I Told You So [a short story]

Last updated on: March 2, 2010 at 12:30 pm by James F. McGrath

I Told You So [a short story] 2010-03-02T12:30:00-05:00 James F. McGrath

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The day had finally arrived, and Col. Forrester breathed a sigh that was at once one of relief and of anxious anticipation. Their contact with the Yorok, the first extraterrestrial race of whose existence Earth had come to have definitive proof, had begun several decades earlier, when a team of radio astronomers had accidentally intercepted a message from a Yorok exploration team that was doing research in the Epsilon Eridani system. The message, which remained indecipherable, nevertheless was clearly not of terrestrial origin, and a message sent back by the scientists on the same frequency managed to be detected by the Yorok while they were still in the vicinity (broadly speaking, of course) of our solar system.

The events that followed were well known, but Forrester could help reviewing them in his mind as he stood there at the designated landing site. Messages had been sent back and forth – in English, as the Yorok proved much more adept at deciphering and learning this human language than American scientists and linguists proved as regards the language of the Yorok. Their race’s planet of origin was in a star system that no longer exists, apart from the stunning gas clouds that were left after their star went supernova. They had now spread to many natural and artificial worlds at distances of tens and even many hundreds of light years from their ‘home’. This wandering had brought them within the vicinity of earth, a planet whose radio-wave emission was clearly detectable even at a distance of some several light years, and it was this that let the Yorok to send a signal in our direction.

This was the story as the Yorok told it, and Col. Forrester had no real reason to doubt it and no alternative story to put in its place. But today, on the day when the Yorok ship was scheduled to arrive for earth’s first face-to-face contact with an intelligent non-terrestrial race, he felt ill at ease. “If they came here looking for places to live,” Forrester thought to himself, “Earth would be an obvious choice. All they would need to do is clear it of its present inhabitants.” A hall had been prepared for the starting of face-to-face diplomatic relations once the Yorok ship arrived. Large numbers of high-tech weapons were also prepared both on the ground and in orbit, in case the Yorok should prove to be less friendly in person than they had been in their radio communications. And so Col. Forrester waited for the ship to arrive. They had been tracking it since it entered the solar system, of course, and the Yorok ship exactly matched the description that had been radioed to earth, and had precisely followed the course that had been mutually agreed. Everything was going right on schedule. But that didn’t mean that there could not be surprises of a sinister nature in store. And so Col. Forrester waited for the ship to arrive, ready to be friendly and welcoming, ready to retaliate at any sign of hostility.

In the end, Col. Forrester was finally able to breathe a sigh that was one purely of relief. The Yorok ship landed, its crew of 17 disembarked, and once they entered the building Forrester felt that the likelihood of any less-than-friendly action on the part of the Yorok was highly unlikely. They were unarmed, as far as anyone could see, whereas U.S. soldiers lined the entrance corridor to the meeting hall, ready to intervene at a moment’s notice. The Yorok looked so much like what someone who grew up watching science fiction might have expected that Col. Forrester was sure he was not the only one who half expected that at any moment they would pull off their masks and turn out to be human actors engaged in an elaborate publicity stunt. They took their seats (specially designed to suit their anatomy – it was a good thing the scientists had thought to ask about that!), face to face with leaders and representatives from a number of different nations, plus scientists and a number of individuals whose identity Forrester had been told he did not need to know. Cameras were set up all around the hall, and a carefully-vetted film crew was actively but unobtrusively making sure that this historic event would be available for all to see.

The Vice-President of the United States, Joel Greenberg, led the meeting – the Yorok had said they did not have anyone who was of a sufficient rank among their people to engage appropriately in diplomatic relations with a national leader, and the government had quickly picked up on this and used it as an excuse to keep the President away for the initial proceedings. Why put the leader of our country’s life on the line until it was much clearer what intentions the Yorok had? “On behalf of the United States of America,” Vice-President Greenberg began, “and of the entire human race, let me welcome you to our planet, and tell you how happy and excited we are that you are here with us today”.

“Thank you,” replied the captain of the Yorok research team, who had managed to learn quite fluent English through his interaction via radio with scientists on earth and through materials that had been transmitted in anticipation of this meeting. “We are happy to be here. Wish you that we shall begin now, or wish you that we wait for the other races to arrive?”

Greenberg looked nervously at Col. Forrester, who had taken his place standing near the table, where he could make eye-contact with the Vice-President and thus communicate if necessary. “Other races?” he asked.

The Yorok spoke among themselves for a few moments in their own language, making facial expressions that none of the humans present knew how to interpret. Then the Yorok team’s leader turned back to Vice-President Greenberg and said, “We were led to believe that this planet is inhabited by many races, each with their own language and nation.”

Greenberg smiled with relief, as some chatter began now among the humans present. “The earth is inhabited by many people-groups, each with their own culture, language and nation, but all of them are humans,” he explained to the Yorok.

The Yorok spoke among themselves for a few moments again, then the Yorok leader spoke again to the humans present. “I understand. In our distant past we had a situation similar to this one, which is now on your planet.”

“So are we to understand that now your entire planet is united as one?” asked a human anthropologist who was present.

“Not only our planet. Our race, the Yorok, is united, even though we live on many planets,” one of the other Yorok now explained, showing that he/she/it too had mastered English.

“Do you mean to say that the Yorok have no wars among themselves?” interjected Col. Forrester, at once surprised and somewhat suspicious of what seemed an implausible claim, one that might simply be a ploy to lure the inhabitants of earth into a false sense of security.

“The Yorok have not been involved in conflicts of this sort for many thousands of years,” explained the ship’s captain. “Nor do we engage in conflict with any other races. Our ships and their crew have weapons, but only for use in blasting away space debris, and for self-defence against wildlife on exploratory missions on worlds not inhabited by intelligent life forms.”

“That is quite impressive. I think we will have a lot to learn from your people,” said one of the scientists present. “Is there any advice you could give us briefly as to how you manage to avoid conflicts, or could you tell us something of the history of your people and the way it learned to overcome war and live together peacefully.”

“Our history is long, but there is one event and one of our own kind that are of crucial importance in this respect,” explained another of the Yorok crew. “Many thousands of years ago, our race was divided up much as yours is now. At that time, one of our people proposed a new teaching. This Yorok said that if we want to have peace, we should do to others, what we want them to do to us. This seemed a most sensible suggestion, and since then we have worked hard at putting it into practice.”

The silence that followed was long. The humans present glanced at one another, and although many of their jobs involved regular public speaking, none of them could find anything to say.

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