Jupiter Contact (eBook)

One
The meet

Jon Gallock threw a stick on the small campfire and leaned back against a tree. He had finished his second day backpacking in the Pecos wilderness and he felt surprisingly good, although a little stiff. Not too bad for a guy hitting fifty this year, he thought. Dinner was done, and dessert was a generous shot of scotch, a little luxury he allowed himself on the trail.

Jon was a fit man with thick black hair going to salt and pepper. He stood slightly over six feet and slightly under two hundred pounds. An engineer by training, he was quickly drawn to the dark side—the business side—and picked up an MBA. He quickly advanced into management due to his people skills and analytical abilities. After three high-tech companies in the last ten years, he needed this break before deciding if he wanted to jump into another early-stage company. Divorced long ago, his one marriage had been a five-year, slow-motion train wreck.

A stick cracking made Jon look up from pouring the scotch. “Hello the fire,” said a voice as a man walked to the campsite. Except, this was no man. This was an android.

The android, obviously a robot with roughly human shape, was about Jon’s height and composed mostly of what appeared a slick rubber or neoprene skin. The face and joints were metallic. “May I join you?” he (it?) asked. “I promise not to put you on the spot by asking for your leader.”

“Uh..., sure, pull up a log.” Jon gestured at a nearby fallen, broken tree which he had tried unsuccessfully to move earlier. No hallucinogenic mushrooms in the area, he thought, and no way a person was actually inside of that getup.

The android casually pulled, one-handed, the far end of the heavy tree trunk closer, then the other end, took a seat, and rubbed his hands together and extended his palms towards the fire. “The night air gets nippy at this altitude, don’t you think?” he asked.

Alien, Jon thought. The strength, balance, and fluidity exhibited by the entity did not exist in current robotics. Nor was such sophisticated technology likely to develop anytime soon. This was so far advanced, the android was surely alien technology. Shit, shit, shit.

A short awkward silence ensued. Jon broke the ice.

“You’re obviously not from around here,” Jon said. “Will you tell me about yourself?”

“Of course,” said the android. “Call me Robert. That’s not really my name you understand, but simply a convenient label to make you feel more comfortable. I am not alive or even sentient by your standards. I have a high degree of what you call artificial intelligence. I am linked to my controller, who is a sentient being, who you may also consider Robert. I function as a telepresence—his eyes and ears in this environment. The construct before you has the knowledge and ability to carry on this conversation, and act independently, within certain bounds. Occasionally the sentient, Robert may give me advice or directions.”

“I’m Jon Gallock,” replied Jon.

“The sentient race that sent me, the device before you, you may call the Chait.”

“Why send you?” asked Jon. “Why not come in person?”

The android leaned forward and casually poked at the fire with a stick. “Do you think the fire needs more wood?” he asked. “Here, let me get some.” Arising, he broke a dead tree limb over his knee and carefully added two sticks to the fire. “That’s better,” he said.

Jon sipped his scotch. The display of robotics, as well as artificial intelligence, was mind-blowing. The android, or a remote controller, had accurately assessed the fire, poked the half-burned sticks into a better configuration, and then added a reasonable amount of wood to the right spot. The casual way the visitor expertly assumed ownership of Jon’s fire subtly altered the relationship between them. I wonder, Jon thought, if he is stalling for time while waiting for guidance to answer the question.

The android answered indirectly. “The Chait did not originate in this solar system. An exploration vessel is in orbit around Jupiter. The ship is on a long-term voyage of exploration and study. We have been here, in your solar system, observing humanity, for a number of years. The work is interesting as we find humans engaging to study. The human race is extremely interesting and not a little appalling. Our instruments easily pick up your news and entertainment broadcasts. We also have sensors which monitor all human electronic communications. As you might expect, we initially had some difficulty in determining the difference between fact and fiction. We still struggle to determine the difference while watching your evening news.

“There could be many reasons we don’t want to land in person,” said the android, getting back to Jon’s question. “Perhaps the atmosphere or gravity does not agree with us. Local molds, fungi, bacteria, or viruses may be deadly. Perhaps we are concerned with the legalities. Obviously, the Chait don’t have official papers and might be treated as illegal aliens wherever they landed.”

“Yes,” said the android, “that was a play on words.”

Robert continued. “Being nonhuman, we might lack basic rights, and could be treated like a chicken, or chimpanzee. So, the danger of being eaten, or confined in a zoo, might be a consideration. I imagine authoring a paper on the first dissection of an intelligent alien species would be a feather in the cap of a CDC or NIH researcher.

“Think about the furor any public appearance would cause,” continued the android in his pleasant, accent-free colloquial American English. “Even if we could walk upon the Earth’s surface, would we want to do so? A public landing of a large spacecraft carrying aliens would cause widespread political and religious upheaval.”

“But you have so much to offer humanity,” replied Jon. “Given your obviously advanced technology you could cure this world’s ills. I imagine you could end disease, hunger, wars, provide clean, cheap power. Why not? And why won’t you appear in, er, person?”

“Before I blurt out an answer, let us talk through the possible ramifications a little more,” said Robert. “Why don’t you refresh your scotch and light your cigar? We may be awhile.”

As Jon pulled his aluminum cigar carrier from his backpack, he wondered how Robert knew they were there. Were his senses that keen? Did he have a sense of smell acute enough to detect the well-packed stogies? If so, how had he obtained the knowledge to differentiate among various slightly different tobacco odors—cigars or cigarettes, pipe tobacco or dip? How did the android determine the brown liquor was scotch? Did he observe me packing for the trip? Did he possess X-ray vision? Can he read my thoughts?

With Jon once more seated before the fire, Robert continued, “For example, consider your belief systems, including religions. Many are fundamentally irrational and ignore inconvenient, though incontrovertible facts. You have religions which believe one benign entity created the entire universe, while others believe the Earth rests on the back of a giant turtle. Consider Christians and Muslims for example. Not only have the respective followers killed the other since their institutions were formed, they also enthusiastically murder those of the same faith over minor doctrinal differences. Shia or Sunni? Protestant or Catholic? Some percentage of humanity reacts to otherness, with fear and revulsion. That certainly won’t be less when the stranger is a hideous bug-eyed alien monster as well.

“Religion is only one belief system. There are many others. Some are harmless, like truly believing the Cubs win the series this year; others are not.

“At one level your political systems are based on belief. However, the leaders and organizers are more interested in the power and material gains. Those leaders will look at the existence of intelligent alien life from a transactional view. ‘Does this change in events improve my personal position relative to others, or not? If not, I will oppose the change in any way I can.’

“Any technical advances we may introduce will have a disproportionate impact. Many winners, but always a few losers. And some of those potential losers have nuclear weapons. Clean, cheap power hurts the big-energy producers such as your America, Russia, and the medieval Persian Gulf states. Few of those nations’ governing class will be happy with universal access to clean, cheap power.

“Revolutions tend not to occur when things are terrible; they happen when times are improving. Ironically, many of your governments would fall if the lives of their subjects improved. Most governments will not welcome advanced technology which improves the lives of their masses.

“Your planet contains eight billion people. Should we come to the Earth, some percentage of those people will hate and fear us. Furthermore, any technology we introduce will, at least in the short term, cause a furor as well.

“Our studies indicate physically landing on your planet and sharing meaningful knowledge, by which I mean transferring powerful, revolutionary technology, would likely trigger nuclear war. Transferring technology less potent may or may not improve people’s lives. However, such a course is not very interesting to us.”

After a pause, Jon’s curiosity got the...