“I can feel that this world has both an Earth Mother and a Sky Father,” Dlarthh continued surprising us all “that have somehow been denied it. I see from your minds that you have thought of them only as legends. I can at the very least re-awaken them. Help to give your world some sort of fighting chance.”
It was a major revelation to us. I’d heard the legends of course, we all had but I thought them just that. That the two entities he mentioned were purely mythological. Along with certain others.
Above us the shape of a woman formed, seemingly coming from elements of the earth, the sky and the nearby sea. Then the form dissipated flowing back whence it came. For a time after that some geological changes took place within hours that would normally have taken millions of years. It seemed like a demonstration only but we later saw that it was the start of a healing process of the physical Earth. From that moment on the Earth damaged by centuries of neglect began a slow healing process. I very much hoped that the aliens coming towards us would not interfere with that process.
A storm gathered overhead temporarily girdling the Earth, the distinct shape of a man appearing large among the clouds above us. The storm erupted with vast electrical energies which found their way into a depleted World Energy Grid. It was a demonstration of power, considerable power, and an attempt to reassure the men and women and children of Earth. The All Father had re-awakened.
I saw too that these two great beings complemented one another. That they would coordinate any efforts they might make to defend the Earth. All of this made possible it seemed by the mere happenstance of Dlarthh coming his way and my daughters desperate plea for help. Where had Earth Mother and Sky Father been before Dlarthh re-awakened them?
We realised that whoever Dlarthh might be that he was starting to look like he might be a being of vast power.
Yet I wondered. If the approaching aliens got this far, and there now seemed nothing to stop them, might not they and All Mother and All Father end up tearing the very planet apart The Earth seemed just too fragile.
Everyone on Earth knew the aliens had destroyed the powerful outer system military base beyond Pluto with apparent ease and had brushed aside Earth’s small deep space fleet. Even as we spoke with Dlarthh I knew a second attempt to stop the aliens was being prepared.
“I will go out to the outer reaches of your system and examine the alien fleet on course for you,” offered Dlarthh. “Yet not in the way that you might think and I will take some of you with me, your consciousness that is, if you wish to come. A few thousands of your world’s most powerful minds, yours among them,” he looked directly at me as he said this.
It was so far beyond anything I had hitherto experienced. I mean I had been to the outer reaches of our system before. But not in this fashion. Nothing like this. To be a part of Dlarthh’s unified mind construct out here at the edge of Sol. Totally exhilarating. Dlarthh had explained that if it was all too much for any individual they could just let go with their mind and return to their physical body protected on Earth. Yet if too many did this it would diminish the unified mind. I was not sure I believed that as it seemed whatever we might be contributing to the Uni-Mind would be almost as nothing compared to Dlarthh.
Our first trip with only several thousand earth minds added to Dlarthh’s was largely exploratory. An attempt to gauge the nature of the threat we faced. Yet what we saw was relayed to all people of sufficient age and intellect on Earth, capable of receiving it, in real time. There would be no censoring by Earth authorities. Dlarthh would not allow of it. People would see it raw as it was, though of course anyone on Earth receiving it could turn off to the planetary level mind feed if they chose.
Those of us that were part of the Uni-Mind construct could see what it saw. This was to say far more than the technology of man would have allowed us to see. I could only guess but it looked as if the mind could see in excess of a light year ahead into normal space. Beyond this and appropriately oriented it seemed to be able to see directly into hyperspace.
The fleet of a dozen, 15 mile long, behemoth star ships was well dispersed over perhaps as much as a million miles. Presumably an established defensive posture. There was no sign of any damage to them from their earlier encounter with Earth’s modest, and perhaps not entirely well named, deep space fleet and the beyond Pluto outer defences. Earth had once held such high hopes for these but all things are relative.
Dlarthh, through the Uni-Mind, diverted a succession of meteors, asteroids, and assorted space debris at the lead alien star ships without any discernible effect. Then the Uni-Mind launched a psionic attack again without discernible effect. The aliens did not respond to the taunts. Perhaps in the same way that a lion might not always respond to the buzzing of a fly. There were other “little” “taunts” including a large solar flare thrown across the path of the advancing aliens.
We all who were part of the great Uni Mind realised that Dlarthh was learning everything he could of the aliens. Eventually a name was yielded up – one that was unpronounceable and could not be readily translated into the standard Earth language. We settled for an approximation. A name that stood nowhere in human records. The Yledt. I shivered a little as our computers stated it.
Then Dlarthh through the Uni-Mind did something that definitely got the attention of the Yledt. A vast cloud of non reflective granules formed around the lead alien battle wagon. The granules comprehensively covered every square millimetre of the behemoth. Then the granules began heating up to a temperature that I suspect was more even than the centre of our sun. The lead alien star ship did not survive. Exactly where the granules came from I do not know but it was clear to us all that the mighty Dlarthh’s teleportation capabilities were formidable. What those capabilities might ultimately be I couldn’t begin to guess. I still wasn’t really clear whether the presence of several thousand Earth minds boosted Dlarthh’s capabilities to any appreciable degree or whether we were just basically along for the ride.
Dlarthh through the Uni-Mind had the intention of carrying out other tests of the aliens’ capabilities but it was not to be. The destruction of the alien lead ship elicited an immediate response. Several of the leading alien star ships fired bolts of psionic energies in unison directed on to the uni-mind. Almost instantaneously the bonds holding our minds together broke and all of our minds – even Dlarthh’s - fell back into our bodies on Earth. Though thankfully no minds were destroyed or even permanently damaged. I was pretty sure that we had Dlarthh to thank for that.
I was totally drained by the experience as were all of us who had participated. More worrying still was Dlarthh. He looked as if he might be near death. As if his mind had been totally over taxed.
We waited and waited for Dlarthh to recover. It took time and meanwhile the Yledlt were tracked coming deeper and deeper into our star system. With impunity. Closer to Earth. If and when we engaged again I hoped it would still be as far from Earth as possible. The farther the better as far as I was concerned.
Dlarthh explained that he had been weakened when he first came to us. He did not say how or why. He did eventually recover though and his mind searched the Earth for a much larger number of willing minds to join him in an enlarged Uni-Mind.
Dlarthh’s consciousness left Earth again in the uni-mind this time with more than one million of Earth’s most powerful minds melded with his. My mind had recovered enough to go with them. I asked him why he did not choose a much greater number of minds perhaps even hundreds of millions or even a billion or more. There was no shortage of volunteers and surely Earth could yield up at least a billion minds capable of accompanying Dlarthh. Yet Dlarthh advised that the one million figure was optimal. Ultimately there was a limit on the number of separate minds that could be a part of the unified meld. This put paid to any fanciful notions of mine of Uni-Minds roaming the Multiverse with billions even trillions of component individual minds.
The new larger Uni-Mind directed by Dlarthh’s dominant consciousness seemed to virtually
glide through space. If anything the feeling was even more exhilarating than the first time around.
We were unquestionably more powerful this time. As part of the Uni Mind I could feel that Dlarthh was stronger and there were many more Earth minds melded with his. Yet there was something more. We were not alone. We could feel the All Father accompanying us. Not merely in astral form. Odin in all of his physical majesty was with us. Though we knew only of the legends of the past it was nonetheless very reassuring.
There was something else too. A powerful mind asking to be let in to the Uni-Mind. Not All Father Odin but All Mother Gaea. Willingly, gratefully accepted into the embrace of the Uni-Mind by the mighty Dlarthh.
Confidence was high not only among the million member minds of the Uni Mind but also with the billions of watching/receiving minds back on Earth.
For just a moment I wondered if I should have let my mind remain on Earth with my body. I would still have been able to witness events just not from the front line. Yet if the Yledt were to come all the way to Earth then I would have been in the front line soon enough anyway.
Dlarthh through the Uni-Mind attempted the same granular cloud attack as before blanketing the lead alien battlewagon. This time it was unsuccessful. The aliens had learned from experience. The granular cloud was not allowed to completely form over the alien battlewagon. Other alien ships intervened – setting up some sort of resonance pattern, breaking up the cloud and eventually irretrievably dissipating the granules.
As before the leading Yledt battle wagons fired psionic energies in unison against the uni-mind. Yet unlike before the collective consciousness held firm. We felt the All Mother comforting us at this time.
Even before the Uni-Mind reacted a furious cosmic storm erupted through all of the volume of space occupied by the advancing Yledt. I had witnessed both cosmic and Earth based storms before but nothing on this scale. The All Father had entered the fray. The Yledlt battle wagons slowed down and bunched closer to one another.
When the cosmic storm ran its course the Yledt fleet appeared undamaged. Yet looks can be deceiving. Viewed from the perspective of the Uni-Mind the great fleet of Yledt battle wagons was almost stationary and gave the impression of being huddled together. Its collective shields were still operational but the Uni-Mind sensed rather than knew that they were down on their defensive capability. The All Father had worked his magic and perhaps he was not finished yet? If there was more to come perhaps the Yledlt might even rethink their inexorable advance on to Earth.
While the Yledt fleet was in this state the Dlarthh led Uni-Mind acted. The Uni-Mind teleported the entire Yledlt fleet a distance of a light year. As far in truth as the collective Uni-Mind could see ahead without viewing through hyperspace or “accommodating.”
It was an unmistakable demonstration of power by the mighty Dlarthh. An entity that had clearly totally recovered from whatever had diminished him before he came to us. The battle was nothing like won but inwardly my little mind that was part of this vast Uni-Mind breathed a sigh of relief.
And yet would it be enough? Impressive though the Uni-Mind teleportation feat was the Yledlt could return to the edge of Sol through hyperspace in a very short time indeed. I thought they would do so. It had seemed to me at the time that the All Father’s cosmic storm together with the Dlarthh led Uni-Mind teleportation feat would not be enough to stop a race as determined as the Yledt. That they would simply return and progress on to Earth.
For a time the Uni-Mind stayed at the edge of Sol as progressively individual Earth human minds returned to their bodies on Earth. Eventually only Dlarthh and a few hundred individual minds remained, on station as it were. as part of the uni-mind. The All Mother remained with us. All Father Odin was also still present. Though now only in his astral form. At no stage did he join the Uni-Mind.
Still the Yledlt did not come. What were they waiting for? I wondered. A light year was surely nothing to them
Eventually all of our minds were returned to our physical bodies on Earth.
It was only a few days later that Dlarthh let slip something that made me realise why the Yledlt had not returned.
I had thought the Uni-Mind teleportation feat was essentially achieved by the sheer power of Dlarthh. That the original one million minds of Earth accompanying him in the Uni-Mind were basically just along for the ride. That may or may not have been so.
Yet by a means not entirely understood by we of Earth, but with the complicity of the All Mother, the mighty Dlarthh had drawn on the potential of the 12 billion receiving minds of Earth and used them as if they had been part of the uni-mind out there on the edge of our star system.
Perhaps the might Dlarthh could have teleported the Yledlt fleet away on his own. I’d like to think so. Yet now I know that he had in some way drawn on the psionic capability of the 12 billion minds of Earth that were sufficiently developed as to be able to assist him. Not to mention the contribution of the All Mother and also that of the All Father.
I believe that it was this combination of forces arrayed against them that dissuaded the Yledlt from returning to our star system. I also believe that they showed good judgement.
Of course time itself may yet prove me wrong.
It was not so long afterwards that the mighty Dlarthh sole survivor of the Multiverse’s most advanced psionic race left us.
There was no announcement – no farewells. One day he was still around and all could sense him and the next day there was not the slightest trace of him not the minutest hint of Dlarthh’s now very familiar energy signature.
Earth learned a lot from its participation in the Uni-Mind meld. Enough that one day, if threatened again, we might well be capable of forming our own Uni-Mind unaided. Though with a revived and resurgent All Mother and All Father to look over us we probably will not need to.
Wherever he may now be we of the Earth wish him well.
End
Dumbed Down World
Canberra, Australia
2135
I had experienced my share of the increasing product and service failures that were part of our way of life. Meekly accepting this was how things were.
Yet when I started to have problems with my shiny new hand held short distance teleporter it really stuck in my craw.
The marketing hype had hailed this product as the greatest thing since base telepathy. Which itself had experienced all sorts of problems. Everyone knew the gap between marketing claims and actual product and service delivery had become a gaping maw and was growing ever larger. Though for reasons not apparent to me people didn’t seem to be doing anything much about it.
My teleporter wasn’t the most expensive on the market but it did work, sometimes, and after a fashion. I once teleported 5 clicks which was way less than the advertised 50 clicks maximum range. Though even then it was in the opposite direction to what I intended.
I had gotten well used to the fact that the huge numbers of product and service failures were no longer anyone’s fault. I mean nothing was anyone’s fault any more was it? There was always a reason for the failures and it was never actually any real person’s fault. Sometimes it would be a system failure or not uncommonly fault would be attributed to a low level robot or droid or even a cyborg. Always these “scapegoats” were re-assigned to even lesser duties and the matter promptly forgotten.
I am a meticulous person and I kept very detailed notes on the assorted failures of my teleporter unit. I presented the manufacturer ACME teleportation services with all of these details by direct mind insertion to their 101 board members. Yet despite this highly direct approach I still ended up being dealt with by low level androids from the vexatious complaints department. The responses given me were so bland so general as to bear almost no relationship to my complaint.
The media were my next resort since I was old enough to remember a time when this avenue of complaint could be effective. To my chagrin they took pleasure in my misfortune. Poking fun at me and somehow painting m
e as the clumsy culprit.
So there it was. What we all knew but no one would say it out loud. We didn’t have the skilled work force to produce the goods and services we expected at any kind of sustainable quality. Yet we behaved as if we did. With institutional support for the unsustainable situation.
Despite friends warning me against it I lodged a complaint with the under resourced Consumer Affairs Tribunal for Teleportation, Telekinesis and Telepathy products and services. Which, at that time, was still in existence.
Possibly not coincidentally, it was around this time that that I received a visit. From two unnamed real persons and two back up droids warning me to withdraw my complaint to the Tribunal. I had thought the two humans to be only holograms but certain physical actions accompanying their threats made me realise they were very definitely flesh and blood. Shocking though these actions were what ultimately left me even more dismayed was the Tribunal’s sinister decision.
Finding against me in every aspect of my case I was ordered to pay all legal costs and to undergo a consumer expectations re-education course!
End
The most powerful man on Earth is an alien (aka Alien Equalizer)
Earth
2017
I used to think about him a lot. I guess most people did.
The high moral value, zero tolerance, advanced tech, powerful alien enforcer deliberately placed on Earth by the Zlee. As part of a policing policy applied to some of the lesser worlds.
Zlelt once told me that the Zlee had considered sending more enforcers of his ilk. They didn’t need to. That became apparent from quite early on.
At first people were somewhat accepting of him. I mean, he and the Zlee that sent him, obviously considered they were above any form of human law. Yet most of us on Earth saw the ends justifying the means. If acting as police, judge, jury and executioner he dealt ruthlessly with terrorism, with organised crime, with political and administrative corruption then weren’t we all the better for it?
A Collection of Science Fiction Gems Page 11