Genesis

by Lawrence P White

  “I want to end this horror, Ollie. Your people are paying too high a price. The An’Atee will have to choose.”

  “Don’t come to me again without proof, Greg.”

  “Can I come in friendship?”

  “Yes, and you can bring your special An’Atee as well, but only because she is special to you. How special is she, anyway?”

  “Pretty special, Ollie. Does that provide her safe passage?”

  “Yes. Why do you ask?”

  “Because she’s your enemy.”

  “The An’Atee are not our enemies. They are simply beneath contempt.”

  “Not this one, Ollie. Can you name a single An’Atee you would call your enemy?”

  “Only one,” he answered instantly, then he hesitated, deep in thought. Greg almost felt the wheels turning in his brain. In what a Harbok would call a whisper, Ollie growled, “Is she the one?”

  “You agreed to her safe passage, Ollie.”

  “I did. I do.”

  “She is the one.”

  “Hmm. As strange as this might sound, she is not my enemy. I wish other An’Atee would make the same choices she made. If they did, we might gain an ally.”

  “I only know of two An’Atee who came out shooting, Ollie. One died. One lives.”

  “We buried the dead one with proper rights. He earned our respect. She did, as well.”

  “You’re a strange people, Ollie.”

  Ollie’s chest swelled, and he smiled, basking in pride.

  “Do you want to accompany me back to the house?” Greg asked.

  “I would meet this An’Atee of yours again, if you please.”

  “Her name is Arlynn.”

  “I’ll remember that. What you propose will never come to pass, but if it did, the two of you would become legends.”

  “I don’t need more legends, Ollie. We’re already that among the An’Atee.”

  “Really! They need more legends like you two. You led us on quite a chase. Just how did you escape, anyway?”

  “Join with me and I’ll tell you.”

  “Bring me proof.”

  With that, they headed back to the house. Arlynn, waiting anxiously at the screen door, saw only Ollie’s huge bulk lurching his way to the house in the dark. As they came into the porch light, Ollie stopped to allow Greg to come around to the front. Arlynn let out a cry, and the screen door flew open as she raced to him and buried herself in his arms. Ollie watched with eyes that had sunk deeply into his head. When she turned in Greg’s arms to look at Ollie, he bowed deeply to her. Startled, she pressed herself closer to Greg, uncertain.

  “Welcome to Earth, Miss Arlynn. This time,” Ollie stated solemnly.

  Chapter Seven

  Greg had his reunion with his sister, but it did not go as expected. She and Jim fell asleep right before his eyes.

  “What the heck?” he wondered aloud.

  “Don’t worry, Greg. They’ll be back on their feet in a few days,” Arlynn answered knowingly.

  “What? You mean . . . ?”

  “Yes. I gave them the LifeVirus.”

  He jumped to his feet. “You what?”

  “I know your hearing is not impaired. It can’t be.”

  He paced in silence for a little while, fuming. “We can’t just give this stuff out, Arlynn. You know that.”

  “We can’t, but I can. Obviously, I planned it.”

  That stung. “You couldn’t trust me?” he asked in disbelief.

  “I know you too well, Greg. You would have said no, even though it’s the right thing. You can be hard when you feel the need. I took the choice from you.”

  His thoughts reeled between the wonderful effects of the LifeVirus, his relationship with Arlynn, and the cost to Nancy and Jim. Had she just taken their humanity from them, as the An’Atee had from him? His thoughts settled on what was most important to him.

  “Where does this leave us?”

  “To what ‘us’ do you refer, Greg?”

  “You know what I mean. Us.”

  “Is there some us that has you making all the executive decisions? I acted no differently today than I always act: in your best interests, in our best interests. I often act contrary to your decisions, and I will continue doing so. I told you long ago that I was an independent woman. That will not change because of us, Mister Hamilton.”

  “Come here.”

  She came into his arms gladly, knowing it was the best way to resolve their differences.

  “I hadn’t realized I was making all the decisions,” he said into her hair.

  “You haven’t. You only think you have.”

  He could feel the twinkle in her eyes even if he could not see it. “Humph. I think this time you might not have understood all the implications.”

  She pushed him lightly away and left his embrace. “I love your sister too, Greg. She wants a child. She could not conceive. She will now have that child.”

  “What of her humanity? Did you explain everything to them?”

  “No, but I hinted. They cannot see beyond their present need, and they do not need to.”

  “You would see parents watch their children die of old age?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. There’s more LifeVirus where that came from. Their futures might not be here on Earth, it’s impossible to predict right now, but they have alternatives. I did not do this thing lightly, you know.”

  They spent their three-day visit tending to Nancy and Jim, a chore both of them shared lovingly, knowing that happiness lay at the end of it. And Arlynn was right, Greg reflected. He, too, had thought about Nancy’s need. He had decided against, as painful as that choice had been. Now he no longer had to live with the consequences of that decision for the rest of his long life, even if he did have to live with knowledge of the choice he had made. Had Arlynn not stepped in, he would ultimately have regretted his choice. Arlynn had done the right thing for Nancy and Jim, and she had done the right thing for him.

  Greg and Arlynn returned to Washington three days later, he solemn and withdrawn, torn between two opposing and imposing concerns. Theoretically, the nature of the enemy should not matter, but after hearing Ollie’s story, the nature of the enemy became all-consuming. The findings returned by Angie Tolland had been hideous enough, but Ollie’s description of the Oort program of seeding worlds frightened him to his core.

  If he was frightened, the An’Atee would be terrified. Would they still be willing to risk everything? Would they understand that if they failed to risk, if they did not support the Harbok, they would someday find themselves standing alone against an Oort invasion?

  He saw the path his future must take as it related to the Oort, but that did not mean the An’Atee would. As usual, he would have to present a convincing argument.

  And what of the Oort? As repugnant as their behavior was, what was their view on all this? Surely, they were not mindless, or they never would have reached the stars. Why did they choose to throw themselves on the Harbok? Had other civilizations succumbed to their abhorrent behavior? Could they be stopped short of genocide? With behavior so disgusting, would genocide be the only course? Or an acceptable course?

  Could genocide ever be condoned within the bigger picture of a galactic Alliance?

  He wanted answers to these questions, but he did not know where to look. He and Arlynn discussed it and reached agreement that the Alliance had to continue on its present course, but she, too, agreed that An’Atee participation was a separate subject that the Atee would have to deal with.

  Their upcoming discussion with the President at Camp David felt paltry in comparison to what they had learned from Ollie. Greg decided he would not give the President the full story. The President did not need to know all the details about the Oort yet, though that might change later. All he needed now was to press on with recruitment and begin the process of changing the world into a place that the rest of the galaxy could welcome, a process for which Greg did not hold much hope of success.

&
nbsp; Despite the Oort, Greg was elated with having finally met a Harbok face to face. Arlynn shared his elation. They now had an ally within the Harbok—a reluctant ally to be sure, and an ally who demanded proof, but that was acceptable.

  Greg sensed a potential partnership with Ollie despite the man’s gruffness. Ollie had given him permission to share what he had learned about the Oort with the An’Atee, but not about the rest of the conversation that had taken place in the barn. That was to remain just between him and Greg. Greg felt a pang of sadness about that, but he and Arlynn talked about it and came to a resolution. In her mind, the secrets Greg and Ollie kept from her were not a concern . . . so long as the secrets were not about their relationship.

  Greg loved her more for it.

  Love. More than anything else, the past few days had focused his thoughts on his relationship with Arlynn, a presumption he had been taking for granted. Ollie’s story concerning his family had opened his eyes to the fragility of life, and he did a lot of thinking about the terrible choice Ollie had made. Most poignant to him was Ollie’s enduring sense of loss.

  Yes, Greg Hamilton loved Arlynn. There was no getting around it, nor did he want to get around it. Instead, he wanted to formalize it. He would have to look into the accepted norms on Ariall. Their love for each other was transparent, he knew that, and he suspected the An’Atee now accepted, and in most cases, approved of their relationship. He wanted to please Arlynn by doing things the acceptable way on Ariall, perhaps offering her a ceremony that would honor the princess that she was. A smile lit his face as he thought about it, a smile that she noticed as she sat beside him on the military jet during their flight back to Washington.

  “A penny for your thoughts?” she asked.

  He turned to her. “Do you have any idea how much I love you?” he asked bluntly.

  “No, tell me,” she demanded, taking his arm possessively.

  “Not fair. How can I do that?”

  “Maybe you could show me,” she smirked. “What’s the expression Ollie uses? ‘Prove it?’”

  “I’m going to, just as soon as I find out the process on Ariall.”

  She sobered. “What’s gotten into you?” she asked. “What’s going on?”

  “Nothing’s going on. I love you.”

  “I know that! What did you and Ollie talk about in that barn anyway? Me?”

  “Some. We talked more about him and the family he lost. Things happen, Arlynn. I hadn’t really thought about the fact that I could lose you. You’re just always there.”

  “I’m not going anywhere, Greg. I love you too. I’m right where I need to be,” she added, snuggling closer.

  “Thank you. It’s nice to hear you say it even though I know it, but you won’t always be there. It was a big thing to me to leave you behind, to turn my back and walk with a Harbok into that barn. I really wanted you with me. I’ve been leaning on you a lot more than I knew.”

  “It was a difficult time for me.”

  “Do you realize that was the first time since I met you that I did something significant without you?”

  “Except for evading the Harbok fleet and saving Ariall, you mean?”

  “No, including that. You might have been asleep, but in my mind, you were watching over my shoulder the whole time. We talked, and you instructed me just as you did on Earth when you taught me how to fly.”

  She smiled, seeming content. “I like being included. Don’t stop.”

  “I won’t. I love you, Arlynn. More than that, you’re my best friend, and you’re my mentor and teacher. I listen to you. I care about what you say. I even like your independence. I want to keep listening to you. I want to know that you are there always, even when you’re not.”

  “I will be. It’s all part of my plan.”

  “You have a plan?” he asked with lifted eyebrows.

  “Of course I have a plan. What woman in love doesn’t? You’ve just proven a little harder than most to tie down.”

  “Harder than most? Have there been others?”

  “No serious others. I’ve been too busy trying to restore my family’s reputation, and I’m not done.”

  “Can you take a little time out from that?”

  She stiffened. “For what?” she asked in a small voice.

  “For marrying me,” he said looking straight at her. When she did not answer immediately, he added, “Or whatever it’s called on Ariall.”

  Her eyes closed, and she stopped breathing. She sat like a statue in her seat.

  He nudged her, hoping to break her trance. “Well?”

  She opened her eyes and looked straight ahead, not at him. Without turning to him, she said softly between clenched teeth, “I might if I were asked.”

  He put his arms around her, not a simple task in an airplane seat. He turned her face to him and asked with a lump in his throat, “Will you marry me, Arlynn?”

  She couldn’t respond. Her throat failed to obey, then the tears began. She tried again, but she failed as tears streamed down her cheeks. She closed her eyes and nodded, her lips quivering as she held back sobs. “Yes!” she finally blurted out. “Oh, yes, I will marry you, Greg Hamilton.” She closed her eyes again, savoring the moment, clutching him hard. He drew her close, and she pressed into him as tears continued to flow.

  “When?” she spoke into his chest.

  “Today, tomorrow, next week, I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “What works for you?”

  “Vegas,” she blurted out.

  “Las Vegas?” he asked in surprise. He wondered how she would even know about Las Vegas, but in truth, he had not delved deeply into her multiple visits to Earth prior to him meeting her. “You must be kidding!” he exclaimed.

  “I’m not kidding. I don’t want you having second thoughts. And I don’t want some new crisis getting in the way. Vegas works for me. Turn the plane around.”

  “You told me Ariall wasn’t ready for this, so I’ve waited. We’ve even kidded about it. I think Ariall is ready now, Arlynn. This is a big enough deal that we should let them be a part of it. And what about your grandmother? She’ll skin me alive if we exclude her from this.”

  Arlynn sat up straight and wiped at her tears with the palms of her hands. “Everything else I can deal with, but not grandmother. You’re right. We cannot leave her out of this.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then turned to him. “I will never forget this day. Do you know how long I’ve been waiting to hear those words? How many times I’ve sat beside or across from you in meetings pretending to be paying attention, but really just wanting to hear those words? How many times I left your home or sent you home, knowing that a cold bed awaited each of us? Do you have any idea how much I have wanted to warm your bed?”

  “For crying out loud, why didn’t you? Do you think I felt differently?”

  “I was never invited.”

  “Tshh!” His breath exploded from his lungs. “That’s all? You weren’t invited? You’re not reading me as well as you think you are.”

  “I repeat, I was never invited.”

  “All those lonely nights . . .” he breathed, shaking his head sadly.

  “Come here, you,” she demanded, taking his face in her hands.

  Chapter Eight

  The helicopter set down roughly on the Camp David pad. A summer thunderstorm approached from the west with the winds in front of it kicking up hard. The helicopter crew saw them off, then immediately departed back to Andrews Air Force Base.

  The President greeted them personally. Other than a Secret Service agent, no one else was in view when they settled onto couches in the great room. Refreshments had already been set out, and they enjoyed small talk for a while.

  When things looked like they were ready to get serious, the President held up a hand. “Before we go any further, I have a couple of special requests. We are about to discuss things that lie outside the duties of my office, things that may involve the rest of my life. I’d like to make my wife, Jackie, a par
t of this.”

  Greg’s eyebrows went up, and he turned to Arlynn with a questioning look. Her face held a look of surprise and of contemplation. Their eyes met, and her face lit up in a triumphant smile.

  Greg turned back to the President. “We rarely ask for secrets between spouses,” he said lightly with a sidelong glance at Arlynn. “Please, invite her in.”

  A small, compact woman with short, golden hair and bright blue eyes joined them. She held a poorly disguised look of anguish that she tried bravely to hide, but she could not. Greg jumped to the wrong conclusion, assuming she feared aliens.

  Arlynn spoke up, having reached the same conclusion and speaking to it in her honest, direct way. “I am an alien, Jackie, but you need not fear me.”

  Jackie pursed her lips in a tight smile as she shook her head. “I don’t, and I’m sorry I gave you that impression. On any other occasion, I would be overjoyed to meet you. It’s just the timing. We’re in the midst of a family crisis at the moment, but I know your time here is limited. If you notice me wandering from time to time, please know that it is not due to lack of interest.”

  The President interrupted. “I said I had two requests. The second is this. It’s no secret that you are recruiting old men and women for what could be a long-term mission. It suggests that you have some advanced medical abilities. Am I right?”

  Arlynn answered, nodding as she said, “We do. That subject is very much a part of our discussion today, but it’s imperative that the rest of the world does not learn the details.”

  The President paused, looking back and forth between Jackie and Arlynn. “I want to speak not as the President, but as Dave. I have need of your expertise.”

  Arlynn exchanged a questioning look with Greg, and he spoke up, “We’ve established ground rules for this, sir. It’s true that we have certain abilities, but Earth is not ready for this technology yet. Widespread use of this technology would cause the end of civilization here, yet from a moral standpoint, if we choose to help one, we must help everyone.”

  The President nodded his understanding. “I’m not asking for fairness here, and I am not making my request on behalf of everyone. I make it selfishly, pure and simple, and I make it with no strings attached. Your answer will in no way reflect on our greater purpose. I make this request as a father.”