Alien Alliance (3 page)

*

Sarah thought furiously. Had she forgotten
anything? There were twenty-two of them, including Bert, a medical
doctor, Nanelle and Alan, her major deputies, and the others who
were a good variety of specialists and enthusiasts. She had trouble
believing this could be happening despite all her foresight and
preparation. She had organised a savings fund, sitting at interest,
which had now been transferred to a debit card, ready to fund this.
Alan had even managed to get them cheap flights even though it was
summer and peak tourist season in New Zealand in February. She
would bet Alan had just beat the price rise. They had on sold the
remaining three pre-paid tickets, to CNN for ten times the price
they had paid. That also was Alan’s doing. His qualification for
joining SETI was “retired business manager.” Sarah often commented
that his budget/calculator/best buy sense was hard-wired in. She
felt her heart beat even faster as they started to board. No visas.
She hoped that New Zealand immigration had a sense of occasion and
wouldn’t refuse them entry.

The jet had left full. Alan had beaten the
rush to buy tickets by mere minutes. During the flight, the pilot
announced, “We will be landing at Dunedin for security reasons.”
But Sarah informed the pilots that SETI were on board. After some
discussion, a vote was held on the plane and it was a unanimous
decision to land in Christchurch, so long as Air Traffic Control
felt it was safe. They landed in Christchurch, shocked at the
prodigious size of the spaceship. The Press were right, Sarah
thought. It did look a little like a cruise ship but nearly three
times the size.

Alan watched Sarah in amusement as she dealt
with the New Zealand officials, wondering how she did it. He noted
that as usual she Sarah was not pushy or rude, but quietly got her
way without upsetting anyone. Sarah was one of those people, Alan
had frequently said, who could tell you to go to hell so politely
that you would look forward to the scenery.

On arrival, Sarah calmly presented her SETI
credentials to still-shocked airport officials. Alan watched her
calm demeanour and her assumption that these people would realise
that the experts were here and SETI could handle it. Sarah was
right. They did. She handed over the names and qualifications of
all the team and he was amused to see that no one mentioned
visas.

“Don, Bruce, Fiona, Gina and Terri, please
organise the luggage and get it to the motels, then get back here.
The rest of you follow me,” said Sarah. Looking much calmer than
she felt, she went straight to the hangar where the Aliens now
were.

Nothing really prepared her for the sight of
four Aliens, large creatures, each about the size of a horse, but
more the shape and look of a seal with four legs and two arms, but
the more familiar two eyes, head in the expected place, a sort of
recognizable nose, ears, short fat tails and each a different
colour from fawn, to red, with two being slightly different shades
of brown. They were sitting on backless concrete park benches that
had been brought in for them. There were large foam pads forming
the cushions. They were trying to learn English with Jolene the
steward, the woman Paswalda had spoken to first, and the three
school teachers she had persuaded to help her. Four people who were
now instantly recognisable on every media source.

Sarah tried not to stare as she calmly and
quietly led her Team in. Sarah had instructed them to quickly sit
down, to try to reduce any threat perceived by the Aliens. Sarah
eased over, as close to Jolene as she could without crowding any
one.

“Are you Sarah?” Asked the uniformed
woman.

“Yes. Jolene?”

“Yes. You don’t know how relieved I am to
see you! I don’t know what I’m doing here! This is Mary Thompson
and Hine Smith, both English teachers and Tom Sutton is a teacher
of Latin and English. They were the only volunteers. I was lousy at
languages at school.”

“What kind of a working vocabulary do you
have?”

“They started with nouns, then verbs, then
adjectives. Their knowledge of sentence structure seems to be
similar or they, I mean their Translator machines, seem to
recognise the basic sense and structure. They can say simple
sentences.”

“Could you introduce me please.”

Jolene looked at the red coloured Alien and
said, slowly and clearly,

“This is Sarah. She is the top person on
this planet to talk with you. It is her job.”

Sarah had come intending to take over from
Jolene but changed her mind after a few minutes of watching the
interaction. Her impression of Jolene was that she was coolheaded
and very competent. She had the confidence of the Aliens and they
looked to her. She was the one who had been approached by the top
alien, Paswalda.

“If you don’t mind, I think you should stay
in charge. They chose you. They might be offended or lose
confidence in us if they have to build up a relationship with
someone else.”

Jolene was a bit shocked at this but when
she thought about it, it made sense. And Sarah would help and
advise her.

The next four days of watching the
linguists, listening and learning, absorbed Sarah but luck played a
part. Just before Paswalda made his announcement, Sarah had headed
for the loo and had returned in time to hear his offer. She was
nearby and the fastest to react. She was on the spaceship before
she really thought it through.

Sarah went through the Cleaner and the
Checker, figuring out their purposes and happily handing over her
handbag for searching. They kept a few objects. Her perfume was
thought to be potentially dangerous it seemed. And the cigarette
lighter she kept for others like chain smoking Alan. They let her
keep a pad and pen. She wondered what they thought of her make-up.
At their direction, she unstrapped her iphone and handed it over.
No pictures. Oh well, never mind.

Another Alien who did not introduce
himself/herself led Sarah on a long winding walk, up an elevator
and through a long wide passage. It pointed to a corridor and
indicated Sarah should look around. Sarah saw ‘cabins,’ about
fifteen feet by fifteen feet. They had large square or round bag
type mattresses, on the floor or (hung up?) on the walls, with a
netting over them. Looking around, she saw that they looked like
they could be wall mounted. There were no portholes or whatever you
call a window in a spaceship. Porthole, she thought. Going to be a
little claustrophobic. A Translator had been handed to her.

“What do you use for getting rid of body
wastes?” she asked. She was shown a panel that opened and exposed a
hole in the floor about nine inches in diameter. There was also no
privacy. No wall between the loo and the room. Maybe a toilet could
be fitted over it and a screen would work for privacy. There was
enough room. It was designed OK for males. Females would have
trouble. They would need to be both athletic and good shots. She
made a note.

“Is there any water available?”

She was shown a sort of tap.

“Are there any…” she paused. “Is there a way
to keep food cold or to heat it up.” The Alien’s expression was so
obviously puzzled that she had to refrain from laughing. “We make
our food stay good by keeping it cold and we like to eat our food
hot.” She wondered if the Translator was translating this
accurately.

“No such things,” it replied inaccurately,
thinking how fussy this little Alien was and how this one was not
going to go to any effort for such a primitive. A primitive with no
intergalactic bank account.

Sarah was muttering, “OK, so we need our own
toilets, all cooking and eating utensils, some way to keep food
cold, some way to heat it etc. Also some blankets and sheets,
mattresses are here if people like to share.”

Next, the Alien showed her five large rooms
like holds. Again, no portholes. It said up to another five rooms
like this could be available if needed. Each was about ten feet
high and about 100 feet by 100. Definitely economy class. They too
had the holes in the floor with no privacy but they had water. They
also had something else in the wall.

“What is this?” she asked.

“Food.”

“Would we be able to eat it?”

“It does not taste good but it is food.”

“Could I try some?” She watched as it turned
a knob and pushed a lever. A grey substance came out. She tasted
it. It was right. It did not taste good but if some flavouring
could be added if should be edible. Strong flavouring. Curry or
mustard type. It was bland, a little like a sour flour paste. It
could be sweetened too she thought. She suddenly wondered what she
had eaten and if it was poisonous. Oh well, too late to worry now.
She noticed some markings in the floor like a tiny door and bent
down. She pried it open. There was a hook under the latch. She
immediately realised it could be used to hold a tent fastening.
They could use tents for their privacy; some sanity! She looked
around. They were at about every two square feet. They were also
beside the loo holes. Toilet tents!

“Could we use these?”

“Yes,” it said, wondering why they wanted to
restrain themselves. Were these going-to-be-slaves going to bring
their own slaves? This could be amusing.

Sarah looked carefully through all four
rooms. Most problems were solvable but no hot food would be sad.
Worse, no coffee. She thought to try again.

“Is there any way we could heat food or
water?”

“I could ask. It may be possible but it
would cost a lot extra.”

“How much?”

“I will ask.”

“What about cleaning ourselves, our clothes
and the dishes we eat with?”

“There are Cleaners but they cost.”

“So does that mean we can’t use them?”

“Yes, unless you pay.”

Sarah didn’t mention that she had no idea
what they used for money. And none anyway. She thoughtfully looked
around. Best to approach this as if it was a three month camping
trip and assume everything was needed except the shelter and water,
with holes dug for toilets. She hoped the holes wouldn’t smell.
Well, small price to pay.

“Thank you,” she said and was shown off the
ship, her property being returned to her as she left. She strapped
her iphone back onto her wrist noticing with surprise that very
little time had passed. She pondered. The route they had taken had
shown her nothing but corridors. She wondered if that was
deliberate.

Sarah returned from the spaceship inspection
with her list and quickly briefed the still very shocked people who
had only turned up for a language lesson. Sarah’s Team were a
little more psychologically prepared; but not much. Sarah
galvanized them!

“Nanelle, we need toilets, sort of,” she
showed Nanelle the drawing she had made. Nanelle collected a debit
card from Alan and walked off. Sarah had given the most difficult
job to the person most likely to accomplish it. Nanelle was one of
those people who worked quietly in the background and got things
done; no fanfare, no wanting her achievements noticed, no criticism
of others, she just did it. She had 24 hrs to find something or
persuade someone to make something, to sit on, over a hole, to
function as a toilet. It had to be light as they had to pay for
weight.

“The rest of you, get over here.” Quickly,
Sarah organised one or more people to get the tents, food, trade
goods, bedding, bedrolls, camping chairs and ideas for any other
essentials. “I also need to know how many of you want to go.”
Almost every hand shot up. Sarah laughed, her eyes dancing.
“Right,” she said. “You heard him. Everything you need for five
months. Get to it.” She phoned SETI and let them know. There might
still be time to get others over here.

“Bert…”

“I’m on to it,” he said and headed to the
door, then scooted back for a debit card from Alan. He left with a
smile and an accompaniment of laughter from the rest. Sarah smiled,
that was Bert. Off at full speed then thinking ‘on his feet’.
Bert’s qualifications were Trauma Specialist and science fiction
nut plus he was a social charmer who soothed hurt feelings and
calmed people down. He was likeable, unflappable and a good
organiser. She ticked her list. That was the medical equipment
solved.

“Alan, Terri, Fiona, Gina, Sue and Dan,
trade goods, camping equipment and food, divide it up between you,
allow for 30 get the rest to help except for Anne and Hulio who
stay here on ‘language.’ Oh, there is some food on board we can use
but it will need flavouring to go with it. Strong flavouring. It
tastes like flour paste. Very bland.” Within minutes they
disappeared out the door. Sarah was organised. The remainder of the
people in the room were still stunned. Sarah went over to Jolene.
“Are you interested in coming, any of you?” She looked at the three
teachers as well.

“Ah, I’ll pass,” said Tom.

“No thanks,” said Mary.

“I’d love to,” said Hine but I have three
kids and I’m not taking them!”

“My problem too,” said Jolene. “Two kids,
little ones.”

Sarah looked up at the rest of the people.
She saw a variety of feelings expressed. The chief being confusion
and indecision.

“Well,” she said. “I’ve got 25-30 ready to
go. Who else? Does anyone else want to go?” There was a confused
muttering. The media had scattered at the announcement and were now
slowly filtering back in.

Sarah sat down. The linguists were still
trying to learn, she’d join them. She checked her alarm. Three
hours.

An hour later there was a tap on her
shoulder.

“Hi I’m Steve. I’m with the Deep Freeze
base. We have several scientists that would like to go and the
medical doctor that someone asked for. Could I hire you to organise
supplies for them as well?”

“The Deep Freeze Base in Antarctica? I
thought that stopped a few years ago.”