Escape to Earth-Fighting for Space

by Saxon Andrew

“Then why did you say what?”

  “Oh…never mind.” Jinks thought for a moment and said, “Jester, catch up to that lifeboat.”

  Jester pulled up next to the lifeboat and it stopped. A moment later the bay door opened. “What are you going to do?”

  “Give him some insurance.”

  “What?”

  “Watch and listen.” Jinks jumped back into the lifeboat and after a few moments, the Fleet Leader reentered the bay. Jinks reached into his pocket and took out a small round device. He held it out to the Fleet Leader and he took it, “What is this?”

  “It’s a personal force field and it’s stronger than any in the Fellowship.” The Fleet Leader looked at Jinks, “Push the slide and it will activate. The strength setting is the small dial. At the lowest setting, it is not visible.”

  “Why are you giving me this?”

  “Removing a ruler is not always as easy as one might think. If you can agree to using our technology only for peaceful purposes, and that includes self-defense, we will work with you.”

  “Will you give me this force field technology?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why did you agree so quickly?”

  “Our disruptors will penetrate it. I will not be giving you our disruptor technology until both of us trust each other enough to do it.”

  The Fleet Leader stared at the small force field projector and then looked up at Jinks, “One day we will look back on this day and be amazed at what was born.”

  Jinks put out his hand and the Johan stared at it. After a moment he reached out and took Jinks’ hand in his. Jinks shook it and said, “This is what we do after making an agreement.”

  The Johan smiled and shook it again.

  Chapter Six

  “Lukas, I think the Johan are about to make their escape attempt.”

  “How are they planning to do that?”

  “I think they are going to move out toward the edge of the solar system at full thrusters. Once they’re outside the orbit of Mars, they’re going to coast out to the place where the Welken and Myot ships skipped in.”

  Lukas smiled, “They are no longer at that location.”

  “No, they’ve followed Earth as it continued its orbit. The Johan will move out into the middle of the Myot’s skip traces and jump away following those traces. Knowing which one is the Johan trace is going to be next to impossible.”

  Luka shrugged, “I suspect they will follow those traces to a much larger band of traces.”

  “They will and at some point they’ll skip away from that highway and wait to see if they’re followed.” Jinks paused, “The Myot and Welken can still follow those traces and find where they skipped away.”

  “I doubt it.”

  “Why? The Myot and Welken have enough ships to make the search.”

  Lukas shook his head, “Do you have any idea how many ships skip out from the Welken or Myot planets every day and those traces will last for weeks.” Jinks shook his head. “Literally millions of traces in thousands of major trace pathways. The ships that leave their major planets go on the same trajectory. At some point, individual or groups of ships break out of the ship pattern to jump toward their destination. The Myot and Welken will have to investigate every one of those break away traces to determine which one is the Johan. If they don’t find the correct trace within seven weeks, the trace will be gone.”

  Jinks thought for a moment and said, “Even if they do find the correct one, when they arrive at the end, they won’t be able to see their ships.”

  “Exactly. The Johan will just wait seven weeks and if the Myot or Welken don’t show up…”

  “They’ll jump home free.” Lukas nodded. “This buys us some time.”

  “It does. The new Barbados Government has leased us a large plot of land to build new construction facilities. They do ask that we employ their population. I understand that one of the ship converters is now operational.”

  “It is. We hope to have eight more up and running in another month.”

  Jinks nodded and took a deep breath, “When are we delivering the mini-converters.”

  “Joey is making the announcement in three days. We’re planning to ferry them with the Pods.”

  “What do you think the impact will be?”

  “I don’t know but it is the right thing to do.”

  Jinks nodded slowly and then shook his head, “This will cause a radical change in every society.” Lukas nodded. “There will be some that resist this.”

  “Let them explain their resistance to their people.”

  Jinks shook his head, “That should be interesting.”

  “Hey, they convinced people global warming was real. You might be surprised at what the talking heads can come up with to justify their continued power and influence.”

  “No, I don’t think they can do anything that would surprise me.”

  “If you say so.”

  Jinks tilted his head and then shrugged, “Oh well.”

  • • •

  Joey stood in the center of the giant room and looked at the United Nations General Assembly. An announcement had been made numerous times of the last two weeks that a representative from the ONE WORLD leadership would address the assembly about an important development. The new leadership of the Assembly were reluctant to allow the address but were told they would make the address there or from the island. They reluctantly agreed. ONE WORLD had taken on an almost mythic standing among humanity; no one really knew their agenda.

  Joey stood at the podium at the center of the room and wished he was somewhere else, anywhere else. He was a comedian for God’s sake. He was wearing the sky blue ONE WORLD uniform and looked out of place on the stage. He looked off to the side and saw Salud staring at him with a smile. He shook his head and took the top page off his prepared statement. The leader of the ONE WORLD camera crew, who were set up in the aisle directly in front of him, raised his arm and held up five fingers. He lowered one finger, then two, then three, then four, and then he pointed at Joey. The hundreds of news agencies reporters were at the back of the room filming the event.

  Joey looked at the ONE WORLD camera and smiled, “I think everyone here should know that what I’m going to say is being broadcast on every channel on every electronic device around the planet because it affects all of mankind.” Joey saw that didn’t sit well with many of the representatives present. “Starting tomorrow, we at ONE WORLD are going to start delivering devices around the world.” The room grew silent enough to hear each other’s breathing. “We understand that all humans have basic needs that are necessary for survival. Food and clothing are two that are critical; shelter, air, and water are others. We at ONE WORLD intend to deal with the first two I mentioned. The machines we deliver will produce clothing and food. The blue uniform I’m wearing will be manufactured in the machine and with each uniform a packet of pellets will also be dispensed. Two of these pellets will provide all the nutrition that a human needs for a day. The Packets will contain two thousand in each package. The uniforms will stretch to fit all body shapes so one size will fit all.”

  The American U.N. Ambassador yelled, “How much will we have to pay!? You won’t be doing this for free!”

  Joey looked at the Ambassador, took the microphone out of its stand, and stepped away from the podium. He walked over to a machine that was on the stage behind him, the machine was the size of a small car. He looked out at the assembly and said, “He’s right. It will cost you something.” The Assembly started talking among themselves and Joey said, “A bag of sand.”

  The room stopped talking. The American Ambassador said, “What did you just say?”

  Joey bent over and picked up a five-pound bag of sand. He held it up and said, “It doesn’t have to be sand. It could be garbage, trash, a piece of wood, broken pavement, anything that weighs about five pounds.” Joey walked around to the back of the machine and tossed the bag into a chute. Blue lights illuminated on the side of the machine and
the room heard, “Pick up your package.”

  Joey walked around to the front of the machine and picked up two packages off a tray. He held them up and everyone could see one package had a blue piece of clothing inside it and the other was full of green pills. “Actually, these cost you nothing but five pounds of waste material. If you need more than one uniform, simply add an additional pound for each extra one you need.”

  The Indian Ambassador yelled, “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. You probably intend to drug our populations with those pills.”

  Joey looked at the Ambassador, smiled, and shook his head. He swiveled the machine around, picked up another bag of sand, and put it in the chute. Two packages appeared on the shelf. Joey picked the bag of pellets up and opened it. He took two out and put them in his mouth. He chewed them and swallowed. He looked out at the assembly and said, “Much of mankind has suffered from starvation during its long history. We intend to stop that. Everyone should be fed and clothed and we’ve decided that this is something in keeping with our belief that all of mankind is ONE WORLD.” Joey looked at the Indian Ambassador and pointed a finger, “Are you going to tell your people not to use these devices?”

  “I don’t trust your motives. You’ve got a hidden agenda that you’re not revealing!”

  Joey stared at the Ambassador and everyone around the planet saw his genuine sorrow. “I’ve worked my entire life to alleviate world hunger. I’ve donated millions to those countries where starvation is rampant. I’ve spent millions trying to help India to feed those starving in your cities. Most of the money was skimmed off the top by unethical charity leaderships with less than one of every ten dollars actually being used to buy food. You sit there and accuse me of being unethical…” Joey shook his head, “We’ll begin the delivery of these machines tomorrow and it is our hope that within a year, humanity will no longer suffer from a lack of nourishment.”

  “And what if we don’t want your machines?”

  Joey looked at the Chinese Ambassador and said, “Then have the Leader of your government notify us before the day is over and we will not deliver them. We will not impose ourselves on anyone and we do this expecting nothing in return. We simply want to eliminate world hunger. I will repeat this, contact us today if your country doesn’t want us to deliver the devices. I will stay here on the stage until nightfall. You may tell me here.” Joey looked out at the assembly, “You will have to come up here on the stage and sign that you do not want our help.” The representatives started looking at each other and Joey smiled, “We will be broadcasting for the remained of the day so humanity can see which leaders choose not to use them.”

  “You have no right to interrupt our broadcasts.”

  “You do it all the time for important announcements. Are you saying ending world hunger is not an important enough announcement?”

  The ONE WORLD camera turned to the American Ambassador and his anger was clear. He sat down and picked up his phone.

  Salud walked over to Joey and hugged him, “Great job.”

  Joey shook his head, “I didn’t want to do this but now I’m pissed off enough to scream it from the roof.”

  Salud smiled, “Some countries are fearful that we’re going to put every farmer on the planet out of business.”

  Joey shook his head, “Then they don’t understand supply and demand.” Salud raised her eyebrows. “The pills taste pretty good but after a while, people will want something with some taste. The market for real food will expand. Half the farmers are being paid not to farm as it is. This won’t change that. Those countries that are buying food will continue to buy it. This device will impact those people who are starving.” Joey looked over Salud’s shoulder, “Ah, our first customer complaint.”

  The Indian Ambassador walked up on the stage and said, “Do not deliver those devices to my country!”

  Joey smiled, “Sign here.” The Ambassador signed and walked off the stage. The exchange was seen in India and before the Ambassador made it back to his chair, the crowds were rushing into the streets in New Delhi. By the end of the day, the government was overthrown and the Ambassador returned to the stage. He stared at Joey and said, “I request that my name be taken off the list.”

  Joey knew the conversation was being seen in India and he said, “Are you so arrogant that you think you can ignore the needs of your people?” The Ambassador stared at Joey with clear anger dominating his features. Joey picked up the paper and said, “Line through your name and initial it.”

  The Ambassador complied and walked away. Joey shook his head and Salud said, “What?”

  “The arrogant never understand there are consequences to their actions.” Salud tilted her head and didn’t know what he was talking about. A week later, after the Ambassador was recalled home, he was publicly executed. Salud decided Joey was smarter politically than she thought. Joey was made the voice of ONE WORLD. He accepted it with the proviso that he would be allowed to take his spaceship out to explore the Solar System on a regular basis. It was impossible to say no.

  Many of the World Leaders allowed the converters to be delivered intending to blow them up later. It would be easy to accuse a fictitious terrorist organization. They found out after six of the operatives who attempted to destroy the converters were blown up that they were force field and scanner protected.

  • • •

  The Johan Fleet Leader saw the Welken and Myot ships on his scanner as his ships moved toward their skip traces. They were more than a hundred thousand miles away as they chased earth as it moved around the sun. They had seen his ships move into the mist of the damaged warships and wondered why the ships from the planet didn’t attack. They didn’t see his fleet accelerate toward their arrival point. He knew that it would take months to arrive at the edge of the solar system, even at his current speed. He decided that skipping at the edge or skipping out to the edge would accomplish the same thing. “Tell all ships to activate their stardrives and to hold position on my ship.” He listened to the order being sent and after a minute he heard, “All ships are locked on our signal.”

  “Count it down.” He listened to his Navigator start the countdown and thought about this strange species. He had much to do…but first, he needed to escape. Normal space disappeared from the viewport and was replaced by the darkness of the void.

  He looked ahead and saw the thousands of skip traces made weeks earlier by the arriving Myot and Welken Ships. His fleet flew into the traces and followed them away from the Solar System. A few moments later, the Myot and Welken Battleships arrived and began chasing the Johan skip traces. They discovered that their scanners didn’t show any ships in the wide band of traces. The Johan Leader slowed his ships and watched the Myot and Welken Warships pass them in the void. He smiled and continued to follow their traces until they found an even wider band of traces. Three bands later, he moved his fleet out and skipped into open space, where he moved away from his fleets skip entry point. He waited to see if he was followed. Seven weeks and two days later he skipped out and took a small shuttle from the location his fleet was being serviced by thousands of support vessels. He didn’t return to his ships. He promoted his second-in-command and issued a series of orders. The Johan fleet moved out into the fellowship with their force fields activated. Twenty ships remained behind waiting for orders.

  • • •

  The Johan Battleship moved in on the Myot Planet. It arrived inside a giant band of skip traces along with a hundred Myot Battleships returning home for servicing. The battleships didn’t notice the one extra skip trace moving with them. When the ships entered normal space, the Johan Battleship entered with them and quickly moved away from them. It remained in space watching the Myot Battleships being serviced. When the support vessels moved back toward the planet, the Johan Commander sent a message. He ordered his ship in and it arrived above the planet and activated a missile port. He waited and waved his hand toward his Weapons Leader. The missile left the ship at inc
redible speed and the Myot city on the surface was vaporized with a massive nuclear blast. The Johan Ship Commander looked up, “I am taking possession of this planet and everything around it by Fellowship Covenants.”

  The Sentinel announced, “Kressin is now a possession of Johan Royalty. All Myot citizens at the planet will follow their orders or face sanctions on the Myot Empire.”

  The Johan Commander sent a message to the hundred Myot Main Battleships that their crews will leave for the planet’s surface immediately. The skeleton crews still on the hundred battleships left and felt their anger burning them but knew to not obey would jeopardize the Empire. A hundred Johan shuttles skipped in and flew the shuttles into the huge Myot’s ship’s landing bays. Twenty minutes later, the ships powered up, moved to the gravity limit, and skipped away just before a Myot fleet arrived. The Johan Commander had moved his battleship inside the Gravity limit and began communicating with the Myot Fleet Drang. An hour later it moved out of the planet’s gravity well, deliberately moved through the ranks of the Myot fleet, and skipped away. The huge Myot Fleet watched it leave and did nothing.

  • • •

  Stoney, Jinks, and Lukas sat on their beach chairs and watched the waves roll in. The afternoon sun was hot and the umbrellas offered some relief from the heat. The wind blowing off the ocean made it bearable. Lukas was lost in the rhythm of the water crashing in. Stoney said, “I miss Kathy.”

  Jinks shook his head, “You just don’t like babysitting.”

  Stoney shook his head, “No, that’s not it all. He’s the best baby I’ve ever seen. He never stops smiling and his curiosity is amazing. Even his day sitter says he’s remarkable.” Stoney paused, “Kathy has filled a void in me I didn’t know existed.”

  Jinks sighed, “So has Sarah.” He looked at Lukas, “When will they be back?”

  Lukas shrugged, “I guess they’ll take a break from delivering the food converters soon. They are all committed to the goal of ending world hunger.” Stoney and Jinks shook their heads and Lukas sighed, “I miss Salud as well.”