7

The man in the black suit and sunglasses waited for the assembled team of experts to seat themselves. He fully expected the glances of hostile suspicion he'd received. The identities of all the higher-ups, including himself, were withheld from those brought in to study and advise on the alien craft- a fact which nettled people used to freedom of access and information.

But these were unusual times . . .

The athletic young scientist with the beard, glasses and backpacker's outfit cleared his throat and began. His name-tag identified him as Dr Ian Woodbridge. 'You guys still don't get the message. You've got to make the military back off, so that anyone inside that thing will feel safe enough to come out.'

'This meeting hasn't yet begun,' the man in the black suit cut him off.

'Go fuck yourself,' Woodbridge said as though he hadn't heard him. 'Right now the problem is you funny-bugger types and the military. Without you, we would be making progress.'

The usual cross-talk began then, with security-types addressing one another as though the scientists weren't there, and vice-versa.

'We've identified a potential problem,' another black-suit wearing sunglasses said to the one in charge.

'Go ahead.'

'When we finished collecting and identifying remains, we found evidence that two bodies may be absent. They were either moved, taken, or-'

'Good God! You think they might still be alive?' This from an attractive young scientist named Dr Arley Tattersall.

Ignoring her, black-suit #2 said, 'Assuming two or more aliens remain alive and at large, I suggest we implement Contingent 713.'

An older professor, a man well-used to dealing with authoritative types, whose name-tag identified him as Prof. Frederick Sutter, put a restraining hand on Ian Woodbridge's arm, to prevent his emotional outburst. 'Let me get this straight. You want to instigate a shoot-on-sight policy against crash victims who are probably wandering about terrified, in shock, on a strange world in a strange environment, with no food, no shelter, no water, and no one to help them? Are you really that much of an ignorant monster?' He huffed. 'And here I was thinking you were merely a bunch of inept but harmless fools.'

'The threat must be neutralised,' black suit #1 told him. 'They're from a highly advanced civilisation- we know this because they're here, which makes them vastly more advanced than ourselves. This means that their weaponry and their technology will be likewise advanced. Disarming them may turn out to be as difficult or impossible as killing them, and to prevent retaliation, killing them is the only option.

'There is also the question of biological warfare or outbreak. They may naturally carry disease or other contaminants that may be lethal to all life on this planet. Your own scientists have raised the alarm on that score-'

'Unlike you, we never made the inference that such contamination would be deliberate, or that any such problem exists,' Sutter cut him off.

'Being more advanced than ourselves, it goes without saying that any such introduction of hostile biologicals will have been intentional-'

'It does not go without saying!' Sutter interrupted. 'Everything you've said so far is based upon assumption and prejudice.' He made an angry noise. 'I'm afraid we just can't allow your continued involvement in this matter.'

'Should you do anything rash,' black suit #1 warned, 'the lot of you will be placed in confinement, with absolutely no recourse.'

Professor Sutter smiled without amusement. 'Ah, I see. So it's going to be like that, is it?'

'You obviously don't realise the danger, here,' black suit #1 told him.

'Oh, I am well-aware of the dangers and the risks we all face,' Sutter told him, blandly. 'I am also aware that people like you live in a make-believe world of the imagination, which you try to impose upon the real world and the real people who live in it. That's the only real danger we're facing right now.' He sighed. 'What about the rest of the people in that craft, assuming any are still alive? Are you going to shoot them all on sight, too?'

'They have made no attempt to escape,' black suit #2 told him.

'That's what worries me,' Sutter said quietly. 'That you may not make any distinction between "surrender" and "escape". That in itself is the greatest problem you people have created here: these people are visitors from another world- the most important event in world history. Words like "surrender" and "escape" have no place here. We should be greeting them with open arms, not guns.'

'They invaded our world,' black suit #1 told him. 'If they had initiated some sort of contact, first, then we wouldn't be having this little discussion.'

Arley Tattersall stared at him incredulously. 'They crashed, you moron! Their ship is wrecked! There are dozens of known casualties! Look, you can't have it both ways- on the one hand you say they're more advanced than we are, which in your minds is the very reason they're a threat. On the other hand, if they're so goddamned advanced and dangerous, then why is their ship laying busted up in the middle of a golf course?'

'Yes, and when do we get to examine the bodies, wise-ass?' Ian Woodbridge cut in, bolstered by Sutter's unflappable presence. 'We have the equipment and containment-procedures to take care of dangerous biologicals, not you! So what are you up to, that you don't want us looking over your shoulder?'

'You don't know what you're dealing with here,' black suit #1 told them. 'You don't know anything about that ship or the beings on it. For all you know, the two missing aliens may already have begun their work, helping prepare for future invasion. For all you know, the downed ship could just be a decoy. After all, why go looking for two aliens when you've got a whole possible shipload of them, right where you can see them! I say "possible" because it hasn't yet been established that anything is alive in there.

'For these reasons, and a lot of others I'm not about to share with you, any uncontained aliens will be shot and killed on sight. Is that clear enough for you?'