CHAPTER 3

Patterson walked down the hall with a steady and confident step. His shoes echoed on the stone pavement. He knew what await him. Once again the meeting with the professor came up in his mind. Now the most senior officials and scientists were gathered in the conference hall where they regularly made presentations on various projects and operations. Even more troubling was that the president had spared from his precious time to attend the presentation. Even the Secretary of State that the General sincerely hated was here. Patterson had a terrible premonition, and it should be noted that his premonitions rarely lied to him when things were not alright. From his coming to work in the morning he had noticed people behaving quite strangely, sneaking glances at him, secretly hoping to see some reaction on his stony face. He knew why. Professor Berenstein had called early in the morning with news which any single-minded military man could not easily accept. Still he found the strength to convene an internal meeting to end all rumors in the bud. In a situation like this Truth would be the best policy, he thought, so he called the presidency but had not hoped to gain such interest.

He entered the meeting room and pretended to ignore the staring eyes. Slowly and authoritatively he directed his step towards the console next to which the professor bustled nervously. The thick carpet swallowed his steps and a silence ruled the soundproof room.

He stood behind the console and, without overtures, began:

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen,” he said in a quiet voice, realizing that the microphone was not switched on.

Regardless, all stood with bated breath and nobody made a sound, straining not to miss a single word. He pressed the red button. Now it worked. He cleared his throat:

“We are gathered in this room to discuss something that is highly interesting. But before that, I want to warn everyone in this room that any leaking of information will be punished severely, including incarceration of the one with the biggest mouth!”

There was a frightened murmur around the room. All were looking around fearfully.

“This is no joke,” continue their boss, “We have categorized this operation with the highest degree of secrecy and would not want to give an order to remove someone just because he was talkative. I have worked with some of you for a long time and we know each other well enough to have each other’s confidence. I decided to acquaint you with the facts as quickly as possible for a very simple reason. All of you are to immediately stop working on your current tasks and to concentrate on one thing - collecting full information about the Object. Our respected professor Berenstein will tell you about it. Professor, please take my place and share what information we have already.”

The scientist stood up nervously behind the microphone and began to tug at his shirt collar. His hoarse voice tore the silence in the room.

“Mmm, colleagues, I... I find it hard to begin, I am very excited, but I will try to present the situation to you objectively. About a week ago a computer analysis from early warning satellites data alerted us of a new object in space. At first we ignored it, simply because it was too far to pose any danger. The computer, however, continued to insist we check the site. When we did so, we were quite surprised by several facts. The first interesting thing was that the asteroid had appeared suddenly in space, at least according to our database.

“Don’t you think that it just might not have been detected before?” said a voice from the hall.

“It is hard to believe that an asteroid over one hundred miles in length has not been found so far by thousands of astronomers around the world, not to mention the amateurs,” the professor shook his head.

People in the hall began whispering again but the scientist ignored them and went ahead with his newly gained confidence.

“Moreover, it has a very interesting shape, like a wedge. According to rough calculations it is over one hundred miles in diameter and about ten miles at the front end that is pointy like a needle.” He showed his audience the satellite pictures.

“Professor, why do you think the sharp end is the front?” asked a voice from the darkness in the room.

“Very interesting question, my dear fellow!” the large man’s thin lips formed a slight smile, “The answer is also interesting... and simple. Because it moves with the sharp end forward!”

The room fell silent after that statement.

“Yes, dear colleagues, there is no error, the object is not in anything’s orbit and does not rotate around its axis. Just like its form, its direction is also extremely regular. There are also no visible traces on it, such as craters from meteorite impact.”

“You want to prove that it is inherently not an asteroid, is that so, Professor?” finally someone ventured to ask the question that hung in everyone’s mind.

The scientist hesitated to answer, then continued.

“Spectral analysis also shows something interesting. We detected too much quartz or a similar crystal structure, something that is very unusual.”

The professor took off his spectacles and started wiping the glass. Awkward silence reigned in the hall. After a while he continued.

“And now follows the most important information about this Object. Firstly, it is moving with great speed, much faster than any asteroid. Secondly... we tried to calculate its trajectory and I’ll let you guess where it is going.”

It was as if a bell of silence had been rung and filled the room with hush.

“Earth?” a timid voice suggested, not really expecting a positive response.

“It is not so difficult to guess when asked in such a way,” gasped the professor with a worried face.

At this point General Patterson rose and took over from the concerned scientist so as to reassure the people in the room who were about to be overwhelmed with panic.

“Please, let us not get too excited! There is no reason for concern. I need your attention and energy to find out more about the object. That way we can make the right decision on how to proceed further.

“Tell us, Professor, when is this object expected to reach Earth?” the president finally dared to ask. So far he had been standing concealed by the darkness of the room, not making a sound.

“It’s hard to tell, Sir, from our observations it seems to be slowing down in nonlinear thrusts, but we have not found any algorithm of this so far. As if it happens by accident. But in my opinion we have no more than a week to the rendezvous.

All were dismayed by his answer. So far no one had dared to ask the question that had everyone excited.

“Rendezvous you say, Professor Berenstein? Explain to us what you mean. Without too many scientific terms, if you please!” asked the slightly irritated President.

“I... I do not know what to tell you, Sir,” he guiltily looked at the General, begging implicitly to rescue him from the questions. “My opinion is that this is not a thing of Nature, Sir. Everything points to its artificial origin and it seems that... it is headed directly toward us.”

The president did not answer. He just got up and left the room with a heavy step, followed by his bodyguards.

“I’m terminating this meeting, ladies and gentlemen!” General Patterson jumped to his feet, “Let’s all get on with our tasks and remember – this work is of the highest level of secrecy. I expect full dedication from all of you... Professor, follow me to my office!” His tone left no room for remonstrance.

As they walked along the corridors to the General’s office neither of them uttered a word. They walked in silence, not daring to look the other in the eye. Thick carpets, specially made for the president, devoured their steps and the hush of their movement sliced the way ahead of them. The tension in the air was like the smell of burning rubber – both uncomfortable and encumbering their breathing. They arrived at the General’s office where the president was already waiting impatiently.

“I wanted to talk in private, Professor!” the Head of State started without undue delay.

I would like to know your informal opinion about the seriousness of the situation. Leave those scientific terms for your colleagues, after all I am a politician. Is there something you’re hiding from me?”

“God forbid, Mr. President!” said the outraged scientist. “All we know was stated back there!”

The Head of State thought for a while, his pose resembling an ancient Greek statue.

“If you believe, Professor, that the object is of artificial origin, could we assume that it comes from extraterrestrial intelligence?” the President looked searchingly into Berenstein’s concerned eyes.

“If you ask me whether this pseudo-asteroid is of natural origin, my answer would be ’no’. But I suspect you are interested in something else?” said the scientist, looking at the carpet.

“Yes, and I insist on a direct response, Professor.”

“Mr. President, all my life I’ve been waiting for such a moment. Do you know what a discovery of such magnitude means to an astrophysicist? It is like hitting the lottery jackpot twice in a row (the probability is even less in the presence of all those billions of stars).”

“I guess.” nodded the Head of State.

“You do not understand,” the professor shook his head. Then he continue passionately.

“This is a unique opportunity given only once in a thousand years! Such encounter between two civilizations is a milestone in the history of mankind.”

“So you believe, after all, that inside the Object are members of a foreign civilization...?” the president said, biting his lips unwittingly as he spoke.

There was no sign left of his cocky strut, which had won the election. The professor continued.

“Let me put it another way. Let us pretend for a moment that it were a proven fact that the Object is of artificial origin. What would you do if you built a spaceship with the size of New York? Would you fill it with instruments and robots?”

The president stood silent, still biting his lips. Clearly the question was rhetorical. The professor stood somewhat straight, waving his botched hands as he spoke.

“My opinion is that if a civilization has the potential to build such a facility, it is likely to send a crew on board. Now the question is how old is the Object in question. This is something that would give us more information about the distance it has traveled. Maybe there is nobody left alive on board, if the trip has lasted thousands or millions of years, who knows. The possibilities are endless, Mr. President. Right now Science is powerless to give answers to the questions in your mind. The Object may not even be from this time or this universe! Still, I know what you want to ask me – whether they can harm us. If we should let them come here or we should try to destroy them now. I would not presume to give you advice. But believe me, Mr. President, you do not want history to remember you as the man who botched the first extraterrestrial contact in the history of mankind?”

The senior statesman seemed to lose his composure for a while.

“Yes, indeed I am asking myself a number of questions, to be honest,” spoke the president in turn. After a brief hesitation he continued:

“I understand your inspiration and excitement, but look at it from my point of view. I am a man chosen to care for the health and welfare of the people. According to you, what choice should I be making? Should I let you study it? Or should I give an order for his immediate destruction? You say I can become the first president in history to make contact. But now imagine that I’m the last president in history. Did you take this option into account? Do you think that a few billion people can be sacrificed for your scientific curiosity?”

“I do not know what to tell you, Mr. President, but my duty as a scientist is to prevent hasty action and any possible violence against an unknown intelligence.”

The president was nervously wringing his hands as he stood there for a while without saying a word. He battled with himself about what would be the right decision:

“We will keep everything under wraps for now, but will monitor the situation closely!” he said abruptly, got up and left the General’s office.

Next Chapter: Chapter 4