by JS Rowan
There was a close-up map of southern Ontario, Canada, and the Midwestern states of the United States.
“Canada, whose citizens took the brunt of the damage from the asteroid, had this to say.”
The image cut away to a middle-aged man in a suit, over a scrolling banner that read: “Jim McKnight, Prime Minister of Canada.”
“Canada considers the pilots and crew of the shuttles to be true heroes. We ask the United States, our friend and neighbour, to release those brave people into Canada’s custody, so that we can give them the recognition they deserve. Surely their self-sacrifice deserves no less. I am also proud to announce that a memorial will be built by Canada for the three shuttle crews that laid down their lives, and for the seven hundred fifty-five thousand Canadians who were killed in this tragic event,” the prime minister said.
Leona was furious that her daughter had almost been killed saving Americans—and the world!—and the US had arrested her, and her fellows. Something was seriously wrong with the president.
She switched to another news channel, where the anchors and commentators were going ballistic over the news that the pilots had been arrested. Leona became aware that her hands were clenched and she was hyperventilating.
Will interrupted her slow burn.
“I am going to start deceleration now, Mom, so you may want to take a seat and buckle up. The gravity drives might cause some bumps, and I wouldn’t want to see you tossed against the ceiling like Dad was.”
She buckled up and Will sounded the “brace for collision” audible and telepathic alarms. Leona gave her son a quizzical look at the precautions.
“This is the first time I am doing this from this speed, so better safe than sorry. Wouldn’t want to get any scratches on Mergnot’s ship, or his wolves! Can you believe how fast we got here? This baby can really move.”
Will started the deceleration process and, contrary to his warnings, the braking went totally smoothly. Less than an hour later they approached Earth orbit.
“The Semper Fi is approaching Earth orbit as well. Captain O’Neil is asking if we want to adopt a Pacific Polar orbit to avoid the continental United States.”
“No, tell him to adopt a low orbit right over Washington. Take the Vengeance over Green Bay. Return fire on anything stupid enough to shoot at us.”
“OK, will do.”
Will was on the radio for a minute. She heard O’Neil’s voice laughing, but not what he was saying.
“Captain O’Neil says that the other cranky parent is on his way over in a shuttle to pick you up. He has a very special passenger. He also asks to borrow some shuttles to keep our new space station from crashing into the moon.”
“Give him what he needs. I am going to be in the Shuttle Bay to greet you father and his mystery guest.”
Leona unbuckled from the captain’s chair and left the Command Deck. Her trio of bodyguards joined her at the door as she exited toward the elevator.
They got to the Shuttle Bay just as Thor was getting off the shuttle. Leona ran up to him and gave him a big hug. He returned the hug by lifting her off the ground and twirling her around a little. When he put her down she looked at him with affection for a moment and then she hit him so hard that her fist and wrist hurt.
“What was that for, you crazy woman?”
“What were you thinking, letting our daughter go out on such a dangerous mission?”
“Well…”
“Are you kidding me? That’s what you have to say?” Leona said.
“Well…”
“I mean, in this entire ship you couldn’t find someone else who could have led the shuttles?”
“Well…”
“Well what?
Thor looked at her and refused to form a telepathic thought until Leona calmed down some. One werewolf eyebrow was raised in an ironic manner.
“I could have sent someone else, but then all the shuttle pilots and more than one hundred twenty million people would be dead. Plus, she’s your daughter—you try telling her no when her mind is made up.”
Leona’s ire was subsiding and so she frowned and pursed her lips.
“Any thoughts on how we get our girl back without going to war?”
Now that the “discussion” between the spouses was over, Gupta felt it was safe to come out of the shuttle.
“This is your mystery passenger?”
“No, you will recognise her when she steps out.”
The next person out of the shuttle was Darrieus, checking to see if everything looked OK. Leona looked at Thor and Gupta but they avoided her fiery gaze.
Then out came Wendy Hartley and her three children. Leona recognised her instantly. She walked over, quelling her anger as quickly as she could.
“Hello, Mrs. Hartley, welcome aboard the Vengeance. It is a pleasure to welcome the First Lady and her family here.”
“I am so happy to be rescued from that awful ship. I am told that you and Thor, the big werewolf here, were responsible for starting this rebellion and ultimately for rescuing me.”
“We had help, but yes, we started it.”
“Please don’t take this wrong—I am grateful to be off that ship. Many times in the last three months I would have done anything to get out of that awful prison. However, do you think it is wise to keep fighting the aliens? I am told that they have threatened to wipe out mankind.”
Leona’s brow crinkled. She’d known as soon as the words, “please don’t take this wrong” came out of the woman’s mouth that a criticism masquerading as advice would come from her lips.
“Well, having experienced their hospitality, perhaps you would be the first one to volunteer when they come back and start taking people again. I am sorry, but as Benjamin Franklin said, ‘Those who sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither.’ The human race was in jeopardy from the instant those aliens set their ships on course for Earth.” Leona crossed her arms, her mouth set grimly. “I will fight the Supes and protect humanity, or die trying.”
Beside her, Thor and Gupta nodded.
Leona took a long breath to keep her self-control. “First Lady, perhaps we should get you to a hospital so you can be checked out and returned to your husband,” she said.
“That will not be necessary. You can take my children and me to the White House. We have doctors there that will see to us.”
“No, I really think you would be more comfortable at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Green Bay.”
“Green Bay? Why on earth would I want to go there?”
“First Lady, you’re not on Earth yet, and that is where the shuttle is heading.”
“Am I a hostage?”
“No, of course not!” said Leona. “You are free to refuse this shuttle flight. We have frequent flights that go to India. Or, you can wait a week or so for a shuttle to Canada. Or, you can wait perhaps a month for another spaceship to head to Earth—between battles with the Supe raiders of course. Or you can ask your husband for a shuttle—wait, he doesn’t have any, does he?”
The First Lady’s eyes briefly flashed with anger. Then she nodded and straightened up. “OK, I’ll take this shuttle to Green Bay,” she said.
“Now, please come and stand beside me for a minute, look at the camera over there and say what date it is.” Leona pointed in the direction of the camera lens.
“I am afraid I don’t know what date it is. Why are we doing this?”
“The date is December seventeenth, 2038, and we are doing this so that your husband the president doesn’t have us shot down. We will be sending this to NORAD.”
Even bedraggled and dirty, the First Lady could look dignified. She looked at the camera and smiled.
“My name is Wendy Hartley, First Lady of the United States. The date today is December seventeenth, and we are going to fly in a shuttle from this spaceship to St. Vincent’s Hospital in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Please don’t shoot us down.”
“That is good, thank you, First Lady. Will, did you get that up there?”
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“We received it on the Command Deck with no problem.”
“Good. Send that to NORAD and request a response.”
Leona waited for Will to get back to her.
“Did you get any food or drinks?” she asked the president’s wife.
“Yes, thank you. Even though the werewolves could not talk to us directly, they made sure that we had something on the way here. I just cannot wait to get a shower and some new clothes! I have been wearing the same clothes for almost three months now, with almost no ability to wash. The last week was the worst. After those appalling noises, no one knew if we were going to die in space and not even werewolves came into the prison.”
“Yes, I too have spent time in the aliens’ prison cells. That is how the aliens treat all their captives.”
Will called from the Command Deck via the console, but using the telepathy link rather than audible words. This caused Leona, Thor, and Gupta to straighten up in alarm. Thor could see that Darrieus Montgomery, the cop from the NYPD, heard the message as well.
“Mom, we got approval from NORAD,” said Will’s voice, with an emotional undertone of worry, “and they were confused at first, but then the White House told them to give us clearance. No deviations from the course will be permitted.”
“Why were they confused?” Leona thought.
“Dunno, but the way they answered was really weird! Kind of hinkey, you know?”
“Thanks, Will.”
Thor stepped closer to Leona and touched her arm, thinking to her privately. “You know, this is probably a trap.”
“Probably. That’s why we’re going to bring a shuttle load of werewolves,” she thought back to him.
“Yeah, like in that book we read that time. The best way to counter a trap is with a trap of your own—or superior force.”
“Or both!” replied Leona.
Thor happily wagged his tail.
Leona switched to audible speech.
“Vengeance Command Deck, please send the First Lady’s video to all the local Green Bay TV stations. Tell them when we will be arriving in the shuttle so they can get some video for the news. Also, send along Ambassador Gupta’s report to me, about how he went to rescue survivors in the wrecked enemy ship, as background information. They will want to know where we found the First Lady.”
“But you said that video was for NORAD!” complained the First Lady.
“Yes, I did, but I didn’t say it was just for NORAD,” Leona said. “Please, return to the shuttle so that we can transport you to Green Bay.”
Leona gestured, pointing the First Lady and her children toward the shuttle. Thor, Gupta, and her trio of bodyguards fell in around Leona.
“Are you always such a bitch?” sniped the First Lady caustically.
“I am married to a werewolf—being a bitch is part of the job description.”
“If we take it slow for thirty more minutes, we will be ‘above’ most of the asteroid field. The gravity field detaining the captured ship is holding, and all stress sensors are in the green,” said Oleg.
“What is that, right there?” thought Admiral, pointing at a very bright spot on one of the asteroids.
“I don’t know, sir, let me zoom in on it.”
The telescope picture came up on the main view screen. The telescope zoomed close-in on the asteroid that they were looking at. With the telepathic interface, the computer could easily tell what the crew members were looking at.
“That looks like a shiny metal,” thought Admiral. “Hit that with a weak laser burst and do a spectrum analysis.”
One of the other crew complied with Admiral’s instructions. A moment passed while the computer analyzed the sample.
“Sir, that is gold. Given its size and gravitational pull, the body appears to be mostly gold mixed with iron and rock. Let me hit more sites with the laser.”
Several minutes later the same crewman straightened in his chair.
“I am getting gold with almost every hit. That asteroid is twenty-two thousand eight hundred fifty-seven metric tons. That’s a lot of gold.”
“Probably not all gold, what is it—nuggets?” said another of the crew.
“Even so, that is probably still more than the Earth’s annual production of gold,” Oleg said.
“That is going to be very useful in making the electronics that we need for our ships,” thought Admiral.
“Not to mention helping us establish a basis for our currency,” said Oleg. “Though, it might affect the price of gold on Earth.” When he saw people looking at him he shrugged and smiled. “My father was a gold and currency trader.”
“Mark the asteroid’s position and trajectory so we can find it again later,” thought Admiral. The thought-amplifier system did not conceal his sense of satisfaction.
“Mergnot is on the Space Dog. The cargo flat has the Dog auxiliary gravity plates attached, and they are under way. They will be ready to rendezvous with us in two-point-five hours. He is asking if we want to wait for him.”
“Tell him yes. With two ships in tow, we will be better off together. While we are waiting, survey all the asteroids you can to see what other minerals are here. Have the telescope section help by doing visual scans. Also, if we pulse our magnetic collectors and scan for random weak radio signals, it will help in the search for metals.”
The human crew members smiled, starting to feel a bit of “gold fever.” The freed werewolves, though, mostly thought of the metals as raw materials for ship repairs.
Admiral went to his quarters and started working on the draft proposal for the government that the Jupiter Fleet needed to form. Admiral felt that it was critical that the ship captains had a separate vote. However, he was intrigued by the United States of America’s system of government. If you could do away with the party politics, the three-tiered system of government would probably work quite well.
Mergnot had been pushing to nominate a queen and then have some sort of competitive system to replace the queen or king when the time came for that.
The humans wanted to guarantee a vote for every citizen. On the surface, that was ridiculous to Admiral. It seemed that would lead, inevitably, to the leader that promised the most gifts to the voters getting elected. No matter that the money or other benefits had to come from the voters themselves! It made no sense to him.
It seemed to Admiral that these questions could be solved and still allow everyone to have a vote. But, how could they prevent the rise of static political parties? He gathered his thoughts and then started his video/telepathic recording.
“This is my statement concerning the contemplated government of the Jupiter Fleet. I am Admiral, captain of the Victory and Alpha wolf more than seven hundred ship years of age.”
Admiral leaned forward toward the camera.
“First: I believe it essential that the ship and station captains’ voices must be heard, even if they are one hundred light-years away from the Fleet. I believe that any new captain or captains should be mostly decided by the people that have to serve under such a leader. The crew would vote for a captain and then all the other existing captains would have to approve the election by a majority vote. If the captains do not approve of the leader, then the person with the next most votes would be considered for the captaincy. Once a captain is elected, his or her commands become law for all aboard the vessel, and anyone that does not agree should depart to another ship.”
Admiral started to pace back and forth in front of the camera, gesturing as he warmed up to the topic.
“The captains would then vote for the king or queen to rule them for eight to twelve years. Depending on the state of battles ongoing at the time, at the eight-year mark the sovereign could stay on until a total of twelve years, with approval of the captains. The queen or king would be the commander of all the Fleet. Captains serving in other star systems could nominate someone to speak for them, but not another captain.”
Admiral paused, and then looked directly at the camera
with his ears pricked forward in a friendly fashion, although his telepathic tone was not overly warm.
“To satisfy the humans, there would be an elected Senate that would be responsible for passing all the laws and for setting up the budgets. The Senate would elect a leader every four years to be the president of the Senate. However, and I cannot stress the importance of this enough, the citizens could only be citizens and earn their vote by military service, accomplishments, wealth, or by a test system that would demonstrate that they had understanding enough to help guide the government.”
Admiral resumed his pacing.
“The captains, or the queen or king, would have the ability to veto any law made by the Senate—the captains by a majority of sixty percent or more.”
Admiral stopped pacing and faced the camera again. A low rumbling growl accompanied his next thoughts, and his ears went back.
“Finally, I would like to see a binding Bill of Rights as the basis of our government, including the right to bear arms like the Americans are supposed to have. However, the unhappy history of weapons laws on the planet Earth shows that this right would have to be linked to citizenship. Because our survival as a Fleet—and also our individual survival—depends on being able to repel the enemy attacks and fight even in our corridors and quarters, everyone must be able to take up a weapon to defend our ships and stations. Anyone that is not willing to undertake such a duty should leave the Fleet and try to find a community on Earth to defend their worthless skins.”
Admiral’s growling stopped and his ears turned forward again.
“Ah, um—children and those with minds broken by the Masters excepted.”
Admiral sighed, and then twitched his tail.
“I think we can take the good ideas from the Earth countries and also from our remembered traditions, and fashion the best possible document to guide us in the future.”
Admiral sent his thoughts on his ideas for the system of government to the other captains (addressing one to “Captain Queen Leona”) and decided that he still had time for a nap.
