First Encounter

The next day, after breakfast, Lin reminded him to watch the projection of Zeus in the throne room. They let the "camera" bring them into the throne room. They squatted on the visitor's bench in front of the throne and waited anxiously. Zeus appeared on the throne. Ray and Lin held their breath.

The muscular giant looked imposing, his powerful chest twice as wide as his hips. The god unfolded his magnificent manhood. "My God!" stammered Lin, "I've never seen one like that!" She grabbed Ray's hand and snuggled up to him excitedly. "A giant..." she breathed, "how did it feel?" She put her hand to her mouth and turned red.

"He needs a tunic and a staff," Ray reminded dryly, both of which magically appeared. The white tunic, made of the finest cloth, was edged with gold and covered one shoulder and the abdomen of the imposing man. A finely worked fibula made of pure gold held the tunic together over the chest. A hand clutched a golden staff towering over him. Small bolts of lightning shot from the tip of the staff. Ray nodded contentedly, that's pretty much what he had imagined.

"He's too pale, he needs some tan," he murmured, and the giant's face and body acquired a pleasant tan. "The hair should look silverier and reach to the shoulder blades. Curly, like Phidias." He took a closer look at the face. "He should be a bit younger, around 40 and some prominent wrinkles on his face are also needed. No, not that much! Wrinkled distinctive and not wrinkled wrinkled!" Ray wasn't quite done yet. "The eyes have to get brighter, radiant blue, fascinating blue!"

Ray looked at Lin, who couldn't tear her eyes away from the giants genitals. He asked her and she winced slightly. "I want to hear his voice!" she said and Zeus repeated blankly, "She wants to hear my voice!"

"No, no!" said Lin, "he needs a deep, rumbling voice, he's the goddamn thunder god!" She waved his hands over his voice until it was deep and growling. Ray and Lin shuddered at the thunderous sound of that voice, now it was right. Ray gave Lin a few minutes to feast her eyes on the gods privates. They dismissed the god and went into the living room of his apartment. "I've noticed and I'll give you this pleasure if it's possible," he said, gently stroking Lin's hot cheeks with his hand. She lowered her head and blushed. "It's possible," she whispered, "you can wish it anytime!"

He led the way into the bedroom and lay down on the bed. He desired the body of the god and he was it. "It's me, Ray, it really is me," Zeus growled as Lin laid down next to him.

He later wished for his own body again and they had dinner at the new apartment. After dinner they drank whiskey and gin and smoked. He felt very comfortable and content in his new apartment. He listened with a smile as Lin gushed to him about her experience with the god. He swam in the sea with Lin before they went to sleep.

Then the big day came. They went into the throne room, Ray sat on the throne and turned into Zeus. He saw a small square in the air in front of him, he should look there. He waited a few minutes to completely relax. Theatrical fog rose, fanfares sounded, and the fog cleared. Lin floated in from the side, carrying a basket of flowers and petals.

Her face had transformed into the idealized, aristocratic face of an ancient Greek woman, her naked body under the white tulle left no questions unanswered and she walked around the throne, scattering flowers and petals on the floor. She sat down at the feet of the god and snuggled up against his legs.

Ray concentrated and calmly read his speech from the display that appeared just behind the square. Zeus raised a hand and the fanfares stopped.

"Peace be upon you, people of this world! I come in peace and I want to bring you peace. But you must all want peace yourselves too! Stop all wars, urge your leaders to stop wars once and for all. After thousands of years of wars, it is now time for humanity to take a big step towards a peaceful future. Do not waste your resources, use them wisely and fairly. I demand of you: end your wars immediately, throw away your weapons, because I will come back in three days and take them from you!"

Fanfares, theater fog. Ray got up and transformed back, as did Lin. They walked hand in hand into the living room and sat down by the screen.

The media hell erupted immediately on Earth. All television channels in the world had his speech broadcast simultaneously, everyone heard his words in his native language. Very few TV channels tried to interrupt his speech, but none succeeded in time.

The powerful and the political leaders immediately convened crisis meetings. The contact details of Zeus were received in the offices of three presidents, the USA, Europe and China. They should be the only ones who could contact them directly. Videos appeared in the air next to his screen showing the crisis management teams. He sat in front of these displays with Lin for hours, observing the reactions of the Krisenwands. Ray didn't ask what mumbo-jumbo the Jareel used to stream sessions from the high security rooms.

Of course, the first thought was that it was a Hollywood-style hoax. On the other hand, serious journalists and pundits noted that the address was seen simultaneously and in different languages around the world. Such a joke was technically not possible! The speech was repeated hundreds of times, and talk shows with well-known participants commented on every word and sentence. It was agreed that an extraterrestrial had contacted them. His outward appearance was reminiscent of Zeus from ancient Greek mythology. Experts confirmed that it was not a computer animation etc.

The message was simple, clear and unmistakable. The politicians of all states were in turmoil and questioned their partners worldwide. End wars? Why? The speech ended with the announcement that the weapons would be taken away from them.

No one who was at war wanted to end it. None of these states was ready to back down. It was ridiculous, how would anyone take their guns away? The leaders of the USA and Europe contacted them and advised a temporary cessation of hostilities. Both the US and Europe were the first to conclude that it was alien contact and serious. They were ridiculed and their warnings ignored.

Different opinions circulated in the print media and online services. There were the craziest conspiracy theories, but also opinions from serious people. The message of the speech was simple.

End the wars. Spend the money on better things. Live in peace.

Indeed, hundreds of thousands of people around the world turned to their politicians. Politicians were startled, they had to say something about it. The usual, what else please?

Ray was quite disappointed. He had been sitting in front of his screen and the displays where the Jareel had compiled the most important information for more than two days. He was tired, drained and disappointed. He had slept less than four hours, had bathed in the sea and immediately sat down again in front of the screen. He didn't feel like having sex, Lin understood him very well and made sure that he ate and drank something.

Lin said it's starting.

The Jareel spacecraft had invisibly approached 5,000km from Earth, exposing thousands of objects around the world. The objects were barely 2 meters tall and camouflaged. They were programmed to disable the weapons and return to the spaceship.

Ray's spacecraft flew uncloaked at insane speeds across Africa and the Atlantic to within 10 kilometers of the mouth of the Potomac River off Washington, where it stalled at 10,000 feet. The military monitoring stations followed the incredibly fast flight of the large spaceship and immediately sounded the alarm. Several fighter planes took off from America's east coast and circled the spacecraft, which could be seen with the naked eyes from Washington.

Ray sat with Lin in the command center and watched them. He didn't respond to the radio messages, although of course he could see and hear everything. President Andrews did not authorize the attack on the alien spacecraft. Whoever was in that UFO may have come with peaceful intentions, the President said. The President was no fool, of course, the pilots had the green light to react immediately to an attack. Major media helicopters hovered as close as they could, continuously filming the spacecraft and fighter planes. Neither these nor the helicopters could get closer than 2,000 meters to the spacecraft. An invisible wall prevented them from getting closer, the planes and helicopters glided down the invisible barrier without damage.

Ray followed the meetings on both sides of the Atlantic and also those of the Chinese leadership. He hovered in front of Washington for 24 hours, the Jareel flying objects began their work in the morning. Hour after hour they rendered the weapons useless. They were almost done when it was time to make the second contact. Ray went into the throne room with Lin and they transformed.

Fanfares, theatrical fog and the Greek Lin, who was almost naked again and was scattering flowers. When she sat down at his feet, the fanfare stopped. As before, he spoke to the people in their native language on all television channels.

"I came as promised and I was a bit disappointed. You didn't end all wars even though I asked you to!" thundered Zeus. "As announced, I'll take your weapons away from you, you don't need them, you need peace. That's my message: Peace! I'll be back." Fanfare, Zeus disappeared in the theater fog, end of broadcast.

He had transformed back into Ray and gone to the command center with Lin. One of the American fighter pilots flinched and fired a missile at the spacecraft. The rocket broke off the plane and fell into the sea, burning and smoking, where it sank without exploding. The military followed the incident and looked at each other in disbelief. These rockets never failed. Ray made the spaceship make a few slow circles around the center of Washington, then it rose and flew cloaked at lightning speed to the Jareel spaceship.

Over the next few weeks, he closely followed what was happening on Earth. All firearms were useless, hand guns, artillery and rocket weapons useless. Americans, Chinese and Russians were secretly testing their nuclear weapons. They burned out in the silos quite unspectacularly, they didn't come from the ground. Explosives could no longer explode, they burned up harmlessly. Space rockets didn't take off, they just wouldn't ignite and the fuel burned up ineffectively. Mankind realized that Zeus had indeed disarmed them. Only the police officers could use their tasers, a consolation for the law enforcement officers. The wars stalled. They used clubs and machetes to fight each other for a while, but these weren't wars any more.

When Lin asked him to do so in the evening, Ray turned into Zeus. He only made the condition that she, too, be transformed, always into something else. After a short time he noticed that it wasn't as nice for her as it was for him. Good-naturedly, he no longer asked for it, and she loved his generosity.

They spent many days observing the people. The Jareel summarized the main events and showed it to him and Lin. Washington, Brussels and Beijing quickly grasped the scale, held joint meetings and faced the facts. They all had the same contact details from Zeus, but even the best technicians couldn't find the receiver, god knows how the Jareel did. Ray, who followed these conferences, had to grin. Washington was the first to decide to make contact. They wanted to talk to Zeus, they wrote in their email.

He answered immediately. A Washington representative was supposed to be waiting for him on the steps of the Capitol at noon the next day. She should take her questions in paper form with her and not carry any electronic devices with her. Washington asked if he meant a woman? He confirmed that she should come alone and that he guaranteed her safety.

He followed developments in the White House. They found a diplomat from the State Department who wanted to take the plunge. She was thematically prepared from all sides and the secret service equipped she with the smallest bug. She stood in front of the Capitol at exactly 12 noon. Ray appeared out of nowhere 10,000 feet above the Capitol with his imposing spaceship.

The diplomat disappeared in the blink of an eye and the bug clattered to the floor. Those present were stunned. Only the government cameras recorded it, the media had been carefully distracted with a speech by President Andrews in the briefing room. Among other things, the President said that at the same time, in a secret operation, diplomatic contact was made with the being that was generally referred to as Zeus in the media. He stressed that the operation demonstrated American leadership. Results are not expected before tomorrow. The spectacle in front of the Capitol went largely unnoticed.

The diplomat, who had just stopped in front of the Capitol, found herself in a small room, the lights dimmed. A pleasant female computer voice asked her to undress and stand in the lighted circle to be scanned for electronic devices. After that she was supposed to put on the white tunic that was lying on the bench. The voice repeated the message until the diplomat undressed. Please take off everything, she said when the diplomat hesitated to remove her underwear. Then she stood on the lighted circle and waited. The computer voice asked her to put on her tunic and follow the light signals.

Ray came up with this prank, Lin grinned and didn't object. The big boy in Ray loved to look at naked women, she murmured good-naturedly and nudged her lovers in the side. She assured him that the diplomat had nothing on her but her papers. They went into the throne room and both transformed.

A moment later, the diplomat entered and looked around. Impressed by the throne room, she followed the LEDs to a small bench with gilded feet. She stopped before Zeus and bowed. Zeus raised a hand in greeting and said, "Welcome, Anne Kilpatrick, please have a seat." The Greek Lin rose and pushed a small table next to Anne, on which stood a crystal clear carafe and a glass. "Ice water, as is customary in America," Lin said, sipping from the glass. "It is digestible and not poisoned at all!" she said with a beautiful smile before sitting down again at the god's feet.

Zeus watched her in silence. Anne was in her early thirties, well educated and not ugly. She exuded an aristocratic confidence. She regarded Zeus fearlessly, trying to judge him correctly. She fidgeted a little nervously with the sheer tunic that revealed her nudity more than it hid it. Zeus' eyes studied her body as any man would, this was familiar and somehow reassuring.

He looked at her kindly and said, "I know your name, people call me Zeus. Where am I from? Olympus in the human tradition is not what is commonly believed. It is out in the universe, for the people out of reach. From there I came here to bring you peace. I took your weapons away from you, but violence is part of human nature. You have to learn to deal with it, nobody can do that for you."

Anne had lost her initial nervousness and listened to him attentively. "My government will not be very pleased," she said, "I have been commissioned to inquire where Excellency comes from, what people he represents, and whether your intentions toward humanity are kind." She fiddled with her tunic again, which stubbornly revealed more and more of her nakedness.

Zeus smirked and a hand played with the curls of his beard. "It is not necessary to title me Excellency, please just call me Zeus, as the media of the world do. I speak on behalf of the peoples of the Universe, of which I am Lord. And my intentions are very kind, I assure you solemn to all mankind!" Anne felt the giant's ice-blue eyes rest on her. The longer Ray looked at the 29-year-old with the short, blond hair, the small virgin breasts and the narrow hips, the more he liked her.

Zeus continued: "I took your firearms from you, knowing full well that you will continue your violence with swords, clubs and spears. Your inventors will design new weapons that are no longer based on explosives. It would be quite to be expected that mankind is and will remain stubborn. You can win peace or lose your civilization. I have nothing to gain, nothing to lose." Zeus leaned back a little.

Anne looked at her papers. She could delete most of it, it was answered. "So it will no longer be possible for us in the future to produce weapons based on explosives?" she asked. "Just to be clear," she added, looking up. And Zeus immediately replied: "Yes, it is so!"

Anne looked him in the eye fearlessly. It meanwhile she didn't mind sitting almost naked in front of the giant. "There's an important question about our exploration of space. We can't launch rockets at this time, so we can't put satellites into Earth orbit, we can't explore space any further." She looked questioningly at the thunder god.

"I was expecting that question," said Zeus, smiling. "You can make rocket fuel in one of your factories. Just one factory, only rocket fuel for peaceful purposes. Share it with the other nations. Have no ulterior motives, I always know and will destroy more factories or rockets for military purposes! I'm serious !" he growled.

Anne nodded in the affirmative, "This will look favorably on my government," she said. "A second problem is that our quarries, tunnel builders, demolition contractors, etc. are out of explosives. What answer can I bring, Venerable Zeus?"

He smiled and nodded. "For that, too, I give the same answer. One factory worldwide, no military use, share with the other nations!"

He looked at Anne with knitted eyebrows. "Deliver these messages verbatim. Rocket propellants and explosives for non-military purposes only. Only one production site at a time! And share it with the other nations! Control it closely, because you can!"

Anne looked back at her papers. One point was still open. "There have been many UFO sightings over the past few decades, were those UFOs yours?" Anne smiled shyly, but she had this nonsense to say. Zeus laughed and looked at her kindly. "No, dear Anne, not at all! There was - apart from my visit - only one visit from outside, a good 800,000 years ago. The Valurians wanted to explore the earth, their research ship crashed, but there are no traces of that today (See "Valuria" by Jack X. Faber). Everything else was hallucinations, trickery or sailor's yarn. I'm sure you won't be disappointed, dear Anne!"

They were silent. He raised his hand and the bench she was sitting on rose into the air until she was eye level with him. Fearfully, Anne clutched the seat and involuntarily kicked her legs. They looked into each other's eyes.

"Anne Kilpatrick, it was pleasant to meet you," said Zeus. "In your clothes you will find a USB stick that I took from your desk. Our conversation is recorded on both audio and video. You have to decide for yourself who can see the video, maybe it's a question for you decency or privacy."

Anne only blushed slightly and fiddled with her tunic again, she released way too much. She lowered her eyes and caught a long glimpse of the giant's body. The bench lowered back to the ground.

"Go in peace!" said Zeus, the conversation was over. Lin rose at the same time as Anne. "Goodbye and peace be upon you!" Anne said in a low voice, bowed and followed the LEDs on the floor. She got dressed and made sure the USB stick was in the skirt pocket of her costume. She blinked because she was back in front of the Capitol.

She was immediately surrounded by the Secret Service and taken to the White House. There was a special screened room in the basement where she waited for the President. The faceless officials patted them down, they examined them with radiation meters and other devices. It took quite a while before they gave the Secret Service the green light. The President came and shook her hand, and the room filled to capacity. President Andrews waited for calm to settle and spoke a few words, then invited Ann to report. She introduced herself to everyone by name and said she had faced the being and did not appear to be facing any projection or hallucination. She was absolutely convinced that it was a real, living being. And now she will play the conversation, it's all recorded.

She inserted the stick into one of the computers and waited a while for the screen to glow green as a sign of safety. She selected the file labeled Audio and started. The recording was technically perfect, you could hear the conversation in excellent quality. Some took notes eagerly, the President and his ministers and advisors listened intently. At the end there was a long silence. The President ordered it played again. Everyone listened attentively, again some made their notes. At the end there was a babble of voices until President Andrews raised his hand and announced that the Cabinet would meet in an hour for deliberation, exceedingly natural. Everyone got up and spilled out.

The chief of intelligence stepped up to President Andrews and beckoned to Anne. The boss asked Anne what else was on the stick. File name video, the boss added, he was able to read that. Anne pulled herself together and said, turning to the President, that she would beg you to show it to the President first and let him decide who might see it. It's a question of her privacy. The President nodded and let everyone leave. Only the two heads of intelligence and the Secret Service remained.

Anne started the recording. It began the moment she entered the throne room, the camera followed her gaze across the magnificent throne room. Her nudity was plain to see and the men immediately understood why Kilpatrick wanted to watch it in private first. The recording matched the audio exactly, the camera showing either Anne or Zeus when they spoke. Anne didn't blush at the close-up shot of her modest breasts. She blushed because you could see her clean-shaven pubic area very clearly and as sharp as a hair. At the end then the bench, which floated up. Her panic and the involuntary parting of her wriggling legs, revealing a deep look into her most private parts. Everything as tiny as a hair in all clarity, every hair, every pore and every skin fold in lifelike resolution. The giant's final word, her enchanted look at the mighty body of the thunder god. She followed the LEDs and the recording ended as she left the throne room.

President Andrews wiped his forehead. He first looked into the eyes of Anne, who had turned red as a turkey, then at the head of the secret services. "Jim, get the video edited. Anne's nudity needs to be blurred out, as well as the thing of Zeus, people don't understand that. And skip the part about the USB stick, it's better if they don't know exactly how was created!"

Jim, the head of intelligence, ran the recording again. He stopped the recording at all points where Anne's nudity could be seen. He looked to President Andrews to see if it was a spot that needed work. Andrews nodded each time. Vernon, the Secret Service man, stood behind the two and Anne saw his look of disdain as the two men stared at the spot where Anne's private parts were naked and clearly visible. Anne wasn't surprised, that was a very understandable reaction from the men. She said softly, "That has to be covered up," and only now Andrews nodded, "Cut!" he commanded. Andrews instructed the intelligence chief to transfer it to their servers and have the corrections made before releasing it. "Agreed, Miss Kilpatrick?" he asked formally and when she nodded, the meeting was over.

Ray, who had observed the meeting with Lin, asked her why? Lin said they have studied the legends surrounding their dream character, Zeus, and know exactly how people react to sex. Ray thought for a moment and agreed. Americans, for example, presented themselves as extremely prudish, but they consumed more pornography than other nations. "But you do realize that the video will be leaked sooner or later?" Ray asked and Lin nodded in agreement, that will definitely happen. "But I can assure you that Anne Kilpatrick will not be disadvantaged by this!" said Lin. When they went to bed that night, Lin, with a big grin, said she had a present for him. Ray looked at her expectantly as she dropped her dress. She turned into Anne Kilpatrick and lay down with him. Anne was quite inexperienced sexually, but virginity had a certain allure.

They stayed over Washington in the spaceship for several months, swimming in the sea and observing developments and reactions. The defused video was published a day later, and copies were given to all embassies. (The uncensored video leaked online a day later.) Conferences were held with Washington, Brussels and Beijing, and the sites for the two factories were decided. The production of the rocket propellants should take place in Pennsylvania, that of the explosives in Spain near Madrid. The US and Spain signed treaties with all relevant states to regulate distribution and funding. The final versions were emailed to Zeus, who promptly approved them. Ray growled that he hated such bureaucratic frills. However, Beijing did not comply. They continued to clandestinely produce military missiles. Ray watched for a while, then decided with Lin to set an example.

He flew to China. He flew very slowly over the megacities so that many could see them. Then he positioned the spacecraft over the rocket factory. He left a message for 2 hours via Bullhorn that everyone had to leave the factory, and unbearably shrill tones rang out until the last person had left the factory. He had informed Washington and Brussels beforehand and destroyed the factory and warehouse with a single shot. The deep crater should be warning enough. They should know he could. They returned to Washington and released the uncensored video of the destruction to the media.

They spent the days by the sea, swimming or lying on the sand under the artificial sun. Ray followed developments on the screen and in the Jareel summaries. They monitored the two factories, but there were no irregularities. Mankind no longer waged wars. States began using the military for civilian tasks and downsizing armies. There were repeated outbreaks of violence, but they remained local. Where the states had previously relied on deterrence, they abandoned it I now ensure that no one owned any weapons worth mentioning. The arms trade and production collapsed and it was very difficult to catch them. President Andrews was a wise man and he intervened generously to save most of the workers and factories. He scored a lot of points for his re-election.

Ray sat in the comfortable armchair of his living room, drank a whisky, smoked and planned the next step with Lin.