Chapter 21: Serving Humanity

Sugiarto Kusnadi, Secretary-General of the United Nations, sat flanked by his aides in the spacious salon of the Masi'shen Embassy headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. He held a delicate cup and saucer of tea in his hand. A small serving table with a silver pot and a plate of pastries and other treats, stood to his right. He sipped his tea, looked up to the assembled people in the room, and smiled.

"This is most excellent tea, Ambassador Jon'a-ren. I recognize the blend. It is from my native island in Indonesia."

"Yes, Mr. Secretary. We were very pleased to find a shop here in the city that specializes in imports from around your planet ... or, should I say in more suitable words ... from around the world. I should also mention that I ... we Masi'shen ... find tea to be a most unique and delicious beverage. We have nothing like it on M'shai'dur, our home world. I speculate that if we send samples of tea to our people, your growers might find themselves supplying a vast new market!"

Sugiarto smiled broadly, and nodded to his closest assistant: "Please, Teguh, make a note. We must provide the Ambassador with a suitable selection of our nation's finest!"

Michael frowned slightly. He had been rudely jolted to learn that the first cup of coffee he had introduced to Jon'a-ren received a less favorable response. The first sip was never swallowed. It was spit halfway across the table, followed by retching and gagging. Michael protested fiercely that it had not been his intention to poison his father-in-law, but he was not certain that Jon'a-ren completely believed him. Coffee would never be a viable export to the Masi'shen market. They despised its bitter taste. Strong tea, heavily laced with sugar and cream, was a major delight to them.

"Mr. Secretary, we wish to thank you for making this long journey to Geneva to meet with us," Michael began, speaking now for the Masi'shen Embassy. "You are certainly aware of the circumstances that prevent our entering the United Nations host country to appear in person. We are most grateful for the provisions that the UN has made to facilitate communications, and our virtual attendance before the UN.

"Nonetheless, what we have to discuss with you today requires the utmost security. That is why we have requested that you, and your staff, meet with us here in person. Also, you should be reassured that it is absolutely impossible for any outside entity to monitor what we say inside these walls. Unfortunately, we cannot say the same about any communications leaving this facility. Everything is intercepted, and I am certain that regardless of the human-engineered encryption, it would be decrypted and read. I trust you will understand why we could not earlier inform you of the specific reasons for asking you here. We thought it better if everything was held in strictest confidence until you, yourself, thought it appropriate to inform certain of your member nations, or otherwise to make a more general public announcement," Michael explained.

"I understand, Mr. Hawthorne. Ambassador Jon'a-ren, I must admit that I am most intrigued by this unusual circumstance. But more to the point, I am intensely curious. Please, how can we be of service? Or, perhaps, what is it that you intend to offer?"

"Mr. Secretary, we intend to make an offer, if it pleases you. As for how you may be of service, I think that will become obvious after my son makes his presentation," Jon'a-ren said.

"Mr. Secretary, first I must ask your assurance that nothing we say here will be ... leaked ... prematurely. Can I trust that your staff will honor this request?" Michael asked.

Sugiarto nodded agreement as his staff bowed their heads to him in acknowledgment of the request.

"Very good. First, let me explain, briefly. What we will offer to the UN members, the nations of the world, we will offer freely. We ask no compensation.

"Firstly, we will request that any nation accepting our gifts will reimburse the UN for any costs incurred by the UN for equipment installation, and technical support personnel, before their own people can be trained to operate and maintain the facilities.

"Second, it should be understood that what we will provide will be of a non-invasive, non-threatening nature. It will serve no military purpose. There will be no technology that can be extracted or converted to military use.

"Third, it shall be understood that our gifts must be made available to the entire population, with no charge. It is a gift to benefit all people, not just the select few of wealth or privilege," Michael explained.

"What we intend to offer are devices and technology that will heal injuries and cure diseases to a degree previously unknown on Earth. I have asked our staff to research the world's medical libraries. They tell me that there is no disease on this planet that cannot be cured, and few injuries that cannot be healed. In similar fashion, after we have time to adapt and test certain preventive measures, we're certain that there is no disease that we cannot immunize against.

"As for genetic and physical deformities, including neurological defects, we know that these, too, can be treated and healed.

"Mr. Secretary, this is the gift that the Masi'shen offer to the nations and their peoples. In truth, I think we have the easy side of the offer. The burden of the offer, Mr. Secretary, falls upon you and the men and women of the United Nations. You must convince the nations to act in good faith. There must be no withholding of this gift for political, sectarian, or financial gain. That is an absolute condition, to be enforced absolutely. We will monitor! If we find abuse of the gift by local or national officials, we will swiftly inform the UN to act immediately to remedy the abuse. If requested, we will provide assistance in that effort.

"I am certain that you have many questions and concerns. We have prepared material for you, containing all pertinent plans, requirements, and agreement proposals concerning what we will provide. But I'm sure you would like to question us personally. Please, Mr. Secretary, go ahead," Michael finished.

Sugiarto Kusnadi sat stunned, unmoving, staring at Michael and Jon'a-ren. His staff sat with mouths hanging open, blinking in astonishment, their eyes darting from the Masi'shen embassy people and back to their leader. Secretary Kusnadi had been named to the UN's highest position some five years earlier. He was quite an elderly man, with a distinguished record of service in his native archipelago nation of Indonesia. He held a doctorate in international law; his beloved wife was a medical doctor, specializing in childhood diseases. They had long mourned the wide-spread poverty in the remote, rural areas of their nation. Poverty, ignorance and isolation afflicted millions of their people with malnutrition and disease. Few could afford even rudimentary health care. Most suffered and died without treatment. At this moment, he regretted that he had not been able to bring his wife with him to this meeting, to hear this unbelievable offer.

"Mr. Hawthorne ... Ambassador Jon'a-ren..." he stammered, uncharacteristically losing his composure. "Did I ... do we ... my staff and I..."

He faltered, pulled a white linen cloth from his jacket pocket, and removed his glasses. He looked down, wiping his glasses, while he frantically tried to gather both his composure and his thoughts. He felt incredibly moved, and embarrassed, and completely unable to respond adequately to the moment. He glanced over to his staff but found them equally flustered and nervous. They looked back to him for guidance. The entire room was silent. Everyone waited patiently for the Secretary-General to compose himself, to gather his thoughts, and to respond.

"Very well," he finally muttered, adjusting his wire-frame glasses to his eyes.

"Very well! Please excuse this old man. I have lived my entire life in what the world terms, with considerable condescension, a third-world nation. You must understand: to be poor does not mean that one lacks pride or dignity. My nation of Indonesia has great cities, respected universities and libraries and thriving industries. We have men and women of great accomplishment. But we also have poverty, ignorance, superstition, and disease. We have the entirety of the human experience throughout my nation, from the best to the worst.

"Never did I dream that such as thing as you offer could be possible. Never! Now you sit there and say to me, 'We offer this gift. It is free to take. We only ask that it be offered to all the people, freely and openly, as we offer it to you.' Be patient with me. As I sit here, making a poor attempt to gather myself to respond in some suitable manner, I find myself quite at a loss to do so."

Jon'a-ren rose from his chair and moved to stand in front of the Secretary-General. He extended his glowing hand, reached forth and laid it softly upon the old man's forehead. After a moment, he removed his hand, stepped back a step, and smiled down at him. "Please, forgive me. We had not considered the emotional impact of our offer. We might have broached this matter more slowly, more gently, but circumstance seemed to require otherwise. May I suggest that you walk with me for a few moments, that we might relax and forget the stress of the moment? Please, rise ... and come with me to our garden. It is most beautiful. We are blessed with a marvelous staff who take great pride in the beauty of their work. Walk with me?"

Secretary-General Kusnadi looked up with a grateful smile, and rose from his chair. He walked alongside Jon'a-ren as they exited through ornate French doors that led to the gardens and lawns and hedges outside. Michael rose from his chair. He gestured to the astonished UN staff members to rise and join him. He led them to another room where snacks waited on trays, and tea and fruit drinks waited in flasks.

Dee'rah and Lyn'na-ra joined Michael and the staff.

"Michael-mine, I sense feelings of stress, and distress, in our guests. Was our offer not pleasing to them?" Dee'rah asked.

"Very much the opposite, I fear," Michael sighed, taking her hand while nodding his greeting to Lyn'na-ra. "We did not realize the impact, the emotional blow to them, of our offer. The fault is mine ... I should have remembered. Already I assume that we have leaped beyond disease and suffering. I've been distracted and I forgot for a moment that it is simply not so, not for this world. It is one thing to offer a new technology. It is quite another to offer a world an end to disease, and suffering, and needless death. Please, Dee'rah-mine, remind me never to be such a heedless fool again!"

Ambassador Jon'a-ren and Secretary-General Kusnadi returned from the garden, smiling and laughing, to find their people sitting at small tables in the lounge area, themselves smiling and laughing and snacking. The two men were intercepted by Dee'rah and Lyn'na-ra.