This story is continued from: Elements of Fear, part 5

    I stand outside Fred’s observatory, on the expansive concrete deck area near the observatory’s large entrance doorways.   I am illuminated by the much brighter-than full-moon brightness of Visitor.  Inside the observatory dome gives one a limited and different impression of visitor than you experience when being outside.  Outside the dome, Visitor alights the entire world as far as you can see.   It is night in Texas, but a kind of night never before seen on Earth.

    Visitor turned itself “On” for us.  That is a strange feeling. This is a strange light.

    The hot air of the day is now in a cooler respite, cloudless and dry, with a warm comfortable late evening stillness. My clothes were light and breathed in this warmth, quite unlike Minnesota evenings, and pleasantly dry.  July in Minnesota is muggy, unless you are near Lake Superior and the air from Canada cools things and dries them out.  Alone, now, I am not quite relaxed.  What Visitor presented, on our cue, so to speak, is not relaxing.  For this moment, I tarry, basking in the total illusion of “slowing” the headlong rush that is becoming what Schyler knew and prophesied more than 20 years ago..

    Despite the overwhelming light of Visitor, I enjoy a momentary feeling of sublimity.  Something I would rather now call the linkage of the “Numinous,” like Sagan, even though I understand Schopenhauer’s effort to elevate the sublime into the multi-levels, reaching and passing beyond the "facing of a malignant evil" which can destroy not only me, but all humanity.  In an initial contradiction to Schopenhauer’s structural framework for the sublime – I feel no deep pleasure of thought from it.  For me, it is the multidimensional character of fear. Even if Fate “speaks” and there is no possibility of rational choice in response, I get no pleasure from that.  Because I fear there really is no “choice,” all of it an illusion of quantum uncertainty.  If it is all just an intricate mechanism, it is a complex mechanism indeed.

    Except for the “wild card”, or better said, the “Trump Card” of Schyler Marshall’s foreknowledge as contained in the letter, I feel tiny, powerless, insignificant.  The letter “trumps” that sense of overwhelming danger;  that some dangerous impending destiny embodied in Visitor’s appearance, is not as dangerous as it might seem – because, at least, the foreknowledge Schyler states is pushing the future with me and us in it, farther along or perhaps deeper into the the clockwork quality of time.

    The only defiant “shield” I possess is my growing “belief,” as in an act of faith, about the honest accuracy of what Schyler sent me through Attorney Baxter.   As I examine my own reluctant defiance, I gain a quiet and subtle, self-contained posture.  I can stand on this solid rock of certainty about our future, holding firmly on to the message from Schyler.  I establish therefore an internal positive and unshakeable attitude, albeit, made possible because of Schyler Marshall.  

    In an instant of luxurious release, almost surrender, I allow myself a sigh, a long breath. Yes.  In me a nearly sick pleasure from perceiving an object that threatens to hurt or destroy all of humankind, perhaps. Schopenhauer may have had part of it right, but in my soul of souls – my Ace of Trumps is Schyler Marshall.  Is this my insanity?

    The “light” Visitor chose for this monstrous “signal” display is not the star-color of our Sun.   The chosen “star-color” of Visitor’s brightness is that of the first magnitude stars, Sirius, Vega, Altair, or far supergiant Deneb. All these stars are spectral class A stars, white to a tinge of bluish-white. The same as a black body radiating between about 7500 and 10,000 Kelvin.

    In this intense whitish light of Visitor, I lean against the pipe railing on the entranceway deck near the observatory entrance. For a brief support I grasp the anodized sure-grip tube of the top rail, stretching against it, waiting for Fred to join me. Maybe my grasp is tighter and firmer than a grasp relaxed.  For this brief moment, this small interval, I can think and quietly reflect on what is happening, waiting unhurriedly while Fred finishes putting his 50-inch Tinsley masterpiece telescope to bed.  To bed, indeed, since we will not be here in Texas for as long as this next entire week.

    Visitor is “shining” many times more brightly than a Full Moon and has for the last hour.  I think about but do not compute in my head the vast energy that must be involved in this display.   As Fred surmised, if one were religious and looked for a “Sign” from the Almighty, would this be auspicious enough to win itself into prominence as a true Sign? 

  I wondered if Visitor’s radiative output was directed, or beamed at us – or was broadcast in all directions?  Was Earth centered in an intensely bright spotlight, or was the energy from Visitor radiated in all directions?  Although we could now probably call NASA and ask  – by tomorrow at the meeting, we would learn the facts from the datastream microwaved back to Earth from the Seven Parsec observatory.  Those direct observations from the currently farthest easily directed eye on the universe could also document this immense energy and brightness.

    There was more than enough light to clearly show the path way to the ranch house, even where it ran through the pinions and cedar either side of the route.  It was bright enough to easily read a newspaper.

    Fred used an instrument he built to monitor the Moon’s brightness and the sky’s brightness while he and Bill were writing their book, Restoring the Night.  After we finished our conversation and collusion with Bill’s family -- after “Visitor” brightened -- Fred connected the old instrument and registered Visitor’s brightness at magnitude -17, detailing that Visitor is 57.5 times as bright as the brightest Full Moon.  It would easily be visible in Earth’s daylight sky.

    In no way is this light “gentle” like moonlight, or even sunshine.  The star-like point in the sky is too intense to look at – comfortably. As a point source, shadows cast by Visitor are harshly sharp and pinpoint precise.  I  recalled old movies where discotheque’s are shown in the harsh strobe lights accompanied by rhythmical “dance” music, and “strobe-frozen” dancers that were instantly affixed by the bright flashed light, coordinated to match the deeply primitive rhythm of the dance. The shadows I see cast by this alien have that strobe-like quality and intensity, but composed of an enlightened picket fence wavelength continuity.

    In the now, nothing that is lit is “frozen;” but everything lit is scoured intensely by Visitor’s light, everything starkly visible under some bright Eye of God.

    Yes. If not for Schyler’s statement delivered across the 20-year gulf of time from a past I can’t deny,  into the now-present, and touching delicately on some future yet to be – this explosion of light from Visitor would affect me much differently.  I have no “real idea” of what is to happen; but I had Schyler’s message that gave me a solid footing to suspect I, for certain, as well as the humanity my granddaughter argues a case for, actually survives and exists.  The recovered e-mail fragment clearly shows the date 2067 – 50 years in the future from now.

    For some, as Fred hinted, it would be a Sign, the subject of some religious dogma, or plainly frightening as a statement placing Earthly gods in some tiny niche.

    We are NOT alone.  

    And they ARE coming. . .     

    This “coming,” this “arrival,”  places me as near to my intellectual level of  terror as I can imagine being.  I am bent totally away from the simplistically religious.  I am a Woman, and I ply all of woman’s tools.  The emotional depths I do reach, are tempered when appropriate by my processes of thought.  With that, and as a human woman, besides insight, I own that nebulous thing called intuition, a consequence of better hemispherical brain connections than men.  And yet, I am first and always a Scientist.  This event suddenly forces a vaster reality upon me. For many  human beings, bent another way, some fundamentalist God is displaced by the reality of the “real” tangible, observable heavens above.

In my particular instance, I have a multiply-leveled “crutch” to meet this event with something more terrifying than the complete destruction of small-minded religions.  I see the specter of a complete  deterministic fateful framework on which all things play . . . inevitably – and invariably.

    With Schyler’s note from the past about the future, reaching ever farther than just “now” to some point 50-years hence, which is more frightening?  Aliens approaching – or that despite an illusion of free will – it is all preordained, down to the quantum level and much deeper.

    I am “mentally” exhausted from the anticipation of what the “new object in the sky” would turn out to be.  For the millionth time, I thought about the “words” Schyler had chosen.  Schyler Marshall’s 20-year-old letter said was that I would “like immensely” this friend of Carol Anne and Bill Harrison.

    Nothing could be further understated.  “Like immensely?”
    
    Nay. Nay.  I am falling in love with Fred Harper Williams.

    I can’t help but recall Schyler’s letter’s wording..

    “These things will change your life.  
    
    You will also learn about gardening from the best of gardeners!
    
    Misty, your granddaughter is still a good many years away.  She will argue humanity’s case.”
            
    
    These statements may have been offered as “story ideas” when Schyler Marshall first proffered them to me in high school. And now, I realize,  I did not read them all as deeply and thoroughly as I now wish I had.  The only one I consciously remember with even a little clarity is the one engaging my “granddaughter.”  If I could selectively tweak what in the past I would bring forward, knowing what I should bring forward – the issue might resolve itself on reflection.  Is it just a state of mind?

    Clearly no, I’m not in the same darkness the rest of mankind is experiencing under the light of Visitor, but the fear is only at bay, not gone . . . a fear suspended for a time.

    She will argue humanity’s case.  

    Case?  For the whole of humanity?  

    In front of whom?

    These coming aliens, perhaps?   

    Can I read between the lines, can I finish the projection?

    Undoubtedly Schyler could have told me more.  But didn’t.  Why?

    Fred slipped out of the observatory, after shutting the dome slot, and parking the telescope’s optics. This "parking" consisted of an effort to keep any West Texas “dust” particles that might have found their way into the dome from “falling” on the two mirrors.  The idea was to orient the optics so nothing by gravity could accumulate on those Tinsley Laboratories “perfect” optical surfaces. The 50-inch objective mirror and it’s 22 -inch secondary mirror, were parked with their surfaces vertical, aligned with gravity’s vector direction of “down.”

    When he joins me outside the observatory he smiles then looks around at the whole newly lit world we see from the light of Visitor.  Fred squints and glances mostly south and slightly up at Visitor.  “I wonder what this is all about?”

    He slips his left hand along the railing and takes my right hand in his.  “At least everyone gets to see this so there should be no doubt this is from an alien intelligence. I am certain they have a means of tuning in on what is going on here on Earth.  What do you think of that, Misty.”

    I’m sure they do, these aliens. But I wonder. Do they know about Schyler, about the letter, about my inner thoughts, or suddenly about my “faith” that we have some tiny, but an all-encompassing trinket of foreknowledge?  Like some amulet in a fantasy?  Do they come to grips with a Universe that Schyler can describe -- before it comes into existence?  Again, which is more frightening . . ?

    I must find a way to fully communicate this situation – starting, I think, with this man Fred Harper Williams.  I make the decision.  At least, I take the inevitable step, destined and certain, since the Big Bang, 13.4 billion some years ago; but destined for this moment.   
                    
        I lean a little closer to Fred, then pull back.  “On the way back here to Texas, after we are finished with the Academy meetings in Washington, and assuming we can get back here after all I have planned for shopping with Cheryl and Carol Anne, I want you to accompany me to my main office in Minneapolis.  I want to pick up a few things to show you that I locked in my office safe nearly a month ago.  I think they will interest you.”
   
    Fred squeezes my hand, “Holding out on me?”

    “Let’s go to bed, and we can talk about holding out . . . “

    Fred smiles, lifts his eyebrows expressively, and steps on to the path to the ranch house, gently pulling me into step with him.  “I can wait for you to tell me about what is in your safe until after we are done in DC.  Let’s don’t talk about this “holding out,” now.  Okay?”
    
    I can suspend my mental exhaustion; shift my attention to where it really wants to go.

    I squeeze his hand in return; I lean closer to him; I inhale his smell; his scent.  I am not physically exhausted.  Fred smells so good; so like some hint of delicious earthy musk, so magnetically, overpoweringly, attractive I can feel myself melting . . .  I plan on tasting and ingesting him . . . maybe totally . . .  within the next hour, or sooner . . . if I let myself run in overdrive . . .

    The Washington meeting of the National Academy of Science is held in the Kennedy Center, with a few guests.  Not everyone is there, but over 2000 scientists are assembled in the concert hall.   

    Dr. Bradley Mears, Director of the Minor Planet Center, was presenting Visitor’s vector and velocity data as the President of the United States was ushered into the National Academy's quite temporary meeting room in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall by the Secret Service.
    
    The President’s entrance was not dramatic, nor did it interrupt Bradley Mears' presentation. Photographs of Visitor were projected above and behind Mears, one from the Seven Parsec Observatory, and one from the refurbished Hubble.  The President was seated in one area that had been reserved.  His attendance was not otherwise noted by the scientists at the meeting.

    Bradley Mears was indicating the displayed photos with a laser pointer and speaking, "As you can see, these frames both show Visitor as simply an apparently internally illuminated object at 6th magnitude.  The surface, or whatever it is -- is "on" and it has been “on” for two ten millionths of a second at this point.  These frames are the last ones recorded by our spacecraft prior to the incredible brightening that occurred as the object reached the ecliptic.   Next slide please."
    
    No next slide appeared.

    Instead, the lights were turned on and the change from the dim projector lighting to a full illumination of the meeting hall was nearly as noticeable as the difference between Visitor pre-brightening and post-brightening. 

    The effect was not lost.  There was a mixture of groans and chuckles from the audience.  Bradley Mears blinked his eyes over a big smile and said,  "Visitor’s velocity is now 1/4 the square root of two times 1000 kilometers per second, as exactly as we want to know it.  And they are coming this way, and they will be here in less than three days.  Visitor is now at a constant magnitude of -17 and coming directly toward Earth.  And it is not "spotlighting us" or our observatories in space.  The light from Visitor has reflected off some nearby asteroids -- and several small bodies have just now been found because of the illumination.  From Visitor's discovery to now –  that is a 40 trillion factor of brightness increase.   Messrs. Harrison and Williams and  Ms. Garris  were quite correct when they predicted that "something" would occur when Visitor reached the ecliptic.”     

    “Colleagues, special attention should be given to the following fact.   There are no others in this room who would dare place such a fantastic speculation on the web!  It is truly a great credit to these discoverers that not one even hesitated to consider their careers!”  This remark was greeted by a few bits of applause, and considerable laughter.  

    `Bradley Mears went on.  "Most of us, especially since last night's brightening, the course and velocity change -- are wondering if these discoverers have some direct connection or communication route to or from Visitor.

    "In fact they promised me they would say a few words about this when they had the podium..." Bradley Mears shuffled his notes together."So without further preamble let us welcome Dr. Fred Williams, Dr. Misty Garris, and Dr. Bill Harrison ..."  
    
    The applause was loud and strong and lasted until Bill Harrison tapped the microphone.  Then there was instant quiet in the concert hall.  

    "It is an honor for all three of us to be here and we thank the President and the Academy for organizing the meeting and inviting us to attend this impromptu session.  On the Academy’s overall mission of advising the government, we will say only a few words about some of our recent unpublished speculations.  We look forward to defending these speculations and discussing them in the groups designated after this presentation.”

    "We, of course,  are as baffled as you as to the seeming 'response' of last night.  We believe, therefore, that Visitor is able to detect whatever we do on this planet, and understands our psychology; can tap our phones, our networks, our television obviously...and probably a lot more.  Yet, I am fairly certain they aren't able to tell what I am thinking.  Dr. Garris says she hasn’t thought anything about this so they surely can’t pick her thoughts on it.   And as for Dr. Williams, Dr. Williams will have to speak for himself on that."

    Fred Williams stepped to the microphone.  " I admit it, I admit it.  I have been “thinking” about Visitor quite a lot, recently, and I’m sure there is an explanation for why and how they are reading my mind . . .”

    A burst of laughter answered Fred Williams’  comment.    

    With a big grin, Fred Williams said, “Dr. Harrison –  Bill, and I were worried about the “crow” we might have to eat.  But neither of us were as much concerned as Dr. Garris, who said to us she would eat no crow.    But now, we all look forward to hearing speculations from those of you who do have reputations to guard, and never will now worry about eating crow. . .  ”

    There was a burst of laughter and applause at that statement.

    After a moment, Fred Williams continued, “We actually think it was logical to predict there would be a course change at the ecliptic.  The brightening of the object, however is simply awesome.   Yes, we’d predicted something happening.  But this degree of  brightening is something outside of reason.  And it is frightening.”

    “We have only discussed this briefly among us.  In fact, so little time have we actually had to discuss this since witnessing the brightening, we are going to keep this introductory very brief.  Dr. Garris  is going to read our joint speculations; and then we need to get down to the nitty gritty in an open discussion and the scheduled workshop meetings following this presentation.”
    
    Fred Williams stepped aside and Misty Garris stepped to the microphone.  She said, “ As to mind reading . . . Those of you who have kept up with my latest reports in Bionanotechnology,  may know or suspect that I have developed a small thought sensing prototype.  It is compact, and will eventually be marketed, hopefully, in the medical areas where nerve or limb damage can benefit from devices that can be controlled by brain activity for motor control or other functions.  For example, I have one such device that I have taught to control the circuitry that opens my office doors, and turns on my computers and the like.  It is a prototype.  But, I have not worn it for more than a month.  Nobody is reading my mind.

    The crowd of scientists  responded with a hearty laugh and applause.

    Misty Garris smiled.  "We have one slide.  Lets show it...the lights please.  Thank you."
    
    

    Behind Fred Williams, Misty Garris, Bill Harrison and above them, the slide appeared.  There were five numbered items on the slide.

 Misty Garris read them.
 
    "1.  Visitor could have communicated a truly complex message to us at anytime, and it hasn't.  Why?
    
    "2.  Since Visitor has not sent us a complex message yet, we think we must be prepared for a complex message of negative content.

    "3.  Although all of the simple signals sent from Visitor are obviously intended to be read by us; their actual content is small.   The implied content, however, is immense. These signals show an incredible mastery of nature.  They show an awesome  power and control over nature.  

    "4.  There is no doubt.  Visitor knows a lot about us...and is giving us time to get the word out to everyone on earth.  To us that means their message is for everyone.

    “5.  They will be here in two days at their current velocity.  They have our attention.  What will they do with it?”

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