Don't Mess With Earth

by Cliff Ball

  A few years earlier, the Ragnor came across a brilliant human who they had abducted by the name of Isaac Newton. Newton was sleeping under an apple tree on the campus of the University of Cambridge in England when the Ragnor found him, so they decided to abduct him. A scan was conducted first and they found he had a super intelligence quotient, so they took him to their ship. Once on board the ship, the Ragnor downloaded gigabytes of information into Newton’s brain; specifically information related to what Newton was already interested in, mathematics and science. Once they were done, Newton was placed back in the same spot he had been sleeping a few hours earlier, and had no memories or nightmares of being abducted. A few minutes later, he woke up somewhat startled when an apple fell out of the tree and hit him on the head. Newton picked up the apple off of the ground, took a good look at it, began to think about why the apple fell out of the tree, and came up with the theory of universal gravitation and the three laws of motion a few months later. Newton set to work writing down everything that came to him as a result and wondered if the moon was held where it was by the gravity of Earth and why everything always fell constantly to Earth’s center, instead of going upwards or sideways.

  As for the three laws of motion, he stated the first one, known as the Law of Inertia. It states that an object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion unless something happens to cause it to stop. The second law states that mass is constant and acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the magnitude of the force acting on that object and proportional to its mass. The third law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. He presented his ideas to his fellow professors at Cambridge and they were astonished at his genius and these new ideas he presented to them. He then decided to write all of this into a single tome, called Philosophia Naturalis Principia Mathematica. This became the standard scientific view of the physical universe and nature for the next three hundred years and helped the progression of modern day engineering, launching a scientific revolution. Newton showed that celestial bodies were governed by the same natural laws as everything else. Once the Ragnor were satisfied that they had messed with the natural progression of enough humans on Earth, they decided to leave the planet and its solar system until the humans began to progress technologically faster than they had previously.

  Chapter Six

  As Earth entered its own Industrial Revolution, the Terrans had mostly stopped interfering in human affairs. They watched as the thirteen American Colonies declared their independence and broke free of the tyranny of King George the Third of Great Britain to become the United States of America, only to descend into Civil War a little over eighty years later. The Americans lost more than half a million men in the fighting and the South was devastated for years to come, but the Terrans could see the United States slowly becoming a world power. They also watched as the French tore themselves apart in a revolution of their own, ending up with a madman for a leader by the name of Napoleon Bonaparte. He declared war on the English and the Russians, and was humiliated when defeated by both, especially after the disaster of trying to invade Russia during their harsh winters, and then was eventually exiled to the Canary Islands where he died a few years later. The Russians also went almost completely to anarchy in their October Revolution, going from a monarchy to a dictatorship of communists and fascists, led by Vladimir Lenin and then Josef Stalin; both of whom were bloodthirsty and ruthless leaders.

  The Terrans also marveled at the advance of the human weapons, going from flintlock rifles to repeating rifles and Gatling guns to full-fledged machine guns and submersibles in less than forty years after being introduced during the American Civil War. Experts on Terra predicted that the humans would have nuclear weapons by the end of the twentieth century and possibly space flight by the middle of the twenty-first century. The Terrans were also amazed at some of the genius humans who all appeared around the same time in history. Humans such as Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, and others seemed quite a coincidence to the Terran leadership, so all of the humans were investigated to see if they were from Terra, or, for that matter, experimented on by the Ragnor; none of them were, which surprised the Terrans.

  The Terrans also saw the First World War coming, at least a major war among the Europeans, with their complicated and secretive alliances; it was only a matter of time before all of Europe dragged the world down this path. The Terrans were completely shocked when the war started over an assassination of the Prince of Serbia in a country called Bosnia, and the fact that most of the war was fought in trenches between mostly the British, French, and Germans in France also amazed them. The humans also began using biological warfare en masse for the first time, along with tanks and airplanes, both of which had been invented only a few short years earlier. The Americans were dragged into the war when the Germans promised in a telegram to Mexico to give back to Mexico the Southwestern United States if the Mexicans would agree to attack the United States and keep the Americans occupied; this ploy did not work. What worked to bring the United States into war was when the civilian ocean liner Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the Germans, who claimed that the ship was carrying weapons from a supposedly neutral country like the United States to the allied nation of the United Kingdom. The outcome of the war wasn’t affected by the entry of the Americans, because the countries at war were beginning to think about stopping the bloodshed, it just made the Germans want to quit faster when the Americans entered in the western front.

  A few years later, Americans were becoming isolationistic and developing a prospering economy. Men and women started flying aircraft that were much more advanced than the versions that had been flying in the Great War; they barnstormed the country and flew in air shows showcasing their talent. The Terrans eventually noticed two Americans, because a rumor was going around the Mars Base that Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart were actually Terrans. Once Terran investigators delved into Lindbergh’s background, they discovered he was a true-blue human and American; for one thing he was too much of a pacifist to be a Terran and no Terran would think that an everlasting peace could ever be achieved just because they wanted it, which was entirely up to God to make everlasting peace. Now, Amelia Earhart, on the other hand, might possibly be a Terran, but they weren’t sure, so they waited for an opportunity to find out.

  A Terran, who was visiting Earth, made her way to Ontario, Canada, and looked for opportunities to see those barnstorming airplane pilots who were showing the general public what these new-fangled machines could do. She visited an airfield, where there were only a few bystanders, and watched as a plane was cutting through the clouds and performing aerial stunts that she swore these primitive machines shouldn’t be able to do. Twenty minutes later, the aircraft landed and taxied to the hangar. The Terran waited for the pilot to get out, so that she could express her wonder at the fearlessness of this pilot in such a primitive machine. The pilot climbed out of the aircraft, took off their helmet, and surprised the Terran even more when she saw that the pilot was a human female. As far as the Terran female had known, most human females went out of their way not to be noticed, since the men of the species seemed really threatened by a strong woman. Of course, the political situation here in North America could have changed since she last heard, but she was sure she would find out in the next few moments.

  The Terran woman walked up to the human female pilot, and said, “Hi, I’m Susan. That was terrific flying! I think it’s even more terrific since I just found how you’re a woman. Doesn’t flying get you in trouble with the powers-that-be?”

  “Hi Susan, I’m Amelia, thanks for the compliment. I don’t fly enough to get noticed by anyone, this is sort of just my hobby for the time being. I’m currently working as a nurse’s aide at a military hospital here in Toronto, helping with the wounded soldiers from the war over in Europe. Are you interested in flying too?”

  “I am fascinated by these airplanes, and I would l
ove to try my hand at the controls. Is it very hard to learn?” asked the Terran.

  “Not really, the only tricky part, I think, is the landing. Once you got the landing down though, it’s pretty easy. If you’re interested in becoming a pilot, then let’s talk about you becoming a student pilot.”

  Amelia Earhart and Susan Transavera became fast friends and Amelia taught Susan the basics of flying, and when Amelia thought Susan was ready, even some aerial acrobatics. A few months later, Amelia caught the Spanish flu from working amongst the wounded soldiers who had brought the flu back from Europe. The rest of the Earhart family caught the flu too and they also began to die. Amelia contracted pneumonia and slowly began dying herself, so she called for Susan to ask a favor from her. When Susan arrived at Amelia’s bedside, Amelia said, “Susan, I’m glad you came. I have a favor to ask of you, since I will no longer be able to pursue my dream of becoming a world-renowned pilot. When I die, I want to you to continue on in my name, become Amelia Earhart, and make the world see that women can do the same thing as men.”

  Susan was stunned by Amelia’s request. Normally, she thought she would answer yes to this request, but, since she wasn’t from Earth, this could get her into major trouble with the Terran authorities. She thought for another moment or two and responded with, “Amelia, I’m going to have to think about it. What you’re asking of me is a big decision and I’m not sure how to react. Can you wait a day or two for my decision?”

  Amelia, who was looking like death warmed over, weakly said, “I can wait as long as it’s a day or two, but any longer and I may die before you tell me. Thank you for thinking about it, I appreciate it.”

  Susan went home and thought about the pros and cons of taking Amelia’s place. The biggest con was the fact that Susan was a Terran. The Terran authorities made no bones about the fact that they wanted the humans to develop technologically faster on their own without Terran help, but, each time there was a change in power, the official line about Earth changed. Right now, the powers-that-be on Terra really had no use for Earth, didn’t care about humanity, and wanted any situation with Terrans interfering to go away. But, political winds change all the time, so that seemed to Susan a risk she could probably take. The pros outweighed the cons, in Susan’s eyes. She could become the first white woman pilot to circumnavigate the globe, as Amelia, she would be famous and known throughout history, and showing men what women could do was also a pro. Susan went back to Amelia and told her that she would take Amelia’s place. Amelia was pleased with the answer and died two days later from complications from pneumonia. Susan waited a year or two, moved to the United States, and began her adventure.

  A few years later, Amelia became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean and did so right after Lindbergh, because there were influential people who were pushing for a woman to do the same flight. While she was flying across the Atlantic, the Terran authorities sent a team of investigators to her house in California to see if she was a Terran or just a human after all. If she was a Terran, they didn’t want to make her disappear and return to Terra at the moment, since Amelia had such a high profile; the authorities thought she ought to enjoy her fifteen minutes of fame before they came down hard on her. Once inside her house, after searching for what seemed like hours, the investigators end up finding a mysterious looking box that didn’t seem like it was of earthly origin. It was picked open and what they discovered shocked them to some degree; they found a laptop computer, a mini music player, Terran identification papers, and some newspaper clippings from 1918 about the Spanish flu outbreak. The head investigator turned on and accessed the laptop, which had no security password enabled, and discovered Susan’s digital diary. The woman who was now known as Amelia Earhart came to Earth shortly before the death of the aviatrix, each discovered both women had an interest in flying these new aircraft and they became friends. Apparently, Susan, who was now Amelia, was asked by a dying Amelia to carry on her goal of flying and showing women around the world what they could do if they put their minds to it. Susan, according to her laptop entries, was reluctant at first because she didn’t want to attract the attention of the Terran authorities and get into major trouble for interfering in human affairs. After much thought about it, weighing the pros and cons, Susan decided the pros outweighed the cons and decided to become Amelia Earhart after the original died. From there, the fake Amelia made it her goal to become a well-known woman flier. Once the investigators contacted Terran authorities through the Mars Communications station about what they discovered, the Terran authorities decided to leave this Susan character on Earth for another ten years and see what she does to interfere with human affairs, if she does so at all. The Terrans watched as Amelia became the spokesperson for all sorts of products, from clothing to cigarettes to luggage and writing her own book, published by G.P. Putman, who helped enhance Amelia’s public image.

  Ten years went by and Amelia came up with an idea to fly around the world and announced her intentions to the press. While she was planning this, she was summoned by Secretary of War Harry Woodring to come to Washington. Amelia arrived in Washington, was picked up by a car that was sent for her, and the car headed directly for the War Department; Amelia was about to find out why she was summoned. Once in Woodrings’ office, he said, “Greetings, Miss Earhart. I’m sure you’re wondering why I have asked you to come to Washington,”

  “It has crossed my mind, Mr. Woodring. What can I help you with?”

  “I would like you to fly over Japanese occupied territory and Japan itself, a reconnaissance mission to some degree. Nobody would suspect that a world famous aviatrix would be spying, and we can get the information we need without too much trouble. We can find out through the photos you take if the Japanese plan on doing more than occupy China, like attack the Philippines or maybe even Hawaii. Do you think you can handle that, Amelia?”

  “I don’t know. I’m not very comfortable with the idea. Don’t you think Japan would see this for what it is, as a spy mission? How would you and the Department of War protect me if I were to get into trouble?”

  “I plan, with this being contingent on President Roosevelt’s’ permission, on having the Navy shadow you with battleships, an aircraft carrier, and some other navy vessels. If you get into trouble, help will not be very far. I’m sure the President will see the wisdom of this mission I want to send you on. So, what do you think?”

  “I’m reluctant about it, but I will if President Roosevelt agrees that I should do this. How am I going to take pictures of everything you need, anyway?”

  “I’ll have my best Army engineers install cameras and navigational equipment on your airplane, train you and your navigator on their use, and if anyone asks, all you are doing is conducting scientific experiments. Really, nobody should be the wiser and you’ll have conducted a successful around the world flight. Now, let me show you what we need from the flyovers.”

  President Roosevelt was consulted and he agreed to the spy mission using Amelia Earhart. When Japan finds out about her flight around the world and her supposed scientific experiments, they complained that all Amelia Earhart was doing was spying on them and if she flew over Japan, she would be shot down immediately and if she survived, they would have her executed. The United States countered that she really was just flying around the globe and not doing anything untoward towards Japan. If Japan chooses to shoot her down, then the United States Navy would be forced to respond, by any means necessary; Japan backed off their accusations. The Terrans found out what she was going to do, and if it was one thing they didn’t particularly like, was when Terrans interfered in the natural political processes of Earth, and spying for one country on another was considered interfering. The Terrans sent a small spaceship to the Pacific Ocean to wait for Amelia to fly past them, and then she would be picked up, and taken back to Terra.

  A few days later, as Amelia was flying over Howland Island, she and her navigator, Fred Noonan, were having problems with the radio and
communicating with the United States Navy. The Terran ship was jamming the radio signal and was making it difficult for the Navy to pinpoint Amelia’s location. She was beginning to suspect that her radio was being jammed by the Terrans, so she waited for whatever that was about to happen, go ahead and happen. The Terran ship flew above the small aircraft, used a grappling hook, and then pulled the aircraft in. Naturally, Noonan was frightened beyond words by this turn of events, but Amelia seemed very calm in contrast and said to him, “Fred, there’s nothing to be afraid of, everything will be all right.”

  “How can you say that? How can you be so calm? We’re experiencing something like out of one of those science fiction magazine stories. I’m frightened and you’re calm? This makes no sense!”

  “Fred, just trust me, ok?”

  All Noonan could do was nod his head and sit there and wait for the airplane to stop moving. Once the aircraft was safely inside the Terran cargo hold, Amelia killed the engine, she and Noonan got out of the aircraft, and waited for whoever was set to come out and arrest her. What appeared to be an officer and two guards walked into the hold and the officer said to her, “Susan Transavera, you are charged with interfering in human affairs and for impersonating a human, even though that human had requested for you to take her place. We are taking you back to Terra, where you will not be allowed to leave the planet. This aircraft will be taken apart and parts of it will be scattered on the island below us, so that it will appear you crashed and died. Since you involved a human who had no knowledge of who you actually were, he will have to come to Terra too and live, albeit for a much shorter span of time. We’re sorry, Mr. Noonan for involving you in this, but we follow a non-interference policy when it comes to humanity. You must be a bit shocked by all of this, but it can’t be helped.”