Countdown to Contact

"Can anyone else hear that?" I asked, as we sat at the table for dinner. The rest of my family - my sister, mum, and dad shrugged, apparently ignorant. It sounded like a heavy droning, perhaps a huge plane flying miles away, on its way overhead.

I stood, put on my shoes and opened the patio door, stepping out into the chill winter night. They followed, curious to see what I had heard. Staring up towards the sky, the sound grew closer and louder. On my right - a blinding orb of light and fire shot across the sky, sparking off shocks of electricity as it went. A meteorite, I assumed.

The neighbours joined us beyond the fence - watching the heavens for answers. Car and home burglar alarms rang out on the main road at the end of our street, and dogs howled in all directions.

The fireball continued traveling to the east, until it crossed the horizon. I could sense a strange charge in the atmosphere - as if an electrical storm was imminent. And then, a few seconds later, an orange glow faded into existence overhead - a gigantic message plastered across the sky.

"COUNTDOWN TO EARTH ASCENSION - THE GALACTIC UNION."

Numbers ticked down within a spiral - "5,9,23,12,54." Though it wasn't immediately obvious how much time was left before zero. Beside it, they advertised a logo for this so-called union.

Cheering echoed from all over town. The neighbours spoke of first contact with alien life. This was it - evidence that we weren't alone in the universe, and a countdown to discovering our place within it. But was it? Could it not just as easily be a hoax?

Dad wasn't convinced - he went inside to check the news. My mum had started clapping, then her expression sank, doubting any aliens would have pure intentions for us. Meanwhile my sister went straight to her phone for answers.

I followed after my dad - wondering how the world was reacting to it. The news team were apparently as confused as we were - yet to get any answers on the subject.

"We have to interrupt Sally with the weather report with this breaking news; a giant countdown has appeared in the sky, apparently sent by a 'Galactic Union.' Currently we cannot determine what the countdown is to or apparently how long it will last - if this is real or a hoax. Please stay tuned in - we'll have more information for you as it comes."

My dad and I sat huddled on the couch, eyes fixed to the screen for answers. My sister kept her face in her phone, searching social media for any details. But my mum went back to clearing the dishes.

"Hey, it's not the end of the world just yet, come help me with these pots." She summoned my dad off the couch.

The seconds ticked by. Every now and then I cast my eye out the glass doors to check the countdown.

My sister clued me in on what her friends were saying. "Lucy says her TV is acting all funny. And the internet keeps dropping out."

"Must be interference." I concluded. That big ball of sparking fire must have had some sort of effect on the satellites. It made me wonder how they were getting the message to us. Was it a projection? Drones? I half expected the government to freak out and start shooting at it.

The wait for news dragged on. The TV kept us clued in as best as it could - the news anchors reminding their audience between every report that they were gathering information from across the world. Clearly it was difficult for them to concentrate on stories of politician scandals, economic recession, global conflicts, social debate, and the use of kittens as therapy in hospitals.

After a full round of their headlines, they got to the topic at hand.

"And we can finally tell you more on that mysterious countdown in the sky. Government bodies around the world have denied any involvement in the delivery of the message - claiming that they can see similar countdowns from their home countries appearing in the most widely spoken language of their region."

The screen switched to video evidence from several countries - compelling my mum and dad to return to the television. Footage recorded on phones or local news stations showed copies of the message in Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, Arabic, French, Bengali, Portuguese, Russian, and more. The countdown was the same on all of them, ticking down in unison.

"World leaders are currently in discussions on the nature of the message, and what it means for mankind going forward."

Our own Prime Minister appeared on the screen, apparently in a video call.

"Well first of all, I wish to remind the British public to remain calm. We are still working to determine how the message is being broadcast, and if it is indeed genuinely from the stars. Currently, we have reason to conclude that the nature of the message is a positive one - apparently counting down to welcoming earth into the galactic community, whoever they may be. However, we will remain cautious of this first contact until we can confirm further details. It is still likely that this could be a very ambitious hoax."

The viewpoint changed to the US president, who pretty much reiterated the same sentiment, although adding in that they would not rest until they determined the origins of the message.

"How long before they ready the nukes?" My sister smirked, returning to her phone to finish a conversation with her friend.

I didn't know what to think. Should I have been worried? Hopeful? Hoax or not, one thing was certain - humanity's relationship with the galaxy was about to change.

***

The message disappeared from the sky each day that followed, showing up only at night. As soon as the sun went down, it would fade back onto the sky - the count having ticked down again.

It didn't take long for the world's scientists to determine what the count meant. '5,9,23,12,54.' They deducted that the last two digits were seconds, the next were minutes, then hours, days, and months. It convinced the naysayers that it was a hoax - how could any aliens possibly reach earth within five months? Astronomers kept their eye on the sky, reminding us that it was possible they set off years or even centuries ago - and just happened to have been five months away when they could finally get the message to us.

The conspiracy theorists took to their apocalypse bunkers after clearing the supermarket shelves, but for most people, life assumed an uneasy normality. Sure, the internet piled up with everyone's opinions, though that didn't stop kids going back to school, or keep adults away from work. I continued my college classes, my sister went back to uni, and my parents both returned to their day jobs, carrying on the grind of modern life. We talked about the countdown a bit, especially in the first month, then after that, it dwindled into our subconscious, like conversations on the holidays or upcoming TV shows.

Four months passed, and in those months I'd spend an hour sitting outside on our tiny patio in the box that was our yard, gazing up at the countdown. Was I watching the timer for the end of the world? The end of life as I knew it? All those plans I'd made for the future - did any of it matter?

No one would join me outside. In person, nobody really talked about the countdown. I could only look online if I wanted company to my thoughts. Most joked about it, others were scared. I heard about a group of people who planned to head underground before the aliens arrived, or worse.

I tried to limit my sources to science where I could. Scientific theories offered me hope and comfort, providing instructions on what we actually needed to be doing, and how we should feel. "Remain calm. The earth is prepared to defend itself if necessary, but it likely won't come to that. If they had ill intentions, they wouldn't have sent us a warning ahead of time."

A month before the end of the count, the US president appeared on TV. They made an announcement that was apparently also broadcast into space - to be picked up by the aliens if they were anywhere near us. They invited the aliens to land in Nevada when they got here, where a welcome party would be waiting, including six individuals who had been chosen and trained to act as ambassadors for earth.

Obviously we had riots breaking out all over the place - the people who simply couldn't be assured by anyone. The trigger-happy wanted the military to kill the aliens before they got here. If that wasn't evidence of humanity's idiocy, I don't know what was. Watching them on the news made me wonder - if intelligent aliens were out there, why would they ever consider us worthy of their time? Humans were but scared little children with guns. Until we moved on from that primitive attitude, why would they so much as entertain us? Time was ticking down to our answer.

Only days remained, then the count rolled down again, and we were left with hours. 23 hours... then 14 as the sun came up and the message was due to fade from the sky for the final time. But on that last day, it didn't. Instead, the colour changed from orange to red, and the world's focus was on the US. Scientists claimed something was coming our way, and quickly - faster than any known means of transport through space. It was apparently slowing down as it approached.

Every remaining human being across the world was fixed to their television or radio - watching, listening, and waiting with bated breath. As the sun set over my own country, it was closer to midday in the Nevada desert where the world was supposed to greet the universe.

As my parents and sister crowded the TV, I stepped outside, watching the count tick down overhead. Sitting in the chair on our patio, I felt my heart race, my body shaking as the last minute changed to a zero. 59 seconds, 58, 57... they seemed to take a lifetime. 50, 49, 48... I counted every regret I had in life. 40, 39, 38... I mourned everything I hadn't been able to do. 30, 29, 28... I held onto the thought of the people I loved. 20, 19, 18... I wrapped my arms around myself. 10, 9, 8... I shut my eyes as I cried. 3, 2, 1...

... I opened my eyes again. The countdown flashed on zero for a few seconds. It disappeared, leaving only the border... and then, there was music... The logo from the counter took pride of place in the middle of the projection, accompanied by what was apparently a theme song?

Someone faded in on top of the logo. They resembled something between a slug and a hammerhead shark, dressed in a suit like something from a modern Sci-Fi drama. They spoke.

"Hello humans!" I assumed it would also be translated into different languages depending on where it was broadcast. "In consideration of your species' recent efforts in extraterrestrial exploration, we of the Galactic Union would like to offer you honorary membership within our fifth tier - our lovely novices to the wider galactic community! You will be joining the likes of the Krix of Athadus, the Xottein of Mion 3, and the Ovvok Nucce of Ja'a. Fifth tier membership also gives you access to the Hyperspace Intelligence Network, granting you permission to explore our information services at your leisure. Unlock the secrets of the universe today with our one-cycle free trial, along with a small donation of one million credits from your fourth tier sponsors, so you can get up to the stars in time for our next Union convention. With your permission, Union representatives will be dispatched to you now, to tell you more about this offer and sign you up for our services, including our quad-cyclic newsletter. We look forward to having you on board, and welcome to the universe!"

The projection faded back to the logo before cutting out, and I released a breath I hadn't realised I'd been holding. The message didn't really sink in until a few seconds later. It sounded oddly familiar...

I went back inside to join my family watching the TV - the focus once more on the US president. They addressed the messenger.

"Thank you, Galactic Union. On behalf of humanity, I grant you permission to send a representative to our planet for further communications. I invite you to my current location, where we have the ambassadors of earth waiting to receive you."

My sister snickered, barely glancing up from her phone. "So capitalism is a universal concept then?"

"Apparently." I shrugged. We continued watching as the camera perspective shifted up to the sky, where a lozenge-shaped spaceship broke the atmosphere.

The group of human ambassadors tentatively approached the expected landing site, surrounded by people who were obviously either scientists or military. My heart jolted in my chest - I half expected that they would try ambushing the alien for dissection and whatever else they usually did in the movies. I equally expected that someone would try and shoot down the ship mid-flight. I'd hate that to be humanity's first impression.

The ship flew down, swirling up a cloud of dust as it extended its landing gear and came to a halt. There was a hush among the gathering as the engines powered down. My pulse thrashed in my ears. And then the door opened with a hiss.

Another one of those slug-hammerhead creatures stood on the other side, contained within a exosuit that better matched a human size, and I assumed protected them from earth's atmosphere.

The cameras zoomed in on them - closely documenting humanity's first face-to-face interaction with alien life. They approached with a wave of their exosuit arm. Looking at them closely, they were more slug-like than shark-like. They had shiny, dull blue and white skin I guessed was covered in a layer of slime. Their arms and legs were short, with two thumbs on each hand and three stubby fingers. Wide-set eyes looked the gathering over as they greeted our so-called ambassadors.

"Hello humans! I am designation 'Nhku-16' of the Hizek'unoi, do you have a glyxond to talk about your species' ascension to the galactic stage?" They sang from their exosuit, apparently carrying a number of metallic frames with them that when activated lit up with their logo - like pamphlets.

The humans glanced to each other and nodded. Meanwhile, the ones with guns lowered them slightly.

"Great. So with your species' recent attempts towards extraterrestrial colonisation and exploration, your developing understanding of astrophysics, and attempts at interplanetary communications, you now qualify for our tier five membership, on an honorary basis as previously advertised. If you accept, we'll sign you up for our one cycle free subscription to our added on services - that's approximately two and a third of your earth years. You'll also receive four standard-size Class 6 space cruisers and one million credits from your lovely Voctune sponsors, and we'll set you up with a fixed capacity warp gate just outside your orbit - complimentary of course. If you then want to subscribe to our full membership, for just two-hundred-thousand credits a cycle, you can have access to a miriad of additional services, from our language coaching, system mapping-"

I got up from my seat and left out the back door, shutting it behind me while the rest of my family stayed glued to the screen.

I'd not spent much time thinking about what would happen if aliens existed and tried to contact us, but I'd at least thought it would be... special. Anything except some cheap sales pitch for a galactic subscription service. I slumped into the garden chair, staring up at the stars. Is that what truly awaited us out there? We'd spent millennia evolving complex thought to give us the capability of calculating and creating technology to take us into space - potentially to other planets and beyond. Our ancestors looked up at those stars and regarded them as gods or mythical beings. Then we studied and determined their properties with nothing but disks of glass. In the past century, we'd developed spacecrafts to get us beyond our atmosphere, to look for life on other planets, and determine once and for all if we were truly alone.

Well, now we knew. We'd been shown our true place in our universe. They offered us technology and money, not so we could travel the stars for the sake of discovery and freedom - it was so we could be consumers. To them, every intelligent species was potential clientele - walking, talking wallets.

After gathering my thoughts, I went back inside - just in time to watch humanity's ambassadors sign away our dignity. My mum was the only one who'd noticed I'd left. She was stood in the kitchen, emptying the dishwasher.

"Is everything alright? You stormed out right in the middle of that, oh, what's it called? 'Nickyoo's' speech." She sighed hopefully. "Hey, we're in a new era now, aren't we? The galactic age! That's pretty incredible, don't you think?"

I glared at the flickering screen as the alien returned to their ship and the humans waved them off.

I couldn't put what I thought to words. I couldn't name exactly how I felt. Instead, I shrugged, "Yeah-" And I headed upstairs to my room. After all, I'd have classes in the morning.