Original Design

by William Latoria

  “As you can see, deaths are already beginning to occur. The last reliable number we had for the dead was thirty-eight thousand souls, and that was two hours ago. Some of my people tell me the number could easily be in the hundreds of thousands range by now.” as she explained the situation, her face hardened and Blackshade suddenly felt like he was being blamed for their deaths. “So we need you to tell us everything you know about the Omegas and why they have done this to the people of South America. They aren’t responding to any of our attempts at communication, they have made no attempt to communicate with us, and if they do this to one of our allies, or to Candaerica itself, we will have no choice but to treat their actions as hostile and respond with force.”

  Blackshade was in way over his head and he knew it. He had no idea what he could say that would possibly explain anything to the President. He was so preoccupied by his own dilemma that he didn’t notice the words displayed on Novatrix’s readout right away. It wasn’t until the words began flashing that he took any notice of them at all. Her forehead had the words, ‘This is all my fault what have I done’ clearly written across her brow.

  Despite himself, Blackshade actually felt bad for her. Without thinking he spoke, “Why do you think this is your fault?”

  There was a shocked silence in the room. Even the Secret Service agents seemed to be holding their breath. Blackshade wished he could take his words back, but now that they were out, there was nothing he could do about it. He had to stick to his statement and hope he didn’t end up arrested, or worse. What he saw pop up on her forehead next caused him to hold his breath, ‘How does he know’

  “I never said this was my fault.” she answered briskly, knocked off guard by his unexpected insight. Blackshade saw that everyone’s eyes were on her now, and according to their own forehead displays, many of them thought what was happening was her fault. The words, ‘You were the one negotiating with them’ displayed across one man’s forehead. ‘Blackshade is right’ ran across another’s. ‘This bitch is going to get us all killed’ Ran across a middle aged woman’s forehead, and others had much the same on theirs. It occurred to him that everyone in the room was more concerned about where to lay the blame for what was happening than trying to figure out why the Omegas were doing it! The realization made Blackshade sick, and he did nothing to try to control his disgust.

  “It doesn’t matter whose fault it is, God damnit! If it’s anyone’s fault!” he shouted at the people in the room. He had jumped out of his seat so fast it fell over with a crash that startled some of the people in the room. “What matters now is that we save the people that need saving, making the other countries do the same, figuring out why the Omegas are doing it, and what they are going to do next!” he said, seething, “There will be plenty of time for you to assign blame afterwards, right now people are dying while we sit in here pointing fingers at each other! Those people deserve BETTER!” he finished, thrusting his finger like the point of a spear at the display showing dozens of dead people in a bed of snow.

  No one spoke for a moment, everyone looked towards the Presidents, waiting to see how they would respond. President Novatrix spoke first, “You’re right.” she said decidedly, then she pointed at a group of people that had been shadowing her, “I need you to send out your voyeurs to locate any displaced South Americans in our country. Every square inch of the country must be scoured and asylum granted to any South American citizens found here.” she directed before dismissing the team of people with a wave. She turned to another group just as President Silvia began to do the same.

  “Contact the leaders of the other countries and tell them what we think is happening. Let them know they’re not being invaded, and to treat the displaced South Americans with dignity or we’ll impose sanctions so harsh on them it will knock their economies back into the Stone Age!” President Silvia told his group.

  This went on for quite a while as Blackshade retrieved his fallen chair and sat down. With all of the commotion, he was completely forgotten about and therefore left to his own reconnaissance. He took control of the terminal inputs in front of him and found a display that had the Omega ship, still hovering silently over a now humanless South America. Why were they just sitting there? What was their plan? Why didn’t they say anything? He couldn’t make sense out of any of it. Blackshade was so engrossed in his own thoughts that he didn’t notice someone pulling up a seat beside him.

  “I have a theory about the Omega’s intentions, Mr. Ambassador.” a man said, as he situated himself beside him. Blackshade looked blankly at the stranger, he was a darker skinned man of Asian descent, Blackshade assumed Taiwanese or Cambodian heritage. He had medium length salt and pepper hair that he kept neat and hinted at a possible military background. A stubble of a beard outlined the man’s round face and he had intelligent, kind brown eyes. He was wearing a heavy sweater vest over a white collared shirt and brown corduroy pants. A red, white, and black bowtie completed his ensemble. He carried an old fashioned briefcase with him that had a unique symbol embossed on it. It looked like an octopus but with a humanoid head on it; it made Blackshade think of the ocean. The man noticed him inspecting his bag.

  “Ah, yes. An old friend bought me this briefcase long ago.” he explained wistfully, “The symbol is of a fictional character from a game we used to play. Cthulu is what he is called, and he was a difficult opponent to beat, much like the Omegas, I fear.” the man explained. The man was articulate and spoke with a gentle confidence Blackshade found enjoyable.

  “You think the Omegas are our enemies?” Blackshade asked curiously. Even now he didn’t believe the Omegas meant humanity any harm. He believed there was a rational explanation for all of this; he just couldn’t figure out what it was.

  The man shrugged in response, “I certainly hope not, but I’m not sure yet.” he answered honestly, “I don’t think they intend to be our enemies, any more than we intend to be our computer’s enemy. Yet, I don’t think they’ve seen, or been given any reason to treat us as anything more than old property that was thought lost but is now found.”

  “I’m sorry; you are?” Blackshade asked the man, not unkindly.

  The man shook his head embarrassed, “It is I who should apologize.” he said, holding out his hand, Blackshade shook it congenially, “My name is Soearth Degrassie Hiem, and I am the senior member of a group that is paid to think for the government.” he said modestly.

  Blackshade had heard of people like this, although he had never met anyone that claimed to be part of such a group before. “You’re part of a government think tank?” he asked, impressed. Think tanks were groups of genius level people that were rumored to be paid to literally sit around with similarly intelligent people to think up new ideas and how to develop them. Until this moment, he had always thought stuff like that was nothing more than fodder for conspiracy theorists and anti-government whack-jobs. This had indeed been quite the week for firsts.

  “I’m Bill Blackshade.” he said, introducing himself.

  Soearth smiled, “I know who you are, Ambassador.” he said kindly, “I can pretty much guarantee that anyone on the planet with access to the internet knows who you are. Ambassador Bill Blackshade, the first human to speak with aliens.”

  Blackshade was taken aback by his statement. With everything that had been happening it never occurred to him what an amazing moment in history he had been a part of. It also hadn’t occurred to him to search for his own name while looking for information about the Omegas on the internet. He was suddenly very proud of himself and genuinely excited about his role with the Omegas. He did not want to come off as an arrogant prick though, so he tried to push his excitement down to stay humble in front of Soearth. “Ha! I can only imagine how the internet warriors are tearing me apart.” he said, feigning disinterest.

  He looked at Soearth’s forehead to see what the man was thinking, but the only hint to that mystery was the word, ‘Interesting’ on his forehead. Blackshade found this a little frus
trating, but didn’t know what he could do about it.

  “You said you had a theory?” Blackshade said to break the silence.

  Soearth smiled again, “Indeed I did say that, Ambassador.” he answered, as he placed his briefcase on the table. Soearth opened it to reveal stacks of papers, a well-used hardback book, some pens, pencils, a calculator, and an assortment of many sided, pink dice. He pulled out a few pages with hand written notes on them that Blackshade could barely interpret, and a stack of photos. “My theory is simple. The Omegas do not realize that the human race is divided into factions.” he explained, “I believe this to be the case, because according to the reports, the Omega known as Tremendous asked you to take him to your leader. Not Candaerica’s leader, not Russia’s or China’s or England’s, or anyone else’s, but yours. They don’t see us as Candaericans or Russians or Chinese, or divided in any way. I believe they see us as humans, or Scrappers as I’ve heard they refer to us.” he said with a little chuckle. The word, ‘Clever’ replaced the word ‘interesting’ on his forehead as he laughed. “I’m sorry, where was I… oh yes. The Omegas believe that we are all one people, unified and cooperative. Judging from how they operate, I don’t believe the idea of a fractioned race is something they’ve ever experienced or would even contemplate. So when they met with President Silvia and President Novatrix, they assumed they were negotiating with the leaders of the planet, not just the country.”

  Blackshade took in what Soearth was saying but he didn’t know where the man was going with this. “What are you getting at? The Omegas have transported all the people off South America because they thought President Novatrix was in charge of the world?” he asked confused, “So what if they did? It still doesn’t explain why they would do that. Your theory doesn’t make sense.” Blackshade was beginning to wonder if the man really was part of a think tank or just some intern looking to make himself sound important. He wouldn’t be the first one to do so.

  The word, ‘Disappointing’ flashed on Soearth’s forehead as the man frowned. “You’re not thinking the whole thing through, Ambassador Blackshade. You need to factor all of the variables into the equation for my theory to make sense.” he explained. Shuffling a few papers around he pointed to some of his scribbles. Blackshade could only make out one part of it, ‘3.5%’.

  “If you recall, the Omegas negotiated with President Novatrix for three-point-five percent of the land to build a base of operations upon. When President Novatrix agreed to that in exchange for the dismemberment knowledge, which was an excellent trade if I do say so myself, she was under the illusion that she was giving away an area roughly half the size of Rhode Island. Which is a tiny amount of Candaerica considering what we gained! Unfortunately, this is not the case, not by a long shot, if my theory proves true.” Soearth explained, as he shuffled around more papers. He stopped when he found a map of South America. Pointing to the continent, he looked at Blackshade seriously, “I believe the Omegas intend to use the entire continent of South America as their base of operations.

  Blackshade found Soearth’s idea insane; he needed it to be! How could the Omegas think that 3.5% of the world equated to South America? Blackshade brought up a search engine on the table terminal in front of him. He quickly looked up land mass numbers of the continents. What he found confused him even more.

  “Ok, Soearth, I’m following you, but your math doesn’t add up. According to the internet, the Earth has 149 million square kilometers of land. The Omegas negotiated for 3.5% of it, which would be 5.2 million square kilometers, if your theory is to be believed, but South America is 17.84 million square kilometers, which is over three times more than they negotiated for. If they were to use all of South America to build their base, they would be in breach of their deal.” Blackshade said.

  ‘He is so close’ ran across Soearth’s forehead. Blackshade felt his irritation begin to rise. “Your math adds up using the variables you have chosen to use, Ambassador, but you are looking at the planet, if you’ll forgive me for this analogy, like a simple human.” Soearth began as he revealed another paper. This one had a picture of the Earth rolled out flat. “If you only consider the exposed land of Earth in your equation, then our Omega friends would indeed be either liars, or very bad at math. Considering how angry they became when President Silvia accused them of lying, we can assume they were not. Through this same line of reasoning, we can assume since they have mastered the art of interstellar travel, their grasp of mathematics is, at a minimum, superior to our own. Would you disagree with any of this, Ambassador?” Soearth asked, seeming to pause here to ensure Blackshade was keeping up.

  “I follow, but I still don’t see your point.” he answered tolerantly.

  Soearth smiled broadly at his response, “Good! I’m glad we are in agreeance on this so far.” he said happily as he brought out his calculator, “Now, as you’ve already ascertained, the total exposed land mass of Earth is 149 million squared kilometers, but I believe that is not the reference point the Omegas used when coming up with their three-point-five percent request.” Soearth said expressively. Blackshade noticed that the man was really getting excited about whatever it was he was getting at. Blackshade was still completely at a loss.

  “How much surface area is there on the planet in total, I ask you. And once you’ve determined that number, how much of that does 3.5% amount to?” Soearth asked instructively. The words, ‘He is almost there’ scrolled across his forehead.

  Blackshade saw what Soearth was getting at now, and the realization struck him like a fully armored hover tank. When he was done with his calculations, he sat numbly in his seat, his mouth dry and his mind reeling. The military part of him felt deceived, but the logical part of him felt relieved. Looking up, he saw that Soearth was patiently waiting for him to come to terms with this new information and what it was about to mean to the people in this room.

  “The total land mass of Earth is 149 million square kilometers… The total amount of land under water is 361 million square kilometers…” he reported numbly, “The total surface area of Earth is 510 million kilometers squared.”

  “Correct!” Soearth agreed proudly. The word, ‘Finally he understands’ appearing on his forehead, Blackshade could have spit.

  “3.5% of 510 million is 17.85 million kilometers squared.” Blackshade continued.

  “Correct again, Ambassador!” Soearth said encouragingly.

  “South America, is 17.84 million kilometers squared.” Blackshade whispered as the weight of his words bore down on him. “President Novatrix sold South America to the Omegas to learn how to disassemble human beings.”

  Soearth patted him on the shoulder, “You’ve gotten it, Ambassador! Well done! You now better understand how the Omegas think and how they view not only humanity, but our planet as well. I hope you consider this in your future dealings with them. Our existence could very well depend on it.”

  Blackshade looked around the room and saw that no one was paying attention to the two of them. They still didn’t know and he sort of envied them for that. A quick look at the displays showed that the Omega’s ship was still silently hovering over South America. It was as if the aliens were waiting for humanity to fully contemplate the situation before they made their next move. Blackshade felt immensely dumb.

  “Are you going to tell the Presidents?” he asked Soearth.

  The man smiled and shook his head, “No, I don’t think they would believe me if I told them alone.” he answered sheepishly, “That’s why I decided to convince you first in order to give my theory some credibility. Who better to explain the actions of the Omegas than their chosen Ambassador?”

  Blackshade no longer doubted Soearth’s intelligence, or the man’s cunning. He had played him like a finely tuned piano the moment he initiated their conversation. He knew he should be disgusted with him, but the only thing he felt towards the man was a grudging respect.

  “Ok, but from now on when you have a point to make just tell me direct, don�
�t come at me sideways like that again.” Blackshade told him. His words weren’t harshly spoken, but he could tell Soearth got the message.

  “Agreed, Ambassador.”

  Nodding, Blackshade stood up and addressed the room.

  ………………………………………………………………………………………………………

  The Presidents took the news about as well as he had expected them to. President Silvia flat out called him a liar and threatened to have his position revoked. President Novatrix looked at him condescendingly and had seemed ready to ignore him completely. It wasn’t until Soearth stood up next to him and agreed with him that the Presidents and their cabinet members actually began to listen. Blackshade realized at that point just how right Soearth had been. If he had tried to voice this theory on his own, the fear and ignorance of the assembled group would have drummed him out of the room, and possibly his job. Together, the Omega Ambassador and the senior member of the Candaerican think tank couldn’t be ignored. They had to go over their theory three times, and in fine detail, before everyone in the room finally understood the magnitude of what was happening, and why.

  President Novatrix was livid, “They tricked me! They tricked us! They lied to us, and now they’re going to take over all of South America!”

  Soearth shook his head, “No, Ma’am.” he corrected, a little exasperated, “As we’ve already said, they did not deceive us. They simply perceive the Earth differently than we do. I do not believe that they intentionally misled you. Why would they need to? If they wanted to, they could have simply taken the land they wanted, and there would be nothing we could do about it.” he explained for the fourth time. Soearth motioned toward President Silvia, “As they’ve shown, when they want to do something, like disassemble a President to prove a point, there is nothing we can do to stop them.”