In the Name of Earth

Chapter 3: Welcome to Gaia Station

In one moment, Marvin and his father were standing in possibly the most important building on Earth. In the blink of an eye, though, the United Nations headquarters was gone, and the two men now found themselves in an ample room with dark walls.

Over their heads stood a domed ceiling identical to the one in the UN building, the artificial blue stars Marvin had seen replicated on it. But those were not the only stars visible in that room. Far from it.

All around the circular empty room, massive windows of spotless glass showcased the entirety of the universe. Just the utter darkness of the void covered by sprinkles of light unobstructed by crowds, buildings or the creations of man. From one particular window, though, a particularly mesmerizing sight projected itself. A star far closer than the others, bright white and yellow. Familiar in a way, surrounded by several smaller colorful globes including…

“Is that Earth?” Marvin babbled as he paced closer to the window from which he saw his home. That had to be a trick. Some kind of highly technological simulator… Right?

His father joined him by the viewport and rested a hand on his shoulder. “The truth is, Marv…”

“Chief-Ambassador Grant! Thank heavens you’re here!” a West-Asian man in a slick blue suit barged into the strange room. Despite his elegant attire, the man was sweating and very disturbed. “We have a pack of Gorzon fanatics waiting in Visitation Room B. They insist humanity is ready to hear the uh… ‘universal truth’. I told them that Earth can’t legally receive visitors but…”

“That won’t work, they dismiss the Galactic Code,” Grant Senior stepped away from his son, tone aggravated by the news. “We need to perform their Rite of Renewal. Get me a chicken, three diapers and… wait, have they started chanting?”

“Yes, sir! About half an hour ago.”

“Was it like  WA-kaka-ka-WA-kaka-ka or more like Wro-gogo-go-Wro-gogo-go?”

“The first one, sir!”

“Aw, s**t!” Marvin’s father ran to the closest exit of the room, leaving his awestruck child gawking.

Marvin stared at the Asian man.

The man shrugged.

“I better go help your father. Please stay here, we’ll begin with your introduction shortly!” once the stranger vanished through the same door the Chief-Ambassador had, Marvin simply complied with the orders.

Not like he could go anywhere anyways. For all he knew he was in open space. And whatever was going on, he had to understand. His father was Chief-Ambassador? Sure, he knew he had an important position in the UN, but not as Chief-Ambassador. Was that even a thing? And if that was a thing, shouldn’t it be a thing on Earth? The same Earth Marvin stared at through the thick windows.

So many questions.

Almost enough to make him forget his interview with the United Nations should have started fifteen minutes ago.

Marvin was still obsessing with the outsider’s look at the solar system when the doors parted to reveal a young woman with deep black hair ending over her shoulders in a precise straight cut. A haircut almost as sharp as the lady’s gray eyes and jawline. Her makeup was moderated enough to be good taste, while still managing to accentuate her features and color her lips a vivid red that contrasted with her black and white tube dress. Her heels clicked against the polished floor as she approached the newcomer.

“You must be Marvin Grant Junior. I’m Alexa Hilburn, Second Year Student on EDS Administration and your guide for today. Welcome to Gaia Station.”

“Nice to meet you, Alexa,” Marvin shook her hand. She did not smile for a second since starting to greet him. “I’m sorry, but I am a bit lost here. EDS Administration? Gaia Station?”

“Come!” the woman took a brisk turn and headed for the door, proceeding on her remarkably British accent. “You are standing in Gaia Station, the headquarters of Earth’s Diplomatic Services. Contrary to popular belief, there is a great galaxy out there, filled with intelligent life composing a functional society. EDS selects the best aspiring scientists, diplomats, administrators and soldiers from the face of the Earth to serve as our face to our neighbors. We pick the best because we need the best. Anything less could doom humanity, so keep that in mind, Junior.”

“Do we have a problem?” Marvin asked as they trailed a long corridor sided by stars.

“That depends entirely on you,” Alexa continued implacable on her walk. “You will have three years of intense training before you can as much as talk to an alien, so we’ll see how that goes.”

“You think I’m only here because of my father, don’t you?”

“Aren’t you?” Alexa stopped her walked and turned to face Marvin, hands clasped behind her back.

“I spent my life preparing to be a diplomat. I’m up to the task!”

“Why did you spend your life preparing, though? What moved you to it?”

Marvin chewed on his words for a moment. He could elaborate as much as he wanted, the underlying truth would always be there.

“My father.”

“Precisely. Moving on…”

“Hold on!” Marvin grabbed her arm. “I didn’t ask to be here, so stop giving me s**t. For all I knew I was interviewing with the UN today!”

“None of us asked to be here. How can we when nobody knows we even exist?”

“How did you get picked?”

“I’m here to give you a tour of the facility. Not to make a friend. Shall we?”

Alexa pushed on to a next chamber, where several mean and women typed away on blue holographic keyboards in a communal space. ESD coffee mugs were present on every personal workspace, and the ceiling was another glass structure opening to the cosmos.

“This is where us administrators work. Everything from selecting recruits from Earth to keeping us fed and fueled. Assuming you did get selected, your name should have crossed one of these desks. We are also responsible for recordkeeping of absolutely every interaction between humans and alien species.”

“So, you compile the data diplomats will use when interacting with other species?” Marvin asked. “You do the boring part for us.”

Alexa did not respond, only pressed on to the next room, where several people in skintight black uniforms were eating a purple slab of meat accompanied by cups of a glowing blue drink.

“Cafeteria. You know the drill,” Alexa said.

“Hold on, what on Earth are they eating?”

“Nothing on Earth. That’s a fish from Eagle Nebula, courtesy of our friends there. Not tasty but heavy on proteins, perfect for our soldiers.”

So that was the deal with the black uniforms. They were space marines. Because the day could still get weirder. It was just concerning how many people in black uniforms there was in the cafeteria. Possibly a couple hundred. More?

“Have we ever needed soldiers?” Marvin asked, his voice heavy with concern.

“No, and hopefully we won’t for a long time to come. We are millennia behind our star neighbors in terms of technology, especially military-wise. These people are merely an initiative. We have to start somewhere.”

“So, you’re saying the only thing stopping ugly aliens from invading Earth are the diplomats?” Marvin smirked at the thought.

“You sure are cocky, aren’t you?” Alexa squinted at the man. “But no. You are not the only thing. You are backed by the Galactic Code. That is what’s stopping an invasion.”

 “What’s the Galactic Code?” Marvin asked as the crossed yet another corridor.

“Think of it as the constitution for the galaxy. It covers everything you can think of and more, including the fact that no spacefaring species is allowed to forcibly occupy the planet of a primitive sentient species.”

“We are the primitive sentient species, aren’t we?”

“Yes. Yes, we are. Oh, here!” Alexa led the way into another grand hall of pristine white walls, then into a great nexus with several catwalks and stairs leading to multiple identical doors. Several young people traversed from side to side, most of which discreetly glancing at Marvin. “This is EDS Educational Center, where you’ll spend most of the next three years. You will receive your class timesheet within the hour, take the day to acquaint yourself with the classrooms. The layout can be confusing at first.”

“Hold on!” Marvin followed Alexa up a set of stairs. “I never even said if I agreed to joining this lunacy! I still can barely believe it! What if I just want to go back to Earth?”

“Is that what you want?” Alexa asked, never stopping her walk.

“I… no. This is awesome…”

“Exactly. We don’t ask because no one ever said no. What kind of i***t would want to go back after learning there is a whole universe awaiting to be explored?” Alexa, for the first time, hinted at a laugh.

And she was right. Shocking as it may be, scary even, there was no tiny fraction of Marvin that did not want to be there, to discover more about what transpired on the stars. The mere thought of returning to Earth now that he had seen all of that was depressing. When aliens surrounded Earth and a whole galaxy of opportunity awaited, the conflicts between human nations started looking like petty squabbles in comparison. He wanted to understand it all, take part on it all, and he could not imagine a single person who would not.

Alexa was reaching for an automated door when long strides interrupted her, Marvin’s father spawning right before them.

“Chief-Ambassador!” Alexa glued her arms to her side and stood in impeccable posture, almost military-like.

“At ease, Hilburn,” the man in the blue suit spoke. “I’ll finish the tour, you can resume your chores.”

With a nod, Alexa Hilburn departed from the group.

“Alexa!” Marvin called. “See you at the cafeteria?”

The woman was impassive to the question, studying Marvin before turning to his father. “Perhaps,” she replied drily, then left without another word.

“Sorry for leaving you like that, Marv. You must have so many questions!” Grant senior continued with the tour, leading them into another white corridor packed with doors on both sides. Young people transiting by would always stop and salute Marvin’s father before continuing on their way.

“Let’s start with an easy one,” Marvin said. “Was this always your job? Did you ever go help refugees in Africa or earthquake victims in Haiti?”

“Yes, this has always been my job. Everyone is recruited at around your age, you see. As for helping refugees…” the Chief-Ambassador kept walking until they reached a small window at the end of the hall. “I did help them. Not directly, but I did. Like it or not, the work we do here benefits all of humanity. Just today, by chatting with those chanting Gorzon fanatics I may have saved millions of human lives.”

“So, all these years, you’ve been lying to mom and I?”

“It’s part of the job, Marv. You’ll have to do it too! I mean, would you even believe without seeing all this for yourself?” the Chief-Ambassador opened his arms before the window to the void. “Even if you do tell someone the truth, you’ll just be discredited as a lunatic, maybe get a show on History Channel like our old Chief of Commerce and become a meme!”

“Hold on, the aliens guy?” Marvin asked.

“Oh yeah! Great negotiator, talked too much. We had to cut him loose. What I’m getting at son, is that our job, important as it may be, gets no recognition. It can’t. Our reward is the things we see and knowing that we are making Earth safe for the ones we love,” the father held his son’s face on his hands. “You and your mother never left my mind when I was up here. It’s what kept me going.”

“Speaking of ma…”

“I’ll handle her, son. Got some experience with that. You make yourself comfortable on your new room.”

With a wave of the Chief-Ambassador’s hand, the last door on the corridor slid open, and Marvin Grant knew he had come to stay.