PuristLove
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2000
- Messages
- 1,694
The Assumption
"Damnit, I'm coming," Colonel Craig Anderson rolled over in his bed. He swung his legs off and slipped his feet into a pair of slippers. The cool air caused him to shiver. His wife always turned the air conditioning down to about sixty degrees at night. He thought she was trying to freeze his balls of but she claimed that she just got hot. They'd been fighting over the air for nearly twenty years.
He pulled a pair of sweat pants on over his boxer shorts and made his way to the door. It was dark and although he was of course, familiar with the house, he still stubbed a toe on the chair. He knew the thing moved around once the lights were turned off. It managed to get him on every single late night trip to the bathroom.
The doorbell rang again, this time it sounded a bit more insistent. "I'm coming. Ring that thing again and you'll wish you hadn't," he barked this time, then shot a guilty glance over his shoulder. If the doorbell hadn't woken her up, his cursing had.
He opened the door to a baby faced young man, dressed in Class B's, standing there with his finger poised over the doorbell. He appeared to be counting.
"Well?" The colonel surprised him. The young man looked like a dog that's been caught messing on the rug. "What the hell do you want?"
"Sir, Sorry Sir. Didn't mean to wake you up Sir," he seemed at a loss for the correct words. He snapped to attention, and stood staring into space.
"Oh relax with that nonsense. Its too damned late at night for that crap. Now will you please explain why you dragged me out of my nice warm bed, and the dream I was having about a twenty year old blonde," he was still irritated, but he didn't want to scare the kid. They're letting them in so young these days, he thought to himself.
"Sorry Sir," he shifted into parade rest, his arms folded behind his back, "You're needed at the base Sir."
"What for? I'm off duty until 0800 hours. I'm still on holiday," he doubted the young officer could answer his question, but asked anyways. More out of frustration with the government he worked for than anything.
"I haven't been told Sir. I do believe you were telephoned though. A message was left on your answering machine," the lieutenant appeared to relax a little now that he had realized the Colonel wasn't the monster that the rumors made him out to be.
"I always turn the ringer off when I'm home. Not gonna make it easy for those bastards to drag me away from the house," he realized he was complaining again. But he was fed up really. One more year until retirement, he told himself, One more year and they don't own me anymore.
"Yes Sir, of course Sir," the lieutenant's face showed the slightest expression of annoyance. As if he wished the Colonel would hurry up and dismiss him.
"Hold on just a minute. Let me throw on some clothes. Mind if I ride with you? Alice was gonna drop me off in the morning. She needs the car," he knew the lieutenant wouldn't say no. He'd been trained to say yes to anything coming down from above. How well the Colonel knew that to be true. He grinnned.
"Of course sir, I'll be waiting in the car if that's alright? Its chilly out tonight," he looked to the Colonel, eyes begging for permission.
"Yes, yes, go ahead. Sorry, shouldn't have made you stand out in the cold all night. Be right with you," he shut the door. Taking his time, he put on the uniform. Everything was polished, shined and neatly folded already of course. But he liked to do it slowly, there was something comforting in the ritual of putting on his uniform.
"Alice, they need me down at the base. I'll see you tonight honey," he leaned over and kissed his wife on the cheek. He hoped she had enjoyed their vacation. The poor woman didn't know she was marrying the United States Air Force when she married me.
"Uh huh," she moaned her understanding, still half-asleep.
The short car ride to the base was silent.
When they arrived he went directly to his Lieutenant Colonel's office. "Do you want to tell me why the hell you dragged me out of bed, away from my vacation, at three o' clock in the fucking morning?" He'd actually calmed down from his initial ire but felt it necessary to lash out anyways. Jack might think he'd gone soft if he did anything else.
"Sorry Sir, its just, we have something interesting in orbit," he smiled back at Craig. He knew the old man wasn't really that mad, "We needed you to take a look at it and make the decision of whether or not to call the President."
"How big is it? Show me," he grew a little excited. Something big, that had slipped in past the astronomers was interesting. Those guys seemed to know the location of every piece of grit in the solar system.
Lieutenant Colonel Jack Parsiss reached over to his computer and clicked on one of the icons. He punched in a few commands and passcodes and then motioned for Craig to lean over and look.
"That thing can't be a hundred yards across. Most of that will burn up in the atmosphere. What the hell do you mean call the President? And why in the hell did you wake me up? This is a job for the Montgomery County Gazette, not the Air Force. It’s a falling star Jack," he really was pissed off now. Sometimes he couldn't believe the levels of incompetence these guys showed.
"No, this is different," he clicked on something else and punched in another password. Ignoring the Colonel's anger entirely, he simply pointed.
What he had brought up on the screen was a picture taken from a satellite. And what it showed caused the Colonel's jaw to drop.
The rock in question, was just that, a rock. But it was covered in wires, tubing and blinking lights. They made no sense at all, seemingly a random configuration of technology. But they were definitely that, technology. Something intelligent had built this thing.
"How long has that thing been out there?" He asked when he had finally recovered from shock.
"We noticed it about two hours ago. Before that, there was no indication of its existence at all. It just sort of popped up out of nowhere," Jack's voice hung between awed and frightened, "And we've been charting its orbit. Its coming in closer. Its going to land."
"I'll be on the phone with the President," he was already on his way out the door, "Don't tell anyone, and make some effort to contain anyone that already knows. The press cannot get ahold of this."
Over the course of the next eight hours thousands of preparations were made. Attempts were made to contact the ship by radio, television, flashing lights, and numerous other methods of communication.
When these went unanswered a battalion of soldier's was mobilized, and sent to the field in Virginia where the rock's course would be carrying it. A squadron of fighter planes was armed and sent to circle the air above the landing spot.
There was a team of specialists assembled. Scientists, psychologists and linguists, who would attempt to communicate with whoever or whatever was driving the thing.
Craig flew out by helicopter to meet the President. They stood side by side as the thing slowly settled to the Earth.
The air was tense with nervous energy as the few people who knew what was going on watched. The tiny group of people gathered here in the field for the single most important event in the history of the planet waited with apprehension. Had they come to study us? To make war? To offer us technological trade? The answers to humanities questions about the universe?
The Colonel was a cynic and feared the worst. His mind raced with nightmares of being enslaved, or simply destroyed. But to his credit he stood valiantly by the President, unmoving, as ever so gently the enormous rock came to rest in the dust, amidst the scarecrows and rows upon rows of corn.
Everything was completely and utterly still for a moment. The lights on the ship flashed on and off, blinking in some sort of pattern, fast, slow, slow, fast. After about thirty seconds of doing this, as quietly as it had landed, the Alien Rock lifted back into the air.
No one moved or made a sound. They sat in silence as they watched it disappear back into the sky.
When it was no longer even a visible speck, several of the scientist's raced for the communications van.
They sent the following message, in every form, language and code known to man out into the space where the rock had gone.
"Who are you? What do you want with us?"
It was a long eight minutes before they eventually received a reply.
I AM. NOTHING.
Quickly and furiously they encoded a new message, and beamed it out amongst the stars, "Please clarify. Do you mean that you are nothingness, or simply nothing to us?"
The response was instant this time.
I MEAN THAT I AM ME AND THAT I WANT NOTHING WITH YOU. SORRY MY REPLY TOOK SO LONG BEFORE. YOUR PRIMITIVE VERBAL COMMUNICATION WAS DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND.
"Why did you come here if you want nothing to do with us? And why did you land only to leave so quickly?"
I AM SEARCHING FOR INTELLIGENT LIFE. I LEFT BECAUSE I DID NOT FIND IT. GOODBYE.
The satellites indicated that the rock had passed outside of Earth's atmosphere and was heading away from its gravitational pull.
"Please don't go. We have many things to ask you. Thing's about life and the universe and science. Please come back," The scientist's were desperate to retain communication with it. All of the fear from earlier had been replaced by a new fear. That the only other form of life they had ever encountered in the universe had rejected them.
SORRY. I AM IN A HURRY. THERE ARE TOO MANY PLANETS TO EXPLORE FOR ME TO REMAIN ANY LONGER.
By the time they had received this transmission, the rock had disappeared. No trace, no energy disturbance. It was simply gone.
Colonel Craig Anderson watched as all around him grown men shook their heads. One of the scientist's had actually begun to cry.
The single most significant event in my career, he chuckled then. A big, healthy laugh, I hope Alice has something ready to eat when I get home.
------------------
Fantasy is a natural human activity. It certainly does not destory or even insult Reason; and it does not either blunt the appetite for, nor obscure the perception of scientific varacity. On the contrary, the keener and clearer the reason, the better fantasy it will make. If men were ever in a state in which they did not want to know or coulnd not perceive truth, then Fantasy would languish until they were cured. If they ever get into that state, Fantasy would perish, and become Morbid Delusion.
-J.R.R.Tolkien On Fairy-stories
[This message has been edited by PuristLove (edited 05 November 2001).]
"Damnit, I'm coming," Colonel Craig Anderson rolled over in his bed. He swung his legs off and slipped his feet into a pair of slippers. The cool air caused him to shiver. His wife always turned the air conditioning down to about sixty degrees at night. He thought she was trying to freeze his balls of but she claimed that she just got hot. They'd been fighting over the air for nearly twenty years.
He pulled a pair of sweat pants on over his boxer shorts and made his way to the door. It was dark and although he was of course, familiar with the house, he still stubbed a toe on the chair. He knew the thing moved around once the lights were turned off. It managed to get him on every single late night trip to the bathroom.
The doorbell rang again, this time it sounded a bit more insistent. "I'm coming. Ring that thing again and you'll wish you hadn't," he barked this time, then shot a guilty glance over his shoulder. If the doorbell hadn't woken her up, his cursing had.
He opened the door to a baby faced young man, dressed in Class B's, standing there with his finger poised over the doorbell. He appeared to be counting.
"Well?" The colonel surprised him. The young man looked like a dog that's been caught messing on the rug. "What the hell do you want?"
"Sir, Sorry Sir. Didn't mean to wake you up Sir," he seemed at a loss for the correct words. He snapped to attention, and stood staring into space.
"Oh relax with that nonsense. Its too damned late at night for that crap. Now will you please explain why you dragged me out of my nice warm bed, and the dream I was having about a twenty year old blonde," he was still irritated, but he didn't want to scare the kid. They're letting them in so young these days, he thought to himself.
"Sorry Sir," he shifted into parade rest, his arms folded behind his back, "You're needed at the base Sir."
"What for? I'm off duty until 0800 hours. I'm still on holiday," he doubted the young officer could answer his question, but asked anyways. More out of frustration with the government he worked for than anything.
"I haven't been told Sir. I do believe you were telephoned though. A message was left on your answering machine," the lieutenant appeared to relax a little now that he had realized the Colonel wasn't the monster that the rumors made him out to be.
"I always turn the ringer off when I'm home. Not gonna make it easy for those bastards to drag me away from the house," he realized he was complaining again. But he was fed up really. One more year until retirement, he told himself, One more year and they don't own me anymore.
"Yes Sir, of course Sir," the lieutenant's face showed the slightest expression of annoyance. As if he wished the Colonel would hurry up and dismiss him.
"Hold on just a minute. Let me throw on some clothes. Mind if I ride with you? Alice was gonna drop me off in the morning. She needs the car," he knew the lieutenant wouldn't say no. He'd been trained to say yes to anything coming down from above. How well the Colonel knew that to be true. He grinnned.
"Of course sir, I'll be waiting in the car if that's alright? Its chilly out tonight," he looked to the Colonel, eyes begging for permission.
"Yes, yes, go ahead. Sorry, shouldn't have made you stand out in the cold all night. Be right with you," he shut the door. Taking his time, he put on the uniform. Everything was polished, shined and neatly folded already of course. But he liked to do it slowly, there was something comforting in the ritual of putting on his uniform.
"Alice, they need me down at the base. I'll see you tonight honey," he leaned over and kissed his wife on the cheek. He hoped she had enjoyed their vacation. The poor woman didn't know she was marrying the United States Air Force when she married me.
"Uh huh," she moaned her understanding, still half-asleep.
The short car ride to the base was silent.
When they arrived he went directly to his Lieutenant Colonel's office. "Do you want to tell me why the hell you dragged me out of bed, away from my vacation, at three o' clock in the fucking morning?" He'd actually calmed down from his initial ire but felt it necessary to lash out anyways. Jack might think he'd gone soft if he did anything else.
"Sorry Sir, its just, we have something interesting in orbit," he smiled back at Craig. He knew the old man wasn't really that mad, "We needed you to take a look at it and make the decision of whether or not to call the President."
"How big is it? Show me," he grew a little excited. Something big, that had slipped in past the astronomers was interesting. Those guys seemed to know the location of every piece of grit in the solar system.
Lieutenant Colonel Jack Parsiss reached over to his computer and clicked on one of the icons. He punched in a few commands and passcodes and then motioned for Craig to lean over and look.
"That thing can't be a hundred yards across. Most of that will burn up in the atmosphere. What the hell do you mean call the President? And why in the hell did you wake me up? This is a job for the Montgomery County Gazette, not the Air Force. It’s a falling star Jack," he really was pissed off now. Sometimes he couldn't believe the levels of incompetence these guys showed.
"No, this is different," he clicked on something else and punched in another password. Ignoring the Colonel's anger entirely, he simply pointed.
What he had brought up on the screen was a picture taken from a satellite. And what it showed caused the Colonel's jaw to drop.
The rock in question, was just that, a rock. But it was covered in wires, tubing and blinking lights. They made no sense at all, seemingly a random configuration of technology. But they were definitely that, technology. Something intelligent had built this thing.
"How long has that thing been out there?" He asked when he had finally recovered from shock.
"We noticed it about two hours ago. Before that, there was no indication of its existence at all. It just sort of popped up out of nowhere," Jack's voice hung between awed and frightened, "And we've been charting its orbit. Its coming in closer. Its going to land."
"I'll be on the phone with the President," he was already on his way out the door, "Don't tell anyone, and make some effort to contain anyone that already knows. The press cannot get ahold of this."
Over the course of the next eight hours thousands of preparations were made. Attempts were made to contact the ship by radio, television, flashing lights, and numerous other methods of communication.
When these went unanswered a battalion of soldier's was mobilized, and sent to the field in Virginia where the rock's course would be carrying it. A squadron of fighter planes was armed and sent to circle the air above the landing spot.
There was a team of specialists assembled. Scientists, psychologists and linguists, who would attempt to communicate with whoever or whatever was driving the thing.
Craig flew out by helicopter to meet the President. They stood side by side as the thing slowly settled to the Earth.
The air was tense with nervous energy as the few people who knew what was going on watched. The tiny group of people gathered here in the field for the single most important event in the history of the planet waited with apprehension. Had they come to study us? To make war? To offer us technological trade? The answers to humanities questions about the universe?
The Colonel was a cynic and feared the worst. His mind raced with nightmares of being enslaved, or simply destroyed. But to his credit he stood valiantly by the President, unmoving, as ever so gently the enormous rock came to rest in the dust, amidst the scarecrows and rows upon rows of corn.
Everything was completely and utterly still for a moment. The lights on the ship flashed on and off, blinking in some sort of pattern, fast, slow, slow, fast. After about thirty seconds of doing this, as quietly as it had landed, the Alien Rock lifted back into the air.
No one moved or made a sound. They sat in silence as they watched it disappear back into the sky.
When it was no longer even a visible speck, several of the scientist's raced for the communications van.
They sent the following message, in every form, language and code known to man out into the space where the rock had gone.
"Who are you? What do you want with us?"
It was a long eight minutes before they eventually received a reply.
I AM. NOTHING.
Quickly and furiously they encoded a new message, and beamed it out amongst the stars, "Please clarify. Do you mean that you are nothingness, or simply nothing to us?"
The response was instant this time.
I MEAN THAT I AM ME AND THAT I WANT NOTHING WITH YOU. SORRY MY REPLY TOOK SO LONG BEFORE. YOUR PRIMITIVE VERBAL COMMUNICATION WAS DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND.
"Why did you come here if you want nothing to do with us? And why did you land only to leave so quickly?"
I AM SEARCHING FOR INTELLIGENT LIFE. I LEFT BECAUSE I DID NOT FIND IT. GOODBYE.
The satellites indicated that the rock had passed outside of Earth's atmosphere and was heading away from its gravitational pull.
"Please don't go. We have many things to ask you. Thing's about life and the universe and science. Please come back," The scientist's were desperate to retain communication with it. All of the fear from earlier had been replaced by a new fear. That the only other form of life they had ever encountered in the universe had rejected them.
SORRY. I AM IN A HURRY. THERE ARE TOO MANY PLANETS TO EXPLORE FOR ME TO REMAIN ANY LONGER.
By the time they had received this transmission, the rock had disappeared. No trace, no energy disturbance. It was simply gone.
Colonel Craig Anderson watched as all around him grown men shook their heads. One of the scientist's had actually begun to cry.
The single most significant event in my career, he chuckled then. A big, healthy laugh, I hope Alice has something ready to eat when I get home.
------------------
Fantasy is a natural human activity. It certainly does not destory or even insult Reason; and it does not either blunt the appetite for, nor obscure the perception of scientific varacity. On the contrary, the keener and clearer the reason, the better fantasy it will make. If men were ever in a state in which they did not want to know or coulnd not perceive truth, then Fantasy would languish until they were cured. If they ever get into that state, Fantasy would perish, and become Morbid Delusion.
-J.R.R.Tolkien On Fairy-stories
[This message has been edited by PuristLove (edited 05 November 2001).]
