Alien
Copyright© 2025 by Harry Carton
Chapter 14
Mid April. Selvin and Alister 5 reporting.
In Air Force One the summit of the major industrialized nations convened via holographic displays. Selvin projected some of Aloo’s data shards onto the circular holotable. The bioremediation blueprints spun like ghostly constellations – each molecular diagram a silent indictment.
“Aloo has given us the tools to undo centuries of damage,” Ho stated, her gaze sweeping the holograms. “But his message is clear: cease contamination or he will.”
Russian Minister Letnikov bristled, pointing at the Arctic intercept footage. “He violated sovereign airspace! This is coercion, not diplomacy.”
Across the table, Empress Aiko countered softly, “And if we refuse, will his microbes turn invasive? We need answers, not ultimatums.”
The tension in the electronic conference thickened as the holographic displays flickered with Aloo’s latest data – the crystalline entombment of radioactive waste in the Kuril Trench glowing like a warning beacon. President Ho leaned forward, her knuckles whitening on the table’s edge. “He’s not asking permission. He’s showing us the cost of inaction.”
Russian Minister Letnikov slammed his palm down, making the holotable shudder. “Cost? He breached our northern defenses! This is an incursion.”
French Prime Minister Allard raised a slender hand, her voice cutting through the static. “And what would you propose, Pyotr? Missiles against a being who turns sludge into drinking water?” She gestured toward the bioremediation schematics hovering over the Pacific – microbes digesting oil spills like starved predators. “He offers solutions our scientists have dreamed of for decades.”
German Chancellor Bauer nodded, adjusting his glasses as thermal scans of the Kuril Trench played out. “Solutions with teeth, Simone. Observe the isotopic neutralization rates. He achieves in hours what would take our best tech centuries.” His finger tapped the table, highlighting a cascading data stream. “But this efficiency ... it will terrify industries. Entire sectors would collapse overnight if we implement his protocols.”
Empress Aiko’s hologram shimmered into sharper focus. “Then we phase them in,” she countered. “Use Aloo’s archaea for Fukushima’s tanks first. Prove their safety publicly. Show how they’ve worked. Flood the media with movies of Fukushima and then the Mississippi Delta. Ease the transition.” She paused, her gaze lingering on the entombed Soviet waste drums. “But Commander C’Droit’s warning remains: Aloo’s patience is finite. In twelve hours, his microbes could sing again. We have until dawn.”
Canadian Prime Minister Sussman cleared her throat, pulling up thermal overlays of the Alberta oil sands. “He marked our tailings ponds like a surgeon, true. But his Arctic dive... “ She zoomed in on Great Slave Lake’s toxic plumes. “ ... showed him how our poison seeps into the global cradle. He’s not just cleaning. He’s telling us – teaching us to stop the bleed.” Sussman’s eyes met Ho’s. “We must offer a binding pact. Not just ceasefires for polluters, but a planetary stewardship accord. With Aloo as auditor.”
UK Prime Minister Fitzroy leaned forward, his hologram glitching slightly. “Auditor? Or executioner? Those microbes of his near Chicago, they bypassed their failsafes. What if he decides we’re the contamination?” He tapped a key, and Aloo’s genetic salmon maps bloomed, twisted spinal columns, tumors glowing like constellations. “He holds life itself hostage to force compliance. We need containment protocols before dawn.”
Aiko’s voice softened but held steel. “Contain him? With what? Pyotr’s newest scramjets couldn’t touch him in the Arctic. His technology rewrites biology.” She gestured toward the Bering Sea footage, where Aloo’s torpedo had dissolved ghost nets into shimmering, harmless foam. “He restores what we’ve broken. That is his sole demand.”
Bauer interjected, pulling up economic models. “Demand or not, Simone is right. We face collapse. Petro-states, mining conglomerates, chemical giants...” He highlighted cascading market crashes on the holo-display. “Implementing Aloo’s bioremediation overnight would strand trillions in assets. Revolution would follow.”
Allard countered sharply, “And extinction won’t? Look at his salmon maps, Klaus. He’s cataloging our genocide.” She zoomed in on tumor-riddled fish embryos. “We negotiate a timeline. Ten years to transition, using his tech—”
“Ten YEARS?” Sussman cut in, pulling up Aloo’s Arctic dive footage. Ice cores glittered with heavy metals. “His microbes work in hours. He will see decades of delay as betrayal.”
The debate fractured into overlapping translations, tension crackling like static. Fitzroy slammed his fist. “We need leverage! If he can be stalled --”
“Stalled?” Ho’s voice cut through, icy. “He’s containing a plutonium leak right now as a courtesy. Your ‘leverage’ is a fantasy.” She pulled up a live feed from the Aleutians: Aloo’s torpedo hovering over the Kuril Trench, tendrils weaving a bioluminescent lattice around a crumbling nuclear waste drum. “He’s not waiting for our permission. He’s demonstrating consequence management. Our choice is simple: partner or perish.”
Silence descended, thick and heavy. Empress Aiko broke it, her hologram leaning forward. “Then we offer partnership with teeth. A Global Stewardship Directorate, empowered to implement Aloo’s protocols immediately on the most critical sites – Fukushima, the Alberta tailings, the Arctic dump zones, the Mississippi. Funded by a fossil fuel transition tax.” Her gaze swept the room. “We present this to Aloo as proof of unified intent.”