A real first contact
Winter came with a heavy burst, a heavy flurry of flakes and a cold brush of wind across my tired senses. Winter came with a scream and a sudden deluge of ice and snow, covering my small home town beneath a thick sheet of chill, and made many of us bundle up for the long winter's edge. Across the small, chilled edge of our small town, I could see the edges of our towers brimming with activity, the town guards readying for another change in watch, and the early morning population getting ready for mass.
I watched from the tall tower overlooking the grounds of the cathedral, and felt a sense of chilly wonderment, chilly only for I stood in the path of the breeze and was clad merely in my thin night gown. I watched in awe, the people came while the sun rose up lazily on the edge of the mountains, and when the rays of light hit me, I felt the primal urges to embrace the light rush through me as it would have my ancestors, and for a moment, I was lost in the embrace of light, only to awaken a moment later, shivering to my tail bone. I stepped back within my small room, and closed the wooden door out, shivering and walking over to stir the embers of the fireplace.
I would have laughed, but it always felt good to greet the sun again, though it was still early winter, and the light would be cooler and cooler every time I greeted it. With a sigh, wistful more than depressed, I gathered my early clothing, and donned it, my long, warm jacket and dress, the wool and cotton mix helping to insulate my body from the chill. I also grabbed my long cape, tugging it tight about me, and made my way down towards the stairway, to greet those who came, the early faithful.
I passed the priest, who gave me a soft pat on the shoulder, and my bare feet scraped the well worked stone of the staircase. I wound my way down, past the floor of the initiates, down towards the open Hall of Worship. I gave a momentary prayer to the great, wooden cross, and then walked to throw open the doors, great and heavy, and welcome within those who came.
The first to greet me were always the first to arrive, the Isep couple, both of whom were pillars of our small town, and who were valued greatly for their work in improving our civilization. The next were the Regits, and the Arodas, and then the brood of the Quetis, whom were quiet and solemn as ever, I secretly wondered if they were not but night people who hated morning.
I greeted them all, and fell into the rhythm of a hand shake and hug as the seats filled, and the high priest set about with his great book, translated from the original back in the grand Cathedral near the river Doal. The high priest himself had done the translation and it had been checked by six of the Holy Elders for mistakes. I held a wish to go and see the grand cathedral itself, though they said it was beautiful in its simplicity, and ancient in style.
I greeted the next couple, and listened to the grand bells, and closed one of the doors, leaving the other opened enough to let people in, and keep the cold mostly out. I then went about, stroking the fires in the eight fireplaces, and made my way up to the front, to gather myself and my wits, and settled to listen to the sermon, reading from the Great Book.
"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account." Was the topic, from the great book of Wisdom and Life, one which each child was encouraged to read, and every person was asked to learn. None were forced, it had been discovered in passage that such a thing was wrong, but most chose the path, for the kindness it offered was a welcome surprise.
I listened for a time, before fighting back a yawn and scratching at my foot to get rid of a small blister that had been welling up from my long walks, before I politely excused myself from the reading and translation, to walk out to the winter garden, and to ready myself for the full extent of the day.
The plants were, as expected, not very active, and I spent time to make sure each was doing well for the winter, and would leave enough earth for the new batch of plants to rise up and make beautiful the garden. I spent my time, sorting through and pruning away those touched with the black of frost death, and I found myself enjoying the quiet, cool work, as the sun heated the land up to a more tolerable temperature.
I pruned away away another plant, and my hand brushed across the earth, before I looked in deep, finding a smell and sensation against my hand that was not earth, stone, or plant. My hand fell and gently touched it again, and I pulled gently, hearing a light moan come out. Someone was alive, hiding within the plants. I pulled, and heard a wet pop and a scream, enough to make me jerk forward and pull the person, a... scales person, out.
Was this a human? I reached, touched several points for physical signs of health, and felt he was cold, far colder than one of my people should have been. A human. A HUMAN, HERE?! I lifted him up and held him over my shoulder, before running my way into the courtyard, and then inside, screaming for help, about someone exposed to the deep cold. The sermon was broken, and the human was lifted from me, with gasps running through the gathered, and the human was taken to the lower section of the cathedral, towards that of the apothecary.
I gathered my strength and followed behind them, I knew something of plants, but I was more concerned about the human I found, if it was such. His hair was long and brown, his skin was pale, and he shivered, something I knew quite well. I touched his cheek and helped them put him upon one of the warming rocks, while they lowered a flame beneath it, to help slowly raise his body temperature up.
"Priestess Nelthian, gather the stored root juice of the Emblak tree. That should help stir an internal reaction to raise body temperature, it worked on the First Prophet when he was chilly." I ran to gather such, and my body shook as I handed the small container over, and watched as it was poured into the rounded, small face of the human. The human coughed, and turned, gasping for air while he faced the gathered. His eyes were wide. Shock? Yes.
I laid a warm blanket upon him and he looked at me, murmuring and gibbering to himself in difficult to understand words. He was sore and tired, and I could see he needed rest within our care, if anything, he needed to rest to heal his wounds. Could I be living in the age of the new Prophet, to bring word of the Holy One? I could only hope, and right now, my scales felt chill from the frost that I'd tracked in. I sat back, heavily, and was ignored as they held him to the heat rock to raise his temperature up and keep him from growing too hot too fast.
Soon he settled, and I loked upon him as the rest gathered food and drink for him. He looked at me, and I smiled, murmuring a hello. He looked at me, both in surprise and shock, then murmured: "How do you know English?" I only smiled to him, and gestured to the pendant around my neck, the Cross of Calvary.
"The First Prophet brought great wisdom, the Holy Book, and the language of the heavens to us, is it not proper that I learn it, to read from the Scriptures? Welcome to Scalterra, Messanger." He looked at me again, confused, then shook his head out, and sat back heavily.
"My ship was... I broke first contact rules, they are going to have my hide. Great, great, great way to go. But, we were going to contact you soon, anyway, you seem to possess outside interference, and we were going to find out who was doing it, and who was interrupting your evolution. It is too late to stop it, such things would be a disaster. And... wait, what, Holy Scriptures? Book? Messanger? Wait, slow down..."
Thus, I sat and talked with him, and brought forth my copy of the Holy Book, which he mumbled over and looked through, commenting on the excellent translation. I nodded proudly, having done the work myself, and patted his shoulder. I told him my name, and he responded with a very strange word: "Alex." I would have asked the meaning, but I had other questions to answer.
The others returned with food and drink, and I sat back, smiling and watching him as he ate, drank, and tried to rest while the other members of the clergy treated him as a hatchling with an injury. I had to giggle, for it was terribly cute to see him get exasperated until I asked them to leave, for I had to continue my conversation. They left, though I was told to help him eat if he could not do so himself.
I could see him gaze about at the mortared stone walls of the deep cathedral, and he looked up towards the suspended light hanging from the thin ivy rope. His eyes danced the glow moss, and then he looked down at me again, and sat himself up, weakly.
"Who taught you how to make such finely cut bricks?" He murmured, and I answered with what I knew, though I had not been able to see, or been born to meet, the one who did it. Nei, I told him about the construction, from what I had read of it, and I told him about the making and the mining from the very mountain side, but nothing more, because I knew little then.
He smiled once, and took my hand with his own, and thanked me for the help, but he did need to go and make contact with his people so he could go home to his world. I had to smile at such an idea, of other worlds out amongst the great lights of the night, but if it was spoken, it should have been so. Astronomy was one of the last, great gifts that had been given to us from the First Messenger, and he taught us how to keep watch of the stars through the great looking glass.
He settled, and I looked at his hand, seeing the cut and scrape across it, and then gently stood, and laid him back upon the most comfortable heating stone, and I saw his eyes close, and his body slowly slide back into exhausted sleep. I lifted him when he was truly gone, and carried him up the stairs and into one of the guest chambers, and laid him upon the bed, and there, I rested in a chair, reading, and waiting for him to awaken.
He looked up at me, and I stifled a yawn, my eyes and senses told me it was late in the evening, and he had been sleeping for some time, at least a good ten hour. He smiled, I smiled, and he asked me further questions about my society and my way of life, and I told him what I could, honestly, as all people are asked to do by the elders.
I watched long upon him, and he just studied me for a moment, with a full moment of thought before I spoke to him, and I held my hand out to him gently, and he took it, and I lifted him carefully up from the bed and helped him to walk to the window, and gaze out at the great clear glass windows at the landscape down below, at the buildings, the school, the forge. The great wall, only partially completed, stood as a marker and edge of the city proper, and the road, well laid and carefully patrolled by our soldiers, rested as the heartline of our empire.
"Why were you orbiting our planet?" I asked, while pulling a chair over with my tail, and setting it down behind him. He sat, carefully, and looked upon the overlay of the gardens and the great library that was being built slowly and steadily, with more room than we had books.
"I was doing some basic research and information gathering, and looking into the basic structure work of your world. We see a very advanced society compared to the tribal and base civilizations elsewhere on your large planet. We were wondering why, when you gave us the answer. Would you tell me how many people are in your empire?"
I thought about that for a moment, my head dipped, and my hands flexed as I did some mental counting and digestion. "We have ten cities within our boundaries, twenty five towns, and several hundred farms, using the river to grow our crops and breeding pens for meat. Each city is classified at twelve thousand people each... times ten... We have at least a million people in our empire, starting from our prime city. In the early days, we were as the others, violent and war like, but the messenger taught us peace, and through peace, we drew the other tribes in to join us through missionaries. We keep true to the teachings, and the cities are asked to join, simply because we build a great temple when they are part of our empire, and help to build schools, apothecaries, and granaries to gather the food supplies up."
He listened with a nod, and I continued, after taking a sip of my water.
"We build the walls after three years in the empire, and we anoint a group of leaders after five years, because they have the teaching and learning to do such. This is the first city we built that did not need to convert to. There are heavy veins of iron beneath the planet, and with proper heating and mixing will create steel. We are still experimenting with the uses, but steel, as we were taught, is more useful than raw iron, and lasts longer.
He gave a light nod and reached a hand over to tap the window, which was atleast two fingers thick, and I smiled, before reaching over to tap his brow with a fingertip, and he looked at me.
"I doubt your world has the knowledge of electricity, I need to construct a radio tower to set word out to my ship so I can get home." He looked at me, and I thought about it, before nodding and making my way to the door. He called out and I signaled for him to wait and closed the door, before approaching down to the elders, to get their help. We had to move something big and heavy.
It took four days, but we were able to find and locate the ship using his help, and then pull it into the city through the great gateway, and with his help, we took our time to dislodge away the plants already growing in it, and secure it in the courtyard. He took his time to explain to us what the ship did, well, when it was whole, and he also had us ready several fires to help him work through the night, when the moon would help him, he claimed.
I knew not of what he spoke, but I watched him as he worked small vines inside of his ship, which he called wires, and he checked the source of energy, which was a small group of metal cans and spheres with several more wire-vines running between them.
He tried to explain them to me, but I didn't quite get that much of it, so I busied myself with the study of his grand vessel of the stars, one which looked far more impressive in my imagination than the one which I saw. I tapped the 'console' as he called it, and looked through the many small tabs to press and touch, and had to wonder to myself what each would do, if anything. But, no, without the power to control it, there would be no produced flight or sounds.
I watched him work, but he finally stopped after six days of work, finding it impossible to salvage the engine and parts to power the communications console. He bemoaned that he'd be stuck here, and he seemed rather upset to be in such a place, but he was kind to tell me what he did about the ship, and show me how the wiring worked between the several parts. I thought about it for a moment.
"You need base energy to 'power' this system? A curious idea, of using the energy of something inside of the ship, when there is so much 'energy' around, such as walking, or running. From what you say of energy, even running water is much in the way of power. Would it not be possible to use the water from the river, when spring comes around, to use water to produce power...?"
I had never seen someone's eyes light up so.
When spring came, he had set up the wires and the plans, and we worked with him to build the long paddle that would lay within the river suspended by a long pole, and we used what we could to gather to help with the generation of magnetic fields, as he explained it, and he gathered several of the young men to help balance it. We waited anxiously, while he rested within his ship, and tried again at the console, looking for what bit of hope, of energy, he could out of our work.
I sat beside him within the ship and watched his work with a big bit of interest. I studied the movements of his hands and studied the lengthy work of his fingers and the constant changing of the frequency of the small notch. He had never explained what it did, but I gazed on.
He tapped the control console a few times, and I sniffed the air, and walked my way down to look at the vine wire he had laid out that ran to the river. My fingertips brushed the length of it and I lifted it, sniffing the wire vine, and using my nose to work towards a small source of smoke that I had caught. I walked, the spring air warm as it ran down my flanks, and my bare body flexing lightly.
I ran down the wire, before my hand caught a hold of a hot piece and I bit my lip to hold back a yelp. The burn was quick and burned down my hand, before I lifted both sides, and sniffed at it, looked down, and gently peeled the wires back with my claw tips, and looked in to the small flashes and twitches of light. I sniffed at it, and jerked as it zapped my nose, before pulling both sides apart and calling out to Alex. He made his way out, and I gestured with my tail.
"I smelled smoke." I murmured, and he put his hand to his forehead, and looked about and at what he had for a moment, before putting both sides together and keeping it close, trying to tie it, but, there was little he could do to keep them there. I gave myself a moment to think about it, then made my way into his ship, puled apart a bit of the wiring, and looked inside, sniffing. My nose came out, and I wiped at a bit of the small webbing that had grown from the insects.
I gathered this up, still sticky and well held together, and I gathered as much of it as I could, and I hoped it would be enough. The silk was heavy as I made my way back, and looked at how the wires were crossed. I pushed him back a little bit, and then gently wound the silk around the wires, and pushed them together, tightly, and held it for a count of three. He looked at me, and I gestured with my tail, then we both made our way back.
"Try it again. The fire should go through it all the way." I looked at the console, my brain feeling rather fuzzy after a moment of thought, then it hit me, how the system seemed to work. My eyes trailed the wires, and I reached over, twisted the small notch to a full 45 degree angle, and began to click my tongue to my teeth. He watched me, and my fingers tapped rapidly upon the console.
"What are you..." Then he blinked, as I turned my hand down and pressed a bar, listening to a repeating wave come back. He watched, and I nodded my head once, before speaking, and listened to it echo back: "I need Rescue."
"How did you know?" He asked me, and I smiled once, leaning back into the chair and looking at my fingertips.
"As a child, I asked my elders how light works. They did not tell me, but they showed me its affects, how it makes plants grow, how it makes glass shine. I asked them: "How does rain fall from the sky?" And they said: "I do not know. But the water falls when we boil it, and we let it collect in the glass domes above the boiling water." I smiled once more, continuing.
"Fire works, for fire works. To make fire, we need to rub two objects together quickly and dry tinder. Without that, the fire cannot work, and it will not heat us. The same is true with the wires. The primal fire does not work, if the energy is not made as you showed us, with the magnets, and the rotation. It does not work if it does not reach the source. I ... I smelled smoke, all fire leaves smoke. By pulling the vines apart, I could see that the fire would not reach. Thus, I put it in my head: For fire to reach, the wires must touch. For the wires to touch, they must hold..." I smiled, watching his eyes draw open with wonderment.
"And the keyboard?" I only shrugged. I wasn't sure myself on that.
When they came, they came in great metal ships that were larger than the cathedral and the walls which surrounded it. When the ships came, more humans than I could count came down, and greeted us with translators, who were astounded by the words which we knew, and the concepts which we were able to show them. From the night, ten years prior, we were able to create the constant flow of electricity in the spring and the generation of glass, heat, and magnetic to produce a low form of solar energy, glass work, and lights that lit the streets of several places. Using adapted wires made from compounds on his ship and those which could adapt from our natural world, we were able to route primal fire through the cathedral.
The first light came to be in less than three years, and with the flow of water down the mountain, we had enough to make sure light flowed in every house and in every street. Our city glowed as the heavens did, and within eight years, every temple in the empire, which had included five more small cities in its wake, held their own source of light. We were well on our way to making the higher forms of energy as well, he told us of solar lighting and energy production, and by the eighth year, we were able to send short wave bursts by building from the model he had designed.
When they came, they came in great ships, and were amazed at the wonders of technology which we had built, merely from watching another. They stared upon us, and we greeted them with light and a welcome party consisting of our five elders, the human, myself (now a temple high priestess), and six others who had an interest staked.
And when they came, we gave unto them our best, works of art, books we had written of observations of our plantary geometry and geo-thermal activities, and request for access to more advanced energy sources, higher medicines, and proposal of landing rights and making a trade hub for the empire.
It was a hell of a first contact, the first stories wrote. But the true story is much different to tell, because I was one of the few to live it. I remember well, we had just finished the landing light and cleared a way for their ship to land, when it came down, descending as though it were a meteor, until it slowed itself through a process we later learned as Anti-Gravity.
Gravity was a new concept to us at the time, we had an inkling from it, from what we had learned from the first prophet, but until the second came, we had little way to test it. The ship descended and settled, cool, upon the ground, and we watched as a small ramp lowered itself down, and six people came out, armed with heavy weaponry. We, ourselves, had none, we were told not to bring some, and within the city, we had little use, for our soldiers guarded us, and we were within safe lands.
They came out, the translators first, and we spoke to them in the clear and high Holy Tongue, which they shook themselves free of surprise and asked to see Alex. He came to be as the six elders let him pass, and he gave a salute, which we each mimicked, having practiced it well. The others looked amongst themselves, in surprise.
"You broke the rules of First Contact, and the Non Inter..."
"No, he did not." I murmured, daring to speak irst. "I did. He has told me the laws of your people, and they are, frankly, wrong. Is it not wrong, to not aid those dying of disease, and those who hunger? Is it not wrong, to aid your enemy, if it will cause peace in the long run? I was the one who saved his life, in turn, he taught us how to make the lights, how to harness the primal fire, and how to learn of our world. Your laws are wrong, they fall from the True Path."
I watched them, and read their faces, having learned much from my time with Alex, who I had grown close to. He smiled, and I patted his shoulder, before offering over a hand written and stylus crafted paper, which was read.
"We would like to offer our land to you, but wisdom tells us, this land is our own. Thus, we offer you treaty and trade. What we produce on this world is low in technology, but from what I have been told, we create great artwork and beauty. We are also very skilled in the production of written material, wood working, and clay. This may not seem like much, but from what we know, your people hunger for art, as we hunger for the sun. We have already pre-drafted the laws and rules, and set aside people to build a small city for you and your people to join. In return, we gain the one technology you hold dear."
I looked upon the face of the human, and he cocked hi shead curiously to the side. His mouth opened, and I pointed to his ship, just once.
"Grant us one ship. And we will join you within the stars in less than fifteen years. As you can see, by one ship alone, we were able to craft light and radio burst transmission. With one complete ship, we will join you in space. You know of no other race out there, beyond the insect Dra'Nar, who you hold a tenuous treaty with, last we know. We offer you an alliance, a friendship that is rare in the worlds. Your people inhabit fifteen worlds, we inhabit but one."
"Commander." Alex interrupted me, with a hand on my shoulder. "I have seen their work. They could create things for us, that we have had trouble. If I had a running computer, they would have built their own, even if it was just their hands! They are brilliant, beyond anything we have on earth, they are faster at calculations than I have seen on a computer. If we could even get a hint of their IQ, I think its nearly 140, minimum. They..."
"But the laws..." One spoke, and I smiled once.
"The law is thus, and is the whole of the law: "Love is the Ultimate Commandment, love thy neighbor as thyself." I quoted directly, a passage which our entire civilization itself was built upon, and I offered my hand forth, unto the commander of the landing party. "It is our world. We are offering friendship, and companionship, and, as well, to be neighbors. Love thy neighbor, for we welcome you with open arms. Do not deny us this, or you will find that you are only hurting yourself."
I saw in their eyes a wonderment, and then only one spoke, a voice young, female and gentle. She spoke, and I heard the rest give a moment, a nod.
"I think we can accept the treaty..."
And that, Children, is the story of first contact." I spoke, feeling the pangs of an old body rock me, and I held my husbands child in my arms, smiling once, and kissing her on the forehead. The child looked up at me, as did her six siblings, those of human and Scalterra decent. I smiled, and waved my arms, gesturing at the great mural which we had built, my husband and I. It was of the formal treaty, which our emperor and the heads of each city had joined, and signed treaty with the 'President' of the human alliance. I had been there, I had been 80 cycles old then, but I had been still robust and healthy, where my husband, at that age, had not. It was sad, but he passed peacefully.
"Now, go to bed, children, we have a long day tomorrow. And Thalvis, give your cousin back her rattle." The young scamp grinned and did so, before each hugged me, and went to the sleeping room, where they curled up, human and scaled alike. I had to smile for their innocence and beauty, they had what I had lost when I was so young, but, so it would be.
"Grand Chancellor." The screen turned on and I turned my head to study the newly elected presidents face, and see a few of her cabinet officers behind. The treaty had been more than a success, within ten years, we had more than enough technology to meet them in space, and we had joined the alliance, and then the civilization as one mesh unit. Our world was our world, but it was clean and healthy still.
"Yes, Misses President?" I asked back, smiling once. She tapped her small
amulet and lifted it up, before looking at me with a sigh.
"Thank you for the gift. I am glad to see that you are still doing metal work the old ways." I shook my head, it was nothing but a trinket really, but the humans so loved what we gave so willingly, if they would but ask. Their trust was still hard in coming.
"I do hope to see you soon, we have a ship arriving for you so you can see earth. We have our own landing party, and, please, bring some of that wonderful dish we had when we met the first time? What was it again?"
"Srepot." I corrected, and tapped my nose once. "And I will bring it to you. How are the new drives working for the ships? Accurately, I pray? You know our scientists, always jumping one thing to another...?"
"Very good! They have nearly broken the barrier of hyperspace! But, well, that's for another time. I hope to see you soon, Grand Chancellor. And please, tell my son to behave while over there?" I nodded softly, but did not mind his antics, he was amusing.
The screen turned off after a while, and I sat back in my chairk, and turned to look over the new reports. Hyper drives, Super Conductors, Cure of Cancer for the human Genome... eh, old stuff. I just tossed it into the recycle bin, and watched it be turned into its base elements and extracted, then leaned back, and listened to the music of Old Earth, I think it was the culture of Japan...