military expert? How do you react to the contact?"
Elango 's appearance and bearing were perfectly in character with his status as a retired general. A tall , thickset man , he presented an impressive figure. He commanded respect and invariably got it. For some seconds he studied the backs of his hands resting on the table. Dent cast a glance at Lincoln who raised an eyebrow in response. Slowly he looked up and then straight at Dent. When he spoke it was with a deep powerful voice, rich and resonant.
"Mr Dent, I am flattered that you should invite me to your distinguished gathering. I was interested in Doctor Lincoln's summary of the sit uation and appreciate his views; h owever as he has fully explained, since Procyon is eleven light years away the only possible interaction between ourselves and them is in the form of radio signals. I agree that we should not be aggressive; I cannot believe that anyone would ever think of aggression. Our response will depend entirely on the contents of thei r further communications if any, s o why all the fuss now? There can't possibly be any hurry. I fail to see the purpose of this meeting or of my presence here." At which point he waited coldly for Dent to reply.
' Has Dent miscalculated? Have I failed to make any impression at all? ' thought Lincoln uneasily, ' or has George predicted this very reaction? ' He waited to find out.
Dent was calm and agreeable in his reply. Lincoln had expected a less tolerant attitude, but this was George Dent the diplomat and he could play the part well.
"I must apologise General. I have allowed myself to become totally preoccupied with this event and have assumed that everyone can read my mind. Of course I should have explained right at the outset just what the purpose of the meeting was and why each of you has been invited. It seems to me that this development will have taken the world completely by surprise. Very few people even stop to consider the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence, let alone a direct contact. Now, like it or not we have such an event forced upon us. The world will not know how to react. There will be advocates for every conceivable kind of response, and as usual the loudest voices will prevail. In my experience people with loud voices are not the most sensible, they are usually the ones who can only see one side of an argument."
When Dent spoke he did so with his whole person. His movements amplified his words and his facial expressions showed a total commitment to his message. It was impossible to hear this man and not be drawn along with his clear logic on the one hand and his compelling sincerity on the other. Lincoln watched Elango's face soften; he was being forced to respond in spite of his earlier hostility.
"The world will want to hear from the experts." He looked around and smiled. "There are no real experts in this situation of course, but nevertheless people will look to some form of authority for guidance." His face became grave once more. "I wish us to fulfil that role. Between us we have established reputations in the fields of xenothology, communications, diplomacy , military science, information dissemination and psychology. Furthermore we are all well respected and known to hold reasonable and moderate views, and have come from d ifferent cultures and countries . I feel therefore that if we set ourselves up as a knowledgeable authority on how to deal with this contact then we shall probably have the greatest say in the world's response. We shall be backed by all the 'not sures' and 'don't knows' who will undoubtedly comprise the majority. We are also as a group independent of any political, financial or religious prejudice and so should not be viewed unfavourably by most of the world powers.
"So far everything is going for us but we need something more. We need to speak with a common voice, we must all be convinced of the rightness
Elango 's appearance and bearing were perfectly in character with his status as a retired general. A tall , thickset man , he presented an impressive figure. He commanded respect and invariably got it. For some seconds he studied the backs of his hands resting on the table. Dent cast a glance at Lincoln who raised an eyebrow in response. Slowly he looked up and then straight at Dent. When he spoke it was with a deep powerful voice, rich and resonant.
"Mr Dent, I am flattered that you should invite me to your distinguished gathering. I was interested in Doctor Lincoln's summary of the sit uation and appreciate his views; h owever as he has fully explained, since Procyon is eleven light years away the only possible interaction between ourselves and them is in the form of radio signals. I agree that we should not be aggressive; I cannot believe that anyone would ever think of aggression. Our response will depend entirely on the contents of thei r further communications if any, s o why all the fuss now? There can't possibly be any hurry. I fail to see the purpose of this meeting or of my presence here." At which point he waited coldly for Dent to reply.
' Has Dent miscalculated? Have I failed to make any impression at all? ' thought Lincoln uneasily, ' or has George predicted this very reaction? ' He waited to find out.
Dent was calm and agreeable in his reply. Lincoln had expected a less tolerant attitude, but this was George Dent the diplomat and he could play the part well.
"I must apologise General. I have allowed myself to become totally preoccupied with this event and have assumed that everyone can read my mind. Of course I should have explained right at the outset just what the purpose of the meeting was and why each of you has been invited. It seems to me that this development will have taken the world completely by surprise. Very few people even stop to consider the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence, let alone a direct contact. Now, like it or not we have such an event forced upon us. The world will not know how to react. There will be advocates for every conceivable kind of response, and as usual the loudest voices will prevail. In my experience people with loud voices are not the most sensible, they are usually the ones who can only see one side of an argument."
When Dent spoke he did so with his whole person. His movements amplified his words and his facial expressions showed a total commitment to his message. It was impossible to hear this man and not be drawn along with his clear logic on the one hand and his compelling sincerity on the other. Lincoln watched Elango's face soften; he was being forced to respond in spite of his earlier hostility.
"The world will want to hear from the experts." He looked around and smiled. "There are no real experts in this situation of course, but nevertheless people will look to some form of authority for guidance." His face became grave once more. "I wish us to fulfil that role. Between us we have established reputations in the fields of xenothology, communications, diplomacy , military science, information dissemination and psychology. Furthermore we are all well respected and known to hold reasonable and moderate views, and have come from d ifferent cultures and countries . I feel therefore that if we set ourselves up as a knowledgeable authority on how to deal with this contact then we shall probably have the greatest say in the world's response. We shall be backed by all the 'not sures' and 'don't knows' who will undoubtedly comprise the majority. We are also as a group independent of any political, financial or religious prejudice and so should not be viewed unfavourably by most of the world powers.
"So far everything is going for us but we need something more. We need to speak with a common voice, we must all be convinced of the rightness
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