by Don Koch
Fador agreed stating, "We have about 8,000 Antoran telepaths on each of the Type 1 stations and about 1,500 on each of the Type 2 stations. I will start to get them organized to help with the screening."
Hank said, "That is really good news and a tremendous load off my mind."
Fador said he would get started at once and left.
"At any rate it occurs to me that you might spot something I have missed. As you know, we have to keep our mental shields pretty tight to not suffer from all of the mental shouting that is going on around us all the time. So there are two approaches we might use to explore. One is to get in a ship alone, go out beyond the Oort cloud, drop our shields and see what comes of that. That is not very practicable given the loads of work we have to do here. The second might work. That is to have Barana fully shield our bedroom and when we turn in tonight, we fully drop our mental shields and explore each other to see if I am overlooking something or you are overlooking something. I certainly want you to look me over with a fine-tooth-comb because I think there is more to these serendipitous events than luck, intuition or whatever. What do you think?"
Sam said, "I admit to some curiosity about what generates these events. I for one am curious about how they are triggered. It would be nice to know when we should be paying attention to some fleeting thought. It also occurs to me that we might consider doing a group interview of say a hundred persons at a time and flag those who have reaction anomalies that are outliers from what we want or expect."
"Barana, would you also observe our minds as we do this, you might see something that we fail to notice that may have relevance. We can start this evening."
Chapter 13: The Meeting
Station 1 in Earth Orbit –
October 27 – C Day 58
"Well Fador, are you ready for this."
"Indeed I am, Hank, indeed I am."
There was a sudden hubbub in the adjoining meeting hall as all of the leaders arrived. Some looked irate. Some subdued. Some nonplussed. The seating was arranged in three tiers around a large open-ended oval area that was 100' by 60' with a podium on a stage that was about 6' above floor level. The press booth was about 5' higher than the third tier in back of the closed end of the oval. Each of their seats was an executive conference chair and quite comfortable.
Har-Ten was transported to a point ten feet from the podium, and walked to the podium. He paused for a moment for the leaders to quiet down. When this did not happen, he spoke in an amplified voice without apparent mike or amplification device. "You will now take your seats and be quiet." This shocked most of them and quiet ensued. "You will hold all questions until asked for them. If you are unable to be quiet then you will be returned whence you came and your briefing will be with the rest of the planet, on public broadcast. An empty chair will represent your country’s interest. If you do not wish to listen to the information that will be provided here today raise your hand now and you will be returned whence you came and your briefing will be with the rest of the planet, on public broadcast, and your country will be represented by an empty chair. There are two exceptions to this. The countries of North Korea and Iran will be silent. They may attempt to speak but no sound will emanate from them. Those are the ground rules. The voice of any person speaking from this stage will be automatically translated to the language of the listener and projected directly to the listeners hearing receptors. Does anyone wish to leave? Seeing and hearing no response, I would now like to introduce Fador, the President of Antor." With that said, he disappeared from the podium.
Two seconds after Har-Ten disappeared, thirty Marines in light battle armor that concealed the upper half of their face, appeared equidistant around the interior oval facing outward. When the last Marine was in place, they did an about face without command and formed two ranks facing the podium. They then marched to the stage area and formed an enclosure around the front and two sides of the stage, then faced outward from the stage and stood at attention. Fador then appeared in the same manner as had Har-Ten. When he arrived. The Marines assumed a parade rest position.
Fador then spoke, "Leaders of Earth, my name is Fador and I am President of the Antoran people. You are presently located on Starship Station One, that is one of 100 stations of roughly this design. This Station is essentially a military base that is 260 miles long and 60 miles in diameter. It currently houses 20,000 warships and each has more firepower than everything your planet has produced in the last 100 years including nuclear devices. We have been orbiting this world for the last 480 years and I must say that I am truly saddened to see that your people think of addressing its weapons to masses of non-combatants. Your Weapons of Mass Destruction are an anathema that you clearly are not mature enough to possess. Therefor, all of your WMD's as you call them have been taken from you. Your deployment of such weapons is troubling. That you would choose to use these weapons against one another in this day and age is also troubling. We have placed the weapons where you cannot readily reach them, given your current level of technology. All of these weapons have been placed on the surface of Mercury and that will likely render these devices inoperable. I am sure many of you will still feel that the only way to resolve your differences is to find more ways to kill each other. If it were not for the fact that so many lives are dependent on what you can do in the next few years for their continued existence, we might have let you. You are like children that are playing with toys that they should not have. The two states that initiated these actions are here today. They will not be staying for the full duration of this meeting. They can hear the rest of this meeting in the same way as their constituency, on public broadcast systems. All over the globe, we have placed devices that can hear all of this and provide feedback. The leaders of the two aggressor states will have to first face their own constituency. If that is not sufficient, know that these two states worked in collusion and the evidence of that is being provided to your world court as we speak. Also note that these two countries will not be permitted to further export their evil beyond their borders. They will not be able to leave their country. Persons who wish to emigrate may do so provided there are those who will accept them and establish reasonable conditions that we approve. Only those who can pass our screening processes will be able to leave. Those two states are now dismissed." Barana then transported the two back to their offices and did so with an audible *pop* for each.
"I suppose some of you are asking, who are these people who are interfering in our internal affairs. You must ask yourselves, is the use of a WMD truly an internal affair? We think not. We are your Guardians. 500 years ago, a race invaded our home world but we knew it was coming and were able to escape in vessels like this one. Our home, Antor, was 3,150 light years from here. The invading race is called the Glarin. They had attacked two worlds, Cler and Fullus, prior to reaching ours. That is, two that we know of. These two worlds were about 500 years ahead of your state of development and the Glarin went through their resistance as though it did not exist. We had to leave Antor before our ability to resist was operational. We were able to take our 1.5 billion citizens with us and went to the Tau Ceti system to regroup and build more ships. At this point I am going to introduce the Supreme Commanding General of our fleet, Henry P. Stone who will explain what we are up to and what we expect of you." At this the President of the United States gasped because he recognized Hank. The Marines came to attention. Fador walked to the rear of the stage, turned to face the leaders and disappeared.
Hank went to the podium, stood at attention and crisply said, "Company, dismissed." At this the Marines saluted and then reversed the course they had taken earlier, returned to the precise starting point
at which they had arrived and disappeared in reverse of the sequence by which they had arrived.
"Barana, please remove the podium, I will not be needing it." The podium disappeared. "Thank you. Leaders of the planet Earth, some of you know me or know of me. I was born in Billings, Montana and served honorably in the United States Marine Corps. Earlier this year I retired from that service and was subsequently recruited to serve as the commander of the Antoran Fleet. I was initially reluctant to serve in an alien force until I learned why they wanted my service. Briefly stated, the alien invasion fleet that Honorable Fador noted in his opening remark will arrive here in the Solar System in about 25 years. Planets far superior to Earth in weapons and technology succumbed to these invaders in a matter of days. Nuclear weapons have no impact on their vessels. Without outside assistance, you have no hope. However, with the assistance of this fleet the roles are, I believe, reversed. That fleet is approaching us at a rate of speed six times faster than the speed of light. The initial ships from Antor arrived in this neighborhood traveling at a speed 1,000 times that and are capable of speeds up to 12,000 times light speed."
The president of a small Asian country jumped up and shouted, "That as you Americans say, is so much hogwash. There is no such thing as faster than light speed. The laws of physics do not permit it."
"With all due respect sir, you are here to listen to this briefing, not debate it. That is the last outburst I will accept. Any further outbursts will result in dismissal of the person providing the outburst since that is wasting the valuable time of others here to listen. Now kindly sit down and I will proceed. I would suggest that you remember what caused us to call this meeting and how we handled that threat. I would also suggest that you recall how you arrived here. I also remind you that everything said here is being transmitted to every broadcast system on the planet plus additional locations all over the world that we have emplaced for the benefit of those without the necessary technology to listen in."
"One further comment about your understanding of physics. The Antorans are thousands of years ahead of your understanding or use of physics so I would suggest that you withhold judgment about what is or is not possible for the time being. But lets start with one small demonstration of physics that you do not yet have the capability to perform. In 5 minutes, one Antoran Type 1A Station and nine Antoran Type 1B Stations will disengage their cloak shields above the major population centers on each of the various continents. You can use your technology to prove to your own satisfaction that they are what I have represented."
"We have recordings of the destruction caused by the invading Glarin forces some of it while in progress. This material is pretty graphic so we are not airing it as part of the briefing being transmitted to Earth, after all there are children watching and the message is traumatic enough. These recordings will be provided to each leader now here."
Barana interrupted,
Hank put his hand by his ear and frowned and then said loudly, "Blast!" He hesitated a few more seconds and continued, "Excuse me for that outburst ladies and gentlemen, I have just received word that, apparently, North Korea did not believe us when we spoke ten days ago.
Hank went quiet to let the scene speak for itself. The scene was of an invasion force from North Korea entering the demilitarized zone. As each person entered the zone, the soldier's weapons, ammunition, helmet, boots, packs and gear, clothing except underwear and glasses, all disappeared. As the realization hit the individual soldier that he was essentially naked, he tried to reverse course but the surge of troops continued to push into the area. Soon there were so many that they could not move and the unclothed crowd started returning across their border. As each cannon would fire, the projectile was sent to the join the deposits on Mercury. The artillery itself was then melted slowly in place. The same treatment was provided for the tanks waiting to join the invasion. The line of melting equipment was slowly moving North and the panicked troops were leading the rush. The leaders of the world were stunned.
Hank told Barana to halt the transmission and resumed. "Ladies and gentlemen, some people never learn. As unfortunate as the need for that little demonstration is, I am glad it happened. We will also not let one of your neighbors take advantage of the situation to advance their territories or political ambitions. If you have designs on eliminating or taking over another country, you had best realign your agenda for the next 25 years, because it is not going to happen. If you have such plans for any neighbor I would suggest that you back off now or what is currently happening in Korea will happen next in your country. The melting equipment that you witnessed will continue for 30 miles from the DMZ and from their border with Manchuria. It will also occur for any equipment within 20 miles of their coast. Ships will not be sunk but their capacity to pose a battle threat will be eliminated for 25 years. This fleet does not intend to become your internal policemen. You are quite capable of doing that for yourselves, but for whatever reason you are not adequately addressing it."
"We are disengaging the cloaking shields I mentioned before we were so rudely interrupted by North Korea's attempt at humor. Getting back to the issue that concerns this station, the Glarin threat. The Glarin contaminate the systems with which they come in contact. For that reason we do not wish to have them reach this system. They must be met long before they can get here. If we are going to defend your system, and this station technically and theoretically has no obligation to do so, we will expect help in the form of manpower. We have one-60x260 mile station, 19-60x200 mile stations and eighty 60x90 mile stations to man. On those stations we have a total of 2,000,000 warships to man. Each ship has a crew of 24 to 27 persons. You can do the math. There are five other civilizations in this stellar neighborhood but this is the first system that will be hit. We intend to recruit from Earth. Fact is we are already recruiting."
"We would like to have persons with military experience. You have many on Earth who have served with honor and for a variety of excuses were discarded. Some from injuries sustained in the course of their service. We can restore health to many of these individuals including those with PTSD. We can provide full restoration of body functions for all combat injuries except for some brain related injuries. We will screen and test anyone who applies. We will not take everyone who applies. We have the means to detect spies and sleepers that are 100% effective so do not try anything there. I am sure that many of you will try to test that statement. Do so at your own peril. If you are that stupid then you will get what you deserve. Anyone who serves on an Antoran station or vessel will not be subject to your discipline and laws but rather to ours. Upon completion of that service, that person will have several options. These are: return to place of origin; remain on station; or, participate in one of several colonization programs currently under design for one of the nine planets we have identified as suitable for our kind of life form in this stellar neighborhood."
"We are interested in those of you with active military branches that will wish to down size in view of reduced global threat. This would be voluntary and require you to honorably discharge those accepted after acceptance has been granted. We would also expect that you be willing to accept back those who have served if they wish to return. We will provide an income stream and health maintenance to those who serve and you must agree to forego taxation of such persons."
"The advantage to your entering voluntarily in to this kind of arrangement is that when this is over, we will be leasing some of our commercial ships and mining ships at reasonable terms. Priority and preference will be given to those geopolitical entities that that actively support these efforts. These commercial ships have substantial capacity and we will also
be providing access to those civilizations and planets that we have seeded. No entity here will have a claim on any citizen of a colonized planet. Each will be independent and be able to go its own way. This fleet will provide the security for all planets in the neighborhood that agree to these terms. Your squabbles have no place in space. If this is ignored, you will be barred from space."
"You also have huge portions of your population that are disenfranchised. We intend to offer them the opportunity to help humanity and themselves. We will start by offering them restored health and an education through high school level with some college. We can do this with about eight to ten days worth of their time and will offer that on a family basis. Those that take this offer need not apply for a position on the station until after the medical and education process is completed. At that point they may elect to do so or not. Our educational processes are not like those on Earth. For example, I came to this station in late June with a BS in History and a minor in English. I could speak English, Spanish, passable Pashti and a smattering of German. I now have a Doctorate in Military Science, military administration and History. In addition I can speak fluently in Pashti, Dari, Uzbek, Farsi, Spanish. German, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Hebrew, Greek, and Gesmin. The latter is the principal language of the planet Frote. "
"Persons coming to this station are expected to do so as family units if they are part of one. Some exceptions will be accepted such as abusive relationships. Men and women on this station are treated equally. We believe it and we live it. Our standards can generally be met by persons who are willing to learn and can live the Golden Rule. If you are killing in the name of a religion, you need not apply. If women are chattel to you, you need not apply, If you are an anarchist, you need not apply, persons aspiring to criminal activity need not apply, terrorist's need not apply, active drug addicts and alcoholics need not apply unless you have taken the Antoran cure. The Antoran cure is a treatment that if you fall off the wagon, the result will kill you."