by Mark Zubro
Mike gave that up. He asked, “What happens tomorrow?”
“You’ll be put in what is called a security box. Kind of a smaller version of the bathroom you use. It essentially encases you. You can’t escape, but then no one can get in.”
Mike vowed to himself that he would never enter such a box. He asked, “What do we do now?”
“We wait,” Kenton said. “I answer as many of your questions as I feel like.”
“Why do you guys use words between each other at all? Why don’t you just use your implants and telepath to one another?”
“Joe didn’t explain about implants?”
“He did sort of, pretty much.”
“There are different implants for different things.”
Mike asked, “Why not just implant everybody the same?”
“That many implants would make a person’s head three times as big. We’ve got great technology, but we are not omnipotent. Plus, we all have types of blocking implants or abilities. No one wants other people freely mucking about in their head. The police have the most powerful. They need to be able to find criminals.”
“But what’s to stop them from looking into everybody’s head?”
“Laws, rules, customs, severe penalties. We can usually tell when someone is in our head. If they aren’t allowed or are getting to places they shouldn’t, they can be blocked and are immediately reported. Either they have to answer for their actions, or new implants or training are given. Can you get into our heads?”
Mike didn’t think this would be a good thing to admit. He was able to get into Joe’s head to a limited degree. Once he figured he could, he stopped. He wasn’t about to admit the ability here. He wasn’t about to reveal how much he could do to these people with mind control. He would keep that little power to himself, if he had it beyond what little he’d discovered with Joe. They’d agreed not to be in each other’s heads, so Mike hadn’t practiced that skill.
Mike asked, “If one little person like me is such a threat with technology I barely understand, how is it that your system lasts at all?”
“But it has.”
Mike sat on the floor with his back against the glass. “So, if I could figure out how to make things happen with this thing, my powers would be unlimited?”
“Possibly.”
“I could become absolute ruler of the universe and have power and riches beyond my wildest dreams?”
“I don’t know how wild your dreams get.”
“Pretty wild. Right now, they mostly center on rescuing Joe.”
“If he hadn’t broken our laws, you wouldn’t be in this trouble.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Mike asked. “As far as I know, I’m the first person on Earth to be legitimately visited by an alien. I would turn down that experience? Who wouldn’t leap at the chance? What’s more, I love him. I want to spend the rest of my life with him. All this is worth the trouble.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “I think. I hope.” He gazed at Kenton for several moments. “I’ve had true love and the greatest adventure of a lifetime. Who wouldn’t do this?” Mike stood up, turned, and stared at the horizon.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
After long silent moments, Mike asked, “Am I looking out on summer or winter or what?”
“We have five seasons here on Hrrrm. We can grow crops during all of them on various sites on the planet. Very much like Earth, the growing seasons vary. Outside here today, it would, I think, be equivalent to your spring in a desert region of your country.”
“Who are you people?”
“I’m sorry?”
“Is this co-evolution? Did you become a species because of evolution on your planet or a nearby star system or did humans and you evolve from the same species? Did some off shoot of your race show up on our planet?”
“Your imagination is getting ahead of your thinking process. Your species evolved on Earth. The universe is structured in only so many ways. Things grow and evolve according to fixed rules. Gravity works. While we have a galaxy filled with random chance, over billions of years certain things are more likely to happen.”
“How come we look so much alike?”
“I’m not great at explaining the nature of the biology of the universe. My understanding is that internally we’re somewhat different.”
“Yeah, but the dinosaurs went extinct, many think because of a meteorite hitting. What if there was no meteor? Who would be ruling the Earth now? Would the first mammals have arisen in spite of the dinosaurs? Mammals survived but the dinosaurs didn’t.”
“I don’t know enough about your planet to say. I do know that we have had a written history on this planet for over fifty thousand years.”
“You’re about forty-seven thousand years ahead of us. How big is this planet anyway?” Mike sat back down. The material the walls were made out of let in the sunlight. It was the pleasant warmth of a cool day rather than a penetrating heat of hot summer sunshine.
Kenton explained, “Hrrrm is about three times the size of Earth. Our two suns you saw. Some of our star systems are more independent than others, but still there is what you would call a Senate that governs a host of civilized worlds that share the same level of technology. The Senate is made up of the wealthiest citizens in our part of the galaxy. Think of your Fortune 500 list, only with individuals whose vast wealth doesn’t ‘buy’ them a seat in the galaxy’s most powerful legislative body. It’s much more blatant than that. Whoever makes the most money automatically gets to be in the Senate, and his or her faction has the most representatives.”
“Capitalism in its pure state,” Mike said. “Ordinary citizens have no say in their government?”
“Why should they?”
“So the greediest capitalist wins?”
“Greed doesn’t inherently lead to violence.”
“You don’t have competition?”
“Yes. Primitive violence is hard to eradicate, especially on the outer systems where civilized society is not always as strong as it is here. We have far fewer criminals per capita than you do. It’s just that in general even the smallest and most primitive of our planets have a far greater population than Earth does.”
“What about this Vov guy? How’d he turn into some master criminal? How’d he get started?”
“Saying he was a child genius hardly states the case. You’ve got to picture a mix of your Einstein, Aristotle, and Hitler.”
“Did he have followers?”
“Oh, my yes. They had a faction in the Senate. Never a very strong faction, but some of the smartest and a few of the richest people on this side of the galaxy.”
“What happened?”
“Vov was planning to take over the central government and set out on conquest of the galaxy.”
“Why bother?”
“Huh?”
“Well, you get to be in charge, but what’s the point?”
“I think being in charge is the point. You get to make people do what you want. The desire for power and control is not limited to crazy people on Earth.”
“He wanted the whole galaxy?”
“This part of it anyway.”
“How was he stopped?”
“Traitors among his own followers. He made alliances with those who he should not have trusted.”
“What happened to all of his followers? Did they all get arrested?”
“No. The very rich control the armies of their individual systems. The central government has a vast security force, spies, guards, police, a standing army. I think you would call it very feudal but in a very modern way. There are vast alliances. No systems within the Senate federation have fought a real war with one another for a couple of thousand years. Money isn’t made in the fighting but in the preparation for fighting. However, there is far more money to be made in space exploration. The universe is limitless. There is wealth and adventure for anyone willing to take the risk. One of the largest parties in the Senate is made up of former adventurers. They con
sider themselves better than the rest of us. A split off branch of them makes up the various pirate systems. They might refer to themselves as entrepreneurs, but in reality, they prey on those who don’t have as much firepower as they.”
“Some people rob and steal to get rich. Some of them get away with it and some don’t.”
“You’ve got the idea.”
“Nobody gets pissed about this and starts shooting?”
“Petty boundary disputes are almost unheard of. Our problems come from the outer star systems. That is where those who want to be rich, those who feel they’ve been cheated from being rich, or those who want to be rich by fighting for it instead of working hard for it, have headquarters. The Sky Pirates of Msssk are the worst. Very well armed. Vov was born originally on one of their home planets. His father was one of their leaders. They wanted to put his genius to work for them. His intelligence was discovered early, of course. His implants were all of the most advanced designs. He could have revolutionized any branch of knowledge he chose, but he picked weapons and destruction. Their rebellion was exposed, they were caught, and they were stopped, but the rich don’t get executed. Most of the time, they don’t even lose their seats in the Senate. Vov was caught and imprisoned. We were lucky to catch him. No one is sure how he slipped out of prison. No doubt he had help. Earth was lucky to escape unscathed.”
“If you consider losing me being ‘unscathed.’ Although I suspect I won’t be missed on a planetary level.”
“You had family?”
“Yes, I miss them.” He didn’t mention Jack. He didn’t want the aliens making a trip back to Earth to snatch his nephew. He hoped he would be able to keep his mind closed to the aliens forever. He wondered if they’d learned about him from Joe. He asked, “Does Earth really have nothing to fear from you people?”
“A good portion of this part of the galaxy has been mapped and explored. Your planet is far out of the way and of little worth, except to those on it. Not a trace of zukoh for example. Now if we could find that, things could get interesting, but there isn’t.”
“Being worthless has its benefits. How nice for us. What is this zukoh?”
“Sort of like gold in that is very flexible, sort of like uranium, because it can easily be turned into something volatile. Vov was working with it in quantities he shouldn’t have had. The substance itself can cause great health problems besides its lethal effect when used in weapons. Since we discovered the lethal uses of zukoh, our star system hasn’t lost a war in seven thousand years.”
“Who did you use to fight with?”
“Ourselves mostly. Our histories say that we began on one world and have expanded over the millennia. The development of such a deadly substance eventually led to the growth of a peace and what you would call an environmental industry. We have factions that disagree, sometimes violently, but we have peace.”
“Except with the Sky Pirates of Msssk.”
“And others. It’s a big galaxy out there, and a lot of people want to become very rich, but no, we don’t have warring intergalactic battles.”
“Who will pass sentence on me?”
“I’m not sure. The tribunal for dealing with off-worlders used to contain all the power within themselves. Over the millennia that changed. Now the Senate is paramount. Your case is the most notable in a millennium.”
“Eat your heart out, OJ.”
“Pardon?”
“Skip it.”
Kenton said, “Vov went very far to try and escape. No one thought he would ever be found. There may have been others looking for him. The central government is not necessarily the most powerful entity. There may have been wealthy factions that wanted Vov to fail, others for him to succeed. There may have been searchers besides your Joe. Again, some wanted him to succeed. Some wanted him to fail. Poor Joe wasn’t a very good cop. He was expendable.”
“He told me his story.”
“At least he was honest.”
“As honest as I needed him to be.”
The first sun was now low in the western sky. The dim light echoed shadows into the valleys below. “Will I live to see another sunset on Earth?” Mike asked.
“You will almost certainly live to see more sunsets. Where they will be, I’m not sure. I wouldn’t bet on any of them being on Earth. I do hope you live a long life.”
“Me too.”
After Kenton left, Mike watched the view for hours. The scenery in the daylight had been magnificent. The sunset was as spectacular as the sunrise. The sky seemed wider than that of Earth. The night that followed was glorious. His room had no lights and there were none visible in the landscape he looked out upon. Two moons rose, each beginning as glorious reds, fading to orange and yellow. Mike had never seen the stars as he did this night. The sky above the Mojave Desert at two in the morning before overpopulation and pollution would barely begin to match this. The shadows of gray and black on the mountains and valleys made the forbidding landscape one that Mike would have liked to embrace. If he hadn’t been so frightened, he would have begged to stay. He wished he had someone he loved to enjoy it with.
Mike couldn’t sleep. He paced slowly from side to side of his cell. He thought of Joe, Jack, his life on Earth, his destruction of Lennon Kazakel, and when he’d fought for his life in the battle on the ship. He shook his head at the memory of violent death.
Then a third moon rose, a great yellow orb that dominated the east making everything nearly as bright as day. Bits of the planet’s surface glittered below him. Whatever lay in wait, he’d experienced one of the greatest moments of beauty he ever expected to see.
Kenton had given him a small chip to use to summon his bath cubicle at need. When finished, Mike rested uncomfortably on his pillowless plinth. He lay on his back, his arm behind his head, which rested on his wrist. He felt awful. He had one friend within thousands or even millions of light years, and despite Kenton’s promises, who he had no idea if he would ever see again. He had no hope of returning to his own world and his life and that which was familiar. He felt tears on his cheeks. While he wasn’t about to give in to a fit of hysterics, he was homesick and frightened. He stared out at the universe. He would endure. His adventure would continue even if there was never anyone from his past he could tell about the life and the world he had come to know.
As the first two moons began to set, Mike slept.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Mike woke to the same purple sunrise. The feeling of lightheadedness he’d experienced before returned along with a small bit of nausea. He wondered if he was coming down with something. Could the alien atmosphere itself be making him ill? He remembered the Martians in War of the Worlds dying from bacteria against which they had no immunity.
Kenton and five red robed guards were in the room. Yellow security glows surrounded the guards. He was given another bland meal.
“I’m feeling a little under the weather,” Mike said. He explained his symptoms to Kenton.
Kenton said, “We’ve dealt with people from a huge variety of worlds. In your food has been what you would call antibiotics or maybe vaccinations. You may simply have an Earth disease, such as the flu.”
“Would you guys be immune to that?”
“Most likely. If Joe was, we would be, but there would be no pandemic even if we weren’t immune. We have medical facilities that can perform miracles on a daily basis.”
Mike finished eating. He felt better.
“We need to leave,” Kenton said. “Please don’t try anything.” A prisoner transportation device appeared from the floor. It most resembled his personal hygiene compartment.
Mike said, “No.”
“I beg your pardon.”
“I’m not getting into that thing. I’m not wearing handcuffs of any kind. I will not willingly chain myself.”
Kenton’s voice turned hard. “Let’s just do this.”
Mike saw the gravity deprivation shield begin to form. With his communicator he destroyed the one Kento
n was using. Then he vaporized the metallic cell that was rising.
Moments later the floor swallowed up Kenton and the guards. Mike was left alone. Only a few minutes later, Kenton returned. His voice was tight, his smile grim. “It’s been decided that you may walk freely, but we’ll use a security room if we have to. We’ll figure some way to do it.”
“Not while I’m breathing.”
Kenton walked up to him. “You’re going to get me fired, Earthling. You are so much not worth my job and my career. This is going to happen, no matter how many things you vaporize.” He almost smiled. He whispered, “Fun as that is to watch.” He resumed louder. “Each of the guards has several devices to halt anything you would try. Basically, they will deprive you of oxygen again if you attempt to fight back.”
