Xenophobia (4 page)

Bower didn’t have an answer for that. She didn’t agree, but she didn’t want to say something that might offend Jameson.

“When did you grow up, Doc?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, there’s no line of demarcation. There’s no border to cross, and yet, here we are, all grown up, or at least we like to think we are.

“These guys are kids. Look at them. Most of them can’t even go into a bar, and yet they’re old enough to die for their country. Take Smithy. She’s barely nineteen and looks like she’d get blown over in a storm, but she’s as tough as nails. She’d never been outside of Iowa before, let alone seen the waves of the ocean. And here she is, on the other side of the world, surrounded by global political forces and tribal tensions that make no sense to the daughter of a garage mechanic, but she’s got a job to do and so she gets on with it.

“And as for Elvis. Sure, he’s a little silly at times and plays the whole rock star thing a bit too much, but in battle, there’s no one else I’d rather have by my side. He’s one cool cat under fire.”

Jameson paused, pulling the chewed blade of grass from his mouth and tossing it away.

Bower figured he’d asked a good question and it was only polite to provide an answer so she said, “For me, my childhood ended on my eighth Christmas. Girls are normally quite quiet and subdued, but not me. I was a terror.”

“I find that hard to believe, Doc.”

“Why? Because I’m a woman?”

“Because you seem quite sweet.”

Bower laughed.

“Oh, appearances are deceiving. I didn’t end up in central Africa by collecting Girl Guide patches.”

“You’ve got me there,” Jameson replied.

“Honestly, I don’t know how my parents put up with me. They should have had me on Ritalin or something.

“I was a klutz, always breaking things. Never on purpose, of course, but I’d walk into a store with my school bag on my back and my mother would cry, ‘
Watch out
.’ I’d turn, trying to avoid god-knows-what, and I’d miss whatever it was my mother feared I was about to destroy only to have my backpack collect a shelf on the other side of the isle, one lined with ornaments. Mom would yell at me, and I’d turn again, trying to see what had happened, only to take out the shelf I’d missed at first.”

Jameson was laughing as she spoke.

“I just had no idea what was going on around me.”

Jameson added, “The phrase, bull in a china shop, springs to mind.”

“Yep. That was me. But I remember that eighth Christmas like it was yesterday. I was so excited about Santa Claus coming and dropping off presents, my presents. I’d sat on his knee at the mall. I’d told him everything I wanted. And when Christmas Eve came around, I was manic, in a good kinda way. I set out a glass of milk and a couple of cookies for Santa, just in case he got peckish on his rounds. My Mom sent me to bed quite late. I should have gone out like a light, but there I was, lying in bed, staring wide-eyed at the ceiling. I don’t know how long I lay there, but it felt like an eternity in the darkness, waiting for the sound of reindeer on the roof.

“I saw some movement in the hall outside my room, just the fleeting shadow of feet shuffling past in the soft light. Everyone was in bed, or at least I thought they were all in bed, so this had to be him, this had to be Santa sneaking into my house. And I was going to meet him. I was going to go out and say hello, and then tell all my friends about it the next day.

“Well, it’s no surprise of course, but when I crept out into the hallway I saw my Mom and Dad quietly stacking presents under the Christmas tree in the living room. The glass of milk was half empty, and one of the cookies had a bite out of it. I walked forward in a daze. Mom must have seen me out of the corner of her eye. She turned. My Dad turned. They didn’t have to say anything. I knew. I ran back to my room sobbing, crying.

“My Mom tried to explain to me that Santa was just a story parents told their kids to make them feel happy. I asked her why she would lie to me like that. It was cruel. I felt terrible, not happy. She never really answered my question, not to my satisfaction. I cried myself to sleep that night. And that was it, my childhood was over. Oh, I still played with other kids, but the dream had been shattered.”

“And,” Jameson asked, “You think Elvis is still living in a childhood dream?”

“Something like that.”

“Don’t lose your childlike innocence, Doc. Even us grown-ups should have something to hold on to.”

Bower smiled at the irony of hearing this from an army Ranger. She went to say something, but Bosco had walked over.

“Reception here is lousy,” he said. “But there are patches where the signal leaks through. You wanna hear what they’re talking about now?”

Bower would have preferred to continue talking with Jameson, but curiosity swamped her like a wave at the beach.

A hiss and crackle broke from the radio as Bosco sat next to Jameson. On the radio, a man was talking, but his words sounded hollow, as though he were speaking from inside a cave.

“
Home Secretary Morris Miles has reassured the British public that there will be transparency into interactions with the alien spacecraft.

“
We are crossing live to the United Nations where NASA scientists will address the UN General Assembly, explaining the events of the past few months as the craft approached Earth before settling in its current position beyond the moon ...
Dr. Stephen Dupree, Director of Advanced Research with NASA's AMES Institute
.”

“
... you, please be seated
.”

Bower wanted to ask if the radio could be turned up louder, but the prospect of interrupting the signal kept her quiet. Bosco fiddled with the aerial, twisting it slightly trying to pick up the channel with more clarity.

“
... will try to avoid too much technical detail, but there is a need for ...
”

The static got worse, and Jameson batted at the air in front of Bosco, signaling for him to stop playing with the radio. Bosco returned the aerial to its original position and the three of them leaned forward, straining to catch each word.

“
... official designation was originally the Morrison comet, after the amateur astronomer, Bruce Morrison from Darwin, Australia, who first detected what we now believe is a vessel of interstellar origin. Morrison located what he thought was a comet beyond the orbit of Sedna almost nine months ago, at a distance of three light days from Earth.

“The comet’s motion was slightly off the ecliptic, the plane on which the majority of the planets orbit the sun, but that is not unusual for an object originating in the Oort cloud. Morrison was on the opposite side of our solar system, on the far side of the sun. The comet was moving considerably faster than Sedna, but at that distance it was impossible to tell the angle on which it was moving, making it impossible to determine anything other than its relative speed.

“
Roughly seven months ago, the object changed course, aligning with the ecliptic, and it became clear Morrison was not a naturally-occurring object like a comet or an asteroid. There was some speculation that the comet may have collided with another celestial object, but as Morrison appeared to remain intact this possibility was quickly discounted. Because the object’s position lay within 10 degrees of the sun, as viewed from Earth, ground-based observations were largely obscured by the glare of the sun.
”

A disembodied voice requested clarification.

“
Please explain further
.”

“
Morrison approached the sun from outside our solar system, moving against the sun’s direction of travel around the Milky Way. Morrison was observed traveling in a parabolic arc toward the sun. Its motion was obscured by the sun for most of its approach, with its relative motion against the backdrop of the stars opposing that of Earth’s orbit.
Observations by
the Keck Observatory in Hawaii revealed the object was emitting gamma radiation, something that further aroused NASA’s attention, initiating the blackout.
”

The formal voice requested more clarification.

“
Please explain the term, blackout
.”

Dupree continued.

“
Blackout is a NASA protocol for containing speculation in the event of close contact with an extra-terrestrial intelligence. The intent is to avoid panic and confusion. By limiting the dissemination of information, a blackout is designed to ensure a coordinated, measured response rather than a half-cocked reaction. A blackout is intended to avoid unwarranted speculation.”

“
In hindsight, was a blackout appropriate?
” the deeply resonant voice asked.

“
No, sir
,” Dupree replied, his voice barely audible in the static. There was a pause for a second, and Bower wondered what was running through the mind of the man thousands of miles away in what seemed like another world. “
The intention was to provide us with some breathing space so as to formulate an appropriate response, but too many people got burned.
"

"
Continue
," the voice commanded.

"
Notification of the blackout was provided to the National Security Council and the President, who initiated a lockdown of the physical facility at AMES and the transfer of key personnel from Keck.
”

“
What made you so sure?
” asked the undisclosed interrogator. “
What made you think this was indeed an alien spacecraft?
”

“
At the initial distance, there was no way of making out any detail on the craft directly. The craft appeared as little more than a blur in a telescope, but the gamma rays told us all we needed to know. Gamma rays are highly energetic particles not associated with comets as they are indicative of subatomic collisions under immense pressure. Gamma rays are normally associated with catastrophic celestial events, like a supernova, an exploding star. To see gamma rays being emitted by something within our solar system was alarming. Spectrometer analysis revealed the presence of hydrogen and helium in the coma, or the head of this supposed comet, while the doppler shift of this light indicated the comet was approaching the solar system at significant speeds
.”

“
What do you define as a significant
speed?
”

“
Based on our observations,
” the Dupree continued, “
we estimated the craft’s speed when first detected at 11% of the speed of light.

“
This is what confirmed the alien hypothesis for us. The craft’s motion relative to Earth seemed much slower than the doppler effect suggested. What we were seeing was a craft rapidly approaching us, while only drifting slightly to one side as it approached. At first, we’d mistaken that sideways motion as its actual motion, but that was an illusion.

“You must remember, all speed is relative to your vantage-point. If you’re driving down the freeway at 55 miles per hour and another car overtakes you, it may only overtake you at a leisurely pace, perhaps even a walking pace, and yet that car is traveling at 57 miles per hour or 60 miles per hour relative to Earth. In this case, the alien vessel was entering our solar system at a blistering pace, but changes in the doppler shift indicated the craft was slowing, that it was braking.

“By the time the craft reached the orbit of Sedna it was traveling at 5% of the speed of light. Two and a half months later, when it passed Pluto, the craft had slowed to less than 2% of the speed of light, and yet at that speed it would still cover the length of the United States in less than a second.”

The interrogator spoke again, a hint of condescension in his voice. It seemed he already knew the answer to the question he was asking.

“
And what caused this gamma radiation? In your opinion, why was this craft giving off this spectacular radiation? Was this display in anyway threatening or hostile?
”

“
Oh, no”
Dupree said. “
This wasn’t an aggressive act on their part. Space is not empty. Even a seemingly complete vacuum contains a few atoms every cubic meter as well as waves of electromagnetic energy streaming out from the sun. The craft was moving so fast it was colliding with these particles, causing them to fuse. The effect was we saw tremendous amounts of energy being radiated by the vessel as it fired its engines to brake on entering our system. Only the craft was moving so fast it took considerable time to shed that speed. In effect, we saw the tires smoking as it skidded to a stop.”

“And what did NASA make of this?”

“The alien spacecraft was, in effect, using collisions with dust particles, solar winds and wisps of hydrogen to assist in slowing itself, fusing hydrogen into helium in a super-heated plasma out in front of its shield. Think of it like a space capsule returning to Earth with its heat shield glowing white hot from friction with the atmosphere. Essentially, that’s what we were seeing, only at higher speeds than we’ve ever imagined
.”

Another voice spoke with almost electronic monotony.

“
Question from the floor: Ambassador Hans Jugen, Germany
.”

“
You described a leading shield on the alien vessel, but the images we now see show no sign of any such shielding. How do you explain that?
”

“
Good question
,” Dr. Dupree replied. “
Initially, our view of the object was obscured by the sun, but orbiting telescopes could resolve the basic outline of the craft. The SOHO satellite observing the sun was able to resolve the shield, which appeared broad but thin. As best we understand the physics, it seems the shield was more of a buffer, a temporary sail. We were able to observe the sail unfolding out to a distance of five thousand miles
.”