Contact across the Solar System

In the City

The two travelers and the two tour guides took all their luggage with them past some heavy doors, a reminder of what sort of planet that they are on. On the other side were some elevators and staircases, and they went down a long, long way. At the bottom, they went past some more heavy doors, and into the spaceport lobby. The spaceport resembled Earth airport and train-station lobbies, with displays showing arrivals and departures and with people there waiting for both.

But it had some pictures not usually found in airports and train stations, pictures of planets and moons and planetoids.

"We are now in Saanalokam's underground caverns," said Reznan.

Reznan went to one of the counters and talked to someone there, and soon after, the four went with their luggage to a van. After they all got aboard, he then drove it to the hotel, or more precisely, the van drove itself most of the way. It wasn't much of a scenic view, driving in the lower levels of the streets. The van barely made any sound, since it was electric.

In a few minutes, they arrived at a hotel, and they and their luggage went about 10 stories up to a suite for all four of them. Reznan explained that the hotel's rooms can easily be reconfigured to make a variety of suite configurations. "So if you are all alone, you can get one bedroom, while if you are with a big group, you and your group can take up much of the floor."

The two travelers went to a balcony, and they looked out from it. They saw a big high-rise city in a cavern, and their balcony overlooked a big public square with lots of people in it, walking, sitting, reading, talking to each other, and playing various games. Some people had various pets with them, and some canister-shaped maintenance robots wandered around. The square itself had lots of trees and bushes and flowers, and in its center was a spire with a shiny metal ball on top.

The two took video of what they could see, and Kurati reminded them to upload it. Arlene and Brad also took the time to compose e-mail messages for the people back home. They decided to relax and eat dinner, eating some gourmet vegetarian meals that Reznan brought to their rooms. As they did so, they noticed the outside getting darker, and Kurati explained that as part of the day-night cycle that the city runs on.

"We run on close to an Earth day, because that's what we are adapted to," she said. "In fact, all the worlds do so."

It became "night" outside, and the two travelers played some video games and then went to bed.

Meanwhile, the Gang sent a message to the Message Committee stating that it was indeed the Earth Contact Committee that they had seen on the video that the two travelers had sent back. Sheila sent back a message stating that she was as surprised as everybody else to learn that that's who they were. She had vaguely heard about UFO contactees, but she had dismissed them as crackpots not worthy of attention. But to learn that some contactees had real experiences, that was a shock.

Back in Saanalokam on Venus, the two travelers slept rather restlessly, and when they woke up, the two tour guides took them to a restaurant at the ground floor to eat breakfast. Brad wanted to eat some meat for a change, and he got some shrimp. Arlene was content with vegetarian cuisine, like tofu and veggie burgers. Some people came up to ask about them, and Reznan and Kurati talked to them. So we're becoming big celebrities here, said Arlene, and Kurati agreed.

The two tour guides then took them to a Big Event: meeting not only the Gang, but also the city council, the Venusian Council, and some members of the SSC Council, complete with interpreters for their audiences here and elsewhere. More politicians grandstanding and trying to make the event about them, just like back home, thought Brad. But as politicians go, they were relatively sensible. One of them talked about fears on both sides. She talked about how some of us Venusians object that the two travelers visiting here will defile our wonderful home and how it is being too nice to the Earthers. Also about how some Earthers are nervously joking about how we Venusians will eat the travelers for dinner. That got an enormous laugh. "Some Earthers' idea of humor about this event is to compose a big list of recipes," she noted, "a list full of horrible puns." Puns like "Buttered Brad" and "Arlene Lorraine." She also noted that "we have an old saying: our biggest fear ought to be of fear itself." She also congratulated the two for being willing to overcome their fears and accept our invitation to travel here.