Chapter 12

Chapter 12

From the diary of the documentarian:

I was in the right place at the right time.  I was waiting to speak with someone at PLADS, the Planetary Laser Asteroid Defense System, when a determined group of armed men and women forced their way into the facility, taking hostages, including myself.  They said they knew that I would be there, because they'd been getting letters too.

The gunmen led us into the control room, which they quickly seized.  PLADS is also a communication node for The Watcher, and a connection was established.

The gunmen knew I was doing a documentary on the visitors, and at that point had me start recording.  

"We have control of the laser and are entering targets.  Put us on with one of your gods.  Now."

"It will take a few moments to establish a connection.  Please wait."

After a minute an image of one of "the gods," appears.  It's floating, as they tend to do, with its atrophied muscles, cybernetic attachments, cloud of nanintes, and force-field bubble.  A visitor, in all of its grotesque glory.  

"No, not that mind talking- out loud.  This will be documented."

"If you fire on us or one of the Followers, we will destroy the facility you are in.  If you fire at The Watcher, we will not return to your planet."

"What, The Watcher is expendable?"

"We salvaged their race.  An individual is insignificant."

"Well, we're not aiming at anyone.  We're going to fire on the compression devices you placed in our solar system.  Both of them."

"Those are for safety.  Your planet was extremely dangerous before those were in place.  We recommend against doing that.  If you do so, we will not come back to help you again."

"It's time for people to see the truth.  Fire at the fire target."

The laser fires silently into the sky.  After about twenty minutes, target hit is confirmed.  The gunman doing the talking turns directly toward me.  

"This recording is going to be heard around the world.  Some of you might notice, just now, that you feel different.  ESP, magic, other abilities are innate to humankind.  The visitors have been suppressing these abilities in us for about a century.  Also, the world now has a larger population.  All those things that went bump in the night weren't just stories made up by ignorant peasants in the dark ages."

"It is impossible for you to detect that which you have just destroyed.  How are you doing this?"

"Once, there was a future.  Some of The Followers found out that you hadn't told us everything.  They sent messages back to us, knowing that it would eliminate the future in which they lived."

"This may not be a stable paradox.  Stop at once."

"Fire at the second target."

"We will maintain The Ten Thousand that travel with us, but otherwise we are terminating relations with your species.  If your kind approaches us we will be forced to defend ourselves.  Watcher, return to the Nexus for reassignment."

The image flickered off.  The phone call to moon traveled at the speed of light, but took several minutes to be received.  The laser had a more distant target.  We all watched the screen that showed the laser heading toward the target.

A SWAT team and negotiators were outside the building.  The gunmen promised that no one would be hurt and they would surrender as soon as the second target was hit.

Time passed.  The laser, finally, hit the target.

That was the day everything changed.