Chapter 8
“Am I overreacting or is the situation here chaotic?”, Liao Si asked the woman standing next to him.
“How does it appear to you, Chair Liao?” the woman asked in reply.
“If I’m to be honest, Ms. Chen, I am feeling uncomfortable,” Liao Si responded. “But I think a part of that uncomfortable feeling is that it matches a stereotype that every Chinese person likes things to be perfectly ordered. I’m speaking about the stereotype that those from other countries, especially Western countries, place on those of us from China. Still, when I look around, it feels like the current situation is a bit out of control. And I dislike chaos very much.”
“So what will you do to get the situation back into a controlled state?” Chen Qing politely continued.
The man looked out over the scene in front of them, watching a pair of bulldozers working with a pair of front-loaders as they cleared the last bit of rubble from the landscape that was previously the outskirts of a small town on the eastern edge of Dali County in Shaanxi Province.
“I’m not saying it is out of control, just that it feels like it might be. So I’ll do what I typically do in times like this, and walk through the facts. Would you mind if I review the situation with you, Ms. Chen?” Liao Si asked his companion, his gaze not leaving the construction equipment.
The woman standing next to him smiled ever so slightly, almost as if she was expecting this response. “I would not mind at all, Chair Liao,” she said.
“So let’s begin where this chapter starts,” the man said. “Ten days ago, the Chinese National Space Administration began tracking a previously unidentified object from near-space between Mars and Jupiter. This was similarly noted by the United States, European and other space agencies around the globe. The CNSA was first focused on tracking and mapping the trajectory of the object. Then seven days back, the tracking gave way to establishing communication with the object as the top priority. This proved fruitful once the initial message was decoded.”
Liao Si paused and turned to his assistant. “Did I share my pride in how effective we were at understanding the message?”
“Please share,” she responded.
Liao Si continued. “The other countries scurried like ants on a sweet dessert, carrying off one crumb of data at a time. They all thought the message must just be for their country alone. But the aliens were wise and reached out to everyone on Earth with one simple word: ‘Hello’. Within an hour of the initial message arriving, we had not only determined the code they used to transmit the message and the contents of the message, but we had a response ready to transmit. Yet another benefit of us having the most widely spoken language in the world.”
“As we didn’t want to give away our advantage, since there were too many listening ears around Earth, we used a secured channel from our satellite orbiting the Moon to transmit back to the alien craft the word ‘friend’. This seemed to be pleasing to the ship, as they responded ‘yes friend’ and began further conversations with us from that point.”
“The intelligence of our government is indeed something to be proud of, Chair Liao,” Chen Qing responded.
“Please, Ms. Chen,” Liao Si replied. “It is just you and I talking. No one listening, no recording in process. We both know the Chinese government is not perfect, so I don’t expect you to praise them at every opportunity. I appreciate you listening to me and letting me talk through the current situation, and that is all I ask from you at the moment.”
“Then please continue, Chair Liao”, his assistant said.
“Yes,” Liao Si said with a nod. “So, that evening, the CSNA and the Central Committee came to the understanding that the aliens wanted to land one of the first three ships in our country. Of course we welcomed that news, and the Central Committee suggested to the aliens that the site should be in Xian Province. That was two days ago.”
“And that is when you were contacted by the Central Committee?” prompted Chen Qing.
Liao Si nodded again. “They told me I had three days to not only finalize the specific location within Xian, but also prepare the ground on which the landing would occur, and then organize the local activities to process our first round of volunteer colonists.”
“The Central Committee obviously has a lot of confidence in your organizational skills, Chair Liao”, commented Chen Qing.
Liao Si shook his head slightly. “Three days, and if the site isn’t ready by the third day, I was told the ship would pick a spot to land somewhere else. That would not be an option. That would not even be a possibility, as far as I was concerned!”
“That is why the Central Committee chose you, Liao Si,” said Chen Qing. “They know you have incredible organizational skills. They know your attention to detail. And they know you will deliver for them.”
“Thank you, Qing,” Liao Si said. “But you know as well as I this has been a collaborative activity, involving nearly five-thousand people to prepare for just one alien ship to land on Earth. It is necessary for each of the Sub-Chairs to maintain relentless focus on their area of responsibility,” he said as he began counting off with his fingers. “Landing site preparation, materials logistics, staffing, technology setup, Central Committee communication, volunteer identification and selection, monitoring. Each must have flawless delivery. With all of the people and all of the work, I can only have limited direct involvement at this point.”
“And you shouldn’t have to be involved,” said Chen Qing. “Of the many things you have taught me in the short time I have worked with you, the lesson of appropriate delegation is one that resonates with me the most.”
“We have worked together for almost three years, Qing,” Liao Si said. “I have had many staff assistants before you, and been an assistant myself for two Directors prior to my current position. But I have never felt I could confide in anyone as much as I do with you. I appreciate and thank you for the opportunity to speak freely, as I do feel it allows me to make better decisions by not holding in so many emotions. Yes, I am delegating because I have to and I must focus on general oversight, being the Central Committee liaison, and team motivation. I feel overwhelmed at what we have been asked to do, especially since I did not have a clear image of how it would all come together in just three days. Still, I am amazed at the progress that has been made in the last forty-eight hours.”
“In addition to the five-thousand people focused on our local site, there are many thousands of others focused on the overall arrival of the aliens. We must not forget the contributions they are bringing to us,” said Chen Qing. “I’m told the two-dimensional custom code the MSS has developed allows us to communicate five times faster than the original Morse Code the aliens initially used.”
“Very true indeed, Ms. Chen. Faster and more efficient than the multi-lingual, slow response the aliens experience with the ESA,” confirmed Mr. Liao. “And I believe that had won over the aliens since the Chinese government had advanced knowledge of the alien plan to collect and redistribute humans to a new planet. This was exactly the advantage our leaders in Beijing had been hoping to get, by establishing friendly relations with the aliens. “
“And once they found out those plans, the Central Committee knew we had to extend our advantage by having our people on the first ship that would arrive on the new planet,” Liao Si continued. “But the only way for that to happen would be to have our citizens be ready to depart as soon as feasible. Which brings us back to this launch site preparation.”
“Is it true that within ten minutes of getting off the call with the NSS, you had the entire site team leads on your own organizational call?” Chen Qing asked.
“Well, I did reach out to the six Sub-Chairs and told them to be ready for a conference session in my office within the hour. I was waking most of the team from their sleep, so I at least wanted to give them time to change out of their sleepwear before they arrived” Liao Si shared with a smile. “The meeting started by 8:00 am, and we quickly agreed to find a location in the east of Dali County due to available open space in that area, and were examining drone images of farmland in the area by 9:30 to understand which lots would be required. At noon, the Central Committee contacted me and said the site needed to be ready by this Thursday evening. I wasn’t too worried, as we had already contacted the local public security bureau in Dali informing them of the area to be evacuated and telling them to give people until midnight that day to collect what they wanted before they would be evicted. Thankfully the eviction only affected eleven households.”
“As I understand it,” Chen Qing interjected, “this site was considered well suited since it allowed for the flat ground with sufficient ‘clear’ space around it and provided for access to the Yangtze less than two kilometers from the here, which was an advantage not available to the other, more rural locations you had looked at.”
“Yes, and it also allowed for easier transportation of the machines needed since the roads here were wide enough,” Liao Si explained. “By the time the needed heavy equipment showed up, it was well after midnight. But I made sure the team knew that around-the-clock work was expected, so we had already arranged for night-work lighting to be brought to the site and were able to begin knocking down unneeded buildings before daylight arrived.”
“And now it is Wednesday morning, the buildings in the designated landing area are razed with most of the destruction hauled away, and the crews are finishing leveling those final areas. A portion of Xicheng Neighborhood has to be evacuated today so there would be a place for operations. We will use the local senior middle school to process the ‘volunteer’ colonists, with the housing being evacuated by the townspeople to be used for a place to stay for those being processed as well as for the workers and administrators to live.”
“I know you are trying to minimize the impact on the Neighborhood, Liao Si,” his assistant said sympathetically.
“Yes, I suppose. That helps minimize the confusion and the fuss. Still, I must say, after talking through all this, I do feel like things are starting to get under control. And that is making me feel more comfortable,” the site Chair responded. “Thank you for letting me talk this through with you.”
“It is indeed my pleasure,” Chen Qing responded, herself looking on as the last dump truck pulled out of the construction area with its final load of dirt.