Dark Matter (27 page)

19:10
              10 November  [14:10  10 November GMT]

Office of the Secretary-General, United Nations, New York, USA.

'That's the last of them.'  William confirmed to her.

'Thank you William.  I'll call you if I need you.'

Her aide left Jay and her two guests alone.  Jane and George had been on a wild ride all day.  Events had moved impossibly fast for anyone to keep up with.  Jay turned to her guests.

'Well.  What do you both think?'  Jay asked interested in the opinion of someone who wasn't a bureaucrat.

'Is it me?'  George spoke up first, Jane still processing.  'Or has the world just turned upside down and gone crazy at the same time?'

'Go on.'  Jay instructed him.

'Well, we have gone from discovering that aliens exist to virtually offering them to spend the night in the guest room.  They are now all over the world.  Talking directly to each nation.  They undoubtedly have technological superiority over us.  We couldn't travel to their home world, for instance.  They have offered us the cure to all our ills, virtually free.  All in less than a day.  Doesn't that seem a little crazy to anyone?'

They both sat there nodding silently in agreement.

'What do you suggest we should have done differently?'  Jay asked.

'Well I don't know....'

'Is that the point?'  Jane asked no one in particular.  The journalist in her had grappled with the events of the day and didn't much care for her conclusions.  'They look like us.  They seem peaceful.  There are no communications issues thanks to their devices.  They have been polite and deferential.  They have offered to cure disease and hunger; they offer cheap, clean renewable energy.  They are the answer to our collective prayers.  Now they offered those things, virtually free, nations will fall over themselves to accommodate them.'

'What are you saying?'  Jay asked.

'I'm saying that if they have told the truth then we, the people of earth have done the right thing.  If they haven't, well, then we have let the fox into the chicken coop.’ Jane replied.

'The thing I don't like.'  George said, re-entering the conversation.  'Is that most of the successful conquerors arrived under a flag of peace offering to civilise the indigenous population.'

They sat in silence for a minute digesting that thought. 

17:50               10 November [17:50  10 November GMT]

Chester Square, Belgravia, London, England.

Jack arranged the three mugs in a straight line, each with its handle pointing in the same direction, forty-five degrees up from due south.  A cloud of steam resolved itself with a click; he reached for the kettle and filled each mug in turn. 

'I think you had better come see this!'  Sally shouted from the den.

He wandered through the house clutching the mugs.  Sally was camped on one of the settees with Anita. 
I’m glad I took them both on, their work is top rate, and it’s nice to have company
.  Jack took his attention away from them and onto the giant screen.  The BBC had a Breaking News story.  He could see a group of people stood in a park,
or at least on some grass
, he realised, as he noticed an office building in the left side of the screen.  Then the camera pulled back and back and yet further back.  Now he couldn't tell entirely what he was looking at.  It appeared that there was a second building next to the first, only it didn't have any windows and appeared to be built out into the middle of a large river.  He looked at the scrolling news caption at the bottom of the screen. 
Alien ship landed in New York, next to UN building.
  He read the words but they had no real meaning for him.  His mind focused his ears into the commentary. 
The ship arrived some nine, no, eleven minutes ago.  It appears that it has landed on the East River right here in New York.  The local police are doing their best to keep onlookers at bay, but as you can imagine this is an unprecedented event.  There is no doubt now, UFOs are real, and we are looking at one. 
The voice changed. 
That was the scene when the spaceship landed, we now go live to the floor of the UN where we believe the leader, that is the head of the alien diplomatic mission, is preparing to speak to the UN council and the world.

Jack picked up his house phone and speed dialled his broker.  'Sell everything except government deposits; put thirty per cent of the proceeds into cash, fifty into gold, and twenty into gold futures.'  It struck him that this was the first time in ten years that he had traded in gold for himself, and only then prompted by the arrival of aliens.  He hung up. 
There's going to be many nervous people out there looking for a calm port in the storm,
he thought to himself,
and I'm one of them
.  He turned his attention back to the screen and listened to the speeches by the Secretary-General and Shiwanevar.  When they had both finished and the news started to repeat he muted the sound and asked Sally and Anita for their thoughts.  Anita piped up first.

'I think it's great.  They are going to cure disease, famine and all our man-made problems.  How can that not be great?'

'What do you think Sally?’  Jack asked.

'I'm not so sure.  Most of the instances of disease, famine and other issues we could resolve ourselves.  Nevertheless, we choose not to.  Our world economic system is based upon valuing some people more than others, some countries more than others.'

'Go on.’  Jack prompted.

'Well.  We know that our health systems have enabled some people to live longer, but that has come with other age related issues.  Now it is not just simply the age you can reach but the amount of economic value you have created and preserved that matters; living longer is much more expensive, both to the individual and to the economy.  The problem is just as bad at the other end of the spectrum, more children survive infancy now, and the population is burgeoning.  The strain on resources is already causing friction between countries.  One country solves its energy needs with a hydroelectric dam, causing drought in its neighbour.  Unless the “cures” offered by the aliens are carefully managed, chaos could and probably would ensue.'

'OK,' Jack agreed, ‘but what about Anita's view?'

'I can't fault it, not really.  If I were an individual or country who needs help then I would want it now.  Consequences are something for later.  Cure disease now.  Cure famine now.  We'll sort the negative effects later, or maybe we won't.'

'So what you are saying is,' Jack continued, making sure he had Sally's analysis understood, 'that every country offered the alien's help will accept it, adopt it, and exploit it to the maximum possible.  However this will be to the detriment of the world as a whole.'

'That's it exactly.'  Sally replied, not realising the full consequences herself until she heard Jack say them.

'So every nation will become fitter and stronger up to the point at which we run out of natural resources.  Then they will fight each other.'

Anita chipped in.  'Doesn't that mean it’s now a race?  The first countries to maximise the use of the alien technology beat their neighbours?'

00:40               11 November  [00:40  10 November GMT]

Three Way Conference Call
.

Charlie Beaconsfield dialled into the conference call, Sam Colt already on the line.  They had allowed themselves a couple of minutes before their Russian counterpart, General Gregori Stephonovich Ivanskiy, would be joining them.  They asked after each other’s families before turning to the current situation.

'So what do you think then Charlie?'

'Officially nothing yet.  The government hasn't decided on a policy.  Unofficially, I'm more than a little concerned.  We have no idea what we are facing, or could be facing.  Certainly, it would be prudent to surmise that technologically they are vastly superior to us.  It is hard to imagine that an advanced race like that would be lacking advanced weaponry.  We didn't even get the chance to contain them.  They have spread out to two hundred and seventeen nations.  We have no idea what they are offering or being offered in return, except the delegations to the UN and the UK.  Also it's a bit eerie as they are awfully polite.'

'Agreed.  We have this stranger turn up on our doorstep and then because they have said things we wanted to hear we have invited them in and given them dinner.  I think that if they didn't look like us then everyone would be treating them differently.  A whole lot differently.'  Sam said.

'What's your government’s position?'

'Well congress is still debating.  I take it you heard the President's speech welcoming them in peace and cooperation, the standard stuff.  I guess we will open talks, there will be too much pressure internally and externally not to, but it will have to be bi-partisan.  We've lowered our alert status by one level since we first tracked them entering our solar-system as we perceive no immediate threat, but the President is being kept up to date on developments.'

The conference line announced the joining of another caller, General Ivanskiy was now online.

'Good day gentlemen.  You can now stop talking about me and talk to me instead.'  The line was quiet for a second before the General's bellowing laugh broke the silence. 

'Forgive me gentlemen.  We all discuss each other, da?  I just like to make joke at your expense.  I am sure you do same.  Now what do we think of our friends from the stars.  Have not all our prayers been answered.  Dah?'

'Nyet' they both responded.

'No indeed.’  Gregori Stephonovich concluded.  'They are meeting with our President as we speak and I am not happy about it.  He has only allowed one military advisor in with him and that is that fasheest eedeeot sveenya Bondarenko.'

So it's true what we have heard about General Bondarenko
, Charlie noted to himself.

'What do you plan to do?'  Sam asked.

'What can we do?  We will listen to what they have to say and respond accordingly.  If they are offering what they said then unfortunately there will be little that we won't offer in return.’  Gregori Stephonovich continued.  'Also I think it important more than ever that we go ahead with Operation Allies.  Don't you?'

Yes, they both agreed, before continuing their negotiations regarding the battle formations for Operation Allies and the date and location of their next meeting.

18:00               10 November  [18:00  10  November GMT]

Orchard Road, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England
.

John had crashed the night at his brother Eddie's place in Hitchin.  They had been out late and had slept in until eleven.  After a lunchtime session in a local pub they were now back at Eddie's place.  John had arrived the night before with the ingredients of a cooked breakfast and was busying himself preparing it whilst listening to the radio.  He had just finished dishing up when his brother Eddie came into the kitchen.

'You've heard the news then.'  Eddie said, noting that John was listening to the radio.

'No, what's that?'

'Err.  Aliens have landed.  They look like us.  Everything has changed.'

'Oh.'  John responded, 'you've been listening to the radio play too then?'

'John.'  Eddie said, reaching out and squeezing his brother’s forearm.  'It's not a play.  It's on the news.  Every channel.'

John turned round waiting for the punch-line.  It didn't arrive.  Eddie looked different.  John couldn’t put his finger on it, but he didn’t like it.  They sat down in the lounge with their breakfast plates on their laps eating absentmindedly, totally engrossed in the news.

'What do you think it all means?'  Eddie asked John.

'Your guess is as good as mine.  Things are going to be different though, that's for sure.'

They sat through the speeches in the UN, hardly uttering a word to each other, transfixed by the events unfolding before their eyes.  At the end of it, Eddie spoke first.

'Well that seems fair.'

'What seems fair?’  John asked.

'That each nation is going to have direct access to the alien’s technology.  That's got to be fair, hasn't it?'

'And what if one nation can make more use of it than another?  Instead of levelling the playing field, it's just become a whole lot more lopsided.  Advanced nations will spring forward fifty, a hundred, two hundred, or more years, probably in less than a decade.  Others will see their populations explode, but their overall relative standard of living plunge, as finite resources are spread thinner and thinner.'

'So it's only fair if everyone can make equal use of it?'

'Exactly.  If you gave Stone Age man a rifle, he would just hit you with it.  It's potential for hunting and defence would be lost on him.'

'So the rich nations just get richer?'

20:00
              10 November  [18:00  10 November GMT]