by D F Capps
Diane and Ryan were the last to arrive.
“Your flight suits are here,” Hollis said. “From this point on you will be in your suits, wearing your helmets in the simulator at all times. Get used to real-life conditions, people; your fighters are a week away. Each helmet is equipped with a communications connector, which you will have to plug in before you can talk with one another. Your helmet and flight suit are fully shielded from outside electromagnetic waves and telepathic influence. The comm connector also grounds your suit, so make sure it is properly connected.”
Hollis handed out single sheets with the communications protocol printed on them.
“You will have new digital encryption algorithms installed before each flight,” Hollis said. “Forty comm channels, forty different algorithms. If you suspect the Zetas are getting through the algorithm, change channels.”
Clay Obers raised his hand. “How will we know if they are getting through?”
Hollis acknowledged Clay’s question with a nod. “If you think you have the upper hand in a fight, they’re probably getting through, so change channels. Any other questions?”
Glen Simmons waved his hand in the air. “How bad is the jinking? We all saw what it did to Zadanski and Atkinson.”
Diane thought it was a good question. She wanted to know, especially after what she and Ryan went through.
“Jinking in the simulators will be progressive,” Hollis said. “We’re starting at ten percent movement and gradually increasing it by one percent for every hour of training time. By the time you finish this week you’ll be ready for the real thing in your fighter craft. Come get your flight suits. Simulator work begins right after lunch.”
* * *
Sean began going through the lab reports he got from Patrick. He started with the California air and water analysis looking for aluminum and barium. The reports went back to 1980. A few minerals and other contaminants were present in the air: mostly lead, cadmium, sulfur, and hydrocarbons from incomplete combustion of gasoline and diesel fuel—that and an extensive list of volatile organic compounds listed by the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Resources Board. The amount of aluminum and barium on each report was zero. Then in 1991, both aluminum and barium showed up for the first time. How long did Stephanie say they had been doing aerosol spraying? He checked his notes and thought, Twenty-five years, which would bring us back to . . . 1991.
The amount of aluminum and barium increased each year. By the new millennium, the levels rose above the maximum allowable set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He got on his computer and began going through the laws and regulations for the State of California regarding aluminum and barium remediation. Nothing. California had aggressively gone after all kinds of pollutants, but not aluminum or barium. Why?
Chapter 30
Diane was the last one to join the others in the conference room.
“We have a very special guest with us this morning,” Hollis began. “He said we should call him Etnar. He has been helping us with the technology for the fighter craft and the particle beam cannons. I don’t want you to be shocked by his appearance. He is a bit taller than we are, and has to duck to get through our small hallways and doors. Etnar is actually from the Zenetae star system in the Andromeda constellation. Although he is a member of the one hundred and thirty-nine star system Andromeda Council, he is here in an unofficial capacity, so his existence and presence is highly classified. Etnar also has a telepathic human with him, by the name of Charlie, who will help with communications.”
Jed Collier, head of security, opened the door to the conference room. Everyone in the room moved back slightly, partially from the initial shock but also to make room. Etnar was bent over as he squeezed through the doorway. He stood up straight, taking up most of the height to the ten foot ceiling. Charlie walked in behind Etnar.
Diane’s heart began beating rapidly. She had talked with Hollis and a few of the other pilots regarding extraterrestrials and what an encounter might be like, but she found herself quite unprepared for the reality of actually being in the presence of such a being. It was one thing to intellectually accept the existence of extraterrestrial life, but a direct encounter was unexpectedly both emotionally and physically shocking.
She could feel the serene emotional power of Etnar’s presence in the room, as if his consciousness and the strength of his mind pushed everything else back out of the way. A feeling of deep peace and calmness surrounded her. As nervous as she may have been, Etnar’s energy brought a quiet confidence to her. Etnar’s physical appearance still generated a fear-based reaction in her body and some nausea, partially at least from his size, color, and shape. Seeing a photograph or drawing of him standing next to a human before a personal meeting took place might have eased her reaction, but that hadn’t happened. The combination of emotional stillness and physical shock she was experiencing felt both empowering and somewhat devastating at the same time. She just had to do the best she could under the circumstances.
“Etnar is telepathic,” Hollis said. “He knows your thoughts and emotions. You can ask him any question you may have. Charlie is here to convert the telepathic messages from Etnar into words, so there are no misunderstandings.”
Diane stood. “How much of our thoughts and feelings does he know? I mean, does he know what we are thinking now, or does it include everything we have ever thought and felt?”
Others nodded in agreement. They wanted to know, too.
Charlie smiled. “I understand your concern. Telepathy is limited to the current moment. Your secrets are safe.”
Diane sat down wondering just how truthful Charlie was being. For now, she would have to accept what he said at face value.
“I wish to communicate my admiration for your courage in choosing to fight against the Zeta Greys,” Charlie said, speaking for Etnar. “The interstellar community is not unified. There are alliances and conflicts. We seek to minimize the conflicts within the accepted law of our galaxy. That law is simple, in that it recognizes a civilization’s freedom to form treaties and contracts with any other group. Members of the various alliances normally do not interfere with established treaties or contracts, but under our galactic law, the more powerful party to a contract has a higher standard of duty to honor the terms of the treaty and must not abuse its position in the relationship.
“In your year of 1954, a peaceful alliance approached your President Eisenhower, offering advanced technology and medical assistance. They offered to cure all of your diseases and extend your life span to more than two hundred years. Their only requirement was that your world cease the development of nuclear weapon technology. Your president declined that offer, as did the leaders of two other dominant countries. Six months later the Zeta Greys met with your president, offering advanced weapon and propulsion technology in exchange for access to animals and a small percentage of your population for medical and genetic experimentation. Your president and the leaders of the two other world powers at that time agreed to those terms.
“We have allowed that treaty to stand based on your freedom to create and maintain contracts. However, as is often the case with the Zeta Greys, they have abused that treaty to your detriment. We will not interfere directly, but have decided to provide assistance to you so you can break free from your agreement with the Zeta Greys. This is not an easy process and should not be taken lightly.”
Etnar pointed at Diane. “What is your question?”
“Why are they here and what do they want?”
“The Zeta Greys are part of the Corporate Alliance. Their primary purpose is to obtain natural resources and trade those resources as finished advanced technology for a profit. They have been mining the minerals on your moon, and other moons in your solar system for thirty-five hundred years. They became annoyed by your landings and exploration of the moon and ordered your leaders to stop any attempts to take possession of the moon. They consider it their property, not yours.”
“Yes. They have established a large base on the far side of the moon. Interference with the Zeta Greys always results in continuous war.”
Well, she thought. So it comes down to the last one standing; a human or a Grey? Maybe it doesn’t have to be all or nothing . . .
“I believe the Zeta Greys are some kind of a drone. Is somebody controlling them? Maybe remotely?” Diane asked.
“No. Before you engage them you need to understand a little more about them. Forty thousand years ago, they were created by a human-type race. Those humans were very passionate and emotionally unstable, not too different from the way you are now. They fought constant wars among themselves, with devastating results.”
That feels a little too close to home, Diane thought.
“In an effort to end the wars, two competing corporations merged. The first corporation had developed a very sophisticated artificial intelligence computer system. The second developed a biological neural network from brain tissue that could function as a computer. The combination of the two technologies produced the first drones, as you call them.”
Diane frowned. “So nobody controls them? Doesn’t somebody have to be in charge?” she asked.
“Not directly, no. Their bodies are created from synthetic material connected to muscle, nerve, and circulation system cells to form a functioning being. The neural network computer that forms their brain communicates by way of an electronic interface with an extended computer system. The Zeta Greys have a limited sense of self consciousness, preferring to function as a group or communal consciousness.”
Like bees or ants? she wondered.
“What happens when we kill one of them?” Ryan asked.
Yeah, good question, she thought.
“The body dies, but everything they were and learned is retained within their massive computer system. Their identity and knowledge is downloaded, through the electronic interface, into a new body. They do not fear death. It is essentially meaningless to them.”
Etnar pointed to Helen Catalano.
“You mentioned medical and genetic experimentation. What exactly are they doing?”
Is that why they took Daniel? Diane wondered.
“The Zeta Gays have no reproductive system. They clone new bodies. The problem they face is that the cloned cells degrade over time and become genetically useless. They solve that problem by splicing new genetic material into the stem cells to grow new bodies.”
Diane’s shoulders slumped. That’s all Daniel was to them? A source of genetic material? Like a lab rat?
“Doesn’t there have to be some genetic similarity for them to use the new stem cells?” Helen asked.
Diane looked over at Helen. She felt her frown deepening.
“There does. The original human-type population of their home planet is genetically connected to your human race on this planet. You and the civilization that created the Zeta Greys are, in a sense, cousins.”
Anger began rising in Diane’s chest. The injustice of it all was getting to her.
“After the corporate clones were developed, the humans on their planet became afraid of them. They tried to destroy the clones, but succeeded only in driving them underground. The clones developed smaller bodies and larger eyes to cope with living underground. They wanted more intelligence and mental capacity, so they enlarged the head and cranial volume in successive generations.”
These things really are disgusting, Diane thought.
“So what happened to the human population?” Glen Simmons asked.
The same thing that happened to Daniel, I’ll bet, Diane thought.
“Eventually, through advanced technology, the clones subdued the human population on their home planet and used them for a supply of genetic material for more cloned bodies. When they exhausted the human supply of genetic material, they expanded to other human-based planets, initially trading technology for genetic stem cells. They gradually introduced AI and neural networking technology to each human population and used it to create a new cloned species. Each human world inevitably suffered the same fate: extinction due to genetic harvesting.”
Diane was fuming over the injustice. “And you didn’t save them?” she asked.
She glanced around the room. Was she the only one who was feeling this angry?
“First, we do not directly interfere with the treaties, but more importantly, the human populations were not capable of fighting back against the Zeta Greys.”
No, she wasn’t the only one. Diane could feel the level of anger rising in the room.
“But you’re helping us. Why?”
Etnar made eye contact with her. He nodded slightly then continued, “You may not understand this at first, but you are considered a very violent and unpredictable species. Two different alliances have quarantined your planet in an effort to keep you from developing advanced capabilities, then invading and waging war on your galactic neighbors. The Zeta Greys did not agree with the quarantine and saw it as an opportunity to exploit your planet and its population.”
“We’re violent and unpredictable?” Helen asked.
Look who’s talking, Diane thought as she looked at Helen. She was the one who shoved Clay on my first day here.
“Consider your own history. It is essentially a continuous series of wars and conflicts. You have little regard for your own species, abusing and killing your own populations with more and more efficiency. Your violence and disdain for each other made you ripe for intervention by the Zeta Greys.”
Diane glanced at the floor and nodded. He’s right. We’re a large part of the problem.
“You were offered peace, health, and prosperity in exchange for the elimination of nuclear weapons. Your leaders chose the path of power and destruction over peace, health, and prosperity. Now that your current president sees what your choice has brought, he has decided to break with the Zetas and fight for your survival as a species.”
So this is why Hollis and the rest of us are here. We may be humanity’s last chance.
“Some of us believe you have the potential to not only survive, but to mature into a productive civilization that can live in peace with your galactic neighbors. You will have to prove yourselves.
“First, defeat the Zeta Greys and drive them from your solar system. Second, you must stop the violence and abuse on your own planet. Live together in harmony for a hundred of your years. Eliminate poverty, disease, and intolerance. Only then will other worlds begin to trust you.”
Okay, Diane thought. I can see us defeating the Zeta Greys, but stopping all violence, poverty, and disease? Eliminating intolerance? I don’t know. Maybe we can’t. Then what?
“We do not know if you will survive the process, but we are willing to give you a chance by introducing you to a certain level of technology. Your risk is survival, which is tenuous at best. Our risk is that you will succeed against the Zeta Greys, then continue to use that technology to wage war against your neighbors. The future is in your hands. There are consequences and costs for each path you take. Choose wisely.”
Etnar made eye contact with each individual in the room. He turned and left. Etnar ducked through the doorway and Collier closed the door behind him. Charlie stepped to the front of the room.
“I’m sure you have a lot of questions,” he said. “Etnar has to keep moving to hide his presence on our planet. He’s not supposed to be here at all.”
“His people have shared an amazing level of technology with us,” Diane said. “If, as he says, we are so unpredictable and violent, why does he trust us with so much capability? Doesn’t this also put his people at risk?”
Charlie smiled and shook his head. “You misunderstand what we have,” he said. “Compared to the Andromedans, what Etnar has given you is the equivalent of giving fire to cave dwellers.”
>
Diane frowned at the comparison. Cave dwellers? Really?
“Hollis said Etnar comes from the Zenetae star system,” Diane said. “How far away is that?” I’ve never even heard of that star before, she thought.
“Something in the range of four thousand light years.”
Diane sat with her mouth open. “Hollis said that at a hundred percent thrust our fighter craft could exceed the speed of light. How long does it take them to travel four thousand light years?”
Charlie glanced at Hollis. “Actual flight time?” Charlie asked. “About two hours, your time. As I said, all they have given you is a little fire. It’s actually a very small gift from their perspective. They consider their help as little more than a scientific experiment. You still have to prove you can use it responsibly.”
Diane was feeling overwhelmed. If faster than light fighters were like a little fire, how advanced were some of their other technologies?
“Etnar talked about artificial intelligence and neural networks. Aren’t those cutting edge technologies our scientists are just now developing?” Ryan asked.
Diane looked at Ryan, impressed with his questions.
“It depends on where you look,” Charlie said. “AI and neural networks have been around for millions of years, it’s new here in your world, in this current evolution of your civilization.”
Current evolution? Diane wondered. What else aren’t we being told?
“I don’t understand,” Ryan said. “These technologies hold so much potential for us as people. Etnar spoke of them as if they’re evil.”
Charlie nodded. “The technology, in and of itself, isn’t evil. It’s what people do with that technology that matters. Right now AI is a new reality in your world and neural networks are not far behind. But for the Zeta Greys, they are life itself. As early clones, they were programmed in the corporate ethos, ethics, and goals—all logic was driven by profit and loss. The first clones were used for deep space exploration and moon mining operations.”