Sentinels of the Cosmos Trilogy

by John Anderson

  Dr. Miles continues, “It is, but that’s only the beginning. The computer is run from the energies of the human body. There is no battery required.” “Amazing,” comments another intern.

  “Yes it is. Genetically these babies are very different from us. They are more resistant to disease; their genes allow them to heal faster after injuries. Guards are one of the results of research originally designed to develop humans who could withstand extremely long term space travel. Technically we could program them to live forever but EOJ found a far more useful function for them as Guards, helping to keep the world at peace now.”

  “Are we going to meet Beneizen Brewster, the founder? We are all looking forward to meeting the inventor of all of this,” asks another one of the interns.

  ***** At that same time Sam Nichols was walking into nearby Antonio's Pizzeria, right past the counter and down the hall into the bathroom. He closed the door, pulled the toilet paper holder out and turned it to the right. The floor to the room became an elevator descending into the bowels of the planet. The elevator descended 1,400 feet before it stopped in front of a large steel wall. Sam stood in front of the wall while he was scanned. The wall was simply a visual force field and disappeared after scanning; Sam walked through to the reception desk of an office complex. The sign above that read “Eagles of Justice.” "Good Morning Colonel Nichols," the receptionist said cheerfully.

  "Good morning Karen," Sam said smartly. He walked past the receptionist, through a door and down a long gray hallway. At the end of the hall two Guards opened a glass door and he entered a large conference room. There were four men and one woman sitting around a large table. At the head of the table was Congressman Charles Dean. There was commotion around the table as Charles was handing out folders to the members of the committee. Sam Nichols took his place at the table opposite Charles. His white blond hair glistened in the florescent light. Charles looked somber and showed obvious problems with his breathing. He took out an inhaler and breathed in two long puffs.

  "You're going to have to bear with me, I'm not feeling well," Charles said. "After you have all gotten your folders I would like to begin."

  They took the folders and organized them properly. Charles waited patiently. They had been meeting like this for years. Charles opened, "I'm afraid we've been upgraded as an organization. Our superiors have seen fit to increase our power, our areas of involvement and, thankfully, our budgets also. I'm not particularly happy about some of the aspects of this new role but I've accepted it. EOJ has been primarily involved with solving world government snafus, when they feel there has been a grave miscarriage of justice, we correct it, period. We have stopped hundreds of terrorist threats, prevented governments from being toppled and assassinated many undesirables. We are the most successful undercover operation in U.S. history. For the last 20 years we’ve funneled money from other federal budgets into ours and no one knew or even noticed. I think we're all proud of that. However, these new duties are even more far reaching. Let me read you what was sent to me by President Grant."

  “The EOJ will continue to assume the responsibilities of carrying out operational projects that effect interests of the U.S. government and its allies. These special projects will hold the highest priority and only select, high ranking officials will know anything of their existence. The President of the United States will be in direct charge of a world board and inform us of our objectives as they are decided.”

  “Excuse me Charles, since when do we take our orders from the President? Historically the President could only recommend. It was the board, us, that always made the final decision on our operational aims,” said Sam who was revolted by the document. “May I finish Sam?” Charles asks patiently.

  "Charles, these sound like ‘off the reservation’ comments,” Sam complained.

  Charles looked around the room; it was obvious that most of the rest of the members at the table were in agreement with Sam. Charles thought for a moment, and then said, “The problem is that we have developed a technology that no one else in the world possesses; as a matter of fact most of the world does not even know about it. Sam, you along with Beneizen were responsible for a great deal of it, really all of it and you two will remain in charge of a great deal of it; where is Beneizen by the way?”

  “He said he had something to take care of over the next few days,” Sam replied.

  “Oh, how odd,” Charles says as he sits back and looks at Sam intensely.

  "What do you mean a great deal of it?" Sam asks perplexed.

  "I mean most of it. The President wants to have the final word. He is after all the President," Charles says. “Charles, agreement from the whole group is what made this body unique and in my opinion successful. The President does not have the right to change anything; that is not his role here,” Sam probes. “The President is the President. Everything is subject to change Sam, nothing remains the same. Look on the bright side. With the new responsibilities, whatever they might be, there also comes more money. Yes my friends we have been given a sizable increase, there’s also more money for us." The man next to Sam was Senator Burnside from Massachusetts, a tall powerful looking man in his seventies. His hair had long ago turned white but he dyed it a reddish brown to match his freckling, aging complexion. He stood up and spoke, saying, "Charles this organization was founded on certain principles. The EOJ was and has been an enforcer of last resort for world justice. I rather like the role we have played. It’s been vital in making the world a safer place. We’ve been a high court, a moral court that can carry out true justice; even the President and political leaders from the whole world only made recommendations. The principle was that there must be a consensus among us. Why has this change been made?

  ”Charles sits back in his chair, pauses, and looks at each member around the table before speaking, and says, “Because Doris died, that’s why. And the President does not completely trust the organization without her involvement. In other words he does not trust us, and there is nothing we can do about it at this point. He is now going to be meeting with other world leaders; together they will reach a consensus on our assignments. He will give us assignments that need to be carried out. Here is the document, read it and weep. Why do you think I’m sick, but what can we do?”

  “We could bring this to congress,” Senator Bennett suggests.

  That would mean exposing the entire operation, and how do you think congress would respond to they’re having being excluded for 20 years?” Sam offers. Charles steps in saying, “Thank you Sam for that bit of sanity; the President is just getting more involved, that’s all. We have several projects to cover tonight. Open your folder to number 1456 and you will see Aziz Torreno. That scumbag was acquitted by an Italian court because the jury had been bought off by his father. The Italian Government has requested justice and asked that we carry it out. Who wants to handle this one?"

  Charles saw Senator Lee from Virginia raise his hand. "Alright Lee, it's yours - you'll handle all the details, and you'll use your assigned Guard group."

  Senator Lee nodded his acceptance.

  Charles said, "Now open folder No. 109, that's right 109, it's a rather old file, the Chase Stern file. Now! Sam, you are handling this personally?"

  "That's right," Sam replied.

  Senator Lee coughed and tried to speak: "If I may ask something here, why was this Guard Chase not already terminated? My understanding is that he’s not responding to his assignments."

  Charles says, "I already explained all of that." "You did, when? Humor us," Lee retorted.

  "Chase seems to be showing signs of somehow becoming conscious; I think we should watch him and see what happens. We should bring him in and study him rather than terminate him. How stupid to kill him; it’s obvious that if it’s true it could happen again so we need to find out what’s causing the problem and why. Science, pure science,” said Charles.

  Lee was not satisfied with the answer, saying, "You’re telling us that one of our Gua
rds is no longer programmable? Are you insane? Get rid of this thing!”

  "Senator Lee, Charles is right, we need to see if we may have a potentially bigger problem. Killing him would lose us that opportunity. I've got a handle on this one," Sam replied.

  Senator Kathryn Bennett demanded to be heard. She was a strong woman; tall, thin, with close cut black hair and a wide voluptuous mouth, Kathryn had been working in a man’s world her whole life. She had sacrificed a great deal to become the U.S. Senator from Kentucky. The hard chiseled lines on her face were a testament to the life she had lived. She said testily, "Robert, Chase is already under my control. I sent my best Cybarium Guard to fetch him and bring him back, but there is something else you should all be aware of. It seems something or someone is reprogramming Chase. We found traces of a new code, and part of this new code is a new language, like nothing we have ever seen. Chase is being brought back as we speak.”

  “Good, let’s move on,” Charles says.

  “Excuse me Charles but we still need to deal with the Juan Martinez problem,” said Kathryn.

  “Juan is the least of our problems. If someone is re- programming our Guards that could be a disaster; think, it could be Russia or China. A new language, my God! I think we should leave him alone for a while. He really doesn’t know that much. Maybe Chase has already scared him away. Maybe we could use this Juan to find out more about Chase. Who knows, maybe Juan is the mole that's re-programming him,” Charles answers.

  “Maybe, maybe not, but he could still be a risk,” badgered Kathryn.

  Charles replies, “I agree, but we have more to gain by keeping him alive and under observation rather than by killing him.” “Let's get down to the real reason for this meeting. I have just come from the President who just returned from the world population conference. I'm sure you've all been watching the news that thirty countries met and agreed on new courses of action. The major solution for those problems is us, EOJ. This project is so sensitive that simply the knowledge of its existence could cause global war. The government needs an agency that knows how to carry out high priority projects efficiently and secretly. Now open folder No. 1469. You will need to read all the material, even though it’s rather lengthy. There is also a single-play self-destructing DVR that I expect all of you to watch. The final objective of this project is to reduce world population by 50% over the next 50 years. It’s no secret that our world is overpopulated and it's become EOJ’s responsibility to creatively develop and test ways to reduce overpopulation. We are to do it in as humane and organized a way as possible. We will begin here at home. The first test will be in New York City. It's an ideal place for us to kick off our plan. We are to target certain segments of society. Sam has been working in secret on population control viruses for years. We now have several of them that are stable and they can be used effectively without uncontrollable consequences. Maybe Sam could speak about some of these new virus strains."

  Sam is startled by what he has heard. He feels abandoned by Beneizen to face what he is hearing alone. He answers slowly, "Charles, you caught me a little off guard. We do have effective population reducing viruses, but they were developed to be used as a last resort. Doris supported population control - not extermination. Even forced sterilization would seem a better choice than this. And what about the plans for relocation in space, like the plan for moving segments of the population to Mars? We have the technology for transforming Mars into a habitable environment for humans. There is even a successful small settlement there now. I think we should at least question such a directive. I think we should meet with the President. I personally don’t want to be involved in such a preposterous scheme. Such an action would make us no better than the Nazis."

  Sam sat down. The room was silent for a moment. None of the members liked what they were hearing and seemed uncomfortable with the contents of folder 1469. Charles sensed this and said, "At first I too was very concerned about folder No. 1469, but I think we can all agree that the situation has become dire. Our planet is dying, and if there is going to be anything left for future generations something has to be started now! Besides the food problem, there is the climate change problem and a housing problem. We have people living in tent cities all across the country. The public is too divided, causing paralysis at the political governmental levels. One camp doesn't believe in abortion, another camp believes. One camp believes in climate change, another does not; each one gathers information selectively to debate the other and all they do is talk! Something must be done. If this was a dictatorship we would just do what was necessary, but we live in a democracy. I have just come from the President; the solutions that are used will either be cheered or hated by future generations. Please read everything in these folders before you pass judgment. Thank God they have not given us a date nor have they yet asked for a plan with a timeline. They have asked us to try and understand the true situation and to only run some tests

  I was also forced to bring a new member into the EOJ as an adviser to this operation. I know this is going to be a shock, but remember this is now a world organization and members of Security Councils from other countries will inevitably be joining us. Please welcome General Ivan Kolinski from Russia." Sam could not believe this. Ivan had a reputation in Russia of being a stone cold killer, a military serial killer. He was responsible for germ warfare attacks during Russia's long Ukrainian war. Ivan strode into the room in uniform, fully decorated, marched to the large round table and saluted.

  "I am General Ivan Kolinski, thank you for inviting me to be part of your organization. I am deeply honored. I have already met Colonel Nichols, good see you Sam.” Charles then introduced him to all the other members of the council then pulled out his inhaler and took a couple of puffs before lighting a cigar.

  Chapter 13 Charles Dean was sitting on the toilet in a stall when Ivan came into the men’s room and said, "Mr. Dean!" as he looked into the mirror and admired himself, everything had to be just so. "Mr. Dean, is that you?" "Sit in the stall next to mine; take a load off, Russky," Charles replied airily.

  Ivan turned from the mirror and saw two large feet with shoes and pants draped around the ankles. Then opened the door to the stall next to Dean and sat down on the toilet.

  "I just got my first order from the President’s committee, and I want you to handle it, not Sam," Charles said, grunting.

  "Really, Why you not including Sam, he's your big man, eh?" asked Ivan.

  Charles replies, "Sam is an idealist, not a politician. The questions of these new directives are part of a much bigger picture and are going to be far more difficult for him to digest. You have to see the big picture; you have to understand what needs to be done and be willing to do it."

  Ivan's face begins to twitch. He takes out a switch blade ice pick, snaps the button, and begins to clean his nails.

  “We have been ordered to eliminate a portion of New York City population, let's say a zip code in Brooklyn and one in the Bronx as a test for a far larger plan. Do you have any great ideas on how to pull it off?" Charles says in a matter-of-fact manner.

  Ivan thought for a moment and smiled to himself. This was just the sort of thing that he had looked forward to for his whole life and was an opportunity that really showed off his amazing intellect, he replies, "I like Sam's virus, very much, we had better one in Russia but I have idea. We place virus on envelopes of Electric Company bills and when people lick envelopes they die in less than day. I set up to look like terrorists’ plot." Ivan liked his idea “Good idea eh?”

  "No, Ivan no one licks envelopes anymore, everything is digital, but they do open envelopes. If the glue on the envelope was toxic that would kill a much greater number, although a lot of people may still use a letter opener. Also a lot of people use digital forms of payment, but it’s just a test. A utility bill is a good place to start. It will tell you what happens and if you have a problem correct it and retest. We can control who we want to kill by zip codes, but you have to solve the problem
that it goes through the skin when they open the envelope,” Charles exclaims.

  “I was general in Russian Intelligence; I got paid to solve problems like this. In fact my whole family was killed by Stalin; my mother, my father, my brothers, my sisters, even fifth and sixth cousins. My grandfather taken to special school shortly after he born... miracle he survived. Then Stalin sent my grandfather to kill our whole family. Many years later I find out truth even though my grandfather committed suicide. I never hate Stalin; he did what he did for everyone's benefit, as you say he was big picture guy. Now, I’m in America and you give me good job. You know, we may not even need terrorist angle, I fix virus - will be very hard to trace," Ivan boasted.

  "Ivan, can you keep it alive on the glue of an envelope?" asked Charles.

  "Da, I think so. But Sam is very good solving such things; give him that problem; he doesn't need know how we going to use. Tell him it's for EOJ to use on scumbag Mafia guys."

  Charles finished and got up and went out to wash his hands. Ivan sat in the stall cleaning his nails and continued, “I don’t think it matters anyway. We put on glue of envelope - they touch they die, even if pay bills on internet or use letter opener. We not kill them all, we only interested in reducing, right? It's a test eh?”

  Charles stands looking down on Ivan in the stall and says, “Right! You’re some piece of work Ivan; you scare the hell outta’ me.”

  "Did I now, I know why you using me, if something goes wrong blame it on the Russian, eh?" asked Ivan. You get that? We all die! You understand the code?" Charles says as he walks to the door. "We need to be set to go by Labor Day, fitting, eh?”

  Ivan sat for a moment and finished cleaning his nails, then gets up and goes again to the mirror; he closes the knife slowly, saying to himself, "I'm going to kill that fat pig. I hate Americans; they weak, it astonish me they win cold war.” Ivan looks in the mirror again and combs his hair, saying, “You are nice looking man, Ivan and now I get to do what I love most, hurt others.”