Punishment

by Guerin Zand

  We spent the Christmas of 2030 in Tokyo. On December 25, 2030, at 7:00 AM local time, just outside of Tokyo, the first commercial fusion plant went online. Later on that day, at 7:00 AM EST, the second plant went online in the suburbs of New York City. There, of course, was an argument about which plant would go online first so I suggested they go online at the same time, in each local time zone. Japan got the honor of being first simply based on the time zone. We attended the startup ceremony in Tokyo, and it was a large celebration. The JAFI team had made their goal of being up and running before the end of 2030, but just barely. We could have gone online sooner that year. Timing it to coincide with the holidays was done for some PR reasons which I never understood.

  At the beginning of the New Year, JAFI started processing bids for construction of plants in several countries. JAFI was funded entirely by Japan and America. None of the nations that joined the IOET after it was formed contributed to the JAFI budget. For this reason, the designs for the reactors, including all hardware and software were restricted to JAFI. Other nations could bid for the construction of plants, but the reactors and critical systems were only manufactured in America and Japan. China objected, of course, demanding that the designs be shared with all members of the IOET. The two members of JAFI disagreed, and per their original charter, the nations who had born the total cost of development would have exclusive rights until 2050 to allow them to recoup their initial investment. All the other members of the IOET agreed that it was fair, including Russia. Having failed at their first attempt to fracture the IOET, the Chinese were not going to give up.

  Although the chill with China seemed to be a constant, the IOET moved along. We had landed a joint manned mission on Mars in the summer of 2032 and a permanent ISA base on the planet was established. To keep everybody happy there were actually four landings. The Chinese were given the honor of the first landing followed by Russia a week later. America and Europe joined them a little over a year later once a viable base had been established. Meanwhile, the permanent base on the Moon had expanded to the size of a small village. I wouldn’t say you could officially count either of these as colonization, they were primary research stations, but the day was coming.

  Meanwhile, we hadn’t had any security issues with my family and we were starting to relax a bit. My daughter continued to grow, and the teenage years were, for lack of a better word, interesting. She definitely was my daughter which meant she had to push all the boundaries. There were boys, drinking, and a few run-ins with the local authorities, those were some of the major issues. Sneaking out at night, ignoring curfew, and just about every other rebellious teenage action made our lives as parents just that much more exciting. She was no match for me though, and what I had put my parents through when I was a teenager made her little acts of rebellion seem pretty tame. Being a good father, I would blow up whenever she gave me a reason to, mostly for effect, and privately I would laugh remembering what fun all of that was. Anna didn’t appreciate my lax attitude having been raised in a less permissive culture. On her sixteenth birthday, Maria declared herself vegan, and we had a big fight. I know I was being totally unreasonable about this, and so did Anna, but I had my reasons. First of all, I was her father, and as such, I could be unreasonable if I wanted. The other reason was it was time for her to start to make decisions about her own life, and I didn’t want to just give in. I wanted her to stand up to me and stand up for herself. After giving her a good amount of grief over this decision, I more or less relented. I didn’t actually give up, but I stopped arguing with her over the issue. That didn’t mean I didn’t make comments about what she was eating and throw her nasty looks across the dinner table.

  Even with all the normal teenage angst, Maria had kept up with her education. I took her to the states, after the vegan rebellion, to take her college entrance exams. She took the ACT and SAT tests. Her scores were almost perfect. She aced the ACT, the Math and essay portions of the SAT. She had missed a few questions on the SAT reading and writing section which she insisted were correct, and it was the test makers were too stupid to know it. She was probably right. She sent out only one application for college to UC Berkley. Although Berkley was a left-wing looney bin, Maria wanted to major in Astrophysics and the program at Berkley was one of the best. I did my research and Harvard and Cal Tech were better choices, academically speaking, but she knew I despised everything Berkley, so it was a natural choice for her.

  We were still as close as a father and daughter could be, but she was my daughter after all. Annoying me had become one of her favorite past times and I let her think she was doing a good job of it. This was something her and her mother, well actually her and all the women I knew now that I think about it, had in common, so the two of them became closer because of it. She was accepted at Berkley so we took a few trips to the campus to allow her to take the AP exams. She tested out of undergraduate Calculus, Physics, Chemistry, Japanese, and Spanish, so she earned almost a full year in credits. I was hesitant to let my seventeen-year-old daughter live on her own and it wasn’t just the normal concerns a father would have. We still had to consider security. Katie volunteered to move to California as her roommate and I reluctantly agreed. I’m sure that Maria had arranged this behind my back. The thought of her and Katie conspiring against me was just another thing to annoy me. I ignored that, as much as I could, because I knew her Aunt Katie would protect her with her life.

  It was the summer of 2039, during Maria’s summer break after her first two years of college, that the Chinese made their next move. They launched what they said was a laser-based communication satellite to communicate with bases on Mars and the Moon, but it was launched by the Chinese Ministry of National Defense. Why it was needed was the question, and why was it under the control of the defense ministry? Our team had determined that with the power of the alien battery it could easily become a laser-based weapon. It could be used to bring down other satellites and possibly used as an anti-missile defense system. There were also sixteen different geosynchronous, and fairly small satellites launched as part of this communications network. The claim was they were simple relay stations.

  A year earlier they had launched a Yang Liwei observatory into orbit, using the alien battery as a power source. The use of the alien battery was questioned by the IOET. The Chinese argued that because of the size of the observatory, almost the size of one of the orbiting space stations, the battery was the only safe power source they could use that would meet the power requirements. Their argument was valid, but still, the battery was overkill for the job. The observatory was an ambitious project though, and it was an all Chinese effort leaving out the IOET. The IOET would have access to the observatory, so in the end, they all agreed the use was permitted. Roger and the rest of our team were aware that this was simply a cover, so we increased our surveillance.

  With the launch of the communications satellite, we called Bart and his crew back to pay close attention to this group of satellites, and in particular the output of the alien battery. Within a week the Chinese attempted a test of the power relay system and, of course, it failed. Bart had detected a massive surge in the batteries output and was able to track the power transmission between the observatory, via one of the relay satellites, to the so-called communications satellite. He quickly removed all of the satellites in the system, to God knows where, by opening multiple transit portals in the satellites’ paths. China realized what had gone wrong when the IOET held an emergency meeting and China’s presence was demanded personally by Bart.

  The Collective had access to even the most classified Chinese systems and Bart had downloaded the plans for this weapon system down to every last detail. He released the data to the IOET security council before he came down to address them. Having Bart address the council again, instead of me, was meant to leave us out of it. He confronted the Chinese representative directly and with no consideration for the politeness of normal Earth politics. He demanded that the IOET revoke the Chin
ese membership on the security council and any access to future Collective technology assistance for a period of ten years. If the IOET security council did not take this action, then the Collective would cease all contact with Earth until the situation was resolved to their satisfaction. The IOET unanimously agreed. China was not only isolated but humiliated as well. China was allowed to continue participation in the IOET general council and any ongoing programs, like the Mars and Moon bases, but tensions grew between China and the other members which affected these programs significantly.

  Meanwhile aboard the shuttle, Gladys and her team reviewed the designs of the Chinese systems. I had gone up to the shuttle to consult with them and Gladys looked over at me. “These are Trogan weapons designs, not their latest tech, but definitely Trogan in design. They’re typically stationed in orbit of occupied planets to contain the population and take out any resistance efforts. These are plasma weapons, not lasers. The lasers are simply used to generate the plasma for the weapon. We haven’t given Earth the knowledge to even understand this type of system. No wonder you got it wrong, but you’re definitely right that there are Trogan agents in China working with their military. They must have smuggled the plans onto Earth and I would suspect the agents are Trogan military technicians. But why would they use the Bree battery for power? They’d have to know we would be watching that tech closely.”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “The only reason I can think of was they were hoping the Collective would decide Earth couldn’t be trusted and would abandon the effort here. Perhaps once you pulled out they would design a replacement power supply, if they haven’t already, and using China they could dominate Earth’s other military forces. I don’t think the Trogan empire could care less if we ended up in a nuclear war.”

  “Well, now that we have proof of outside interference, we can take more direct action. Unless you object, I’ll take a team to China and confront their government directly.”

  “Gladys, I’m not sure that’s the best idea. Confronting the Chinese directly could just make things worse.”

  “But you’ve asked the Chinese to turn over these agents and they denied they existed. The problem is when they see you they see an American. You’re going out of your way to be fair to them because of Earth politics. I think it’s best we make it clear to them that we won’t tolerate Trogan interference, and that any nation assisting them will face reprisals from the Collective directly.”

  I looked at Gladys and nodded in agreement. It was still Earth, and I was responsible for all the decisions here still. For a little over twelve years, my family and I had a relatively peaceful life since the last Chinese incident. I guess I had hoped if I just didn’t think about it, that it would stay that way. I had been enjoying watching my daughter grow up and all I wanted was to be with my family. I never wanted any of this responsibility, but even though I surrounded myself with people who were better suited to make these decisions, the responsibility was mine in the end.

  After Bart’s visit to the IOET, the Chinese military called an emergency meeting at the Ministry of National Defense. Gladys and a half dozen of her crew dressed up in their best costume armor and used a portal to barge into the meeting. When she returned she reviewed the recording she had made of the meeting with me.

  The recording started with Gladys and crew materializing through a portal into a supposedly secure conference room. The Chinese first response was for the guards to aim their weapons at them. Gladys wouldn’t explain how she did it, but every man and woman with a weapon aimed at them dropped to the floor, twisting and churning as their bodies convulsed until they became unconscious. Many of them pissed and shit themselves before passing out from whatever Gladys had unleashed on them. Gladys looked pleased with herself. Her crew took up positions around the table in the room where the attendees sat. Gladys stood at the front of the room, in front of a wall of monitors with classified information being displayed. I’d have to get this recording to Roger to analyze later.

  “Does anybody want to try anything else stupid before I get started?” And she looked around at the men and women in uniform seated at the table. No one moved or spoke a word.

  “Good! Our emissary, Guerin Zand, has been more than patient with the Chinese government. He asked you politely to turn over the Trogan agents that you were harboring, and you lied to him and denied they existed.”

  The Chinese started grumbling and objecting to being disrespected in such an outright way. No one had ever looked them directly in the eyes and called them liars. The politics of Earth required more finesse and diplomats had nice ways of saying this, without actually saying it.

  “BE QUIET!” Gladys roared at the generals. I was getting a bit turned on watching the recording and I batted my eyes at her. She shook her head and smiled back at me.

  “I’m talking and you will listen! The next one of you who opens their mouth will join their friends on the floor in a pile of their own excrement. Do you understand me?”

  No one spoke. They simply nodded.

  “The fact that you have ignored our emissary’s request itself is enough for us to sanction China. Violating the rules for using our tech for military purposes just makes it worse. But assisting these Trogan agents, agents who have violated our laws by simply being on Earth, to build weapons that could be used to subjugate Earth is intolerable, and there will be consequences for China.”

  Someone at the table started to say something and Gladys raised her hand to silence him.

  “I’m not Guerin and I won’t be lied to. We know you are working with these agents and we know the weapon system you tried to place in orbit is one of Trogan design. Don’t waste my time trying to deny that.”

  Gladys scanned the room for any objections. You had to know Gladys to see that she was really enjoying this.

  “We removed your weapon system from orbit. We have removed all Chinese personal from the Mars and Moon bases as well as all of the orbiting stations. Whether they are returned to their homes, or delivered to your Trogan masters, is up to you. We DEMAND,” Gladys slammed her fist on the table causing a hairline fracture to form on the surface of a two-inch-thick marble top. “You turn over the Trogan agents within 72 hours or face reprisals from the Collective.”

  “Wait a minute, Gladys.” She paused the playback. “If I’m not wrong, I’d say you were really enjoying herself.”

  “And if I was, Guerin?”

  “Well, when I sort of enjoyed myself during my visit to Trogan, I got a ton of shit about it and was told I had an attitude problem.”

  “So, what’s your point, Guerin?”

  “How come you get to enjoy yourself and I don’t? They wouldn’t even let me take my gun, and you pop down and right off hit these guys with Big Daddy’s shit stick.”

  “Because we’re more advanced than you?”

  “Really? Not from what I’m seeing.”

  Gladys just nodded her head to the side and resumed the playback.

  “If you have not handed the agents over in the time I’ve stated,” Gladys pointed to a monitor behind her that was now displaying a 72-hour countdown ticking away. These aliens really loved showing off. “We will send teams to China, or wherever we must, to search for them and we will find them. No security force on Earth will be able to stop us, or even slow us down. Just look at your people on the ground if you doubt that, or better yet, ask your Trogan friends what we are capable of.”

  Gladys was playing this to the hilt. She paused her dress down of the men and women in the room and started to pace around the table, looking down on each of them as she passed by. She would step over most of the bodies on the floor, occasionally kicking one or two out of her way, adding to the dramatic effect. She made her way back to the front of the room and looked at those seated.

  “If you decide to waste our time and make us come to retrieve these agents, then we’ll be taking those responsible for this as well. We’ll deliver the whole lot of you to the Trogan emperor so he can show
his appreciation for your failure. In addition, we expect you to hand over any technology your friends have helped you to develop. We know what you have, so don’t think about deceiving us. We’re giving you a chance here. Don’t test us.”

  Gladys signaled to her crew. They formed up, surrounding her in perfect military unison, and they marched out through a portal.

  “So, what do you think, Guerin?”

  “Well, I’m actually more than a bit turned on. I bet Bart’s going to get lucky tonight.”

  Gladys smiled at me and batted her eyes. We both broke out in laughter. It took a while to stop laughing, I knew I needed to be serious, but after that performance it was hard.

  “Even if they do comply with your demands, Gladys, it’s not over. They’re going to blame me, which means they’ll blame America for this insult. At best, this will only delay the inevitable just like the last time Bart came down.”

  “But it gives you time, Guerin.”

  “Yea. That would help if I had a plan to avoid what I know is coming. As you said, we’ve tried to be fair with all the nations in the IOET, but that hasn’t worked. I guarantee that the Chinese are planning their next move against us.”

  We all met back at the ranch where we updated my team with the latest events. A copy of the recordings Bart and Gladys made of their visits to Earth were uploaded to our servers for the team to review. Roger shared my concerns about China, but he agreed with Gladys. At least it bought us more time to try and fix the situation.