They awoke to the beeping of their new proximity detector. Rachel woke up first.
“What’s that?”
“Shh. Someone or something is outside. What do we call them? I guess we shouldn’t call them ‘things’ or ‘it.’ I wonder if they have genders. Can we call them he or she?”
“I guess we’ll find out,” Rachel said. “Let’s go find out what’s happening.”
Nisha peered out the tent opening. Her heart raced.
“Rachel, the alien children are checking out the car. Let’s go visit them. We can break the ice and try some of the tests we’ve prepared.”
They walked outside into the sunlight on the warm and dry morning, which is typical for late September in the Mojave Desert. They walked slowly towards the children. Nisha glanced at Rachel and smiled. There was something comforting about the way they were so curious about everything. They were playful. Their behavior was different than the adults.
“I wonder how they got into the car without activating the car alarm. I hope they don’t do any damage. They’re nearly as tall as us and I can tell they’re stronger. They are children, but they may be smarter than us. At least they don’t have the car key.”
The car engine started. Nisha laughed.
“Never mind.”
As they walked closer, the children spotted them, and the engine turned off. Nisha walked to within about five meters of the tallest one, who was slightly taller than her. She pointed to herself and said, “Hello, I’m Nisha.”
She pointed to Rachel and said her name. The tallest one watched Nisha and one eye moved over to Rachel.
Nisha glanced over at Rachel and whispered, “He’s looking at both of us at the same time.”
“Unnerving, isn’t it?” Rachel said. “Here he comes, stay calm.”
They stood in place while the oldest child walked around them. His tail looked a little shriveled, as though it was beginning to wither into the little nub the adults had. He had a small round mouth which he didn’t open. His rubbery prehensile nose was not as large as the adults. The nose had three nostrils. His eyes looked reptilian. The sclera appeared pure green where ours are white. The iris appeared bright orange with a star-like black pupil, which dramatically adjusted to changes in brightness. Surrounding each independently moving eye were loose folds of skin which were green right now but could change color according to mood. None of the aliens seemed to wear clothing but no reproductive organs could be seen. Nisha and Rachel couldn’t differentiate male from female, assuming they had males or females. They appeared sexless. The default color on their entire body was gray, but some of them changed color. Even their thin fur-like covering had a green tint to it.
Nisha tried to get some dialog going with the oldest one. Again, she pointed to herself and said, “Nisha.”
The tallest child stared at Nisha, focusing on her with both eyes for about 10 seconds. Nisha pointed to her head and said, “I can hear you.”
“He talked to you?” Rachel said.
“I think so. The voice is static sounding like the voices I’ve heard all along. I sense them constantly, but I filter them out or I’ll go crazy. He’s closer so I think he’s louder. I’ll call them ‘he’ for now. He’s so different than the adults. He wants to interact with us. The adults don’t care. I think we can communicate with him and the other children.”
“Let’s find out how smart they are,” Rachel said. “Get the chess set since they’re not interacting with us very much.”
Nisha walked to the tent and returned with the chess set. She set up the pieces on the picnic table underneath a shady desert tree. The sun had recently risen but the desert temperature rose quickly. The children didn’t seem to mind the heat, but the brightness of the sun bothered them, and they preferred the shade. Nisha and Rachel set up the chess set and began to play as they had planned earlier. They were both skillful players.
“Nisha, I think they’re interested,” Rachel said “They’re studying the game closely. Let’s keep playing.”
The children crowded around the board as Nisha and Rachel battled. After 30 minutes, the game came down to each having a queen and a rook. They called a draw. They set up the board again.
Nisha pointed to the tallest child and to the board and said, “Do you wish to play?”
He watched the other children and sat down as best he could, considering he had a tail behind him. He studied the board and glanced at Nisha with one roving eye. Nisha motioned for him to take the first move with the white pieces. She assumed they were smarter than us and could learn the game just by watching a single game.
He studied the board and made his first move after a full minute.
“E4.” Nisha said. “I guess he did study us when we played. I can’t believe I’m playing chess with a life form from another planet.”
Rachel smiled while Nisha planned her next move.
“Okay I’ll move to E5. I wonder if he will— yes Nf3. I’ll move Nc6. Now let’s watch what he does. Look. Bb5. He’s playing the Ruy Lopez opening. How does he know that?”
Nisha played her best game, but checkmate happened 22 moves later. The children gestured to each other, flashing brilliant shades of green and purple. Their noses wiggled.
“I can tell you’re celebrating your victory. Let’s play again. You won’t get off easy next time.”
She set up the board while Rachel accessed the world’s strongest chess app on her eyepiece as they had planned should they go down to defeat on the first game. This app recently beat the world’s champion Viktor Rominov in only 17 moves. The oldest child seemed excited to play again while the others crowded around.
She glanced at him and invited him to take the first move again as white.
“1. e4, Rachel? What now? Okay d6.
2. d4, Rachel? Right Nf6
3. Nc3, Okay g6
4. Be3, I don’t know what he’s doing.”
Rachel looked up the move.
“Here’s a famous game between Kasparov and Topolov that begins with these moves. How does he know Be3?”
Nisha smiled.
“I don’t know.”
“The computer suggests we play the move from the game, Bg7.”
“Are you sure?” Nisha said with a curious smile on her face.
“Yes.”
“5. He moved Qd2. He’s getting ready to castle,” Nisha said. “This is over my head. I still don’t know what he’s doing.”
Somehow within 49 moves, Nisha, and the world’s strongest chess app, endured another checkmate.
The world watched as the alien child playing his second game of chess in his life managed to defeat the world’s strongest chess program which consistently beat in the greatest contemporary grand masters in the world. The US stock market dropped 3% in a matter of seconds. Twitter slowed down under the weight of heavy volume.
“Hey Rachel, get me the 3x3x3 Rubik’s cube from the box. I shuffled that thing up well.”
“Okay.”
Rachel handed the cube to the tall child. He held it for about 10 seconds, examining all sides with his six dexterous fingers on each hand.
“Rachel, he manipulates things so easily with his hands.”
“Yes, there’s something about the configuration of his fingers which allows for more nimble manipulations than our fingers. Maybe the reason is he has three pairs of opposing fingers, which work like thumbs? I’m not sure.”
The child spent about 10 seconds examining the cube before he began. In four seconds flat, all the colors migrated to the correct sides. The world’s record for a human stood at 4.9 seconds. He placed the cube on the table. His skin flashed green and yellow. The other children also flashed bright colors. Their noses wiggled.
“Can you believe that?” Nisha said to her audience.
Nisha smiled, took the cube, and set down an 8x8x8 Rubik’s cube. The child studied this for a longer time and went to work. He had some trouble but within 80 seconds, the solution appeared. The world’s record for a human stood at over three minutes. The children flashed all sorts of brilliant colors.
Nisha stared at Rachel with wide eyes.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Okay, let’s give them a few more object manipulation tests on this screen over here,” Rachel said.
The children walked over. They were enjoying the fun. Nisha and Rachel noticed some stern looking adults about 50 meters away, but they were only observing. They didn’t seem to be interested in interfering. The children ran through a battery of tests indicating IQs that couldn’t be measured because they solved every problem.
“This is incredible,” Rachel said. “Is there anything they can’t do?”
“I’m not sure, but we might figure out a way to use their intelligence to establish communication between us. Wait. Where are they going?”
“They’re leaving Nisha. Someone called them.”
Nisha temporarily muted the audio portion of the broadcast so she could talk to Rachel in private.
“Yeah, they all responded at once. They were covered in brilliant colors which became muted and gray as they walked away. I might be anthropomorphizing them, but they acted as though they didn’t want to leave when their parents called. I’m guessing.”
“There may be hope,” Rachel said. We’re influencing the children.”
Nisha stood up and gazed at the alien towers.
“We’ve been oblivious to outside events for the past few hours. The base of the new tower is several times wider than these other four towers. Even the smaller ones are more massive than anything else ever built on this planet.”
Rachel trained the scope on the different structures.
“Those other round buildings are completed. I’m not sure about their purpose, but only a few adults are going in and out of those buildings. Hey, let’s go over and check them out.”
“Rachel, you’re getting bolder all the time. Sure, let’s go. My heart isn’t racing as fast as it used to.”
They walked 1,000 meters to the base of the first-round structure. The reflective shell vibrated in the wind.
“Look, there’s my reflection,” Rachel said.
Nisha watched their rippled reflections for a while.
“The towers appear like they’re curving around us in back. Hey, some adults entered the sphere. They melt into the surface. Let’s find out if we can go in.”
“Oh, I’m not sure about that,” Rachel said. “What if we get stuck inside and we can’t get out? What if it—”
“I’m not worried. We can test the surface first by sticking our arms in and find out what happens. Well, let me try with this stick.”
Rachel turned around.
“Um, Nisha.”
“Hold on, I’m trying to—”
“Nisha! Look. I don’t think—”
Nisha turned around.
“Oh, okay. Well, judging by his red color I guess he doesn’t want us to do this. I think we should go back now.”
They briskly walked back to their tent, laughing like kids.
“They didn’t want us in that structure for sure. I wonder why,” Rachel said.
“I don’t know, but only a few of them walk in and out of there. Hold on, someone is contacting me.”
Nisha blinked and saw the President and General Sherman. The President began talking.
“Hello Dr. Chandra, we’ve been watching you interact with the aliens. Working with the children was a brilliant move. I think we can learn things from them. Keep it up.”
“Thanks Emma,” Nisha said. “Working with the children seemed like the logical approach to take. We’re pushing the boundaries. What’s happening today?”
“Well, things are getting difficult in China and Russia. They’re considering using nuclear weapons to stop the aliens. In your estimation, and I know you aren’t a weapons expert, how effective would a use of force be against the aliens?”
“Force is a waste of time. You saw how easily the kids beat the world best chess program and solved the Rubik’s cubes. When I think about the intelligence of their children, I realize our weapons will be swatted away like flies. You know what happens to flies under a fly swatter. We need to discover non-violent ways of interacting with them. The adults are arrogant, and they have the intellect to back it up. Relationships with the children have good potential. However, the children aren’t taking ore from the mines of China and Russia, so they aren’t the problem. I’ll tell you something else. I think they understand all the major languages of the world. They can monitor our most secure 1,024-bit encrypted transmissions. My advice is to never underestimate them under any circumstances. They’re listening to this conversation.”
“I agree,” Lucas said. “Their capabilities are unknown, but we know that resistance is futile right now. I hope we can lie low until a better time presents itself. I’m not sure when the right time will be. We recently observed a fourth sphere enter orbit around the earth. That makes four million of them waiting to come here. Possibly. That would be the world’s largest standing army.”
“Yes, the 300-meter spheres are arriving like five minute-interval commuter buses. There’s a new and bigger tower being built. It’s already about 1,000 meters tall and is not narrowing quickly at the top. I have no idea how tall the finished structure will be. I don’t think they’re an army. They wouldn’t need an army to defeat us.”
They talked for a while longer and disconnected.
In China, President Chu monitored the mining operations. After warning the aliens in every way he could think of, he gave the orders to let someone else carry out the order to use the nukes. He hoped to avoid retribution. In Russia, President Arkhipov gave the same orders at the same time to gain an element of surprise.
Chinese Air Force squadron leader Ung approached the target and armed his nuclear tipped missiles. As he got closer, he lost power to all electronic systems. He tried to communicate to the other members of his squadron, but he couldn’t get through. They all fell out of the sky like stones. At first, they weren’t worried for their own personal safety because they each had an emergency ejection system. Ung hit the button, but the ejection system didn’t work. He activated the emergency power system and hit the button. The system didn’t respond. The plane fell out of the sky. He had no time to contact anyone to say goodbye. He ended in a distant puff of dust in the Gobi Desert with only an explosion of jet fuel to mark his passing. The nuclear weapons didn’t explode.
Forty other puffs of dust rose in the desolate Mongolian desert. Similar fates awaited the Russian pilots. President Chu intentionally stayed out of contact with the events of the moment. He realized he would find out the results soon enough through public sources. He fainted in front of his family and died. Soon, every single person in the Chinese and Russian chain of command fell silently and inexplicably dead. No cause of death could ever be determined other than their hearts stopped beating.
“Something happened,” Nisha said. “The static voices are loud and agitated. Communication between all of them increased dramatically.”
She contacted General Sherman.
“Lucas, what happened?” she said.
“I’m not sure. Something happened in China and Russia near the mines the aliens use. Hold on. We’re getting word the Chinese and Russian Presidents are dead. We don’t know how or why.”
“I know why,” Nisha said. “They ordered strikes on the alien mines. I warned everyone not to do this. They wasted time and lives attacking the aliens. I hope they don’t retaliate. Another way must be found. I’m going to go now. I’ll keep my eyepiece on record mode.”
They signed off.
Nisha and Rachel decided the Chinese and Russians had pushed too hard, when they spotted several aliens glowing bright red.
“They must know what happened,” Nisha whispered to Rachel.
They walked back to their tent past several other stern looking adults.
Nisha and Rachel sat in front of their tent and watched the sun set behind the gigantic, twisting, newly completed tower. The facets were glistening in the last red droplets of sunlight.
“How tall is this tower?” Rachel said.
Nisha blinked and she had her answer.
“I’d say a little over 2,000 meters or 6,000 feet tall. This took one day to complete. Many tens of millions of crawler drones worked on it. Each shuttle that arrives seems to bring with it more drones and supplies. It looks like they’re here to stay.”
The sun set, with high clouds turning a deep crimson red as the fading light from the distant Pacific Ocean reflected onto the undersides of them. Nisha and Rachel said good night to their families. They fell asleep quickly considering an alien colony was being constructed nearby around the clock. Nisha cried herself to sleep. She longed to have Priya back and became more determined than ever to make that happen.