by Paul Phipps
Ansel was amused at the way they avoided the splashed blood on the Flight Deck. Next time it would be more difficult he knew. But still the TSN needed to put the Fear of God into them before someone tried something really bad.
After twenty minutes in the hot sun Ansel was more than grateful for his TSN issued Shipsuit. At least he was comfortable on the deck while everyone else was starting to perspire heavily. Then the three reporters approached as they followed their producers. It appeared that the FOX/CNN people were leading the group.
“I’m Joshua Roberts, senior producer for FOX/CNN Dubai Bureau,” He identified himself, “Our network has agreed to your terms. Our camera crew has also told me that you have chosen them to do the filming. On behalf of my network, thank you.”
“You’re welcome; please get your people together over by Rover. Once everyone that’s going is there we will go on board.” Ansel said with a smile.
Ansel then looked at the other two groups and waited for them to speak.
“The Producer for Al-Jazeera smiled sadly and shook his head, then said, “Al-Jazeera will not agree to your demands and in addition want to know what is happening to our cameraman.”
“Your cameraman, who attempted to attack me, is having his hands reattached in the Med Center. He is also undergoing deep interrogation.” Ansel stated baldly.
“You are torturing him!” The Al-Jazeera reporter said with a loud incredulous voice.
“Re-attaching his hands is torture?” Ansel said bemusedly.
“No this deep-interrogation thing you are doing to him.” She replied hotly.
“Ah, that… There is no pain; we are merely making an engram recording from today back to when he was born. Soon we will know everything he has ever known and what he has tried to forget also.” Ansel said with an angelic smile.
There was confusion on both of their faces at Ansel’s statement. Ansel pointedly turned away from them and indicated with his eyes that the Omani’s were next.
“Channel five News Center has agreed to your conditions.” the producer said for the two of them. “There is one request though. Our management would like you to take our two Evening Newscast Anchors with us.”
“What additional value would they give to your report?” Ansel asked.
The producer grinned sheepishly while looking down at his feet and then said, “Really nothing, but they are both very good looking and know how to read and smile at the same time.”
Ansel just started to laugh and then said. “Yes, they may come… if they can pass a quick TSN Lie detector test.”
He then pointed to Rover and asked them to join the FOX/CNN news crew. Next he looked back at the two Al-Jazeera people. “Don’t come back unless you are invited and you had best screen your crew carefully. Also make sure that you can agree to our conditions.” He turned around and walked away from them as they stood staring at his back.
Ansel/Comm Mode: “Rover please lower your ramp and let us on board. “
Rover/Comm Mode: “Acknowledged Commander”
Ansel/Comm Mode: “After we are on board please take us to the Omani Channel Five Station in Muscat, I’ll check those two out and then we will go to Facility M1. I’ll let our guests know we are there myself so no announcement of arriving please. I’m going for maximum psychological impact.”
Rover/Comm Mode: “Sounds like fun, you humans are so interesting…”
Ansel/Comm Mode: “Sometimes we can be. I think this will be one of those times.”
As Ansel approached the waiting group the ramp lowered down from the lower side of Rover. He just waved for them to follow him on Board and then showed them how to use a Trans-Portal. Once they were all in the Combination Wardroom/Conference room he invited them to sit down and then let the Camera Crew Set up their Cameras.
After ten minutes of waiting and small talk Ansel said, “We are at Channel 5, let’s go collect your news Anchors.” He then used the Trans-Portal and was gone. The others just stared at each other, and then the Omani producer got up out of his seat and gingerly used the Trans-Portal himself.
He saw that the ramp was down and Ansel was talking to the two Anchors in Arabic. He was surprised at that; very few westerners ever mastered Arabic. He was even more surprised when Ansel informed the Male anchor that he was not going.
“Why am I being told no.” The anchor started to bluster. Ansel just looked at him and held up a small crystalline pyramid. “This reports that you are a liar and that you are yourself a ‘Martyr in Waiting’.” He then continued. “If you insist on going, the TSN will arrest you as a terrorist. The choice is yours.” he then pointed to the ramp leading up to Rover.
Now the Sultanate of Oman is a Monarchy; and the News Center was a wholly owned corporation of the Sultanate. And the Management knew that the current Sultan was death on Terrorists. The station manager was already on his cell phone calling for the Security forces to come arrest the News Anchor.
The News Anchor looked around and saw what was happening. He knew that death was the only fate for him in Oman. He looked at the White Flying Saucer of the TSN in front of him and decided an uncertain future was much better than no future and rushed up the ramp to the antechamber at the top.
Ansel could see that the man looked confused at there being no obvious door.
Ansel/Comm Mode: “Rover, please send him to a detention room and put him in stasis. For all we know he has one of those Human Bomb Capsule sets implanted.”
Rover/Comm Mode: “Done… and yes he does have the bomb implant. The Trans-Portal system detected it easily.”
“We’ll take care of him. For your information, he was implanted with a bomb. We will remove it and perform Deep Interrogation on him. We will also give you all the pertinent information that he has.” He said in a matter of fact manner to the Channel Five News General Manager.
Ansel looked at the pretty female anchor and asked, “Do you still want to go along for the interview?”
She looked a little pale under her deep tan but gamely nodded her head in the affirmative.
“Let’s go then.” Ansel turned and headed back up the Ramp into Rover. He waited for the other two to join him and then they watched the ramp fold up and merge seamlessly into the wall. A moment later the Trans-Portal delivered them to the wardroom.
Joshua Roberts looked up as the three of them appeared at the Trans-Portal. He smiled and said, “Welcome Amati, I thought that Abdullah was also going to come along.” He added quizzically.
Amati looked at the floor and then she sat down in the nearest chair and pointed at Ansel, “He said the Abdullah was a terrorist, A ‘Martyr in Waiting’. He also gave Abdullah a choice, the Sultan’s security forces or arrest by these people.”
The others in the room looked at Ansel, some in outrage, some in fear. Ansel just sat at in his chair and watched them.
“Are you ready to record my briefing?” he asked calmly.
The lead cameraman answered in the affirmative. Ansel then stood up and the light in the room dimmed slightly. A hologram appeared over the conference table. It showed a view from Space with a small sun in the distance.
“This is our sun, for convenience sake we will call it Sol after the Latin name. In 1970 a starship breached the dimensional wall at the Heliopause of our star system….”
Facility M1, TSN Moon Base Quarantine Facility, 1245 Omani Time, Saturday, November 14, 2026
Three hours later Ansel was finishing up his briefing.
“After having delivered a formal declaration of war to both the Government of the IUR and to their appointed Ambassador to the United Nations, the Terran Space Navy has instituted a total blockade of the Nation known as the Iranian Unified Republic. The search for the Biological Warfare weapon known as ‘Shaitan’s Breath’ is ongoing. We know where most of the stocks of the weapon are currently located.
However there is a shipment that was in transit when the Blockade was imposed. Neither the persons who shipped it or ourselves cur
rently knows its location or status. If it has managed to leave the IUR before we put up the blockade then it is still a possible Extinction Level Event.
This also means that if infected persons are found then the country they are in will also be blockaded until the Bio-War agent is fully contained.”
At that point he stopped. Then he looked at the people in the room. They were in a state of shock and it appeared it might take some time for them to become rational again. He made a quick decision.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t know about you but I could use a cold glass of water and something to eat. Will you join me?” He then proceeded to make his order to Rover of a Steak and Lobster dinner with Drawn butter, Steamed vegetables and a glass of Ice Water as well as Sweet tea.
Less than two minutes later a section in the table in front of Ansel dropped down and his meal rose up on top of it for him to enjoy. The aroma of good food brought some of the others out of their daze and they also made their own orders each getting into a game of ordering something different than the others.
“How is it that your kitchen has all of the ingredients to produce these varied meals?” Asked the Omani producer.
“All of the food you see before you was produced in a food replicator. This is one of the high end models that builds your order and then cooks it to your specifications. There is also a full trace mineral pack. I think it is very good, however a trained palate will taste the difference between one of these meals and a meal prepared with natural organically grown meats and vegetables.”
“Really?” Roberts said, “Is this food replicator like the ones on Star Trek?”
“Yes, in concept at least, the methodology is quite different.” Ansel replied, “We are trying to create some of that technology described in the Star Trek universe. For instance a transporter beam would be of great help in our line of work, don’t you think?”
There was a relaxation among the news people, it was slow, moving lethargically but inexorable. After forty-five or so minutes Ansel decided it was time to move on.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s time to move to the location where we will do the interview portion. Just follow me to the Trans-Portal; it’s been pre-programmed for our destination.” And Ansel confidently walked over to it and was gone…
The others were bemused by the sudden to them, change in direction. But gamely followed Ansel through the Trans-Portal and were amazed when they found themselves in a lovely park. The sky was a deep blue like in early spring after a rain storm and there was a hint of ozone in the air. They saw Ansel waiting for them next to some comfortable looking chairs that had been set up beside a reflecting pool.
It was the lead Cameraman who noticed it first. There was no sun in the sky. He went up to his producer and pointed it out to him. Within minutes they were all looking around themselves in a very careful and cautious manner. Nothing was as it seemed to be on the surface appeared to be their mindset.
Ansel himself had sat down in a very comfortable chair that fit him exactly. He also knew that none of the Reporters chairs would be the same, each one would be subtly uncomfortable and therefore lead to a quick interview. At least that was the hope.
The Camera Crew set up fairly quickly and within 15 minutes everyone was in position and the Interview began. There were the obligatory pleasantries and introduction and then the questions began.
“Commander Webster, there are an estimated three quarters of a million non-Iranian Unified Republic citizens currently locked into the IUR by the blockade imposed by the Terran Space Navy. Has the TSN received any requests to evacuate these people?”
“Not as of yet, we are expecting it though and have a plan in place to take care of those people affected by the Blockade Shield.” Ansel Replied.
“Can you tell us what this plan is?”
“Yes in part, we are currently located at the facility that will house the evacuee’s. Due to the very long incubation and infectious period of ‘Shaitan’s Breath’ they will be in isolation for a period of approximately 6 months.
As each evacuee is identified either by themselves or by their respective home countries government we will attempt to locate them and evacuate them to this location where they will be under medical observation during their stay here. Once they have been determined to be ‘clean’ we will provide transportation back to their home country.”
“Can you tell us where this Facility is located?”
“Yes, there’s no problem with that.” Ansel said with a smile, “Maude, please make the dome transparent.”
The Blue sky of the dome over them faded slowly until it was transparent. There was the deep black of outer space with the globe of Earth hanging about three quarters of the way up in the sky. The Stars were brilliant points of light. The Sun was a fiercely bright light in the lower sky to their right.
The reporters had stood up and were gazing into the sky and slowly turning around to see the distant crater walls along the horizon.
Finally the reporter for FOX/CNN looked at Ansel in disbelief and asked, “We’re on the Moon aren’t we?”
Ansel calmly nodded his head and replied, “Yes, the Sea of Tranquility. The Apollo 11 Landing site is about 10 miles away from us. We thought this was a fitting place for our evacuees. We could make a comfortable surrounding for them. And if the ‘Shaitan’s Breath’ Bio-weapon was present in the population if could not spread back to Earth.”
“I see… You people have really thought this through. But what of the Evacuees themselves, their lives are going to be disrupted completely. Do you have any plans on helping them re-integrate back into society when they are released from here?”
“While here, educational materials and teachers will be made available to children and young adults so as to continue their education. The Adults will also be encouraged to utilize the educational possibilities. Communication facilities with Earth will be made available. Once they are released and taken back they will each receive a reparation fund of $500,000 American Dollars for our having had to bring them here and having taken away their freedom for the time period they were here. I think that is very reasonable don’t you?”
“It sounds very reasonable to me.” Said the Omani Reporter.
“Have you made any plans to assist the countries that were purchasing petroleum from the IUR? Before we left the Spot Market was up to $175 a barrel and trending higher.”
“Yes as a matter of fact we have considered that. We are going to provide four facilities for this purpose. All will be located in international waters. One will be located in the Sea of Japan, One will be in the Indian Ocean, One will be in the Mediterranean Sea and the last will be off of the Eastern Seaboard of the United States.
Each Facility will provide either refined products such as Gasoline, Diesel Fuel or Kerosene, Crude Oil comparable to Pennsylvania Sweet Crude will also be available.
We will also accept Garbage, trash, etc. hazardous chemicals and other similar things. We will sell our products at the daily spot market price for Petroleum products. We will accept the Garbage etc. for free.”
“Why are you going to be selling the petroleum products?”
“How else are we going to get legitimate funds to pay our reparations to our evacuees? Create dollars out of thin air?” Ansel said seriously.
“Who will be in charge of this facility? Can we meet them?”
“Maude is the Primary A.I. for this Facility, designated M1. We are thinking of asking the United Nations for administrators for the day to day operations. Since they operate so many around the world what’s one more?”
“Really? The United Nations? Why not yourselves?”
“There aren’t enough of us yet to do this job plus what else we need to be doing.” Ansel told him.
“What do you mean that there aren’t enough of you?”
“That’s a TSN need to know item, and you don’t need to know.” Ansel replied calmly
“Very well then, what are you going
to do with the IUR once you have conquered them?”
“Conquer the IUR? The TSN is not interested in conquering anyone. All we are concerned about is preventing ‘Shaitan’s Breath’ from making the Human Race extinct.” Ansel said with surprise.
“Does that mean that once you have accomplished that task, your blockade shield will be removed?”
“No, it will remain. The IUR leadership by its very willingness to commit racial suicide has shown that they cannot be a part of the rest of civilized nations of the Earth. They desired to be the rulers of all they survey. We will give that to them. No one outside the shield will bother them anymore.”
