“There are things happening that need my immediate attention,” she chided him. “Your father was correct. We have no time for adolescent games.” Scott smiled calmly, frustrating her even further.
“We are just as concerned as you are about Gideon Mersky becoming a commander. I promise you we will address that situation first.” Ruth realized that Scott, and most likely the rest of the children, intercepted the message that Bess had just sent.
“You’re saying that you can receive Brigade commanders’ messages?” she whispered, not wanting Alya Mark to overhear.
“Yes, Aunt Ruth. We developed that communication ability long before you realized your own.” He glanced away for a moment, noting that everyone in the room was settled. Ruth was awed by that revelation. “And there is much, much more to be revealed...some now, some in good time, Aunt Ruth.”
Scott signaled for Melody Messina to join him in the front of the room. He gestured for Ruth to take Melody’s seat. The rest of the children were seated with their parents. The Martindale family, and the Margolin’s were settled in the front row of wicker chairs. Everyone was quiet. Even the precocious six-month old, Carmella Margolin, was attentive. The storm’s fury increased outside, hammering the glass roof of the sun room with sharp staccato rhythms. Scott stepped forward.
“On behalf of the children of Butterfly House, I want to welcome all of you: Antarean Commander Alya Mark, Brigade Chief Commander Ruth Charnofsky, my parents, Brigade Commanders Ben and Mary Green, the Antarean technicians and, of course, all the reunited Brigade families. Welcome!” There was a burst of applause. Scott smiled and nodded. “It’s great to see you all.” He waited for the room to settle, which was helped by a loud clap of thunder. “Even Kate agrees. That’s the name of this fortuitous hurricane.” Scott’s light attitude changed. He stepped closer to his audience and lowered his voice. He glanced around the room, finally settling on Commander Alya Mark and the Antarean technicians. “We understand your anxiety to be on your way back to Antares, and how you might think our refusal to be tested as being obstructive, adolescent petulance. I can assure you that is not the case. We, too, are anxious to leave Butterfly House. It has been our home, our only home. Now it is time for us to move on. We have much to do in the Universe.” As he spoke, he gestured above to the dark, stormy clouds that raced by above the glass enclosure, depositing a downpour of hard, wind-driven rain. “I can also assure you that we are more than able to travel, as you will see shortly.” He turned toward Ruth and his father. “We are not petulant adolescents. For the past three years we have traveled Earth, learning, meeting people and observing life on this planet, our birthplace. Long before we were conceived, here is where our genetic makeup was first created by the Antarean’s processing. We have observed the man-made artificial borders. Each side calls the other alien. But you all know that among space travelers and those civilizations aware that our Universe teems with life, nothing...no one is alien. None with that knowledge make war, as they do on Earth. The races out there are not, as Earth-humans depict, mindless, highly advanced beasts, intent on destruction or conquest. Quite the contrary. Those who travel in our galaxy do so peacefully and respectfully. We have seen this through your eyes, and in other ways.”
Many of the Brigade members in the audience nodded their agreement. Ben Green saw his son in a new and different light. He had, until now, pictured Scott as a sixteen-year-old teenager. But the man he saw speaking before the group was far more mature and poised. He exuded charisma that held everyone’s attention.
“Before leaving our home planet,” Scott continued, “we needed to understand our roots. That’s why we spent the past three years away from Butterfly House. We saw that bigotry, hatred, egotism and avaricious power might destroy humanity on this planet; perhaps even the planet itself. Earth-humans can’t seem to be able to live peacefully with one another or respect differences. Religion, race, creed, ethnicity, language, nationalism, greed, poverty, feudalism, monarchy...it is, compared to the Brigade, Antareans, and the other space travelers, primitive. There is no place for such ignorance and arrogance out there.” Again he gestured to the storm above. “Do you know, not long ago, they fired a rocket to explode on what they called, ‘just a comet’? It destroyed an entire crystalline life form – a thriving civilization. They have exported the genocide they practice here. The Parmans were furious, but have kept their anger to themselves. They know the Brigade was not responsible. Earth-humans have much to learn and change if they are to survive. But clearly, they are not ready to join the Universe.”
“Is there no way for you to help your fellow Earth-humans?” Julia Messina, Melody’s mother, called out.
“We cannot remain here, Mother,” Melody answered. “But we contacted certain children in many lands, while they were still in the womb. We taught them and expanded their abilities. They were born with intellect and powers far beyond any now on Earth. They are evolved beyond their time. They telepath with one another. They already have many common goals - to end war, terrorism, despoliation of the environment... Their abilities and knowledge will grow. It is possible that they will find a way to save this fair planet if others will listen.”
“Could you not remain here and help them, Scott Green?” Alya Mark asked.
“No, Commander, we cannot. We knew, before our birth, that your processing our parents to travel in space had set off a series of genetic alterations. Those changes made us a new humanoid race. We are no longer like our peers on Earth. We are no longer like our parents. We are evolved beyond them.”
Ruth was focused on Scott with great interest. But at the same time, she worried about Gideon Mersky’s transformation into Spooner’s personal Earth-human commander. Many of the powers Scott was discussing would pass on to him. Precious time was passing. Bess was on Antares, waiting for instructions. As these thoughts raced through her mind, a familiar voice spoke to her.
“Please don’t be anxious, Mother,” the voice whispered. It was her daughter, Autumn, telepathing from Subax! She was with Panatoy!
“Autumn?” Ruth messaged back. “You can hear? You have these powers, too?”
“We all do, Mother. Trust us. Listen to Scott. My friends there will show you marvelous things. I will see you soon.” Ruth noticed that Melody Messina was smiling at her and nodding. Scott was finished. He stepped back, next to Melody.
The children and their parents stood and applauded. Alya Mark was not sure that what the young man had said altered her orders. But she was made uneasy by the power the young man had shown.
Ruth and Alya Mark both stood up to speak at the same time. Scott raised his hand to silence the group. “Please, just wait a little longer, Aunt Ruth and Commander Mark. Melody and I now have some pressing business that will affect us all.” His voice was polite, but as persuasive as any commander, Antarean or Brigade. Ruth and Alya Mark sat down. The audience was again silent.
Scott took Melody’s left hand in his right. The two then spread out their free hands and arched their backs so that they were looking straight up at the glass roof and the storm above. The room grew dark and a circle of light surrounded the two. It widened as a space, but did not include the others in the room. That space began to fill in with another place, much like a holograph in which the two children were the centerpiece. And then the place became clearer. It was the private quarters of Head Counsel Spooner, on Antares.
Those in the solarium watched in awe, as an audience might in a theater, where the curtain had been raised to reveal a stunningly surprising set. Scott and Melody had somehow projected themselves across the galaxy. It had to be an image. Yet their presence in the solarium and in Spooner’s quarters, was simultaneous and real.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE - CONFRONTATION ON ANTARES
“What is this?” Spooner demanded, as Scott and Melody materialized in front of her worktable. “Who let you in here? Guard!” she shouted. But no guard appeared. “Who are you? Guard!” Scott bowed deferentially.
“He cannot hear you,” he told Spooner.
“We are, Head Counsel Spooner, in a dimension outside of his,” Melody said, also bowing respectfully.
“I am Scott Green, son of Brigade Commanders Mary and Ben Green.”
“And I am Melody Messina, daughter of Brigade members Julia and Vincent Messina. They were recently here for the gathering, but are now on Earth,” Melody told Spooner. She then extended her hand in friendship. Spooner stood, leaned her long body over the table, and grasped Melody’s hand.
“You are two of the children of Butterfly House, are you not?”
“We are,” Scott said. “We are here and there. The mission you sent to Earth, led by Commander Alya Mark, is able to see and hear us.”
“See and hear? But how is this possible?” Spooner asked.
“It is possible,” Scott responded, “for the simple reason that we are able. That is the best answer I can give you. We are here for one specific purpose. When we return to Antares with our parents, we will reveal more.”
“That response is unacceptable,” Spooner told the two children. She was not used to being put off when she asked a question.
“What is unacceptable, Head Counsel Spooner, with all due respect, is that you have ordered the processing of Gideon Mersky to be your personal Earth-human commander,” Scott told her politely, but firmly.
“We are here to ask you to immediately rescind your order for his transformation,” Melody added. Spooner stiffened to her maximum height and glared down at Scott and Melody.
“I will overlook your arrogance as that of badly reared Earth-human children. I do not know how you can appear before me, but I will not tolerate your uninvited presence any longer.” She made a motion to move toward the door of her quarters, but found she was unable. “Release me!” Spooner demanded.
“You are within our projection,” Scott told her. “Leaving it can only happen when we leave. All we ask is that you cancel Gideon Mersky’s processing to commander status.”
“That will not happen, Child,” Spooner said, folding her long thin arms across her chest in a defiant pose. As she did, the mark of her priestly station was revealed.
“You are of a priestly order?” Scott asked.
“That is not your concern, Child,” Spooner said, covering the ancient glyph with her sleeve.
“Then you no longer do The Master’s work?” he asked. Spooner became very angry – an emotion rarely exhibited by an Antarean. Her pale skin turned milky white. Her eyes widened and her mouth curled inward, until it nearly disappeared.
“How dare you question my devotion to The Master and His glorious plan. How dare you! Your parents know, the entire Brigade, the galaxy knows Antareans serve The Master.”
“Yes,” Melody said. “But it appears that you have lost sight of His glorious plan.”
“Nonsense,” Spooner answered. “Childish nonsense.”
“Has it not occurred to you that journeying to Earth, establishing a base there millennia ago, returning for your cocooned army, meeting and processing our parents and the others that became the Brigade, is all The Master’s work?”
“Everything is The Master’s work,” Spooner muttered with a wave of her hand. Her mouth began to widen and some of her pale blue pigmentation returned.
“Yes,” Scott said. “Including the ability we and our parents have to communicate across this galaxy and beyond. We, the children of Butterfly House, are a new generation, a new race...a race you helped create. Is this all not part of The Master’s plan? Have you lost sight of it because your ego will not accept our role in it?” Spooner was taken aback by Scott’s lecturing her. But his words gave her pause. What hidden powers did these children possess? Were they, perhaps, messengers from The Master?
“What is that role?” asked Spooner. Her tone was calmer and friendlier.
“At this moment, it is to advise you, Head Counsel Spooner, that giving Gideon Mersky Earth-human commander powers will cause you and Antares great difficulty.”
“And why is that?”
“Mr. Mersky once held a powerful and critical post in the government of our parents’ nation on Earth,” Scott explained. “He controlled great military forces and used his position to make wars in which many Earth-humans perished. The secret purpose of those wars was to gain power and wealth for himself and a group of his associates on government and business.”
Back on Earth, in the solarium, Ruth thrilled at Scott’s and Melody’s confrontation with the powerful Antarean leader. She glanced over at Alya Mark and the Antarean technicians. They were riveted in place, and also quite pale, not from anger, but from fear.
“When we were born, he tried to keep us captive on Earth to serve these selfish purposes,” Melody continued. “But he did not understand our powers, and those of our parents. He still believes that we all left Earth. He knows nothing of Butterfly House”
“Yes. I know that. And now we will test to see if you can travel. What does it matter if Mersky knows or does not know? He is here among us now.”
“What you do not know,” Melody told Spooner, “is that Gideon Mersky never gave up his plan to have us back on Earth, there to do his bidding. He, and his greedy friends, plan to use us to give them wealth and power.”
“He waited until he reached the right age,” Scott continued, “remembering the promise that Amos Bright had made. When contacted, he was ready to be processed and brought to Antares. But what you do not know is that before he left Earth, he made plans with his associates to use his power and position to bring us to Earth. Of course, as you know, he never knew we were there all the time.”
Spooner was now more than curious. Doubt began to gnaw at her. It was true that she did not like the power the Brigade commanders had by being her sole source of inter-galactic communication, or their close friendship with the Parmans. But she silently had to admit to herself that she still trusted them. What these wondrous children were now revealing about Mersky was disturbing. Was he playing her for a fool?
“If what you say is true, I want to hear it from Mr. Mersky, himself.”
“Excellent,” Scott said. “You may call your guards now to bring him here.”
“And Bess Perlman too,” Melody suggested.
Everyone in the solarium sat in silence. They watched Spooner order her guards to cancel Gideon Mersky’s processing and to bring him and Commander Bess Perlman to her quarters.
While she watched Scott and Melody wait with Spooner, Ruth quietly told the Greens, and Bernie Lewis, about Bess’s message.
“I think you should tell Bess what has happened,” Ben suggested.
“I will. This projection the kids can to is really something!” Ruth said, grinning.
“Incredible,” Ben added. “I had an idea about some of this,” Bernie Lewis told the others, “but not to the extent we’re seeing. I think it’s wonderful.”
“Yes,” Ruth said. “And my guess is that we have not begun to know what it all means.” She then left the room for a few moments, to message Bess, on Antares. The message got through just before the guards arrived to bring her to Spooner’s quarters.
“I will not stand here and be accused by these children,” Mersky announced angrily, after Spooner had questioned him about the plans he made with his associates on Earth.
“Then you deny what they say is true?” Spooner asked. “You did not make plans to bring the children back to Earth to serve your self interests?”
“I certainly did not,” Mersky answered emphatically. “I was invited here by Counsel Amos Bright. I chose to come to serve Antares. How could these Brigade children possibly know anything about me? They were infants when they left Earth.” Head Counsel Spooner stretched to her full height, a sure sign that she was angry.
“Were you not going to use their blood to make vaccines; use their powers to spy on others; use their knowledge to gain power, Mr. Mersky?” Spooner pointed her long, tapered index finger as she spoke. Her words were not questi
ons, but accusations.
“Absolutely not!” he declared. His voice wavered a bit.
“May we speak to Mr. Mersky, Head Counsel Spooner?” Scott asked.
“Of course.” She lowered her hand. Both Scott and Melody moved closer to the ex-Secretary of Defense.
“Do you know where we live?” Scott asked. Mersky folded his arms and stared at the two young people contemptuously.
“I haven’t the slightest idea. I saw you all leave on those three shuttles sixteen years ago, and have heard nothing more until Jack Fischer contacted me on behalf of Amos Bright who invited me to join the Brigade.”
“We have been living on Earth, Mr. Mersky,” Melody said softly.
“All but three of us,” Scott added. “They live on their fathers’ planets.” Mersky frowned, uneasy and confused.
“I saw you leave with your parents.”
“You saw three shuttles leave. What you didn’t see was the Probeship return,” Bess told Mersky. “We, and the Antareans, did not want to chance taking our babies into space. And we did not want to risk their safety by letting you know that.”
“When you were making your clandestine plans in Texas,” Melody told Mersky, “we were onto you and your greedy pals. You see, Mr. Mersky, ever since you tried and failed to keep us captive when we were infants, we have watched you.”
“When Commander Bright promised you could join the Brigade,” Scott continued, “he was naïve about people like you and your thirst for power. His only Earthly contact was with our parents, who were all older and retired. They were just average folks who had lived long and carried within them experience, and the tolerance that age provides. That is the very reason why they are such an asset to the Antareans and The Master’s Plan.”
“But we knew that you came from a place of wealth and privilege,” Melody continued. “You abused your trusted position. You represent the very worst of our species and planet. We are now here to make sure that you will never have the opportunity to exploit and enslave us.”
The Cocoon Trilogy Page 63