The Aliens from Earth

By D.C Townsend

What does it mean to be human? This is a fictional story that tries to look at who we are? How we see ourselves? How would a naïve out of this World advanced Alien culture see us?

A child is born with some basic instincts. Then the training and indoctrination begins. Successful parents and society create a citizen who is considered a successful member of the society. All societies and cultures have their own rules and traditions that are considered proper and appropriate. Deviation from what is considered normal and proper is not acceptable, requiring corrective action. To one culture, harvesting a whale for its blubber will sustain their people for another year. To another culture, killing a whale for food is a deplorable, vile act. Historically, for some peoples, a barbecued white missionary was a feast. He was a misguided, ignorant man, God lives in the volcano. God can be seen and heard when he is displeased.

Knowledge and technology influence culture. The author has endeavored to look at humanity with all our virtues and inequities.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9781662451225

Book preview

Chapter 1

The Threat

Great challenges are sometimes forced upon people from unexpected sources. Choices must be made that can have great unforeseen consequences.

Excuse me, Mister President, we have a situation.

President George Franklin responded, This better be good. Did you just see that goal? Two minutes remaining, third period, tie game, last game, Stanley Cup Finals. I am sure that whatever it is, it will wait a couple minutes.

I am sorry, Mister President, you are needed in the situation room. We are recording the game for you, sir.

Brief me to what is so damn important.

In the elevator, they were joined by the President’s National Security Advisor David Cupper and the science advisor. David Cupper said, Mister President, I believe you know Thomas Fitzpatrick, our science advisor. He will give you the preliminary briefing.

Thomas said, Mister President, a little over fourteen hours ago, a small observatory in New Zealand found what they believed to be a previously undiscovered comet. They asked for help from other observatories tracking their find as it was going below their horizon. It was not long until the consensus was that the object was not a normal comet or normal asteroid. Word soon spread through the astronomical community. Every observatory that could get a view started watching and tracking the object. Something new, what is it?

The President responded, Get to the punch line.

It was traveling into our solar system at an unbelievable speed on a nontypical course. Then it did something that our science cannot explain. It started to slow down. Observation tracking indicates that on its present course and decelerating velocity, its destination, Earth. This conclusion has been verified by multiple sources.

The National Security Advisor added, Mister President, it will be here in five hours. The Canadians, Brits, French, as well as many other allies are demanding we work with them to face this possible threat. The problem is, nobody has any answers.

The President asked, What is it? An alien space craft or a destructive asteroid or possibly a weapon?

We do not know. Everything we have is watching it.

Get my family to the shelter. Initiate the threat protocol. Get the VP to a safe location. You have to know more than that.

Thomas said, It is big enough to cause great concern.

The President entered the situation room to chaos. There appeared to be many heated arguments going on simultaneously. The President was deeply concerned. The first crisis of his administration and he was missing the end of a great hockey game. The President shouted, Quiet! I have been briefed. What is it, and what can we do about it? One at a time, please be brief and concise.

The Secretary of Defense answered, NASA is preparing a rocket for a launch of a rover to Mars. The Air Force has a large thermonuclear device kept in readiness for such an occasion. As we speak, the warhead is being mated to the rocket. Blow it up before it reached Earth.

The Air Force General said, It will get here before the rocket is ready to launch. We are targeting a couple of our ICBM to intercept, but we will have to wait until it is really close. It will be an extremely risky endeavor.

Another group wanted to send up greetings. It had to be alien visitors. With the dynamics of its speed and deceleration, it had to represent a technologically advanced society.

Calls kept coming in. It seemed that everyone in the world wanted to do something, announce something. Some speculated it had to be an alien spacecraft. The media started to speculate with reports that were coming from many observatories. Many astronomers and astrophysicists that were not under government control were giving interviews; some were factual that they just did not know. Others warned of doom and gloom, hinting at Armageddon. One radical astrophysicist speculated that Earth was going to be invaded by aliens. Some of the President’s staff wanted to evacuate to deep underground shelters in Pennsylvania or depart on Air Force One. The Air Force General warned that atmospheric disturbances could be great if the object entered the world’s atmosphere, warning that Air Force One might not be safe. The President made a quick decision, trying to not panic and appear presidential. I am staying here in the bunker. Those wanting to evacuate by air are welcome to go. Do not expect a job when you return. When the time is appropriate, I will go to the backup Oval Office and try to reassure the American people with an announcement. Give me something good that I can tell our people.

An advisor asked, What if it hits Earth near here?

Well, I suppose I will be remembered as a foolish man who stayed at his post, if there is anyone left to remember.

With two hours left on the clock, the current calculations came in. If the object remained on its current course and rate of deceleration, it would obtain a geosynchronous orbit over the Atlantic Ocean over the equator near the northeast coast of Brazil in a high orbit of over 22,000 miles above Earth. The experts mostly agreed that if the object continued on its trajectory and deceleration, it would not impact Earth but become another moon. It was large, about four hundred meters in diameter and over a kilometer long.

Thomas Fitzpatrick, the science advisor, said, We are not alone. Our only hope is that they are friendly. What we do or don’t do can change the course of humanity. Let’s not piss them off.

President George Franklin said, I am going to the backup Oval Office to address the nation. Any suggestions as to what we should do or I can say to the American people?

Thomas was the only one to respond. With so little information, the best thing to do for now is nothing. We only know that there is something, and it appears to be controlled by something of unknown powers. The new media has our people so alarmed it could become a panic. You can try to reassure the people that their government will act appropriately and the danger is exaggerated. There is no apparent real threat.

The President sat at a copy of the great desk in a white dress shirt, coat, and tie with house slippers and leisure pants below the desk line. My fellow Americans, several hours ago, I was informed that an object was approaching Earth. All of our scientists tell me that it will not impact our planet. They believe it will settle into an orbit. Nobody seems to be able to tell me what it is. It is a surprise. We will endeavor to keep everybody informed as we learn more. There is no need to panic. Please remain calm. I will assure you that I will take the appropriate actions when the time is right. Thank you for your time. I ask for calm. God bless America.

CNN analysts discussion, The President seems to be nonchalant about this situation.

With what we have been hearing, this is a real big deal. I wonder if the President knows something we do not?

It could be that President Franklin is trying to appear calm, setting an example for the American people. He is certainly brave, staying in the White House at his desk.

We have reports that Russia, China, Germany, France, Canada, Mexico, as well as many others nations have placed their military and police on alert. A few have declared national emergencies and martial law.

I have heard through a third party that our Air Force has been place on alert, and many national guard units have been placed on standby. The national guard units could be responding to orders given by their state governors as a precaution.

The anchor added, I wonder if anyone knows what the object is. As we learn more, we will inform our audience.

They showed a series of still photos from an observatory that only showed a nondescript object, nothing dramatic.

After the news cast, the President said to his Chief of Staff, I would rather be called a bumbling idiot than a coward. Hear that? I am brave.

The Chief of Staff said, There are reports of people panicking in some areas. I cannot see anyone accusing you of staring the panic, the President reassuring his people, staying at his post.

The President sat in his backup office. Thomas’s words echoed in the President’s mind. He thought the words were wise: Wait till we know more. Then he can make a dramatic show of it. He wanted some action, something to define his presidency, maybe a nice little war or an opportunity to kill a bunch of terrorists. He had thought of stirring up something, maybe a fight with that little shit Kim Jong-un, but he had been warned that the Chinese and Russians would get involved and North Korea was nuclear and would likely use their weapons if the regime was threatened. He needed a fight he knew he could decisively and quickly win. The President had only been in office for a couple of months and had made few decisions. His presidency so far had been boring. The last two presidents had stirred up a lot of shit and got a lot of publicity, but that shit ended up on their faces. The President wanted a crisis where he could show the world what he had. With a crisis from external forces, he would not take any blame but could be the hero. Just maybe, this thing would be his nemesis that would define his legacy.

The President returned to the situation room. The object settled into an orbit that was below a geosynchronous orbit. It was explained to the President that the object would orbit Earth slightly faster than Earth rotated. It would appear to move across the sky slowly from west to east. All agreed it was not a natural event; the universe did not work that way. All resources of the government and science were put to work. Radar images, spectral analysis, gravitational anomalies study, and a detailed visual study revealed it was cigar shaped with its surface made of lead with some trace elements. Its mass did not coincide with its size. It was speculated that it was hollow. Radio messages were sent, and lasers were trained on the object being modulated in an attempt to communicate. President Franklin wanted answers, but he was not getting them. When daybreak came, the President gave another news conference. It revealed little, for little was known. He did ask for calm; there was no apparent threat. He quoted President Franklin Roosevelt, giving him credit, The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. He was going to play the role of the strong leader staying at his post.

It had been a long night for the White House, the President’s favorite hockey team had lost in overtime. President Franklin went to bed for a nap in the bunker with instructions to be awakened for anything of consequence. After four hours, the President was woken up. Communications had been established but not two-way. The computers of the world were being hacked; all their data was being downloaded. All believed the hack was coming from the visiting satellite, although no links could be detected. The only way found to stop the data theft was to shut down the computers. MBI had halted the loss of their proprietary artificial intelligence software that they were developing by literally cutting the power cables. All supercomputers had multiple power backups. Total shutdown of a supercomputer was a serious thing. Data would be lost, and restarting to establish full operation took time and was expensive. The NSA, FBI, CIA, and all other government agencies along with private enterprises’ data were being downloaded. The President got a recommendation to shut down the entire system. The President had been previously briefed on the consequences of the loss of the Internet. Shutting down the system would stop all commerce, including local to international banking. Wall Street would stop as well as all markets worldwide. The economic losses would be in the millions per minute. Commerce, transportation, and communication would be halted. The world would be, in effect, shut down. Most wholesale as well as a lot of retail purchases, manufacturing, and trade were through the Internet.

All US military communication was breached, creating many defense and security problems. The President asked, If we shut down the system, what will happen when we turn it back on? Will the hacks continue? What are the computer capabilities of whatever that thing is in the sky?

Thomas answered, We have no answers to those questions.

Your guess?

NSA Secretary David Cupper said, We are screwed.

The President then asked, What are other countries doing?

David said, Those with a lot of secrets are scrambling to protect their data. Those with few secrets are watching and laughing at the major nations scrambling to hide their secrets.

I remember my mother telling me, if you have nothing that you are ashamed of, you will have no need for secrets. With no secrets, you will have no need to lie.

NSA Secretary David Cupper asked, Mister President, what do you want us to do?

Follow my mother’s advice, let us do nothing we are ashamed of. Since I became President, all of my secrets seem to be public knowledge. The media has created secrets for me that I did not know I had. How about you? Their computer technology appears so superior to ours. We are at their mercy. If we do not try to hide anything, then they will not have to dig hard and suspect we have great secrets.

The advisor asked, What about all of our government’s classified material, the CIA’s data?

By all means, they should act to protect their data within reason. I think their data should be considered in a historical content. My predecessors have made their beds, leaving a mess for me. I will leave my legacy to the future for judgment. If some of the old secrets were revealed, then maybe the media would have something bad to say about someone else, then they would get off my back.

Upon the pleading of the CIA Director, their efforts for secrecy could continue. They were taking extreme measures. The DOD had a problem shutting down many of their systems. Many drones would be lost without control. The DOD had multiple and redundant systems that were being simultaneously hacked. The DOD shut down many systems. Command and control as well as all communication would have to be reevaluated. Someone dubbed the space thing the Lead Thing. Not having a better moniker, it stuck.

The President stayed in the situation room, listening as panic gripped many. Some nations did little, only attempting to protect their highest security assets. Germany, France, and other EU nations seemed to not overact. Russia, China, Japan, as well as others seemed to take an attitude that we will be embarrassed, so will everybody else. Russia and China seemed to try to take advantage of the situation by trying to capture the downloads. There were surprises. WikiLeaks completely shut down their site. Great Britain totally went off the networks, communications and all; they panicked. It was discussed why the Brits acted so aggressively. Did they have a lot to hide, were they paranoid, or were they seeing something others were not seeing? President Franklin talked to the Prime Minister of Great Britain over a secure satellite phone. The Prime Minister acted very paranoid, not wanting to discuss the current situation. An aid mentioned to the President that the hacks were coming from a satellite. Nothing was secure.

The World Wide Web was running at its capacity, creating delays and dropping connections. It appeared that the Lead Thing in the sky had full control of the entire system. The CIA’s super secure, isolated information system was breached. Desperate measures were taken to stop the flow of data. The protectors of the US’s most secret secrets resorted to physically using wire cutters, isolating their systems’ components. The CIA reported that their system was not connected to the Internet, yet their system downloaded all their data. The hack was not through the Internet but an unknown connection that they could not identify. President Franklin watched in amazement. Some nations and their leaders took steps to isolate their countries, cutting the ties to World Wide Webb, while others took a wait-and-see attitude. The President was confused and bewildered. Countries, companies, and people were reacting in different ways. There seemed to be no pattern as to ideology, economic power, location, or alliances.

It stopped as quickly as it started. The Lead Thing just sat there. Nothing had been lost, just copied. All the physical damage had been done by man on his own equipment to protest their secrets. Civilization took a pause as all tried to access what had happened and the consequences. Commerce, communications, and finance took an unscheduled holiday. Some of the news networks tried to keep operating, becoming heroes trying to keep the people informed. There were great financial losses to governments and businesses. Those that panicked had the greatest losses. There was an increase in suicides that seemed to be by people in positions