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The Pale Blue Dots - Chapter V

Chapter V

 

18:27 Briefing suite, Ring E, Pentagon, Washington DC,  05.09.2018

Twenty four hours after Howard and Emilio had left Pasadena they were sat in an anteroom off a briefing suite in the outer ring E of the Pentagon, he Emilio and their equipment were brought in separate vehicles and were unannounced when signing in they did not show their Nasa ID’s and were described as consultants. Administrator Stronach gave them twenty four hours to prepare for a briefing, they were given unlimited resources but all Howard and Emilio needed was the use of the Hubble telescope but this was no simple task.

 

Everyone on shift at the time the request was sent were locked down and everyone else locked out with gag orders placed upon them, even then the staff were told which coordinates to search for but were not allowed to look at the images. An aide came into the anteroom and told them that the personnel were gathered for the briefing, Howard and Emilio smiled weakly at one another they were worried how the briefing would go.

 

They entered the briefing room it was midsized capable of housing forty people but present were only nine but these were extremely powerful men, they were the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the administrator of Nasa and the Secretary of Defence Stanley Braddock. The latter man gestured for Howard and Emilio to take up a position at a briefing lectern at the head of the conference table they were at, behind them was a white screen and projector above their heads, in front of them a computer with everything they needed.

 

‘Gentlemen.’ Stated Secretary of Defence Braddock. ‘We wanted to involve everyone including the president in this briefing but it was decided that he and they should continue with their scheduled appointments so as to not arouse suspicion.’

 

‘I understand, sir.’ Replied Howard, his mouth was suddenly dry. ‘I would have done the same in your position.’

 

‘I appreciate that this situation is stressful for you two in the extreme.’ Said the secretary. ‘Give us the facts and shoot from the hip.’

 

‘Very well.’ Replied Howard, he then gestured to Emilio to begin.

 

‘Gentlemen.’ Said Emilio, he then coughed to clear his throat. ‘I was going over the latest data sent from Voyager 1 which is sent daily in the early hours of the morning, it was then that I saw that Voyager 1 had detected multiple objects emitting high density electron profiles as well as these objects emitting their own magnetic fields.’

 

‘Now it would be fair to ask if these objects are natural.’ Put in Howard, as Emilio brought up the images on the projector. ‘During and even after the formation of the solar system it is theorised that the asteroids left over held their own magnetic fields but as the asteroid cores cooled the fields vanished.

 

‘The objects moving towards the Sol system could be asteroids with their magnetic fields still intact but this is highly unlikely. Like our own asteroids cooling over time after the formation of the solar system it is reasonable to assume that these objects having travelled through interstellar space would have cooled to the point where their magnetic fields would have dissipated. If these objects are not natural then the only logical option is to believe that these objects are artificially emitting magnetic fields.’

 

‘What are we talking about here?’ asked one of the chiefs of staff. ‘Aliens?’

 

‘That is exactly what we are talking about.’ Said Howard, even though he couldn’t quite believe it himself, he paused letting his words hang in the air. ‘We believe that dozens of extraterrestrial craft are heading here to the sol system.’

 

‘How far out are they?’ asked the Secretary of Defence.

 

‘In the most simplest of terms.’ Said Howard. ‘They are ten times the distance between Jupiter and Earth, it sounds like a lot but it really isn’t they are practically in our back garden.’

 

‘How long will it take for them to get here?’ asked Chief of Staff General Breckenridge.

 

‘At their present speed.’ Said Emilio. ‘They would be in the outer solar system in a decade, then if they continued coreward they could reach Earth after a further five years. That is assuming they are travelling at maximum acceleration.’

 

‘If they are extraterrestrial vessels.’ Stated the secretary of defence. ‘Then why are they coming here.’

 

Howard couldn’t help but shrug. ‘There are numerous reasons tabled for natural resources, for water, for sport, for fact finding or to enslave us, some of course are more plausible than others but we simple do not know.’

 

‘How long until they can detect us?’ asked General Breckenridge.

 

‘We’ve been detectable for years.’ Replied Howard, he had anticipated this question and Emilio brought up a slide on the projector which showed an artist’s impression of the local star systems around sol, as well as red concentric rings the significance of which Howard started to give commentary on. ‘Here this furthest ring denotes the first radio signals sent in 1900, they have reached 110 light years from Earth and our first TV signals have reach 74 light years from Earth.

 

‘These objects are less than five light years from Earth, they are well within range of receiving the signals and if I have to hazard a guess as to how they found us this is the most probable, after all that is what we are doing with the SETI project, listening for radio signals from extraterrestrial beings.’

 

‘When will they be within range enough for us to be able to confirm whether or not they are aliens?’ asked the secretary of defence.

 

‘We won’t be able to do that until they are well within the solar system.’ Replied Howard.

 

‘That can’t be right.’ Interjected one of the joint chiefs of staff. ‘We’ve all seen the photos taken from the Hubble telescope, we can see stars and nebulas, sure we can see these things if we go to Hubble.’

 

Without needing to be prompted Emilio switched the projector to the images sent from Hubble, they were just blue blobs in the night sky surrounded by stars.

 

Howard gestured to the image. ‘These were taken by Hubble within the last few hours as you can see they are just pale blue dots.’

 

‘What about Voyager 1?’ asked the secretary of defence.

 

‘What about it?’ asked Howard.

 

‘Voyager 1 has a camera doesn’t it?’ asked the secretary.

 

‘After the last lot of images were taken in 1990 the camera was switched off.’ Replied Howard. ‘The software was removed that operates the camera and the hardware to control it on Earth doesn’t exist anymore, not just that the camera has been exposed to the cold depths of space.’

 

‘Is it possible?’ asked the secretary.

 

‘I wouldn’t say it was impossible.’ Replied Howard. ‘But I can’t guarantee it as we need to recreate the technology.’

 

‘Then get to it gentlemen.’ Stated the secretary of defence. ‘Get it done no matter what it takes we need to identify those pale blue dots.’

 

‘There is one concern for this course of action.’ Stated General Breckenridge. ‘If they could detect us on Earth then it is safe to assume that they can detect the Voyager probes and have been tracking their progress. If that is the case then how will they react to one or both of the probes heading toward them, the cat will be out of the bag they will know we’ve detected them.’

 

‘I will take this up with the president.’ Replied the secretary. ‘But this is bigger than America he will have to take this to other world leaders, perhaps every world leader. I have a feeling he would rather detect them twenty years out rather than less than five years out, whether or not they know we are onto them or not. Get the Voyagers cameras working and get it done soon, all may depend on it.’

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