© Copyright 4-15-2023 by 45 Mike
It was a routine survey of outer system for objects approaching in system. The lady looking at the data from three radio telescope near earth orbital satellites, frowned at the alarm notice that had prompted her to review this particular data set. Janice Lawrence had cleared this alarm 3 times and was annoyed at the rocky object setting off the alarm.
What annoyed her was a suspicion that the computer program that tagged this object was stuck in an error of some kind. Janice wrote code herself. She knew how easy it is to miss a variable with a ragged regularity.
The program set an alarm for objects which would pass within one million kilometers. This object would pass at just under 780,000 kilometers. Something nagged at her. Then it struck her, the first alarm data had calculated the passing distance from Earth at over 900,000 km. Something was changing. The object was slowing down.
Several months later, The object was evaluated and determined to be roughly 370 kilometers long and 230 km diameter. It was spinning on its long axis, as well as decelerating. Janice looked at her boss, and he nodded for her to continue. “Sir, this is a powered spacecraft which has changed its acceleration twice, and is settling in to an orbit around our sun, in our asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. That is what we know at this time.”
Less than a year later 30 rockets left the Earth, each tipped with 12 missiles with fusion warheads. Their trajectory was the asteroid belt, near the spacecraft, and the people of Earth became aware of the risk and threat of an alien visitor, no matter how easy it may be for some to insist that the visitors may not be a threat at all.
No one really knew except the visitors themselves, which really annoyed many, including Janice, who presently sat as a senior analyst on the intel committee. Today, however was different, Nearly two years after the data alarms had sounded, there was a message.
It came in as packet data. It was text in several languages.
Hello humans.
We are Grenis.
We stop for repair and supply.
Then we leave.
Your weapons will be returned to you as we leave.
Hello Humans?
One of the return messages was from a consortium of nations, there were several of such as well as messages from individual national leaders.
Hello Grenis.
Do not approach closer to our planet.
May we approach you?
The reply was short, but hopeful.
Hello Humans, we have no intention of hostility.
No. Do not approach our craft.
Hello Grenis.
How long will you orbit in our system?
Hello Humans.
Estimate two to five of your years.
The hysterical uproar of humanity was enormous. Devastation wracked the cities as people rioted, ran, looted and blamed their leaders for failing to protect them from the alien menace.
Various leaders, and many individuals sent messages pouring back out to the Grenis from Earth. Ranging from love notes to insane threats.
Janice Lawrence however had one advantage, she had satellites. After watching her superiors flailing around with conflicting executive, orders, along with several contradicting laws passed by congress, and too many supreme court reversals, Janice began sending her own messages.
Hello Grenis, my name is Janice Lawrence. I am a human female. I would like to learn about you. Are you an individual? Do you have a name?
Several hours later, she got a reply. It was a long message, and it contained text and an image file.
Hello Janice.
My name is Hernts, I am a communications officer.
Thank you for asking. I have been authorized to speak to you, and to explain some matters to your species, and to consider requests for more information.
As you can see in the image I sent, We are a saurian species similar to reptiles on your planet. Consider that a meteor destroyed the species you call dinosaurs, and that those species may have become ancestors to a species very similar to Grenis, if not for that meteor strike. Our home planet did not have that meteor destroy our ancestors.
Our planet is larger and more massive than yours, and we are larger than you individually as well. We have six limbs and a distributed nervous system, which allows two autonomous sensory appendages with optical, auditory and taste sensors that also serve as feeding and drinking orifices, which each serve a central digestive system.
We have three genders for procreation, One of which produces an egg, similar to a human female, then passes that egg to a male, which fertilizes that egg, and produces a shell, and that egg is then passed through a nurse, which delivers a live new Greni.
As we approached your system, we detected your presence. The detonation of fusion weapons and then the various broadcasts we gathered, once your weapons alerted us to look, were distressing to us.
As a community, we agreed not to stop and invite the risk of violence from your species.
However, then we were attacked. The species that attacked us are well adapted to deep space. We don’t know much about them. except that their own craft and weapons are less capable than ours, as we destroyed those that participated in the attack. Several of their craft left without hostility. We have not detected them since that incident.
Our craft was damaged in the attack. The only reason we stopped in your system was for repair and supply which we will finish using the resources here in this asteroid belt.
I have been authorized to inform you that from our observation of your behaviors, your species is unlikely to survive to travel outside your system. Some of our people, a very small minority, have proposed that we should eliminate you as a vermin.
Which brings me to the next point. You use an irrational decision process. It is quite insane. I am authorized to discuss that matter with you.
Our species uses a democracy. Your species seem obsessed with using oligarchy.
When we leave your system, your weapons will be left in an orbit ahead of your planet, where you may retrieve them if you wish. If you are able.
I am authorized to provide you with one more information, and there will be no more discussion on this. We fuse to iron.
We hope to converse on the matter of decision process. You may survive beyond your current potential, if you choose to use a rational form of government.
This message, though addressed to Janice, was quite easily received by anyone capable of digital decoding of the packet stream, including the image of a Greni, named Hernts.
Humanity spewed forth an avalanche of replies. Janice was held in custody, constrained from access to her satellite messaging systems. For almost a week, the message volume peaked then dropped off.
There was only one reply from the Grenis.
Hello humans, we are Grenis.
I am Hernts.
I am authorized to converse with Janice.
We will be leaving your system within approximately 7 of your months.
We have decided to collect and process resources for repair and supply and to depart with those materials and effect repairs underway.
Hello Janice?