by Saxon Andrew
“WHAT ERROR?!” Charles shouted. He paused and said, “This species is bound and determined to kill themselves and there’s nothing to prevent it. This has been coming for thousands of years.”
Nicole was silent and felt the tension in the room. The computer replied, “And the blame for that lies solely on your shoulders.”
“How can you say that?!”
“You told Nicole that you made Homo Sapiens and the Neanderthals, did you not?” Charles just sat fuming and didn’t respond. “What would have happened if you hadn’t stepped in and sped up their evolution? Is it possible that if you had left them alone and they had several hundred thousand more years to evolve that they might have learned to live in peace with each other?”
“You agreed with me to make the changes!!”
“That doesn’t make it right; you made the ultimate decision. However, that’s not an answer. Is it possible?”
Nicole waited and tried to not make a move that would get her noticed. After a very long pause, Charles said, “There is always a possibility of anything happening.”
“But you intend to do nothing about the coming nuclear holocaust even though you are partially involved in it happening. You take no responsibility for your actions. You made them; you are responsible for them!”
Charles’ eyes narrowed and he said firmly, “Do not contact me again and do nothing else without my direct approval.” The computer didn’t respond, and Charles sat fuming. After a few moments, Charles turned to her, “With all the agents removed, you won’t be in danger when you leave.”
Nicole stared at him and asked, “Is a nuclear war coming?”
“It can’t be avoided now. The Eastern Nations will discover their missile satellites have been eliminated and they were planning to use them to take out most of the nuclear weapons aimed at them. Now they’ll plan a surprise attack because they realize that the United States can quickly remove all of their satellites. Oh, it’s coming alright.”
“Charles.” He turned to her. “I want to stay with you until it happens.” Charles’ eyes narrowed and Nicole quickly said, “You don’t need to take me to your ship to avoid the war. The last four weeks have been the most exciting time in my life and if I’m going to die, I want to be with you during the remaining time.” Charles stared at her and she smiled, “Besides, that will insure that I don’t tell anyone about you.”
“Nicole, I’m an alien…”
“Who is more human than anyone I’ve ever met. Your expressions, language, and reactions are human.”
Charles snorted, “How could they not be? I’ve been around your species for hundreds of thousands of years.”
“Charles, I feel at home around you. Please let me stay.” Charles stared at her and Nicole said, “I only have one request of you.”
“What is that?”
“Please stay with me each night until I fall asleep; I won’t feel safe unless you’re close.”
Charles stared at her for a moment, blew out a breath, and then nodded.
• • •
Four months passed and Nicole was sitting in the kitchen waiting for Charles to come home from the grocery store. He arrived and she assisted him in bringing the groceries in. She put the groceries away and said, “Charles.”
“Yes.”
“I need to talk with you.” Charles turned to her and Nicole said, “I’ve noticed some changes.”
“Such as?”
“Well, yesterday, I decided to go for a short run…”
Charles waited for her to continue and he said, “And?”
“Well, I decided to run to the highway outside the campground but wasn’t really tired. So, I started running toward Plymouth.” Charles stared at her and Nicole said, “I ran the ten miles to Plymouth Center and all the way back.”
“Congratulations!”
“Charles, I haven’t exercised in years. My job with the Maxcomputer never allowed me enough time to do it and I certainly haven’t exercised since we’ve been together. There’s no possible way I could have run that far without tiring. Matter of fact, running to the highway should have exhausted me.” Charles stared at her and Nicole continued, “I’ve also suffered with allergies most of my life and the car, camper, pretty much everything is covered in pollen; I’ve not had any sinus issues.”
Charles stared at her and his brow furrowed, “Anything else?”
“I’ve not noticed how quickly the last four months have passed.” Charles was silent and Nicole asked, “Do you think what we’ve been doing over the last three months might have caused this?”
Charles said, “Uhhh…do you mean that we’ve been…uhhh…
“Having sex!” Nicole stated.
“I don’t know.”
“How do we find out?”
Charles stared at her and blew out a breath, “Computer.” Nicole’s expression showed her shock; this was the first time Charles had spoken to the computer since the destruction of the satellites.”
“Yes.”
“Scan Nicole and tell me if you detect any changes in her?”
“She now has a human body like yours.”
“What does that mean?”
“Her DNA is an exact match to yours, except that she is a female.”
Nicole shook her head and Charles said, “My DNA that was…injected into you must have joined with yours and changed your body to be like mine.”
“Am I going to live forever?”
Charles shrugged, “Forever is a rather broad statement.”
“Charles, am I going to live a billion years?!”
Charles sighed, “Probably.”
Nicole stared at Charles and asked, “Can I take Beatrice’s place in your heart?” Charles didn’t answer and Nicole asked harshly, “Can I?!”
Charles looked into her eyes and said, “No.”
Nicole headed toward the bedroom and Charles followed her, “What are you doing?”
“I’m packing! I need to leave!”
Charles grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her around, “Beatrice will always have a place in my heart…but you have your place as well.”
Nicole fell into his arms and he hugged her. The computer said, “I hate to interrupt you but there is another change I’ve not mentioned.” Both of them turned and looked up, “Nicole is three months pregnant.”
Nicole’s eyes flew wide open and Charles collapsed on the bed, “But…but…” Charles stammered.
“Computer, is it normal?!” Nicole quickly asked.
“If you’re asking if it has the same genetics as you have now, yes it is.”
Nicole blew out a breath, “Thank God!” She saw Charles sitting silently and she asked, “What are you thinking?”
Charles was shaking his head and he looked up, “Computer, what is the status of the coming war?”
“The Eastern Countries are launching a sneak attack in two days. It will start when their submarines launch a massive missile attack against Europe, Canada, the United States, Australia…”
“I want a plan on how to stop it!” Charles interrupted.
“Why have you suddenly changed your mind?!”
“Computer, I planned to stay here in the trailer and die with everyone else on the planet.”
“And why haven’t you informed me of that intention?”
“Because you would have stopped me.”
“You’re right; I have been programmed to defend you. Why have you changed your mind?”
“My species has been searching for a way to have offspring for more than a billion years and now I find out that humans are a means for us to have our first children. This species is more important than any we’ve ever encountered; they must be protected!”
“You should come to the ship now.”
“Send one of the small ships, we’ll leave immediately.”
Nicole looked at Charles and said, “I love you Charles.”
Charles pulled her close and said, “I love you.” Charles’
head turned and he said, “The small ship is here. He rushed toward the door and Nicole yelled, “Hey, you’re forgetting something!” Charles turned around and he saw her holding the musket. He shook his head and said, “Getting you to safety is more important than that musket.”
“Don’t we need some clothes?”
“We’ll make them on the ship.”
Nicole ran out of the bedroom carrying the musket and Charles’ head tilted. Nicole pulled it to her chest and smiled, “Without Beatrice in your life, we may have never come together. She taught you how to feel. This musket is very special to me.” Charles smiled and ran with her out of the trailer.
Chapter Eight
Grant saw General Kelly appear on his monitor, “What’s up?”
“Sir, I’ve received some disturbing reports from our satellites. It appears all of the Opposition’s submarines bases are empty. None of them are in port.”
“Is that unusual?”
“Yes Sir, it is. There are always some of them in port for servicing or repairs, but none are present at any of their bases.” Grant stared at Kelly and Kelly continued, “It may be nothing, but…”
“You think they’re up to something?”
“Yes Sir, I do. This is the first time they’ve had all of their nuclear subs out of port.”
“Get the Navy involved and find them.”
“We’ve been searching for them for two weeks and none of them have shown up.”
“How can they avoid our tracking them?”
Kelly’s brow furrowed, “There’s two possibilities. One, they’re all in one area and we’ve not stumbled across that area yet.”
“What’s the other?”
“They’ve stopped moving.”
“Do you have any reports of recent sightings?”
“The latest sighting was a month ago and it was out in the middle of the North Atlantic.”
Grant stood up, “Find them!!”
Kelly saw the monitor go dark and he sat back in his chair. If the subs had moved to a position and settled to the bottom of the ocean, there was no way to detect them. If they were moving, satellites could detect their motion through the water. The Opposition hadn’t responded to the deaths of all their agents and after two months, everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief that they wouldn’t take aggressive action. Wherever they were, they weren’t communicating with anyone, none had been heard. That worried him more than anything else. Surely they weren’t considering launching missiles! If that were the case, he knew where they had to be but proving it was next to impossible. He decided it was time he took some time off and take his family to Argentina. He thought about it and shook his head; there was no safe place on the planet if they launched their missiles.
• • •
Charles and Nicole boarded a small ship and it flew into orbit at high speed. Nicole looked around and asked, “Where’s your ship?”
“Just above us.” Nicole stared out of the transparent ship and didn’t see anything. Suddenly, the small ship passed through some sort of barrier and she saw a giant opening into the side of an enormous ship. They were too close for her to see how long it was, but it was clear it was huge. They stepped out of the small ship and Charles shouted, “Where are you?”
“I’ve found all of their submarines and I’m working on them at the moment.”
“What about the land-based missiles?”
“I took care of that before I revealed the Eastern Nation’s agents.”
Charles paused and then said, “Computer… I know you’re right about my violation of ethics and I apologize for not responding appropriately.”
“Let’s discuss that after we handle what’s taking place.”
Charles ran to what appeared to be an elevator and nodded for Nicole to get in with him. She was stunned by the size of the ship. She entered the elevator and Charles stood doing nothing. “Do you need to press a button or something?”
Charles chuckled, “We’re currently moving to the bridge. With the gravity controls, you can’t feel us moving.” The door opened and Charles led her out on to a large control room. Somehow, she expected the bridge to be larger. Charles saw her expression and waved a hand around him, “There was no reason to make the control center any larger; I’m the only one to use it.”
“How big is this ship?”
Charles ignored the question, went to a large chair, and sat down. Another chair came out of the floor next to it and Nicole stared at it before sitting down. She looked around the bridge and didn’t recognize the metal used in the walls. It seemed to be glowing with a soft gold light. There were no blinking lights or consoles and it appeared the two chairs were the only items in the room. Charles looked at her and shrugged, “The computer runs everything; all I do is tell it what I want done.”
“But…”
“I’m in command but this ship is the computer.”
“Why would you design it that way?”
“Because we learned early on that left alone, my species is capable of making critical errors in dealing with other species. We ceded control of our technology to computers that are programmed with what we believe is the correct ethics in dealing with others. We would once do things to other species simply to satisfy our curiosity. It’s a system that has worked for more than a billion years.”
“But from listening to the computer, you can still make bad decisions about other species.”
“That’s partially true. I discussed what I was going to do to increase human’s intelligence before I did it and both of us concluded it proper to do so. However, our conclusions didn’t bear out; humans remained aggressive toward each other. The computer rightfully decided that we are responsible for what we did.”
“You didn’t appear to agree with its decision.”
“I don’t think there’s anything that will remove this aggressive trait from humans and that represents a huge threat to the billions of civilizations living among the stars,” Charles replied.
“So…if there’s no cure, what do you intend to do?”
“I have to discuss this with the computer, but now humanity has a huge value to my species… and… I think quarantine is the best answer.”
“Quarantine?”
“We don’t allow them to leave Earth until they demonstrate they can live peacefully together, and we don’t allow them to eradicate themselves.”
“That could take a very long time Charles.”
“It could never happen. However, I caused this mess and I’ll see it through until the end.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that,” the computer remarked.
“Do you see another way, Computer?” Charles asked.
“At the moment, no. But you’re right and we need to really think this through.”
“Can you do it?” Nicole asked.
“I’m working on it,” the computer answered.
“When will you know?”
“The attack is scheduled tomorrow.”
She looked at Charles and he said, “We’ll do what we can Nicole. There are hundreds of thousands of nuclear warheads on Earth and we have limited time to stop them.”
“That’s your fault,” the computer remarked.
Charles sighed, “I know, but I believe you can do it.”
Nicole shook her head and Charles stood up, “Let me show you around our ship.”
“Our ship?”
“Did you mean what you said about us?” Nicole nodded. “Then this ship is our home. It belongs to both of us.”
Nicole looked out of the viewport at the beautiful blue and green planet below them and said, “I pray this doesn’t change tomorrow.”
Charles hugged her and nodded, “Let me show you our ship; it will take your mind off your worries.” Nicole blew out a breath and followed Charles to the elevator.
• • •
Captain Nicolin Petrova stared at the listening monitor and heard the operator say, “There are numerous high-speed military
craft moving on the surface.” Nicolin nodded. “They don’t appear to have detected our presence.”
The submarine’s Political Officer smiled, “Just one more day and we’ll carry out our orders.” Nicolin nodded absently and knew that many unexpected things could happen in one day. “Captain, I’m hearing the cavitation of propeller blades off our starboard side.” The operator listened carefully and said, “It’s changing course. It has the sound signature of an American Attack Submarine.”
“Notify me if it returns.”
“Da Capitan.”
Nicolin turned and said, “Quietly load two electric torpedoes in two forward tubes.” His Second-in-Command nodded and left the bridge. He continued to stare at the monitor and wondered if any of the other submarines had been found.
• • •
Charles and Nicole returned to the bridge and Nicole immediately asked, “What’s happening?”
Charles rolled his eyes and the computer replied, “The Eastern Nations sent their submarines out a month ago and they are now lying on the bottom of the ocean along the United States’ east and west coasts. They are also along the coasts of Canada, Europe, Australia, Japan, and the Middle East.”
“Why are they at the Middle East?” Nicole asked.
“Israel has a stockpile of nuclear weapons.”
“When did that happen?!”
Charles snorted, “Nicole, they’ve had them for more than fifty years. Why do you think Iran hasn’t launched a nuclear missile at Israel? They know they will be hit with a nuclear barrage from Israel if they do.”
“I’ve never heard anything about that. If that were true, the Maxcomputer should have known about them.”
“Some are better at keeping secrets than others,” Charles stated.
“What about Japan? They don’t have nuclear weapons.”
“None that anyone knows about,” the computer replied. “It does appear the Eastern Nations knows about them. They also have two submarines off the coast of North Korea.”