Nacer shared with the world us was true. Maybe not. We have no way to know if he was indeed talking to the Dark Shadow and he’s been played or if he made everything up.
Did he manage to reprogram the computer for his colleagues to believe they were communicating with the aliens, or were they an active part of the scheme?
Did our world leaders knowingly bring humankind to its doom, or have they been fooled by a superior intelligence?
So many questions without answers…
It doesn’t matter anymore. Only the facts do.
***
We learned that the aliens were coming from a region located in the galaxy we call Sirius. They had mastered space travel long ago and were bringing civilization to other planets where life could thrive.
They didn’t deny the slaughters of many men when they initially arrived here, and they expressed their deepest regrets. It took them time to understand that this planet was already inhabited by an intelligent species. This had never happened to them before, they were not prepared for such eventuality.
At first, they fought us like a weed that needs to be eradicated in order for other plants to grow. By the time they had realized their error, it was too late. We were already at war, and they didn’t know how to stop it. For centuries, they tried to contact us by sending
visions to some selected men, but we didn’t seem to get their message.
Then, we started to analyze their audio transmission and they made the mistake of believing we had understood. They came in numbers, wishing to celebrate the truce after a never-ending battle, but we slaughtered them without any mercy.
This made them doubt of our intentions, and they were on the brink of departing our planet for good, forgetting about this doomed world defended by an incredibly dangerous and hostile species. Then, they got our message. After some hesitation, they visited us one last time, to make sure.
They didn’t want to leave this world with regrets.
Once they confirmed that we were indeed ready to put an end to the war, they understood that the awaited moment finally had come.
All the theories promoted by Nacer Cornelius had been proven right! The entire globe population was jubilating.
Not all the hopes and expectations were fulfilled, though. While they had no problem in sharing their technology for space exploration, they couldn’t help with time travel as it was also still fiction for them. Neither did they promise us worldwide peace, as this is something that only depends on those who live on the planet, while they were simply visiting us as guests.
Medicine was discussed at length with the aliens. They had reached immortality by a process called regeneration. Not only did it allow the Black Lord to exist eternally, we also learned that all the wyverns that had been killed on the beach came back to life on theirs. This was the reason why they never abandoned any of their explorers, they were bringing them back home to regenerate.
For the very same motive, they had been taking our own dead to their universe. However, they had to admit that, so far, all their attempts to regenerate a human body had failed. They didn’t know why, but were assuming this was due to a different atmosphere in their world. If so, the process might be working for us on our planet.