In the dark, cold void of interstellar space, a massive object approached a star system. Hundreds of kilometers in size, shaped like a long silver cylinder, the object hangs in eerie silence like a speck of dust in the black fabric in space. Even traveling at tremendous speeds, it took years for the object to reach the system's edge.
At the edge of the Solar system, the object arrived and scanned the different planets with its sophisticated sensors. The object found nothing special with the system as it began its preliminary scans. A common yellow star with a few planets, just like the other hundreds of star systems the object had previously surveyed. The object switched its scanners to the third system and it hit the jackpot.
After the scans confirmed the presence of biological matter, small disk-shaped drones are then launched from the cylinder's blisters. The scouts corrected its course and they accelerated to the blue planet. Even though the drones were fast it took months for them to arrive.
The first reports were received from the scouts contained the chemical composition of the atmosphere, lifeforms, the dominant species technical level, population and all other relevant data. The A.I judged the planet's atmosphere and diverse animal life as optimal with few variations that were within the norm. The A.I. also calculated that some animals may develop sentience in a few millennia. The only variable the A.I found sub-par was its dominant species. These bipedal lifeforms were clearly sentient and civilized and they were within the bare minimum threshold for Initialization.
The Watcher then made a copy of itself and attached it to the seed module. A large part of the ship's body shaped like a pyramid detached and began its slow and steady passage to this planet called Earth. Although it was still a matter of debate whether if this was a good thing for the ones contacted. Only time will tell.
Observatory in Hawaii
March 23, 2008
At two in the morning, Prof. Jack Branch was your stereotipical looking astronomer. Pencil thin, slightly balding, and wore a sleeveless button shirt with a pocket protector and was trying in vain to stay awake. Tired dark eyelids and baggy from the usual all-nighters his profession endured regularly. Having a flexible bodyclock also helped but it didn't really matter to Jack, he still felt sleepy at this ungodly hour. He grimaced as he took a sip from a cup of cold coffee and slapped his cheeks sharply. The silent hum of the computers was broken by the sound of flesh hitting flesh.
"Yah feeling okay there Jack?" With a thick southern drawl the man beside him asked without looking up. He was reading the data from his computer display and was also trying to stay awake. While Jack looked like a scientist, his friend was the complete opposite. Mike Gellar was tall and had an athletic body but underneath all that muscle contained a phenomenal brain.
"Yeah Mike, I'm fine. Just Goddamn sleepy." Jack answered tiredly rubbing his face with his hand.
"Are you sure those coordinates were correct?" He asked mike fearfully and his eyes widened.
“It's not the first time some amateur got overly excited." To use the telescope, they had to apply for months and if the coordinates were wrong, months of waiting goes down the drain.
"The Coordinates are fine Jack. Mah contact's solid," Mike says confidently looking him in the eye.
"When was the last time I got it wrong?" He lifted an eyebrow at Jack. He didn't say the coordinates came from an eight-year-old girl amateur astronomer. Jack glanced at Mike's haggard face. Yep. Better not tell him about that part.
"Okay! Okay!" Jack raised his arms in surrender.
“I trust you Mike" He sighed heavily and returned to his screen, looking at the jumble of numbers only they could understand.
Mike didn't know how the little girl discovered the stellar object. She was playing around with the telescope and was pushing different numbers randomly. When she looked at the eyepiece, she saw a little asteroid and she immediately ran to her dad screaming in joy. An amazed father recorded the coordinates and sent it to Mike for confirmation. The little girl didn't know it was the Seed ship between the orbits Mars and Jupiter on approach to earth. Little did the father and daughter team knew the significance of their discovery.
--
"Hmmm. That's odd" Jack said. He frowned when he read the data. When they finally found the asteroid, they took the spectral readings and the numbers they received was strange. The luminosity or albedo of the asteroid was too high. While most asteroids were composed of different metals mostly iron, nickel and some carbon, they shouldn't be this..this shiny. This was the third time they checked the readings. So they spent their precious hours checking the equipment. They thought the instruments were misaligned but after running the diagnostics, the sensors were fine.
"She sure is shiny!" Mike said proudly. The coordinates his contact gave him was good. Although Mike was starting to get a little anxious when they didn't find it quickly. They dismissed it at first because they thought it was just a dim star.
"Toldya it was good. I wasn't even worried. You scaredy cat" Mike teased with a smug look on his face.
Jack was sure Mike was worried when he caught his friend tapping his fingers incessantly. That was Mike's tell he learned from playing poker with him. It was already morning when they got the final data and went back to the hotel to celebrate and they flew back to the mainland the next day. Unbeknownst to the two astronomers, the reason the object was "shiny" was that the seed ship was made of an unknown alloy with a mirror finish. And if they bothered to check it again they would be shocked to know that the asteroid started decelerating and changed its course to match earth.
--
Meanwhile, in Louisiana, a girlish yell can be heard from the backyard of a suburban house. A little girl was shouting and shaking in excitement while her face was glued on the telescope. She brushed her blond hair away from her right eye, her face was sweaty from the humid heat. But that didn't bother her as she stared in wonder at a shining asteroid on the telescope's viewfinder. Her dad was sitting in the rocking chair drinking a beer smiling proudly at the little girl. They finally got the rights to name the asteroid and the father thought of different names for the asteroid for a week straight. The name should be something manly and majestic..
"Daddy! Daddy! Look!" the little girl/budding astronomer shrieked and pointed at the asteroid.
"Sparkles is getting bigger! Look! See!" The little girl beckoned her hands to her father. She thought the names her dad suggested was silly. So Sparkles it was.
The father humored his daughter and stood up from the chair and walked to the telescope. The little girl stepped down carefully from the little platform her dad made for her and gave her father some space. The father took off his glasses and looked at the asteroid. Sorry. Sparkles. The asteroid was bigger. A lot bigger. His face frowned and thought he pointed the telescope wrong. He examined at the LED readout and sure enough, it was correct.
"Huh? You're right pumpkin. That thing is bigger." He told her daughter and took another look at the asteroid. He smiled at the little girl's face.
"Her name is Sparkles Dad!" Her daughter admonished, her lips pouted and hands on her hips.
"And she's a lady too huh?" her father asked with a raised eyebrow as he looked at his daughter.
"Yah. Coz she's pretty" she said with the confidence of an eight-year-old. The little girl pulled the father away from the telescope for her turn again. He laughed and walked back to his chair. Better start saving for her college tuition, the father thought bemused. It would be nice having a real astronomer in the family.
--
Three months after they went back to their university Jack was calculating the trajectory of Spar0145 aka Sparkles. They also asked a colleague of theirs who works at an observatory in France for some recent data of Spar0145.
"Uh-oh. Something's wrong". He said out loud unconsciously as he scratched his head in confusion. He triple checked his math but the numbers didn't lie. He compared the earlier data to the recent one. The asteroid's speed and course changed significantly, and if his calculations were correct, its path was on a collision course with earth. His face paled and he ran to his department head office to report the shocking results.
White House
August 11, 2008
"... speed. Spar0145 is on a collision course with Earth" The Science Advisor told the President of the United States softly while reading from his notes. He took off his reading glasses and placed it on the conference table. The whole room was quiet and the entire cabinet was dumbstruck with the information he provided. Suddenly, people shouted questions all at once and their voices increased in intensity. Some cabinet members stayed quiet while others jeered.
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"QUIET! PEOPLE! BE QUIET!" A man's shouted command rose over the cacophony of loud voices.
"I SAID BE QUIET!" The words sounded like a gunshot and the voices died instantly. The President glared at everyone in the room and his gaze surveyed the different reactions of his cabinet. Years as an officer in the Marines trained the president to perfect that glare. Better men and women under him melted like butter under that fierce look. He let the silence hang in the air for moments then turned to his science advisor.
"Are you sure Dave? We had near misses before but why is this one different?" The President asked with an even tone, his face neutral and he leaned back in his chair almost relaxed.
"Yes, Mr. President. I'm ninety-nine percent sure." The Science Advisor said confidently with his arms crossed.
"Our people at NASA, ESA, and JAXA confirmed these findings. At its present course, the asteroid will hit the Earth. But, that's not the point I was trying to make sir. The asteroid changed its course and decelerated!" the Science Advisor almost shouting his eyes burned with excitement, His body quivering full of energy.
"You mean it's slowing down?" the president asked incredulously.
"My physics is a bit rusty, Dave. Am I correct when I say that things in space usually don't slow down?" he raised his eyebrows at the man.
"Precisely sir, it's one of Newton's law. Especially in the vacuum and weightlessness of space. An object's motion is always constant unless a force is applied." He looked down at his glasses and stopped talking. He was unwilling to voice his conclusions and his self-confidence waned. He sat there fidgeting with his glasses and ignored the stares people were giving him.
The president eyes bored into the Science Advisor while he digested the statement. Then he finally grasped what the man was saying. The neutral face he was displaying vanished and he looked at his cabinet. Some faces showed confused expressions while the others understood what the advisor implied but stayed quiet, not meeting the president eyes.
"Is the asteroid.." the President asked tentatively his face unconfident for the first time as he looked at the Science Advisor. Somehow he was afraid to jump to conclusions.
"Artificial? We don't know sir." The Science Advisor gave the president a lopsided smile and shook his head.
"Asteroids don't act like this. They just don't slow down and change course this drastically unless it passed close to some planets gravity to affect it. Spar0145 was not close enough to Jupiter and Saturn to change its path." the Science advisor said in his lecture mode.
"Dave, what do you mean by artificial? do you mean..." The Secretary of Homeland Security asked for clarification. He already had an inkling, but he didn’t want his colleagues to think he was out of his mind.
"Aliens." The science advisor said flatly. He was crossing his arms with a challenging posture and dared them to call him crazy.
The room exploded in loud voices. Some people were laughing and shaking their heads but a minority stayed silent, obviously thinking hard.
"Aliens!?"
"Little Green Men?!"
"Haha! I knew this was a joke!"
The president stayed silent and he let them talk with each other while he collected his thoughts. Aliens? Jesus Christ. Out of the frying pan into the fire. On one hand, an asteroid strike. The kind that ended the dinosaurs and the on the other was an alien invasion... hmmm.. While a massive asteroid strike was apocalyptic, an alien inva... no, an alien encounter or contact has more leeway to work with. Hmm...
The voices slowly died down and the cabinet members were glancing at each other. The president turned to his military advisors sizing them up. They were all silent through out the whole meeting.
"Generals, What are our options? Can we defend from an invasion?" the president asked his military advisors.
"We have plans for a response to an extraterrestrial threat sir". The army general said straight-faced.
"What?! We really have one?" The president asked in a shocked voice and his eyes widened. He thought that was just a Pentagon myth back in his officer days. The president composed himself and gestured to the general. "Ahem. Sorry. Please continue"
"Yes, sir. Together with a zombie apocalypse type scenario." The general nodded his face serious while an admiral shot an apologetic look to the president.
"It all depends on a lot of variables. The technology the aliens have, the enemy strength and numbers, The location of their beachhead and their objectives." The army general counted with the finger of his right hand. He also glanced to his left inviting an air force general to say his piece.
"The high ground also matters, sir. Space is the ultimate high ground. They can just bombard us from above and wait for our surrender." The air force general interjected.
"But..we don't know if we can win." The president said flatly as he summarized the general's thoughts.
"Yes, sir. but.." The army general started.
"But, what if they didn't come here to invade." The Science advisor interrupted. He glanced at the glaring general and he cringed.
"Please continue Dave." the President gave an assuring smile inviting him to finish.
"A sufficiently advanced civilization may be enlightened enough to think that wars are no longer necessary," The science advisor said regaining his composure. "They may think wars and conflict and barbaric." The Science advisor said tapping his finger on the table for emphasis
"They are clearly a very advanced civilization and very enlightened!" The science advisors face was full of wonder and his eyes burned with excitement.
Not like us! the president thought as he listened.
"I think we should send a message of greeting, peace, goodwill and the willingness to work together." He completed his speech and his eyes burned with passion. He glanced at the Joint chief of staffs and they were ignoring him, they were huddled in a mini-conference of their own. One of the generals snorted when he heard his naive conclusions and rolled his eyes.
"Sir, shall we inform the public?" the white house press secretary asked boldly. She was thinking of the public response if news of the aliens would leak out. No. Not "if" but "when" she corrected herself
"A statement from the white house may help in limiting a panic after the public finds out. And make no mistake Mr. president, it will leak out!"
"I think it's too early to make conclusions." The president hedged but when he saw the press secretary started to argue.
"But when we get more solid Intel in the coming months we make our findings known slowly so acclimatize the public and not cause panic." He said placating her. The press secretary nodded satisfied with the answer.
"Our recommendation Mr. President," The army general said when the president looked back to him. "is to activate the plans and ready our forces just in case and if the aliens proves to be hostile.. we do a full mobilization of our active military, reserve units, and reinstate the draft."
"Hope for the best but plan for the worst" The president saying to no one in particular. Not waiting for an answer he stood up and paced behind his seat. His hand on his chin in deep contemplation. His political opponents criticized him for a lot of things but not of his being able to act quickly and decisively.
"Generals, activate the plans immediately without delay." He ordered his generals.
"Secretary of energy. Start stockpiling our oil reserves."
"FEMA. make plans for a nationwide.." The president rattles all his orders in quick succession. This is going to be a long night the Secretary of Education thought to himself.
--
Two months after that full cabinet meeting the entity named The Watcher finally decided that it was the right time to make his presence known. The AI tapped the correct communication array he had already hacked an hour before. It then divided its processing threads hundreds of times and each thread called a single number. The AI, being efficient contacted all the leaders of humanity simultaneously.
The president was reviewing numerous plans in the oval office when suddenly, his cell phone rang. He looked at the caller ID but it only seemed to show a random string of numbers and characters. Since, only his family members and trusted advisers had his number he answered it with a hint of confusion on his face. The army general briefing the president caught his reaction and fell silent.
"Hello? Who is this?" the president and all other leaders answered the phone. Most of the leaders were confused some were angry, a few were sleeping although a couple of leaders thought it was all a prank and promptly hanged up.
"Здравствуйте? Я занят! Я преследую медведя."
"¿Hola? ¿Quién está perturbando mi siesta?"
"Bonjour mon amour. Ma femme dort à côté de moi."
"I am the being approaching your planet. You may call me Watcher. I will give your council one hour to assemble and I will call again at that time." the Watcher translated into different languages. The universal translator on this planet was abysmal and added to the confusion but the gist of the message was easily understood.
"I will answer your questions in one hour. Goodbye." The call was ended so abruptly that they didn't even have time to form questions. Without asking for permission the Watcher split the seed ship into five modules. One pyramid and four diamond shards. The four different shining metal shards were like an ace of diamonds in appearance. The four shards then parked in a geostationary orbit around the earth’s equator, covering every land area. The pyramid housing the Watcher moved above the north pole and transmitted its instructions to the shards.
Each shard was visible to the naked eye like a shining beacon in the night sky. Videos of the shards were posted in video hosting sites and a couple of them promptly crashed due to the heavy traffic. The four shards then slowly disintegrated into dust covering the entire planet.
Unseen by the observers who watched the spectacle. The microscopic nanobots were dispersed into the air, oceans, seas, and the land. It entered the human's bodies unnoticed. Animals, even aquatic ones were not excluded. By multiplying in the millions using the trace elements of metals and chemicals found in every living thing, these nanomachines invaded every part of the body. It changed the animal's body ever so slightly over a long period of time and then retreating into a solid core attached to the spine.
In the human's bodies, the nanites completed its directives and turned into a solid core. After the core determined its task was completed, it went into hibernation mode and waited to be activated for the first time. The only side effect was a sudden pang of hunger and reports of record sales from deliveries of food found its way to the news.
When most of his advisors were gathered in the oval office, they all anxiously stared at the president’s cell phone like it was a poisonous snake. Only the sound of the mechanical clock can be heard and an eerie silence hanged in the air. Thankfully, someone had the presence of mind to find a charger and plugged it into the phone. Now that's a call you don't want to have a low battery icon flashing.
Ring...Ring... The sound of The cell phone ringtone made everyone jump and President nervously reached for the phone. He swiped the answer button, his hand shaking a little and put it on speaker phone.
"This is the President of the United States of America. To whom am I speaking?" the President said as he leaned forward and tried to keep his voice calm
"This is the Watcher. By the power vested in me by the Dalsau Mercantile Collective, I hereby proclaim this planet is accepted for Seeding and Initialization.