The Visitor

by Tony Harmsworth

  'Will do,' she said.

  'Oh, and ensure Tim and I are not disturbed unless the building's on fire!'

  She laughed. 'No problem.'

  'And for the staff meeting too.'

  'Of course.'

  When Tim arrived, he sat down opposite me.

  'Can I try a spiel out on you?' I asked

  'Fire away. What is it?'

  'I have an image of an alien,' I said and saw shock pass across his expression.

  'I want to present it without causing its appearance to generate xenophobia, laughter, or cruelty. People can be so heartless without thinking when they encounter something different.'

  'Okay. Try it out on me.'

  ‘I’m worried about being too politically correct, but nothing is more important than acceptance of the alien without prejudice. When I’ve finished, I want you to ruthlessly tear my presentation apart.’

  ‘Will do.’

  I called Janet and reminded her we were not to be disturbed, then began a seat-of-the-pants presentation to Tim. I could refine it afterwards with the benefit of his advice.

  ««o»»

  After I'd made the pitch to Tim, we discussed all aspects of it and, in the afternoon, I had the opportunity to perfect it by trialling it on my own staff. Perhaps then I'd be ready for the Cabinet. We were both concerned the political correctness was a little over-the-top, but we agreed if this were not hammered home effectively there’d be no going back. The end justified the means. We’d one shot to get it right. If it didn't work with the staff, we'd have to completely rethink. We both agreed that some overkill on the political correctness had to be the right way to do this. A more relaxed approach could be used once we’d gauged reactions.

  ««o»»

  The corridor door was open. Several additional chairs were brought into my office and organised, theatre style, with my 8K screen at the front. Catering organised some nibbles and Janet had prepared some fruit juice plus flasks of coffee and tea.

  Gradually they arrived. The hackers, now ten people, the language boys, another six from admin, three from the communications centre, Mr Brown from telescope operations, and the rest of us from this department, so twenty-six plus me. Reception had been told not to disturb us under any circumstances and Janet had put our telephones onto a recorded message saying we were all in conference and would be available again in an hour.

  Everyone dug into the hors d'oeuvres and beverages while we chatted generally about how things were going. Once they were all relaxed, I called them to order and got them to take seats facing the screen. I put the orbital shot of the alien world onto the giant television and walked around to stand in front of the monitor. It was daunting to do this in front of the staff, but it was my one opportunity to get it right before repeating the process in front of the Cabinet – and that would be even more scary. It was more important than a dress rehearsal, because my staff could not "unhear" or "unsee" its content. I must get it right first time.

  Tim and I had discussed the level of political correctness I should apply, and I was going to keep it at a high level for the staff. I'd get feedback later to tame down parts as necessary for the Cabinet. Too heavy was better than too weak.

  ‘All mobile phones switched off, please,’ said Tim.

  Most checked and one or two fiddled with their screens to comply.

  I felt like a school ma'am as I took a position between my wall monitor and the first row of seats. A deep breath to calm me down. I concentrated on my determination to neither rush nor stumble, then I began, 'You might be puzzled about why I’ve called this meeting, but all will become clear. We’ve discovered more about our alien friends.

  'Some of you have seen a few of these images. I use this one to open my presentation because it shows what might be the home world of the people who made the alien craft and sent it to us for what is, so far, an unknown reason.

  'Look at it. It's a dry world. None of the great oceans of Earth. The plateaus appear to be barren and we suspect the air might be thin on the top as evidenced by the lack of clouds over the high country.

  'Notice the crops and cities.' I zoomed into the canyon ready for the next image.

  'This city appears to be on a flat plain, possibly an ancient seabed, although we have no conclusive evidence yet, but I want you all to think about this world, what its problems and advantages might be.'

  I flicked my thimball and the image of the crop appeared.

  'They grow crops. This is one of many different colours of green in various images. Note the lack of leaves. This isn’t how plants grow on Earth. Let's examine the city,' and I flicked my thimball again.

  'We immediately notice the lack of windows and doors. The large spectrum we encounter in their images might mean that they can see through certain materials, but if these truly are buildings, there must be a way to enter and leave. That we cannot see entrances does not mean they are not present. Those of you who have seen images of the fins, thruster funnels and inside of AD1 know their engineering seems to be without obvious joins between objects. Wires blend into components and components appear to grow into the structure which holds them in place. Keep in mind how different their technology is.

  'This image shows what might be a moon but, unlike ours, it has land and sea and clouds. Does this mean they’ve terraformed it? Or, is it their main world and this arid planet its satellite? We’ve no way of gauging which body is the larger of the two or even if one revolves around the other. Perhaps they orbit each other or simply pass occasionally.

  'This next image depicts the seashore of the alien world. Although there are waves, the lack of coastal erosion shows little evidence of tides. With another massive body like the other planet nearby, why are there no obvious tidal forces? Perhaps it means they are both locked to each other by the same faces, as our moon is to us. If our moon had oceans, they would not exhibit much in the way of tides either owing to the same face always being turned towards Earth.

  'I mention all these things because you,' and I pointed at the people in the room, firstly random individuals and next a general sweep, 'all of you, are extremely privileged to view these images. You have been specially selected to try to understand AD1 and its secrets. The world – yes, the whole world – needs you and others like you working in Houston, on the ISS, and in the Cluster to be able to view these secrets with an open mind. Your open mind must also ensure we don’t place Earth-type prejudices into the alien environment.

  'Think about my last sentence. What might it mean? What prejudices do we have on Earth which might jeopardise our study of the aliens?'

  I flicked the thimball again to allow the close-up image of the alien city and street to appear.

  'Here we have a closer image of the buildings and the egg-like things in the streets. Note the lack of signs or markings on the road. Where are the KEEP LEFT or NO RIGHT TURN signs? Where are the parking restrictions, the lines which indicate right of way for traffic, the speed limits, the traffic lights? Why are there none? How would you know which building is the local supermarket, bank, restaurant, or dentist? The egg-like objects might be vehicles but there aren't any doors or windows? How do they see out of them?

  'Of course, it’s only the last decade which has seen us truly adopt autonomous cars in large numbers, but we’d still want to see outside wouldn't we? Because we don't observe windows does not mean there aren't any. Perhaps the material these vehicles and buildings are made from is a sophisticated one-way glass. Maybe you can sit inside and see right through them. Maybe the joins in doors and windows vanish when they close.

  'Does it sound far-fetched? It shouldn't to those of you in this room because you are the elite. You, with few exceptions, were selected for your ability to think and work laterally. Even those who weren't, had to pass a profiling test which ensured they would ignore prejudice, preconceived ideas or anything which might go against their beliefs. If your religion, those of you who have one, ta
ught that aliens can't exist, you wouldn’t be sitting in this room right now. If you had the slightest racial, religious, sexual, or other discriminatory slant in your characters you would’ve failed to have been chosen to sit here today.

  'Think about all of this,' and I paused while I paced back and forth in front of my audience. At random, I looked deeply into some of their faces, trying to make a connection, ensuring they were aware they were part of these revelations.

  A hand shot up from one of the communication staff.

  'Unless you are bursting to use the loo, Barbara, I'd like you to continue thinking on what I have been saying, rather than asking specific questions right now.' The hand was timidly withdrawn.

  I walked over to her and put my hand on her shoulder, 'Please excuse my severity,' I came back to the front, 'but I need your grey cells to be working now on what might be coming next. You’re all clever enough to know that this is leading up to something really important.'

  I stood directly in front of the 8K screen and pointed at one of the egg-shaped vehicles.

  'We do think this is a vehicle.' I pointed at the one further away down the street. 'This one even seems to be hovering off the ground.'

  'What would you say if I told you these objects can sprout axles and wheels from their bases and move at high speed? Hugh?'

  The language expert was at once the centre of attention.

  Nervous of the spotlight, he responded, 'I suppose I'd ask how?'

  'You wouldn't tell me it was stupid?' I snapped.

  'No, Doctor Slater.'

  'Well, it is stupid,' I said as I walked over and stood in front of him. 'Explain why you didn't say it was stupid.'

  'I don't know,' he said with a nervous laugh.

  I turned away and snapped, 'I do. I know why you didn’t say it was stupid.'

  I turned towards my audience again and noticed Hugh had coloured a little.

  'Hugh, you didn't say it was stupid because you didn't want to rule out the possibility. Am I correct?'

  'Yes, I suppose so,' he said timidly, but somewhat relieved.

  'That, Hugh, is why you are on this team of open-minded, lateral-thinking individuals,' and I made my way back towards the screen. As I turned to stand in front of the image, I caught sight of a wry smile on Tim's lips as we'd discussed this part of what I was saying. He knew exactly what I was doing and how it would end.

  'Okay, everyone. Sorry about the amateur dramatics and picking on individuals. It was all done in good spirit and for the best of reasons.

  'Let's try again,' I said and paced back and forth, finally letting my gaze settle upon my NASA liaison, Paul.

  'Paul.' He looked up at me anxiously.

  'Paul, what would you say...' and I gave the impression I was thinking something up, 'if I told you the top and front of these egg-like things can vanish, revealing their contents?'

  I guessed his mind was whirring. He was trying to think of the right thing to say.

  'How?' he said quietly.

  'I don't know how!' I said loudly, but obviously with some humour underlying my feigned anger.

  'I suppose it could be possible because we don't know anything about them,' he said more confidently.

  'And that Paul, is the right answer. It must always be the right answer until we do know about them and how they work.'

  I was back in front of the 8K screen.

  'In fact, it does appear to be possible because the next photograph shows one of those egg-shaped objects with no front. We will be able to observe the inside.'

  More than twenty pairs of eyes zeroed in on the screen, but I wasn't ready for the reveal.

  'Janet, do you have any phobias? Spiders? Jellyfish?'

  'Snakes,' she said, wondering why she'd been picked on in front of everyone. In fact, I'd picked her because I knew about her phobia.

  'Right. Janet, if we were face to face with one of these egg things and it opened and there was a coiled snake within it, what would you do?'

  'I'd run a mile,' she said, and everyone laughed.

  'What if it was an intelligent snake and said, "Hello, Janet, can we be friends?"'

  'Oh, I see. I’d try to overcome my horror and say "Hello, Mr Snake," back to it,' she said more cheerfully, 'but I'd still want to run,' and everyone laughed again.

  'Well, at least you’d have tried, Janet,' I said encouragingly.

  I lifted the finger upon which I had the thimball.

  'The next image shows what is inside one of these eggs. I want you to think about the lesson my PA has given us. I want you to imagine your worst nightmare is about to say hello to you. Can you visualise it doing so? Like the boggart in the Harry Potter books and films. Anyone remember them?'

  There were a few chuckles, smiles, nods of heads, and some more encouraging “of course” and “no-problem” type murmurings.

  'Sorry to keep you in suspense for so long, but I need you all to think about your own predilections and phobias. I need you to consider the reaction of the world at large when they have their first glimpse of these aliens. You need to be the voices of calm. The world needs to accept that not every alien is going to resemble a sweet BBC Clanger or a cuddly Star Trek Tribble. Understand?'

  Lots of nodding heads greeted the question. I could sense the anticipation in the air.

  'Finally, I want to make it clear I won’t accept any negative comments about the aliens from any of you. No nicknames, nothing abusive, nothing funny. Remember, racial prejudice begins with jokes and soon becomes all pervasive.

  'A hundred years ago, there were children's dolls which were black with white eyes and black curly hair. They were called golliwogs. In the early twentieth century, white people started calling black people "wogs" as a supposedly funny insult. It was racial abuse. It took decades for the word "wog" to drop out of the British vocabulary and for golliwog toys to slip into oblivion. That’s why I’ve taken so much time over this presentation with you today. Being politically correct isn’t something you should switch on or off as the situation requires. The acceptance of any person, whatever their shape, size, colour, or perambulatory method should always be thoughtfully done. You must consider them to be alien people.

  'Whatever your greatest fear, it is probably not in one of these eggs but when John, Mary, and I first saw it, John and I were not thinking when we made our first comments. John said it was ugly and I said it probably wasn't ugly in the eyes of its opposite sex.' There were many smiles and not a few frowns on my audience's faces.

  'Neither of us realised how unkind we were being. We were lost in the excitement of the moment. John's comment was cruel and insulting and my comment was worse because it included humour within the insult, the very worst type of prejudice. At least the rest of you now know senior staff are as susceptible as anyone else. Learn from our mistake. John and I feel dreadful about what we said and even worse about our thoughts. By telling you of our failings, I want all of you to be better equipped to not make the same mistake and, when news of these alien people finally goes public, I’d like to think you will stand up for them and slap down the insults you will hear from the ignorant and foolish.

  'From this point on, Goonhilly has a golden rule. The rule is that when you’re discussing the aliens, in any context, you must do so as if one of them was standing beside you, listening to what you’re saying. Do I make myself clear?'

  There were some nods and murmurs of agreement.

  'Not good enough!' I said loudly but allowing a smile to accompany it. 'Do – I – make – myself – clear?'

  There was a sudden chorus of, 'Yes, Doctor Slater,' followed by some laughter.

  'So,' I lightened up and lifted my finger in readiness, 'let me say you are now going to encounter something wonderful. It is something intelligent. It appears to be offering us friendship. Other than the Prime Minister, John, Mary, Tim, and me, no one else has had the incredible experience of seeing one of these alien people
.'

  A flick of my thimball and the alien appeared on the screen.

  I smiled as I heard a muted 'wow' from Janet. There were a few hurriedly taken breaths and a gasp or two from others. What I hadn't expected was to hear sobbing. All my preparation to try to get a positive reaction and, damn it all, one of the girls from the admin section was letting me down. She was crying.

  I was so annoyed but determined not to show my anger at her being upset at the alien's appearance. I approached her and tried to be measured in my dealing with this unexpected adverse reaction. I spoke softly and asked, 'Jennifer, what’s the problem?'

  'Doctor Slater,' she sobbed, 'its eyes. It has such loving, friendly eyes.'

  18 Auditorium

  That evening I got home before six and packed my overnight case.

  Further discussions over the pitch with my managers had helped me to refine it and I was now really confident. I tested a shortened version on Mario, and we discussed it in detail while we prepared dinner.

  I left the picture of the alien on the television while we ate our lap-tray meal. We both gazed at it and talked about the possibilities. How did it evolve? How do they move about? There were so many questions arising from its existence.

  'I do love the eyes. There is a kindness and intelligence there,' I said and told him about the reaction of the girl from Admin.

  'You know,' Mario said, 'he or she has probably been dead for millions of years. How will they have evolved since? The largest mammal on Earth when this photograph was taken was a tiny egg-layer.'

  'Yes, the timescale is enormous. Its race might not look anything like this today.'

  It was so good having someone with whom to chat about these things, without needing him to perform any function, or for me to be careful about how I spoke. At Goonhilly, I was always conscious of my status and keeping myself a little detached from the staff.