by Joe Vizanko
Chapter 16 “Discovery”
Finally alone, the President sat starring off into the distance. Why did this have to happen on my watch?, he thought to himself. He ran for President out of loyalty to his country and wanted to make a difference, but law school didn’t teach him how to deal with this. The President leaned forward on his desk, he couldn’t let anyone know how scared he was. He had to project confidence. As these thoughts swirled through his mind an aid knocked on the door. Contact had been made with the International Space Station.
The ship landed without any noise and no air thrust. It appeared too floated down to the ground like a balloon filled with helium. Stan walked out of his ship and the President and his staff greeted him with full diplomatic honors. Steve, Alizia and Sam were also there.
“Man, am I glad to see you.” Steve wrapped his arms around Stan, practically lifting him off the floor.
“Hey, what the hell’s gotten into you?” Stan recoiled and frowned at Steve’s odd behavior. He looked over at Alizia as she wiped away a tear. It then occurred to him that they’ve been having a hard time.
“You guys okay?” Stan pushed himself away from Steve as he straighten his shirt.
“Okay? They have been treating us like criminals.” Steve thrust his finger at the President and his staff. “They don’t believe a damn thing we’ve told them.”
“Well, put yourself in their shoes, fear can drive people to do irrational things.” Stan looked over at Alizia and Sam. His concern grew; he hoped things were not starting to spiral out of control.
“I take full responsibility for everything that has occurred,” the President adjusted his tie as he stepped forward. “You’re right about fear, and I apologize for our behavior.” He glanced down at the ground for a moment and then looked back up at Stan. “Let’s not let fear control this situation.” He extended his hand.
Stan nodded and gripped the President’s hand in a firm shake.
The government had been transferred to a cold war era nuclear fallout shelter. On the outside sat a lone airstrip with a huge cement bunker protruding out the side of a mountain. Inside held a state of the art command and control center. This is where the country was being run from until things calmed down. The facilities inside the bunker were built for function, not comfort, and the cement walls and steel doors made it look like a prison.
The group headed into the bunker and through a series of large metal doors that slammed shut with a loud ‘clang’ behind them. They entered into a massive corridor that resembled a freeway tunnel where a tram would take them the rest of the way. The group climbed aboard for the 10 minute ride, taking them deep inside the mountain. The President sat next to Stan, explaining to him the history and original intent of the facility as they sped along. The tram finally came to a stop and the group entered the command center. They were led into a large conference room, where everyone gathered around the table.
“Please, let’s all take our seats.” The President sat down and leaned forward on the table.
Stan asked the President if he could address everyone first, feeling he could relieve the tension that choked the room.
The President leaned back and adjusted his jacket as he nodded in agreement. Stan stood up, nervously wiping his palms on his pants. He hated making speeches.
“I’ll make this short. First I wanted to apologize for the impact this situation has brought upon your world. I wish things could have gone smoother. I hope we can come to trust each other and eventually become friends.” He paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. “My immediate task is to bring stability to this planet and a return to some kind of normalcy. Anything you require of me I’ll gladly do. We are the same. We are all human and we can learn a great deal from each other. This is a sovereign world and we will respect your laws. You will be included in all decisions affecting this system and there will be no secrets. I only ask you one thing.” He leaned forward, placing the tips of his fingers on the table. “Please, give us time and a chance to prove to you our good intentions. Thank you.” Stan sat down and a low murmur filled the room. Slowly it turned into a light applause. Only General Strock sat motionless.
“I would also like to say a few things.” The President stood up. “This is more than just an historic moment, it’s unprecedented in our history. We have always wondered if we were alone in the universe, now we know. I have so many questions about your worlds and your history, I know that in the coming years we will still be learning about your culture. I feel excited about this journey we are about to embark on.” The President paused for a moment. “Yet our world is in chaos. Fear has gripped us and it won’t let go. Anarchy is spreading, not by an alien invasion, but our own hand. Rumors are fueling this fire. Our first order of business is to put everything out in the open. We need to show the people of Earth that there is no threat, that they’re safe. Our world runs on trust, and we need to restore that trust. I think we should address the United Nations and let all the world leaders have a say in this discussion.” The President sat back down. “Please, I would like to open this table to discussion.”
“Stan, when will we be able to see the rest of our people we sent with Joe?” The miss-trust on General Strock’s face was obvious.
“Well, I don’t know,” Stan began, but before he could continue the General interrupted him.
“’You don’t know’? What do you mean ‘you don’t know’?” The General snapped back.
“Well, let me explain the entire situation.” Stan paused and thought to himself, there’s no reason to hold anything back now, they needed to hear the truth. Well, most of it anyway. “I don’t know how much of the current situation you know so I’ll start from the beginning.” Stan shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He knew he had to be very careful.
“You see, humans are not a naturally occurring creature. We’re engineered out of possibly several different kinds of humanoids. We were created most likely so these creatures, or creators as we call them, could experience pleasure and other human emotions. Like their amusement park, in a way.” Stan paused to see if anyone smiled at his joke, but no one did so he continued, “These creatures that created us no longer exist, so we don’t have any information on them and the details we do have are limited. One of the humanoid races we believe we were created out of seems to be out for revenge. They’ve attacked us before and are attacking one of our colonies as we speak. That’s the main reason we have initiated this contact. Now, it’s important you understand that this system’s safe, possibly the safest place in the universe. We set it up that way.”
“How can you be sure we’re safe? What kind of protection do you offer?” General Strock demanded.
“This system cannot be found. It’s impossible to get here unless you have its precise location. The universe is so big and mostly empty space; getting from one place to another is almost impossible unless you know exactly where it is. And I mean, exactly.” Stan tapped the table with his finger. “In order for us to go to the homeworlds we need to have their gravity wells turned on. Without that, we cannot go there and they cannot get here. Right now, due to the danger of attack, the gravity wells are off. That’s why the rest of your team is not here. They’re stuck on the homeworlds for the moment.” Stan looked around the room. He could see the doubt on their faces.
The General sighed and turned away, not believing a word Stan had said.
Stan nervously shifted in his seat as the tension in the room thickened. “Look, most everyone on the homeworlds, and colonies for that matter, has had their emotional center dampened. This is done because certain emotions like anger are feared. I’m like you, a freeformed human, meaning that our emotional centers have been allowed to develop freely. This entire planet’s like that. We did this because humanity on the homeworlds is culturally and scientifically stagnant. Earth’s development with freeformed humans are humanity’s only hope. We’re here so you can help us, not the other way around.” Stan ended
with what sounded like a plea. He looked over at Steve who just raised his eyebrows and shook his head at Stan’s vain attempt.
Stan took a deep breath, knowing he had his work cut out for him.
“Oh come on.” General Strock could not contain himself. “I’ve heard that story and don’t believe a word of it.” The General was clearly annoyed as he threw his pen on the table and leaned back in his chair.
“Okay, okay,” Stan stood up, holding up his hands in surrender. “Look, you have many questions and you have the right to know everything. Unfortunately, we don’t have the time. We need to come up with a solution that will satisfy all parties. Why don’t we hold a series of seminars by some of our people, classes, if you will? There, any and all questions will be answered.” Stan rubbed his hand together. He could tell by the looks on their faces that he was not getting through to anyone.
Stan wanted to stop Earth from falling into complete anarchy. He thought of the Nimbus system. When they had made contact that planet fell into complete chaos, and the envoys were even killed. Wars began and no matter what they did, the homeworlds couldn’t stop it. Earth and Nimbus were almost exactly at the same evolutionary point, except on Nimbus there were 3 powerful empires vying for power, all with nuclear weapons. 100 years later the planet was a wasteland, still recovering from a nuclear winter that killed 99% of the population. Incredibly, humans had survived and now their offspring were making a comeback with a few small cities beginning to form. Stan didn’t want that to happen on Earth and he needed everyone in the room to help him.
“OK, so let’s do this then.” Tom grabbed Joe by the arm and headed back to the medical table.
“Hold on a second, that’s not a resurrection table.”
“Where’s a resurrection table?” Tom angrily glared at Joe.
“Relax man.” Joe looked annoyed as he pulled away from Tom. “There’s probably one around here somewhere.” Joe straightened his shirt. “Come on, I think it’s this way.” Joe led them in the direction of the pods.
Joe couldn’t be sure, but he thought that the actual resurrection table would be here somewhere. The pods were for the old bodies and you woke up on the resurrection table in the new body. As they got closer an odd smell lingered that made their stomachs queasy. They continued down a cold, damp stairway and into a dark room where Joe headed for a large screen panel to see if he could get the power on. A sliver of light coming from the stairway cut through the darkness. Then the full power come back on and blinded them. Squinting as their eyes adjusted, they heard Selena gasp. They both spun around to see Selena backing up from a pile of bones. A skull lay on its side, the jaw wide open in a perpetual scream.
“Sorry, it just startled me.” Selena composed herself.
“Don’t worry about it, this place gives me the creeps.” Tom replied.
“Come on, let’s keep following these rooms, a table should be down here somewhere.” Joe wanted to get this over with.
“How do we know if the table will still work?” Tom stared at the bones.
“It’ll work. Don’t worry, this way.” Joe pointed to another door.
Tom paused as he looked at the skull again, something didn’t look right. “Wait a minute, something’s wrong.” Tom kneeled down by the skull.
“What is it?” Selena peered over his shoulder.
Tom turned it over, revealing a large broken hole in the back. Selena covered her mouth with her hands.
Joe walked over to get a better look.
“This person was murdered.” Tom glared at Joe. “Someone bashed his head in.”
Joe stepped back in complete shock and he felt the blood rush away from his face. He didn’t have any memory of anything like this going on in the homeworlds. He looked back at the haunting sight of an obvious murder victim, what the hell’s going on? He was determined to find out the truth. “Come on, let’s find that damn table.”
They descended down a never-ending set of stairs, passing through room after room of extinguished pods, each entombing a lifeless corpse. These catacombs lay out in the open. No one had tried to conceal them, perhaps unaware of their crimes.
The knot in Tom’s stomach tightened the further down they went. His memory flashed back to his visit of the concentration camps in Germany, memorials to horrible crimes. Tom wondered to himself, is this any different? His building anger exploded. “How long has this been going on?” Tom yelled as he slammed Joe against the wall. “What are those damn Outposts for? Just to gather bodies?”
Selena ran over and tried to separate them. “Calm down!”
He shoved Joe away and continued down the stairs. Tom usually didn’t lose his cool like that, but he couldn’t control himself. He tried to focus on his primary mission: Learn as much as possible and get back to Earth.
They continued down the endless set of stairs until finally coming into a huge room, almost the size of a football field with a low ceiling. Along one side were rows of shallow bathtub like tables made of a clear glass material.
Selena walked up to one. “Here they are,” she paused, “these look like something I’ve seen before.”
“Can you work these things?” Tom walked up to the table, afraid to touch it.
“I know how to work them. We need to find one that’s still operational” Joe replied. He began looking at the control panels near the tables going from one to the next. “It looks like they’re all working. Well, let’s get this over with.” Joe took off all his clothes climbed into one of the tables. Selena walked over to the control panel and started tapping on the screen.
An incredible pain shocked every cell in his body, paralyzing him. Joe could hear himself scream. The sensation of free falling uncontrollably downward hit him like a wave crashing over his body. His skin felt like a thousand nails were puncturing it over and over. Then an explosion pushed him upward and he felt himself lift out of his body. As fast as it started everything stopped suddenly with a numbing blackness. Slowly he opened his eyes, and found he was floating in warm water. Blue light radiated everywhere like a warm wonderful hot tub. He tried to focus on a figure in front of him.
“Get out now. Hurry. Don’t die in that body, that form. You’ll be lost forever.” The blurry figure standing in front of him spoke, but Joe couldn’t respond or move.
“If that body dies with you in it, you’ll be lost forever, you’ll never rejoin us.” The figure kept talking to him but Joe couldn’t respond. He faded out and then came too amongst a crowd of several shadow like beings standing in a circle and looking down at a human body.
The figures began to speak.
“Perfect, exactly what we need.”
“Make many of them, they don’t exist that long.”
“This universe is different than any we have ever encountered.”
“It is wonderful being them, I want to be them forever.”
“We must not do this, we must not disturb the fabric of this universe.”
“I will stay until this universe collapses.”
“We are harming them, we are disrupting their existence.”
“This is dangerous, we could end up being trapped here.”
Looking down at the pod, he could see his body inside. The next thing he saw, people were trying to wrestle someone onto a resurrection table. The person fought for his life, he knew certain death lay on that table. No drugs could be used, that would disrupt the process. He lost the battle as they pinned him down, and in a flash of light, Joe lay there looking up at the very people who he had been watching struggle with the person on the table. Joe had transferred into a new body. He had re-lived the resurrection experience.
It felt like being underwater in the middle of a crashing wave. He couldn’t breathe and he was fighting to get air. The fog around him cleared and slowly he could move his body again. But the people were still trying to hold him down. He hit the floor and rolled, tried to get up, but he fell back down. Looking up, he could barely make out Tom and Sele
na. Rolling onto his knees, he steadied himself, panting and covered in sweat.
Selena looked at him with a worried face. Tom wanted to throw him back on the table but Selena wouldn’t allow it, she thought it might kill him. Joe sat there, bewildered and confused. He felt like he’d just survived a plane crash. Slowly he got up with Selena’s help. Tom grabbed Joe and began interrogating him. Joe tried to explain what he had seen, but it didn’t make sense, not even to himself.
“No, you will kill him.” Selena tightly held one of Joe’s arms.
“I don’t care. My mission is to protect the people of Earth and I need to know what these people have done to Earth.” Tom tried to wrestle Joe back onto the table.
“Look, I want to protect Earth as well, what do you want to know?” yelled Joe, as he grasped the side of the resurrection table. “Yes, the colonies were used to gather humans for their bodies so people on the homeworlds could steal them. Is that what you want to know?” Joe steadied himself as he started to return to normal. “Yes, we have interfered with Earths history and yes, we destroyed the two other colonies in your system simply to protect our homeworlds.” He turned around and faced Tom. “I guess you can say we are without morals. We are greedy when it comes to our own lives. We are human, just like you.” He pointed at Selena and Tom who looked away. Joe grabbed his clothes and started putting them on. “I want what you want, to protect Earth because it’s the only hope for humanity. Believe me or not, it’s the truth.”
“I need to get to the Krell system and confront our old enemy. You’re free to do as you please. Come with me or stay here, it’s your choice, but I believe many answers lie in the Krell system.” Joe ran his fingers through his hair and grabbed his neck, rubbing it. He looked off in the distance and said, almost to himself, “how does the saying go? Be careful when you dig up the past. All you get is dirty.” Joe turned toward the entrance from where they came and headed to the surface. “Come on.” He motioned for Selena and Tom to follow.
Tom didn’t know what to believe but he reluctantly headed back to the surface. Selena hurried to catch up with Joe, she wanted to make sure he was okay from the effects of the table. She also could see Tom was too harsh in trying to get information. She thought a gentler approach would work better.
The three of them headed toward the surface, climbing that endless set of stairs when Selena finally caught up with Joe. Joe stopped to catching his breath, pretending to straighten his shirt. Selena was not even breaking a sweat.
“Out of shape?” Selena inquired.
“No, well maybe. It’s been a while since I did any serious cardio. Usually I just lift weights. Where’s Tom?” Joe peered over the railing of the stairs, looking down for Tom.
“Don’t worry about him, he’s lagging behind a little. Look, I wanted to ask you something about what you saw.” Selena sat down on the stairs. Joe looked at her, not saying anything. “Those visions, do you think they were the creators, the ones that made us?”
Joe rubbed his head and sat down and shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. Honestly, it doesn’t make sense, those visions in my head. Perhaps it’s something to do with the table. Right now all I want to do is focus on getting to the Krell system. One way or the other, it has to end.” Joe was still laboring to catch his breath.
“What’s in the Krell system?”
“Well it’s a long story, but I’ll say this. I believe the base creature we’re made out of still exists and they’re out for revenge. They’re attacking the Krell system to get to the homeworlds and wipe us out.” Joe exhaled loudly, too tired to try and hide anything anymore.
Selena turned pale and stared at Joe with her mouth open.
“What is it?” Joe asked.
“My God, half the people I worked with since I got here are in the Krell system.” Selena voice trembled and her lower lip quivered as she fought the emotions.
“I’ll do what I can to get them out, but I can’t make any promises.” Joe put his hand on her shoulder.
“Wait a minute, why would they be after us? Aren’t we victims just like them?” Selena turned and looked at Joe.
“I have asked myself the same thing. It doesn’t make sense, things don’t add up. That’s why I need to get to Krell.” Joe stared down at Tom as he lumbered up the stairs, grabbing his side.
Tom grasped onto the handrail, panting. Joe and Selena got up and continued to the surface.
“Ah, come on, can you at least let me catch my breath?” Tom gasped for air. Joe didn’t stop but he grinned to himself, knowing Tom’s plight.
“Hold on a second.” Selena called out to Joe, feeling pity for Tom.
“No time, come on, we’re in a hurry.” Joe hurried up the stairs even faster.
Tom slowly started climbing as he held the cramp that was tearing up his lower rib cage. Although out of shape, his pride would never let him stop.
After what seemed like forever, the group finally made it to the top. Tom was the last one to the surface. He burst through the door as the sun blinded him and held up one arm trying to shield his eyes. Almost hyperventilating, he tried not to let it show although he couldn’t hide the sweat soaking his shirt. Joe was covered in sweat as well.
“You guys OK?” Selena was breathing regularly.
The two only nodded, too winded to speak.
They all climbed into the magnetic wing to head back to the main island. Joe sat at the controls, he just wanted to get airborne so he could set the auto-pilot and fall asleep. Tom laid back and nodded off while Selena sat in silence watching the scenery. They arrived at the main island and Joe immediately went to one of the terminals to try and locate Bill.
“It looks like he’s at one of the main circles.” Joe pointed to the screen.
“Well, I guess you should know that he’s fallen off the wagon. Most likely he’s passed out by now.” Tom sheepishly replied.
“Fallen off the wagon? Why in the world would they send someone like that up here on such an important mission?” Selena directed her comment at Tom.
Joe turned away from the terminal and looked at Selena. “Don’t give him a hard time. After all, he’s only human.”
They went to the circle where they thought Bill and as they approached it appeared to be a typical gathering of what Tom and Selena had seen before. Coming closer it became apparent this place was different. The crowd was much larger and densely packed, people were spilling outside. Everyone milled about like Mardi Gras in New Orleans, their clothes being replaced by white paint completely covering their bodies and colorful stripes running up and down.
Joe had seen this before so he just plowed through the crowd looking for Bill. He wanted to get Bill and the group out of there. The three of them scanned the area looking for Bill. Tom’s conservative nature caused him to blush at the sight of all the naked people stumbling about. They were about to give up when Joe noticed several people dancing on the bar. He though one of them looked like Bill.
Joe tapped their shoulders and motioned for them to follow him as he pointed at the group of people on the bar. As they approached, Tom realized in disgust that they found Bill. He was making a complete fool out of himself dancing to the pulsating rhythmic music on top of the bar. Tom grabbed Bills ankle and yanked him to the floor. Tom stood over him with his hands on his hips shaking his head like a father disappointed with his teenage son.
Bill sat up, bewildered at how he fell. He rose to his feet, rubbing his upper arm that had been bruised during the fall. Tom glared at Bill and Joe though he was about to punch him in the face. Joe immediately got in between the two as Tom yelled something but the loud music completely drowned it out. Bill sheepishly stood frozen like a statue realizing he was caught. Joe grabbed Bill by the arm and led him out as Tom and Selena followed.
After the meeting, Stan requested to talk to the President alone. Flanked by several secret service men he was escorted to the Presidents private room. The secret service would not leave him a
lone with Stan. The President motioned for them to leave but they wouldn’t go.
“It’s OK, they can stay. Really it’s no problem.” Stan looked side to side at both of the secret service members standing on each side of the President.
“Yea, they’re only doing their job.” The President sat down.
“I just thought we should talk a little in private. I wanted to let you know that I’m at your service. This planet is yours and we’re in no way trying to influence any of your decisions. But, we need to calm the public. I’ve seen this before and it could turn into a disaster if we’re not careful.” Stan shifted in his chair, trying to get comfortable.
“You’ve seen this before? So this isn’t the first time you’ve made contact with an Earth like planet?” The concern on the Presidents face was obvious.
“Yea, I don’t mean to scare you, but it could get ugly. I don’t want to get into details, but Mr. President, I implore you to make a statement right away.” Stan replied.
“Tonight? OK I’ll make a brief statement. Would you care to join me?” The President looked at his watch.
“Well, I would prefer someone else do this but unfortunately fate, it would seem, has put me here.” Stan sighed.
“Oh, I almost forgot, I have a letter for you.” Stan reached into his jacket and pulled out a regular looking envelope. Inside was a very old looking piece of paper with a red wax seal on it. He held it out to the President.
“What’s this, who’s it from?” The President flipped around the paper.
“Benjamin Franklin.” Stan answered flatly.
The President froze and looked at the secret service members at his side. A big smile came to his face. “They briefed me on this but I thought they were joking.” He held the letter and stared at it.
“No, it’s no joke, actually we don’t know what he wrote. He made us promise not to read it and we kept our word.” Stan leaned back in his chair.
The President stood looking at this small piece of paper. Then he broke the seal and opened the letter. It read:
To the President of the United States,
Sir or Madam,
I will not tire you with tedious Particulars of no Consequence, but will briefly, and in as few Words as possible, relate the most important information of my Life. If thou are reading this then ye find yourself in a similar Predicament as I was a few years ago, that is to believe these people, of which of course I do. It is undoubtedly the Duty of all Persons to serve the Country they live in, according to their Abilities; yet it be not just this Country, it is now undoubtedly this World. They came with fantastic stories and offered to propel us into the realm of the Gods. I am not worthy to make this choice and although They truly believe they could help us, I don’t think they can, at least not yet. The new World was conquered and the natives all but caste aside. The time is not now for us, we are not United as a Planet. Information travels too slowly. The time must be certain as when a letter can instantaneous fly across the Ocean. No Sir, for us this will not happen. For you must trust thy instinct, and only ye can decide ones fate. Am I Certain? In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes. I sincerely acknowledge, that I have hitherto been very deficient in the service of my Country; whether it was for want of Will or Opportunity, I will not at present stand to determine: Let it suffice, that I now take up a Resolution, to do for the future all that lies in my Way for the Service of my Fellowman.
Having nothing more to write at present, I must make the usual excuse in such Cases, of being in haste, assuring you that I speak from my Heart when I call myself, The most humble and obedient of all the Servants your Merits have acquir’d,
Benjamin Franklin
The President held the letter and smiled, thinking about the historical figure who wrote it. It all seemed surreal. He was kind of hoping the letter would be more straight forward with instructions on what to do, but no such luck. ‘Trust thy instinct’…..that’s what he’d do. The President put the letter in his coat pocket and walked out of the room, looking for his Chief of Staff to set up a press conference.
Several hours later the President stood behind the podium looking at all the cameras and flashing lights of the press. He had no speech written, nothing planned except to speak from his heart. Leaning forward on the podium he paused for a moment as he reached his hand over to the letter from Benjamin Franklin, believing it would bring him good luck.
“I usually start one of these things by saying, ‘My Fellow Americans’ but in this case, that wouldn’t be appropriate. The great philosopher Socrates said, ‘I am not a citizen of Athens nor am I a citizen of Greece, I am a citizen of the world’. So I will start by saying; My Fellow Citizens, I stand before you today to announce the arrival of people from another world. They come in peace and they are here to help us integrate into the larger human community. Several of our own people have spent time with them and have reported back to us with good news. Even now, we have people on their home planet learning and gathering information. This is too big of a situation for any one person to be making decisions on, even for any one country for that matter. Therefore, we will go through the UN and include all countries in any major decisions and share all information with them. I only ask one thing of my fellow citizens, which is to remain calm. This is not the annihilation of our species, but a new beginning. We need to seize the moment and use this to our advantage. But first, we need to remain calm and not let fear rule us. We must let this play out and give these visitors the benefit of the doubt. I know you are scared and to be honest, so am I. But like it or not, this situation is real and we need to see it through. History is upon us. History is being made right now. Let’s make sure that history will say we did the right thing and turned this situation to benefit us, and not let it destroy us. We are smarter than that. We can turn this into a positive situation and help all of us in our home, a home we call Earth.”
The President didn’t want to answer any questions, he wanted everything to go through the UN and didn’t want the other world leaders to feel left out. He left the room with reporters shouting questions at him. He meet up with Stan and told him they must get to the UN.
Joe and the rest of the group went back to his room near the council chambers where they left Bill to get some sleep.
“I need to go get Dr. Becker and Dr. Zanagar. You two can wait in the common area until I get back.” Joe pointed toward the council chambers.
“Wait there?” Tom threw up his arms. “How long will you be gone?” Tom was clearly annoyed that Joe had taken control of the situation. Selena just nodded.
“Look, I need to talk to Earth, NOW.” Tom got in Joe’s face.
“You can’t.” Joe raised his hand taking a step back. “We’re not in contact with them anymore. You’re just going to have to wait. As soon as I get back I’m going to Krell no matter what. You’re welcome to come with me or stay, it’s up to you.” Joe walked away, not waiting for an answer.
A strange low rhythmic humming came from the main lodge as Joe approached. The Rite must have started and he didn’t know what to expect. Entered the building the humidity hit him like he’d walked into a sauna. An overpowering incense odor filled his lungs. Squinting to see in the darkness he waited letting his eyes adjust. His shirt clung to his body as he began to sweat. Finally being able to see through the darkness he could see people everywhere deep in meditation. Every person sat in a different pose, some rocked back and forth like a patient at an insane asylum. Many had their heads tilted back with mouths wide open emitting a low continuous hum like Tibetan monks. Others seemed off in another world unaware of anyone around them. Strange, Joe thought. In a way, it reminded him of the circles. A large bell like structure hung from the ceiling pulsating a slow heartbeat. All this became strangely relaxing and he wondered if the burning incenses had something to do with it. Joe shook off the feeling and began scanning the place looking for Dr. Becker and Dr. Zanagar. He didn’t want to disturb anybody, it was their
choice to be here even if it killed them. This would go on for at least two to three days and if anyone died it would be of dehydration. As the people fell deeper into meditation the chemistry of their brain matter would change. They would start seeing visions and feel like they were being transported to another place. Joe knew that experiments of sensory deprivation conducted on Earth showed this to be true. But, if you didn’t know that then this Rite would be a profoundly life altering experience. Either way, these people were free to do as they please, Joe thought. He just wanted to find his friends.
He made his way to the center and through the darkness he noticed them. Dr. Becker looked bored and awake. Dr. Zanagar sat Indian style deep in meditation. Joe didn’t see Jead or Gillis. Instead, some of the other leaders seemed to be leading this Rite. As he got closer to the center, Dr. Becker noticed him. She almost seemed relieved. She got up and tried to quietly notify Dr. Zanagar. She had to shake him before he woke up. He yawned, indicating that he had fallen asleep. They both seemed ready to leave and made their way out.
The entire Earth delegation finally made it back to Katan’s office near the council chambers where they met up with Joe’s old friend Nell.
“I’ll be leaving for Krell within the hour.” Joe announced to the group.
“I think we all want to get back to Earth.” Selena replied.
“I thought we couldn’t go anywhere?” Tom questioned.
“It’s dangerous, but we can use the Sun as a gravity well.” Joe replied.
“I’ll go with you, I’m ashamed of my behavior and I need to redeem myself.” Bill sheepishly interjected.
Joe didn’t care who went. In fact, he thought Bill could help.
“I’ll go as well. You’re going to need all the help you can get.” Katan glanced over at Joe.
“I think its best you stay here. You need to keep an eye on things, especially Jead.” Joe replied.
“Jead?” Nell looked around the room. “Jead’s dead.” Everyone looked back at Nell.
“What?” Dr. Zanagar was shocked.
“Apparently he overdosed on injectable reen.” Nell replied flatly.
“Where’s Gillas?” Dr. Becker put her hand over her mouth.
“No one knows,” Nell shrugged his shoulders.
“Strange, Bellow’s didn’t mention anything? I wondered why the Rite started without them.” Dr. Becker whispered almost to herself.
“Well, Jead and I were not on the best of terms, but I don’t wish that on anybody.” Joe felt sorry for Jead. The room fell silent as everyone processed this information.
“So how did the Rite go?” Joe tried to change the subject.
“The incense had a mild intoxicating effect, it got everyone in the mood for meditation. It’s a cross between a sedative and a hallucinogen. Unlike other psychedelics it had a more powerful dissociative effect to it and not just a visual phenomenon. You actually felt like you were someone else. I surmised that one could get so caught up in it that you wouldn’t drink water and possibly die of dehydration. I have experienced many religious rituals on Earth, many of them involving drugs, this being similar in many aspects.” Dr. Zanagar’s tried not to get too scientific.
“So you were getting high too.” Bill chuckled. He looked around but no one else got the joke.
“No, I actually fell asleep.” Dr. Zanager replied.
“Alright, alright, it’s settled. I’m leaving within the hour. Bill and Katan are coming with me.” Joe headed out the room.
“What should we tell Earth?” Selena called out after Joe.
Joe stopped at the door and looked down while he scratched the back of his head in thought. “The truth, tell them the truth.”
“I will.” Tom glared at Joe who nodded his head and left the room with Katan and Bill.
“You think that’s wise, letting Earth know everything?” Katan asked Joe as they hustled down the hall.
“I don’t know, but I do know that no matter what, the truth will come out. Besides, if Krell falls, the homeworlds falls.” Joe stopped. “Earth is humanity’s last hope and the truth is all we can give them.”
