The Final Call

by Craig A. Falconer

  “You’re cut from the same cloth whether you can see it or not,” Billy interjected. “Rats one and all.”

  Cole theatrically rolled his eyes. “Only one of us is here to sell books, Billy boy, so spare us the judgement. But if you want to talk about similarities, here’s one for you all. Everyone is so up in arms that Chinese and Russian scientists are currently studying an object that arrived two short days ago, but there seems to be some collective and I would argue voluntary amnesia as to what happened when a certain sphere was recovered from the ocean off Argentina. Since that’s the case, allow me to remind everyone that it was Godfrey who once wanted to exclude American scientists from the sphere analysis process, purely because he wanted us — the UK — to be the only English-speaking nation represented. And that was purely because he wanted to be the only English-speaking leader making the resultant Disclosure announcement! That’s the man we’re dealing with, people. And yes, I’ve spoken some strong words against the historical and contemporary policies of certain nations, the United States and Argentina included, but at no point did I lobby to exclude anyone from the international team who studied the Argentine sphere.”

  Cole raised a finger to delay the inevitable interruption that always came on Focus 20/20 whenever someone dominated the conversation to this extent.

  “And to illustrate this point even more clearly: Godfrey’s conditions for consenting to the late addition of an American scientist, since unanimity from the initial list of nations was required, was that the American scientist’s name had to go last on the jointly signed document. At that point that was the most important document in human history, and the newly inaugurated Chairman of the GCC was playing politics on a level so trivial that everyone else just shrugged their shoulders and let the petulant child have his way. All of this, and you ask me why I stand with President Ding? All of this, and you ask me why I stand with the leader of an inclusive international organisation that represents more than half of the world’s population and more than half of its landmass? And how about this — look at the diversity in a room full of low-level GCC delegates, and then look at the racial makeup of Godfrey’s inner advisory board. That’s what shows us once and for all that the Global Contact Commission is not just an exercise in Western imperialism, it is an inherently white supremacist organisation.”

  Joe Crabbe shook his head incredulously. “Laughable,” he blasted. “Especially coming from you, with all the crap you’ve said in the past about inferior cultures and everything else. You’re a useful idiot; the Chinese and Russians are using you like a cheap whore and you’re playing along because you think you’re getting one over on your old boss.”

  “Well at least one of us is useful,” Cole retorted. “And whatever kind of politically correct games the Western media and politicians like to play, President Ding knew they would never truly accept an organisation headed only by non-Westerners. Most barriers appear to be all but gone; skin colour, gender, sexual orientation and even age don’t seem to matter in North American and European politics anything like they once did. An African or Korean at the UN was fine, because really, a puppet is a puppet wherever it’s made. But Chinese? They wouldn’t stand for it. You wouldn’t stand for it,” he accused the uniformly American panel. “Richard Walker’s Sinophobia, which motivated the whole fake IDA leak in the first place, is sadly the norm rather than the exception among your countrymen and those of your allies. It’s a sad thing that I have to be here, but I’ll do my duties as best as I can as we work towards closing the gap between the peoples of the world. There is a sizeable GCC-shaped roadblock standing in my way, I’ll admit, but I’m a patient man.”

  Billy Kendrick cleared his throat. “I’m all for patience, too, Marian, but are we going to get a chance to challenge any of—”

  “As I said,” Cole butted back in, “the ELF’s reach covers a majority of our planet’s landmass. In order to carry out necessary duties of observation and to better engage with local populations, we are planning new offices and bases in dozens of strategic locations. In addition to Cuba we’re imminently looking to open an office in Vanuatu, as well as Madagascar and also one of a few shortlisted locations in the Russian Far North. As you can tell from these plans, the future looked exciting for the ELF even before the Messengers bestowed their triangle of peace upon us.”

  “Vanuatu?” de Clerk asked, picking this little-referenced country from Cole’s short list. “You must be aware of successive Australian governments’ long-running and very public concerns regarding a Chinese military base on Vanuatu, no?”

  Cole shrugged. “Well, I’m not talking about China and I’m not talking about a military base. So with the greatest of respect, Marian, if there’s any relevance in those observations then you’re going to have to spell it out for me.”

  Joe Crabbe gestured to de Clerk that he would like to take this one, and she gladly waved him on.

  “You’re right about something at last,” he scathingly shot at Cole, “because the ELF and its aggressive strategic placement of new bases is not Chinese. Let’s call the ELF what it really is: a joint Chinese-Russian operation aimed at redressing what they see as a power imbalance and I see as Pax Americana. I suppose you’re going to tell us next that a Russian base in Cuba would be nothing to worry about, either? That this ELF incursion into our American sphere of influence is completely without historical precedent or political symbolism?”

  “Not everything is as complicated and conspiratorial as you think, Joseph,” Cole said in his best condescending tone. “And even if it was, so bloody what? America has bases all over the world. You want to talk about China? China is surrounded by US bases on all sides and endlessly provoked with regional war-games, yet somehow China is rebuked as soon as an international organisation it’s just one member of expands its physical presence into a country the Americans decide is too close to their own? Somehow China and Cuba being allies is a problem, but no one cares when Slater is eating sushi and cheeseburgers with the Prime Minister of Japan? The point is this, Crabbe,” Cole snapped, real venom in his words for the first time. “American hegemony is dead — it’s time to grow up and get over it.”

  “Billy?” de Clerk asked, favouring him over Crabbe when seeking a reply to Cole’s scattershot remarks.

  Billy shook his head. “I came here to talk about Contact Day and the Zanzibar triangle. When you want input on that — if you ever do, that is — I’ll give it. Cole has already shown himself up for what he is, as if we needed any reminding, so I’ll save my breath.”

  “May I?” Poppy Bradshaw asked, smiling politely at de Clerk as though butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. After a nod from the host, she continued. “John, I need to ask you one thing: Did you leak the news of the comet’s approach on purpose? And be straight with us, for once in your life!”

  “I did,” Cole said, bluntly and finally laying to rest a question that almost everyone already knew the answer to beyond any doubt. “I knew it could and likely would ruin my career — of course I did — but what kind of psychopath thinks about his career when a comet is hurtling towards Earth and set to eliminate our entire species? Slater and Godfrey, I suppose, but certainly not myself. And did my actions spark disorder? Yes. But was Godfrey’s GSC doing enough to save the world? Not on your nelly! And as for you, Poppy Whatever-it-was, I know why you hate me. You hate me because my actions that day contributed to the world being saved! You hate me because my actions had the side-effect of hastening the inevitable disorder, which forced McCarthy to admit his longstanding lies in an effort to bring the Messengers back to Earth, which in turn resulted in a defeat for your predecessors: those scum-sucking Welcomers who violently targeted Timo Fiore and Emma Ford in Colorado Springs.”

  Poppy either couldn’t hide her rage or didn’t try to. “There is no single shred of evidence for these slanderous comments,” she yelled, really more of a shriek. “Our movement is an anti-contact movement and we have nothing to do with any of the suppo
sed ‘predecessors’ that the pro-contact corporate media and the rest of the powers that be keep endlessly trying to link us to. Some lunatics who used to call themselves Welcomers might now call themselves GeoSovs, fine, but what do you want us to do about that? We can’t disown them, because we don’t own them. All we can do is disavow them, or at least we could if we hadn’t already.”

  With Poppy getting a foothold in the conversation and Dan loath to let her come across anything close to positively, he decided it was time to reveal his vision; it was time to reveal the GeoSov plot to take President Slater hostage, which had been foiled thanks to a warning from the Messengers and which Slater herself had encouraged him to reveal on live TV.

  “There’s something I need to say,” Dan spoke up, for the first time in a long while.

  “Unfortunately we’ve reached the time limit for our first segment,” de Clerk told him, “but fortunately we have another twenty minutes and will be handing over to you for a good number of them, Dan. Thanks again for being with us tonight. But Mr Cole, since I gather you have to leave us at this halfway point, I’ll give you the final word for now.”

  Cole nodded curtly, wasting no time on platitudes. “I wish to join Dan in publicly calling for international unity at this important time, and I’d like to both applaud and thank him for sharing the official ELF position on that issue. Division does no one any favours, and William Godfrey’s exclusion policy is a crime against humanity which could lead to catastrophic armed conflict if his irresponsible politicking doesn’t end. I hereby call on the likes of Slater, Hearst, and any other GCC national leaders who can find a backbone somewhere to finally call a spade a spade and to call William Godfrey out as the reckless lunatic he is. If the GCC is to continue to exist, its members quite simply must oust the man who is driving them over a cliff because he’s too busy admiring his own reflection in the rear-view mirror to watch the road ahead. With that, I bid goodnight from the haven of peace and promise to see you all from Havana very soon.”

  Cole’s feed cut to black before de Clerk could sign him off, much less allow anyone else to address his closing comments.

  “Focus 20/20 continues after the break,” she said, composed as ever, “when we’ll hear more from the GeoSov spokesperson Poppy Bradshaw on what the Zanzibar triangle means for her controversial anti-contact movement. And, of course… last but certainly not least… once we’ve heard from Poppy our attention will turn squarely to Birchwood, Colorado and humanity’s conduit to the stars: the one and only Dan McCarthy. We’ll see you after these short messages.”

  V minus 66

  GCC Headquarters

  Buenos Aires, Argentina

  “Realistically, it couldn’t have gone too much better than that,” President Slater mused, still in Buenos Aires while the dust settled on Zanzibar and once again alone at Chairman Godfrey’s side.

  “Absolutely,” he replied.

  On one hand both were greatly irritated that the normally firm Marian de Clerk had allowed so much of the opening segment to turn into an uninterrupted policy speech by John Cole, but on the other both were relieved that he hadn’t said too much that caught them off guard.

  Some of his language was clearly inflammatory, once again, leaning on loaded terms with recent significance, and Cole had been particularly if not-unexpectedly scathing towards Godfrey.

  But the GCC chairman felt sure that things would turn around in the next twenty minutes, when Billy Kendrick and Joe Crabbe, incisive men if nothing else, would doubtless lay into Cole’s nonsense. Most of all, though, Godfrey felt as though he could count on Dan McCarthy. As he eloquently phrased it to the less sure President Slater: “Don’t worry, Valerie; with Ford at his side, McCarthy’s going to tear him a new arsehole.”

  But just like Dan McCarthy, William Godfrey had no idea what was coming next…

  V minus 65

  RMXT Studio #1

  Manhattan, New York

  After a first-half segment that was so comfortable for Dan that comfort almost turned to frustration, he was looking forward to finally saying everything that was pent up inside him and everything that he hoped would halt the rapid escalation in international tensions that had followed the Zanzibar triangle’s discovery.

  The primary tack Emma had suggested was one whose efficacy Dan didn’t doubt, but that didn’t mean it was one he was completely at ease with. In short, she had essentially told him that the only way to reduce the focus on GCC-ELF divisions and indeed to reduce the GCC and ELF’s focus on each other was for Dan to position himself above both organisations, acting as a lightning rod by publicly and firmly reminding everyone that he was the only person alive with whom the Messengers had ever initiated direct contact.

  John Cole’s departure, no doubt strategically planned because of his famed inability to handle direct criticism or even arguments, was actually something Dan was glad about. He didn’t want a two-way fight with a slippery customer like Cole on live TV any more than Cole wanted a fight with someone sitting next to Emma Ford and her famously keen mind for one-liners and quick rebuttals.

  When the show returned to the airwaves, Marian de Clerk very briefly recapped what had been covered in the first segment, reintroduced the panel with an understandably prolonged camera shot of Dan, and invited GeoSov spokesperson Poppy Bradshaw to say her piece.

  Poppy was a complete unknown, who even Emma had been unable to pin down and identify before the show began and her name was announced. She looked to be around forty and was well turned-out without looking like much effort had been made, and there was an air of calm about her that suggested media experience of one kind or another.

  “On the topic of this stupid triangle, the biggest question we have to address is the question of the aliens’ motives,” Poppy said. “They tried to fool humanity with the third plaque, so we know they have a history of messing us around. And all of this destabilising uncertainty over the meaning and intent of a message is precisely why we should reject contact. By its very nature, contact is divisive. And we have Mr Divisive sitting there in Birchwood, no doubt ready to hypocritically lecture us all from his ivory tower. But they’ve spoken exclusively to him, which is the absolute opposite of openness. We already know the aliens are all about favouritism, and there would definitely be more than a hint of irony if their new favourite contactees turn out to be the designated-bad-guy leaders of the ELF.”

  “That doesn’t even make sense,” Dan said.

  Poppy grinned from ear to ear. “What makes no sense is humanity listening to the views of someone who is almost certainly a Trojan horse! The aliens changed you, Dan… if that even is the name of your internal identity anymore. The real Dan McCarthy would never dismiss any so-called conspiracy theory out of hand without at least giving it a fair hearing.”

  “There’s not even a theory here!” Dan retorted, disbelieving of how inane and insane a turn the conversation had taken so quickly. “If you’re trying to pretend to be smart it’s not working, because everyone can see through this tired old crap.”

  “Dan, your own government doesn’t even trust you. Why else would they have implanted a chip under your skin to monitor the neck pain they expect you to feel if there’s any future contact?”

  Stunned that Poppy could know this, Dan’s lips and mind were frozen.

  Emma typed two words: DENY QUICKLY.

  “It’s almost like you don’t want anyone to take you seriously,” he said after several uncomfortable seconds, forcing out a fairly convincing chuckle.

  “We both know that this isn’t a baseless accusation,” Poppy shrugged, “and everyone else will know it soon, too. This is an accusation that can be proven or disproven whenever you want, Dan. How about tomorrow? Will you consent to some public scans?”

  Dan read aloud the words Emma hurriedly typed on his autocue: “What are you trying to distract from? This is a textbook play of ‘say something stupid to distract from something secret’. What’s the dirt?”

 
; “There’s a chip in your neck,” Poppy yelled, “that’s the dirt! It was placed there by human agents — American agents — and that is a cast-iron fact. The only thing I don’t know for absolutely certain is whether it’s in there because American agents think you’re an alien operative, which is what I think, or alternatively because you’re secretly colluding with US and GCC agents.”

  “People have thrown a lot of crazy accusations at me these past few years,” Dan sighed, not needing any autocue for this, “or at least I thought they had. But seriously, Poppy, if all that was crazy, I don’t even know what to call this.”

  Poppy turned to her fellow panellists, both of whom were intrigued by Dan’s long-silent views and declined to jump in. She shrugged and looked back to the screen. “Dan, you’re using the exact silencing techniques they used to use against you,” she said, throwing her hands up in an exasperation that was either real or incredibly convincing. “Right on cue, here comes the laughter curtain! And in just a second I’m sure Billy and Joe will jump to your defence. But what was it you used to say, Billy, back when you were an underdog rather than an establishment lackey? Oh yeah, that’s right: consensus is collusion. And everyone watching this who has an open mind can see where the collusion is. We are the underdogs, fighting for a sovereign planet that can live in peaceful harmony, free from the reach of interfering aliens who see us as playthings at best and probably see us in a way that’s a lot more sinister than that.”