FEDERATION Complete Trilogy (Federation Trilogy), page 6
From there we had a police escort to speed us to Versailles, where the Ambassador loved the formal gardens, stroking the leaves of shrubs and removing her mask to sample the scent of flowering plants.
The tour was finished by mid-afternoon and we returned to the shuttle. Jeanne Meunier had asked the aliens if they would like to stay at her residence, but they preferred to remain on board. Perfect and I were only too happy to take up the offer and it provided the Secretary General with the opportunity to explain the situation she’d discussed with Ken Hood the previous day.
I must say that the simple French visit was the finest of all the visits we made with the Ambassador.
The next morning, we travelled to Moscow where President Ivanov, Prime Minister Nikolai Sokolov and their wives greeted us on our arrival in Red Square.
Our first stop was Saint Basil’s Cathedral, just a hundred metres away. The Ambassador was most impressed by the painting and the icons within the church, while Yol Merofort seemed quite underwhelmed. Ya Mistorn flew up into the roof area and we saw her flitting to and fro as we were shown the most important features.
‘So, all of this is in praise of a deity?’ the Ambassador asked.
‘Yes, originally, although today it is a museum,’ said the President.
‘Do many humans believe in deities?’
‘In Russia a great many do, probably over eighty per cent,’ said the Prime Minister.
Perfect added, ‘There are many religions in the world, Ya Moroforon, this represents a Russian Orthodox Christian church, but you will find that there are places of worship for many other religions too.’
‘Interesting,’ the Ambassador said. I got the impression she considered it all rather primitive, but she hadn’t actually said anything to that effect.
We followed the visit with a tour through the Kremlin Treasury, then had a police escort to take us to Star City where the aliens were fascinated by the history of human space flight.
‘You know, Yol Ivanov,’ said the Ambassador, ‘we’re most impressed with your world’s adventures with rocket power. Particularly, we think the achievement of landing on your moon with the technology you had at the time is an incredible accomplishment.’
‘That was the Americans,’ said the Prime Minister, coldly.
‘The people from the country our starship is in? Does it matter that it was Americans, not Russians? Aren’t you all human?’
‘Yes, but there was a great rivalry. We put the first satellite into orbit, then the first man and woman in space. We jointly built the space station.’
‘Rocket technology is so dangerous. It’s amazing how few accidents you had during your explorations. Your world is very innovative.’
‘What power drives your shuttle and your starship, Ya Moroforon?’ asked the President.
‘I was telling Ya Okafor that I didn’t really know, but Yol Merofort advises me that we use quantum engines of various descriptions. I’m afraid I don’t know the specifics. As part of the Federation, you will have access to all of these technologies,’ said the Ambassador, ‘and you’ll have the loan of six fully-crewed starships to visit other worlds to learn more about the Federation.’
‘That’s very generous,’ said the President.
‘We want you to understand the workings of the Federation before you decide whether or not to apply,’ said the Ambassador.
««o»»
Our tour of Moscow completed, we returned to the Ambassador’s shuttle in Red Square. We went on to visit Beijing, with stops at the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, before returning to New York.
In no time, we found ourselves exiting the shuttle and back in the corridors of the starship. Before we disembarked, Yol Merofort guided us briefly around the ship, including the bridge which, to be honest, looked very similar to the Star Ship Enterprise! I took some photographs. I’d treasure them forever.
I noticed the balsamic aroma dropped in intensity away from the Ambassador’s shuttle. ‘Yol Merofort,’ I asked, ‘how many different atmospheres do you have to deal with in your travels?’
‘Well, this is the most common. An oxygen/nitrogen mixture, but we always have to take care. Trace gasses can be important. You or I could tolerate a tiny percentage of, say, chlorine, but some species could not. It could poison them. Come with me.’ He marched out of the control room, down a couple of corridors and we stopped at one of the six-way crossroads.
‘Stand still. We’ll descend,’ he said.
The spongy forcefield beneath us suddenly relaxed and I almost lost my balance as we descended but soon recovered. After a few seconds we stopped and walked along another short corridor which terminated in a steel door.
A wave of Yol Merofort’s hand caused it to open and we entered a huge laboratory. There were dozens and dozens of benches where creatures and automatons used a variety of equipment. To my right I could see separate laboratories behind glass where the air was clearly cloudy or tinted. They stretched on into the distance. At least thirty or forty.
‘This is our atmosphere laboratory,’ said Yol Merofort. ‘In here we can assess atmospheres and warn any species who could be harmed exactly what they’d need to do to survive. Of course, some would need pressure suits, others just airtight suits or a simple breathing mask, with or without eye protection. Everyone on board knows what to expect from the atmosphere of our destination planets. A few days ago, we were on a planet where the main gas in the air was methane. Almost everyone needed airtight suits.’
‘Must make it difficult to communicate,’ said Perfect.
‘Yes, Ya Okafor. Scientists are trying to develop a personal forcefield which would contain each person’s own atmosphere, but, regrettably, there have been some fatal failures, so suits are still essential currently.’
‘What are they working on over there?’ asked the Secretary General, pointing towards about twenty benches with automatons and different creatures working beside them.
‘They’re studying your atmosphere. I’m told there is a high level of pollution in your cities.’
‘Yes, I can imagine,’ said the Secretary General, who was exhibiting increasing signs of embarrassment as she began to appreciate the world’s failings from the visitors’ perspective.
Eventually we returned to the main airlock and descended into the fumes of New York. Ya Moroforon had asked the Secretary General to set up another meeting for her to speak to the Security Council leaders on Earth instead of on Eslobeel. The nitty-gritty was the agenda.
How exciting to be part of this new era of Earth joining the Federation. I was so pleased to be involved, even on the fringes.
9 Ground Rules
The Secretary General had a very busy week on the telephone, trying to explain to the leaders the basic misunderstanding which had occurred with the Ambassador and getting their feedback on how it might be possible to mitigate it.
Some, like Ken Hood, Jeanne Meunier, and Dimitri Ivanov seemed to grasp the fact that things were going to have to change. Da Cheung was playing his cards close to his chest, but Jack Spence was hostile to the whole situation. A six-way meeting with Perfect Okafor in the chair was about to begin. The following day, they would be meeting Ambassador Garincha Dela Moroforon and her advisers on the Ambassador’s flagship.
I was thrilled to be asked by Perfect to sit in on the meeting to take minutes. Normally that was undertaken by a proper minutes’ secretary, but I think she valued my input after these events so had chosen me. I had notepads and pencils as well as a recorder which sat in the middle of the table.
President Cheung brought an assistant and an interpreter. The others each had one assistant. With tea, coffee, or soft drinks from the refreshment table, we took our places in comfortable maroon leather chairs around a large polished teak table. While I waited for the chit-chat to end, I admired the original African works of art which adorned the walls.
Alien shuttles had been made available to transfer the leaders to the UN to save the need for lengthy air travel. When I entered the room, they were all speaking in glowing terms about the revolution such a transport system would bring. The US President hadn’t had the opportunity to sample the technology yet but could see the effect it had upon the others.
Perfect began the meeting just after ten. ‘Tomorrow we have our meeting with the Federation Ambassador. As I’ve already advised you, she was expecting to meet a single leader with advisers or a small committee who were authorised to speak for the world. We are neither of those alternatives, so we should start with views on how we can achieve what Ms Moroforon requires.’
‘Frankly, I’m not at all happy with the situation and the United States can never allow someone to speak on its behalf,’ said President Spence.
‘But she’s explained that they have nearly a quarter of a million worlds in the Federation. They can hardly deal with every one of hundreds of countries on each of those worlds,’ said Perfect.
‘I suppose, we could do it as a committee, but I’m not going to consider Perfect speaking on behalf of us,’ said President Spence.
‘Ambassador Moroforon explained to me that once we’re in the Federation, we would likely find we’ll no longer need our individual governments,’ said Perfect.
‘Ridiculous!’ said President Spence loudly.
‘That’s not acceptable to the people of Russia,’ said President Ivanov.
‘Nor us,’ said President Cheung. He seemed perfectly happy to speak his pidgin English, but I noticed everything the others said was being translated for him. Perhaps he was able to express himself but worried about misunderstanding what others were saying.
‘Wait a minute,’ said Prime Minister Hood, ‘we’re making a lot of assumptions here, and while we might be prepared to participate in a committee initially, what about all of the other countries. India is the biggest democracy in the world and there are many others who’d be most unhappy for us to speak on their behalf. This is the people of the world we’re talking about, not the nations of the UN. We have to compromise to some degree or another.’
‘Exactly,’ said President Meunier, ‘and what of the Muslim countries. We can’t expect Iran and Saudi to have us express their opinions – and how about Israel? They consider themselves different from all other nations!’
‘This is my worry,’ said Perfect.
‘What’s happened on other worlds?’ asked President Ivanov.
‘The Ambassador told me that they either had a world leader or formed a committee, but soon found, as part of the Federation, that local governments – organisations she called them – were irrelevant,’ said Perfect.
President Spence looked down at the desk and shook his head. ‘Oh, come on, Perfect. As if the USA would surrender its sovereignty to any world president. It’s crazy! It is not going to happen.’
‘Well,’ said Perfect, ‘what do we do?’
‘As I understand,’ said President Cheung, ‘Ambassador Moroforon is going explain the ground rules, tomorrow. Then we are permitted to visit other worlds – see Federation working. Let us take up her offer and see where it leads.’
‘I can live with that,’ said President Ivanov.
‘Me, too,’ said both the British and French leaders.
‘Jack?’ asked Perfect.
‘Okay… in the interim,’ he replied.
‘I have another suggestion,’ said President Meunier. All eyes were suddenly upon her. ‘We do need to show ourselves as willing participants and, if we come back from these visits and want to take the world with us into the Federation, I see real trouble. We need to be inclusive.’
‘How do you mean?’ asked Perfect.
‘Each of us needs to take four or five leaders from other countries with us. That way we’ll have twenty to thirty leaders on board. They would need to be diverse too,’ she replied.
‘Yes, great idea!’ said Perfect. ‘If the other members knew that I was allocating who should travel, we could defuse tension. I’d be sure to put widely varying leaders together to assure them that they were getting full access. How does that sound?’
‘As long as you’re sensible about it. I don’t want to have the Iranians travelling with me,’ said President Spence.
‘I’ll draw up a list,’ said the Secretary General.
««o»»
There was a massive press contingent in Central Park when the members of the Security Council turned up to board the alien vessel.
I noticed a sizeable anti-alien demonstration on one side of the ship, chanting for the aliens to “go home” and waving mixed-message placards portraying a variety of slogans such as: NO ALIEN INTERFERENCE; ALIENS GO HOME; UFOLOGISTS WERE RIGHT. There were also crackpot placards scattered among them: THE EARTH IS FLAT; SPACE DOES NOT EXIST; IT’S ALL SPECIAL EFFECTS; GOD WON’T LIKE IT; TAKE ME WITH YOU! etc.
Inside the ship, that fragrance of cinnamon and balsamic vinegar welcomed us as we followed Yol Merofort along passageways until we entered a modernistic conference room. It was all metal and glass with shapes, sometimes misty, occasionally well-defined, comprising pastel and raw colour meandering across or within the curved walls and floor. I was surprised how restful it was, even with the brighter spectrum elements in more jagged geometric patterns.
A single circular table boasted seven legless chairs hovering in mid-air. Around the perimeter were more conventional seats which, I presumed, were for the minions such as me.
The room was almost circular and there was no obvious head of the table, so the leaders took their seats, cautiously letting their weight settle and feeling the reaction of the floating pews, which compensated quickly to the varying body masses.
‘Comfortable,’ said President Ivanov as he leaned left, right, back and forward. ‘Very comfortable.’
‘Yes. Notice how the sides and back rise up to encompass you. Interesting. Wonder what keeps them floating,’ said Prime Minister Hood.
‘It’s obvious that their technology is way ahead of ours,’ said President Meunier. ‘We must keep in mind that we’re likely to gain more from the Federation than we’d be in a position to give. Just imagine the effect on our economies of this instant travel and force fields etcetera. We should be careful not to be too negative.’
‘Or too positive. I’m more concerned about the downside on our businesses if this socialism of theirs were to take root,’ said President Spence.
No sooner were we all seated, than Ya Moroforon entered the room in a most elaborate gown and headdress. She no longer wore her mask, of course, and I saw the American, Russian, and Chinese presidents look at her mouth in surprise, as it moved in its strange vertical manner.
Everyone stood until she took the seventh seat, between Perfect and Prime Minister Hood.
‘Welcome all,’ she said, and everyone sat, except Ya Mistorn who hovered near the ceiling above the entrance.
Yol Merofort sat beside me and there were two other aliens. One was similar to Yol Merofort – the same powder blue hair, but not all over her, only on her head and shoulders. She seemed much slimmer than Yol Merofort and I guessed she might be a female of his species. I’d ask him later. She wore a maroon garment, not one of the green uniforms and carried a translucent sphere about twenty centimetres in diameter. She placed it on the table in front of Ya Moroforon.
I’d already seen the other alien species in the atmosphere laboratory the last time we were on the ship. He or she was about one metre tall with a roundish body, thicker at the bottom than the top, like a pear but more squat. It stood on four legs coming out of the body equidistant from each other with joints at the hip area, knee and foot. The legs were very thin, barely more than skin and bone, spidery would be a good description, although the skin colour was stone blue. Two similarly emaciated arms emerged from the shoulder areas, barely twenty centimetres long. Two longer arms, maybe sixty centimetres long, with six opposable fingers, emerged from the torso in front of the stubbier arms which also had six smaller vestigial fingers. Its head was no more than a wedge-shaped piece of flesh sloping from back to front with a single opening. Its eyes were on top, like a frog, and there was no sign of any ears. It wore a garment over its torso through which its limbs emerged. It was a blue oblique check and was buttoned at the front. It was quite the strangest looking creature and I wondered if all of the quarter of a million Federation planets had different intelligent species. Perhaps so. How could anyone know all the identities of such a large number of creatures? I also wondered if any planets had beings similar to any others. Perhaps not. Could they all be unique? Two automatons stood beside the door. Were they security?
‘Good morning, everyone,’ said the Ambassador. ‘Ya Okafor, how did your discussions go about how we should progress.’
‘We can all speak for ourselves,’ said President Spence and the rest of the leaders looked around at him in annoyance.
Da Cheung said, ‘Jack, we agreed; feed questions and answers through Perfect, we stick to our decision.’
‘I just want everyone to be clear that no one speaks on behalf of the United States. Carry on, Perfect,’ the order given as if he were permitting it.
I was furious on Perfect’s behalf. The more I saw of the US President, the less I liked him.
‘Thank you, Jack,’ said the Secretary General, apparently unaffected by his unpleasantness. ‘Ya Moroforon, we had a meeting yesterday at which we agreed to take advantage of your offer of six starships for the five permanent members of the Security Council, but, if we’re going to show the world how inclusive we can be, we’d like each ship to carry a further five leaders chosen to be as diverse as possible. We’d also like to know the conditions, or rules, of membership in a little more detail.’
‘And costs!’ said the US President.
‘Yes, and an indication of how the Federation economy operates and its cost to member planets,’ said Ya Okafor.
