by Janet Shore
One of the human creatures groaned. The other made strange guttural sounds. The third one nodded his head in assent. It would be another hour before their speech abilities cleared up to the point where someone could understand them. Peto reached back into Antonio’s briefcase and pulled out three copies of an instruction manual for a device. He passed out the manuals to the three individuals. The commander spoke,
“For the purpose of your mission, we have divided the Earth into three zones. Each of you will take a zone. You hold in your hand the instruction manual for a device that will be distributed to all of humanity. The device will fill any of the needs of the people. Food, water, medicine, tools, and clothing are some examples. The people will use the device instead of relying on the military. There are two phases to your mission. First, distribute and train humanity on the device. Second, convince the military commanders to assemble into a fighting force that will aid us in the ground battle with the Danali.”
The voice of the newly hatched human had the sound of a dying man,
“How does it work?”
The commander answered,
“Your instruction manual explains that in great detail. The device works on a password system. The name of Antonio Prenka serves as the password. The user speaks that name to gain access to the main functions of the device. The device itself is a living thing. Once open, the user fills it with material, then it will close. There is a spot on the shell where the user puts his hand. The device then determines the needs of the person. It manufactures the product. Then, when it opens, the user can reach into it to get the finished goods. Any material will do since most things are made from special arrangements of specific quantities of a handful of lightweight elements from the periodic table. So, they can fill it with living or dead material that they pick of from their surroundings. Everyone gets one, but they can be shared between people. Now, I will transport you to the command plane for each zone. Behind the command plane will be a shipping fleet of transport planes. The scope of this distribution is on par with the distribution of the devices that are implanted on each of their right hands or forehead. The full distribution will take just as much time to complete.”
The entire room changed from the gentle blue glow from the paperweight to a harsh red glow that seemed to come from the commander himself. When the pulsating humming transport beam reached its full intensity, the commander and the three messengers faded from sight until they had disappeared completely. Peto and Antonio morphed back into their human disguises. They looked at each other in the now dim blue light. They slowly ascended the spiral staircase and emerged back into the Pope’s office. The large tapestry gently swayed with their passing.
Three jets whisked the newly grown aliens to their respective zones. On the plane headed for North America, the alien opened the instruction manual that he had been handed at the Vatican. Inside the front cover was a label which read, “Property of General Long”. He stopped for a moment to consider the label. His name must be General Long, or he had a borrowed copy of the instruction manual. No matter, from this point forward, he would present himself as General Long. Disembarking at the Washington airport, he entered a limousine that drove him to the Pentagon. At the Pentagon, he was met by Pedro Sanchez. The two walked to the room to meet with General Arnold and Major Sanders. After the introductions were made, General Long noticed a military shipping crate on the floor next to the table. He opened the crate, removed a large polygonal object the size of four beach balls, and set it on the table. General Long explained,
“These devices are shipped as a tight packing of multiple units. This sample dodecahedrille has only four units for demonstration purposes. The user simply plucks out an individual unit.”
General Long plucked out one of the rhombic dodecahedrons and handed it to Pedro Sanchez. He then proceeded to pluck out two more, one for General Arnold and one for Major Sanders, leaving one for him. Pedro Sanchez thought it very strange that General Long was not wearing a Jazene device on his hand or his forehead. He continued,
“You can see how this will simplify the distribution of the units. Depending on the population size of your distribution point, you can logistically calculate how many transports you will need to ensure everyone in that area receives a unit. A dodecahedrille size of a thousand units is very compact. As a unit is plucked from the side, the whole assembly will automatically fill the hole left with the unit from above rearranging itself downward. This allows the people in the distribution line the easiest access to plucking out their unit.”
Pedro Sanchez exclaimed,
“This thing is alive!”
General Long explained,
“Yes, it is. I will demonstrate its use. Pedro, please speak the password and then place your hand on the gel-like area there. All the devices are set to the same password. The password is ‘Antonio Prenka’.”
Pedro stared at his device and said,
“Antonio Prenka.”
The unit responded with three clicking sounds, and then Pedro placed his hand on the unit. The green gel surrounded his hand and read his personal identification from the device attached to his right hand. The device started humming. It determined that Pedro had a slight fever and was not hydrated sufficiently. The unit opened revealing an empty pulsating cavity glowing with a pale blue light. General Long reached over into the shipping crate and removed a bunch of packing material. He shoved the material into the open cavity of the unit,
“The unit will use almost any material made of suitable atoms. Fortunately, most of the things around us are just different arrangements of the atoms lower in the periodic table, especially hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon.”
The unit closed and released Pedro’s hand, the color of the gel changed to red and the emitted sound changed pitch. The unit worked for a minute. The color of the gel changed back to green and the pitch reduced to a low hum. The cavity opened. Pedro removed a bottle of water and a small packet containing two aspirin. The cavity closed. The writing on the packet said,
“Take for low grade fever. Prescribed by Antonio Prenka”
The packaging of the plastic bottle of water had no label or expiration date on it, but lightly etched into the plastic were the words,
“Courtesy of Antonio Prenka”
Pedro twisted the cap and took a swig. He looked around the room. Everyone was staring at him waiting for his reaction. He raised the bottle again to his lips and drank down almost half of the bottle of water,
“This is the freshest water I’ve tasted in a while!”
General Long commented,
“It is one hundred percent H2O without any adulterants or leeching from the plastic. The unit determined that you were slightly dehydrated so it provided you a bottle of water. In this way, all of the humans on Earth that wear the device will have their own unit that will provide them with all of their food, water, clothes, tools, or whatever else they need. They don’t get everything they would want. They only get what they need as determined by the unit. Once you have distributed the units to everyone, the military will be free to aid in the planetary defense against the coming Danali invasion.”
General Arnold objected,
“Wait a minute! I agree that these devices will alleviate an undue burden on the military, but how can they aid in planetary defense? The technology of the Danali is so far ahead that our forces would be wiped out instantly. What do you know about a Danali invasion of Earth?”
General Long answered,
“I can tell you this. The Danali will be landing an invasion force in the Middle East. The Jazene forces are too depleted from the coronal mass ejection to sufficiently counter the assault. They need our help. They need the help of the entire world alliance of military forces. Antonio Prenka committed our aid to the commander of the Jazene. Your world needs you. This is a call to arms. You are correct that our current military technology is insufficient. The battlefield nukes, robotic armaments, smart missiles, and laser weapons that we have
in our artillery and air combat arsenal would be wiped out instantly by the Danali. We will not bring those weapons. The Jazene need operators for their weapons. They do not have the time or capacity to clone weapons operators, but they can provide the ground and air weapons in sufficient quantities that will match the Danali forces. Our military personnel will be rapidly trained by the devices that they wear on the right hand or forehead. The training can happen in minutes by a direct brain link from the device. The plan is straightforward. Distribute the dodecahedrilles to the population. Leave behind a small force to train them on their use, replace defective units, and keep the peace. Then the rest of the forces need to head for the Jezreel Valley. During the distribution of the units to the people and redeployment of your troops, the Jazene will be delivering the military equipment. As we speak, General Akuma and General Ravana are meeting with the military commanders in the other two zones of the world delivering the same defensive battle plan. I had a conversation with General Akuma before this meeting. He assured me that the military leaders of his zone were eagerly and enthusiastically endorsing this plan.”
Major Sanders sighed,
“Well, it appears that we have no choice in the matter.”
General Long turned to make direct eye contact with the Major,
“The fate of the Earth hangs in the balance. Without our help, the Jazene will fail to protect us from the Danali.”
General Arnold reassured,
“We are with you General Long. You will have our complete cooperation in this matter. Antonio Prenka has never let us down during the emergency relief effort. We are glad to honor his enlistment of our help to the Jazene.”
General Long turned toward General Arnold,
“Thank you, General.”
In France, Hugo and Pierre were trying to find another antique printing press when an excited Marie confronted them,
“Something strange is going on! The military trucks are placing these huge structures on the ground. The people are standing in line. When it is their turn, they pluck this weird shaped object from the structure and walk off with it. The soldiers direct the traffic.”
Hugo said,
“What does the object look like?”
Marie responded,
“It is the size of a large ball with flat sides. Oh, you’ll have to see one for yourself.”
Pierre added,
“Hugo, we need to get a hold of one of these things to see what it is.”
Marie led the Durant brothers to the location that she had seen the structure. The trucks, soldiers, and the people were gone. The strange structure was absent. Marie looked southward and noticed exhaust smoke from the transport vehicles,
“They went that way!”
Hugo turned to his left and saw a man with one of the objects. He nodded to his brother to circle around the man so that they could ambush him, and steal his dodecahedrille. Marie held both her hands to her face and whispered,
“Don’t hurt him.”
When they surrounded the man, a struggle ensued. The man produced a large knife to fend off Hugo and Pierre. He slashed wildly at the two screaming,
“Stay back! Stay away!”
Hugo and Pierre moved toward each other. The man faced the brothers bravely, but did not realize that Marie had snuck up behind him with a large rock. The rock landed squarely and knocked out the man. He fell to the ground, dropping his knife and the object which due to its round shape began to roll away. Pierre ran after the device and picked it up, puzzled by its unique geometric shape. Hugo picked up the knife and hurled it away as hard as he could throw. The knife sailed through the air and stuck in the wooden frame at the second story of a building across the street. Pierre and Hugo then ran away from the town back to the safety of their hideout in a nearby cave. Marie pursued her reconnaissance to find a person that actually used the unit for some purpose.
Pierre noted,
“I don’t understand why they were passing these out to everyone. What is this green stuff on the side of it?”
He gently pressed against the green gel. The device reacted enclosing three of his fingers and producing a grating loud squeal.
Pierre dropped the device on the floor,
“It burned my fingers! That thing is alive!”
Hugo reached down to pick up the dodecahedrille,
“Doctor Wiler, take a look at this.”
Out of the shadows, a white-haired gentleman with spectacles low on his nose came over to Hugo. Doctor Wiler reached out, took the object, manipulating it, raising it over his head to see underneath,
“I think this thing opens up somehow. Even though it has a geometric shape it is indeed alive. The green gel is sort of a lock and key system of some sort. Since the distribution of these is on a large scale, I would say that they have a primary function. We will need to open it up with a knife to see inside.”
Pierre added,
“We will have to kill it first. There is no way to sedate it and we cannot take a chance about its retaliatory capabilities.”
About a mile from the cave, Marie peered through the glass of a first story window of a home and saw a husband and wife at the kitchen table. The woman clearly said, “Antonio Prenka”, and stuck her hand on the green gel. The device grabbed her hand, and a cavity opened up. The husband rose from the table and walked to the front door. Marie carefully made her way to the front of the house hiding behind a large bush. Peering through the leaves and branches, Marie saw the man with a bowl in his hand filling it with grass, weeds, and dirt. He went back in the house. She made her way back to the kitchen window. The man emptied the contents of the bowl into the cavity. The cavity shut. The unit made strange sounds that Marie could hear faintly. The green gel had turned red. When the unit was finished, the sounds and color returned to normal. The cavity opened up and the woman started removing a variety of food and drink. The nourishing array of items would be their supper meal. Realizing the purpose of the device, Marie left the home and made her way to the top of a nearby hill. From her vantage point, she noticed that the town had less activity for this time of the day than usual. She also noticed that there was a dramatic decrease in the amount of military trucks around. Marie descended the hill and made her way back to the hideout. She entered the cave and saw Pierre and Hugo hovering over Doctor Wiler. She quietly approached them and said,
“I saw a couple get their dinner out of one of those things. It opened and they put grass, weed, and dirt into it. It worked for a while, and then opened up. They removed their supper from it. Also, it looks like most of the military have left.”
Hugo conjectured,
“Perhaps the purpose of the device is to supply its user with whatever it needs. It must be a molecular rearranging unit. The device on their hand may have something to do with its functioning.”
Pierre looked up at Hugo,
“I think this one is dead now. That last injection did the trick. I don’t see any indication that it is alive at all. Let’s take a chance. Cut it open.”
Doctor Wiler sliced the dodecahedrille in half just as one would saw through a ripe melon. The object was not quite dead. Bone chilling shrieks came from the object as it was cut. It sounded like a screaming crying baby was being stabbed repeatedly. Marie screamed,
“Oh! God! Oh! God! ”
The pitch of the shrieking increased while the volume rapidly decreased until the thing was very near death. Flayed open, Doctor Wiler peered inside to see a pair of the most beautiful eyes staring back at him helplessly from the bottom of the grotesque biomass. Then, the eyes shut for the last time. Doctor Wiler removed the specimen to another part of the cave for further examination. Perhaps examining some of the tissue may yield further clues. The inquiry would be limited and of dubious conclusion due to the quality of the salvaged equipment he had to work with for the examination.
The next day, all over the world the sky was full of transport planes carrying personnel to the Jezreel Valley from the three zone
s. The air traffic control near the valley was a delicate matter. Planes circled the drop off point until their fuel was dangerously low. Despite the complexity and density of the operation all of the planes landed, dropped off their human payload, refueled, and left back to their respective zones for another load. The operation went on day and night. On the ground, the men filled the valley with squad tents, command tents, and larger tents to house the military forces. The assembly of the troops and their supplies was orderly.
In the dead of night, miles away from any surveillance, a Danali ship descended to within an altitude of several hundred feet. A pack of gray wolves watched as the ship emitted a teleport beam delivering Derek Taylor back to Earth. The ship quickly departed vanishing from sight without being detected. Derek brushed himself off and stared back at the pack of wolves who had witnessed his covert arrival. He crossed one farm after another occasionally crossing a road after traversing many acres of crops. Looking down at the homing device he was carrying, the indicator kept him on track toward his goal, infiltrating the assembly of military forces, and finding the command tent. As he approached the perimeter of the massive expanse of forces, he aimed another device at an officer that was smoking a cigarette. The officer fell to the ground, and Derek exchanged clothes, so that he had a disguise with which to walk freely in the camp. At dawn, he followed the crowd to the mess hall for breakfast. He noticed that many of the servicemen saluted him due to the rank of Major displayed on his uniform. After breakfast, he watched the flow of personnel trying to discern a pattern to their movement within the camp. Finally, he stopped a corporal and asked,
“Soldier, I am a little turned around. Could you tell me which direction the command tent is?”
The corporal gave him detailed instructions on how to navigate through the military city. Derek thanked him, and started off in the correct direction. He walked for about an hour arriving just in time to see Major Sanders enter the command tent. Derek reached in his satchel and produced a listening device that had a recording capability. This advanced device freed him from having to be close to the tent to hear conversations inside it. He had ear buds linked to the device. He could start recording at a button press. Derek sat down comfortably in a nearby mess tent pretending to be reading a manual when in fact he was hearing all noises coming from the command tent. The battle planning session had not started yet. The casual conversations going on were absent of critical strategic content and not worth recording.