A scientist wearing thick-lensed glasses and a black t-shirt with a UFO and the words “I
Want to Believe” on it puts both hands over the headphones he’s wearing.
His eyes open wide.
He can’t believe what’s being picked up by the array of radio telescopes outside the
window.
He rips his headphones off and runs to the lab where the rest of his colleagues are gathered.
“You guys really need to hear this,” he pants as he bursts into the room.
The scientist turns on the speakers; they all listen.
The sound is not natural.
Alien contact has been made.
The scientists at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, also known as SETI, scramble
to follow protocol.
Now that they’ve identified an alien signal, what they do next will determine the fate
of the planet.
There are procedures in place to ensure contact has actually been made, and the signal is
not just a fluke.
But the steps that follow are only known to people who have the highest-level security
clearance in the country.
1 minute after first contact: The signal is double-checked by everyone at the observatory
to make sure it is not coming from a human-made object or the result of a natural phenomenon.
The scientists try to disprove that the signal is alien in origin but can’t.
2 minutes after first contact: The scientists at SETI reach out to their colleagues around
the world by phone and over the internet.
They tell them exactly what frequency to listen in on and where to point their telescopes
at the sky.
Everyone holds their breath as scientists across the planet try and corroborate the
results.
3 minutes after first contact: Time slowly goes by as the SETI scientists who first found
the signal try pointing other devices at the sky and get further readings.
They can’t believe the data that’s coming in.
There is something there, something really, really big.
They’ve ruled out that it’s an asteroid or comet as the object is not giving off enough
light, and the signal keeps repeating itself.
4 minutes after first contact: Results start coming in from around the world.
Europe confirms that there is something anomalous in that part of the sky.
Stations in South America, Africa, and Russia also confirm that the signal is coming from
something very large, headed directly towards Earth.
The rest of the planet is facing away from this part of the sky, but as the Earth rotates,
they will be able to confirm the alien presence as well.
5 minutes after first contact: The signal has been confirmed independently from multiple
sources.
Luckily for the scientists at SETI, they have friends at NASA who are able to turn the Hubble
telescope directly at the unidentified approaching object.
The thrusters on the side of Hubble fire, repositioning the satellite.
The scientists at NASA and SETI look at their monitors as the blurry image comes into focus.
What they see shocks them.
Everyone stops what they’re doing and stares silently at the monitor.
For the first time in history, humans are seeing an alien spacecraft heading towards
Earth.
6 minutes after first contact: No one can move.
No one can think.
The ramifications of the discovery of extraterrestrial life are overwhelming.
Suddenly there is a loud POP!
One of the scientists stands in the doorway; she has a bottle of champagne in her hand.
Bubbles run down the side.
“Congratulations, everyone, we did it!”
she says.
The scientists look at each other and let out a cheer.
7 minutes after first contact: Scientists at SETI and NASA spring into action.
“We need to alert the president!”
someone yells.
“And the Secretary of Defense!”
shouts another.
They pick up the red phone sitting on a desk and dial a number that is only supposed to
be used in emergency situations—the phone rings.
8 minutes after first contact: The Secretary of Defense picks up the phone.
“I’m busy right now; what is it?”
a gruff voice says on the other line.
“Sir,” one of the scientists stammers.
“We found something.”
“What are you talking about?”
the Secretary of Defense asks, sounding a little annoyed.
“Aliens, sir, there are aliens headed towards Earth.”
replies the scientists.
“Whoever gave you this number is going to be arrested and put in jail for a very long
time.
You do not prank call the Secretary of Defense!
The FBI will be at your door within the hour.
Goodbye!”
He slams down the phone.
The line goes dead.
9 minutes after first contact: The scientist stands motionless with the phone to his ear.
There is nothing coming through but the sound of the dial tone.
As he puts the phone back in its cradle, he whispers: “the Secretary of Defense didn’t
believe me.”
Everyone at SETI looks at him in disbelief.
A few seconds go by.
The light on the emergency phone begins to blink.
The scientist slowly reaches out his hand and picks up the phone.
He places it next to his ear.
“Why didn’t you tell me there was an alien invasion knocking on our door?”
the Secretary of Defense screams.
“Get your team to D.C. immediately.
We are putting the First Contact protocol into place.
Do not tell anyone else about what you’ve found.”
The line goes dead once again.
10 minutes after first contact: Protocol dictates that no response to the signal should be sent
back to the aliens before further information can be gathered.
It is clear that the alien ship is headed straight towards Earth, but we still don’t
know if the aliens are peaceful or come with hostile intentions.
The Secretary of Defense informs NASA to keep an eye on the ship and keep him updated if
anything changes.
He is about to meet with the President and other military officials.
15 minutes after first contact: The chiefs of staff and the President of the United States
sit around a table deep in an underground bunker.
The alien ship will reach our atmosphere in a matter of minutes.
At this point, the only people who know about the aliens are the scientists at SETI, the
colleagues they reached out to, and the U.S. government.
But this won’t be the case for long.
The U.S. needs to figure out a game plan before reaching out to its allies.
Luckily, there is a top-secret contingency plan in place for first contact with aliens.
The President and the cabinet conclude that they will try reaching out to the aliens before
alerting the world of their presence.
The only problem is the government has no idea how to make contact with a highly advanced
alien race.
It does not seem that the alien ship is hostile, but they need to be sure.
The government knows chaos will break out as soon as word gets out about the aliens.
Before that happens, they need to know as much about our visitors as possible.
The president orders NASA to start transmitting to the alien craft.
Most of the transmissions are number-based as math is considered the language of the
universe.
Binary code seems like a good place to start, so NASA sends a signal containing a repeating
series of pulses towards the alien ship.
There is no response.
The vessel just keeps flying towards Earth.
20 minutes after first contact: There has been no response from the alien ship.
It is likely that almost every government around the world now knows the aliens exist,
as anyone SETI reached out to earlier when they first discovered the signal has now contacted
their respective officials.
The United States reaches out to its NATO allies and informs them of their decision.
It is time to start mobilizing defense forces just in case the aliens attack the planet.
We don’t want to provoke the aliens or inadvertently threaten them, so all military branches are
kept on standby once they are in position.
However, at a moment's notice, every NATO military force can be launched at the incoming
alien ship with swift speed and deadly force.
But it is made absolutely clear to everyone that the last thing the human species wants
is to provoke a technologically advanced alien species that may be coming in peace.
25 minutes after first contact: All NATO forces have been briefed, and troops are deployed
to New Mexico as the alien ship seems to be headed for the array that first picked up
the mysterious signal.
The United States reaches out to the other powers around the world.
China and Russia are brought up to speed.
It is not that the United States is allying with these countries, but they want to make
sure everyone knows that the unidentified object entering Earth’s atmosphere is alien
in nature and not a new technology created by the United States or their allies.
The last thing humans need is an accidental war breaking out because someone thinks they’re
being spied on by a high-tech vessel and opens fire on the alien craft.
To prevent this scenario from unfolding, the United States shares their data on the alien
ship but keeps their tactical plan a secret.
Unfortunately, what is about to happen next will cause people around the world to start
panicking.
30 minutes after first contact: The alien ship is about to enter Earth’s atmosphere.
The government can no longer keep this secret from the people.
In preparation for what is to come, the Secretary of Defense informs police departments across
the country to put every officer they have on duty.
They must be prepared to stop the looting, the rioting, and the chaos that is about to
break out.
Unfortunately, this contingency plan needs to be in place because analysts have concluded
that alien contact will lead to mass hysteria among the populace.
Every law enforcement officer, military personnel, and everyone in the reserves are briefed by
their commander before the President addresses the nation and informs them of what is happening.
The public should hear it from him before the media starts inflating the situation to
boost their viewership.
The president broadcasts on every radio and television station, the video is live-streamed
on internet websites.
He reads from a prewritten script.
Although he tries to remain calm, there is a sense of urgency in his voice.
Everything is about to change forever.
Other leaders from around the world also address their citizens.
Many people can’t believe an alien ship is about to enter Earth’s orbit, but others
begin to panic and take drastic actions.
Even with law enforcement out on the streets, there is just too much confusion and panic.
45 minutes after first contact: A lockdown is put into place.
Everyone is asked to remain calm and stay in their homes.
Many people listen to the president, lock their doors, and board up their windows.
This isn’t necessarily to protect themselves from the aliens but from others of their own
species.
Those who don’t adhere to the lockdown are rounded up by law enforcement or left to their
own devices.
Either way, the next phase of the first contract protocol is about to begin.
The aliens are here.
It is time to figure out exactly who they are and what they want.
60 minutes after first contact: There has been no response yet from the alien ship.
This is not surprising since we’ve only tried a few types of communication.
However, now that they are almost to Earth there are some other options.
The alien vessel passes past the International Space Station.
The astronauts onboard relay whatever information they can gather about the spaceship back to
Earth.
However, since they are in orbit they only get a passing glance as the alien craft enters
the atmosphere.
A fireball forms around the ship as the friction between the atmosphere and the high-tech alloy
begins to heat up.
The vessel stops ten thousand feet above the surface of the Earth.
The United States sends reconnaissance planes to gather information about the vessel.
The aircraft is not armed because we definitely don’t want to make the advanced alien ship
think it’s under attack.
Troops are deployed underneath where the UFO is floating.
They gather any debris that may have come off upon entry through our atmosphere and
bring it back to research facilities for analysis.
The first contact plan hinges on humans gathering as much data as possible about our visitors
to best be ready for whatever is to come next.
90 minutes after first contact: It is now clear that all nations around the world need
to work together to uncover the intentions of the aliens.
Information flows freely between countries regardless of prior political differences.
The United Nations serves as a hub for the exchange and sharing of data.
New ways to make contact are implemented.
Using equipment such as bright lights, radio antennas, and devices that can transmit signals
at different frequencies, scientists, linguists, and mathematicians try to figure out some
way to communicate with the aliens.
Large screens project images that convey peace and universal symbols like the shape of an
atom in hopes we will get a response.
There is no guarantee that any of these things will work, but we have to keep trying; otherwise,
humanity’s first contact with aliens will fail.
There are two scenarios that could unfold with the aliens at this point.
So far, the protocol for first contact has been carried out as planned.
When contact was initially made, multiple independent scientists were informed and confirmed
that the signal was in fact alien in origin.
Then the government was contacted, and they took action around keeping the public calm
while gathering as much information as possible on the aliens.
Now, based on the response of the extraterrestrials, the final part of the plan can be implemented.
24 hours after a peaceful first contact: Even though the aliens have not responded, this
is a win for humans.
It means that they likely don’t have any hostile intentions, and we haven’t done
anything to provoke them into violence.
It is also possible the extraterrestrials have been sending a return message, but we
just haven’t discovered or deciphered its meaning yet.
We probably won’t understand their response right away, but given time, our scientists
will figure out its meaning, and a dialogue can begin.
The most likely scenario in this situation would be that the aliens would figure out
a way to communicate with us long before we figure out a way to communicate with them,
so they would end up solving the problem for us.
The fact that they have traveled lightyears to get to our planet means they are vastly
more advanced than we are.
They will likely have technologies we can’t even dream of.
One of which might be a universal translator or a way to dumb down their communication
methods to our levels.
48 hours after a peaceful first contact: Scientists begin to get results from the initial alien
signal that they fed into computers.
The patterns in the signal sent by the aliens are quantified and laid out in a way to find
repetitions and meaning.
The data deciphered by our computers is shared with other scientists worldwide as we look
for a way to make sense of the codes hidden within the alien signals.
Now that the alien ship has stopped moving, the military has set up a full perimeter around
it.
The streets are empty.
Shattered glass from storefronts line sidewalks, abandoned cars sit lifelessly on the roads.
People everywhere are glued to their screens as they watch the events of history unfold
between humanity and the first intelligent life we have come in contact with.
As time goes on, the only thing anyone is talking about is the aliens and their ship.
Doomsday preppers assume the end has come and hunker down in their bunkers; many people
have locked their doors and await further instructions from world leaders.
Others are making their way to the location of the alien craft so they can see it with
their own eyes.
They are stopped miles from its location by military personnel blocking all routes that
lead under the ship.
The first contact protocol in place restricts civilian access to the aliens; only government
agencies, scientists, and military personnel are allowed to try and make contact with the
aliens.
They are trying to minimize the number of variables that might lead to confusion or
hostilities with the aliens.
72 hours after a peaceful first contact: The protocol remains the same.
The government works with scientists and other nations to try and talk to the aliens.
We still need to know why they are here and what they want.
Since there has been no conflict, it does not seem like our new visitors want to wipe
us off the face of the Earth.
We have now advanced past the first contact protocols and are just trying to make sense
of the situation.
Under ideal circumstances, we would eventually find a way to communicate with the aliens.
They would share their knowledge and technology.
We would join a federation of galactic civilizations and explore the final frontiers of space.
Humanity would spread across the stars in peaceful exploration and missions to bring
other species into a thriving galactic community.
Unfortunately, this probably isn’t the way things would go if aliens ever did come to
Earth.
In a more likely scenario, things would go very differently and very badly for the human
species during our first contact protocol.
24 hours after a hostile first contact: As we signal the alien ship to try and communicate
with them, they vaporize our scientists and destroy all reconnaissance planes.
Massive doors on the alien craft open, and an invasion fleet swarms down to Earth.
It is now time to put the second part of the first contact contingency plan into place.
We hoped we would never have to do this during our first contact with aliens, but it has
now become inevitable.
Throughout human history, whenever a more advanced civilization came into contact with
a less advanced one, there tended to be exploitation and war.
The civilization with more state-of-the-art weapons and technology typically took whatever
they wanted and conquered the lands of their adversaries.
There is no reason to think that an advanced alien civilization would not do the same to
Earth.
The United States launches its full military strength at the alien ship, but it’s not
enough.
They plead with their allies for help.
The British Royal Air Force and the combined strength of all the nations in the European
Union attack the alien ship.
Unfortunately, humanity's aircrafts are no match for the alien’s superior weapons and
shielding.
We launch ballistic missiles from naval vessels and silos at the UFO.
However, nuclear weapons are kept off the table for the time being.
We don’t want to destroy ourselves in the process of fighting off the alien threat.
This has been the plan from the beginning if the aliens became hostile.
Nuclear weapons are to be used as a last resort only.
48 hours after a hostile first contact: Unfortunately, not everyone on the planet can be counted
on.
There are certain countries that see the conflict between the United States, its allies, and
the aliens as an opportunity.
They launch invasion forces to conquer lands that they’ve had their eye on for some time.
They are not allying with the aliens, and the aliens are not allying with the rogue
humans, but each of them wants something, and they are taking it.
It may seem unbelievable that we would need to consider the actions of other countries
while the planet is being invaded by aliens, but it is something that must be considered
even in this scenario.
Humans are now fighting the aliens and each other.
But the threat from space is the main focus for the United States and its allies.
The hostile alien protocol dictates that the extraterrestrials must be stopped at all costs.
Military officials look to scientists to help determine their next course of action.
If the aliens seem to be using biotechnology or have minimal armor, a biological weapon
might be effective against them.
The U.S. launches a nonexplosive missile loaded with viruses, bacteria, and other deadly pathogens
through the hull of the alien ship.
The hope is that when the pathogens are released, they’ll kill off any alien lifeforms that
are trying to invade Earth.
If the extraterrestrials seem to be heavily reliant on technology, humans could drop EMP
bombs onto the alien vessel.
This would cause all electronic functions to cease and the ship to fall out of the sky.
72 hours after a hostile first contact: It becomes clear that even our most deadly weapons
aren’t strong enough to stop the alien threat.
There is only one thing left to do.
If the human species can’t have the planet, no one can.
We launch a nuclear missile at the alien ship.
It detonates.
Everyone looking towards the sky is temporarily blinded.
A cheer goes out across the country as we think we’ve defeated the alien threat.
But as the smoke and fire begins to subside, we see that the alien vessel is still there.
The extraterrestrial technology is far more advanced than we could have possibly imagined.
The final order is given.
All nuclear missiles from around the world are launched at the UFO in hopes that we can
destroy it.
Our planet will become irradiated and will plunge into a nuclear winter, but it is better
than giving up our home to an alien species that wants to strip it of its resources and
enslave humanity.
It is important to note that there is no way to know exactly how well prepared we are for
first contact with aliens until it happens.
SETI and other science organizations have protocols in place for when they find an alien
signal.
We know the United States and other governments such as the United Kingdom and Japan have
a first contact protocol, but these documents are classified, and we can only extrapolate
bits and pieces of what they would look like from what has been leaked.
The scary part is that according to some of the greatest minds of science, making contact
with an alien species is likely to be the end of humanity.
We know that any extraterrestrial that can make it from their homeworld to Earth will
be light years beyond us technologically.
We also know that since the universe is a vast place, an alien craft that comes directly
to Earth likely did so with a purpose.
If they just wanted resources or to explore, there are plenty of resource-rich uninhabited
worlds throughout the galaxy.
If the aliens are aiming for Earth, it probably means that they want something from our planet,
and they don’t care whether humans are living on it or not.
Stephen Hawking, one of the most brilliant minds that ever lived, strongly believed that
humankind would likely be wiped out by any alien civilization that comes to Earth.
Hawkins predicted that “Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer
and colonize whatever planets they could reach, so who knows what the limits would be?”
But not all scientists are as pessimistic as Stephen Hawking.
Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer at the SETI Institute, believes that any hostile alien
civilization that is cruising around the galaxy would likely have already picked up radio
signals from Earth and come to conquer us.
The fact that we have been left alone to develop on our own might indicate that any alien species
exploring the galaxy right now just doesn’t find us interesting enough to bother with.
Or, in an even more optimistic scenario, they are waiting until we are more technologically
advanced before welcoming us into their space federation.
The truth of the matter is we are not prepared for first contact with aliens.
Since going to the moon, humanity has greatly reduced the amount of time and money we invest
in space exploration.
This means that we were probably better prepared back in the late 1960s and 1970s for alien
contact than we are today.
Our first contact protocols are likely outdated, and any aliens we come into contact with will
either not bother with such a technologically inferior species as humans, or they will make
us their pets.
Now watch “Space Chief Makes a Shocking Alien Confession.”
Or check out “US Military Plan to Defeat an Alien Invasion.”