Chocky's Dawn
by Chaoseternus
Note that italics indicates telepathy.
Five
In the morning, I awoke to once more find an unexpected guest in my house. This time however I knew who the guest was, and after a quick briefing and a rather longer explanation I was able to send the rather doubtful 00 agent on his way to America to infiltrate the base of a nation that, in theory, was an ally.
That done, I visited a few independent researchers I knew were discreet, highly cleared, very capable and most importantly, not affiliated with any government and after handing over a rather shocking amount of my personal savings, left them to begin their own research into the Cheyenne mountain complex.
Both processes I knew would take a while, so I went to work and tried to pretend everything was normal. I didn't quite manage it, the twins definitely knew something was up even if they didn't know quite what, but still, they knew enough not to ask any questions.
It was a tense four days before anyone got back to me, and it was Mister Bond that managed it first, arriving on my doorstep and straight away going for the drinks cabinet as soon as he got in through the door.
Understandable really, it seems he had just witnessed a member of the Stargate One team be infected and mutated by a flying insect. The pictures he provided were disturbing to say the least, the fact that one of the enemy had turned traitor and joined the Americans against the false Gods was disturbing too, just in an entirely different way.
Still, I had part of my proof and a witness that in government circles, or at least those circles that knew of the Double-0 division regarded as incorruptible and loyal to a fault. If I was to take this before appropriations I would need a source as trusted as Mister Bond, hence why I contacted him. Of course, I had a pretty good idea he told M everything before he came back and reported to me but I couldn't have everything, I was just glad I had found a good use for that one favour the agent owed me.
Now, I just had to wait for the specialists' to get back to me but they I knew would take a bit longer, doubly so as their research had to be covert, at this point in time we couldn't afford the Americans, or more likely, those bastards in the NID deciding to shut us down. In the case of the NID, they would shut us down permanently and make it look like an accident, whilst we couldn't prove that had happened before, well, lets just say when you spend a few years in command rank you get to hear a few things. I certainly knew enough that I wasn't going to risk it.
In the end, it was a further month before they got back to me, in which time I appointed Murielle my temporary liaison to the group and with the assistance of a rather incredulous M, whom I rather suspected only assisted because she trusted Bond, arranged some surveillance of the Stargate Command facility and a few primary individuals.
Primary orders were of course not to be spotted, though it got very close a few times, indeed, a year later we actually had the largest losses amongst personnel to an individual called Seth, whilst we were monitoring SG-1's attempts to take that being out.
Still by the end of that month, I had solid proof in my hands that several billion dollars were being sunk into a facility below Norad, a facility which, according to the Canadians who made up half of Norad , didn't officially exist and they wouldn't be allowed to talk even if they knew anything.
It was starting to get interesting, especially as covert commands from the mountain were traced and a growing if spotty file labelled Foothold procedures began to grow inside my office. Other then Bonds original insertion, we didn't go into the mountain of course, that would tip our hand, but we knew something fishy was going on and we had everything on the periphery monitored and as a result, we were quickly able to grab evidence enough that even the most bought jury in existence would have to prosecute on.
That done, I went back to the kids; it was time for another talk.
"Okay, I have confirmed as much of your story as I am able to," I shrugged, "we certainly know now that the Americans are hiding an alien contact and that a covert war is being waged out of Cheyenne mountain. We have a good proportion of the communiqués that have been posted about the facility, but unfortunately, not a lot out of the mountain itself, it looks like whoever is overseeing electronic security for the SGC really knows what they are doing. They certainly aren't being complacent about that"
"Then," Albertine asked, slowly, cautiously, "what is next?"
"What is next is quite simple," Chocky commented, "Thompson uses his power and influences to tell the world and from there, we proceed as discussed in our last meeting"
"What?" I laughed, "Please tell me you are joking?"
I glanced around at the puzzled, annoyed expressions on the faces of the faces of the geniuses and I had to shake my head, they were serious.
They were also idiots.
"You seem to have forgotten one point; it is both a fundamental rule of nature and a basic law of physics that for every action there is a reaction. What for instance, would have been the reaction of introducing Zero Point Generator technology as you had been planning?"
"Cheap, limitless energy for everyone" Albertine noted, condescendingly, as if speaking to a simpleton. If only she knew... well, she would soon enough.
2And then?"
"Reduced dependency on fossil fuels, thereby reducing the effects of global warming, greatly reduced powerplant sizes, which will be a great boast to efforts to explore the solar system and the oceans" Albertine continued, her tone not changing at all.
"And then?" I said gently, as I would to a child who needed to figure out the lesson for themselves.
Albertine glared at me for that, but it was Chocky who replied, "If you have a point to make, I suggest you say it, but I doubt that it is something I have not yet considered. I have had far more time to think about it then you after all"
"Perhaps," I replied, a little annoyed by the arrogance of the aliens words, "but you are an optimist, you only see and you only want to believe the best. Me, I am a cynic, and I am afraid where humans are concerned, it's the cynics who are most often right."
"Consider this, providing cheap plentiful power overnight will cause global warming on an unheard of scale, guess why?"
There was silence in the room as everyone considered this, but not one of the supposed geniuses could figure it out. Murielle beside me knew though and I certainly did.
"Arthur C Clarke covered in best in 3001: Odyssey Four" if I remember correctly. "Giving a human being limitless power will result in him finding some way to use all that power"
"That's not true..." Albertine started, but I wasn't going to let her finish.
"Oh yes it is," I interrupted, "consider, computer technology is one area you follow closely, particularly the exponential rate at which that technology has developed in the past. Each time the power of the computer has increased, has not a more powerful game, a better operating system, and programs with more bells and whistles come along to use the extra power and a little bit more?"
"You make power cheap and plentiful, and people will wonder what is the point in switching lights off when they aren't using them, after all, even a big business will only save mere pennies on an electric bill. You make power cheap and plentiful, and people will stop paying extra for washing machines, televisions and freezers designed to use as little energy as possible, instead they will just buy the cheapest one every time. You make power cheap and plentiful, and that power will be used, and that power will be wasted and it will end up as more energy in the atmosphere."
"Its zero point energy, its taken from outside the normal flow of energy within the atmosphere and added to it, you are talking about dumping energy into the atmosphere. This isn't a scientific problem people, which is why you never figured it out, but it's a people problem and that is my domain my friends. Your little plan of cheap powerful energy will just lead to energy being dumped into the atmosphere and that, as you know, is global warming"
They just looked at me, then through me as they began to think about what I was saying, but I knew they wouldn't get it, not straight away. They knew human beings could be bad but they led a sheltered existence and I don't think they had ever learned one of life's most important lessons, that humans as a group were utterly stupid.
"The point here is simple, you tell the people that aliens are real and reactions will be all over the place. Some will go through denial, some will welcome the thought with open arms, some will be fearful, and some will be worshipful. You will see every reaction imaginable."
"Then, you tell them that these aliens are hostile."
"Then, you tell them these aliens believe they are gods."
"Then, you tell them that Earths defences for all practical purposes do not exist"
They at least were starting to look sickly now, starting to take the point.
"People... human beings; we want to feel safe, protected. If we don't feel like that, we lash out at the world around us, try to make ourselves be strong, for if we are strong, in our minds, we are safe as we can protect ourselves. That is why we lash out, the more unsafe we feel, the more we react with hatred and fear towards the world around us. these Goa'uld can bombard us from orbit and at this point in time, we cannot stop them. Sure the Americans are planning on building a warship, but it will be years, I would say at least five before that will be ready to make its first flight and where are we in the meantime?"
"If we tell everyone about the enemy and they lash out, as is human nature, then ultimately, we will be the ones responsible"
I shook me head, wearily, "the day will come when we will tell everyone of the truth and bring all of earth's children into the stars and I hope I live long enough to see that day, but this is not the time. This is something that has to be prepared for, and we are not ready for that knowledge yet. No, this needs to be a secret, for now. Yet, with everything we do, every step we take, we must introduce more people; spread the secret for whilst humanity is stupid, a human being is smart"
"Somewhat trite and clichéd nowadays," Murielle sighed, sitting forward in her comfortable old chair, "but for all that, it's still true"
I shook my head, sinking into my own seat, and wishing quietly for a few paracetomols to hit my slowly boiling headache with, "no, for now the general public must not know"
"But," Albertine reasonably pointed out, "we must tell more people, how else will we get anything worthwhile done towards ensuring Earths safety?"
"Yes," I agreed, "its just a question of who"