This is a snippet of my new book, now out for pre-order on Amazon, here. The world can change in a very short time …
Prologue: Portal
Director’s Office, Planetary Defence Coordination, NASA
14:23 Local Time
“Director, we have a problem.”
Tom Watkins, Director of NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office, knew the shit was well and truly in the fan as soon as he picked up the phone. Bronco Anderson was an astronaut, and they had a tone of icy control for reports like ‘Houston, we have a problem.’
The new Office’s name described its mission, which was much grander than its budget. Tom had actually been able to wheedle the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency into the joint exercise based on the scenario of an asteroid posing a real threat to Earth. Lack of resources meant cajoling people in and out of NASA into doing things for him, like the Asteroid Redirect Mission, which had slipped from the 2020’s to the 2030’s as the 2020’s actually arrived.
“We have an anomalous object in the Earth-Moon L1 point.” Bronco said.
“Is it on a collision course with Earth?” Tom used his Director’s voice to ask the vital first question.
“Negative, Director. This object is stationary in the Earth-Moon L1 point. It is radiating a significant signal in the RF spectrum. It is also radiating in the visible spectrum. It is not, say again, not, a natural object.”
Tom’s mind stalled for a moment, but his job meant thinking about the unthinkable. “Do we have a track?”
“Negative, Director. This object is stationary, and it has not been previously observed. It simply appeared in the L1 point. The transmission is structured, and is almost certainly an attempt to communicate with us,” Bronco said.
“Aliens. First Contact. Any chance at all this could be a hoax?” Tom collected himself after a stunned pause.
“Negative, Director. First cut, this object produces more power than the United States of America. It will be visible to astronomers around the world. Hubble and the other space telescopes are being re-targeted as we speak. Every telescope in the world will certainly be on it very soon. I took your name in vain and told them this was a Planetary Defense Emergency. The radio signal can be received by any reasonably well equipped radio amateur, so forget any hope of control.”
Bronco’s tendency to cut bureaucratic corners had made trouble for NASA’s bureaucracy before, so they had shuffled him off to this new Office as a genteel Siberia. Right now, it was a blessing and Tom Watkins was going to spend whatever political capital he needed to cover his ass.
“Good. Keep me in the loop. Do what we need to do. Planetary Defence Emergency is confirmed.”
Bronco hung up, and Watkins speed-dialed the number of the Administrator of NASA’s personal line. “Administrator, this is Tom Watkins at Planetary Defence. I am declaring a Planetary Defence Emergency. We have an object in the Earth-Moon L1 point. It is a non-human artifact.”
He paused briefly to listen. “No, sir, I am not certain this is a threat to our planet. This object produces at minimum more power than the entire United States and is the product of technology so advanced it is indistinguishable from magic. It could very well be as destructive to us as a speeding car is to a stray dog even if these aliens have no hostile intent. So, yes, I do consider I am justified in declaring a Planetary Defence Emergency, and I need you to confirm it right now. … Good.”
Watkins hung up, then decided he might as well go all the way. He dialed again, after looking up the number on the Internet.
“White House Signals Office.”
“This is Tom Watkins, Director of the NASA Office of Planetary Defence. I have just declared a Planetary Defence Emergency and I need to talk to the President. Now.”
To his surprise, it didn’t take long before he actually was talking to the President. She recovered quickly, and her questions were sensible and on point.
“Yes, Madam President, we are in the process of re-tasking satellites to get better imagery. It is sending some kind of radio signal, and we will be analyzing it.”
“No, Madam President, we have no idea how it got there. These aliens must have incredibly advanced technology. We don’t even know if it is made of matter or is some kind of energy structure.”
“Yes, Madam President. I’m on it.” Watkins hung up the phone. Bronco had bought him twenty minutes, which was the margin between him being an unprepared idiot and a hero.
Twenty minutes was all the time it took for the world to change forever. He looked at the image on his computer. It was a great wheel, a swirling distortion in space with stars in the central opening which were not Earth’s stars.
Who are you? What do you want?
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