“What Jaki has offered is very seductive,” ventured Hiromi. I heard a different female voice quietly mutter words that sounded like ‘the skank’ but Hiromi continued, “The Noridian offers to ‘protect us’ and ‘guide’ our development sound like euphemisms for totalitarianism. There is no question that our standard of living would improve immeasurably but it could still very well be slavery. You have an expression about prisons of gold…”
Everyone was stumped for a moment until Dr. Spencer laughed and said, “Gilded cages.”
“Yes,” Hiromi finished. “A gilded cage is still a cage.”
“But what’s the alternative?” Captain Silva offered. “Even if our government turned down the Noridian offer someone else would take our place overnight. Without some kind of outside help I don’t know if our society is big enough to handle the violence that’s bound to erupt the first time somebody feels they’re being left out.”
“If we accept Noridian technology, which seems inevitable,” Dr. Spencer slowly chipped in. “A one world government is the only possible outcome.
“I’ve been meeting with other professors and scientists in related fields and we can’t see any other plausible course,” he continued. “Rightly or wrongly that will be the direction our world takes and the only question is the degree of violence that occurs until we can reach some sort of social equilibrium.”
Dr. Spencer’s words left the room very quiet. I think what he was suggesting had been in the back of all our minds but I for one was hoping there would be some way around it – or at least a way to forestall the violence.
Captain Silva interrupted the silence by saying, “There’s something else you should know. Rumor has it that 2nd Platoon is going to be taking some kind of excursion; they’re going to be visiting a planet that’s fairly close along our flight path. The word is that it’s a dead planet from a dead civilization. Supposedly the Noridians are holding it out as an example of what can happen to a civilization that has to transition from scarce resources and the group that controls them, to abundant resources and the controlling groups no longer having any leverage.”
“In other words,” Dr. Spencer said. “They’re making the point that we need them. Again.”
I came to the unsurprising conclusion that we weren’t going to resolve this today and I had a good idea of what directions we needed to go, but I had to be careful. First of all I wasn’t Iron Jaw’s superior and secondly I couldn’t afford my troops to think I was openly subverting the leadership of our mission. I was walking a narrow line; I wasn’t breaking orders but I was in danger of heading in a direction those superiors wouldn’t like.
“Major Reynolds,” I asked. “Had you or your team heard anything about this excursion?”
Shaking his head he said, “No; not officially or unofficially and I have to tell you that bothers me.”
I took the plunge. “Ok everyone. I’m going to make some suggestions and the only thing I ask is that if you don’t agree or don’t want to participate be up front about it…
“Our own chain of command, both civilian and military, has been slow or negligent in sharing important information with us. I don’t know what the motivations are for that or if it is even a permanent condition, but our mission is too critical to take chances. We will assume that our leadership has its reasons for keeping us in the dark but I am also going to assume that they would want me to pursue the mission to the best of my ability. Captain Silva has proven rather adept at finding out things and Dr. Schein and Dr. Spencer are fairly well plugged into the science community, so Major Reynolds, you’re welcome to plug into us and we’ll share our info with you. The only thing I ask is that you keep it to yourself and share anything you might learn in return.”
Iron Jaw didn’t hesitate. “Count me in,” he said. “But I’d like to bring my second in command, Captain Bradley Gervais, into the picture. He’s been with me for years and I can vouch for him.”
I glanced around the group and quickly said, “No problem here. Why don’t you bring him over this evening and we’ll introduce him around.
“Dr. Spencer you’ve got maybe the most important assignment,” I said. He looked up and I continued, “If you’re willing I need you to continue meeting with your peers and formulate a strategy for us – or maybe I should say for earth.”
“What kind of strategy did you have in mind?” he asked.
“Twofold. First figure out scenarios where we can accept Noridian technology without ceding our national sovereignty and second, if it is necessary to form a one world government, figure out how we can do that and take on the new technology with the least amount of violence possible – preferably with none.”
“Is that all?” Dr. Spencer said with a grin. “Create world peace for breakfast and then solve world hunger by dinner?”
“Think outside the box, Mark. Maybe I’m asking the impossible but I’m thinking we’re going to need to demand the impossible from ourselves. Pull in who you need; just don’t give anyone the impression that you’re going against the mission brief or the powers that be. You’re the best person for this and if you can’t do it I don’t think anyone can – but I’m putting my money on you.”
Dr. Spencer didn’t look totally convinced but I was confident he’d step up to the task so I turned my attention to Julie.
“Dr. Schein, I’d like you to play an important role also. I need to know who is honestly lobbying for what they believe to be earth’s best interests or who might have a hidden agenda.”
“Major… how do you expect me…? I’m a psychiatrist but that doesn’t mean I can read minds. I would need extended time in counseling with each subject to able to give an accurate mapping of how they think, let alone their motives.”
I think she was ready to go on but I didn’t give her the chance.
“No Julie, you don’t need a tremendous amount of time. You have great instincts and more to the point you’re the best person we have to do this. I don’t need a medical report that would stand up to peer review and I don’t need wild-assed guesses. This is important, it needs to be done, and I trust your instincts. You need to trust them too. Can we count on you?”
I felt like I could actually see the wheels moving in that brilliant mind of hers as she looked from person to person in our group. If she was seeing what I was seeing she’d know that she had our support.
After a few moments she said strongly, “Ok, I’ll do my absolute best.”
“Good deal,” I said. “I need all the Squad Leaders to keep doing your job and keep your eyes open and your ears to the ground. We’ll regroup in a few days but in the meantime if you stumble across anything that could be important bring it to us immediately.”
Captains Kamiko and Hiromi were the last to leave and, as I suspected, they had something they wanted to discuss with me.
“Why would we put our ear on the floor?” they asked.
∆∆∆
Two mornings later we woke to discover that all of the hallways leading to 2nd Platoon had been closed off. Once again it was seamless; there just weren’t any hallways where there used to be.
Although we’d still had no official word, rumor had warned us that they were leaving today – we’d just assumed that they would board another vehicle. It appeared however that each Platoon Hub, complete with surrounding rooms and quarters, could function as an independent vessel. This notion was driving our engineers crazy but personally I didn’t see it as any more astounding than a dozen other revelations we’d experienced.
Starting early afternoon the large view screens that surrounded the HQ Hub, Squad Hubs, and remaining three Platoon Hubs all focused on a greenish brown planet. What started as a bright dot against the background of space quickly expanded into a view from orbit and then suddenly switched to a ground perspective. We could see Major Stephanie Hall (USAF) and members of her 2nd Platoon walking through thigh-high brown grass towards some type of buildings.
It had looked as if ther
e might have been some structures in orbit but the view had moved on too fast and there wasn’t any way for us to control it. If the Noridians could hear our requests they didn’t acknowledge them.
I was momentarily startled when I caught a glimpse of Dr. Tony Decker with the group on the planet. For unexplained reasons a small number of other scientists had been invited to accompany 2nd Platoon on this excursion; Dr. Decker had been asked from my platoon.
On impulse, I reached up to my right ear and tried to call him. There was nothing.
The group was spread out across a field and looking into a late-afternoon sun. They were approaching what now appeared to be a line of buildings on the edge of a metropolitan area. Over the low rooflines of the buildings ahead we could see what looked like spires and earthly skyscrapers.
Once they reached the buildings it was obvious that they had crested a ridgeline and were now effectively looking down into a valley at a small but advanced city. At this distance it still looked how screenwriters might well depict a city of the future; large buildings but no roads or anything resembling cars.
As the viewpoint now shifted to the city-side of our closest buildings the look of abandonment and long disuse was apparent. There were gaping holes in the single-story structures and the brown grass that seemed so prevalent appeared to be growing inside the nearest building as well. There was no audio with our video but it wouldn’t have surprised me to hear the low moans of the wind we could see moving the grass back and forth.
From the next building in line several Noridians appeared to be leading some sort of wheel-less vehicles out into the open. They bobbed slightly in the wind and skimmed along but without the ground effect or skirts of a hovercraft. They were open-topped and could hold about eight people apiece. From their pristine looks I suspected that they were Noridian in origin.
I think the Noridians were using their bioware; there were no visible controls on the ‘cars.’
The convoy that was 2nd Platoon moved towards the city proper. The skyscrapers were spaced further apart than you would find in an earth city and either the roads, walkways, and plazas had been uniformly buried in dirt and flora or this culture just had different ideas about habitation and commercialization.
Once the group entered the shadows of the tall structures the devastation became apparent. The buildings were gutted. The ruins were too ancient to tell if it was caused by quake, fire or riot but it was pervasive.
Halfway across the city the group came across a significantly large mound of rubble. It took a few moments but everyone soon realized that this was all that remained of one of the large structures. Sitting in our platoon hub several scientists started debating whether the collapse was pre or post apocalypse but I don’t think most people cared.
Soon after dusk the ‘cars’ returned to what was apparently the 2nd Platoon Hub portion of the Noridian ship and entered a similar garage portion of the ship as we first had done on earth.
We thought the show was over but after a few minutes the view switched to what looked to be 10,000 feet of altitude. The craft was obviously moving at high speed and soon caught up with the terminator and crossed again into daylight.
Our viewpoint had crossed over several puzzling valleys until someone shouted out their recognition accompanied by an, “Oh my God…”
These were former cities. There was nothing left but glass craters. In one case, even the mountains surrounding one side had melted away.
Eventually they landed at another more or less intact city and the group left on foot to explore some of the edifices. I know some of the scientists continued to be fascinated but frankly I’d had enough. This was a dead world. The local inhabitants hadn’t bombed themselves back into the Stone Age; they had eradicated themselves.
As a military man I’d seen a lot of destruction in my lifetime but these scenes were deeply disturbing. I wasn’t the only one feeling this way; Julie was sitting near me and it was easy to see the water in her eyes.
Over her shoulder I noticed Dr. Spencer enter one of the elevators. We made eye contact and he raised an eyebrow to me. He then spoke a few words and the door morphed shut. I don’t think anyone else had seen him leave and I could only guess where he was going.
Chapter 20
Dr. Mark Spencer
“How can you do that?”
“Do what?” I responded.
“THAT. How can you stay like that?”
How am I supposed to answer that? I'm sitting cross-legged staring at a beautiful woman that's also sitting crossed-legged directly in front of me. This wasn't even my idea... Not that I'm complaining mind you but I really didn't understand the necessity of this whole exercise. Jaki had explained that this was a traditional method of building trust between two people. To sit in silence, sans clothing, totally exposed, accepting each other for what we are without subterfuge or guile; to focus on trust and openness without reservation.
The thing is I didn't think it was working. I already trusted Jaki as much as I was probably ever going to and I had the nagging suspicion that her motives were to get me to trust her - not the other way around.
And that's what I mean when I say it wasn't working... Jaki was increasingly having trouble maintaining her focus. Of course it might have had something to do with the breaks we kept taking...
“Stop doing that.”
“I'm not doing anything. I really think this must be my natural state.”
Jaki: (unintelligible)...
"Are you ok Jaki? Are you sure...” Ok, another break.
This was the third time she’d launched herself at me, breaking my meditative-like focus. I didn't think this was going according to her plan.
Thirty minutes later we're setting at her refreshment table fully clothed, drinking some kind of juice, with Jaki glaring at me. At least I think she was trying to glare. Every time she'd start to say something she'd stop and sigh.
"I... I think we are done for the day. We will finish the exercise... We will definitely do this again."
I left feeling a little concerned for Jaki. I didn't think I'd ever seen her more distracted and less sure of herself.
∆∆∆
Anzio and I were sitting in my quarter’s living area and he was acting as my sounding board. I’m used to talking out my problems and Anzio was a good listener and friend. I’m not used to talking about my relationships with women because I don’t usually have problems in that area and I’m usually the model of discretion, but in fairness the fate of our planet was in the balance and Jaki’s honor probably wasn’t really worth protecting anyway.
“The other weird thing,” I said. “Was that when I first got to her apartment AC/DC was blaring at high volume and she asked me if we were jamming.”
Anzio, as calm and unaffected as always said, “Sex and Rock ‘n’ Roll. All you need is drugs to totally win her over.”
Yeah, I thought. Sex, drugs, and Rock ‘n’ Roll launched a cultural revolution in the United States in the 1960s and ‘70s that eventually went worldwide. The Soviet Union still blames the infiltration of that culture as one of the reasons for its downfall – that and the Black Market blue jeans that went hand-in-hand with it. Oh, and then there was that whole Star Wars SDI missile defense thing but that’s getting off point…
“Somehow I don’t think we can count on Noridian kids to rebel against their parents and even if we could I don’t see how that could help us,” I ventured.
“How can we accept technology without being owned by the suppliers or killed by our own?” I asked.
“In physics, when stumped I always find it helpful to go to beginning and define problem,” Anzio said. “My first question is what do the Noridian’s want?”
“They say,” I responded thoughtfully. “That they feel responsible for the actions of the Coridians in hijacking our space station because the rest of galactic society doesn’t always distinguish between them – and presumably they need the good faith of that society.”
&n
bsp; “Yes, excuse me Mark. Maybe you hear something I don’t but you just told me why they are supposedly here; you still haven’t told me what they want from us. Is it possible they are two different things?”
“Of course it’s possible,” I answered. “But what could they possibly want?”
“I no have any idea,” Anzio said. “But I think it is an interesting question, yes?”
Anzio is a good friend and at times like this I think he is not only one of the smartest but also one of the wisest guys on the planet. It was a very interesting question.
“Secondly,” Anzio continued. “What do we want from them?”
“Which we do you mean?” I responded.
“Ah, exactly,” he said. “We are made up of different factions that may want different things.”
Here Comes Earth: Emergence Page 12