December 25, 2005 10:31 AM
The control room was in chaos. I was searching through diagrams, old school notes, and Mc Donald's wrappers. After a minute I found the diagram of the probe. Wiping off some ketchup, I rushed out of the room, slamming the door behind me. I heard a tinkle of glass. My glass dolphin had fallen off the shelf shattering on the tile floor.
Coming into the room at full speed I ran smack into Mark. We went flying, right into a table. Mark pushed me off and started rubbing his head. He gave me a threatening look, eyes narrowed and his mouth was a thin line of disgust.
"JENNA!!!!!! How many times have I told you not to run in here!" Mark yelled picking up the diagram. He gazed at it. His eyes darted all over the page.
"Do you know what is happening?" he asked as he handed the paper back to me.
"Yes. The sensor waves are bouncing off something that's in front of it that is well," I couldn't think of any other way to describe it. "Invisible. But what?"
I gazed at the screen my mind full of ideas some logical and some outrageous. The probe floated there silhouetted against a star dotted back round with the sun to the right. The probe was gray with the word USA on the side. It had wings that helped to steer. The body was circular with two black spots on the front serving as a place to put our cameras to record its progress.
"Majken, are you sure you can't get through?" I asked our communications expert. Her hair was a mess, proof that we were in big trouble. Usually it was still un-mussed even in the tightest spots.
"I'm sure. The communications are totally jammed, every single one. We don't even know where it's goin'," she called from three computers down.
"Maddie, can you move it at all?" I asked Maddie beside me. She knows everything. She was the most info laden of us all.
"No. It's moving. I'm sure of it," she answered punching buttons and staring at the screen. "I'm tryin' to get it to come back but." She started typing again and I turned around looking for Mark.
Abe was standing beside me and squinting at the picture of the probe. Being an astronaut I wouldn't think any of this would matter to him. He tapped me on the shoulder and pointed at the screen.
"Look 'round the probe. Do you see any shimmering around it or am I going blind?" he asked. I looked closer and saw faint green glow that seemed shift under our stare. I followed the shimmering up to a big gray blob in front of the sun. I squinted trying to figure out what it might be. Sitting down at my computer I focused on that spot and magnified it. A ship of some sort became clearer and clearer.
I pointed it out to Abe and he gasped. He whispered one word: "Spaceship!"
I never would have believed it if I hadn't been a scientist working for NASA. It looked familiar like a ship from a SCI-FI show like Voyager or Star Trek with a few alterations. The ship was rust-red, with the letters MWS on the side. It sat there in front of the sun hovering like a graceful bird moving so little our eyes couldn't catch it. It was extraordinary. But what was it doing here? Our civilization couldn't be of much interest, unless we had done something we had no idea about.
From then on we knew this was extraordinary and not something to let the world know about right away for fear of widespread panic. Obviously the ship was pulling the probe in with its tractor beam. We had to stop it. We hoped it would be able to understand us. But even as I gave the order I had my doubts.
"Maddie, try to contact them! I don't care how, just do it!" I cried. She nodded and quickly typed in a message.
A few seconds later the probe stopped moving, the screen going blank. I looked around and everyone looked puzzled. I glanced at Majken and she shrugged. Then with a flickering it came back but not with our satellite picture, a face.
The face was red, with bright yellow eyes that had the staring ability equal to your 9th grade math teacher. And that alone was scary because you thought he could burn holes in you if he wanted. The ears were pointed and he could move them freely. He flicked them around listening. The mouth was pinched and looked like he had never laughed. His face was stern like that of an old sea captain. A uniform made of black material covered most of his neck.
"Hello Earthlings. I see you have found our ship," he commented with surprisingly good English. I had expected some alien language. It made me wonder how much they really knew about us.
When no one spoke up I stood and said "Welcome to Earth." I had seen such encounters on every star trek movie imaginable. I myself had not even fathomed doing a welcome myself.
The alien chuckled. "You Earthlings are so funny. You think we come to make first contact. How cute. However," he said putting his arms around his back continued. "We were sent by the Solar Trade Organization. You are not holding up your part of the deal," he seemed to quote. "We are fed up with your incompetence. Instead of having to deal with you, we are going to delete you as if this never happened. Any last words?"
I stood there in pure shock. "Destroy us? We just met! There IS no Solar Trade organization and you can't kill us all. You have no right to do this. We may have our faults but we still have our freedom. We enjoy our life and don't destroy helpless planet civilizations! What of our resources could be of any use to you anyway?"
The Martian looked at me with an almost embarrassed expression. "We polluted our atmosphere too much and now the oxygen is almost unfit to breath. Your planet is the only one within a reasonable distance that has oxygen. But at the rate you pollute your atmosphere will be the same in ten years," he commented.
He looked at me and continued. "You most likely know of the debates of the World Trade Organization. They are struggling to keep up with demands. You are the only planet with sufficient oxygen you know. They said they would keep up. They knew what the price would be."
Istood there not answering right away. This is something that the government would keep hidden under the black cloaks of secrecy. Plausible and legitimate it fit what the Martians were about to do. Looking around at the people around me I realized that they didn't understand him. I glanced up when he spoke again.
"You have a half an hour to tell your people, then you will be terminated," he said quite proudly. The screen flickered and brought up they satellite picture. The people around me had a face that was peculiar and confused they looked at me and started to talk.
The control room was in chaos. I was searching through diagrams, old school notes, and Mc Donald's wrappers. After a minute I found the diagram of the probe. Wiping off some ketchup, I rushed out of the room, slamming the door behind me. I heard a tinkle of glass. My glass dolphin had fallen off the shelf shattering on the tile floor.
Coming into the room at full speed I ran smack into Mark. We went flying, right into a table. Mark pushed me off and started rubbing his head. He gave me a threatening look, eyes narrowed and his mouth was a thin line of disgust.
"JENNA!!!!!! How many times have I told you not to run in here!" Mark yelled picking up the diagram. He gazed at it. His eyes darted all over the page.
"Do you know what is happening?" he asked as he handed the paper back to me.
"Yes. The sensor waves are bouncing off something that's in front of it that is well," I couldn't think of any other way to describe it. "Invisible. But what?"
I gazed at the screen my mind full of ideas some logical and some outrageous. The probe floated there silhouetted against a star dotted back round with the sun to the right. The probe was gray with the word USA on the side. It had wings that helped to steer. The body was circular with two black spots on the front serving as a place to put our cameras to record its progress.
"Majken, are you sure you can't get through?" I asked our communications expert. Her hair was a mess, proof that we were in big trouble. Usually it was still un-mussed even in the tightest spots.
"I'm sure. The communications are totally jammed, every single one. We don't even know where it's goin'," she called from three computers down.
"Maddie, can you move it at all?" I asked Maddie beside me. She knows everything. She was the most info laden of us all.
"No. It's moving. I'm sure of it," she answered punching buttons and staring at the screen. "I'm tryin' to get it to come back but." She started typing again and I turned around looking for Mark.
Abe was standing beside me and squinting at the picture of the probe. Being an astronaut I wouldn't think any of this would matter to him. He tapped me on the shoulder and pointed at the screen.
"Look 'round the probe. Do you see any shimmering around it or am I going blind?" he asked. I looked closer and saw faint green glow that seemed shift under our stare. I followed the shimmering up to a big gray blob in front of the sun. I squinted trying to figure out what it might be. Sitting down at my computer I focused on that spot and magnified it. A ship of some sort became clearer and clearer.
I pointed it out to Abe and he gasped. He whispered one word: "Spaceship!"
I never would have believed it if I hadn't been a scientist working for NASA. It looked familiar like a ship from a SCI-FI show like Voyager or Star Trek with a few alterations. The ship was rust-red, with the letters MWS on the side. It sat there in front of the sun hovering like a graceful bird moving so little our eyes couldn't catch it. It was extraordinary. But what was it doing here? Our civilization couldn't be of much interest, unless we had done something we had no idea about.
From then on we knew this was extraordinary and not something to let the world know about right away for fear of widespread panic. Obviously the ship was pulling the probe in with its tractor beam. We had to stop it. We hoped it would be able to understand us. But even as I gave the order I had my doubts.
"Maddie, try to contact them! I don't care how, just do it!" I cried. She nodded and quickly typed in a message.
A few seconds later the probe stopped moving, the screen going blank. I looked around and everyone looked puzzled. I glanced at Majken and she shrugged. Then with a flickering it came back but not with our satellite picture, a face.
The face was red, with bright yellow eyes that had the staring ability equal to your 9th grade math teacher. And that alone was scary because you thought he could burn holes in you if he wanted. The ears were pointed and he could move them freely. He flicked them around listening. The mouth was pinched and looked like he had never laughed. His face was stern like that of an old sea captain. A uniform made of black material covered most of his neck.
"Hello Earthlings. I see you have found our ship," he commented with surprisingly good English. I had expected some alien language. It made me wonder how much they really knew about us.
When no one spoke up I stood and said "Welcome to Earth." I had seen such encounters on every star trek movie imaginable. I myself had not even fathomed doing a welcome myself.
The alien chuckled. "You Earthlings are so funny. You think we come to make first contact. How cute. However," he said putting his arms around his back continued. "We were sent by the Solar Trade Organization. You are not holding up your part of the deal," he seemed to quote. "We are fed up with your incompetence. Instead of having to deal with you, we are going to delete you as if this never happened. Any last words?"
I stood there in pure shock. "Destroy us? We just met! There IS no Solar Trade organization and you can't kill us all. You have no right to do this. We may have our faults but we still have our freedom. We enjoy our life and don't destroy helpless planet civilizations! What of our resources could be of any use to you anyway?"
The Martian looked at me with an almost embarrassed expression. "We polluted our atmosphere too much and now the oxygen is almost unfit to breath. Your planet is the only one within a reasonable distance that has oxygen. But at the rate you pollute your atmosphere will be the same in ten years," he commented.
He looked at me and continued. "You most likely know of the debates of the World Trade Organization. They are struggling to keep up with demands. You are the only planet with sufficient oxygen you know. They said they would keep up. They knew what the price would be."
Istood there not answering right away. This is something that the government would keep hidden under the black cloaks of secrecy. Plausible and legitimate it fit what the Martians were about to do. Looking around at the people around me I realized that they didn't understand him. I glanced up when he spoke again.
"You have a half an hour to tell your people, then you will be terminated," he said quite proudly. The screen flickered and brought up they satellite picture. The people around me had a face that was peculiar and confused they looked at me and started to talk.