Variations on Humanity

by Paul Eslinger

  The next question from the council came in a rush. “Almost every human saw Ceres fly close to Earth. Have the Abantu also developed advanced weapons systems?”

  Rhona grimaced, even knowing they were recording her presentation. She and Laura had discussed this question. “That question highlights one of the basic differences between human and Abantu societies. For thousands of years, humans have been seeking better ways to kill each other while the Abantu spent over 1.5 million years developing methods to keep everyone alive and healthy.”

  She took a deep breath. “A few weeks ago, my fiancé Keene, our friend Sam Mahoney, and I were considering the implications of the Abantu actually coming here from another star system. Sam asked us a question when we were alone in Keene’s apartment. ‘Do we really want to stand by and let some self-righteous human idiots piss off someone who has the power to fly a planet between star systems?’ I mention that question because Dana, the commander of Ceres, quoted Sam when Keene, David Beganovic, and I visited her on Ceres. Their information gathering abilities are unparalleled in human existence.”

  The next question came without any attempt by the human leader to signal for recognition. “Why should we believe you?”

  Rhona held up both hands and shrugged. “You don’t have to. However, let me tell you some of the reasons I believe. My mother and father took medicine they developed to Cameroon and the treatments eradicated the Ebola by the next day. Nanda treated my gunshot wound and I healed faster than any human has ever healed before–I completely healed in four days. Laura already mentioned anti-viral drugs. They will soon start marketing medicines that will cure most or all forms of cancer.

  “The entire world watched their spacecraft deliver a self-contained facility to Jetmore. Everyone in this room watched Ceres fly by the planet. Consider also that they didn’t do many things humans would have done. For example, two countries, including my home country, fired orbital weapons at the ship making the delivery to Jetmore. The most illogical concept was no one attempted to communicate with that ship before firing on it. The Abantu on the ship completed their delivery without fighting back.

  “Also, Ceres arrived in the solar system in last months of the year 1800. They could have easily taken over the entire planet. However, they were interested in peaceful coexistence rather than conquest. Several of them landed and lived among us, in our squalid conditions, without taking over. Even though I have known them only a few months, there is no evidence of prevarication in their communications. They don’t answer all of my questions, but they don’t lie to me. That is totally different from normal human politics.”

  Another leader signaled for the floor as soon as Rhona finished. “Laura defined a lifetime. How old are the Abantu living here?”

  Rhona looked around the room, noticing grey or white hair on almost every person there. “Laura revealed her age in her comments and she is 2022 Earth years old. Ivette is the youngest Abantu living here, and she is 63 years old. Nanda is the oldest, and she is 6332. The average age of the Abantu living on Earth is 786 years. The average age of those living on Ceres is 5982 years.”

  The next question came from the leader of another small country. “What other star systems are the Abantu colonizing?”

  “You already know about 59 Eridani,” Rhona replied. “The closest system they are colonizing is Sigma Draconis. Also on the list are Delta Aquilae, Tau Hydrae, and Alpha Carinae.” Rhona didn’t need any prompting as she continued to list the star systems, ending with, “And the most distant system is Delta Volantis, which is about 660 light years from here.”

  Another leader spoke up. “Can the Abantu travel between all of those systems using their star portals?”

  Rhona ignored the lack of protocol. She gave an answer that would be true when the Abantu spaceships from Ceres finished their trips to the other star systems. “Yes.”

  The room went silent for a moment, and the leader of a Middle East nation signaled for the floor. “Do the Abantu believe in God?”

  Rhona sighed. She had expected a question of this nature. “Laura already addressed Abantu beliefs about the origin of the universe and life. I will not debate how those beliefs differ from beliefs held by different groups of humans. However, Nanda visited this planet many years ago and the historical accounts in the Hebrew Scriptures for that time period matches with her observations.”

  Silence fell again, and Rhona waited only a few seconds. “Thank you for the opportunity to talk,” she said and stepped away from the podium.

  Chapter 26 – Embassy Issues

  Although Lubna kept the plaustrum suborbital on the way home from Vienna, the flight took less than an hour and they arrived in Jetmore in time for an early breakfast. Rhona took a sip of coffee after she sat beside Keene and heaved a big sigh. “I used to joke about jet lag. It’s real.”

  “Ready for a nap?”

  “Yeah.”

  Brian’s voice broke into the conversation. “Can I sit with you?”

  “Sure.” Rhona gestured at an open chair. She could see her parents and a number of other people just arriving. “As long as you don’t have a subpoena.”

  He chuckled. “I don’t, but they may arrive soon. Senator Harper has filed three more complaints.”

  “What about?” Rhona asked.

  “I’ll get to that in a moment. Last night we learned the federal judge handling the Senator’s case that the president couldn’t declare the county an Abantu embassy has punted it to the next higher court without issuing a ruling. We predict that judge will punt it to the Supreme Court.”

  “No one wants to make a decision?” Rhona asked.

  “It’s an issue of Federal government rights versus State government rights. It probably belongs in the Supreme Court.”

  “How will they decide?” Keene asked.

  The attorney waved one hand. “Who knows?”

  Even though she was tired, a sense of excitement moved through Rhona. They had enough sensors and computational power they ought to be able to predict the outcome of the case. Besides, she had a desire to learn more about the Abantu computer systems. This would give her an excuse to dig deep. “We’ll give you a prediction on their decision, judge by judge, within a week of the time it gets referred to the Supreme Court.”

  Brian raised his eyebrows. “You’re that good?”

  “We’ll try.”

  Keene glanced at Rhona, gave her a little grin, and then focused on Brian. “What else should we know about the senator?”

  “He filed a complaint with the FDA that the Abantu are illegally manufacturing and selling medicine.”

  “We expected that,” Rhona commented.

  “Yes,” Brian responded. “He also filed a complaint with the FAA that the Abantu are flying over the United States without checking in with flight control.”

  “We have been,” Keene agreed. “I thought we had worked through a process to start doing that.”

  “We have, and your flight to Vienna was the first one where we used it. That merely verifies you–we–didn’t do it before.”

  Rhona caught the verbal clue that Brian was mentally aligning with the Abantu. Laura’s wiles must really be effective. She momentarily set aside the thought that, once again, Laura had surprising depth in her insight of human nature. “What is the third thing?”

  “He filed a complaint with the SEC that the Abantu have been, and continue to be, profiting from insider trading. He asks for forfeiture of all profits.”

  “Hmm. That’s a new one,” Keene said.

  “But not unexpected,” Charles said from behind Rhona. “Can we sit here?”

  “Sure.” Rhona waved at the table. There were still four empty chairs. “Why isn’t it unexpected?”

  Charles set his tray on the table and looked at his daughter. “Because that is essentially what she did in the past.”
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br />   “But, not now?”

  “For the last twenty years, she has been slowly selling publicly traded companies and buying or investing in private companies. She and the other Abantu have moved eighty-five percent of their assets to the private side.”

  “I heard about the SEC complaint,” Laura said as she slid a tray on the table. “It shouldn’t go very far and Charles is correct. We are divesting our investments in publicly owned companies.”

  Rhona leaned forward. “When did you start investing in human companies?”

  “On a small scale in 1802 and we started purchasing land the same year. We moved up quickly on investments, partly because we bought land with significant mineral reserves.”

  “Did you know they had reserves?”

  Laura nodded. “We did mineral surveys before we bought the land, as any good buyer would.”

  Keene sipped his coffee while he looked intently at Laura. “Did all of your investments do well?”

  “Not all. We can predict overall market movements and technology developments reasonably well. Individuals, however, are harder to predict. For example, I bought some stock in the Louisville, Cincinnati and Charleston Railroad Company in 1838. The company eventually went bankrupt and was sold to the South Carolina Railway Company in 1881. I still have the original stock certificates.”

  “That doesn’t explain why the SEC complaint won’t go very far,” Brian commented. “If a complaint is upheld, the individual forfeits all profits and usually goes to jail.”

  “The contract we negotiated with the Federal Government in 1806 for mineral rights also guaranteed our right to use any nonviolent means to collect information to protect our investments. That provision expires in ten years.”

  “Laws change.” Brian murmured.

  “Human laws do. For example, insider trading only became illegal in 1934.” Laura flipped her long hair to one side as she looked at Brian. “The Abantu legal structure does not allow a new law to invalidate existing contracts, nor should American law.”

  “You expect me to take that argument to the SEC?”

  Laura nodded. “I do. Humans need to learn how to deal with the Abantu.”

  Rhona blew steam off her coffee as she listened to the exchange between Laura and Brian. Finally, she looked at Laura. “Did you foresee a legal challenge on that specific clause when you negotiated that contract?”

  “It was in one of our planning scenarios, but we gave it a low probability.”

  Judith had been eating her breakfast and listening quietly. She laid down her fork and looked at Laura. “How much did you meddle with our technological advances since 1801?”

  Laura squirmed in her chair. “I wouldn’t use the term meddle.”

  “Why not?”

  “We gave hints to several inventors about electricity and magnetism.”

  “Oh,” Rhona said as her mind raced over material she had studied in a high school physics class. She was surprised that the names came back so clearly, even clearer than when she had just read the book. “Did you talk to Georg Ohm, Charles Coulomb, Alessandro Volta, Carl Gauss, and those folks?”

  “I didn’t personally talk with them, but Karena and Torrie did. They were living in Europe and it was easier for them to travel to their locations using human conveyances.”

  “How about medicine?”

  “We gave several people a lot of hints, but the human grasp of chemistry was too elementary to take it very far.”

  Judith tapped her fingertips on the tabletop. “You haven’t mentioned anything that sounded like meddling.”

  A flush moved up Laura’s neck. “We restricted weapons development. Well, it was me mostly. I didn’t get the support from Ceres I expected. Early in World War I, your chemists developed high explosives at least twenty times more powerful than those in use even now. Those experimental results got ‘lost.’ We delayed critical advances in nuclear weapons programs. We provided behind the scenes support to the nuclear test ban treaty process.”

  Rhona saw Sam come in the door. He looked around rather than heading for the coffee dispenser and then headed in their direction.

  “Did any of you hear from Andrea this morning?” he asked.

  After a look around the table, Rhona shook her head. “No. Is there something we should know?”

  “She called yesterday afternoon. She was concerned that a person who had made a reservation might be a problem.”

  “Did she give a reason?”

  Sam waved both hands. “I haven’t got a clue what goes on behind her blue eyes. However, she said she would call this morning and provide an update. She hasn’t called and I can’t reach her phone. It’s out of service.”

  Rhona raised her eyes. “Dulcis, do we have any active surveillance at Pawnee Valley Lodge?”

  The AI responded immediately. “Negative. The power went out about thirty minutes ago.”

  Keene shoved back his chair and stood. “Let’s go take a look in person.”

  “I’m with you,” Sam said.

  “Count me in,” Rhona added.

  “You don’t need–” Keene broke off his protest when Rhona made a slashing motion.

  Her voice was brusque. “I’ll wear my protective suit, but I’m coming. Andrea is one of my friends.”

  Keene glanced at Laura. “We need a small rapid response team. It will take fifteen minutes for us to get there.”

  “I understand.” Laura also stood. “I’ll take it up with Olga Booker.”

  Rhona dashed back to her apartment and grabbed her protective suit. She had doffed it half an hour earlier when they returned from Vienna. She quickly put it on and then joined Keene in the hall. Sam and Trixie were already there with Keene.

  “Let’s go,” Keene said. He turned and strode briskly along the hall, heading for the exit. “Dulcis, do you have any new surveillance?”

  “No, Keene. The only active surveillance is the security camera at the gas station. It only shows the corner of the Lodge.”

  Trixie struggled to keep up while the others moved fluidly. Rhona glanced at her when they passed through the exterior security door. “Let’s take a cart instead of running.”

  They reached the Lodge parking lot twelve minutes after Sam sounded the alert. A couple of room doors stood open and individuals were loading luggage in two cars.

  Keene slipped from the pilentum and approached one of the men with Sam and Rhona trailing behind him. “Is there a problem?” he asked.

  The man gestured at the office. “The power is off and I couldn’t even take a shower. No one answers at the office.”

  Rhona nodded. “We know Andrea. We’ll talk to her.”

  “I’m out of here,” the man said as he opened his car door.

  “Just a moment,” Rhona said while she stepped closer. “Did you see or hear anything strange in the night?”

  “Nope,” the man said. He slid into his car but didn’t shut the door. “The power was still on at 4:15. I woke up and saw the clock.”

  By this time, the other man had finished loading his car. Rhona, Keene, and Sam watched the two cars leave the lot. Rhona turned towards the others. “Andrea’s rooms are just behind the office. We need to go through the office to get there.”

  She led the way towards the office with all of her senses alert. A slight streak on the sidewalk near the door caught her attention. She stopped suddenly and pointed. “What is that?”

  The other men stopped with the quickness of combat reflexes. Keene went down on his knees and touched the concrete. He lifted his hand and rubbed his fingers together, and then sniffed them. “Mud. It looks like a track made by a bike tire.”

  “Why here?” Rhona asked with another quick glance around.

  “It’s too cold for most bikers,” Sam commented. There was a ridge of snow at the edge of the parking
lot, a reminder of the previous snow storm.

  Rhona scanned the rest of the sidewalk. “There’s another mark over there. No–two more.”

  “This wasn’t just an equipment malfunction,” Sam said. His hands opened and closed several times as if he wanted to be holding a weapon.

  Rhona stepped close to the office door and reached for the handle. The knob resisted her effort. She tensed and tried again, shaking it in frustration when it didn’t turn.

  “Is there any other way in?” Keene asked.

  “Just windows,” Rhona said. She gave the door another shake and twisted the handle back and forth. There was a little click and then the handle turned. “Hey! It’s open.”

  “Let me go first,” Keene barked when Rhona pushed the door open.

  She stepped aside and followed Keene while Sam headed along the outside of the building. She looked around the outermost part of the office as Keene darted back and forth and then disappeared behind the partition. She could hear his rapid footsteps.

  Finally, he poked his head out. “Nothing seems out of place.”

  “Did you try the door to Andrea’s apartment?”

  “No. I’ll knock.”

  Rhona glanced back at the open front door as she moved towards the partition. Enough sunlight came through the opening to reveal several smudges on the carpet to one side of where she and Keene had just walked. She darted over and ran her fingertips over the carpet. They turned dark.

  She looked up to see Keene watching her. She shrugged. “It’s mud. It’s fresh enough it isn’t dry.”

  Keene froze in place and then nodded. He touched his earpiece. “Is there anything out there, Sam?”

  “No sign of anything.”

  “There’s fresh mud on the carpet. We haven’t found Andrea.”

  “Be right there,” Sam said.

  Keene waited for Sam to join them in the office before knocking loudly on Andrea’s door. Dead silence was the only response.