The Arwen Book two: Manifest Destiny

by Timothy P. Callahan

  “And not fighting won’t be?”

  “We should concentrate on evacuating Earth,” said yet another voice, this time he saw a hand go up.

  “That won’t do anything. They’ll find any place we settle and besides, I know Earth and its people. They will not leave. They will stay and fight.” Professor Ricter pounded his hand against the table again. “If you won’t fight with me then drop me off on Earth and I’ll fight with them.”

  “Professor Ricter, that will present us with a problem. We don’t know where Earth is.”

  “With my help I’m sure we can find it. You all have different views, different technologies that we can bring together to build a fighting force. We can take this fight to the Handlers. We can fight and beat them.”

  “We still don’t see the point,” another alien replied and the Professor gave up trying to figure out who was talking. “They have the power to destroy planets, to rip them apart.”

  “We can come up with a defense against that. You don’t know how we are. When we put our minds together we can build anything. The Gyssyc, the Ulliam, Earth, Regal, we’re all filled with intelligence beyond what you can imagine. We have the resources of a hundred explored solar systems. We can build a fleet, a massive fleet, larger than anything built before, and we can attack the Dyson Sphere.”

  “What you say is impressive, can you promise us this will happen?”

  “Yes, you have my word.” He sat down knowing he was finally getting through to them. “I have another plan in mind as well.”

  “What is your other plan?”

  “I would rather not say, I need more information. It will need more study, and I’ll need to talk to my Gyssyc friends.”

  “Give us a time to discuss,” one of the other aliens said. Again, he wasn’t sure who. “We will have an answer for you shortly.”

  That confirmed what the Professor thought. They could talk to one another on different wavelengths. It was a trick he was going to have to figure out how to do himself one day.

  ******

  Captain Cook sat in her office waiting. She made some busy time reading reports Commander Pippleton had left her, but in reality, she was simply waiting for the twenty-four hours to pass. If they voted to return to Earth she would go. She would do what the crew wanted even though she thought it was wrong. They were smart, some of the smartest men and woman in the fleet, so they would make the right choice.

  “Captain,” Commander Pippleton said seconds before knocking. “I have the results with me, may I come in?”

  “They still have twelve hours left,” Captain Cook replied.

  “I know, but the entire crew has voted so I figured I should show you instead of waiting.”

  “Come in,” she said. Her hands started to shake, and she knew it wasn’t from the Fullerton; it was from nerves. She was either going to head to Earth to get ready for the fight of her life or she was going to run away, to disappear without a trace and become just another ship lost in the void. Neither option was one she liked.

  The Commander handed her his data pad. She looked at the result carefully and let out the breath she was holding. “51 to 49 in favor of not returning to Earth.”

  “It was a lot closer than we thought it would be,” The Commander said. “I’m afraid this will result in a lot of unhappy people not returning to their families.”

  “I don’t think there’s anything we can do for them.” She replied. A metaphorical weight lifted off her shoulders. They weren’t going home. It wasn’t something she wanted but something she knew needed to be done. It felt empty. She had once again managed to save the planet but in doing so she had to make a great sacrifice. She would never see Earth again. “I’m heading to the bridge in a few minutes. Get the particle accelerator ready, we’re going to leave Wormhole space and we’re going to start looking for our new home.”

  ******

  Professor Ricter stood next to Juliet as she peered out one of the windows. They were hovering near what looked like a planetary nebula. The central star nearly invisible as its light attempted to escape the thick cloud of gas of dust it created when it exploded many years before mankind was born. He placed his arms around her and pulled her closely too him. "You know, when I first saw you I was rather taken back.”

  “I know,” she replied. “I can sense it.”

  “I never thought I would be attracted to a woman the way I am to you. Don’t get me wrong, I find woman very appealing. Fran is very attractive. Marjorie is another but I never actually had any feelings for them like I’m experiencing right now.”

  “Maybe it’s because I’m so young,” Juliet said with a chuckle. “Older men tend to like younger woman.”

  “You can’t be much younger than Fran,” He replied. “No, it’s not like that. I think it’s because you took control of your destiny and I liked that.”

  “Is there a point to this?” She asked, her voice laced with irritation.

  “Yes, I’m afraid neither one of us will be responsible of our own destiny much longer. They have decided to return us to Earth.”

  “They’re not going to help?” She asked.

  “No, not yet anyway. It’ll take us a few months to reach Earth. I'm sure I can convince them otherwise.”

  “I’m sure you can.” She replied as she continued to stare out into space. “Do you really think we can win in a war with them?”

  “Given enough time to prepare, yes. I think we can win.”

  “How much time do you really think we have?”

  “Depends. I’m sure they’ve got probes out looking for Earth. I’m sure they’ll eventually find us, in fact I’m pretty certain they will. Nevertheless, it’s a huge universe, and they have just a vague idea of where we are, so we might have a few hundred years to get ready.”

  Juliet didn’t reply, instead she simply leaned in closer to the Professor and wrapped her arms around his waist.

  C hapter twenty-six

  The Handler stood on its four main legs to look around. His body plates stiffened when the computer chirped the information. He blew out a puff of scent: Annoyance. He hoped the others around him didn’t detect this, the last thing the Handler needed was another asking him why his mission wasn’t going anyway.

  The Earth ship exited wormhole space. It had traveled in and out of wormhole space for a quarter spin before it established an orbit around a planet. His invisible probes, the ones he programmed to the follow the Earth ship, sent back the scans of the planet. This was not Earth. This was just some other planet.

  He had to give the Captain credit. He did not think she would suspect they were being followed. That was not the case and he was going to have to find Earth through some other means. He still hoped the Earth ship would eventually leave and return home. All sentient beings longed to return home. Earth life should be no different. The Handlers were patient; they could wait thousands of years if necessary.

  He relaxed his armor plating and allowed himself to fall to the ground. Now that all eight of his feet were on the floor he could feel the others talking. Tiny vibrations hit his foot sensors as he skittered toward the door. A diaphragm in his lower gut sucked in the hanging mist from left over emotional odors and stored them into bladders. His body would absorb as many nutrients as possible from the mist, it would help sustain him until the next feeding.

  He continued down the hallway meeting up with hundreds of other Handlers as he went. It was getting too crowded. They would need a new home soon. The arrival of the Earth ship and the news it was part of a small chain of other life baring systems was good news and once he found those planets his race would be able to spread outward. It was his job to find those systems.

  The problem was the size of the universe. He knew Earth and the other planets were in the same galaxy as they were. A galaxy that spanned over 100,000 light years and held billions of stars. They knew which arm of the planet was located in and about how from away from the galactic center it was. They knew they we
re looking for a small sun with only 8 planets around it and Earth was one of the smaller of those planets. They knew all those things and they still have billions of stars to check. No matter how he looked at it, unless he got some help from the clones it was going to take some time.

  The small panel slid open and he walked into the clone room. Several clones, build from the DNA of the one known as Marjorie Cook, floated in a clear nutrient bath. There were several in various stages of development. He walked over to first tank which contained the youngest sample and placed his antenna inside one of the information ports. The clone was healthy and growing quickly. They were always healthy the first few simulated years. As he continued down to the next set of tanks he noticed the changes. The older they got the less their nervous system, one of the hardest parts of a human body to duplicate, eroded. By the time he got to a clone which was the simulated age of 30 the body was withered and dead.

  It was something he couldn’t understand. They had managed to perfect the human cloning process on the first human they found. It took some trial and error but it was nowhere near as difficult as it was now with the other human. They were different sexes but they had experimented enough that they were able to make male or female clones from the same sample. This was something different. This was a genetic defect in Marjorie Cook’s DNA. He would have to find a way to fix that defect. This was another mission that would take some time to resolve.

  The door slid open and his female partner came in. She saw him and lifted. He came over to her and lifted as well. Each shot out the scent of greeting quickly followed by happiness. His antenna twitched as the pleasure of her emotion washed over him. They coiled around each other and held the pose for a full three seconds. His intake tubes lined up perfectly with her emotional expressers just as hers lined up with his. They each let out a puff of arousal before uncoiling.

  He tapped his feet happily on the ground, “it is good to see you.”

  She replied with another puff of happy, then tapped back, “it is always good to see you as well.”

  Neutral puff: “have you come to see the clones again?”

  Neutral puff: “Yes, I have.” A puff of curious. “They have always fascinated me.”

  Excited: “They have not changed much since the last time. The still die when they are simulated 30.”

  Curious: “Can you not add the memories before they die?”

  Frustrated: “No, we tried and they would not stick. Her memories were mature and they must be put into a mature body. We need to simulate age her to fifty.”

  Neutral: “Interesting. You will figure it out. There is a feeding soon. I plan on going. Would you go as well?”

  Sad: “No. I need to stay here.”

  Sad: “This will be the second feeding you have missed. You need the nutrients or else you will die.”

  Angry puff: “You do not need to tell me.”

  Annoyance: “Do not get angry with me.”

  Sad: “Forgive me. I am under stress.”

  Neutral: “It is okay.”

  Curious: “After the feeding I will be ready. I fear if you don’t feed, you will not be ready.”

  Neutral: “I will be ready. It will be my duty to be ready and I will be.”

  Happy: “Good. It will be nice to have offspring. I missed having them the last time.”

  Sad: “Is that all you have come for? To ask me about the feeding and to ask me about our offspring?”

  Happy: “And to see you work.”

  Happy: “And it makes me happy to know you are here with me.”

  The two coiled together again, soaking in each other’s emotional output directly from the source. They both fell to the ground and soaked up the left over emotions that had drifted to the floor.

  When they had completed the bonding process the male lowered himself to the ground. Their antenna's brush against each other and he let out another stream of happy scent, he then sent her on her way and the male was once again alone with the clones.

  Before the oldest clone died he needed to be sure it didn't have the information he needed. He walked up to the tank and felt along its base until he found the receptors. He hated entering the mind of a human. Others had no problems with it. In fact, some even enjoyed the new sensory perception of sight. He found the new sense too disorienting.

  A puff of dread misted and fell to the floor as he places his antenna into the receptors. He felt his mind drift away and break apart. It reformed inside the memory of the woman. The sense of site nearly overwhelmed him and he had to adjust the input so he wouldn’t receive more information than he could handle. Things came into focus now and he saw her sitting behind a table. She looked at him and blinked. His mind felt a complete disconnect from the body he now controlled.

  The Marjorie stood and walked over to him. “I-I can’t see you. I-I can feel you but I can’t see you.”

  “It’s okay,” he said. Vocal cords, they were hard to emulate and he hoped the words made sense to her. “You won’t be here long, you just need to answer me a few questions.”

  She snapped to attention and looked at him. Her eyes narrowed, it was a reaction he had gotten used to and he knew what was going to happen next. “I will never tell you where Earth is.”

  The Handler suspected that part of her memory was stronger because it was the newest. All the clones had said this and none of them had given him any information he found useful. “I don’t need your permission-“

  The connection ended abruptly. He disconnected from the receptor just in time to hear the computer tap out the information. The clone had died. They were dying faster now and the memories were not staying. They were a dead end, he was going to get no more information from them and he ordered all the remaining clones destroyed.

  A cloud of disappointment floated in front of him. He fell to all eight of his legs and paced around the room in ever quickening circles. He had two more options, the computer would figure out where the Earth was based on the limited memory fragments they were able to reconstruct or the Arwen crew will leave the planet they've settled and he would be able to track them back to Earth. Of the two prospects the second one seemed most likely. Could there be a way to expedite that processes?

  He thought about it. Humans dream, no other race have these strange things called dreams. He knew from the first human, Ruzoto, that they place a lot of emphases on dreams, especially if they were reoccurring. They had the means to manipulate the dreams of humans from a short distance. With some work he could possibly find a way to increase that range. He stopped pacing and let out a puff of satisfaction as the plan formulating in his mind became clear.

  *****

  This is a good planet. Marjorie thought while standing on top of a large hill which overlooked a valley covered in a white mist that rolled over brown hills and covered a lush green valley. It was a young planet, a planet covered in vegetation and no large animals. It was the perfect place to settle.

  Marjorie took off her back pack, rubbed her shoulders and placed the pack down. She unzipped a pocket and pulled out a small energy bar which she ate quickly. The hike was long, it took her nearly seven hours to reach the top of the hill. She felt tired, her muscles were warm and ached a little bit yet she felt she could do it again. The nanobots inside her gave her all the stamina and strength she could ever need with plenty to spare. She was young again, the wrinkles in her face were gone, the aches she felt were gone, everything that made her feel old were gone. It was lucky they found such a nice planet because she was going to live a long time.

  Her communicator beeped. She looked at it clipped to her belt. Did she want to answer it? Did she want to know what was going on in the village? It was never good news. With a hefty sigh she picked the communicator from her belt and said, “Go ahead Pippleton.”

  “Captain,” he started. She hated the fact he still called her by her rank. Ranks were no longer needed but he insisted on keeping them. “When will you return?”

  “You don
’t need me there today,” she replied. “I’m going to spend the night on the mountain.” She looked out over the hills and saw a small dark cloud on the horizon. “It looks like a storm is coming in and I don’t want to be caught hiking in the storm.” It was a lie, she had walked through storms before.

  “There is, the Arwen computers have been tracking it all day. It looks like one of the bad ones. I can send a shuttle to pick you up.”

  “No, waste of resources. I’ll be fine.”

  “Captain, we are voting on-“

  “You don’t need me to vote, we both know what my vote is going to be. I’ll deal with the aftermath when I return.” She turned the communicator off and placed it into her bag.

  Now it was quiet. The kind of quiet Marjorie enjoyed. She closed her eyes and let the wind blow across her face and through her hair. She lifted her arms as if she wanted to dance with the breeze. After seven months of searching, seven months of not knowing what was going to happen, seven months of trying to keep her crew from staging a mutiny they found the perfect planet. One with an atmosphere and gravity close enough to Earth it could be its twin. A planet with one big, bright moon that, when full, shinned nearly as bright as the sun. Fran told her it must have some dirt that reflected most of the light back. Marjorie didn’t care, all she cared about was setting up a colony then putting someone else in charge while she did what she should have done when she was younger, explore.

  She saw the dark clouds release a powerful lightning bolt into the forest. She worried about a fire but realized it was not a problem, the sheets of rain she saw pouring out would put out any fires. The trees, they looked a lot like pine trees only browner, swayed back and forth under that cloud. They were dancing with the wind and Marjorie felt jealous. She laughed at herself and sat on the ground watching the show nature was giving her.

  There was a cave behind her and she planned on staying the night there. On many of the planets she visited she would have to sweep the caves to be sure some other life form, a life form that would commonly eat any intruder, wasn’t in there. Not here. Here she could roam around without a care and she planned on doing just that. A cool breeze, probably produced from the front edge of the storm, blew across her face. She grabbed her pack, stood and walked toward the cave. Looking back she saw another lightning bolt hit the ground followed by a thunderclap.