Another speaks out, "Our people will never accept that!" Ally answers "Then we have a lot of work to do, we’d better get started.”
Chase looks out over everyone and smiles, "You ask like children going to school for the first time, but I can assure you this is not a big deal for us and by the time you or your children leave for Mars it will be a wonderful place to live."
One man stands, "I know what you are saying is true. I have had nightmares myself concerning my people's future, and I have often felt powerless to change the course of my actions or those of my country. I felt no control over the future. You give me hope for the first time!”
Others stand and speak, "I agree, it's time we all faced the truth, thank you for helping us."
Another man asks, "Why are you helping us?" Ally smiles and answers, "For the very reasons you evolved in the first place."
Chapter 73 Charles stood staring at his corpse, its enormous girth lying on the gurney in front of him. Looking at one’s own corpse even for a Klacknel was a disturbing experience. He was very quiet and he was just staring. Sam Nichols came into the room and stood behind him, and asked, "Disturbing?"
"Somewhat, confusing mostly. To look at your former self gives mixed feelings. Looking at what I did to myself is strange. I love my new body, but I miss my ‘self;’ my sense of self, my being," Charles returns. "How do you know you're missing anything?" Sam asks.
"I'm haunted by memories, a taste of my past. I'm like fish in the ocean knowing there is a vast world out there but limited by living in the sea," Charles comments.
"That's quite prophetic for a Klacknel," Sam says. "What do you know about Klacknels, other than the process that Beneizen gave you to transfer me?" Charles says quietly.
Epilog Beneizen and his new mate Kala sat looking into a large portal at the galaxy he had left nearly fifty years earlier. He reached in and took the planet earth into his palm. He smiled as he looked down on the inhabitants. The two of them sat there watching the first shipload of humans leave for Mars. There was nothing like giving humans a united purpose. The sixty thousand humans catapulted forward towards the small formerly red but now blue planet.
Chase and Ally had done it. The year was 2095 and the humans were leaving right on schedule. He then replaced the earth and reached in to take Mars in his hand. He saw the new rivers of blue water running over the planet and giant air manufacturing machines generating an atmosphere and even clouds floating over new patches of green grass and plants growing over the terra-formed landscape. There was even a new spaceport on Mars named Beneizen Intergalactic. He remarked sadly, "Chase and Ally seem to be doing a very good job. I should never have gone there without a mate."
She puts her hand on his shoulder and says "You think they’re doing a good job; that's already a judgment. I understand how you got into so much trouble. You must love them as a species."
"That’s true," he says.
"Too bad, objective love would have given you a different result, but I have to tell you that there are some very strange things still going on there," she says.
"What do you mean strange?" Beneizen sits up and looks down on Chase and Ally in a little white house. "Ally's pregnant," she says with a wry smile. "How did that happen?" he ponders
Please turn the page for a preview of the next book in the Sentinels of the Galaxy Trilogy: The Departure
Soon to be available The Departure The Martinez family stood in line waiting to board their bullet shuttle to the first Space Ark leaving for Mars in less than two weeks. Juan was 80 years old and as he stood with Esperanza and Maria they were joined by Sam Nichols who was 110 years old. None of them looked a day over 60 and Maria looked about 40. Chase had helped them develop a way of living that retarded aging. The genes that end life had been altered and Nano-bots were programmed to live permanently in the human body protecting it from any afflictions. It had taken years to develop the space cannon that shoot the bullet shuttles into orbit to be picked up by the Space Ark. The problem of moving billions of people from all over the world to Mars was beyond comprehension. The space-cannon loomed over a mile high and worked with simple air pressure on a monumental scale to launch the shuttles. It also had helped that the entire system was based on use of an anti-gravity material called Gravelastic that the Kalactins had used for millennia to reduce the effects of gravity. It rendered itself and its content neutrally buoyant.
For the current program each person was placed in an individual reusable pod. Shuttle bullets carried up to 1000 pods each. Tests had shown that being awake for the first trip into orbit had proven to be too traumatic for many people and so they were sedated for the trip. The shuttles were shot up through spacecannons in 3 locations world-wide. They took a predetermined orbit and were picked up by the Space Arks. These great ships already in orbit could even be seen from the ground on a clear night.
This first operational voyage was scheduled to leave for Mars in just fourteen days. It was a global event. People from almost every country and religion would be on board. The whole Martinez family was to be on board. Chase had asked them to be on the first shuttle with Sam. Much had to be done during the 14 month trip to the formerly red, now blue planet. The name had been changed to Barsoom out of respect to Edgar Rice Boroughs’ name for Mars which in this time was considered just too military sounding.
*****
General William Kind stood looking at the gigantic space cannon in Canyonlands Utah. His great frame and hard features did not soften the permanent sneer on his face. Hands behind his back he stood next to General Nombe from Iraq and General Alimande from South Africa. "I don't want that shuttle to reach Mars - are we all on the same page? General Kind opens.
"It won't," says General Nombe with a smirk.” "Everything is in place," adds General Alimande. "Those godless aliens are not sending us earthlings anywhere," says General Kind and continues, "They may think they have everything under control, but I have made agreements that will assure us the earth is ours and not the plaything for some alien succubae." "Who is helping us?" asks General Alimande. "Not now, in time all will become clear," General Kind says with a wry smile.
*****
Sam sat on the bunk in his room on the Mars 177 Space Ark. At 110 years old Sam was very hearty. A healthy life style had made a big difference to his quality of life. It was unusual for someone Sam’s age to travel to Mars as generally people over 75 were being left on earth, to use the remaining supplies of food and potable water and assist in ways to help and receive the Klacknels when they returned from Mars to begin re-terraforming earth.
Sam sat watching the preparations for the journey being covered in depth on the television above his head. Each family traveling to Mars was given a module in the large ship. Modules were like small houses; completely self-contained. These modules would not only be each family's home for the trip but also their home on Mars. Sam would be living with Juan and his family.
People were being discouraged to have children before arrival. It was discussed at long length whether people should be put to sleep for the fourteen month journey, but it was decided that it would be better to deal with the social issues of the new order on the trip rather than wait to arrive on Mars. They would also be trained to carry out the jobs they would do and the social order that would exist on Mars. In other words, the trip would be a long educational experience for the travelers. The governments they had all known were gone. There were no longer countries or nationalities. There was no rich, no poor, everyone started the same way. You all ate the same food, wore the same clothes, lived in identical housing, and had the same conditions. The new order was not a natural order for people and the trip itself was going to put the human condition to the test.
Each module also had its own life support system. And it was the responsibility of the family to keep it in good running condition. The modules we're actually quite comfortable, they were plain but pleasant. After all, people were probably going to spend their entire lives in one.
All the walls of the rooms were magnetic matter. You could move them anywhere walk through them and were able to be made any color, photograph, or video you wished. If you wanted your room to be in the woods you could program that scene into them. Each community of modules had its own Klacknel that controlled everything according to the humans’ wishes. They were not considered servants, if anything they were in charge. There was no cooking in the modules - meals were available in giant cafeterias that served the community which included gymnasiums, sports arenas and a shopping mall.
Sam saw Chase appear on the wall in front of him. "Are you coming with us? "Sam asked.
"I'm not sure, Ally is not much in favor of our going," Chase replies.
"Too bad, how are your daughter and son?
"Diana and Daniel are busy, very involved with the exodus," Chase replies.
"Good, why are you calling me?" Sam asks.
"I'm concerned. I wanted both you and Juan on this first flight. We’re picking up chatter that indicates that there may be even more and perhaps unknown forces against this entire endeavor. I'm not even sure I understand some of the opposition. But both Ally and I are concerned. There are many forces in the universe that even we don't understand. You must be very watchful and keep me posted," Chase continues. "So you're not coming?" Sam presses.
"I didn't say that," Chase replies as Ally appears on the screen and says, "Hi Sam! We can't make that decision right now. There are forces appearing that we don't understand." Ally explains.
"Can you give me any hints or hard information?" Sam asks.
"Yes, be watchful as I suggested and keep us informed," said Chase.
"I will," Sam says uneasily. He thought to himself, “What is going on?” He was becoming very nervous. He changed the view on the wall in front of him to view the shuttle parked in the giant space station. It was a massive undertaking and Charles Dean was in charge. That would make anyone nervous.
*****
Sentinels of the Cosmos Trilogy Page 28