First Encounters

by Cameron McVey

Genres: Alien Contact; aliens; alien contact; interview

Synopsis

The Hannu are a mysterious alien species. They claim to have our best interest at heart. They have helped us travel to new planets, to create new homes for humankind. 

But there are some who think the Hannu are misleading us, lying to us. 

What do they really want?

Release date: April 1, 2022

Print pages: 152

Sample

ENCOUNTERS WITH THE HANNU:

HALA OSVELD, PART ONE

[There are two chairs facing each other at a slight angle as if looking out at an unseen audience. Behind the chairs is a large, light gray wall. The wall is dominated by a large floor to ceiling window. The corners of the window are rounded. Through the window is a beautiful vista. A green, lush valley with a large stand of trees on the left and a low mountain ridge on the right. The sun is just above the mountain ridge. Early morning light bathes the scene.

There are two women, one sitting in each chair. They both wear slightly shiny, loose fitting jumpsuits and matching, low cut, utilitarian boots as if they’ve just passed through an airlock from a spaceship. The woman on the left’s jumpsuit is forest green. The woman on the right’s jumpsuit is pale blue. The chairs themselves are gray like the wall and the low carpet on which they sit. Both women have close cropped hair. The woman on the left’s hair is shiny, smooth and blonde. The woman on the right’s hair is dark stubble. The woman on the left is younger, her eyes bright. The woman on the right is older, eyes shrouded. There is a glass of water on a small stand by each chair. The woman on the left holds a tablet on her lap as if she is going to take notes. She gestures to the woman on the right to begin.]

Woman on the Left: I am here to interview you. Let us begin. Please, for the record, introduce yourself.

Woman on the Right: My name is Hala Osveld. I am forty six years old, Terran. I am a survivor of the Rigel 1 colony. This is my story.

Interviewer: Before you launch into that recollection, which I’m sure will be long and detailed, I’d like to ask you where you live now? Tell the future viewers of this record what your life is like now. I want them to have a sense of that before you relate the…events you lived through.

Hala: I don’t want to share that information.

I: Please. Just a little. You don’t have to…whatever you’re comfortable sharing. Just a few details. So the viewers know that this all ends well, so to speak

H: It did not end well. None of us are “well.”

I: Well, you’re here, right? You’re alive.

H: Survival doesn’t mean we’re safe. Or normal. Or…happy. It just means we lived through it all. 

I: I see. I’m sorry. I was told you wanted to be part of this project. I assumed that meant you had some positive message, something worth sharing. The events you lived through after all, ahhh, only a few - I suspect you know them all - only a few are still alive. And…before you answer…I need to emphasize that those events shaped our lives, our worlds, our cultures as they are today. That goes without saying but…

H: But you said it anyway.

I:

H: What is your name? I’ve told you mine. Tell me yours.

I: That’s not standard procedure. As an interviewer my role is to elicit the best information from my…ahhh, from you as possible. Any details about me would distract from your story…That’s just how it’s done.

H:

I: But since you asked and given that this, your story, is one that hasn’t been told yet, that you have finally come forward ten years after the events came to an end then I suppose it’s only fair for me to reciprocate. 

[Clears Throat]

My name is Saha Montuse. I grew up on Earth then helped settle Locus 4. The fourth of the Bright Star Colonies. That’s how those numbers work. Pretty straightforward. Rigel was the first. Your home planet. Then Vira 2, Sullivan’s Planet 3 and Locus 4. After Locus…

H: They know all that. Tell me about you.

I:

H: If you tell me about yourself, I will promise to tell my story. This needs to be a give and take, share and share alike. Otherwise, I’ll walk out of here right now, head back to Rigel 1 and…

I: Sure, sure. I see. I was told you might…nevermind. I’ll share. Let’s pretend it’s just you and me and we’re old friends that haven’t seen each other since, well, since before this all started which for you would be when you were…

H: I was twenty five years old, Terran.

I: And I was seventeen. So, twenty one years on. Ten years of the conflict then just over ten years of…well, I resettled. I moved from Locus 4. Most of us did. There wasn’t much left. Ended up here in Prime City on Vira 2 which is now called Vira 1…as you well know…the Bright Star Colonies have been renamed. We are The Coalition now.That new name indicates our partnership with the Hannu…

H: Partnership?!? 

I: Yes. Partnership. I am aware that our language doesn’t have the words to describe the experience of that…joining. Not even now a full decade plus after the truce. After the agreement that brought about stability in this sector. 

H: Partnership. Fuck. Really? Do you really believe that?

I: I know that the first years of contact with the Hannu were…difficult…

H: Difficult? DIfficult! Are you [beep beep beep beep]

I: Well…obviously you have a story to tell then. Here’s your chance. What do you want to tell everyone, the entire populace of the Coalition? What do you want them to know?

[Hala turns to look directly at the hovering vid-drone filming the interview]

H: The Hannu are not what you think they are. They are not refugees. They are conquerors. Invaders. And The Coalition, life as we’ve known it for the past decade Terran is just a set up. Soon, it will all come crashing down. That’s why I came to tell my story. I need to warn people. I wouldn’t…I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t.

I: So…that puts you firmly in the Hannu as devious enemies camp. Which is a small but well known fringe, ahhh, mindset. View. Belief. One that persists despite the ample evidence to the contrary. So, I’ll ask, are you aware of that body of evidence? The tests that have been done - repeatedly - to show that the Hannu don’t control our minds. That is what you’re talking about, correct?

H:

I: If it’s something…

H: They don’t know what I know.

I: Who are the ‘they’ you are talking about?

H: The scientists who ran those tests you’re so fond of.

I: Uh-huh. And what exactly is it that you know that they don’t know?

H: That there’s more than one type of Hannu.

I: More…what do you mean by ‘type?’

H: I don’t know the technical term but they’re essentially like butterflies. Or locusts. A combination of those.

I: Explain that.

H: Butterflies start as caterpillars then they go through a cocoon stage to become butterflies. Well, that’s what the Hannu do with us, with humans. They use us as their cocoons.

I: And the locust part?

H: Once they are…ready…they burst out and swarm. Like locusts.

I:

H: You don’t believe me.

I: How could I? Honestly?

H: I’ve seen it. I know it happens.

I: Where did you see this? When?

H: Rigel 1.

I: During the Cataclysm? 

H: It wasn’t a Cataclysm. It was an invasion. By the Hannu.

I: The Hannu, the same species who facilitated humankind’s travel to the Bright Star planets. The same Hannu that helped us establish a presence in this sector of the galaxy. The same species that now joins with volunteers - volunteers mind you, no one is forced to join with a Hannu - so they can evolve further, develop their abilities more. In turn, we - humans and Hannu alike - will be able to explore more planets, reach farther out into the galaxy, encounter other alien species and civilizations. I mean, come on. I knew you were out there, Hala Osveld. But I didn’t think you were delusional. All these things have been said a thousand times over about the Hannu. But none of it has ever been proven. Not once. Not about a single Hannu. Not one incident. Not a single scrap of evidence to support these insane accusations. 

H: Then let me tell you about Mars.

I: Mars? You mean the dead planet in the Terra Prime system? That Mars? Or Mars Concordia?

H: Terran Mars…and it wasn’t dead. Isn’t dead.

 

[Entry Missing]

[Roughly five minutes of deleted audio]

[Other archives are being searched in hopes that those copies of this interview still have this section]

[Will update when results are known]

[Interview resumes]

 

H: We’ve always thought of planets as being the place where we’d find other forms of life. We were wrong to limit ourselves that way. Just as we were wrong to think of flesh and blood, bone and marrow as the way life would present itself to us. We took our own situation and projected it out onto the universe. We thought everybody else would be just like us. Well, not just like but close enough. However, in a universe that is ninety nine percent plasma it should not have surprised us that there were plasma life forms.

I: The Hannu

H: Yes, the Hannu

I: A name, it’s worth noting, that they gave themselves only when they had interacted with humankind for a few years, only when McComber developed the communication technology

H: The Bubble

I: Yes, the bubble as it is colloquially called, to facilitate the first, ahhh, live, in-person, back and forth communication

H: I feel like I’m in the bubble right here

I: I’m starting to suspect that would be a more interesting interview

H:...Do you want me to go on? Or should I leave now? I’m fine leaving. This is not turning out as I hoped. You know what? I am going to leave.

I: Please, no, stay. I am sorry. This project has been long in the making and we’re nearing the end. I’m just a bit worn out. Long flight and all that. Please stay. I promise to be more professional.

H: So, then, where do you want me to…

I: You were talking about the Hannu, the discovery of the Hannu.

H: Right, the discovery. That makes it sound all very dramatic and First Contact-ish. But despite the commonly believed story, it wasn’t that way. The Compendium Humanica focuses just on the Orbiter Event. Like that was the moment of contact between our species. But there is far more to it than that. The Hannu had been in contact with humankind for ages before that. It was a process that happened over decades, several decades.

I: And you became involved in that process, exactly when?

H: When the preparations for the first wave of settlement of Rigel 1, uh, began. Were ramped up. That’s when I was tasked to look back through the history of off-Earth expansion - we’ve talked about Mars, that was my first deep dive into Mars Settlement history. But, no, I’ll stay focused. We can talk more about Mars later. This, let’s see…

I: What year Terran are we talking here?

H: That would be 2170. I think. Maybe 2171 or 207…no, definitely 2170. Two one seven zero. I can see it in my mind now. Stamped on all the official documents. The Rigel 1 settlement was so important they used special, indestructible paper to preserve all the information. Which actually gets us back to the Hannu in a roundabout manner.

I: How’s that?

H: Well, I was brought onto the project as a communication facilitator. There were simply so many moving parts, research teams, settler recruiters, exo-biologists, endo-biologists, light pulse engineers and, well, just so many people, so many aspects to the process. We were, again this is common knowledge but it’s still amazing to me so I talk about it whenever I can, we were building a fleet of ships, all sizes but everyone thinks of the massive orbiter that held most of the settlers, a fleet of ships to travel to Rigel 1, remember, this is pre-Hannu so pre-teleportation. The Light Pulse engine was an intriguing design. It made the spread through our own solar system fairly easy. And this was going to be the first great leap outside our own solar system.

I: And you were tasked to review previous attempts, previous expansions out from Earth for what reason?

H: Let’s just say that humans have a tendency to repeat their mistakes. Especially when it comes to large scale projects. Given that the settlement of Rigel 1 was the biggest project ever undertaken it was deemed prudent to have a thorough review of the Mars settlement and the Moon settlement to make sure that the decision making process that led to those well known mistakes did not happen with the Rigel Fleet. 

I: But [checks notes] you were brought on near the end, near the launch date..

H: Almost exactly a year before launch

I: Which was the twentieth year of the project. So, why were you brought in at that time? It seems a little build before review, a little bassackwards, don’t you think?

H: Well, I can’t speak directly to why I was brought on then. I had been lobbying to be part of the project for about a year Terran. I was persistent in that regard. I grew up in Luna Heights and saw how that settlement had its issues. I had, like everyone, done my time, my service stint on Earth and, well, Mars was over by then and the Venus and Mercury projects already had boots on the ground - or in the atmosphere when it comes to Venus. The Asteroid Belt had been marked off-limits. To be used only for resources, not settlement. So it was either go back to Earth to join the re-seeding initiative there. Or get on with the Rigel 1 project in some way. As much as I liked my volunteer time down on Earth, I’d had enough of the home planet by then. I wanted to go…out there.

I: That’s interesting. I’d forgotten about the various Earth Reseeding Projects. We take a revitalized Earth for granted now. Back then conditions on Earth were much different.

H:Very, very different. But…

I: Yes, let’s not get into that. Let’s stay focused on the Rigel 1 settlement and your role in helping that come about and how it led you to realize that humans had already been in contact - is that the term you would use? - contact with the Hannu. And had been in contact with them for decades.

H: Actually, if you use the prime meaning of that word - contact - it had been just about two full centuries Terran that the Hannu and humans had, uh, been in contact. Here, let me just get to it. They are forgotten about now but back in the 1960s and 1970s there were various off-planet expeditions sent up by a couple of different nation states. USA, USSR, UE…

I: I’m sorry, what are those abbreviations?

H: United…You know what? It doesn’t matter. The important part is that when those meager yet valiant attempts at off-planet exploration occurred, they drew the interest of the Hannu.

I: I need to clarify that this is your contention. That this view is not supported by other humans or the Hannu themselves.

H: Clarify whatever you need to clarify. I know this is true.

I: You pieced this together - the events from our human perspective as you claim - when you reviewed the records, the log books and whatever else those projects left behind. That’s when you say you discovered a pattern. A pattern that led you to the Hannu, the first conscious, deliberate contact with the Hannu. Do I have that right?

H: Yes. Actually. You do have that correct. Most reports on my discovery put forth that the problems with the fleet happened first and my research came second, prompted by those problems. But that’s not what happened. What you just said is how it happened. I did my research first, came across the pattern, presented my concerns to the project governors and was dismissed. Then the Orbiter Event happened.

I: I think now is a good time to show the clip.

H: The Clip.

I: Yes. Infamous enough to be known by that short name. The Clip. Do we..okay, here we go.