No Good Deed Goes Unpunished (Sci-fi)

Note: Part of my NaNo Word Count is finishing the book prior to this one titled Legacy, which can now be previewed at this website:

http://www.hannaria.gather.com

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
Introduction by Special Agent Susan Wilson

It was supposed to be an assignment of a lifetime--to be the first human reporter to interview an alien ambassador and his family. Outside of my immediate superiors however, no one knew I was an undercover agent with the International Bureau of Investigations. My back story was solid, and I'd trained for over five years just for this project. If the Hannarians had anything to hide, I was going to find it.

What I found however was my training meant nothing, and almost everything we had assumed about the Hannarians was wrong. They did have secrets, though--more than I could ever uncover alone.

Of all the things I learned, there's one thing that stands out.

No good deed goes unpunished.

Introduction by Jernard

You'd think the hardest part of any alien contact situation would be relating to the other species My family and I had the opposite problem. We knew what everyone on Earth was expecting, and if the danger and the fear had not been so real it would have been funny. Our biological differences from humans were slight compared to most of the species in our sector--yet we knew we'd never be accepted for ourselves, at least in the beginning. We were much too familiar--too human--and the thought that all of this would be perceived as a deception worried me. So whether you think it was a mistake or not, I did what I had to do to protect my family and avoid sending the planet into a mass panic.

Things changed so fast. The media attention was overwhelming in itself, but then came the power vultures and the assassination attempts by a political terrorist organization called the Earth Independence Party. Some days I wanted to shout out the truth--that if we had wanted to take over your planet, we'd have done it a lot earlier.

On Earth, I've heard the saying that no good deed goes unpunished. From what we've experienced, I think there's some truth to it.

It's just not enough to stop us from trying anyway...

Chapter 1--Susan Wilson
August 4th, 2133
Johnson Memorial Building; Washington, D.C.

It was absolute chaos. Even though I was standing in the press area less than ten feet away from the auditorium platform, I found myself being pressed into a makeshift crowd gate as more and more people filed into the building. I'd half-expected the fire marshal to be called hours earlier, but it hadn't happened yet.

"Sorry," a tall dark-haired man said as he was shoved into me. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," I replied with a nod, having to almost shout because of all the noise around us. "Last time I was in a crowd like this was at a concert, but I think this is a lot worse."

"Well, we'd better get used to it," he said as he looked out at the thousands of people behind us and shook his head in disbelief. "I don't even get it. It's not like it's some major surprise they've come back. You'd think people were just finding out."

"I guess it must take a lot to impress you," I replied, and he gave me a big smile like maybe he thought I was flirting with him. "So, what organization are you with?"

His smile faded, and for a moment he even seemed confused by what I meant.

"Oh, I'm not a reporter," he finally answered, and his smile returned. "I guess you could consider me undercover security. What about you?"

"I'm with GBN," I answered as I held my hand out to him. "My name is Susan Wilson. What's your name?"

"Felix," he replied, now craning his head around me to look at the stage. "Sorry, I'm not trying to be rude, but I need to go. Nice meeting you."

Before I could say anything, he'd already made his way through part of the crowd toward the back of the building like he was in a hurry. When I turned around, Senate Majority Leader Helen Leonard was approaching the podium. The room grew quiet.

"On behalf of Congress, the President, and the citizens of the United States, I'd like to welcome all of you. I've been informed that almost every nation on our planet is being represented in this room, and we are honored to have been chosen as the location for this second historical meeting. Hannaria's Ambassador will be coming momentarily, but he has first made the request that no electronic or digital recording devices be used in the building during his speech. Still and flash photography is permitted, and free transcripts are going to be made available..."

She had to pause due to the number of people grumbling and moaning about this--despite the fact we'd all been searched for recorders and small video cameras when we'd entered in the first place. Either these people were stupid, or they were just wanting the Ambassador to know their disappointment. Senator Leonard got an annoyed look on her face and continued, louder at first until everyone settled down again.

"Free transcripts are going to be made available for public review and commentary. Thank you for your understanding."

As she left the stage, I heard camera flashes starting going off on the other side stage where she had exited. I got my own camera out, not that I needed the photos. We had other people covering that, but I still had to play my part.

There was only polite clapping and more camera flashes when the Ambassador walked to the front of the stage, ignoring the podium and microphone altogether. To the people in the upper balconies, he would've appeared human if his red uniform wasn't so distinct. People were gasping and whispering in the floor section however, either about the Ambassador's eyes glowing or the fact he didn't look any different from his first visit twenty years earlier.

"Hello," he said in English, his voice calm but projected enough to where I'm sure the people in the back could hear him. "I want to start by saying thank you for your warm hospitality. It's not every day that my people encounter a new species, so this is a learning process for me as well. I apologize for denying you access to record me speaking, but at this stage I find it a distraction..."

"More like he doesn't want us to know how he's speaking different languages at once," a woman next to me whispered. "I'm hearing him in French and English, but he's alternating back and forth. It's strange..."

My attention went back to the Ambassador, and I noticed his lips were in sync with his words. Something wasn't right.

"Fear is a very reasonable response to the unknown," he continued, smiling almost like he was smirking, "but I want you to understand that my people are no threat to you. We're not scary alien monsters pretending to look similar to humans to deceive you. We also have no desire to kill you, eat you, enslave you--am I leaving anything out?"

"What about probing?" a man shouted from the middle of the room, and it sounded a lot like Felix. "Just so you know, humans don't like being abducted either."

Some of the people that heard him laughed--including the Ambassador--but a lot of people also backed away from Felix like they thought he was going to be zapped into a pile of dust at any moment.

"No probing--and no abductions," the Ambassador replied, but then he looked down and hesitated a moment. "You've had some visitors in the past who were nothing like us. I assure you that as long as we're around, you're never going to need to worry about them again. We're what you could call a dominant species in this sector. That doesn't mean we're out conquering the galaxy, but most intelligent species that are aware of us know we're capable of defending ourselves and our allies."