by D. R. Rosier
Their human bodies would simply be fixed, even a fully severed spinal cord injury could be repaired with that technology.
He’d caught himself more than a few times staring at Dahlia throughout the day, he really needed to talk to Nadia and Alyndra soon, the tension between them was getting so high he worried it would break, and he would miss his chance if he didn’t move on it. Still, there was so much going on, and with their schedules all out of whack the last few days, and probably the next few, he didn’t know when he’d get that time.
He supposed he could have just asked them all at once in bed, while Dahlia was in her own room, but he resisted that idea. He didn’t want to put any group pressure on them, and preferred to talk to them one on one about it so they’d feel free to be totally honest. He didn’t want Nadia to say yes to merely go along with and please him, Chrystal, and Alyndra, only to regret it later.
They ended their tour at a steak house. The building had a rustic look both inside and out. The hostess led them to a table in the back and brought them all drinks. The beef was cultured of course, they didn’t have live cows on Mars, but not tasteless as a small amount of fat was injected to make it taste like a real steak. He wound up ordering a New York strip, with a loaded baked potato, and asparagus spears. It was delicious.
It was a beautiful and fun day, and he was fairly sure they all enjoyed it. Although, in Alyndra’s case he wasn’t sure, he could never be sure. That was still a problem that had to be fixed, he couldn’t read her emotions at all outside the bedroom, and he wondered just what Chrystal would come up with. He was sure she’d think of something.
It was just when they were finishing up lunch that the other shoe dropped, and their plans changed immediately.
Chrystal said, “The shuttle was turned back from Earth orbit.”
Mars had a large shuttle with commercial comforts which took people between Mars city and the spaceport in Australia several times a day. The majority of them were the families of patients, but there were tourists and businessmen and women as well. While most of the governments were untrusting of A.I.s, there was a very large portion of the human population that weren’t, and Mars vacations were very popular. Even if they had to travel to Australia first.
He frowned, “How did they do that?”
The shuttle had strong enough gravity shielding to just waltz on by any of the new AG spacecraft from the countries of Earth, even if they were attacking.
Chrystal said, “Tensions are high on the ground, the pilot worried that if she just went through the blockade, it would trigger something on the planet. Australia is extremely close to breaking the FTL barrier, from the last report they just need to tweak their fields slightly for more stability, and the world knows it. The whole world is poised to go up in flames as soon as that imbalance of power is introduced.”
He shook his head, it was kind of stupid. Subspace access meant absolutely nothing on a planet’s surface, as those energies couldn’t be used in an atmosphere. As usual, emotion trumps logic, especially for those that fear losing power, even just the perception of it. Access to other worlds would be an advantage of course, but worth setting the entire world on the edge of war?
“So,” he said softly, “they’re so worried about the balance of power they might attack or even invade Australia?”
Chrystal nodded.
He sighed, “Well, let’s hope they’ll listen to our idea. I’m fairly sure Celia will be open to it. Can you get a message to the PM, and we’ll head there now.”
He was almost sure she would. She didn’t seem the type to want to hold power and dominion over the entire Earth. If anything, last time they talked she was almost exasperated by it, and only wanted to secure her own little corner of the world.
They all got up from the table, and headed back to the main building. Now the only question was, how would they get past the blockade some of the world powers had set up?
When they got back, the goodbyes were brief and they took a shuttle back up to their destroyer. By the time they all made it up to the bridge, he thought he had a solution, and it was more than obvious.
“Chrystal, activate our cloak, and take us to the spaceport.”
He smiled, it would be very hard to blockade a ship they couldn’t even see, and would never even know was present…
Chapter Fifteen
He blew out a breath in relief, when there was no indication at all they were detected. He didn’t think they would be, but Earth’s sensors were sensitive enough to pick up the disturbances to the stellar dust the cloaking field created. But like their sensors before they’d discovered the phenomena, stuff like stellar dust was filtered out, their operators would never even see that data.
The destroyer was a little large for the landing pad, so they hovered a few feet above the building and took a shuttle down to the ground and then across town. Anti-mass fields were detrimental to electronics and biological systems, so they had to lower the cloak for the brief second it took them to launch.
This time, Celia was in the government offices and not at home. They disembarked, and moved toward the building. He felt nervous, the world was a powder keg, and he felt like the lit cigarette dropped into the barrel.
They walked into the building and up to the desk in the large rotunda-like entrance.
A young man looked up at them, his eyes widening a bit as he took in the four gorgeous women, including two aliens, and Mike.
Mike cleared his throat when the man stared at Alyndra’s sculpted ears for at least ten seconds, completely speechless. He couldn’t blame the kid, Alyndra was beautiful, but in a striking alien way.
“I’m Mike Stedman, along with Chrystal Stedman, Nadia Lane, Alyndra Inaqirelle, and Dahlia. We’re here to see Prime Minister Williams.”
The man turned and typed on his computer, and then nodded.
“Just a,” his voice came out scratchy and flustered, and he cleared it, “Just a moment, someone will be out to escort you and your party.”
They didn’t wait long, before Neil Dawson came out, who he was sure now must have been one of Celia’s personal guards.
Neil said in a polite tone, “It is good to see you again. Come with me please.”
They were all scanned at the security checkpoint, and then brought down a few hallways and into an elevator. There was a second security checkpoint before the PM’s offices as they got out on the top floor. After being cleared, they were led to a small conference room and Neil asked them to wait a few minutes, then closed the door and left them alone.
He took some time to collect his thoughts, there was no point in being here with a defeatist or paranoid attitude. He had to hope for the best, and be ready for the worst.
Chrystal said, “There are no bugs in this room.”
There was a light laugh at the door as the PM walked in.
Celia said, “That’s because I have it swept twice a day. I’ve also just activated an EM scrambler field, not that the whole world doesn’t already know you’re here.”
She smirked and took a seat, Neil and another large gentleman stood by the door after closing it. They both had that practiced expressionless face that would give Alyndra’s a run for her money, the kind that are so common with security and government types.
Celia looked around at each of them, “I see you’ve been busy.”
He smiled, “This is Alyndra Inaqirelle from Selana-Esari, she joined us when we saved her world from the Kascorix invasion. This is Dahlia, an ambassador of Miroth. I’ll go out on a limb, and say your familiar with Nadia Lane?”
Celia nodded, “It’s nice to see you and Chrystal again, and to meet the rest of you. The communication you sent implied you may have a possible solution to all my problems. If you don’t mind we should get right to it, I’m rather busy. Especially with those jackasses blocking the shuttle from Mars. The idiots actually sparked off riots in their own countries, considering they just blockaded their own damned citizens from coming back, alon
g with mine and yours.”
He nodded, “The way I see it we have two problems, well three, but the third is about how the rest of Earth’s governments see the A.I.s and Mars, that one’s only my problem. We have the problem that whoever gets the FTL tech first will have a huge shift of power in their direction, it’s making all the other world leaders paranoid and fearful. The second problem is out there in the Xaran empire. Specifically, will everyone from Earth respect Xaran interstellar law? It’s quite possible just one country out there that doesn’t, could cause severe sanctions against everyone. The Xaran don’t interfere with internal politics on their member worlds, but they do expect the world to pay attention to the rules when dealing with other cultures.”
He smiled wryly, “Someone saying it was his country, not mine, won’t float.”
She nodded, “A little simplistic, but essentially I agree with you on those. So what’s your idea?”
He said, “I propose we use the technology that’s causing the issue as both a stick and the reward. We invite the world leaders to a summit, and suggest that any that sign a treaty outlining interstellar conduct, will gain access to the knowledge required to build an FTL ship regardless of what country makes the breakthrough first. Essentially by signing, it would immediately lead to sharing the technology, which should both stabilize the balance of power between the first world countries, and ensure they’ll behave with our interstellar neighbors.
“The stick is if they don’t sign, they will be left behind and won’t be getting the technology when the necessary breakthrough happens. The inducement of course, is they’ll have FTL and balance of power without having to do anything messy, like invading other countries. If you agree, we’ll be present as third parties for a couple of reasons. One, if a signing country discovers FTL and decides not to share it, we will. Secondly, we’ll be a resource to answer any questions about our neighbors, or what Mars has been up to.”
Celia nodded, “And you’re hoping that will lead to better worldwide relations for Mars?”
He said, “It’s not why I’m here, and I’m not counting on that happening, but yes, that would be a nice side benefit for Mars. At the very least, we would have assurances the other countries on Earth wouldn’t attack Mars once the distance between them is trivial, or bar us from landing here in Australia.”
She sighed, “So… just whip up a summit?”
Celia smiled as if she’d told a joke.
He knew that wouldn’t be easy, but really what else was there? Fighting, defending, or bury their heads in the sand and hope it went away? They weren’t really good choices.
Celia frowned, “It sounds like the best way to go, but it still rubs me wrong. We’ve spent a lot of money and effort to develop what we have. Giving it away just seems… wrong. In the long run though, it will be less costly than war and death should the worst happen. Very well, I’ll draw up a proposal and what will be discussed, and send it to my counterparts. Come to think of it, FTL is the biggest breakthrough since atomic energy and weapons. The idea might even work.”
Her face looked a bit skeptical even as she said that last, but she was going to try it. He couldn’t ask for any more than that.
Nadia sent over to him virtually, “Alyndra says Celia is being straightforward, and she hopes your idea works. She’s kind of mad at herself, for not thinking of it herself, even though world cooperation and treaties which actually worked in the past are rarer than the fingers on one hand. She already believes America, European countries, and Russia will go for the sure thing, possibly Japan as well, and that China will resist the idea but may give in if they think they’ll be the only ones left out. Her biggest worry is the other world leaders will see her as weak if she suggests this summit while she’s winning the race, which might turn into a frenzy, like sharks that scent blood in the water. She’s also extremely curious about you, and us, but won’t ask because of propriety. She’s kind of got a geek crush on you, if Alyndra is reading it right.”
He wondered why Nadia had even mentioned that last, and why it mattered, but he caught the corners of her mouth twitching in wicked amusement.
Celia asked, “What are your plans?”
He said, “We’ll just stay in the city, or aboard our ship. We’ll stay until the crisis is past, unless you want us to leave? It’s possible our presence could be detrimental.”
Celia shook her head, “No, stay if you would. Your presence as a third party may be detrimental to anyone prejudiced against A.I.s, but it’s also essential to have you as an unbiased third party for this to work. I’ll have my A.I. liaison contact you directly when I know what’s going on. Truthfully, it should move quickly. The focus of the world is on this issue, so the usual delaying tactics probably won’t be used. Unless… they want war, or they get too greedy and want the tech for their own countries and only theirs. Only time will tell if anyone has world domination in mind, but there’s a good chance that’s not the case. The risk of betting on that and losing is too high, Australia is too close to winning the race to subspace for it to be otherwise.”
“I agree.”
He did agree, it was so damned obvious. But… emotion trumps logic. Only time would tell what the humans would do. He had all the same emotions, and he would do it. But… maybe he was just naïve. The fact Celia had some hope in that direction did make him feel a little better about it.
Celia nodded sharply, a look of thoughtful concentration on her face.
“Thanks for coming, Neil will see you out.”
They all remained seated until she left the room.
Chapter Sixteen
After a short discussion, they went back to the shuttle and headed toward a holiday inn. They felt being somewhat visible might ruffle feathers, but felt hiding out in a cloaked war vessel the other countries couldn’t track would be worse. It would also preclude the need to de-cloak the vessel every time they got on and off the ship.
He still wasn’t entirely sure he shouldn’t just leave and let the world leaders of Earth figure it out without a third part interest from Mars, but there were as many arguments for as against it, and he believed it was important. His biggest concern was all the reasons for him being there was logical, and all the reasons for him not being there was based in emotion and prejudice.
Emotion trumps logic, he just had to hope the leaders weren’t as prejudiced and paranoid as the ones from twenty years ago. Otherwise his involvement would turn out to be a major mistake.
They didn’t get the penthouse, but they did get one of the nicer suites with three bedrooms, a full kitchen, and a nice living room. He didn’t think it would take long to find out if this summit would go ahead, things were definitely coming to a head quickly. Yet, they surely had time to kill, even moving quickly he doubted they’d hear anything back about it until tomorrow at the earliest.
Chrystal said, “I know we went last time, but how about we check out the royal gardens. I bet Alyndra would love it, and Dahlia as well. We could… do the tourist thing after, then grab dinner?”
Dahlia said, “I’d enjoy it too, I know I grew up here, but I’ve never been.”
Chrystal said, “Only one problem, all our clothes are on the ship and we can’t possible wear what we have on.”
He smiled in bemusement and suppressed a chuckle, as the four ladies put their heads together, and in a brief time he saw a shimmering golden light in the corner over the couch. It only took a few more minutes, and the ladies took their new clothes and went to change. He supposed having his ship less than five miles away was rather helpful. At least during fashion emergencies.
He was fine with what he had on.
They all came out in casual type sundresses, with the exception of Alyndra who was wearing a dress wrap which was casual in its own way. Casual or not, they all looked beautiful, and graceful each in their own way. Dahlia moved like a warrior, Alyndra was poised like a princess, and Nadia like a dancer. The clothes were almost besides the point. He couldn’t h
elp the smile.
“You all look fantastic, ready to go?”
Chrystal took his right arm, and Alyndra the other. He glanced at Dahlia, and knew he still needed to talk to Nadia and Alyndra about it. Of course, he’d been careful not to show favorites, and one of the ways he’d done that was by letting his ladies decide the schedule of when they were alone for the most part. So, he was kind of stuck right now. Plus, a lot going on with an indefinite daily schedule.
They headed downstairs and it didn’t take long before he realized he was a complete idiot. He hadn’t really given it much thought, but by the time they made it to the royal gardens, they had a posse of news and media types on their tail. They were also being stared at by the people around them.
Some few stared simply because he had four beautiful women with him. Some looked almost frightened, and some looked very curious. Some looked angry, and some men looked a bit lusty. He was an idiot for not realizing that would happen. Sure, A.I.s could get a few looks, but for the most part they looked and acted human, they didn’t stand out. Despite the fact that the world knew of other races, it wasn’t as if any had actually visited Earth before.
Humans were xenophobic against their own creations, aliens were another matter altogether.
He sighed, they were all staring at Alyndra and Dahlia, and he started to feel protective feelings rise up in him, and he got hyper-vigilant as he looked around for any trouble. The lustful looks from the men would have normally made him a little jealous, and although petty, it would make him feel a little smug as well, but all his focus was on those that looked suspicious, distrustful, or angry.
He felt like an idiot, but in his defense, he’d gotten used to being surrounded by aliens the last few months, and in a way he’d grown up with them due to his family’s close association to Xaran, even if he’d never met them in the flesh until recently. He did his best to pretend to ignore the whispers and looks until they made it inside the building, where he relaxed a bit. The media didn’t follow them.
