finally, one day, a brave young male came out and made contact. Then, slowly, over several days, others joined in.”
“It's funny,” said Bates. “But I think patience is a sign of higher intelligence. And it seems this thing would wait centuries for us to give it some beryllium, if need be, when it could interrogate our facilities at CERN or the reactor at Indian Point to find out exactly how advanced our nuclear technology is. If it wants to know our strengths and weaknesses it could go out and probe them and we'd be oblivious, but no, it's asking politely.”
“Perhaps,” said Teller, “This is an example of intergalactic etiquette.”
Cathy laughed at the thought, saying, “So this is like the alien equivalent of not chewing with your mouth full, or keeping your elbows off the table?”
“It's something like that,” said Teller with a smile. “With anything disruptive like this, there is always bound to be some fear. That's only natural. But when people stop and look at how gentle the anomaly is, and how respectful it is, I think they'll realize there's nothing to fear.”
Anderson was falling asleep in his chair. He was trying to stay awake, but his eyelids clearly had other ideas.
Teller stood, saying, “It's time to hit the sack.”
“Yeah,” said Bates, stretching his arms and yawning.
Slowly, they disbanded, saying their good nights.
Finch turned the camera on the Navy SEALs working with a couple of the engineers to set up some more fast ropes running up to the intersection high overhead.
It was a counter-intuitive view. Teller and Cathy saw Finch's preoccupation with the soldiers and stopped to watch for a while. The soldiers had drilled anchor points into the concrete road beside the intersection and had thrown their ropes up inside the anomaly, watching them fall up toward the inverted slab above, well away from the tiny glowing core.
Several of the SEALs were upside down, ascending the ropes as they fell upwards toward the slab. They were carrying equipment down to the team already on the slab. At least, thought Teller, it was down from their perspective. But for him, it looked weird seeing the rope pulled taut from the ground up, only to go slack and loose above them as they slid still further upwards on an angle. Above them, below them – it was all a matter of perspective and Teller was so tired his head was starting to hurt trying to figure it out. It sure looked impressive, though.
He, Cathy and Finch talked idly for a few minutes as Finch set up the camera on a wide angle shot, leaving the back-up crew to film through till dawn.
Finch wandered off, talking about ordering additional equipment, leaving Teller and Cathy alone. They turned and started walking the hundred yards to the sleeping tents in the adjacent park.
“Do you really think it's friendly?” Cathy asked.
Teller hadn't actually used that word, but she was right, that was the implication, that the anomaly was peaceful. Far from the Hollywood blockbusters, mankind's first contact with an alien species appeared to be friendly.
“Yeah,” he said. “I think it is. And I think it is far more aware of us than we are of it, and it knows how difficult this is for us.”
Without looking down, Cathy reached out and took his hand in hers. Her fingers were warm. He responded, gently holding her hand.
“Are they like us?”
“I don't know,” said Teller honestly.
“Yes, you do. If anyone knows, you do.”
“It's all inference,” said Teller. “Guesswork, really. I suppose there would be similarities. Here on Earth, we have what's called evolutionary convergence, where things like eyes evolved fifteen to twenty different times, all independently, for the simple reason that eyes are so darn useful. So, could they have eyes? Based on how successful eyes are on Earth, I'd say, yes. But it would depend on how transparent their atmosphere is, I guess. Bats and cave fish have no need for eyes, so it's hard to know
“It's funny,” said Bates. “But I think patience is a sign of higher intelligence. And it seems this thing would wait centuries for us to give it some beryllium, if need be, when it could interrogate our facilities at CERN or the reactor at Indian Point to find out exactly how advanced our nuclear technology is. If it wants to know our strengths and weaknesses it could go out and probe them and we'd be oblivious, but no, it's asking politely.”
“Perhaps,” said Teller, “This is an example of intergalactic etiquette.”
Cathy laughed at the thought, saying, “So this is like the alien equivalent of not chewing with your mouth full, or keeping your elbows off the table?”
“It's something like that,” said Teller with a smile. “With anything disruptive like this, there is always bound to be some fear. That's only natural. But when people stop and look at how gentle the anomaly is, and how respectful it is, I think they'll realize there's nothing to fear.”
Anderson was falling asleep in his chair. He was trying to stay awake, but his eyelids clearly had other ideas.
Teller stood, saying, “It's time to hit the sack.”
“Yeah,” said Bates, stretching his arms and yawning.
Slowly, they disbanded, saying their good nights.
Finch turned the camera on the Navy SEALs working with a couple of the engineers to set up some more fast ropes running up to the intersection high overhead.
It was a counter-intuitive view. Teller and Cathy saw Finch's preoccupation with the soldiers and stopped to watch for a while. The soldiers had drilled anchor points into the concrete road beside the intersection and had thrown their ropes up inside the anomaly, watching them fall up toward the inverted slab above, well away from the tiny glowing core.
Several of the SEALs were upside down, ascending the ropes as they fell upwards toward the slab. They were carrying equipment down to the team already on the slab. At least, thought Teller, it was down from their perspective. But for him, it looked weird seeing the rope pulled taut from the ground up, only to go slack and loose above them as they slid still further upwards on an angle. Above them, below them – it was all a matter of perspective and Teller was so tired his head was starting to hurt trying to figure it out. It sure looked impressive, though.
He, Cathy and Finch talked idly for a few minutes as Finch set up the camera on a wide angle shot, leaving the back-up crew to film through till dawn.
Finch wandered off, talking about ordering additional equipment, leaving Teller and Cathy alone. They turned and started walking the hundred yards to the sleeping tents in the adjacent park.
“Do you really think it's friendly?” Cathy asked.
Teller hadn't actually used that word, but she was right, that was the implication, that the anomaly was peaceful. Far from the Hollywood blockbusters, mankind's first contact with an alien species appeared to be friendly.
“Yeah,” he said. “I think it is. And I think it is far more aware of us than we are of it, and it knows how difficult this is for us.”
Without looking down, Cathy reached out and took his hand in hers. Her fingers were warm. He responded, gently holding her hand.
“Are they like us?”
“I don't know,” said Teller honestly.
“Yes, you do. If anyone knows, you do.”
“It's all inference,” said Teller. “Guesswork, really. I suppose there would be similarities. Here on Earth, we have what's called evolutionary convergence, where things like eyes evolved fifteen to twenty different times, all independently, for the simple reason that eyes are so darn useful. So, could they have eyes? Based on how successful eyes are on Earth, I'd say, yes. But it would depend on how transparent their atmosphere is, I guess. Bats and cave fish have no need for eyes, so it's hard to know
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