Here Comes Earth: Emergence (17 page)

“What
is it you want from us Jaki?”

“What
we’ve always wanted; your respect. We want you to join us. We want earth to be
a part of Noridia so we can all share our knowledge and mutually benefit each
other.

“Mark,”
she continued with growing enthusiasm. “We’re not going to make you slaves or
restrict your access to technology – we’re going to improve the standard of
living of every single person on your planet. Your people have some tough
social evolution confronting you; there’s going to be violence Mark. We have
the experience, resources, and technology to help you survive those transitions
and if you’re with me I can make sure that your rewards are everything you
could personally or professionally ever want.”

“What
does that mean,” I said honestly curious.

“A
transition takes time, Mark. If you’re working with me you’ll be one of the
most respected people on the planet. While there’s still currency you’ll be
rich; you’ll have immense power just because people will want to be close to
you. You won’t be just studying history, you’ll be creating it – leading
mankind in a new direction. You and I will have the respect of the entire
planet at our fingertips.”

“You’ll
need more than me,” I said. “Is this what you’ve offered Helmer and Memphis?”

“Power
and riches yes,” she laughed. “But you don’t need to be jealous Mark. They’ll
have nothing like what you and I will have together.” 

“That
sounds great,” I said with as much artificial enthusiasm as I could muster.
“It’s just a lot to take in and I really need to absorb it all.”

“What
is there to absorb Mark?” she said with an undercurrent of steel. “You either want
to stand with me and usher in a new era for your people or you don’t.”

“It’s
not that simple Jaki; I just need to think things through.”

I
guess I wasn’t very good at the false enthusiasm stuff because Jaki obviously
wasn’t buying it. There is a certain look and voice that every scorned woman in
the world uses – come to think of it, it must be every woman in the galaxy.
When a woman says she wants to have sex with you and you turn her down that’s a
woman scorned and like the saying goes, hell hath no fury like it.

I
tried to placate her by saying that I really wanted to go on the excursion
tomorrow and meet the people that had experienced a Noridian partnership and
that I really wanted to talk to her about all this once I’d returned. I knew
I’d failed just by listening to her, ‘goodnight.’ To my ears it sounded far
more like, ‘goodbye.’

In
retrospect I really should have done a better job of letting her down lightly
or at least kept her guessing for a while longer about my true intentions, but
it was one of the few times in my life that I was truly freaked out. To have
someone offer me that kind of power and know they could probably pull it off
was… well it was insane.

What
happened next was probably inevitable, and even though my abruptness with Jaki could
be responsible for it happening much sooner than it would have I could hang my
hat on one thing; I had passed a test that few men ever had. I had said no to
being King of the Earth.

∆∆∆

I
was pretty sure Jaki could monitor anything inside the ship at will, and
because I was still holding out foolish hope that she was buying my indecision
I didn’t run straight to the Major with the confirmation of Helmer’s and
Memphis’ complicity. Instead I went back to my quarters and went to bed. It
took me a long time to find sleep and it was a long, lonely, restless night.

I
awoke the next morning telling my slave girls to draw my bath as I was trying
to untangle my toga. I couldn’t seem to decide if I should wear my gold or
silver breastplate today… What was the proper dress when granting the President
of the United States an audience?

That
damn toga… or, maybe it was my bed sheet that was tangled in my legs? That
would explain why I was on the floor next to my bed – it might also account for
the lump I felt growing on the side of my head.

Once
I gained my bearings I shaved and took a shower – I
still
haven’t gotten
over how unique an experience
that
is. After I dressed I ordered a tray
for breakfast and carried it out into our squad’s hub.

Before
I could sit down I saw Hiromi sprinting across the hub to the platoon hallway
and Toni was close on her heels. Just then my earpiece buzzed.

Major Mathew Reagan, US Army

With
the general’s death and our suspicions, not to mention the excursion that we
were scheduled to take the next day, it was the perfect time for my head to
start hurting.

With
so much at stake I didn’t take any chances this time; I took one of my special
headache pills immediately. Unfortunately it still took time for it to take
effect and although it wouldn’t make me sleepy, impaired, or immobilized I
still had to get to that blissful point where it kicked-in.

I
was picking over dinner in my room when Dr. Schein showed up at the door. It
would have been really easy to start thinking of her as ‘Julie’ and she’d asked
me to call her that a number of times, but I was becoming increasingly aware
that I might have to ask these people to do some dangerous things; a little
distance seemed a good thing.

She
had come by to share her experiences at the hub for the day. There really
wasn’t much to report. Of the HQ staff, Rev. Charles Rohn and Dr. Hilbert
Sullivan as well as the three security personnel were accessible and visible in
their daily duties.

Ambassador
Rutledge, Dr. Derrick Helmer, and Colonel Eugene Memphis along with his three
aids had been nowhere to be seen.

One
of the surprising things about Dr. Schein is that she was very observant; as
adept at it as some of the better security types I’d met over the years. Maybe
that was a big help for a psychiatrist but at any rate she deduced my headache
challenge pretty quickly – and I am very skilled at hiding it.

Somewhere
during her report on the Reverend Dr. Charles Rohn she moved to stand behind my
sofa chair and started massaging my temples. Before long she had me answering
questions about the frequency and history of my headaches. Through my protests
she had me lean my head back and she placed a damp cloth over my eyes. The slow
rhythmic massaging motion was bliss.

Maybe
it was the stress or maybe I hadn’t been sleeping well but I awoke early the
next morning in that same chair. My back was a little stiff as I started to sit
up when I noticed that Julie was curled-up asleep on the sofa. That’s when I
remembered I was supposed to have a headache and realized that I didn’t. I’d
caught it in time and I had to admit that Julie’s massage had probably helped.

I
was at my small dining table eating a light breakfast when my door chime
sounded and Julie woke. One of the Ito twins was at my door with who looked to
be Major Mike Reynolds. I handed Julie a glass of orange juice as I walked past
her to the door. I called for it to open and I stepped out onto the walkway at
the same time that Captain Kamiko said, “Major, I think you’re going to want to
see this.”

My
platoon hub was full of people.

As
Kamiko was starting to explain to me exactly who all the extra people were I
saw her eyes uncharacteristically moving back and forth from me to someone
else. I turned and saw that Julie, still holding her orange juice, had followed
me out of the room. 

There
was nothing inappropriate about Julie’s and my actions and just because her,
and I realized my, clothing and hair were rumpled was no reason to jump to
conclusions – even if ‘Iron Jaw’ was grinning.

Sometimes
in life if you try to stop and explain or set the record straight it just makes
things worse. I figured that this was probably one of those times and besides,
I’m not sure Julie was even fully awake yet because I don’t think she realized
what was happening – and I sure didn’t see any reason to embarrass her.

 As
Captain Kamiko pointed out the hallway to the HQ Hub was sealed. Major Reynolds
told me that very early this morning an aide had delivered orders from Colonel
Memphis for himself, his staff, and his four squad leaders to immediately report
to my hub in order to join our excursion today.

“At
first I thought they just wanted some extra muscle assigned to you for the
excursion,” Major Reynolds explained. “But they’d told us this was a friendly
visit and I realized that one of my diplomats had also been assigned. So I
really don’t know what to make of it.”

By
this time Captain Hiromi had also joined us and was referencing a list she had
apparently made on her smartpad. She informed us that sixteen extra scientists and
one diplomat had been assigned to us but eight of our own scientists had
apparently been ordered to stay behind – they weren’t here. This would give us
a net gain of eight scientists, one diplomat, and nine military. Our platoon
compliment was now up to fifty-one.

“Hiromi,
have you tried to contact our missing personnel?” was my first thought and
question.

When
she told me she had and couldn’t, I ordered the Captains Ito to try and
disperse the scientists throughout the various squad hubs so that our platoon
hub wouldn’t be so crowded.

“Once
you’ve done that please join the rest of us in the conference room,” I told
them both.

“Major
Reynolds, I would also like to invite you and your squad leaders to join us.

“Has
anyone seen Captain Silva?” I asked the group as some started taking seats and
others stood along the wall.

Hiromi
spoke up, “I verified he was here with comms but I haven’t seen him.”

“Dr.
Schein, would you be so kind as to invite Doctors Spencer, Spelini, and Andretti
to join us? Thank you.

“It’s
going to get a little crowded,” I said to no one in particular. “I hope this
ship has good air conditioning.”

∆∆∆

Once
most of us were inside the conference room I took my usual seat and motioned for
Iron Jaw Reynolds to sit beside me.

I
reached up to my earpiece and tried to call Captain Silva but got no response.
Not having time to be irritated I turned my attention to trying to raise Jaki.
I didn’t know if she was with us or back on the main ship but I needed to speak
to somebody. When she didn’t answer I tried to ask for any Noridian, only to be
greeted with silence.

Ok,
now I had time to be irritated.

As
the stragglers started filling in I shared a look with Iron Jaw. What had been drilled
into us since officer training school was that when there was absolutely
nothing else to do, prepare and then prepare some more. The problem was, what
were we preparing for?

“Ok
everyone let’s summarize our situation,” I started off.

Green
Squad’s leader, Captain Paula Morgan, jumped in first and said, “We’re in an
auxiliary Noridian space ship heading towards a planet that is inhabited by a
people that the Noridians befriended hundreds of years ago.”

“Supposedly
heading there; at this point we only have the Noridian’s word on that,” someone
added.

“In
addition,” Major Reynolds said. “My staff and squad leaders have been given
Temporary Duty Assignment (TDY) to your platoon for the duration of this
excursion. Also, one of the 33 diplomats in my platoon was ordered to accompany
us.”

“Why?”
Kamiko interrupted; “Why that particular Dip?”

Major
Reynolds raised an eyebrow at one of his Captains, presumably the diplomat’s
squad leader. The Captain responded, “Dr. Cohen is a Political Science
professor from Texas A&M. Extremely intelligent but somewhat rough around
the edges; no one will confuse him for being a politician. For much of the trip
he’s served as the diplomatic group’s devil’s advocate; always asking the ‘what
if’ questions that not everyone wants to hear. Although he doesn’t always agree
with them I think he has the respect of his peers.”

Julie
interjected, “Maybe that’s why they want him with us; maybe they feel he’s a skeptic
and want him to see firsthand how successful they’ve been with the culture we’re
getting ready to visit.”

“What
do we know about the other scientists that are assigned to us and what do we
know about our people that didn’t make the trip?” I asked.

“Is
Dr. Rasheed Bell with us?” Dr. Spencer wanted to know. “Because he’s definitely
not a skeptic and can’t wait to work with the Noridians.”

Hiromi
responded, “No, he’s not. He’s one of the eight that stayed behind.”

“That
would support your theory Dr. Schein,” said Iron Jaw. “But I still don’t
understand why they wanted my military group here.”

“Ok,
let’s take it step at a time,” I suggested. “Dr. Schein, please work with
Captain Hiromi and Captain Kamiko to see if there are any patterns for the rest
of the team; that includes those that are with us and those that didn’t make
the trip.

“Major
Reynolds, I’d like to suggest that your squad leaders each attach themselves to
one of my squads and second themselves to that squad leader. Your personal HQ
staff can stay with you and serve in any fashion you desire, but you might want
to think of them as a strategic reserve force.”

Iron
Jaw was nodding and I was just starting to go over deployment for the excursion
when the lights went out.

∆∆∆

It
is a credit to our team and the civilians with us that nobody in the conference
room screamed.

Iron
Jaw spoke first, “Who have we got that might be able to figure out how to turn
the power back on?”

A
number of people around the table were opening their smartpads which were
providing a little light.

The
heavily accented Italian voice of Dr. Anzio Spelini broke in by saying, “The ship
has not lost power or else we would be weightless or dead. We still have
gravity so we still have power.”

“Hiromi
check comms,” I immediately said.

In
a moment she replied, “Comms are working Major; for at least a large number of
our team. I’ll initiate a roll call.”

With
the sound of Hiromi’s muted voice in the background I turned to where I thought
I remembered Dr. Spelini sitting and said, “Dr. Spelini, what did you mean when
you said if the power was out we’d be dead?”

“Yes
major, weightless or dead. My colleagues in physics have been marveling at the
technology this ship she represents.  When we first left the planet there was
no sensation of acceleration which suggests some ability for inertial dampening
or perhaps a way to isolate space time itself. Once underway in space we
conducted a few simple experiments to determine that there was no Coriolis
force so that we could rule out Centrifugal force as the source of our ‘gravity.’
That leaves only acceleration or an artificially produced gravity field as
reasons for us to feel weight.”

“Anzio,”
Julie said. “Keep it simple for us, ok?”

“Yes
Julie,” said Anzio. “It actually is very simple. If we were under acceleration
and that was the cause of our weight, when the power went off and the
acceleration stopped we’d be weightless.

“On
the other hand, if the Noridian’s are artificially inducing a gravity fiend and
the power to it went off we’d be either weightless because we’re coasting
through space or we’d be crushed because we’d have no protection from the
massive acceleration.

“We
are not weightless or dead therefore we have power – just no lights.”

“What
else has been turned off besides the lights?” I asked.

“Well,”
Dr. Spelini replied. “We won’t know about air recirculation or climate control
until a little time has passed. Someone will have to check the matter
manipulation chambers before we’ll know if food will be a problem.”

“What
kind of chambers?” Iron Jaw asked.

“The
food server thingies in our rooms,” Dr. Spencer’s voice explained.

“Uh,
Major?” a somewhat shaky unidentified voice asked. Has anyone tried the
conference room door to see if it will open?”