Tevun-Krus #50

Prime Contact - @JJMarmite

"Prime Contact" originally appeared in Tevun-Krus #1: First Contact

Note from jinnis, who selected this story: The request to choose stories for this special issue came at a time I was busy. When I finally found time to check the list, I realised all my favourites from the past few issues were already picked by someone else.

So I reread the first issues of Tevun-Krus and found a lot of worthy material.

Where better to start than at the beginning, First Contact, TK #1. Follow @JJMarmite into a world dominated by entertainment companies, into a show far beyond Game of Thrones, into the world of Prime Contact!

Prime Contact

by JJMarmite

Prime Contact was the highest grossing entertainment 'Concept' the world had ever seen, and it's makers were very sure that everyone remembers that it was a 'Concept', and not a show. A show would be something lesser, something pedestrian; Prime Contact was more like a way of life. At least, that's how it was marketed at the time. History has shown that to be the case.

Once all space exploration had been privatized, the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence practically dropped off the map. It had been said beforehand that private-investment would keep the search going, but this was quickly proven to be the fluffiest of wishful thinking.

Most every money-making venture that was going on in the depths of space felt that it could do just as well if not better without any pesky aliens gumming up the works, and so actively searching for them was seen as counter-productive. The extraction of resources and the operation of tourism worked far better without objecting natives getting in the way, it was felt.

Only the entertainment industry truly saw the potential to be gained from finding other life and so Avarice Entertainment International (AEI as it was proudly known) – the most prestigious and well-respected of all media conglomerates (indeed, the only one left after it had merged with every competitor) – bought up all of SETI's resources and equipment for a pound at auction and immediately set to work.

Buoyed and invigorated in the way that an organization can only truly be after an enormously bulging investment of capital, SETI surged to work as never before; bristling with an influx of exciting new talent and with a legitimate drive and definite goal. In barely no time at all they were spewing out the most advanced unmanned probes that mankind had ever seen, scattering them across the heavens in the search for life while AEI set to work on Phase Two of their grand scheme.

Months of complete and utter silence went by – space, it seemed at first, was devoid of anything even remotely useful to them as the probes sent back report after report of lifeless rocks and gas-giants. Those months soon turned to years with still no sign in sight of what they were looking for. AEI became the laughing stock at the various glamourous money-balls and money-galas that their executives attended but still their CEO – the honourable and semi-immortal Mr. Red – could not be swayed. Even when his entire board committed ritual suicide in a desperate attempt to sway him from his grandiose course of action he did not demur for even a moment.

This wasn't just about making money, and he knew that. It was about making an enormous amount of money and also creating a legacy that would stand the test of time. He had read the ancient secrets of 'investing' and 'planning for the future' along with such blasphemous notions as 'expecting a return in the long-term' and he put his secret knowledge to full use in his direction of the company, his actions seeming inscrutable and incomprehensible to his contemporaries.