Ephemeral Species Book One - The Dawning

by Patrick Smith

  Chapter 11

  Nisha and Rachel managed to sleep for over six contiguous hours for the first time in days and they felt reinvigorated. At first light they awoke.

  Nisha glanced over at Rachel on the other side of the white tent.

  "Let's go for a run before the Sun gets to us. I think we need to stay in shape."

  "Good idea, let's go. I'm always surprised how quickly the body can get out of shape."

  They decided to run around the four day old alien colony, which had a perimeter of four miles. Five gleaming towers dominated the sky, with two more under construction.

  "I bet you those two new towers will be completed by the end of the day or overnight," Rachel said

  Nisha smiled.

  "I won't take the bet! They're preparing to build several more of the 2,000 meter towers. They can each hold over one million of them. I think we can safely assume this isn't a temporary campsite, even for them."

  "Yes, they're here to stay."

  They continued running for a couple of minutes.

  Nisha stopped.

  "Sorry, I noticed in my Eyepiece that our comments about them being here to stay caused a 3% drop in the stock market in only two minutes," Nisha said.

  She continued to broadcast her video stream to the world.

  She said to everyone, "I want to reiterate to the public that up to now, the aliens haven't caused any economic hardship for the world other than a small disruption in specialized mining operations. There's no economic justification for the 50% drop in the markets over the past two weeks. The aliens consume a small ecological and resource footprint. They generate their own power. They aren't aggressive. They're building their colony in a barren desert away from human population centers. The world economy looks good and is full of innovation. Economic benefits may emerge from the aliens being here. Who knows what we can learn! I'm not an economist or stock market guru, but I'm optimistic about our future. I don't have money in the market so I'm not trying to make the market go up for my own personal gain. I sold short the market because people panic. However, I'm neutral now. I'm saving my money to invest in my captive daughter's startup someday. Now I'm going to continue my run."

  As they ran, Nisha muted her audio stream.

  "I think my little speech is helping. The market is bouncing back."

  "Wow Nisha, you're powerful now!" Rachel said, nearly out of breath. "I know your Twitter numbers. Over 80% of all active Twitter users follow you now. Even the most popular celebrity has around 15% of total users following her."

  "Rachel, I'm not popular, I happen to be in a position where I'm making an interesting video stream."

  Rachel wiped the perspiration from her forehead. They were almost back to their tent.

  "Yeah, like the most interesting stream in the history of the world, even if Twitter existed for all of human history! The thing you should always remember is you aren't only reporting events, you're making history."

  Nisha smiled.

  "Thanks Rachel! Okay, I'm going to turn on the audio again. Whenever you want me to mute the stream, make this x mark with your fingers. Okay, the audio is on. Whoa, stop!"

  "What?"

  "The human children are walking into the newest tower. Some are holding hands with alien children."

  Rachel looked more closely.

  "They're holding fingers. Our hands are incompatible for hand holding with theirs. The adults seem to be walking with them. They live in family units consisting of two large ones and one or two smaller ones."

  "You're right," Nisha said. "They appear to be parents and children. The human children follow behind everyone in each family. Watch how things are arranged as they walk. The humans are pets."

  "What?" Rachel said as she looked more closely.

  That alien child is pulling the human child along like a puppy on a leash. Even though there's no physical leash, the similarities are striking. I wonder if that's why the children were abducted. They like us as pets!"

  They watched the stock market drop once again.

  "Let's not go too far with the anthropomorphizing," Rachel said. "We can't be sure. Something else might be happening."

  Nisha stopped running and teared up.

  "They're pets, Rachel. My beloved Priya is a pet."

  She walked up to the line of aliens and children entering the tower. She watched them for a minute. She reached out to one of the human children. Rachel tried to hold her back but Nisha broke free and grabbed the child. The two alien adults, who appeared to be the parents turned red and moved toward Nisha.

  Rachel grabbed hold of Nisha again and held her back.

  "Nisha, we better get out of here, right now!"

  Nisha tried to break free from Rachel's grasp.

  "My child is not a pet!" she screamed at the two adults,

  She cried inconsolably. The adults turned around and kept walking, showing no emotion or concern. For a moment, the human child wanted to leave the line, but the alien child shepherded the human child back into place. The human child didn't speak a word.

  Gradually, Rachel managed to get Nisha back into their tent. Her riveting Twitter video stream continued to broadcast.

  "We're sentient and self-aware beings Rachel. They have no right to take us as pets."

  Nisha sobbed.

  "You're right, but we can't stop them," Rachel said. "We are to them as our pets are to us. They may love our children as we love our pets. They may take care of our children and feed them and play with them as we do with our pets. I hope they don't neglect them as some of us do with our pets."

  "I want my Priya back. I want Sophie back. I want all 25,000 of them back!"

  Rachel made an x with her fingers. Nisha muted her stream.

  "I don't care what I have to do. I'm going to figure out a way to stop them. ? Okay, I'm calm now."

  She un-muted her streaming broadcast and wiped away her tears. They watched a bank of monitors which had been installed in their tent to help keep track of the aliens and the construction of their new colony. Rachel noticed some unusual activity on one of the monitors.

  "Nisha, who are those people and what are they doing there? They should not be there. Let's go find out what's going on."

  They ran out to the nearest tower with some security guards. A new shuttle sphere landed and the occupants were disembarking to walk into the closest tower. A group of young people joined the line of aliens and human children.

  "Rachel, they're trying to blend in," Nisha said. "Why are they doing that? They must be crazy. We better go over before they get themselves hurt."

  "I think we're too late," Rachel said as they arrived on the scene.

  They were being surrounded by some big, mean looking red aliens holding small silver looking devices. Nisha ran in between them all.

  "Okay, hold on! Calm down!"

  She held a hand out to the aliens and turned to the young intruders.

  "What are you guys doing here?"

  The guy who appeared to be the leader said, "We're members of The Heavenly Angelic Symphony and we want to merge with the angels according to the wishes of our dear master, Guruji Sri Kevin."

  Nisha smiled and looked to the sky.

  "Thanks! I haven't enjoyed a good laugh in a while. Okay, I must control myself. Who are the angels, with whom you wish to merge?"

  "They're standing all around us right now," the cult member said in a soft tranquil voice.

  Nisha looked skyward again and tried to keep a straight face.

  "Um, I've got news for you. They're glowing bright red. Do they appear like angels to you? Right now they resemble someone else from our mythology despite the lack of horns, but I digress! We better get out of here right now before it's too-"

  The cult member shook his head.

  "I'm sorry, but we wish to merge with the angels. Your lack of faith won't stop us."

  The cult members pushed past Nisha and towards the base of the tower. One of the aliens pointed the
small silver object and they all fell to the ground. Nisha, Rachel and the security guards ran over to the fallen cult members. They appeared dead but Nisha noticed one of them had a pulse.

  "They're stunned," Rachel said. "Let's get them out of here."

  Soon more security guards arrived and the limp but living bodies of the cult members were taken away to a secure building for observation. The aliens turned a more neutral gray color and they continued to walk into the tower as though nothing happened.

  Rachel and Nisha walked back into their tent. Nisha turned to Rachel trying to stop herself from laughing.

  "Now I've seen everything! I needed a laugh, so I must someday thank them for that. I shouldn't laugh because they almost got killed. But I can't help myself."

  "Oh, there's plenty more if you want a good laugh," Rachel said. "Watch this monitor that's showing activity at the public viewing platform. Most people are only here to observe, but every cult and type of crazy person is here now. Watch at the ones on the right. They're praying towards the new tower like the faithful towards Mecca!"

  "Yes, I'm laughing," Nisha said. "However I understand their sentiments. To them, they are like gods. In a way, these aliens are more like gods than anything you read about in the holy books of the world."

  "Why do you say that?"

  "Because these aliens are real, and they're here right now. Gods are always relegated to dusty old manuscripts preserved for ages. Now they are right here in front of us. They are God-like as far as their technical ability is concerned. If they had landed 200 years ago, they would be seen as gods or devils by over 99% of the people. Even today, I read a poll where 36% of Americans believe the aliens are a sign from God of the end times."

  "The sad part of this carnival is the group over there," Rachel said. "Those are the parents of the abducted children."

  "Yes, let's go talk to them," Nisha said.

  After they consoled the bereaved parents, they ate lunch in their tent. They watched a live debate on the US House of Representatives live Twitter stream about what to do about the aliens. Some of the politicians wanted to nuke them while others wanted peace at any cost.

  "There's a lot of fear in the House Chamber. Certainly by now they should realize force can't be used," Nisha said. "They can turn off any machine or weapon we use. Any non-electronic weapon is also useless against them because of their shielding technology. They're wasting time in Washington and we might all be killed."

  They shook their heads as they watched the debate drag on.

  For many years, Ted Knight had been a reporter at the Capitol Building in Washington, DC. He finished an interview with a congressman and began talking with his cameraman on the steps at the East Front of the building.

  "I'm glad that interview is over! I couldn't get a straight answer out of him. It's the same old-"

  Something caught his eye and he glanced over to the left.

  "Hey, one of those smaller spheres is landing right near the steps. Get a close up. Get this streaming on our worldwide feed immediately!"

  The sphere landed close to the steps. They watched as two large aliens emerged from their liquid looking sphere and walked up the steps.

  "Let's follow them," Ted said to his cameraman as he began his report. "We're live at the Capitol Building. An alien sphere has landed and two large beings emerged. They're intimidating. I'm going to keep my distance. I've been told they won't harm anyone unless they're attacked first, but I don't want to be the exception."

  The aliens walked up the steps with Ted the reporter following a respectable distance behind.

  "Now we're in the Capitol Rotunda and they seem to be looking around, taking their time. Wait, they're walking towards the House Chamber. I don't think the guards who are lining up right now will be able to stop them. Let's move behind this column in case there's trouble. We're live right? Okay."

  The aliens walked towards the entrance to the Chamber. Twelve guards stepped in front of them and warned them they would shoot. The aliens didn't stop.

  Ted continued reporting.

  "Dozens of high caliber shots are being fired. The aliens have been struck, since they're only a few meters away. Now several dozen military solders are firing on the aliens. This is complete chaos."

  Ted and his cameraman ducked down for a few seconds until things calmed down. The cameraman continued recording, lifting the recorder over a marble statue without looking. The dust cleared. The sound of the gunshots echoed and dissipated.

  "Wow, I'm not sure what just happened, but the aliens are stepping over the dead bodies of the security officers. They're continuing to walk into the chamber. Are they? Yes, the security officers and the soldiers all appear to be dead. The aliens are each carrying a small silver device which they used either to defend themselves or to kill the soldiers and security personnel. Now they're entering the Chamber. Maybe they're going to give their address to the human species. Let's get in there. We can't miss this!"

  Ted and his cameraman tripped over the dead bodies to get inside.

  Nisha and Rachel continued to watch the House Chamber live stream as the gunshots rang out.

  "What's that?" Rachel said.

  "I don't know, possibly gunshots. Everyone is turning around to find out what's happening. Two aliens are walking into the Chamber Room. The guards must have tried to stop them. That must be what the gunshots were about."

  "Wow, the timing couldn't be any worse," Rachel said. "They were discussing how to stop the aliens by using nuclear weapons and now the aliens are in the same room with them."

  "Yeah, that's bad timing. Or maybe good timing."

  They stood in back or the hall, with attitude."

  "Why they aren't doing anything?" Rachel said.

  "They don't need to do a single thing. I think they're letting us know that they know what we're doing. They might want to prevent more deaths by telling us not to bother discussing nuking them. If that's true, they're being considerate."

  "Yes I think you're right. They're intimidating us. They're sending a message," Rachel said.

  "Congress people are usually so self-assured, but not now. I'm unsure about this. Even though I fear the power of these beings, I like seeing Congress so humbled!"

  Rachel smiled.

  "Maybe now the political parties will work together for a change."

  They looked at each other for several seconds and smiled.

  "Nah!"

  Hey Nisha, did you see what the stock market did?"

  "No, what happened?"

  "Right after the shootings, the market dropped 15% and trading halted. When the aliens did nothing but stand in back, trading reopened. The stock index is down only 5% now. The rebound happened in only a few minutes. By the way, I got a notification that a fifth large sphere has entered Earth's orbit."

  Nisha shook her head.

  "Things happen every day which I considered impossible only two weeks ago. Where will this end?"

  "I don't know," Rachel said as she looked outside the tent at the expanding alien colony. "But I'm sure things will continue to be surreal for quite some time to come."

  "Speaking of surreal, what about this? We're watching Congress and now they're watching us watching them on their big screen!"

  Nisha turned her Eyepiece towards Rachel and she waved. Nisha paused for a minute.

  "I'm getting a notification that the Speaker of the House wants to speak with us and view the colony. Let's go outside."

  They walked over to the base of the closest tower.

  Nisha said, "Hello Mr. Speaker. I would ask how you're doing today but I've been watching your stream. Things don't seem to be going well. So how can I make your day better?"

  The House Speaker welcomed Nisha and Rachel to the House of Representatives.

  "After everything which has happened, and with the knowledge that two unplanned guests are standing in the back row, we've decided to learn about the colony for the time being. We hope through you, we can
gain a better understanding of this new species."

  "Thank you Mr. Speaker. Rachel and I are honored to show you around. The first thing I want to say is we need to throw away all preconceived notions regarding how to deal with those who are different from us. This is the dawn of a new era and we as a species can either adapt or perish."

  Nisha and Rachel walked into the colony and onto the smooth surface.

  "Dr. Chandra, we can't prevent them from standing in the back of this room. They're observing us as a pride of lions might observe a herd of wildebeest. What can we do to stop them?"

  "You're asking the wrong question," Nisha said. "The right question is; what can we learn? What can we learn about them, about science and engineering, about the universe, and about ourselves? We don't know much about them. They're advanced because they've dedicated themselves to the pursuit of knowledge. Rachel and I, along with our colleagues here intend to learn as much as we can about them. That may seem like an impossible task since they seem to only be interested in us as pets, but I won't give up."

  "So what should we here in Congress do?" the Speaker said.

  "First, you should be working to restore confidence in the economy. The US stock market is down 60% in only two weeks. People are depressed and they don't want to work or buy anything. Make them realize our guests aren't trying to destroy us. We still must lead our lives, and what we learn might be wonders beyond our imagination. Second, you need to encourage our best minds to work in science and engineering. The capabilities of our guests are astounding. However, they aren't performing magic tricks. They're using the same laws of physics we do. So let's follow their lead."

  "They're taking over the planet," the Speaker said. "It's our planet. We were here first."

  "Tell that to the Native Americans who still live on reservations," Nisha said. "Nature doesn't matter who came first. Take a good look at the aliens in the back of the room. Are they exterminating us or forcing us into slavery? No. Their attitude is, why bother? They can take this planet, because they can. They're not playing games. They're here, so let's make this into a positive thing. We're getting a glimpse into our future if we're so fortunate. That might be us someday, exploring new worlds."

  "Something is happening," Rachel said.

  Nisha looked across the barren patch of desert. Several small spheres emerged from the larger ones, rippling their surfaces like a pebble thrown into a still lake.

  "I'm sorry Mr. Speaker, we need to go. I'll keep my video stream on so keep watching.

  They disconnected.

  "Rachel, what do you think they're doing?"

  "I'm not sure but these are only about five meters across. They might hold three of four of the large adults I would guess.

  "This is odd," Nisha said as she counted the small spheres. "They're lining up near the first tower. I count 20 of them now."

  "I don't know what to think about this," Rachel said as they watched a few large adults climb into each one. "This is unusual behavior, though we must remember our guests arrived only two weeks ago."

  "There they go!" Nisha shouted over the pops of the sonic booms. "They're all headed northwest for some reason. I'm going to watch Twitter to find out where they go."

  The dry Sun warmed the late summer afternoon in downtown San Francisco. Not a breath of fog drifted through the Golden Gate. The bridges were packed with traffic. The streets overflowed with people emerging from the BART stations and leaving town on the HyperLoop Tube from the Transbay Terminal for destinations in Silicon Valley and further south in Los Angeles. The sphere might scarcely find an open spot to set down in front of the new Twitter headquarters without crushing someone. The crowd parted and the sphere set down on the concrete of Market Street. A ring appeared underneath the sphere to keep it from rolling.

  Nisha and Rachel read the tweets from many different people working at Twitter.

  "Three serious looking aliens entered #Twitter HQ. A hand held device opened our high security doors within seconds, no problem."

  "They walked into the #Twitter developer's area. They plugged into a network jack and are accessing our servers. I won't try to stop them!"

  Most Twitter employees were scared stiff, but a few tried to show a sense of humor.

  One tweeted a picture of the aliens in the cafeteria with the caption, "Had some friends over to #Twitter HQ for lunch! Deadbeats didn't have money so I had to pay."

  Another employee joked with a picture and a caption that read, "I set this guy up with a #Twitter account. He has eyes like a Chameleon, so we named him @ChamAlien! :-)"

  They visited Wikimedia nearby.

  "Aliens downloaded the entire #Wikipedia database and software. I think one used our men's bathroom! He was in there a long time. Pfew!"

  They took what they wanted and left quickly. They visited several other high tech firms before accelerating into the clear blue sky leaving behind only a sonic boom.

  "What do you think they're doing Rachel?" Nisha said.

  "My guess is they're seeing how our social networks and technology are constructed. They might be looking to gather information about our habits and how we self-organize. I think they're studying us."

  "Rachel," Nisha said. "Here are more tweets. All from high tech companies in Silicon Valley.

  "#Aliens in #Cisco, got into highest security area no problem, stole our latest equipment."

  "#Genentech labs DNA data downloaded by some rude # ChamAliens. No physical damage however."

  "Aliens broke into #RoeBot HQ and stole our latest prototypes."

  "Chaos at #Intel HQ. #Aliens stole several of our latest chips and downloaded schematics from our servers."

  "They're wandering around the #Apple spaceship HQ gathering products and poking around."

  "The #ChamAliens easily gained access to #Facebook data. Scary! Reset your passwords."

  "Can you believe all of this?" Rachel said with her eyes open.

  "Yeah I can believe it," Nisha said. "They're curious about everything. And now they'll know more about us and our technological capabilities and deficiencies. One good thing, is I doubt they'll try to steal our identities. After all, we don't try to steal the identities of a seal on the beach to blend in with the other seals. We're not interested, and I doubt they are too. I don't like them being called ChamAliens though. And now the term is trending.

  Nisha tweeted, "Name calling is the refuge of the weak minded. #ChamAliens."

  Rachel looked preoccupied.

  "What?" Nisha said.

  "I'm getting word four more large spheres entered into orbit around the Earth. That makes 10 spheres total in orbit," Rachel looked towards the setting Sun and the ever expanding colony.

  "This colony will hold 10 million of them unless they build more. Several more 2,000 meter tall tower bases are being prepared. They seem to be concentrating on this colony for some reason. They might use the particular metals and minerals located here. The climate here might be right for them. Maybe they like the lack of human development."

  "I don't know either," Nisha said. "I'm getting anxious about the large spheres arriving here. The voices are growing more numerous. However, for some reason the volume has been turned down. The sound reminds me of white background noise. I think they're blocking or adjusting the frequency of their transmissions. They might want us to know what they're saying. The shuttle spheres are arriving every few minutes, with 5-10,000 arriving on each one. I estimate 50,000 are joining this colony every hour, which adds up to over one million per day. I'm guessing three million are here already. Where does it end?"

  "There's no way to know where this will end," Rachel said. "What's the population of their home planet? Who knows. I hope things stay peaceful."

  They sat at the picnic table and talked for the rest of the day, watching the colony grow. The Sun set into a cloudless blue sky and the sky grew dark.

  "It's getting late," Nisha said. "I think we better get some sleep. Who knows what will happen tomorrow. Th
ey seem to do more in the daytime, leaving the drones to do the work at night."

  Nisha and Rachel talked with their families and fell asleep early.