“I have a rendezvous with Death
At some disputed barricade,
When Spring comes back with rustling shade
And apple-blossoms fill the air—
I have a rendezvous with Death
When Spring brings back blue days and fair.”
Prologue
The warm, earthy smell of fresh brewed coffee filled the crisp morning air; the sound of footsteps making their rhythmic noise that, along with the soft ticking of the analog clock hung behind him, he always found soothing. The sun was just coming up, he always preferred to get to the office early, and the orange glow filled his office as he sat back in his chair and relaxed for the last time until he went home late tonight.
When the light filled his office, Richard Burbank, Director of the United States Embassy for Extra-Terrestrial Affairs, lowered his blinds and turn up the office lights.
“Time for me to get to work,” He said to himself. Tapping the intercom button that opened a channel between him and his aide, Christopher Bena, he asked “Chris, when and with whom is my first appointment?”
“In about five minutes with the Druidth Ambassador, sir,” Came the clear and speedy reply.
“Lucky me,” He remarked.
“Indeed sir. Shall I sent them in right away?”
“Yes, that’ll be fine.” He instructed his young aide and closed the channel.
Three years had passed since the first alien ships arrived in lunar orbit. When NASA first detected them, they were thought to be mere asteroids, even after they were found to be metallic in construction. Once NASA released the data, they had to spend millions of dollars to ensure everyone that they would pass well away from the Earth; then several companies came forward with announcements of proposals to capture and mine the objects instead of letting them pass. However, this was not meant to be because the cosmic objects started to slow down.
Mere months after they were detected, they slowed to a fraction of their original speed, eventually came to a stop, and began orbiting the Earth’s only moon; not communicating, not threatening, doing nothing but just sitting there. That fact alone freaked out more people than the fact that they had even arrived at all, many religious groups and a more than a few of the less stable countries tried everything to interact with them; yet, what was now officially identified as ships, remained silent. Until one day, a signal was sent in standard binary and in no form of encryption.
The message simply said, ‘Hello’.
“Sir,” Chris stuck his head in the door, a little something he did whenever an official came to visit. “The Druidth Emissary is here.”
Burbank rose and extended his arms. “Ae-yok, my friend. How are you today?”
The pale-skinned man smiled back and embraced him in a hug, as he was well known to do. “I am very well today, Richard.” He answered.
On average, the Druidth people stood around 6 feet, 3 inches and had slender builds, though Burbank has seen some that were shorter or a bit heavier. Their skin was milky white due to the fact that their home planet no being saturated with UV rays and thus having no need to evolve pigment. Ae-yok, a typical male Druidth name, wore a deep purple tunic that covered his arms to the wrist and extended down to his knees as was customary for formal events such as galas, formal events, and meeting dignitaries; casual wear was basically the same, Burbank found out quickly that all Druidth clothes were just variations on the same basic tunic. Whether they worked in an office or a field, went to a party or met royalty, the Druidth always wore some form of tunic that crossed over the shoulders with a V-neck and formed together for a simple skirt like bottom covering the mid-thigh.
“Come, sit,” Burbank offered as he always did with people, and yes he considered the Druidth people, who entered his office. He found that being pleasant right from the start with everyone made business in general far more pleasant and when it came time to ask for a favor or compromise, others were usually more agreeable. “Tell me, how is your family?”
“Well,” Ae-yok started. His light purple eyes glinted in the sunlight that filtered in from the shaded windows. “My wife is finding things pleasurable, but my son is still uncomfortable wearing the respirators.” He shrugged, “He’ll learn to live with it, I suppose.”
“Either that or he’ll suffocate,” Burbank joked. All of the aliens had to were tubes leading from a small device on their belt to their nose; the purpose was to pump more Nitrogen, an inert gas that thinned the oxygen, into their lungs because the planet they came from had a very high carbon dioxide content due to the rampant industry that pumped chemicals into the air for well over 300 years.
Ae-yok laughed heartily. “Indeed.”
“So tell me,” Burbank started. “To what do I owe your company this fine morning?”
The alien smiled warmly again. “Not much, I just wanted to come by and see if this lovely planet’s natives are any closer to accepting us as a whole? That, and I brought a gift.”
“Well, the U.S. government has received and dealt with the usual number of threats from various citizens and groups, but it’s nothing to worry about.” Richard tossed his hand in a dismissing manner. “But be sure to tell me immediately if there are any incidents in your colonies.”
After the Druidth made contact, a single shuttle left one of the larger ships and very slowly descended until it was well in the atmosphere. That day, the sky above every country was an aluminum cloud of fighter jets; thankfully, no incidents happened that day, supposedly everyone was so aware that no one wanted to start both World War 3 and the first War of the Worlds in the same day. The lonely shuttle landed in Central Park, New York City amid an entire cities worth of people. Standing on scene were the U.S. Marines and quite a few members of the Secret Service who were all there to protect the visitors from anyone who felt it was their duty to cleanse the world of something new.
Apparently, they had been studying the Earth and all of its languages, cultures, politics, and various other things to ease the process. When they first appeared people gasped in shock and awe: despite all of the obvious technological advancements and their slightly strange appearance, the Druidth walked, talked, and looked just like every other Human. They entered an armored personnel carrier and were quickly whisked to the United Nations Headquarters where they greeted the ambassadors of the world in person and the people through televised broadcasts. It is assumed that not even the second coming of Jesus would have been so widely watched throughout the world.
“Oh, be most assured that you will be one of the first notified, after the security forces deal with the accordingly of course.” Ae-yok smiled mischievously. “And before I forget,” He reached into one of the oversized pockets in his tunic. “This is for you, my friend.”
The alien man slid a jet-black cube only a few inches high, across, and wide across the slightly cluttered desk. Burbank held it up and saw a crystal clear image of a spiral galaxy slowly spinning on a hidden access. “This is amazing,” He said, filled with awe.
“Indeed. It is a full three-dimensional graphic of what you call the Milky Way galaxy.” Ae-yok explained clearly; for an alien he spoke English incredibly well with only a slight accent. Burbank asked him to speak his own language once and he thought it was far too guttural to make any sense. “A common thing to us, but something amazing to you.”
“Indeed,” The Ambassador agreed. He put the cube on his desk next to his nameplate and leaned back into his chair. “And how are the rest of your people settling down?”
Ae-yok turned to the silently stoic Druidth standing behind him who handed over what appeared to be a square foot piece of Plexiglas, but was actually a highly advanced tablet computer. Humans could buy them from the Human-Druidth Exchange store where Human made goods and Druidth made goods are sold at adjusted prices, the only downside was that you had to be able to speak and read Druidth to use one.
After swiping his fingers around on the screen for a moment, he placed it in his lap and looked up. “It appears things are going well. The latest batch of colonists have been awoken from cryo-stasis and will be assigned to one of the many colonies that have been established on your, now our, world.”
“That’s good,” Burbank said, pleased. “Very good.”
The two spoke for a few more moments then the alien man excused himself and left. Burbank prepared a report to be sent to the Department of Interior, the department that oversaw his embassy, Everyone has a boss, he thought. Every time he met with Ae-yok he always needed to let the U.S. government know what was discussed and in what mood the man appeared.
As the Druidth Ambassadors, a man and woman standing about the same height and looking very much the same, it was later found out they were twins, took the floor at the General Assembly room in the United Nations Headquarters they began to speak. They had a message of peace, and a message of hope.
Their world was dying. After century upon century of unmonitored industry pumping whatever they wanted into the atmosphere and seas, after years of expansion and over consumption of the rapidly shrinking resources of Vasghyrr, the Druidth home world, they had reached the consensus that soon life would be unsustainable and where thus facing the extinction of the entire Druidth race. Having already known of a world in what was referred to as the Goldilocks zone by Human scientists, the Druidth King declared that 100,000 colonists were to be sent to the new world to continue the species.
Using their vastly superior technology, they set out from their home world, what was formerly known as Keplar-62, for the Human home world. When they finally arrived they came forward with a request of amnesty; they would settle in the uninhabitable, unwanted areas of the planet and keep to themselves in return for teaching the Humans all they know about medicine, computer, propulsion, engineering, and exploration. But the Druidth refused to give out any information about weapons, they did not believe in giving anyone the means with which to kill themselves.
A week of deliberations followed with threats of war and promises of retaliation between all of the nations present, but eventually it many countries came forward with offers, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Russia, China, and several African nations being the most prominent and thus, the most settled.
The sun had finally set long ago by the time Richard finished with all of his paperwork for the day and he stood up to leave, clicking the office light off and draping his coat over his arm. Walking out of the re-purposed government building in the outskirts of Washington D.C, he got in the black sedan that was assigned to him for security reasons and had the driver take the scenic route to his home; he was sure his wife would understand if he was a few minutes late for dinner.
“Early night, sir?” His driver asked as she pulled away from the parking lot.
“Yeah, I decided that those papers would still be there in the morning. Besides, my primary job is to meet with the Druidth and report back, and I did that this morning.”
“Well at least you have something to do, sir. I get to sit around all day doing nothing.” She smirked. “Although I am getting plenty of reading done.”
“Sally,” He met her gaze in the mirror. “If you’re really that bored, then I’m quite sure we can find something for you to do. How does filing sound?”
“No thank you, sir. I’m much to happy being bored.” They both laughed as she parked the car in front of his house and he got out.
“See you tomorrow,” He said.
“Bright and early, sir,” She answered and drove away. Burbank knew she would not be going too far. All drivers acted as bodyguards and had to stay close to their charges. Walking in, he smelled a delicious dinner waiting for him and sat down for a lovely meal with his lovely wife and teenage daughter.
He was almost finished with his pie when Sally burst through the front door, gun in hand. His wife screamed in surprise and he jumped up. “What is the meaning of this?” He demanded.
“I just got orders from the top to bring you in immediately, sir. You have a briefing at the White House in fifteen minutes.” She answered after checking the windows and holstering her sidearm.
“The White House?” He asked as he followed her out the door and to the waiting car with another man shouldering a small rifle standing next to it.
“Yes, sir.” She answered. “Something big just happened.”