The Guess
| 01 June 2010
Dedicated to my niece Rebecca. May you heal quickly, go out and conquer the Universe, or maybe just the galaxy!
Chapter 1
The First Hurdle
Becky stood out on the tarmac, patiently waiting. She wasn't sure how quickly she actually wished this to go, but here she was. Yes here she was. Becky's hands shook and she consciously tried to calm down. Calm down!
A stir started in the crowd behind her. Becky looked up and out at the southern sky and just where they told her it would be, something appeared. Here we go. Becky straightened up, adjusted her top and tried to appear calm but interested.
The ship got larger and larger, quietly slowed down and landed right in front of the girl. Becky had been called upon to "visit" with - she didn't know exactly what - but some form of galactic government-all because of her dissertation.
That had taken so long to write, so much research and not much encouragement from her adviser. Well, yes, it was an interesting theory but a bit far fetched, don't you think? After all, no real evidence exists that there is life out there in the galaxy, let alone make any conclusions about it. Well, Becky did make some conclusions and now she had been asked to present them.
The ship settled down and the door slid open. Or maybe it was the cargo hatch, like SciFi shows often had; the way in. Becky took another deep breath and started to walk toward the open portal. The crowd's murmurs had increased in volume but Becky ignored them, she was too intent and too worried about her own actions. Flanked on each side of her, soldiers solemnly walked the last hundred yards. Neither had spoken much to her, they too were intent on their job. Becky was glad they were there but wondered if it would really make any difference, if...
Shaking her head to remove that thought, Becky stopped her approach and waited at the foot of the ramp. The instructions had been simple, wait until the ambassador emerged. So she waited and quite quickly the emissary came out. He (or she, it wasn't clear) sort of flowed out. Long white robes and a sober expression that were a bit intimidating, but when the alien reached the bottom of the ramp a bright smile erupted and its hand of white came out of the robe in an offer to shake.
Grateful, Becky returned the smile and said her first words in Galactic Lingua- “Boton Masori, se gafra demanta.” (Welcome ambassador, I am glad to meet you.) Becky felt she had done that well and shook the offered hand. She had been required to learn the language rather quickly. With much help from her government and her parents she felt she could get by if the aliens would be patient. She actually thought they would be, given how they had approached her and offered the invite.
Only a month ago Becky had just finished her paper and submitted it to her adviser. She was very satisfied but again her adviser was not too impressed, though she had hit all the benchmarks of the original research and could now look forward to some kind of career. From there the paper made its rounds.
The dean of the Anthropology department at UA had caught the attention of the Galactic Center. On a cable access channel he had referred to Becky’s work. The professor wanted to show off the diversity of the PHD candidates and Becky's work showed that very well, maybe too well according to her adviser. But from that small remark, it was enough to engage what Becky imagined as a bored researcher, late one night in some galactic university library. Somehow it sparked just enough interest to check out her paper and cause a ruckus in their anthropology department, or whatever they called a study of all intelligent beings.
Earth had been monitored for quite some time. That data along with countless other worlds was stored in some library, perhaps never to be looked at again, unless something caught the computer’s attention. Aliens had long ago agreed that each planet and solar system had a right to its own life and evolution but the need to collect data was natural to most species. Indeed even the intrusive analysis was done on a frequent basis, but so many planets had not survived due to “natural” and “unnatural” causes the academics thought survival and maturity of a specie was hit and miss.
That is what she had written about, the development of an intelligent specie. Becky had hypothesized that there were many intelligent species and that if they had "made it" - meaning survived a decent amount of time in galactic terms that they would have a certain amount of traits and achievements in common. Further, she speculated, that if disasters did not befall a planet that most species would grow up and reach out to the rest of the galaxy, despite any missteps along the way. It was much like human children that learned to speak, walk and function adequately in adult society despite most of the crap that was thrown at them or withheld.
While many had studied specie development, it was a chaotic science that had eluded any kind of order. The individual planets and the disasters that destroyed them were so diverse it was thought impossible to make any kind of general statement, just accept that most would not survive. The constraint of wishing to honor difference had impeded the progress of a developmental theory. Becky had filled in the gaps and had the courage to say what was essential in cultural practice to become successful.
So, Earth had received a signal, (finally at least for many SETI members). This signal was quickly decoded (no one thought it was meant to be much of a mystery) and Becky was named, and requested to come have a visit. Everyone jumped, many wanted to intercede and go themselves, but the galactic invitation was for Becky and Becky alone.
The president had her over to the White House and discussed the matter with the young woman. She was only 26 years old and now had such responsibility. Her parents were afraid yet wildly proud. No matter what happened, even if she didn't go (which may have been the best as far as they were concerned) their daughter was a HERO! Becky was honored. Her one regret was leaving her cat-Bumpkin.
Becky had never liked cats until she met the tiny stray, just a puff of fur hidden under a bush. Becky liked to take a short cut to her high school through the River Park and one day, while leaning over to tie a shoe had spotted the ball which turned out to be an impossibly small kitten that was alive but not by much. From that moment on, they were inseparable, first to nurse the kitten back to life and then the growing friendship.
In the first weeks, Bumpkin would ride on Becky’s shoulder as she roamed around the house, content to snuggle and trust her human partner not to drop her. Soon, though, Bumpkin grew and would wait for Becky on the bed. She was always there, someone to talk to, someone to cuddle. The warm body pressing up against her hip as she studied, purring away; the cat always brought immense peace to Becky’s chaotic schedule. Becky had always taken her friend with her, even through eight years of college. She tried to ask, please, Bumpkin takes up little room. But the advisors just shook their heads, what if......? Always what if? She held back her exasperation; they were only trying to protect her.
Leaving her family and friends would be difficult but she was striking out on her own, it was exciting. The cat, though, was an anchor to Earth, pure, loyal and loving. The last night Becky slept wrapped around the little body, so soft and warm and the reassuring purr. When Becky finally was ready to leave, the cat wove in and out around her ankles, purring madly. It was difficult to keep moving.
A noise and shuffle behind Becky almost made her jump- THE PRESIDENT! She quickly bowed and introduced the ambassador to the American President, her president. The ambassador was strictly polite but made no move to linger. There were more introductions of dignitaries from other countries and the UN, but rather quickly Becky was escorted on board. Her original escorts, the military guard, were the last people she saw and as the huge door came down she waved a small goodbye to her short term protectors. Now Becky was alone.
Chapter 2
The Journey Out to a Space Station
The ambassador gently led Becky to her quarters, leaving her with an attendant, Charo. Charo appeared to be a female. She explained the various devices and furniture about the room. It was not so small as to be claustrophobic and had some interesting but universal (?) applications- the main one being the waste disposal unit, a bit intrusive yet quite efficient. There was a window that looked out on Earth that could opaque to a mirror for grooming purposes. Some of the other devices Becky felt had no use for her and seemed to be shown to her to prevent accidents.
After the tour, Charo left her alone to get settled, saying she would return for first meal. That unnerved the girl a little, but she figured it was unlikely they would mess up on that after all the arrangements that had been made. Charo, herself, was quite stiff. A skinny one though darker than the ambassador, she seemed even more aloof, no smile, even no direct eye contact. Becky hadn’t thought she might be lonely.
Sitting down on the bed, Becky let out a deep breath. The president had been quite surprised not to have been engaged more by the ambassador and all the other dignitaries were a bit pushed out of shape. Becky wondered at the wisdom of such a road, but then what did these “people” have to worry about on that score? She unpacked, used the toilet thing, washed her face and sat back in one of the room’s chairs to wait for Charo.
The first meal turned out to be rather boring, in terms of the taste of the food. Perhaps they were being careful, but Becky hoped they might get bolder at some point in her journey or else this would get old. She sat at the ship captain’s table along with the ambassador and Charo. The captain and crew were closer to human than the ambassador but were bald and their skin a more translucent red color which went well with the uniform. Conversation was slow and difficult for no matter how much you study, experience tells you how to use a language efficiently and the live lessons had just begun. Charo turned out to be a great deal of help; evidently she had studied English and could help Becky with her translations.
The rest of the journey was quiet, the highlights mostly coming from the daily routine with Charo: getting to know the ship, the galley, the crew and the language. The ambassador seemed to feel contact with Becky was not too necessary. Maybe he/she had a lot of work to do. Charo remained stiff, barely speaking more than was absolutely necessary. She would show Becky some inane thing and then stand back as if she were intrusive.
Becky grew more and more lonely. She woke up one night curled up around-nothing and started to cry. The next day she decided to change something, she decided to confront Charo.
“Charo” Becky started slowly. “Do I bother you?” Now Becky had to wait while Charo recovered from the direct question, hopefully said correctly...
“No, mam, No.” Charo ended so softly Becky had to lean closer. The mam honorific had turned out to be universal.
“Charo, what is it?”
“Mam?”
“Are you afraid of me?” Becky sat down, pointing to the other chair in her living room. Charo slowly sat down. “I’m just as overwhelmed. You’ve met aliens before, right?”
“It is my job. It takes me to many places and I meet many dignitaries.” Charo stopped and was quiet, putting her hands in her lap. Becky noticed for the first time Charo had four fingers on each hand and a beautiful ring made of an iridescent green that sparkled as it moved.
“Charo, how lovely.” Becky leaned over to look closer.
Surprised, Charo looked down at her hand. “My parent (their word was genderless) gave it to me when I was assigned to the ambassador.” She looked and spoke sadly as she talked. She was lovely in her own way. A bald head but smooth and perfectly round. Her face was symmetrical but the eyes were quite far apart and a bright blue like a flame was behind them. I must stop thinking “she”; there may be no gender in her species.
Looking down at Charo’s hand again Becky asked. “It is beautiful, what is it made of?”
“A rock from the oceans of my world. It is said to carry the heart of the one who gives it to you.”
“You miss …your parent, a lot?”
“Yes.”
“When will you see …your parent again?”
Charo brightened up, “Perhaps at the Space Station. Oto said that would try to get ticket. I do hope so.”
“So do I. I would like to meet Oto, must be someone very dear to give a ring such as this.”
Charo, for the first time- smiled.
The rest of the trip went much better. Charo and Becky became good friends, sharing confidences (as much as that was possible) and Becky came to rely on the quiet alien very much.
It was almost sad to have the journey come to an end, but soon they were arriving at the station- BOTON ON (Welcome One).
Chapter 3
Presenting the Paper
Becky was rushed out of their ship onto the station. The press of the Galactic Center considered this quite exciting. That was a bit intimidating; Becky had hoped for communing with fellow academics and hadn’t considered she’d be a celebrity like she had become back home. She had rather enjoyed the quiet journey and had almost forgotten the frenzy with stardom.
Charo helped her enter a tube system and they were off to the far side of the station. There they found more quarters and Becky gratefully settled in once again. Tomorrow she would present her paper. This time, Becky ate in her room taking advantage of some control in the food dispensers ordering up a wonderfully spicy dish. Taking a few antacid tablets, she fell asleep checking her notes, skimming over her paper and reading (with the help of the computer) the buzz of her on the station. Not everyone thought she was the “Star” to be adored. Well, that wasn’t new but here was so much larger than the campus back in Tucson. Go slowly, breathe deep, and look straight in their eyes.
Early the next day, Charo knocked on the door. Becky was up way before that, having eaten a bit more traditionally bland morning entrée, showered and dressed ready to go. The shower was more on the order of a sonic shower, but it gave a good feeling of cleanliness and so was very welcomed. Becky appreciated the luxuriant quarters that contained a living room with a dining area, a bedroom and bath. She started to feel like a real grownup!
Charo tried to brief Becky, but no amount of preparation could have sufficed. The room they entered was large with a huge table in the center. All manner of aliens sat or floated or stood around the table. Some had familiar characteristics of earth humans and animals, some bore no relation at all to anything she had seen before. All watched Becky.
Straightening up, Becky strode to the end of the table with the obvious podium. Good, something familiar. She stood in front of it, put down her papers, looked up and started speaking. In this instance, she had been told, it was best to speak your native language with an interpreter, lessening the amount of misunderstanding.
“Fellow beings (she liked that, it was how she felt) I would like to talk to you today about my research.” The aliens in front of her were avidly listening to their translators and were looking in various directions. When the first sentence was finished, they returned their eyes to her. “The premise of my paper deals with the idea that in order for an intelligent specie to survive, they must have achieved certain developmental milestones, similar to human children as they grow. Human children are born very different from their counterparts, the adults. They are given a number of years to take in experience, process it and then mature in spurts. This allows the environment to have its influence along with the genetic components within each child. Each developmental stage is important, must be followed in a certain order but not necessarily in a certain time. I hypothesized that such a developmental road map could be applied to species as well as individuals and that road map would have similarities despite the vastly different planets and individuals on those planets.”
Now, some of the aliens began to stir and one spoke out. Through the translator, Becky heard the comment. “All the planets are so different and the cultures so opposed how could they make similar decisions? The diversity make each solution unique!” The last part included a slap on the table with many aliens joining in apparent agreement.
Becky smiled, hooo boy, how quickly they got to the meat of the controversy. She had read some of the work of these individuals. They had concentrated on the differences and couldn’t seem to fathom anything universal. “Yes, of course you are all different, but you have some things in common. For instance, each individual, no matter how smart could not solve all the specie’s problems to stay alive. Planets are just too big and complex for that.” They were restless but not speaking “Instead, little by little, individuals learn the process of working together to pool their resources and solve the problems. The resources being material things or the mental processes that pieced together get better and better at taming nature and making time for other musings that lead to going off planet and ensuring the survival for millennia instead of years. It is the basic idea of individuals to groups to villages to civilizations to one planet that leads to these advancements. Just like the basic idea of evolution is “whatever works” and becomes more of a way to explain what happened rather than a force to reckon with; so the joining of peoples, by force or in a voluntarily manner, that leads to a pooling of minds. The pooling of minds is the ONLY way to solve these immense problems.” As the translator got through her speech, Becky watched the aliens.
The same alien who had spoken up before starting talking again. “What about the Angorians, they took fifteen times longer to get off their planet than their neighbor Korat, and even then they only made a colony on moon.”
“Yes, and the Cheshire’s had a colony in another solar system in half the Korat’s time, what about them?”
“Well, as I said the time it takes would .....” Becky tried to answer but soon many more were speaking.
“And the Ocicat? They made their slaves do the intellectual work which led to a revolution gone wrong and the planet blew up!”
“Yeah, you consider the Kurilian? Kurilian join together in one mind and then were attacked and destroyed by raiders?”
“Or how about the Sumxu slaughtering anyone who deviated from their “plan” and then an asteroid destroyed them?”
And so the meeting went. Amidst much arguing, where Becky could not get in a word, it was decided to adjourn and meet again the next cycle which here was about twenty eight hours away.
The next day the same confusion occurred, Becky would start to talk and she would be interrupted and the meeting would degenerate into a loud buzz. After the third day of this noise, Becky was ready to give up. They clearly weren’t interested in even discussing her theories let alone trying to understand them. The ambassador even took over her place at the podium and called order.
“Please, please we must have some order. While it is obvious that Dr. Hartley’s ideas are perhaps too difficult to take in, we must listen to what she has to say. I suggest we adjourn and come back next cycle when we are more focused.” With that the aliens filed out of the meeting chamber.
Becky sat in her room. The Ambassador’s attitude was disturbing. No one seemed interested let alone supportive any of her hypothesis. Why did she come here, why was she invited? Charo knocked on her door sounding anxious.
Opening the door, Becky didn’t even smile. She had tried hard to keep up a good attitude, especially because Charo could be so withdrawn, but the past week had been too much and she just opened the door, turned around and sat down in one of the chairs. Charo closed the store and started talking excitedly.
“Miss Hartley, oh Miss Hartley, Professor Barnhardt here for you.” He/she seemed very impressed... ”And Oto here on station, do you mind I go meet when I show in professor?”
“Oh, I am so glad for you. Who did you say was here?”
“Professor Barnhardt, he most renowned Hioto (Hioto is the word for the doctor of all specie in the galaxy) in the Galactic Core. He set up monitoring system that came to your paper. Hioto very important. Oto would tell me professor hold answer to opening universe, brining more people. We need more people.” Charo said in one breath.
“Why do you need more people?”
“There are so little of us. Very few make it out of their solar system.”
That surprised Becky, seeing all the aliens in the meeting; she had the impression there were plenty. That was probably why they were fighting so much.
“Why does the professor want to see me?” Becky was thinking this was one more to chastise her on her theories. Charo did not look like he/she knew “Oh, let him in.” Becky stood up.
Charo opened the door and motioned for the professor to enter. While she wasn’t sure she decided the professor was a he. He was smaller than most aliens Becky had seen so far with a wild, brillo pad hair of white, great green eyes that seemed to sparkle and a tiny round hole of a mouth. He slowly entered the room; Charo did the introductions.
“Madaha Barnhardt, a Dono Becky Hartley. Dono Hartley a Madaha Barnhardt.” (Professor Barnhardt is Dr. Becky Hartley. Dr. Hartley is Professor Barnhardt). The professor bowed deeply and then looked into Becky’s eyes, smiling at her, and offered his hand. Becky, smiling back, took his hand and shook it. He at least had five fingers even if they were greener than she had seen anywhere on a person or alien. Motioning for the professor to sit in the other chair, Becky sat down once more. Charo made her goodbyes and left the room.
The silence lasted a bit long and then the professor began to speak. “Well, how liking so far?” Grateful, and surprised the professor spoke in English but hesitant to answer the question, Becky struggled with an answer. He chuckled a bit. “Giving you trouble, I see. These encounters difficult?”
“Why do they argue so much? I barely got to talk at all. With the translators, I talk even less.” Becky held her hands up in surrender.
“Yes, there is passion for our galaxy.” Becky sat back let out her breath. “But galaxy needs help, child, you are progress and that is why you here.” He finished by leaning over a bit and bumping her knee. This surprised the earth girl.
“So, what an idea, so RADICAL.” Barnhardt said that softly and Becky tensed again.
“Well, on earth, my adviser thought it was a bit presumptuous, assuming there was other life in the galaxy, though most admit the odds are good. The idea that civilizations would go through stages of development, though, was not such a leap. We do that to almost everything.”
“Yes, we, too, tend to on each planet, but distances between so large and the creatures so different-as you have seen. It is hard to think of unifying principal.”
“Well, maybe they are correct,” she indicated with her head the direction of the meeting chamber, “Maybe they are all too different. I didn’t know that before.” Becky hung her head low and spoke in a whisper. This had been a lot to handle.
“Now, now, dear put strength in you shoulders. Your leap could save us all.”
Becky raised her head and looked into those huge eyes. “What, what do you mean?”
“Looking back through large amount of research, there is merit in what you say; a general pattern of steps for the intelligent to stand up in galaxy. Each one is individual, but all must figure out how work together and put together what is needed to get off planet and solar system.”
Becky looked at him, confused. “But they all are so different and their solutions so different.”
“The problem is not in how they decide; it is in the fact that they are cut off from deciding.”
“Yes, Charo explained something about that. Many are destroyed or die off?”
“Too many compared to the amount that start.”
“So, you are saying it is in the fact of how they are taken out of the race that messes up the conclusions?” Becky’s mind started working.
“Yes, that maybe is why we can’t see the pattern because so many are cut short. I can see you understand” He said as he stood up. “I will leave you now to think and see you tomorrow?” He was looking at her smiling again.
“Oh, yes. Thank you so much Professor Barnhardt.” Becky shook his hand again and he was gone.
If only they didn’t die, then a pattern could be seen.
The next “day” Charo had returned and with more animation led her to the meeting chamber. Again there were the assortment of aliens, but now one friendly face was to be found. He nodded to her, encouraging her to the podium.
Now she had something to say and she was going to say it!. “Fellow beings, again I come before you. There has been much talk about diversity. It seems you feel that diversity is a precious resource here.” Before anyone could break in she raised her voice and continued. “It is a good thing to nurture and protect that diversity, indeed on Earth we talk a lot about it but still have trouble dealing with it- You can be different, but only if you do it like we do” What passed for laughter moved around the chamber. “I do not wish to belittle that belief, in fact, I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment, there is a great need to protect diversity. Before I came here I did not know what existed beyond my planet, but I guessed there was life, I just didn’t know that it struggled so much. The problem I think is that so many do not reach a full maturity and that fact alone has left it difficult to see any patterns or ways in which a specie matures. What you need is a way to help species get that chance. Not” Raising her hand, “Telling people how to make these decisions, but standing between them and death. Using the principles that I describe as a guideline could protect a specie long enough to get them into space, but otherwise keeping out of their business.” Becky stepped back a little from the podium, looked up to see all the faces listening to their interpreters except the professor who was nodding agreement with her and smiling. Perhaps she had the right idea.
The rest of the meeting was a lot of murmuring. The council of citizens had much to discuss. Becky left feeling she had been heard and perhaps had made a contribution. Back in her room, she waited. Soon there was another knock on the door. It was Charo. Letting him/her in Becky asked about Oto. Charo was so relieved to see her parent and told Becky about the news from home. An invitation for dinner was offered from Oto to Becky and she gratefully accepted. Charo had another subject to broach with Becky.
“The council has decided to set up a Protector Program from your suggestion.” Charo looked happy, he/she smiled and the bright eyes sparkled.
“You approve of this?
“Oh yes. When first came I thought, you bring chaos. We don’t like chaos, it brings destruction and that brings death, but now it seems you will help get rid of some chaos. I think that is very good.”
“Chaos can be quite disruptive. So the council agreed with my ideas?”
“Yes. Once Professor Barnhardt backed up your theory with data from thousands of worlds and the idea of helping without interference- they got what wanted- a chance to add more specie to the Galaxy. It is quite exciting.”
When the invitation came for Becky to work on the Protector Program, she was not too surprised but she was grateful. She had found her calling, and she would be a unique voice coming from a planet that had not yet made it. From now on the contact must be very carefully worded as to not offend those on Earth who thought they were the pinnacle of development. Becky wondered how Bumpkin would like zero gravity.
The End
