What The Government Won't Tell You (standard:Fan Fiction, 1456 words)
Author: Reid Laurence	Added: Feb 08 2006	Views/Reads: 3682/2423	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
This story is about something you would never guess, and I don't want to give it away! Just give it five minutes of your time.

Aricibo, Puerto Rico, home to the famous Aricibo Observatory where the
largest single telescope ever constructed rests inside a natural basin; 
the very place where I live, eat and breathe my job. As a devoted 
member of SETI, or the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence would 
imply, it's my job to continuously rove the outer reaches of the Milky 
Way Galaxy. Relentlessly, I attempt to give hope to the concept that 
life does exist somewhere in the outer reaches of cold, empty space and 
 I, or others like me, may one day be able to say that we are not 
alone, and at sometime in the future, before our civilization crumbles 
and comes to an end as it may, will join the beauty and boundless 
thoughts of our minds together, with those of a new, but similar 
organism. Sharing in wisdom and unlocking new secrets that up till now, 
have not even been realized. That is to say, up to this point in time, 
which is why I'm writing this to you today. To get you ready for 
something the government will never reveal. Something that happened 
just today. Just minutes ago, as I write this. But to better prepare 
you for what I have to say, I'd better begin at the very beginning, or 
the beginning of my day that is, at eight o'clock this morning... 
Walking to the coffee pot as I usually did, I poured myself a cup and 
sat down at my desk. I greeted my co-worker, Dr. Jody Wesley with a 
courteous, “good morning” and resolved myself to another day of 
scanning the heavens. Waiting for that moment, if ever, when the 
contact between advanced civilizations becomes more than hearsay, more 
then the glimmer of light in the night sky we've become so eternally 
used to. “Have you read your mail today?” asked Jody, lacking any of 
the enthusiasm that existed between us, at the start of our government 
funded program. “That's about all the excitement I can deal with for 
one day,” she added, facetiously. “Oh, c'mon Jody. Cheer up. You've got 
a job people would die for. If anyone ever knocks on our door, you'll 
be the first one to answer it. Just think of how exciting that could 
be!” “Yeah well, if you hear someone knocking, you've got my permission 
to answer it. I'm go'in ta the john. Gimmie that Newsweek on your desk, 
will ya?” “Sure thing,” I replied, but just as I was handing the 
magazine to the highly respected, senior scientist, we heard a faint 
and distant ping over our computer's main bank of speakers which 
suddenly and expectedly, made us stop what we were doing. “What the 
hell was that?” asked Jody. “You heard it, didn't you?” “Of course I 
did,” I said. “Interference from another interstellar gas cloud? 
Reflection off a distant star? Whadda you think?” “I don't know,” she 
replied. “Probably one or the other. Wait...” she continued. “There it 
goes again. Did you hear that?” “Yes...yes I did. Turn up the speaker 
system,” I suggested. “Maybe there's more to it. I'll start recording,” 
I said, as I threw a switch to a bank of high speed digital signal 
processing equipment. “Lets pinpoint its direction,” I added, 
activating a bank of three-hundred, thousand foot diameter radio 
dishes, which prepared to rotate on my electronic command, in the 
direction of the signal. “Do it,” replied Dr. Wesley, and all 
three-hundred dishes turned on a digital dime to precise co-ordinates 
in three-dimensional space. “Well...” I asked. “What do you make of 
it?” “Nothing yet. Probably just a false alarm as usual. Oh well, that 
Newsweek's look'in pretty good right about now. Remember what I said 
about opening that metaphorical door if an alien race comes knocking. 
You've got my permission. Later dude.” “Wait!” I exclaimed. “Look! Look 
at your monitor. There are pixels there, that weren't there just 
seconds ago when we were talking, I'm positive.” “What?” she asked, 
missing the tiny array of red dots that I was sure were beginning to 
group and cluster together. “Right there,” I pointed, as more of the 
tiny, unobtrusive dots began to appear one after another. “Now what do 
you make of that?” I asked. “I have no idea,” admitted Dr. Wesley. 
“I've never seen anything quite like it. My God,” she continued. “The 
pixels are forming a shape of some sort while we're standing here! Look 
at this!” she exclaimed, with an exuberance so far unexperienced in our 
time together. “They're forming a letter! It's...It's the letter “B”! 
An unmistakable letter “B”! Call the President! Quick! Tell him 
we've...we've made CONTACT!” “Wow!” I remarked, disengaging the glass 
shell which covered a direct phone line to the President. “I can't 
believe what's happening. This is history in the making,” I said, as I 
plucked the handset from its cradle. But I didn't have long to wait 
before the proud, magnanimous leader of our country picked up on the 
other end and answered... “Yes,” said that unmistakable, famous voice. 
“Who's is it?” “This is Reid Laurence sir. I'm down here in Arecibo, 
Puerto Rico working with Dr. Jody Wesley on the SETI program.” “Oh, is 
that right?” said the President. “Mah best ta you an the good doctor, 
but you caught me at my ranch and ah'm in the middle a something very 
important. Could ya make it fast?” “Of course, I will sir. It's j-just 


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