Darkness on a Pale Blue Stone

by D. T. Peterson

  "The people from New Salvador. They saved us," Sean answered.

  "How?" Michael asked.

  "Laser rifles, apparently," Jake said, looking over at Gresson for confirmation.

  "We saw the lights. That's why we came," Michael said.

  "You had weapons to kill the Exterminators this whole time?" Adam angrily asked Gresson and Adron.

  "Weapons that normally are useless. We temporarily turned off the signal to use them," Gresson explained.

  "I thought turning it off, even for a short time, was a big risk?" Adam asked, assuming that they had once again been told a lie.

  "It was. Alexander argued however that it was worth it to save you," Adron said, with disdain in his voice from Adam's ungratefulness.

  Michael reached out his hand. "Thank you. We won't forget this," he said. Gresson and Adron excepted the gesture. A series of thanks were given from the others as well, except for Adam.

  "For now, you have my thanks. But don't think you have my trust," Adam said.

  Adron rolled his eyes. "How grateful."

  Adam ignored him and asked, "So what do we do now?"

  "We take care of the bodies," Gresson said.

  "How do we do that?" Michael asked.

  "Pile them on the ground. We use their weapons to burn them," Adron said.

  "They deserve at least a decent burial," Lucas argued.

  "A burial?" Adam asked in disbelief.

  "Yes. Like you told us, and as we can see now, these are people. Not animals. They deserve respect."

  "People are animals," Adron countered.

  "What would you have us do, exactly?" Jake asked. "Create a memorial cemetery for our own enemies right outside our city?"

  "There are going to be many more dead, and not just them," Lucas said. "The way we handle them today sets the example for what we do in the future. How would we want our enemies to handle our own dead?"

  "Why would we care?" Adron asked in bewilderment. He gave Gresson a look. These are the people you care so much about? he thought.

  "We bury them in graves by the north shore, with only a sign warning others of what happened to those that attacked us," Adam said. "They get their burials, and we make an example. Everyone wins."

  "It's a waste," Adron said. "You don't need burials to place a sign, and a sign isn't going to deter their companions."

  "It's not meant for them," Adam replied. "The Exterminators, or whatever they are, aren't the only ones New Jacksonville needs protection from."

  "Let's just get this over with," Lash said. She walked over to a dead Exterminator and began to drag the body.

  "Wait," Adam said. "First, we take anything of value." He reached down and picked up one of the flame-throwers. It was clunky and awkward to hold. Adam was surprised it was their primary weapon.

  "No, we will take the weapons. And the suits," Adron said.

  "Not a chance," Adam said.

  "Enough," Gresson growled. "We set everything of value aside. Tomorrow, we meet and discuss this, along with exactly how we will be working together."

  "Fine. But I don't like this," Adron said.

  "Is this acceptable for New Jacksonville's council?" Gresson asked. The present members looked at each other.

  Kelsey spoke first. "Tomorrow afternoon, once the dead have been dealt with and we can all rest, representatives from New Salvador and our council will meet at the high school to talk."

  Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

  "Very well. Until then, we have work to do," Gresson said, reaching down for one of the bodies.

  Chapter 54

  New Jacksonville - December 19, 2072

  "So, let's begin," Kelsey said, taking her seat. The Council of New Jacksonville and several representatives from New Salvador, including Adron, Gresson, and Jen, sat in the gym of Tomas Cortez Memorial High School, ready to negotiate.

  "First, let's get something straight," Adam said. "If we are going to make some kind of alliance, we are going to be equal partners. Neither will have authority over the other."

  The resulting discussion lasted for several minutes. A few members from both sides offered reasons why they should have a bigger say in the fight against the Exterminators. Brenda Wells even argued that New Salvador should be considered a district under the control of New Jacksonville's council. But eventually Adam's proposition was accepted by a majority vote on both sides. Those representing New Salvador took considerably more time to establish their vote. They insisted that unanimity was important to their decision making process, but eventually a near consensus was accepted as "close enough."

  "In addendum to this, I believe Gresson should no longer be considered President of the United States," Adam said.

  There were a few scoffs and dissenting murmurs. Kelsey disagreed, saying "Gresson was elected and the last thing we need is a violation of the democratic process. His continued presidency is not a violation of our first concession."

  "He is a member of New Salvador. He cannot be allowed to have any authority over this council," Adam said.

  "He is a member of both groups," Kelsey argued. "He is the perfect person to serve as a liaison..."

  "While serving as our president?" Adam countered.

  "My term is almost over and we have already missed the customary time for an election. At the beginning of the new year, we should hold a vote and let the people decide," Gresson suggested.

  "Fine. But New Salvador does not get to vote," Adam said. Many of the New Salvador representatives grumbled. "This is the office for our president," Adam said in response.

  "What does it matter? It's all a sham anyway," Taylor Black said. "How can anyone claim to represent the government of the United States anymore? We need a new government, expanded from the council."

  "One that includes our people," Jen said.

  "No," Adam and Brenda Wells said in unison.

  "An entirely new government is a discussion for another time," Kelsey said. "This meeting concerns an alliance, nothing more." Everyone reluctantly agreed to move ahead. "On to the issue of protection, then. An Exterminator attack on either group is an attack on all of us. We defend both New Jacksonville and New Salvador in any event."

  While no one objected, Adron mumbled "We both know who's going to be doing the defending."

  "Next, resources. For now, let's agree to provide each other basic necessities."

  "For who?" one of the New Salvadorians asked. "There are hundreds of thousands of people near Jacksonville. How can we be expected to provide food for all of those that walk into your border?"

  "We won't expect anything impossible," Kelsey said. "But as long as there are those starving in New Jacksonville, you will send us whatever food you can spare."

  "That's outrageous," another New Salvadorian said.

  "How can we expect to protect these people if they are dying of hunger in their own homes?" Gresson asked. "We will provide whatever we can." While unhappy, the other New Salvadorians did not protest and the vote passed.

  The meeting continued for another two hours. Issues to consider were brought up, debated, and ultimately accepted or rejected by vote. Some of the topics included free access to both New Salvador and New Jacksonville, which passed by a slim margin though the New Salvadorians vehemently denied access to their bunker; trade policies; military procedure, though any final decision was rescheduled until after a new government had been formed; and access to Exterminator weapons and equipment, which would be split with New Salvador keeping a larger portion. Throughout the meeting, Valdez's only statement was on behalf of New Jacksonville keeping more of the weapons. His mind was preoccupied with thoughts of Rebeca.

  "We have one final issue to discuss," Kelsey said. "Information." The New Salvadorians began to squirm in their seats. "As we are in an alliance, all knowledge about the Exterminators, New Salvador, and the interference signal should be made available to all."

  "This is not up for debate," Adron said. Jordan and Gres
son were the only New Salvador representatives who did not concur. After a few minutes of arguing and New Salvadorian stonewalling, the proposition was considered a failure.

  "Well then. I think this marks the end of this meeting," Kelsey diplomatically concluded. "All in all, I think this was very productive. I look forward to our continued relationship." Everyone stood and shared a few handshakes, grumbles, curt remarks, and thanks.

  Gresson walked over to Adam. "I know the rest of our traveling companions are outside waiting. If you could gather them over at your house, there is something I need to say."

  "Fine. I can't wait for the grand apology," Adam scoffed.

  Twenty minutes later, the Cases, Sean, Jake, Lash, and Lucas were sitting in the Cases' living room. Gresson had not yet arrived.

  "So, what is this about?" Sean asked.

  "He didn't say," Adam replied. His tone gave away his disinterest.

  After a few minutes, Gresson stepped in the front door. Before he closed it, he checked outside and scanned Holiday Street. Once satisfied, he closed the door.

  "What's going on?" Alice asked.

  "I think it's time you heard the truth," he said.

  "But Adam said the meeting..." Lucas said.

  "The meeting established that no one had to share anything. Anyone still can. And as far as Adron and the others are concerned, they will have to understand."

  "Understand what? What do you want to tell us?" Adam asked.

  "Everything."

  Chapter 55

  New Jacksonville - December 19, 2072

  "My real name is Alexander Almier. I took on the name 'Gresson' only sixteen years ago. Before then, I was a high-ranking officer of the World Authority Military Force and direct advisor to the President of the World Authority Council. I was born February 3rd, 2862."

  "By the time of my birth, the Earth had become a wasteland. Twelve years before, 2850, it was discovered that our primary energy technology produced waste that had begun a chain reaction in the planet's atmosphere, rendering the air toxic to humans. Within eight years, several cities had been entirely depopulated. It was only then that the responsible technology was banned from use by the World Authority Council, an entity at the time similar to your United Nations. Scientists, however, found that the process the technology's waste had started in the atmosphere was irreversible. It progressed slowly, but it was predicted that near the end of the century, all of Earth would be uninhabitable."

  "The ban on this technology, which was based on hydrogen manipulation, was even more catastrophic than the toxic waste itself. Food production fell to critical levels, leaving a massive amount of the world's population starving. In order to feed their people, one nation, the Arab League, began producing food using the banned technology in 2860. Fearing more toxic spread, the Republic of Asia launched a nuclear assault on the Arab League's industrial centers without warning or international consent. This resulted in a domino effect. Within five days, nearly every nation on Earth had fired a nuclear weapon or been fired upon. By 2861, the World Authority Council remained as the sole government on Earth with any international reach or resemblance of structure, primarily due to their presence on space stations. That same year, the World Authority restructured and took control of all remaining forces and resources. By the end of the year they had formulated a plan to expand present bases on the moon and Mars to serve as refuge camps. Around the day of my birth, in 2862, the first camp on the moon was completed and a lottery was held to select those that would join. Within the next four years, a second moon camp and the first camp on Mars were beginning to be filled. At this point, a majority of the Earth's surface was toxic. With global production crippled, more and more people were moving into the few remaining safe cities, resulting in extreme overpopulation."

  "In 2867, in order to better meet food demands, the World Authority was forced to temporarily lift the technology ban, sending protected teams into toxic cities to produce and transport food to the safe areas. This further increased the degradation of the atmosphere, but was enough to temporarily prevent global starvation. At this point, humanity was simply trying to survive for as long as possible. There was no longer enough resources to both produce food and establish refuge camps at an efficient rate. I was five years old, and humanity had given up."

  "Six years later, in 2873, one event allowed us to hope once more. A group of scientists, claiming to be from the year 3102, appeared in orbit around Earth. According to them, they had managed to create something similar to time travel. That itself is a very long story. The President of the World Authority developed a plan to use the technology these scientists had created, a plan that could save us. In honor of their work and the hope they restored, he named the scientists the 'Guardians of Earth.'"

  "The plan was referred to as the 'Last Resort.' The technology would carry the world's population, crowded into the entire fleet of the World Authority, back to the past. The maximum time the Guardians believe the technology will accurately work is one thousand years. The date August 3, 2072 is chosen as the arrival date. The jump itself, however, was not the entire plan. The president wanted to ensure that the future they had experienced would never happen again, so when the fleet would arrive in the past, every human being on Earth would be... well... exterminated."

  "There was opposition to this plan, of course, but its supporters excused the action, claiming the lives of those killed had already ended centuries ago. They argued that it was not truly killing. The plan would only clean the planet for us to move in peacefully. The president determined that the plan had to include removing all 'contaminants.' They... I mean... you were considered too big a risk. Propaganda began to spread, praising the Last Resort and criticizing objections to the 'necessary' deaths of 'lesser' beings. Any opposition among the World Authority Council was kept from public knowledge."

  "Among that opposition were myself, Adron, and the rest of the people now living in New Salvador. We formulated a plan, in hopes of preventing the planned genocide of our ancestors, you. With help from some of the Guardians, we arranged to all be on one ship and secretly jump farther back into the past than the rest of the fleet. According to the Guardians' understanding of the technology and the nature of the universe itself, there is only ever one timeline; the technology they created merely allowed us to modify it. While we would appear on April 15, 2056, the rest of our people, the so-called 'Exterminators,' would still arrive at their scheduled date. The nature of this was beyond our comprehension, so I don't expect you to understand. The point is, once the Last Resort Jump occurred on October 22, 2894 and we suddenly found ourselves above the surface of Earth nearly a millennia in the past, we had sixteen years to find a way to stop the murder of everyone on the surface of the planet."

  "To do this we chose assimilation. Our hope was that we could stop the fleet bombardment and make subtle changes to prevent a similar future as ours, all while leaving the world unaware of our role. A few others and I thought the secrecy was unnecessary, but we were the minority and chose to respect that. Adron and others feared that knowledge of ourselves and our technology would inevitably lead to a similar human fate. We created New Salvador, created new identities, established ourselves in strategic positions such as my presidency, and began to research ways to stop the fleet, specifically the interference signal. The signal was the only way to fully stop the entire fleet, or so we thought. Obviously, the plan failed. We still have no idea how any ships survived."

  "The rest I believe you can piece together yourselves. Project Blackout was simply an afterthought, insurance for the signal to last long enough in case any ships did survive, a possibility Marcus had previously suggested, though none of us took it very seriously at the time. It was only on our journey that I realized that some of the Exterminators had survived their ship's collapse to Earth."

  "I know this all is difficult to believe, but please trust me when I say that the others, the 'Exterminators' as you call them, will do whatever it ta
kes to see you dead. They believe this is their world. They consider your lives forfeit, as all of you have already lived and died according to our future perspective. The people of New Salvador and I see it differently. We believe the moment any of us came into the past, we changed the universe and in many ways, your lives. The people you are now are not who you were at the same time in our past, your no longer existent future. You are no longer our ancestors. You all have different lives, lives that are not forfeit, lives we hope to save. To do this, however, I am convinced we will need your help."

  "I assume you have questions."

  Chapter 56

  New Jacksonville - December 19, 2072

  The group was unsurprisingly speechless. Their world views had been shattered in the course of several minutes. After staring at Gresson for a long time, they began to speak.

  "You're really... from the future?" Jake asked first.

  "Yes," Gresson replied.

  "What... what's it like?"

  "When I was young, the Earth consisted of only devastation and starvation, though, as I was a part of the government and lived most of the time on space stations, I was surrounded by luxury. Even in the worst of times, it seems the rich keep their power and the powerful keep their wealth. I detested everything humanity had become and I do not know what it was like before our air become toxic. But I have hope it can be different now, if we strive for it."

  "So the goal truly is to stop the Exterminators?" Adam asked.

  "Yes."

  "And the lies and half-truths..." Adam said. "All of them were because your people were afraid about what we'd become?" Adam, while still clinging to his anger, was attempting to understand.

  "Yes. But I am no longer. The best way to avoid the path that led to our time, I believe, is for you all to learn from us. To learn from our mistakes. Not to hide it from you."