SETI - the Search of Extra Terrestrial Intellegence. If there were something out there that was intellegent, why would they want to indicate their presence to us anyway? What could a small blue world circling a yellow dwarf star in a remote corner of the Milky Way mean to an extraterrestrial intellegence. Surely in a universe with life elsewhere there are much more interesting planets than little old earth. Little did we know.

It was mid June when SETI received the signal.  At first they thought it was just another incident of a terrestrial radio signal or some internal malfunction in the radio telescope, but slowly and surely the fact that this was a first contact with a signal of intelligent extraterrestrial origin became evident.  The alternating frequencies and intervals contained a definite pattern but its meaning baffled the receivers.  It took weeks for SETI to pinpoint the source of the signal because it was moving close to the speed of light and rapidly approaching the solar system.  Estimates showed that at its present speed it would get to the Earth by mid September but that it would probably begin decelerating and reach Earth at some later time.  In early July its deceleration started.  The signal was still coming and its Doppler shift indicated a change in speed.

The prospect of an alien making first contact before the end of the year was clear.  To prevent a mob scene the authorities kept the discovery of the approaching craft a secret and decided to try to entice it to land at an isolated military base.  This would allow the government to keep the arrival secret and also make containment of the alien easier if its intentions were not benevolent.  Nuclear weapons could even be used if necessary to �sterilize� the base if things got ugly.  In order to get the craft to land at the base the military began transmitting the alien signal back to the ship in a narrow beam that originated at the abandoned air base.

That is when I became involved.  In previous decades I might have been one of those people who broke Nazi or Russian codes.  Not that I have any training in linguistics just a mathematical talent.  By trade I am merely a computer programmer.  I speak Cobalt better than English.  I guess they thought my talents might be helpful in communicating with the extraterrestrial.  Leave it to the government to overprepare unnecessarily.

It was on December 3rd that the craft arrived.  It landed as planned at the abandoned air base.  I will always remember the moment we first met the alien that came to be referred to as the Birdman.  The craft was a shiny silver ball with no visible flight surfaces or exhaust ports.  Moments after it landed a small floating ball and the extraterrestrial came out.  There was no door on the craft.  They didn�t come out a door but seemed to come right through the surface of the ball.  The Extraterrestrial looked like a large bird about 6� 7��, but it had six wings that flapped in a rippling motion as it hovered above the craft.  After looking around it flew to the collection of generals and scientists gathered on the tarmac around the craft.  Then it spoke.  Well, really the small ball spoke.  The ball it turned out was the creature�s translator.  It took his thoughts and translated them into English which it had learned from radio and television transmissions it had picked up during the trip to Earth.

To get back to the first words from this extraterrestrial.  After it flew to the dignitaries it said, �Hello, I have come seeking to encounter the intersection of this plane of reality with the infinite.�  The generals and scientists were more interested in how the Birdman exited his craft without a door.  Some of the scientists were already feeling the side of the craft to verify that it was indeed solid.  The floating ball spoke as the creature walked up to the head physicist.  Don�t ask me how it knew which one to address but it did.  It said, �As I understand, the paradigm you call �quantum physics� is the current set of theories in your science?�  The scientist silently nodded.  The ball went on as the creature motioned to the craft, �In that case, the actual theory behind my exit of the vehicle is beyond your understanding.  However I can explain it by analogy.  It is as if my body were shifted a little out of phase so that my atoms passed through the empty space between the atoms on the craft�s exterior.  This however is not really the case as that would be impossible given the laws of nature, but it is the best analogy I can offer given your current understanding of physical reality.�   The creature then turned to the non scientific leaders and continued without pause.  �All I seek is the intersection of this plane with the infinite.  I have traveled many light years.  Please let me know how I can interact with it and I will be happy to tell you all I can about my technology.�

The generals and scientists all stood around looking at each other.  Then I spoke up, �If I am not mistaken, no one here seems to know what you are talking about.  We do not know what this intersection with the infinite is.�  �Thank you,� responded the creature, �I appreciate your openness.�

It was at that moment that my real role in the mission was defined.  The need for a mathematically inclined interpreter was negated by the appearance of the alien�s translator.  I no longer had an agenda other than getting to know the alien.  The scientists and governmental representatives and generals did however.  Their agendas kept them from hearing what the six winged alien�s purpose in visiting Earth was.  So in that sense I was an interpreter.  An interpreter of intentions.  I became Earth�s first interstellar ambassador and that by default.

This began a period of trying to understand what the alien was looking for.  Of course the only reason that the others played along with me and the alien was to learn more about its technology.  The explanation the Birdman gave of what he was seeking sounded like a riddle.  �Many hundreds of light years from here and thousands of years ago, a star when supernova.  This supernova gave my people the opportunity to detect where in the universe the infinite intersects the plane of our universe.  By precisely following the supernovas light patterns we were able to determine that the intersection is somewhere in the vicinity of your star system.�

We explained to the alien that we had only begun to explore our system and had not found anything that we would describe as an �intersection with the infinite.�  This disturbed the Birdman for it was sure that this intersection would have manifest itself in a way that we would have recognized.  An encounter with the intersection of the infinite is not something that any intelligent creature can experience without being profoundly influenced.  At least that is what the Birdman expected because it had never met someone who had encountered an intersection with the infinite.  In fact the Birdman admitted that many of its kind considered the search for an encounter with the infinite to be a fool�s quest.

The next two weeks were spent sharing all we knew, or at least thought we knew, about the Solar System.  A couple of times the Birdman offered corrections or supplements to our knowledge based on his observations.  The alien devoured large volumes of information.  At first I thought it was just skimming them for some particular red flag, but then I realized that the Birdman was actually assimilating all the information in the books, journals, and databases that it examined.  In two weeks it knew more about human research on the Solar System than 90% of the astronomers in the world.

We still had about a week�s worth of information to feed to the alien when the outside world stepped in.  A military base never sleeps.  Not even for Christmas.  But the civilians began asking for a few days off to see family and friends and celebrate the holiday.  They argued that not taking the holiday would make people suspicious.  I realized that this situation could degenerate into the military types trying to �keep� the alien until the civilian experts came back.  I could only imagine what the generals might do to try to prevent the alien from proceeding on his quest without giving them the technological goodies they wanted.  They might even try to imprison it and I seriously doubted that any earthly prison could contain this alien who walked through walls as if they were not there.

That is when I suggested that the alien come to our house for the holiday.  It seemed a quaint suggestion.  The Birdman could have simply returned to whatever it was that it had inside its craft.  But I thought that this would be an opportunity for cultural exchange.  Realizing that my role had become that of an ambassador I thought experiencing an earth family and part of our culture would help to foster understanding. It was only my wife and myself and we both lived on base so the military could still contain the Birdman without imprisoning it.

I decided not to spend all my time trying to explain everything but to allow our guest to ask the questions that it thought were important.  There were a lot of questions. Many of them about mundane things that I would never have planned to explain anyway. Oddly enough it never asked about the lighted fur tree in our living room.  For all the Birdman knew that was a common everyday article in every human home.  My wife and I usually attended mass at the base chapel on Christmas Eve but given our unique guest we stayed at home a decided to read the Christmas story from the Bible.

I did volunteer to the alien that this story is the basis for what many people celebrate at Christmas.  My wife began reading from John�s Gospel, �In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.�  The Birdman interrupted as it had done frequently that evening, �So this �Word� you speak of is the originator of the universe?�  My wife and I looked at each other and suddenly realized that we might have to answer endless questions about human religious ideas.  While I have attended church my whole life I am hardly a theologian.  �That is what we believe,� I answered sheepishly.  The Birdman put a wing to his head and another to his mouth, �please keep reading.�  �And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only...�

Our guest almost jumped, �Can I see that book?� the translator said in monotone but the eager wing of the alien reaching out suggested an urgency in the question.  My wife handed him the Bible and we watched as he read through it page by page.  I had seen him do this to astronomical journals for two weeks.  In a matter of minuets he had read through the entire Old Testament and then stopped at Matthew.  He looked up, "They followed the star�s light.  They followed the star�s light to find the Word, son of the infinite creator!�  the Birdman looked down and then up again and the translating orb spoke, �Do I understand right that this book says that the infinite creator of the universe became a human being?�  �Yes,� I responded.   �Do many earth people believe this?� The Birdman was pointing to Matthew�s Gospel.  My wife fielded this question, �About a two billion people claim to believe it.�  The translating orb spoke again, �So why did you not tell me about this event?  Did you not think it would interest me.  I told you I came seeking an encounter with the infinite.�  By now the alien was hovering with two wings and I feared he would become violent.  Then he landed in front of us and placed two of its wings on our shoulders.  �Excuse my excitement.  Thank you for sharing this with me.�  At that it flew through the ceiling and out toward the airfield with the translator orb close behind.

By the time I got through the front door it was flying away with all six wings in a ripping pattern and the guard just outside were notifying their superiors of the alien�s abrupt departure.

When I arrived at the hanger where the alien�s craft was being hidden, it was surrounded by jeeps and generals.  The craft shimmered and then slowly disappeared.

The general looked at me and sternly said, �What happened?�  I looked back, �I think I told him where to encounter the intersection with the infinite.�

It took a week to write all the reports requested by the generals and the government officials, but things were quiet until the night of January 5th.  It was just another night and I had gone to bed early.  In the middle of the night I was awakened and there in my bedroom the Birdman was hovering  just below the ceiling.  Its translating orb spoke, �I understand now.  So many of your people have not encountered the infinite. That is why you did not know what I meant or that I could have come seeking what you call a �religious experience.�  It simply did not occur to you that an extraterrestrial would seek the �face of God.�  I also understand that your people would use my knowledge and technology to oppose the flow of the infinite.  Your government would try to detain me and even harm me if they felt it necessary, so I must leave without letting anyone else know of my presence.�  By now my wife was awake too.  Nodding to her the Birdman said through the translator orb, �Thank you.�  Then with two wings it covered its face with two it covered its feet and with two it flew as if bowing to take its leave.  Then it disappeared through the ceiling.  After it left I looked at my clock.  It was 1 AM, January 6: Epiphany.

I am not sure what my Birdman friend experienced.  What is salvation or �an encounter with the intersection of this plane with the infinite� to a six winged bird from the stars?  What is God to a being whose understanding of the world makes me look like a cave man?  Whatever it was, this alien was yet another wise creature who followed the light of a star to discover that the King of the universe had become a child living on a small blue planet circling a yellow dwarf star in a remote corner of the Milky Way Galaxy.

I couldn�t help but wonder: would others be coming in the millennia ahead to �encounter the Infinite?�