Fifth Contact – V
South Carolina, the United States
Breakfast would have to wait, as the first reports of something strange happening on Mars flashed around the Earth and onto Vanessa’s wall TV screen. She just stared at the shaky images of the alien ship in orbit around Mars.
“What’s that Mamá?” Verity asked pointing to the screen.
Vanessa didn’t reply immediately, she just stared at the screen.
Verity continued to eat her cereal, her attention drawn back to the more important issue of food.
“It is a spaceship and nobody knows where it comes from,” Vanessa replied more to herself than her daughter.
Vanessa remembered alien invasion films from the beginning of century. They had fallen out of favour as space exploration, powerful telescopes; everything really revealed no indication of alien civilisations anywhere, now or in the past. Well with one important exception.
But now there was proof that alien civilisations existed and they were here or at least a single spaceship existed and didn’t look that dangerous.
Then there was some wobbly footage of the spaceship landing.
The broadcast cut to the studio.
“We have reports coming in, that the occupant of the ship is human and if this is true, perhaps we will find out what really happened on Hades.”
“It doesn’t necessarily mean …”
Human? Were there humans from other planets? That didn’t make sense because people evolved on Earth.
“No, I’m sorry,” one presenter said. “I am afraid our first information is incorrect, the occupant of the ship is in fact an alien, though reports indicate that it similar in size and shape to humans. What do we know about this alien?”
“Nothing at …”
Well that made more sense. Vanessa changed the channel.
“… and if this true then one of the great mysteries from the last few years will be solved …”
They obviously thought it was Connor.
“… because if the alien does know of Connor Ryan, the missing member of the ill-fated expedition to Hades, five years ago …”
Vanessa stopped listening.
Were they saying that Connor …?
She stared at the screen and waited to see if she could see his image.
Perhaps now she could speak to him and find out what really had happened and how the hell she had fallen pregnant when they were both on never-failing contraceptives.
They had been well on the way back to Earth when Saita diagnosed morning sickness. Of course nobody believed she was pregnant. And they hadn’t brought a pregnancy test with them, well you wouldn’t need one, but then the bump began to show and then rumours of an alien embryo had started.
And quarantine on the Moon had been hell; quarantine had never been designed for pregnant women. But at least the scans had shown that the baby was normal and more importantly for the tabloid press, human.
Then once Verity had been born, still on the Moon, another first, the DNA tests confirmed what Vanessa had suspected all along. The baby was Connor’s, not that Verity could have been anyone else’s.
It had to have been from that time at the U-party. Unless something else had happened on Hades? Had it? There was only one person who could answer that and Vanessa dearly hoped that the answer to her questions could now be answered. And there was still the mystery of the missing two and a bit hours.
“We repeat, the alien from the spaceship claims to have met Connor Ryan. It claims that Connor is at this moment on Earth meeting with Earth’s leaders.”
Vanessa stood still and watched the TV. Did they say that the alien said it knew Connor?
“Yes, we can confirm that the alien claims to know Connor Ryan.”
“Connor you’ve got a lot of explaining to do,” she said to the screen.
And what were her feelings towards him? She had liked him and if it hadn’t been for the unfortunate incident … She looked at Verity; how could she call her daughter an unfortunate incident.
Perhaps if he hadn’t disappeared, they would have got together.
There had been other men in her life, but none of her relationships lasted. She was the woman who had been interfered with by aliens. She suspected a lot of men went out with her just as a dare.
Money had been tight; the modelling contracts were less frequent, she had been one of the three people who had abandoned Connor on Hades, and her crime was worse than the others, as she was the mother of his child. And although everyone accepted her explanation that she had genuinely believed that only three people had gone down to the surface, there was the unstated question, ‘How could you forget?’
And how could she have forgotten?
Vanessa was often asked to speak at conferences and sci-fi conventions. Her audience would wait for some revelation, had she remembered what had happened on Hades? But every time, they had been disappointed as she had no new information to give.
Then there was the time she was asked to contribute to a filmed reconstruction. The producers actually thought she had been holding out on the planet and was going to tell them what had really happened.
That film never happened.
And Verity was treated differently, everyone was polite to her face, but Verity was the alien child. The product of some weird alien experiment, because nobody knew what had happened in those missing hours.
At least with Connor’s return, the most persistent stories would stop, that they had been running out of air and Connor had volunteered to give his supply to the others, or had died, or in the worst scenario, he had been murdered.
They were the worst stories. The ones in which she had murdered Connor. And when it came down to, it she didn’t know that she hadn’t.
And then just when she thought, the world had forgotten, a new dramatisation would be produced, purporting to tell the truth of what happened on Hades.
The first pictures of the suited-being on the surface of Mars appeared on the TV and then the reporters returned to the studio for more analysis (i.e. inane chat).
Vanessa changed the channel again; all the news channels had the same story. First contact, or perhaps second contact. First or second contact? She looked at the latest images, taken with a telephoto lens from within the Mars dome.
“Connor what have you done?” she asked the TV. “How come you’ve been living with aliens? What the hell have you gotten involved with?”
“So what are the Earth’s authorities doing about this?” one airhead presenter said.
“They will all be wanting to interview Connor Ryan. After all one of the greatest mysteries of this century will be solved.”
“Well the alien did say he had travelled to Earth.”
“Did it say where on Earth?”
“There are rumours that he was seen in Ireland.”
“That would make sense.”
“Wait we’re getting further news from Mars …”
The image cut to the surface of Mars for about ten seconds, then back again to the studio.
“We have lost the signal. Whether it is Earth’s authorities or something else blocking the signal we can’t tell. Do we have any idea what the aliens want?”
Vanessa changed the channel again.
“… reports that Connor Ryan is on the Earth in a secret location negotiating a treaty between Earth and the aliens …”
“All we know about the alien is that it is very human-like.”
Channel change again.
“Connor Ryan was taken away by US government agents from a police station in Cork in Ireland. He claimed to have been living with an alien civilisation for the last five years.”
The TV channel changed to show stock footage of an Irish town.
So where was Connor and would she get to meet him? Did she want to meet him? Yes she did. And Verity had the right to meet her father.
It was twenty minutes before the first reporters arrived at the door. They were offering her huge amounts of money for her excusive views. She almost considered them. Ten minutes after that, Earth Security were at the door making her an offer she couldn’t refuse.
She climbed into the car and was driven to the nearest police station. She sat in an interview room and three people came in and sat down.
“I would like to speak to him,” she said. “He has got a lot of explaining to do.”
“If you speak to him, we will be monitoring the situation,” the secret service agent replied.
“So he really is on Earth?”
“He is, though we are trying to keep a lid on the situation at the moment.”
“How will you keep a lid on the situation?”
“That is not your concern.”
“He may open up to me, if he thinks you’re not listening,” she said.
“Perhaps,” the agent replied. “But if you do meet him, it will be under our supervision. Now how much do you know?”
What did she know? When it came down to it, nothing.
“What’s that Mamá?” Verity asked pointing to the screen.
Vanessa didn’t reply immediately, she just stared at the screen.
Verity continued to eat her cereal, her attention drawn back to the more important issue of food.
“It is a spaceship and nobody knows where it comes from,” Vanessa replied more to herself than her daughter.
Vanessa remembered alien invasion films from the beginning of century. They had fallen out of favour as space exploration, powerful telescopes; everything really revealed no indication of alien civilisations anywhere, now or in the past. Well with one important exception.
But now there was proof that alien civilisations existed and they were here or at least a single spaceship existed and didn’t look that dangerous.
Then there was some wobbly footage of the spaceship landing.
The broadcast cut to the studio.
“We have reports coming in, that the occupant of the ship is human and if this is true, perhaps we will find out what really happened on Hades.”
“It doesn’t necessarily mean …”
Human? Were there humans from other planets? That didn’t make sense because people evolved on Earth.
“No, I’m sorry,” one presenter said. “I am afraid our first information is incorrect, the occupant of the ship is in fact an alien, though reports indicate that it similar in size and shape to humans. What do we know about this alien?”
“Nothing at …”
Well that made more sense. Vanessa changed the channel.
“… and if this true then one of the great mysteries from the last few years will be solved …”
They obviously thought it was Connor.
“… because if the alien does know of Connor Ryan, the missing member of the ill-fated expedition to Hades, five years ago …”
Vanessa stopped listening.
Were they saying that Connor …?
She stared at the screen and waited to see if she could see his image.
Perhaps now she could speak to him and find out what really had happened and how the hell she had fallen pregnant when they were both on never-failing contraceptives.
They had been well on the way back to Earth when Saita diagnosed morning sickness. Of course nobody believed she was pregnant. And they hadn’t brought a pregnancy test with them, well you wouldn’t need one, but then the bump began to show and then rumours of an alien embryo had started.
And quarantine on the Moon had been hell; quarantine had never been designed for pregnant women. But at least the scans had shown that the baby was normal and more importantly for the tabloid press, human.
Then once Verity had been born, still on the Moon, another first, the DNA tests confirmed what Vanessa had suspected all along. The baby was Connor’s, not that Verity could have been anyone else’s.
It had to have been from that time at the U-party. Unless something else had happened on Hades? Had it? There was only one person who could answer that and Vanessa dearly hoped that the answer to her questions could now be answered. And there was still the mystery of the missing two and a bit hours.
“We repeat, the alien from the spaceship claims to have met Connor Ryan. It claims that Connor is at this moment on Earth meeting with Earth’s leaders.”
Vanessa stood still and watched the TV. Did they say that the alien said it knew Connor?
“Yes, we can confirm that the alien claims to know Connor Ryan.”
“Connor you’ve got a lot of explaining to do,” she said to the screen.
And what were her feelings towards him? She had liked him and if it hadn’t been for the unfortunate incident … She looked at Verity; how could she call her daughter an unfortunate incident.
Perhaps if he hadn’t disappeared, they would have got together.
There had been other men in her life, but none of her relationships lasted. She was the woman who had been interfered with by aliens. She suspected a lot of men went out with her just as a dare.
Money had been tight; the modelling contracts were less frequent, she had been one of the three people who had abandoned Connor on Hades, and her crime was worse than the others, as she was the mother of his child. And although everyone accepted her explanation that she had genuinely believed that only three people had gone down to the surface, there was the unstated question, ‘How could you forget?’
And how could she have forgotten?
Vanessa was often asked to speak at conferences and sci-fi conventions. Her audience would wait for some revelation, had she remembered what had happened on Hades? But every time, they had been disappointed as she had no new information to give.
Then there was the time she was asked to contribute to a filmed reconstruction. The producers actually thought she had been holding out on the planet and was going to tell them what had really happened.
That film never happened.
And Verity was treated differently, everyone was polite to her face, but Verity was the alien child. The product of some weird alien experiment, because nobody knew what had happened in those missing hours.
At least with Connor’s return, the most persistent stories would stop, that they had been running out of air and Connor had volunteered to give his supply to the others, or had died, or in the worst scenario, he had been murdered.
They were the worst stories. The ones in which she had murdered Connor. And when it came down to, it she didn’t know that she hadn’t.
And then just when she thought, the world had forgotten, a new dramatisation would be produced, purporting to tell the truth of what happened on Hades.
The first pictures of the suited-being on the surface of Mars appeared on the TV and then the reporters returned to the studio for more analysis (i.e. inane chat).
Vanessa changed the channel again; all the news channels had the same story. First contact, or perhaps second contact. First or second contact? She looked at the latest images, taken with a telephoto lens from within the Mars dome.
“Connor what have you done?” she asked the TV. “How come you’ve been living with aliens? What the hell have you gotten involved with?”
“So what are the Earth’s authorities doing about this?” one airhead presenter said.
“They will all be wanting to interview Connor Ryan. After all one of the greatest mysteries of this century will be solved.”
“Well the alien did say he had travelled to Earth.”
“Did it say where on Earth?”
“There are rumours that he was seen in Ireland.”
“That would make sense.”
“Wait we’re getting further news from Mars …”
The image cut to the surface of Mars for about ten seconds, then back again to the studio.
“We have lost the signal. Whether it is Earth’s authorities or something else blocking the signal we can’t tell. Do we have any idea what the aliens want?”
Vanessa changed the channel again.
“… reports that Connor Ryan is on the Earth in a secret location negotiating a treaty between Earth and the aliens …”
“All we know about the alien is that it is very human-like.”
Channel change again.
“Connor Ryan was taken away by US government agents from a police station in Cork in Ireland. He claimed to have been living with an alien civilisation for the last five years.”
The TV channel changed to show stock footage of an Irish town.
So where was Connor and would she get to meet him? Did she want to meet him? Yes she did. And Verity had the right to meet her father.
It was twenty minutes before the first reporters arrived at the door. They were offering her huge amounts of money for her excusive views. She almost considered them. Ten minutes after that, Earth Security were at the door making her an offer she couldn’t refuse.
She climbed into the car and was driven to the nearest police station. She sat in an interview room and three people came in and sat down.
“I would like to speak to him,” she said. “He has got a lot of explaining to do.”
“If you speak to him, we will be monitoring the situation,” the secret service agent replied.
“So he really is on Earth?”
“He is, though we are trying to keep a lid on the situation at the moment.”
“How will you keep a lid on the situation?”
“That is not your concern.”
“He may open up to me, if he thinks you’re not listening,” she said.
“Perhaps,” the agent replied. “But if you do meet him, it will be under our supervision. Now how much do you know?”
What did she know? When it came down to it, nothing.