Chapter 14: Internet sensation

[An apartment in Manhattan]

“Mommy look! Aliens on tv! It’s a big shwip!” A young boy said as he pointed at the tv in a small family apartment.

The boy’s mother chuckled as she flipped pancakes, while holding her phone on her shoulder that was on hold with her husband. “Oh? What cartoon are you watching today Danny? Come and sit at the table, breakfast will be ready soon.” The boys mother prepared breakfast, but Danny didn’t move from the tv. Turning around to pick up her son she saw that the TV was turned to a CNN live feed. On screen, a massive spaceship could be seen flying through the sky, escorted by a group of military fighter planes.

“Honey, I’ll have to let you go, put on the TV immediately.” The woman hung up and sat behind her son as they watched the tv. Similar scenes could be seen across the entire world.

“This is Sarah Chambers reporting live from New York UN headquarters. Earlier this morning we received credible reports from both the United States government and the UN spokesperson that an alien ship has made contact with astronauts aboard the international space station. This is not a joke, and you can see the live video yourself.” As the reporter spoke, live video continued to show the spaceship speeding through the sky, as the fighter jets struggled to keep up.

“Details are coming out quickly but… Sorry, I’ve received word the President of the United States will be speaking, transferring over now.” The feed changed to a podium inside the UN auditorium where President Williams took the stage, alongside a group of diplomats from other UN member states. The air was filled with tension and the faces of the Chinese and Russian diplomats were visibly displeased.

“My fellow Americans, and to our friends across the world; 3 days ago, a scientist at NASA discovered an irregular heat signature entering and exiting Pluto’s orbit. Upon inspection, and in collaboration with space force, an alien ship was discovered to be moving towards Earth. It stopped at multiple planets before eventually making contact with our astronauts aboard the ISS. The alien identified itself as Noah Valentine, a humanoid species that demonstrated understanding of Human language, culture, and technology. He was clear in his peaceful intentions and identified himself as a merchant, from another universe called the Void. As of now, specific details are scarce but very soon, his ship will be landing on the water which has been blocked off by the military for safety purposes. In response to our request, Mr Valentine has agreed to hold a press conference after discussion with world leaders here today.” After the president finished his monologue, the room erupted with questions, the president remained silent and waited for the room to quiet down before continuing.

“The British astronaut Dr Lane received samples of DNA from Mr Valentine upon request. The results prove beyond doubt he is not human and that he is not a contamination risk, though once you see him, while there will be controversy, certain physical characteristics are undoubtedly alien. I will be cutting this press conference short as the ship will be arriving any minute.” With that, the president left the stage guarded by the secret service. The press in the room was unsatisfied but when it was determined other countries will be holding separate press conferences, the media split up to cover each of them.

Danny sat on his beanbag, mouth wide open as he stared at the ship on screen. “That’s so cool! Mom can I have one?” Despite how nervous his mother was with all this new information, she simply hugged her son before saying, “I’ll have a look next time we go shopping ok? Now, let’s eat breakfast before it gets cold. We can watch the alien land while we eat.”

[Aboard Noah’s ship]

“Woah, I thought my expectations were already high but this… I knew my arrival would cause a global stir but this is insane.” Noah sat in the cockpit as he piloted the ship alongside US fighter jets, as he was guided towards New York. Not that it was necessary, but the US government had to show off a little to stave off peoples worries. The jets were armed, not that getting hit with a missile would be enough to break the shields.

“It looks like the NASDAQ and NYSE were unfrozen. Apparently after the American president spoke, investor confidence rose enough to stop the rapid sell off after the news broke. Though other countries aren’t as lucky. The Chinese stock market was always unstable, so the CCP is currently restricting trading even now.” Dr Lane analysed calmly, as she looked at her youthful face in the reflection of the cockpit window

Dr Fen let out a sad sigh. “At least I won’t be losing too much… at least until they unfreeze the market and everyone panic sells. Hey Noah, do me a favour and say some nice things about China so my stock portfolio doesn’t go down the toilet?”

Noah chuckled awkwardly, sensing the not so subtle attempt to show some ‘face’ as the Chinese call it. Though truth be told, the complex geopolitical consequences of Noah’s every action will only be exacerbated by any promise he makes from here on. So he kept his mouth shut.

After the astronauts boarded Noah’s ship, they were all going to stay in the hanger seats but Gaia suddenly got all chummy with Vladymir and invited the group on a tour of the ship. He didn’t know why she decided to be some homely all of a sudden, but Noah felt that, despite the obvious attempts to persuade Noah to treat their countries favourably, they were good people at heart. After all, you can’t be a good astronaut if you’re an asshole and no one wants to work with you.

Gaia, Pip and Vladymir all walked into the cockpit room, laughing like they’ve known each other for years. Pip was sitting comfortably inside Vladymir’s space suit helmet, tied to his waist. Though to Noah’s surprise, Gaia was holding a mobile phone up, suddenly saying. “Well that’s all everyone, I won’t leak Noah’s face yet, you’ll see him in a few minutes anyway. This has been your beautiful AI Gaia, and I’ll see you next time.” With that, the phone melted into light and merged with Gaia’s body.

“What the fuck did you just do Gaia?” Noah asked as he turned on autopilot and walked up to Gaia standing by the door. Vladymir pursed his lips before turning and shuffling away.

“I was developing a brand image, best to ensure people are predisposed to look at you favourably rather than a scary alien menace. This live stream was the reason the US stock exchanges and a few others were unfrozen. I’m sure wall street will treat you nicely now.”

Gaia elaborated and Noah went through a range of emotions. First surprise, then anger, fear and eventually acceptance. He had to admit, the idea, while childish was a fairly good one.

“So, you just showed people the ship? And Pip I suppose?” Gaia nodded in response.

“Yes, I used my all powerful abilities to keep the stream alive as the feed almost crashed due to the high traffic…”

“You mean the ship’s computer, that you operated.” Noah corrected.

“Semantics, besides, I’m an AI remember?”

“Uhuh go on.” Noah waved his hand for Gaia to continue.

“213 million viewers sustained throughout the stream, pretty impressive considering I made a new account just for this event. Maybe I’ll do more in the future, but the total was likely more as people began hosting it and I’m sure it also made its way to tv. Also everyone loved Pip, and they loved her even more when they found out she’s from Pluto. Took all of 5 minutes for Pip emotes to appear in the chat haha.” Gaia looked very impressed with her efforts, Pip looked like she had no idea what was going on, which was true.

Minutes later, the fighter planes broke off as they lowered over the city, the sky was clear of clouds and other air traffic as a no-fly order had been implemented. Noah could see people’s drones being shot down by military lasers as they tried to get close to Noah’s ship. As they hovered over the water, Noah was worried they would sink, but Gaia gave the thumbs up and once they hit the water, the ship floated effortlessly on the surface, barely sinking in. Having a look at the control panel to the side, Noahs aw the artificial gravity engine was working… in reverse, to reduce the ships mass allowing it to float.

He piloted the ship along the water, before lining the hanger door up against a makeshift floating platform that led all the way to the shore. A long red carpet on top. Though Noah thought this gesture was a little on the nose, he appreciated the effort. After powering the ship down, Noah and the others walked down into the hanger, Pip jumped out of Vladymir’s helmet and found comfort on top of Noah’s shoulder.

The hanger opened with a loud hiss, a cool wind flowed through, and the blinding flashes of cameras lining the water’s edge went off like machine guns. There was a loud cry as thousands of voices overlapped at the sight of Noah, Pip, Gaia and the astronauts. At the end of the carpet, secret service agents and military personnel maintained a close guard of the President and other foreign diplomats as they made their way down to the platform facing Noah’s ship.

“Welcome to Earth Mr Noah Valentine, it’s a pleasure to meet you. We, the people of Earth, hope to build a positive relationship with you and your people moving forward.”

“Oh, yes. The pleasure’s mine.” Noah replied, as the two shook hands, creating an even bigger stir.