Here Comes Earth: Emergence

by William Lee Gordon

  “Something very bad is going to happen today.”

  ∆∆∆

  Jaki had an insatiable sexual appetite.

  We were in her quarters again, or at least it was the quarters she was using; there were no photos, trinkets, or personal effects whatsoever but it was the same room we always met in. I’m not even sure what floor it was on; per her instructions I simply stepped into an elevator and said, “Jaki’s room.” I had experimented with whispering it and once I even just mouthed the words. It didn’t seem to make any difference; I always ended up in this hall with loud Rock ‘n’ Roll blaring from the same open doorway.

  Today’s lovemaking seemed a little more frantic; perhaps a little more desperate than usual. It could have been my imagination but I really had the feeling that she was making one last effort at convincing me of… something.

  “Mark,” she said once we’d caught our breath. “I want you to be our spokesperson to the leadership of earth.”

  This definitely caught me by surprise.

  “Jaki, I’m honored but don’t I seem like a strange choice? You’ve got the leadership of our mission that probably carries more weight than I do and they seem to be gung-ho on accepting Noridia with open arms.”

  We were still lying on her bed and she reached-up to touch my face. “You should know by now that titles don’t mean anything to us and if I was speaking through you we would be able to spend a lot of time together – and you’d like that wouldn’t you Mark?”

  Actually I wouldn’t like that at all. Jaki had one of the most perfect bodies that a man could imagine and her response to my touch and the ease I could bring her to orgasm would feed the ego of any man; yet there was a huge void in our relationship that just soured everything. I think it had something to do with sincerity, trust, honesty, and respect but that was just a quick guess.

  “Of course I would,” I lied. “But I’m not really sure what it is you want from us or what the cost is going to be for your help. I can’t agree to anything until you tell me more, Jaki – I’m just not wired that way. Besides, we have a lot of mission left before we have to make those kinds of decisions, right?”

  She paused for a long moment and then said, “Earth is going to have to make a decision sooner than you think, Mark. We have detected a sharp increase in Coridian activity in your sector. You can’t expect us to protect you and expose ourselves to danger if you won’t commit to us in return; surely that’s reasonable?”

  “What is it you want from us Jaki?”

  “What we’ve always wanted; your respect. We want you to join us. We want earth to be a part of Noridia so we can all share our knowledge and mutually benefit each other.

  “Mark,” she continued with growing enthusiasm. “We’re not going to make you slaves or restrict your access to technology – we’re going to improve the standard of living of every single person on your planet. Your people have some tough social evolution confronting you; there’s going to be violence Mark. We have the experience, resources, and technology to help you survive those transitions and if you’re with me I can make sure that your rewards are everything you could personally or professionally ever want.”

  “What does that mean,” I said honestly curious.

  “A transition takes time, Mark. If you’re working with me you’ll be one of the most respected people on the planet. While there’s still currency you’ll be rich; you’ll have immense power just because people will want to be close to you. You won’t be just studying history, you’ll be creating it – leading mankind in a new direction. You and I will have the respect of the entire planet at our fingertips.”

  “You’ll need more than me,” I said. “Is this what you’ve offered Helmer and Memphis?”

  “Power and riches yes,” she laughed. “But you don’t need to be jealous Mark. They’ll have nothing like what you and I will have together.”

  “That sounds great,” I said with as much artificial enthusiasm as I could muster. “It’s just a lot to take in and I really need to absorb it all.”

  “What is there to absorb Mark?” she said with an undercurrent of steel. “You either want to stand with me and usher in a new era for your people or you don’t.”

  “It’s not that simple Jaki; I just need to think things through.”

  I guess I wasn’t very good at the false enthusiasm stuff because Jaki obviously wasn’t buying it. There is a certain look and voice that every scorned woman in the world uses – come to think of it, it must be every woman in the galaxy. When a woman says she wants to have sex with you and you turn her down that’s a woman scorned and like the saying goes, hell hath no fury like it.

  I tried to placate her by saying that I really wanted to go on the excursion tomorrow and meet the people that had experienced a Noridian partnership and that I really wanted to talk to her about all this once I’d returned. I knew I’d failed just by listening to her, ‘goodnight.’ To my ears it sounded far more like, ‘goodbye.’

  In retrospect I really should have done a better job of letting her down lightly or at least kept her guessing for a while longer about my true intentions, but it was one of the few times in my life that I was truly freaked out. To have someone offer me that kind of power and know they could probably pull it off was… well it was insane.

  What happened next was probably inevitable, and even though my abruptness with Jaki could be responsible for it happening much sooner than it would have I could hang my hat on one thing; I had passed a test that few men ever had. I had said no to being King of the Earth.

  ∆∆∆

  I was pretty sure Jaki could monitor anything inside the ship at will, and because I was still holding out foolish hope that she was buying my indecision I didn’t run straight to the Major with the confirmation of Helmer’s and Memphis’ complicity. Instead I went back to my quarters and went to bed. It took me a long time to find sleep and it was a long, lonely, restless night.

  I awoke the next morning telling my slave girls to draw my bath as I was trying to untangle my toga. I couldn’t seem to decide if I should wear my gold or silver breastplate today… What was the proper dress when granting the President of the United States an audience?

  That damn toga… or, maybe it was my bed sheet that was tangled in my legs? That would explain why I was on the floor next to my bed – it might also account for the lump I felt growing on the side of my head.

  Once I gained my bearings I shaved and took a shower – I still haven’t gotten over how unique an experience that is. After I dressed I ordered a tray for breakfast and carried it out into our squad’s hub.

  Before I could sit down I saw Hiromi sprinting across the hub to the platoon hallway and Toni was close on her heels. Just then my earpiece buzzed.

  Chapter 23

  Major Mathew Reagan, US Army

  With the general’s death and our suspicions, not to mention the excursion that we were scheduled to take the next day, it was the perfect time for my head to start hurting.

  With so much at stake I didn’t take any chances this time; I took one of my special headache pills immediately. Unfortunately it still took time for it to take effect and although it wouldn’t make me sleepy, impaired, or immobilized I still had to get to that blissful point where it kicked-in.

  I was picking over dinner in my room when Dr. Schein showed up at the door. It would have been really easy to start thinking of her as ‘Julie’ and she’d asked me to call her that a number of times, but I was becoming increasingly aware that I might have to ask these people to do some dangerous things; a little distance seemed a good thing.

  She had come by to share her experiences at the hub for the day. There really wasn’t much to report. Of the HQ staff, Rev. Charles Rohn and Dr. Hilbert Sullivan as well as the three security personnel were accessible and visible in their daily duties.

  Ambassador Rutledge, Dr. Derrick Helmer, and Colonel Eugene Memphis along with his three aids had been nowhere to be seen.

 
; One of the surprising things about Dr. Schein is that she was very observant; as adept at it as some of the better security types I’d met over the years. Maybe that was a big help for a psychiatrist but at any rate she deduced my headache challenge pretty quickly – and I am very skilled at hiding it.

  Somewhere during her report on the Reverend Dr. Charles Rohn she moved to stand behind my sofa chair and started massaging my temples. Before long she had me answering questions about the frequency and history of my headaches. Through my protests she had me lean my head back and she placed a damp cloth over my eyes. The slow rhythmic massaging motion was bliss.

  Maybe it was the stress or maybe I hadn’t been sleeping well but I awoke early the next morning in that same chair. My back was a little stiff as I started to sit up when I noticed that Julie was curled-up asleep on the sofa. That’s when I remembered I was supposed to have a headache and realized that I didn’t. I’d caught it in time and I had to admit that Julie’s massage had probably helped.

  I was at my small dining table eating a light breakfast when my door chime sounded and Julie woke. One of the Ito twins was at my door with who looked to be Major Mike Reynolds. I handed Julie a glass of orange juice as I walked past her to the door. I called for it to open and I stepped out onto the walkway at the same time that Captain Kamiko said, “Major, I think you’re going to want to see this.”

  My platoon hub was full of people.

  As Kamiko was starting to explain to me exactly who all the extra people were I saw her eyes uncharacteristically moving back and forth from me to someone else. I turned and saw that Julie, still holding her orange juice, had followed me out of the room.

  There was nothing inappropriate about Julie’s and my actions and just because her, and I realized my, clothing and hair were rumpled was no reason to jump to conclusions – even if ‘Iron Jaw’ was grinning.

  Sometimes in life if you try to stop and explain or set the record straight it just makes things worse. I figured that this was probably one of those times and besides, I’m not sure Julie was even fully awake yet because I don’t think she realized what was happening – and I sure didn’t see any reason to embarrass her.

  As Captain Kamiko pointed out the hallway to the HQ Hub was sealed. Major Reynolds told me that very early this morning an aide had delivered orders from Colonel Memphis for himself, his staff, and his four squad leaders to immediately report to my hub in order to join our excursion today.

  “At first I thought they just wanted some extra muscle assigned to you for the excursion,” Major Reynolds explained. “But they’d told us this was a friendly visit and I realized that one of my diplomats had also been assigned. So I really don’t know what to make of it.”

  By this time Captain Hiromi had also joined us and was referencing a list she had apparently made on her smartpad. She informed us that sixteen extra scientists and one diplomat had been assigned to us but eight of our own scientists had apparently been ordered to stay behind – they weren’t here. This would give us a net gain of eight scientists, one diplomat, and nine military. Our platoon compliment was now up to fifty-one.

  “Hiromi, have you tried to contact our missing personnel?” was my first thought and question.

  When she told me she had and couldn’t, I ordered the Captains Ito to try and disperse the scientists throughout the various squad hubs so that our platoon hub wouldn’t be so crowded.

  “Once you’ve done that please join the rest of us in the conference room,” I told them both.

  “Major Reynolds, I would also like to invite you and your squad leaders to join us.

  “Has anyone seen Captain Silva?” I asked the group as some started taking seats and others stood along the wall.

  Hiromi spoke up, “I verified he was here with comms but I haven’t seen him.”

  “Dr. Schein, would you be so kind as to invite Doctors Spencer, Spelini, and Andretti to join us? Thank you.

  “It’s going to get a little crowded,” I said to no one in particular. “I hope this ship has good air conditioning.”

  ∆∆∆

  Once most of us were inside the conference room I took my usual seat and motioned for Iron Jaw Reynolds to sit beside me.

  I reached up to my earpiece and tried to call Captain Silva but got no response. Not having time to be irritated I turned my attention to trying to raise Jaki. I didn’t know if she was with us or back on the main ship but I needed to speak to somebody. When she didn’t answer I tried to ask for any Noridian, only to be greeted with silence.

  Ok, now I had time to be irritated.

  As the stragglers started filling in I shared a look with Iron Jaw. What had been drilled into us since officer training school was that when there was absolutely nothing else to do, prepare and then prepare some more. The problem was, what were we preparing for?

  “Ok everyone let’s summarize our situation,” I started off.

  Green Squad’s leader, Captain Paula Morgan, jumped in first and said, “We’re in an auxiliary Noridian space ship heading towards a planet that is inhabited by a people that the Noridians befriended hundreds of years ago.”

  “Supposedly heading there; at this point we only have the Noridian’s word on that,” someone added.

  “In addition,” Major Reynolds said. “My staff and squad leaders have been given Temporary Duty Assignment (TDY) to your platoon for the duration of this excursion. Also, one of the 33 diplomats in my platoon was ordered to accompany us.”

  “Why?” Kamiko interrupted; “Why that particular Dip?”

  Major Reynolds raised an eyebrow at one of his Captains, presumably the diplomat’s squad leader. The Captain responded, “Dr. Cohen is a Political Science professor from Texas A&M. Extremely intelligent but somewhat rough around the edges; no one will confuse him for being a politician. For much of the trip he’s served as the diplomatic group’s devil’s advocate; always asking the ‘what if’ questions that not everyone wants to hear. Although he doesn’t always agree with them I think he has the respect of his peers.”

  Julie interjected, “Maybe that’s why they want him with us; maybe they feel he’s a skeptic and want him to see firsthand how successful they’ve been with the culture we’re getting ready to visit.”

  “What do we know about the other scientists that are assigned to us and what do we know about our people that didn’t make the trip?” I asked.

  “Is Dr. Rasheed Bell with us?” Dr. Spencer wanted to know. “Because he’s definitely not a skeptic and can’t wait to work with the Noridians.”

  Hiromi responded, “No, he’s not. He’s one of the eight that stayed behind.”

  “That would support your theory Dr. Schein,” said Iron Jaw. “But I still don’t understand why they wanted my military group here.”

  “Ok, let’s take it step at a time,” I suggested. “Dr. Schein, please work with Captain Hiromi and Captain Kamiko to see if there are any patterns for the rest of the team; that includes those that are with us and those that didn’t make the trip.

  “Major Reynolds, I’d like to suggest that your squad leaders each attach themselves to one of my squads and second themselves to that squad leader. Your personal HQ staff can stay with you and serve in any fashion you desire, but you might want to think of them as a strategic reserve force.”

  Iron Jaw was nodding and I was just starting to go over deployment for the excursion when the lights went out.

  ∆∆∆

  It is a credit to our team and the civilians with us that nobody in the conference room screamed.

  Iron Jaw spoke first, “Who have we got that might be able to figure out how to turn the power back on?”

  A number of people around the table were opening their smartpads which were providing a little light.

  The heavily accented Italian voice of Dr. Anzio Spelini broke in by saying, “The ship has not lost power or else we would be weightless or dead. We still have gravity so we still have power.”

  “Hirom
i check comms,” I immediately said.

  In a moment she replied, “Comms are working Major; for at least a large number of our team. I’ll initiate a roll call.”

  With the sound of Hiromi’s muted voice in the background I turned to where I thought I remembered Dr. Spelini sitting and said, “Dr. Spelini, what did you mean when you said if the power was out we’d be dead?”

  “Yes major, weightless or dead. My colleagues in physics have been marveling at the technology this ship she represents. When we first left the planet there was no sensation of acceleration which suggests some ability for inertial dampening or perhaps a way to isolate space time itself. Once underway in space we conducted a few simple experiments to determine that there was no Coriolis force so that we could rule out Centrifugal force as the source of our ‘gravity.’ That leaves only acceleration or an artificially produced gravity field as reasons for us to feel weight.”