The Peacemaker's Code

by Deepak Malhotra

  There were twelve chairs around the table, and all were fully visible. Most of the participants were already seated—some looked to be conversing while others stared at their cell phones. The picture quality was excellent, and Kilmer could make out the faces clearly, except for the people who were seated with their backs to the camera. Kilmer recognized two of the attendees. The first was Secretary of Defense Robert Strauss. Before President Whitman had asked him to lead the Defense Department, Strauss had been a senator, and before that, he had spent many years in the military. The other familiar face belonged to CIA Director Noah Druckman. Kilmer had seen him on TV during more than one Congressional hearing. He was a CIA insider, and had been at the agency for over three decades.

  The other people he expected to recognize were not in the room.

  The camera that was streaming the meeting was situated high on one of the walls, and it showed most of the room, except for what was directly below it. For now, a least, there was no sound. The entrance to the room was through a door that was directly across from the video camera. Also against the far wall were two additional chairs, both of which were occupied. These were probably the two notetakers Kilmer had been told about. There was a table on the wall to the right, and it held a metal box that Kilmer now knew was used to collect cell phones. The wall to the left featured a row of old-fashioned file cabinets, the tops of which gave the impression of being one long countertop. Above the file cabinets hung an old analog clock that probably hadn’t been used in a long time. It looked like it had died at 7:50 some years ago. There was a camera on every wall, but none of the walls that he could see had any artwork or windows.

  Kilmer looked at his watch. 8:09 p.m.

  On the screen, the door to the meeting room opened, and in walked four people—not three—whom he recognized. Vice President Zack Nielsen, National Security Advisor Victoria Garcia, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Allen were accompanied by a young woman who was holding a stack of papers. The foursome appeared to be finishing up a conversation. VP Nielsen was the first to peel away from the group. He said a few words as he backed away, with body language that might have accompanied, Okay, let’s continue this discussion later. Nielsen made his way around the table, shaking hands and exchanging a few words with each person. He disappeared off-screen for a few moments and then returned, finishing his stroll around the table.

  The young woman who had entered with the others was Trina Morgan, and she was the next to separate from the group, leaving only NSA Garcia and General Allen to continue the conversation. Trina walked around the table, not saying hello to anyone, but looking at the name cards. At one point, she smiled and waved in the direction of someone whose back was to the camera. The person didn’t appear to wave back. If he smiled or said anything in response, the camera didn’t catch it. The non-waver was busy fiddling with his laptop, moving its screen up and down and side-to-side. Then he stood up and walked out of view of the camera before returning fifteen seconds later to sit back down. He checked his screen again and then started talking to the person on his left. They appeared to be laughing about something.

  Trina had found her seat, but a minute later, she got up again and went to deposit her cell phone in the metal box. Some others saw this and remembered to do the same. She sat quietly now, as others at the table continued to chat with one another. Kilmer remembered how it had felt, back when he was a young professor, to be invited to events where the biggest names in the field were gathered. No one was lining up to talk to him either, back then.

  Trina was a former PhD student of his, but she had left the program early to join the State Department. That was six years ago. She was a great student, but Kilmer was still surprised to see her here. After all, not many people in the world would be asked to join the first line of defense at the inception of an intergalactic war.

  Then again, Kilmer had two former students in that meeting.

  And the other one was pretty darn impressive as well.

  ~ 5 ~

  Once everyone was seated—twelve people around the table and two notetakers against the far wall—the sound came on, as evidenced by the ambient noise now being streamed into Apate 3.

  It was clear that Vice President Nielsen would be running this meeting. All eyes were focused on him, waiting for him to kick things off. Nielsen looked up at the clock on the wall, and then to his wristwatch, as if trying to reconcile the two. Kilmer looked at his own watch. 8:19 p.m.

  Then Nielsen began.

  “Thank you, everyone, for being on time. We will go for exactly an hour, and then I have another meeting. We will reconvene tomorrow morning. If I can, I want to save the last fifteen minutes for you to ask questions and to flag any remaining concerns. If you’re unsure whether to speak up, please do it. I don’t want to wake up one day and discover that I’m the last man on Earth because you didn’t feel comfortable telling me what was bothering you. I know how that would end for me—losing my pistol just before I shatter my reading glasses.”

  There were a few chuckles of the kind you would only expect to hear from high-status attendees in such a meeting. The younger crowd probably didn’t understand Nielsen’s reference to the classic Twilight Zone episode anyway.

  Nielsen continued. “I want to start with what we know. After that, I’ll direct your attention to the precise question President Whitman wants us to discuss. For some of you, much of this will be new. For those who are mostly up to speed on things, there might still be a few new elements. Any questions before I start?”

  There were none, so Nielsen continued, providing a brief timeline of events.

  * * * * * * * * * *

  Two weeks ago, NASA sent an urgent message to Defense Secretary Strauss, who immediately relayed it to President Whitman. Whitman informed Chief of Staff Perez, Vice President Nielsen, CIA Director Druckman, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Allen. All were sworn to secrecy, first informally, and then pursuant to a top-secret executive order issued by President Whitman. Attorney General Kim was confident it would hold up to Supreme Court scrutiny if its legality was ever questioned.

  NASA scientists had detected what was first thought to be an oddly shaped asteroid almost 600 million miles from Earth. Upon further analysis, it was not only the shape of the “asteroid” but also its trajectory and movements that appeared anomalous. But the alarm bells didn’t go off until a few days later, when an enormous radio telescope was trained on the space object and it was confirmed that the object was transmitting at super-high frequency (SHF)—and the signal pattern was non-random. That was when Dr. Vinay Menon, the chief scientist at NASA, made the call to the Department of Defense. That call had just ended when three additional “asteroids” were detected in the same vicinity. Menon made a second call to DoD on the heels of the first.

  The first forty-eight hours after that were chaotic. It took the better part of the first day to convince everyone who was in the loop that the objects were, in all probability, evidence of an alien presence. On the second day, Whitman called UK Prime Minister Barnes, German Chancellor Koehler, and French President Cordier. Each designated one of their top scientists to work with the Americans. A select group of intelligence and defense officials from these countries set up similar channels to coordinate with their American counterparts. Everyone agreed—provisionally—to let America take the lead, but the British, Germans, and French were to be consulted and kept informed on all matters. Vice President Nielsen was designated as the chairperson for all groups that were focusing on intelligence and military matters.

  On Day 3, Secretary of Energy Abigail Rao, a renowned physicist, and three scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory, were brought into the fold. Two individuals at the CIA and two at the Department of Homeland Security were also informed. That same day, Whitman called Canadian Prime Minister Tremblay and UN Secretary-General Nkosi, both of whom urged Whitman to reach out to China and Russia as soon as possible.

  The conversations w
ith the Chinese and Russians took place on Day 4—and were much more strained. Whitman emerged from those calls with the impression that everyone was advocating for cooperation, but there were concerns, on all sides, that others might attempt to use the crisis for some sort of advantage. It was not clear to Nielsen how that would be orchestrated, but suspicions remained barely below the surface.

  Nonetheless, by Day 5, Chinese President Zhao had said that he would “agree to let the Americans speak first on these matters,” a phrase that American diplomats struggled to interpret with any precision. Russian President Sokolov was clearer: “We will follow your lead, until and unless we disagree. If we dissent on any matter, we expect the Russian position to be taken seriously. If not, we will go our own way.” On that same day, Whitman called Indian Prime Minister Attal, who offered to help in any way that he could and obtained Whitman’s assurance that he and his National Security Advisor would be kept in the loop.

  Day 6 was spent making plans for all manner of logistical and administrative challenges. Plans for dealing with the media if questions were raised. Plans for when and how to share information with Congressional leadership, and with the American people. Plans for managing mass protests and riots. Plans for evacuating cities if it became necessary. Plans for deploying the military and the National Guard. Plans for dealing with mass casualties. Plans for sustaining communication if satellite activities were disrupted. Plans for ensuring the continuity of government. Plans for ensuring that private-sector technologies capable of spotting and identifying the incoming objects were redeployed, distracted, disrupted, or locked down for as long as possible. Plans for addressing chatter among amateur astronomers who might chance upon the alien spacecraft. Plans for overseeing each of these plans and for identifying additional plans that needed to be made.

  By Day 7, one of the four spacecraft had moved closer. It was now 150 million miles from Earth—about three times the distance from Earth to Mars. The other three spacecraft had not repositioned. The same day, Whitman approved a proposal that scientists from Los Alamos had made a few days earlier, but which had taken some time to advance through the various military and scientific filters.

  The idea was to be proactive rather than simply wait to see what the aliens would do—and to pursue three specific goals: let “them” know that they had been spotted, signal Earth’s desire to communicate, and direct the spacecraft to a specific landing spot on Earth, assuming the aliens had the ability and inclination to visit the Earth’s surface. SHF radio signals would be aimed in the direction of the approaching spacecraft, with the broadcasts based on different mathematical patterns: prime numbers, squares, triangular numbers, Fibonacci sequences, et cetera. These mathematical patterns would serve as a sort of crude language, which could be used to create “information packets” that might be interpretable by the aliens.

  But what information to send? The plan—which leveraged decades of prior work by scientists who had tried to imagine a day when communication with extra-terrestrials might be possible—called for implementing multiple communication strategies concurrently, in the hope that at least one might succeed. Dozens were tried. Two succeeded.

  The first idea was to “personalize” the mathematical patterns for the aliens by sending parameters that they might recognize as being tied to their own spacecraft’s behavior. Four pieces of information were sent in each such broadcast, corresponding to the alien spacecraft’s distance at that moment from the Sun, the Earth, Mars, and Jupiter. As the spacecraft’s distance from these celestial bodies changed, the parameters in the broadcast were adjusted to reflect the spacecraft’s new location. If the aliens noticed the changing messages and investigated the pattern, they might deduce that the Earthlings had spotted them and were letting them know it.

  The second idea was to “advise” the alien spacecraft on where it should go—if it was considering a terrestrial landing. In this case, the information packets contained “coordinates” on a two-dimensional representation of Earth-as-seen-from-the-spacecraft, using the current trajectory of the aliens to establish the point of zero degrees north-south and zero degrees east-west on Earth. As the spacecraft changed its trajectory, and as the Earth rotated in front of it, the messages—essentially, the extent to which the spacecraft would need to alter its approach to keep the “landing point” on planet Earth constant—were adjusted accordingly.

  The landing point had to be chosen carefully. It had to be close enough to Washington, DC, to allow for ease of travel from the capital, in case that became necessary. It had to have adequate infrastructure, especially roadways. But it could not be a city or a town, because vacating civilians would inevitably cause delays and raise suspicion.

  NSA Garcia came up with a solution that appeared to address all of these constraints: Shenandoah National Park in her home state of Virginia.

  The Russians and Chinese objected. They proposed an area close to the Chinese city of Fuyuan, near their common border. If that was unacceptable to the Americans, they suggested, then a neutral location—perhaps an island in the Pacific—should be selected. For Whitman, this issue was non-negotiable. And when the British, French, Germans, Canadians, Indians, and Secretary-General Nkosi all backed her proposal, Zhao and Sokolov relented—but only after Whitman agreed that Chinese and Russian military delegations would accompany the Americans at the proposed landing spot if the alien spacecraft was headed there.

  Shenandoah National Park was shut down by order of the Environmental Protection Agency, which announced the need for an evacuation due to “credible reports of a potential biological hazard.” Within hours, the entire park was swept clean of stragglers, and a military and scientific presence was established.

  On Day 10, NASA and Los Alamos scientists reported to Whitman that, for the first time in human history, an alien spacecraft was known to be communicating with human beings. Using the same mathematical language that humans had used, the spacecraft was relaying both its location in space and the coordinates for Shenandoah National Park. General Allen asked the scientists how they could be sure this was actual communication, and not just some sort of mirroring behavior. “How do we know that our signals aren’t just bouncing back to us, or that they’re not simply copying-and-pasting what we sent to them, without even understanding what it means?”

  That was impossible, an excited Dr. Menon explained from NASA. “The messages from the aliens were sent at different times than the ones that we sent. If we were getting back a message that we ourselves had sent previously, it would no longer accurately represent their spacecraft’s current location or trajectory. The aliens are not only using our mathematical language; they understand it enough to adjust the data they send to us so that it accurately accounts for where their spacecraft is located when they send a signal.”

  Put simply: We think the aliens might be on their way to Shenandoah National Park.

  On Day 12, the alien spacecraft stopped sending signals and altered its trajectory. Instead of moving toward the Earth, it started to move toward the Moon. A few hours later, it was within 50,000 miles of the lunar surface.

  On Day 13, everything changed. There were three massive explosions on the surface of the Moon. A team of scientists led by Secretary Rao concluded that each impact was of a magnitude equivalent to a 30-50 kiloton nuclear bomb—roughly twice the destructive power of the bombs that were dropped on Japan during World War II.

  Every agency in charge of a contingency plan was placed on high alert. Congressional leadership was rushed to the White House and fully briefed by VP Nielsen. All were sworn to secrecy under threat of incarceration. One of the Congressmen vomited in the Roosevelt Room.

  On Day 14, the alien spacecraft returned to its original trajectory and restarted its communication with Earth—as if nothing noteworthy had happened the day before.

  Sorry about that. Just had to swing by the Moon for a short visit. So, where were we? Right, heading to Shenandoah National Park to meet with the American
s. See you soon.

  Presidents Zhao and Sokolov voiced no more complaints about the rendezvous point that President Whitman had insisted upon.

  * * * * * * * * * *

  Nielsen looked around the table at the attendees. Then he crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.

  “That was Day 14,” he reiterated gravely. “Day 15 is today.”

  ~ 6 ~

  Holy hell.

  Professor Kilmer sat staring at the TV screen, transfixed. It was the longest he had ever held a cup of coffee in his hands without taking a sip. This is real. He forced himself to break the trance that his mind was falling into. He wasn’t invited to be a spectator. He was tasked with seeing what others might miss. He had to stay sharp. But he was already starting to feel overwhelmed.

  Kilmer audited his physical state and noticed that he was slightly out of breath, as if he had just walked up five flights of stairs. He took a few deep breaths and felt more comfortable afterwards. Then he evaluated his posture—leaning forward, almost literally on the edge of his seat, shoulders hunched, his entire body straining. No good. He leaned back, reminding himself that every ounce of energy he redistributed from his muscles to his mind would pay dividends very soon.

  Now to reboot the software. Every problem wants to be solved, he reminded himself. It was what his father had always said to him—and he had repeated it countless times to his own students. If you think the problem is trying to fight you, you’ll only make your job harder. He needed to reframe the situation—to look at it differently.

  That this crisis was unlike any other in history was impossible to deny. Then again, no two problems were ever the same. Even the threat of an alien invasion was, at its core, a problem of strategy. Higher stakes, greater complexity, more uncertainty, and less information than usual—but this was all a difference of degree and not of kind. This was terrain he had navigated before. No one ever called him for help with the easy stuff.