Second Contact, page 14
part #2 of Not Alone Series
The members of the public the trio passed on their way to Timo’s plane were, as usual, universally friendly and largely respectful of their personal space.
Dan held a large bar of Timo’s favourite American chocolate in his hand, a gift he had almost left behind in the car. He quickly caught up with Emma and Clark after returning to get it and they walked the rest of the way together.
Timo rose from a comfortable seat in his jet, smiling warmly to greet them.
Dan took one look around the interior — plush, but still surprisingly small — and was immediately transported back to the last time he had seen it, on the journey home from Italy during which he had looked down from above the clouds while President Slater delivered capital-D Disclosure with the four words he had been longing to hear for as long as he could remember: “We are not alone.”
Nostalgia was perhaps an insufficiently strong word to describe the painful ache Dan felt when he thought back to the honest simplicity of such times, when all he had been doing was trying to get the truth out. Since then, the truth had turned out to be a lie which turned out to come true — partially, at least — and the weight of the secret Dan had selflessly kept for so long had changed him in ways he didn’t like to think about.
Lying still didn’t come easily to him, but hiding the truth had become troublingly natural. While others like Tara could innocently laugh and joke about how good they were at keeping admittedly less explosive secrets, Dan could barely look at himself in the mirror.
For 22 years Dan McCarthy had seen truth and lies as polar opposites; black and white with nothing in-between. But for the past year, he had tried to make the best of life in the purgatorial grey zone where secrets were kept for the greater good.
Emma reclined in her own spacious seat after saying quick goodbyes to Dan and Clark, telling them that she couldn’t do the longer kind without running the risk of ruining her makeup.
“Just remember that planes are safer than cars and that Timo has the best pilots money can buy,” Clark said, paying more heed to Emma’s long-held fear of flying than he had in the past.
Emma, facing them from her seat, forced a genuine smile at Clark through her unease and waved slowly at Dan. Timo sat down, ready to depart.
Dan then breathed the deepest breath of his life and walked over to Timo’s seat. “I wanted to give you this,” he said, handing Timo the bar of chocolate.
“How thoughtful,” Timo said. His smiled then morphed into a look of mild confusion as he felt something stuck to the underside of the bar.
Dan hurried to the exit, pushing Clark aside and stopping only briefly to look at Emma. “I’m sorry,” he said, blurting it out. “But this truth will help him. And if Godfrey really is covering something up, then Timo’s the only person in the world who can help us.”
Emma’s mouth fell open. “He wouldn’t…” she muttered to Clark, with Dan now already halfway down the plane’s stairs. She unbuckled her seatbelt but Clark silently held out a hand to tell her it was wiser to stay put.
Beyond intrigued, Timo turned his chocolate bar over and untaped the small piece of paper that was stuck to it.
A note.
“I’m going to kill him,” Clark grunted. He pointed firmly at Emma’s seatbelt, telling her to put it back on. “Emma, I wish you didn’t have to deal with this, but you do. I’ll deal with Dan.”
“Catch him,” she said with a rushed nod, permitting Clark to bail out. For the next few seconds she held onto a faint hope that Dan hadn’t just put her in the worst position of her life; a faint hope that he knew better than to do this; and a faint hope that even if he was going to do it, he cared about her too much to do it like this.
Those hopes, faint as they were, were instantly and simultaneously shattered when Timo looked up from the note after reading its several lines of hastily scrawled text.
The last time Emma had been on Timo’s plane, President Slater had spoken four words that changed the world forever.
And now, with a look of absolute bewilderment that left no room for anger, Timo Fiore disbelievingly uttered four others which held just as much power:
“It was a hoax?”
C minus 64
Tech Italia News Studio
Milan, Italy
In a small Italian news studio, an experienced host was putting viewers’ questions to the spokesperson for a speculative research division which was one of many to have recently been consolidated into Fiore Frontiere.
This spokesperson, Natalia Ricci, had been with Timo for a long time and was authorised to talk about whatever came up. Natalia was far more corporate and far less maverick in style than Emma Ford; but when it came to choosing people to hold down the fort in Italy when he was out of reach, a safe pair of hands was exactly what Timo wanted.
Despite the ostensibly tech-based nature of this weekly show, almost all of the viewers’ questions put to Natalia so far had related to the content of the plaques Timo intended to send into space inside the Reciprocity probe. Having paid careful attention to the heated social discussions regarding the probe, Natalia was ready for these questions and included all manner of detailed data points in her answers. She also mentioned some of the early crowd-sourced ideas which had been voted to the top of the to-be-considered list, including images of things like full sports stadiums and people with companion animals.
“But as Timo made quite clear,” she said, “our focus is very much on the goal of establishing a reliable means of contact by including instructional materials relating to radio communications and things of a similar nature.”
“And am I right in saying that Mr Fiore is ultimately involved in every decision made on these matters?” the host asked.
Natalia paused to choose her words carefully. “Timo is more hands-on than most people think,” she said, “but Fiore Frontiere is not a one-man show. He has put structures in place to streamline previously cumbersome inter-departmental cooperation, and he has certainly never been stubborn in the face of advice from those he trusts. Timo would be the first to tell you that his most valuable contribution to space-related technological development, by far, is not his direct personal involvement but rather the incredible levels of funding he provides.”
The host nodded. “And speaking of people he trusts… can you confirm whether there is any truth in the reports we’re receiving that Mr Fiore has recruited Emma Ford to assist him with his imminent appearance on Focus 20/20, and also to deal with the social media storm which has surrounded his comments during—”
“Manufactured outrage,” Natalia interrupted. “Low-level analysis has strongly hinted that the breeze you call a ‘storm’ was started by GSC staff, but Timo has since told the people who were looking into that to forget about it. These tactics don’t work anymore, so at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter who was behind it. Although again, for the record, the data I’ve seen suggests that those responsible were almost certainly GSC employees working under direct orders from Chairman Godfrey.”
“And as for the rumours regarding Emma Ford?” the host prodded.
Natalia smiled slightly. “Chairman Godfrey is flying to New York with a plane full of expensive advisors and spin doctors. Is anyone asking him about them?”
“We’ll take that as a yes,” the host said, “and unfortunately that’s all we have time for. Our thanks again go to Natalia Ricci from Fiore Frontiere. Thanks for joining us, Natalia.”
“My pleasure,” Natalia replied, satisfied with her performance. “And don’t forget to watch the panel tomorrow night. I get the feeling that five planes full of advisors couldn’t save Chairman Godfrey from the truths that are coming his way.”
C minus 63
Denver International Airport
Denver, Colorado
When Clark reached the plane’s door, he saw Dan running as quickly as he could; at one glance, he knew Dan had enough of a head-start to render a chase pointless. Fortunately he also knew there was nowhere Dan could go other than the car, and that there was no way he would drive away and leave him stranded.
For this reason Clark opted to walk slowly through the airport, the only thought in his mind that he didn’t know what to think.
After a walk that felt at least twice as long as it had in the other direction, Clark eventually reached the car to find Dan sitting behind the wheel with his hands on his face. His head wasn’t in his hands; instead, he was sitting bolt upright with his hands fully covering his face.
Now, the only thought in Clark’s mind was his wondering as to what Dan was thinking. After this initial mental movement from anger to concern — given the way Dan was sitting, it was impossible not to be worried about him — Clark’s thoughts turned to Emma and the impossibly difficult position Dan had just put her in. He had no idea what he would have done in her situation; but the one thing he did know was that if anyone in the world could successfully impress upon Timo how important it was that no one else found out what Dan had just told him, it was unquestionably Emma Ford.
Clark got into the car and said nothing.
Dan did nothing to acknowledge his presence, and for four minutes the brothers sat in absolute silence with Clark staring at the radio’s clock and Dan staring at the pinkish hue of his own palms as sunlight tried to get through the gaps between his fingers.
Eventually, Clark spoke: “Well?”
Dan lowered his hands and exhaled deeply. He hadn’t been crying, but there were visible marks from the pressure his hands had been applying to his face. “It had to be done,” he said, and that was all.
Clark opened his door.
“What are you doing?” Dan asked.
“Getting a cab,” Clark replied, his voice still deep but devoid of its usual intensity. “Go home, stay home, keep your mouth shut and try not to think about how badly you just fucked Emma over and how much trouble you just caused for everyone. Got that? Do you still understand how to follow basic instructions?”
Dan started the ignition. “This was the only safe way to tell him.”
“There was no safe way to tell anyone,” Clark retorted, stepping outside and getting ready to slam the door behind him. “That was the whole point.”
C minus 62
Private Jet
Denver to New York
Timo read Dan’s handwritten note several times before he handed it to Emma.
She scanned it, sometimes having to squint to make out the words thanks to Dan’s almost non-existent line spacing:
“Walker and Kloster hoaxed everything but the lie came true -- real aliens stopped DS-1. Ben confessed to us hours before he died. WE DID NOT KNOW UNTIL THEN. Later we met real aliens and they planted the third plaque. I have more evidence than you would ever want to see. Kerguelen bolide is definitely a sign that something else is coming. Emma will explain but seriously: DON’T TELL ANYONE.”
After reading it, Emma glanced up to meet Timo’s intense gaze.
“Talk,” he said.
Emma ripped the note into tiny strips then cross-shredded it as best she could. As the plane began to taxi down the runway, she looked out of the window in unwelcome anticipation of her least favourite part of the flying process: take-off.
“Talk!” Timo repeated, far more forcefully than before.
This time Emma looked right at him. “Or what?” she said, much more calmly than he could understand. “I’m looking at your hands here, Timo, and I don’t see them holding many cards.”
“Emma, we are on the same side. I apologise for my tone, but you must understand! All I want is some detail. Dan’s note said you met aliens! And they planted the third plaque. So it’s real, at least? That’s what they really look like?”
In a very real sense, Emma was tremendously relieved that Timo’s response was of this nature — he seemed far less interested in the hoax itself than in what had come next.
“From my perspective, this doesn’t change much,” he went on. “All that matters is—”
“Listen,” Emma butted in, “because I’m only going to say this once. I’m going to feel dirty saying it, but it has to be said.”
Timo leaned back in his chair. “Go on…”
“You are never going to tell anyone about what you just read. You are never going to so much as hint at what you just read. And if you go against what I say and turn this into something that’s bad for Dan, I will snap my fingers and turn this into something that’s worse for you than you could ever imagine. Like I said, Timo, I really don’t want to say this. But don’t forget that you’re paying me a lot of money to be here because you’re not good at this stuff and I’m the best. You already know that if you go into this Focus 20/20 panel against Godfrey and Jack without me, they’ll eat you alive. But what I also want you to know is that if you go against me…”
“Why would I do anything that’s bad for Dan?” Timo asked, ignoring the threatening undertone of the rest of Emma’s warning. “Dan has been nothing but good to me, and my association with Dan has been nothing but good for me. I can hardly imagine how difficult it must have been for him to live with this for so long. I can hardly imagine how difficult it must have been for all three of you.”
Emma briefly looked out of the window to think. She hadn’t expected Timo to be so amiable, much less so philosophical about the situation, and her level of surprise was so great that the normally frightening sight of the ground getting further away barely registered in her mind. She certainly didn’t regret her firmness — the stakes were so high that he quite simply had to understand that she was in charge — but she did regret some of her word choices.
“We need to get through tomorrow without thinking about this,” she said. She then turned her back to Timo, moved her hair to the side, lowered her collar, and ultimately pointed to the small scar on her neck. “If you want to know what the aliens said when they linked a communications cable to my neck the night before they planted the plaque in Salzburg, you’ll stay quiet until we get back to Colorado. And if you can keep all of this to yourself until then, I’ll take you to Dan and we’ll tell you and show you everything.”
Timo grinned and shook his head. “The carrot and the stick,” he said, chuckling dryly. “So basic, yet so effective.”
“It’s almost like I know what I’m doing,” Emma said.
This time, Timo laughed more fully. “Almost.”
“So we’re on the same page? You understand that we’re sticking to the plan we had twenty minutes ago, which is talking about Kerguelen and Fiore Frontiere and the GSC… and not talking about Richard Walker?”
Timo nodded. “I assume he’s the only other person who knows? What are you doing to keep him quiet?”
“He is, but there’s no need for us to do anything on that front,” Emma said. “Someone else is taking care of that.” She pointed upwards, towards the sky.
Timo’s eyes widened. “But do you know where he is, in case you ever have to reach him?”
“He’s closer than you would believe.”
“Close to Birchwood?”
“No further comment,” Emma said, grinning slightly for the first time. “Not until you hold up your end of the bargain and stay quiet tomorrow. I hate Dan right now for what he just did, running away like that and leaving me here after he told you, but he understands the stakes. For him to tell you this, there has to be a reason; and if you do what I say, I’ll make sure you get to hear it.”
“So what did he mean when he said that the truth would help me and that I’m the only person who can help you? To me, that sounds too urgent to ignore. Does he think we’re in some kind of danger from these aliens?”
Emma shook her head. “This is the last thing I’m going to say for now, just so you know… okay?”
“Okay.”
“They’re friendly,” she said. “They said they would never intervene again unless they had to. And since they intervened at Kerguelen, that means they had to. Dan thinks they’re leading him to the fourth plaque and that it’s going to tell us something… something that’s important enough to merit intervention.”
“Like what?”
“We don’t know,” Emma replied. “Right now, Dan is just focused on making sure that we find the plaque before it falls into the wrong hands.”
“Godfrey’s?” Timo asked.
Emma lifted her bag from the floor and produced a small binder. “The very same. And speaking of Godfrey, do you want to get right into our prep for tomorrow? I have a strong idea of the kinds of things he’s going to try to attack you on and the kinds of things Jack is going to say to try and look like your friend, and there are some key lines you can use to disarm and embarrass both of them.”
“Okay. First, let me just press this ‘forget’ button on the side of my head and pretend I don’t know what I know,” Timo replied. His tone was light-hearted, but his concern about being able to move on was real.
“As soon as you’re face-to-face with these guys, you’ll wish you were more prepared for what they’re throwing at you,” Emma said. “And as unlikely as it might sound right now, you’ll be too busy dealing with them to think about spilling this. So what we’re going to do now is prepare for tomorrow as best we can, what we’re going to do in Italy is deal with everything we have to deal with there, and what we’re going to do when we get home is talk about this.”
Timo nodded then pressed the imaginary ‘forget’ button above his ear. “Okay, let’s do this,” he said. “Godfrey first…”
C minus 61
GSC Headquarters
Buenos Aires, Argentina
“Is this absolutely confirmed?” William Godfrey spoke into his phone. He stood alone at his office window, looking down at the sprawling streets below.
“Yes, sir,” the voice on the other end of the line replied. “Multiple individuals saw it and several uploaded pictures and videos. She got on the plane with him and they’re on their way to New York.”
