Alien Base: The Evidence for Extraterrestrial Colonization of Earth – Steps to the Stars: THE VOICE
Suddenly, a loud male voice came out of nowhere: ‘Better not touch the hull, pal, it’s still hot!’ Shocked, Fry leaped backwards several feet, catching his heel in a low bush and sprawling full length in the sand. Something like a low chuckle was heard, then the voice came back: ‘Take it easy, pal, you’re among friends.’
Recovering himself, Fry looked around for some person or gadget from which the voice came, but could see none. He complained to the voice that it should turn the volume down. ‘Sorry, buddy, but you were in the process of killing yourself and there wasn’t time to diddle with controls,’ came the response. ‘Do you mean the hull is highly radioactive?’ asked Fry. ‘If so, I am much too close.’ ‘It isn’t radioactive in the sense that you use the word,’ replied the voice. ‘I used the term “hot” because it was the only one I could think of in your language to explain the condition.
The hull has a field about it which repels all other matter. Your physicists would describe the force involved as the “anti” particle of the binding energy of the atom.’ The ‘voice’ expounded at length, and one must wonder at how Fry could have recalled so much detail: When certain elements such as platinum are properly prepared and treated with a saturation exposure to a beam of very high-energy photons, the anti- binding energy particle will be generated outside the nucleus. Since these particles tend to repel each other, as well as all other matter, they, like the electron, tend to migrate to the surface of the metal where they manifest as a repellent force.
The particles have a fairly long half-life, so that the normal cosmic radiation received by the craft when in space is sufficient to maintain an effective charge. The field is very powerful at molecular distances but, like the binding energy, it follows the seventh power law so that the force becomes negligible a few microns away from the surface of the hull. Perhaps you noticed that the hull seemed unusually smooth and slippery.
That is because your flesh did not actually come into contact with the metal but was held a short distance from it by the repulsion of the field. We use the field to protect the hull from being scratched or damaged during landings. It also lowers air friction greatly when it becomes necessary to travel at high speed through any atmosphere. The field produces an almost perfect laminar flow of air or any gas about the craft, and little heat is generated or transmitted to the hull.
But how would this kill me?’ asked Fry. ‘I did touch the hull and felt only a slight tingle in my hand. And what did you mean by that remark about my language? You sound pretty much American to me.’
Replying to the first question, the voice explained that Fry would have probably died within a few months from exposure to the ‘force field’, which produces ‘what you would describe as “antibodies”‘ in the blood stream that are absorbed by the liver, causing the latter to become greatly enlarged and congested. ‘In your case,’ continued the voice, ‘the exposure was so short and over such a small area that you are not in any great danger, although you will probably feel some effects sooner or later, provided, of course, that your biological functions are similar to ours, and we have good reason to believe they are.’
The voice continued: As to your second question, I am not an American such as you, nor even an Earthian’, although my present assignment requires me to become both. The fact that you believed me to be one of your countrymen is a testimonial to the effort I have expended to learn and to practise your language. If you talked with me for any length of time, however, you would begin to notice that my vocabulary is far from complete, and many of my words would seem outdated and perhaps obsolete.
As a matter of fact, I have never yet set foot upon your planet. It will require at least four more of your years for me to become adapted to your environment, including your stronger gravity, [and] your atmosphere . . . I will also require the complete co-operation of someone like yourself who is already a resident of the planet.
Fry stood silently for what seemed a long time, attempting to come to terms with the profound implications of what he had seen and heard. The conversation then continued, with Fry asking a variety of questions, the first dealing with his reactions to the experience. The voice was encouraging: One of the purposes of this visit is to determine the basic adaptability of the Earth’s peoples, particularly your ability to adjust your minds quickly to conditions and concepts completely foreign to your customary modes of thought.
Previous expeditions by our ancestors, over a period of many centuries, met with almost total failure in this respect. This time there is hope that we may find minds somewhat more receptive so that we may assist you in the progress, or at least in the continued existence of your race . . . The fact that, in spite of being in circumstances completely unique in your experience, you are listening calmly to my voice and making logical replies is the best evidence that your mind is of the type we hoped to find.
Fry thanked the voice, but pointed out that this statement implied that he was to be used in some project involving the advancement of the people of Earth. ‘Why me?’ he asked. ‘Is it just because I accidentally happened to be here when you landed? I could easily put you in touch with a number of men right here at the test base who could be of far more value to you than I.’ ‘Perhaps they could,’ came the reply, ‘but would they?’
If you think you are here by accident, you greatly underestimate our abilities. Why do you think the dispatcher at your motor pool gave you incorrect information? Why did you think your air-conditioning system had failed tonight when, as a matter of fact, it was functioning perfectly? Why do you think you turned off on this small road, when your intention had been to go to your static test stand? And finally, why do you think you changed your mind about going back to your base to report [as had been Fry’s initial intention] the arrival of our sampling carrier? It is seldom that we superimpose our will upon that of others . . . but this is a case of such urgency for your people that we felt an exception to the rule was warranted . . .
The voice went on to request Fry’s assistance in a planned program me for ‘the welfare, and in fact for the preservation of’ Earth’s people. Several years would pass, Fry was told, before his services would be required. ‘We will be glad to offer you a short test flight in the sampling craft if it will help you to decide that we are what we say, and that our technology has much for you to learn,’ said the voice, and continued:
The craft is a remotely controlled sampling device, or cargo carrier, and while I am speaking through its communication system, I am not in it. I am in a much larger deep space transport ship, or what you would call a ‘Mother Ship’.
At present, it is some 900 of your miles above the surface of your planet, which is as close as ships of this size are permitted to approach any planet with an appreciable atmosphere. The cargo craft is being used to bring us samples of your atmosphere so that my lungs may gradually become accustomed to it . . .
All of the previous atmosphere that was in the craft was allowed to escape while it was in space, by the opening of the remotely controlled valve in the top. There is now an almost perfect vacuum inside. When the port is again opened, which I shall do now, your air will rush in to fill the craft, and we will have a large-scale sample of your atmosphere, together with any microorganisms which may be present in it. We need these also, for study and for immunization.
Your breathing of the atmosphere during this short demonstration flight will, of course, distort this particular sample somewhat, but we will have ample opportunity to obtain others before my adaptation to the environment of your planet is complete.