“Your people have already started down the path of what you call 3-dimensional printing. You are taking baby steps but you can already ‘print’ some tools, replacement parts, and just about any 3D design you want. What happens when every individual on your planet has access to raw materials and advanced printers with no energy restriction on their use?”
“It would eliminate poverty,” Dr. Bell said.
I’d almost forgotten he was there. My mind was racing with the possibilities but he reminded me of something…
“There’s no shortage of food on our planet now. It’s politics that cause hunger and poverty,” I said. “Somehow I don’t think utopia is right around the corner for us.”
“No,” Jaki said sadly. “Because of all of these advances we came very close to wiping ourselves out.”
She explained, “Hundreds of thousands of years ago Noridia nearly destroyed itself. The advent of that kind of technology doesn’t happen overnight and the controlling groups on Noridia didn’t want to lose their control. After all, why would I need a government to build a road if I could print a machine that would do it for me? Why would I pay taxes for protection if I could print my own gun (or fortress); and why would anyone want what I have if they could print their own? What was really left for the controllers to offer?
“The powers that be, sensing their own weakening position, found that they did not want to give up control; it was more than just resources and money, it was the intoxicating drug of power and Elitism. They began putting more and more restrictions on the population. Artificial shortages and new governmental controls were common. Individual freedoms were reduced incrementally but dramatically in the name of safety and security. The controllers’ ability to spy on their populations and limit their dissent increased. The people were subjected to constant propaganda on everything from ‘technology is evil’ and ‘back to nature’ movements to conspiracies on technology contaminating the food supply and destroying the environment. The controllers preached that government was a force for good and made more and more people dependent upon it. Over time we went from an open, forward moving, and advanced society to a scared, anti-technology, stagnant society.
“The Black Market brought salvation and after a long period ultimately led to the downfall of the controllers. It laid bare the lie of scarcity. The leaders of what you would call nations in last desperate acts fomented never-ending war with controllers of other nations because they knew that fear was their last resort to controlling their populations.
“We almost lost everything,” she said.
“What happened?” I asked.
“One day it just all fell apart,” she responded. “The police stopped showing up for work, or at least stopped enforcing most of the laws. People ignored what their so called leaders were saying and started doing what they wanted; soldiers went home to their families.
“Many leaders simply disappeared when people stopped listening to them but for the ones that resisted it was a bloody revolution.
“After that technology spread without restriction and the population recovered quickly but there was never again a reason for anyone to subjugate themselves to another. That was thousands of your years ago and we’ve had time to mature as a people and as a society.
“Once we developed interstellar spaceflight and started meeting other civilizations we many times heard similar stories, or discovered the ruins of dead planets. If we choose to integrate with Earth it will not be easy on either of us.”
With that ominous closing we agreed to talk again soon.
There was a crowd outside Jaki’s quarters and Kamiko immediately walked up to me and whispered in my ear, “We need to get you back to your squad immediately. Col Memphis is on his way here and he sounds furious.” She then turned to the right, grabbed the front of my shirt, and started tugging me down the corridor. I was probably grinning like an idiot; I’d just had an historic and fascinating conversation, I had one-upped Derrick and made him look foolish for the way he’d dismissively handled Dr. Bell, and I’d just figured out where the little love mark I’d left under Hiromi’s left ear went.
∆∆∆
Apparently the base’s security personnel were visibly startled when the feed from Jaki’s quarters suddenly stopped showing an empty room and joined Dr. Rasheed Bell, Zeke, Jaki, and myself in mid-conversation. Dr. Helmer and Earth Team’s second in command, Colonel Eugene Memphis, wanted to break up the session and replace us with their dips post haste. It was General Nesbit himself that ordered everyone to stand down and see what developed.
They didn’t realize until later that someone had managed to leak the word across the base to tune into blogcast channel #1137 for an unscheduled session; let alone that it was being blogcast in the first place.
I didn’t really know what the brass would make of the conversation and I didn’t really care. I was more concerned with Julie’s reaction – which wasn’t good…
“You could’ve really screwed the entire mission with a stunt like that! And I don’t care what kind of intuition you say you had; anyone as taken as you obviously were by some woman’s legs can’t be trusted to think straight. I knew you were going to be trouble from the day you walked into the commissary in your underwear.”
I hadn’t taken a full step into my closet-sized room before Julie was in my face. Anzio was sitting on the bed, or at least trying to sit – it looked as if he was in the middle of laughing himself onto the floor.
“Julie…” I said as she pushed past me out into the corridor.
“Ok Anzio you can wipe that smirk off your face. Was it really that bad?”
“Well, it depends on your point of view. On the one hand you made a breakthrough with the Noridians in an area that the dips have wasted two months on.” He continued, “On the other hand, you started out lusting after an alien and she responded by flirting with you.”
“Anzio! I wasn’t, I mean I appreciate a woman’s body as much as the next man but… and she wasn’t flirting with me… Sheesh.”
I don’t know why I was getting so worked up about this. I was having a GREAT day. It was almost as if Julie was… No, don’t go there I told myself. She would never… and she’s out of my league anyway. Something else has her on edge, that’s all.
“How did you guys find out anyway?” I asked.
“Are you kidding?” Anzio asked. “People were running door to door telling everyone to tune in. You must sit down my friend and tell me all about it…”
And so I did. One of the reasons I liked hanging out with Anzio was because he was easy to talk to and I guess he felt comfortable around me because I didn’t see the terribly shy side of him that the rest of the world saw.
I had finished explaining all my impressions about the content of Jaki’s conversation and we both had several questions that we deemed important to follow-up with if we ever got the chance. I was just starting to explain that yes, Jaki was attractive and sexy and had a great body but there was just something about her that left me a little on edge when another member of our team, Dr. Tony Decker, knocked on my hatch and stuck his head in…
“You’ve really stepped in it now Spencer. Major Reagan wants to see you in his wardroom. Stat.”
“Stat? You’re not that kind of doctor!” I yelled at his retreating head.
I looked at Anzio and he shrugged. We both thought Decker was your basic asshole but he wouldn’t screw around with something like this. As I headed off to face the music I couldn’t help seeing Julie’s face… Was that anger or something else?
Chapter 9
Major Mathew Reagan, US Army
“Yes sir!” I half shouted. Was I really standing here at attention being dressed down by this Air Force puking excuse for a Colonel? I hadn’t been ripped this way since I was a second lieutenant. Senior officers don’t act like gung-ho TV marine sergeants – at least the sane ones don’t.
I’d been ordered (ordered – not ‘requests your presence’) to Colonel E
ugene Memphis’ office an hour ago. I’d spent the last 45 minutes cooling my heels in the waiting room listening to the muffled shouts coming from his office and then watched a red-faced Major Mike ‘Iron Jaw’ Reynolds leave in a controlled rage.
“So how is it Major that one of your scientists goes behind the back of the entire diplomatic corps, makes unauthorized contact with not just any alien but the Head of the Entire Fucking Mission, then gets it blogcast over the entire base?” Memphis was practically spitting.
“Sir, I do not have any knowledge of how the meeting came about and I am not aware of any special authorization that would have been needed. It is in their mission brief to promote dialogue and learn as much as they can. I am also under the impression that Dr. Spencer was totally unaware that his session was being blogcast.”
“I am not going to play games with you Reagan. You know very well that this type of sensitive conversation should have been restricted. And since you’re so stupid as to not get it, I’m making it an order; you are not to allow your personnel any unscheduled access to the alien team at least until we arrive on their planet. Have you got that?”
“No sir,” I responded in the steadiest voice I could deliver. “Since it violates the mission brief I’ll be needing that order in writing and sir, I would respectfully ask you to reconsider. If word gets out it could undermine the confidence and good faith of the entire team, sir.”
After a few moments Colonel Memphis responded, “Major Reagan do you have any idea what would happen to your career if I replaced you on this assignment?”
Actually, I knew it was too late to replace me because General Nesbit had told me so, but I didn’t think this was the best time to bring it up.
Colonel Memphis continued, “Watch your people Major; that is an order. Keep them out of trouble and out of my hair. Dismissed.”
∆∆∆
When I arrived back at my office Dr. Derrick Helmer was waiting for me. He wasn’t really my superior (he wasn’t military… or security, or whatever) but he carried the authority of the command staff and a certain amount of deference was expected.
“Dr. Helmer, what can I do for you?” I said as I breezed through the hatchway and headed for my desk.
“Major Reagan, I know it’s a busy day and I’m really sorry to bother you but if you can spare a few minutes I think it’s important we talk.”
Helmer’s HQ buddy Col Memphis had just chewed my ass and now he was here being all nice and respectful? I wasn’t born yesterday…
“As I said Doctor, what can I do for you?”
Helmer pointedly glanced at the chair in front of my desk and I waved him an invitation to sit down.
He started by saying, “Major, I can only imagine how difficult it must be to be in charge of a group of civilians, especially scientists. As a scientist myself I know that we can sometimes be obsessed, stubborn, and oblivious to things that might be important.”
He paused and when I didn’t respond he continued, “I’m here to offer my help.”
Before answering I took a few moments to size Dr. Helmer up. He was definitely a cool customer; he wasn’t fidgeting and he was politely maintaining eye contact. He was a model friend that only wanted to help.
“What specifically is it that you want to help with?” I asked.
“You may not be aware of it Major but Dr. Spencer and I have been friends and colleagues for years. He is brilliant but, and I say this as a friend; he can sometimes be rather self-absorbed and misguided. It might be best for everyone if you allowed me to ‘take him under my wing’ so to speak and keep him out of trouble. Nothing formal of course, just your blessing and trust to work closely with him. I have some projects that he could be extremely helpful on and would keep him busy.”
After a moment I stood up and stuck my hand out. “Thank you for coming Dr. Helmer. I’ll take your offer under advisement but for the moment I think we have the situation under control.”
∆∆∆
It had been an incredibly busy day and it didn’t look like I was going to be getting my dinner anytime soon. I’d asked Captain Hiromi to track down her sister Captain Kamiko as well as Dr. Spencer and invite them to my office for a talk.
Dr. Spencer arrived first and seemed in a good mood; he started in on some friendly small talk and I apologized for calling him into my office earlier only to be called away by Col Memphis. I was still reserving judgment about him but he seemed a likable enough guy. I don’t usually cotton to people that talk a lot but he was so unpretentious that it worked for him. In our team meetings over the last two months I’d noticed that he would sometimes appear to not be paying attention but I’d never seen anyone catch him out on it. He never missed a beat and could jump in on the conversation at any point. According to his file he was one of the brightest people on the entire team but you would never know it; he wasn’t an egghead at all.
Captains Hiromi and Kamiko walked in together and I asked them to close the door and take a seat.
“Captain Kamiko, Dr. Spencer is not in your squad but I think you need to be here. Dr. Spencer I will also thank you for your time and since Captain Hiromi is your Blue Squad Leader I wanted her here as well.
“I’ve asked for this powwow because of today’s events. I need to understand exactly what happened and how it happened. A lot of people got embarrassed today and a lot of people are looking to assign blame. Unless I know exactly how it all came about I’m not going to be able to protect anyone and even if you have or haven’t done anything wrong you’re very likely going to need that protection. Hiromi, I could order you to give me a full report but I’d rather hear it from all of you voluntarily. So, how about it? Will you brief me into your circle?”
They all sort of glanced at each other and then interestingly enough it was Dr. Spencer that spoke first. He tried to take responsibility by telling me that he’d heard about Dr. Bell’s meeting with Jaki and managed to talk himself into an invitation (Kamiko pulled me aside later and set the record straight by telling me that she suggested Mark to Dr. Bell).
After hearing the full version I surprised him when I asked about his friendship with Dr. Helmer; his reaction told me everything I needed to know.
When I point blank asked Dr. Spencer about his motivation for pushing Jaki into her revelations he admitted that showing-up Helmer was a plus but insisted (truthfully, I think) that the main reason was because it was interesting and we needed to know.
The only part of their story that didn’t fit was when I asked them how they’d arranged for the blogcast. Captain Kamiko, Captain Hiromi, and Dr. Spencer all denied point-blank that they even knew about it until it was already done.
I dismissed the Captains but asked Dr. Spencer to stay for a moment…
“Dr. Spencer that was a gutsy move you made today. Had you thought it through or were you just being reckless?” I asked.
“I’m not totally sure how to answer that Major. I didn’t pre-plan the conversation but I could sense the opening to push for answers as clearly as I can see the pictures on your wall. It just seemed self-evident that there was little down-side; if Jaki got all bent out of shape everyone could write me off as just a history professor. It’s not like I’m on the diplomatic team or HQ staff.”
After thinking about it for a couple of seconds I exhaled heavily and said, “Well, off the record I’m telling you good job – someone needed to push those bastards off the fence so we could start making some real progress but you need to know that you’re now on everyone’s radar. You’re no longer ‘just a history professor’ so you’re going to have to watch yourself. I’m not going to tell you to stay away from Jaki, she seems to have an affinity for you, but there may be others that do want to isolate you. Keep your nose clean and don’t give them an excuse.”
∆∆∆
Later that night I found ‘Iron Jaw’ devouring a truly rare steak in an almost empty Officer’s Mess. After grabbing a hamburger for myself I sat down across from him.
“Yes it is,” he sallied.
“I don’t really know any Air Force officers,” I ventured.
“I do,” he said. “And almost all of them are fine men and women that I’d be proud to serve with.”
“I also don’t really know anything about Memphis’ background,” I quipped.
“Well…” Mike drawled. “I’ve heard tell that a certain Eugene Memphis has spent a lot of time at the pentagon. Seems like every time he gets a field command he ends up right back in brass alley.”
We both knew that the good commanders tended to go from field command to field command.
“Sounds like our friend has a patron. Has he ever had a combat command?” I asked.
Here Comes Earth: Emergence Page 6