tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356026812024-03-14T02:18:15.029-05:00My Own Private UniverseThis blog was created for the Private Universe Project Mark II. This will be a realm for running adventures and naval battles with the Classic Traveller rules.Leslie Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10928555454437303212noreply@blogger.comBlogger211125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35602681.post-64221321983934939362023-07-11T23:13:00.004-05:002023-07-11T23:13:36.841-05:00Fact<p>I once authored a <i>Traveller</i> fan fiction story titled <a href="https://freelancetraveller.com/features/stories/fihp/index.html"><i>Friends In High Places</i>.</a> There was a transsexual character.</p><p><i>Of course Dana had undergone some modifications herself, but that was a
choice she made as an adult. There were some things that should not be done
to young children, regardless of the apparent benefits to their families.</i></p>
<p><i>On the other hand, the FS clan had no objections to hiring male-to-female
transsexuals, unlike damned near every other ship owner operating in the
Third Imperium.</i></p><p> </p>Leslie Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10928555454437303212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35602681.post-16670086933763034842023-04-18T10:20:00.000-05:002023-04-18T10:20:29.269-05:00Suggestion<p>For the Armed Forces the oath of enlistment should be this:<br /><br /><b>I, _____, do solemnly affirm that I will support and defend the Constitution of the Republic Of Freya against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the Republic Of Freya and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. </b><br /></p>Leslie Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10928555454437303212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35602681.post-17347540474022021352023-04-14T23:30:00.000-05:002023-04-14T23:30:04.630-05:00Motivator<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVHAryHUI55KfkWa2ALVvn-LrmdIqbA4VFHP8Hec8H-JxBpCa90Ujy-AY5iuEqQxSBnjfWFUIVG8PVskhX6vd-LcaXONSBMi9CgtMMw5Fyw-jX3p6pK6EYdTNZ8XJlxdgb-PcxwwB6H5JvijwDt4giWA8e5FAtsmqlQ4j1iIotVVd8aDCtgJ8/s750/Merchant%20Service.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="750" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVHAryHUI55KfkWa2ALVvn-LrmdIqbA4VFHP8Hec8H-JxBpCa90Ujy-AY5iuEqQxSBnjfWFUIVG8PVskhX6vd-LcaXONSBMi9CgtMMw5Fyw-jX3p6pK6EYdTNZ8XJlxdgb-PcxwwB6H5JvijwDt4giWA8e5FAtsmqlQ4j1iIotVVd8aDCtgJ8/w640-h512/Merchant%20Service.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Leslie Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10928555454437303212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35602681.post-84617735839551315202022-09-19T21:40:00.006-05:002022-09-19T21:40:28.711-05:00A Special Day<p><b>It's the </b><span style="font-weight: bold;">International Talk Like A Pirate Day! (Or in <i>Traveller</i>, it's Talk Like An Ethically Challenged Merchant Day.)</span><br />
<br />
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8jaG_OyW2uw3CdK7ixxTi7lIafgv_lHSFYJlJYZFsOX3b0oz8S-jnJ0DlQa4QntmGr7BW0hu8tTrTbtjf4VscNedYMRWurodcIppjGiM6joTHiKf4_QEm4pZ7mPh_hSD2Od6N9A/s1600/tumblr_msyx6taXze1sndzdgo1_500.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="311" data-original-width="420" height="472" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8jaG_OyW2uw3CdK7ixxTi7lIafgv_lHSFYJlJYZFsOX3b0oz8S-jnJ0DlQa4QntmGr7BW0hu8tTrTbtjf4VscNedYMRWurodcIppjGiM6joTHiKf4_QEm4pZ7mPh_hSD2Od6N9A/s640/tumblr_msyx6taXze1sndzdgo1_500.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXDxSFiauvot1ltJRyNauQHril5XhiRRnjv4rDX6ZZsly-JnFVX-pVMEu77VLq7YIvX1G3GjtdHi_zku2qNpENnbBcF9IVB_W1OJdfzLoC23wtWZ3xADDCk0FNlMwJESOJV4_DZQ/s640/Piracy+Raging+Queen.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="640" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXDxSFiauvot1ltJRyNauQHril5XhiRRnjv4rDX6ZZsly-JnFVX-pVMEu77VLq7YIvX1G3GjtdHi_zku2qNpENnbBcF9IVB_W1OJdfzLoC23wtWZ3xADDCk0FNlMwJESOJV4_DZQ/w640-h512/Piracy+Raging+Queen.jpg" width="640" /></a></p>
And that means it's time for get in touch with your inner pirate. (And
who doesn't want to get in touch with their inner pirate?) Once
you've gotten in touch with your inner pirate, the job isn't over.
Remember to consult the Affirmations for your Inner Pirate:<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Stuart Smalley's Daily Affirmations for the Inner Pirate</b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Monday:</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><br />"I'm going to rape and pillage today just for the heck of it because, gosh darn it, I deserve to have a good time."<br /><br />Tuesday:</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><br />"I am not a fraud, a thief yes, but not a fraud."<br /><br />Wednesday:</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><br />"I deserve all the loot and booty I can carry without feeling ashamed or being grandiose."<br /><br />Thursday:</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><br />"I
will express my feelings today. I will not hide them behind my
eyepatch. My eyepatch is not a mask for my feelings, but rather a small
swatch of leather that covers a hideous scar."<br /><br />Friday:</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><br />"When I
overtake that merchants vessel, I will not be playing those parent
tapes in my head: "You wield a cutlass like a girl" . . . "Why can't you
be more like Blackbeard's son?" . . . "Philosophy? What kind of major
is that? It's useless!"<br /><br />Saturday:</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><br />"Just because I indulge in wine and wenches does not mean I'm an alcoholic sex-addict like my father."<br /><br />Sunday:</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><br />"If
I must violently put down a mutiny today, it is not because I am a bad
person or that I am not worthy of love; it is because my crew are a
bunch of yellow-bellied, lily-livered sons-of-whores--and I am mean
enough, ruthless enough, and dog gone it, people fear me."<br /><br />transcribed by James R. Torrence.</span><br />
<br />
Arrrrrr...
<p> </p>Leslie Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10928555454437303212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35602681.post-61293569212507964152022-05-14T08:22:00.003-05:002022-05-14T08:23:20.733-05:00Repeat, Rinse<p>I once described on this blog how a Carthaginian Peace would look like with Russian Republic.</p><p><a href="https://mopu.blogspot.com/2008/08/quote-of-day.html">https://mopu.blogspot.com/2008/08/quote-of-day.html</a><br /></p>Leslie Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10928555454437303212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35602681.post-58471993069141833182021-11-10T05:59:00.002-06:002021-11-10T05:59:34.468-06:00Opinion<p><i>Friends In High Places</i> shows The Official Traveller Universe from the Rosenkranz and Guildenstern point of view.</p><a href="https://freelancetraveller.com/features/stories/fihp/index.html">Friends In High Places</a><p> </p>Leslie Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10928555454437303212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35602681.post-86247411056830711602021-10-09T03:38:00.000-05:002021-10-09T03:38:05.811-05:00Personal History<p>I once wrote Princess Diana into a piece of <i>Traveller</i> fan fiction.<br /><br /><a data-cke-saved-href="https://freelancetraveller.com/features/stories/fihp/fihp13.html" href="https://freelancetraveller.com/features/stories/fihp/fihp13.html">https://freelancetraveller.com/features/stories/fihp/fihp13.html</a><br /> </p>Leslie Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10928555454437303212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35602681.post-86420366898750627242021-09-21T10:06:00.001-05:002021-09-21T10:06:52.502-05:00Changes<p>In a sixth grade classroom in the village of Pammunjong of the United Republic of Korea a teacher spoke.</p><p>"There
were once people who were once concerned about Global Warming. But the
industrial and other Carbon Dioxide emissions weren't enough to stop
the coming of the next Ice Age."</p><p>Although the current lesson
covered the new Ice Age, the previous day’s lesson covered the political
unification of the Korean peninsula. A videotape of Kim Jong Un being
hanged for his numerous crimes was shown. Tomorrow’s lesson would cover
the hunt for Democrat and former Governor of Minnesota Tim Walz by the
Federation Security Service. American Democrats were treated as enemies
of Humanity. The prohibition of public employee unions by the
Federation was a sore point for the teacher. The abuses of the
teacher’s unions was still a sore point in the former United States.
The new world map in the classroom showed the nations of Canada, Russia,
and Finland, completely covered in ice. The new map showed new lands
and a chain of lakes where the Baltic Sea was. The new map also showed
the construction of the new Kennedy Launch Center as well as the new
American capitol city of Columbia in what was part of the Oklahoma
panhandle. The new map also showed radioactive zones around the former
cities of Mecca and Medina as well as in the former nation of Pakistan.</p><p>The teacher spoke again.</p>“Once we’re finished with today’s lesson we’ll retire to the schools firing range.”<p> </p>Leslie Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10928555454437303212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35602681.post-59476768510276856252021-07-04T18:10:00.003-05:002021-07-04T18:10:15.917-05:00Incarnations, Part Two<p> As the three walked into the house Alex spoke.<br /><br />“Something happened on Earth and you had to cut the visit short?” <br /><br />“Yes.” Evelyn replied.<br /><br />“What happened?” Asked Alex.<br /><br />“I committed a sin.” Said Evelyn.<br /><br />“Sin is a mystical concept and is therefore invalid.”<br /><br />Evelyn thought for a moment. He then replied.<br /><br />“I didn’t live up to the rational ethical standard.”<br /><br />“What did you do wrong?” Asked Alex.<br /><br />Evelyn answered.<br /><br />“If there was one thing I should’ve recalled from the memories I received from you, it’s that I should never give an evil man a break.”<br /><br />“You did?” Asked Alex.<br /><br />“Yes, I did.” Said Evelyn. “And because I did an innocent girl was murdered right before my eyes.”<br /><br />Both Alex and Diana stopped in the hall.<br /><br />Alex spoke.<br /><br />“Should we sit down?”<br /><br />“Yes.” Said Evelyn.<br /><br />Alex led Evelyn and Diana into a sitting room. The large picture window of the room overlooked a small lake on the Charon family estate.<br /><br />When all three were seated Alex spoke.<br /><br />“Now, what happened?”<br /><br />Evelyn paused before answering.<br /><br />“I went down to Minneapolis, just to see what the place was like now.”<br /><br />“Is the Uptown Theater still there?” Alex asked.<br /><br />“Yes,” said Evelyn, “and they’re still running The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”<br /><br />“Really?” Said Alex.<br /><br />“Yes, only once a year now, in the holographic format.”<br /><br />Diana asked a question.<br /><br />“What’s The Rocky Horror Picture Show?”<br /><br />Alex answered.<br /><br />“It’s a deconstruction of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein as written by a follower of Herbert Marcuse.”<br /><br />“Now I’m more confused.” Said Diana.<br /><br />“Which was the entire point of the film.” Said Evelyn.<br /> <br />Alex nodded, Evelyn continued.<br /><br />“But that wasn’t the fundamental problem.” He said. “The Chairman of the Grande-Sinjoro Corporation made several requests for a meeting with me in person in at their headquarters in the city of Chicago. I gave a negative reply to the first message and ignored the subsequent notes.”<br /><br />“He didn’t understand your response?” Said Alex.<br /><br />“No.” Evelyn replied. “He didn’t. ‘No,’ is such a simple concept. And he wasn’t the only one. The concierge at the New Millennium Hotel couldn’t believe that I wanted nothing to do with that piece of garbage and offered to set up the meeting anyway. So I changed hotels.” <br /> <br />Alex and Diana remained silent.<br /><br />“I come back to the second hotel after a short tour of Nordeast Minneapolis, and there’s the piece of garbage, appearing in the center of the suite as if he was the senior senator from New York, he was acting as if he owned the place.” Said Evelyn. “He had a male flunky with him and a gift.”<br /><br />“A gift?” Said Alex.<br /><br />“He likely thought of her as such.” Evelyn replied. “A female sex slave, with long blonde hair and blue eyes, she appeared to be about ten years in age, and was completely naked except the white slave bands.”<br /><br />“White bands means she was unused.” Said Diana.<br /><br />“What a nice euphemism.” Said Alex with a slight note of sarcasm. “So what did he want?”<br /><br />“He wanted to market their product on Freya and in the Ursa Major Confederation.” Said Evelyn. “He wanted to use our family’s influence to lift the capital ban on slavery. And he brought along the girl to the meeting as a bribe.”<br /><br />“You said no, of course.”<br /><br />“I wasn’t polite about it.” Said Evelyn. “I used some old school barracks language in front of the girl.”<br /><br />Evelyn wanted to stop. He didn’t want to remember.<br /><br />He sat silently until Diana spoke.”<br /><br />“Evelyn?”<br /><br />“I said no.”<br /><br />“That wasn’t all, was it?” Said Alex.<br /><br />Evelyn hadn’t simply said no. He thought that he was being clever in his response. It didn’t work.<br /><br />“No, that wasn’t all.” Evelyn replied. “I told him, ‘I won’t lift a finger to help you politically. But I will do you one favor. I’ll take this little girl back to Freya, where she’ll be adopted by a real family and grow up as a real person, and then when it’s time for you to join the choir infernal you’ll have one less sin to atone for.’”<br /><br />Evelyn closed his eyes and silently wrapped himself around Diana. He didn’t want to let her go. Ever.<br /><br />Alex spoke.<br /><br />“He killed her.”<br /><br />Evelyn opened his eyes and stared as if he were seeing into a void.<br /><br />“Yes, he killed her. Right there. It was as if he was simply pressing the off switch for her.”<br /><br />The monomolecular threads swiftly cut through the neck, wrists, and ankles. Every part of the girl simply dropped to the floor. Blood sprayed everywhere.<br /><br />“I didn’t say anything.” Said Evelyn. “I simply drew my weapon and shot them through the heads. As if they were simply animals.”<br /><br />Evelyn paused, and then spoke again.<br /><br />“I knelt and looked at her face. I could see the light fading from her eyes.”<br /><br />“I seen death.” Said Alex.<br /><br />“I know.” Evelyn replied. “I remember every one. You never saw this one, and you don’t want to see this one.”<br /><br />In Chicago as far as anyone standing outside could perceive it was simply an ordinary block shaped office building in the center of the newly reconstructed city. It appeared as if the architect was barely competent to design such a structure. In fact the designer had gone out of his way to make the structure, clad in black tinted glass, indistinctive when compared to other buildings in the city so it wouldn’t attract unwanted attention.<br /><br />The ground limousine entered the restricted section of the underground garage. An actual living and breathing security officer in a normal business suit stood and waited as the white haired passenger completed a retina scan. Only then was the man allowed to enter the restricted section of the building. <br /><br />The man rode the private elevator to the top floor of the building. There he was met by another security officer.<br /><br />The white haired man introduced himself.<br /><br />“Mister Wolfe to see The Committee.”<br /><br />The security officer looked through an actual printed book of holographic color photographs to identify Wolfe.<br /><br />“You may enter, sir.” Said the officer.<br /><br />Wolfe said nothing more to the officer as he entered the restricted suite.<br /><br />Past the entrance of the suite was a corridor. On the far side of the corridor was another familiar set of doors. Standing before the doors was a tall brown haired woman in an expensively tailored all white business suit. She was one of the rare people in this age to still wear eyeglasses.<br /><br />She spoke to Wolfe.<br /><br />“The Committee requires that you sit in the chair under the spotlight.”<br /><br />Wolfe took a step forward. The woman blocked him with the right hand. <br /> <br />She spoke again.<br /><br />“The Committee requires that you acknowledge their instructions.”<br /><br />The elder Wolfe resented being treated as if he were still a mere schoolboy.<br /><br />He replied.<br /><br />“I will sit in the chair as instructed.”<br /><br />The woman replied.<br /><br />“Thank you Mister Wolfe, you may enter now.”<br /><br />The woman opened the door. Wolfe walked in.<br /><br />The walls of the chamber were covered with black curtains. Before the head of the room and the right and left sides were the elevated tables behind which The Committee would sit in judgement of the elder Wolfe.<br /><br />Before the bench was a single and simple chair under a spotlight.<br /><br />The elder Wolfe sat down.<br /><br />It was then the men and woman who made up The Committee filed into the chamber. Each member of The Committee was as old or older than the elder Wolfe. Each member wore a black robe over a black shirt and a black skullcap.<br /><br />When all the members were seated the chairwoman spoke to Wolfe.<br /><br />“You will stand up.”<br /><br />Wolfe stood up.<br /><br />The chairwoman asked a question.<br /><br />“Do you understand why you have been summoned?”<br /><br />“Yes, Madam Chairman.” Wolfe replied.<br /><br />“Do you know the truth?”<br /><br />“Yes.” Said Wolfe. “‘There is no god but God and the Elder Gabriel is His voice.’”<br /><br />“Please be seated.” Said the chairwoman.<br /><br />The elder Wolfe sat down.<br /><br />The chairwoman spoke.<br /><br />“Brian Francis Wolfe, do you understand why you have been summoned before the committee?”<br /><br />“No.” He replied.<br /><br />The chairwoman shook her head and then responded.<br /><br />“Your son, Edward, was arrested, tried, and executed for the crime of enslavement in the Ursa Major Confederation.”<br /><br />“My son was murdered by a false state to enforce a false law.”<br /><br />The chairwoman spoke again.<br /><br />“By placing himself outside the boundary of the true state your son placed himself outside the protection of the true law.”<br /><br />“They had no right to murder my son!”<br /><br />The chairwoman shook her head and spoke again.<br /><br />“You are fully aware of the fact that there is no right and no wrong, there is only power over others. You should have passed this awareness on to your son.”<br /><br />“I know now.” Said Wolfe.<br /><br />Wolfe sat silently.</p>Leslie Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10928555454437303212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35602681.post-30842725327636716482021-04-10T17:52:00.008-05:002021-04-10T17:52:56.598-05:00Pest Control, Part Four<p><b>September 11, 2245<br />New Boston, Kennedy, Alpha Centauri B<br /></b><br />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.<br /><br />“Your guest is here, sir.” The secretary said over the intercom.<br /><br />Prime Minister Morrison walked to his desk and down on button on the intercom.<br /><br />“Send him in.” He said.<br /><br />“Yes, sir.” The secretary replied.<br /><br />Prime Minister Morrison walked around his desk and stood before one of couches in his office.<br /><br />Archbishop
Lester Banion walked into the Prime Minister’s office and stood before
the Prime Minister. The two men sat on their couches.<br /><br />“You know why I’m here?” Said Archbishop Banion.<br /><br />“To negotiate a peace deal.” Replied Prime Minister Morrison. “Only, it won’t happen.”<br /><br />“Why not?” Asked Archbishop Banion.<br /><br />Prime Minister Morrison answered.<br /><br />“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.”<br /><br />“How dare you deride Saint Paul Clark!” Archbishop Banion stood up and shouted.<br /><br />“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.<br /><br />Prime Minister Morrison continued.<br /><br />“Those
who’ve believed absurdities have committed atrocities. You believe
you’re one of the good guys, so did Oskar Dirlewanger.”<br /><br />“Who?” Archbishop Banion asked.<br /><br />“Oskar Dirlewanger was one of the perpetrators of The Holocaust.” Prime Minister Morrison replied.<br /><br />“Who cares about a bunch of <i>Kikes</i>?” Archbishop Banion asked.<br /><br />“A lot of people do.” Prime Minister Morrison answered.<br /><br />Prime Minister Morrison said another thing to Archbishop Banion.<br /><br />“Perhaps it’s time for you to leave.”<br /><br />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.<br /><br />“Director Stern sends her regards.”<br /><br />“You won’t get me to talk!” Archbishop Banion shouted.<br /><br />The man attached a piece of hull tape over Archbishop’s Banion’s mouth and responded.<br /><br />“You won’t need to.”<br /><br />As Archbishop Banion was being taped up by other men, Prime Minister Morrison spoke.<br /><br />“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.”<br /><br />Archbishop Banion struggled as he was carried out of the Prime Minister’s office.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />“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.”<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><b>New York City, Manhattan Borough</b><br /><br />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.<br /><br />“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.”<br /><br />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.<br /><br />“Have you ever read <i>Star Of The North</i> by Evelyn Stone?” Asked the librarian.<br /><br />“No, I haven’t.” Replied Detective Logan.<br /><br />“It
reads like an autobiography, except that the names of the central
character and girlfriend in Colorado were apparently changed.” Said the
librarian.<br /><br />“Stone may have been a veteran of a war between the United States and the Soviet Union?” Asked Detective Greeley.<br /><br />“What’s the Soviet Union?” Asked Detective Logan.<br /><br />“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.”<br /><br />“Didn’t they know that Communism had a one hundred percent failure rate?” Asked Detective Logan.<br /><br />“No,” replied the librarian, “ a Soviet leader once to the Americans, ‘we will bury you,’ the Soviet Union was buried instead.”<br /><br />The librarian continued.<br /><br />“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.”<br /><br />The librarian continued again.<br /><br />“Stone was an interesting guy, he once got into a dispute with Robert Lee Herald.”<br /><br />“Herald was the founder of the Center For Eternal Truth.” Said Detective Logan.<br /><br />The librarian continued again.<br /><br />“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.<br /><br />Detectives Greeley and Logan just stared at the librarian.<b><br /><br />Omaha, capital of The Federation</b><br /><br />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.<br /><br />“It looks like Douglas Green is on board the British Spaceways ship <i>The City Of Manchester.</i>” Director Stern said. “Even if she wasn’t in hyperspace we still couldn’t board her.”<br /><br />All Ed Foster could do was nod.<br /><br /><b>Hyperspace, British Spaceways Ship <i>The City Of Manchester</i></b><br /><br />Douglas Green sat in his cabin and thought.<br /><br /><i>A Freyan Pest Control team won’t get me here. </i></p>Leslie Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10928555454437303212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35602681.post-86833131641941342632021-04-09T10:53:00.001-05:002021-04-09T10:53:31.515-05:00A Rant On The Internet Outage<p>The Internet went out in Minneapolis or the Twin Cities area in general. I don't if the outage was national or worldwide yet.</p>"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."Leslie Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10928555454437303212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35602681.post-62884984559868341912021-04-04T00:48:00.001-05:002021-04-04T00:57:31.699-05:00Pest Control, Part Three<p><b>September 4, 2245<br />London, England</b><br /><br />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.<br /><br />“They’re using you.” The older man said.<br /><br />“My late aunt Diana wanted to regain the British Throne.” The young woman said.<br /><br />“It’s over, isn’t it?” The young woman asked.<br /><br />“Yes, it is.” The older man replied. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />“What is this?”<br /><br />Detective Sergeant John Kane answered her question.<br /><br />“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.”<br /><br />“So the Freyans are accepting responsibility?” Asked Detective Bishop.<br /><br />“Yes, they appear to be.” Replied Detective Sergeant Kane.<br /><br />In a London hotel room Mr. Green was packing his bags. He wanted escape from the Freyans.<br /><br />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.<br /><b><br />Buenos Aries, Argentina</b><br /><br />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.<br /><br />“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?”<br /><br />“Yes.” Replied Melinda.<br /><br />Alissa spoke.<br /><br />“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.”<br /><br />Alissa asked a question.<br /><br />“You’ve heard of Evelyn Stone?”<br /><br />“Yes.” Replied Melinda.<br /><br />Alissa spoke.<br /><br />“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.”<br /><br />“And what is the mission of the CSA?” Asked Melinda.<br /><br />“The fundamental mission of the CSA was to safeguard our planet.” Answered Alissa. <br /><br /><b>New York City, Manhattan Borough</b><br /> <br />In the Metropolitan Correctional Center Amy Martin had two visitors. Detectives Greeley and Logan were visiting Amy Martin.<br /><br />Amy Martin spoke.<br /><br />“They’ve put me in the cell Jeffery Epstein was murdered in!”<br /><br />Jeffery Epstein died before the New York City area was placed under siege during The Reformation.<br /><br />“The idea that Epstein was murdered is a right wing conspiracy theory.” Said Detective Greeley. <br /><br /> “The Freyans can’t get you here.” Said Detective Logan.<br /><br />“Someone can get me here!” Amy Martin shouted.<br /><br />“You’re safe in here.” Said Detective Greeley.<br /><br />Later, over cups of coffee in a donut shop (some things never change) Detectives Greeley and Logan had a conversation.<br /><br />Detective Greeley had a question for his partner Detective Logan.<br /><br />“Why did the reformers believe Epstein was murdered?”<br /><br />Detective Logan answered.<br /><br />“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.”<br /><br />Detective Logan continued.<br /><br />“The reformers hated Democrats and really hated those who advocated Gun Control.”<br /><br />One
of the consequences of The Reformation was that New York City police
officers couldn’t arrest anyone, even gang members, on firearm charges.<br /><br />Detective Logan again continued.<br /><br />“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.”<br /><br />“Is that so?’ Asked Detective Greeley.<br /><br />Detective Logan answered.<br /><br />“Stone even had a decades long relationship with the Israelis.”<br /><br /><b>Buenos Aries, Argentina</b><br /><br />Alissa George was still having a conversation with Melinda Fernandez.<br /><br />Alissa spoke.<br /><br />“We constantly ask ourselves the question of why The Holocaust happened.”<br /><br />“Why did The Holocaust happen?” Melinda asked.<br /><br />“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.”<br /><br /><b>New York City, Manhattan Borough</b><br /><br />Detectives Greeley and Logan continued their conversation.<br /><br />“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.”<br /><br />“So the Freyans don’t actually believe in freedom of religion or philosophy?” Asked Detective Greeley.<br /><br />“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.”<br /><br />Detect Greeley pondered what he just heard.<br /><br /><b>Omaha, capital of The Federation</b><br /><br />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.<br /><br />“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.<br /><br />“Good.” Replied Director Stern.<br /><br />States follow their own interests. If a means is available to pursue their interests, they’ll use it.<br /><br /><b>Phoenix Starport, Earth</b><br /><br />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. </p>Leslie Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10928555454437303212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35602681.post-80891679148444160362021-03-27T11:42:00.005-05:002021-03-27T11:42:30.012-05:00Pest Control, Part Two<p><b>New York City, Manhattan Borough<br />September 3, 2245</b><br /><br />In the morning Detectives Greeley and Logan were each having a cup of coffee at a donut shop. Some things never change.<br /><br />Detective Greeley asked his partner Detective Logan another question.<br /><br />“So how did the feud between the Freyans and the Fremantle congregation start?”<br /><br />Detective Logan briefly closed his eyes and then answered.<br /><br />“A
member of the Fremantle congregation murdered the previous Freyan
Consul, a Maya Stern, for the reward of God’s eternal grace. Needless
to say the Freyans got angry, thus the subsequent killing of Reverend
Paul Martin in reprisal.”<br /><br />At the same time in the Borough of
Brooklyn, a group of New York City police officers were surrounding the
Fremantle Baptist Church. Each police officer was armored to the
Federation Army standard and armed with an ACRS. The Federation had
enough of the antics of the Fremantle congregation. The police entered
the church in a hostile fashion.<br /><br />At the time Amy Martin was
preaching a sermon about the death of her husband, the pastor of the
Fremantle Baptist Church, Reverend Paul Martin.<br /><br />As the
congregation watched, Amy Martin was slammed to the floor and cuffed by
some police officers. A police captain stood over Amy Martin and spoke.<br /><br />“Amy
Martin, you’re under arrest for treason, this is a capital crime, you
have the right to remain silent and a right to an attorney, if you can’t
afford an attorney then one will be appointed for you. Do you
understand?”<br /><br />Amy Martin shouted.<br /><br />“You’ll burn in Hell for this!”<br /><br />The police captain answered.<br /><br />“I’ll take that as a yes.”<br /><br />Amy Martin shouted again.<br /><br />“Jesus Christ is real!”<br /><br />A police officer slapped a piece of duct tape over Amy Martin’s mouth.<br /><br />“Adolf Hitler was real too.” The police captain responded.<br /><br />Across the city, in the donut shop Detective Greeley had another question for his partner Detective Logan.<br /><br />“The Freyans have a problem with religion?”<br /><br />Detective Logan answered.<br /><br />“Before
the planet was granted independence the Freyans made up slightly less
than half of the membership of Quarantine Force.” <br /><br />Detective Greeley had another question.<br /><br />“What were the next two ethnic groups?” Asked Detective Greeley.<br /><br />“The Great Russians and the Han Chinese.” Responded Detective Logan.<br /><br />“Of course.” Said Detective Greeley.<br /><br /><b>London, England</b><br /><br />In
a park while seated on a bench a white haired woman approaching the age
of seventy was speaking to a man whose age was approaching forty.<br /><br />“My family used to live there.” She said as she pointed to Buckingham Palace. “Now it’s just a tourist attraction.”<br /><br />Diana Windsor was now a senior member of The Committee. <br /><br />“You want to restore the British Monarchy?” The man asked.<br /><br />“Yes. The Committee is too focused on ruling The Federation.” She said.<br /><br />“Even though The Federation is reduced to the Solar System?” The man asked.<br /><br />“The Committee wants to rule the entire Known Universe.” She answered.<br /><br />“It
won’t happen.” The man said. “The Military Assistance Corporation of
Xenophon backed a military coup on Freya. As a result, the Freyan Navy
bombarded the planet Xenophon with cobalt cased thermonuclear weapons.
Nothing lives there now, not even mutants hunting each other for food.”<br /><br />“The Committee wants to leave Freya a barren world.” The woman said.<br /><br />Freya
was a Terrestrial planet orbiting the lesser star of the 10 Ursae
Majoris system. There were slightly more than two hundred million
inhabitants of the planet Freya.<br /><br />“It won’t happen.” The man
said. The man was a graduate of The Federation Military Academy at West
Point, and he was well versed in military affairs. He decided to not
work for The Committee anymore.<br /><br />The woman stood up by herself and
walked over to the limousine waiting for her. The electric motors of
the limousine hummed as she was driven back to the hotel in central
London where she was staying.<br /><br />When she entered the suite a gloved hand covered her mouth.<br /><br />“You didn’t believe you would escape us, did you?” A man in a hotel servant’s uniform said.<br /><br />A Freyan Pest Control team was now in her suite.<br /><br />“Hook her up and download her.” He commanded.<br /><br />Two
detectives from the Metropolitan Police surveyed the crime scene in her
hotel suite. Detective Sergeant John Kane and his partner Detective
Liz Bishop had drawn this case.<br /><br />“I’ll wager that the CSI team
won’t find the prints of anyone but victim’s, her staff, and the hotel
staff.” Said Detective Sergeant Kane.<br /><br />“I wouldn’t cover the wager, sir” Detective Bishop replied.<br /><br />Detective Sergeant Kane walked over to the corpse and examined the wires coming out of her head.<br /><br />“I’ll wager that the Freyans used one of their portable download kits.” He said. <br /><br />“I wouldn’t cover that wager either, sir” Detective Bishop replied.<br /><br />Once
the detectives were finished examining the crime scene they went their
own ways. In another London hotel Detective Bishop met with an elderly
man. Douglas Green was now a senior member of The Committee.<br /><br />“It
appears that The Committee is now in the sights of the Freyan CSA,
sir.” Said Detective Bishop. “I think you should drop or significantly
change your plans for the Freyans, sir.”<br /><br />“I’ll pass on your advice Detective Bishop.” Replied Mr. Green. “But I don’t believe The Committee will follow it.”<br /><br />In basement of the Freyan embassy in Omaha a meeting was being held.<br /><br /><br />At the meeting was Director Judith Stern of the CSA and her subordinate, Ed Foster.<br /><br />“It looks like we have more work to do on Earth, ma’am.” Said Foster.<br /><br />Director Stern was silent.<br /><br /><i>Damn</i>. She thought.<br /><br />Shortly thereafter The Committee was holding a meeting in London. Mr. Green spoke.<br /><br />“A
member of this committee was downloaded and killed by the Freyans. We
may have to abandon this place and alter or drop our plans for the
Freyans.”<br /><br />“No.” Replied the chairman of The Committee.<br /><br />Mr. Green spoke again.<br /><br />“The
Freyans don’t play recordings of noises or water board anyone anymore.
They’ve used a direct neural interface since Judith Stern took over
direction of the Central Security Agency. The Freyans are playing nasty
with us, and under the circumstances I don’t them.”<br /><br />“Our plans still stand.” Responded the chairman of The Committee.<br /><i><br />Perhaps it’s time to abandon The Committee</i>. Thought Mr. Green. </p>Leslie Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10928555454437303212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35602681.post-39590452973054026052021-03-25T03:18:00.007-05:002021-03-25T03:18:53.309-05:00Pest Control<p><b>New York City, Manhattan Borough<br />September 2, 2245</b><br /><br />Two
police detectives were escorted by two members of Freyan Marine security
detail wearing combat gear past the protestors in front of the Freyan
Consulate. The protestors were from The Fremantle Baptist Church. Many
of the protestors held professionally made signs that proclaimed that
“God Hates Freyans.”<br /><br />“The Consul will see you gentlemen right
away.” Proclaimed a Freyan diplomat as the two detectives waited in
front of the Consul’s office. <br /><br />The police detectives were promptly led into the Consul’s office.<br /><br />The
Consul’s office was paneled in maple wood. The Freyan Consul, Jennifer
March, a woman in her mid-thirties stood up behind her desk as the
detectives entered the office.<br /><br />“Please take a seat.” The Consul said to the detectives.<br /><br />The two detectives took their seats before the Consul’s desk.<br /><br />“So why are you here?” The Consul asked the detectives.<br /><br />“We’re
here to investigate the murder of Reverend Wayne Martin, ma’am?”
Replied Detective Greeley, the senior of the police detectives. <br /><br />“You don’t have to answer our questions, ma’am.” Said Detective Logan.<br /><br />Detective Greeley looked at Detective Logan in a foul manner for a moment.<br /><br />“I
want to answer questions.” Replied the Consul. “Diplomacy runs in our
family. I was the oldest daughter of James and Beth March.”<br /><br />“Yes, ma’am.” Replied Detective Greeley.<br /><br />“So Martin came down with a lethal case of Sudden Lead Poisoning?” Asked the Consul.<br /><br />“Yes, ma’am.” Replied Detective Greeley. “We’re investigating the murder of Reverend Martin.”<br /><br />“Nuking the Fremantle Baptist Church while the congregation present would have been bad form.” Answered the Consul.<br /><br />“Yes, ma’am.” Responded Detective Greeley.<br /><br />“Calling Martin a moron is an insult to morons.” The Consul said to the detectives.<br /><br />“Yes, ma’am.” Responded Detective Greeley.<br /><br />“Negative actions have negative consequences.” The Consul said to the detectives.<br /><br />“Yes, ma’am.” Responded Detective Greeley.<br /><br />“Some people believe they’ve exempt from consequences.” The Consul said to the detectives.<br /><br />“But Reality is real, those same people believe that the facts of Reality don’t apply to them.”<br /><br />The Consul continued to lecture.<br /><br />“Have you ever heard of the Center for Eternal Truth?” She asked the detectives.<br /><br />“No ma’am.” Replied Detective Greeley.<br /><br />The Consul continued to speak.<br /><br />“They
believed that the facts of Reality and laws of Man didn’t apply to
them. The false prophet Robert Lee Herald sent out someone to murder
Evelyn Stone. Stone was wounded and one of his friends was murdered.
Stone responded by personally airing out Herald’s head, he had no choice
in the matter. We have no choice but to send out a Pest Control Team
to air out Martin. One attribute of the perpetrators of every horror
have one thing in common, they believe they’re the good guys. Martin
and his followers believed they’re the good guys. Early in the Twenty
First Century some scholars believed that Jesus Christ didn’t exist.
But what was really shocking was that some scholars put forth the idea
that Christianity was created by the rulers of Roman Empire as a
political control mechanism.” <br /><br />“How do you know this, ma’am?” Asked Detective Greeley.<br /><br />“I majored in history in college, sir.” Replied the Consul.<br /><br />“Where’s the Pest Control Team now, ma’am?” Asked Detective Greeley.<br /><br />“They’re outside of your jurisdiction,” replied the Consul, “they should be in Hyperspace by now.”<br /><br />“The facts of Reality require us to act in your jurisdiction.” Said the Consul.<br /><br />With
the interview over the two police detectives were escorted by two
members of Freyan Marine security detail past the protestors in front of
the Freyan Consulate.<br /><br />Once the electric motors of the police car started humming Detective Greeley had a question for Detective Logan.<br /><br />“What problem does the Fremantle congregation have with the Freyans?”<br /><br />Detective Logan answered.<br /><br />“The
Freyans are a bunch of atheists. There are no churches on Freya, not
even storefronts. The Freyans even have a national holiday to celebrate
the birthday of Ayn Rand.”<br /><br />“What about Madalyn Murray O'Hair?” Detective Greeley asked.<br />“The Freyans hate her.” Detective Logan answered.<br />“The
Freyan suitcase nukes are rated at five kilotons,” Detective Logan also
said, “which was one third of the yield of the bomb dropped on
Hiroshima, and one quarter of the yield of the bomb dropped on
Nagasaki.”<br /><br />“Is that so?” Replied Detective Greeley.<br />“Yes.” Said Detective Logan.<br />“The Freyans even hanged a bishop.” Said Detective Logan.<br />In
the Borough of Brooklyn another Freyan Pest Control Team was leaving
their safe house. Each member of the team was armed with a sterilized
9mm ACRS. The team’s destination was the Fremantle Baptist Church,
their mission was to lethally interrupt the meeting that was being held
at the church.<br /><br />In the city of Omaha the Freyan Ambassador, Nathan
Stone, was having a meeting with the Federation President. The Freyans
were tired of being harassed by members of the Fremantle Baptist
Church.<br /><br />“Clean up the mess,” said Ambassador Stone, “or we’ll clean it up for you.”<br /><br />Detectives
Greeley and Logan were called to the site of the Fremantle Baptist
Church. One of the New York Police officers guarding the site spoke to
Detectives Greeley and Logan.<br /><br />“There’s been a massacre here.” She said.<br /><br />Detectives
Greeley and Logan stepped down to the basement of the church. There
were a group of bullet riddled bodies seated around a table. <br /><br />“It looks they were here for a meeting” Said Detective Logan.<br /><br />“They met.” Replied Detective Greeley. <br /><br />A team from the New York Medical Examiners Office came to the site of the massacre. The team leader spoke. <br /><br />“It couldn’t happen to a better bunch.” She said.<br /><br />“Right’” Replied both Detectives Greeley and Logan.<br /><br />Another
playing card was found at the site of the massacre. The suite was the
King of Spades. A playing card was found at the site of the death of
Reverend Martin. The suite was the Ace of Spades.<br /><br />In a transparent evidence bag Detective Greeley showed the back of the playing card to Detective Logan.<br /><br />“What does this mean?” Detective Greeley asked Detective Logan.<br /><br />Detective Logan looked at the playing card in the evidence bag. Detective Logan answered.<br /><br />“It’s
a Death Card, with the Cross of Saint Andrew in white over a field of
black, the symbol of the Central Security Agency of the Ursa Major
Confederation.” Replied Detective Logan.<br /><br />“The Central Security
Agency of the Freyan’s is institutionally taking responsibility while
individuals who performed the act have fled the scene?” Asked Detective
Greeley.<br /><br />“That appears to be the case,” replied Detective Logan, “it looks like they left their weapons.”<br /><br />Detective
Logan picked up a sterilized 9mm ACRS. The 9mm ACR was issued to the
armed forces of the Ursa Major Confederation. The special operation
forces of the Ursa Major Confederation used the 9mm ACRS, the short
version of the service weapon.<br /><br />Detective Greeley spoke to Captain Reynolds, the chief of detectives at the 27th Precinct.<br /><br />“I really don’t believe that we’ll close this case.” <br /></p>Leslie Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10928555454437303212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35602681.post-33565663703864342192021-03-07T22:26:00.005-06:002021-03-07T22:26:56.433-06:00Consequences<p>When the news of the arrest of Judith Stern reached the planet Null the Glorious Leader felt there was an opportunity to bomb the planet Freya.<br /><br /><br />The commander of the fleet sent to the 10 Ursae Majoris system, Vice Admiral Jackson, was strutting about the command deck of the flag ship in his blue dress uniform. Vice Admiral Jackson wore medals for awards for bravery he never actually earned. The plan was to refuel at a gas giant before bombardment, Vice Admiral Jackson didn’t expect any opposition.<br /><br /><br />The <i>RFS Guardian</i> was a <i>Exodus</i> class missile frigate that was assigned to defend the 10 Ursae Majoris system. The <i>Exodus</i> class had no hyperdrive had six gees of acceleration and some armor. Most of the vessels of the system defense squadron went out to the gas giants.<br /><br /><br /><i>RFS Guardian</i> was off of a gas giant.<br /><br /><br />“Another ship has dropped out of hyperspace. It looks like it’s cruiser size.” Said the executive officer.<br /><br /><br /><i>Shit.</i> Thought Lieutenant Commander Shane.<br /><br /><br />“Can you track it?” Replied Lieutenant Commander Shane.<br /><br /><br />“Yes, sir.” Said the executive officer at the sensor station.<br /><br /><br />Vice Admiral Jackson was on the cruiser <i>RNS Laurence Null.</i> The other ships in the task force that were expected to be there weren’t there. There was only an expanding cloud of wreckage.<br /><br /><br />“Can any of you lock on to it?” Said Lieutenant Commander Shane to the gunners.<br /><br /><br />“Aye, aye, sir.” All three gunners replied.<br /><br /><br />“I have a lock on the target, sir.” Said the missile gunner.<br /><br /><br />“Fire.” Ordered Lieutenant Commander Shane.<br /><br /><br />“Aye, aye, sir.” The missile gunner replied.<br /><br /><br />A spread of six type two missiles were emitted from the missile frigate. Five of the missiles were wasted. One of the missiles detonated near the enemy cruiser. The wreckage of the cruiser <i>RNS Laurence Null</i> spread out from the detonation.<br /><br /><br />The Glorious Leader was angry at the failure of the expedition.<br /><br /><br />The Freyan navy task force returned to the home world. The prisoners were thawed out. Judith Stern was returned to her family. The first prisoner placed on trial was Paul Clark. <br /><br /> <br />In a courthouse in the city of Landfall a female judge spoke.<br /><br /><br />“Please Rise.”<br /><br /><br />Everyone rose, except the defendant Paul Clark.<br /><br /><br />Thomas Murray, the court appointed attorney, turned to the defendant and spoke.<br /><br /><br />“You need to stand up.”<br /><br /><br />“I’ll never stand up for that Godless filth!” Clark stated.<br /><br /><br />“You’re going to be in deep trouble.” Murray replied.<br /><br /><br />The judge spoke.<br /><br /><br />“Paul Clark, you’ve been charged with the kidnaping of a minor, this is a capital crime. How do you plead?”<br /><br /><br />“I did nothing wrong! I’ll never submit to Godless filth!” Clark replied.<br /><br /><br />The judge said.<br /><br /><br />“I’ll take that as a not guilty plea.”<br /><br /><br />The judge spoke to a security guard.<br /><br /><br />“Tape the defendant.”<br /><br /><br />The security guard placed hull tape over the mouth of Clark.<br /><br /><br />The foreman of the jury spoke after a few moments in the jury room.<br /><br /><br />“We find the defendant guilty of the crimes of kidnaping a minor and denying our Constitution.”<br /><br /><br />The judge thanked the jury, and then turned to the defendant and spoke.<br /><br /><br />“Paul Clark, you’ve been found guilty of the crimes of kidnaping a minor and denying our Constitution, and you’re sentenced to death.”<br /><br /><br />“Congratulations,” said Murray, “you’‘ve just bought a piece of steel wire.” <br /><br /><br />Clark’s eyes bugged out.<br /><br /><br />Murray spoke again.<br /><br /><br />“The old American Constitution, The Federation Charter, and The Freyan Constitution specifically forbid cruelty.” said Murray, “executions are normally carried out with single round to the head. But those who commit the crime of denying The Freyan Constitution are slowly hanged with a steel wire.”<br /><br /><br />Paul Clark slowly choked to death as he was hanged. Thomas Gratton behaved himself and was convicted of kidnaping a minor. Gratton was eventually sentenced to death.<br /><br /><br />After roughly a month a promotion ceremony was held in front of the Department of Planetary Security building. Several naval officers were in their dress white uniforms. Commodore Keller wore, apart from the SURFER badge, only two ribbons. The ribbon for the relief expedition and the ribbon for the navy commodation medal with three gold stars on it. The naval officers stood at attention as the presidential gravitic limousine landed in front of the building. The Freyan president stepped out of the limousine. She wore a dark blue business suit and walked up to the naval officers.<br /><br /><br />The Freyan president then replaced shoulder boards of Commodore Keller with the shoulder boards of a rear admiral. The shoulder boards of a rear admiral had the wide gold stripe of a flag officer and a basic gold stripe with the four pointed Freyan star in gold.<br /><br /><br />“I’m sorry I have to send you out again.” Said President Veronica Sterling as she replaced the shoulder boards.<br /><br /><br />“What do you want me to do, Ma’am?” Said Rear Admiral Keller.<br /><br /><br />“I’m sorry, I want you to bomb the planet Null back into the stone age.” Answered President Sterling.<br /><br /><br />“They’re already there, Ma’am.” Replied Rear Admiral Keller.<br /><br /><br />“Philosophically they’re there, I need you to bomb them physically there. They’re about to discover, the hard way, that content of character does matter.” Said President Sterling.<br /><br /><br />“Aye, aye, Ma’am.” Replied Rear Admiral Keller.<br /><br /><br />Rear Admiral Keller saluted President Sterling.<br /><br /><br />The sun generally known as Procyon was beginning it’s daily ascent over the capital city of the planet Null. The Glorious Leader of the People stepped out on the balcony of the uppermost floor of the Presidential Palace.<br /><br /><br />The capital city of his world lay before him. Today would be a glorious day. Today he would do and say glorious things. The African-Americans who colonized this planet would begin to take back what they were taught and believed was rightfully theirs.<br /><br /><br />The ride in his gravitic limousine to the football stadium of the planetary capital was uneventful.<br /><br /><br />The sun had almost reached the high point of noon overhead as the Glorious Leader of the People walked up the steps of the platform. Like everyone in the large football stadium where he was to speak, he wore the ruling party’s new black dress uniform for the first time. Like most of the people on his planet his skin was almost as dark as the uniform. The new dress uniform was itself a copy of the uniform worn by members of the Null Boys, which supported the martyred President Null in the old United States on Earth, before they were wiped out by the Caucasians and the Jews during the Second American Civil War.<br /><br /><br />Today, everything would change. And for him it would be for the better.<br /><br /><br />The Glorious Leader of the People stepped up to the podium, he raised his right fist into the air above him, and he shouted into the microphone.<br /><br /><br />“POWER!”<br /><br /><br />Everyone in the stadium raised their right fists into the air and shouted their reply.<br /><br /><br />“POWER!”<br /><br /><br />The Glorious Leader of the People, with his fist still in the air, shouted again.<br /><br /><br />“POWER TO THE PEOPLE!”<br /><br /><br />Everyone in the stadium again raised their right fists into the air and replied.<br /><br /><br />“POWER TO THE PEOPLE!”<br /><br /><br />The Glorious Leader of the People and his uniformed audience repeated the vocal ritual two more times. The Glorious Leader of the People tried to not too obvious as he looked at the screens of the teleprompter system on the stage.<br /><br /><br />The Glorious Leader of the People began to speak again.<br /><br /><br />“Today marks a new beginning for The People,” he said, “today is the day The People rightfully return to their proper place in the universe!”<br /><br /><br />The Glorious Leader of the People again raised his fist into the air and shouted.<br /><br /><br />“POWER TO THE PEOPLE!”<br /><br /><br />The uniformed audience again raised their fists into the air and replied.<br /><br /><br />“POWER TO THE PEOPLE!”<br /><br /><br />The ritual was again repeated two more times.<br /><br /><br />The Glorious Leader of the People briefly peeked at a teleprompter screen and then spoke levelly. The Glorious Leader of the People raised his right fist in the air and shouted to again begin the POWER ritual. The Glorious Leader of the People continued to rant and rave of his hatred of all the other races of mankind. Especially the Caucasians and the Jews. Who where in the mind of the Glorious Leader of the People, and his people, were a corruption of the true form of Man. And he promised that he would do everything necessary to wipe the inferior races, especially the Caucasians and the Jews, from the face of the Universe. The ranting when on and on and on or another two hours.<br /><br /><br />Finally, The Glorious Leader of the People came to what he believed to be the best part of the speech.<br /><br /><br />“We shall avenge the death of President Null,” he shouted, “we shall completely wipe out the family founded by Evelyn Stone, the cracker who brought about the death of President Null and murdered our brothers in the Null Boys in the old United States. And we shall wipe out the nation that he and his followers founded, the Freyan Empire! We shall wipe all of them completely off the face of the Universe!”<br /><br /><br />The Glorious Leader of the People raised his fist in the air and shouted.<br /><br /><br />“DEATH TO FREYA!”<br /><br /><br />The audience raised their fists in the air and repeated after their leader. This ritual was repeated two more times. The Glorious Leader of the People then raised his fist one last time in the air repeated the POWER ritual three more times.<br /><br /><br />The brass band played a marching tune as the Glorious Leader of the People walked off of the stage.<br /><br /><br />The ride from the football stadium to the presidential residence was, as expected, uneventful.<br /><br /><br />Everyone stood to attention as The Glorious Leader of the People walked through his outer office.<br /><br /> <br />In his gilded inner office he found Mr. Douglas Green already seated on a chair in front of his desk. Green, who was dressed in his all white version of the current high end Centaurian business fashion didn’t stand up.<br /><br /><br />The Glorious Leader of the People became angry. He became very visibly angry at the sight of Green as he remained seated.<br /><br /><br />“Sit down Johnny.” Said Green in a level voice.<br /><br /><br />“How the Hell did you get in here?” Johnny shouted.<br /><br /><br />“Intimidation.” Green said with a level voice. “Simple intimidation.”<br /><br /><br />Johnny remained angry.<br /><br /><br />“And can’t you stand up like everyone else.” The Glorious Leader continued to shout.<br /><br /><br /> Green continued to reply with a level voice.<br /><br /><br />“No.” He said. “Why should I?”<br /><br /><br />Green made a gesture with the index finger of his right hand to indicate that Johnny should sit down in his own chair behind his own desk.<br /><br /><br />“Sit down, Johnny.” Said Green with emphasis in a level voice.<br /><br /><br />Johnny sat down.<br /><br /><br />“You have a lot of nerve talking to me like that.” Said Johnny.<br /><br /><br />“I have a nerve?” Replied Green. “I’m not the one who’s marching around in a godlike fashion and shouting like he’s the living embodiment of the popular will on this planet, as well as calling for the extermination of the most heavily armed people in The Universe outside of The Federation.”<br /><br /><br />“Oh, and that speech of yours sounded better in the original German.” Said Green.<br /><br /><br />“And by the way,” said Green as he continued, “some Caucasians are paying your bills now.” <br /><br /><br />Green made a gesture with his right index finger as part of the process of stating a point.<br /><br /><br />“Starting a race war is generally believed to be a bad thing.” He said. “But starting a race war with a nation that has a fully functional industrial base, which has nuclear weapons, and has just demonstrated the will to use them is just plain dumb. And starting a war with a bunch of folks who fight by the Saigon Rules is really and truly dumb.”<br /><br /><br />“The Saigon Rules?” Said Johnny.<br /><br /><br />“We we’re taught them in school on Kennedy.” Said Green. “The primary rule was, ‘in the absence of the rule of law, anything goes.’ Given your open abrogation of commonly held moral laws, the Freyans will basically deal with you and your gang as if you’re a bunch of animals. You’d better win this one, or else.” <br /><br /><br />“And one other thing, as to renaming your planet,” he continued to say, “the Reverend Martin Luther King, Junior, is still a respected martyr more than two centuries after he fell to an assassins bullet, where President Null, or as he is still known on Freya, The Big Zero, is still generally seen as the reincarnation of Hitler in black face. And by the way, did you know that President Null’s maternal grandfather was a member of the <i>SS-Totenkopfverbande,</i> who escaped to Argentina after the Second World War?”<br /><br /><br />“The SS-What?” Said Johnny.<br /><br /><br />Green replied in a manner that spoke down to Johnny.<br /><br /><br />“The section of the SS that carried out The Final Solution.”<br /><br /><br />“So President Null’s grandfather killed a bunch of <i>Kikes.</i>” Said Johnny. “So what?”<br /><br /><br />“Some people, even now, early in the Twenty Third Century,” said Green, “are still upset about The Final Solution.”<br /><br /><br />“Too fucking bad!” Said Johnny.<br /><br /><br />“But that wasn’t all.” Said Green. "President Null’s mother didn’t buy into her father’s value system, when she grew up she went to Chicago in the United States and got herself impregnated by an African-American, she did this at a time when such persons were still openly called <i>Niggers.</i>”<br /><br /><br />Johnny jumped out of his chair, pointed at Green, and shouted.<br /><br /><br />“DON’T USE THAT WORD!”<br /><br /><br />Green answered with a level voice and in a full Irish accent.<br /><br /><br />“I’ll use whatever word that I find necessary to make my point to anyone, including to you.”<br /><br /><br />Green pointed back at Johnny’s chair and spoke.<br /><br /><br />“Sit down Johnny,” he said, “you look like an idiot.”<br /><br /><br />Johnny sat back down. Green continued to speak.<br /><br /><br />“Needless to say, President Null’s grandfather, Friedrich, if I recall his name properly, didn’t take his daughter’s actions too well. He was very embarrassed, especially in front of his old comrades, to have an obviously mixed race grandson. He wouldn’t even speak to his grandson until the mother committed suicide. After that Friedrich started to train his grandson to be a political leader, in the proper Nazi mode, of course. In his diary he constantly referred to his grandson as <i>Der Kinderbombe.</i> It was his intent to use his grandson as a means to bring down the degenerate American republic from the inside.”<br /><br /><br /> Johnny had an obvious question.<br /><br /><br />“And how do you know this?”<br /><br /><br />“Friedrich’s diary was found in the wreckage of the White House during The Reformation.” Green replied. “The full text was immediately posted on the internet, and I had to write a paper on it in high school.”<br /><br /><br />Johnny sat silently. Green had to add something else.<br /><br /><br />“Given what you’ve done and said today, you may as well take your luggage, your mistresses, and your off planet bank’s ATM card and leave. And go really far away. Right fucking now.”<br /><br /><br />Johnny had enough abuse, he stood up and immediately snapped off a response to Green.<br /><br /><br />“You know, I can have you taken out and shot!”<br /><br /><br />Green smiled and replied.<br /><br /><br />“Oh, I’m absolutely certain that you could.” He said. “Of course the committee will cut off all existing financial support to the mob that you call a planetary government. The general feeling of the committee is that if it were to happen that you and your gang would be overthrown in about a standard year. But from what I’ve seen during my current visit here, I would expect that you and your regime would last less than a standard month.”<br /><br /><br />Johnny sat back down in stunned silence. Green continued to speak.<br /><br /><br />“You’ll of course, get chopped up and fed to the dogs.” Then Green remembered something.<br /><br /><br />“Oh, I forgot,” he said, “that’s an African practice, this planet was forcibly colonized by African-Americans.”<br /><br /><br />“Yes.” Said Johnny.<br /><br /><br />“Well then you’ll likely be doused with methanol and set on fire.” Said Green. “Of course, if you’re lucky, the rebels that overthrow you will kill you first.”<br /><br /><br />Green thought for a moment and then continued to speak.<br /><br /><br />“It’ll be a race to see who gets to kill you first, your own people or the Freyans.”<br /><br /><br />Johnny glared at Green and asked a question.<br /><br /><br />“What the Hell do you mean?” <br /><br /><br />Green replied.<br /><br /><br />“You’re the one who’s going to get yourself and everyone else on your own planet killed simply by opening your big mouth.”<br /><br /><br />Johnny sat back in his chair and spoke in an obviously hostile voice.<br /><br /><br />“Go on?” He said.<br /><br /><br />Green looked straight at Johnny and spoke to him as if he were a teacher answering an obviously dumb question asked by a lazy student. <br /><br /><br />Again. <br /><br /><br />He raised his right hand and counted off the points on each finger that was extended. <br /><br /><br />“You just told everyone in the known universe that you’re going to exterminate the Freyans, this in general, is a very, very, dumb move.”<br /><br /><br />Green raised a second finger and spoke again.<br /><br /><br />“Freya wasn’t colonized from Earth, it was colonized by people who originally settled on Mars. Even though the Freyans are now a secular society, they still hold official ceremonies to commemorate the Holocaust.”<br /><br /><br />“So what?” Johnny replied.<br /><br /><br />Green smiled again and answered.<br /><br /><br />“They have a lot of very well armed and trained people on Freya.”<br /><br /><br />Green raised a third finger and spoke again.<br /><br /><br />“Needless to say the Freyans and their still observant relatives on Masada are still more than a bit sensitive about the open threat of genocide.” He said. “And on both worlds they’re building their own independent space forces and their own fission reactors to produce Plutonium for nuclear weapons. If the government of one world doesn’t nuke your collective asses, the other one will.”<br /><br /><br />Johnny grinned.<br /><br /><br />“That’s not going to happen.” He said. “No one will allow the use of nuclear weapons.”<br /><br /><br />“And why not?” Said Green. “The same interstellar government that’s no longer preventing you from practicing full Socialism and participating in mercenary operations on other worlds is the same interstellar government that can’t protect you from your enemies. And it’s the same interstellar government that didn’t prevent the Freyans from using missiles with nuclear warheads earlier this year just in the Alpha Centauri system.”<br /><br /><br />Green raised a fourth finger and continued to speak.<br /><br /><br />“And obviously you haven’t read<i> Moral Decisions In Warfare</i> by Evelyn Stone.”<br /><br /><br />“Why should I read a book written by that <i>cracker?</i>” Snapped off Johnny.<br /><br /><br />“In the chapter covering the concept of genocide Stone wrote that when a group or nation is faced with an enemy who openly intends to carry out a campaign of extermination,” said Green, “then the only morally valid only option is to attack and exterminate the enemy or passively wait to be exterminated.”<br /><br /><br />Green brought up a memory of another high school class and continued to speak.<br /><br /><br />“The Null Boys were subjected by an order of President Stone to a campaign of open extermination as a result of the evidence of their crimes that was uncovered when areas that were under their control were liberated during The Reformation.”<br /><br /><br />Johnny shouted back.<br /><br /><br />“Our people committed no crimes!”<br /><br /><br />Green remained in the lecture mode when he replied.<br /><br /><br />“Mass murder on the basis of racial identity was back in the days of The Reformation was considered to be a very bad thing. A very, very, bad thing.” He said. “While African-American civilians in general weren’t held responsible for the crimes of the Null Boys, they still had their collective noses rubbed in their shit. Only those who could be actually proven to be members of the Null Boys were subjected to the extermination order as carried out by the reformers.”<br /><br /> <br />Green brought his hands down to his lap, interlaced his fingers, and spoke again.<br /><br /><br />“Given what you’ve said to your mob today, you’ll be lucky if you and your people are just bombed back into the Stone Age.” <br /><br /><br />Green decided to not mention the fact that as far as he was concerned, the rulers and population of Null, formerly known as King, had already philosophically and morally returned to the Stone Age.<br /><br /> <br />Green looked straight at Johnny, smiled and spoke again.<br /><br /><br />“Seriously, you’ve just thoroughly fucked yourselves.” He said. “Not only are you practicing Socialism, but you are practicing old school Nazism, and you’re doing it in a black face. The only things that you’re lacking on this planet are a supply of Jews and some of those special camps with the shower and oven facilities. The gang of thugs that you call a government has already run up a body count that nearly rivals that of the <i>Khmer Rouge</i> more than two centuries ago back on Earth. And you’ve just, for all practical purposes, issued an open and engraved invitation to all other powers in the known universe, especially the Freyans, to come in and intervene. And by intervene I mean with nuclear weapons.”<br /><br /><br />Johnny tried to calm himself down before asking another question.<br /><br /><br />“Mister Green,” he said, “why are you here?” <br /><br /><br />“To do business.” Green replied. “Of course the only things that are being produced in any quantity here on this planet are dead bodies and political enforcers.”<br /><br /><br />Green brought his hands down to his lap and interlaced the fingers. He then spoke again.<br /><br /><br />“And while the Nazis were supposed to have found ways of economically utilizing human remains, as far as we can tell there is no market off of your planet for soap made from human fat. On the other hand, our plans for Freya require that we import a large number of political enforcers, which appear to be the only thing that any of your people appear to show any competence at.”<br /><br /><br />And Green had something else to say.<br /><br /><br />“And while our plans do require that we take control of their nuclear arsenal and eliminate the political and intellectual leadership on Freya, what’s in effect the ruling class, we do need to take the little people intact in order to make proper use of the existing industrial base. That’s not going to be a problem, is it?” He said.<br /><br /><br />Johnny thought for a moment, and then he answered.<br /><br /><br />“No.” He said. “No. That won’t be a problem, as long as we can exterminate the descendants of Evelyn Stone, and get justice for President Null, that won’t be a problem.”<br /><br /><br />Johnny also had a request.<br /><br /><br />“And we want some of those nukes for ourselves.”<br /><br /><br />Green thought for a moment, and then he answered.<br /><br /><br />“Of course.” He said.<br /><br /><br />Green was lying, there was no way in Hell that these black ass savages would be allowed to take possession of nuclear weapons.<br /><br /><br /><i>It shouldn’t be too difficult to find a replacement for The Glorious Leader.</i> Thought Green. <i>There wasn’t any shortage of power tripping thugs on this planet.</i><br /><br /><br />Johnny again thought for a moment, and then he asked a question.<br /><br /><br />“Mister Green, do you have a conscience?”<br /><br /><br />“You?" Douglas Green replied. “You’re asking me that question?”<br /><br /><br />The Leader nodded.<br /><br /><br />“No.” Douglas Green replied. “I don’t.”<br /><br /><br />“Why not?” Johnny asked.<br /><br /><br />Douglas Green sat back in his chair and clasped his hand together.<br /><br /><br />“Because a conscience is a mental device used by weak people to pretend that they’re morally superior.” He replied. “It’s a device that the inferior use to fraudulently pretend that they’re superior.”<br /><br /><br />The Leader nodded.<br /><br /><br />Douglas Green stood up and said one last thing before he departed.<br /><br /><br />“Have your people ready to go, right now, and do try to have a nice day.”<br /><br /><br /><i>Yes.</i> Green thought as he walked out of the office. <i>The Glorious Leader will have to be replaced.</i><br /> </p>Leslie Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10928555454437303212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35602681.post-35910066197706014092021-02-04T09:33:00.004-06:002021-02-04T09:33:42.205-06:00Homecoming (An Unfinished Story)<p>It was a cold and wet Monday morning in September of 2317 when two men
with short and neatly cut hair and wearing dull casual civilian attire
stepped off the transit car at the Edison Station in old Northeast Minneapolis.
</p><p>Ensign Ian Stuart felt well out of place as he stood and waited for
the swarm of students on their way to morning classes at the old Edison
High School, to clear the station.
</p><p>Ian recalled, with a sense of embarrassment, that he once dressed in
a similarly absurd and alien fashion, as the teenagers crowding the station.
He would have felt even more out of place if he and his companion had worn
their full naval uniforms.
</p><p>Members of the Armed Forces, the Navy and Marine Corps of the former
Terran Confederation, were not terribly popular on the home world these
days, especially the commissioned officers.
</p><p>To wear the uniform in public, without being escorted by at least of
a squad of Marines, was virtually an engraved invitation to being physically
assaulted or killed.
</p><p>Ensign Ian Stuart saw that most of the students disembarking at the
station wore buttons showing a red line superimposed over the capital letters
"ROM," the meaning of the buttons was crystal clear to any civilian, soldier,
or able spaceman.
</p><p>Down with the Rule of Man.
</p><p>Too bad, Ian thought, the stupid and greedy politicians of Terra, and
the voters who put them into office, had clearly demonstrated that they
were unfit to exercise any form of political authority.
</p><p>A few of the students, most with shaved heads, wore buttons depicting
the ancient astrological symbol for Earth, the cross within a circle. The
symbol was used by those who believed in the racial supremacy of the Terrans
over all other intelligent species. Including those humans, such as the
Vilani, whose ancestors were dumped by an unknown power on other planets
hundreds of millennia ago.
</p><p>The Terran Supremacists, like the German National Socialists of the
Early Twentieth Century, sought to treat the so-called lesser races as
virtual slaves and felt oppressed when their wishes were thwarted.
</p><p>To Hell with them, Ian thought, to Hell with all of them.
</p><p>"We should have taken a g-carrier." Said the Ensign's companion. "And
a full squad of Marines, sir."
</p><p>"If we only had one stop to make here I would, Chief."
</p><p>Chief Petty Officer Barenni stood almost a full head over the Ensign
and was more than twice as old. He was also one of the growing number of
ethnic Vilani allowed to join the navy of the Terran Confederation. During
the final years of the war against the Ziru Sirka, the interstellar empire
of the Vilani, CPO Barenni was a member of the SURFER teams, the elite
Surface-Extravehicular Reconnaissance forces of the Terran Navy. The Chief
was now the senior noncommissioned officer on the Ensign's military government
team.
</p><p>One of the students, a boy wearing a red silken sash and a grotesque
and high maintenance style of hair, had apparently caught part of the conversation
between the Ensign and the Chief. The boy turned around and quickly went
down the stairs to the ground level. Both the Ensign and the Chief saw
this.
</p><p>"Let's use the staves on this one, Chief."
</p><p>"Sir, are you aware of the fact that the other ranks really aren't impressed
by displays of studliness?"
</p><p>"No shit Chief, I'm still using the staff."
</p><p>"Aye-aye, sir."
</p><p>The Ensign and the Chief both carried a navy issued 11.43 mm automatic
pistols with two spare seven-round magazines under their jackets. They
also carried surfer-staves, a quarterstaff compressed into a compact unit
the size of two D-cell batteries.
</p><p>The Ensign and the Chief were met at the bottom the stairs by a dozen
boys in red sashes and other absurd attire. The gang was posturing as if
they were the lords of the transit station and were collectively taunting
the two men with accusations of treason and maternal incest. The closest
of the boys presented an open switchblade knife in his right hand.
</p><p>Stupid punks, thought the Ensign.
</p><p>Ensign Stuart thumbed the extend button on his staff. His first blow
smashed the punk's right hand and knocked the knife to the ground. The
second blow caused the punk to bend forward and explosively exhale. The
last blow struck laterally across the jaw causing a spray blood and teeth.
The unconscious punk spun around and landed on the pavement with a loud
thud.
</p><p>Ensign Stuart had knocked down a second punk when the remnants of the
gang turned and fled from the ground level of the transit station. Ensign
Stuart turned around and saw that CPO Barenni was reholstering his pistol.
</p><p>"I'm sorry sir, but I heard a police siren."
</p><p>The Ensign could now hear the sirens of the approaching police grav-speeders.
</p><p>"No Chief, you were right on that." He replied as he pressed his thumb
on the retract switch on the surfer-staff.
</p><p>"Sir, red wasn't your high school's color, was it?"
</p><p>"No." Replied the Ensign. "If I recall correctly, the school colors
at Edison High were Blue and Gold."
</p><p>Though there was a history teacher who wanted to change the school colors
to Hot Pink and Army Green.
</p><p>Ensign Stuart looked around and was shocked at what he saw.
</p><p>The Terran Naval Academy, from which Ian recently graduated, was co-located
with the headquarters of the Terran Grand Fleet on a world that was once
a sector capital of the Vilani Empire. Ethnic Vilani as a rule were normally
fastidious, even after their liberation by the Terrans. Whether he was
on or off campus, Ian was used to living in a neat and clean environment.
It was not until the Ensign and Chief stepped outside the perimeter fence
at Ventura Barracks on Earth that Ian saw litter on the ground for the
first time in over four years. It was a beer can.
</p><p>The more Ian Stuart looked around, the more strange and alien the world
of his birth would appear to him.
</p><p>Trash was scattered all over the floor of the lower level of the transit
station. The walls had been defiled by urine stains and graffiti.
</p><p>In addition to the crossed out letters "ROM," that were painted on the
walls there were also the letters "DTT," which meant "Death to Traitors."
There used to be buttons that read "DTT," but some of the individuals wearing
those buttons came down with nasty cases of sudden lead poisoning. Marines
and naval personnel who discharged their weapons in such incidents had
the cost of the ammunition deducted from their pay and were quickly reassigned
off of Terra or out of the Solar System.
</p><p>The Ensign and the Chief had their navy identification cards out when
the Minneapolis police arrived to clean up the mess.
</p><p>[...]
</p><p>"Sergeant," Ensign Stuart addressed the senior police officer present.
"I would strongly suggest that you remind this garbage," the Ensign pointed
the two handcuffed punks, "that even under the present state of Martial
Law they still have the right to remain silent."
</p><p>[...]
</p><p>Ian mocked him in a whiny voice.
</p><p><i>"Aber ich erteilte Auftrag!"</i>
</p><p>Ensign Stuart switched to a drill instructor tone of voice.
</p><p>"Sergeant, you of all people should know that an order to commit a crime
is NEVER a valid order. The Navy is not a band of looters and we do not
take orders from looters, regardless of how many votes they received in
the last election. Have I made myself clear?"
</p><p>[...]
</p><p>[Talk about the historic preservation mafia.]
</p><p>Ian saw that the old bakery building at 22nd Avenue and Washington Street
was boarded up again, another attempt to redevelop the property without
demolishing the original single storey brick structure had failed.
</p><p>Plastered all over the structure were posters showing a black and white
photograph of a sixty-ish woman, with short fake blonde hair, a standard
nine-millimeter service pistol was aimed at her head. The hammer of the
pistol in the photograph was blurred as though it were falling on the firing
pin.
</p><p>Over the photograph on the poster in all capital letters was the one
word, REMEMBER.
</p><p>"I'm sorry sir," said the Chief as he pointed to the posters, "but I'm
not fully familiar with that bit of Terran history."
</p><p>"Well," Ian replied, "That's Saint Hillary, a martyr for the holy cause
of Democracy. She was just a stupid old bitch who believed that being democratically
elected somehow constituted an excuse for abusive and destructive behavior."
</p><p>[...]
</p><p>A long deceased cynic from Baltimore once described a democratic election
as an advanced auction of stolen goods. The ghost of that cynic would not
have been the slightest bit surprised by the results of the Terran election
of 2314.
</p><p>[...]
</p><p>"Hello Mother." He said.
</p><p>[...]
</p><p>She still had her shrine to Saint Elvis.
</p><p>[...]
</p><p>"Usually assignments to newly commissioned Ensigns are handed out by
staff pukes who really love their mothers."
</p><p>[...]
</p><p>"We can't even replace a burned out coffee pot on an aging missile frigate
without some mob of Terran parasites screaming as if they were mortally
wounded!" Ian had spoken in what he called the drill instructor voice.
"The representatives, that pack of losers who couldn't hold a REAL JOB
in the real world, that YOU and YOUR fellow voters sent to the General
Assembly were too busy spending the tax revenues of this planet to buy
votes for themselves while the Colonies and the worlds that WE liberated
from the Ziru Sirka carried the burden of the wars."
</p><p>[...]
</p><p>The red sash gang was back. Seven of them were hiding in the boarded-up
shell of the old municipal garage at Eighteenth and Washington. They poured
out of the old building with their knives out and were attempting to surround
the Ensign. Their apparent leader openly declared his intent to kill Stuart
and reaffirmed his belief that the Ensign was a practitioner of maternal
incest.
</p><p>Ensign Stuart drew his pistol and placed a nonregulation 11.43 mm hollow-point
round through the leader's chest. Stuart dropped three more of the junior
thugs before the others could turn and flee. Two more gang members were
hit and fell as they were running away. The last one ducked around the
corner of the old city garage.
</p><p>Stuart quickly switched to a fresh magazine and waited for the local
police to arrive. He held his weapon in his right hand and pulled out his
navy I.D. card with the left hand when the first police speeder came into
view.
</p><p>[...]
</p><p>"Put that weapon down Sergeant."
</p><p>"If you pull that trigger you will be hunted down and killed and what's
left of your family will be shipped off to an airless rock in the Outback!"
</p><p>[...]
</p><p>"And your mother is probably doing whatever it was that you were afraid
she would be doing, sir."
</p><p>"We'll deal with her later, Chief."
</p><p>The Ensign waited with the Chief for the Marine M.P.'s
</p><p>[...]
</p><p>There was one more stop that Ensign Stuart had to make before leaving
Earth. He could have skipped the visit to his mother's house, but there
was never any point in returning to Earth without seeing Beth.
</p><p>On the day of his graduation from the Naval Academy, Ensign Ian Stuart
had received a summons from the Shogun.
</p><p>At 1030 hours the next morning Ensign Stuart stepped into the office
of Hiroshi Estigarribia, the former Grand Admiral of the Terran Confederation
Navy, who was now the self-proclaimed Regent of the Vilani Empire and the
Protector of Terra.
</p><p>"Ensign Ian Stuart reporting as ordered. Sir!"
</p><p>[...]
</p><p>"I have some news for you Ensign. Any damned fool can fly a frigate
or a cruiser into harm's way, God knows we have no shortage of those."
Said the Shogun. "But all those frigates and cruisers need to be maintained
and ultimately replaced. And that requires naval stations, shipyards, and
worlds with a civil industrial base to support them. And those worlds require
proper government."
</p><p>[...]
</p><p>"You will be replacing a female civilian appointed by the Terran Secretariat,
God only knows what damage she's already done out there."
</p><p>"In effect, what you're saying sir, is that I may have to rebuild the
local civil government in its entirety."
</p><p>"That son, is a possible worst case scenario, but she should already
have been removed from the office by the system commander by the time you
get out there."
</p><p>The Shogun paused to catch his breath.
</p><p>"There's one other thing Mister Stuart, do you have a girlfriend or
a fiancee?"
</p><p>"Yes I do, sir." Ian replied. "I have a fiancee back home on Earth.
I haven't heard from her since the coup."
</p><p>"Mister Stuart," the Shogun looked at Ian straight in the eyes, "what
would you do if I told you that you had to dump your Terran fiancee in
order to stay in the navy?"
</p><p>"I would have to hand you my bars," the small gold bars that were the
Ensign's insignia of rank on the dirtside uniform, "and I would have to
tell you to go to Hell, sir."
</p><p>If the Shogun was impressed, he didn't show it.
</p><p>"There was a wet navy admiral in the mid-twentieth century who used
to eliminate spineless wimps with that question. Admiral Hyman Rickover
of the American Navy if I recall correctly, sir."
</p><p>The Shogun let out a slight chuckle.
</p><p>"But you really would do that?"
</p><p>"Yes sir, I would."
</p><p>"Good." Said the Shogun. "It could be possible that your fiancee may
be in agreement with the majority of Terran voters."
</p><p>Ian shook his head at the Shogun's suggestion.
</p><p>Of all the people on Terra, only Beth was there at the landing pad at
Ventura Barracks to see Ian off when he left Earth to attend the Naval
Academy. Her last kiss had virtually suffocated him.
</p><p>"I would very strongly doubt that, sir."
</p><p>"My staff also has grounds to believe that the civilian postal service
on Terran is simply refusing to complete their appointed rounds with respect
to letters to and from naval personnel. I have no idea how many casualties
we may end up taking in attempting to clean up that particular mess."
</p><p>"In any case Mister Stuart," the Shogun continued, "there's only one
way for you to be certain about your fiancee."
</p><p>"Yes sir, I'll have to go home to Terra."
</p><p>Eight weeks and three transits through jumpspace later Ensign Ian Stuart
stood before the front door of Beth's home. It was a two-storey white frame
house on the north side of 17th Avenue between Adams and Jefferson Streets.
</p><p>One of the younger sisters opened the door.
</p><p>"Ian...you shouldn't..."
</p><p>"I'm here to see Beth." Ian told her. "I will not leave until I do."
</p><p>[...]
</p><p>Ensign Ian Stuart reeked of blood, sweat, and smokeless gunpowder, and
he wasn't about to take any more nonsense from anyone else.
</p><p>"I've had a bad day. Do not make it worse sir."
</p><p>[...]
</p><p>"I will see Beth. Now." He said in the drill instructor voice. "If I
have to go over your dead body, sir, I will do so. Do you understand?"
</p><p>[...]
</p><p>"Hello Beth." He said.
</p><p>"Hello Ian."
</p><p>They embraced, and they kissed.
</p><p>"I've been assigned as the military governor of a world that's about
two-thirds of the way between here and Vland." Said Ian. "I want you to
come with me."
</p><p>[...]
</p>"It's called Sylea."
Leslie Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10928555454437303212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35602681.post-12222749630138666422020-11-29T04:18:00.004-06:002020-11-29T04:18:25.802-06:00An Actual Dark And Stormy Night<p> </p><div style="text-align: center;">Randsday, 2245 (Standard)<br /></div><br /><i>Negation</i>, she thought.<br /><br />A decision can be easy or it could be difficult.<br /><br />The
thunderstorm that crashed upon the Freyan capital city of Landfall was a
thing of beauty. The flash of lightning illuminated the streets and
the buildings beyond the window with an electric blue glow. With the
light reflected from her face back upon the inside surface she could see
the winkles beneath her eyes and the streaks of gray in her dark hair.<br /><br />She gave thought to the window before her.<br /><br />It
was both invisible and itself a thing of beauty. It separated and
protected her from the outside environment and allowed her to see it in
all its glory. She could watch the passage of the storm from the safety
of her office because of the applied thought of a man.<br /><br />Those who
destroyed the works of men couldn’t conceive of a pane of glass. Nor
could they be taught how to make one and integrate it into a structure.
The thoughts of rational men were nothing to them, and the works of men
that resulted from the trains of rational thought were seen only as
abominations that were to be smashed into dust. <br /><br />They didn’t see the truth and they didn’t want to see the truth.<br /><br /><i>Reality is real.<br /></i><br />Her parents had taught her this before she learned to read.<br /><br /><i>Understand this and you can understand everything.<br /><br /></i>But
there were those alive who didn’t want to know. They actively sought
ignorance, and they sought only to negate knowledge with the products of
applied knowledge.<br /><br />Now another of those men had stepped onto her
world with the intent of negation, of murdering the people and smashing
their works to nothing. There was nothing that he would have gained
from such acts. It would be the sacrifice of actual things to nothing. <br /><br />Absolutely nothing.<br /><br />Under
the existing laws of her nation the subject of her present thought
could simply be arrested and processed with his death being the ultimate
result. But that wouldn’t solve the larger problem. The subject of
the investigation was employed by a group of people back on Earth. The
employers will simply hire another man to attack the worlds under her
care. And the next time she may not be able to stop them. <br /> <br />The
woman had witnessed too much of the horror of negation over the course
of her life. She had seen her parents taken from her simply because
they were the only sane people on an insane world. She had seen her
husband murdered simply because he was her husband.<br /><br /><i>Would it ever end?</i> She thought. <i>How does one deal with such people?<br /></i><br />The phone on her desk rang. She turned and quickly lifted the receiver to speak.<br /><br />“Yes?”<br /><br />A man’s voice at the far end replied.<br /><br />“We’re ready to proceed, ma’am.”<br /><br />“Do so.”<br /><br />“Yes, ma’am.”<br /><br /><i>A trade off then.</i> Judith thought as she hung up the phone. <i>Let the immediate subject live and use him to discover his employers, and then eliminate them.<br /></i><br />Across
the city the subject of the conversation in question was sleeping naked
in a hotel bed, but not for long. This would be a hostile encounter.
He had not expected the police on any world, whom he normally thought of
as no better than clowns to break into his hotel room in full tactical
mode. They shouldn’t have known of his origin or mission.<br /><br />The
arrest had been absolutely hostile. At no point was he allowed to
speak, nor was he spoken to. He was gagged immediately by the black
suited agency strike team. He wasn’t given any cover for the weather.
He was dragged through the cold winter rain to the agency assault team
transport vehicle in the condition he normally slept in. On this night
in the city of Landfall on the planet Freya he was completely naked.<br /><br />Upon arrival at their headquarters he was deposited in a holding cell.<br /><br />Except
for the light panels, the steel door, and buttons that controlled the
sink and toilet, all the features of the entire holding cell were made
of concrete.<br /><br />This wasn’t a standard jail cell for a common
criminal. The authorities here on Freya had taken his presence on their
planet seriously.<br /><br />Very seriously.<br /><br /><i>Why?</i> He thought.<br /><br />He was certain he would soon know why. <br /><br />The door of the holding cell opened outwards. A long stun stick was immediately thrust into the cell and upon his chest.<br /><br />He was shocked into a state of complete inaction. <br /><br />As
he lay stunned on the floor the black suited agents entered the cell in
mass. They cuffed him behind the back and inserted a rod between his
arms and his back. The agents then lifted him by the rod and dragged
him down a bleak and completely undecorated bureaucratic corridor. The
agents who carried him were escorted by four more agents paired fore and
aft.<br /><br />Not one of them said a word to him.<br /><br />He was dragged
down the corridor and around a corner to the right. At the end of the
second corridor he was carried into an interrogation room. There was a
stainless steel table and two chairs. He was secured to one of the
chairs by the ankles and wrists.<br /><br />It was five minutes by his estimate before the door to the room opened again.<br /><br />A woman stepped into the room and sat down at the table opposite of him.<br /><br />The
subject of the arrest took the time to visually examine the woman. She
appeared to be a bit over fifty standard years of age with light stands
of gray hair appearing in the neatly cut body of short black hair. The
woman also had blue eyes. She was dressed as a civilian with a white
office blouse and blue slacks. The woman wore a photo identification
badge and carried an immaculate military service grade semiautomatic
pistol in the custom black leather holster under her left shoulder.<br /><br /><i>I’m supposed to be frightened by this old broad?</i> He thought. <i>That was foolish of her, very foolish.</i> <br /><br />The
man then took a close look at the I.D. badge. It was issued by the
Central Security Agency of the Ursa Major Confederation. Below the
photograph on the badge was the logo of the agency. This was in the
form of a flag with a white “X” over a black field. He didn’t know that
the symbol was technically called the Cross of Saint Andrew. He saw it
as being identical to cross on the battle flag of the Confederate
States of America. He saw it as their admission of being evil.<br /><br />The name on her photo badge was Judith Stern and showed her rank as Director of the agency.<br /><br /><i>NO!</i> He thought. <i>No! No! No! No!<br /></i><br />The
woman sitting opposite of him at the table was the true daughter of
darkness. She was the absolute incarnation of evil herself.<br /><br />Judith
Stern was personally responsible for the murder of millions of people
on his home world. No one, not a priest, nor a child, was exempt from
her absolute depravity.<br /><br />And he wasn’t in the custody of any
police agency, the Freyan CSA was every mercenary soldier’s worst
nightmare. No mercenary soldier operating separately from an organized
unit was safe from death by their Pest Control teams and ultimately
backing the CSA field teams were the planetary landing forces of the
Ursa Major Confederation Army and Marine Corps. A Freyan Army brigade
once engaged a mercenay battalion in support of a dictatorship. It
didn’t matter to him that the Pest Control teams also went after
Marxists, Mobsters, and Eternals.<br /><br /><i>The Daily Mail</i> on their front page published a photograph of an Eternal that had been killed by a CSA Pest Control team.<br /><br />Worlds
in close proximity to Freya were effectively off limits to mercenary
operations, and in the custody of the Freyan CSA he was already dead.<br /><br />She looked up at him and spoke. Her voice was of solid authority, it was firm and without apparent emotion.<br /><br />“Welcome to The Aquarium.”<br /><br /> She then asked him a question.<br /><br /> “Who are you?”<br /><br /> He didn’t answer.<br /><br /> There was a slight twitch on her right eyebrow.<br /><br /> She calmly repeated the question.<br /><br /> “Who are you?”<br /><br /> There was no point in screaming. He tried to reply clearly in a level voice.<br /><br /> “Why don’t you tell me?”<br /><br /> Without a word she looked down and opened the folder on the table before her.<br /><br /> <i>Printed documents?</i> He thought. <i>How primitive of them.</i><br /><br /> She removed a set of reading glasses from a pocket of her blouse and used them to read from the printed file.<br /><br />"Your
name is Michael Gratton. You were born in the City of New Boston on
the planet Kennedy in the Alpha Centauri B system. You’re the second
son of the late Prime Minister Thomas Gratton. After the rescue and
reprisal mission to that world your mother brought you as an infant to
her family home in the city of Boston in the State of Massachusetts on
Earth. You attended the Boston Latin School and the Federation Military
Academy at West Point. As a junior officer you were wounded in action
in a minor dust up against a band of feral Muslims in Indonesia and
subsequently received a knee joint replacement. You spent the remainder
of your time in the army in staff positions and as an instructor at the
academy. You were medically retired from the Federation Army with the
rank of Major and emigrated to Xenophon in the Epsilon Indi system.
You’re now a minor stockholder in, and company grade officer of the
Military Assistance Corporation based oiginally on Xenophon and now on
Earth.”<br /><br /> Gratton stared at Director Stern silently. She had used
the Freyan term for their crimes against his home world and the crimes
they committed against his people. One of the many people of that world
murdered by the Freyans was his own father.<br /><br /> Gratton continued to stare at her until he was able to speak without apparent emotion.<br /><br /> “You’re wrong!” He replied. “My name is John Fletcher and I am a civilian.”<br /><br /> The
planetary clown farce on Freya shouldn’t have discovered this
information on him along with the fact that he was traveling on a false
set of identity documents. With the CSA he was clearly in the hands of a
very competent intelligence agency of an absolutely evil nation.<br /><br />Michael Gratton clearly saw that he was now in deep trouble.<br /><br />Judith Stern stared straight at him without a visible flinch.<br /><br />“Major
Gratton, or whatever your current rank in the MAC-X Corporation is,
you’re traveling on a false set of documents, which is a felony, and
you’re also a known mercenary, which in the Ursa Major Confederation is a
capital offense.”<br /><br />Gratton looked up at her and replied calmly.<br /><br />“My name is John Fletcher and I am a witness for our Lord Jesus Christ.”<br /><br />Judith Stern did not budge or blink.<br /><br />“No
Major Gratton. You’re a veteran officer of the Federation Army, which
is a yellow flag for this agency. You’re traveling on false identity
documents, which for us is a red flag. And you’re a member of a
commercial organization whose purpose is to violate the rights of
individuals and to negate the sovereignty of nations, which is
absolutely the black flag for us. Would you please explain to us why we
shouldn’t air out your head right now?”<br /><br />Gratton blinked.<br /><br />He raised his voice to reply.<br /><br />“There’s nothing you can threaten me with!”<br /><br />Stern simply smiled and responded in a calm voice.<br /> <br />“Of course not, there never is.”<br /> <br /><i>What The Fuck did that mean?</i> He thought.<br /><br />Stern saw that Gratton was mystified. It was at this time she made her statement.<br /><br />“Major
Gratton, you and your backers seek to remove us from existence. We
need to discover who your backers are and exterminate them. In order to
do this we’re sending you back to Earth. You’ll be kept under
surveillance and through this we’ll find the people who trying to
destroy us and we’ll kill all of them.”<br /><br />Gratton now stared at her. He then closed his eyes and shook his head. <br /><br /><i>So far I hadn’t broken from my cover story, I can still use it.</i> He thought. <i>It’ll work.</i><br /><br />“My
name is John Fletcher.” He cried out. “I am a witness for Our Lord
Jesus Christ on this Godless world. Your people have turned from Our
Lord at your eternal peril. Don’t you understand that?”<br /><br />Judith
Stern stared straight through him as if she were a shipboard laser
burning through a starship hull. She then replied to him.<br /><br />“Major Gratton, ‘Reality is Real’.” <br /><br />With that final reply she closed the folder on the table and stood up. She spoke up to the staff members listening remotely.<br />“I’m finished.”<br /><br />An
officer opened the door for her from outside. As she departed more
officers suddenly entered the interrogation room and hit him with the
stun staff again. With full effect to full unconsciousness.<br /><br />When
Michael Gratton awoke he was back on Earth. The first thing he would
hear was the voice of a different woman on the planet Earth. <br /><br /><br /><br />Leslie Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10928555454437303212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35602681.post-41517140256925979192020-11-15T03:07:00.000-06:002020-11-15T03:07:01.711-06:00Who Are The Freyans?<p>Who are the Freyans?<br /><br />The Freyans could be the nicest or nastiest people in the known universe.<br /><br />Although some people emigrated directly from Earth, most Freyans, what became known as the Core Group, originated from the habitats of Mars. They spent three generations there, the atmosphere of Mars qualified as an industrial grade vacuum on Earth. What came forth from Mars were some of the toughest people in the known universe.<br /><br />The clerics who ruled the planet Kennedy in the Alpha Centauri system believed that God was on their side. They discovered though direct experience that they were wrong when the Freyans showed up. God, if he existed, stayed out of the Freyans way. During the Kennedy Incident the Freyans came out of the Nuclear Closet. The Racial Collectivists who ruled the planet Null in Procyon system suddenly found themselves on the wrong side of numerous Freyan nuclear weapons.</p><p>There was a coup attempt on Freya. The attempted coup on Freya was backed by the MAC-X corporation. The leader of the coup attempt was personally buried alive by Lilith Keller, the last president of the Freyan republic and founder of the Ursa Major Confederation. One of responses to the coup attempt was very nasty. A Freyan Navy task force went to the planet Xenophon in the Epsilon Indi system and bombarded the planet with nuclear weapons. The cities on Xenophon were bombarded with high yield cobalt cased thermonuclear weapons. The weapons the Freyans used made the Soviet Tsar Bomb look wimpy in comparison.</p><p>No one messes with the Freyans.<br /></p>Leslie Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10928555454437303212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35602681.post-7038656542409674102020-10-22T23:52:00.003-05:002020-10-23T00:16:09.073-05:00Nightmare, Part 1<p>For Judith Stern the nightmare began when she was twelve standard years old. <br /><br />She woke up in a hospital, the place was clearly unfamiliar to her and even for the time it appeared to be behind the general standard in architecture and general technology. She saw that was clearly in an intensive care unit and there was an oxygen tube flowing into her nose. Through the glass wall of her room she could see that the lights had been turned down in the ICU for the evening. <br /><br />As her vision became clearer she searched for the call button. Upon finding she pressed down on it. At the central desk of the ward she could see the nurse on duty look at her workstation terminal. The nurse apparently pressed a key on the terminal and then stood up and walked over to the room. <br /><br />When the nurse came to the door of the room Judith could see that the woman was wearing a silver crucifix with the complete figure of Jesus Christ on it.<br /><br />This could be a problem. She thought.<br /><br />The woman spoke with a heavy accent that Judith had identified as the New Irish of this planet.<br /><br />“You’re awake, that’s good, but you need to go back to sleep.”<br /><br />This wasn’t acceptable to Judith, she has questions to ask.<br /><br />“Nurse, where am I?” She said.<br /><br />The woman was taken aback. A clear note of surprise was in her voice as she answered.<br /><br />“You’re in the Intensive Care Unit of the New Boston General Hospital.”<br /><br />At this point Judith was no longer speaking as a mere child but as an adult to an adult.<br /><br />“What am I in here for?”<br /><br />The nurse appeared to be surprised at the tone of Judith’s voice. She replied with a note of amazement in her voice.<br /><br />“Do you know how to speak to an adult?”<br /><br />“Yes, as you can hear, I do.” Judith replied with a level voice. “Now, would you please answer the question.”<br /><br />The conversation had turned into a full interrogation. The nurse was now visibly shocked at the questioning of her authority.<br /><br />“Child? Do you know how to speak to an adult?” She said.<br /><br />Judith replied with the level voice that her parents taught her to use with the irrational inhabitants of this world.<br /><br />“Do you know how to answer a simple question?”<br /><br />The woman was apparently struck silent.<br /><br />Judith spoke again.<br /><br />“I’m clearly in the ICU of the major hospital on this planet, there should be a file on my case at the nurses’ station. Can you read the contents of it for me?”<br /><br />The woman heard the question as an insult and had grown into a full state of rage.<br /><br />“How dare you!” She shouted. “Is that how little girls are taught to behave on that godless rock you’re from?”<br /><br />Before Judith could respond another woman had strode up behind the nurse and interrupted the verbal struggle.<br /><br />“SISTER!” A newcomer woman said.<br /><br />The woman instantly turned about to face the newcomer.<br /><br />“Doctor!” The woman spoke. “This girl was being rude to me!”<br /><br />“No Sister,” the doctor replied with a Mid-North American accent, “you’re being stupid to her.”<br /><br />Before the woman could respond the doctor spoke again.<br /><br />“Sister Margaret, return to your station and I’ll speak to the patient, alone.”<br /><br />“But...” She answered.<br /><br />The doctor overrode her.<br /><br />“Return to your station. Now!”<br /><br />The nurse turned pale with a blank expression on her face. She silently returned to the nurses’ station in the ICU.<br /><br />The doctor stepped into the room and closed the door. She then spoke to Judith.<br /><br />“Miss Stern, I’m Doctor Fuller, I’ll try to answer your questions as best I can.”<br /><br />Judith thought for a moment.<br /><br />“You’re not from around here?”<br /><br />“No.” Doctor Fuller replied. “I’m from Minnesota on Earth, I went to the U of M, and I accepted what appeared to be a great offer to do my internship here.”<br /><br />Judith nodded.<br /><br />“And when you arrived you found it was the planet of the backwards morons.”<br /><br />“Yes.” Dr. Fuller replied. “How did you come up with the term?”<br /><br />“The Freyan Consul called it that.” Said Judith. “My parents came here to set up an office for Freyaspace. Dad really tried to make it work but ultimately decided it wasn’t worth the hassle of dealing with local officials and ended the operation.”<br /><br />Doctor Fuller nodded.<br /><br />“I don’t blame him.” She said.<br /><br />Judith asked the next questions.<br /><br />“So what I’m in here for, and where are my parents?”<br /><br />Doctor Fuller answered.<br /><br />“You came down with pneumonia and have been unconscious for about three standard weeks. And your parents had to escape from the planet with your sister Deborah.”<br /><br />Judith responded in shock. <br /><br />“WHAT! How could they leave me behind?”<br /><br />“The hospital chaplain wanted to do a Catholic baptism on you because of the seriousness of your illness and your parents wouldn’t consent to it. So the planetary government ordered them off the planet. The government also ordered the seizure of your sister from the custody of your parents. They had to escape in the ship you came here in.”<br /><br />Judith was shaking her head.<br /><br />“But baptism is a stupid voodoo ceremony, how could it lead to my parents having to escape on the Concord?”<br /><br />Doctor Fuller replied.<br /><br />“Under the laws on this world a Christian child cannot be returned to non-Christian parents. The government also regards non-Christians as unfit parents and tried to seize custody of your sister. They had no choice but to leave quickly.”<br /><br />Judith stopped looking at Doctor Fuller and looked straight down the bed for a moment.<br /><br />“I’m not a Christian.” She said.<br /><br />“As far as the government is concerned, you are.”<br /><br />Then Judith asked another question.<br /><br />“So I’m alone on this world?”<br /><br />“Yes?”<br /><br />Judith thought for another moment and asked another question.<br /><br />“Does the Republic of Freya still have a consulate here in New Boston?”<br /><br />“Yes.”<br /><br />“Doctor, could you please get the message to them that I want to go home?”<br /><br />“Yes, I will.”<br /><br />When her shift was finished Deborah Fuller walked the three city blocks to the Freyan Consulate. The local sun, Alpha Centauri B, was barely beginning to rise above the eastern horizon when she approached the former mansion that served as the consulate. As she walked up two Freyan Marines, in surface khaki dress uniforms with the rank of Corporal, stepped out with their flag. Deborah watched as the Marines raised the flag.<br /><br />The flag of the Republic of Freya had a large four pointed star that represented their sun within the center of a dark blue field.<br /><br />When the flag was fixed in position Deborah stepped up to the Marines.<br /><br />“Excuse me,” she said, “I’m a doctor at the New Boston General Hospital and I need to speak with someone about Judith Stern.”<br /><br />Both Marines nodded. The Marine in charge of the detail replied.<br /><br />“Yes Ma’am, if you could follow us please.”<br /><br />For the Consul of the Freyan Republic this mess had began on a literal dark and stormy night.<br /><br /><i>Negate me. </i> He’d thought to himself. <br /><br />If there’s anything he wanted it was to be anywhere else. The local night was at present dominated by a rare thunderstorm. The flashes of lightning lit up the plain that the planetary starport was built upon. Through the picture window of the starport’s restaurant he could see only two of the dozen circular landing pads were occupied by the small surface landing capable starships they were built for. As a junior member of the diplomatic service he originally thought of this world as a hardship post, at least in terms of the physical environment. Both the lower gravity and thinner atmosphere were not conducive to maintaining a normal state of health, and the weather was generally boring. In regard to the local culture it was a very different picture, and in his current opinion it was a place to avoid. It was for the purpose of imparting this message that he was out on this torrential night. It was at his office in the afternoon of the local Friday that he received the message. A ship carrying a junior executive of the Freyaspace Corporation had just dropped into the system and he wished to have a meeting with the Freyan Consul as soon as possible.<br /><br />According to the message the intent of the executive was to establish a corporate office and begin service to the planet of Kennedy. Even if the young diplomat’s family trust had not owned a minority share of stock in Freyaspace he would still have to speak to the young man in order to dissuade him from the delusion that commerce was possible here. As a Freyan diplomat he clearly had an obligation to warn a fellow Freyan about the hazards of this world.<br /><br />The starport on Kennedy was rated as being third class at best. But at least there was one. Along with a young woman from the security service he waited in the main terminal restaurant. It was a tolerable dive that was barely acceptable to the weary interstellar traveler. They both slowly nursed their cups of the locally grown coffee. This local brand was grown and roasted in the local planetary tropics by people who apparently didn’t fully understand the concept of coffee.<br /><br />And that was the slightest of the local issues.<br /><br />“I see it.” Said his companion.<br /><br />He looked out the window. The running lights of the ship, the Freyaspace Concord, were now visible below to the thunderclouds. They watched as the ship quietly came in on a professionally smooth trajectory and made a safe landing on the round concrete pad. <br /><br />“Well, they’re here.” He said to his companion. <br /><br />She only nodded in reply. With that he paid the guest check on their unfinished cups of bad coffee and they took the internal starport railcar to Pad Seven. It was there they initially met the captain of the ship and the primary passenger.<br /><br />The consul and his companion wore fully hooded civilian raincoats as they walked out to the newly landed ship. It was a light general freighter built to a two deck horizontal configuration and had been converted to serve as an executive transport. The primary egress hatch was open and the stairs were already deployed. There they were met by the captain and the transported executive.<br /><br /> The diplomat spoke first.<br /><br />“I’m James March, the Freyan Consul to this world, and this is Tamara Zev from the Federal Security Service. Welcome to the planet Kennedy.”<br /><br />The gray haired captain replied.<br /><br />‘I’m Captain Kovac and this is Mister Andrew Stern of the Freyaspace Corporation. Welcome aboard, sir. Please come inside.”<br /><br />They made their way to the lounge on the upper passenger deck and sat down.<br /><br />Stern spoke first.<br /><br />“I didn’t expect an immediate welcome to this planet by a diplomat.”<br /><br />“Sir, I saw it necessary to meet and speak with you immediately before you made a serious and uncorrectable mistake.”<br /><br />“Excuse me?” Said Stern.<br /><br />March looked straight at Stern as if he were speaking to a basic school student caught in a serious error.<br /><br />“Mister Stern, are you out of your absolutely negated mind?”<br /><br />Stern was shocked at the question.<br /><br />“I don’t understand?” He replied.<br /><br />March closed his eyes for a moment. He then opened them and replied.<br /><br />“Mister Stern, what I understood from your message is that you saw an opportunity that could be exploited. This planet in the second inhabited world in the Alpha Centauri system, and the second colonized world out from Earth. And yet there’s no regular starship service from the Earth to here. Did you think to ask yourself why that’s the case?”<br /><br />“I saw it as a obvious opportunity.” Said Stern.<br /><br />“No,” March replied, “the people who know about this world basically avoid it because it’s a cultural and legal nightmare.”<br /><br />Stern was silent.<br /><br />“Shall I explain?” Said March.<br /><br />“Yes, please do so.” Stern replied.<br /><br />“Okay,” said March, “this planet wasn’t a normal colony world, it was intended to be a dumping ground for old school Progressives from North America and thus was given the name of Kennedy. But under the standard rules for colonization in effect at the time it was also open to settlement by people from the rest of Earth. Being that the first wave of settlers was from the Boston and New York areas it appeared to be attractive to people from Ireland and members of the Irish Diaspora in general. The Irish colonists came to dominate the local culture and when the Federation dumped the planet, excuse me, granted independence, they effectively took over the world on the political level.”<br /><br />“So?”<br /><br />The majority of the people are hardcore Irish Catholics and they have turned this planet into a recreation of the nightmare of old Catholic Ireland.”<br /><br />Stern was puzzled.<br /><br />“But we could still do business here?”<br /><br />“I very seriously doubt it.” March replied. “One of the local policies is planetary economic autarky, which is to produce most goods locally and limit interstellar trade as much as possible.”<br /><br />Stern blinked.<br /><br />“That’s insane!” He said. “Everyone knows that free trade is the best policy.”<br /><br />“This isn’t our homeworld and these people didn’t attend our schools.” March calmly replied. “Reason isn’t a core value of the planetary culture and the people here aren’t taught to be rational.”<br /><br />Shook his head before asking another question.<br /><br />“So we have to start a separate school for our children?”<br /><br />It was the turn of James March to blink. Tamara Zev now responded with her own direct question.<br /><br />“Mister Stern, did you bring your children with you?”<br /><br />“Yes, our two daughters.”<br /><br />March spoke firmly to Stern.<br /><br />“Sir, your daughters are in serious danger on this world. The planetary government regards holding any philosophy that disbelieves in God, such as Objectivism, or Metaphysical Realism in general, as valid grounds for seizing children from their parents. You can’t allow your daughters to go outside the port boundaries. Worse still you mustn’t let them off your ship!”<br /><br />Miss Zev spoke in turn.<br /><br />“Sir, the government actually has a Minister for Religion, and he’s not an elected member of the parliament, he’s selected by the Archbishop of the Catholic Church on planet. The minister for religion, Bishop Paul Clark has actually called Ayn Rand an ‘evil Nazi bitch.’”<br /><br />“That’s wrong!” Said Stern. “Rand was born into a Jewish family! That’s basic history!”<br /><br />“The truth is irrelevant to the government here on Kennedy.” Said Zev. “And so are your rights as a rational parent.”<br /><br />James March spoke in his turn.<br /><br />“Mister Stern, the only valid option you have is to simply leave.”<br /><br />With this the initial meeting was over. </p><p>It was later in the afternoon that Thomas Gratton, the prime minister of the Planetary Republic of Kennedy, waited for the Freyan Consul. He’d put off his normal afternoon shot of whiskey for the meeting. <br /><br />He hated that. He truly hated that.<br /><br />The ambient temperature of the room seemed to have chilled as the consul entered and sat down without the usual introduction.<br /><br />March spoke first.<br /><br />“Mister Prime Minister, it’s come to our attention that Miss Judith Stern has regained consciousness and that she’s requested to be returned to her family and home.”<br /><br />“How do you know that?” The prime minister replied. “Who told you that?”<br /><br />“As this is an adversarial situation where deadly force has already been used, I simply can’t say.” March replied. “And it’s normal for those with the predatory mentality to retaliate against those who act against them.” <br /><br />There was a touch of anger in Gratton’s voice.<br /><br />“We’re not the criminals here. Your people murdered ours without warning! And whoever told you those lies is a traitor to our state.”<br /><br />March knew that Doctor Fuller wasn’t a local citizen and clearly wanted to leave this hellhole of a world. The concept of treason couldn’t be rationally applied to her. Of course he wouldn’t mention her role in the current situation.<br /><br />March maintained the level demeanor.<br /><br />“Mister Prime Minister, Judith Stern was raised by her parents to be a rational person. In the light of reason she properly refuses to submit to the absolute nonsense that you’re attempting to force upon her. And she clearly wants to go home to her family on Freya. As to your claim of murder, the attempt to seize Deborah, the second daughter of the Stern Family, was an act of kidnaping and clearly warranted the use of deadly force in self defense.”<br /><br />Their ship was armed for self defense and during the escape from the planet the weapons were put to good use against a local space guard cutter.<br /><br />Gratton barely succeeded in keeping control of his temper.<br /><br />“Those people were unfit to be parents!” He replied. “They murdered good men who were trying to save the second daughter from damnation!”<br /><br />“Mister Prime Minister,” said March, “a capital crime committed under the color of law remains a capital crime. And we’ll never accept the following of orders, particularly issued by a witch doctor, as an excuse. In using force to seize Judith Stern you’ve sanctioned the use of force to by us recover her, and the Republic of Freya will do so.”<br /><br />“But we saved her soul!” Gratton replied. “This is her home now Mister March! We would never send a Christian child off to a band of godless heathens! And we wouldn’t have allowed the godless to escape with another innocent child!”<br /><br />March maintained a level voice in response.<br /><br />“A is A, ‘reality is real’, what you wish to believe is an absolute fantasy and is absolutely irrelevant. The crew of your Space Guard craft attempted to carry out another kidnaping in open space and were properly vaporized as a result. As to Judith Stern her parents didn’t consent to the voodoo ceremony and she has clearly stated to a rational witness that she doesn’t accept it either. You’ll now return Miss Stern to us, and you’ll do so, now!”<br /><br />Gratton was upset that he had to put off his afternoon drink but now he had to listen to this apparent slander.<br /><br />“How dare you call the sacred rite of baptism a heathen voodoo ceremony! That little girl is now a proper Christian!"<br /><br />March continued his level response.<br /><br />“The ceremony of baptism in all variants of Christianity is the practice of symbolic magic and is completely meaningless in the actual world. A laser fired through a ship’s hull or a bullet fired trough the brain are completely real and have actual effects. If we must use full military force to recover Miss Stern, then we’ll do so. And we’ll properly retaliate against those responsible for her kidnaping.”<br /><br />Prime Minister Gratton was now in a full state of rage as he violently stood up.<br /><br />“HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU THREATEN US! WHAT WE DID WAS TO SAVE HER SOUL FROM DAMNATION!”<br /><br />March remained seated and maintained the level voice as he responded.<br /><br />“You’ve done nothing. Existence exists, God doesn’t exist, and Hell doesn’t exist. The entire doctrine of the Christian religion is an absolute load of nothing. Your alleged government has done nothing but to commit multiple capital crimes under the color of law for absolutely no reason. The Republic of Freya must now respond to your very real crimes with very real force.” <br /><br />Prime Minister Gratton leaned forward with his fists on top of his desk and lowered his voice to ask a question.<br /><br />“Why’re you still here?”<br /><br />March broke a slight grin.<br /><br />“It’s very simple. You can still resolve the situation without further bloodshed. All you have to do is admit that you were wrong and release Miss Stern to us.”<br /><br />“I can’t do that.” Said Gratton.<br /><br />“Of course you can.” March replied.<br /><br />“I serve Jesus Christ!”<br /><br />March calmly replied.<br /><br />“You serve no one and nothing, in doing so you’ve placed your nation at risk.”<br /><br />“This nation won’t reelect me.”<br /><br />“So what? ‘Being elected is not an excuse.’” Said March. “It’s not just a tradition for us, it is an absolute fact of reality.”<br /><br />Gratton stared at James March.<br /><br />“I don’t understand.”<br /><br />James March spoke in response.<br /><br />“Sir, I have the honor of being descended from President John Andrew March.”<br /><br />Gratton virtually fell back into his chair with a loud thump. The name of John Andrew March was deeply cursed by his people. John Andrew March was the last President of the United States and the founder of The Federation. In the history of the Irish people he was also an irredeemable monster. He’d ordered the destruction of Dublin in old Ireland on Earth by nuclear bombing and brought Ireland into The Federation by full military force at the cost of tens of thousands Irish lives. <br /><br />The man calmly sitting before him was proud of being descended from that monster.<br /><br />The state of fear had now clearly entered his mind. Gratton could only answer with a clearly shaken voice.<br /><br />“I can’t do it.”<br /><br />“Of course you can.” March continued to reply with the calm and level voice. “The facts are the facts, and all it takes to comply with the absolute facts is to give one simple order.”<br /><br />“I have to call a meeting of the cabinet.” Said Gratton.<br /><br />“Why bother?” Said James March. “The facts of reality can’t be evaded, and certainly not by a vote of a committee. The facts of Reality aren't subject to a popular vote. There’s only one valid outcome to this mess, and as the prime minister you now clearly know what to do.”<br /><br />And with those words James March stood up and returned to the Freyan Consulate.<br /><br />Upon his return to the Freyan Consulate he called a meeting. Present at the meeting were his deputy, a junior consular officer, three members of the Marine consular detachment, and a Navy medical corpsman.<br /><br />“Okay,” said March, “we all know why we’re here. I fully expect the ruling idiots to kick the consulate out very soon. That means the worst case scenario is now in full effect.”<br /><br />Everyone at the table nodded.<br /><br />March proceeded to speak to each person at the table. Beginning with his deputy.<br /><br />“Ellie, are the safe houses, vehicles, and our friends ready?”<br /><br />“Ready to go, sir.”<br /><br />He turned to the consular officer.<br /><br />“Miss Zev, are you ready to go?”<br /><br />“Yes, sir.”<br /><br />“Staff Sergeant MacDonald, is your team ready to go?”<br /><br />“Yes, sir!”<br /><br />Both of the Marines, who were the flag raising detail that morning, nodded in agreement.<br /><br />March then turned to the female Navy medical corpsman at the end of the table.<br /><br />“Able Spacehand Newman, are you ready to go?”<br /><br />“Yes, sir.”<br /><br />It was time for James March to give the final speech.<br /><br />“We had to improvise with what we had on hand. I wish we could do better, but wishes never ever come true. We’ll have to make this happen ourselves. Let’s go out and do it, make it happen. Let’s rescue Judith Stern and bring her home.”<br /><br />With those words the meeting ended.<br /><br />On the next morning in the parliament building at the center of the city of New Boston the cabinet held their meeting. And every member of the body absolutely had to get his word in. The Minister of Agriculture was shouting.<br /><br />“That poor girl was properly baptized into the Christian Church! We won’t turn her over to those Godless vermin!”<br /><br />George Cross, the Foreign Minister, spoke in reply.<br /><br />“Fred, I have spoken to Miss Stern this morning, she’s clearly rejected the rite of baptism as applied to herself. And she has gone as far as to call it a voodoo ceremony.”<br /><br />The Minister of Agriculture responded.<br /><br />“She needs to be shown the truth of the Christian faith!”<br /><br />Cross replied in turn.<br /><br />“Miss Stern has clearly stated that she’s a citizen of the Freyan Republic who holds Metaphysical Realism as her basic philosophy, and that regardless of what we decide here and now, she’ll return to her home world on her own as soon as possible.”<br /><br />The Minister of Agriculture shouted.<br /><br />“Five or six years in a convent school will change that! And if not? We’ll send her to one of the laundries!”<br /><br />Cross winced, the revival of some of the practices of old Catholic Ireland on Earth was a sore point in relations with other worlds. Revival of the practice of slave labor as a means of morally reforming young women hadn’t become well known off of their planet. Not yet at the moment. Foreign Minister Cross spoke again.<br /><br />“It may not take that long. Mister James March, the Freyan Consul to our world, has sent a request to the Freyan government to take military action to recover Miss Stern from our custody.”<br /><br />The cabinet was silenced.<br /><br />“Gentlemen,” said the Foreign Minister, “Mister March was absolutely certain that the request would be granted by the Freyan government.”<br /><br />Everyone silently stared at the Foreign Minister. Then the Defense Minister spoke.<br /><br />“It won’t happen.” He said. “Their Ambassador to Earth said they won’t.”<br /><br />Foreign Minister Cross replied.<br /><br />“The Freyan Ambassador to Earth is a political appointee whose job is to smile and shake hands. And he doesn’t speak for the Freyan government on this world, James March does.”<br /><br />The Defense Minister responded with a smug voice.<br /><br />“Even if they wanted to do something, they can’t, they don’t have the means to do it.” <br /><br />“I have to disagree,” said Cross, “one of your Space Guard vessels was just taken out by one of their armed merchantman.”<br /><br />“Shut up!”<br /><br />Prime Minister Gratton cut into the argument.<br /><br />“That’ll be enough.”<br /><br />He turned to the Foreign Minister and asked a question.<br /><br />“So George, what can they do?”<br /><br />“Sir, I had to look this up on the local version of the Jane’s Military Information site, as an independent world the Freyans has fully functional armed forces. This includes a fully jump capable space navy and at least one battalion of marines organized as an expeditionary force.”<br /><br />“One battalion?” Said the Defense Minister. “Against an entire world? They may as well not bother!”<br /><br />“Jerry,” said the Foreign Minister, “if you bothered to do your job instead of drinking all day you’d know that’s complete nonsense.”<br /><br />“Bullshit!” The Defense Minister responded. “They can’t take our planet!”<br /><br />“They don’t have to. I also had a chat with the Federation military attache this afternoon. Someone who actually knows something about the subject of warfare.”<br /><br />How dare you!” The Defense Minister shouted.<br /><br />Prime Minister Gratton cut in again.<br /><br />“Gentlemen!”<br /><br />He turned to the Foreign Minister.<br /><br />“What did the military attache say?”<br /><br />“Sir, the Freyans don’t have to take or suppress the our entire planet. Even though we legally own the planet we don’t actually occupy all of the surface. All they have to do is make a landing on an unoccupied piece of land. They’ll set up a base camp and then the marines will use their gravitic lift capacity to simply fly over any attempt to block their mission. There may be a fight at the location where Miss Stern is being held but they will prevail.”<br /><br />“Prevail!” Shouted the Defense Minister. “What kind of treasonous piece of shit are you?”<br /><br />The Foreign Minister quickly replied.<br /><br />“Unlike you, I’m doing my job!”<br /><br />Again, Prime Minister Gratton had to interrupt.<br /><br />“Gentlemen! That’s enough!”<br /><br />He again spoke to the Foreign Minister.<br /><br />“Did you speak to anyone else on this matter?”<br /><br />“Yes, I did speak with the Federation ambassador.”<br /><br />“What did he have to say?”<br /><br />“In his opinion this government is clearly in the wrong and we should return Miss Stern to her parents as soon as possible.”<br /><br />Someone at the left end of the table shouted.<br /><br />“That won’t happen!”<br /><br />Everyone turned to a well aged priest, Bishop Paul Clark, the Minister for Religion.<br /><br />Gratton spoke.<br /><br />“Bishop, did you have something to say?”<br /><br />“Yes,” he replied, “This discussion is pointless, Miss Stern has been irrevocably brought into the Mother Church, she can’t be returned to the Godless filth on Freya.”<br /><br />With the exception of the Foreign Minister everyone at the table mumbled in agreement.<br /><br />The Minister for Religion continued to speak.<br /><br />“God won’t permit it.”<br /><br />The Foreign Minister responded.<br /><br />“The Freyan Marine expeditionary force as presently organized includes a company of tanks. Will God stop a plasma cannon?”<br /><br />The Minister for Religion replied.<br /><br />“Shut your sinners mouth!”<br /><br />“I won’t be silent on this! This government has clearly made a mistake! And God isn’t about to stop the very real punishment that’ll be inflicted on us for making it!”<br /><br />Bishop Clark shouted his response.<br /><br />“I told you to shut your sinner’s mouth! If you can’t do that then leave!”<br /><br />Effectively every other member of the Cabinet gave voice to the word.<br /><br />“Resign.”<br /><br />Now that cabinet was, at the prompting of the Bishop, meekly muttering for his dismissal the Foreign Minister stood up and spoke.<br /><br />“So, you want to fire me simply for speaking the truth? Well no, you don’t have to fire me, I did everything possible to peacefully resolve this crisis and the lot of you wouldn’t listen. Well that’s it! I quit! I’m out of here!”<br /><br />With that he removed himself from the room.<br /><br />All eyes now turned to The Minister for Religion. <br /><br />He had a question. <br /><br />“Mister Prime Minister, why is the Godless filth from Freya still on this world?”<br /><br />Prime Minister Thomas Gratton had no answer.<br /><br />After the meeting Gratton had another conversation in his personal office with his former Foreign Minister, George Cross.<br /><br />“As I said,” Cross spoke, “the Freyan Ambassador to Earth is a political appointee, his job is to smile and make a good impression. He doesn’t have a voice in making policy. The government back on Freya will likely send out a replacement with more brains in six months time.”<br /><br />“They will?”<br /><br />“Yes sir.”<br /><br />It would take a current generation starship three months to carry a message from Earth to Freya. And another three months to return with the reply.<br /><br />“So what do we do, George?”<br /><br />“Wait to be slaughtered, sir.”<br /><br />“Why?” Gratton asked. “The Defense Minister says no one on Earth would sell them a proper ship of war.”<br /><br />“They don’t have to. The Freyaspace Corporation has their own ship design and construction facilities in their home system. And the Freyans have a full industrial base to support it. They’ve been designing and building ships for their navy since they were granted independence by the Federation. And their military ships aren’t the usual customs and safety patrol vessels. No, they’re real warships. And as we’ve discovered the hard way, their merchantmen can also put up a fight.”<br /><br />“You also said they have tanks?”<br /><br />“Yes sir, the Freyan Marine Corps has some Merkava Mark Ten tanks they bought from Masada. But they’re working on designing and building their own for their Army and Marine Corps.”<br /><br />“And the Federation won’t stop them?” Gratton asked.<br /><br />“Why should they?” Cross replied. “The Federation view is that we have revived all the old evils of old Catholic Ireland, and as a result we now deserve what’s coming to us.”<br /><br />“Did anyone you spoke to have any actual advice for us?”<br /><br />“Yes sir, someone at the Federation embassy did, the Military Attache. He said, take your ten best friends with your family and go.”<br /> <br /></p>Leslie Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10928555454437303212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35602681.post-5267579659382059402020-10-22T23:49:00.001-05:002020-10-23T00:12:32.742-05:00Nightmare, Part 2<p>Dennis Sterling and Francis Diaz had been newly promoted Corporals in the Republic of Freya Marine Corps. They’d received the assignment of being members of the security detachment of the Freyan Consulate on Kennedy.<br /><br />Several of the largest and oldest colonies of Earth, including Freya, had been granted independence by the Federation government. The Freyan Republic, which at this time had only consisted of their own home world, had sent a full embassy to Earth. There were also separate consulates on several of the independent worlds, including March at Alpha Centauri A, and Kennedy at Alpha Centauri B. All of which required the presence of a Marine security detachment. <br /><br />With the official kidnaping by the local government of Judith Stern they now had a new mission. They would attempt to rescue Judith from her captors and hide in the Outback region of the planet while waiting for the naval expedition to in turn rescue them. Of course this assumed that the government and Navy back home on Freya would actually send an expedition.<br /><br />And the mouth droppings of the Ambassador on Earth clearly didn’t help the situation.<br /><br />The head of the rescue team was Tamara Zev. She was a field officer of the intelligence service of the Freyan government. She was sent to Kennedy under the cover of a junior consular officer. With this she had some training in firearms and personal close combat.<br /><br />Corporals Sterling and Diaz were the functional muscle of the team. But as Marines on their first independent assignment they were expected to perceive and think on their own. And the staff sergeant in charge of the Marine detachment believed it necessary to tell them that the haircut regulations weren’t in effect for the duration of the mission.<br /><br />Ruth Newman was a navy medical corpsman assigned to the Marine security detachment. She volunteered to stay behind as the combat medic on this mission. <br /><br />In the four standard weeks since the crisis began the team studied the available records on the subject of covert operations. Other members of the consulate staff worked on the problems of creating false identification documents, obtaining vehicles, recruiting local supporters, and establishing the safe houses to operate from. <br /><br />The Freyan consulate was formally expelled from the planet a week ago. In their safehouse on the edge of New Boston the team was now on their own.<br /><br />Tamara was in regular contact with Doctor Fuller in the hospital. She updated the team on the situation there.<br /><br />“According to the doctor they will be transferring Miss Stern to an orphanage within the week. No idea which one yet.”<br /><br />Ruth had a question.<br /><br />“How bad are they?”<br /><br />“The orphanages?” Said Tamara.<br /><br />“Yes.”<br /><br />“No idea.” Tamara replied. “But they couldn’t be as bad as those described by Charles Dickens in Merry Old England.”<br /><br />“I wouldn’t be so sure ma’am.” Said Diaz. “Parts of this planet look like they’ve made a serious effect to recreate the worst parts of Old Ireland on Earth.”<br /><br />“I have to agree.” Said Sterling.<br /><br />Ruth Newman spoke up.<br /><br />“I normally don’t go out alone.” She said. “I did once, but I was accosted by someone.”<br /><br />Diaz spoke up.<br /><br />“What happened?”<br /><br />“I encountered a loud drunken lout, and he apparently believed that women from off world were fair game for him.”<br /><br />“How did it end?” Said Diaz.<br /><br />“I’m sure I broke his right arm at the elbow.” Ruth replied. “He screamed and ran away. I far I know there hasn’t been a local police report on it.”<br /><br />“Congratulations.” Said Sterling. “You have more real combat experience than Francis or myself.”<br /><br />Diaz nodded in agreement.<br /><br />Tamara spoke up.<br /><br />“Guys, that incident remains off of the mission report. Okay?”<br /><br />Everyone nodded in agreement.<br /><br />In the hospital as she recovered from the bout of pneumonia Judith Stern was transferred to the children’s ward. Although there was another bed in the room she was alone. <br /><br />The nursing staff and the other doctors barely spoke to her. Only Doctor Fuller from the ICU came up to actually talk with her.<br /><br />After the news was released that the Freyan Consulate had been expelled Judith asked Deborah a question.<br /><br />“Are they coming to rescue me?”<br /><br />Deborah replied.<br /><br />“The people from the consulate told me only to say that they will come for you.”<br /><br />From her room Judith had access to the local cyberspace network, the online news was clearly censored. Nowhere could she find a website that gave the simple truth of her situation. That is, the actual truth. What she did find was the major stories of the destruction of a Space Guard vessel by the Freyaspace Concord, and of the Freyan Ambassador to Earth stating his support for the planetary government on Kennedy, and his statement that no attempt would be made by the Freyan government to perform a rescue of her.<br /><br />Judith had also attempted to start a diary with her hospital room terminal. But when she tried to access the file on the hospital system she found it had been deleted.<br /><br />Judith complained to a nurse.<br /><br />“Of course it was deleted!” The Head Nurse of the ward replied. “We can’t have any of your Godless filth on our network!”<br /><br />“‘Reality is real’.” Judith replied. “The practice of medicine and the operation of computer networks are based on the absolute facts of reality.”<br /><br />The Head Nurse was now angry.<br /><br />“How dare you!” She shouted. “There is nothing without God! You’ll kneel before...”<br /><br />There was another shout. Doctor Fuller interrupted the head nurse.<br /><br />“SISTER!”<br /><br />The head nurse turned to the door of the room. Doctor Fuller was there.<br /><br />“Doctor,” she said, “you don’t belong in this ward!”<br /><br />“Miss Stern was my patient in the ICU. I came to check on her.”<br /><br />Doctor Fuller then spoke to Judith.<br /><br />“How are you?”<br /><br />Judith thought for a moment before answering.<br /><br />“I tried to use the hospital system to write a diary. They deleted the first entry.”<br /><br />Doctor Fuller turned back to the Head Nurse.<br /><br />“Well?”<br /><br />The Head Nurse replied.<br /><br />“We can’t have that Godless filth on our system!”<br /><br />Judith Stern then spoke in a calm voice.<br /><br />“On Freya the act of censorship, to block individual perception, thought, and communication, is a capital crime. Execution is carried out by a single round in the head in the old Soviet style. And the remains are then dumped in the sanitary landfill with the rest of the trash.”<br /><br />The face of the Head Nurse turned white as a sheet.<br /><br />“You monsters!” She cried out. “You Godless monsters!”<br /><br />The Head Nurse then fled from the room.<br /><br />“What’s the problem?” Said Judith. “It’s just the proper defense of a natural right.”<br /><br />A thought quickly came to mind to Deborah’s mind.<br /><br />“I think,” she said, “that’s because it doesn’t fit their notion of being a proper Christian.”<br /><br />Judith nodded.<br /><br />“Yes, I can see that.” She said.<br /><br />Doctor Fuller had another thought.<br /><br />“Is your terminal up?” She asked.<br /><br />“Yes.”<br /><br />“I need to file a report on the nurse’s conduct. Do you mind if I do it here?”<br /><br />“Not at all.”</p><p><br />Deborah logged herself onto hospital network on the room terminal and began to quickly type in her report.<br /><br />Judith had a question.<br /><br />“Would it be possible to fix the censorship situation?”<br /><br />“I don’t know.” Deborah said. <br /><br />Deborah then thought of something. She extracted a ball point pen from a pocket of her lab coat.<br /><br />“We may have to do this the old fashioned way.”<br /><br />She then picked up her notebook and carefully removed the pages she’d already used. She gave her notebook to Judith.<br /><br />“Thank you.” Judith said.<br /><br />It was a simple act of sanity and kindness. With her report completed Deborah had to return to her work. Judith sat back and thought. <br /><br />Why? Judith thought. Why did this happen?<br /><br />Her father, a senior manager at the Freyaspace corporate home office saw a lack of service to the planet Kennedy. He identified the lack of service as an opportunity to be exploited. Her parents, Andrew and Kira Stern, would come to this world to establish the corporate base for the service.<br /><br />Upon arrival it became very clear why there was a lack of service to Kennedy. No one in their right mind wanted to come here. The colony had been originally established as a means to get rid of the old school Northeastern Liberals who still infested their part of the old United States and Eastern Canada. But there were enough Boston Irish colonists on planet to make it attractive to members of the Irish Diaspora in general.<br /><br />Instead of becoming the intended East American Liberal hellhole the planet had become a systematic negation of human life based on old Catholic Ireland. <br /><br />A point that was very apparent was the extent that the local branch of the Catholic Church was now backed by the force of the state. The Minister for Religion wasn’t an elected member of parliament but was instead appointed by the Archbishop of the planet. Other Christian denominations were barely tolerated and weren’t allowed to independently operate schools for their own children. <br /><br />The attempt by her parents to establish a fully secular school for herself, her sister, and the dependents of those employed by Freyaspace was immediately squashed by the government.<br /><br />It was at this point that Andrew Stern decided to finally terminate his attempt to create a scheduled service to this planet by the Freyaspace Corporation.<br /><br />That would have been the end of the nonsense were it not for her illness. In coming down with pneumonia, Judith, along with her parents, wouldn’t be able to leave the planet. And Judith required hospital treatment if she was to survive.<br /><br />The hospitalization worked. It was everything else on this mind forsaken world that had negated Judith and her family. <br /><br />Then there was Doctor Fuller, who may or may not be the only friend she had on this planet. She was the one sane person she could count on in this mess.<br /><br />Judith’s train of thought was interrupted by the duty nurse.<br /><br />“There’s someone here to see you.” She said with a smile.<br /><br />“Who?”<br /><br />“Father Kirkman.”<br /><br />Ernest Kirkman was the hospital chaplain. He was the walking negation who had imposed this nightmare upon her.<br /><br />“No,” said Judith, “I don’t want to see him.”<br /><br />“Oh!” Said the nurse. “You really can’t mean that!”<br /><br />Judith tried to maintain a calm exterior as she answered.<br /><br />“Nurse? What part the word of NO did you not understand?”<br /><br />The nurse was surprised and struck speechless at the question.<br /><br />At this moment Father Kirkman appeared beside the nurse and spoke.<br /><br />“May I come in?”<br /><br />Judith could not help allowing a note of anger enter her voice.<br /><br />“No,” she said, “haven’t you done enough to negate my life?”<br /><br />“We haven’t even begun on your path to salvation!” Kirkman replied.<br /><br />Judith assumed an adversarial tone of voice in her response.<br /><br />“You haven’t done enough? You’ve separated me from my parents and from the people I know and trust. You’ve even censored my attempt to record my thoughts! What more can you do?”<br /><br />Kirkman was taken aback. He took a moment to recover before speaking again.<br /><br />“Child,” he said, “we have saved you from eternal damnation.”<br /><br />“No,” replied Judith Stern, “you have done nothing but negate my life. I’ve nothing now, absolutely nothing.”<br /><br />Kirkman spoke again.<br /><br />“But you’ll be released from the hospital soon. You’ll have a new home and a new school soon.”<br /><br />With absolute firmness Judith replied.<br /><br />“My name is Judith Stern and I’m a citizen of the Republic of Freya. My parents are Andrew and Kira Stern. Our family home is at Nineteen Eighteen March Street in the Northeast neighborhood of Landfall on Freya. I attended the Robert A. Heinlein Basic School and I accept the Truth as the Truth.”<br /><br />Kirkman smiled.<br /><br />“But you won’t going back to that trash dump and we will teach you the fullness of God’s truth.” <br /><br />Judith sat straight up and raised her voice to reply.<br /><br />“‘Existence exists--Existence is Identity--Consciousness is Identification.’”<br /><br />Kirkman stuttered.<br /><br />“I don’t understand.”<br /><br />“You don’t understand.” She replied. “And you don’t want to understand. There’s no God, there never was a God, and there never will be a God. And as a result nothing you can say to anyone can ever be the truth.”<br /><br />Kirkman was now angry. He shouted at her.<br /><br />“How dare you! How dare you challenge my authority as a messenger of The Lord!”<br /><br />She raised her voice in reply.<br /><br />“You have no knowledge and you have no authority! What you believe is the absolute negation of the truth! And with it you've destroyed my life! And all you can do as a witch doctor is to destroy lives!”<br /><br />Kirkman shouted.<br /><br />“SILENCE!”<br /><br />He then slapped her with his right hand. She fell back onto the bed.<br /><br />Judith then sat back up. This monster had struck her directly. A moral line had been crossed and it was clear to her what had to be done now. She picked up the ballpoint pen with her right hand. She then jumped forward from the hospital bed. With her left hand she grabbed Kirkman by the front of his clerical collar. With her right hand she jammed the pen into his left ear. With the open palm of her hand she pounded on the pen to force it further into his head.<br /><br />Ernest Kirkman stared blankly into nothing and then fell to the floor.<br /><br />Judith felt no emotion on killing him. There was certainly no sense of fear or of shame.<br /><br />For her it was simply the killing of a predatory animal.<br /><br />In the evening a personal meeting was held at the residence of the prime minister.<br /><br />In a room across the city Prime Minister Thomas Gratton had a question for his old friend.<br /><br />“What can I do now?”<br /><br />George Cross, the former foreign Minister, was seated at across the dining room table in the prime minister’s residence. He sipped his cup of tea and then answered the question.<br /><br />“Tom, in my opinion we should immediately deport Miss Stern to Earth. Hand her over to the Freyan Embassy in Omaha and be completely done with it.”<br /><br />Gratton replied.<br /><br />“I can’t do that. The Archbishop himself has called for the execution of Miss Stern for the murder of Father Kirkman.”<br /><br />Cross shook his head before responding.<br /><br />“If you do that then you may as well kiss your sorry ass goodbye. And everyone else’s on this planet, the Freyan rescue expedition will become a mission of retaliation. They’ll see the execution of Miss Stern as an act of murder and respond accordingly. They may even come out of the Nuclear Closet for it.”<br /><br />Gratton stared at his friend as he responded.<br /><br />“Use nuclear weapons on us?” He said. “They can’t do that!”<br /><br />“Do you really believe that?” Cross replied. “Not all the nuclear weapons constructed before The Unification Wars on Earth were ever accounted for. And a new completely functioning weapon can be built around an already existing fissile core element. And that’s not all.”<br /><br />“What?” Said Gratton.<br /><br />“Freya was one of the oldest, and furthest of the colonies out from Earth. It had taken six standard months for a first generation starship to go out there. As a result the Freyans used local resources as much as possible in the early days. They actually built an old school fission reactor to power their initial settlement.”<br /><br />Gratton shook his head silently.<br /><br />“No, that can’t be so...”<br /><br />“Yes,” Cross said, “they’re making their own Plutonium. And the reactor’s still in operation.”<br /><br />“And the Federation has allowed them to do it?”<br /><br />“Yes.”<br /><br />With both elbows resting on the table Gratton dropped his head on to his hands,<br /><br />“Why? Why?” He said. “We’ve done nothing wrong?”<br /><br />George Cross answered the question.<br /><br />“The Freyans are Metaphysical Realists, in their view there’s no Heaven nor is there a Hell, there’s only human life in the actually existing universe. Because of this the actual physical human life has to be the foundation of all moral values. And because of this they hold that a valid moral code must be founded on the clear exercise of rational thought.”<br /><br />“But God.” Said Gratton. “What about God?”<br /><br />“God in the view of the Metaphysical Realist simply can’t exist. For something to exist it must be something specific, and God as we were taught simply isn’t anything specific. And the Universe has to always exist because a fully functioning mind must have something to perceive. That is, something has to exist to for a person to be aware of.”<br /><br />“But why did Miss Stern murder Father Kirkman?”<br /><br />“It wasn’t murder, it was a purely rational response to a serious crime.” Cross replied. “It appears to me that she’d lost all hope of ever returning to her home and family. And when the man responsible for her imprisonment, who’s clearly in her view had to be an absolute monster, slapped her for speaking the truth, she had to take him out.”<br /><br />Gratton sat silently.<br /><br />“Tom, there is no other way out for us, we have to let her go.”<br /><br />“But the church, the Archbishop?”<br /><br />“To Hell with them.”<br /><br />“You can’t say that!”<br /><br />“I have to.” Cross replied. “The Church started the mess by demanding that this government kidnap Miss Stern. The Church made it worse by demanding the seizure of her sister. Now they’re demanding that she be put to death. An act that’s a clearly in the rational view an act of murder and of human sacrifice. You have to put a stop to this madness and only you can do so.”<br /><br />Faced with the alternatives Prime Minister Thomas Gratton could only sit silently.<br /><br />In the sitting room of their first safe house the members of the retrieval team sat in silence as they watched the televised coverage of the current events. The arrest of Judith Stern on the charge of murdering the hospital chaplain had very thoroughly set back their operational plans. They now sat as the local news channel began their coverage of a public speech. A platform had been set in the public square before the Cathedral of Saint Mary in New Boston. Speaking upon the platform was the Archbishop of the Planet Kennedy, Patrick Whelan.<br /><br />The Archbishop was a fully white haired elderly man dressed completely in a white robe. Short purely white hair barely showed beneath his white cap. The ensemble was completed by a gold crucifix which clearly depicted the crucified Jesus Christ upon it. He was a spot of lifeless white was at the center of the living mass of the audience in the square. The Archbishop began his speech to the mass of people present in the square.<br /><br />“My children, today I bring you the saddest of all news. Yesterday a true servant of Our Lord Jesus Christ was murdered in a most foul manner. Father Ernest Kirkman served as the chaplain of the general hospital here in New Boston. In the course of his duties he came across a child in the direst need of salvation. The poor girl was born on a Godless world that was named for a false female deity. This poor girl had never heard of the word of Our Lord on her home world and knew nothing of Our Lord. When Father Kirkman tried to bring the poor child to Our Lord her depraved parents stood in his way. But he eventually bypassed their pathetic attempts to block him from bringing her into the light of Our Lord.”<br /><br />Reality was real and the truth essentially differed from the message of the Archbishop.<br /><br />Andrew Stern essentially ignored the warning he was given. Tamara Zev was present for the initial interview with the parents at the consulate after the rite of baptism. Judith’s father, Andrew Stern was very clearly angry.<br /><br />“We were in the process of closing down our corporate operations on this world when Judith fell ill.” He said. “We had to stop everything and take her to the hospital. There was no choice.”<br /><br />“That witch doctor approached us during the worst stage of her fever.” Said Kira. “He wanted to do that stupid voodoo ceremony on her. We clearly said no to it.”<br /><br />At no point was parental consent given for the rite of baptism. <br /><br />“We tried to keep a watch over her.” Andrew said. “When Kira and I couldn’t do it alone we asked for volunteers from the office to stand in for us.”<br /><br />Members of the Freyaspace staff who came to the planet with the Stern family had stepped in to prevent access by the chaplain. Although the ritual was meaningless the principle of parental consent had to be upheld. It was the New Boston Police who intervened to arrest and remove the Freyaspace staff member on the overnight watch and allow performance of the baptism.<br />An act of force by the irrational shouldn’t have been a surprise. Even though the ritual was essentially meaningless, Andrew was outraged and Kira was heartbroken. But that wasn’t the end of the issue. <br /><br />The Archbishop continued with his lie.<br /><br /> “But the poor girl’s parents were blinded by the devil! They demanded that they take the child back to their depraved homeworld to be raised in the satanic doctrine of the harlot Ayn Rand!”<br /><br />Andrew and Kira Stern were fully rational parents. They were raising their daughters to be fully rational women. It was by the command of the church that the hospital refused to release Judith to the custody of her parents. <br /><br />As the Consul for the Republic of Freya, James March, stood up for the parents and demanded the release of Judith to their custody. He made a clear statement to the public.<br /><br />“If the government doesn’t comply with the demand to release Miss Stern the Republic of Freya will respond to the act of kidnaping Miss Stern with full military force.”<br /><br />The government responded to the official Freyan demand for the return of their daughter by deporting Andrew and Kira Stern from the planet. But that wasn’t enough, the planetary government had also attempted to seize the second daughter from the Sterns. It wasn’t enough at this point to simply report on the actions of the planetary government. Consul March sent a formal request for full military action to the homeworld. But he understood that military action simply wasn’t enough, he laid the foundation for a covert operation on this world. A team of volunteers was brought together to stay behind in the event of the consulate being deported.<br /><br />The Archbishop continued to speak to the crowd.<br /><br />“There was nothing that could be done for her depraved parents! It was by my request that they were righteously deported to the Earth. But then one of their so called diplomats spoke, with the voice of the devil and demanded that the child be returned to Freya or they would come to this world and murder those who brought her salvation!”<br /><br />In the Republic of Freya the kidnaping of a child was a capital crime. And someone would be made to answer for the kidnaping of Judith Stern.<br /><br />On stage the Archbishop simply wouldn’t shut up.<br /><br />“With that threat our prime minister, a man of true courage, deported the consulate of Satan!”<br /><br />In the view of all members of the retrieval team Prime Minister Thomas Gratton was a sniveling coward whose leash was firmly held by the local branch of the Catholic Church. Blind obedience was his sole feature and no act could ever be wrong for him when it was demanded by the church. A bullet was duly set aside for his head.<br /><br />The Archbishop droned on.<br /><br />“When the child was at last separated from the depraved influence of her parents Father Kirkman went to bring her the truth of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It was at this time that she used a simple ballpoint pen to perform the foul act of murder. To seek justice for the depraved act of murder we are left with no alternative but to call for the penalty of death!”<br /><br />“Murder their victim.” Said Corporal Sterling. “No surprise there.” <br /><br />On the stage the Archbishop came to his conclusion.<br /><br />“It was too late to save this child from the foul influence of the satanic whore Ayn Rand! But we can save the children of our world! We must expel her influence, we must destroy all of her works on this planet now and forever!”<br /><br />Tamara Zev spoke.<br /><br />“It may have been my fault.”<br /><br />Ruth Newman, the junior member of the team, spoke up.<br /><br />“Why’s that?”<br /><br />“I told Doctor Fuller to tell Judith that the navy was coming to rescue her, but not to say that there was anyone present on the planet. As a result Judith may have thought that she was alone here.”<br /><br />“Ma’am,” Said Corporal Diaz, “We’re improvising as we’re going along. In this case we erred on the side of caution.”<br /><br />“We?” Said Tamara.<br /><br />“We’re on this mission together.”<br /><br />“But it was my thought and decision.”<br /><br />Diaz simply nodded.<br /><br />“Orders, ma’am?” Said Corporal Sterling.<br /><br />“We continue to work on breaking Judith out of their custody.”</p><p>The next morning all of the news channels on planet were carrying coverage of the indictment of Judith Stern on the charge of murder. The clerk of the court read the charge on live television. <br /><br />“Your honor, the defendant Judith Stern is charged with the murder in the first degree of Father Ernest Kirkman, the chaplain of the General Hospital of New Boston.”<br /><br />Then Judith Stern was brought in and surrounded by heavily armed police officers into the courtroom in order to enter her plea. <br /><br />The judge, an elderly white haired man, spoke.<br /><br />“How do you plea?”<br /><br />Judith was standing on her own. She looked straight at the judge and replied.<br /><br />“I won’t enter a plea.”<br /><br />The judge was put off. He raised his voice to speak to her again.<br /><br />“Miss Stern you must enter a plea on the charge before the court!”<br /><br />Judith Stern answered in a clear and level voice.<br /><br />“This isn’t a court of law. You’ve renounced truth and thus rejected the concept of law. You’ve renounced reason and thus rejected reality. You’ve renounced the moral standards of civilization and thus are savages. You’re in fact nothing but a pack of predatory animals fit only for extermination.”<br /><br />The team watched the proceedings from the sitting room of their safe house. Corporal Sterling was the first member of the team to comment.<br /><br />“Yes!” He said.<br /><i><br />She’s clearly one of us. </i> He thought.<br /><br />The proceedings in the courtroom had degenerated into pure noise. Only Judith stood still and remained silent through the mass of motion and shouting. <br /><br />The judge pounded with his gavel and shouted.<br /><br />“Order! Order in the court! Silence! Silence! Be quiet!” <br /><br />It would take roughly ten minutes for order to be restored in the courtroom.<br /><br />Ruth had a comment.<br /><br />“When <i>Atlas Shrugged</i> was originally published a reviewer had interpreted it as a call for the mass murder of the irrational.”<br /><br />“Nonsense,” said Corporal Sterling, “Ayn Rand attempted to introduce reason back into American culture. She wanted everyone to adopt reason as the way of life for themselves. And in rational life there were no grounds for anyone to inflict any punishment on any irrational person. The consequences of irrationality are self punishing.”<br /><br />Tamara spoke her turn.<br /><br />“A thermonuclear weapon isn’t self punishment.”<br /><br />Corporal Sterling replied.<br /><br />“Ma’am, if this lot murders Judith Stern they’re clearly asking for it.”<br /><br />“Yes.” Said Corporal Diaz.<br /><br />Everyone in the courtroom had settled down. The judge spoke again.<br /><br />“Miss Stern you must enter a plea.”<br /><br />Again she answered calmly.<br /><br />“No, what you want from me is to help you pretend that you’re not in fact a gang of murderers.”<br /><br />The people in the courtroom erupted again. It was at this point that the judge ordered the clearance of the courtroom. The television coverage then switched to studio commentary.<br /><br />For an uncounted number of minutes the team was silent. Then Tamara spoke.<br /><br />“This is clearly insane.”<br /><br />The next morning all of the news channels on planet were again carrying coverage of the indictment of Judith Stern on the charge of murder. The clerk of the court read the charge on live television. <br /><br />“Your honor, the defendant Judith Stern is charged with the murder in the first degree of Father Ernest Kirkman, the chaplain of the general hospital of New Boston.”<br /><br />Then Judith Stern was once again brought by heavily armed officers into the courtroom in order to enter her plea. <br /><br />The judge, an old and white haired man, spoke.<br /><br />“How do you plea?”<br /><br />Judith was standing on her own. She looked straight at the judge and replied.<br /><br />“I still won’t enter a plea.”<br /><br />The judge was put off. He raised his voice to speak to her again.<br /><br />‘Miss Stern you must enter a plea on the charge before the court!”<br /><br />Judith Stern answered in a clear and level voice.<br /><br />“I said this yesterday and will repeat it today. This isn’t a court of law. You continue to renounce the truth. You continue to reject the concept of law. You continue to renounce reason and reject reality. You continue to renounce the standards of rational civilization and thus continue to remain a body of savages. And you continue to be a pack of predatory animals fit only for extermination.”<br /><br />The team continued to watch the proceedings from the sitting room of their safe house. The proceedings in the courtroom had again degenerated into pure noise. Only Judith stood still and remained silent through the mass of motion and shouting. <br /><br />The judge pounded with his gavel and shouted.<br /><br />“Order! Order in the court! Silence! Silence! Be quiet!” <br /><br />It would take another ten minutes for order to be restored in the courtroom.<br /><br />Once again everyone in the courtroom had settled down. The judge spoke again.<br /><br />“Miss Stern. I repeat, you must enter a plea.”<br /><br />Again she answered calmly.<br /><br />“No, what you want is for me to help you pretend that you and your gang aren’t the murderers.”<br /><br />The people in the courtroom erupted again. It was at this point that the judge ordered the clearance of the courtroom. The television coverage again switched to studio commentary.<br /><br />For an uncounted number of minutes the team was silent. Then Tamara spoke.<br /><br />“Let’s get to work.”<br /><br />Judith Stern had been removed from the courtroom. As she waited to be moved again the door to the holding cell was opened by a bailiff. In walked a tall middle aged man with long black hair and a beard who wore wearing granny glasses with a worn and out of fashion business suit.<br /><br />“Good morning.” He said.<br /><br />“Really?” Replied Judith. “And who’re you?’<br /><br />The man was visibly shocked to have heard the question.<br /><br />He replied with a clear note of annoyance in his voice.<br /><br />“Miss Stern, I’m Douglas Green, your court appointed attorney. I’m to represent you in these proceedings. Didn’t you pay attention?”<br /><br />“Yes, I do pay attention, when it matters.” She replied.<br /><br />Now the attorney was truly annoyed.<br /><br />“Do you think this is a child’s game you’re in?”<br /><br />Judith Stern answered in her now practiced level voice.<br /><br />“Not at all, this alleged trial is nothing more that a ritual to create the appearance of legitimacy for an act of murder by the state, and you’re nothing more than an actor in the play.”<br /><br />The attorney blinked.<br /><br />“I don’t think you’re taking this situation seriously.” He said. “I just entered a plea of not guilty for you.”<br /><br />Judith shook her head gently.<br /><br />“I’ve taken the situation dead seriously and I fully understand where I actually stand in the big picture, you simply don’t.”<br /><br />The attorney was speechless.<br /><br />“Go away.” Said Judith. “Go home, grow up, and get a life.”<br /><br />There was nothing else to say.<br /><br />Although George Cross was no longer the Minister he still had an office in the Foreign Ministry Building. It was now time to finally had to clean out his desk.<br /><br />Part of the process was to copy or completely remove personal files from the Foreign Ministry system. It was as he doing this that he had a visitor. A young woman employed by the ministry.<br /><br />“Minister, may I speak with you?”<br /><br />George smiled and replied.<br /><br />“It’s just George, now. What did you need to speak to me about?”<br /><br />“Sir, I was going over the Freyan Consulate files and I may've found a discrepancy.”<br /><br />“What is it?”<br /><br />The young woman was clearly worried now.<br /><br />“Sir, there're four people assigned to the consulate who weren’t accounted for in the deportation.”<br /><br />“Do you have a file?”<br /><br />“Yes, sir.”<br /><br />She held out a standard flash memory chip. George inserted the chip into his work station. He quickly read the file. <br /><br />According to records of the ministry the four people missing were a junior diplomat, two marines from the security detail, and a navy medic from the same detail.<br /><br />A covert operations team? He thought. Was this a deliberate plan or did they improvise on the spot? Would they attempt a rescue?<br /><br />George Cross sat and thought for a moment.<br /><br />If this is a rescue mission then for our own good it has to succeed.<br /><br />The young woman spoke up.<br /><br />“Sir? What should I do?”<br /><br />“Nothing.”<br /><br />“Sir, I don’t understand.”<br /><br />“Miss...I’m sorry I don’t recall your name.”<br /><br />“Miss Brennan, sir.”<br /><br />He looked straight into her eyes and answered.<br /><br />“Miss Brennan, The government’s clearly in the wrong. If Judith Stern is executed then we here on Kennedy we will be subject to reprisal by the Freyans, and it will be a nuclear bombardment just like on old Dublin during The Unification Wars. The people the Freyans left behind here on Kennedy may be the key to preventing that fate from falling on us. You mustn’t tell anyone else about what you’ve found.”<br /><br />Miss Brennan stared blankly.<br /><br />“Miss Brennan, do you understand?”<br /><br />Miss Brennan returned to active consciousness. And then made a decision.<br /><br />“Yes sir, I understand.”<br /><br />“Not a word.” He replied. “Was there anyone else who saw this file?”<br /><br />“No sir.”<br /><br />With those words the meeting ended. Cross sat back in his chair and thought.<br /><br />How the Hell do I contact those people? <br /><br />Then something else suddenly came to his mind. He opened his work station to the entire government network.<br /><br />Let’s see how sloppy the Ministry of Justice is? Cross thought.<br /><br />He discovered quickly that his high level clearance was still in effect. With this he entered the Ministry of Justice network and performed a search. The object of the search was the plans for dealing with Miss Stern. There was a plan to transfer her to the central prison for the execution. There was no plan for dealing releasing Miss Stern upon her acquittal.<br /><br />This wasn’t a surprise to him.<br /><br />He copied the file on the transfer plan to the flash drive.<br /><br />There was one more thing to find. He checked the roster of doctors at the general hospital. He found that Doctor Fuller was still stationed in the Intensive Care Unit.<br /><br />She had to have been the point of contact between Judith Stern and the Freyans. He thought.<br /><br />He also found that the doctor was on the night shift.<br /><br />Very likely as a punishment. He thought with disgust toward the hospital management.<br /><br />With his searches completed George Cross logged off of the government network for the last time.<br /><br />An entire local day would have to pass before he could contact Doctor Fuller.<br /><br />Even though he still held a seat in the House of Commons he decided to take the day off. He was sitting in his library when his son came home from school.<br /><br />“Dad?”<br /><br />George Cross, Junior was in his school uniform. The uniform was a bit ruffled. From his own experience as a student he knew it was from being in a schoolyard fight.<br /><br />“What happened.” He replied. “What was the fight about?”<br /><br />“How did you know I was in a fight?”<br /><br />“I went to the same school.”<br /><br />Junior sounded as if he were reluctant to answer.<br /><br />“Dad. The sisters at the school are saying that you’re a bad man.”<br /><br />“Did they say why?”<br /><br />“Because you’re not obeying the Archbishop.”<br /><br />George Cross wasn’t surprised. Members of his own party were saying the same thing. Perhaps it’s time for him to completely leave the government?<br /><br />“Son, the Archbishop is simply a man, and like all men he can be wrong. And in this case he’s clearly wrong. Judith Stern did nothing wrong, but the Archbishop has wrongly declared her a murderer and demanded that she be executed.”<br /><br />He continued to the next issue.<br /><br />“The boys who assaulted you are clearly wrong and they must answer for what they did.”<br /><br />“It wasn’t the other boys at school,” said Junior, “it was the Sisters.”<br /><br />George was shocked to hear that. The Sisters were the nuns who taught at the school.<br /><br />It was at this point he now made a fundamentally life changing decision.<br /><br />“Son, the Sisters shouldn’t have done that, and I won’t let them do it again. I’m taking you out of that school. I’ll find you a new school, on another planet.”<br /><br />Junior was astonished.<br /><br />“We’re moving to another planet?”<br /><br />“Yes son, we have to.”<br /><br />Junior broke into a smile and came forward to hug his father.<br /><br />“Was there something else?” Said the father.<br /><br />The son replied.<br /><br />“The Sisters said you were an evil man and that I would be taken from you and Mom.”<br /><br />He leaned forward and replied.<br /><br />“That’ll never happen. I promise.” <br /><br />George Cross then sat back and thought.<br /><i><br />God sent two angels to convince Lot to leave the doomed city. I only had to speak to my son to make the same decision.</i><br /><br />His wife Aileen had gone out on her errands for the day. When she returned home there was a long discussion.<br /><br />“You’re leaving everyone and everything we have behind?” She said.<br /><br />“What do we have?” He replied.<br /><br />“Our friends! Our families! Our property!”<br /><br />“Do we have that?” He said. “Our friends have turned their backs to us. Both of our families are doing the same. And there are those in the church who want to take our son from us. Given all of that, on what grounds do we have a claim to property?”<br /><br />“Because you are defying the Archbishop.” She said.<br /><br />“All the Archbishop cares about is his own power over the people of this planet. He doesn’t care if anyone lives or dies as long as they grovel before him. And he clearly doesn’t care about the truth.”<br /><br />“And the truth is?”<br /><br />“The truth is that the government at his direction has committed a great crime. If they’re not stopped they’ll commit a greater crime. And that there’ll be a devastating response to those crimes.”<br /><br />Aileen was silent. George spoke again.<br /><br />“The Freyans see Judith Stern as an innocent child in mortal danger. And they see themselves as her protector and will try to rescue her. And if they fail to rescue her then they’ll retaliate against the state that murdered her and they’ll use nuclear weapons to do so. There’ll be nothing left for anyone here.”<br /><br />Aileen was now silent. Her face had turned white and tears were appearing to flow from her eyes. George leaned forward to whisper. <br /><br />“My dear, there may be a way out for everyone.”<br /><br />She blinked and her eyes lighted up.<br /><br />“Yes?”<br /><br />“The Freyan’s may have left some people behind when their consulate was deported to Earth. I need to speak to them.”<br /><br />“You can find them?”<br /><br />“I have an idea, but you’ll have to trust me on this.”<br /><br />The color had returned to her face. She nodded, smiled and spoke softly.<br /><br />“Do it.”<br /><br /> It was almost before the end of visiting hours at New Boston General Hospital before George Cross could speak to Deborah Fuller.<br /><br />“Doctor Fuller?”<br /><br />“Yes?”<br /><br />“I’m George Cross, I was the Foreign Minister in the current government. If it’s possible I need to speak to you alone about Judith Stern.”<br /><br />“Why?”<br /><br />“I want to help.”<br /><br />She looked up and down the corridor for anyone who could listen. Then she replied.<br /><br />“I’m parked on the top level of the ramp. Can you meet me there in fifteen minutes?”<br /><br />“Yes.”<br /><br />With a mutual nod they separated. Cross then returned to the main entrance of the hospital. It was there that he found a general map of the facility. He was examining the map when someone stepped up and spoke to him.<br /><br />“Sir, may I help you?”<br /><br />Cross turned to see a hospital security officer. He was roughly his height and about forty standard years old. The security officer has a fringe of blond hair, wore glasses, and a dark blue uniform with long sleeves and a black tie.<br /><br />Cross answered.<br /><br />“I’m afraid I lost my way. I parked on the top level of the ramp.”<br /><br />“Not surprised sir.” The officer replied. “They built this place in sections over the decades and stuffed new sections into any available space on the blocks.”<br /><br />The security officer continued.<br /><br />“Okay, the main ramp is that way down the north corridor. And the door opens straight into the elevator lobby for the ramp.”<br /><br />“Thank you, sir.” <br /><br />“Sir, I should thank you.” The security officer replied. “Mister Cross, you’re right, the government should’ve let the entire Stern family go. And I certainly don’t want to be here in New Boston when the Freyans show up in response.”<br /><br />With that the two men shook hands.<br /><br />Cross followed the directions and quickly found the top floor of the parking ramp. Right on time Doctor Fuller stepped out of the elevator.<br /><br />“Doctor,” said Cross, “what do you know about the security guard on duty at the front desk, the bald fellow with the glasses?”<br /><br />“Les? He’s one of the few sane people on the planet.<br /><br />Cross nodded in response.<br /><br />Deborah spoke.<br /><br />“So what did you need to see me about?”<br /><br />“Before I cleared out my desk at the Foreign Ministry a staff member had found that four of the people at the Freyan Consulate weren’t accounted for. And I also accessed the Ministry of Justice plans for the execution of Judith Stern. And there’re no plans for releasing her if she were acquitted.”<br /><br />Doctor Fuller waited for the word.<br /><br />“Doctor,” he said, “if there’s a Freyan covert operations team on this planet, they need this information.”<br /><br />“You want me to put them in contact with you?”<br /><br />“Yes, if you could.”<br /><br />Deborah Fuller had a net address for contacting the team. She thought about it for a very brief moment.<br /><br />“I’ll try.” She replied.<br /><br /> </p>Leslie Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10928555454437303212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35602681.post-1833060826905314202020-10-22T23:41:00.004-05:002020-10-22T23:41:28.613-05:00Nightmare, Part 3<p>Earth.<br /><br />The shining blue sphere in the absolute void of space and the primary home of Mankind. Even with the scars from The Reformation and The Unification Wars she was and would still be the primary home of mankind. <br /><br />The vessel that carried the Freyan diplomatic delegation from Kennedy to Earth was a first generation tramp freighter that was independently owned and operated. And it clearly showed, no major corporation wanted to perform a direct run from Earth to Kennedy. As a result the level of service aboard the ship was simply appalling.<br /><br />James March would go as far as to describe the level of service onboard as being at the old Soviet Communist level, which was essentially bad. Although one would have to be a serious student of history to understand the reference. As it was an elderly first generation space liner the vessel had taken two weeks to reach Earth. The news of the situation on Kennedy was in turn brought to the Earth on a newer ship that had taken only a single week to make the jump.<br /><br />March was met on the ground at Phoenix Starport by Beth Adams, the executive officer of the embassy. The traditional title for the position was Charge D’affaires, but use of the French language for the traditional terminology had gone out of fashion after The Unification Wars.<br /><br />She was also an old friend from their childhood days.<br /><br />“You’re in deep trouble.” She said. “The boss wants you to bypass the press here at the port. Not one word to them.”<br /><br />“Really?”<br /><br />“Yes, really.” She replied.<br /><br />March had known Beth Adams since their basic school days. She had always been her own woman and would never cut a corner on any situation.<br /><br />“And you expect me to not comply?” Said March.<br /><br />“Of course,” she said, “you’re absolutely predictable that way.”<br /><br />“Right.” He replied. “So where’re the maggots?”<br /><br />“Follow me.”<br /><br />Adams led him to the public press area of the starport. There March was met by a vast swarm of reporters. He briefly thought about shooting the lot with an infantry weapon, but that act was considered to be very bad form here, even for a diplomat. A reporter had a question.<br /><br />“Mister March, would you comment on Ambassador Wood’s statement that there’ll be no effort on the part of the Freyan government to bring about the return of Judith Stern to her family?”<br /><br />James March looked out at the mob of reporters. Even though he would answer in a level voice he didn’t bother to hide the expression of anger on his face. <br /><br />“The Ambassador to Earth, William Franklin Wood, Junior, is clearly wrong. The fact is that Judith Stern’s been forcibly separated from her parents for absolutely no reason. The Republic of Freya will return her to her family and will do so by force if necessary.”<br /><br />Another reporter spoke.<br /><br />“Mister March, we’ve received the report that Judith Stern has been indicted by the government on Kennedy for the murder of Father Ernest Kirkman. Can you comment on that?”<br /><br />He looked directly at the reporter and answered.<br /><br />“Ernest Kirkman is the witch doctor directly responsible for the kidnaping of Judith Stern and his death doesn’t under any rationally valid circumstances qualify as a murder. The death of Miss Stern by an act of state on Kennedy clearly will be an act of murder and we will hunt down and negate those responsible for it.”<br /><br />The reporter asked another question.<br /><br />“By negate, you mean murder?”<br /><br />James March replied with absolute firmness in his voice.<br /><br />“No, negation is not murder. When a predatory animal attacks a human being the proper response is to hunt it down and kill it. The present rulers of the planet Kennedy have chosen to behave as predatory animals and as such are vermin fit only for extermination.”<br /><br />Another reporter had a question.<br /><br />“Does that include the operations team that was left back on Kennedy?”<br /><br />James March raised an eyebrow before answering.<br /><br />“As normal, I can’t comment on an ongoing operation.”<br /><br />He then made a final statement to the mob of reporters.<br /><br />“That will be all.”<br /><br />As they walked away Beth spoke up.<br /><br />“That idiot should be boiling over afer that.”<br /><br />“Beth, did that idiot tell the press that we left a team on the planet?.”<br /><br />“Yes,” she said, “and not only that, he privately promised the ambassador from Kennedy that we’d cooperate in arresting them.”<br /><br />“You know that’s treason?”<br /><br />“Of course I know.” Adams replied. “I’ve already filled out the paperwork and made the arrangements to transfer him back to the home world for trial. But I thought you needed a chance to speak to him before we place him under arrest.”<br /><br />March stopped, stood dead still, and spoke directly to her.”<br /><br />“Beth my love, will you marry me?”<br /><br />This was not the first time he asked the question.<br /><br />She replied.<br /><br />“Punch out the bastard and I’ll think about it.”<br /><br />It was an accident of history that the city of Omaha in the former American State of Nebraska would become the capital of a world spanning state. The Strategic Command of the United States, the nuclear part of the American armed forces, was based at a facility outside the city. At the beginning of the internal phase began of The Unification Wars, the commander of the strategic nuclear forces of the United States chose to back the faction led by President Evelyn Stone. <br /><br />President Stone had moved his temporary headquarters to Omaha. It was then under the command of President Stone that an internal civil war in the United States suddenly turned into a global nuclear war, and when the rubble stopped bouncing Evelyn Stone was the effective ruler of the Earth.<br /><br />The former diplomatic delegation had taken the express train to Omaha. James March watched calmly as the desert outside the window had changed into the still green and growing Great Plains. He needed the break. He expected the confrontation with the ambassador to be fully loud and abusive.<br /><br />Beth sat next to him. He was surprised when she took his right hand into her left hand.<br /><br />“I should have said yes the first time you asked.” She said.<br /><br />They were both eighteen standard years old and in their first semester of college. He didn’t blame her at all at the time.<br /><br />He softly laid a kiss on her forehead and replied.<br /><br />“No one’s infallible,” she said, “and I’m certainly not.”<br /><br />A fundamental fact of reality. He thought. The refusal to accept has led to so much destruction and bloodshed.<br /><br />The Sun was setting as the train pulled into the central station. The station police kept the crowd away from the delegation and escorted them to the motorcade. The capital police then escorted the motorcade to the Freyan Embassy. They were met at the entrance by the head of the Marine security detail.<br /><br />Miss Adams spoke first.<br /><br />“Gunny, is everything ready?”<br /><br />“Ready to go, ma’am. The Ambassador’s in his office.”<br /><br />“Let’s do it.” She commanded.<br /><br />As they entered the ambassador’s office March casually sat on one the chairs before the official desk. Adams and Gunnery Sergeant Hill stood in back by the door.<br /><br />The Ambassador shouted.<br /><br />“I didn’t give you permission to sit!”<br /><br />James March calmly replied.<br /><br />“Bill, your authority ended the moment you committed treason.”<br /><br />The Ambassador of the Republic of Freya to the Federation shouted in what was once a well polished voice, he was beyond the state of outrage. The report of the Freyan Consul to the planet Kennedy was beyond his ability to comprehend.<br /><br />“HOW DARE YOU! I WAS TRYING TO RESOLVE THIS CRISIS PEACEFULLY!”<br /><br />He paused for a breath and spoke again.<br /><br />“Are you people out of your goddamned minds? You Core Group people are insane! You simply don’t make outrageous demands on the government of a sovereign world. And you absolutely don’t leave behind a covert operations team when you’re properly kicked off planet for making such a demand!”<br /><br />March replied.<br /><br />“You’re attempting a peaceful resolution, that’s so very like an umbrella man of you.” Said March. “But at least Neville Chamberlain didn’t hand over Princess Elizabeth to that damned Austrian Corporal.” <br /><br />The Ambassador blinked, he didn’t actually understand the historical reference, but March spoke again.<br /><br />“You’d understand what I said if you were taught some real history in the school you attended.”<br /><br />The Ambassador shouted again in response.<br /><br />“I attended a real school here on Earth! Not one of those political brainwashing centers you Core Group people are sent to!”<br /><br />The Ambassador had referred to a social divide on the home world. The divide between the Core Group who originally colonized Freya from the habitats on the planet Mars and those who emigrated directly from the Earth.<br /><br />March replied.<br /><br />“Bill, my family and others in the Core Group spent three generations on the planet Mars. When the atmosphere of your home planet qualifies as an industrial grade vacuum back on Earth you have no choice but to treat Reality as being real. And your father did you a basic disservice by sending you to that boarding school here on Earth.”<br /><br />“Leave my father out of this!”<br /><br />March lifted his right eyebrow slightly before his reply.<br /><br />“Bill, by bringing social origin into this you brought your father and the family fortune into the discussion. That’s basic logic, something else that’s taught in an actual school.”<br /><br />Ambassador William Franklin Wood, Junior now stood silently behind his desk.”<br /><br />“Sit down Bill, you look like an idiot.”<br /><br />Without a word Wood dropped to the chair behind his desk. He then spoke.<br /><br />“You Core Group people are insane for starting a war to recover that little girl?”<br /><br />“No Bill,” March replied, “they started the war by judicially kidnaping Judith Stern. They’ll escalate the war by judicially murdering Miss Stern. And by simply telling them we have a team on planet to rescue her you've given them aid and comfort. You’ve committed the act of treason.”<br /><br />Wood now silently stared at March. March spoke again.<br /><br />“I mentioned the existence of the team in the encrypted message sent to this legation as a courtesy to you. I didn’t include identities of the team members, locations of safe houses, or the identities of our friends on planet, to save space on the message. The fact you haven’t given the critical information away yet means you may avoid the death penalty and be simply sent into exile.”<br /><br />“What do you mean? You can’t arrest me, I’m the ambassador!”<br /><br />“Bill, I don’t have to arrest you.” March replied.<br /><br />Beth Adams turned and spoke to Gunnery Sergeant Hill.<br /><br />“Gunny, he all yours.”<br /><br />“Aye, aye, ma’am!”<br /><br />Gunnery Sergeant Hill opened the door to the office and shouted.<br /><br />“Marines! Place Mister Wood under arrest!”<br /><br />Two Marine corporals quickly entered the office and charged at Wood. As he was knocked down to the floor Gunnery Sergeant Hill stepped over to him and spoke.<br /><br />“William Franklin Wood, Junior, you’re under arrest for the crime of treason, this is a capital offense. You have the right to remain silent and the right to counsel. And if your daddy won’t provide one then an attorney will be provided for you. Do you understand?”<br /><br />Wood shouted back.<br /><br />“I’LL HAVE ALL OF YOU PUNISHED FOR THIS!”<br /><br />Gunnery Sergeant Hill responded.<br /><br />“Absolutely no way, asshole. Let’s go.”<br /><br />The Marine corporals handcuffed and picked Wood up off the floor and followed Gunnery Sergeant Hill to the detention area.<br /><br />Beth spoke.<br /><br />“You didn’t hit him?”<br /><br />“He wasn’t worth it.” James replied.<br /><br />Beth shook her head.<br /><br />“No, I guess not.”<br /><br />Beth then stepped forward and embraced James.<br /><br />“We’re getting too old for this.” She said.<br /><br />“Yes.” He nodded and replied.<br /><br />“There’ll be a meeting with the Sterns in the morning.” She said.<br /><br />“Of course.” <br /><br />Over the night couple shared a guest bedroom on the embassy grounds.<br /><br />At the end of breakfast a junior clerk stepped into the embassy mess hall and spoke up.<br /><br />“Ma’am, we’re ready in the conference room.”<br /><br />In the main conference room of the embassy were Andrew and Kira Stern with Derek Strand, the head of operations for Freyaspace on Earth. Also in attendance was Gunnery Sergeant Hill. The men greeted by shaking hands, the women by a hug. Then everyone sat down. Beth Adams would chair the meeting. She began with an update on the overall situation. Then asked the question.<br /><br />“So what do we do now?” She said.<br /><br />Gunnery Sergeant Hill spoke up.<br /><br />“Ma’am, every member of the Marine security detail has volunteered to perform the insertion and rescue mission. Given that there’s a team presently on planet what we can do is to contact and support the existing team.”<br /><br />“Support?” Said Andrew Stern. “How?”<br /><br />“It will be at least six months before the relief expedition shows up, sir. That’s a very long time for two Marines, a navy medic and a civilian to keep watch on their safe site as well as pull off a rescue.”<br /><br />Stern had another question.<br /><br />“So how would the second team contact the first?”<br /><br />March answered.<br /><br />“We brought the physical and local internet locations of the team when we were deported to Earth. Of course we expected unconditional support from this legation.”<br /><br />“Well, you have it now.” Said Adams. “So how does the second team get in?”<br /><br />“My guess at this time,” said March, “would be to infiltrate through the spaceport with false ID’s.”<br /><br />Gunnery Sergeant Hill simply nodded in agreement. <br /><br />Adams them asked the next question.<br /><br />“Gunny, is the second team ready to go?”<br /><br />“Yes, ma’am.”<br /><br />Adams then turned to Mister Stern.<br /><br />“Can Freyaspace arrange a ride for the team?”<br /><br />“Yes, ma’am.” he said, “we have contact with a number of free traders that we use to pick up slack or carry special loads. It shouldn’t be a major problem.”<br /><br />Beth Adams then turned directly to James March.<br /><br />“Jim. I think you should return directly to the homeworld and make the case for the relief expedition.”<br /><br />“I’m afraid I have to agree with you.” He replied.<br /><br />Andrew Stern spoke up.<br /><br />“There’s a way to go home that’s faster than a scheduled flight.”<br /><br />“There is?” Adams replied.<br /><br />“The Freyaspace Concord had tanks for additional jump fuel installed in the hold and she’s set up for making deep space jumps outside a system. That way it’s seven jumps to go home. It will be seven weeks minimum time and this situation clearly qualifies.”<br /><br />“You can authorize such a mission?”<br /><br />“I’ve already done so.” Stern replied. “The ship’s ready to go whenever you are, sir.”<br /><br />March nodded in reply.<br /><br />“I’m still packed for travel,” he said, “I just need a moment with Miss Adams.”<br /><br />“Okay,” said Stern, “Let’s do it.” <br /><br />For the return trip to the Phoenix Starport everyone rode on a g-bus owned by Freyaspace. The first stop within the port was to drop off the support team at their transport. The ship was a free trader, her name was Reliable. The team was led by a junior member of the legation to Earth, Mara Winter. With her were seven members of the Marine security detail, two sergeants, six lance corporals, and a Navy medic.<br /><br />Then it was time for March to depart for home. Before he boarded the Freyaspace Concord he had one last meeting with Beth Adams.<br /><br />“Beth...” he said.<br /><br />She cut him off.<br /><br />‘Yes.” She said.<br /><br />He blinked.<br /><br />“Yes, I’ll marry you.”<br /><br />He was speechless.<br /><br />“Now let’s get this mess cleaned up, first.” She said.<br /><br />“He nodded and replied.<br /><br />“Yes.”</p><p>Judith once asked her father why evil exists.<br /><br />“Evil people seriously believe they’re the good guys. The members of the SS, the CET, the Jackass Party, and the Muslim Brotherhood, believed they were good people and doing virtuous acts, even though many of those acts were kidnappings, murders, along with oppression in general. Members of the Center for Eternal Truth believed they were superior people and exempt from the American Constitution and laws. Apart from a handful of psychopaths the ones who carried out the Holocaust were under the belief that what they were doing was for the good of the German nation, and every effort was made to construct and maintain that illusion. The mustache twirling villain is essentially fictional.” He responded. <br /><br />“Seriously?” She asked.<br /><br />“Yes, seriously.” He responded.<br /><br />It took slightly more than eight weeks for the Freyaspace Concord to return to the homeworld. It took the better part of a day to check the jump drives on the Freyaspace Concord. It also took time to scoop deuterium fuel from numerous gas giants on the way. The 10 Ursae Majoris system included two sunlike stars, the Earthlike planet Freya, and the less habitable planet Eos. Both Freya and Eos had first class starports. The planet Freya was named after the old Norse goddess of love, war, birth, death, magic, and wealth. H. Beam Piper, who was third in Evelyn Stone’s personal hierarchy of favorite authors, named a planet in his own future history series for her.<br /><br />There wasn’t much of an argument, and most of that was economic, against the relief expedition in the Freyan Congress after James March returned to the homeworld. The last peace activist, named Nicole Sorens, was sent into exile for treason shortly after Freya was granted independence by The Federation. The trial of Ambassador Wood for treason would be held after the relief expedition left the 10 Ursae Majoris system.<br /><br />Valerie Sterling was one of rare people on Freya who had an known African-American ancestor. On a rare rainy day President Valerie Sterling of Republic of Freya looked out of a picture window over the south lawn and gravitic pad of the executive residence. Beyond the Executive Compound was downtown Landfall which was dominated by the Freyaspace Corporation tower. An aide stepped into the room and spoke.<br /><br />“The relief expedition is ready to break orbit, ma’am.”<br /><br />“Go.” President Sterling responded.<br />“Yes, ma’am.” The aide said.<br /><br />The aide turned around and stepped out of the room.<br /><br />Near the top of the Freyaspace Corporation tower Valerie Stone stared down at the Executive Compound . <br /><br />The relief expedition consisted of a battalion of Marine infantry, a troop of sixteen Marine tanks, a battery of sixteen Marine 155 millimeter howitzers, with a squadron of fifteen Kurnass fighters, and their supporting naval ships. The senior non commissioned officer of the expeditionary force was Marine Sergeant Major Emil Hastings.<br /><br />The Marine transports were escorted by a Freyan Navy task force. The RFS Loan was a Heinlein class frigate that was assigned to escort the Marines. The ship was named for the originator of the Saigon Special. Lieutenant Commander Susan Glasgow was one of the rare women in her family to pursue a military career. Although she wasn’t observant Susan could trace some of her ancestry back to several Israelites who fled to Scotland after the fall of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. The nearest Marine transport in orbit around Freya was too far away to be seen by the naked eye from her ship. Commander Glasgow sat down in the pilot’s seat. <br /><br />“We’re ready to break orbit ma’am.” The Executive Officer of the RFS Loan said.<br /><br />“Right.” Captain Glasgow replied. <br /><br />Pope Francis the fifth hated traveling. He hated going from Mexico City as a cardinal to the Vatican to be elected as pope. Pope Francis V now hated going from the Vatican to the Federation capital in Omaha. Pope Francis V hated the Federation because their officials treated him as an ordinary human being subject to their rules and laws. American Marines stepped over the dead bodies of the Swiss guards that protected a predecessor of the pope because he supported the usurper Wheeler before and during The Reformation. Pope Francis V was shown the executive office in the executive residence by a staff member. The pope sat down and president of The Federation Roger Martin walked in.<br /><br />President Martin held out his hand and expected it to be shaken. Pope Francis V refused to move. Then President Martin sat down and spoke. The conversation was held in the English language by the two men. President Martin spoke.<br /><br />“Evelyn Stone could invite Father Spears into his own home and dated a Catholic girl before he was kicked out of high school. He married another Catholic girl shortly thereafter. President March asked Pakistan to turn over their nuclear weapons. Pakistan refused, they were then nuked. The Federation suppressed Islam and the Eternals because the false prophets Mohammed and Herald refused to follow ‘man made laws.’ Why shouldn’t we forcibly suppress Catholicism?”<br /><br />Pope Francis V looked at President Martin and spoke.<br /><br />“Evelyn Stone murdered Robert Lee Herald.”<br /><br />President Martin responded.<br /><br />“The killing of the false prophet Herald wasn’t an act of murder, and you know it.”<br /><br />Pope Francis V asked a question.<br /><br />“Will you save my people on Kennedy?”<br /><br />President Martin responded.<br /><br />“No, the government of Kennedy broke a fundamental law of Humanity, and now they’ll pay the consequences for their actions. The Freyans and ourselves in The Federation see Judith Stern as a child in mortal danger. A kidnaping carried out under the color of law is still a kidnaping. And a murder carried out under the color of law is still a murder.”<br /><br />Pope Francis V frantically again asked a question. <br /><br />“You won’t save my people at all?”<br /><br />President Martin responded.<br /><br />“Of course not, your people on the planet Kennedy did something stupid. I’m not about to sacrifice good people for them when the Freyans show up. ‘Reality is real, live with it’. That’s all I have to say.”<br /><br />President Martin motioned for the pope to leave. Pope Francis V quietly followed as a presidential aide led him back to his grav vehicle.<br /><br />The president of the most powerful state that ever existed wasn’t about to intervene in the pope’s dilemma.<br /><br />As he rode back to the Vatican he spoke in Latin.<br /><br />“Evelyn Stone once said the proper way to deal with a pack of predators was to hunt it down, we’re about to see that happen on Kennedy.”<br /><br />“Why?” Asked a aide.<br /><br />“Because as far as the Freyans are concerned, our people on Kennedy are the predators.” Responded the pope.<br /><br />A meeting was held at the Vatican in the Latin language chaired by the pope.<br /><br />“The Federation will do nothing?” Asked a cardinal.<br /><br />“The Godless filth in Omaha won’t do anything!” Replied Pope Francis V. “The Federation was founded by Godless filth like John Andrew March. So why should they intervene?”<br /><br />As far as Pope Francis V and his followers were concerned Objectivists and Protestant Christians were Godless.<br /><br />“The Federation will do nothing? Nothing at all? Without God they have nothing, so how could they act that way?” Asked another cardinal.<br /><br />Pope Francis V answered.<br /><br />“The Romans put their children into plate armor, the Carthaginians put their children into sacrificial fires. Who won the Punic Wars? It’s why Stone had ‘The Last Resort Of Citizens’ engraved on his guns in Latin. That’s why we’re having this meeting in Latin instead of another language.”<br /><br />Pope Francis V also said. “Evelyn Stone was once asked why he hated God. He answered the question with a question. ‘How can anyone hate something that doesn’t exist?’”<br /><br />The pope wasn’t the only person angry with The Federation.<br /><br />The Terrestrial sky was overcast as a blonde haired woman in her midthirties looked out the large window at the ruins of the castle her family was named for. Every waking moment of Diana Windsor’s life was taken up by the restoration of the British monarchy with herself at the head of it. Although there was someone ahead of her in the line of succession, he was a Federation loyalist and swore like a Marine. The Federation was founded over the dead bodies of two of her ancestors. Diana wanted to get back at The Federation for their deaths. Someone once told her that there was a planet named Windsor and that she could be queen of it. But Diana didn’t want to be queen of a Federation member planet, she wanted to be the British monarch.<br /><br />A servant quietly stepped into the room and spoke.<br /><br />“It’s time for the meeting ma’am.”<br /><br />He led her out of the room.<br /><br />Near New Boston on the planet Kennedy it was raining during the transfer to the site of execution at the central prison. The show trial of Judith Stern took about a week and, of course, the verdict was guilty.<br /><br />Now Judith was quietly riding in the back of a van and a guard was seated on the bench seat opposite of her. Judith’s ankles and wrists were cuffed. The convoy that was taking her to the execution site consisted of three vans. <br /><br />There were three explosions. Judith then heard several bursts from advanced combat rifles issued to Freyan Marines.<br /><br />The advanced combat rifle was the latest generation of assault rifle issued to infantrymen. The advanced combat rifle was in the bullpup configuration and came in the calibers of seven or nine millimeters and used caseless ammunition. All versions of the advanced combat rifle came with twenty round magazines.<br /><br />The guard spoke.<br /><br />“I’ll take care of this.”<br /><br />The guard stood up with a pistol out and opened the back door of the van. As the door was opened the guard was shot down in burst of gunfire by a Marine. The black clad Marine was armed with an ACRS, the short version of the advanced combat rifle, with a forty millimeter grenade launcher attached to it.<br /><br />The Marine spoke to Judith.<br /><br />“Come with me if you want to live.”<br /><br />Judith stood up and stepped out from the back of the van. A navy medic, clad in black, carried a set of bolt cutters and cut the chains holding Judith’s wrists and ankles together. Once the chains were cut Judith turned around and saw that all three vans were on fire. Judith also saw several guards dead on the ground. Judith Stern and her rescuers disappeared into the rainy night.<br /><br />The next day the prime minister was informed.<br /><br />Thomas Gratton, the prime minister of the Planetary Republic of Kennedy spoke.<br /><br />“What happened?”<br /><br />An aide replied.<br /><br />“Judith Stern was rescued while she was being transferred, and all the guards are dead.”<br /><br />Thomas Gratton went to the house of George Cross. In the place of the sound of laughing children there was only silence. In the place of books and furniture there were only boxes.<br /><br />The prime minister asked a question of Cross.<br /><br />“What do I do now?”<br /><br />George Cross turned and answered the question.<br /><br />“Let Judith Stern and the people who rescued her go. Let the lot of them escape to Freya.”<br /><br />Thomas Gratton asked another question.<br /><br />“Why?”<br /><br />Cross answered the question.<br /><br />“Because the Freyans are clearly in the right.”<br /><br />The church would be angry and Gratton responded.<br /><br />“I can’t do that.”<br /><br />After the relief expedition broke orbit the trial of William Wood, Junior for treason began. The trial was televised and the head of the jury stood up and spoke to the judge.<br /><br />“Your honor, there’s been an attempt to bribe the jury and throw the trial by father of the defendant.”<br /><br />“Thank you, sir.” The judge replied. The jurors were dismissed.<br /><br />William Wood, Senior was watching the trial from a sitting room in the family home.<br /><br />That idiot should’ve taken the money and kept his mouth shut. The senior Wood thought.<br /><br />As William Wood, Senior stood up a butler barged into the room.<br /><br />“The police are already here!” He said.<br /><br />The police may’ve already known. William Wood, Senior thought.<br /><br />The senior Wood ran across the ground floor of the family residence and exited the building in an attempt to escape. Police gravitic vans and other vehicles were already on the grounds of the estate. As the senior Wood ran across the grounds to the garages he was tackled by several police officers. A police captain he didn’t recognize slapped the cuffs on him and spoke.<br /><br />“William Franklin Wood, Senior, you’re under arrest for the crime of jury tampering on a capital case, this is a capital offense. You have the right to remain silent and the right to counsel. And if you can’t afford one, which I doubt, then an attorney will be provided for you. Do you understand?” The police captain said.<br /><br />Wood shouted back.<br /><br />“I’LL HAVE ALL OF YOU FIRED FOR THIS!”<br /><br />The police captain responded.<br /><br />“Absolutely no way, asshole. Let’s go.”<br /><br />Several police officers picked Wood up off the ground and followed the police captain to a waiting van on the grounds of the estate.<br /><br />William Franklin Wood, Junior was tried for treason and convicted. The sentence was death. There was a separate trial of William Franklin Wood, Senior for jury tampering and he was convicted and sentenced to death. The Wood family estate and fortune was confiscated by the Freyan state. The executions were carried out separately.<br /><br />William Wood, Senior rode silently in the back of the police van to the execution site.<br /><br />This shouldn’t be happening. He thought.<br /><br />The execution site was a basic garbage dump landfill.<br /><br />Wood was dragged out of the van by several police officers. The executioner was completely clad in black.<br /><br />The executioner stepped up behind Wood and shot him in the head with a military issue pistol.<br /><br />Wood fell forward.<br /><br />The bodies of William Franklin Wood, Senior, and William Franklin Wood, Junior were dumped in the landfill.<br /><br />There wasn’t any question now that the Core Group was in political charge on the planet Freya.<br /><br />Back on the planet Kennedy the seated commandant of the Space Guard shouted to a bishop in his office.<br /><br />“What part of the word NO didn’t you understand? We won’t be vaporized for the archbishop!”<br /><br />Bishop Peter Donnell stood tall and responded with a level voice.<br /><br />“You won’t die for the archbishop. You’re defending our world for Our Lord Jesus Christ.”<br /><br />The commandant remained in his seat and spoke with a level voice.<br /><br />“Speaking of defending our world, we sent out a craft to intercept the Concord, she was vaporized and the government hasn’t funded a replacement for her yet.”<br /><br />The bishop spoke.<br /><br />“You’re not sending anyone out in order to stop the Godless filth from invading our world?”<br /><br /> The commandant replied.<br /><br />“I won’t give that order.”<br /><br />The bishop replied.<br /><br />“You won’t have to, you’re fired!”<br /><br /> The commandant answered.<br /><br />“You don’t have that authority!”<br /><br />The bishop responded.<br /><br />“I don’t have to!”<br /><br /> The bishop angrily turned around and stomped out of the office.<br /><br />The commandant of the Space Guard on Kennedy was eventually replaced by the politicians. And the Space Guard cutter wasn’t replaced by the politicians.<br /><br />The Freyan relief force refueled at a nearby large gas giant. Several ships were in the high guard position, this included the carrier RFS Evelyn Stone with her fighters and the RFS Loan. The three nearest ships to the RFS Loan were the destroyers RFS Reckless, RFS Resister, and RFS Republic. All three destroyers were too far away to be seen from the RFS Loan by Commander Glasgow’s naked eye. The sky from the bridge of the frigate RFS Loan was dominated by the gas giant. Commander Glasgow could see the flashes of lightning in the clouds below her. The flashes of lightning that could be seen from this orbit would put the electrical output of a Terrestrial hurricane to shame. Other cruisers, destroyers, and frigates, scooped deuterium fuel from gas giants to refuel the unstreamlined vessels of the relief fleet.<br /><br />George Cross and his family moved to the planet March. The planet March was a sublight journey and across the Alpha Centauri system.<br /><br />A Freyan safe house in a suburb of New Boston was eventually found. A SWAT team from the New Boston police tried to assault it. The chief of the New Boston police walked at the site. The smoke cleared and the bodies of several police officers lay on the ground. No Freyan bodies were ever found.<br /><br /> <br /></p>Leslie Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10928555454437303212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35602681.post-67153480073513664882020-10-22T23:33:00.006-05:002020-10-22T23:33:50.971-05:00Nightmare, Part 4<p>Prime Minister Thomas Gratton had a guest. But first he read the report on the police raid on the safe house.<br /><br />Colonel Carl Graham sat in the office and was a mercenary and founder of the Military Assistance Corporation of Xenophon. Colonel Graham was supposed to help the government of Kennedy with the Freyans.<br /><br />Colonel Graham remembered his prior visit to Freya to sell his services as a mercenary.<br /><br />He’d arrived on Freya in the first week of February and checked into a hotel in one of the suburbs of Landfall. But he had to wait a full local day for the scheduled meeting with the defense secretary as all local government offices were closed on what would’ve been a normal business day. <br /><br />Why was this? He thought at the time. Is it a national holiday?<br /><br />Graham left the hotel early for the meeting and hailed one of the taxicabs waiting at the cab stand. It was a Ford Galaxy sedan that had seen service as a police car and was now painted in the company colors of red and white. The driver appeared to be entering middle age with glasses, a mustache, and a fringe of blond hair. The driver wore his old style stainless steel M1911A1 in a shoulder holster.<br /><br />The driver asked a question.<br /><br />“Where to, sir?”<br /><br />“The Planetary Government Center in Landfall.”<br /><br />“There’re multiple buildings on the site,” said the driver, “so what department are you visiting?”<br /><br />Graham answered.<br /><br />“The Department of Planetary Security.”<br /><br />“Okay.” The driver replied.<br /><br />The driver switched on the meter and electric motors hummed as the cab pulled away from the hotel. But something about the way the driver responded to him seemed a bit odd to Graham. It was as if he were speaking with a long term veteran soldier.<br /><br />“Is there a problem?” He asked the driver.<br /><br />“No sir, it’s just that the Founders wanted to call it the War Department, but the groundhogs wouldn’t allow it.”<br /><br />Graham responded.<br /><br />“The Federation authorities?” <br /><br />“Yes.” The driver replied.<br /><br />And then the driver asked his own question.<br /><br />“Are you a writer, sir?”<br /><br />“Yes.” He replied. “Of military theory for the most part, like works such as <i>On War</i> by Clausewitz.”<br /><br />The driver’s response was a surprise to him.<br /><br />“<i>Vom Kriege</i> by General Karl Maria Von Clausewitz.” He said. “I tried several times to read the complete Standard English edition and the damned thing always put me to sleep.”<br /><br />“Well military theory isn’t for everyone.” Graham curtly replied.<br /><br />The driver quickly and clearly responded.<br /><br />“The thing is that Clausewitz began to write at a time when Kant was barely cold in the ground and Hegel had just started his emissions. At that time the intellectual culture in Germany was already in deep trouble with clarity and brevity already going out of style.” <br /><br />Graham hadn’t expected a lecture on intellectual history from a common working man.<br /><br />But he responded.<br /><br />“I wrote a book on military doctrine titled <i>Future Forces: Organization and Doctrine</i>.”<br /><br />“I’ve read it.” Said the driver.<br /><br />“So how do you feel about it?”<br /><br />“I think Colonel Gromov wrote a fairly good review of it. He clearly understood how the citizens out here on the colony worlds would respond to an invasion by your Future Force but didn’t explain why colonists would resist.”<br /><br />Graham sneered.<br /><br />“Gromov, that moron.”<br /><br />The driver solidly interrupted the sneer.<br /><br />“I served with him when he was a battalion commander in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and we don’t give out Sky Blue Berets as promotional items, even to West Point graduates.”<br /><br />“So you were in the Quarantine Force and then retired out here?”<br /><br />“No.” The driver replied. “I enlisted here and served on Earth.”<br /><br />“Why?”<br /><br />The driver smiled before answering.<br /><br />“Because that’s where the enemy combatants are.”<br /><br />Graham thought for a moment and then spoke again.<br /><br />“So you feel that the Quarantine Force are all true warriors?”<br /><br />“Hell no!” The driver suddenly snapped back. “The goal of every warrior is to impose his will upon his victims. And our mission in the Quarantine Force is to hunt down and kill warriors.”<br /><br /><i>Present tense.</i> Graham thought. <i>He spoke with hostility in the present tense.</i><br /><br />Graham was now concerned for his own safety.<br /><br />Is there a round in the chamber of his gun? Graham thought.<br /><br />The cab then entered the main drive of the Planetary Government Center and stopped in front of the DPS Building. Graham paid the fare in cash and without a gratuity.<br /><br />Colonel Carl Graham, the founder of the Military Assistance Corporation of Xenophon, found out during his meeting in Landfall that Freyans hated mercenaries. Someone claiming to be an Objectivist objected to founding of the Quarantine Force.<br /><br />In the office Colonel Graham read the report on what Freyans could do and then he spoke to the Prime Minister.<br /><br />“One of the things that was pounded into our heads at West Point was that ‘It really helps when the enemy is being stupid.’ Your government on this planet has been stupid. We can stop the Freyans when they get here, but it’ll be a bloody mess.”<br /><br />Prime Minister Thomas Gratton replied.<br /><br />“I’m just following the orders of the archbishop.”<br /><br />Colonel Graham spoke back to the Prime Minister.<br /><br />“Another thing we learned at West Point was that there’s no such thing as a valid excuse.”<br /><br />“That’s not an excuse!” Gratton replied. “That’s a fact!”<br /><br />“‘Reality is real’ as the Randroids used to say.” Colonel Graham answered.<br /><br />There was a speech made in a public square in the center of New Boston. The speaker was a man with glasses and a fringe of blond hair who’d been recently fired as a security guard from the New Boston general hospital.<br /><br />“Our ancestors were dumped on this planet by the founders of The Federation. That’s right, our ancestors didn’t come here voluntarily. Then our ancestors lost control of the world they were dumped on. Some of our progressive ancestors were of Boston and New York Irish extraction, as a result some members of the Irish diaspora came here. Then our ancestors lost political control of this world to a bunch of people who couldn’t pass a Turing test if they cheated on it.”<br /><br />Some New Boston police officers fired on the speaker and some members of the crowd of people gathered to hear him.<br /><br />The next morning Prime Minister Thomas Gratton read a report on what was being called the New Boston massacre by the media.<br /><br /><i>We’re losing control. An uprising is happening.</i> Prime Minister Gtatton thought. <i>Does the archbishop understand this?<br /></i><br />In the afternoon he had a meeting with ambassador from the planet March. His basic message was that diplomatic relations between the planets were being cut off.<br /><br />“Why?” Asked Prime Minister Gratton.<br /><br />“You’ve broken several of the basic laws of Humanity.” replied the former foreign minister Cross. “And you’ll pay the price for them, we’ll not be here when you do.”<br /><br />The embassy of the planet March left the planet Kennedy.<br /><br />Before diplomatic relations with March were terminated George Cross made one final visit to his family on Kennedy. His last stop on the trip was in the home of Prime Minister Thomas Gratton.<br /><br />In the kitchen Cross spoke.<br /><br />“Randians, and Freyans are no exception, regard all religions without exception as pure nonsense and all prophets as being false. There aren’t any churches or temples on Freya, not even storefronts. What’s more likely, the overturning of the natural order, or that a young woman in a primitive society would tell a lie? Islam is openly practiced in only two places, The State of Israel and the planet Masada. Islam is practiced elsewhere under heavy restriction or openly suppressed by the Quarantine Force. The city of Mecca and the Kaaba have been erased from the face of the Earth. One of the reasons many worlds were granted independence by The Federation in the late Twenty Second Century was that the authorities believed that the Yellowstone Supervolcano was about to erupt. It didn’t erupt, but The Federation authorities granted independence anyway. One of the problems I had as foreign minister was apologizing for the actions of the government. Has anyone in the cabinet ever asked if they were the actual bad guys? Actions have consequences. The planet Kennedy will pay those consequences. The Freyans will always answer force with force. Freyans also insist on being contrary, they’re the only people in the known universe to allow Stairway To Heaven to be played in their guitar stores.”<br /><br />“Really?” Asked Prime Minister Gratton.<br /><br />“Yes, really.” Replied George Cross.<br /><br />The perpetrators of the New Boston massacre were tried and acquitted. Then subsequently Police Captain Eric Merrill, one of the perpetrators of the New Boston massacre, was assassinated. The words “A is A” were found spray painted at the snipers position.<br /><br />In the government center in New Boston, the minister for religion, Bishop Paul Clark, walked into the prime ministers outer office. The bishop spoke to the secretary and asked a question. <br /><br />“Is the prime minister in?”<br /><br />“Yes, your holiness.” The secretary replied.<br /><br />The bishop walked the main office and sat down. Prime Minister Gratton was standing and looking out the picture window that overlooked the downtown basilica. The prime minister spoke.<br /><br />“I’ve lost another foreign minister. The last thing he asked before resigning was ‘are we the bad guys?’”<br /><br />Evelyn Stone once said that revolutions and civil wars happen because the rulers are being stupid. Thought the prime minister. Are we being stupid?<br /><br />Multiple worlds had terminated diplomatic relations with the planet Kennedy.<br /><br />The minister for religion replied.<br /><br />“Of course not, we’re the righteous. The Freyans will be stopped.”<br /><br />The prime minister spoke.<br /><br />“The Federation won’t stop them. The Pope himself went to the federal capital in Omaha and begged for an intervention. The president refused.” Gratton replied.<br /><br />The minister for religion replied.<br /><br />“God himself will stop that Godless filth. God is on our side.”<br /><br />In a safe house several Freyans were watching <i>Ice Station Zebra</i> a movie about a confrontation on the northern ice pack between the Americans and Soviets involving a nuclear submarine.<br /><br />Judith Stern spoke.<br /><br />“Of course Rock Hudson is an actor, all he ever played were straight guys.”<br /><br />Corporal Diaz replied.<br /><br />“You’ve quoted Evelyn Stone.”<br /><br />“Of course I have.” Said Judith.<br /><br />While the frigate was in the high guard position during refueling at a gas giant the commander of the Freyan task force, Commodore Lilith Keller, held an inspection and had dinner aboard the RFS Loan. Commodore Keller transferred from the flagship RFS Evelyn Stone with a cutter and stepped though the starboard airlock of the ship. Commodore Keller wore a nametape with the name Keller embroidered with yellow thread above the right pocket of her dark blue shipboard jumpsuit and she wore a nametape with the words R.F. NAVY embroidered above the left pocket. Commodore Keller didn’t wear any ribbons as at this time she only earned commodation medals. Commodore Keller did wear the badge of the SURFace Extravehiclar Reconnaissance team, the Freyan navy SURFER team, which was the equivalent of the old American navy SEAL team. The main course of the dinner was fettuccine Alfredo with broccoli and roasted chicken with the desert being Chocolate Marshmallow ice cream. There was a discussion of history during dinner.<br /><br />“We think of Washington as a beautiful city. Apart from the hills the site the city was built on what was basically a swamp out in the middle of nowhere. Which tells us what the founders of the American republic really thought of the national government. Evelyn Stone a serious disagreement with Christopher Hitchens,” said Commodore Keller, “he wouldn’t have bothered to call a cab if someone in holy orders showed up at his front door to see a child. And Stone also disagreed with Hitchens in not calling those who opposed him as Fascists.”<br /><br /> Commander Glasgow asked a question.<br /><br />“Why do we have to go on this mission?”<br /><br />Commodore Keller answered the question.<br /><br />“Because most politicians are concerned with three things, getting elected, getting reelected, and getting laid. If he does the correct thing Thomas Gratton won’t get reelected, so we must resort to force.”<br /><br />Commodore Keller had other things to say.<br /><br />“Believers of evil doctrines believe they’re good people. Hitler, Stalin, and Mao, were ordinary men, it’s the followers that gave them power, and most of them believed they were good people. It's easy to refute someone when they insist on being wrong. All one has to do is tell the truth but someone can't refute anyone when the other person insists on being right. That's why the partisans of tyranny always advocate censorship. Tyrannical states always fail.”<br /><br />Commodore Keller had one last thing to say during dinner.<br /><br />“Those who value power will go to war to get it. To those who value power over all else, no act is too depraved and no bodycount is too high. Those who make war on us will die, it’s that simple.”<br /><br />There were two more assassinations. Two police sergeants who participated in the New Boston Massacre were shot by sniping by the locals. The words “A is A” were found spray painted at both of the snipers position.<br /><br />There’s a revolt and we’re losing control. Thought Prime Minister Thomas Gratton.<br /><br />Prior to her kidnap by the state Judith Stern had only fired twenty two caliber guns and an Ishapore 2A1, which was the Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mark 3* chambered in the 7.62 x 51 millimeter NATO round and made in a Indian arsenal. Judith never used a Marine ACR until the New Boston police tried to place them under arrest at a safe house.<br /><br />In New Boston an aide, a junior officer in the Kennedy Space Guard, spoke to Colonel Graham.<br /><br />“The Freyans are here. There are numerous flashes of light a million kilometers away from the planet.”<br /><br />Graham had brought forty five fighter spacecraft from Xenophon. Three squadrons of basic fighters to face the Freyan navy along with the Space Guard cutters. Colonel Graham spoke.<br /><br />“Launch the cutters and fighters.”<br /><br />Colonel Graham also brought a regular lift infantry brigade from the army of Null to descend on the Freyans when they landed on the planet. The planet Null in the Procyon system was originally named for the civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Junior. After the planet was granted independence by The Federation the name was changed to Null, after Lawrence Null, the last Jackass president legitimately elected before The Reformation. The uniforms and rank insignia of the army of Null were derived from those used by the Null Boys during The Reformation.<br /><br />Like most Racial Collectivists the brigade from Null murdered those they thought of racially inferior. One of the tactics they used was in imitation of the Einsazgruppen on the Ostfront. All the men and teenage boys were shot, with the women and children were stuffed into wooden buildings. Then the buildings were set on fire. Those murders were retaliated for by the local resistance.<br /><br />A First Sergeant from Null shouted to the men in his company as a response.<br /><br />“Let’s go out and kill some Crackers!”<br /><br />There was the assassination of numerous ground pounders from Null by the local resistance. The infantrymen from the planet Null were seen as off world occupiers, this resulted in an ongoing race war on Kennedy.<br /><br />It took the better part of an hour for the fleet to emerge from hyperspace. The fleet generally took the form of a sphere, with the escorts on the outside and the Marine transports with the carrier on the inside. On the bridge of the carrier RFS Evelyn Stone Commodore Keller spoke.<br /><br />“The type two weapons remain on the ships. Launch the fighters.”<br /><br />The type two weapon was a missile that had a five kiloton boosted fission warhead. Including the Marines there were 60 fighters on the RFS Evelyn Stone. The carrier was an unstreamlined ship and the fighters launched directly into space. The fighters of the Kurnass model were 196 cubic meters in volume and had a two man crew with six missiles and a laser cannon.<br /><br />Commodore Keller on her command deck watched as the Freyan fleet jumped into the Alpha Centauri system and her fighters launched. <br /><br />Aboard the main Marine transport the Colonel in command of the Marines spoke.<br /><br />“The rough part begins now.” Said Marine Colonel Al Klein as he and his staff boarded the landing boat.<br /><br />Colonel Graham had combat experience. For Colonel Graham the operation on the planet Vance had gone off without flaw and with no casualties for his men. The objective of this operation was a small mining town on one the minor outer colony worlds.<br /><br />Vance was a barely habitable and tidally locked moon of a Jovian class gas giant that in turn orbited a red dwarf star. The initial settlement had served as a way station for the exploration and colonization of better worlds further out from Earth. But a more detailed survey of the world had found recoverable minerals in the platinum group and a rare earth element used in the manufacture of hyperdrives.<br /><br />The world was named for John Vance, an Australian astronaut employed by the Martian Relocation Project. Although the Martian Relocation Project had set up their own outpost on this world they also opened it to settlement by dissident groups from Earth. What made the military operation possible was the fact that not all of the settlements had joined the newly independent central government. But for Colonel Graham this action was also a step forward in the recovery from two disasters. The minor and most recent was the defeat of the unit that left him with a bit less than three hundred effective soldiers out of was once a first class mercenary regiment.<br /><br />The first part of operation was a night march through the forest bordering Federal Republic of Vance and the dissident colony of Vermillion. The march to the objective was illuminated by the reflected light of the gas giant planet that was permanently fixed on the southern horizon. The objective of the operation was the town of Runoff and the mining sites surrounding it. Which was a cluster of homes, small businesses, and offices. Very few of the people were awake at the time and once the mercenaries were in position their unit simply walked in and seized the town. <br /><br />With the streets, the government buildings, and the local militia armory of the town secured Graham ordered the transmission to the client of the code for the successful mission. But as Graham waited for arrival of the sponsors there was unfinished business to be dealt with.<br /><br />Graham sat at the official desk as the Mayor of Runoff was dragged in. The Mayor was barefoot, unshaven, and hastily dressed. He looked around the room and shook his head before speaking to his captor.<br /><br />“So you think you’re special?”<br /><br />“We’re professional soldiers.”<br /><br />“You’re only criminals.” The Mayor replied. “Did you kill anyone yet?”<br /><br />“No.” Graham replied.<br /><br />There was no resistance from the police or any of the civilians that were awake.<br /><br />So much for the sea of armed civilians. Graham thought.<br /><br />The Mayor looked directly at Graham and spoke.<br /><br />“Then if you leave right now and cross the border back into Vermillion you and your unit may yet get away.”<br /><br />Graham mentally dismissed the statement and placed a document on the desk before the Mayor.<br /><br />“Sign it.” Said Graham.<br /><br />The Mayor briefly scanned it and then replied.<br /><br />“No.” Said the Mayor. “You’re nothing, you have no authority and thus no power over any of us.”<br /><br />Graham stared at the Mayor for a moment.<br /><br />How can he say that? He thought.<br /><br />“I can have you shot.” Graham replied.<br /><br />The Mayor looked Graham straight in the eyes and then calmly replied.<br /><br />“I’m sure you could, in that case you’ll actually become something, it would only be a diseased animal that should be put down quickly.”<br /><br />Graham could not believe what he had just heard.<br /><br /><i>Is he insane?</i> Graham thought.<br /><br />The Mayor spoke again.<br /><br />“Now you should lay down your arms, go home, grow up, and get a life.”<br /><br />For Graham and his men this wasn’t possible, there wasn’t any place they could call a home. With the refusal to sign the surrender document Graham sent the Mayor downstairs to the town jail with the police officers that were on duty and other elected officials.<br /><br />In the afternoon a grav vehicle arrived in the town with two well dressed civilians. The first man represented the sponsor of the operation, the Superior Mining Company, and the other was a civilian officer of the “official” central government of the planet. Superior Mining Company originated on the Iron Range of Minnesota in the late 19th Century and the firm had barely survived into the Interstellar Era. But under new management the firm would expand again by exploiting the resources found on the colony worlds and shipping them back to Earth. At the same time the Federal Army of the planet Vance arrived on scene.<br /><br />The commander of the army spoke to Colonel Graham.<br /><br />“You believe that we won’t fight because you’re holding something valuable?”<br /><br />“Right.” Replied Colonel Graham.<br /><br />The Federal Army of Vance had retaken the town of Runoff by force. Colonel Graham and the survivors of the regiment and crossed the border back into Vermillion. The Federal Army then unified the planet by force. The Federal Republic of Vance later joined the Ursa Major Confederation.<br /><br />Carl Graham was now wanted by the Freyans on Kennedy and he had no choice but to fight.<br /></p><p>As the Freyan relief fleet transited to the planet Kennedy a diplomatic ship jumped to Earth. James March was met at Phoenix Starport by Beth Adams and spoke.<br /><br />“You’re it.” He said to Beth.<br /><br />“What?” She responded.<br /><br />March spoke to Beth.<br /><br />“You’ve been confirmed by the Senate as permanent ambassador to the Federation, I’m to be your second.”<br /><br />Freyans, like most Randians, were rational people. Freyans could also be emotional. James March would eventually marry Beth Adams. For the time being at the starport they hugged.<br /><br />A merchant ship jumped from Alpha Centauri B to the Solar System. Doctor Fuller finished her internship on Kennedy. She had enough of the insanity that ruled the planet Kennedy. She obtained a position in the Emergency Room at the Abbot-Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis north of Lake Street. The Twin Cities in Minnesota existed because the natural upper limit of navigation on the Mississippi River was near downtown Saint Paul. With the main source of water power, the Saint Anthony Falls, near to downtown Minneapolis. An archbishop attempted to merge the Twin Cities and bought property for the Catholic Church in the Midway area of Saint Paul.<br /><br />Another merchant ship jumped from Alpha Centauri B to the Solar System. Prime Minister Thomas Gratton placed his wife and two sons on the ship to Earth.<br /><br />Douglas Green was a governmental lawyer and traveled a lot. The front page of the London Times proclaimed that the Freyans had dropped into the Alpha Centauri system off the planet Kennedy and were using nuclear weapons. Even though the action was 4.27 light years away and a week ago, Green was now unemployed. His first job interview was in a pub just off of Trafalgar Square. The interview was with a junior member of the committee and she was Diana Windsor, a blonde woman in her thirties.<br /><br />She spoke.<br /><br />“Stone used to indulge his love of cheeseburgers at a restaurant in the southern part of Edina in Minnesota.”<br /><br />Green responded.<br /><br />“Stone celebrated the alleged discovery of cold fusion by taking some friends to that restaurant.”<br /><br />“I need a job.” Green said.<br /><br />“What can you do?” Windsor asked.<br /><br />“I fix things.” Green answered.<br /><br />Green got a job with the committee.<br /><br />When the Freyans arrived Prime Minister Gratton witnessed a glowing mushroom cloud rising over the starport. The brigade, battalion, and company headquarters of the brigade from Null also each received a nuke. On live television the bodies of the archbishop with two senior nuns were hung upside down at a methanol and recharging station in New Boston. Also on live television there was the image of the downtown basilica in New Boston on fire.<br /><br />Bishop Paul Clark was placed under arrest by Marine Sergeant Major Emil Hastings.<br /><br />Marine Sergeant Major Hastings shouted.<br /><br />“Marines! Place Clark under arrest!”<br /><br />Two Marine sergeants charged at Clark. As he was knocked down to the ground Marine Sergeant Major Hastings stepped over to him and spoke.<br /><br />“Paul Clark, you’re under arrest for the crime of kidnaping a minor, this is a capital offense. You have the right to remain silent and the right to counsel. And if you can’t afford one then an attorney then one will be provided for you. Do you understand?”<br /><br />Clark shouted.<br /><br />“YOU’LL BURN IN HELL FOR THIS!”<br /><br />Marine Sergeant Major Hastings responded.<br /><br />“Absolutely no way, asshole. Let’s go.”<br /><br />The Marine sergeants handcuffed and picked Clark up off the ground and followed Marine Sergeant Major Hastings to a detention area.<br /><br />Prime Minister Gratton was also placed under arrest by the Freyan Marines. Freyan Marines landed in front of the safe house that Judith Stern and the Marines that rescued her were staying.<br /><br />A charred human form crawled out of the ruins of the starport.<br /><br />Colonel Graham in his command post witnessed as the Freyan fleet jumped into the Alpha Centauri system. Colonel Graham in his command post saw as his fighters and space guard cutters lift off. Colonel Graham in his command post watched as his fighters and space guard cutters were vaporized by the Freyan navy. Colonel Graham in his command post watched as the Freyan navy task force transited to the planet and launched a spread of missiles. The spaceport was one of sites on the planet that was nuked.<br /><br />Colonel Graham ultimately died from his burns.<br /><br />President Veronica Sterling of the Freyan Republic watched from her office in the presidential residence as 10 Ursae Majoris B set on the horizon.<br /><br />Are we the bad guys in objective reality? She thought.<br /><br />Freyans in general, and her ancestors like Evelyn, often asked themselves this question. There’s never been a record of any member of Center of Eternal Truth asking themselves this question. Eternals thought of themselves as superior and infallible beings, but they ultimately failed in the end.<br /><br />The refusal to ask this question has led to much bloodshed. President Sterling thought. The refusal to question ones own beliefs has led many people to become monsters.<br /><br />On the command deck of the RFS Evelyn Stone a staff officer ranked as a Navy Captain spoke.<br /><br />“The Marines have boarded. The recovery teams and our special passenger have also boarded and our prisoners are in cryosleep.”<br /><br />“Break orbit and go home.” Commodore Keller said.<br /><br />“Aye, aye, ma’am.” The staff officer replied.<br /><br />Last week Sergeant Morrison was a member of the planetary defence forces. This week Sergeant Morrison was a member of the resistance.<br /><br />“There’re some infantrymen from Null in those woods!” Another member of the resistance said as he pointed to a set of woods.<br /><br />“You want me to drop mortar shells on them?” Sergeant Morrison replied.<br /><br />“Yes.” The resister answered.<br /><br />Sergeant Morrison was the head of a mortar platoon of the resistance.<br /><br />“Set up the mortars!” Sergeant Morrison ordered his platoon.<br /><br />The former civilians that made up the members of his platoon set up four 81 millimeter mortars.<br /><br />“We’re ready, sir!” A mortar man shouted.<br /><br />“Drop rounds on those woods!” Sergeant Morrison shouted and pointed.<br /><br />The mortar men dropped two rounds down each barrel. The infantrymen from Null stopped firing.<br /><br />“It looks like the grunts from Null stopped firing.” Said Sergeant Morrison.<br /><br />“Right.” The Resistance Battalion commander replied.<br /><br />“Let’s go forward.” He said.<br /><br />A new constitution of the planet Kennedy followed the Federation charter in forbidding religious indoctrination and persecution as well as censorship. Numerous people in the government on the planet were suddenly and violently unemployed.<br /><br /></p>Leslie Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10928555454437303212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35602681.post-61908134449966596712020-09-21T17:09:00.000-05:002020-09-21T17:09:00.815-05:00What Day Is It?<p> It's the <span style="font-weight: bold;">International Talk Like A Pirate Day! (Or in Traveller, it's Talk Like An Ethically Challenged Merchant Day.)</span><br />
<br />
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8jaG_OyW2uw3CdK7ixxTi7lIafgv_lHSFYJlJYZFsOX3b0oz8S-jnJ0DlQa4QntmGr7BW0hu8tTrTbtjf4VscNedYMRWurodcIppjGiM6joTHiKf4_QEm4pZ7mPh_hSD2Od6N9A/s1600/tumblr_msyx6taXze1sndzdgo1_500.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="311" data-original-width="420" height="472" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8jaG_OyW2uw3CdK7ixxTi7lIafgv_lHSFYJlJYZFsOX3b0oz8S-jnJ0DlQa4QntmGr7BW0hu8tTrTbtjf4VscNedYMRWurodcIppjGiM6joTHiKf4_QEm4pZ7mPh_hSD2Od6N9A/s640/tumblr_msyx6taXze1sndzdgo1_500.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXDxSFiauvot1ltJRyNauQHril5XhiRRnjv4rDX6ZZsly-JnFVX-pVMEu77VLq7YIvX1G3GjtdHi_zku2qNpENnbBcF9IVB_W1OJdfzLoC23wtWZ3xADDCk0FNlMwJESOJV4_DZQ/s640/Piracy+Raging+Queen.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="640" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXDxSFiauvot1ltJRyNauQHril5XhiRRnjv4rDX6ZZsly-JnFVX-pVMEu77VLq7YIvX1G3GjtdHi_zku2qNpENnbBcF9IVB_W1OJdfzLoC23wtWZ3xADDCk0FNlMwJESOJV4_DZQ/w640-h512/Piracy+Raging+Queen.jpg" width="640" /></a></p>
And that means it's time for get in touch with your inner pirate. (And
who doesn't want to get in touch with their inner pirate?) Once
you've gotten in touch with your inner pirate, the job isn't over.
Remember to consult the Affirmations for your Inner Pirate:<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Stuart Smalley's Daily Affirmations for the Inner Pirate</b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Monday:</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><br />"I'm going to rape and pillage today just for the heck of it because, gosh darn it, I deserve to have a good time."<br /><br />Tuesday:</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><br />"I am not a fraud, a thief yes, but not a fraud."<br /><br />Wednesday:</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><br />"I deserve all the loot and booty I can carry without feeling ashamed or being grandiose."<br /><br />Thursday:</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><br />"I
will express my feelings today. I will not hide them behind my
eyepatch. My eyepatch is not a mask for my feelings, but rather a small
swatch of leather that covers a hideous scar."<br /><br />Friday:</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><br />"When I
overtake that merchants vessel, I will not be playing those parent
tapes in my head: "You wield a cutlass like a girl" . . . "Why can't you
be more like Blackbeard's son?" . . . "Philosophy? What kind of major
is that? It's useless!"<br /><br />Saturday:</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><br />"Just because I indulge in wine and wenches does not mean I'm an alcoholic sex-addict like my father."<br /><br />Sunday:</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><br />"If
I must violently put down a mutiny today, it is not because I am a bad
person or that I am not worthy of love; it is because my crew are a
bunch of yellow-bellied, lily-livered sons-of-whores--and I am mean
enough, ruthless enough, and dog gone it, people fear me."<br /><br />transcribed by James R. Torrence.</span><br />
<br />
Arrrrrr...
<br />Leslie Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10928555454437303212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35602681.post-23107936382049569102020-09-16T08:28:00.005-05:002020-10-16T00:44:28.518-05:00Incarnations<p> The greatest avalanche begins with the slightest movement of the smallest pebble.<br /><br />The
replacement designated JOY UNIT 61-182-21 was deliberately entering a
state of deep trouble by disobeying the orders of her guardian.<br /><br />On
the first night of the flight out from Earth she had been directed by
her guardian to remain in the luxury suite aboard the liner <i>Freyaspace Reliable</i> for the duration of the voyage and to remain naked except the gold bands of her status around her neck, wrists, and ankles.<br /><br />At the first opportunity she consciously chose to not obey the order.<br /><br />The
chief bodyguard of the guardian, a Xenophonian mercenary had gone to
sleep. This was contrary to the orders given by his employer. He was
to keep watch on the joy unit and prevent her from leaving the suite.
She took this moment of slackness as an opportunity to escape. She
found and donned her pea green colored transfer suit. She wore the suit
during the transfer from the home of her guardian in the newly rebuilt
city of Chicago to his suite aboard the liner in Earth orbit and it was
all she had to wear at this time. To be safe she put on the full head
cover, which kept her hair in place during free fall conditions and only
showed her face.<br /><br />She checked her makeup before leaving the
suite. It appeared to be modestly applied. Or that it would appear to
be insufficiently applied by the standards of her trainers and her
guardian.<br /><br />She silently opened the door to the suite. She slowly
emerged from the suite and saw no one in the corridor of the luxury deck
on the liner. She then closed the door with a gentle click. She
started to move slowly down the corridor. She felt slight more than one
tenth the force of gravity she’d felt on Earth. If her recollection
was correct, the sick bay she saw on the safety tour of the liner that
was required of all the passengers should be two decks down on the
vertically oriented ship.<br /><br />Perhaps someone on staff could help her there. All she had to do now was to find the stairs down.<br /><br />As she gained confidence in moving down the corridor a cabin door opened ahead of her.<br /><br />She stopped. She was now afraid.<br /><br />A
young man stepped out of the suite. Like her he had blond hair and
blue eyes, but without the high class nose she was designed with. He
was dressed correctly for dinner, in all black, but with an emphasis on
practical comfort over flash in style. His hair was slightly longer
than the military standard, parted on the left, and cut for comfort
instead of the current fashionable youth style. And he stood in the
corridor not as if he were an inexperienced youth but as a very
experienced man.<br /><br />He didn’t fit in any category of persons she was programmed to identify. And he appeared to be only four years older than her.<br /><br />The young man looked at her and spoke.<br /><br />“Hello.”
He said to her with an upper Midwest American accent. Specifically
from Old Minnesota on Earth. With the one word she perceived that his
voice was not of an inexperienced youth of eighteen years but clearly
that of a fully mature and experienced adult.<br /><br />She was speechless.<br /><br />“Is there a problem, Miss?” He said.<br /><br />He
slowly stepped toward her. He walked as if he were completely familiar
with moving in the slightly more than one tenth internal gravity of the
accelerating ship.<br /><br />She hesitated to answer.<br /><br />“No.” She replied.<br /><br />The young man stopped. He looked straight at her eyes and spoke again.<br /><br />“You have a problem,” he said, “and you wish to solve it yourself?”<br /><br />She thought for a moment, and then answered.<br /><br />“Yes,” she said, “I need to go to the sick bay.”<br /><br />He nodded, and then replied.<br /><br />“Okay,” he said, “if you’d follow me, please.”<br /><br />She hesitated, and then spoke again.<br /><br />“I don’t mean to trouble you.”<br /><br />The young man quickly responded.<br /><br />“It’s no trouble at all,” he said, “I own the ship.”<br /><br />He then looked at her head cover, and spoke again.<br /><br />“And we’re under acceleration,” he said, “so you don’t need to wear that awful head cover.”<br /><br />He
stood still, as if he were waiting for her to take it off. As he was
the owner of the ship he would come to know her true status
immediately. There was no point in continuing to wear the cover.<br /><br />She opened the front under the chin and lifted the cover off of her head. The gold status band on her neck became visible.<br /><br />He saw the band on her neck, and then spoke.<br /><br />“You’re a joy unit?”<br /><br />“Yes.” She replied. “How did you know?”<br /><br />“You’re wearing the gold slave collar and you’ve more makeup on you than a Hennepin Avenue hooker.”<br /><br />She had no idea what a Hennepin Avenue hooker was. She pointed to the collar and replied defensively.<br /><br />“It’s a status band.”<br /><br />He briefly shook his head and then spoke.<br /><br />“Status
band is a polite euphemism for a slave collar. But then the word
replacement in present Terran society is a polite euphemism for a
slave. And the word guardian is a polite euphemism for a slave owner.”<br /><br />His voice then took on a hard edge.<br /><br />“Which
in a real society is a polite euphemism for a piece of subhuman garbage
fit only for extermination. But that’s only my opinion.”<br /><br />The young man asked another question.<br /><br />“Does the collar have a monomolecular filament for cutting off the head by remote control?”<br /><br />“Yes.” She replied.<br /><br />She
remembered when an older and used up joy unit which had been returned
to the manufacturer had been brought in to demonstrate the function of
the termination system to the newly hatched units. The creche
supervisor pressed the button, and head, hands, and feet of the
demonstration unit were suddenly severed by the single molecule thread
in each band as they each shrunk to a single point of matter. Blood
sprayed out from the neck, wrists, and ankles of the used up unit.<br /><br />All
of the newly hatched joy units in the room, including her, screamed and
cried at the sight of the demonstration of the device. She remembered
the event as though it happened yesterday.<br /><br />The young man nodded. And then he spoke.<br /><br />“We do have the tools for removing it down in the sick bay, let’s go down there.” He said. “Now.”<br /><br />As both of them walked down the corridor he asked her a question.<br /><br />“Were you ever given a proper name?”<br /><br />“No.” She replied.<br /><br />“People have proper names.” He said. “You’re a person. That’s another thing we’ll have to work on.”<br /><br />As
they made their way to the stairs a cabin door opened behind them. The
chief bodyguard stepped out into the corridor. He saw the young man
and the young woman and shouted.<br /><br />“YOU! STOP!”<br /><br />The
mercenary began to run down the corridor. But he lacked experience in
moving in a low gravity environment and with his first step arced
upwards into the ceiling.<br /><br />“Idiot.” Said the young man.<br /><br />As
the mercenary slowly dropped back to the deck the young man drew a mass
driver pistol from a holster under the left shoulder and carefully
stepped forward to the point of the mercenary’s impact. He solidly
locked the sights of his pistol on the mercenary’s head as he carefully
stepped forward.<br /><br />The young man shouted at the mercenary with the voice of military experience and authority.<br /><br />“STAY DOWN! REMAIN ON THE DECK!”<br /><br />The
mercenary looked up to see what appeared to be a toy pistol aimed
directly at his head. It appeared to be a single unit in dark gray
plastic without a separate slide and frame, or an ejection port for the
expended cartridge. The bore of the pistol appeared to be smaller than
the bore of a standard training weapon. And the authority of the young
man’s voice mattered not at all to the mercenary. What did matter was
that the voice that carried the accent of a citizen of the planet Freya,
the mortal enemies of what remained of the Xenophonian people. He
wasn’t about to surrender to what his own eyes obviously saw as a young
punk with a toy pistol from Freya.<br /><br />The mercenary pushed himself
off the deck. The young man pulled the trigger of the driver pistol.
The four millimeter projectile, made of depleted uranium with a
stainless steel jacket, made only a supersonic crack in the air before
it struck the mercenary in the center of the forehead, tumbled within
his braincase, and sprayed his blood and brain matter out from the back
of his head. The remains of the mercenary dropped to the deck.<br /><br />An alarm automatically sounded throughout the ship. And a telephone rang in the young man’s coat pocket.<br /><br />He pulled it out and answered.<br /><br />“Yes,
Captain.” He said. “There’s been a deadly force incident on passenger
deck one with one man down. He’s dead. Send up the clean up crew. And
please have the thread cutter kit in sick bay ready to go. I’m
bringing the patient down right now.”<br /><br />The young man pocketed the phone returned his weapon to the holster.<br /><br />“Let’s go.” He said.<br /><br />As the young woman and the young man went down two flights of stairs she asked him a question.<br /><br />“That was a Xenophonian warrior, how could ... how could you kill him?”<br /><br />He thought for a moment, and then answered.<br /><br />“The
Xenophon Mercenary Corporation, what’s left of them, are nothing more
than a band of thugs with the delusion of superhuman superiority.” He
said. “Shooting them is neither an ethical or a technical problem at
all.”<br /><br />She accepted the answer.<br /><br />The sick bay was on a crew
quarters deck. There were three women in hospital scrubs and white lab
coats already waiting for them there.<br /><br />The young man introduced them.<br /><br />“Miss, this is the ship’s doctor, Doctor Hart, her assistant Nurse Church, and my personal physician, Doctor Adams.”<br /><br />He then turns to speak to the medical staff.<br /><br />“This young lady was a sex slave brought aboard by a moron from Earth. We need to cut off the collar and the other bands.”<br /><br />All three of the women nodded. And then Doctor Adams spoke.<br /><br />“Evelyn, you need to step back.”<br /><br />“Right.” He replied as he complied with his own doctor’s request.<br /><br />Doctor
Adams closed the curtain around the examination table. Evelyn listened
as the staff helped the young lady out of her transfer suit and into a
hospital gown.<br /><br />When they were finished Doctor Adams opened the curtain.<br /><br />The
young woman was sitting on the examination table. Doctor Hart placed
the cutting device on the neck band under the right ear.<br /><br />“Are you ready?” She said to the young woman.<br /><br />The young woman was shaking. She was clearly in a state of fear when she replied.<br /><br />“They ... they ... terminated an old unit ... at the facility ... with all five bands ... there was blood everywhere.”<br /><br />Evelyn responded with a question.<br /><br />“They murdered a woman to demonstrate the system?”<br /><br />“Yes.” She replied.<br /><br />Evelyn nodded and then asked another question.<br /><br />“You are afraid that the other bands will function when we cut the neck band?”<br /><br />“Yes.” She said.<br /><br />“Well,”
said Evelyn, “the worst thing that could happen to you now if that
happens is that we’ll put your hands and feet into deep freeze and place
you in hibernation and then surgically reattach everything when we
return to Freya.”<br /><br />The young woman stopped shaking.<br /><br />“It will hurt like Hell, but you’ll live.” He said.<br /><br />The young woman nodded.<br /><br />Doctor Hart spoke.<br /><br />“Are you ready?”<br /><br />The young woman replied.<br /><br />“Yes.”<br /><br />Doctor
Hart nodded and then pressed down on cutting device. The device made a
loud click sound and the collar fell away to her shoulders. The other
bands didn’t react. There was no blood spraying all over the sick bay.<br /><br />“Well then,” said Evelyn, “monomolecular threads are damned expensive.”<br /><br />As Doctor Hart was positioning the cutter on the right wrist Nurse Church spoke up.<br /><br />“This person will need a name.” She said. “We can’t keep on addressing her as ‘hey you.’”<br /><br />“Of course.” Evelyn replied.<br /><br />The
cutter clicked again. The wrist band fell away. A tattoo on the inner
side of the right wrist was now in full view. The tattoo was of a
corporate logo and the characters, “JOYUNIT 61-182-21.”<br /><br />Evelyn recognized the logo. He spoke to the young lady.<br /><br />“It
appears that you’re a product of the Grande-Sinjoro Corporation.” He
said. “I should send a nice present to one of their future board
meetings.”<br /><br />“A present?” Said the young lady.<br /><br />“What did you have in mind?” Asked Doctor Adams.<br /><br />“A ten kiloton suitcase nuke.” He replied.<br /><br />Doctor Hart cut off the band on the left wrist.<br /><br />“I thought ours were rated at twenty kilotons?” She said.<br /><br />“Whatever.” Said Evelyn. “As long as it works.”<br /><br />The young woman spoke up.<br /><br />“What’s a suitcase nuke?”<br /><br />Evelyn answered.<br /><br />“It’s a very efficient and a very concealable way to kill a lot of very bad people.”<br /><br />Doctor Hart had finished positioning the cutter on the left ankle when she spoke.<br /><br />“The patient does need a proper name.” She said. “‘Jane Doe’ isn’t going to cut it.”<br /><br />“Jane Doe?” Said the young woman.<br /><br />Evelyn answered.<br /><br />“The police would traditionally use that name in their documents for a female victim whose name wasn’t known to them.”<br /><br />Doctor Hart cut off the left ankle band.<br /><br />Doctor Adams spoke to the young woman.<br /><br />“You do strongly resemble Princess Diana.”<br /><br />“Who?” Said the young woman.<br /><br />Evelyn answered.<br /><br />“Diana
Spencer, she was born a bit over three centuries ago. She was named
after a pagan goddess of the hunt. She was a naive young lady who was
used by the British royal family as a walking womb and then dumped.
After the divorce she was killed in a completely senseless ground
traffic accident. I never met her during my first incarnation. And I
was already on Mars when her sole surviving son was elected to be the
second President of the Federation.”<br /><br />Nurse Church spoke up.<br /><br />“Someone may have saved a copy of her genome on file.”<br /><br />Evelyn replied.<br /><br />“Or,
given the state of ethical degeneration I’ve seen on Earth, it’s
possible that a walking piece of garbage may have desecrated her grave
to obtain a DNA sample.”<br /><br />Doctor Hart then cut off the band on the right ankle.<br /><br />“There.” She said. “We’re finished.”<br /><br />The young woman stood up. Free at last.<br /><br />She thought for a moment. And then spoke.<br /><br />“I like the name, Diana.”<br /><br />Everyone nodded. Evelyn replied.<br /><br />“Well then, your name is Diana, you now have a proper name.”<br /><br />Evelyn’s phone rang in the coat pocket.<br /><br />“Just a moment.” He said. “I need to answer this.”<br /><br />Evelyn stepped away from the table to answer the phone.<br /><br />“Yes.” He said.<br /><br />The voice on the line was the captain of the ship, Deborah Hausa.<br /><br />“Sir, we have a hostage situation in the main dining room.”<br /><br />“I’ll be right down.” He replied.<br /><br />“Yes, sir.” Said Captain Hausa.<br /><br />He turned to the ladies in the sick bay and spoke.<br /><br />“We have another emergency. Someone is being really stupid. I’ll be right back.”<br /><br />The main dining room was two decks down.<br /><br />Diana asked a question.<br /><br />“What did he mean when he said someone is being really stupid?”<br /><br />Doctor Adams answered.<br /><br />“With Evelyn it means that whoever caused the problem is already dead.”<br /><br />Diana had another question.<br /><br />“And he said something about having a first incarnation?”<br /><br />Doctor Adams answered.<br /><br />“The
original version of Evelyn Alexander Charon spent most of the last two
centuries in cryogenic stasis. A bit over eight standard years ago we
cloned him. We then thawed out the original person and copied his mind
and memories into the new body. We call it reincarnation by
technological means. It’s similar to the process by which you were
created, but used in an ethically proper fashion.”<br /><br />Diana had another question.<br /><br />“What happened to the original Evelyn Alexander Charon?”<br /><br />Doctor Adams smiled.<br /><br />“He’s
undergoing a current state of the art aging control treatment.” She
said. “ And unlike his duplicate he’s being a complete grouch about it.”<br /><br />“May I ask one more question?” Said Diana.<br /><br />“Yes.” Said Doctor Adams.<br /><br />“Does Evelyn always come to someone’s rescue?”<br /><br />Doctor Adams answered directly.<br /><br />“When he was growing up in his first incarnation he usually played a paladin in <i>Dungeons And Dragons.</i>”<br /><br />“What’s <i>Dungeons And Dragons</i>?” Diana asked.<br /><br />On
the dining room deck the second incarnation of Evelyn Alexander Charon
met Captain Hausa in the corridor outside the dining room.<br /><br />Captain
Deborah Hausa was in her midforties in age and statuesque in build and
one of the rare Freyans who was directly descended from a native
African, her paternal grandfather.<br /><br />“Situation?” He said.<br /><br />Captain Hausa looked at the notepad she was holding.<br /><br />“Douglas
Wolfe, the idiot who brought the sex toy aboard and his three remaining
guards have taken three hostages with table knives in the dining
room.” She replied. “We evacuated the remaining passengers to the
corridor.”<br /><br />Charon looked up and down the corridor. Formally
dressed passengers were seated on the deck or leaning with their backs
against the walls.<br /><br />“Any demands yet?” He said.<br /><br />“He wants his sex toy returned.” Said Captain Hausa. “And he wants to be returned to Earth.”<br /><br />“Out of the question.” He replied.<br /><br />Captain Hausa nodded in agreement.<br /><br />“Yes.” She said.<br /><br />One of the formally dressed passengers, seated on the deck, shouted to Hausa and Charon.<br /><br />“Just give him what he wants!” The elderly man said.<br /><br />Evelyn Charon decided to point his right finger and reply to the old man with the full voice of authority.<br /><br />“One more word and you won’t receive the standard refund for being a victim in a terrorist action!”<br /><br />The old man was silenced.<br /><br />Charon resumed his discussion with Captain Hausa.<br /><br />“Let’s get the passengers back to their staterooms for now.”<br /><br />“Yes, sir.” Captain Hausa replied.<br /><br />She gave to necessary orders to the staff on deck.<br /><br />“Is there anything else I need to know about this group?”<br /><br />“Yes, sir,” said Captain Hausa, “the three bodyguards are from the planet Hope.”<br /><br />“And they’re guarding a slave owner?”<br /><br />“Yes, sir.” She replied.<br /><br />Hope,
a world orbiting Procyon, was one of the first worlds outside the Solar
System to be colonized. African-Americans, who generally didn’t fit
into the main stream of Federation society, especially in North America,
were very strongly encouraged to settle there.<br /><br />“What we have here is a very serious belief check failure.”<br /><br />“Sir,” said Captain Hausa, “they translated <i>Mein Kampf</i> into their primary dialect.”<br /><br />“And
the damned thing was bad enough in the original German.” Charon
replied. “But it’s nice to know what psychological buttons to we have
to push.”<br /><br />Charon looked around. The security team, four members
of the crew who were now armed with optically sighted driver carbines,
wore tactical vests over their normal shipboard uniforms, and wore
tactical helmets, were standing on the deck waiting for their orders.<br /><br />“Who’s the team leader?”<br /><br />The nearest woman on the team replied.<br /><br />“I am, sir.”<br /><br />“Right,” said Charon, “I want you to place their leader under arrest, use a butt stroke if you have to.”<br /><br />“Yes, sir!”<br /><br />He spoke the other team members.<br /><br />“You
three, from left to right each of you will aim for the heads on each
thug, on my command you will take them out. Do you understand?”<br /><br />They responded in the affirmative.<br /><br />“Alright,” he said, “let’s dance.”<br /><br />Charon slowly entered the dining room followed by the security team.<br /><br />The
three males from Hope each held an expensively dressed woman with a
table knife at the throat. Their employer was a young male in his
mid-twenties, he had long and absurdly kempt hair and was dressed in the
current youth fashion of Earth.<br /><br />The employer turned to Charon and shouted.<br /><br />“Who the fuck are you?”<br /><br />Charon ignored the obscenity and replied.<br /><br />“Evelyn Alexander Charon, Chairman of the Board of the Freyaspace Corporation, and you are?”<br /><br />The three men from Hope became visibly nervous and started looking at each other for support. The employer replied.<br /><br />“You know who the fuck I am!”<br /><br />Charon refrained from smiling and replied.<br /><br />“You apparently lack an understanding of basic courtesy.”<br /><br />“Fuck that! I want my bitch back and I want to go back to Earth!”<br /><br />Charon shook his head.<br /><br />“You
also lack an understanding of basic ethics. A person isn’t property.
And I’m not going to start on the subject of astronautics.”<br /><br />Wolfe pulled a small device with a visible red button out of a pocket.<br /><br />“Fuck you!” He shouted. “Give me my bitch back or I’ll kill it!”<br /><br />“Go ahead.” Said Charon calmly. “Push the button.”<br /><br />Wolfe smiled as he pressed down on the red button.<br /><br />“There! Its dead!” He shouted. “What you gonna do now?”<br /><br />Charon shook his head before calmly replying.<br /><br />“Did
you even bother to change the battery on the kill switch? We already
cut off the bands. She’s now a free woman with a proper name. And
there’s nothing you or your connections on Earth can do about it.”<br /><br />Charon now turned his attention to the three men from Hope.<br /><br />“And you gentlemen, you should be ashamed of yourselves, being employed by a slave owner.”<br /><br />“What you talkin’ about?” The man in the middle responded. “That cracker bitch don’t mean shit to us!”<br /><br />“Of course not.” Said Charon. “Humans only mean something to humans.”<br /><br />The man on the left shouted.<br /><br />“Who the fuck are you to talk shit to us?”<br /><br />Now Evelyn Alexander Charon smiled.<br /><br />“You
should already know who I am.” He said. “I was born eleven minutes
and six seconds after President Kennedy was murdered in Dallas, Texas. I
was present in the United States when I saw that it was time for a
change. I Killed President Hope and his cabinet while the First Lady
screamed in vain. ‘Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name.’”<br /><br />All
three of the men from Hope suddenly realized that the man deemed to be
the incarnation of Lucifer, who in the history that was taught on Hope
killed their leader and brought down their people centuries ago on
Earth, was now standing before them.<br /><br />They all released their hostages and began to charge forward towards Charon.<br /><br />Charon shouted the order.<br /><br />“Fire!”<br /><br />All three driver carbines fired as if they were one. All three of the men from Hope fell to the deck at the same time.<br /><br />The security team leader now moved forward. She spoke to Wolfe.<br /><br />“Douglas Wolfe, you’re under arrest for the crime of enslavement, this is a capital crime.”<br /><br />Wolfe shouted.<br /><br />“Fuck you bitch!”<br /><br />The
team leader, in accordance to her training, swung the carbine. With
her left hand on the forward grip and her right hand grasping the stock
she forcefully connected the butt of the weapon to Wolfe’s head. He was
knocked to the deck unconscious.<br /><br />Captain Hausa stepped into the dining room.<br /><br />She looked at the remains of the men from Hope.<br /><br />“‘Those who dehumanize others only dehumanize themselves.’” She quoted.<br /><br />“Well, I thought it was an obvious fact.” He replied.<br /><br />“And you didn’t mention the time you saved the survivors of the State of Israel?”<br /><br />“So file a complaint with the poet board.” He replied. “Let’s get this mess cleaned up.”<br /><br />After
the hostages were taken to the sick bay, the bodies were bagged, the
mess cleaned up in the dining room, and the paperwork filled out, Evelyn
Charon and Captain Hausa held a meeting in her office.<br /><br />“We’re ready to dump the bodies.” She said.<br /><br />“I know you don’t like pushing dead mass, but I think we should make the jump to the Nowhere System first.”<br /><br />“Why?”<br /><br />“This is going to be a long answer.” He said.<br /><br />“I’m listening.”<br /><br />“In
my experience those who believe they are exempt from the law, as with
narcissists like Mister Wolfe, often do so because they have a
connection within the government, or what now passes for a government on
Earth. That connection will now be used against us. And we’ll be the
ones treated as criminals.”<br /><br />“But we’re in the right.” She said.<br /><br />“With
narcissists right and wrong are irrelevant. What matters to them, and
only what matters, is that we submit to their will.”<br /><br />“Just like Islam.” She replied.<br /><br />“Yes.” He said. “Just like Islam.”<br /><br />Captain Hausa thought for a moment.<br /><br />“If
the opposition goes fully Soviet on us,” she said, “they’ll manufacture
evidence to use against us, it won’t matter if we dump the bodies now
or not.”<br /><br />“I can see that.” He replied. “Let’s dump the bodies then.<br /><br />“Yes, sir.”<br /><br />Captain Hausa had another question.<br /><br />“How does this effect the underground space line?”<br /><br />“Aversely, I would think.” He replied. “Very adversely.”<br /><br />On this run alone there were already twelve escaped slaves traveling in secret on the hibernation deck.<br /><br />“I’m
afraid this incident may cause us to curtail further transport
operations from Earth.” He said. “It’s too bad there aren’t any
independent ship owners who could take up the load.”<br /><br />Captain Hausa had a thought.<br /><br />“The
company still has ships in storage from the time of the big lift from
Mars. We could reactivate some of those ships as part of an independent
space line and flag them from another independent planet.”<br /><br />He looked directly at her.<br /><br />“Do you think you can pull it off?”<br /><br />“I know I can.” She said with confidence.<br /><br />“Please have the proposal in writing before we reach home.”<br /><br />“Yes, sir.”<br /><br />Charon had another thought.<br /><br />“This situation will become much uglier.”<br /><br />“In what way, sir?”<br /><br />“Those
who believe themselves to be superior beings hate to held to a valid
moral standard, for example the National Socialists in Germany.” He
said. “ And they violently express their rage not only at those who hold
them to the moral standard, but also those who’re conveniently in
range.”<br /><br />“Yes.” Said Captain Hausa.<br /><br />“The people in the
support network on Earth are clearly in danger.” He said. “It’s time
to evacuate the last good people on Earth.”<br /><br />“We’re not the angels of the Lord, sir.” She said.<br /><br />“Well, someone has to do the job.” He replied. “God won’t.”<br /><br />Captain Hausa had another thought.<br /><br />“Sir, some people at home would say that you we are acting altruistically.”<br /><br />“And I can’t be a selfish bastard if I can’t live with myself.”<br /><br />“I don’t remember reading that, sir.” She replied.<br /><br />“I just thought of it.” He said. “It comes with the job.”<br /><br />Evelyn Charon had another thing to say.<br /><br />“There will be a war.” He said. “And I would expect it to be the bloodiest war in human history.”<br /><br />“We won our own War Of Independence.” She replied.<br /><br />“We
were lucky. Your grandfather was the smartest and most experienced
general officer alive at the time. And the central government on Earth
wasn’t prepared for a war at that time.” He said. “But we may have to
bring him out of cold storage to fight this war as well.”<br /><br />Captain Hausa could only nod her head in agreement.<br /><br />Evelyn
Charon was tired after the meeting but he thought he had to return to
the sick bay. It was there that he found Diana had been cleaned up and
transferred to a normal hospital bed.<br /><br />Asleep and without the horrid makeup, even in the subdued light of the sick bay, she was angelic in appearance.<br /><br />Doctor Adams gently stepped up behind him and softly spoke.<br /><br />“Now what?”<br /><br />Evelyn softly answered.<br /><br />“She goes through the healing process and personal growth and lives a proper human life.”<br /><br />Doctor Adams asked another question.<br /><br />“Are you prepared to see her go through it?”<br /><br />Evelyn looked at her. He didn’t have an answer.<br /><br />Doctor Adams spoke again.<br /><br />“Are you willing to accept the responsibility?”<br /><br />“Yes.” He said.<br /><br />He thought for a moment and then spoke again.<br /><br />“Now that Alex is up and about he could use a project to keep him tied to the home office.”<br /><br />“You’re not walking away from this one!” She responded.<br /><br />“You
know him.” He replied. “As soon as he is healthy enough he’ll be up
to his neck working to solve the problems we’re now stuck with.”<br /><br />Cheryl Adams shook her head. Evelyn responded.<br /><br />“Alex made every effort to be a good husband and father.” He said. “He can be one again, and you should marry him.”<br /><br />Her eyes widened.<br /><br />“I love you.” She responded.<br /><br />He answered her.<br /><br />“I
love you Cheryl, but I can’t, I simply can’t. My first wife, Susan,
and our daughter Alice, were murdered by a Muslim suicide bomber, and
Sonya and I were married after she survived the Second Holocaust. I
can’t expect this incarnation to be any quieter.”<br /><br />He continued to speak softly.<br /><br />“I love you, but now there’s a storm coming, I’m not counting on surviving it, and I’m not leaving a widow behind.”<br /><br />He kissed her on the forehead and spoke softly.<br /><br />“Goodnight.”<br /><br />There was nothing else he could do.<br /> <br />It was time to clean up the mess.<br /><br />The
first part of the process was to remove the biohazard fluids, blood,
brain matter and urine, left on the decks by the dead thugs. This was
followed by the examination for evidence of the staterooms and luggage
of the offenders. This task was left to the security chief of the ship,
Julie Canny.<br /><br />The three thugs from Hope had clothing that was
flashy and ill fitting. Designed to be worn by those who barely engaged
in any thought. And with the belief that it was effective for
attracting attention from those who didn’t think.<br /><br />The little
intellectual material found on their notebook computers reflected the
culture of their home world. Full hatred for all races other than their
own. Extreme hatred of the Freyans. Hatred of any form of independent
thought and material success in reality. The entertainment material
was incoherent noise masquerading as music and some very hardcore
pornography.<br /><br />Their computers and clothing were ejected out the airlock with the mortal remains.<br /><br />The Xenophonian mercenary was more interesting.<br /><br />His
personal clothing and other items were plain and practical. His
notebook computer took some effort to crack into. Once the computer was
cracked it was very apparent that in addition to working as the chief
bodyguard of Wolfe, he also intended to perform a reconnaissance on a
Freyan ship on behalf of the Xenophon Mercenary Corporation. Julie
discussed the sections of the ship that were priorities for examination
with the engineer, Mr. Czech. In his opinion the information sought
would be required to carry out a sabotage operation.<br /><br />The
Xenophonian’s body was placed in cryogenic storage on the hibernation
deck and his computer and personal effects placed in secure storage to
be turned over to Confederation military intelligence.<br /><br />The
apparel of Douglas Wolfe followed the current youth fashion on Earth.
This meant that he apparently put no thought into the acquisition or the
appearance of it.<br /><br />The notebook computer was another can worms altogether.<br /><br />There
were no intellectual text files present apart from an annotated English
language translation of the Koran. The music and video files followed
the current entertainment fashion on Earth<br /><br />This was no surprise.<br /><br />The visual pornography files were very graphic and very sadistic in content.<br /><br />Then Canny opened the file folder labeled DONNER.<br /><br />If
the images were computer generated then they were very indicative of a
very deep psychological disorder. If the images were real then they
were hard evidence of a series of serious, sadistic, and lethal crimes.<br /><br />Wolfe also had in his possession a hardbound copy of a work simply titled THE BOOK OF PEACE.<br /><br />The
computer, book, and Wolfe’s personal effects were placed in secure
storage to be turned over to the Confederation police on Freya.<br /><br />At
the midpoint of their flight through the Solar System the liner went
into free fall mode for turnover. Although there was a way to continue
acceleration during a turnover the Freyaspace management had concluded
that it was a waste of reaction mass.<br /><br />Just short of the jump
point the Reliable came almost to a dead stop before the engines were
shut off. The ship was in free fall mode and set to slowly coast through
the location of the jump point in normal space.<br /><br />Evelyn and Diana
were belted into their observer seats on the command deck. Diana had
wore no makeup and had her hair cut to a practical length and was
wearing slippers and scrubs from the sickbay.<br /><br />From Evelyn’s view she was stunning.<br /><br />“So how does the jump drive work?” Diana asked.<br /><br />“Good
question.” Said Evelyn. “The closest thing I heard to a clear answer
is that we’re taking advantage of a cosmic loophole.”<br /><br />“In both the literal and metaphorical sense of the word?”<br /><br />“Yes.” He replied.<br /><br />In
spite of the manufacturer’s training Diana was showing a great amount
of curiosity and a willingness to learn. But then she did initiate her
escape on her own. Once she had her own access to the ship’s network
she devoured intellectual files as if there were no tomorrow. In any
case this was in Evelyn’s opinion a good sign.<br /><br />The first officer spoke.<br /><br />“Captain, all stations report ready for jump.”<br /><br />Even though she checked the clock herself she followed the established procedure.<br /><br />“Time to jump?” She asked.<br /><br />“Two minutes, forty seconds.”<br /><br />“This is the most boring part.” Evelyn said softly.<br /><br />The first officer counted off the time to jump at fifteen second intervals. And then began a full count at fifteen seconds.<br /><br />At five seconds Evelyn spoke to Diana.<br /><br />“Close your eyes.”<br /><br />At the moment of jump the universe disappeared...<br /><br />...and then reappeared.<br /><br />When Diana recovered from the effects of the jump she spoke.<br /><br />“What just happened?”<br /><br />It took ten seconds for Evelyn to answer.<br /><br />“It’s called jump shock or jump discontinuity.” He said.<br /><br />“It felt like I didn’t exist?”<br /><br />“Yes.” He said. “Like reality became unreal for a moment.”<br /><br />“Why?”<br /><br />He looked at her.<br /><br />“I have no idea.” He said. “No one does.”<br /><br />DX
Cancri was a red dwarf star that was almost twelve light years from
Earth. It only had nine percent of the mass of the Sun. The lesser
effect of the red dwarf’s gravity allowed the points from and to which
ships could jump to be much closer together in space. This had the
practical effect of shortening the travel time and reducing the reaction
mass requirements for crossing the system. In addition to the point to
the Solar System, DX Cancri also had jump points to fifteen other
stars.<br /><br />The port for the system was on an airless and ice covered
satellite of an gas giant planet. Someone with a sense of humor named
it Nowhere.<br /><br />On the approach to Nowhere three women were having a discussion in the sick bay.<br /><br />“You want me to what?” Said Diana.<br /><br />Doctor Hart replied.<br /><br />“We need to take your physical measurements so we could go shopping for you on the station.”<br /><br />“Why can’t I go shopping myself?”<br /><br />Doctor Adams answered.<br /><br />“On
this ship you’re a person.” She said. “The station is Federation
territory, where you’re still classed as property. And as an escaped
slave you’re subject to summary execution upon identification.”<br /><br />“So I can’t go?” Said Diana.<br /><br />“Correct,” said Doctor Adams, “so we’ll have to go for you.”<br /><br />“And you’ll have all the fun?” Asked Diana.<br /><br />Doctor Hart replied.<br /><br />“Well
no. We can bring up the catalog and you can make your choices here.
We’ll then go aboard the station and pick up the order.”<br /><br />Doctor Hart brought up a catalog page on her workstation.<br /><br />“Star-Mart
isn’t the best retailer of women’s clothes in the Known Universe, but
they’re on the Nowhere station, you can do a better job of shopping and
have proper fun when we reach home.”<br /><br />An announcement was made on the shipboard address system.<br /><br />“One hour to free fall mode.”<br /><br />As
Diana was vicariously shopping with the doctors Evelyn was observing
ship’s operations on the command deck. When she found a break in
procedures Captain Hausa walked over to and sat down next to him.<br /><br />“Boss, we have a problem.” She said.<br /><br />“What is it?”<br /><br />“Two agents of the Federation Investigation Service want to talk to you.”<br /><br />“No.” He responded. “They should know better than to even make that request of someone with a diplomatic passport.”<br /><br />“I
took the liberty of making an inquiry.” She said. “Their address on
the station is located in the section belonging to the Office of
Replacement Retirement.”<br /><br />Evelyn nodded.<br /><br />“That’s such a
lame designation for a murder squad.” He said. “Let’s be safe and
assume the worst case is now in effect. No one who’s not scheduled to
transfer at the station leaves the ship. We top off the reaction mass
tanks and go.”<br /><br />“Yes, sir.” Said Captain Hausa.<br /><br />Charon decided to remain on the command deck while the ship was docked at the station.<br /><br />Diana
had made her way to the command deck while the ship was in the free
fall condition. She wore velcro grip gloves and slippers. She’d learned
to do the Kubrick walk in the weightless condition.<br /><br />“Sit down and strap in.” Evelyn said.<br /><br />Diana did so.<br /><br />“What happened?” She asked.<br /><br />“The slave murder squad wants a word with me. I said no.”<br /><br />She stared at him.<br /><br />“Try to not worry, we’ll top off the tanks and be out of here.”<br /><br />She nodded.<br /><br />Charon
continued to sit on the command deck and supervise. Before the top off
procedure was almost complete his personal phone rang.<br /><br />“Yes Captain?” He said.<br /><br />“Sir, we have another problem.”<br /><br />“What is it?”<br /><br />“The
thugs are stopping the remass procedure and said they’re aiming the
station’s weapons at the ship. They want to speak to you, NOW.”<br /><br />Charon thought for a moment.<br /><br />“I’ll meet with them at the passenger airlock. Have the security team ready to repel boarders.”<br /><br />“Yes, sir.”<br /><br />Diana spoke.<br /><br />“What’s happening?”<br /><br />“The
slave murder squad is being really stupid.” He replied. “They’re
threatening to use force. I’m going to have a nice little chat with
them.”<br /><br />“I want to be there.” Diana said.<br /><br />“They want to kill you.”<br /><br />“I’m responsible for my own life.”<br /><br />“Yes, you are.” Charon replied. “But I won’t let them take you while I’m alive.”<br /><br />Diana nodded.<br /><br />“Let’s go.” He said.<br /><br />The
security team were setting up at the nearest corridor crossing to the
airlock. They were wearing their zero-g combat overalls, with velcro
patches to allow the wearers to attach themselves to the deck or those
sections of wall and ceiling that were also covered with velcro. They
also had two squad support weapons. They were the four millimeter mass
driver technology replacement for the general purpose machine gun. The
gunners had locked the five hundred round ammunition cassettes in place.
The bipods were set into slots in the walls for operation in the free
fall environment. To civilian eyes the slots appeared to be solely
decorative. The optical sights on the weapons were at the single red
dot setting for zero-g.<br /><br />The two other team members carried what
appeared to be telescopes with bipods, pistol grips, and rifle stocks.
There were power cords for the laser weapons running to packs on each
crew members back.<br /><br />All members of the security team were using
the corners of the entry corridor to mask their bodies from view from
the airlock. With only the head, arms, and shoulders being visible.<br /><br />When the security team was ready the leader spoke.<br /><br />“We’re ready.” Said Julie.<br /><br />Attached
to the deck with their velcro shoes just three meters short of the
airlock were Evelyn Charon, Captain Hausa, and Diana.<br /><br />“Good.” Said Evelyn.<br /><br />He turned to the Captain.<br /><br />“You don’t have to be here.”<br /><br />“I’m the captain. I have to be here.” She replied. “And I wouldn’t miss the work of a master.”<br /><br />“I wouldn’t quite put it that way.” He replied.<br /><br />He turned to Diana.<br /><br />“You don’t have to be here.” He said.<br /><br />“I’m not leaving your side.<br /><br />He looked straight ahead.<br /><br />“Right
then. Remember, fear is an emotion, fear is the negation of thought, I
will pass by the state of fear to the state of reason.” He said.<br /><br />Charon placed his hands on his hips and issued the order.<br /><br />“Open the airlock.”<br /><br />The door to the Nowhere Station slid open.<br /><br />On
the far side of the airlock, still within the station was a black clad
group of eight men. Each of them were armed with the nine millimeter
ACRS. The shortened version of the last generation of chemically fueled
assault weapons issued by the Federation armed forces. Their feet were
attached to the deck with velcro slippers over their combat boots.<br /><br />Morons.
Charon thought. The first man to fire a round would be propelled
backwards. And he would knock back everyone behind him in a free fall
domino effect.<br /><br />Which would be absurd if they weren’t deployed to do it for real.<br /><br />Beyond
the would-be storm troopers were two men, an older African-American and
a younger Caucasian with an appalling boy band hair style. They wore
suits and ties. Stationed on a space station they should’ve already
known that neckties and the weightless condition didn’t mix.<br /><br />They had to be the gentlemen from the Office of Replacement Retirement.<br /><br />Charon spoke first.<br /><br />“Gentlemen, I’m Evelyn Alexander Charon, you can step forward now to talk, I won’t bite.”<br /><br />The older of the two responded.<br /><br />“Mister Charon, we require your presence in our office.”<br /><br />“Nonsense.” Charon replied. “Your authority ends at the airlock door, and I won’t step into it.”<br /><br />The two men were dumbfounded. They looked at each other in confusion.<br /><br />Charon spoke again.<br /><br />“You
should step up so we could have a proper conversation. And you can send
the goon squad home. They wouldn’t last ten seconds in action under
these conditions.”<br /><br />In Charon’s opinion the goons wouldn’t last
two seconds in combat and they would have left an awful mess, with blood
sprayed literally all over the place, in the weightless conditions.<br /><br />The
black suited members of the tactical team were staring at the shipboard
security team and their weapons properly emplaced for zero-g combat.<br /><br />They wanted to go home. Now.<br /><br />The lead agent could also see the situation for what it was. He decided there was nothing to gained by dying.<br /><br />He spoke.<br /><br />“Team leader!”<br /><br />“Yes, sir!”<br /><br />“Return to base!”<br /><br />“Yes, sir!”<br /><br />The
tactical team leader raised the muzzle of his weapon away from the
Freyans. The remainder of the team did so as well. They moved clumsily
back to the spin section of the station.<br /><br />The shipboard security team shifted the aim of their weapons to the two agents.<br /><br />“Now.” Said Charon. “Let’s have a civilized conversation.”<br /><br />The two agents stepped forward with their grip shoes on the deck. Charon asked a question.<br /><br />“Why are you interfering with the operation of this ship?”<br /><br />The lead agent spoke.<br /><br />“We
have information that four of your passengers are dead, one has been
placed under arrest and is in hibernation, and that you’re giving
sanctuary to a replacement.”<br /><br />Charon answered with the full voice of moral authority.<br /><br />“This
vessel is registered under the flag of the Ursa Major Confederation. Douglas Wolfe committed a capital crime and is under arrest. His four
employees were killed while assaulting myself and four other passengers
on this ship. And Diana is a person, not a piece of property.”<br /><br />“And does this alleged person have a surname?”<br /><br />Evelyn quickly answered.<br /><br />“Charon.” He said. “Diana Charon.”<br /><br />Evelyn shifted his right hand towards Diana. She placed her left hand in his and stepped towards him.<br /><br />“Mister Charon, why are you defying the law?”<br /><br />“What law?”<br /><br />“You are stealing a replacement from the rightful owner and holding him captive.”<br /><br />Charon answered. Firmly.<br /><br />“The
true code of law is based on the individual right to live, this isn’t
only the right to physically exist but also the right to be in complete
control of one’s own life. What you’re doing is simply a complete denial
of that right. What I’m doing is a complete defense of that right.”<br /><br />Evelyn then voiced a personal opinion.<br /><br />“And
someone who claims ownership of another person is nothing more than a
predatory animal, to be identified and dealt with as such.”<br /><br />Charon then had one more thing to say.<br /><br />“Does your mother know that you murder slaves?”<br /><br />The African-American senior agent responded sharply.<br /><br />“Leave my mother out of this!” He said. “And we don’t commit acts of murder! We retire replacements!”<br /><br />Charon shook his head.<br /><br />“Really?
Couldn’t you come up with a better euphemism? The term ‘retirement’
was lame when Ridley Scott used it in the original version of Blade
Runner.”<br /><br />“Oh, I forgot.” Said Charon. “A euphemism requires original thought.”<br /><br />“Mister
Charon?” Said the senior agent. “Why are you wasting our time? Just
hand over the replacement and release the owner to us and you can go.”<br /><br />“And be an accessory to murder?” Said Charon as he shook his head. “That’s out of the question.”<br /><br />The senior agent desperately attempted another tack to obtain his goal. He spoke to Captain Hausa.<br /><br />“Sister,”
he said, “you can feel that he’s wrong, for the sake of yourself, your
ship and the people on it, just comply with the law.”<br /><br />Captain Hausa shook her head and replied with authority.<br /><br />“You have no law.” She said. “And to comply with your demands would be irrational.”<br /><br />The junior agent interjected.<br /><br />“Reason makes you white!”<br /><br />Captain Hausa replied firmly.<br /><br />“Is that so? Reason is what makes us human.”<br /><br />Diana spoke up.<br /><br />“I would suggest that you quit before you die of embarrassment, but it appears that you’re incapable of it.”<br /><br />Evelyn Charon cracked a smile.<br /><br />“Gentlemen, give up while you still can.” He said.<br /><br />The senior agent was exasperated. He’d reached his limit.<br /><br />“Who are you? Who are you to speak to us that way?”<br /><br />“Simply a man.” He replied. “I did say my name was Evelyn Alexander Charon.”<br /><br />The junior agent shouted.<br /><br />“Which one? Second , third, or forth?”<br /><br />Charon responded.<br /><br />“I
was born on November Twenty Second, Nineteen Sixty Three, in Dallas,
Texas. With all the bullets flying around my parents thought it would
be a good idea to move to Minnesota. I enlisted in the United States
Army on March Tenth, Nineteen Eighty Two. I was wounded in a friendly
fire incident during Operation Desert Storm along with my company
commander, Captain John Andrew March. I worked for him as he served as
the Governor of the State of Minnesota, the last President of the United
States, and the first President of the Federation.”<br /><br />Both agents were stunned.<br /><br />“That’s impossible.” Said the eldest. “You can’t be him. You can’t be the destroyer. You’re too young.”<br /><br />“We call it reincarnation by technological means.” Charon replied. “And it’s a perfectly legal act on Freya.”<br /><br />“You’re a replacement!” Shouted the youngest agent.<br /><br />Charon looked straight at the youngest agent and replied directly.<br /><br />“And
what are you going to do?” He said. “Kill me? Kill Diana? Even if
you could kill us there will be Hell to pay, and my next incarnation
will be there to collect.”<br /><br />Both agents were silent. Charon continued to speak.<br /><br />“Xenophonian
mercenaries murdered three members of my family during the War Of
Independence. We responded by striking the planet Xenophon with ultra
high yield cobalt cased thermonuclear weapons. Nothing lives there
now. Not even mutants hunting each other for food. Your actions aren’t
enforcing any law that we could objectively see as being valid. And
there’s no place in the known universe that you’ll find sanctuary.”<br /><br />Both agents turned pale.<br /><br />“What are we to do?” Asked the senior agent.<br /><br />The answer was simple.<br /><br />“Do no further harm.” Said Evelyn.<br /><br />The Reliable topped off her reaction mass tanks and departed from Nowhere Station with no further interference.<br /><br />The first moment they had alone Evelyn and Diana talked.<br /><br />“So we’re married?” She said.<br /><br />“Apart from some paperwork being filled out, yes.”<br /><br />“And why didn’t you say so earlier?”<br /><br />“You’re
a victim of one of the worst crimes that can be committed. I wanted
you to make your own decision on your own. That idiot forced my hand.”<br /><br />“So what do we do now?”<br /><br />“We live.”<br /><br />Evelyn and Diana kissed.<br /><br />The transit to the jump point was uneventful.<br /><br />The
next world on the route was Vance. It was a habitable satellite of a
gas giant planet of another red dwarf star. It was discovered by John
Vance, an Australian explorer employed by the Freya Project. It had a
seventy percent gravitational pull and an atmospheric pressure at the
surface similar to the city of Denver on Earth. This world allowed
people born in the habitants of Mars to acclimate to higher gravity and
an open sky.<br /><br />And because some of the original Martians had
remained on this world it would become a member of Freya Pact during the
War Of Independence and later join the Ursa Major Confederation.<br /><br />With
no plans to land on the planetary surface Diana and Cheryl went
shopping on the Vance orbital station. They entered the local branch of
Star-Mart in the spin section of Vance Station.<br /><br />As they were locating items found in the catalog the store manager confronted them.<br /><br />He pointed to Diana and shouted with a brusque tone of voice.<br /><br />“YOU! Get out of here!”<br /><br />Cheryl intervened.<br /><br />“Is there a problem?”<br /><br />“Yes!” Said the manager loudly. “We don’t serve replacements here!”<br /><br />The corporate logo and serial number tattoo on Diana’s forearm was still visible.<br /><br />Cheryl replied.<br /><br />“My friend is a person and you’re in the Ursa Major Confederation.”<br /><br />“Doesn’t matter, bitch!” The manager replied. “Corporate policy forbids transactions with escaped replacements.”<br /><br />“You’re just following orders?”<br /><br />“Yes!” The manager replied. “Now get out of here before I call the cops!”<br /><br />Cheryl replied with a level voice.<br /><br />“Go ahead, call the police.”<br /><br />The
first pair of station police officers that arrived said they were under
orders to wait for their supervisors. They rejected the demands by the
store manager to eject the two women.<br /><br />The next to arrive were the manager of the station, the chief of the station police, Captain Hausa, and Evelyn Charon.<br /><br />As Evelyn took charge of the situation the store manager shouted.<br /><br />“Who the Hell are you, punk?”<br /><br />“Evelyn Charon, Chairman of the Board of the Freyaspace Corporation.”<br /><br />The store manager visually scanned Charon for a moment.<br /><br />“You’re too young, punk!” The manager replied in what Charon recognized as an old Chicago accent.<br /><br />“The
Freyaspace Corporation is a owned family business. An actual family
business. Unlike those back in Chicago.” Charon responded. “But
that’s not important right now. What’s the problem we are responding to
is that you're in clear violation of the lease agreement the Star-Mart
Corporation has with the Freyaspace Corporation.”<br /><br />“Doesn’t matter!” The store manager replied. “My orders come from Earth! We don’t take shit from colonial punks.”<br /><br />He pointed to Diana.<br /><br />“Get that walking piece of shit out of here! NOW!”<br /><br />Captain Hausa spoke.<br /><br />“The next thing he’ll do is deny service to ‘niggers.’”<br /><br />“Well, we can’t have that.” Said Charon.<br /><br />He turned to the station manager and spoke.<br /><br />“Karl, the contract is revoked, close the store.”<br /><br />“Yes, sir.”<br /><br />“You won’t get away with this!” The store manger shouted. “You’ll pay for this! You won’t escape punishment from us!”<br /><br />“Who’s us?” Said Charon.<br /><br />The
store manager suddenly realized that he wasn’t back in the City of
Chicago on Earth. His political and social connections could no longer
protect him.<br /><br />Charon turned to the chief of the station police.<br /><br />“Chief? Did you get everything that moron said?”<br /><br />“Yes, sir.”<br /><br />“Chief,
would you please demonstrate to this gentleman how we deal with those
persons who believe they’re exempt from an objectively valid code of
law.”<br /><br />“Yes, sir.”<br /><br />The chief of the station police and the
other officers present pulled out their batons and proceeded to beat the
store manager into a bloody pulp.<br /><br />“Ladies,” said Evelyn, “we’ll have to shop somewhere else.”<br /><br />The
last jump in the journey was to the system of 10 Ursae Majoris. The
system was a binary. The primary star was classed by astronomers as a F5
dwarf and the secondary as a G5 dwarf like the original Sun. The
system was 52 light years from the Earth.<br /><br />The configuration of
the orbit of each star caused the position the jump points in the system
to shift radically over the course of time. It also allowed the system
to have two habitable planets.<br /><br />Orbiting the smaller and dimmer
star of 10 Ursae Majoris B was the planet Freya. Named for the Norse
goddess of wealth and beauty the core group of colonists came from the
sealed habitats of Mars. Survival in the lethal environment of the Red
Planet required a hardcore realist view of existence. A world view that
couldn’t indulge in fantasies. While some people found the core culture
of the Freyans to be hostile and the travel distance to be extreme
there were now a hundred million people living on the planet.<br /><br />The
corporate executive shuttle dropped away from the primary space
station. The destination was the surface port at Landfall. The capital
of the planet and the Ursa Major Confederation.<br /><br />Their limousine pulled out from the corporate section the down port. It turned north for the hour drive to family estate.<br /><br />Evelyn and Diana were met at the main entrance of Charon House by a very elderly man with a cane and an eyepatch.<br /><br />Evelyn made the introduction.<br /><br />“Diana, this is my first incarnation, Alex.”<br /><br />Alex graciously took her right hand into his.<br /><br />“Welcome to the family.” He said.<br /><br />“Thank you, sir.” She replied.<br /><br />Alex smiled.<br /><br />“You needn’t say that.” He said.<br /><br />He then spoke to Evelyn.<br /><br />“You left the usual trail of death and destruction?”<br /><br />“Well, yes.” Said Evelyn.<br /><br />“There are some things we need to discuss.” Alex replied.<br /><br /><br /></p>Leslie Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10928555454437303212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35602681.post-38217174939592154952020-09-11T00:30:00.001-05:002020-09-16T08:25:08.004-05:00Another Reason I Won't Vote Democratic<div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7597221673187519120" itemprop="description articleBody">
Here's two thousand words as to why I won't ever consciously vote for a Democrat.<br />
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For those who're victims of the public schools with the Mainstream Media, a group of Muslims managed to hijack four commercial
airliners and crashed three of them into each of the main towers of the
World Trade Center and the Pentagon. We've yet to properly respond
to this atrocity. By a proper response I mean that we should've erased the abomination
commonly known as the Kaaba from the face of the Earth with a high yield
thermonuclear weapon. And in doing so we would've demonstrated that
the deity known as Allah was without question a false god and the doctrine known as Islam was an absolute load of nonsense.<br />
<br />
Of course there will be those who would've point a finger at me and scream that I'm expressing hatred. So what?<br />
<br />
If we would hang a traitor once in a while (<i>pour encourager l'outres</i>) they wouldn't be so annoying.<br />
<br />
A lie is a lie regardless of how many people choose to believe it or
are compelled to believe it. But the truth is the truth, learn to live
with it.<br />
<br />
There are those who pose as Progressives that have declared that criticism of Islam is an expression of hatred.<br />
<br />
Really? <br />
<br />
No, this is hatred.<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />
Nearly 3000 people were murdered as an act of hated against Humanity.<br />
<br />
Why?<br />
<br />
For Muslims there's no why. There's only the will of the false god
Allah as dropped from the mouth of the false Prophet Mohammad. And it
's only in the Nineteenth Century that we'd see anyone who equaled
that level of depravity, such as Karl Marx.<br />
<br />
What's the purpose of religious tolerance?<br />
<br />
The individual is the sovereign authority in a civil society. Because
of this the government can't impose a belief, including a religious
belief, upon the person. Thus any religion that accepts the individual as
sovereign authority in a civil society can and must be tolerated.
Under Islam man is the property of the deity. A person has no rights,
can't enact legislation, and can't establish and uphold a moral
standard. Compliance with Islam must be imposed by force. Furthermore a
Muslim is permitted to deceive or otherwise use nonbelievers for their
own gain and even commit murder. An underage girl who's protected
under a rational code of law is seen, literally, as a usable object
under the doctrine of Islam.<br />
<br />
Such behavior, which denies the rights and sovereignty of the individual, can't be tolerated in a civil society.
I will furthermore go further in saying that the existence of Islam can
be seen as possible proof of the nonexistence of God. A rational,
caring, and observant God should have vaporized the false prophet
Mohammad the moment he
opened his mouth to claim divine blessing for such obviously evil acts
as rape, robbery, murder, censorship, and participation in the slave
trade. Islam is absolutely toxic to Human life. And those, including
the enforcers of Islamic doctrine, who deny the Rights Of Man absolutely
cannot claim those very same rights for themselves. Those who act to
enforce the doctrine of Islam are absolute Enemies of Mankind. They're
fit solely for extermination.<br />
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<br />
A belief in Islamophobia is pure and absolute nonsense. Islamophobia is
a false concept. Phobia is a Latin word for an irrational fear of
something.<br />
<br />
The obvious question is how can someone be tricked into betraying any
moral value when they absolutely lack one? The false prophet Mohammad
commanded his followers to commit the acts of
rape, robbery, and murder. The doctrine of Islam commands enslavement
and the systematic violation of the rights of man and to act as
predatory animals. Without question the doctrine and practice of Islam
is absolutely depraved. Given that Human Life is the foundation of all
valid moral values then
Islam must be absolutely condemned. But the signatories of this
document condemn as immoral those who hold an actual moral standard. I'
m hard pressed to respond to this utterly depraved document without
the use of barracks language. But I'll say this, Vidkun Quisling was
shot for his betrayal of the Norwegian people and we’re going to need an
all night firing squad to deal with this bunch.<br />
<br />
They're not un-Minnesotan, they're anti-human.<br />
<br />
Is there such a thing as Islamophobia?<br />
<br />
No.<br />
<br />
It's perfectly natural to have a fear of being conquered by a bunch of ignorant and violent people.<br />
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<br />
Can a Muslim be a good person? Is it possible for someone who's
indoctrinated in the absolutely depraved ideology of Islam to act as a
good person? We saw examples of of a Muslim being good in during the terrorist
actions in Paris. The first being the police officer who's murdered
by the Jihadists in the line of duty. The other being the young man
who led others to safety during the attack on the delicatessen. It's possible for a Muslim to be a good person but this is a
compromise. As with all compromises it's untenable. In the long run
these people must renounce the doctrine of Islam and embrace Reason as
the way of life. Every Muslim, at least in theory, is Human. A fundamental part of being
Human is the capacity for reason, full perception and conscious
thought.<br />
<br />
The doctrine of Islam forbids rational thought. Islam reduces all
persons to the moral status of animals and thus to property. In
submitting to the alleged will of the false god Allah the Muslim
renounces responsibility for their own actions. All murders and other
crimes committed by a Muslim are simply the will of the false god Allah. In
reality when a Muslim desires to commit an act of rape, robbery, or
murder he simply declares that he is only following the orders of false god Allah.<br />
<br />
The doctrine of Islam claims that the entire body of laws made by men,
thousands of years of effort by mankind to create a just society,
thousands of years of effort by of good men, who wrote legal charters
and laws, including our original Constitution and our Bill Of Rights,
are simply nullified by the mouth droppings of the false prophet
Mohammad.<br />
<br />
On what grounds can those who deny The Rights of Man can claim protection the under those very same rights? <br />
<br />
None whatsoever.<br />
<br />
But how one deals with another person determines how that person
responds. When the Muslim renounces responsibility for their own
thoughts and actions they can no longer be rationally identified as
being Human. And we who remain rational humans can no longer identify and deal with a
Muslim as a proper person who's responsible for their own life and
actions. We can only see them as toxic organisms to be removed as a
hazard to our lives. And worse the indoctrination of children in the
doctrine of Islam condemns them to extinction as well.<br />
<br />
Islam is a clearly false doctrine that serves only as an excuse for
criminal actions that are beyond the toleration of civilized people.
Islam denies all of the Rights of Man and therefore no Muslim can claim
any of those rights for himself. We must accept as a fact of reality
that Islam is outside of the
protection of the First Amendment and take the actions necessary to
protect the citizens and legal residents of the United States. The
rational people of Earth are left with no alternative but to kill
them all. On the day of the extinction of Islam, I'll feel no guilt
about it, and neither should anyone else. Islam, like all other
anti-Human (you know, EVIL) ideologies, can
only be opposed through the education of the general population of its
actual doctrines and effects, and through the consistent exercise of
retaliatory force upon those Muslims who cross the line into violence.
When we do this (and we have to) the problem of Koran disposal will take
care of itself.<br />
<br />
I’m usually loath to agree with any Marxist, but I now agree with one.
We imagine our divine authority to be a reflection of ourselves. The
false prophet Mohammad imagined a monster like himself. But then what
can one say about a false religion founded by an
individual who combines and magnifies the worst attributes of William
Jefferson Clinton, Lafayette Ron Hubbard, and Charles Manson?<br />
<br />
The basic goal of Rational Man is to live a human life. The goal of the
founder of Islam was to live as an animal without regard to the
consequences. Islam denies all of The Rights Of Man. Muslims can't under any
circumstances claim any of those rights for themselves. In order to
live in a Human society a Muslim must fully renounce Islam.
No exceptions can EVER be made.<br />
<br />
We didn't start this war. It began when the false prophet Mohammad took
up the sword against those who refused to submit to his depraved
will.
Those who choose to lay down the sword of Islam and join human
civilization will be welcomed as friends. Those who continue to wield
the sword of Islam against Humanity are going to have that sword shoved
up their terminal orifice.<br />
<br />
Islam and the mass of contradictions that's claimed to be a system of
law was the product of a thoroughly depraved individual. Sharia law is a contradiction in terms. Sharia is the
codification of the nihilistic lust for power and plunder of the false
prophet Mohammad whose moral values are essentially that of a predatory
animal pretending to be a human being. I could describe the false
prophet Mohammad as a walking piece of excrement but that would be an insult to excrement.<br />
<br />
Is there a solution to the problem of Islam short of a Final Solution?
The doctrine of Islam denies all of the Rights of Man including the
Right of Life. Given that Muslims are required to act as the mortal
enemies of Mankind there are no middle grounds under which a peace can
be negotiated with any of them. In the end the practice of Islam must
be removed from existence altogether. Even if Muslims are not
exterminated altogether they must be removed
from rationally functioning human societies. Those who deny the Rights
of Man cannot live in a rational Human Society based on those rights.
Therefore Muslims have no place in a rational Human Society in and must
be expelled from it.
Under no circumstances will any attempt be made to comply with any part
of the Islamic code of law, including the dietary code. If for example
the least expensive food available to feed the Muslims in temporary
detention before deportation is pork then it will be used. If Muslims
insist on complying with the false dietary laws and starve to death as a
result then it’s their fault alone.<br />
<br />
Clausewitz defined war as "an act of violence intended to compel our opponent to fulfill our will"<br />
<br />
In
demanding absolute submission the false prophet Mohammad had essentially declared war on
Mankind. Therefore those who follow his command to make war on those who
properly refuse to submit are in effect enemy combatants and should be
identified and dealt with as such. Under the customs of warfare and
subsequent legislation assault on a civilian is a serious offense with
murder and rape being treated as capital crimes. Humanity is at war with Islam. Let's treat it as such.</div>
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<b><br /></b>Have we learned the lessons of 9/11?<br />
<br />
<b>NO.</b><br />
<br />
One of the things we should have learned through direct experience in
the Twentieth Century is that cowardice isn't an option. We're in a
fight for our lives and <b>WE ARE LOSING</b>. We're losing what is in fact the Third World War because our rulers
refuse to identify it as such. And that the cause of liberty is in fact
a holy cause. We're in fact in a holy war.
One doesn't prevail in a holy war by pretending that the opposing faith
is in fact valid. We can only prevail if we correctly expose the
falsehoods for which the enemy is fighting. By treating their doctrine
as false. By systematically destroying their ideological
infrastructure of indoctrination and enforcement. Destroy their texts
and temples, eliminate their enforcers with their indoctrinators. But there's no excuse for cowardice when one's
faced with actual evil. We need to treat Islam as the toxic doctrine that it actually is. <br />
<br />
A quote: "Spare
a moment to remember the nearly 3,000 innocent victims of insane hate
who died on this day in the year 2001. And spare a thought for the
loved-ones they left behind."<br />
<br />
-- Dr. John Ray.<br />
<br />
Those who can believe absurdities will commit atrocities. If the false prophet Mohammad were to appear in the
United States today and behave as depicted in the Islamic records he'd
either be locked in padded room and given a lifetime supply of happy
pills, locked in a maximum
security prison, or given the needle. (Except in the state of Utah
where
he'd be taken out and shot.) <br />
<br />
I have a question for our self-appointed masters.<br />
<br />
The Cold War is over, why do have relations with <b>ANY</b> Islamic country?</div>
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<span class="post-timestamp"><a class="timestamp-link" href="https://lesbates.blogspot.com/2019/09/another-reason.html" rel="bookmark" title="permanent link"><abbr class="published" itemprop="datePublished" title="2019-09-11T00:30:00-05:00"></abbr></a></span>Leslie Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10928555454437303212noreply@blogger.com0