nick bradbury

“ that it? Are we close?” an anxious voice asked.

“Indeed,” another voice, older and wiser, answered from beside him. Both had spent many kilo-span away from their families, friends, and clans to get to this point, but in the lethargic passage there was little the diplomats could do to prepare for their coming challenge. “It is beautiful though...” the older being contemplated, watching the distance speck of blue and green ahead of them. “Let us hope the view isn’t the only thing agreeable about this planet,” he murmured solemnly.

“Agreed.” Picking up his communications device beside him, the humanoid thumbed it on. “When will we be arriving, Cofel?”

“If all goes well, in about twelve standard span.”

“Okay. Thank you. Alert us when we are two span out.”

“Will do,” the pilot responded. Glancing towards his older counterpart, the younger being flexed his four fingers anxiously.

“I guess the time is near.”

“Just because this is your first envoy doesn’t mean you aren’t prepared,” the gentle being soothed. “Go get some rest, just because you are prepared, doesn’t mean this won’t be tiresome.”

“Thank you, sir,” the figure responded, proceeding to stand up from his seat in the cramped common room and head toward his quarters. Then, quietly, “Let us hope the rumors aren’t true.”

“Indeed,” the esteemed figure sighed solemnly.

Sitting at a large, ornate desk with a frozen expression locked between shock and disbelief, a high-ranking government official of Earth queued up a secure, confidential phone line, entered a specific number and authorization code, and repeated a brief message before curtly ending the call.

“Alert the military to prime the Behemoths,” the official ordered the nearest attendant. “And immediately instigate Protocol Zenith-12. This is not a drill.” Grabbing the briefcase and jacket, the leader hastily stalked towards the entrance of the lavish office. “Call my jet. I’m going to Bastion.”

All around the world, select secretaries and assistants were presenting their leaders and representatives with a special, confidential message requesting that they head to the confidential location codenamed Bastion immediately for a “potential extraterrestrial threat.” Some thought it was a trick, others, a covert enemy attack, but they all came.

“Unidentified aircraft,” a gruff voice called over the foreign ship’s communications receiver. “Identity yourself and your intentions or be immediately destroyed.”

“Wolku! Bovik! We have contact!” Cofel called over their private communications to the two representatives in their quarters of the curved craft.

“Copy for both of us,” the elder alien responded, briskly standing up as Bovik sprinted ahead of him to the cockpit. Within a few moments, both were strapped in behind Cofel, eyeing the vast oceans and continents before them on the seemingly flourishing world.

“They didn’t sound too friendly,” Cofel remarked. “I’ll open the broadcast to you when they reach out again.”

“Did they threaten to d–”

“Unidentified aircraft! You have thirty seconds to respond and submit identification before we launch our missiles! Respond or be destroyed!” The rough voice called, agitated yet arrogant.

“Patching you in now, sirs,” Cofel called, reaching for a lever.

“This is Wolku Brax and Bovik Mayt aboard the Avatar of Light from Eiva II,” the experienced diplomat called. “Approaching your planet without hostile intentions. We come peacefully in the name of the Confederacy of Allied Worlds and wish to talk–”

“What weaponry does your craft have!” The aggressive voice ordered. “And how do we know you aren’t lying?” Caught slightly by surprise at the second inquiry, Wolku twitched, glancing towards Bovik and nodding his head.

“Our ship has no long-range weaponry, or any missiles, dear host, just two compact, concealed anti-missile electronic pulsators, whose only use is to disable projectiles headed towards us,” Bovik announced, trying not to let apprehension muffle his projected confidence. “And, to answer your second question,” Bovik added quickly, “we have no reason to lie or hide any of our intentions. We are simply here on a diplomatic mission and have an important proposal for your planet. That’s it.”

Wolku offered Bovik a small smile, then turned to glance out the cockpit canopy ahead of them, at least for now, letting Bovik handle the conversation.

“Is there any location in particular we should land, host? Within a short amount of time we can reach seemingly any coordinate on your planet. Our destination is yours to determine,” Bovik offered respectfully. His courtesy was followed by several suspenseful moments of silence.

“Head to this location,” the voice eventually announced as a message pinged through, his tone slightly less malicious. “I trust your navigation can process longitude and latitude?”

“Indeed it does, gracious host.” Bovik responded. “We will be there as soon as we can.”

“Go as slowly as you need,” his voice menacing again, “if it means you remain above the clouds. You do know what clouds are?”

“Yes, of course, dear host,” Bovik started, attempting to ignore the haughtiness of the operator. “We will adjust our course, so we stay out of sight for as long as possible. We are gracious for your assistance and look forward to meeting you and becoming acquainted with your world.”

“Earth is also... anxious...to meet you. Now, stay on your course, don’t deviate, and you will land safely, and your message... entertained. If you stray from your course, we will assume it is an act of war and we will promptly destroy your vessel. Am I making myself clear?”

“Yes, host. Until we meet,” Bovik acknowledged with a shiver, letting the natives end the transmission.

“I think the stories may have been true,” Cofel whispered grimly, adjusting their course to provide even more cloud cover for their tense voyage above an otherwise perfect planet.

Several span later, the small, Durzan-Class Ambassador Shuttle set down on the remote landing pad behind the large, glaring complex, the ship’s sleek, boomerang shape reflecting the blinding sun of the new world. As Bovik and Wolku advanced down the lowered boarding ramp in their modest diplomatic robes, a group of twelve peculiarly dressed beings with strange, black, irregularly shaped weapons formed a tense semicircle around the descending aliens. As the representatives looked around innocuously, preparing to further announce greetings and peaceful tidings amidst the prevalent hostilities, a tall, somewhat familiar looking man approached them from behind his guardians, eyeing the newcomers’ short horns around their head and four-fingered hands; besides those differences, the aliens were nearly identical, physically that is, to the other members of humanity.

“Welcome to Earth,” the man called with thinly veiled contempt. “I hope you understand our caution. We don’t want any surprises.” At this his entourage of warriors clutched their weapons tighter, clearing in some outward show of power or authority.

“Of course, kind host,” Wolku acknowledged, scanning the men without malevolence. “Though, you can expect no trouble from us. We are unarmed, and our ship will remain deactivated unless advised otherwise by you or a relevant member of your species until we depart.” Then, with a genuine smile. “We are gracious for the chance to experience this remarkable planet.”

“Come with me,” the man barked, unimpressed by the pleasantries. “I will take you to our world leaders and representatives.”

Following the man from within their bubble of armed individuals, Bovik and Wolku marched towards the largest of the buildings. It had darkened viewports, reinforced walls, and no lack of what the foreigners assumed were surveillance devices. Glancing at the different groups of armed figures, Bovik privately noted how several of the different guards tensed as others marched past on their perpetual cycle. It was also odd that there were so many types of soldiers with such different uniforms and weaponry. It lacked cohesion, he decided.

After being escorted through a sprawling steel door, the diplomats entered a grand meeting chamber, populated with hundreds of natives; despite minor, superficial differences the aliens could detect, all the natives before them belonged to the same species and had gathered in cooperation to meet their unprecedented envoy.

The guests were escorted to the center of the massive circular room, surrounded by shouting people on all sides in raised seating and landings. Despite the interplanetary emissaries clearly being focused on nothing more than talking, Bovik noted sourly, their guard escort still surrounded them tensely, watching them as if waiting for an excuse to draw their weapons. The other armed figures scattered around the countless groups of individuals reacted similarly, a few even casting muffled shouts as they leveled their tools of death.

“Peace!” Wolku called loudly, quieting the room. “I am–”

“Why are you here?” an accusatory voice from the gathering ordered before the newcomers hardly had a chance to begin their explanation and pitch.

“Who are you?” another called, suspicious. “Who sent you?”

“Answer us, alien!” a third threatened, the room growing more aggressive by the second as more inquiries were hurled at them from all corners of the room.

Bovik glanced nervously at Wolku, a bit overwhelmed. Waiting patiently, Wolku took a deep breath, then, waiting for a quiet moment, began his speech.

“I am an Wolku Brax, representative on behalf of the Confederacy of Allied Worlds. This is my apprentice Bovik Mayt. We both come without hostile intentions; we simply wish to speak with the leadership of this world about a potential treaty.”

A persistent murmur grew in the room as the diplomats discussed this revelation quietly amongst themselves for several moments. Before the next volley of questions could be launched–

“The same spark which gave your planet life similarly enriched ours, and many others.” Bovik added, after hearing persistent talk questioning how the two even existed.

“How did you find us?”

“Where is your planet?”

“How many more planets with life are there?”

“Please, calm yourselves,” Bovik asked respectfully. “We will answer all your questions, just please allow us to finish addressing you, esteemed leaders of this world, with our mission and motives.”

The room quieted, but much uneasy chatter remained.

“The Confederacy has several active exploration and mapping campaigns in the galaxy,” Wolku started. “We discovered during a screening of this sector a planet potentially harboring life. At the time, the Confederacy was busy mediating a sector-wide peace treaty a few quadrants away, so the immense preparations and planning that are required of an exploration-and-contact journey were delayed until the treaty was completed and implemented. And here we are.”

“How did you get here?”

“Our ship departed from a larger warship carrier directly outside your system with long-range space capabilities. It took us more than fourteen kilo-span– which I believe is around three of your Earth years–to travel from our home world to this location. Our craft’s engines aren’t–”

“They brought a warship!” an irrationally angry representative abruptly yelled without hearing the full story.

“It’s war!”

“They’ve come to destroy us!” another called, as countless representatives now joined the frenzy.

“Prepare the missiles!”

“Analyze their vector! See where their ship is waiting!”

“Send those numbers to us! My country has fourteen prototype, long-ranged, deep space missil–”

“No!” Bovik erupted suddenly in the storm of unwarranted accusations, the room falling eerily silent. “No one is attacking anyone! No one in the galaxy wants to attack your planet; few even in the vast network of the Confederacy even know about you! We have been sent as a peace delegation to inform you about the Confederacy and to offer for you to join it!”

“Good work,” Wolku praised quietly. Then, loudly addressing the assembled council, “We have brought the basis of a treaty that would have Earth join the Confederacy, guaranteeing all the promises that member planets recei–”

“What exactly are these guarantees?” a calm, controlled voice interrupted, the first somewhat respectful one all day. “What’s the benefit of joining this Confederacy? And surely their services aren’t free.”

“Members of the Confederacy are guaranteed assistance if war would for some reason reach you from other depths of the galaxy,” Bovik started with improved confidence, having covered this topic countless times with Wolku and other advisors. “With the exception of civil war, the Confederacy is guaranteed to stand with you and defend your planet. Countless other resources would be at your disposal as well, including records, technology, medicine, etc. Additionally, your planet would get a seat on our High Panel that advises the actions of the Confederacy.”

“And what would Earth need to do for this?”

“In exchange, the Confederacy simply asks for copies of the recorded history of your planet to enrich our databanks and help us best cooperate with and understand your species; your planet would also get access to this databank, so you too can learn about the rest of the known galaxy and its inhabitants. There would also, ideally, be some services or products your planet could provide to the Intergalactic Market, but it wouldn’t be anything you wouldn’t fully agree to; your providers would be compensated in an acceptable medium of exchange for these services and products, and we can even arrange for the Confederacy to collect these items with our delivery-and-retrieval services.”

“Please think it over,” Wolku started before the questions could begin again. “And, if we may, we will retire to our ship while you contemplate. Please, take all the time you require.” As the Council of Earth processed this information, the two foreign diplomats made their way to the exit, their escort following them all the way to the landing pad.

“Cofel, report,” Wolku ordered as he walked up the ramp to their ship, addressing the pilot waiting in the small lounge above the ramp.

“They poked around the outside a bit and even demanded a full tour of interior. I couldn’t have stopped them if I tried.”

“That’s all right,” Wolku said calmly. It was quite common for the natives to search the emissaries’ ship anyway.

“Did they take anything?” Bovik asked nervously, looking around the small room and peering down the hallway towards their quarters.

“Not that I could tell. But they did put some sort of mechanism on our forward landing gear to supposedly prevent us from taking off.”

“Can we still fly?”

“I think so. We can detach our landing gear to circumvent the trap if we need to. Why, were you thinking of leaving soon?” Cofell inquired suspiciously.

“No, I just want to be prepared.”

After three Earth rotations of arguing, the humans still couldn’t decide between destroying the aliens right then and there or taking them up on their offer. As Wolku and Bovik headed back into the chamber on the fourth day, none of the politicians even noticed them this time. They were too busy fighting their own personal battles, often bringing up incidents from decades past to try to discredit their opposition and support their side of the alien argument. Hundreds of theories and accusations were met with hundreds of rebuttals and retorts in an intense whirlwind of arguing.

“They are obviously bent on destruction! We need to destroy them while we have the chance!”

“No! That would incite a war against Earth and hundreds or even thousands of planets would be against us! We would have no chance!”

“We have enough weaponry to hold our own.”

“Do we?”

“And at what cost?!”

“Let’s dissect them, see if they even are real aliens!” a new voice called passionately.

“They are living, sentient, peaceful creatures! They should be treated as such!”

“Like you treat your people?”

“How do we know they aren’t lying!” another yelled.

“They have no reason to! And everything they said about their ships and weapons checked out! Everything is exactly as they said!”

“That could be a lie to gain our trust!”

“They have to be after us!” a different representative argued.

“They said themselves they came from a larger warship which is part of the Confederacy! They could destroy us if they wanted to!”

“But they are peaceful! They didn’t even bring weapons!” Yet another indignant diplomat exclaimed.

“They are aliens!! We can’t trust them!”

“From all indications they are more like us than many of you will ever care to admit! They’re not that differe–”

“Anyone with an ounce of intelligence would know we have to kill them! It’s the only way to keep the peace!” a new voice called.

“It would start a war we can’t win!”

“That’s because you’re weak! Our government is strong! We will survive even if your frail country falls!”

“If you love Earth, you will know we have to deal with this threat!”

“If you respect life– or were semi-competent– you will realize we can’t pick a fight with this Confederacy! You yourself are always complaining about your economy! Think about how much profit your country could make selling to the aliens and their Confederacy!”

“By selling to alien filth! Our country is too honorable to deal with them!”

“We don’t know anything about them, how are you already judging them, talking about them as if you know them?”

“If you want your child to grow up in a normal, uncontaminated world–” a different politician started, screaming.

“Don’t even go there! They didn’t even mention colonies... and what I said has nothing to do with–”

Wolku and Bovik watched with horror as the Council of Earth that had peacefully come together to meet the diplomats at the Bastion outpost descended into chaos, hurling ungracious threats and arguments completely irrelevant to the task at hand.

“Hosts! Gentle-beings! Please! Listen to me!” Wolku called into the mess. A few representatives stopped momentarily to glance down at them, but most just returned to their arguments. “Allow us to reaffirm our intentio–”

“Silence!” Bovik screeched. It took until then for the chamber as a whole to even recognize that the representatives were present and had come with more information to, ideally, make their choice easier and address some of their concerns.

“Please, kind hosts, allow us clear up some of the confusion.” Wolku stated, ever respectful despite the perpetual agitation. “Our people mean you no harm and have no intention of attacking your beautiful world. We have no desire to leave colonies on your planet, and would, at most, temporarily leave a handful of representatives, such as myself, here if you even were to join the Confederacy. If you decline, we will leave peacefully and never approach your planet again, unless asked to by your people.”

“For those of you who may be wondering about staying in contact with the Confederacy,” Bovik began. “We would provide you with several powerful communications sets that connect all the way to the Confederacy homeworld of Eiva II. That is where your chairperson would live to represent your world. Unless of course they would prefer to–”

“Why do they have to leave Earth!”

“Yeah, why can’t we just use the communications stuff to represent Earth to the Confederacy!”

“Sirs, that’s what I was trying to explai–” Bovik started, with strained patience, suddenly overpowered by the raging room of diplomats and representatives.

“Who gets the communications device? How many are there?!”

“My country, would, of course, get one, since we have influence from th–” One politician asserted, blocking Bovik’s response and resuming the untamed discord of Earth.

“No! You would use it to sell out the rest of us out and turn them against us! We should have them all to protec–”

“Why should we trust you?!”

“We need one!”

“Take the communication devices! The representative that goes off to Eiva II will just be representing our interests!”

“No, we should get to pick who is sent!”

“You are a bit preoccupied at the moment, and with your dipping economy and–”

“We should vote! That’s how we should decide who should be sent!”

“The United Nations needs to be consulte–”

“If we vote the majority will pick wrong and you will send some moronic idiot who will–”

“Whomever we pick will be better than whomever you want to send!”

“We import a third of your foodstuff each year. Don’t make us alter the terms of that deal!”

“You and what army? Your military is incompetent and tiny!”

“Don’t make me–”

As the arguments became increasingly irrelevant and emotional, Bovik and Wolku saw themselves out of the chamber to the sole notice of their bellicose guard entourage. As far as the two could tell, the Council would go on like this indefinitely, or at least until they lost consciousness from exhaustion. Though, that would probably just raise new issues as they blame each other for somehow orchestrating that, Bovik reflected bitterly.

Halfway to the landing pad, their guard escort suddenly froze, then turned and sprinted back towards the meeting chamber without so much as a word to the peaceful aliens. From where they stood, mismatched soldiers from all over the compound were rushing back to the meeting chamber. Approaching their ship, and relieved to have left the room of aggressive and illogical arguments behind, the two climbed the boarding ramp, emotionally drained and defeated.

“Cofel, how long will it take to get the Avatar in the air?”

“A span, sir, maybe less. I take it the discussions didn’t go well?” Wolku, the well-traveled and experienced ambassador of the Confederacy sighed, a grim look on his face. Cofel’s expression changed, dropping whatever shred of buoyancy he retained. “Should I be expecting... resistance beyond the landing gear trick?” For a moment, the diplomat reflected.

“No. Whoever controls the weaponry, or whoever can give the order to fire it, is a little... preoccupied... currently, and I trust they will be for the next several Earth hours.”

“I don’t think they will even notice our departure.” Bovik growled. “At least, not until we are long gone.”

“Copy that. Strap in. As soon as we can, we’re going to light it out of here, so, it may get a little bumpy.”

Sixteen span later, with Earth just a faint pinpoint of light behind them, Wolku and Bovik activated their long-range transmitter station, requesting to speak to the Quadrant Commander. After several access codes and a bit of waiting, they gave their preliminary report.

“Commander Xil, I am pleased to announce we are on our way back to SunCity Station,” Bovik explained with deflated enthusiasm.

“Very good. Was your mission a success? I have no record of a treaty or any new communication gateways established.”

“No, sir... it wasn’t,” Bovik started, visibly nervous about giving his first report as an ambassador, and after such a difficult mission. “I suggest quarantining the system for the next 100 kilo-span.”

“And, if I may add, Commander,” Wolku interjected solemnly. “I recommend that a set of stealth probes be placed around the perimeter of their system,” then, lowing his voice darkly, “with explicit instructions to destroy anything that gets in range without proper Confederacy override.”

“Though...by the time the probes are in position, and, at the longest, the quarantine is over...,” Bovik started slowly.

“...the Human Race may have already extinguished themselves,” Wolku finished solemnly.

“Thank you for your diligent work, ambassadors. Please return to Eiva II at your earliest convenience.” Commander Xil responded, keying in the proposal on his end.

“Thank you, Commander, we will.” Bovik added, queueing off the machine, watching Wolku intently.

The elder ambassador’s gaze was directed out the rear viewport, watching the speck of the planet they left behind, seeing the violent dots of vehement fire on its surface even from this great distance.

“It was inevitable,” Bovik offered gravely.

“Indeed, I suppose it was.”