Chronicles of the Stellar Corps: Sassy Read online

  Chronicles of the Stellar Corps:

  Sassy

  © 2016 Bernard Paul Glover

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this work may be reproduced without written permission of the author.

  Cover art: © sylphe_7 Licensed from istock.com – Getty Images

  A special thank you to my copy-editor, Tracey Lee Fisher, for her invaluable assistance and support.

  Other science fiction by Bernard Paul Glover

  (Available from Amazon in paperback and Kindle format)

  Local Paradox

  Symphonies

  First Contact

  It was a beautiful July day in 2273. All around the White House lawn the crowds milled about. It had been more than a century since there were any serious security concerns. True, there were still some small points of civil unrest around the world, some due to the details of the World Unity Treaty; mostly relating to new regional treaties on trade.

  The Eco-terror wars ended one hundred and three years earlier. They were the last of the real conflicts on the planet. Once climate change had finally been brought under control, there was nothing more for them to fight about. The move to global government became inevitable. In 2175 the first accords were signed. In 2180 world unity was a fact.

  Many things followed. The crime rate dropped, dramatically, as many of the major crime families were eradicated by the new integrated global law enforcement strategy. The last remaining drug cartel came to an end when the local governments they hid behind were made redundant by the Global Congress in Washington. There was still some crime, human nature being what it is, but nothing near what it was before Unification. It seemed to all that things could only get better from here.

  In Central Park that day the mood was equally festive as people walked about, stopping to sample the wares of the various food vendors, allowed in the Park for that special celebration. It just happened that the Park’s redesign, following the devastation of the New York landmark back in 2070, had created perfectly placed niches at precise intervals, almost as if this was planned back then.

  Just as Mayor John Cetilla was about to begin his Unification Day Address a faint sound was heard high above. As he began to speak the noise became louder, causing people to look up. That’s when the world changed forever. Descending from the heavens was a small space craft.

  Automatically the NYPD was alerted. Surprisingly, that was the only reaction, other than the mayor stopping his speech to watch the descending ship. The whole crowd stood transfixed, which, as it turned out, was the best thing that they could have done.

  The vessel grew in size as it descended, coming to rest above Colford Lake, the larger of the two lakes in the Park’s 2070 redesign. The landing struts touched down with cloud-like lightness on either bank of the north and south sides of the lake. There was a long pause, and then a hatch slid aside and a gangway extended to the ground.

  The pause lasted centuries. Actually, it was only a few minutes before three beings emerged. They were all humanoid in shape. The first, who proved to be the leader of the delegation, was only five feet tall. She had very gentle features and her dark toned skin was covered by an extremely fine fur. Each hand had five long fingers and an opposable thumb.

  Flanking her on either side were two stalky males (at least they appeared to be male). They were nearly seven feet tall and extremely muscled. Their skin was a deep fuchsia with the sheen of fine leather. Over their shoulders were slung some rather impressive looking rifles; on their hips hung some equally impressive side arms.

  The female commander of the group approached the podium and addressed the mayor: “I am Captain Ipzr Flyn of the Warp Ship ‘Starn’. I come from the planet Talin. My security agents are Borellian. We are here representing the League of Systems, a confederation of star systems scattered throughout our galaxy. We have been observing your world and its population for a great number of years.” Flyn paused to let that sink in.

  “You see,” she continued, “your planet is sitting as close to the astrographical centre of our confederation as one can be. We have studied you carefully, and believe that here might be the best place, the most efficient place, to situate our new seat of government. To achieve this, the League would like to welcome Earth into our confederation. We believe that we have an offer for the people of your world that you will be pleased to consider.”

  Mayor Cetilla was taken aback by her opening statement. One moment ago he believed that humanity was alone in the universe, now the representatives of other races that he hadn’t known existed, were inviting Earth to become the capital planet of a multi-world confederation. Fortunately, the mayor was known for thinking well on his feet.

  “Captain Flyn, welcome to New York,” he began. “I should begin by telling you though, that this is not the seat of power for our planet. The World Congress sits in Washington. The Chancellor and the Cabinet are located in The Hague, and the World Senate meets in London,” he informed her.

  “I am aware,” Flyn responded, with what, she hoped, looked like a friendly smile, “but of all the places I viewed in our reports, Central Park was the most intriguing, and since we had to land somewhere...” She shrugged and smiled again.

  “Well then, that being said,” Cetilla continued, “if you’ll come with me, I will be happy to connect you with the World Chancellor and his Cabinet. After which, if you wish, I’ll happily give you a tour of the Park”

  Once more Captain Flyn smiled, broadly.

  The mayor indicated the path that led to his open-air limousine. The captain nodded and preceded him along the way, still flanked by her escort. The mayor fell in beside her with a phalanx of NYPD officers that formed an honour guard and security force. It was critical that there should be no incidents that would mar this event.

  That was how the first contact was made between the Earth and the League of Systems. What followed were six and a half years of negotiations.

  For their part, the League offered Earth many new technologies: medical technologies that would advance medical science in a great many ways. They offered engineering and scientific tech that previously had been the stuff of science fiction, or engineers’ dreams. Then there was “the biggie” inter-stellar technology.

  For their part, one of the seemingly minor requests made by the League was to be given UN Plaza, where the United Nations complex had been carefully preserved, on which to build the new Capital Complex, and to house the member worlds’ embassies. This meant that the heritage site would need to be demolished to make way for a gigantic three hundred story League of Systems complex. It was one of the last details to be discussed.

  In a drawing room overlooking Central Park, the League’s chief negotiator, Jarem Zimm, of the planet Dariam, took a long drink of water. “I hope that we can get this agreement passed by our respective peoples,” he told Leonard White, Earth’s lead negotiator, “I love your water, and the League’s Chancellor has already promised me a posting here if you and I are successful,” he said. “Back home we have no open bodies of water like your rivers and lakes. Our water is extracted from plants found in our planet’s broad tropical region. We have no shortage of water, but no matter what we do, we can’t make it taste this good,” he lamented.

  White smiled. “Then, I guess we had better make this work,” he said. The one thing that astounded Leonard was how easily friendships had grown between the various members of the negotiating team from the League of Planets and his people.

  From the very beginning the human population had come to like their new friends from the stars. “Too bad,” White thought, “that everyone on earth is not of the same mind.” He was t
hinking of the sundry small groups that either opposed the Earth joining the League or the groups opposed to having the League set up their central government in New York.

  Zimm continued, “With regards to our desire to build our seat of government on the United Nations Plaza, our selection of that site is partly symbolic, as the UN had been a major precursor of your United World Government. As to the height of the new building, it is just the League’s idea of economical use of space. We don’t want to make it seem as though they were taking over half of Manhattan to house our more than two hundred embassies and official residences. Of course, we want to be in Manhattan because it is the centre of the United Earth’s financial dealings. As much as anything, the League is about trade and commerce.”

  White took that in. It was not the first time that he had heard it, and Zimm was not the first one to make that point with him, or other members of his negotiating team.

  He looked Zimm in the eye, “Everything that the League has offered Earth is, to be honest, overwhelming, and if it were almost any other site there would be no problem, but to humans some elements of our heritage are critically important. This is why we have preserved that site for more than three hundred and fifty years.” White spoke softly, but his response was firm.

  He continued, “Your people have been more than generous, Jarem. It is unheard of in human history that a negotiation has begun with one partner giving most of its bargaining chips away before a single agreement has been signed. Thanks to the League, the advances we have made in medicine, engineering and space flight have put us ahead by hundreds of years in less than seven. I feel badly about having to deny what probably seems to your people to be so small a request, but, happily, we think that we have an alternative.” Leonard White smiled again.

  Zimm returned his smile. “You know the truth, Leonard. We started by sharing our technology and our knowledge because it was necessary. If we didn’t, it would be as if a super civilization had come to dominate and enforce our will on Earth. By leading with the gifts that we gave, we hoped to level the playing field, as you say. We are now negotiating with a civilization at par with ours in a great many ways. It was also a show of good faith with respect to what we promised would come with Earth’s joining the League.

  As to the location of our new capital complex, after five years, I know you, Leonard. You, also, know the meaning of the word ‘generous’. I am intrigued. What is it that you propose?”

  White pressed a button on the console by his chair and a holographic map of Manhattan appeared in front of them. With a remote pointer he highlighted an area just to the north and west of UN Plaza. “Since the creation of World Gov, the need for formal embassies or consulates between the various ‘countries’ of Earth no longer exists. Everything is done in the local government centres of our member states. This ten-block area here,” he pointed his remote and a large area turned green, “…was home to a number of foreign consulates from several pre-union nations. The actual area is seventy-five percent greater than the UN Plaza. It is also adjacent to the UN Buildings, preserving the symbolism, and perhaps even enhancing it. It will also allow the League to have greater space to build, in greater comfort. We have already spoken with most of the property owners and have obtained conditional agreements with them.”

  Zimm sat silently, looking closely at the proposed site. “I like it,” he said thoughtfully, “…and I think that I can sell it,” he added. He toasted White with his glass of water.

  “Moving onto, or rather back to, other matters, our Ministry of Mutual Security has provided your Secretary of Defense, in The Hague, with the final draft of our agreement on the timeline for setting up Earth’s branch of the Stellar Corps’ admiralty, which has been aptly called Terran Command. All that remains is to begin training your people.” Zimm drained his glass and looked hopefully at White with a smile.

  So, on New Year’s Day of 2280 Earth became the Capital Planet for, and the newest member of, the League of Systems. A new era in human development was born.

  Not all humans were happy!

  Some things about humanity, even in the 23rd Century, remained the same as they have always been since the beginning of time; some people see conspiracy and villainy in almost everything.

  While the vast majority of Earth’s population, or “terrans”, as they began to call themselves, welcomed the advances brought by the League, small protest groups had popped up around the globe. Most, like the “Earth Alone” group, were innocent protesters, ardent in their belief, but pacific in their attitude. Others like the “Humans Only” group, centred in Brooklyn, New York, were far more militant.

  Initially the HO group was powerless to do any more than publish propaganda and protest in Central Park or near Wall Street. So long as they remained impotent, no matter how militant, the authorities let them protest.

  Security regulations kept them far away from any areas where they could do any damage. So long as that remained the case, no one in authority believed that they could pose a threat.

  The group’s leader, a very dangerous individual in his own right, who changed his name officially to “John Everyman Smith”, was determined to drive the League away from Earth at any cost. To that end he recruited to his cause a diverse group of malcontents, including many psychotics, psychopaths and just plain “crazies”; anyone who he could infect with his own brand of paranoia. So far things had not worked out too well.

  Around a table in a Brooklyn basement in May 2281 Smith was berating his lieutenants, yet again. It was of course never his fault when his plans failed. “You people have done a pitiful job of raising public awareness of the true evil that we are facing,” he ranted.

  “Drake and Halpern, they had guts!” he continued. “Setting themselves on fire right there beside Colford Lake, where the heathen devils first landed, was inspirational; full of symbolism! Did any of you follow up on that? Did any of you make the same kind of sacrifice? We need to keep the public focussed on what’s happening. WE HAVE BEEN INVADED PEOPLE!” he shouted.

  “Now, John, that’s not true,” Bart Soren countered. “Remember, Niko and Sato literally spilled their guts into the lake. You don’t think that it took courage to commit seppuku for the cause?”

  “And what did it get us?” Smith demanded. “We need even more direct action!”

  “You mean like attacking the League Headquarters? We tried that, remember? It got us banned. We are now illegal! That’s why we have to meet in this crummy basement, and why we lost so many members. Most people don’t like being hunted down and prosecuted. What more can we do?” Soren responded.

  “Do you want to quit, too?” Smith asked.

  “No, of course not!” Everyone around the table looked shocked and hurt at Smith’s suggestion, especially Soren.

  “Then are you willing to go farther – a lot farther?” Smith asked the group. “Are you willing to go down in history as monsters before you are hailed as heroes?”

  Most nodded their assent, though some seemed frightened. Soren spoke up again.

  “What are you planning, John?”

  “We need to catch the attention of the whole world,” he told them. “We need to commit so bold an act that everyone will sit up and take notice; so that that abominable ‘League of Aliens’ will know that they are not wanted here on Earth, and never will be. We tried getting a bomb into their complex and failed, so maybe we need to go bigger, a lot bigger! All of Manhattan must be sacrificed!”

  There was an initial look of horror on everyone’s face. Pat Little finally asked a one word question, “How?”

  “We build an atomic bomb!” Smith announced triumphantly.

  Again, shock all around…

  “You must be joking,” Soren said. “Do you even know how to build an atom bomb? There haven’t been any nuclear weapons anywhere on Earth for over two hundred years. Where will you get the parts?”

  Smith grinned at them. “I already have them! In fact the bomb is built.” When
all he got in response to his grand announcement was a table full of quizzical expressions, he continued. “You know how they say that you can learn anything on the internet? Well… I was able to find detailed instructions.” When the querying faces turned to shock again, Smith just continued his explanation.

  “It’s been a century since any government agency has monitored the ‘net for so-called terrorist activity; the benefit of being a world ‘at peace’. I’m sure that my queries raised no red flags, anywhere.

  “The real problem was finding the parts, especially the fissionable material. That was where I got lucky. It seems that when they decommissioned Three Mile Island some fool stole some of the enriched plutonium rods, and got away with them. Only, beyond his sticky fingers, our thief had little to commend him. When he tried to sell the stuff, he was caught. It was all kept very hush-hush, especially because they never found the plutonium.”

  “…and you did?” Soren interjected.

  “It was easy, actually,” Smith was basking in his self-congratulation. “All I had to do is ask myself what an idiot would do? The answer: He brought it home. His house is long gone, but the building next door is still there. During my research I found out that he was a member of the ‘society’ that owned that house, so I looked into it.

  “From the outside it looks like a normal house, but I checked the records. The group that owned it classified itself as a preservation society. What it really was was a survivalist group, but because they called themselves ‘preservationist’, their status kept the house from being demolished, even though no one has lived there for decades.

  “So I snuck inside. There, I found that the cellar was false. You go through the ordinary looking door leading to the basement only to find another hidden door just beyond. That door, it turns out, is constructed of lead-lined steel.

  “When I did a search on the internet I was not surprised to find that the group has been defunct for a hundred and sixty-two years. Only, no one in authority ever bothered to check into its status or deal with the society’s assets. So, I simply reactivated the group as a legal entity, and legally took possession of the building,” Smith grinned. “These days you can do anything online.”