The Chronicles of Syra Omnibus

by Carolyn Davidson Hicks

  Syra began to see the potential of a partnership between Earth II and Earth and she hoped that one day that would become a reality.

  One plant had the ability to filter and clean the air around it. If enough of these were placed on tall buildings, they could literally wipe out the smog. But then again, Syra thought, the people of Earth would need to go to the root of the problem and fix it first.

  With so much going on Earth II James and Syra just had not found the time to return to Earth. So far there was no message of hope that they could return. With Zach now president of the United States, their presence would be even riskier than before.

  They would now have to rely on the few that chose to stay near Zach and Zoey and go from there. Besides, Syra was constantly complaining there were not enough hours in the day to do everything she wanted to do.

  James and Syra would continue to help Earth II citizens build their settlement and expand it when needed.

  One day in the future, they hoped to either build that Settlement II as an expansion or even a city where those with skills could house themselves and their families, a place where they could complete their research and development. Manufacturing and storage would be needed as well.

  They had hoped to eventually turn Settlement I into a command center or government body since it did have the Centrally located right in the middle.

  Meanwhile, back on Earth things were heating up and Zach was getting more and more uncomfortable with the situation of the opposition party.

  book one

  chapter eleven

  The president addressed the nation to try to quell some of the riotings in the streets. He assured the nation that peace was possible.

  Early on in his presidency, many were fighting in the streets because of the previous president’s policies or lack thereof.

  President Caldiron would have a tough time trying to fix a nation that had been broken by a man who had no regard for human life, and who was ruled by greed.

  That morning, when President Caldiron received his security briefing in the Oval Office, he was quite disturbed by what he was reading.

  It was the previous administration's failures that now lay heavy on his administration. Already many lives had been lost to petty differences that could have been avoided.

  It had been much like the Civil War he had read of in Earth’s history back in the 1860s and history was now repeating itself. It was brother against brother and families were literally torn apart because of one man and his misguided beliefs.

  Caldiron ran his presidential race as a young Senator, but his message was clear. He would bring peace to the streets and peace to the country if it was the last thing he ever did.

  His message was strong, and he not only won the popular vote, but he had also won by a landslide. The electoral college represented their districts and voted according to the will of the people and everyone knew that young senator would be the next president of the United States.

  However, the opposition party did not like change. They wanted things to stay the same.

  They would print stories in some of the opposition party- controlled newspapers that were filled with lies and innuendos. They would gather witnesses willing to swear under oath before any government body that the President was not born on this Earth.

  A strong conspiracy theory was repeated by the opposition party that the president was, in fact, an alien and some hostile planet was just ready to take over.

  They started to demand to see his citizenship papers when there were none to offer. He had only his birth certificate and his family doctor, Dr. Ferguson who practiced in Nevada as proof and it was certified.

  At one point, they faked photographs and had them circling the news media of the president with green skin always changing like a chameleon to look normal when seen by humans. Some had him hiding antennae under his hair. Others showed him secretly meeting with aliens in a spaceship.

  It was clear that the president would see no peace while in office. But he vowed to carry out every promise he made during his campaign. And despite all the propaganda created by the opposition party, the president’s popularity continued, and in some areas, it improved.

  The president’s sister Zoey Caldiron Hollingsworth joined the president and their research and efforts were recognized around the world. Their Save The Planet organization was recognized worldwide. They had raised more funds than all other organizations trying to accomplish the same thing, but those organizations were pocketing most of the money.

  Zoey and Preston’s organization were regarded as hope for the future of all mankind. But they quickly became a threat to companies and high-level government officials who had already cut many deals to deregulate industry rules about water, air, and plant life in order to make more money.

  Too many regulations kept the big companies from making enough money to keep their stockholders happy. The Save The World organization now had enemies all around the world.

  Security had to be stepped up for both Zach and his sister for fear of kidnapping or worse, assassination. This raised a lot of concern back on Earth II and help was on the way to make sure Zach and Zoey both were safe, and their families were too!

  Those few that remained behind to watch over Zach and his sister quickly went to the secret stash of Zhian technologies and located the Emergency Safety Transport or EST wristbands.

  The president, his wife, and children were custom fitted with one each and it was explained that it was for their own good. The president would give his wife more details later because the time for this installation of the wristbands was short. The same was done for Zoey, her husband, and their children.

  The wristband was an instrument worn around the wrist and invisible to the human eye. Even the wearer of it would not know it was there if that was required for their safety.

  It was a shield around them that could not be seen and the Zhianites that set them up hoped they would never be needed. In the worst-case scenario, all of them could be pulled from the place they were in at a blink of an eye should their lives be in danger. They would be on Caldiron Ranch waiting for transport to safety.

  Zach had a job to do as president of the United States and despite the opposition party’s every attempt to discredit him, there were powers beyond their imagination backing the president.

  Meanwhile back on Earth II, an emergency meeting was called because of the safety of the president on Earth, Syra’s son. They needed to finish the Special Transport Vehicle or STV they had been building for James and Syra.

  Syra had requested that this vehicle be designed for multiple purposes and ready as soon as possible.

  Ellead was called to transport the new vehicle to Earth since things had taken a turn for the worse. Upon the arrival of Ellead, the president could be transported by Ellead if there was no time to wait, and STV or Sheevah would go along for the ride whichever came first.

  The STV had a Zhian state-of-the-art power system, its chassis had a special coating, shroud capabilities, weapons aboard capable or zapping an asteroid in its path and so on, plus a few surprises should they be needed.

  Most of all, it had a direct link between the EST wristbands and the wearer. It was only fitting to name it Sheevah, and she spoke in the sweetest female voice all of Earth II had ever heard.

  Most agreed that when Ellead met the ship Sheevah, he fell in love. However, that was an impossibility since both were merely machines that had human Zhian qualities in their programming.

  Most bots agreed, Ellead was far too old for her anyway.

  Then there was Ellead requesting extra things be done before he would allow Sheevah to be stored in his cargo bay!

  Ellead got an extra cleaning and then was beefed up a bit and looked really nice. His armor plating had masculine designs and he had never looked sharper.

  Sheevah could have made the trip by herself but Ellead had some directives to take care of on Earth so it was decided he could carry Sheevah to Earth, th
en go on about his tasks and then escort Sheevah and her precious cargo of Syra’s family to Earth II.

  Some saw her as a royal coach while others saw her as just simply the best transport vehicle of its time created by the residents of Earth II.

  The ship could reach speeds like the Zhian Sphere but on a much smaller scale, designed to carry up to 30 and no more. Should one decide not to use the sleeper, she was in a way a very high-end luxury ship and a one of a kind.

  Sheevah would not need an escort back to Earth II but accepted Ellead as a safety escort and preparations were now underway for the big launch tomorrow.

  The next morning, Ellead rose above the launching pad and hovered as he waited for Sheevah to maneuver up and inside his cargo bay.

  Once inside and tucked away, both Ellead and Sheevah spoke only once, they said, “We’ll be back!”

  The only thing anyone could remember after that was the clouds parted and closed again so quickly, they could barely tell Ellead had left Earth II. The Zhian Sphere had opened the grid for their passage, and it was closed immediately.

  “Godspeed Ellead and Sheevah!” James and Syra hailed to them both. “Godspeed.”

  All of Earth II knew it would be some time before anyone saw either of those two ships again. A lot depended on what happened on Earth.

  Absolutely no one knew of Elleads special assignment, not even Sheevah. James and Syra knew and so did Zee10. All others were kept in the dark as they should have been.

  Earth II went back to normal after that day with everyone trying to finish one project, just so they could start another.

  The training bots were a great help and every once-in-a-while, the citizens gave them the day off, just so they could observe and access their improvements.

  Not a single training bot ever complained of this new routine! But every once-in-a-while, they would whisper things such as, “Will we soon be replaced? When they don’t need us anymore, will they just put us in the scrap-yard?”

  But the bots continued to train because that was what they did.

  Every day a new discovery was analyzed and showed great potential to save the planet Earth. A new way to filter the oceans was an important discovery. A new way to clean up the tons and tons of plastic now killing the oceans and its beautiful creatures was more than they had hoped to discover.

  This was something they would continue to work on and when it was ready, they would send it to Earth to some scientist who would do something with it.

  If Earth does not accept the Zhians gifts openly, it won’t matter, thought one of the researchers. They would save Earth and its people despite themselves if necessary.

  It took a long time for Syra to realize that she did not need to announce herself to Earth, in order to save it. All she and her people needed to do was send these gifts to Earth. Let some scientist get the credit. All that mattered was that she and her people save Earth.

  Syra knew her children had laid the groundwork and paved the way. With all the new discoveries on Earth II, her son and daughter could now come home to Earth II if she could persuade them to do so or if they end up with no other choice in order to save their lives.

  She had a foolproof plan to send special gifts to the scientist of the world to help them save it. She was never needed on Earth to make contact. Zerk and the council had their own sinister plan.

  Now Syra had her mission and it was to save humanity.

  That was when Syra realized what she needed to do and so she quickly sent the modified plans to Ellead.

  Back on Earth, the presidents’ people were fighting back because they believed in his message of hope. But what caused the big stir was the promises he made that day on his second term inauguration!

  In the few short years of his first term, the incentives to feed the poor and hungry were already paying off. The incentives he already had in place to put every man to work if he could work, if he couldn’t, Zoey’s Helping Hands Foundation was there for them.

  Government funding for such things was not needed anymore because the rich got tax breaks by sharing their wealth with the poor directly. Just getting their corporations name on that list of donors was everything!

  For most of those who had joined the Big Heart Foundation, it fed their egos more than anything to feed someone less fortunate who lived on the streets. To clothe and shelter them was the biggest payoff in monetary gains.

  Through educating the public, to offering assistance on how to deal with these issues, a positive movement had gotten started that was too powerful and strong now to ever stop it.

  Already, the rest of the world wanted in on how these programs were starting to change lives.

  This president had listened to those hundreds of thousands of American citizens who marched against corruption in the government and in big business. In a few short years, the payoffs were starting to show.

  This, of course, made big business the president’s number one enemy especially the pharmaceutical industry. The healthier folks got the less they needed drugs, and fewer drugs led to fewer side effects to deal with.

  Some researchers had shown that the vegetables these poor and homeless were eating had certain health benefits no scientist could quite pin down. The one thing they knew is that a variety of seeds showed up free on the market about 20 years ago and to this day, no one could pinpoint where they came from.

  Those special seeds were literally handed from farmer to farmer and never sold. The big seed companies never saw them as a threat until about five years ago when the competing free seed had spread across the United States and folks were growing food resistant to disease more than ever before and saw great health benefits from it as well.

  Many years ago, that variety of seed was studied thoroughly. No one could say exactly where the original seeds came from and it was impossible to outlaw and collect the seeds. They produced the same vegetables and fruits mankind had always eaten and was familiar with. But they did notice the seeds grew in almost any soil, resisted any kind of harsh weather and produced better with each reseeding.

  The president promised on his inaugural day speech that by the end of his second term, there would be programs in motion to prevent anything from corrupting the air that we breathe, the water that we drink and the food that we eat. The food issue was already nearly solved. But the chemicals already tainting the land would take many years to correct.

  He told the people that day that Earth was in grave danger! He promised that before his last term was up, Earth and the United States would get a second chance.

  When he spoke of war, one could hear the sadness in his voice. If a conflict exists, there will be war. He believed that if you lessen the causes of conflict, you lessen the cause for war.

  From that day forth, the president set in motion programs that ultimately would remove the need for regulations by tackling the problems first hand.

  Then it was the seeds again. The latest conspiracy theory was aliens had brought those seeds to Earth to poison Americans. By not buying government regulated seeds, you risk your life the propagandists would say. Many folks demanded proof of where the seeds of every vegetable sold came from and chaos soon broke out.

  With all the health benefits right in front of their eyes, large companies that suffered financial losses only cared about the money. Stockholders were not happy about the losses, so the mega companies worked around the clock to discredit the president and to blame his entire party for causing the losses.

  It soon became clear to the president as it had with his mother that the only real way to save Earth was to involve as few Earthlings as possible.

  The burden he carried got heavier with each passing day. And every single time he demonstrated the good of something and its positive effects it was counteracted by the opposition party with false information.

  That evening while feeling quite depressed, the president received a message via his private communications. With Earth II monitoring the situation, he knew they knew
that he would best serve his country from afar!

  His sister Zoey received the same message, and both knew it was time to be on the ready. With both siblings on full alert, they began to set up things for their great exit.

  Zoey and her family arranged to have everything removed from the Caldiron Ranch. Each gift was stored in a secret location to be revealed later to its intended finders. With the surprise stowing, Ohtron and his bitrons went straight to work transporting these treasures.

  It wasn’t long until the ranch looked almost abandoned. Yet it thrived all on its own without a caretaker. But the big difference was the shield over that property protected anyone from driving on it for soil samples, plant samples or anything else.

  Ellead and Sheevah had arrived and were under the shroud and could not be seen nor detected. Sheevah was released from Elleads cargo bay and rested along-side Ellead.

  When Ohtron and his bitrons were finished transporting and hiding the gifts around the country, they returned to the ranch and began working on a special project; not even Ellead nor Sheevah were aware of because it was so confidential.

  A special stone was found on Earth II and transported to Earth for this project and Ohtron was proud of his work so far in its construction.

  Then the dreaded day came with the first attempted assassination of President Caldiron!

  Videos played back frame by frame and no one could figure it out. It was analyzed over and over by many professional’s because it clearly showed the president had stopped a bullet with his hand.

  Then, it was revealed that in fact, he had not. The bullet approached close to his head, but he was waving at the crowd at the time. The bullet simply stopped and dropped about two feet from him, as if he had some sort of shield around him.

  The secret service, of course, got the credit for that one. Although they were as baffled as anyone else.

  Sheevah nearly called the Emergency Safety Transport wristbands the president and his family were wearing. Then she stopped herself and had to pause for a moment. It was not time yet, however, she had her systems set to transport at any moment.