The Holy Land: Fanatical Earthling planet assassins are spreading chaos through the galaxy. Is there any nice way to stop them?

by Robert Zubrin

  Aurora raised an eyebrow. “Hamilton, the anti-Earthling ordinances that you detest so much were only imposed after the assassin attacks began. Earthlings had equal rights, or something close to them, in New Minervapolis before the trouble started.”

  “Close to equal is not equal.”

  Aurora laughed. “Hamilton, get real. They had a lot more rights than they would have under any Earthling government.”

  “Maybe,” Hamilton admitted. “But they were still treated as inferior beings.”

  “They were treated as inferior because they are inferior. They are uneducated, dirty, smelly, and totally irrational. Genetically Earthlings have a physiology that is nearly human. Yet you reject the greatest gift of the Goddess Minerva, the human capacity for individual reason. It is not we who deny your humanity, it is you.”

  “But still…”

  Aurora cut him off. “Look Hamilton, no one enjoys being mean to Earthlings. But the fact of the matter is that, until Earthlings decide to use their minds and become rational beings, they are going to have to be treated like the very dangerous animals that they are. It’s perfectly clear that if we do not control the travel and possessions of Earthlings within New Minervapolis, they would exploit their lack of control to murder us. So if we have to clean the fish tanks ourselves, we will. But don’t ask us for equal rights, because you can’t have them until you change.”

  As the travel sphere passed over the Cascades, Hamilton sat in silence for several minutes, thinking about what Aurora had said. Then he spoke up again.

  “So you wouldn’t have yielded to our strike. Still, I think we could have won something by trying it.”

  “Oh, what is that?”

  “Respect. The respect due to rational humans who fight for their rights using respectable means.”

  Aurora smiled. “That’s quite a mouthful, Hamilton.”

  Hamilton decided to use another tactic. “Aurora, back in the hospital —why did you cry?”

  “I didn’t cry.”

  “Yes you did. I saw the tears in your eyes as you walked past me.”

  “OK, so I felt some emotion. The situation was so horrible.”

  “Were you sorry for the woundedchildren?”

  Aurora looked out through the transparent wall at the countryside, which was beginning to show its grand stands of trees in the early dawn light. “No, not really. As assassins they were past pity.”

  “Then why did you remove their pain?”

  “Out of respect for Dr. Berger.It’s what he would have tried to do had he still beenalive.”

  “So you felt sorry for the Bergers?”

  Aurora turned to face Hamilton, all mirth gone from her expression. “Yes, certainly I felt sad for Mrs. Berger. But that was not what brought on my tears.”

  “Then what did?”

  “It was seeing the triumph of evil over good. Dr. Berger, and you of his faction represented the smallest flicker of incipient reason trying to assert itself among Earthlings. You were like ants trying with all your might to lift the foot of a huge beast. But instead the beast just put a little extra weight on its foot and you were all crushed. I like you, Hamilton, I really do. You have only the tiniest spark of proto-rationality, and you constantly make yourself ridiculous by pretending to have more. Nevertheless, what you do have is there, and your attempts to manifest it, however silly, show a core of nobility in your soul. But you are so weak, Hamilton, and the dark forces holding you down are so strong. I fear there is no hope foryou.”

  Hamilton was shocked. “So you felt sorry for me?”

  Aurora nodded. “For you, and the entire race of Earthlings. Without reason you are all doomed.”

  At this moment the sphere slowed to a stop on the runway of SeattleTacoma International Airport. A hundred yards away, its delta wings glowing in changing iridescent colors, stood the space transport. They had arrived.

  Hamilton was surprised to discover that they had to wait a long time before boarding the transport. There were only about ten other passengers, and a kind of security checkpoint had been set up, manned by WGE Flight Inspectors. As Hamilton and Aurora stood in line, an elderly Weegee woman and her granddaughter, a pretty girl with an apparent age of 9 or 10, were meticulously searched.

  First the suspects’ possessions were taken, unpacked, and each and every object examined with a microscope, x-rayed, and subjected to an array of scanning devices.

  “Why so many different types of scanners?” Hamilton asked Aurora. “They are trying to be thorough.” Aurora explained. “Each scanner operates on a different principle. The first is gravitic, then electromagnetic, nucleonic, helicic, bionic, cyberic, and finally psionic. Thus each object is searched individually for any potentially-threatening source of physical or metaphysical energy, self-replicants whether biological or otherwise, and stored thoughts or pseudo thoughts.”

  “I see,” Hamilton said, only partially understanding. As he watched, the woman and her granddaughter were stripped naked, and their clothes were searched in the same way. Then the two were placed on tables and every inch of their bodies scanned several times with each of the security instruments. The process took over an hour.

  “Are they going to search all the passengers this way?” Hamilton inquired of his traveling companion.

  “No, that would take much toolong,”Aurora answered.“They’re just doing spotchecks.”

  Hamilton looked at the line in front of him. Behind the woman and girl currently being searched were two WGE Space Marine officers, apparently returning from a brief shore leave in Seattle. If the search was just a spot check system, these would certainly be waved on through. However following the Space Marines was a group of four young Earthling men in fairly good physical condition wearing soiled paramilitary clothing and blazingcross medallions. The four had farmer’s tans and scruffy beards, and were carrying bulky, heavy-looking boxes with the lettering “CNN” hand-scrawled on them. The men were clearly nervous and spoke to each other in whispers. TV reporters, apparently, but to Hamilton they seemed like suspicious characters. He wondered what thoughts Aurora was picking up from their minds.

  “Nothing atall,” the priestess said.“Those four must be wearing antitelepathy implants.” She continued, answering his unspoken thought. “And yes, I do find them very suspicious.”

  Hamilton nodded. It was obviously going to be a long wait. If the WGE Flight Inspectors were so thorough that they would take an hour searching two of their own civilians with such care and attention, then surely they would spend considerably longer examining much more dangerous-looking types like the four CNN men.

  Finally, the scanning of the Weegee matron and girl was over. As expected, the WGE Flight Inspectors allowed the Space Marines to pass without a search. Now it was the putative reporters’ turn at the check- point, and Hamilton mentally prepared himself to settle in for the duration. But to his amazement, the four men were simply asked to show their press credentials and then were permitted to proceed on board.

  Apparently Aurora was equally astonished by this development. She approached one of the WGE Flight Inspectors.“Sir,” she said in a respectful tone of voice.“May I suggest that it might be wise to search those four Earthlings that were just allowed to pass.”

  The Flight Inspector, whose typical Weegeeheight of 6’6” made him dwarf the 5’9” Aurora, put his hands on his hips and looked down on her indignantly. “So, are you trying to tell me how to do my job, little priest- ess?”

  “No, certainly not,” Aurora said mildly. “It’s just that I’ve lived on this planet for almost a year now, and have studied the Earthlings thoroughly. And if any of them ever fit the profile of dangerous assassins, it was those four. I know that in New Minervapolis our security men would definitely have pulled them out for a scan.”

  The Flight Inspector laughed. “Well, little priestess, this may be a shock to you, but this is not New Minervapolis, and this is not a Minervan transport you are boarding. This is a ship of
the Western Galactic Empire, and its boarding procedures are subject to the laws and regulations of the Western Galactic Empire. And in the Western Galactic Empire we believe in equal rights for all. So we do not search people simply because they have suspicious profiles. That would be suspicion-profiling, a practice which we find abhorrent, because it is unfair and could lead to costly lawsuits. Therefore rather than search those who are most suspicious, we only search those who are leastsuspicious.”

  Aurora tried to press her case. “I don’t understand that. I spent some time on a Weegee warship when I was a girl, back during the war, and I know that in those days, Navy search procedures specified that…”

  The inspector cut her off. “That may be how things were in the bad old days, but the war is over,little priestess, and we’ve progressed a lot since then. Now I understand that you are worried, but you needn’t be. I assure you that I and my detail are experts in our field. In point of fact, prior to our enlistment into the Flight Inspection service, all five of us were part of the Dolphia security team. So you can be sure we know what we are doing. You are holding things up. Now, if you have no more issues, we’d appreciate it if you would take your study specimen and board the transport without furtherdelay.”

  Aurora shrugged in resignation.“It’s no use. OK, Hamilton,let’s go.” She then walked through the checkpoint towards the transport. The Inspectors gestured for Hamilton to follow, and he hurried after her.

  When he reached her, he found her muttering. “WE know what we are doing. WE were part of the Dolphia security team. Unbelievable.”

  Hamilton looked at her. “What is the Dolphia security team? Is it the WGE Secret Service?”

  Aurora gave an ironic laugh.“Hamilton, Dolphia is a network of centers for distribution of cheap consumer goods throughout the Cepheus sector.”

  “Kind of like the US Army PX system?”

  “No,”Aurora smiled.“If you would like an Earthling analog, I would say it is more like J.C.Penney’s.”

  “Oh,” Hamilton said dully.

  They boarded the transport.

  There were about forty seats in the transport, and only ten passengers, so both Aurora and Hamilton were able to get window seats, he on the port side of the eighth row, and she on the starboard. Then the door was dogged closed and the colors on the wings began to shimmer and change. As Hamilton watched, the rate of color change accelerated, until all parts of the wing glowed iridescent in all colors at once. Then without a sound, the craft took flight.

  Hamilton felt no acceleration, but in fact their rate of both climb and speed increase must have been extremely fast. When he looked downand to the rear, Seattle was visible, but rapidly shrinking to insignificance. Then the sky turned black and the stars came out in brilliant profusion far beyond anything Hamilton had ever seen. They were in space.

  They were not done climbing, however. This was clear to Hamilton as the Earth changed from a curved surface to a sphere, which shrank until it was only about the size of a full Moon as seen from Earth. Hamilton recalled from somewhere that theEarth’s diameter is about four times that of the Moon. So if they looked the same size, that meant the Earth was four times as far away, or about a million miles.

  Then among the stars, Hamilton started seeing softly-glowing spherical bubbles, first just a few, then dozens, hundreds, and thousands. He wondered what they could be.

  “Weegee battleships,” Aurora said, answering his unspoken question. “We’re inside the squadron’s picket perimeter now. We should be approaching the flagship shortly.”

  Sure enough, one of the spheres began to grow, and Hamilton could pick out numerous little domes and other artificial structures on its surface. A small orifice opened, and a tiny delta-winged object flew out in the direction of one of the other spheres. Then Hamilton realized that the tiny delta-winged object was a transport, similar to the 737-sized vessel in which he was riding. Comparing it to the flagship led to an astonishing conclusion: the flagship was at least several miles across.

  “Jesus,” Hamilton said, expressing his amazement. From the aisle seat in the row in front of Aurora, one of the CNN reporters turned and smiled athim. “Fear not, brother,” the reporter said. “For the Lord is with us.”

  Then the man stood up and walked forward towards the pilots’ area. One of the pilots turned and said: “Excuse me sir, but…” Then he went into convulsions, as did the other pilot and the two Space Marines seated near the front.

  The man faced the rest of the passengers. “Brothers and Sisters,” he said.“This is a blessed day! For today we give our lives for Jesus. We will take this transport, the tool of the devil, and use it to smiteSatan’s legions in the flagship of his pagan fleet!” He held out his hand, displaying a sil- ver prism. “In the name of Jesus, I command thee, pagan pilots, acceler- ate thy vessel and smite the flagship of the Whore ofBabylon!”

  With that, his fingers tightened around the prism, and the two pilots went rigid. Then with a robot-like motion, one of them pushed a lever forward. Immediately the rate at which the flagship was growing in their view accelerated dramatically.

  “Grandma, we’re going to crash!” the little Weegee girl wailed. Hamilton thought fast. The CNN man was performing an act of resistance, yes, but it was worse than pointless. Crashing the transport would kill all aboard, but probably would do little more than dent the flagship. Worse, it would convince the Weegees beyond all doubt that the Earthlings were mindless savages who needed to be crushed. As a soldier, Hamilton was prepared to give his life for his country, but not this way. The man needed to be stopped.

  But how? If he tried to rush him, the man would use his prism and cut him down before he was halfway up the aisle. Suddenly, Hamilton had an idea. He reached down and pulled off his right shoe, and then in one quick motion stood up and hurled it straight at the hijacker’s face.

  Hamilton had once pitched Little League baseball, and his aim was still true. The throw was a direct hit. The hijacker was stunned, and loosened his grip on the prism for an instant. That was all it took. In the moment he lost control, one of the Space Marines pulled out a little wand, and the CNN fanatic disappeared in a flash of light. The liberated pilots’ hands scrambled for a bunch of buttons on their control boards, and the transport was saved.

  Aurora said. “That was a very good throw, Hamilton. I’m glad I remembered that you had that skill.”

  Hamilton looked at her. “What do you mean, you remembered? I’m the one who remembered.”

  Aurora just smiled.

  Chapter 14

  The transport flew through an orifice opening in the flagship, then settled down into a large landing bay. Looking out his window, Hamilton could see that the bay was huge, and quite elegant, featuring decorative iridescent columns shimmering in geometrical arrays over a beautiful tiled mosaic floor. The door opened, and the passengers exited.

  At the bottom of the ramp, Aurora was greeted by two WG Imperial Navy officers. One was a young man, perhaps a year or two younger than Aurora. The other, whose uniform sported a fair array of decorations and insignia indicating superior rank, was middle-aged.

  The younger man approached Aurora. “Priestess Third Class Aurora?” he said.

  “Yes.”

  The junior officer smiled and offered his hand. “Lieutenant Danatus, Imperial Navy, at your service.”

  Aurora’s eyes went wide with pleasure. “Danatus! I didn’t recognize you. You’ve grown!”

  “So have you, Aurrie.”

  Aurora rushed forward and gave the young man an affectionate hug, and then turned and faced Hamilton. “Hamilton, this is Danatus, Danae’s kid brother. I knew him when I was a refugee child aboard the Weegee fleet during the war.” She smiled broadly. “He was a real pest, but we girls kept him in line.”

  Hamilton extended his hand. “Sergeant Andrew Hamilton, United States Army.”

  Surprised, the man stepped back, but at a look from Aurora he seemed to recover himself and gingerly took t
he Ranger’s hand.“Pleased to meet you,” he said politely.

  The older officer cleared his throat, demanding attention. Danatus quickly disengaged from Hamilton. “Aurora,” he said, “this is Commander Tiranus, with the Special Security Division. He’s in charge of arrangements for the foreign guests that have been brought aboard the flagship for the inquest.”

  Aurora nodded to the senior officer. “Commander,” she said.

  “Priestess,” Tiranus said, returning the nod. “Welcome to our flag- ship. At his own request, Lt. Danatus has been assigned to your guard detail. He will show you and your study specimen to yourquarters.”

  Tiranus turned on his heel and headed off to speak with the newlyarrived Space Marines. As he moved away however, Aurora noticed the three remaining CNN reporters carrying their boxes and heading out the landing bay into the ship, with no Weegee escort at all. She quickly called after Tiranus.

  “Commander Tiranus.”

  He turned to face her. “Yes, priestess?”

  She pointed at the departing reporters. “Excuse me sir, but those Earthlings. Aren’t you going to arrest them?”

  The officer appeared puzzled. “No. Why should we?”

  “Sir, they have all the appearances of classic assassins, and one of their group attempted to crash the transport into the flagship.”

  “Yes, and he was dealt with.”

  “But sir, the other three….”

  Tiranus interrupted her. “Are innocent of any wrongdoing.”

  Aurora appeared flustered. “But sir, don’t you think they are rather suspicious?”

  Tiranus smiled a thin smile. “My dear young Minervan Priestess. I understand that your people live by a harsh, unloving, and unforgiving code. But in the Western Galactic Empire we believe in equal rights and equal love for all. We do not believe in guilt by suspicion, and we do not believe in guilt by association. That is part of the reason why we are loved and respected by people all over the galaxy. Perhaps if you Minervans took some of our example to heart, and learned to love, forgive, and think the best of everyone, you would not be so disliked, and the rest of the galaxy would not be forced to endure the consequences of the violent hatred which your attitudes so oftenprovoke.”