Contact across the Solar System

Arabian Days

As it often was, it was a bright and sunny morning in Jeddah in the Republic of Hejaz. But a very different one this time, because Hejazi air traffic controllers heard Ilmuth calling in from the Aurora.

A controller responded "We were waiting for you. Welcome to Hejaz."

"Thank you. We should be at the airport in a few minutes. Let me check."

She soon reported "We'll be at King Abdulaziz Airport in about 20 minutes. We should be passing Mecca in a few minutes."

The Aurora soon did, and thousands of Muslim pilgrims got the sight of their lives: three SSC ships going by, the Aurora and two similar companion ships. The Aurora's crew also got an eyeful of Islam's holiest city from their vantage point, including the Grand Mosque and the Kaaba in it. Or more strictly speaking, a view with the Aurora's onboard telescopes.

They flew well to the north of the Grand Mosque, but even as it happened some Muslims got outraged at the sight of a bunch of pagans getting so close to the holiest shrine of their religion. They were joined by Nejd-Republic officials protesting the SSC ships' overflight of their nation.

The three ships then landed a little to the east of King Abdulaziz Airport, near a refugee camp. A large number of trucks from aid agencies were there, as were delegations from the Hejazi government and the nearby camp. President Hassan bin Rashid welcomed the SSC visitors, and he assured them that he had no hard feelings about the lack of capsules dropped on the Arab nations. "I think that I might have tried to shoot it down as something from the other side." Orthon responded "Your sentiment is completely understandable. That is why we didn't drop any on you."

Security was super tight, and a reporter felt creeped out by all the guards with assault rifles. Another reporter found a SSC crewman with what looked like a sidearm on his belt. He asked about it, and he found out that it was a stun gun. He reported "Even the SSC guys are armed."

Some local anti-espionagers grumbled about being kept out of the visit, but after Amin Iskandari's would-be attack, the Hejazi authorities decided to take no chances.

The SSC people loaded the aid trucks full of supplies from their ships: solar panels, water purifiers, batteries, and the like. They also had plenty of gifts for their hosts, more solar panels, desalination and synfuels equipment, and other such things. Even some indoor-farming equipment and supplies. "Given your climate, we thought that you might like that." A Hejazi official stated that this will make great insurance, though when a reporter asked him about that, he only talked about oil-supply disruptions in general.

A CIA analyst was following this meeting, and he noted in the Trimmer file that this official was likely referring to some rather tense negotiations between the Hejaz Republic and the Republic of Nejd about oil shipments. The Nejdis were threatening to cut off oil if Hejaz did not stop doing what Nejd's leaders considered hostile, and the Nejdis were improving their pipeline connections to Oman, making their Hejaz pipeline less necessary.

"The Swiss President raised a lot of eyebrows for noting what she noted about oil supplies. But recent events in the Arabian Peninsula are yet more demonstration of how right she was."

After that visit, the SSC people spent the night in their ships, hovering over the Red Sea, and they then visited Egypt, landing near the pyramids near Cairo. Though there was plenty of security there also, it was a much less tense event, and Orthon entertained his hosts by reading some translations into Old-Kingdom Egyptian, New-Kingdom Egyptian, Classical Greek, Latin, Coptic, and Arabic. "Some people have asked us how far back our contacts with you go, and we decided to show it." He also showed some pictures of a pyramid being built that some SSC visitors had taken way back when. "You figured it out yourself," said Orthon. "You didn't need our help for that."

He also described how some early SSC visitors tried to explain that the Earth is shaped like a ball. The people there couldn't believe it. They thought that it was absurd — wouldn't everything on the other side fall off?