Messages
The crew talked all night. Trying to understand Liraz, where they were from, why they were here and what would now happen. For now, they have decided to collaborate and the crew plan on secretly sending a message back to Earth. They are all closely observing Liraz and are still suspicious but so far nothing bad has happened. The crew gathered in Asher's room whilst Liraz was resting.
'When should we send a message? We have to make sure we can persuade the public to trust us for now. If we act hostile we could easily be killed. We have no idea if Liraz is alone.' asked Rosalind.
'Yeah, if we can send a message by the end of the night it will be ok. I can do some of the maintenance and show Liraz around and give you all some time with no distractions.' replied Albert.
Albert walked out and looked for Liraz. The others discussed the message contents.
'Potentially, we could talk to a separate country for now and discuss how we can cooperate with Liraz.' Rosalind suggested.
'Yeah, we could try Iceland. It is a peaceful place. If we want advice they may be the best since they won't leak any information; right now America is too risky the public will somehow find out anything we say and riots will start over what decision they want.' said Niels.
Whilst they choose a recipient, Albert and Liraz started to head out for maintenance work on the machines.
'Are there any things you want to learn about humans?' Albert asked.
Liraz paused and stood.
'Well, do you still have wars and conflict? With how advanced your technology is to move here surely everyone has everything they could ever need and access to many extras.' said Liraz.
Albert smirked. 'Recently there haven't been any wars however in the past there was. We started making weapons too powerful and dangerous to use that could only be used to scare each other during negotiations that wars don't occur anymore. Crime is not a problem anymore after all the equality programmes we have introduced to help the less fortunate. There are only small scale disagreements.' he said.
'Oh, I see' Liraz said reluctantly. 'We still fight often. Everyday there seems to be more conflict across my home. Just like you do, we have weapons too dangerous to use. I was sent here to look for other species so that we could potentially collaborate and spread across the universe to stop being completely wiped out... I can never comprehend the fact we study wars but still create continuously growing armies and weapons that are stronger than before. We are never satisfied and all the different regions of my home world keep competing for power. Most of my world does not know about my mission and just thinks I'm surveying the planet. However I have no way to return. I am a sacrifice for my civilization to progress, from now I can only communicate with them but I have no way of returning. I am grateful you decided to let me work with you. I am forever in debt to you. I promise I will do all I can to help.'
Albert thought whilst guiding Liraz to the reactor.
'I see. Not too long ago us humans were in the same situation. For us it was only solved when leaders changed and new ideas came forward. There were moments of rapid change but socially the tensions never left. I'm sure after some time it will improve and you can look back and see how the disputes you have now are trivial. Anyways I'll show you how to do the daily maintenance on all the machines then we can head back.' said Albert.
Back at base the crew finished the letter and was ready to send it.
'Are you sure we should send it? We have no idea what will happen. Maybe it's too much for the public to know right now.' said Asher.
'Yeah.. But how long can we keep it a secret?'
asked Niels.
'We have no choice, the public can think what they want. It is our decision what happens with Liraz. The public's opinion has no influence on us here. I am going to send it back to headquarters at the launch site now, whoever sees it first can tell the world the news.' instructed Rosalind.
The news was now out for the whole world to now. Soon, chaos will erupt.