Variations on Humanity (WorldWalker Trilogy Book 3)
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Variations on Humanity
by
Paul W. Eslinger
Copyright © 2018 by Paul W. Eslinger
All rights reserved.
1st Edition. Published March, 2018
WorldWalker Trilogy
Prequel: Indelible Differences
Book One: A Few Extra Chromosomes
Book Two: Interstellar Contract: Non-Negotiable
Book Three: Variations on Humanity
Credits
Cover Photo: Used by license from www.bigstock.com
Acknowledgments
I extend heartfelt thanks to my writing critique group—Donelle Knudsen, Diana Langner, LeRoy Clary, and Michael Castillo—for their many helpful suggestions on this book. I also appreciate that my wife Sharon cheerfully puts up with the hours I spend writing. Beta readers Lucy Jones and Dave Nelson provided valuable advice on grammar issues and they made numerous suggestions that improved the story.
All rights reserved. This e-book doesn’t have Digital Rights Management software enabled but it is for your personal use only. You may not post, print, copy, reproduce or upload this e-book, other than to read it on one of your devices, without written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Places, events, names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination or they are used in a fictional manner.
Chapter 1 – Close Approach
Rhona Lantier ignored the other eight individuals seated at the table when President Arthur Leek entered the Cabinet Room in the White House and sat in the only empty chair. His intelligent eyes contrasted with the fatigue in his lined face as he glanced around the table and then looked directly at her. “I’ve asked all of you here to advise me on the actions of the Abantu. Miss Lantier, the astronomers at NASA tell me Ceres is still moving towards Earth, but it is slowing. What do I tell the people of this country and the world?”
Although she wasn’t used to interacting with political and military leaders, Rhona’s personality had a backbone of high-grade steel. She didn’t flinch or stammer and she didn’t need to consult any notes. “Ceres will pass close enough to Earth that anyone can go outside and see it with their naked eyes. Everyone will see it.”
“How close?” Mikhail Tavan blurted. He was head of the division of NASA that had tracked Ceres since it broke orbit in the asteroid belt four days previously. It had been accelerating towards Earth at half of a standard gravity since then. “Our estimates are…”
“I’ll get back to you in a moment,” Rhona interrupted as she held up one hand to silence Tavan while she gestured at David Beganovic with the other hand. As the ambassador for the Abantu, she wanted his input. “Did you have a question?”
“Yes,” he replied. He was the president’s leading consultant on the alien Abantu. “When we visited Ceres four days ago, their commander said they were heading for 59 Eridani. That star is 135 light years from here, but the current course Ceres is taking is not in that direction.”
Rhona’s long curly auburn hair swirled around her shoulders as she shook her head. “Check your meeting transcript. Dana specifically said they were eventually heading to their second choice of settlement planets, namely 59 Eridani.”
“What does that mean?” the president asked.
“They currently intend to settle on the third planet in the 59 Eridani system, but they may make other stops on the way.”
“Where are they stopping?” David asked.
Rhona spread out her hands. “They didn’t tell me very much about their long-term plans. Dr. Tavan, to answer your question, they’ll come closer than the average lunar orbit. Their transit time across the lunar orbital diameter will be about eight hours.”
General Jack Breneman represented the Air Force in the meeting. His face and neck turned red and he hammered his fist on the table. “That’s crazy! We won’t allow it!”
“That’s reality,” Rhona countered without any heat. Her fiancé Keene Finch, a former Air Force pilot, had warned Rhona about Breneman’s temper. She continued, “They have studied human society far longer than any of us have been alive. They understand the old adage ‘out of sight, out of mind.’ They intend to leave a visual reminder of their ability to project force. Every man on the street will know that.”
“But, but…” Tavan sputtered for a moment and then found his voice. “They will affect Earth’s orbit if they come that close.”
Rhona’s green eyes looked around the room, not lingering on the president any longer than on the Secretary of State, the other three military men or the president’s chief scientific advisor. “The changes will be minor, probably not even measurable. After all, Earth masses about 7,000 times as much as Ceres. There won’t even be a high tide.”
General Breneman leaned forward, looked along the table, and interrupted loudly, “Mr. President. They are threatening us. We should respond.”
“No.” David slapped his palm on the table and glared at the general. “This is a warning rather than a threat–a lasting warning for everyone to see–not just politicians. Did you read the transcript of my visit?”
“Uh… not all of it.”
“You need to go back and read the section where Dana mentioned self-righteous human idiots pissing off someone who has the power to fly a planet between star systems.” David’s jaw muscles twitched and his eyebrows bunched together while he continued. “General, consider your response if a nation with a population of 10,000 people sent an army of fifty men carrying machetes to attack America. How worried would you be?”
The general’s face and neck turned purple with rage. He shoved his chair back and rose to his feet. The president interrupted before the meeting collapsed into chaos and there was a bite in his voice. “General, sit down. Gentlemen, enough. We’re here to develop a statement to give to the public, not plan how to start a war.”
General Breneman muttered another comment through clenched teeth as he slowly sank back into his chair. “They’re thumbing their nose at us while they run away.”
Rhona glanced at the general one more time before turning away and directing her attention to the president. Keene had said Breneman had a violent temper, but his response today seemed driven more by racial fears than anger.
After attending the press conference where the president addressed the nation, Rhona headed back to Jetmore. Kansas, in one of the Abantu-manufactured supersonic chariots. Once airborne, she called Keene using the vision circuit on her phone. “That went better than I expected. What’s happening across the world?”
“Ninety percent of the population stifled a yawn and went about their business. Most of the rest panicked and started moving their investments around. People on the fringe used it as an excuse to go berserk.”
“Oh. That bad?”
Keene nodded. “There are riots in progress in many big cities, the stock markets that are still open have tanked by nearly fifty percent, and a few places have declared martial law.”
Rhona frowned and shook her head. “People are stupid. That’s worse than I expected. Is anyone trying to overrun Jetmore?”
“No.”
“Why not?” Rhona asked in bewilderment. “I’d expect that.”
“Sam’s been working with Trixie and Nanda. The Abantu planned for this announcement.” Sam Mahoney worked for the Abantu along with Rhona and Keene. Most of the Abantu lived in an underground facility just outside Jetmore.
“Their computer models predict the stock markets will start to rebound tomorrow if there is a big enough cash influx.”
Rhona gave a dry laugh. “I suppose they have enough cash.”
“Yep. They’ve spent the last five years setting up cash reserves. They expect to double their money by the end of the week.”
“The ultimate insider traders,” Rhona said with a wry grin.
“Not quite. Insider trading is based on advance information on what a company plans to do. This is advance information on what someone outside the companies will do, coupled with excellent predictive models of the responses.”
“That still doesn’t explain why people aren’t mobbing Jetmore.”
“Trixie has been developing the art of spreading misinformation since she arrived in 1801. She’s the all-time grandmaster and she’s dancing doubles with Dulcis, their advanced Artificial Intelligence. People making plans to come here are getting conflicting messages from each other. The president authorized military support for peace-keeping and they are already in place in the adjacent counties. Nothing out of the ordinary is happening in Jetmore.”
Four days after the president’s address, the financial markets had rebounded and the world had largely returned to normal. A storm was brewing over the Gulf of Mexico, but the evening skies were clear over most of the continental United States. The temperature was 52 °F in Jetmore and most of the snow from the blizzard the previous week had melted.
Rhona paused at the front door of Laura Kesterson’s house, pulled on her heavy coat, and shoved her gloves into a big pocket. She smiled at Keene while tucking her long hair under a scarf. “Let’s go join the party.”
“Sure.” He opened the door for her and stepped aside.
Five minutes later, they pulled into the school parking lot in Keene’s car. Rhona’s mother and father, Judith and Charles Lantier, rode with them. Nearly a third of the residents of the small town were already milling about on the football field or sitting on the bleachers. The sun had just set and almost everyone was staring up at the sky.
Rhona joined the others gawking with wide eyes. The moon wasn’t visible from their position, but Ceres was. The miniature planet was close enough it appeared half as wide as the moon.
Judith moved close to Rhona and gestured at the sky when they headed out onto the football field. “It’s beautiful.”
Charles kept his gaze elevated while he walked beside Judith. He finally stopped and took a sip from a covered coffee cup he had brought from the house. “I never imagined I would see something like this.”
Andrea Johanson, the general manager of the small Pawnee Valley Lodge and leader of the local gossip circuit, pushed in close when Rhona and the others arrived and gestured at the sky. “Have you really been up there?”
“Yes,” Rhona replied. “From here it looks like the moon. However, about twenty-five million Abantu live there. They built everything underground to protect against the hazards in space.”
“I’m confused,” Andrea said.
“About what?”
“Lots of things, but I’ll start with Trixie and Laura. I’ve known them since I was a little girl and I never imagined they weren’t human. Although … although they didn’t seem to age like we do.”
Rhona smiled and steered the conversation to a slightly different path. “Physically, they aren’t really much different from us, although they have fifty-two chromosomes to our forty-six. However, over half of their chromosomes are indistinguishable from human ones.”
Andrea blinked twice in astonishment. “What does that mean?”
“It could mean a lot of things, but I think, as does Nanda, that humans and Abantu share a common ancestor.”
“What would she know?”
“She designed the DNA modifications so an Abantu can live comfortably on Earth and look like us. She was the first person to make the change.”
“Not like human doctors,” Andrea replied with a burr in her voice. “They never test new techniques on themselves. My mother died when I was a little girl because the doctor hadn’t practiced his techniques.”
“I’m sorry,” Rhona said with a rush of empathy.
“It’s in the past.” Andrea waved one hand. “I suppose you met a lot of … unmodified Abantu on Ceres.”
“We did. But back to your first comment. You can read about the physical similarities and differences between Abantu and humans in Science magazine in a couple of days. Keene, Nanda, Laura and I wrote the article together.”
Andrea nodded, “Thanks. But, I have a different kind of question. How can a planet travel across space at over 90% of the speed of light and not have space dust and debris wear away the front of the planet?”
“I don’t know.” Rhona turned and looked at Keene. “Can you answer Andrea’s question?”
Keene shook his head. “Nope. We’ve been so busy with other things I haven’t even thought about that problem.”
Andrea’s eyes darkened while she leaned closer. She almost panted in anticipation. “What other kinds of things?”
“Mostly keeping Laura’s people safe, but we are also helping Rhona get ready for her talks with the president.”
Rhona gestured at the sky. “Ceres is about at the closest approach. Let’s watch for a few moments.”
The grocery store had sent over five gallons of hot chocolate and ten gallons of coffee. People milled around, drinking the beverages and talking in clumps, while Ceres loomed larger in the sky. A woman on the edge of the crowd called out in an excited voice. “Something’s happening.” Everyone with a phone raised it and snapped a picture.
The comment caused Rhona to focus on the alien planetoid. Ceres actually came from the star system known as Polaris, or the North Star. A faint flickering of green light close to the surface circled the entire planet. It was brighter on the edge in the direction of travel. A voice in Rhona’s earpiece started conveying information.
“What’s happening?” Andrea asked.
Rhona reached out and gathered Keene’s hand in hers. She glanced up at him. “Can you whistle for attention?”
“Sure.” Keene withdrew his hand from Rhona’s grasp and put his fingers in his mouth. His piercing whistle cut through the cool air even louder than the whistle of a football referee.
The mutter of conversations died and people moved closer as Rhona hopped up several rows on the bleachers. She pointed up. “You can see the green glow.”
“Yes, yes, we can see it,” a man shouted from the back of the crowd. “What is it?”
Rhona took a deep breath and her voice rolled out over the ball field. “It means they have begun accelerating.”
“I don’t see any difference,” the same man responded loudly.
“It will take a while for them pick up speed,” Rhona called back. “Unlike the last eight days, they are now accelerating at about 1.2 times the level of Earth’s gravity. In a day, they’ll be a third of the way from here to the sun and they will be traveling 1,500 miles every second. A year from now they will be traveling nearly 95% of light speed, or about 175,000 miles every second.”
The man spoke out again, but his voice was less demanding as previously. “We listened to the president on TV telling us the Abantu were leaving. You were there standing right behind him. Where are they going?”
“To a star our astronomers named 59 Eridani. It is about 135 light years from here and it has a planet both they and humans can live on.”
“They’ll take a long time getting there,” Andrea interrupted. Her glares at Keith made it seem that she intended to upstage his questions.
“They will,” Rhona replied, “but they will make most of the trip at a final speed of about 180,000 miles a second. The trip will last less than forty years for them.”
A voice whispered in Rh
ona’s earpiece. “This is Adara. The man asking questions is Keith Becker, and he and his wife Cecelia signed a one-year lease on a house in Jetmore two weeks ago. He has links to Kansas Senator Anthony Harper.”
Rhona was pleased to get the information. The senator had already filed one frivolous lawsuit attempting to confiscate the property owned by Abantu living on Earth.
Keith boomed out another question, “How do they know they will find a planet they can live on?”
Rhona took another deep breath and then she held it instead of answering. Nanda climbed the steps and stood beside Rhona. The Abantu looked like a young human woman, but she was vastly older than her appearance. She sounded like a native when she spoke. “Solar flares started to kill my home world nearly 10,000 years ago. We developed spaceships and sent them out to scout other worlds. I was on the ship that visited here and a planet orbiting 59 Eridani. Earth is a more pleasant world, but humans already lived here. Earth is yours to do with as you like.”
“How old are you?” Keith shouted.
Nanda waved one finger back and forth in the air in a gesture of negation. “I’m older than you are, sonny. However, like most women, I don’t generally reveal my real age.”
He shot back a response. “Why won’t you tell us the truth?”
There were a few mutters in the crowd and Rhona had a hard time determining whether they were supporting or mocking the new person in town. She had about decided to interrupt when Andrea’s strident voice rolled out.
Andrea pointed a finger at Keith. “Who are you to talk about truth? You lied on your lease application for your house.”
“No, no, no.” Cecelia Becker shook off Keith’s restraining hand and pointed back at Andrea. Her eyes were wide and her voice was strong and challenging. “That’s not true!”
Andrea threw back her head and laughed. “Listen to you! You aren’t even married to Keith. Both of you are independent contractors for NSA. The State of Kansas issued you false driver’s licenses and fake IDs. Senator Harper pulled the strings to get you the fake documents three weeks ago.”
By now, Rhona could tell by the growing mutters that the crowd was supporting Andrea and not Keith and Cecelia. The two newcomers sensed the changing mood in the small town gathering and they turned and walked quickly towards the parking lot. A number of people hurled taunts after them. The shout of liar was one of the tamest comments.