by Ira Tabankin
Stalin realized his Defense Minister couldn’t see or hear the alien. He whispered, “I wasn’t going to tell him anything…”
“Even caught red-handed as you would say, you continue to lie. I am sorry for you. I see I will have to take control of you in order to accomplish my goals. I am not sorry for what is about to happen to you. I am going to place a small nanite, you have no idea what it is, think of it as a small micro insect. It will enter your ear where it will make its way to your brain, thus allowing me to stop you from speaking to anyone about me. Unfortunately for you, you will suffer a fatal cerebral hemorrhage in five years. If you begin speaking about me, you will suffer a massive headache, one that nothing will stop until I decide you’ve learned your lesson. I’m not sorry you are going to suffer, remember, you brought this on yourself.”
Stalin didn’t feel anything, but when the light faded, he couldn’t remember why he’d called his Defense Minister to his office, “Why are you here?”
“Chairman, you called me…”
“Go. I have nothing to discuss with you.”
“Yes, sir.”
@@@@@
Kalteck returned to Truman’s cabin, Truman noticed all of his Secret Service agents were frozen in place. “Do not worry, they will come around in a few moments with no memory of my pod or me. The downside of this is they will all have their lives shortened by a few years every time I use my suspension device. You need to create a special security team and a group that has your highest security level to be my interface between me, you, and your technology and defense companies.”
Truman wondered how advanced the aliens were. Kalteck broke Truman’s concentration, “We will now contact Stalin; I believe he will be very agreeable to whatever we discuss.” Truman wondered what the alien meant and how he knew how agreeable Stalin would be.
“Hello again, Mr. Chairman and Mr. President, I will continue my story. After our civil war destroyed our planet, the cracking of our mantel and the south sucking out of our core to use its minerals for weapons of war and to build ships caused us to lose our atmosphere. The core stopped spinning, which meant our magnetic shield, which has surrounded our planet faded. It allowed cosmic rays to bombard our planet-killing many of us and our plants and animals. Our atmosphere slowly faded.
“Our planet was ruined, it could no longer support life. The two rulers, our council and the Southern Emperor, reached an agreement. The war would pause for five hundred of your years, enabling us to relocate to new systems. The treaty made our home system, this system, a neutral system. One neither of us would use for attacks on the other.
“We agreed neither of us would use the Earth or its people in our war. We would leave Earth as a planet of last resort while our scientists worked on the problem of making our home planet livable again.”
Stalin asked, “If Earth isn’t supposed to be used by either of you, why are you here, and why have your ships visited us? Don’t deny your ships have been here. The number of sightings of unexplained flying objects increased in the Great Patriotic War. Even now, there have been sightings of strange objects over our nuclear facilities. You previously informed us the great explosion of 1908 was one of your ships.”
“This is the main reason I am here. The Southern Emperor has decided to break the old treaty. Our intelligence agencies broke his codes. We learned he is making plans to take over the Earth, and he’s planning to make the Earth his new home. The surviving humans, around four to six million of you and yes, that’s all that will survive, will be his slaves. Yes, I said four to six million; the rest of you will be destroyed. Most of those he saves will be members of your military. He will use them for breeding a race of super-soldiers. He will use these soldiers to fight my people and to conquer some of his allies. With you as his army, he’ll be saving his own people from fighting, thus being able to promise them better lives.
“If his forces conquer Earth, our dream of ever returning to our home system will be dead. He will be able to use some of the Earth’s core to begin restoring the core, and then he’ll terraform Mars while using the wealth of Earth and the asteroid belt to expand his empire. Earth and the belt have many heavy metals that our current home systems lack. We need those metals for our anti-gravity engines and weapons.”
Truman looked at both Kalteck and Stalin, “We are thousands of years behind you, how do you expect us to fight a force that has your technology? How much time do we have before they arrive here?”
“It is why I volunteered to come here. Our forces are keeping the Emperor’s forces occupied in the outer systems of the Milky Way, thus allowing me to transfer some of our technology to you.”
Stalin licked his lips, “Why are you only going to transfer some of your technology to us. If we’re to be your local defense force, we’re going to need all of your tech and see if our scientists can find ways to improve it so we can surprise your enemy.” He was thinking if he had all of their tech, he could also defeat Kalteck’s people and thus take over the entire system for Mother Russia.
“Chairman Stalin, I know what you’re thinking. Let me give you an example. If I told you our entire technology is based on nanites and AI, how would you respond? Our ships are powered by fifth-generation micro fusion engines powered by antimatter and matter annihilation.”
Stalin looked confused, “I don’t understand any of those terms, if I could bring my scientists in to listen, I’m sure they’d recognize all of the terms. I am the Motherland’s leader, I’m not a scientist, nor is President Truman. You are asking us questions you know we’re not in the right fields to answer.”
“I will allow each of you to place one call to the smartest scientist you have, ask them if they can program nanites, and if they can create antimatter in their labs. Chairman Stalin, since you brought up the issue, you may place the first call.”
Stalin called the Soviet Academy of Science and asked to speak with their chairman, who, after listening to Stalin, was forced to reply, “Mr. Chairman, I am sorry, but I am unfamiliar with those terms, have the Americans developed something new? Can the KGB or GRU steal their core documents for us to study?”
“Bah, you disappoint me.”
Kalteck smiled, “President Truman, you go next.”
Truman asked the switchboard to contact Professor Einstein, “Mr. President, what an honor, how may I be of assistance?”
“Professor I know how busy you are, I would like to mention a few terms could you tell me if you understand what they mean and if you do, could you explain them to me?”
“Mr. President, of course.”
“Excellent, the first is AI.”
“Is that a formula?”
“No, just the letters AI.”
“I am sorry I am not familiar with such a scientific term. Is there another?”
“Nanite.”
“Again, I am sorry. I am not familiar with that term.”
Kalteck changed his voice to sound like Truman, which surprised both leaders, “Professor, can you explain how a ship can exceed the speed of light?”
“Ah, that Mr. President I can explain, it is a very easy answer, nothing can exceed the speed of light which travels at 186,000 miles per second. Is there anything else I can do to assist you?”
“Professor, thank you for your time.”
Kalteck smiled, he looked at both leaders, “Do you begin to understand the problem? Your greatest scientist just told you it was impossible to breach the speed of light, and yet we do it every day, every one of our ships can break the speed of light. If I gave you access to our current technology based on your current understanding of science, you wouldn’t have any idea not only how to reproduce our technology, which you couldn’t, but you’d most likely destroy your civilization by misusing our tech.
“The only solution is for me to slowly assist you in advancing your current state of technology. One way to accomplish this is without word slipping that you’re not alone since your society isn’t ready to accept the
re’s life in the stars. Hence, I propose the two of your countries are going to continue and even advance your military competition. I can’t afford the two of you to enter a real war, we need you to outwardly be in competition. I will ensure both are supplied with similar technology so your science will equally advance. You may test yourselves through proxies, you will not use nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons. The competition is important, so both of your countries can justify the increased military budgets you’re going to need to fund your very rapid development.
“I will give you the technology to improve your nuclear weapons so you can move closer to much more advanced weapons. You will learn how to reduce your weapons in size and weight. You will enter a race to your moon, so you can quickly develop your space technology. I will give you small increases in technology every few years. In addition, the technology will flow into your consumer markets, so your people become familiar with advanced technology. We need them to become familiar with computers and AI so they can help advance your understanding of the technology.”
Stalin asked, “How long do you believe this will take?”
“I would guess that if you work at it, one of you will be able to land on your moon within twenty-five years, computers will be in every home and then advance to wearable computer tech within forty years. I want to see you able to handle antimatter within ninety of your years. If you can maintain this timeline, then in one hundred years, your people will be ready to accept you’re not alone. We estimate that no matter what we do, the enemy will be here between one hundred and one hundred twenty of your years. Can the two of you agree to work together to save your planet and your race?”
Truman asked the question that was on both his and Stalin’s mind, “What happens if we can’t put our differences aside to secretly work together?”
“Then I will arrange for one or both of you to have an accident and I will try again with your successor if they refuse then I will leave your planet and call on my people for permission to bombard the Earth so it can’t be used by our enemies.”
Stalin was shocked, “Wait, if we don’t follow your script, you’ll destroy the planet?”
“Not destroy it, just ruin the planet so the emperor’s forces won’t be able to use it as a base and your people won’t be worth using as slaves, you’ll be too savage and uneducated when they arrive to be of any use to them.”
“You would do that to billions of innocents?” Asked Truman.
“Of course. No one in the universe is innocent in this war. Take a good look at me.” Kalteck spread his arms. His huge six fingers, two thumbs on each hand, have razor-sharp fingernails. “My teeth are sharp enough to tear meat from the bone. I can digest almost anything I eat. I have two hearts, four small lungs, I have an internal bone armor that covers my critical organs, I am a warrior, my ancestors were bred to be scientific warriors. Unlike the warriors of the South, we are bred to be both intelligent and soldiers. I can repair a ship and fight it. Do not think I am making what you call a joke about destroying your little planet. I will do whatever I have to in order to stop the Emperor’s plans.”
Chapter 5
Kalteck leered at both leaders, he allowed them to see his double rows of sharp teeth, “I am going to leave you now, I will expect your answer in 24 hours.”
Stalin replied, “How do we reach you to give you our answer?”
“I am leaving a small device behind. All you have to do is say my name, and it will locate me and transmit your message to me.”
Truman looked at the device, which was the size of three quarters stacked on top of each other. “This will contact you? Where are the wires?”
“We stopped using wires thousands of years ago. Soon enough, you’ll stop using them too.”
“Where are you going?”
Kalteck laughed, “We have bases hidden on your planet and one on your moon. I’m going to one of them to re-equip and get some work done.”
Stalin asked, “Are any of your bases in Russia?”
Kalteck laughed, “We have them all over. You’ll never find them. They are invisible to you. Only our eyes and sensors can see them. My pod will take me there, and if you think you can track my pod, I suggest President Truman come outside to see my pod in its stealth mode, and you’ll understand your problem in locating my base.”
Truman watched Kalteck enter his pod; a moment later, the pod shimmered and disappeared. He heard Kalteck’s voice, “it’s called stealth, you can try to track me on your radar, you’ll find my pod is also invisible to your crude sensors. You have so much to learn and so little time, decide quickly, and I hope for your sake you decide correctly in order to save your planet and people.” The pod was gone with nothing to see. Truman called his military aide, “Has radar reported any unusual craft in the area?”
“No sir, not a thing. Should I call them and ask them to check their system?”
“No, it’s okay. Please ask Captain Yahnig to see me, I have a special mission for him.”
“Yes, sir.”
Truman went inside his cabin, he looked at the small circular device and picked it up, it weighed less than an ounce. “Kalteck, if you are there, I would like permission to include someone in our little group. I agree with you that the future presidents and I will need someone in the military to be a guide. I have someone in mind that I one hundred percent trust. As President, I can’t be involved in all aspects of the program I will need to be.”
“A very logical request, permission granted. Who do you wish to bring into the program, and what will be his assignment?”
“I serve a four-year term; you’re going to need a long-term secret program set up. I want to appoint a young captain whom I trust. I will appoint him to lead the project. I will also need to create a program to show the public we’re investigating the UFOs but really coming up with reasonable stories other than the truth. People have always reported strange sights and signs in the sky, we can’t hide your ships coming and going for long. I want to place this captain in command of both programs.”
“President Truman, based on what I know of your military’s ranks, a captain is a very low rank for commanding such a program, will he be accepted as the leader of the program?”
“He will, once I promote him and make it known he reports directly to me.”
“Then, I agree. I would like to meet him when I return.”
“He will be here and waiting, should I brief him or let you?”
“I would like to do the briefing. I want to read his expressions.”
“I’ll arrange it. He’s here at Camp David with me, so it will be easy.”
“What’s his background?”
“He was a pilot in the war, I mean the Second World War. He was fighter pilot, he shot down nine German planes. He became what we call an ace.”
“Ah, yes, someone who shoots down five of your enemy, we have a similar rank, only our aces require shooting down twenty of the enemy. We have very few live aces.”
@@@@@
Captain Everett Yahnig stood at attention in front of the President’s desk, “Sir, you requested to see me?”
“Yes, Everett, how have you been?”
“Sir, I’m fine. I wish I was back in the cockpit, but I serve where ordered.”
“Captain, I have a new assignment for you. The new assignment comes with a promotion. I don’t want you to decide just yet. Someone very special is coming to brief you. Once you meet him and listen to him, then you can decide. I must warn you that this mission is classified above TS, it is classified under Presidential Code Word. Even if you turn down the assignment, it is still classified, and you can’t speak of it to anyone, not even to your wife.”
“Sir, I accept whatever you want me to do.”
“I knew that would be your response. I want you to wait and listen to the being coming. I also want you to know you will report directly to me.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll do whatever you’d like me to.”
“
I knew I could count on you.”
The president’s small office was bathed in bright light, both Captain Yahnig and the President covered their eyes. Truman nodded, “Our guest is here.” Captain Yahnig rubbed his eyes, which had been blinded by the unusual bright light, “Sir, the light?”
“Our guest’s transport has arrived.”
“Sir, I don’t understand.”
Everett heard a deep voice speak, “Captain, your president meant I have arrived. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Kalteck. I am what you would call an alien. Though not too alien since my people originally came from the planet you call Mars.”