A Child's View (part 9)

He had been using all the skills he had acquired to determine whether he trusted her or not. It was quite possible she had the ability to deceive him on this point, but he thought for several moments, and realized he had little recourse but to go with her. He would worry about the rest later.

Back on earth, the President of China was preparing to address the world. A large audience, understanding that events had reached such a point that some truth, or in other words, some explanation was going to have to come from the address. Joe had his radio on. He listened intently. The speech began and the translation followed. "People of the world, many of you have noticed the increase in sightings of what have come to be called UFOs. This is actually a very old term for unidentified objects in the sky. When this term was most commonly in use, it implied extraterrestrial beings were traveling from other planets in these objects to visit earth, for whatever reason. In truth, our government can not confirm or deny the validity of the claims from that time. However, we can confirm that robotic drone like craft have been discovered orbiting the earth at an extremely high altitude." Joe, in a state of shock, dropped his coffee, breaking the cup as it fell into the sink. He continued listening. "I know previous world leaders relied on deceit. We have said from the beginning that we would follow a different path, and be as truthful as circumstances allow. Therefore, we can only tell you that we do not yet know the purpose of these craft, but they are small and without a doubt pilot-less. They seem to be gathering atmospheric data about our planet. We have yet to decide whether they are dangerous, or to discern where they have been sent from. We have the capability to shoot them down, but have made no decision to do so as of yet. We think it unwise to act rashly." Joe understood the allusions to "previous world leaders" were thinly veiled attacks on the Presidents of the US. The speech was concluding. "We have gathered a bit more intelligence than we are providing, but we don't want to speak to soon about things we are uncertain about. We will not take questions at this time, as we simply do not have answers." 

Joe sat for a long time bewildered by what he had heard. These UFOs are real after all. At least, this is what the world was being told. At this moment, Joe had no reason to disbelieve anything in the President of China's speech. 

Tum followed the girl through desolated areas often covered with foliage. At places, the vegetation was so thick, he had difficulty making his way through it. He was sure he was quite lost. At some point, they came to an opening that led to a rather run down neighborhood. Tum had never given much thought to the privileged background he enjoyed. The sight of what could only be called poverty distressed and embarrassed him. They walked past an open square that seemed not monitored.  Yet, by the circuitous path the girl was taking, he could tell they were travelling in a way designed to avoid detection. There must have been cameras hidden somewhere in that neighborhood that Tum couldn't detect. 

The neighborhood seemed quite deserted except for a small boy playing a game with a handful of stones. The boy glanced at them briefly, but paid little attention to their presence.