Literally the Greatest Treehouse on Earth

As I sat there, wallowing in confusion and disappointment, I noticed a ring of stones arranged in a C shape, almost like a fire pit, but with one side open instead of a closed circle. It was about four feet in diameter. That hadn't been there before. The ground inside was trampled and hard-packed. That's odd. I stood up and began walking over to inspect it.

Suddenly, Earth Friend appeared standing inside the circle. "Good morning, King Timothy, Supreme Ruler of the Entire Earth Solar System and Nearby Space. I am happy to report that I put in some extra effort overnight and I have finished your Planetary Leadership Super-Secret Headquarters Treehouse Fortress ahead of schedule. Would you like a tour to familiarize yourself with the installation?"

"Wha…?! You scared me. You just appeared out of thin air! How did you do that." I asked, my brain spinning.

"Oh, please excuse me, King Timothy, Supreme Ruler of the Entire Earth Solar System and Nearby Space. I just stepped out of the elevator. You said you wanted it invisible and for people to be invisible while inside the fortress, yes?" He tilted his head to the side waiting for me to respond.

"Um… Yes. You mean it's done, it's really here?! Oh, man! This is so cool! Let's check it out." I almost yelled in excitement.

I have taken the liberty of marking the elevator entrance with stones," he said as he gestured toward the semi-circle on the ground. "If you and your guests stand inside the circle, the elevator will descend and lift you into the main structure. Into the Welcome Hall as you described in your plans. The use and placement of stones should appear to be a normal human construct to avoid arousing suspicion."

"Won't it crush us if we're standing there when it comes down?" I asked, somewhat alarmed at his oversight of the obvious problem.

"Oh, no! The elevator isn't really an elevator in the sense of a primitive Earth elevator. It's more of a field that senses your presence and pulls you up, or rather pushes you up from beneath your feet. As you said, a physical elevator could land on someone, or people could bump into, and thus discover the presence of your Planetary Leadership Super-Secret Headquarters Treehouse Fortress. Which, of course, seemed counter to your instruction. Did I interpret your wish correctly?" He asked, tilting his head in that odd insect-like way again.

I could hardly speak through the giant smile plastered across my face. "Yes. Yes. Let's go inside and look around!" I said. "Wait, what if someone else, or some animal steps into the elevator. They'll be pushed right up into my fortress," I said looking at him worriedly.

"Absolutely not. It will operate automatically when you step into the circle, allowing for any guests to cross the barrier fully as well before transporting you. It will not react at all if you are not present. If you are inside the Planetary Leadership Super-Secret Headquarters Treehouse Fortress, then you will be made aware of anyone standing in the elevator space, and will receive a query to operate the elevator or not. At least that is the current programming. It can be changed as you desire, of course."

"Nice! What's a query? …and listen these long titles are really cool, and we'll use them in formal discussions, especially if other people are listening, but let's shorten them up when it's just us. We'll call it Earth Base, and you, Earth Friend, may refer to me by my informal title, King Tim." I looked at him to see how he'd react.

It was hard to read his alien, green facial features, but he seemed ok with it. "Yes, King Tim. A query, in this case, is a prompt or question requiring your response as an input to the system. Here, let's step into the elevator and you'll see."

We stepped into the semi-circle of stones. Suddenly, I became aware of a question. I didn't hear it exactly, and it wasn't words that I had to read. I just knew it was there. It's hard to explain, it's as if the knowledge that I was being asked to make a choice just appeared as a thought in my head. I knew I could activate the elevator and bring us both inside the Earth Base, or not. Somehow, I also knew that there was a defense mechanism that was automatically disabled when I stepped into the elevator. If I wasn't here, however, in addition to the first two options, I could access a third choice, which according to the "query" in my head would be to activate one of two defense mechanisms. One would instantly destroy any living thing (which I somehow knew included viruses though they are not technically alive. How did I even know that?) and the other defense option would bring the intruder into the Earth Base but in a confined force field that would hold them in place, preventing movement and preventing anything from passing through the confining barrier from the inside.

"Holy cow!" I exclaimed, "It's got super cool defenses, like James Bond level stuff!"

Earth Friend looked puzzled for a moment. "James Bond?" He asked.

"He's one of our top spies," I said. "He gets all the newest gadgets to help him take down enemy agents."

Earth Friend looked astonished. At least I think he did, it was really hard to decipher those big alien eyes, especially since he lacked eyebrows. "Earth… You have this technology?" He asked.

"Oh yes." I said casually, "but it's only used for big emergencies. Anyway, let's go inside and check out Earth Base. I can't wait to see everything else." And since it was up to me, I let the elevator know with a thought that I wanted it to bring us inside, and it did. I felt as though I were standing on a solid surface as we both ascended up into the air. As my head passed what must have been the twenty foot mark, I could begin to see inside, a solid floor, walls, big windows offering a view of the outside, oh, man. This was perfect.

The Welcome Hall was probably the biggest treehouse room ever, I thought. It was, I'd guess, about 15 feet wide and maybe twice that in length. We stood at one end where the elevator had put us. There was a blue, shimmering disk on the floor that marked the elevator. The rest of the floor was a clean, dark grey color. It was smooth, but not the least bit slippery. At the other end of the room was… "Is that a throne?!" I yelled as I ran over to it. A huge, padded chair, the fabric a rich red color and velvety looking. It had gold stitching on the seams and a gold frame around the backrest. It looked just like a throne from a movie. It was placed on a semi-circular platform raised above the floor with three steps along the perimeter.

"I interpreted your Welcome Hall design, a little. It seemed as though this might be the place where you welcome visitors and, as such, your position as Planetary Leader should be made obvious to anyone seeking your audience. I thought Earth custom would suggest such a traditional display. Is this suitable?" he, asked, with the head tilt awaiting my answer.

"Suitable? It's great!" I rushed up the three steps and sat down – on my throne! as the King of Earth! Suddenly, I knew things about this throne, this room, the Earth Base. Thoughts just appeared in my head. That's not exactly right. They didn't appear suddenly. It's more like I just became aware that I knew this information, like recalling memories. It's like I don't really think about my 3rd grade classroom at school all the time, but if I think about it, I know where the desks are, who sits in each one, where the blackboard is, how to use it, where the coats are hung, where lunchboxes are stored during class, where the books are, and so on. It a just a part of the background information in my memories. In this case, though, I knew memories about the Welcome Hall hadn't been there before the very moment when I sat on the throne. Somehow, the memories of the operation of this place had been inserted into my head in a way that made them seem as if they had been there all along.

There was also a query awaiting my response. I knew that this was a one-time intrusion into my brains. My memories would not again be tampered with by the Earth Base systems unless I affirmed that I wanted some piece of information placed there through a query. If I simply thought of a question and thought about directing it at the Earth Base, it would ask permission to place the answer in my head. How does that work? I thought to Earth Base.

Permission to reply via memory input? Again, I didn't hear it but felt it.

Yes, I thought back. Suddenly, I just knew it was really complicated, and I'd need so much background information to understand that it would take multiple sessions over a long period of time to avoid frying my brain. I'd need advanced math, physics, chemistry, biology lessons far beyond anything anyone on Earth knew to fully understand how thoughts and memories could be transferred this way. For now, it might be most helpful to think of it as machine telepathy, although that wasn't exactly right, it was a concept I could understand at the moment.

"I presume you are conversing with the Earth Base systems," Earth Friend interrupted my reveries. As you first interact with each system component, you will be able to access operating instructions, use cases, and everything you need to know to fully control each system. For example, while seated on the throne in the Welcome Hall, you will be aware of anyone on the ground, in the trees, or in the air within the specified perimeter around the Earth Base and you will have access to a full array of sensor data, as well as offensive and defensive measures in the event you deem such incursions as threats."

As he said that, I realized that I knew it already. I would have to really focus and spend some time to really comb through my memories to fully understand everything I suddenly knew about Earth Base. This was crazy, cool alien technology at work, and it belonged to me, and me alone out of everyone on Earth.

Query: Shall I lock out Earth Friend (currently listed as Technical Assistance Operator, Programmer) and reserve access only for King Timothy, Supreme Ruler of the Entire Earth Solar System and Nearby Space?

Yes. I thought back. If I need his help, I will grant him temporary, limited access on a case by case basis. And I knew that it was done.

I knew without looking that on the wall behind me to either side of throne platform were two doors. Just outlines of doorways in what looked like solid walls. I knew that if I walked toward them or simply willed it, they would open.

"Nice work, Earth Friend." I said, "Let's check out the rest of Earth Base, but I think this will be a suitable apology gift to let us begin negotiations for your refueling station." I smiled. This place was beyond anything I had imagined. It was beyond anything anyone on Earth could have imagined. I not only had literally the Earth's coolest treehouse ever, but I also had a planetary base fully outfitted with alien technologies so advanced that they might as well be magic.