Our Cousin Neighbour: the planet Nebulus

Sunday 20 July, 1969. The day was Sunday 20th of July, 1969.A historical landmark in the history of mankind has just sealed its fate for eternity. The Apollo 11 space mission was successful,demystifying eon long pseudo science misconceptions about our Lunar world. "that's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind", Neil Armstrong uttered at exactly 02:56 UTC on that day from the barren surface of the Lunar world. The whole world held its breath for a moment. The seemingly impossible some few decades ago has been accomplished by sheer determination, ingenuity and creative abilities of mankind to the glory of science and techno engineering. In the White House, president Richard Nixon, who had all the while been quite apprehensive, suddenly came to life, and happily shook hands with secretary of defence, Mel Laird, White House chief of staff, H R "Bob" Haldeman, CIA director, (DCI), Richard Helms, Secret Service director, (USSI), James. J. Rowley, NASA director Thomas. M. Paine, some couple of Republican and Democrats political heavyweights, the ambassadors of Britain, France, West Germany, and the Soviet ambassador to the United States, Anatoliy Dobrynin. Suddenly, everywhere was filled with laughter, merry and murmurs of conversations by invited national and foreign dignitaries. Somewhere in the background, a life band began playing the song "what a wonderful world" by Louis Armstrong. "cheers", the president beamed, looking down the half filled Diplomatic Reception Room at the ground floor of the White House that was set for the occasion. "cheers", was the collective response of his audience. "well, I will be damn, if this turns out to be a hoax", the chief of staff said playfully, aiming at no one in particular. "can't rule it out Bob", the CIA director answered as an understatement. "take a look at that expression", the chief of staff nudged the CIA director in a conspiratorial tone pointing at the Soviet ambassador, who dressed in well designed and fitted western suit, and trying with great effort to keep a straight face, nonetheless, has a worried expression written all over it. With a wiry smile, the chief of staff said sarcastically, "the Ivans ain't that terrible anymore, are they?" By now, all within the Diplomatic Reception Room had gradually moved to the State Floor :East Room to commemorate the event properly. A life band there has swung into a soft jazz re-edit version of the song" under the sun, moon and stars"by Jimmy Cliff. The president was officially scheduled to retire to his presidential residence in Lincoln Bedroom at the second floor for his regular recess after the formal presentation, but which in reality was to meet with a group of highly secretive 12 men and women code named X_12 Horizon, whose details of agenda was highly classified. The president however, gave a brief speech of acknowledgement rounding it up with the following : "I wish each and every one of our highly honoured guests and friends here today a well deserved good time to your full indulgence. Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen. You are all welcome to the great hospitality of the United States of America. Enjoy yourselves " Members of national and foreign press were at hand to throw questions at him, but they were all firmly, but respectfully pushed aside by secret service agents. Leaving the guests and accompanied by directors of CIA, the Secret Service, NASA and two top representatives of the Pentagon, they headed towards the Green Room adjacent to the Blue Room which has a layout of rectangular shape 18 x 285 (504 square feet).They stopped before an unmarked aluminium door, and a secret service agent moved deftly, opened the door and stood aside. The Green Room has internal decor of green silk damask with 19th century French American Empire style furniture. An antique rectangular table stood at the centre. Art works on the walls are exclusively portraits of presidents and first ladies. A particular noticeable one is that of John Adams and Abigail Adams. The floor was covered with antique Ambusson carpet. The faint sounds of air conditioners buzzed quietly at the background. The eight men and four women sitted round the rectangular mahogany table were assorted mixture of racial opposites. Two African Americans, three blond Caucasians, a native Indian American, three Asian Americans, three Israeli Americans and an Arab American. They all stood up as the president walked in, and slowly bowed down as s sign of respect which he acknowledged with a slight node of his head. He briefly surveyed the scene for a moment as if unsure, then gave a rueful, cynical smile, motioned them to take their seats, walked gracefully with calculated steps and deftly sat facing his audience on a lone executive chair with the emblem of the United States coat of arms on the head rest. His entourage joined suit. There was a soft click as the aluminium alloy sound proof door closed behind them. The security details were not cleared for this high level super secret meeting. The president slightly cleared his throat before he started, "ladies and gentlemen, without much preamble, we all know why we are here. All the same, I welcome you all here today to this high profile classified meeting as heads of various sensitive parastatals that constituted vital assets of the United States of America. The stakes are high, and the outcome of which may , in the near future change the course of human history forever, suffice to say either positively or negatively or both" He paused, then added, "as you are all aware, there is no need for formal introduction of personalities present in this meeting. We are all familiar with each others resume and appellations. Suffice to say, ladies and gentlemen, the X 12 Horizon project doesn't exist officially. Its broad aims and objectives are directly linked to global existential interests of our dear planet earth and its inhabitants " He stopped, and briefly looked at his audience. The silence that followed was as quiet as a graveyard. You can hear the sound of your heart beats ticking. He then continued," today marks the official launching of SETI .search for extra terrestrial intelligence life forms as a unilateral global asset for planet earth's existential potentials, security and development with special focus on the United States of America" Somewhere in the semi darkness of the room, a projector beamed the emblem and slogan of SETI alongside that of NASA and the United States of America on the adjacent wall.The president went on and on, picking his words with great care for about 10 minutes, and ended his speech with this :, "..… lastly, but not the least, this inter agency cooperation is paramount as it constituted one of the vital interest of the United States of America. The official commissioning of SETI's headquarters and its location remains classified for now. However, SETI's operational details, such as focus, scope, logistics, material and human assets, finance and administration will be sorted out in clear details by the appropriate agencies at different levels. At this junction, I will excuse myself so as to give you professionals, an avenue to iron out vital grey areas " He paused to take a sip of water from a tumbler, then said," a formal summary report should be sent to my office in two weeks time.Do not forget, this project is directly answerable to the president of the United States of America. Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen. And I wish you all the very best in all your noble efforts in this patriotic national assignment"