Contact across the Solar System

Back Home during the Trip

Even during the visit, the anti-espionagers had a lot to say about it. They were initially puzzled at why Switzerland, saying things like "What did the mall rats promise them?" But when Sheila McKenna announced that Ilmuth had helped her a few decades ago, breaking the news with Ilmuth herself at her side, the anti-espionagers got worked up with outrage.

"So McKenna confesses that she was recruited by the mall rats."

"Conflict of interest!!!"

"No wonder she resigned. She knew that she didn't want to get caught with her hand in the cookie jar."

"What a crybaby. Needing emotional support from that mall-rat chick."

Senator Ferguson stated that he was thinking of investigating her for perjury, lying under oath about her relationship with the SSC people and the great conflict of interest that it presented.

But Paul Jenkins was more nonchalant about that revelation, though he editorialized "First the US, then Russia, and now Switzerland. What country is next? The SSC people seem very erratic."

A CTIE expert on George Adamski recalled how GA had claimed that there was a big conspiracy operating out of Zurich to suppress his work, how Zurich bankers felt very threatened by it. "But now the SSC visits an airbase close to Zurich. Those villainous bankers aren't much of a threat to them, I guess."

Some of the Watchers stated that they wondered if the "sovvies" were correct that Ilmuth helping Sheila was some thinly-disguised recruitment, but another one stated "I'd love to be 'recruited' like that."

The CIA and the Swiss FIS continued to try to puzzle out why the SSC selected Switzerland for its most recent visit, and a FIS agent pointed to various offhand comments from some SSC people about Switzerland. That nation is neutral but supportive of international cooperation, it is well-governed, and its quality of life is high by Earth nations' standards, about as good as northern Europe and some other nations. From some SSC people's comments, the agent noted, it seemed like they were saying that more Earth nations ought to be like Switzerland.

In Switzerland, the visit provoked a lot of controversy, with some politicians arguing that it should have been discussed more openly. Some anti-espionagers even claimed that the SSC was trying to cover up its espionage with bribes, and they proposed a referendum on further dealings with the SSC. After a lot of argument about what the referendum should be about, they settled on a very general sort of one: "Should the Swiss Government continue its dealings with the Solar System Community?" Some anti-espionagers were still unsatisfied, because it did not address the issue of SSC espionage, and because it did not address what the SSC is like.

A few days after the Aurora's departure from Emmen with its delegation, the news broke that the Swiss authorities were holding Amin al Iskandari on charges of arms smuggling and attempts to threaten the SSC visitors. Some anti-espionagers called it a "false flag" operation, an attempt by SSC supporters to get people to sympathize with the SSC. Then Amin's lawyer Erich Hasenfuss claimed that the Swiss military had threatened his client with SSC people reading his mind. "My client was intolerably abused with this threat of invasion of the ultimate bastion of privacy," the lawyer stated, claiming how nowhere in the history of judicial torture has anyone ever threatened an abuse this horrible. "Over the centuries, judicial inquisitors have come up with many abuses of their subjects' bodies, and they have come up with mind games like 'good cop bad cop'. But none have ever threatened this extreme breach of privacy."

Amin turned out to be a pro-Saudi rebel in Qatif state, a Sunni Muslim fighting against what he considered persecution of Sunni Muslims there by the Shias and their Iranian backers. Some of his fellow rebels then released a video that was described as Amin's "Last Testament", a video where Amin described what he tried to do in case he gets killed or otherwise fails catastrophically. Amin described how he hoped to attack the SSC ship that was visiting Emmen to teach the SSC a lesson in how wrong it was to meddle in Earth people's affairs. He also argued that the SSC people are lily-livered cowards and that they will run away if Earth people make a strong enough show of force against them.

One of the releasers said about it that "we discussed that idea but we decided against it. I think that it's a stupid provocation. The last thing we need is the mall rats coming after us. Even the biggest pacifists turns into warmongers when attacked."

"I remember Salman our resident expert on the SSC pointing out how hard it would be to attack the SSC's vehicles. They don't make exhaust and that means that heat-seeking missiles won't be able to lock onto them. You'd need radar, and you'd need a radar truck for that."

The anti-espionagers split over that, with some being sympathetic to Amin's actions, and others saying that their movement will suffer guilt by association with terrorism. Some of the latter continued to believe that it was a false-flag operation.

On the worlds, some anti-contacters pointed to Amin's would-be terrorism as yet more evidence of how violent and dangerous Earthers are, others were more nonchalant. Kudelimi snickered "So this Iskandari fellow blames us for his nation falling apart because of its leaders' greed? Earthers never stop surprising me."

While all this was happening, Saudi Arabia launched a massive offensive into the Republic of Qatif. The civil war had been winding down, especially in the west, but here it was heating up again. The Saudi army reached Dammam and Qatif city, but then Iran sent some troops in. That was a surprise, because many Iranians were getting tired of involvement in Qatif. But then again, the Saudi leaders ought to have thought twice before attacking some Iranian airbases.