FEDERATION

4 Encounter

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Earth had long been known to the Federation, but there was a policy of non-interference until observed worlds reached a certain level of technology. Cloaking techniques prevented Federation ships from being seen by people or detected by the military.

Interestingly, there'd long been stories of aliens arriving at Earth in spaceships and flying saucers, even leaving markings on mountains in South America, and aliens themselves in ancient artwork. None of that was related to actual Federation visits, but was part of humankind's particular love of conspiracies, monsters, and other non-existent beings.

Let me begin the story.

I reached eighteen, in 745,801... or, I suppose I might as well use Earth years, as it's an account of Earth. So, let me start again. Earth years are so similar to galactic years as makes no real difference.

When I was aged eighteen, in 2029, the first experiments with QE (quantum entanglement) transmitters were taking place on Earth. One of the machines was put in a habitat on the planet's moon and the other was in Jodrell Bank in England. Jodrell Bank was home to a huge radio-telescope. England was a province of the world, part of a small island area, near one of the larger continents.

The QE devices worked on the principle that electrons can be in more than one location at the same time. That made it possible to send a message to the moon instantaneously. When the discoverers of the system realised that it worked, they were delighted. It also opened the door to technology which would eventually lead to interstellar travel and matter transmission, although the people of Earth weren't aware of that at the time.

The QE transmitters were connected to computer monitors in the same manner as email and other transmission devices. A message was typed into the machine, it organised the data into strings, which then excited the electrons at the receiving end. The message was decoded and appeared on the destination computer screen.

So, in general terms, it didn't look dissimilar to email, messenger or text, but the transmission was instantaneous, as if faster than light.

What the inventors didn't expect was to suddenly get a message from an unknown location, telling them to desist using the QE transmitter. The first simply stated, 'DESIST USING DEVICE'.

They wondered if it was some kind of practical joke, but each time they used it, a similar message came in telling them to stop. 'DESIST TRANSMISSIONS'. 'STOP USING DEVICE' and other brief variations. The messages often contained spelling mistakes.

Who could be sending them? Was some alien race telling the world which experiments it could or couldn't conduct? If so, how could it be in English? Could it be some juvenile hoaxer who'd managed to hack the system?

The operators spoke to their supervisors, supervisors discussed it with managers, managers told their politicians. In no time, the messages were being discussed in the corridors of Earthly power. Scientists insisted hoaxes could be ruled out, but politicians didn't believe them. At the very least, there was considerable doubt. More discussions about the demands to stop transmitting took place, and eventually they came to the attention of people at the highest level.

It was decided that if, whoever it was, could transmit in English, then they should be able to receive English. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Ken Hood, authorised the following reply:

'We don't know who you are but have no intention of shutting down our QE transmitters without good reason. If you wish to discuss the situation, come and talk to us.'

If, as many still believed, the messages were the actions of an innovative group of hoaxers, nothing more would be heard. If they were real aliens, the response might take years. The message was sent and those in power tucked the incident away in a file which could be all but forgotten.