by Tim Blagge
By: Tim Blagge
Copyright 2013
The Library of Congress
Table of Contents
Prologue
The Fight for Velador! -Chapter 1-
-Chapter 2-
-Chapter 3-
-Chapter 4-
-Chapter 5-
-Chapter 6-
-Chapter 7-
-Chapter 8-
-Chapter 9-
-Chapter 10-
-Chapter 11-
-Chapter 12-
-Chapter 13-
-Chapter 14-
-Chapter 15-
-Chapter 16-
-Chapter 17-
-Chapter 18-
-Chapter 19-
-Chapter 20-
-Chapter 21-
-Chapter 22-
-Chapter 23-
-Chapter 24-
-Chapter 25-
-Chapter 26-
-Chapter 27-
-Chapter 27-
-Chapter 29-
-Chapter 30-
-Chapter 31-
-Chapter 32-
-Chapter 33-
-Chapter 34-
-Chapter 35-
-Chapter 36-
-Chapter 37-
-Chapter 38-
-Chapter 39-
-Chapter 40-
-Chapter 41-
The Fight for Earth ! -1-
-2-
-3-
Prologue
This is the second installment of the story of Bill Burton, the genius inventor of anti-gravity. You can now read the first installment “The Gravity of Anti-Gravity” for free on Kindle! If you haven’t read part one, For continuity I suggest you read it prior to reading this installment.
In Bill’s own words, the first story is rife with greed, betrayals and mysteries involving criminal organizations and the highest levels of our world’s governments. If Bill learned anything in the first chronicle is to trust no one! This theme is continued in the second installment.
This second installment expands the universe of depraved entities obsessed with increasing their control over society and the power that it represents. Diverse new characters, both good and evil, pose baffling new mysteries and conundrums for our hero and his family.
This character driven series is two other things. One is the love story that grows throughout book one and flourishes in book two. The second involves an underlying parody that comments on the folly of today’s governmental systems.
Like the first installment, ‘the Fight for Velador’ is an exciting read. As Bill’s experience broadens, his clever solutions to problems vary between simple and bizarre. If you were intrigued and entertained by the first book, follow Bill on his next adventure. You won’t be sorry!
Thanks, Tim Blagge, author
The Gravity of Anti-Gravity II
The Fight for Velador!
-Chapter 1-
“Where will we be landing on Velador,” Pops asked Stella.
“It’s a city we call Prossfell,” Stella answered. “In English, Prossfell could be translated as Far Horizons or Distant Goals. It is the seat of our World Government even though as I’ve explained before, it’s authority over the independent States on Velador is limited.”
“With only a short notice, the mayor of the city quickly declared a two hour holiday so our people could properly greet you.” Stella added.
“I hope they are not disappointed when they see us in the flesh,” Grandma commented.
“At least Bill won’t have to worry about that,” Jerry said. “He’s already been seen in the flesh several times by these people so no surprise there. How many times did they see you naked Bill?”
“Not important Jerry,” I answered, “and let’s change the subject, okay?” I took Brenda’s hand, placed it in my lap. I gave it a little squeeze while forcing a half smile in a futile attempt to reassure her.
“Yeah Bill, How many times did these people see you naked?” Brenda asked as she pulled her hand back and replaced it in her own lap.
“Like I said Brenda and everybody else; it’s old news and it’s not important. So let’s drop it!”
“Stella, how long before we land?” I asked, attempting to change the subject of an uncomfortable line of questioning.
“We are descending now and should be on the ground in about ten minutes.” Stella answered. “I was just told that our World Chancellor will greet you personally and escort you into his chambers for a little Q and A. This conversation will be broadcast world wide but don’t get nervous; just be yourselves. Our people have seen you as you are and in some very trying situations, I might add, so this should be nothing by comparison.”
Then Rolf, who had stepped away briefly, came up to us and held out his hand and showed us several small odd shaped items.
“These are translation devices and have been programmed to translate our language into English.” Rolf explained. “Put them in your left ear. The people you will be speaking to will have a similar device which will translate English to our Veladorian language so everyone will speak in their own language and the listener will hear the conversation in theirs.”
“These devices also double as a communication device; a phone if you will.” Rolf continued. “As soon as we get them programmed, you will be able to call anyone on Velador by saying ‘nist’ followed by the name of the person you are calling. When someone calls you, simply say ‘axnist’ to answer.”
We all looked out the window to see the land rise up as we started our final descent. The recollection of the last few months suddenly jumped back into my head. The complete betrayal and deception of my own and many of the other governments back on Earth made me recognize the futility of simply trying to do something good. The potential benefits of my anti-gravity device touched off a firestorm of greed and lust for power and ended in the death of many people. I was afraid it was only the beginning. After hearing of the hundred years of conflict that ensued on Velador after their first device was invented, I made a decision. When I returned to Earth, I would dismantle the Flying Wallenda, sell it for scrap and try to live a quiet and uneventful life.
As our saucer came gently to rest, except for Jerry, we all stood up and peered out through the small windows. An ocean of humanity or whatever they were referred to on Velador was gathered. I was able to inspect the facial features of the people who were closest to our ship as we neared the ground. With a few exceptions most looked similar to the medical staff we had met earlier while they were tending to Jerry and Pops.
Even though their actual facial differences were small compared to us, it did give them a surreal look that I found hard to explain. Their eyes were placed farther apart than ours but just a little. Their nose was a little broader and a tiny amount longer. Their mouth appeared to turn down slightly at the corners instead of up like ours. Because the crowd was cheering, I assumed they were happy but by my standards, they appeared almost sad.
“We’re not in Kansas anymore!” Jerry announced as he and his floating chair moved closer to the window.
A medical aide exited the elevator shaft in the middle of the saucer and asked if Jerry could stand up. Even though it was a struggle and he had to push himself up with both hands and arms, he did.
“Jerry,” Stella commented, “another feature of that chair is that it promotes and accelerates the healing process. Your recovery should be about 75% complete by now and you should be totally healed within an hour or two. Pops, how do you feel?”
“I feel like I could go another round or two with those attackers at my house,” Pops answered. “So Stella, do you know what happened after we left?”
“This vess
el is equipped with a large wave gun similar to the hand held version Rolf used during our rescue from China. Just as our ship landed, a wave burst should have immobilized everyone in the area putting a stop to the hostilities.” Stella answered. “And we sent one of our men with a hand held unit who immobilized the group that was trying to blow up the front door to the fallout shelter. The wave doesn’t penetrate into the ground to the depth of the fallout shelter. That’s why we weren’t affected either.”
“I assume it hit both the good guys and the bad guys alike?” Jerry questioned.
“It did,” Stella answered. “There is no way to differentiate between people so everyone was affected. The result of the wave will have given the Police and other emergency teams enough time to get to the scene, arrest the attackers and tend to our friends before they wake up.”
The door to the saucer opened and we six Earthlings plus two Veladorians, Rolf and Stella, who looked like Earthlings, stood up and filed out.
As we exited from the craft, a cheer from went up from the mass of people rivaling the crowd noise when the home team wins the World Cup. Thousands of people were standing in a huge grassy square surrounded by large simple grey buildings. Winding paths meandered through groupings of tall trees, plants, small ponds and monuments. The landscape reminded me of Washington D.C. except it seemed friendlier and felt less official.
Jerry, who had one hand on my shoulder to steady himself, leaned in and said, “I think our reality show here could be a lot more lucrative and a whole lot less dangerous than on Earth. Once I get used to the look of these folks, why don’t we apply for a green card. We’ll say we’re students or guest workers or maybe we’ll volunteer to be guinea pigs. They must be doing reproductive experiments somewhere on this planet.”
Rolf walked out of our group and up to a trim man standing in the middle of several other slender men. I realized that I saw no overweight Veladorians. I thought these people must have found a cure for fat! Another opportunity to get rich, I mused. Of course a discovery of that magnitude might unleash a reaction on Earth that could make the response to anti-gravity look like child’s play.
Rolf gave the man some sort of odd salute that I figured was a substitute for a handshake. Rolf turned and waved our group over. When we arrived, the man was introduced to us as Chancellor Blofmoklirum, the duly appointed World Chancellor of Velador. I assumed the computer in my ear had no translations for proper names here.
One by one, we approached Chancellor ‘B’ as I decided to call him and shook his hand. Even though his handshakes were a little clumsy, Chancellor ‘B’ realized that it was Earth’s gesture of greeting and he got better at it with each new human he met. To a rousing cheer, we were introduced to the crowd one at a time including Rolf and Stella. Stella got the longest ovation, waved to the crowd, smiled broadly and stepped back into our group. Then Chancellor ‘B’ invited us into a large building so we could begin a question and answer period. I was looking forward to that exchange with immense anticipation.
I put my arm around Brenda’s shoulder and she put hers around my waist as we started walking the hundred yards or so toward the entrance of the strange looking building. As we walked, I asked Brenda what she was thinking at this moment.
“Bill, I honestly can’t explain it. I may be dreaming, or maybe I’ve lost my mind, but I’m walking with the man I love, on a planet that none of us knew existed, for reasons I’m not sure I can explain. Just another day at the office for us I guess.” Brenda commented with humor and added. “Bill, just hold me tight. I’m feeling a little lightheaded right now at the realization that, my last comment happens to be true.”
“I’m never letting you go Brenda, in a figurative sense I mean.”
“Bill, you always were a little overly literal but I get your message.”
The building that we were approaching was shaped like a gigantic hour glass and was situated centrally in the square. Its base was circular about three hundred feet in diameter. The structure appeared to be about twenty stories tall and it had hundreds of large triangularly shaped windows inset almost randomly into what appeared to be smooth, polished aluminum walls. Its design was unlike anything back on Earth or the surrounding buildings scattered around the square.
Before we entered the building, I turned around to again review the large crowd of Veladorians who were watching us. Just above the horizon in the direction the crowd, I noticed a small speck in the distant sky. It looked like an aircraft and it appeared to be moving in our direction. As the vessel got closer, it was obviously an anti-gravity powered ship because it flew almost silently. Its design was more sleek and menacing than the saucer we had just arrived on. Slowly at first and then increasingly, the crowd turned and saw the aircraft. Suddenly a panic seemed to set in. A loud discernable shriek went up and the crowd started to scatter. People were running, tripping and falling over each other trying to get out of the path of the aircraft. We arrived at the entrance to the building just as the aircraft sailed smoothly and quietly overhead. What I was able to glean from the excited Veladorian conversations around me was; the aircraft was not from Velador!
-Chapter 2-
Inside the large metallic Capitol Building, we were escorted to a large room and seated around a conference style table. There were no lights evident but upon inspection it appeared the walls and ceilings glowed slightly and illuminated the room perfectly. On the walls were pictures of Veladorians who I assumed were prominent politicians from their past. Because of their unusual appearance, it gave the place a dreamlike quality.
After we were seated, Stella, in her typical direct way jumped in.
“Who and what was that ship that just flew over?” she asked.
Chancellor ‘B’ was the first to answer the question and he addressed Stella as Gruslimock. Another proper name the computer couldn’t translate.
“Gruslimock, you have been gone almost five years and a lot has happened on Velador since you left,” Chancellor ‘B’ began. “That vessel was from Cromwell and they have been visiting us frequently lately. The pilot probably flew over to investigate the commotion surrounding our visitors from Earth.”
“You mean the Cromwell, the first planet we helped through their anti-gravity transition almost two hundred years ago?” Stella asked.
“That is correct,” the Chancellor answered.
“Judging from the reaction of the crowd, Chancellor, there’s got to be more to the story than that.” Stella said as she demanded to know more. “From what I could see outside, our people were genuinely terrified of that aircraft. So what’s really going on, sir?”
“First let me apologize to our visitors for our digression but I think they will quickly see the importance of your question and my answers.”
“About eighty years ago,” the Chancellor continued, “the Cromwells successfully discovered how to manipulate space-time giving them the ability for deep space travel and exploration. Our own explorers ran into them in another system about forty years ago. The system was not habitable but we found out that the Cromwells were there doing mining and mineral extraction on two of the planets. They had built a gigantic vessel to transport the minerals back to their home planet. As you know from our history, Cromwell does not have as hospitable a climate as Velador or Earth for that matter. And its modest supply of easily mined, basic raw materials has long since been depleted.”
“At the time, we didn’t think much of it until about a year ago when the first vessel from Cromwell visited our planet. They said that they were exploring other systems for raw materials and didn’t realize this was Velador; the people who helped them transition through anti-gravity. They left but had discovered Velador’s rich supply of the exact materials they needed. About six months ago they returned wanting to trade for our raw materials.”
“There were two problems with their offer. The first was that they had nothing to trade that we value or need. The second was that we mine only the minimum required to maintain our
planet’s population and lifestyle. So we respectfully refused.”
“Everything quieted down for awhile. Then a month ago, a high ranking member of Cromwell’s world government met with me right here at this table and demanded we give them the materials they needed or suffer consequences.”
“I explained to Cromwell’s representative that on Velador, with our government structure, I didn’t have the power to trade anything to anybody but I would bring his mandate to the Chief Executive Officer of each State and get their input. That’s where it was left and everything was quiet until their vessel flew over just now. One of our World Guidelines is to fully inform all our people about everything our government does and encounters, so everyone outside in our welcoming crowd as well as everyone on the planet is aware of this new danger. That’s why the people responded as they did.”
An aide to the chancellor came over, interrupted our discussion and showed the Chancellor a message on a paper thin electronic tablet he had. From the look on the Chancellors face, considering the little I understood of Veladorian facial expressions, it was not good news.
“We have to stop this discussion for now and get to our question and answer period with our new friends from Earth,” the Chancellor explained as he began to regain his composure. “The people of Velador are anxious to see you and listen to your questions. It’s something like the people of the United States bringing your Founding Fathers into your twenty-first century and seeing what questions they might ask. That would be an interview that every human would want to watch. Even though we are from different planets, the concept is the same.”
“Chancellor Blofmoklirum,” Stella jumped in and asked. “Quickly, before we get started, what was in that memo you just received?”
“For the moment, and until we can determine the best way to communicate this to the public, this information must remain in this room.” Chancellor ‘B’ cautioned “Our scans have determined that the vessel that flew over was armed with a number of neutron style bombs. Ones similar to the weapons we outlawed and dismantled almost two centuries ago!”