Pest Control, Part Four

September 11, 2245
New Boston, Kennedy, Alpha Centauri B

Prime Minister John Morrison stared out the window in his office at the ruins of the downtown basilica.  Even though the Mother Church owned the property and could afford to rebuild, the church was left in ruins to remind everyone what the Freyans did when they came to this world.

“Your guest is here, sir.”  The secretary said over the intercom.

Prime Minister Morrison walked to his desk and down on button on the intercom.

“Send him in.”  He said.

“Yes, sir.”  The secretary replied.

Prime Minister Morrison walked around his desk and stood before one of couches in his office.

Archbishop Lester Banion walked into the Prime Minister’s office and stood before the Prime Minister.  The two men sat on their couches.

“You know why I’m here?”  Said Archbishop Banion.

“To negotiate a peace deal.”  Replied Prime Minister Morrison.  “Only, it won’t happen.”

“Why not?”  Asked Archbishop Banion.

Prime Minister Morrison answered.

“You look upon the period the Mother Church was backed by the force of the State as a golden age.  Most of the inhabitants of this world looked at that time as a nightmare.  We want no more nightmares.  Paul Clark was hanged for numerous capital crimes.  It wasn’t just the Freyans who became angry when he was canonized, many people were.”

“How dare you deride Saint Paul Clark!”  Archbishop Banion stood up and shouted.

“The only reason The Vatican still exists is because it’s located on the Earth.  Even The Federation is tired of your nonsense.”  Prime Minister Morrison said.

Prime Minister Morrison continued.

“Those who’ve believed absurdities have committed atrocities.  You believe you’re one of the good guys, so did Oskar Dirlewanger.”

“Who?”  Archbishop Banion asked.

“Oskar Dirlewanger was one of the perpetrators of The Holocaust.”  Prime Minister Morrison replied.

“Who cares about a bunch of Kikes?”  Archbishop Banion asked.

“A lot of people do.”  Prime Minister Morrison answered.

Prime Minister Morrison said another thing to Archbishop Banion.

“Perhaps it’s time for you to leave.”

With that word the door to the Prime Minister’s office opened and another man stepped in.  The man held up a playing card, the face was the King of Spades suite, on the back was a white cross of St. Andrew over a black field.  The man spoke.

“Director Stern sends her regards.”

“You won’t get me to talk!”  Archbishop Banion shouted.

The man attached a piece of hull tape over Archbishop’s Banion’s mouth and responded.

“You won’t need to.”

As Archbishop Banion was being taped up by other men, Prime Minister Morrison spoke.

“Part of the function of a politician is to make deals.”  Prime Minister Morrison said to Archbishop Banion.  “I was made Prime Minister to clean up the mess you’ve made.  I don’t expect to be reelected for doing this.”

Archbishop Banion struggled as he was carried out of the Prime Minister’s office.

Prime Minister Morrison walked over to the window.  An aide stepped into the Prime Minister’s office and walked over to Prime Minister Morrison.  Prime Minister Morrison pointed to the ruins of the basilica and spoke.

“Let’s do some eminent domain and seize the property.”  Prime Minister Morrison said to the aide.  “Demolish the ruins and let the Mother Church know who’s really in charge on this planet.”

At numerous barracks around the city of New Boston members of KDF put on their body armor and picked up their 9mm Advanced Combat Rifles.  Many members of the People’s Front for Liberation of Kennedy would come down with fatal cases of Sudden Lead Poisoning on this day.

New York City, Manhattan Borough

Several police officers and firemen, including Detectives Greeley and Logan, were gathered at the site of Ground Zero to hear the mayor, retired police officer Kathleen Connor, speak.

“Nearly three thousand people were murdered as an act of hatred against Humanity.  Many of our brothers and sisters died on that fateful day.  A proper act of retribution would be erasing The Kaaba from the face of the Earth.  But we had Bush 43 as the President and we got the War On Terror along with the goat rodeo known as the Transportation Security Agency instead.  The false prophet Mohammad combined the worst features of Robert Lee Herald, Jeffery Epstein, with Charles Manson and turned them up beyond eleven.”

Detectives Greeley and Logan saw a librarian at New York City Public Library.  Detectives Greeley and Logan sat down at a table with the librarian.

“Have you ever read Star Of The North by Evelyn Stone?”  Asked the librarian.

“No, I haven’t.”  Replied Detective Logan.

“It reads like an autobiography, except that the names of the central character and girlfriend in Colorado were apparently changed.”  Said the librarian.

“Stone may have been a veteran of a war between the United States and the Soviet Union?”  Asked Detective Greeley.

“What’s the Soviet Union?”  Asked Detective Logan.

“The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.”  Answered the librarian.  “It was a large state that consisted of Russia, The Ukraine, Belorussia, the Baltic States, and some Muslim territories.”  Answered the librarian.  “It was a Communist state.”

“Didn’t they know that Communism had a one hundred percent failure rate?”  Asked Detective Logan.

“No,” replied the librarian, “ a Soviet leader once to the Americans, ‘we will bury you,’ the Soviet Union was buried instead.”

The librarian continued.

“The New York Times, before it was shut down by the reformers, tried to influence a presidential election.  They tried this by reading Stone’s works.”

The librarian continued again.

“Stone was an interesting guy, he once got into a dispute with Robert Lee Herald.”

“Herald was the founder of the Center For Eternal Truth.”  Said Detective Logan.

The librarian continued again.

“Herald sent people out to murder Stone.  One of Stone’s friends was caught in the crossfire and killed.  Stone responded by riding on a motorcycle out to California, when it still a single state of the American union, and killing Herald.  Actions always have consequences.  There are now more than two hundred million people like Stone, and they’re still acting on their beliefs.

Detectives Greeley and Logan just stared at the librarian.

Omaha, capital of The Federation

In her temporary office in the basement of the Freyan embassy Judith Stern, the Director of the Central Security Agency of Ursa Major Confederation, looked at several photographs in a meeting with her subordinate, Ed Foster.

“It looks like Douglas Green is on board the British Spaceways ship The City Of Manchester.”  Director Stern said.  “Even if she wasn’t in hyperspace we still couldn’t board her.”

All Ed Foster could do was nod.

Hyperspace, British Spaceways Ship The City Of Manchester

Douglas Green sat in his cabin and thought.

A Freyan Pest Control team won’t get me here.

A Rant On The Internet Outage

The Internet went out in Minneapolis or the Twin Cities area in general.  I don't if the outage was national or worldwide yet.

"As I write this The Internet is down.  How many people have died as a result of the loss of The Internet?  The Internet didn’t exist when I was growing up.  The computers that did exist were large things that were owned by major corporations and universities.  Supercomputers took advantage of the speed of light.  Data processing consisted of using IBM punch cards.  How many people remember IBM punch cards?  Programing languages were simple and taught by math departments.  Military orders were typed out on manual typewriters, I copied my travel orders on to a file (which may be found on my Flickr site) as a result of the Killian Memos fiasco.  Books were purchased at physical “brick and mortar” bookstores.  How many bookstores have gone out of business because of Internet retailers?  The Internet is simply a tool.  A tool is simply a means to an end.  The ultimate end is Human Life.  We must understand that a fear of tools is simply irrational.  An employee of the Healtheast Care System in St. Paul was afraid of an image of several firearms on a coffee cup used by one of the security guards.  A customer at a supermarket was afraid of the light of a bar code scanner touching her groceries.  A firearm and a bar code scanner are simply tools.  There is no reason to fear them.  Alcoholism wasn’t caused by a supply of alcohol, but by the alcoholics.  The Holocaust wasn’t caused by a supply of Zyklon-B, but by the beliefs of the perpetrators.  Zyklon-B was developed and marketed as an insecticide.  The Oklahoma City Bombing wasn’t caused by a supply of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil, but by the beliefs of perpetrators.  9/11 wasn’t caused by airliners and box cutters, but by the beliefs of perpetrators.  Any horror wasn’t caused by the tools that were used but by the beliefs of the perpetrators.  There is simply no reason to fear a tool."

Pest Control, Part Three

September 4, 2245
London, England

In a cafe in the downtown section of London a twenty something woman was having conversation with a nearly forty man, a former mercenary, over cups of tea.

“They’re using you.”  The older man said.

“My late aunt Diana wanted to regain the British Throne.”  The young woman said.

“It’s over, isn’t it?”  The young woman asked.

“Yes, it is.”  The older man replied.

At a crime scene in a hotel an elderly white haired man lay dead.  Detective Liz Bishop held up a playing card in an evidence bag and asked a question of her partner Detective Sergeant John Kane.

“What is this?”

Detective Sergeant John Kane answered her question.

“It appears to be a death card.  The St. Andrew’s Cross in white over a black field is the symbol of the Central Security Agency of the Ursa Major Confederation.”

“So the Freyans are accepting responsibility?”  Asked Detective Bishop.

“Yes, they appear to be.”  Replied Detective Sergeant Kane.

In a London hotel room Mr. Green was packing his bags.  He wanted escape from the Freyans.

I need to leave the system.  Mr. Green thought.  Maybe I’ll find sanctuary on the Catholic world of Veracruz, the Freyans hate the inhabitants.

Buenos Aries, Argentina

The city was rebuilt after being nuked by the United States Air Force after the foundation of The Federation. In a cafe in the downtown section of Buenos Aries, Alissa George, a woman in her mid-fifties, was having conversation with Melinda Fernandez, a reporter, over cups of coffee.

“I was a member of a ‘Pest Control Team.’” Alissa said.  “On Freya all children are taught the story of Socrates, you’re heard of him?”

“Yes.”  Replied Melinda.

Alissa spoke.

“From our perspective Socrates was a man in his early seventies living in a society that didn’t even have running water and his family was lethally threatened by the mob.  From his perspective drinking the hemlock appeared to be a good idea.”

Alissa asked a question.

“You’ve heard of Evelyn Stone?”

“Yes.”  Replied Melinda.

Alissa spoke.

“One of the stories we were taught on Freya was that when Stone was a teenage boy he rode across country on an ancient motorcycle to air out the head of the false phophet Robert Lee Herald.  Herald had ordered the murder of Stone and as a result a close fiend was murdered in turn.  Stone personally responded to the act of murdering a close friend by lethal force.  Four decades ago a preteen girl was kidnaped by the state that ruled Kennedy in the Alpha Centauri system.  The naval task force that was sent out to rescue her came out of the Nuclear Closet.  In the Armed Forces and the Central Security Agency we’re taught to do anything necessary to perform our mission.”

“And what is the mission of the CSA?”  Asked Melinda.

“The fundamental mission of the CSA was to safeguard our planet.”  Answered Alissa.  

New York City, Manhattan Borough
    
In the Metropolitan Correctional Center Amy Martin had two visitors.  Detectives Greeley and Logan were visiting Amy Martin.

Amy Martin spoke.

“They’ve put me in the cell Jeffery Epstein was murdered in!”

Jeffery Epstein died before the New York City area was placed under siege during The Reformation.

“The idea that Epstein was murdered is a right wing conspiracy theory.”  Said Detective Greeley.

 “The Freyans can’t get you here.”  Said Detective Logan.

“Someone can get me here!”  Amy Martin shouted.

“You’re safe in here.”  Said Detective Greeley.

Later, over cups of coffee in a donut shop (some things never change) Detectives Greeley and Logan had a conversation.

Detective Greeley had a question for his partner Detective Logan.

“Why did the reformers believe Epstein was murdered?”

Detective Logan answered.

“Again with the history lessons.  It’s impossible for anyone to commit suicide in the MCC.  But the county Medical Examiner ruled the death of Epstein a suicide.  Even Michael Shermer, a professional sceptic, wasn’t convinced it was a suicide.  On top of the official ruling of suicide, all of the video cameras on Epstein’s cell were out, and the guards slept then forged their own logs.”

Detective Logan continued.

“The reformers hated Democrats and really hated those who advocated Gun Control.”

One of the consequences of The Reformation was that New York City police officers couldn’t arrest anyone, even gang members, on firearm charges.

Detective Logan again continued.

“The senior Senator from New York, Charles Schumer, sought refuge in Israel.  All the reformers, from Evelyn Stone on down, were willing to nuke the Israelis as a result.”

“Is that so?’  Asked Detective Greeley.

Detective Logan answered.

“Stone even had a decades long relationship with the Israelis.”

Buenos Aries, Argentina

Alissa George was still having a conversation with Melinda Fernandez.

Alissa spoke.

“We constantly ask ourselves the question of why The Holocaust happened.”

“Why did The Holocaust happen?”  Melinda asked.

“There’s an answer, but you may not like it.”  Alissa replied.  “The perpetrators of any horror, including The Holocaust, believed themselves to be good people.  Even psychopaths, especially that Dirlewanger guy, believed themselves to be good people.  The opponents of The Reformation believed themselves to be good people and their opponents to be evil.”

New York City, Manhattan Borough

Detectives Greeley and Logan continued their conversation.

“Bishop Paul Clark was declared a martyr and then a saint.”  Said Detective Logan.  “The only reason The Vatican still stands is that the Freyans don’t want a war with The Federation, although the incidents with the Martins and the Fremantle congregation way provoke it. Other worlds may leave the Nuclear Closet and join the Freyans.”

“So the Freyans don’t actually believe in freedom of religion or philosophy?”  Asked Detective Greeley.

“No, not as long as it impacts on them.”  Responded Detective Logan.  “The Freyans are constantly hanging missionaries with a noose made of steel wire.”

Detect Greeley pondered what he just heard.

Omaha, capital of The Federation

in her temporary office in the basement of the Freyan embassy Judith Stern, the Director of the Central Security Agency of Ursa Major Confederation, had a meeting with her subordinate, Ed Foster.

“It looks like the Pest Control teams are rolling up The Committee, ma’am.  The Federation are letting us do the dirty work, ma’am”  Said Foster.

“Good.”  Replied Director Stern.

States follow their own interests.  If a means is available to pursue their interests, they’ll use it.

Phoenix Starport, Earth

Douglas Green purchased a one way High Passage to Veracruz on British Spaceways.  Even though The Committee had allocated a starship for him, Green decided not to use her.