Here Comes Earth: Emergence

by William Lee Gordon

  Now I wasn’t sure whether to be angry or just resigned to their never understanding us…

  “Explain to me again why you don’t believe House Gabloriel will speak to us,” I asked.

  “We cannot command contact with the Lower Houses Mark,” responded Semi. “They appear to us at their discretion.”

  “Are you saying there is no two-way communication with the Lower Houses?” I asked.

  “It is rare. Some of us send our thoughts and messages to them when we’re alone at night; we want their advice and guidance but they rarely respond directly and if they do respond it is when and where they choose.”

  “Then why are we travelling to Dreken?” I asked.

  “Because regardless of how crazy we think you are,” Ashima said while smiling sheepishly. “We really are trying to help you the best we can.”

  “You are travelling to Dreken to show your respect and hopefully increase your chances of being heard,” added Semi.

  “Like a pilgrimage,” I muttered to myself.

  “When we arrive,” Semi continued. “We will guide you to an edifice where they have been historically known to receive visitors. Once there you will be free to make your case for Earth.”

  ΔΔΔ

  “I could get very used to this,” Anzio said as he lifted another Shrimp Diablo to his mouth.

  “Hey, you can’t change your mind now,” I said. “We’re committed.”

  Tonight’s midnight snack were large gulf shrimp deveined and laced with a strip of jalapeño, wrapped in bacon, and grilled to perfection.

  It had been a little challenging at first but we’d finally gotten the hang of instructing our smartpads to tell the food thingies how to prepare genuine simulated Earth snacks for us.

  Or, more precisely, how to prepare the ingredients. This leg of our journey had finally given Anzio a chance to demonstrate this love for cooking he kept claiming to have.

  I of course was determined not to admit he had any talent while insisting that he keep trying. So far it was working out very well.

  It was also a great excuse to escape the women for a while.

  We had explained the whole ‘Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus’ thing and fortunately they were both willing to give us some space. I would never admit it but I needed a break, both physically and mentally.

  So we had commandeered one of the unused staterooms and turned it into our unofficial man cave, or clubroom, or… whatever. Anyway, it was ‘No Girls Allowed’.

  “Have you given any more thought to how we get these Gabloriels to talk with us?” Anzio asked.

  “Yes, a ton of thought,” I said.

  After a moment he said, “And…”

  “And I still don’t have a definite plan, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  I had come to the conclusion that there was very little else we could do except show up and hope for the best. I didn’t really think the major would approve of ‘hope’ as a strategy but in this case I truly didn’t see an alternative.

  Fortunately we weren’t going to have much longer to wait. One more full day of traveling and then we’d wake up day after tomorrow in orbit around the planet Dreken.

  ΔΔΔ

  We had just finished lunch and the four of us were quietly passing the time away on the final day of our four month trek. No one felt like doing anything elaborate. Anzio and I were nervous about hopefully meeting one of the members of House Gabloriel and I think Ashima and Semi were nervous about how we’d react when we were inevitably ignored.

  We had some background music going and Ashima was quietly humming along with ‘You can’t Always Get What You Want’ by the Rolling Stones when I remembered something I’d been meaning to ask.

  “Ashima, everywhere we go I keep hearing music that I recognize. Come to think of it it’s always classical rock-n-roll.”

  Anzio immediately jumped into the conversation, “You’re right Mark, except on Semi’s retreat I was listening to an orchestra playing classical music.”

  Semi, looking somewhat surprised answered, “Yes, I guess my tastes are somewhat off-center; most of us do prefer your rock-n-roll.”

  “We could all sing some songs; you can choose,” Ashima said, thinking I was still looking for a distraction.

  “No,” I said smiling. “You really don’t want to hear me do that… but I guess what I’m asking is how widespread is Earth music?”

  “It is becoming very popular,” Ashima answered. “It is really unique and it just makes us feel good.”

  “Why have I never heard any Coridian music?” I asked.

  “Well, some women do specialize in harmonics, and we have quite a number of mnemonic story-tunes for our children to learn and remember important information with. It wouldn’t do for them to be totally reliant on their bioware without ever using any of their own cognitive function, but we don’t have any music as complex or as exciting as what Earthers produce.”

  I suddenly remembered the rapt attention everyone gave Julie when she sang that last night on Larga. Everyone seemed fixated except for several of the male Coridians.

  “Ashima, why is it only the women that enjoy our music?”

  “Mark, our men are not at all musical. It is simply something they consider frivolous.”

  After looking off into space for a few moments Semi said, “You have a name for it in your medical journals. For Earthers it is extremely rare and it is called Specific Musical Anhedonia. It is a condition where a person derives zero pleasure from listening to music.”

  “Ah,” said Anzio. “You mean to say your men they cannot make sense of the musical notes?”

  “No. Your journals call that Amusia. Our men can hear the notes; they are just not emotionally moved by them.”

  “But your women do feel our music?” I reiterated.

  “Oh yes Mark,” Ashima assured me. “Except for being with you physically, Earther music is the greatest thing about knowing Earthers!”

  I really didn’t know how to respond to that.

  ΔΔΔ

  I finally did manage to get some sleep that night and it was early the next morning that we found ourselves in orbit around the planet Dreken. I’ll admit that it was somewhat difficult to get my breakfast down. I don’t think I tasted any of it and I couldn’t recount to you what I actually ate even on a dare.

  Anzio was obviously being supportive but unlike the girls he knew me well enough to give me some room. Ashima eventually picked up on my unresponsiveness and they both followed Anzio’s lead.

  The planet looked more or less like all the habitable worlds we had seen so far except there were no orbital platforms, satellites, or cities visible on the surface.

  We travelled planetside in a shuttle and landed in a small clearing. After a few moments of silence Semi stood and moved to the hatch which automatically opened for her. Glancing once over her shoulder to us she left the shuttle.

  We followed her outside and onto a wide path through a dense forest that was filled with flowers and vegetation of startling color. Competing for kaleidoscopic majesty were insects with large iridescent wings and some type of multicolored lizard. The smell of the forest loam was pleasant and the temperature was perfect.

  After crossing a small brook with tantalizingly clear water we passed through a large stone arch and entered a stone-paved pavilion roughly 30 yards across.

  Semi stopped just inside the arch and looked at me expectantly.

  “Where to now?” I asked.

  “We are here,” she responded. “This place is the Al-Drek Circle.”

  “What do I do?” I persisted.

  She looked at me, smiled resignedly and said, “Speak your thoughts.”

  I looked around the clearing realizing that this was nothing like I had visualized. There was no door to knock on, no bell to ring; there was apparently only one way to announce myself.

  I gathered my thoughts and prepared to speak…

  Chapter 35

 
; Major Mathew Reagan, US Army

  We had just boarded our new ship and were still settling in when Silva found me.

  Except for the shuttles all the alien ships we’d boarded so far had been a relatively flat square, oblong, or circle in shape; and even though I’d thought the original Noridian ship was large its diameter had been measured in hundreds of yards. Our new ship’s diameter could be measured in miles. When you view things in space you really don’t get a good perspective on size until you actually touch the object you’re moving towards. When our shuttle was on approach I was impressed by our new ship’s size but it just kept getting bigger and bigger the closer we got.

  It was the first time I’d felt vertigo in space. If you’ve ever experienced that funny queasy feeling as your rollercoaster slowly tops its highest peak and prepares to plunge straight down you know the feeling. Once we were inside everything was normal but on approach the size of this ship was intimidating.

  Unlike our previous trip we would be stowing all our personal gear in our own staterooms; we had a long trip ahead of us but I also had a demanding training schedule in mind. I wanted everyone to have instant access to everything they might need - including the civilians.

  To that end I was helping everyone get organized when Silva pulled me aside.

  He’d just gotten word; Jaki and our original team had arrived back at Earth.

  ΔΔΔ

  I considered delaying our departure long enough to send another message to Earth but there really wasn’t anything else to add to our previous report. I made the decision to continue with our imminent departure. I did pause in my duties to check one more time but there apparently wasn’t any way to speed up the months-long transit time in front of us.

  The ultimate ‘Hurry Up and Wait’…

  That’s why I’d called this meeting.

  Within hours of leaving Largan orbit I’d arraigned for our entire team to meet in what passed for a Coridian amphitheater. If you’ve ever attended a required college basic freshman course with over 300 students on the roll, or an old-time movie theater, you know the type of seating arrangement I’m talking about; each row rising level by level from a lower stage and acoustically designed so that the speaker can talk in a normal voice and still be heard by all.

  The main difference from what I was used to was that the lower stage was completely encircled by the raised seating. There was no wall or whiteboard to write on but my understanding was that the vast space above my head could be filled with holographic projections totally controlled by the bioware that I didn’t have – not that I was planning on using slides anyway.

  Minus the casualties we suffered on Stiger, and minus Dr. Spencer and Dr. Spelini, my entire team was present along with Silva, Toni, and a couple of dozen other Coridians that had tagged along for the ride to Earth.

  What percentage of the Coridian ‘crew’ this represented I wasn’t sure. When I’d asked Silva, more than once, exactly how many of his dynasty would be accompanying us he’d been very nonspecific. The closest he would come to giving me a straight answer was ‘over a hundred.’

  Did I have mixed feelings about bringing so many Coridians back to Earth? Sure.

  Could I even be sure that the real number wasn’t over a thousand? The ship was certainly big enough.

  I didn’t like to think that I might be bringing an invasion force back with me but at the end of the day I realized that I had very little choice. None, actually. The Coridians were fully capable of heading back to Earth with or without me and we didn’t have any other options to get home. I spent a good part of the cruise forcing myself not to dwell on the subject.

  “I thought it best that we recount our experiences so far so that we can contemplate all of our future actions with a full perspective. In my experience it is sometimes very easy to let our decision making get swayed more by recent events than by the full picture,” I said to the crowd.

  “Our civilization was shocked when we discovered that we weren’t alone in the universe. It was even more stunning to realize that not only were at least some of the aliens hostile but that our technology was also vastly inferior to theirs.

  “We had no idea of the galactic political games being played when the Noridians first openly contacted us. and because they were claiming to be our friends many of us found hope again.

  “That hope turned to fear and dread as the truth of the Noridians slowly became known. We learned that they bioengineered our race and then later attempted genocide on us. We also learned that we were denied our heritage and purposely given shorter life-spans in that genocidal attempt. Both Dr. Schein and Toni of the Coridian enclave tell me that many of our cancers and other genetic diseases could very well be byproducts of that same genetic engineering.

  “And the Noridians aren’t finished with us. Today they’re trying to enslave us. Following the political rules of The Accord they’re trying to absorb our achievements and cap our freedom and sovereignty.

  “They make it tempting to us by offering a higher standard of technology and living but they would still own us, our achievements, and our future. And even if they were sincere about giving us a better life how could we ever trust a people that attempted to wipe us out?

  “We must remember that every mousetrap has its cheese.

  “The Coridians have given us hope again. They have protected this team and worked behind the scenes to thwart the Noridian’s plans for Earth. The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend is a good way to describe our relationship thus far.

  “We are grateful to them.

  “But I must say this to you in front of them – just because we like each other doesn’t make us friends; and just because we help each other doesn’t mean we can trust each other.

  “Many of the original Earth Team have been duped into believing Noridia is a friend and some, like Colonel Nesbit and Dr. Decker, have betrayed us. They have already returned to Earth and have a large head start on convincing the rest of the population to accept Noridia’s offer.

  “We personally have lost friends on this journey. We’ve watched our colleagues callously cut down or sacrifice themselves so the rest of us might survive. There will be a time and place to properly mourn them; today I suggest we honor them by learning from them.

  “When we realized that we’d been separated from the rest of the Earth Team and marked for death not a single one of us laid down to die. When the Noridians came after us with futuristic weapons we fought back with sticks and stones and our bare fists, and in too many cases paid the ultimate price.

  “What we did not do, however, was give up.

  “The Coridians need the Noridians to fail but they’d also like us to be their protectorate. We need Noridia to fail but we don’t want to give up our sovereignty to anyone.

  “When this is all said and done, when we’ve gotten all of this figured out and Earth is still free, whether it’s six months from now or six hundred years from now Coridians need to understand that Earth will either think of you as bystanders that gave moral support or allies that openly fought alongside of us. We will either think of you as a people that would help us only if there were something for you to gain or as true like-minded friends that we owe a debt of gratitude to.

  “What Earth will never think of you as is our owners; our superiors; our protectors.

  “We appreciate you taking us to Earth. We appreciate you giving us familiar weapons to defend ourselves. We understand the political expediency of keeping your involvement quiet for the time being, however, know this; there will come a time when you will need to take a stand.

  “There will come a time when Earth needs to know how to think of you – and it will be your actions that will determine that.

  “I am a simple soldier; one amongst billions of my people, but I can confidently tell you that we value loyalty and we would welcome you as a true ally. You won’t earn our respect by playing political games, but you will earn it by standing with us as equals. The things you hope
to gain from being our protector will taste so much sweeter when you’ve earned them as our friends.

  “Earth will beat the Noridian threat. I just hope that we can forge a partnership with Coridia along the way.”

  I’m not much of a speechmaker and I certainly wasn’t trying to make this dramatic so I moved ahead to discuss the various details of the training schedule I had set up along with the outlines of our tactics once we reached Earth. I had briefly toyed with the idea of trying to keep some of the planning to ourselves but… I’d literally laughed out loud when I realized how impossible that would truly be. I was banking that transparency with our Coridian hosts would suit us better for the moment…