"I'll do that,” Waterman sighed, unutterably tired. “Take it easy, Caleb."
"You too, Tom. You look dead on your feet."
"Not far from it,” Waterman admitted. “Lately I've wondered what the hell ever made me think I wanted to run for President."
"Because you know the ins and outs of the politics, and you're a good man, Tom,” a solemn Caleb said. “We've needed someone like you. Can you imagine if one of Sandra's cronies had gotten the office instead? We'd be Snapper food right now—literally."
"Yeah,” Waterman answered, morose. “I didn't like Sandra, but... damn, Caleb, I didn't know I was sending her to her death. I wouldn't have allowed it if..."
"I don't think you could have stopped her, Tom. They're sneaky, devious little bastards,” Caleb shrugged. “The Zeng Wu found that out the hard way, and so did Sandra. Unfortunately, because of her inflexible attitudes, it cost her her life.” He gazed compassionately out of the viewscreen at Waterman. “Don't beat yourself up over it, Tom. By our lights as humans, there WAS a chance it might have worked. We couldn't know until we tried. Now, go call the CDC and the WHO."
"Yes, sir,” Waterman managed a weak smile—but a snappy salute. Then both men laughed.
"There's my old friend back,” Caleb declared. “Let me know if there's anything I can do, Tom. We have teams of Crispies all over the world working on the injured, so if they can help with this, all I have to do is contact them."
"Roger that, Caleb. Thanks."
And Waterman hit the END button on the videoconference.
The WHO and the CDC promptly issued a worldwide alert for a possible pandemic.
As it turned out, however, the Cresperian teams provided the solution to the question of a possible pandemic within a few hours of the alert being issued. Using their perceptive sense, they were able to study the remains of Snappers that had been preserved for study and ascertain what virii, fungi, and bacteria were present, and of what nature.
"Gordon says they're positive,” Dr. Mai Le Trung reported to a joint meeting of the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control. “The Crispies say that the Snapper biology is nothing like ours, hence their bugs are not like ours, either. DNA and RNA are totally different. It's like... it's like if you had quartz crystals and salt crystals. They might exist side by side, but they don't blend. In fact, evidence indicates that, in the absence of anything to ‘feed’ off of, what infectious pathogens the Snappers brought with them are already dying off. Sort of the opposite of the ‘War of the Worlds’ scenario."
"So you are saying, Dr. Trung,” the Italian head of the World Health Organization noted, “that, while they did bring ‘infectious materials’ to Earth, those materials were infectious to them, and them alone..."
"And will not have any repercussions upon Earth's biome,” Mai vouched. “Gordon even went so far as to sketch out the genetic material for me, and I was able to confirm that it's completely incompatible with anything on Earth. It's also our considered opinion that all of the Snappers who ate any, um, Earth tissues, were probably being slowly poisoned by ‘em. Like trying to eat quartz instead of salt."
"And you are absolutely certain?"
Mai gave the woman a friendly glare. “You know as well as I do, Dr. Silvio, that nothing is one hundred percent in science. But I'm as sure as it's possible to be, short of conducting experiments that would be considered not only inhumane but crimes against humanity. And one, I'm not going to go there, and two, I think we've seen enough of that already. God knows I have."
"Agreed,” Dr. Silvio chuckled, a gentle, sympathetic sound. “Very well. I will reduce the alert level to yellow. We will maintain vigilance, as is prudent, and will continue research, but will not unduly concern ourselves with it until further evidence warrants it."
"Sounds like a plan,” Mai agreed.
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Chapter 21
While the injured recuperated, the well honored their dead and began the process of rebuilding what the Snappers had destroyed. This included repair and refurbishment of Fleet Alpha, and preparation of Fleets Bravo and Charlie.
Within a few days, Jan Wersky and John Tomlinson were back on their feet, even if Tomlinson was still using a cane temporarily. Ed Bangler was a little slower, but two days after Wersky and Tomlinson were released, he too was released into the care of his adoring wife. Piki brought him home, back to their quarters in the Enclave, and continued working on him, helping the last of the soreness to depart and the newly repaired tissues to strengthen.
By the time they were ready, so were the fleets.
"Ladies and gentlemen of Planet Earth,” a somber President Thomas Waterman said in his televised address, “we have stuck together. We have come together as one species in defense of each other and the world that is our home. And we have succeeded. Our world is safe, and it is unlikely that it will be bothered again—at least not by a certain stellar empire.
"However, there is another planet that is in dire straits. A planet whose inhabitants are our allies. A planet which has been taken over by the very species who sought to destroy us, and who IS destroying THEM. I pray it is not too late. It is high past time for us to rescue Cresperia."
He paused, to allow his words to sink into his audience.
"To that end, let me present Space Fleet Commander in Chief, Admiral Wayne Terhune."
Waterman watched as the cameras swung to Terhune.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the world,” Terhune said, in a carefully thought out and worded speech, “were it not for our allies and friends, the Cresperians, our world would be very different today. You and I would be either dead, or literally cattle for the Snapper Empire Unwittingly poisonous cattle, true; nevertheless.
"But we are neither. Why? Because the Crispies willingly shared their technology and skills with us. They worked beside us, taking their own technology, developed over many more millennia than our race has been in existence, and helped us enhance it. Helped us take it the next steps further in its development. Helped us merge it with our own ideas and technology to create something that was better than either of its parent engineering sciences.” He gazed into the camera.
"If we do not, in turn, help them in their time of need, I submit to you that we are no better than the Snappers themselves. If we do not offer aid and succour to them now, we are no longer human—we are inhuman, and inhumane.
"We now have, thanks to this world's ability to work together, not one, but THREE fleets of starships—each with the same capability that the first displayed so very recently. It is my intent to take the United States’ portion of two of those fleets, leaving the third at Earth on high alert, and head for Cresperia. There, we intend to take on the Snappers once again. We shall drive them out of the Cresperian system, or we shall die trying. I will not insist upon any other nation joining us, nor will I order any of my crews to go. This is a dangerous mission. We may not return. We may face forces too great, too numerous, for us to succeed. This is a volunteer mission. But I intend to go, dammit, if I am the only person aboard the USSS Lady Liberty! I will not leave Cresperia to torture and destruction.
"I ask you: Who will go with me?"
The red light on the camera in the Oval Office shut off, and the monitor in the corner of the room depicted the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. General Caleb Washington sat temporarily in the place of Admiral Terhune, and Terhune and Waterman watched as several telephones rang and the Joint Chiefs conferred.
Finally General John Salter, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, rose. “Admiral Terhune,” he declared, “not only do we have enough volunteers from the army, navy, marines, air force, and space force to crew every starship the United States has, we have enough to carry major ground assault forces as well. I would especially like to note the following. The Space Force, the Space Marines, the First Air Force, the Fourteenth Air Force, the Naval Special Warfare Command, the First Marine Expeditionary Brigade, the Eleventh Marine
Expeditionary Unit, the Big Red One, the 82nd Airborne, and the 101st Air Assault have all established one hundred percent volunteer status."
"Excellent!” Terhune boomed.
The video view next cut to the United Nations.
"Ambassadors of the Earth, what is your response?” Terhune asked.
Every ambassador from North and South America, Australia, Europe, and half of Asia, as well as several Middle Eastern nations—the Islamic Confederacy having experienced some schisms during the Snapper invasion—and African nations stood.
The United Nations Secretary General stood as well. “The vote in the Security Council was unanimous,” she declared. “The UN is firmly behind you. Each of the nations whose representative is standing will provide whatever they have to give—starships, crew, supplies, and soldiers. We will not leave our friends and allies to die so cruelly, if it is in our power to help. Those who have not offered to go, HAVE offered to assist in Earth's protection while you are gone."
"Good,” Terhune said gruffly, his tone of voice the only sign of his emotion. “It's already been too long for those who are suffering. We leave in three days."
The Secretary General nodded.
The broadcast ended and the news media filed out.
Terhune and Waterman looked at each other. “Damn big apple, Wayne,” Waterman commented finally.
"Who—the Snappers, or us?” Terhune commented whimsically. “Somebody's bit off more than they can chew, yeah. The question is, which one?"
Three days later, Fleets Alpha and Bravo were ready to depart. The experienced crew members of the original Fleet Alpha had been evenly divided between the two fleets, but no units had been disrupted in the process. In addition, not all of the Crispies had been allowed to go. The fear was, if the fleets did not succeed in liberating Cresperia, that the Cresperians would become extinct, so the majority of the refugees would remain on Earth, saving Jeri Leverson, Sira Tomlinson, Gordon Stuart, and Piki Bangler, whose human mates would be with them. For the time being they and their mates were placed aboard the Lady Liberty, in order to make best use of their perceptive abilities and intellects. Admiral Terhune, however, reserved the right to split them among ships before arrival at the Cresperian system.
"After all,” he pointed out, “if you're all on one ship, and that ship gets taken out, you all get taken out. It's the same reason the President and Vice President never fly together. And you four are just as important."
President Thomas Waterman and Vice President James Robertson watched together from a television in the White House as the final countdown trickled away. News crews around the world depicted the same scenes, over and over again.
Goodbyes were said, hugs exchanged. Ships were boarded.
Then, visible from brand new—and substantially improved—satellites in orbit, all over the surface of Earth, small specks ascended through the atmosphere into space.
They gathered at the L1 Lagrange point, between the Earth and the Moon.
"All ships ready?” Admiral Terhune demanded.
His first officer turned to the communications officer. “Yes sir. All decks are go for departure."
"Lady Liberty is a go,” Captain Renfield, Terhune's first officer, reported. “Columbia?"
"Go!"
"Franklin?"
"Go!"
"Galactic?"
"Go!"
"Golda Meir?"
"Go!"
When the checklist of ships had been completed, Terhune turned to his flagship's pilot, Douglas Bain. “Mr. Bain, set a course for the Cresperian system, maximum cruising speed."
"Aye, sir."
"Captain Renfield, begin Operation Snap, Crackle, Pop."
"Aye, Admiral."
The order was transmitted throughout the fleet. Seconds later, everyone felt the odd disorientation of entering unreality.
The satellite imagery of the two fleets was still being fed through worldwide news broadcasts when, abruptly, they all simultaneously disappeared from view.
President Waterman drew a deep breath. “'Godspeed, John Glenn,'” he murmured thoughtfully.
"Amen,” Vice President Robertson answered.
[Back to Table of Contents]
Authors’ Notes
We would like to thank Dr. James K. Woosley for his assistance in helping us work out the purported “science” behind the unreality devices. He was invaluable in delving deep into the possible theories behind their function; his willingness to bat concepts and theories back and forth was not only useful, but considerable fun.
We would also like to thank author Mari Sloan for her invaluable brainstorming on human/alien peace talks! Thanks Mari!
[Back to Table of Contents]
Darrell Bain
Darrell Bain has always been a voracious reader and always wanted to be a writer but didn't get serious about it until he bought his first computer, a Tandy 1000 at age fifty, seventeen years ago. Being a very naive and trusting soul, he struggled for years with crooked agents and publishers which very nearly ended his writing career. Finally he turned to e-books and became almost an overnight success. Subsequently, he has won every major award offered in the e-book publishing industry.
Darrell Bain is the author of more than forty-seven novels and nonfiction works, ranging in genres from humor to adventure and thrillers to science fiction. He is also the author of more than two dozen short stories. He has collaborated with several authors, most notably and recently, Travis S. “Doc Travis” Taylor. These days he concentrates mostly on science fiction and suspense/thrillers with science fiction elements.
Darrell left school in the ninth grade and served thirteen years in the military, including two years in Vietnam. After leaving the army he attended college and has a B.S. in Medical Technology. He worked as a laboratory manager in Louisiana, Texas and Saudi Arabia then settled down with his wife Betty. They ran a Choose and Cut Christmas tree farm on their acreage in east Texas for many years. The farm became the backdrop for much of his humorous fiction and non-fiction. When back problems intervened, they closed the farm and Darrell became a full time writer. Within a few years his name became an icon for e-books, synonymous with success in E-book publishing and with most of his books now out in trade paperback he is rapidly gaining recognition in print.
Visit Darrell's web site: www.darrellbain.com
Stephanie Osborn
Stephanie Osborn is a former payload flight controller, a veteran of over twenty years of working in the civilian space program, as well as various military space defense programs. She has worked on numerous Space Shuttle flights and the International Space Station, and counts the training of astronauts on her resume. One of the astronauts she trained includes Kalpana Chawla, who died in the Columbia disaster.
She holds graduate and undergraduate degrees in four sciences: Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics, and she is “fluent” in several more, including Geology and Anatomy. She obtained her various degrees from Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN and Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN.
Stephanie is currently retired from space work. She now happily “passes it forward,” tutoring math and science to students in the Huntsville area, elementary through college, while writing science fiction mysteries based on her knowledge, experience, and travels.
Stephanie's web site: www.stephanie-osborn.com
[Back to Table of Contents]
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The Cresperian Alliance Page 27
