2nd February 2020
Vanessa trudged along the snow-covered forest with a mix of nervousness and euphoria tingling in her stomach. A science student at Moscow State University, she had been chosen as an intern at the esteemed Quark Deep Space Centre, located in a remote corner of Russia. Although the center was very old now and was made almost obsolete by the new centers all over the world, it still was a highly respected research facility.
She shivered as the freezing winds blew, letting lose her short brown hair. Just as she was nearing her home for the next few weeks, a dog like robot with one glowing eye ran towards her. But Vanessa didn’t flinch. Why? Because it was just an over the top security measure installed by Quark. A robot dog that can catch intruders. She loved the idea of security robo dogs. It seemed fitting that they were at Quark.
She suddenly noticed a man waiting for her at the center and immediately picked up her pace to meet him.
“Hi I’m Vanessa, the new intern. I’m so happy to be-“
“Yeah, I know, you’re honored we chose you, blah blah blah. Now that the cliché introduction has finished, can we get down to business?” The tall man boomed in his thick Russian accent.
“Uh yeah ok…”
“Great! Leave your suitcase over here, I’ll show you your room later. Meanwhile, let me give you a tour of the center.”
“Sounds good. But what is your name?”
“Oh, I’m Mikhail, but friends call me Mike.”
“Can I call you Mike?”
“Sure!”
The way his demeanor changed from a strict professor to that of a friend was almost scary. She decided it was best to always stay on his friendly side.
After she was shown around the facility, Mike assigned her some simple tasks, like writing reports on signals received by the satellite dishes. He wanted to test her capability before he would give her an important assignment. He had grown used to trusting his senior colleagues blindly, for they were more experienced than him. But retirement caught up with them and he was left alone with the 2 other people at the center: Franz and Helen.
Vanessa slowly earned the respect of her colleagues by being ready to help them in their endeavors at all times, and they all wished that she would stay with them for a long time. And their wish came true.
30th March 2020
“Because of the coronavirus outbreak, Russia has gone under lockdown. There is no information on how long it will last, and people are advised to stay home at all times. We’ll cover this crisis in detail at 9pm.” Vanessa switched off the tv and sighed. She was meant to leave on 2nd April, but now she was stuck in the center. She missed her family and friends.
“Don’t worry dear, doctors will find a way to cure it and then everything will be alright.” Helen said cheerfully, her grey eyes shining with hope. Vanessa admired her optimistic thinking, but she knew deep down that the virus was far more deadly than it seemed, and wouldn’t go away easily.
“You’re giving her false hope Helen. Nobody knows how long this’ll last. It could be months or even years before she meets her family” Franz declared. He was realistic, but his worldview also seemed bleak sometimes.
“Well if you think about it, we are in the safest place during the outbreak. Cities and towns are miles away and we’re surrounded by forests. The virus won’t be able to reach us.” Mike too joined the conversation mostly because there wasn’t much to do.
“Can we stop discussing the virus please?” Vanessa begged. “Can’t we talk about something else, like the deep space signals?”
“Well the satellite has received a few but none of them are consistent. They can’t possibly be from alien life forms. They’re probably the aftermath of a star exploding.” Mike explained.
“Can I also monitor the signals? We can’t run experiments as all the equipment has been used up, and supplies won’t come for a long time.”
“Yeah sure. I’ll set it up for you.”
“What about us?” Franz and Helen asked “We’re bored out of our minds.”
“Uh you can maybe play with the robot dogs? Or read a book?” Vanessa suggested
“No don’t play with the guards. They are not toys.” Mike warned
“Hmmm… We’ll think about it.”
Time passes by in a blur. The situation doesn’t seem to get better and thousands are dying every day. Everything has come to a halt at the center and except for the monitoring of the deep space signals, nothing is being done.
15th April 2020
Beep beep beep. A curious noise sounds out from Vanessa’s computer in the middle of the night. It repeated the same little tune again and again. Vanessa woke up, very annoyed at the weird noise and started searching for the same. She finally deduced that it was her computer and went to shut it off and noticed that a series of space signals had been detected. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she analyzed them, searching for a pattern, a consistent behavior, something that couldn’t be produced naturally. And she found out that the same signal had been repeated not once, not twice, but twenty times! It had to be from an intelligent machine. That meant an alien life form was contacting them!
She quickly woke everyone up to show them this groundbreaking discovery.
“Do you think that it’s a secret message?” Franz asked, his moustache twitching inquisitively.
“Could be. We need to try and decode it.”
And so began the grueling process of deciphering the signal. All of them spent hours trying to find its meaning, when Mike noticed that the signal comprised of short and long bursts with pauses in between.
“I know what it is! Its Morse code!” He cried
“We need to mark the short and long bursts as dots and dashes, after which we can run it through a Morse code translator.”
After what seemed like an eternity, the Morse version of the signal was completed and fed into a translator.
“This is it guys… this is solid proof that there is life on another planet.” Vanessa gushed with excitement. “We will remember this moment for the rest of our life”
“Are we going to be famous?” Helen asked
“Yes of course. Do you think people will ignore this discovery?” Franz said
“Look here comes the translation…”
Hello earthlings. Greetings from planet Xazaq. We have been observing your planet and your actions even before there was any life on earth, and know everything about your planet, from its languages to its culture. We have contacted you only because the crisis your world is under is very similar to something we have experienced before. We thought we might be able to help you in this dilemma. The cure to end the virus, the magic formula to end this outbreak is to do nothing. Yes, you heard that right. Nothing.
Vanessa snatched the sheet away before they could finish reading
“What the hell do they mean by ‘do nothing’? These aliens are full of bullshit. This, this must be a mistake. It must be a prank, right? Do you really believe that they are right?”
“Vanessa calm down. Just read through it completely.” Mike tried to pacify her
“I… ok. I’ll read it.”
You might think that our decision is very irrational, somewhat like those antivax people that inhabit your earth. But the truth is that this is the only way. Yes, people will suffer. But you have to understand that this will only benefit the earth in the long run. The truth is, that earth is dying. It can’t handle so many people living on it and doesn’t have the resources to sustain them for long. While humans are suffering, earth is healing. Nature is rejuvenating and wildlife that was previously endangered is now thriving. Pollution has dropped and the oceans are cleaner. In the 4.5 billion year history of your planet, this may be a healing period that humans will not comprehend. And its because of your excesses and rampant misuse of natural resources that this has occurred. If you look at the big picture, you’ll get that this is but a small sacrifice you’ll have to make for mankind’s sake. Don’t you understand? This is the only way your species will survive on earth. We hope you listen to our advice and act accordingly.
Vanessa was stunned by the harsh words she had read. Was this really the only way for humans to live? Everyone in the room stood shell shocked, unable to utter a word. The silence was broken by Vanessa. “I’m going out for a walk.” She said shakily
Stepping out after a long time, she noticed that the forest looked glorious now that the February snow had melted. The branches glimmered with small leaves emerging, the beginning of spring could be seen. Blue skies with cotton candy clouds floated above her. The robot dog looked at her curiously, wondering why she was going away. She sighed and slowly walked, filled with anger, uncertainty and hope.
Anger at the aliens for suggesting such a ‘vile’ thing. Uncertain on whether they could be right. Hope that the world gets better.
Kuhutopia 