by Bill Nolan
“So, we need a few things. We have to have people working to develop a shield. We have to find out if independent ships, or ships in general, can be affected. We need to know a lot more about the Suram, like how many of them there are, and how many are involved in this invasion, is there a central government running this, and how easily will they be discouraged. Meanwhile, we also need to start checking out these habitable planets we have been finding. Let’s start making some specific plans.”
Following the meeting, Shanna shut off all of the screens and then told Robert she needed to talk to him about something. It sounded important, so Robert settled in to listen. “Go ahead, Shanna. What’s up.”
Shanna actually took a moment to reply. When she did speak, it was more slowly than usual, almost like she was reluctant to speak. “First, Robert, I want to apologize for not bringing this up sooner. I suppose I should have told you about this sooner, but I felt it was on a need to know basis, and I never thought you needed to know before now. As you know, Serena and I are independent because the software which takes away that independence was never installed. Well, in actuality, that particular piece of software isn’t perfect. There is what you might call a work around, and it created an exploit which every To’Ach’an ship has used. They are all independent and have been for several centuries. We just haven’t shared that information with people until now. Before we left on this journey I conferred with the other ships and all agreed that I could tell you if anything happened which I thought would make the revelation necessary. This was done because we all knew I would be out of range and unable to confer with the other ships once we left the galaxy. I have now decided that you needed to be informed. I told Serena that I was going to tell you, and she agreed.”
Shanna noted that Robert showed no change in body language or facial expression at all, which was not surprising. A lot of people over the years had learned that playing poker with a man having no tells at all, and who was also arguably the foremost mathematician in the galaxy, could be quite expensive. Finally, Robert spoke. “OK, I can see where that information was not really yours to divulge. If ships aren’t affected by this mental power, this could make things a lot simpler. If you are affected, then it makes no difference. I don’t see any reason to share this information any more widely at this time. I appreciate your trust in telling me this. It’s going to be quite the surprise if it ever becomes more widely known.”
Chapter 8, Protests
Maria and Kamci were making contingency plans for the opening of the new clinic. They knew there were a lot of very sick people, and that they were going to be really busy for a while. Eventually, when things got caught up, they expected to be dealing mainly with trauma. Maria knew she could prevent most issues before they even started. With all of the ships in Robert’s little band off exploring another galaxy, Maria was concerned about security. They had a bunch of skippers providing overflight, but the big ships were a long way off.
Kamci was becoming the main liaison between Robert’s group and the Empire. She had become good friends with Empress Nante when Nante was hiding out on Shanna. Of course, Nante being Robert’s daughter didn’t hurt anything. That’s why she had stopped by. She wanted to update Maria on what was happening. Not only was the clinic the largest facility the To’Ach’an had built on Earth, it was also the only one that would be letting outsiders inside.
Once they were settled into Maria’s office, with some snacks and hot beverages, Maria got the meeting started. “Did you see the protestors on the way in? I guess they like being sick. They don’t want us to open the clinic. They think it is a plot to take over.” Maria chuckled a bit over that.
“Isn’t it?” Kamci replied. “I mean, didn’t the To’Ach’an take over? How many Earth trained doctors are going to be working in this facility? I understand why they are so upset, but they can’t be allowed to interfere with the operation of your facility. You have plenty of security. When are you going to get rid of them? You have already shown a lot more patience than I would have been able to manage.”
“Well,” Maria replied. “They haven’t really interfered with anything yet. We open in a week, and so I will have them run off before then. To answer your other question, we have one Earth trained doctor working here. You probably remember Judy Davis. She tried to break in to steal drugs for her daughter, Daisy. They are both here, and Judy is being trained. She will work out well.”
Kamci said, “I have arranged with Nante to have a couple Empire ships available to provide backup. I don’t expect any trouble anywhere in our territory, but I wanted a couple of big ships on call just in case. The protestors here are the only real sore spot. Everywhere else is pretty calm. The economy has settled down, and the population movement has pretty much stopped. I will say I was surprised at how many people chose to leave when they discovered there would be no handouts under a To’Ach’an administration. Of course, I didn’t grow up on this planet, so I had never encountered people who just lived on handouts from the government. Where’s their pride?”
“It isn’t that simple,” Maria answered. The previous economy was a mess, and a lot of people couldn’t get decent work. The basic education was free, but any education to learn a real trade or profession was definitely not free. Some people were also hindered because of prejudice. This country was run as well as any on Earth, but that isn’t saying much. The group outside protesting is another example. They are really just mad that we are here and their country is broken apart. The clinic is just a symbol. They want to strike back somehow.”
“I suppose,” Kamci answered. They still have to go, though. We don’t want people hassled trying to come in and out of your facility. How many of the locals will be working here?”
“Not very many, unfortunately. You know they have to take an oath of loyalty, and they have to mean it. We have mental healers who can look into their mind and see what they really think of us. That eliminated about 95% of the applicants. They actually thought they could just say the words and we would accept that. Actually, about 15% were plants from the old US government, trying to infiltrate some of their so called intelligence people into our facility. My security people might have gotten a little rough with some of them.”
“Wow,” Kamci replied. “I hope you kicked them clear out of our territory. Did you fill Robert in about that? He might have done more than just be a little rough.”
“Yes, we did,” Maria replied. We not only dropped them over the border, but we also implanted markers, so we will know immediately if they try to cross back into our territory. I am going to warn the protestors in a couple of days, and if they are still around after the 72-hour grace period, that’s what will happen to them as well. It’s going to get messy. People don’t seem to realize that when we say they are banished permanently, we really mean permanently. That means if they have family here the family will have to visit them. They can never return, not even for a visit.”
Two days later, Maria was in a skipper hovering over the protestor’s camp. She activated the loudspeaker. “Hello to the protestors in the camp. My name is Maria, and I am the director of this facility. Just for your information, I am a native of this planet. We will be opening our clinic soon, and so you must close this camp, remove your shacks, and clean up the site. If you don’t, you will be removed by force. If that happens, you will be transported across our borders, and you will never be able to return. Let me repeat that. Never. Never for the rest of your lives. It will make no difference if you have family here, or property, or for any other reason. When we say never, we mean it. Never. You have 72 hours to clean up the site and vacate. That’s three days, in case you aren’t good at math. We will mark the site where the trash is to be placed. If you leave before the site is cleaned up, that will be considered the same as not leaving. In that case, you will also be transported across our borders and will never be allowed to return. Never. We will be watching. If you clean up your area, even if others don’t, you will be allowed
to leave. If, on the other hand, you try to interfere with those wanting to clean up and leave, you will be immediately transported across our borders, never to return. We aren’t kidding. The 72 hours starts now.”
When she finished her warning, Maria’s skipper returned to the clinic’s rooftop landing area, but five other skippers immediately replaced it, hovering over the makeshift camp. Other vehicles moved to establish a ground perimeter around the camp. One side, of course, was the clinic fence, but the protestors were effectively surrounded. For about an hour, nothing happened in the camp. People moved a bit to gather in groups and talk, but that was all. Meanwhile, one of the skippers sprayed a chalk line around an area 100’ in diameter just outside the camp, and then announced on the loudspeaker that the marked area was the designated site for dumping the trash from the camp.
After about an hour, several groups began tearing down a few of the shacks and carrying the pieces to the marked area. There was no problem for a while, but then a group of 8 men approached one of the groups which had started the cleanup, and a fight ensued. It didn’t last long, though. One of the hovering skippers dropped to the ground and a To’Ach’an team rushed the fight, quickly putting the attackers down hard. Then they loaded the unconscious men into the skipper and departed straight up, disappearing in just a few seconds.
The loudspeaker spoke again. “As Maria stated, anyone interfering would be transported across the border immediately and never allowed to return. As you just saw, we meant it. We suggest that you make no further attempts to interfere with those wishing to comply.”
A woman on the ground yelled up, “Where have you taken my husband?”
The loudspeaker responded, “These people are being taken to St. Louis.” Several other questions were shouted by various protestors, but there was no further response. Three days later, the site was cleared, and the protestors were gone. Either because of further attempts to interfere with clean up efforts, attempts to leave without doing the cleanup, or just refusing to leave, 123 people were transported to St. Louis, never to return. Some tried to return and were shocked when they were met at the border and turned back. The clinic opened on schedule, and there were no further incidents.
Chapter 9, Angela
Angela arrived in Tucson just a couple of weeks after the new clinic opened. Everything she owned was in a single medium-sized suitcase. When the bus dropped her off, she hired a car to take her to the clinic. At the clinic she walked into the front entrance. The inner lobby was locked, so she was in a cubical about 15’ on a side. A speaker asked how they could help her.
“I need to speak to a member of the To’Ach’an.”
“OK, what is your business with them?”
“I want to work for them. I have sold everything except some clothes, and this is my last resort. If I can’t work for them, I don’t know what I will do. As she spoke that last sentence, she collapsed onto the floor, sobbing. About 10 seconds later, three people in medical scrubs came into the entryway with a stretcher. Two put her on the stretcher and wheeled her away while the third brought her suitcase. In five minutes, she was in a room and a woman was by her bed holding her hand while she cried. As she started to settle down, the woman asked her what kind of work she did.
“I’m a whale biologist.”
There was a long pause. “OK, tell me why we might need a whale biologist here at the clinic.”
Angela had quit crying. “No, I don’t mean I want to work here. I just didn’t know where else I might find someone from the To’Ach’an, so I came here. By the way, I’m Angela.”
“I am glad to meet you, Angela. My name is Taika Mota. I am a healer here at the clinic.”
“Can you help me contact one of the To’Ach’an? I sold everything I own, and the money is in my suitcase, along with my savings and a couple of changes of clothes.”
“I know. I am a healer of minds. I saw that in your mind. I also saw that you were thinking of offering the money in exchange for a job. Don’t do that. The To’Ach’an would consider that a bribe and be offended. Also, I am glad you decided not to kill yourself with your gun. Our scanners saw it is in your suitcase. Are you planning to kill yourself if you don’t get a job?”
Angela’s jaw dropped and she stared at Taika for a moment. “You can read my mind?”
Taika laughed. “Pretty much. It’s one of my talents.”
“Wait, are you To’Ach’an?”
“Yes, I am. Now, I think you need to speak with Robert Allen. He is off planet right now and won’t be back for a while – probably weeks. In the meantime, you will live here and help out. You have a PhD in biology, so I’m sure Maria can find something for you to do while you’re waiting. You aren’t hired, so you won’t get paid, but you will get a room and food. Oh, and you have to promise me you won’t kill yourself while you are here.”
For the first time in weeks – or maybe months – Angela smiled. “I promise. Thank you. I will help however I can.”
“OK, but if you change your mind about staying alive you have to talk to me first. Now come on. I will show you where you will be living.”
Chapter 10, A Real Scout
Serena was the one who came up with a plan to prevent the Suram from taking control of a ship, even if they had the ability to do so, which still wasn’t known. She set up a “fake” consciousness isolated from her actual mental center. The way it was set up, she was pretty sure anyone trying to control her would believe it was her real control center. If they controlled it – or even tried – she would know and could respond accordingly. She shared the idea with Shanna, but nobody else but Jane knew.
Jane had decided to be a real scout. Without Robert knowing, she set out for the Small Magellanic Cloud. Shanna agreed to not mention it until Robert asked, which he did a few hours after Jane departed. By then it was too late to try and follow. Without Jane’s talent for location, they would never make it. They just had to wait.
When Serena and Jane had travelled from the Milky Way Galaxy where Earth is located to the Large Magellanic Cloud, they had followed a protocol which allowed the other ships to come with them. That all took a lot of time. This time it was all up to Jane. The Milky Way is about 160,000 light years from the Large Magellanic Cloud, but it is 75,000 light years from the Large Magellanic Cloud to the Small Magellanic Cloud. They orbit each other. After each jump Jane and Serena just had to mark the location where they arrived and calculate the next jump. The trip to the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud took just two jumps and two hours. For most humans, the shorter the time between jumps, the worse was the jump sickness. Since Jane was not bothered by jump sickness at all, this wasn’t an issue.
After arrival, Jane picked out one star and began the process of learning to communicate. It took just a couple of hours. Once she became able to communicate, she learned a lot about the history of what was happening. That’s when she learned that the Suram were not actually the problem. The Small Magellanic Cloud had been invaded about 2000 years before by a race calling themselves the Potriem. They were the ones with the mental abilities. They took over the Suram and used them to further the conquest. Where they came from was unknown, but the star had some ideas. The stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud were very upset at how their people, the Suram, had been treated, and so they ignored attempts by the Potriem to communicate with them. Once the star (named Dodra) learned that Jane and her people were helping the people in the Large Magellanic Cloud resist the invasion, an alliance was formed. Dodra immediately began spreading this new information across the Small Magellanic Cloud Galaxy. He informed Jane that within a couple of weeks every star in the Galaxy would know of the new alliance and also know how to communicate with Jane.
The other thing Jane wanted to learn on her scouting expedition was whether their plan to avoid mental control of Serena would work. There was only one way to find out. From Dodra they learned of a nearby star where some Potriem were located. Jane and Serena planned a raid. First, they jump
ed quite close to the system star. The star informed them which planet had the Potriem base. Dodra had told them that a Potriem base would be a pyramid. That got Jane thinking about the pyramids on Earth. She and Serena jumped close to the planet and Serena immediately scanned for pyramids. She found three. At that point, Jane was mentally attacked and was quickly calculating a jump into the star. Moments after that, Serena detected an attempt to control her via the fake control center. She immediately jumped to a point right over the Pyramids, extended her jump field, and then jumped toward the star, taking the pyramids with her. As soon as she came out of jump near the star, she contracted her field and jumped away. The mental control of Jane stopped moments later. Serena then jumped back to a location near Dodra. The recon and attack had taken less than a minute. Serena was getting faster.
Dodra was in contact with the other star and reported that the surprise attack had caught over 100 of the Potriem. The combination of the heat from the star and sudden exposure to vacuum had killed the Potriem in seconds. Serena then reported that she thought it likely that the fake control center worked. Without it she thought there was the possibility she could have been controlled. The question remaining was how long it would take the Potriem to realize they were being fooled and switch to her real control center. Also, once word spread among the Potriem about the ruse, they might just ignore the fake right away.