Colossus

by John Ricks

  When I finished there was a deafening round of applause and cheers but not from the specials. The cheers were from all the others. I could see it in the eyes of the specials that they didn’t understand.

  I said more quietly so that only the specials surrounding me could hear. “A special just tried to kill me. He harmed two guards, and his bullets could have killed others. We were lucky they did not. These great people at this base are our friends, but they are afraid of what we can do. If the people who work with us and protect us are afraid of us, what do you think the rest of the world is like? Having a special kill just one person on the outside would cause a panic that could cause the total annihilation of all specials. We would be hunted down and destroyed. However, if they see that we are working hard to ensure that they are protected from our kind, they may come to realize that we are their only hope.” I turned and left.

  I was closely followed by eight of the team, the captain, and the intruder, who was being carried. Once inside home, I touched the intruder’s head, and he woke up. I asked, “For whom are you working?”

  He tried to use his abilities but looked confused.

  “I took away your talents, sir. You can no longer use any of the abilities you had. You’re completely normal now.”

  Tears started to flow from his eyes.

  “I’m afraid that what I did is very permanent. No healer can fix the damage I caused. Now I will ask one more time: who are you, and for whom are you working?”

  He didn’t answer, but he also had no shields.

  “I can and will rip it out of your mind if you don’t tell me right now.”

  Susan could see the anger in my face, and she said, “Freddy, that’s not necessary.”

  “I need to know, Susan. I want to know who is trying to kill me and my friends and take my ships. Whoever it is must be removed permanently.”

  “And what if it’s an entire country?”

  I looked at her with anger. “Your point?”

  “Freddy, I know you’re angry. You just lost your project, and now you’ve been attacked, but you can’t harm a person. For goodness’ sake, you walk around insects and cry when you see butterflies dead on the windowsill. Think about what you’re saying.”

  I lowered my shoulders with a sigh of resignation. “You’re right, of course. But something has to be done. One of my friends could have been hurt!”

  “Yes, it does, and yes, we will. I am very sorry that this happened. However, there will be a full investigation using specials and personnel that have no issues with tearing this man’s mind apart. You let me do my job.”

  “Very well, but I want to see the report you’re going to send to the president before you send it. I want to add a note about how quick everyone was to save me and how fast the issue was handled. I don’t want her getting the wrong impression and firing you! I will not stand for that. Tell her that a lot of this is about to go away, as we are going to move.”

  “Move?”

  “The war is over, my ships are back, and so I’m moving my home to Mars. Let’s see if we have these problems out there.” I was suddenly tired. “Susan?”

  “Yes, dear.”

  “I need that vacation.”

  Sadly, Susan said, “I know.”

  As I turned to leave, I mumbled, “I wonder if Becky would like to live on Mars.”

  Gray said, “It has always fascinated me that they fight among themselves so much. It is this practice that has made them strong, but it has also made them weak. They are not a cohesive force.” He turned to me and added, “We stopped fighting among ourselves centuries ago. You may be ahead in some things, but you are far behind in others.”

  I said, “In this, I am ashamed. Even with the knowledge that there are creatures out in space that are waiting to destroy us, there are still those of our own species that would do the same if they could. There is a sickness that goes around in our species. It is called the ‘I am right and you are wrong; therefore, I will destroy you so right can prevail’ syndrome. The people that have it cannot see correctly and will not try to see the other side. It is a sad thing. It is almost like having an entire population of Grays.”

  Green and Blue choked, Yellows nearly dropped me, and Black smiled. Black said, “Well, my pen mates will laugh on that one for days. Gray, may I suggest you continue to try to banter with the Red. It is amusing.”

  A creature the size and color of the Green walked in. He was old and wore a red robe. His arms were folded, and he looked solemn. Green bowed deeply, saying, “Great one, I am honored.”

  The Red said, “I will watch and learn. Continue, Green.”

  All the others went very quiet, and Green continued.

  Chapter 21

  Preparations

  Commander Daphne Morgan exclaimed, “Moving to Mars! Did I hear Freddy right?”

  Susan nodded her head. “It was expected. You know his plans as well as any of us, Commander Morgan, and this is his third step. Step one was build ships. He has completed that issue. Step two was build a city on the moon. We are nearly finished with the building portion of that project. Step three is to colonize Mars, and step four is to colonize the stars. How long did you think we could stall him? If not for his current project, he would have been concentrating on Mars or Oreo or any one of a hundred other planets that are now up for grabs. Now his project is ruined, and his last ship is nearly completed. Notice that no new ship designs have started. The line is closing up, and Freddy has not reprogrammed any robots this month. He is serious about leaving, and after today I am going to do everything I can to help him. No more stalling. We’re moving in four to six weeks.”

  Daphne said, “I wonder what step five is.”

  Susan smiled and then stood straighter and started barking orders. “Hold assembly, and tell the team everything. I don’t want questions. I want readiness, and I want it yesterday.”

  “I’m on it.”

  “Thanks, Daphne.”

  With a snappy salute, Commander Morgan answered, “My pleasure, Captain.” She did an about-face and started gathering the team.

  Susan continued, “Lieutenant Uniceson! I want to know everything this fool knows,” She kicked the prisoner in the face, which knocked him out again and caused him to fall. “Strip his mind. I want everything, and I want it now.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Lieutenant Uniceson grabbed hold of the man in one hand, lifted him to his feet, and propelled him through the air and into the hands of two waiting marines.

  “Chief Peters,” Susan said, “I want the president on the hot line, scrambled, in five minutes. If you can tie in Admiral Penn, do so.”

  “I’m working on it, Captain.” He left, heading toward the office.

  Susan said, “I’ll write a letter to all the parents of the specials and a letter to the specials themselves. We need to inform them—in a very tactful way—that their sons and daughters are not in danger of having Freddy remove their powers. There are going to be rumors about what Freddy did, and I want the truth out there before we start losing key people.”

  Colleen said, “I’ll have a press conference set up for tomorrow. Can you have that letter prepared tonight?”

  Susan smiled. “I have already written it. I knew this was going to come up sometime. All I need to do is modify it a little and get approval. I think the president will want a chop.”

  Colleen laughed. “Always one step ahead, Captain?”

  “With Freddy, we need to be much more than one or two steps ahead. We need to have the game finished before he starts, and I cannot do that as the base commander. That has to change.” She tapped her head, thinking. “Freddy has always said that the ships are for moving us to the stars. He has made us promises to save them for that purpose.” She smiled. “Let’s show him that we keep our promises. I’ll ask Admiral Penn to place every available ship at Freddy�
��s disposal. That should help calm him down. If we can keep him interested in building on Mars, we may be able to postpone his star travel. I want the building ships here. We start moving the smaller buildings in about four weeks. The house goes last. I think we can pack the shop’s robots and equipment into some of the larger ships. Finish all the current projects, and then start packing. And dismantle that black-hole maker!”

  Chief Peters ran out of the office and said, “Captain, Admiral Penn and the president are on line. The media was covering the cake cutting, and now everything is out. The president is most unhappy. There are all kinds of calls. Freddy’s little speech was on international television, and there is a general uproar that someone made it onto this base and tried to attack our ‘national treasure.’ In addition, his attitude toward policing his own went over very big.”

  “Big?”

  “Captain, please let the president explain. This is way over my head.”

  Susan said, “Very well, Peters. I’ll take it in my office.” She headed to her office, thinking, This could be the end of my career or the beginning of a life in space. Either way, I need that vacation as much as Freddy.

  As she entered the office, the president and Admiral Penn stared down at her from a huge split-screen high on the wall. “Good evening, Madam President, Admiral Penn. Hope you’re having a better day than I am.”

  The president was first to respond. “It seems that I was. I’m not fully sure about how my night is going to go.”

  Admiral Penn was a little cheerier. “Hello, Captain. I hope you have some good news. Our president seems a little put out.”

  “I don’t understand why,” Susan said. “Everything is happening exactly as I planned.” She heard a giggle in the background.

  “She is telling the truth, but she is doing so very loosely, in that she allowed for a lot of flexibility in her planning.” Melanie Orgonna was an aide to the president and a niece of Katie Swanson. She was a telepath and empathic and just turned eighteen years old. She could spot a lie, even over the phone.

  “Hi, Melanie. Happy birthday.”

  “Hello, Captain James. How’s Freddy?”

  “Freddy needs to calm down. He is in his room being watched by your aunt. Madam President, I said that this fell into my plans because Freddy is insisting on going up into space in his new ship. I was looking for a way to stop him, and this attack did the trick.”

  “How so?”

  “As you know, we have been finding all kinds of reasons to stop him or at least postpone the inevitable.”

  “Yes. The world would be very upset if he died. The jobs he is creating alone have made America stronger than ever before. We just celebrated paying off the national debt. My goodness, he is the best thing this country has had—this world has had—since the invention of the wheel, and people are arguing over that. Most think Freddy is more important. Congress has already stated that they are declaring war on any country, group, or individual that attacks Freddy Anderson. They want a report about this assassin, and they are sending people to get it.”

  “By the time they get here I’ll have every bit of information he has. I have people working on it as we speak. However, this incident and the earlier incident about his latest project have caused a slight postponement in his plans.”

  Admiral Penn jumped in. “Was Freddy really inventing his own black hole?”

  “We stopped him, but a few short seconds more and there would have been a fully functional black hole under where I’m standing.”

  “My God! I’m glad you stopped him.”

  “So am I, but he is not very happy about it. He must have worked very hard on the project. Madam President, Freddy wants to be safe. He wants everyone to be safe. He has decided to move to Mars to cut down on possible attacks. I think I can use that to keep him very busy—so busy that going to the stars will be out of the question for a little while. There are some safety issues that just came to my attention, and I think that building a safe place to live up there may take some very creative thinking and time. Lots of time. Meanwhile, Freddy can continue working on projects that will make life easier out in space and on colonies. Mars has eight domes now and plenty of space. There is enough air and shielded protection to keep everyone living there very secure. Freddy can create shops in the mountainsides. He already has a place picked out. He was showing it to me the last time we were there. It’s the perfect solution to keeping him in reach and under watch. In addition, I need to spend time with Freddy. I need to cut back to handling things that impact Freddy only. Moving to Mars gives me a perfect excuse to hand over base operations to another.”

  “After reading your report about his latest project, I was thinking the same thing. Admiral Penn, any suggestions for a base commander?”

  “Interesting. I have several, Madam President. I think they will pass the prerequisites.”

  “Good, call them in, and find out. Captain, you will still have override on anything that affects Freddy. I will not have some base commander crimping Freddy’s style. That’s your job.”

  “Thanks. About his little speech to the specials—I hear it’s all over the news.”

  “It is, and don’t worry. The entire world is cheering Freddy. Again, he has hit on a problem we didn’t even know we had. We have eight specials being prosecuted at this time, for everything from theft to murder. We had no idea what to do with them, but if we use specials to screen them, and if they find them guilty of misuse of their abilities, and if they remove their abilities for doing so with no exceptions, we will be sending two very important messages to the world. First, to us normal people, specials are not special when it comes to breaking the law. Second, to the specials, use your abilities improperly and you will lose them. Did you know that several parents have asked me to have Freddy remove their children’s abilities so that they are no longer ‘freaks’? We are sending people to help straighten out those parents. If we have to, we will remove the children. We don’t need child abuse on top of everything else. They will be watched very closely. The world is sick of people blaming their childhood for all their ills. Frankly, so am I. They like the idea that there are no excuses. Abuse it, and lose it. That’s the word going around, and I’m going to back that up fully. Melanie has informed me that people close to me are very happy about this change in policy. They are tired of us catching spies and turning them loose. From now on—and I will inform the rest of the world—if we catch someone, that person will be sent back minus his or her abilities. I think they may keep their people home more. They cannot afford to lose this resource any more than I can,. Tell Freddy that. You tell him I want him on Mars and that we are with him on keeping everyone honest.”

  “I’ll tell him.”

  Admiral Penn asked, “Need any help moving?”

  “Actually, we promised Freddy that his ships would be used for the moves. It was one of the reasons he agreed to make so many.”

  The president said, “Admiral, while keeping the watch, I would like to see every ship possible helping with this move.”

  “Consider it done. Captain, tell Freddy that the first ships will be there tonight.”

  “Wait on that for four weeks, but have shuttles standing by immediately.”

  “Why wait?”

  “We need to plan, and Freddy needs a vacation. I expect that he will want to plan some changes to the Mars site and then start his robots building the space for his shops. After that, we are going away on a working vacation.”

  “Where?”

  “That’s classified, Admiral. I will keep in touch, so do not worry. We will take a shuttle with all the gear we need and then disappear for two or three weeks. After that, you may find me asking for an escort to Mars. Then we will be ready to move. Freddy needs to know that his ships are awaiting his needs.”

  “Believe me, they are.”

  “That’s good, Admir
al. Please have two shuttles ready for us to move equipment to start the modifications on Mars. Those two shuttles and the fact you are willing to have most of the fleet here will go a long way toward calming Freddy. Madam President, I will let Freddy know, in a tactful way, that you approve. Normally, he would take it well, as he loves you very much, but right now he might become self-righteous and a little uppity if someone tells him that he needs the approval. After all, he says, ‘They are my ships, and it’s my Mars base.’”

  They both laughed. The admiral said, “You did say he was upset.”

  “You don’t know the half of it, Admiral. How would you feel if all the plans you’ve made—all the work you’ve slaved over for the last six months—just went up in smoke? You busted your head and passed out, and when you came to, you were slapped by a good friend and chewed out in public by a little girl, who then stomped on your toe, and then someone tried to kill you—all in about an hour of real time. That was Freddy’s day.”

  “Good luck, Captain. Sounds like you have a lot on your hands.”

  “I do, Admiral, and I have a lot to plan out before Freddy gets up in the morning. With Freddy, that could be any time. I have only a few hours to plan out everything.”

  “Then I suggest you get to it, and stop letting us waste your time.”

  “Thanks, Madam President. Talk to both of you later.”