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skonen_bladesThe shifting planes of the emerald ship folded and twisted to expose smaller shards of landing gear as it touched down lightly on the White House lawn. It was a beautiful August day and the sun played off of the shining edges of the massive craft.
All of the world’s news networks were present at a safe distance from the craft’s touchdown point, telephoto lenses extended. They had perceived something newsworthy was happening and had gathered moth-like to the ship’s light.
A long shard extended forward slowly from the gleaming ship until it touched the grass.
The automated weapons that were trained on the ship swiveled to the new door that opened at the top of the walkway.
The creature that ambled down the walkway on several sets of legs had a large, ferocious mouth and three widely-spaced sets of eyes on either side of that mouth. When it got to the bottom of the walkway it reached out one long, taloned toe to touch the grass. Dubious at first, it gingerly stepped onto the grass and then looked around.
“Hello?” it said. Only the wind answered.
The cameras zoomed in. Programs based on intelligence-search SETI and NASA algorithms analyzed the creatures movements and body structure, cataloguing every nanosecond of this first contact. Military AI searched for weaknesses, quivering with as much panic as silicon intelligence was capable of, straining like a dog on a leash, looking for any excuse to open fire. Satellites reflected the live feeds to hundreds of countries and six billion silent homes.
Automated, efficient energy plants supplied power to those homes. Cities were kept running by nanodrones and reconstruction extruders. Even they were tuned into the transmissions that iCams were broadcasting.
“Is there anyone I can talk to?” the alien queried. It had obviously practiced the English language and it looked proud of it. Its voice echoed out over the lawn. No one answered.
Screens flickered all over the earth in billions of homes. Decades-old corpses lay in front of those flickering screens in those quiet buildings.
The disease had escaped and mutated too quickly to be contained. The disease thrived in water, lay dormant in food, breezed through plastic, ignored temperature extremes and was also airborne. The entire civilization had been wiped out in a matter of days. All humans and most mammals had been dead for a long time. The disease itself sputtered out soon after its hosts perished.
Plant life thrived and insects were enjoying a heyday. Meat-eating reptiles were almost extinct. A new ecosystem was growing.
And the automated systems continued masterless. Humans had found ways to power their machines for centuries at a low cost to their economy and the environment. AI discoveries had given the machines limited autonomy. And then the humans had died.
“Well. Uh. I mean. Shoot,” said the alien, pawing the ground, and then in its own language, “this is anticlimactic.”
“Anything?” barked a voice from inside the ship.
“No,” sulked the alien, “It’s just another casket.”
“Hey, don’t beat yourself up about it. You know the odds against finding a thriving planet-bound civilization right while it’s alive.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” The alien walked slowly back up the ramp into the ship.
The cameras mutely tracked the ship’s ascent into the beautiful sky until it disappeared and then turned back to scanning for other area news. The military stood down.
The planet mutely went back to business as usual.
tags
All of the world’s news networks were present at a safe distance from the craft’s touchdown point, telephoto lenses extended. They had perceived something newsworthy was happening and had gathered moth-like to the ship’s light.
A long shard extended forward slowly from the gleaming ship until it touched the grass.
The automated weapons that were trained on the ship swiveled to the new door that opened at the top of the walkway.
The creature that ambled down the walkway on several sets of legs had a large, ferocious mouth and three widely-spaced sets of eyes on either side of that mouth. When it got to the bottom of the walkway it reached out one long, taloned toe to touch the grass. Dubious at first, it gingerly stepped onto the grass and then looked around.
“Hello?” it said. Only the wind answered.
The cameras zoomed in. Programs based on intelligence-search SETI and NASA algorithms analyzed the creatures movements and body structure, cataloguing every nanosecond of this first contact. Military AI searched for weaknesses, quivering with as much panic as silicon intelligence was capable of, straining like a dog on a leash, looking for any excuse to open fire. Satellites reflected the live feeds to hundreds of countries and six billion silent homes.
Automated, efficient energy plants supplied power to those homes. Cities were kept running by nanodrones and reconstruction extruders. Even they were tuned into the transmissions that iCams were broadcasting.
“Is there anyone I can talk to?” the alien queried. It had obviously practiced the English language and it looked proud of it. Its voice echoed out over the lawn. No one answered.
Screens flickered all over the earth in billions of homes. Decades-old corpses lay in front of those flickering screens in those quiet buildings.
The disease had escaped and mutated too quickly to be contained. The disease thrived in water, lay dormant in food, breezed through plastic, ignored temperature extremes and was also airborne. The entire civilization had been wiped out in a matter of days. All humans and most mammals had been dead for a long time. The disease itself sputtered out soon after its hosts perished.
Plant life thrived and insects were enjoying a heyday. Meat-eating reptiles were almost extinct. A new ecosystem was growing.
And the automated systems continued masterless. Humans had found ways to power their machines for centuries at a low cost to their economy and the environment. AI discoveries had given the machines limited autonomy. And then the humans had died.
“Well. Uh. I mean. Shoot,” said the alien, pawing the ground, and then in its own language, “this is anticlimactic.”
“Anything?” barked a voice from inside the ship.
“No,” sulked the alien, “It’s just another casket.”
“Hey, don’t beat yourself up about it. You know the odds against finding a thriving planet-bound civilization right while it’s alive.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” The alien walked slowly back up the ramp into the ship.
The cameras mutely tracked the ship’s ascent into the beautiful sky until it disappeared and then turned back to scanning for other area news. The military stood down.
The planet mutely went back to business as usual.
tags