Daughter Of Ethos: 0.5 - 1 - 2

by L M Lacee

  England, France, Germany, basically the whole of Europe, is known as Europea.

  Asiana covers Russia, China and all the Asian and South Pacific countries.

  This was designed to make governing less top heavy. They believed that a smaller number of world representatives would make quicker decisions. Which we know proved true, because one of those quick decisions was to have instructions uploaded to the orbiting space stations. Whereby the stations downloaded instructions to the vast array of orbital satellites surrounding our planet. Turning them into long-range broadcasters, which then repeatedly issued a one word message for all of space:

  HELP! HELP! HELP!

  The hope, of course, was that the message would broadcast throughout the galaxy and continue on ad infinitum. Where it would reach planets that were occupied with intelligent life. In the belief that they would have the means to destroy the Virus or the technology to at least help us destroy the Virus.

  Fear of not knowing when the next wave of deaths will occur haunts our populace. This fear has driven the Government to make decisions not conducive to the betterment of all Earth’s people.

  As we know it is not that long ago, when the world’s armies were mobilized to create large-scale crematoriums. To prevent the spread of diseases, when mass graves became impossible for the remaining survivors of cities and towns to accomplish. I, like you remember when smoke and ash filled the air in dark putrid clouds for months at a time. Making travel by land vehicle, only one good quality air days. Still, to this day, I do not leave home without my personalized breather as I am sure you do not.

  This brings me to what I am writing about now, only a few months after the message from the satellites had been sent. We amazingly received an answer. Along with the rest of the world, I rejoiced and celebrated at our good fortune. What a time of excitement that was.

  Unfortunately, the help provided is not in the form we the people of Earth had sought. At least not the help, I, as a scientist, thought we would receive…

  The governing body or Council of Planetary Affairs, known as the Coalition from the Universe Indorino, reached out to our Government with the first and only offer of aid. It seems that our home, our planet, falls under their jurisdictional control and has been since humanity was discovered to be sentient.

  So within a space of days from the first contact between our Government and the Coalition, an agreement between the two parties was reached.

  On a day that will be added to the histories of Earth, along with Man walking upright and the discovery of gravity. To the invention of electricity, and the first flight of mankind or man’s first voyage into space. We the people of Earth handed over our autonomous world, when the Government and the Coalition signed a momentous document, forever known as the Agreement.

  Minutes after the signing, the Government’s propaganda department published the conditions within the Agreement. On the surface these clauses seemed harmless and practical, Earth would accept membership into the Coalition, which subjected every citizen to the rules and regulations of said Coalition.

  One of those rules entitles them for the good of our world and our populace to select and transport willing women to worlds in their Universe. Ostensibly to help repopulate dying worlds. In return, our world would accept other races that need to relocate to a world that is less populated. Another clause stated the Coalition would need to introduce technology to Earth, obviously this technology is far beyond our comprehension.

  Days after signing the agreement, the Government started public broadcasts which echoed around the world, informing us that new regulations would be implemented within the month.

  Now, as time has passed, I believe we are being forced to live under a type of martial law. If we are not, then why has a curfew been initiated and why are our transport movements monitored and personal weapons prohibited.

  I, like you, would also like to know, why the Coalition decided it is necessary to bring their own police force known as Warriors to our world.

  It seems I must apologize again as once more I have become side tracked. Another reason for the release of this report is to inform you I have obtained a copy of a secret agreement between our Government and the Coalition. In this document it outlines the plans for the women of Earth to be auctioned or sold outright to any world who pays well. It seems we females are a wanted commodity. Many of our Undernet contributors are scouring the information highways of the world to find out why.

  What we know at the time of this report, is that in the last three months they have removed at least fifty million women from Earth. I should state here, that the numbers mentioned are at best an estimation, as more women are being shipped off Earth daily.

  I am sorry, but this is where I will have to halt my report. I am still gathering information and the rest of what I could write would only be guesses, not facts.

  For the Undernet’s worldwide contributors and subscribers. I leave you with these questions:

  1: Are we still a free planet?

  2: Are there other clauses in the secret agreement?

  3: Who exactly is the Coalition?

  4: Are all the women willing to leave or are they being forced?

  For now, this ends my report of the activities so far of Earth’s occupation.

  TWO:

  As predicated by a select group of the population, the call initiated by the Government for help did not go well for the people of Earth. The landscape is now inundated with aliens while unfamiliar space craft zip across the skies day and night.

  Cities have been changed with the advent of alien technology; buildings have been demolished to make way for the new high-rise structures. Which the Coalition demand for their diplomats, as well as for the new citizens that have come to inhabit Earth.

  Heavily armed Warriors who enforce the strict curfew for the entire planet patrol the streets. Violations are punishable with home detention or jail.

  In the months since the signing or the Agreement, people have become discontent and vocal. A somewhat dangerous act in these times, as many have discovered. Often as not if people are suspected of subversive speech or acts, they are taken to some unknown destination for questioning and are unlikely to be seen again. It is widely suspected they are shipped off Earth.

  For months an underground network of cyber hackers and people within the scientific community have been disseminating verified and uncensored information about the Government and the Coalition on the Undernet.

  The fact the Virus has not been eradicated as promised but women are still being shipped from the planet, has focused the hardening discontent of many people.

  One of those people and instrumental in the Undernet’s conception is Doctor Darby Kline. A certified genius and until recently, the lead scientist at the world’s space agency. That agency has since been taken over by the Coalition scientists, and Darby has now found herself leading a team to develop translators for the human race. In her own words, a complete waste of her intelligence.

  At the tender age of six, Darby was orphaned as many young children were. But unlike other children, who ended up fending for themselves. She was scooped up by the scientific branch of the government and raised within the confines of that esteemed institution.

  Growing up in an isolated environment, unfortunately, has not equipped her for dealing with the wider world. She will freely admit that most days she struggles with the ever changing world. When asked she will freely admit that she is socially inept, others would be kinder and say she is just introverted or naïve.

  Darby had taken a very suspicious approach to the agreement between the Coalition and the Government. It was only a matter of time until her curiosity was aroused enough for her to hack into both the Coalition and Government’s computers. Then only a matter of moments for her to bypass their security and seconds to crack the code they used. With an almost fanatical dedication, she translated all the communications between the two governing bodies. At the same time setting h
er nanobots to search out any information pertaining to the secret agreement.

  Four days after breaking into the computers, she had absorbed everything there was about what and who the Coalition were. Unfortunately, what she discovered, she did not like.

  That was two days ago and since then Darby has spent her time wavering between despair, fear, and righteous anger. Finally, last night she set her bots to comb through the military computers. In the hopes they would find her a trustworthy person to speak with. She did not know who else to turn to for advice. Logic said that this was one way to proceed.

  This morning Darby’s computer had given her only one name. Lieutenant General, Melody James, retired as of two days ago. Darby was still in two minds about contacting the General, even after everything she had discovered about the secret agreement between the Coalition and the Government. If she was honest, her indecision came from not following the rules which she had done for a lifetime. She was finding breaking that conditioning tremendously difficult, no matter the provocation.

  Like everyone else, she knew women were leaving Earth, although what she had not known, until she read the Coalition scientists report was the reason.

  What she found out haunted her dreams, and she knew it would do so for many nights to come. Thanks to a quirk of genetics, human DNA has become a very sought after commodity. The report stated women had been abducted from Earth since they were able to walk upright, due to one simple inescapable fact; Human DNA is malleable and women are able to be impregnated by almost any alien species.

  After analysing the DNA, the Coalition’s scientist discovered that even though there would be some races that were not completely compatible with humans. They would still be able to obtain breeders, because human DNA is easily altered and adapted to most species requirements. Whether that be inside the uterus or in a test tube. It made no difference to the recipients as long as their planets received human eggs in either form. It would ensure their species would have a better chance of surviving well into the future.

  Another report was written to the Coalition, this time from an unknown Earth scientist. Darby really wanted to know who had written this report but so far had not found the source. Regardless, it said that the introduction of Earth’s DNA to most species was readily available, as women's oestrus cycle normally occurred between twenty-eight and thirty days.

  This was very exciting for the Coalition scientists who had never heard of this before. Most life forms in their Universe had long intervals between producing children. Now they had the potential to save worlds from becoming extinct for a price, of course. All they had to do was crossbreed with the new and largely untapped supply of human DNA.

  Furthermore, they were pleased that breeding could potentially start as soon as the women were introduced to a planet. Even in some instances, while they were still in transit.

  The part of the agreement that saddened Darby more and frightened her the most was the section that specified women who were termed exceptional in their fields of expertise. Women like her and her co-scientists were to be auctioned by the Government, to the highest bidding planet within the first year of the Coalition’s takeover.

  This baffled her, she could not understand why the Government would give up its smartest people. What were they worried these people would find out, other than what she now knew?

  Then, as she read another report from a Coalition under-staffer, she realized they were not being sold for any other reason than worlds would pay a fortune for them. Not only for what they intellectually could bring to their worlds, but for their exceptional genes. These worlds were playing the odds, hoping the women would breed children with intelligence and abilities, who then could be used in trade. It was barbaric in its simplicity and totally unpalatable to her, just as she knew it would be to her fellow scientists. This in truth was what tipped her over the edge and made the decision to contact the general easier.

  THREE:

  Melody James had climbed the ranks in her beloved army through hard work, determination, and grit. At thirty- one, she had been in the army since she was fifteen years old. Melody was tenth generation armed forces, so she came by her exceptional aptitude for warfare naturally.

  She had been the most decorated General in recent history and was an imposing woman due to her bearing and profession, which was in opposition to her appearance. Thanks to a wayward ancestor, Melody possessed the delicate features of a woman from one of the Asian nations. With her chin length black hair and arched eyebrows over almond-shaped blue eyes. Sadly, her looks at one time or another have led many to think she possessed a sweet, gentle disposition, usually to their detriment. Measuring six- feet-tall with a trim athletic build, defined by muscles that she has worked hard for. Melody runs three hours every morning and exercises every evening. Now though she exercises to chase unwanted demons from her thoughts, being dismissed so arbitrarily from her position within the army was still very raw. On days like today, she wondered why she had dedicated her youth to keeping her world safe.

  She had been told by the Ambassador for the Coalition on the day of her termination. Human females will be unable physically or mentally to stand up to the rigours of training, which the Warriors in the new army will have to undertake. Even it seemed if they had been the youngest Lieutenant General in the history of her planet. Furthermore, she was told it was not seemingly for a female to think she could issue orders to males as it was not the Coalition way.

  Something in his words and tone had not rung true for Melody, it was like he was almost telling the truth but not the whole truth. Regardless of what she had thought, she along with all twenty-two thousand female soldiers were dismissed from service. She had heard that other regions armies who were predominately female, also found themselves quickly retired and replaced with male soldiers and Warriors.

  As much as the Coalition wanted her gone, they found leaving a Government department. Especially the armed forces was not as simple as just packing up her desk and saying goodbye. There were security measures to attend to, as well as procedures for handing over her command to the next general. It had taken weeks to get to the point she could start to pack up her personal life.

  She had spent these last few days vacillating between anger at the Coalition and her own Government and the Generals who had stood by and allowed this to happen. And relief it had happened now before she found herself beholden to the Coalition and became their puppet as she saw other generals becoming.

  Tonight, after completing her nightly routine of exercises, she had started the arduous task of packing up her two-bedroom house. Now as she looked around her at the many boxes cluttering up each room, she realized how much she had collected since being stationed here at Oaks Army Base.

  She had been sorting and packing for three hours when she decided she needed to forget for a while why she was doing this. Decision made, she zapped some popcorn and was in the middle of downloading one of her favorite vids. When her computer turned off for a minute then restart, with the face of Doctor Darby Kline appearing on screen.

  Melody raised a brow and stared at the small heart-shaped face and shy brown eyes that gazed back at her. Finally she asked. ‘How can you hack my computer? This is the army’s best secured, anti-terrorist unhackable software in the world.’

  Darby’s small, serious face never changed expression as she replied. ‘I did the programming.’

  ‘Of course,’ Melody smiled, ‘I know who you are, Doctor Kline.’

  Darby’s exclamation. ‘You do!’

  Held so much surprise that if Melody had not seen the amazement on the woman’s face, she would have thought she was trying to be amusing. Melody ate some popcorn, then nodded. ‘I do, the powers to be make sure all generals receive that information. Especially about someone we may be assigned to guard and protect at some point. You did not know that?’

  Darby frowned. ‘No, I did not know that... hmmm.’

  Melody waited, it appeared the woman had no
thing else to say for the moment and she was in no hurry. This was the most exciting thing to have happened to her in the last month, other than being booted out of the army. Frowning, as her mood took a downturn as the depression she had been pushing away came back and swamped her again.

  Sighing, she mentally shook her head at the stupidity of her government and aliens. Then quietly grunted as she thought about the word alien, a word she had never imagined she would use other than in an abstract kind of way. But then again, she never expected to be the only living member of her family still alive. Not that she had any idea what aliens had to do with the death of her family. It was just that when she thought of them, the same anger filled her.

  She ate some more popcorn, trying to chase away the pain she still felt from losing her parents, siblings and other relations. It was a deep scar on her heart that time did not seem to be erasing.

  Only with a determined effort had she remained sane and healthy since their deaths, but now without her career, she felt the first tremors of fear shake her soul. What could she do to keep herself whole, to keep herself from falling foul of the depression she could feel waiting for her? Worse than all of that, she worried about what she was going to do with all the training and knowledge she possessed; she had heard some of her soldiers were thinking about joining the troopers. She grimaced as she thought about that career path and knew it was not for her. She was not cut out for that branch of law enforcement, and to start at entry level again would chaff at her heart.

  She decided to put off thinking about what she was going to do with her future until later… much later.

  Melody ate another two handfuls of popcorn as she shoved those thoughts away and returned her attention once more to the woman on screen.