by Geoff Wolak
‘If it wasn’t, then it wouldn’t be a learning experience, now would it.’
‘No, I guess it wouldn’t. And afterwards?’
‘Afterwards, how you develop your society is up to you, I won’t interfere – too much. But you will … go to great lengths to stop anyone abusing portal technology, and you will maintain an open portal to us – with full diplomatic relations; our people will arrive here soon. Our portal will stay open, yours will all be decommissioned.’
The National Security Advisor shifted on his seat.
The President shifted his gaze towards his security advisor. ‘Did you wish to call Mister Silo’s bluff?’
The National Security Advisor did not respond.
Jimmy added, ‘On the Moon, in this timeline, is a base and a portal. That portal continuously scans other worlds at various times, and if it detects a change from what it knows should be there, then it will contact you at an earlier date – and send missiles.’
‘Clever, real clever,’ the President admitted. ‘You put a base in our timeline. You should be working for me, Mister Silo, I might get something done now and then.’
An aide lifted his data-pad. ‘Sir, a dozen or so of our satellites have stopped working.’
The President sighed. ‘That’s coming out of next year’s budget.’
‘Sir,’ a second man called. ‘The international space station has lost main power. Staff moving to escape pods.’
‘Several years’ budgets,’ the President let out, easing back.
‘Sir, our research facility in Canada has just been nuked.’
‘Oh dear,’ Jimmy said. ‘Looks like you pissed-off someone.’
‘Another twenty satellites gone, sir.’
The President rubbed his face. Lifting his head, he said to his NSA, ‘Ted, you’re fired.’ He slid his gaze across to a second man. ‘Bob, you’re also fired.’
The two men stood, glanced around with their heads held low, and stepped out.
‘I think I have a speech to prepare,’ the President noted with a sigh. ‘My resignation speech, elections in the spring.’
‘The burden of command,’ Jimmy quipped.
‘What else can we expect?’ the President asked Jimmy.
‘Little more. As I said, it was a tap on the shoulder. But we will be in touch shortly.’ He stood. ‘I’ll be taking a cab back across town, and I strongly suggest you don’t try and follow, or interfere. Where I come from, they like me, and to lose me here … they would be most put out.’
‘Sir,’ an aide called. ‘Your … summer house was just flattened, and your yacht sunk.’
‘European President on the line, Mister President, press going crazy.’
Jimmy hid a smile as he stepped out, wondering who had organised the targeting, and having a good guess. The police escorted him back to the gate, where the taxi faithfully waited, now quite a small crowd gathering. Lifting his gaze, the sky clear, Jimmy could see a dozen small flashes spread around the heavens. The crowds snapped Jimmy as he exited the White House, and Jimmy smiled back at them. A few simply touched his arm to see that he was real.
Easing into the cab, he told the driver to take him back to where he had been picked up. They drove off, only at a slower pace. ‘Is this cab … electric?’
‘Of course,’ the cabby replied, surprised by the question.
‘On some worlds, they still use petrol.’
‘We still use fossil fuels for aircraft.’
‘There’s a separate president for Europe?’ Jimmy asked.
‘Yes, and Africa and China and Russia, South America, sir.’
‘South America is one country?’
‘Yes, sir, and Africa.’
‘Europe is one country?’
‘Yes, sir, but there is talk of a split-up.’
‘Hmmm. And mating, it’s controlled?’
‘Mating is not controlled, sir, it’s just … the consequences.’
‘The babies.’
‘Yes, sir. Need a license, or there’d be millions of people with no jobs and no food.’
‘Sounds like a reasonable approach, since people are easier to produce than resources. It’s a small round planet.’
‘Indeed, sir. I’ll have to remember that, sir; small round planet. Oh, I sent a copy of you sat in the back to every news outlet on the planet.’
Jimmy smiled widely. ‘Trying to make a statement, were you?’
‘Yes, sir. And I sent it to everyone on my wife’s secret email list, all sixty-eight thousand of them. Government will never keep this quiet.’
‘Your government upset me, and my people, by opening portals to your early history, and trying to re-make your society. We’ve stopped them, and you’ll stay as you are. As a warning, we’ve knocked out most of your satellites and destroyed a few military bases.’
‘They’ll not be able to keep that quiet,’ the cabby enthused. ‘Be a change of government for sure.’
‘Tell me about the health of your population.’
‘Health, sir?’
‘Disease.’
‘There was disease in the old times, not anymore. Still plenty of accidents, but no diseases, sir.’
Arriving at the apartment block, flashing blue lights could be seen, police and spectators milling around. Jimmy eased out to shouts of ‘There he is!’ and ‘I told you!’
Jimmy smiled politely and waved, cameras flashing. A news crew stepped forwards. ‘Prophet, why have you returned?’
‘The cab driver has many of my words recorded,’ Jimmy explained, pointing back at the cab. ‘But I came … because people on this world were abusing portal technology and interfering with your past. I have put a stop to that, and your society and your future is now safe.’
‘Do you endorse the Christian movement?’ a reporter asked.
‘No, I do not.’ That surprised them. ‘You don’t need to be a Christian to be a good citizen. What matters … is what’s in your heart, not what label you put on yourself.’
‘What about restricted breeding?’
‘Restricted breeding is a good policy; producing people is easy, making the planet bigger is not easy. You live on a small round planet, never forget that. Resources are limited. Thank you, that’s all.’
He stepped inside, weaving through the crowds, being touched many times and snapped by cameras, and finally made it to the lift. When the lift doors closed he pressed the button for the 35th floor, the pleasant background music starting up as the lift ascended. On the 10th floor the lifted juddered to a halt, the old man stepping slowly in with his walking stick, still bent double.
‘Seventeen,’ he said.
Smiling, Jimmy pressed the desired button, and the lift ascended.
‘Couldn’t even watch the game, damn satellite reception. Ha! Fucking engineers don’t know Jack shit.’
‘Maybe the satellite was destroyed by beings from another world,’ Jimmy quipped.
‘Wish they’d destroy the fucking lot,’ the old man grumbled. ‘And that idiot in the White House.’
‘Cabby told me that your president was going to resign over some scandal.’
‘About time. Fucking city boy, not the son of a farmer that one. You can always rely on a westerner.’
‘That you can,’ Jimmy agreed. ‘I like Montana myself.’
‘Horses - bedrock of our ancestors.’ The lift doors swung open, the old man hobbling out, still not having seen Jimmy.
On the 35th floor Jimmy stepped out, not quite sure if he should go left or right. He opted for right, and found the right apartment eventually, knocking.
Sandra opened the door. ‘Great Prophet, your visit is all over the media.’
‘Well, it was before I knocked out all of your satellites,’ Jimmy said as he entered. Jesus was holding two bags. ‘You won’t need much. Power it up, same time and place.’
Sandra and Jesus got to work.
‘What is your name, anyway?’ Jimmy asked Jesus.
‘Pleb;
I was named after the Great Reformer. They say that he was an idiot who he burnt his own house down several times, but that’s just government disinformation.’
‘I … can’t imagine the Great Reformer burning his own house down, it must be just propaganda.’
The portal crackled open.
Jesus said, ‘We’ve set a time-bomb in the computers, and a small overload to fry everything.’
‘Good,’ Jimmy said as he ducked through the white curtains and back into the barn. The other Pleb was stood there waiting, eating as usual.
‘Hello, boss,’ Pleb offered, chewing on a chicken leg.
‘How long was I gone?’ Jimmy asked our trusty ambassador as Sandra and Jesus appeared.
Pleb shrugged. ‘Half an hour.’
The portal disappeared. Jimmy faced the expectant congregation. ‘All future meetings have been cancelled. Please, go home, and do not talk of what you have seen here. Go on, go home.’
Ambassador Pleb nudged people out, raising his voice, Jimmy soon leading Sandra and Jesus towards the distant camp, the group flanked by Marines.
Jimmy said to the Marines, ‘That went better than expected, so stand down.’
‘We figured you’d talk ‘em around,’ a Marine said. ‘I had twenty bucks on it.’
‘We still get paid, right?’ another Marine asked as they walked across a dark field.
Smiling, Jimmy said, ‘Yes, you still get paid, and you’re still alive, a great tale to tell back on our Earth.’
Little fishes
Sandra and Jesus arrived back on my world, and were entrusted to my care with a note from Jimmy.
‘What the fu…’ I began as I read the note.
‘What is it?’ Susan asked.
‘I … can’t really say.’ I took a breath. ‘Bloody hell.’
I welcomed a nervous Jesus and Sandra into my home, and no matter how many times I was reminded of his name I kept calling him Jesus. After allocating them a room, my household staff as shocked as the Seethans had been, I sat them down with Susan and Helen, baby Selemba taking in the new faces. Sandra was immediately taken with the baby.
‘OK,’ I began. ‘You’ll live here for now, my house –’
‘A very splendid house, sir,’ Jesus expressed.
‘Thanks. And, I’ve some instructions from Jimmy.’
‘It was such a great honour to meet the Great Prophet,’ Sandra told Helen.
Helen and Susan exchanged looks.
‘OK,’ I began again. ‘Jimmy – the Prophet – would like you two to … get together.’
‘We are … together,’ they puzzled, holding hands.
‘Yes, but … more together.’
Helen was now staring at me.
I continued, ‘We have no laws here about restrictive breeding, so … you can have kids.’
‘We’ll start right away, is there a room we can use,’ Jesus offered, and Susan almost chocked.
‘No hurry,’ I quickly cut in with. ‘But, should you find that Sandra is happily pregnant, then we’ll support you all the way and … provide nurses and doctors and … food and stuff.’
Susan faced Sandra. ‘What is a normal gestation period for you?’
‘Six to eight weeks.’
‘Six weeks?’ Susan repeated. ‘For us it’s nine months normally.’
Sandra motioned towards Selemba after the baby started to wriggled and cry. ‘May I?’
Helen hesitantly handed over the baby, Sandra starting to sing softly, but in a high-pitch. The baby stopped wriggling, and fell silent, staring up at Sandra’s big oval eyes. The humans all exchanged looks.
‘What will you name the child?’ Sandra asked after Selemba had settled.
‘Selemba,’ Helen answered, and Sandra screamed, Jesus jumping out of his chair as if the baby might bite his leg off. Sandra handed the baby back to Helen, practically throwing Selemba across.
‘What is it?’ I shouted as I stood. ‘What’s wrong?’
Sandra and Jesus fell to the floor, knelt down with their heads bowed. ‘Queen Selemba,’ Sandra uttered.
‘Queen?’ I repeated. ‘What do you … mean?’
Sandra lifted her head a little. ‘You … do not know?’
‘We are at an earlier time!’ Jesus forcefully whispered out of the side of his mouth.
Sandra lifted her head, now tearful. ‘A few years or so from this date, a new Seethan female will appear - a Queen – and she will have an army of human protectors, and her offspring will replace all other offspring. All that follow are children of Selemba. We … are children of Selemba.’
I stared hard at Helen, and then faced Sandra, our visitor still prone. ‘Our baby is human, not Seethan!’
‘The hidden text says that Selemba was born Seethan of human parents.’
‘What!’ I shouted, Helen struck as if by lightning. ‘Born of humans?’
Sandra said, ‘This child, your child, smells like a Seethan, sir.’
‘The necklace!’ Susan said. ‘Oh my God, that new blood product, it’s re-writing her DNA.’
Helen had to be taken out by the household staff, Selemba taken by a maid, Sandra and Jesus mortified that they had caused such upset. I had them escorted to their room, and tried to explain that this was not their fault. I called Jimmy, who was still on the Seethan world. He called me back ten minutes later.
‘Did you know about Selemba being Seethan?’ I barked.
‘I had an idea,’ he admitted.
‘And just when the fuck … were you going to let us know, when she developed gills!’
‘Who do you think sent the necklace?’ Jimmy posed.
‘I’ve no fucking idea!’
‘She did.’
I stopped dead. ‘She did? What the hell are you talking about?’
‘What better way to influence an alien race, than becoming one of them. And Selemba’s offspring will all have the blood; they’ll be brighter and stronger, resistant to disease. And the Seethans I met in the future, they looked more human than Seethan, subtle changes – like a little hair above the ears. I’d tell you what a paradox is, but you already know. All you have to do is … what you would have done anyway, after you calm down. Your daughter … spawned a new race and populated a world.’
‘Why?’ I pleaded.
‘This time line - their time line - produced a few wars. Selemba took the choice, or will take the choice, as a human to change herself, and she created a new time line and a paradox. She gave herself to stop a few wars. And Paul, she made one hell of a sacrifice for peace, Seethan peace. I guess she must take after her parents, who it seems – will raise her well.’
I stood silent for many seconds. ‘Will you stay there?’
‘No, this place is your job.’
‘Mine?’
‘Yes. According to the future Pisceans – who are all called Seethans, you helped develop this world, and I was an occasional visitor I guess.’
‘I … developed that world?’
‘Yep, but that doesn’t mean you have to camp out over here for years on end. It’s your show.’
‘I’ll let Susan and Helen have the good news,’ I quipped.
‘It turns out fine,’ Jimmy said before he cut the call.
I went and found Helen, now being consoled by Susan. I sat on her bed. ‘Jimmy knows who sent the necklace.’
‘Who?’ Susan asked.
‘The little chubby lump,’ I replied, staring at the carpeted floor.
‘Selemba … sent it back?’ Susan queried, Helen looking up.
‘In order to prevent a Seethan internal war, Selemba made herself the ultimate ambassador, and took their form. After she replaces the other breeding females over there, all future Seethans are her offspring.’
‘Fish DNA,’ Susan noted. ‘No DNA degradation through close in-breeding. And with many fathers, even less of a risk.’
I faced Helen. ‘Our daughter is due to be a queen, and the progenitor of a new hybrid species. Where Jimmy was,
there were billions of them, spread right across the world.’
Helen had stopped crying, and now brightened a little. ‘She did it … to herself?’
I nodded. ‘Brave little puppy.’ My phone bleeped, indicating an emergency message. I stepped away. ‘Yes?’
‘Sir, a drone over Chile on the Seethan world has picked up an EM signature that’s human, not Seethan, an advanced EM burst. It came from Antarctica, sir.’
‘Antarctica? Well, the fable said that the brother went to the ice world. Divert a drone towards it, notify Jimmy.’
‘Yes, sir.’
I sat back down, and tapped my phone. ‘Computer, send following message to all news outlets: Advanced human life found on Seethan world, in Antarctica. End.’
‘Antarctica?’ Helen asked. ‘How could they survive?’
I shrugged. ‘Eating fish and seals. The Seethan fable did say that an ancestor went to live in the ice world.’
Susan put in, ‘There would be no airborne flu viruses there - too cold.’
‘They’ve been there for … seventy years or more,’ I noted. I dialled the African Present. ‘This is Paul Holton. Make ready an expedition to build a portal in Antarctica, close to Chile, as fast as you can. Thanks.’
‘You’ll bring them here?’ Susan asked.
‘Somehow, I’m doubting that they’ll want to stay where they are,’ I quipped.
Ice Base Antarctica, Seethan world
Commissioner Peck was startled by the bang at his door.
‘Sir,’ his aide shouted as he burst in to the run-down and cluttered office.
‘What the hell is it?’ Peck asked, more worried than annoyed.
‘A signal,’ the aide said with a huge smile.
‘A signal?’ Peck said as he stood, several layers of clothing making him appear even fatter than he was. His pale round face flushed as he ran a hand over his bald head.
‘We were monitoring Seethan and Preethan channels as normal and noticed a spike, high band. It’s a microwave burst message.’
‘Microwave? The … Seethans don’t have that.’
‘No, sir, so it could be a human colony somewhere.’
Peck seemed sceptical. ‘So how come they’ve never sent a radio broadcast?’ he asked as he sat.
