Contact Part Two

The meeting with the Kalawanese was going very well if Nalwar was able to be any judge. She was checking all the spheres and dotting the umlauts as prescribed by the protocols. The natives had neither attacked, ran screaming, nor attempted to worship them as gods. Sandeer was clearly an intelligent being. Were it not for the native’s immense size she could well be speaking to a fellow Galactic at an archaeological site or symposium.

“And where do the Invar come from?” asked Sandeer.

“We come from Invara, Cesari and Mediola. Cesari is the nearest Ascendancy world eight transits from Kalawan.” said Nalwar.

“Nalwar! Do not reveal our worlds to this dangerous alien.” came Captain Viskar’s voice over the comm.

“I hardly think these primitives can get there, they have no ships,” she replied back.

“That could be a ruse. Their ships may lie hidden in the gravitational shadow,” commed the Captain.

Nalwar shook her head, “Doubtful. Here, let me put you at ease,” she replied.

“Something is a problem?” inquired Sandeer.

Nalwar’s antennae twitched in irritation, “Oh, the ship’s Captain is being paranoid. He thinks if I tell you the location of the Ascendancy then a screaming horde of giant barbarians will soon descend on us. He has viewed too much silly entertainment.” she said and waved a hand above her head to show that the statement was intended to be humorous.

For its part, the native bared its teeth again and the corners of its gaping mouth turned up. “I think I understand. Please, tell your captain that while India has a proud and ambitious space program I think it would be minor compared to a race that can casually transit, is that the right word, the stars.”

The native then elaborated on its space capabilities and those of the rival nation-states. Kalawanese space travel was very much in its infancy. While not strictly pre-flight, they may well have been.

“So you see. Your captain has very little to fear from us. Still, if he has these fears, then war is something you still have between these, these philosophies. What, if I may ask is there to fight over?” said Sandeer as he concluded.

Absolutely nothing in Nalwar’s opinion, one that was shared by all reasonable sophonts anywhere. However all too many were not reasonable, including some in the Ascendancy, 

“There are sadly many things to declare a Contention over. Any star system has abundant resources and easily accessible resources are prized, there are also the many transit routes and the tariffs one can charge to use them safely, a habitable world which can be easily modified is very valuable and of course, the philosophies themselves may be incompatible,” said Nalwar.

Sandeer paused as the translation device parsed the subjects into his barbarian language. “I see. Yes, it seems that you and I are not so different. So, are there any belligerent neighbours we may need to worry about?” 

Nalwar paused. This was a scientific expedition. Their purpose was to as the melodrama succinctly put it ‘seek out new life and new civilisations’ and to learn from them. Still, the protocols were clear. All questions were to be answered honestly to the best of the Contact Specialist’s ability. So while the baroque physics of hyperspace were beyond her she could inform a native of the basics and the implications. Also, even if the minutiae of politics was not her speciality, the broad strokes of Invar foreign relations were easy enough to convey. 

“There are the Brillomar of the Concordat of Valour,” Nalwar said after a pause.

“Who are they?”

Nalwar attempted to explain as neutrally as possible about one of the terrors of the Lesser Galactic Arm.

The Concordat were the dominant expansionist philosophy in the local area. The Brillomar were the main species and the originators of the Concordiat. One of the dominant features of the Concordat was an injunction to spread the good word. While this was true of most polities the Concordat backed it up with a sense of revulsion towards those who thought differently. The Ascendancy had watched the Concordat absorb THEIR neighbours and slowly turn its attention towards them. Formal negotiations were proceeding, but the conflict was inevitable. Just by existing, the Ascendancy was an affront to the Concordat.

“The Ascendancy will resist, of course, but the Concordat is much larger. Also, as eusocials, they are more easily able to select a single course of action and bend their entire population towards that goal,” said Nalwar.

“What do they look like?” asked Sandeer.

Nalwar called up a picture of a Brillomar on her pad and showed it. Brillomar were normal-sized with an ecto-skeleton for support. The alien scrunched up its face as it examined the recording. It took out a primitive pad and made its own recording.

“Thank you. I will need to speak with my superiors about this,” said Sandeer.

“I also need to sort through all the information gathered so far. This looks to be a most successful first contact.”

“Yes, this has been very interesting,” said Sandeer who then waved his hand at his head, and then hurried back to the ground vehicle. It made several grinding, graunching noises before moving away at speed.

Nalwar saluted in return and briefly wondered what had the alien so agitated. Hopefully, a careful analysis of the meeting would suggest a reason. She turned and walked back to the ship.


Sandeer sighed as he pulled back into the carpark of his office at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, the premier spaceport of India’s Space Programme. Premier Spaceport, hah. Compared to what the aliens must have it was little more than a collection of warehouses and large slabs of concrete. The sigh was also for the pack of reporters camped out around his office. They had been a constant presence since the alien spaceship had been spotted almost a week ago. The Centre had gone from somewhere of interest to the public visited only by rocket enthusiasts and the occasional bird watcher to being swarmed by reporters. As he got out of his car he was quickly surrounded.

“Director, can you confirm that this is not an elaborate hoax?” said the NDTV reporter.

Sandeer shook his head, “This is no hoax. An alien spaceship has landed near the  SDSC. This is very real.”

“What do they want? Are they hostile?” asked a woman from the Times of India.

Sandeer raised his hands, “I only spoke with them briefly, but I believe that this is a scientific expedition, they are not hostile. They are explorers.”

“Director, can you assure us that this is not a prelude to invasion?” said the Reuters representative.

“All I can say is that we along with almost every other space agency have been tracking the alien spaceship for the week since it appeared  There are no other such vessels near the Earth,” he said.

“Where do they come from? Are they from a country like us or part of an international organisation.” asked the NDTV reporter.

Sandeer paused, “The alien said they belonged to a group known as the Ascendancy of the Union, which seems to be a super-national organisation, quite possibly a further evolution of how societies grow.”

“Why did they land here?” asked a reporter from ANI.

“Everyone thought that the aliens would contact the Americans, or maybe the Russians. This is a result of watching too many movies from those countries. The aliens have no such prejudices. They came to the SDSC because the first language they translated was Hindi. This is a historic moment, but also very humbling. If they had translated another language first they would have landed there.’ said Sandeer.

“So they will move once they have mastered other languages?” asked someone from the Express.

“That is up to them. It remains that they did come here first and we shall strive to develop a rapport so that we keep speaking to them. Now, no more questions. My superiors in the Ministry are no doubt as anxious to be informed as you all are.”

Despite the ongoing flurry of questions Sandeer pushed through the crowd with the occasional reply of no more questions and entered the building.



Sandeer sat in his office conferring with government officials of ever-increasing importance as the authenticity of the event and the severity of the alien’s last revelation came to light. That it was not at all a clever hoax, while simple enough to convey, needed to be done for each official. Which was all fine in Sandeer’s opinion. No one wanted to be played for fools. The second part was more troubling and was the main reason why he was now speaking to the President, Prime Minister and the Chief of the Army Staff.

“And you believe this alien?” said the President.

Sandeer considered his reply carefully. “I believe that the alien Nalwar believes what she says. I also believe they are as curious about us as we are about them. If anything, she was understating the threat of these Brillomar and their Concordat.”

“What makes you say that?” said the Prime Minister.

“This Concordat sounds uncomfortably similar to the Imperial British, but on a much larger scale. They would view us as a people to be conquered and then converted.”

Sandeer watched as his audience shifted uncomfortably. The conquest, colonisation and exploitation by the British had left many scars, as had the struggle for liberation. That it could happen all over again was clear.

“What do we know of their capabilities?” said the Chief of the Army Staff.

“Very little General. Other than that these nations of theirs wage war in some way. Of the aliens and their ship I saw nothing that was recognisably a weapon, but how would we know if we saw it? It remains that we have just made contact with a technologically and numerically superior people that are themselves apparently small players in their own arena.”

Again, not unlike the British went unsaid. 

“Thank you for your observations and insight Director. While we confer among ourselves and prepare a statement for the UN and the Americans we want you to continue to negotiate with these aliens. Also, while you are speaking on behalf of all of Humanity I urge you to that you must see to India’s interests as well.” said the President.

Sandeer nodded, “I understand President. I shall keep that in mind.”

“Thank you, Director,” concluded the President and the call ended.

So, no pressure at all thought Sandeer.

 

“These aliens are incredible,” exclaimed Fesha.

“They are certainly alien aliens,” replied Nalwar.

Both Invar were in the office adjacent to the ship’s laboratory trying to make sense of the wealth of data gathered from the meeting. Make no assumptions, let the data and facts speak for themselves, and be open to any possibility. All very well and good, but the crew were clearly impressionable idiots who had watched far too much bad entertainment.

It did not help that the Kalawanese resembled a prehistoric predator. If you half closed your eyes and ignored that they were intelligent tool users, that is.

“Look at these scans. Bone density, musculature, extensive nervous system, not to mention that massive heart and lungs. They’re monsters.” said Fesha.

“The Kalawanese are intelligent, curious and extensive tool users. They’re as intelligent as you or I,” said Nalwar, although she had some reservations on just how intelligent her fellow crew members really were.

‘Imagine if it became enraged and went on a rampage. How would we stop it?” said Fesha.

“With a particle projector of course. Look the Kalawanese are interesting but unstoppable monsters they are not,” said Nalwar.

“Okay, what about as troopers. I bet they could wear an entire armour unit and carry the main gun as easily as I would a kit,” said Fesha, her mind still stuck on fanciful speculative fiction.

“Giant soldiers? Be reasonable Fesha. The Kalawanese may look big and imposing but that means that their food demands are equally large. They must spend a lot of time eating, which is what I wager Sandeer is doing now. Also, how would you transport them? They can’t even fit aboard our ship, even in the cargo hold. It’s simply impossible. They’re just too big to move and too hard to feed. No one would ever want them as soldiers.” said Nalwar.

“If you say so,” said Fesha.

It being now near the end of the day Sandeer exited his office, the building and endured another round of questions from the assembled reporters. Since there was very little more to say. He let them know that the government right up to the President was concerned and attending to the matter before departing for home.

“Were they real aliens?” asked Aadav, his son as soon as he entered his home. Aadav was fourteen and a fan of action movies that typically depicted aliens as monstrous slobbering menaces.

“Yes son, they were real. They landed near our launchpad. I spoke for a few minutes with one of the scientists.” said Sandeer.

Aadav’s face scrunched up, “A scientist?” 

“Yes, a scientist. The Invar are explorers. They have people trained to speak to aliens for the first time.” said Sandeer.

“What aliens?”

“Us. To the Invar, we Humans are the aliens.”

“Oh, what do they look like?”

Sandeer was about to answer when he was interrupted by Divya, his wife. 

“Aadav, let your father get more than a metre past the doorway. Invar? Is that what they call themselves.”

Sandeer leaned over and kissed his wife, “Yes, the Invar. They look like blue cats, but otherwise, they are very much like us. Which has me worried,” he said.

“Blue cats?” said Aadav.

“Why should that worry you?” asked Divya.

Sandeer walked into the living room, “Yes, they are the size of cats and look very cute. I think we will trust them all too easily. Nalwar, the scientist I spoke to seemed pleasant enough. Trouble is, I know her type, we have several dozen at the centre alone. What is an Invar politician like, or a businessman, a General?”

Divya looked at him, “A General? Does a species advanced enough to travel between stars even bother with war?”

Sandeer nodded, “The Invar have enemies, so they have war. Worse, they look like this,” he said showing the photo of the holographic representation of a Brillomar.

Aadav whistled at the sight of the chitinous being, “Now that’s a real alien!”

“Yes, the President is addressing the UN and other world leaders that we have made contact with cute small cat-like beings that have sinister-looking cockroaches as enemies. I wish I could say that saner heads will prevail, but we all know how sensible and considered Human beings really are.”