An Ecology of MInd (30 page)

Responses by the general population had run the gamut from the aliens were here to conquer or eat us, to the aliens were here to welcome us into a cosmic
brotherhood of intelligent species. Those with a religious bent also ranged in views between the aliens being demons or angels.

So far, there had been very little information made available to the media to give a more solid alternative to complete speculation. However, mortgages
needed paid, people needed to buy food. All the realities of daily life led people to return to their routine lives in most cases. There was still an
underlying feeling of unease that people were ready to flare up on a moment's notice though.

For those living next to the barrier or who had relatives and loved ones within the barrier, it was not so straight forward.

The responses from the governments of other countries were also mixed. Most wanted some form of access if not a joint task force for control of the
response. Others accused the United States of shutting them out and plotting to keep all information of alien technology for itself.

Michael did a mental shrug. All you could do was work with the information available and wait for new developments.

The car with Collier in it pulled up to the curb, and Michael went around to the driver side and got in the back door. Once he was seated the car pulled
away from the curb. Collier was seated on the other side of the back seat.

"Hi, right on time as usual."

"No time to waste Dr. Pearson."

"Any new developments I should know?"

"You're supposed to tell me."

"Nothing major new on our side. I meant any political or military events I should know about."

"Those areas are not your concern Doctor, as I mentioned to you before, in your briefings stick to the facts. Offer an opinion only if it is asked for and
do not make policy recommendations. Those areas are not your concern."

"I was just trying to make sure people understood the potential risks involved here. The discussions seemed to veer into what statements to release to the
public to put the President in the best light for the upcoming election."

"If he does not get re-elected, he won't be ordering any actions and again; it is not your concern. Present your information and that's it. If you don't,
you will be replaced."

Michael sighed. "I understand."

"Good."

The rest of the drive was short and uneventful. They cleared security at the White House, both outside and inside and entered the briefing room. It would
be a few minutes before the briefing, and Michael took his thumb drive over to the computer attached to the projector and inserted it. He then spent a
couple of minutes setting up the software so that the presentation was ready to go.

The people he would be briefing were entering, usually in small groups of two or three. Michael took his place at the table to be ready for when he was
called upon. He listened in on the conversations that went on around the table while they waited for the President.

A few minutes later the President and his Chief of Staff came in. Everyone around the table stood.

"Be seated everyone and let's get started."

President Baker was about six foot one, with graying dark hair. He looked like the mental image that came to mind when people thought of a distinguished
elder statesman. The television camera loved him, and he had easily defeated his opponent when he had run for election. Unfortunately, his actions in the
White House had not seemed to measure up to the image and the promise and in the current presidential race, he was having a tough fight. It was not sure
that he would be re-elected.

Collier said, "Dr. Pearson, could you please update us on what is happening with the alien situation."

"Certainly." Michael rose and moved to by the end of the table farthest from the President. Michael pressed a switch and behind him to his right, a large
high-definition monitor turned on, showing an aerial photograph of the area north of Detroit and the barrier.

"I will start with a brief overview to help bring the new additions I see around the table, quickly up to speed,” said Michael.

“Fine, just move it along,” directed Collier.

“Four days and thirteen hours ago the alien spacecraft was picked up on defense radar systems entering the outer atmosphere. It did not respond to any
radio challenges on any frequencies tried. Its trajectory and behavior did not resemble any sort of missile or known aircraft so the decision was made at
the last minute not to attempt to shoot it down."

"Later visual observations by fighter aircraft indicating that it did not seem to be a vessel of Earthly origin reinforced that decision. What it did was
to move into the atmosphere and then stop briefly, move further and again stop briefly. It did this a few times then moved rapidly the final distance to
come to a landing in an area just north of the city of Detroit.”

“Several fighter aircraft had been scrambled while the craft was still in the air and a number of them followed it to its landing site. Reports from the
pilots described what they thought to be a spaceship of an irregular outline of roughly a thousand feet in diameter. It had landed in an empty field a
relatively short distance away from a collection of suburban big-box stores."

“Approximately fifteen minutes after it had landed the barrier went up. A number of the fighter aircraft were inside the area of the barrier at the time,
and they have not been heard from since. There has been no contact of any kind with anyone within the barrier. As you can see from the aerial photo, the
barrier seems to be a perfect sphere. It seems to enclose earth, air and water. You can see in the photo that it encloses part of Lake St. Claire."

"We have tried to tunnel under it, and the spherical shape extends underground with its mid point at the ground level. The same is true when you try to
examine it underwater.”

“We can’t see inside it, so we don’t really know what is there. We assume it is a shell or barrier that does not fill the entire volume inside, and that it
is merely enclosing the area around the ship. We have no proof of this, but it seems the most reasonable based on the limited information we do have.”

“The barrier is roughly eight miles across at its widest point. Anything we have tried so far has been unable to penetrate the barrier. We have tried
diamond tipped drills and high-powered lasers capable of creating focused temperatures hotter than the centre of the sun. Teams of physicists and chemists
have not managed to alter its surface in any detectable way."

There also has been no response of any kind by the barrier or by anything inside it. We don’t know what it is and so far are unable to affect it.”

“We don’t know the purpose of the barrier, but we have a theory that I will present later.”

“So far there have been no overt hostile acts by the aliens. There is the missing fighter aircraft, but they seem to have merely been within the space
enclosed by the barrier when it formed. We have no evidence of what may have happened to them or anyone else within the barrier. Our closest estimate is
that slightly over twenty-five thousand people were inside the barrier when it formed. We have heard nothing from any of them but have also seen no
evidence that they have come to any harm.”

“We are as sure as we can be without further information that this is actually an alien spacecraft.”

“Socially, the general public is extremely alarmed and the lack of information makes it difficult to allay their fears. Furthermore, we have no definite
answers for those demanding news about family and loved ones within the barrier. The uncertainty and frustration have led to a lot of anger and demands
from the public for action by the government.”

“Internationally, the governments from other countries are also demanding information. Many are insisting that their own researchers and military advisors
be allowed access to the site."

“Our task force members who are part of the military feel strongly that we must assume that they are at least a potentially great threat and military
action should reflect that. They feel that while we may not have evidence of an actual attack, they have not behaved in any manner that suggests friendly
intentions. There are also the missing fighter aircraft and population within the barrier to consider. Their concern is that the scientists in the task
force will be blinded by hopes for kindly aliens here to help us.”

“Arguments against the use of force are that there has been no definite attack. The aliens are obviously more technologically advanced than we are and
there is the possibility of learning so much. This contact may open the stars to us, and we should not let paranoia ruin the chance of this. Furthermore,
since they are more technologically advanced than us, we don’t want to start hostilities if we can avoid it.”

“The most common fear seems to be that the main threat is the risk of an invasion, and this is the first step. Another one is that they are here to eat us,
use us as slave labor or lay eggs in our bodies. While it is easy to discount these as the result of too many Hollywood horror and science fiction movies,
they are all possible threats. It is the recommendation of the task force that the military should prepare and be on alert for any of these possibilities."

"It is also recommended that in the absence of more proof of aggressive intent that military action be limited to merely preparing for potential threats.
Any premature military action on our part may damage relations beyond repair with beings that are far beyond us technologically.”

“This stance and the reasoning behind it should also be passed on to other countries so that they may do the same. We realize that this increased readiness
for military action on a worldwide scale is potentially very destabilizing to world peace. It is felt, however, that the possibility of the threat is real
and must be prepared for."

"Other countries must be kept in the loop and provided with information regularly, or they will become very uneasy about troop and equipment movements. We
do not want military activity on our part and a lack of information to precipitate a war. We realize this is not ideal, but we see it as the best of the
possible choices for military action.”

“We do not recommend any form of a nuclear warhead be used on the barrier. Again, there has been no overt aggressive action by the aliens and based on our
studies of the barrier so far, it is extremely doubtful that a nuclear weapon would have any effect on the barrier. The city of Detroit and surrounding
area is also highly populated with American citizens. Canada is across the lake from the site as well. While they are not a military super power, and you
may not consider their concerns as a priority, they would unlikely be happy to have nuclear weapons detonated on their border upwind from some of their
largest population centres.”

“I mentioned the most common fears, but it is felt by the task force that other risks may well be of a much greater probability and potentially just as
devastating. These are the risks of contact between different ecosystems. Even if the aliens are friendly and don’t mean any harm, there are potentially
huge risks from things like bacteria, viruses, and parasites. Even seemingly innocuous life forms may have a devastating effect on our ecosystem.”

“As examples, when Europeans discovered the America’s and began coming here, ninety-five percent of the natives died from European diseases they had not
contacted before. Even today viruses continually jump species and cause devastation. Look at Simian Immunodeficiency Virus jumping from apes to humans and
becoming HIV and current fears about Bird Flu.”

“An example of things that seem less scary but are also potentially extremely harmful is the Canadian beaver. A number of them were transported to Terra
Del Fuego at the southernmost tip of South America a number of years ago to farm for furs. Some escaped and made it to the mainland of South America. They
have since been spreading their way up the continent causing devastation to the existing ecosystem as they go."

"They naturally make dams that cause large areas to flood and kill the trees. This is having a major impact on the forests and animal life in the areas
they move into.”

“Even plants are not passive in an ecosystem. It was noted two thousand years ago that Walnut trees tended to kill other plants around them by poisoning
the soil.”

“Currently a form of Asian Carp has been spreading throughout the Mississippi River system, crowding out traditional fish species in the rivers. Despite
our best attempts, they are expected to get into the Great Lake system and do the same thing there.”

“These are all examples of Earth ecosystem meeting Earth ecosystem. The true extent of the impact of contact with an alien ecosystem is unknown. It is the
strong recommendation of the task force that any contact with any alien species of any kind be managed very carefully. It is hoped that this is not their
first contact with another planet with life, and that they have some way to manage it to prevent potential catastrophe. They might, because the risk is not
one sided. It goes both ways and would be a concern for them as well."

"While it has large risks, not all contact or mixing of ecosystems is bad. Contact with the new world introduced potatoes, corn, tomatoes, and many other
beneficial things to the European continent.”

“The preceding concerns bring us to our best theory to date as to a possible purpose for the barrier. We think that it might be a means of quarantine to
examine potential risks from contact between us. It may be a way of examining the results of contact without risking larger areas or even the whole planet.
We feel that the purpose of the barrier may be protective of us and in our best interests.”

“Also, let’s not forget, there appears to be nothing else we can do at the present without more information or some way to affect or pierce the barrier. We
recommend continuing to study the barrier and see if any more can be learned.”