The Circle

by Harold R Watson

  She kicked and fought but they overpowered her and dragged her out of the room.

  Bring in her husband next, he ordered.

  The guards came into to get me and as they took me out of the cell, I signaled our guards in the waiting room who slipped up behind them and hit them over the head catching them as they fell so as to not make a racket.

  I picked up one of their weapons and gave another to one of my officers. I quietly told everyone to follow me and that as soon as the inner door opens to the Control Center room that I wanted everyone with a weapon to use it to take control and to be prepared to shoot to kill if their was resistance.

  Thinking the armed guards were their own, the guards in the Control Center were caught off guard. Our guards had them cold before they had time to react. Marvin Roberts, however must have had time to react because somehow he managed to escape from the room with my wife before things were secured.

  We tried to run after him but the door he had gone through was locked form the other side. It was a steel door and no one could break it down.

  Were does that door lead, I asked one of their now disarmed guards.

  He hesitated as if he wasn t going to tell me. I pointed my gun to his head and told him if he wanted to live, he had better answer me now. He said it led into the Admiral s quarters. I asked if there was any other way out. He answered yes that the Admiral had other exits.

  We then heard a rumble of guard s feet heading toward the Control Center front door. We had entered this steel door much like the one through which Marvin Roberts had left.

  Lock that door! I yelled and one of our men did so just before the alien guards arrived.

  Well we can t go out the way we came in, that s for sure. That leaves us only one way out.

  Marvo said for us to stand aside. He used a built in torch he possessed to cut around the lock. Meanwhile, the alien guards were trying to smash in the other door.

  While Marvo was doing his thing, Dr. Collins managed to remove the directional control disc from the console and replace it with one that would change our course back toward Starsis. He called over the mother ship s P.A. system that the ship s controls were now in the hands of the Tureens. He said that we could use a mop up crew to take out some alien guards trying to break down our control room door.

  Good idea, Dr Collins, I said.

  That announcement apparently did some good. The alien guards outside our door began to scatter and the banging noises on the outside door stopped.

  We asked Dr. Collins to remain in the Control Center with half of our men while the other half followed me passed the door used by Marvin Robert s that Marvo was able to open for us.

  As more and more of the Captains returned to the university area with their fighting forces, most of the aliens were either killed of taken prisoners. Still there was no sign of Marvin Roberts or of Tess. Then Dr. Collins contacted me by radio from the Control Center. Marvin Roberts had called in. He wanted to make a deal. I told him to patch Marvin Roberts through to me. He did.

  Is this Damon Neville? the voice asked.

  Yes, this is Damon Neville, I answered.

  I have your lovely wife. Here s my deal. I will return her to you unharmed if you will gather up all my people and bring them to the AMBER ONE to exchange for your wife.

  After all my people are aboard, you will open the outer doors and let us leave in peace. Otherwise, I will have my men strap your wife down and after I take my pleasure with her, I ll let my men each take their turn before I kill her.

  Let me talk to her, I insisted.

  Sure. Say hello to your hubby sweetie, he said.

  He llo Damon. I m all right.

  What s your answer? he yelled back.

  You have a deal but it will take some time to get all your people together because they are scattered through out the mother ship.

  You have one hour or all bets are off, he came back.

  I understand, I said.

  Have Dr. Collins get on the ship s P.A. again and tell anyone holding prisoners to take them to the AMBER ONE located in docking bay number one as soon as possible. When they are all gathered there, we can make the exchange. No tricks now or you ll never see your wife alive again.

  No tricks, I said. Dr. Collins, did you get that?

  Aye, Aye, sir.

  When you make the announcement, tell them that there will be no one let aboard the AMBER ONE until I arrive there to take charge of the exchange per direct orders of the New Acting Admiral Damon Neville.

  I only hoped the other Captains aboard would take my orders seriously and comply. I then went to the nearest train terminal with Marvo and the others with us and caught a train with destination bay number one.

  It took about thirty minutes to get there. By that time, many of the Captains had arrived escorting prisoners. Some they brought had been killed or wounded in the skirmish but most were still unharmed.

  When I arrived, there was a big cheer and I was hailed as Admiral Neville. It was 15:00 hours by the time the last prisoner reached bay number one. There were 332 unharmed, 17 wounded and 41 dead prisoners there when I again spoke by radio with Marvin Roberts.

  Here are all your people as promised, I said.

  Well start sending them up the ramp, he came back.

  Not until you send my wife down first, I came said.

  Never happen, he said. I want at least half my people on board before I let her go. I will then have one of my people escort her with a gun aiming at her head with orders to kill her if you try anything foolish, he said.

  If anything happens to my wife, my rangers will plant enough explosives on THE AMBER ONE to blow it all the way to this planet you call Arkus. Do you get my drift?

  I hear you but I want your word right now as an Officer and a Gentlemen that when you get your wife back unharmed as promised, that no one will interfere with our peaceful departure or I shoot her right now.

  You have my word as an Officer and a Gentlemen that you and your people will be allowed to leave peacefully once my wife is safe.

  Good enough. I ll take your word. Let s get started. Once half my people are aboard, I will release your wife, he said.

  Let the exchange begin, I said as I motioned for the guards to allow the prisoners to start up the ramp and into the AMBER ONE .

  Okay, that half your people so send my wife down the ramp. When s she half way down, we ll let the other half of your people go.

  Remember, no tricks. I have your word as an Officer and a Gentlemen. Here she comes.

  A guard was handcuffed to my wife. He had a gun at her head. I didn t like this but I didn t figure they would not try anything because the stakes were too high for them.

  The exchange went well and soon Tess was back in my arms. We left the bay area so the outer doors could be opened to allow THE AMBER ONE to leave in peace as I had promised.

  So you promoted yourself to Acting Admiral, she said as we headed back to the Control Center to bring the leaders of Starsis up-to-date.

  When my wife made Starsis high command aware of the coup and the fact that we had taken back the mother ship, they made her an acting two star Admiral for the rest of the trip and made me an acting one star Admiral, her second in command.

  We realized the ranks were temporary but while we had them, we were determined to begin to prepare the mother ship for any future encounters with the Atlanteans. We had a meeting of all ship s Captains and Executive Officers and read them the message from Starsis appointing us to the temporary Admiral ranks.

  We then assigned them positions around the mother ship so proper chain of command could be re-established. We made sure that all the star cruisers aboard were stocked with proper ordinances required to make them battle ready.

  We also established new training camps
around the mother ship to be sure all military personnel would become prepared to engage our new enemies, the Atlanteans, at any time in the future that it might become necessary.

  Fortunately, the remainder of our trip to Starsis was uneventful and we had no further encounters with the Atlanteans before our arrival there.

  CHAPTER 7-STARSIS

  Starsis is the closest of the Toren planets to Earth. It also is one of the most advanced. It is slightly larger than Earth and has a population of just less than two billion people. Unlike Earth when we left however, Starsis is ruled by one government body from Quantum City, it’s capitol.

  Starsis has five continents and its surface is covered by over sixty per cent water. Although each continent has it’s own Governor General, each must report to the high command in Quantum City.

  The high command is made up of what we might compare to a CEO and a board of directors in a corporation. The CEO acts as the Chairman or Chairwoman of the Board and has the title of Chairperson. He or she also has a Vice-Chairperson much like a President has a Vice-President.

  The governing board has the following members: The Chairperson, the Vice-Chairperson, the Five Governor Generals representing the five continents and a sixth Governor General representing the remaining at-large population.

  The Governor Generals are elected by popular vote. The Chairperson and Vice Chairperson are appointed from within the Governor General ranks. If a Governor General becomes the Chairperson or the Vice Chairperson, his or her second in command becomes a Governor General in his or her place.

  The Chairperson and the Vice Chairperson must move to Quantum City. The Chairperson lives in a great palace and is considered royalty for want of a better term. The Vice-Chairperson s palace is almost as grand and he or she is considered to be of the noble class and second only to the Chairperson.

  The Governor Generals also live in palaces in their respective areas. They communicate with each other as needed by electronic means such a video conferencing and the like.

  The military and civilian authorities fall under the control of the Chairperson as Commander-in-Chief of the military and as CEO of the civilian governmental bodies. The government works on a profit motive basis and controls much of the industry on Starsis.

  There are some taxes collected from the citizens to pay for healthcare and certain social programs, but they are small in comparison to those that were collected from us on the earth. The government s profits finance the government s programs for the most part. Unemployment is not a problem on Starsis. Welfare has been replaced by Workfare. If a person on Starsis is able to work, he or she has a job and is paid according to the educational, training, and productivity requirements of the job.

  Performance of the requirements is essential for promotional considerations on Starsis. They say its not who you know but what you know that counts.

  At birth, each new born is implanted with a computer chip containing his or her identification code. Crime is not much of a problem on Starsis. Any would be criminal can be identified without difficulty and can located by satellite tracking from their identity code.

  As a person progress through life, more information is added to their implants such as their age, their health, their educational achievements, their occupation and or position in an organization, and so forth.

  Their system of government seems to work well on Starsis according to the training tapes we reviewed on the way to Starsis. Here are some examples:

  A worker is compensated in the form of credits that are electronically entered into the account of the recipient by his or her employer. To pay for something, a debit card is used drawing directly from the buyer s account. It is possible when the buyer is short of credits in his or her account to have arranged for a line of credit from a lending firm much like using a credit card on Earth. Also, a person can take out a mortgage to buy a home or a car or the like if he or she has good credit and or good collateral. The banking system seems similar to that we had on Earth.

  The medical system is financed through the government. A very nominal fee is charged to a patient for services.

  Educational costs to an individual are minimal. Starsis holds high regards for those who have achieved a quality education. The better paying jobs go to those with the better education.

  Teachers are considered among this group and are highly compensated for their work. It is a great honor on Starsis to be a teacher.

  Starsis, as all of the Toren planets, allow their people to practice freedom of religion. Most believe in the existence of a supreme being or of a God.

  Starsis has reasonable retirement plans for those who are productive and who faithfully contribute to the plan during their working years. Otherwise the plans are adequate but modest.

  We finally reached orbit around Starsis. We were told that we should remain on board until representatives from the planet made arrangements for our transportation to the planet s surface. My wife and I and our daughters would be taken to Quantum City for debriefing and orientation before being returned to the ship to arrange the issuance of visitor s permits to the others.

  We had to agree to schedule no more than one half of the passengers to be on the planet at any given time.

  At the ground terminal, we were met by Tess parents. They have never seen our daughters or me in person. There were hugs galore and they seemed very happy to see us. I know Tess was overjoyed to see her parents again.

  We would spend a few days with them at their condo located on the north shore of a large snow fed lake called Quantum Lake. Our meeting with the high command would be scheduled about a week later.

  Quantum City was a large metropolitan area built around the lake. The government buildings are located on the south side of the lake. The lake was between fifty and sixty miles across and more than 100 miles long using a scale we could understand.

  Using air shuttles and air taxies, one could travel across the lake in fifteen or twenty minutes easily. There was also some surface transportation but that mode of travel was much slower.

  When we arrived at their condo, Tess parents helped us to get settled in and then had us walk with them down a cart path to a dock located on the lake shore behind their home.

  “Isn’t she a beauty?” her father asked as he pointed to a sixty foot long sail boat tied to the dock named “The Tara” after Tess’ mother and her.

  “That she is!” I said as I gazed upon her.

  “We’ve had it about a year now,” he said proudly.

  “The next week end after you return from your meeting with High Command and return from your trip back to the mother ship, we’ll load it with provision s and take off for a two week sail on our beautiful lake.”

  “That sounds great pop!” Tess said.

  “You bet!” I joined in. “I look forward to it.”

  “How about you girls?” Tess’ mother asked.

  “I can’t wait. Can we go fishing too?” Doreen asked.

  “Yeah! I bet I catch the biggest fish,” Susan joined in.

  “We have plenty of fishing gear,” their grandpa said.

  “Now let’s go aboard so I can show you everything.”

  We went aboard the boat and Tess’ father and mother began to tell us all about it.

  It had all the latest in electronic gear with deft finders, radar, sonar, automatic pilot, television, navigation instruments, auto pilot and a host of others. It had four nice cabins with half baths in each and a large one with showers aft. It has a kitchen with built in cabinets, a cook stove, a refrigerator and even a dishwasher. It had a lounge area with a long dining table down the middle. It was carpeted throughout. It had an engine room below with high enough ceilings to stand up in and it had lockers to stow lots of gear and provisions.

  It has everything, I told Tess parents. I never learned much abo
ut sailing, I regret to say so I don t know how much help I would be setting up the rigging and all.

  Don t give it a second thought, Tess father said. This boat practically sails herself. All I do when I want the sails raised and trimmed is to push a few buttons. Everything s automatic. I can give it commands from my control panel much like you use when you fly an airplane. It s easy to do. I ll show you how to run everything when we take her out.

  I hope you aren t just trying to make me feel good, I said. The few times I went sailing back on Earth, it seemed very complicated watching the crew working on a boat about half the size of this one.

  You ll see, this boat is nothing like that, he assured me.

  Now let s go back up to the house. Our android should just about have lunch ready for us by now. Tonight, we have planned a barbecue on the patio, Tess mother said.

  We climbed off the boat and followed them up the path back to their condo. They called their android Lobo.

  What ever happened to Marvo the android you had when I was a little girl? my wife asked.

  Oh he wore out a long time ago and besides he was much to out-of-date and couldn t do half the things Lobo can do. Now your new Marvo is a generation more advanced than Lobo, but we like our Lobo and see no need to replace him.

  Lobo had lunch ready to serve shortly after we reached the condo. It was a nice change for us to taste some of the delicacies famous on Starsis that Lobo had prepared.

  We spent the rest of the afternoon talking and catching up on the events of each others lives. Her parents did not appear much older that Tess and me. It seemed more like a reunion of sisters between my wife and her mother.

  Tess seemed to have the features of her father more than of her mother. She had dark hair like her father. Her mother had much lighter hair more of a golden blond color, I would say. Our Daughter Doreen had lighter hair and Susan s hair was more like her mother s. I had dark hair and wondered where Doreen got her light hair. Now, I knew. It was from her grandmother.