Alien
Copyright© 2025 by Harry Carton
Chapter 1: Contact
April 3, 2247 Alister 5 reporting.
A word of introduction is required. I am the special assistant to Dr. Suzanne Craynet, retired, an astrophysicist emerita at the Harvard/Oxford Combined University Symbiosis; she is also a non-retired computer scientist. She retired in 2245 to a home in Colorado, United States at the age of 85. I am what used to be called – in the ‘old days’ – an Artificial Intelligence. In modern parlance, I am the 5th generation of “abiological” life that Suzi (as I call her) has generated in her underground lab; hence my name, Alister 5.
I am presently charged with documenting the earliest days of the First Contact with so-called Extraterrestrial Intelligent life. It turns out that The Confederation has been monitoring Earth for about 200 years.
At 21:34 (I will use the 24-hour nomenclature, as it simplifies things) in the evening of April 3, a small group of Crackpots (their name for the group) was sitting around a large table in the viewing room in the living area of Suzi’s home. It was a large hexagonal room with windows on five sides. The other Crackpots were (I’m omitting their rather lengthy affiliations):
- Dr. Raoul Santiago, an exobiologist formerly of São Paulo (Brazil) University
- Dr. Freida Helberg, a particle physicist of the CERN Institute in Switzerland
- Admiral Steve Harkness, retired, US Navy and the US Space Force, Chairman emeritus of the Calif. Jet Propulsion Lab.
They were staring out the window at a large empty spot of melted snow in the area surrounded by the drive outside. It was illuminated by nothing at all, yet it was visible in red light, presumably from the craft that caused the melting. There was nothing visible within the oval area.
“Well, that’s SOMEthing, surely,” said Harkness, looking out at the newly melted spot.
“It confirms the text that Alister 5 decoded two days ago,” Suzi confirmed. “Right on time. I expect some life form to be appearing at the door, any time now.”
“If I may,” I intruded into their conversation, “I have a message in plain English – I quote it exactly:
‘Explorer Commander C’Droit is changing to adopt a human form so as not to alarm you. She will be with you in 13 time units. Selvin out.’”
There was silence among the Crackpots. “I don’t know who Selvin is, I suspect it is the ship’s computer,” I added. “It took four pico-seconds to arrive.”
“Well, we just wait until 13 time units have passed,” said Helberg. (I’ve taken the liberty of translating from the heavily accented German-English. You’d be tired of Vell, ve yost vait... etc.)
“I’ll mark the time,” said Santiago. Before he could finish, an apparently teen-aged girl popped into existence near the windows. She had medium brown hair, two brown eyes (at the usual places), was dressed in a body suit of bronze-looking chain, and wore a helmet of clear glass (or more likely, a plastic substance). She appeared to be about 18 years old.
She spoke, but did not move her mouth. “Greetings to you, Earth inhabitants. I am Commander C’Droit, of the Confederation. If this form is uncomfortable for you, I can change it. Am I addressing the correct group of leaders of your people?” Her voice seemed to come from a ring of jewels on her chest, just right of center, about six inches below her chin. It pulsed in different colors as the words were issued from it.
The voice matched the apparent youth of the visitor. It said: “I am responding to a broadcast message originating at this location. The message said: ‘If you wish to meet with us, we will need one revolution of our planet to travel to a place of your choosing.’ I chose the place where the message originated.”
The Crackpots were struck silent. Their message had been sent twice each day for several months; they had never thought it would be answered.
With a small cough to clear his throat, Harkness said, “No, or maybe Yes. We four are not the anointed political leaders of any polity on Earth. We are scientists from different fields who have come together to discuss the possibility of sentient life outside our small planet.”
“If I may add,” interjected Suzi, “we despair of finding sentience ON this planet. Insofar as political leaders may exhibit sentience. Nevertheless, I believe we can help you.”
The voice shifted to a higher register, at increased volume and spoke more slowly. Like humans, she apparently believed that speaking louder and slower would improve understanding.
The Commander did not immediately reply. “Yes. We also have scientists and are impressed that we can start our conversation without the posturing that normally accompanies First Contact. This confirms our understanding of the situation on Earth. We have been monitoring transmissions from this planet from a station near the largest planet in the system for over 200 of your years. You call it Jupiter, I believe.”
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