Landfall - 1.
The alarm rang shrilly, and it took him a moment or two to realize that the sound was not in his dreams, but was coming from under his pillow. He took out his cell phone and tapped the screen groggily to make the shrill sound stop. He went back to sleep immediately, the phone falling softly on his softly heaving chest.
He woke up again, and dragged himself out of bed. A good cup of coffee freshened him, and he turned on his TV set and changed to the news channel. He wanted to see his stock prices. In the next instant, he had dropped his cup of coffee, had jumped off the sofa, grabbed his cell from under the pillow and had called his boss. He knew his boss would be sleeping-in late too today. He heard something he had never heard before - An IVR recording of a woman apologizing - Network busy.
He threw the cell phone on the sofa, from where it promptly slid and fell into the warm pool of coffee. He couldn't care less. He quickly showered and readied himself to go to work. "Boy, there's gonna be some traffic today!" he told himself, as he tied his shoe-lace. He picked up his cell phone, dried it using a piece of an old shirt, and ran out of the door. The door locked itself automatically.
He ran to his garage, where the door slid open and the car came out, pleasantly bobbing in mid-air. As the car opened its door to let him in, it asked "Where to, Boss?”
"Work" he said, and started dialing his boss again. When that didn't connect, he called Freddy, his colleague. Freddy picked up on the first ring. "Hey man! Come to office right now. Lots going on" he said, clearly excited.
"Yeah! I saw. What the hell is that thing?" he asked, looking out of the window, perplexed at the number of vehicles hovering near him on all sides.
"I'll explain once you are here. They are looking for a guy who can do an assignment on them. Josh thinks you'd be best."
Josh was his boss. A capable commander of travel enthusiast and photographers, romantics and poets, he knew exactly where a person’s buttons lay. He rarely pushed them.
"What's wrong with his cell? I tried to call him like a hundred times!" he said, knowing he was exaggerating, and only half-caring.
"Yes, that. Something's wrong with it. Seems he threw it on his couch, from where it slipped and fell into a pool of coffee which had slipped out of his hands after he saw the news for the first time."
He felt he had seen this happening somewhere. "Maybe in some movie..." he murmured.
"What?"
"Oh! Nothing. Thought I had a Déjà-Vu. Anyway, I will catch you soon. I am on the skyway. Be there in 15 minutes."
"Bye"
He pocketed his phone and looked out the window again. Flying in his car on the skyway had always made him uneasy, even after fifteen years of driving like this. The fact that people could crash into him from any direction always disturbed him. The introduction of specific direction-to-height ratio rules had reduced the number of crashes considerably. But there were still some nuts out there that refused to follow the rules. Many never even used auto-pilot! He shuddered at the thought.
He reached his office to find it in complete pandemonium. The wide, marble corridors were filled with people chattering with anyone they could get a hold on about the news. The water-cooler was getting more attention than most days. It seemed like no work was getting done, and people were happy at this state of affairs. They had lots to discuss and they were glad everyone was busy with their own versions of the news so no one could tell them to stop talking and get back to work. He saw his own team stretching relaxedly in the conference room, comparing notes on what had happened in the morning.
He decided to pop in to the conference room before going to meet Josh. "Back to work, fellas" he said, which was met by groans from around the table.
"And Anna, I want a complete report on what was discussed here on my desk before you go home today" he said, not looking at Anna, who immediately sat up straight and nodded politely.
He backed off and went to find Josh. He saw Freddy coming towards him, and gave him his iPod. He flexed and stretched the edges of the iPod to increase its size, and touched the screen. He read the digital news report on the landings that had taken place early in the morning. Fresh reports were coming as he read, changing the screen dynamically, adding and removing photos and words.
Josh came from behind and slapped him on his back, friendly and excited. "My cabin, two minutes" he said and jogged away.
He smiled at Freddy, who smiled back and they went their separate ways.
He opened the door of Josh's cabin and sat down on the couch next to the huge television. Live reports were streaming in about how the 'visitors' were behaving very politely, almost as excited of us as we were of them.
"Alien life forms" said Josh, entering the cabin through an inner door, "A new being. New cultures, languages, beliefs, cuisines, superstitions, hate, love, wars and religions. A new planet. At 7:37 AM today, the lives of nine billion people on this planet, and many billions of life-forms on their planet, changed forever. We've finally made contact. And what a contact it has been. You remember how Schrödinger had argued that the first contact with alien species would be through radio signals, not face-to-face? I would love to look at his face right now! Ha!" he laughed contently for some time before continuing:
"Forgive the cliché, but it’s clear that they've come in peace. They are excitedly participating in everything that our military is asking them to do, for our safety and theirs. They have already undergone a severe medical check, and they have happily consented to be quarantined for the next 48 hours. They understand the need for quarantine" he paused, and said, "Have you seen them?"
"No, Sir. When I saw the news in the morning, they were showing only their space ship. It looks impressive."
"Yes, it is. Once we know where they've come from, we will be even more shocked at its capabilities. We have a picture of one of them here" he clicked a button on his remote, and the picture on the TV changed to show a blue crystalline form, with recognizable arms, legs, upper body and face. The eyes were soft, squarish and a duller shade of the same blue. The being was wearing what looked like a translucent leather jacket, covering most of his body, except the top of his 'skull', which was left open to the sky. He looked at this 'man' in complete amazement. A thousand questions popped in his head.
"It’s confusing isn't it?" he asked Josh.
Josh smiled. "That's exactly how I feel. And that's why I need you on this case. When I spilt my coffee this morning, I had an idea. You ready for this?"
"Yes..." he said, tentatively.
"I've just had it whispered from our White House guy that our friendly aliens are here to stay for the next two years. In these two years, they will be establishing a consulate of sorts on Earth, among other things. Washington will obviously think of sending our own people to their planet as envoys. I want you to go with them - as the first explorer from Earth" Josh continued before he could protest, "You will learn their major languages, travel their world, eat their food, talk with their celebrities, and explore the unexplored - in short, you will do whatever you do here on Earth, but you will be doing it on their planet. You will be the first spatial adventurer!"
He stared at Josh, aghast. "Josh..." he said, unable to form words to use against his clearly crazy idea, "we don't even know how far away their planet is, how long they've been traveling to reach Earth..."
"Oh yes we do. It took them 21 months of near-light speed flight to reach here."
"How do you know this?" he asked, his eyes narrow with suspicion.
"Does it matter? Look, it's a great opportunity! After all the generations of humans that have lived through the mundane years of lonely existence in this huge universe, you will be the first to interact with the first alien life forms ever encountered. You will be the first traveler to go beyond the realms of dreams! You will be the first to visit a different planet, an alien planet. I don't know what's stopping you from taking this assignment. I'd have jumped at the opportunity." he finished in mock anger.
"I am ready for it, Josh" he said, finding a loop-hole, "but what makes you so confident that we will be permitted to interfere at such a high diplomatic level? One small mistake and we're talking 'war of the worlds' here. The President won't let a writer and photographer like me tag along with the 'crystal-thingy'."
"Let me worry about that, okay? Final answer now...are you in?" he asked, his voice signaling his seriousness.
He thought about it for just two seconds. "I am in" he said, secretly ecstatic.
"Alright, make a complete report about them - End of the day, my desk. I want a name for them, something which we can understand, and I want to know what they call themselves. I want to know their language, their eating habits, about that spaceship, anything you can find out. I don't care if you have to break through their quarantine or learn their language to interrogate them, I need answers by tonight. We've got to be first.
"Yes, Sir".
