Wisps (The Extraterrestrial Anthology, Volume I: Temblar)

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  The Mexicans as well as the world community were stunned when Ramirez successfully routed out the drug lords who had so long used Mexico City to do their dirty business. The story of how he led a band of commandos through Chapultepec Park and into the City Center, rallying the remaining forces of the Mexican Army, had quickly become the stuff of legend.

  The war itself was resolved in a matter of weeks. Drug lord enclaves that had been strongholds for years were attacked and destroyed by an elite team of short, dark special agents from Southern Mexico equipped with assault rifles. Hidden bases and distribution centers were uncovered; vast quantities of cocaine and heroin were confiscated; bank accounts were frozen.

  Gabriel Ramirez Ventura had become a national hero akin to Benito Juarez, the 50th president of Mexico who, in the mid-1800s, had resisted the French occupation, overthrown the Empire, and restored the Republic.

  One year after Ramirez essentially ended the illicit drug trade in Mexico, the celebrated President held a press conference that was covered by all the major international media. The world gave a collective gasp as President Ramirez introduced a hovering blue light encased in a sphere of a thick gray gas and declared a peaceful alliance between this alien life form and his own nation. The Mexicans called them chispas or “sparks,” but The New York Times ran a headline “Ramirez Reveals Wisps to the World,” comparing the aliens appearance to the “Will o’ the Wisp” phenomenon in which lights appear to hover above a bog. As always, the American nomenclature proved more popular, and after that everyone referred to them as Wisps.

  Ramirez announced new Wisp technologies in an almost casual way, as if astounding advancements in science and technology were hereby assured. And, indeed, in a remarkably short time the Mexican power grid was running on clean energy; televisions were being built with near infinite-definition three dimensional screens, and computers were introduced that were more than ten times faster than anything already available. Mexico even developed cars powered by Wisp technology, enabling Mexico to vastly reduce its dependence on foreign oil. Environmentalists everywhere celebrated Mexico as the first carbon neutral nation.

  Yet, to the world’s chagrin, Ramirez was not forthcoming when it came to sharing the secrets of his country’s technological edge. Scientists and engineers had to painstakingly analyze Mexican products to figure out how and why they worked, a major endeavor that proceeded slowly because the Wisp technology was built on an entirely different set of scientific principles. Ramirez’s advisors assured him that Mexico had at least a decade lead on any country that would try to imitate its products.

  Due to Mexico’s new industrial status, trade agreements were renegotiated in Mexico’s favor, and foreign investors all wanted to get a piece of Mexico’s action. Mexican electronics and automobiles became the most popular in the world, and supply could not keep up with the demand. Mexico entered a Golden Age not seen since the glory of the Aztecs.