Chapter 11
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Over the next few months, things seemed to return to a new normal. After the initial riots things calmed down. Nobody knew why some had dissapeared and others hadn't. Vice-president Bartlett's initial theory did seem to hold up. A lot of the kind people, doctors, social workers, and so forth dissapeared at a greater rate than others. But not all of them dissapeared, some remained. And some of those who dissapeared weren't exactly saints. One man had been convicted of raping and murdering three children, he dissapeared from his cell on Death Row. The president knew there was a chance this man had been innocent, but it wouldn't account for everyone. Everyone had to deal with their grief, help rebuild society, and move on with their lives, similar to after a war. But there was another problem in the new world, something it took longer to notice. Women weren't getting pregnant anymore. Some realized they were pregnant after July 27th, but noone seemed to get pregnant after that day. This made some realize that this really was the end of the world, or at least the beginning of the end. There was one theological theory regarding this. The theory was that the "Hall of souls" was where souls waited to be born, but it had a limited number of souls. Once the Hall was empty, the end would begin. That would explain why women couldn't get pregnant anymore. It might explain why the rapture happenned, but it didn't completely explain why some were taken and others weren't. There were ofcourse other theories. One was space aliens, that they either abducted or killed a number of earth's human population. Whatever this was apparently affected the human female's ability to get pregnant. Some thought that they were planning to colonize earth, but then why not kill all humans at once. Maybe it was long term, or maybe their big weapon had it's limits. At any rate all countries with the neccessary capabilities were searching for any signs of contact with alien life forms. On October 18th, they got a response. The president was brought to a meeting with Dr Stein, of NASA. Secret Service brought him here in the middle of the night, under the strictest secrecy.
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Odonnell: Why am I being brought here with all this cloak and dagger stuff?
Stein: Sir, we've recieved a message.
Odonnell: From who?
Stein: That's whereit gets tricky.
Odonnell: I didn't teach science except occassionally as a susstitute. Please explain this to me as if I don't work at NASA.
Stein: Ofcourse mr president. The signal we recieved is from a great distance. Much further than any human signals have ever reached.
Odonnell: You're saying this is from an alien life form?
Stein: Except that the message is in english, and they've left us a chanel to communicate with them.
Odonnell: How could aliens even know english?
Stein: My best guess is that they've been monitoring us, studying our language.
Odonnell: What's the message?
Stein: Assuming that the translation is accurate, the message is "We wish to negotiate with your president. Please contact us within 24 Earth hours."