WE HAVE CONTACT (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 12) (14 page)

While he was no stranger to hosting a state visit, this interaction might be a little different. He had been somewhat surprised to receive a phone call from TQB Enterprises from their public relations liaison, Cheryl Lynn. Unlike most Popes, Jorge took charge of his own daily itinerary, and he shared what he chose to share with whom he met.

This meeting was off the books.

After getting dressed, he went out to the area to wait where he had suggested would be the best place for their arrival. They would not talk in his personal quarters, that would be inappropriate, or a location easily seen from the outside, either.

He was standing in a small niche a couple of minutes early. The darkness was complete when he could hear and sense, more than see anything, something coming down from above. He supposed it had to be wind running around the Pod, as when it arrived to stop just above the ground he could hear no sound from the Pod itself.

The doors opened and he was surprised to see two individuals inside, one of them was easy enough to recognize, she was the CEO of TQB Enterprises. He smiled to both women, understanding that Cheryl Lynn had decided not to announce the visit of her boss.

This should be interesting,
he thought. As the two ladies exited the Pod and stepped forward to shake his hand, he noticed the Pod silently rise back up into the darkness behind them.

—

The three of them retired to a nearby small office, with early morning breakfast items including tea and some fruit on the table in front of him. There had been some small talk getting to know each other, and it was time to move the conversation on. He would be expected to be seen in his normal locations in just twenty minutes.

“I can appreciate you reaching out to me, and would like to understand how you believe the Catholic Church is involved in this situation?”

“Your Holiness,” Cheryl Lynn started, “I appreciate you allowing us these few minutes to discuss what is happening outside of the Vatican walls. While I do not doubt you have your own methods of intelligence acquisition, I felt it was necessary to give you a heads up with what we,” and she waved a hand to Bethany Anne who had not spoken too much during this talk so far, “are looking to do in the near future.”

“And your,” the Pope nodded his head in the lady’s direction, “desire to let the church know about it in advance?”

Cheryl Lynn looked over to Bethany Anne who answered the question, “Our job is not to cause additional problems here on Earth. While I will not shy away from hard decisions, if things can be smoothed out in advance I am all for it. There is no doubt that aliens exist out in the universe. We have working alien technology and other items to prove this. However, it wasn’t until recently we were forced to start announcing it to the principal leaders of the free nations around the globe.”

Her expression changed, as if she had just eaten something sour, “Unfortunately, this is starting a raft of misguided efforts to acquire additional alien technology. I believe there is no way to keep what is going on a secret. Perhaps, it can be kept out of the news for a year, maybe two? I doubt it, though. Therefore, Cheryl Lynn thought we should let you know that we will be undertaking efforts to provide information related to aliens. We wanted to answer any questions, if you should have some. I understand that you often speak each morning at 7 AM as a kind of daily devotional, correct?”

The Pope nodded his head in agreement, “Yes, I do. While our own Rev. José Gabriel Funes has spoken to the concept of aliens, it is a controversial topic, I admit.”

Bethany Anne continued, “I am not suggesting you go out this morning and say something. However, I believe it would be wise for you to be prepared. My group has been focused on developing defenses for Earth against an alien effort to use us in their version of cock-fights. A sport I believe South America is very familiar with?”

The Pope nodded his agreement, “Yes, it is said that the practice goes back to the time of the Egyptians. It is big in many countries in South America. However, in Peru, it is more than just a sport.”

“Well,” Bethany Anne continued, her expression returning to her previous sour look, “the alien’s version is very similar. They genetically modify the intelligent species on a planet. Then support efforts to update their technological foundation. They then use that race to attack others.”

The Pope paused before asking, “Please understand, I am not questioning your belief that aliens exist to manipulate humanity toward their own ends. Are you suggesting you have personal experience with an alien and know that this alien, is not, in fact, manipulating your group toward his or her ends?”

“Good question,” Bethany Anne conceded, “if I did not have such an interconnected relationship with the alien in question, I would consider immediately double checking everything that had been done so far. For the past few years, our group has focused on fixing issues that had been hidden from society for centuries in various countries. Now, we have been working on creating defensive capabilities, should a set of spaceships attack us. Fortunately, the spaceship that we have seen arrive in our solar system looks to be a research or scout ship. Our existing ships can, or at least we believe they can, overcome the scout ship should it come to military activities.”

“Assuming that enough information is provided that I can trust your version of the truth, what would you have me do, or what would you advise?” He asked Bethany Anne.

This time, Bethany Anne looked toward Cheryl Lynn for a response, “Oh? Am I the one who is supposed to advise his Holiness the Catholic Pope? No pressure here,” she grumped to the amusement of the other two. “Personally, I would suggest three minor comments within your 7 AM messages, possibly spread them apart over a week or two. Then prepare a larger message for when the news comes out. You will be able to point towards your earlier messages as hints of what is coming and I am sure those who pay attention to your every word, will be talking about it around the Internet.”

He nodded for her to continue, understanding what she was advising. Cheryl Lynn nodded, “If you have any connections within other denominations you think need to be brought up to speed, especially leaders across the globe, I would suggest doing so. Make sure they are given the information and if they have biases against the dissemination of information, that would need to be addressed.”

 
The Pope pursed his lips, “I understand. Unfortunately, I will need to close this meeting as I need to go and prepare for my next devotional. Is there a way to contact you if I should desire additional information?”

Cheryl Lynn opened up her tiny purse and pulled out a USB drive. She pushed the little silver metal thumb drive across the table to the Pope, “Here is as much information as we can provide at this time. All of my personal contact information, whether it is a phone number or Email, is on that drive as well. Otherwise, if you need to reach us and phone or email aren’t an option, then let’s agree on a code word you will say in your morning message. That way, if you can’t contact us by any other method, you know we will be listening and we will reach out to you.”

The Pope looked down at the USB drive and considered his options, finally after a few moments he leaned forward and took the drive, tapping it a couple of times on the table. “I will review the information, and give this some thought. I do appreciate your efforts and understand it’s coming from good intentions. Unfortunately, while information is neither good nor bad, it is with a heavy heart that I know information does bring responsibilities.”

The three of them spoke for another couple of moments before the two ladies left. Not before, however, they agreed on a code word if he should need them.

Berlin, Germany

The room looked like any other government room in a nondescript government building in Berlin. Terry walked around looking at the folks that had joined here for this secret meeting.

It was easy to understand who was probably from the military, who was from academia, and who was answering behind the scenes to those in government who were making this race for technology riches happen.

Terry turned around and caught sight of her right away, her long dark hair and green eyes caught his attention.

He walked over and smiled as well as he could and stuck out his hand, “Terry Henry Walton, ‘TH’ to my friends.”

“How many people call you TH?” The lady asked, looking at him like she was deciding if he was a cad or worse, military.

Leaving his hand out, Terry answered, “Well, none yet. But I figure it’s all marketing, right?” His infectious grin finally brought a small smile to her face and she reached out to shake his hand.

“See, score one for marketing,” He told her.

“Melissa Delgado, and it’s Melissa to my friends.” She dropped his hand and looked around the room, “Other than a mysterious call waking you out of a slumber, telling you are needed in Berlin within 24 hours and that someone will take over your teaching duties for the University, do you have any clue what we are doing here?”

“Well, Melissa, I believe it has to do with TQB Enterprises.” Terry looked around the room as well, trying to place anyone he couldn’t figure out.

“I don’t recall telling you to call me Melissa, yet.” Terry looked over to see her smiling at him.

“Okay, Ms. Delgado, I can play that game,” He shrugged, “still, you can call me TH, I’m easy that way.”

“I’m sure you are, TH. I’m sure you are. So, what do you bring to this little ball of fun?”

He shrugged, “Well, I would have thought they wanted me for my manly physique, however I think what they really want me for is my incredible ability to remember facts and figures and provide them as needed in places without internet. I can do a fair job of imitating a walking research analyst out in the middle of nowhere.”

Melissa had to smile, even if she did it on the inside, his disarming smile and easygoing manner belied the fact that he was a player. At least, that’s what he seemed to be. “So, what kind of facts and figures do you focus on?”

Terry answered while he was looking in the other direction, “Most anything from ancient history to recent history, the only thing I really don’t like is fashion.” He turned back to look at her, “Oh? Does this mean you’re about to play
Stump the Chump
?”

“I think I will. You can’t be too sure of people who are overpromising and under delivering.” Terry’s eyebrows raised up an inch, he wasn’t sure if she was giving him a double entendre or not. But it looked like this project just got a lot more interesting.

“Okay, shoot!” He turned to give her his full attention.

 
“All right, we’re going to do past history first.” Melissa turned toward Terry crossing her arms over her chest, “Let’s start with approximate dates for the invention of the wheel and plow.”

Terry smiled, “
Approximately
3500 BC and Mesopotamia, when you include the wheel and the plow plus the invention of the sail in Egypt we have the three fundamental inventions for trade, agriculture and exploration. Come on, give me something a little harder, Doc.”

“Well okay, how about telling me the dates and what it was that furthered technology, economic and military developments almost three thousand years later?”

“Okay, I didn’t mean whether or not we could reduce the quantity of hints until I have to read the damned things from your mind. However, I suppose you’re talking about the invention of iron working in about 670 BC?”

Melissa nodded her head. “Battle of Marathon.”

“490 BC, the Greeks repelled the Persian invasion which helped secure the survival of Greek culture and science.”

“All right,” she pursed her lips, “what replaced stone, slate and papyrus as a cheap and convenient medium?”

“A.D. 105, the first use of modern paper,” he replied immediately.

“Who converted to Christianity and helped it move forward?”

“A.D. 312, Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity making it possible for Christianity to spread.” Terry winked at Melissa.

Melissa’s eyes narrowed and looked to his left, then leaned toward his right looking at his ears. Terry’s eyebrows closed together and then realized she was looking for some sort of headphone in his ears. He turned to the left, lifted any hair over his ear to make sure nothing was blocking her view, then turned his head to the right and made sure she could see there was nothing in his ears. “Nothing in my left ear, nothing in my right ear,” he told her.

It took a moment for Melissa to consider what else she might want to test him on, “Okay here’s a few easy ones. The schism of Greek and Latin Christian Churches.”

Terry’s eyes narrowed, “Are we talking about dividing Christianity between two geographical and denominational houses?” She nodded, “Okay A.D. 1054.”