Commander Inkeri Jantunen came from the town of Sodankylä in Finnish Lapland, the home town of Captain First Grade Eemeli Hyvönen, Harvesting Fleet 4’s second-in-command. She joined the Finnish conservationist movement when the Finnish government invited dozens of companies to exploit newly discovered deposits of nickel, gold and other minerals in the Finnish Lapland. The scramble for the minerals of the Lapland was so immense that the region became nicknamed the Congo of the Arctic. The Finnish government encouraged this rush for minerals and granted foreign companies cheap mineral rights. The companies started their mining operations with wanton disregard for the ecosystems of the region’s wetlands. Anyone who tried to protest was accused of being against progress. The government and its supporters argued that the mining would create much-needed employment and boost the country’s economy.
Jantunen remembered a time when she and her father went fishing in Finland’s wetland paradise. She and her dad used to catch large pike that was more than two feet in length. Sometimes they just came to marvel at the beauty of the wetland wilderness. Like maggots feasting on flesh, the companies gored into the marshland, spewing phosphates, cyanides, arsenic, uranium and other toxic wastes into rivers and lakes.
The government turned a blind eye when the companies began to encroach on protected areas that were home to close to a hundred endangered species of birds and over a dozen endangered plants. Jantunen and other conservationists told the government that the damage to the environment far outweighed any economic gains that the country hoped to get from the mining. The wetlands, the conservationists argued, were home to several tourist resorts that directly or indirectly employed hundreds of people.
Jantunen met Eemeli Hyvönen in the conservationist movement and together with others, they held demonstrations, spoke to parliamentarians and distributed pamphlets, but the government didn’t listen. The Finnish conservationists were overjoyed when the International Green Movement offered them funding. The IGM funded the conservation movement of the Finnish Lapland for a year before they invited twenty of the Lapland’s leading green activists to the United States to meet the Executive Council.
Jantunen remembered the first speech of the President of the Executive Council as if she heard it yesterday. In the powerful speech, the President told them that what was happening to the Finnish Lapland was happening to the whole world, slowly pushing the natural environment into a dungeon of doom. The majority of the people on Earth supported the reckless industrialization and the greedy extraction of natural resources that was destroying the environment. Because the majority believed that the worldwide unsustainable use of natural resources was economic progress, they would always vote for governments that promised to maintain the status quo, hence it was futile for conservationists to fight for their cause using political means. He told Jantunen and her compatriots that the war to save the world was a full-time job that needed greater commitment. The speech was so powerful that all but four of Jantunen’s compatriots refused to be taken to space for orientation.
Rear Admiral Sopoaga sat at the main bridge of the spaceship OH64 and continued looking at Commander Inkeri Jantunen, wishing she would somehow transform into the sexy Nuate. She stood upright, looking into a computer, doing her best to pretend that she wasn’t feeling his hostile eyes trained on her. Her posterior looked so flat and her chest was so plain that he thought that if he made her lie on her belly on a horizontal surface in a place with gravity, and put a spirit level against her back, the spirit level would give him a perfect reading.
“Commander,” Sopoaga finally decided to break the awkward silence.
“Sir?”
“Your record says you’re a fine linguist.”
“My record says I speak eight languages but strictly speaking, I speak five languages because Portuguese, Spanish and Italian are just dialects of the same language, and Russian and Ukrainian are also dialects of one language.”
“Impressive,” Sopoaga said. “Do you by any chance know some Tuvaluan?”
Jantunen shook her head and smiled. “Maybe I will learn a few Tuvaluan words from you, sir.”
Sopoaga smiled back, wishing her figure was more feminine. “Maybe you will, commander.”
Jantunen walked to the navigation console and stood beside the ship’s astrogator. Since OH64 was the flagship, its course had to be checked more frequently than that of the other ships.
“What is the status of our course, lieutenant?” Commander Jantunen asked.
“We are safely on course, sir,” Lieutenant-Commander Karotu said.
Jantunen stifled a smile. Although she was a tomboy, she still found it amusing to be addressed as sir. She looked at the navigation console for seconds before she returned to her seat.
“Commander,” Sopoaga said.
“Sir?” Jantunen said, springing to her feet. She scampered toward the rear admiral.
“I wonder why the admiralty did not see it fit to give you a more senior post,” Sopoaga said, his eyes still searching her lean body for signs of femininity.
Jantunen looked at him with surprise. “You do, sir?”
“Yes. Do you prefer to work in space or on E Utopia?”
“If I were given a choice, I would choose to work on E Utopia, sir,” Jantunen said.
“I think the admiralty should have promoted you to captain and assigned you to our training camp on E Utopia. Our recruits come from all over Earth and your linguistic skills will be very useful at the camp. Maybe I will put a word for you to be promoted and transferred to E Utopia.”
“Thank you, sir!” Jantunen said with delight. If she was transferred to E Utopia she would enjoy exploring the planet when she was off-duty. She would visit the biomes and aquariums that hosted animals from different parts of the Earth. Working on the ground on E Utopia would be far more enjoyable than working in the cramped ship.
“I’ll recommend you only if you perform your duties to my satisfaction,” Sopoaga said, noting that her hips were not as flat as he initially thought. Maybe one day she would let him touch them as an incentive for him to recommend her for transfer to the ground workforce. A plain woman is better than no woman, he thought, trying to banish thoughts about Nuate.
Chapter Six
Sara and George lay on the bed. George felt as if he was in a mild stupor. He always felt like that after sex. Sara, on the other hand, felt as if she had just finished recharging her batteries. George wondered why he loved to do something that left him so feeble. He knew that when he recovered his strength, he would crave for her body again. He was almost falling asleep when Sara’s phone rang.
“It’s the Secretary-General!” Sara said, sitting bolt upright. “Hello, sir.”
“Doctor Cummings, I have talked to the President and he has tasked the Attorney-General and the Secretary for Homeland Security to set up a team of bodyguards for you. They will contact the Russians when the team is ready to pick you from the Russian ambassador’s residence. I think they will pick you up today. They will act in consultation with the UN Department of Safety and Security.”
“Did you tell them about my wish to have my fiancé in my guard?”
“Yes. They said they need to check his background first before they can include him in your guard.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“It was my pleasure, Doctor Cummings. See you at the summit.”
“The team of bodyguards is being prepared as we speak,” Sara told George.
“Great!” George said groggily. “I can’t wait to get out of this little apartment and have some fresh, oxygen-deficient air.”
The UN Secretary-General was right. The team of bodyguards arrived at the ambassador’s residence two hours later. The Russian ambassador bade her farewell and ordered three Russian Foreign Intelligence Service agents to take her to her new bodyguards.
One of the Russian intelligence agents went outside to talk to the Americans whilst Sara, George and the other two Russian agents waited inside the ambas
sador’s house. The agent scooted to the leader of the group of American law enforcement and security agents.
“From the Russian Bear,” the Russian agent said.
“To George Washington,” a baby-faced red-haired FBI agent completed the password.
“Alright,” the Russian said. “Let me bring the package.”
He scooted to the servants’ quarters at the back of the mansion and returned with Sara’s dog. He led the dog into the mansion and handed Sara the dog’s leash. Normally Snoopy would have pounced on Sara to show her that he had missed her, but today the dog remained aloof. The new environment and the presence of so many strangers made the dog feel nervous.
“All clear,” the Russian agent told his colleagues in Russian. “We can transfer the package.”
Holding her dog’s leash, Sara nervously followed George and the Russian agents to the three black cars waiting outside the mansion. She couldn’t help thinking that the men in the black cars could be impostors who actually wanted to kill her.
“Ma’am, I’m agent Sean Kane from the FBI Counterterrorism Division,” the red-haired baby-faced young man said, extending an arm toward Sara. “I’m the head of your guard.”
Sara shook the FBI agent’s hand. “I’m glad to be acquainted to you, sir.”
Agent Kane took a glance at George and returned his eyes to Sara. “I’ve been informed that your fiancé wants to be part of our team.”
“Yes. I want him to be one of my bodyguards.”
“We will only accept him if he promises not to interfere in our duties.”
“Don’t worry,” George said. “I won’t interfere.”
“Fine,” Agent Kane said before he ushered Sara and George into one of the three cars. He sat on Sara’s right and George sat on Sara’s left on the back seat of the car. Two FBI agents sat in front of the car. The remaining four FBI agents occupied the other two cars.
They drove to the gate and a member of the Uniformed Division of the Secret Service, who was on guard duty at the ambassador’s residence, opened the gate. The three cars moved into the street and stopped two hundred meters away from the gate.
“Let’s go,” Sara said nervously. “What are you waiting for?”
“Go where? You haven’t told us where you want us to take you.”
Sara sighed, realizing that these were her bodyguards, not her captors. “I want to go home.”
“Okay, ma’am.”
“I stay in—”
“We’ve done our homework. We know where you stay.” Agent Kane spoke into his sleeve, “We’re taking her home.”
The lead car moved and the other cars followed. It was beginning to get dark. The sky was cloudy but in these days of El Monstruo it didn’t mean that rain was about to fall.
Sara squeezed George’s hand when she mentally replayed how he risked his life to save hers. The attempt on her life had happened only three days ago but it had had such a profound effect on her life that it seemed as if it took place a long time ago. Only a week ago she was a lonely woman but now she was reunited with the man she loved.
Two police cars were parked in front of Sara’s house. When Sara’s motorcade stopped, both George and Agent Kane jumped out of the car and held a door for her. Sara chose the door that George had opened for her. Two FBI agents led the way through the gate, two flanked Sara and George and two walked behind them. Snoopy ran through the gate, happy to be back on home territory. He even started to bark at the strangers.
The bodyguards in front made way for Sara when they reached the front door. It took the scanners on her door seven seconds to scan her eyes. When the door opened Agent Kane blocked Sara’s way with his hand.
“Wait a sec, ma’am,” the FBI agent ordered. “Let us check the house first.”
Kane and another bodyguard entered the house and checked every room before they allowed Sara to enter.
“How many bedrooms do you have here?” Kane asked
“Three.”
“Good. I’ll need one bedroom. I’ll be on guard inside your house.”
“Is that necessary?” Sara asked.
“You asked for bodyguards and now you have them,” the FBI agent said.
Sara petulantly pouted at the infringement of her privacy.
“So you said you are in our team?” Agent Kane asked George.
“Yes,” George said. “Consider me as one of you.”
The FBI agent took a semiautomatic pistol from his jacket. “If you’re one of us you’ll need one of these.” He handed it to George.
“Thanks man,” George said, holding the gun. “It’s a long time since I held one of these.”
“Be careful with that piece,” Kane said.
George caressed the gun. “Don’t worry. I can handle much bigger hardware.”
The sight of the gun made Sara quail. Although George was one of her bodyguards, she didn’t like seeing him looking so comfortable with a gun.
“I’m going to bath,” she said. “You guys feel at home. I’m sure you’ll find some drinks in the fridge. George is a great cook. If you cajole him, he might make you his great tofu with fried rice.”
* * *
“Attention everyone,” Rear Admiral Sopoaga shouted into the comm when his fleet was a thousand seconds from the jump zone. “Check all the systems of the ship. We are just over sixteen minutes away from the JZ.”
Commander Jantunen began barking orders.
Sopoaga flicked a switch to change the comm from intra-ship mode to inter-ship mode. The faces of all the captains of the fleet’s ships immediately appeared on multi-functional display. “Rear Admiral to all Captains,” Sopoaga shouted. “We are less than one thousand seconds away from the jump zone. Order your crew to get the ships ready for the jump. Acknowledge in order of your ship numbers, milkmaids first and fighters last.”
“Copy that sir,” Captain First Grade Hyvönen responded.
One by one the captains of the rest of the ships responded in order of the names of their ships.
“Status check complete on ship OH64, sir,” Captain First Grade Hyvönen responded after four minutes. “Ship’s ready to make the jump, sir.”
“Copy,” Sopoaga said.
“Status check complete on ship OH13,” Captain Nuate said seconds later. “Ship is healthy and ready for the jump, sir.”
Upon hearing Nuate’s voice, Sopoaga looked at Jantunen, wishing she was as attractive as the Niger Deltan. “Roger that.”
One by one, the captains told the rear admiral that their ships were ready to make the jump into hyperspace.
When the ships were thirty seconds away from the jump, their computers synchronously shouted the jump countdown in a female generic voice. “Thirty, twenty-nine, twenty-eight…”
When the countdown reached zero, the ships’ jump drives were automatically activated, launching the ships into hyperspace. The astronauts felt no acceleration force when they entered hyperspace. Travelling in normal space and travelling in hyperspace felt the same. The only difference was that when one looked out the viewport, he was unable to see stars and celestial bodies that were in normal space.
Thirty-one minutes later, the ships came out of hyperspace and found themselves in the Solar System. Sopoaga immediately sent a message to Eureka Space Station requesting the coordinates of the new milking point.
“Rear Admiral to all captains. Let’s maintain formation and head toward Earth. The coordinates of our new milking location will be arriving any moment from now.”
The coordinates arrived in three minutes. Sopoaga became increasingly worried as the fleet inched toward the Earth. Why did the admiralty order Oxygen Harvesting Fleet 4 to carry weapons this time? Why did they make him change the milking point? Was an Earth space force awaiting his fleet? He and the fleet’s senior captains were under orders to make sure that no ship got captured in the event of confrontation. If need be, they had to blow one of their own ships to prevent it from being captured. The Earth’s powers had not
yet discovered the jump drive and the admiralty didn’t want them to reverse engineer a jump drive from a captured ship. Without jump drives no ship from Earth could reach E Utopia.
If the Executive Council and the admiralty were so worried about having their ships captured why did they order them to continue stealing oxygen from the Earth’s atmosphere? Why didn’t they switch to extracting carbon dioxide from Venus?
“Commander Jantunen,” Sopoaga barked when he was tired of asking himself questions which he couldn’t answer.
“Sir!”
“Con the ship,” he said. “I’m taking a little rest.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
“Hyvönen will command the fleet whilst I rest.”
“Okay, sir.”
Sopoaga switched the comm to inter-ship mode. “Captain First Grade Hyvönen can you hear me?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Take command of the fleet for five minutes. I’m taking a little time out.”
“Yes, sir,” Hyvönen said.
“Raise me if anything unexpected happens.”
“I’ll do exactly that, sir.”
Sopoaga switched off his gravity shoes and weightlessly drifted away from the bridge. Gliding in zero gravity always revivified him and helped him reduce stress. But today it didn’t ease his worries. His fleet was carrying hundreds of missiles, and he wielded the power to launch the missiles. Any misjudgment on his part could provoke a shooting war with the Earth’s powers. If he died in war, would the Executive Council and the admiralty honor their word and evacuate his chosen ones to E Utopia? How would they bring his chosen ones to E Utopia if war broke out? The Earth’s powers would surely blockade the Earth if war broke out between them and E Utopians. If the increasing temperatures on Earth killed his family, he would be guilty of their murder. When he returned back to Base, he was going to ask Vice Admiral Frankson how the admiralty would evacuate the chosen ones from Earth if war broke out.
The E Utopia Project Page 14