Punishment

by Guerin Zand

  “Like a wormhole?”

  “No. As they explained to me when I asked that, Roger, the thing we humans call wormholes are two connected black holes, actually a black hole connected to a white hole.”

  “What’s a white hole?”

  “It’s exactly what it sounds like, Steve, the exact opposite of a black hole. If two black holes were connected nothing would ever come out of either side, right? So for something to travel into a black hole and come out in this same universe it would have to connect to a white hole. The problem is, we have never seen any evidence of a white hole. But that’s not the biggest problem. What would happen to you if you walked into a black hole?”

  “You’d be crushed.”

  “That’s correct, Steve. So wormholes would be a dumb thing to try and travel through. These portals are more like tears in our spacetime that they create.”

  “Then they can travel between any two points in our universe instantaneously?” Roger asked.

  “Yes. Look maybe you should all just read the book I’m working on. Milly says I embellish a lot, but it should answer your questions. I’ll get you all a copy, and after you read it, hopefully, a lot of your questions will be answered. The names of the races and some places are fictitious because they didn’t want me to give away that information, but a lot of the technical shit is accurate.” I gave everyone my email address, they sent a request for the book from their smartphones, and I sent a copy from my iPad to each of them.

  “You are publishing a book with this information?”

  “Don’t worry, Roger. It will be published as science fiction and no one will believe a word of it.”

  “How come the search teams never found this book?” Roger wondered, and I just smiled.

  The timer on the oven went off and I went outside and fired up the grill. I placed the steaks on a platter and headed outside with them. As I expected, all us carnivores wanted them medium rare to bloody. The others continued to talk about, I don’t know what, while I grilled up the steaks. When the steaks were done, I brought them to the kitchen and started to get out the plates and other accouterments for our dinner.

  We exchanged small talk while we ate. Katie commented, “You’re actually a pretty good cook, Guerin. This steak is cooked perfectly. Perhaps a woman could find some use for you.” The rest of her team laughed, and I just ignored it. I wasn’t in a great mood, but I didn’t want that to affect what I had to do. I guess it was obvious though.

  Katie and Steve got up after dinner and actually volunteered to do the dishes. Roger and I poured ourselves another drink and started talking.

  “What’s wrong, Guerin. You seem rather subdued tonight. You let Katie take a free shot at you and you just brushed it off. When we first met, despite your treatment, you were still more animated than you are now. Something must have happened while you were away.”

  “Politics, Roger, just fucking politics. It has nothing to do with you.”

  “I disagree, Guerin. If we’re going to work together what affects you affects the whole team. We talked about building trust so don’t start off hiding things from us.”

  “It’s just stupid politics. We talked about Julie and my little war with her, well Milly was furious over my ‘little ordeal’. She got the committee that oversees this little Earth project to back her and this went all the way up to the Council we mentioned. Milly wasn’t going to let me rot down here, but she should have. Bringing this up to the Council turned this into a big fucking deal. The simple result was that Milly was allowed to come to Earth and ‘rescue’ me, Julie is off the project, and Milly is gone.”

  “What do you mean gone? She’ll be coming back, right?”

  “No, Katie. I mean she’s gone. I won’t be seeing her again.”

  “You’re not going to do anything about that?”

  “What do you think I can do, Katie? I don’t have my own personal spaceship to go chasing after her. Besides, no one will tell me exactly where she’s gone too. I just know she took another posting and agreed not to contact me again. It was that, or she could flush her career down the shitter. I’m just a fucking puppet to these assholes. I know a little more than you do, but in the end, that’s not much. At least you don’t have to deal with these pricks.”

  “Guerin, I don’t know you very well, but what I do know is that you’re not just going to drop this.”

  “Don’t worry, Roger. This won’t affect what we have to do. This is my problem and I’ll deal with these assholes in my own good time. I’ve got all the time in the world.”

  “So, you’re going to war with the entire ruling Council? I think that does affect us all.”

  “Just drop it, Katie. I said it won’t affect you and that’s that. End of subject.”

  Katie was about to say something, but Roger raised his hand and she dropped it. I really didn’t want to discuss this with them, but maybe it was better they know. That way they could let me know when I did let it interfere with our work.

  “Before we go any further you need to know something. If you disagree with me on this, then I’ll have to find some other people to help out, but I hope you’ll at least hear me out.”

  “What is it?” Roger asked.

  “I plan on making this technology available to other countries, even countries that may be considered threats or adversaries to America.”

  “Then I’m out.”

  “Hear me out first, Katie. As I’ve said, the aliens like to test us. This device is meant to test not just our technical capabilities and understanding but the ability of humans to work together. For America alone to discover all the knowledge hidden in this device it would take several hundred years, maybe a thousand. If we work together they predict we could do that possibly in a few centuries. I’m talking about reaching a point where we could duplicate that technology. In only a few decades we could learn enough to significantly advance human knowledge.”

  “So, they want to impose a new world order? A one world government?” Roger looked concerned.

  “No. They could care less about what form of government, or governments, we have on Earth. They look at us and see a world that landed a man on the moon almost fifty years ago and then our space program stalled. I was a little boy when the first man landed on the moon. I thought we would be colonizing Mars by now, but instead, we’ve wasted our efforts creating garbage tech like smartphones. The ultimate goal of everything I’ve been sent here to do is get us back on track and back in space.”

  “So, they sent you to introduce new tech for us to learn from and speed up our technical advancement?” Steve looked interested. “What about the Prime Directive?”

  Everybody started laughing. It actually felt good to laugh.

  “Well, these dumb ass aliens never heard of it. I brought up the same question and I just got dumb looks back. There is some cosmic rulebook that addresses contact with developing races out there, but I was never told exactly what the rules are. Again, after you read the book you might understand it better. Not only do these aliens like to show off, they also enjoy cheating. They can’t just come down to Earth and open universities and start advancing the human race directly, but it’s okeydokey to send me here to do this for them.”

  “How is that any different?”

  “If you ask me it’s not, Katie. Like I said, I think they’re a big bunch of cheaters, but their rationale is I’m ultimately the one making the final decisions on what gets shared and when, so it is a human that is doing it and not them. Besides you can’t hold them responsible if some dumb Earth monkey, who they had brought onboard, has sticky fingers.”

  “That’s just stupid. So, on top of everything else, you’re their fall guy for when the shit hits the fan?” Steve simply shook his head.

  “Welcome to my universe and the universe of cosmic bullshit. But let’s get back to the topic, which is releasing these devices to other countries. Now is the time to ask me any questions. I won’t rush you, but we can’t move forward u
ntil I know you’re onboard.”

  “I understand the logic of doing this, Guerin, but the practicality of it is another matter.”

  “I agree, Roger, but that’s my job, and yours, if we end up working together. I don’t think I ever said this was going to be easy. We do have some models for this. The International Space Station for example. I’m not saying every country will get access to these devices. Iran and North Korea would obviously not have access. Maybe in the future, but not now. My plan would be to start here with the U.S.A. and then hopefully we have a model that can be expanded to include the major powers in Europe, Russia, and China.”

  “So, do we just announce to the world that we have contact with aliens and they have given us this tech?” Steve asked.

  “No. The announcement of alien contact has to be done by the governments together and at a time they see fit. That I don’t see happening within your lifetimes. That is a whole can of worms of whether or not it would just cause panic or if people would accept it. The governments would have to ease people into this new reality. We could spend days just discussing this topic, so I don’t want to get sidetracked by that.”

  “So, that makes this international cooperation even harder,” Roger stated. “It would require a covert group of international members and that sounds like a nightmare. How would you propose we even get started? How could we control this information and prevent leaks? I could come up with a million questions like that, Guerin.”

  “I know. The leaks I can take care of with my friends once we have formed this secret working group or committee. How do we get started? The same way I started, by recruiting your team.”

  “You recruited us? That’s why you were at Gitmo? I would think that these smart aliens would have come up with a simpler plan than having you tortured for months in order to meet the right people.”

  “Well, imagine how I feel about that decision, Katie. There were, of course, other ways but remember, Julie was behind that and let’s just leave it at that. From her standpoint, it was a simple plan.”

  “Well, I hope that is not how you plan to recruit others from the different countries because I’m not volunteering for that. I can see why you have a few issues with these aliens.”

  “Steve, I wouldn’t ask anyone else to do that. If it was the only choice I would be the one. I have certain enhancements that make that sort of thing not quite as unpleasant, but trust me, it would be a last, last, last resort.”

  “Roger, I need to know everything about your team and what its purpose is. I can dig it up if I have to, and I probably will to verify what you tell me, but it would help if you would share that. Milly and I both believe your team has had some form of contact with visitors in the past and that you are primarily a recon, information gathering organization. If that’s true, then I would assume there are some similar groups in other countries doing the same. And I would also assume you know who they are. That is where I think we should start.”

  “I said I could control the leaks and here’s why. I have access to the alien’s computational matrix. A supercomputer, let’s say, that would make any computer we have appear to be a bunch of monkeys counting on their fingers and toes. Through this machine, I have access to every computer system on Earth and they don’t have to be on a network or the internet. I can destroy the banking systems, make myself the richest man on Earth, I mean, you name it, and I could probably do it. We can monitor every phone call, over any phone network 24/7 and simply search and find any conversation in a matter of picoseconds. This surveillance has been going on for almost a century. I could tell you who killed Kennedy. I can tell you the last time Katie pleasured herself and the current level of charge in her favorite device.”

  Roger raised an eyebrow, Steve chuckled, and Katie was pissed I had singled her out.

  “My point is, there is no such thing as privacy. Trust me on that. You’ve also seen that we can get into any secure location and take what we want without risk. We’ll have some help from my friends if and when it’s absolutely necessary, but for the most part we would be on our own. I’m the only one with access to these tools so I need to spend time getting up to speed using them. As our planning proceeds, we need to decide how these tools can help us and then I’ll implement those programs.”

  “That seems like a lot of power for one man, Guerin. If what you say is true, what’s to stop you from launching nuclear weapons or anything for that matter?”

  “How do you think I ended up in Gitmo? I would argue, and others would agree, that I really didn’t do anything wrong. What do you think they’d do to me if I were to go rogue like that? They’re watching me constantly. I can’t take a dump without them watching and if you join me they’ll be watching you the same way.”

  “What about money? What you’re talking about will require large sums of money.”

  “How much do you want, Katie? Our primitive economics specialist, Isabelle, has been doing business on Earth for centuries. We’d probably shit our pants if she told us exactly how much money she has squirreled away. Don’t judge the intelligence of my friends by the stupid shit they do at times, they’re smart. I mean, so smart we can’t possibly imagine. Isabelle could move billions around and no one would ever know it happened. There won’t be a money trail to follow. Anyone trying to trace our money would never find anything unusual.”

  “And what about our day jobs?”

  “You are going to quit, Roger. Your little research division will break off from the parent company and form a new privately owned startup. You would have to increase the number of employees to do what we need anyway. This way it looks quite natural for a group of employees to strike out on their own. That sort of thing happens all the time.”

  “It sounds like you have it all figured out,” Katie said sarcastically.

  “I have a rough plan. I never said I had it all figured out. If I did, why would I need you? No, we are going to need business experts, lawyers, you name it. I’d say we need at least a year of planning before we even get started. That is if you all agree to be part of this. If you do, only the four of us will ever have knowledge of ‘Bullshit’. The others will only know what they need to know. This is the compartmentalization that Roger mentioned, and we need to work out a plan for that as well.”

  “And if we don’t agree to join you, do we get our memories wiped?”

  “No, Steve.”

  “Let’s call it a night. You have things to think over and perhaps you want to discuss this among yourselves. Do some reading and take your time deciding. If any of you want, I have a few spare bedrooms here so you can spend the night. I don’t know what arrangements you’ve already made, or if you have to get back to your jobs.”

  “If we’re constantly being monitored how can we discuss anything in private?”

  “You’ll have to take my word that I won’t access any of that information, Roger. Besides, they could only monitor a conversation if they specifically targeted you for such surveillance. You can talk outside without fear of being listened in on. What I talked about earlier was only blanket surveillance of electronic communications and devices.”

  “Then how did you know about, uh, Katie’s habits?” Steve was curious.

  I looked at Katie with a nasty smile. “Oh, that was just an educated guess.”

  Chapter 6

  Team Orientation

  The team had made arrangements at a local hotel for the next week. They all headed off to get some sleep and probably to discuss everything among themselves. I was sad when they left. When we were talking I had something to keep my mind occupied. With them gone I slipped back into my depression over Milly. I decided I needed to keep busy, so I contacted Sly and Stella and talked with them most of the night about the next stages of my plan.

  In the morning Roger and crew came back to the house and they brought some breakfast with them. I put on another pot of coffee and we relaxed and enjoyed our meal.

  Steve couldn’t wait to start with
the questions. “Do we get to travel in outer space, Guerin?”

  “It’s really not all that exciting. If I were to take you to the shuttle in orbit you wouldn’t really see anything. It’s like being in a submarine.”

  “I know, we all read your book, but I was thinking about the main ship you talked about.”

  “I don’t see any of you, or me for that matter, traveling to the main ship anytime in the foreseeable future. There’s no reason for that and they probably couldn’t handle that many of us monkeys running loose up there. The little fracas with the Council has made me a bit unwelcome back there anyway.”

  “But we get to see the shuttle?”

  “Steve, that all depends on what you’ve all decided. I’m not trying to rush your decision, but we really can’t proceed much further until that’s settled.”

  Roger held up his hand to signal Steve to stop asking any more questions. “Guerin, we talked about this last night. In theory, we don’t disagree with what you and your friends are trying to do, but in practice, we would have a lot of concerns. What if this were to just lead to another arms race? We couldn’t be part of this if it put America’s security in more jeopardy.”

  “Well, preventing that is part of our job. There will obviously be military applications as we’ve already discussed. We have to steer the research and focus on peaceful uses for this technology. The primary objective should be to advance space-based technologies.”

  “How do we do that?” I can’t blame Katie for not being convinced this was possible. I had the same concerns.

  “By being smart. We have a lot to figure out and probably the most important thing is picking the right people and organizations to get involved with this effort. I’ve already said I don’t have all the answers. You have to decide if this is possible? If you don’t think so, then your answer should be no and I’ll move on. I’m not forcing you to help me. It’s your decision.”