The internet is amazing. Mrs and I were talking on the phone with Pegasuspilot about the best way to clean earrings. Pp mentioned ammonia, and then recalled an old cartoon we saw as kids. Pp and I have been friends since before(?) elementary school. I saw him for the first time in 27 years when Mrs and I drove back home last month to see her mother. Pp and I got on as if time had never passed. Today he forwarded the following:
Copyright © 2014 by Christian Bergman, All rights reserved.
All people, places, and events are fictional … except when they aren’t.
Encounter – a short story
“Sir, Deep Space Radar reports contact with object entering the system. It has an unusually high radar cross-section. That is, it’s too reflective to be natural. It appears to be on a collision course with us.”
“Contact Orbital Defense. See if they can intercept. We need a better look at this thing.”
“Yes sir.”
So it began. We always knew it might happen – encounter with other life forms than our own. Reports had been made as long as anyone could remember of sightings, meetings, abductions, but these had always been explained away. This however had a different feel to it. This could be real.
“Sir, Orbital Defense can get a high-speed probe launched by morning. We will be able to get high-res images from it. I recommend you get some sleep while you can. If this is what we think it is, you will need your sleep now.”
“Yes I suppose you are correct.” I had special sleeping quarters set up for such things. I would not need to leave.
Contrafactual 