PART VIII
THE NEGOTIATOR
No one was sure where they had come from exactly but we knew that it was way beyond our star system but what they wanted to be were plain and simple. The neutralization of the human race and them taking over. The way they appeared one day in the sky of every major city in the world without anyone ever being prepared shows that maybe humanity was not the wisest species as we have once thought. The one we encountered was what we thought to be the real deal but in no time it became evident that they were just messengers of a higher species and this was why Mark Brown was traveling to their homeworld knowing that the fate of over twelve billion people rest on if he was able to negotiate peace with the aliens.
“Welcome to Jantoru, Mark Brown,” One of the droids who had accompanied him from Earth told Mark.
He looked outside and saw that this was a world in many ways similar to Earth but also not like Earth starting with the pink skies and red plants. Maybe there was a bit of difference but he is not a scientist that he will be able to analyze this. He had never thought he would be pulled from his life to go and defend the human race several trillions of miles away from Earth. He had been in New York when he had received a call from the White House telling him that the President wanted to speak with him. Mark had worked on an international team helping deal with insurgents and deals all over the world though he had gotten demoted to working with the FBI after the embarrassing situation in Prague which was an embarrassment to his career.
“There have been specific demands for your services Mr. Mark Brown,” The President of the United States and The Secretary-General of the UN had told him.
“What are you talking about?” He asked.
“Our visitors,” The Chief of Staff started. “Wants to have you back on their homeland to negotiate what they call a peace treaty.”
“And they have asked for me?” Mark asked.
“Yes, they have been specific in their demands for you.” There had been a public and political storm almost immediately with millions of people wondering what could the aliens want. Mark had attended meetings after meetings telling him things he could agree with and things he couldn’t agree to. The pressure had made it clear that the fate of the Earth rested on him and that was not a weight on man was supposed to bear.
Astronomers and Space Analyst told him that their world might be slightly different from Earth preparing him for what they think he might find something which was not on Mark’s high concern. He was not bothered if the sun was green or blue or red. The fate of humanity depended heavily on him so the color of a star was not something that he could be worried about.
“We will lead you to meet the ruler,” the droid said as they got down from the ship.
The silence was the one thing that Mark noticed about this world. It was utterly devoid of noise as if they had found it to be a defect of some kind. Just right in front of him, he could see a being standing probably around seven feet or so. This was the moment he had been preparing for and it was time he proved to the strange men from the stars that Earth and the human race were worth saving.
Still, there was an uneasy feeling in Mark’s gut that something was wrong. It had been part of the question that he asked himself over and over and over since he got on the ship. Why had they chosen him to be the one to represent Earth? Why him and not anyone else since there were no doubt other people who could be of better defense of the human race than him. He knew that the aliens had been strict in their demand telling the UN that it was either Mark Brown led the negotiation or no one did.
He walked up to the first alien that he would be meeting on this planet. This was humanity’s first contact with another intellectual race and he was the only human to witness it.
“Welcome, Mark Brown. We are glad to finally have you here.”
The aliens knew what he guessed was an intimate level but how was this possible. The alien looked at Mark Brown when he failed to speak. The alien could be said to be human though they were taller considering the one in front of him must be over seven feet tall at least considering he was six feet tall himself and he still feel short standing beside him/her The features that were revealed was the arm and face alone which was why Mark was pretty convinced that they must have a link somehow. The arms were longer than that of humans with the hand appearing larger and with five fingers and a thumb. The face was devoid of the nose though there seemed to be two small holes where the nose should be though Mark was not sure if that was indeed the nose. The brows were also missing and the chin looked bigger but apart from that, the other features were pretty much human-like.
“The Council is waiting for you Mark Brown,” the alien said leading the way. “I am Ulkruk and I am your companion during your stay on our planet.”
“Nice to meet you Ulkruk,” Mark replied though he was not sure if he got it right.
They walked on as the droid returned to the ship leaving Mark alone in a strange world with no idea what will happen to him. Ulkruk opened the door and Mark stared at a huge room bigger than he could ever describe and there were several Ulkruk races gathered in the room.
“And there he is my friends. Mark Brown the one human friend, I made during my time on Earth,” A familiar voice said.
???????
The man to whom the voice belonged to was an old man Mark had met back when he was at Stanford. The two of them had often talked as he enlightened Mark what had been his philosophical view of the world. A lot of people had found the man to be not alright in the head as several things he said made no sense. Mark had listened to him time after time because he found most of the things he said interesting and that was why he listened most of the time.
A year later, the man had suddenly vanished with no trace of him being found anywhere despite how much Mark had searched. Looks like the man was not human and had been an observer from a world far from theirs.
“It is a pleasure to meet you once again Mark Brown,” A tall figure approached Mark.
These races were around seven feet tall no doubt and for the first time in his life with his 6’1 height, Mark felt extremely short. He straightened as the figure approached him and said.
“I am the one you called Chuck twelve of your human years ago.”
Mark was a total loss of words to use because he was not sure of what to say. His actions determine the fate of the world back home but he had never expected to be faced with something like this. If this being had lived as Chuck on Earth twelve years ago then all the strategies that he had listened to for over a month before he started on the long voyage here were useless. This being, whoever he was, has a deep understanding of Earth and Mark has to be careful in his approach to this negotiation.
“You look taller,” Mark said.
“I needed to look shorter to fit in your normal world. My name is Uerek but let’s just refer to me as Chuck.”
The vocals they use to pronounce their names were difficult for Mark to use and he was glad that Chuck agreed to be called Chuck.
“Representative of the human race, will you please step forward to defend yourself before the High Council,” Another of Chuck’s race said.
For the first time since this whole ordeal started, Mark knew that he was about to get real and defend the human race.
???????
How do you start to address a congregation that was to decide the fate of your race? Mark looked around the room gathering as much information as he could from their face and expression which he found unreadable anyway. Nothing in his experience as a Negotiator had prepared him for something like this so he started with a single question that has been burning in his mind all this while. “Why was I chosen for this?” He asked.
Maybe they had expected an intelligent opening or something else but his questions no doubt left them speechless.
“I chose to have you as the human representatives,” Chuck spoke from where he was.
With that answered, Mark’s fear went down a little. He had not been picked because he was special or anything but because he befriended one of the aliens when he came to Earth.
“We humans have lived on the planet we call Earth for a long while and it is a place we call home,” Mark started. “Maybe we did not treat her well and we brought her to her present condition but it is still our home nonetheless.” He had the attention of everyone in the room and that was enough for now. He has no idea what their terms were but he would try his best to convince them to give the human race a chance.
“We do not understand why you wish to change the way of life we’ve been so used to.”
The reaction from his audience made him realized maybe he shouldn’t have spoken the last statement out but at the moment he is confused and not sure of what to do. Chuck rose and started walking towards the front placing his hands on Mark’s shoulder. Not only was the race tall but they also have giant hands as Mark was just realizing. “Let’s give Mark here a chance and meet tomorrow.” Everyone rose simultaneously while Chuck turned to face Mark giving him a look that indicated he must have made some sort of mistake.
“The trip must have been hard on you but you did well addressing them.”
“You call this doing well?” Mark asked surprised. “I might have doomed all of my race with my actions.”
Chuck laughed as Ulkruk approached the two of them. Mark was not sure if he could make the exact difference but Chuck was no doubt male and Ulkruk female unless they were gender-less.
“Your actions just showed them one thing that I realized while I was amidst your people,” Chuck said.
“And what is that?” Mark asked.
“Your race is flawed no doubt about that,” Chuck pointed out. “But that is also what makes you interesting. I learned a lot when I was among you and you all showed me things that we might have forgotten long ago.”
What Chuck was hinting at was not exactly clear to Mark but he is glad to hear that he had not caused trouble as he had thought.
“How old exactly is your species?” Mark asked.
Chuck seemed to consider the question for a few seconds before he replied. “Something around a million and half of your Earth years I think. Your race is a very young one and we were surprised to discover that we are not the only one in the universe.”
That had been the same thing that every human on Earth thought when they suddenly had huge machines overhead. A race that was a million and a half years old would have no problem wiping the human race completely. This was information that only added more pressure to what Mark was feeling and he wished he hadn’t asked that question.
???????
The next day, the Council was gathered again but this time, Mark was well prepared having spent time with Chuck and Ulkruk who had explained that their race had seen the humans as a threat to Earth. They were surprised and elated to discover that they were not the only intellectual species but then they studied humans and were not pleased with their potential for violence.
“You are a great species and maybe you would have turned into a great species like we Umbakums but the Council factored in your potential for violence and decided that you will wipe yourself out and also the Earth.”
The reason for this was because they think that the human race might destroy itself later on? Several people had thought of that but it was a mere possibility and even statics were often wrong in their prediction at times. “Your planet Earth is one of the few that can survive life and we can’t allow your race to destroy it,” Chuck said. “Then what do you plan to do with Earth?”
“The Council has divided on it. Some want us to set it up as a colony others want us to wipe the humans and live the Earth to recover from the damage you did.”
“That’s all? You will wipe the human race then leave Earth alone?”
There was an obvious flaw in their logic no doubt and Mark was going to point that out or at least that was what he thought before Chuck replied him.
“The fact that we discovered you have increased the hope that other intelligent species will exist out there and that one day we will find them or maybe they will find us as you did.”
“We found you?” Mark asked surprised. “How did we find you if we have no idea where your world is.”
“What you call radio waves which you sent into space reached us by accident though I believe it is the Universe that intends for both races to meet.”
This was going to be hard no doubt but Mark has no single intention of giving up on his race. There was a conflict between the two races and he was going to solve it. He looked up at Chuck who was nodding to him to address the Council. Chuck as been a great help to him but this meeting was where his race’s fate would be decided and Mark has to give a good reason to the Umbakums why they must let the human race continue to exist on Earth. Mark stood up and walked up to the podium as every member of the Council had they’re gazed fixed on him.
Back on Earth, the entire human race watched as Mark Brown, the negotiator which had been chosen by the aliens to represent them step forward to defend them all.
???????
“Your race the Umbakums evolved what was two million of my world years and there is no doubt that you gained intellect about a million years ago.”
One thing that Mark had spent his whole time doing was consulting every information that Chuck could provide him on the Umbakums social world. He read their history or rather a summary of it and realized that they were like humans around nine hundred thousand years ago before the High Council had been formed which changed the life of ever Umbakums.
“In many ways, I can say that we humans, were similar to you nine hundred thousand earth years ago,” Mark pointed out. “You have had that long to evolve and now you are higher beings.”
His response had gotten to them somehow and they all seemed perplexed by what he was saying but they did not stop him from talking. He knew he was walking in dangerous territory here but he had to make them realize that the human race was worth saving.
“What do you mean that we are like you nine hundred thousand Earth years ago?” One of the Umbakums asked him.
“Can any of you imagine what your race was back then?” Mark asked.
Confusion rose amidst them and Mark noticed that Chuck seemed amused. During the time they talked after the meeting, Chuck had told Mark that he was impressed by the works of Socrates and several other philosophers. They had discussed on matters that the Umbakums could barely comprehend. That was the factor that Mark decided to ride on in this meeting.
“The exact condition our race was back then is not that well documented but we were in discord,” An Umbakum said raising. “The several tribes which came together to become Umbakum had fought for things which we can barely understand until they were all going to die.”
“And what does this have to do with the human race Mark Brown?”
He had them interested in something that Chuck had emphasized he needed to do. The Umbakums were a race that values knowledge and it was one of the reasons why a new race had been interesting to them but they had found out that the human race had failed greatly in their expectations.
“The human race is just like the Umbakums nine hundred thousand Earth years ago,” Mark said.
“That is<