Chapter 5
"Later on in the program, Great Britain joins the Trade Initiative Consortium. Rumors about a secret united world government increase; and a brazen robbery of an Army weapons depot. But first this. A spokesperson for the 'off-worlders', as our visitors have become known to the general public, gave out a statement to once again remind people that Sentient Metal is absolutely safe, but that it's up to the people that use it to use it correctly. This as a reply to claims that some children suffered injuries while playing on play sets created from Sentient Metal. The spokesperson took some time to explain, once again, the basics of Sentient Metal."
The TV anchor was replaced with a video of a press conference in which one of the spokespersons of Joanne's department was answering questions.
"It's really quiet simple," the spokesperson said. "If you create something with Sentient Metal, the creator has to be the one that keeps safety in mind. Yes, there are sensors in the metal, but the metal can't think for itself; it can only do what it's programmed to do. So, please, if you do buy a product that is made of Sentient Metal, do check if it's suited for your purposes, and please do keep limitations in mind. If a play set is designed for the ages ten and up, please don't let your five your old play on it. Also, just as a suggestion, check for the safety seal of approval that ensures that all shapes in that particular design are approved by the National Safety Board here in America, or its counterparts all over the world."
"Why doesn't the director of your department ever come on TV to give us this kind of information?" One of the reporters shouted.
"As you know, our director is a very busy person. She has dealings literally all over the world. She feels that her time is better spent on fixing misunderstandings than to talking to the press, no disrespect to you all of course. The simple fact is, she has one meeting with us, her spokespersons, and we can go and explain the situation over and over if needed. That's what we're here for; that's what our job is. That also leaves her the time to ensure the smooth communications flow that we've had from the very first day. From the very first day she got involved that is. I'm sure that I don't need to remind you all of the beginning? We might have lived on spaceships, but we had no experience with first contact. Frankly, we were messing things up. Now things go smoothly and all parties involved like it that way."
The video stopped and the anchor came back in view, indicating that the next topic in the news was to begin. "Great Britain, who was the last country in the world that was not connected to the Trade Initiative Consortium, has now also joined the T.I.C. Today at noon the English ports finally opened for the first official shipment of Sentient Metal. Economists noted that Great Britain really didn't have any other option. Even though the Sentient Metal products were not officially sold in GB, the population was by now so used to it because of illegal trade that the resentments under the population for not being allowed broader access was beginning to reach a critical level. Research has shown that over eighty percent of the population had used Sentient Metal in their lives somehow, and over sixty percent admitted that they had at least one product created of Sentient Metal. With elections being held next year, the government was heading for a clear defeat if they held onto their objections, so the government finally decided to bow to the will of the people. They stated that they first wanted to be sure about the safety of Sentient Metal, and that now that all tests were concluded, that they no longer held an objection to it entering the country. Now polls on the streets show that people are in favor of their government and that the ruling party is likely to win the elections next year."
Again a short pause indicated the start of the next subject. "Rumors about a secret united world government continue to increase. In the press conference we just showed you, the question of a global government was also raised; here is the reply."
Once again a video started to play, showing the same spokesperson of moments before. "I always find those rumors very funny. Just because we show up here we suddenly want to rule the world. Maybe those rumors are started by people that themselves would like to rule the world. I mean, think about it; why would we want to rule the world? Would you want to have the hassle of dealing with literally every problem in the world, only to then be told that you aren't doing enough? Some people complain and say that we rule the world because we control the patent on Sentient Metal. That's total nonsense. We freely share our technology with the world. Alright, so we don't just give away the patent for Sentient Metal, but let me ask you this; would you? If you had a patent on something the entire world wants, would you just give that patent away? No, you wouldn't. You would instead ensure that the entire world can access your product so that you make a nice royalty off it."
"Also keep in mind," the spokesperson said after a moment of hesitation. "Almost all of the royalty money flows back into communities on Earth. As you know, we don't use money on our ships, or any equivalent. We take care of all the needs of our people. We do hand some money to our people that have to leave the ships, but the rest of the money is used all over the world for charity and good causes that your governments don't find the money to fund."
"That's really generous of you," one of the reporters in the room said, "but the fact still remains that you're the one that decides which countries can have Sentient Metal."
The spokesperson actually shrugged at the question. "We never made a secret out of that. The simple fact is, you can only have Sentient Metal if you join the Trade Initiative Consortium. But that really isn't as mysterious as it sounds. Look, you know that in the beginning there were quite a few countries on Earth that were afraid of us. As I mentioned a moment ago, this was mainly because we, frankly, messed up the first contact situation. As much as we appreciated the openness America showed to us, we really wanted to see more of the world, so to speak. A lot of our people had learned a different language, so it would be nice if they could go to countries where that language was spoken. So we used the Sentient Metal as a bit of a bribe. We never stated otherwise or said that this was not the case. The deal was, and is, you can have Sentient Metal if we can visit your country; nothing more, nothing less. It was up to governments to decide what they wanted to do. They could either allow us entry, or they could refuse it and wait until the patent expires. As you know, we stated from the beginning that we won't renew the patent once it expires. Anyone that waits until then is free to make it without getting our permission."
Suddenly the spokesperson stopped and sighed. "You know, everyone is talking about Sentient Metal, and the patent we have on it. But nobody mentions the other things. Let us mention for a moment facts like; the practical and technological advances in medicine that we've shared with you. We've shared a cure for cancer with you; all cancer. Just think of the money we could have made off of that if we had simply asked a thousand dollars for every pill. Would you have paid a thousand dollars to be cured of cancer? Of course you would, and on top of it you would have thanked us because it's just a pill instead of a risky operation. But no, we gave all that knowledge away for free, and because of that the cure for cancer now sells at ten dollars; not bad, don't you think? Or how about HIV? We took care of that; or how about diabetes, Parkinson's, or Alzheimer's? Gone because we took care of the problem. Or how about the fact that at this point even the smallest hospital in the poorest country is better equipped than many a hospital was in major cities in the western world before we arrived?"
The spokes person looked around the suddenly surprisingly silent room. "Or how about the fact that thanks to us the economy worldwide is booming? Because of the medical advances a lot of expensive surgery is no longer needed, no long hospital stays... with a result that medical costs have dropped drastically and healthcare is now something that can actually be afforded by everyone. Unemployment is down to ten percent of what it was before we landed. Or how about the fact that the life standard in general has improved worldwide? Why don't people talk about that instead of us ruling the world? You know what, if we truly did rule the world it would only be for the better, but we don't want that. We don't want to rule the world; we just want to live on it."
The video stopped, but the anchor continued on the subject. "Polls suggest that most people would actually welcome a world government as a welcome change. 80 percent of the people feel that the off-worlders have brought the changes that our politicians have only been promising for decades. And if for nothing more, for that alone they should get a chance at ruling the world as one united government. 25 of those 80 percent also said that we shouldn't forget about the fact that the Bundar are coming, and that when that time comes, we really will need one united government."
Another pause.
"Tonight there was a brazen robbery of an Army depot. The black troops were able to arrest two of the perpetrators. This morning the A1 gave a news conference, though she did send an A4 with a communications device to do the actual talking. The A4 explained that the A1 had decided to follow the approach of the Director of the Communication department; not wanting to appear in public so that she can concentrate more on her work."
The video started again, showing a man in a black uniform, the earpiece that he was wearing was clear to see. "Good morning. First, because this is still an ongoing investigation, no questions will be answered at this moment. I am only here to give you the initial report. The attack was well planned and initially successful. They managed to empty the entire depot and get away; an impressive feat, I might add. But we quickly managed to apprehend two of them and they gave us the locations of the others and the missing weapons. It turned out that, though well organized, they still were just a gang who wanted to use the weapons as payment for illegal narcotics. We started an action which resulted in more arrests and the complete repatriation of all weapons. On top of that, we found clear leads to the last organized crime organization in the U.S.; the group that wanted to buy the weapons. We arrested them as well, and at the moment we are in the process of finding out which smaller groups they dealt with so that we can take care of them as well. That is all there is to say at the moment, and we will let you know at a later point if we have more information. Good day."
As it was normal at a press conference where no questions were to be asked, questions started to be shouted. One of the questions seemed to get the attention though.
"The black troops have shown to be very effective in taking on the organized crime. So much so, that there's not much left. What are you planning to do next?"
The A4 stayed quiet for a moment; clearly listening to what the A1 was telling him over the communicator. Finally he turned to the reporter. "You ask a very valid question. Organized crime has now been reduced into insignificance. So far that 'organized crime' can be found more in the definition one has of 'organized'. After all, a group of three people that agree on a crime are also organizing. But the big groups, the ones that everyone would have agreed fall under organized crime, those have been taken care of. We are pleased that we are able to do what your government asked us to do. After all, we are the proverbial 'untouchables'. We have no family outside our ships that can be kidnapped, and death threats sure don't impress us. With organized crime under control, to the point of being virtually nonexistent, your government has asked us if we could assist in taking on normal crime. This has only decreased to what was to be expected by taking organized crime out of the total, but there is still a lot left. Our army and police force will assist in fighting the crime, and we, the black troops, will assist the army and police to take on the... more difficult cases. We fully expect that the crime level will be decreased by 50 percent in the next year, and after that time we will see if our help is still needed. And now I once again bid you a good day."
The Anchor came back into view to continue with the news, but was no longer heard in the room because the monitor had been switched off.
"Very good," a satisfied Eric said. "How did you manage to get the UK to join? I thought that they were so adamant about not joining; even threatening to go to war if needed."
"Well, you have to give the British credit where credit is due. They aren't easily pressured. Some of the government did indeed say things like 'we'd rather go to war'."
"So how did you convince them otherwise?"
"It was actually quite simple. It was something Terry said. She said, 'Alright, so the government is ready to go to war, but tell me; is the army ready to fight that war'? I then contacted a few highly placed soldiers and told them the honest facts; that there might be an armed conflict against us, and that they could forget about getting help from any of their former allies, and that they should ask themselves if they were really willing to die for this. They weren't. So they told their government that if they wanted a war, they better be the ones doing the fighting themselves. Faced with that, the government backed down and agreed to the terms."
"So we now have full control over Earth?" Eric surmised.
"We have," Joanne agreed. "It's just that the populations of the countries don't know that yet. But as you saw, the rumors we planted keep growing."
"So, what would you suggest? Make it even more clear; take the control for all to know?"
"I actually think that it's best to leave it as it is now," Joanne said thoughtfully. "Let the individual countries do their individual governing. After all, would we really want to deal with those daily things they have to deal with? Only when the Bundar arrive will we then take the control officially; which at that point will only seem like the logical step to take. You have to keep in mind that you can never satisfy everyone. If you start messing with the daily governing and things don't go as people want, they'll blame you. Now those people blame their own government and say things like, 'I only wish that our guests would take control and finally do it right'. Don't give them time to see that even if you are in control, they still don't get their way. That can happen after we take care of the Bundar."
"You have a point," Eric agreed. "As Leader's Council we set forth guidelines and rules for all to follow, but we don't deal with the smaller micromanagement that is needed when governing a large group of people. The last thing we want is to start that now while the Earth governments can keep doing it for us just as well."
He nodded, as if agreeing with himself. "Alright, then on to a different subject; the robbery of that depot. Why would they be so stupid and try that robbery? They would know we would go after them and get them."
"Actually, we didn't get them. The actions against the two organizations that were taken care of were already being planned anyway; we just used the one to explain the other."
"So what is the real story then?" Eric wondered.
"The real story is, that those weapons are gone and we have no idea where they are. My guess is that the Resistance is the one that actually stole them."
"The Resistance, are they raising their heads again? I thought we were rid of them?"
"I thought so too," Joanne admitted. "I know for a fact that they lost a lot of members when it turned out that we, well you, didn't bring the death and destruction they were expecting. As for the core though, I think they just stayed very quiet and took a wait and see approach."
"But don't you think we should take care of them now?"
Joanne shook her head. "No, I actually don't. To the contrary, I think we should leave them be, at least for the moment."
"What, why?"
"Exactly because they're so quiet. We know that 80 percent of the population on Earth is happy with us. That's a lot; more than I expected. But that still leaves 20 percent that isn't happy. We have a saying on Earth, I think I mentioned this also on the first day we met, but I'm not sure. Either way, it goes; 'the enemy of my enemy, is my friend'. If we now start hunting the Resistance, those 20 percent of the population who don't want a world government might decide to join the Resistance, which would result in the last thing we want; a growing of the Resistance instead of a demise. Worse, if we take them on simply because they disagree with us, a lot of those 80 percent that like us now might change their mind."
"They do a lot more than just disagree," Eric pointed out. "I have no problem with them disagreeing, I do however have a problem with them stealing."
"True, but the population would not see it as us going after criminals, but as us going after free people that did nothing more than have an opinion we don't agree with. That's not what it would be, but that's what it would be seen as."
"I can see your point," Eric had to admit. "But how do we make sure that the Resistance don't become too much of a problem? There is only so much we can tolerate before we have to do something."
"I know," Joanne assured. "But I don't think we have to worry too much. I have a few contacts in the Resistance. Nothing major; basically just low level members, but enough to know a few things. Basically the core Resistance, which we're talking about now, is more than happy to sit back and wait. They aren't the kind of Resistance we know from our history here on Earth. On Earth, if you hear the name 'Resistance', by definition you think of a group that fights all there is to fight, that acts against you and all you introduced simply because it's you that introduced it. Even if it's something that betters the life of some, they want to destroy it because you might use it in your goal."
"That's pretty much what I'm thinking of when talking about a Resistance," Eric agreed.
"These people are nothing like that," Joanne assured. "They don't want you gone as such. If that was their goal they would have been fighting guerilla attacks for years now. Instead they are observing, and want to be prepared. They want to be convinced. Not with nice words, but with time proven points. The weapons they stole now, and were able to get hold of before, gives them an arsenal that they feel comfortable with. Now, as long as we leave them be, they stay back and see what we do. Now all it takes is time."
"But we can't wait forever," Eric pointed out. "When the Bundar finally come the last thing we need is an uprising here on Earth."
Joanne actually grinned. "Oh, we can only hope that they stay silent until the Bundar arrive. Again, it's that 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' thing. When the Bundar come and start a war, while we have been doing nothing but better the life of people on Earth, guess which side the Resistance will fight on? And then we get the reversed effect of what I was just worrying about. Those other 20 percent that don't like us will see that the Resistance is fighting on our side and it will sway them. If even the Resistance helps us, surely they must help us as well."
As Joanne was explaining this, her memory briefly went to a good friend of hers. A good friend who she happed to know had a position in the Resistance since the first day it was created. Not that he knew that she knew that, and Joanne decided to leave things that way for now. It was interesting. He was hiding from her that he was part of the resistance, she was hiding from him that she was the director of the communications department and that Terry was actually one of the off-worlders. Yet only two days ago they were having the time of their lives on Joanne's birthday.
But Joanne had approached some of the other people she knew were part of the Resistance. Once they started to trust her, and the fact that she wasn't asking them for information, Joanne had given them some information she would like for them to give to people higher in command; they had. That way Joanne had let the Resistance know that she could understand where they were coming from, and would do her best to make sure that they were left alone, just like they wanted. As long as they in turn would hold back and do nothing as long as the population wasn't clearly hurting under the rule of the off-worlders. The Resistance had agreed, and Joanne had decided that she would never tell Eric about the deal because she had a feeling that he might want to misuse it to get rid of the problem.
"Well, if you think that's the best option, we will try it that way," Eric said, interrupting Joanne's thoughts.
"I really think it is. I can almost guarantee it; as long as we leave them alone, they keep silent."
Joanne lifted her hand because she knew what Eric was going to say next. "And I'll let the word out that the robberies have to stop, that we can't allow that for the simple fact that we can't allow a crime to take place."
Eric nodded his head thoughtfully. "Alright then. I think that we are up-to-date now. Thank you, we'll see you again next time."
As the door closed behind Joanne, Eric thought, 'Alright, for now we play it your way and leave that precious Resistance of yours alone. I don't know why you bother but if it means that much to you, I don't really care anyway. But I tell you one thing, you better damn well make sure that they really do stay quiet because if not you will see just what happens if I personally deal with a situation.'
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Joanne was close to her quarters when she saw Terry standing in the corridor. She also saw that the brunette wasn't alone; one of the black troops was standing close to her, clearly talking to her. Joanne had no problem recognizing Pam Scott, and as she came close she could hear that the two were talking in Terry's native language again. Or better said, she only heard Terry talking clearly.
She only heard Pam when she was standing pretty much beside them because Pam was talking in her standard soft, but certainly not warm, voice. Joanne realized that she had never heard the violet eyed redhead talking in English at all. Joanne knew that Pam left the ship as little as possible, and was only too happy to point out how much she hated Earth whenever she came back.
Joanne slowly came closer, giving them enough time to notice her and finish the conversation. As she did so, she took a closer look at the redhead. Slim, just like Terry, but she seemed more willowy because she was about three inches taller than the brunette, while her shoulders were a little narrower. But her build certainly didn't take away from the beauty; in fact it added to it because she always moved with an almost royal grace. Joanne could only guess that this was because of her highly advanced martial arts training; which would also account for the perfect posture. Joanne could not remember ever having seen those shoulders slumped even a little.
Now that she had met a lot more of Terry's people, Joanne had taken to dividing them into two classes looks wise. Since there were no ugly or even plain people between them, Joanne now thought of them as 'natural' or 'enhanced'. Of course she didn't know if her guesses were right, but with a lot of these people there was just something about the looks that didn't seem right. Oh, they looked beautiful, no doubt, but that was the point. Some parts just looked too perfect. Terry was a 'natural', while that woman Joanne saw on the hangar deck a lot when they came for reports was most definitely an 'enhanced'. Oh, hot as hell, no doubt. Purely on looks even better then Terry, Joanne had to admit, but... enhanced.
Pam Scott also had a look that placed her in the 'natural' camp with Joanne. She looked attractive, if she wasn't shooting you a look of hatred. And the most amazing thing about her were definitely her eyes. Joanne knew that on Earth there was also an eye color that was described as violet, but she had never seen it. She had once met someone that was supposed to have violet eyes, but to Joanne they had simply seemed like a not so common shade of blue.
But with Pam, violet was the only description Joanne could think of for the eye color. Maybe it was the fact that they were set in a head covered by flaming red hair and that Pam actually had blue eyes that seemed more violet because of the color they were surrounded by.
Pam quickly looked at Joanne before saying a few final words to Terry and walking away after giving Joanne a nod in greeting.
"What did she want?" Joanne asked as she looked at the black clad person entering one of the side doors in the corridor.
"She just reminded me of the fact that she would never forgive me," Terry replied in that same cold voice that she had used for a couple of weeks now when talking to Joanne when they were alone.
"She never forgave me for going against Council orders and taking someone from Earth, you, with me to this ship. Ever since she became the A1 she can do whatever she wants, and apparently she wants to pay me some visits. God, I hate that bitch."
"What's her problem with me?" Joanne asked as they walked into her quarters.
"With you? Not much. She just thinks that since you aren't one of us, you shouldn't be allowed onto this ship, but she can accept the necessity of the situation."
Joanne sat down on the bed and patted it in invitation, dismayed when Terry opted to sit in the chair instead. She closed her eyes for a moment before speaking up, trying to get the conversation going. "Alright, if I'm not the problem it has to be you. What's her problem with you then?"
"I told you; I disobeyed a Council order, that's enough for her to hate me. So, whenever she happens to know I'm on the ship, she takes a moment to search me out and remind me how much of a disappointment I am."
Terry's cold voice was ripping Joanne's heart apart. She closed her eyes once more before asking with a pleading voice, "Please don't do this. I promise you that I learned my lesson well, and that it will never happen again."
"You can't promise that; you don't know what the future will bring."
"I can't," Joanne was forced to agree. "All I can hope for is that you trust me to not let it happen again."
"Trust?" Terry asked before snorting dismissively.
"Yes, I know that it's not..." Suddenly Joanne thought of something. Being in the quarters where she once had a discussion about trust before must have triggered it. "Actually, to show you how desperate I am for you to forgive me, when you said the following I only agreed thinking I was just comforting you; I never expected that I would actually use this, but you owe me."
"I owe you?" Terry repeated, her voice getting even colder, something Joanne hadn't thought was possible.
Joanne closed her eyes again, not really wanting to see the reaction to words she knew were foolish and stupid, but she really was that desperate that she would say them nevertheless.
"Yes, when you took me to this ship the first time and we talked about the fact that almost all you had told me had been lies, you made me a deal. I forgave you, but you turned that around into making it a deal where you owed me a forgiving for a total fuck-up. Well, I totally fucked up, and now there's nothing I can do to make it right again, with the exception of asking you to forgive me, and hoping that you can learn to trust me again."
As she had been speaking Joanne had kept her eyes closed, so she was totally surprised when all of a sudden she felt soft lips on hers.
"You're right; I do owe you a forgiving. And the funny thing is; it's even about the same thing. I then asked you to forgive me and trust me one more time; you did. Now you're asking me to forgive you, and trust you one more time... and I will. But just so that you know, I owe you 'one' forgiving; pull something like this again and I'll kick your ass all the way from here to Russia and back."
"And if I'm ever that stupid again; believe me, I would even bend over so that you have a better shot at kicking my ass," Joanne assured.
Terry laughed; the first time Joanne heard her laugh in over a month. It was like a dam breaking and tears started to flow. "Oh God, how I missed your laugh."
"And I missed the laughing," Terry assured. She sat down on the bed beside her lover and took the crying woman in her arms; simply holding her as the blonde mumbled incoherent words of sorrow and shame. As she sat there assuring her lover that everything was going to be alright, Terry realized just what power she held over the woman in her arms. Here was a woman that made deals with world leaders. That was preparing Earth for a war of stellar proportions. A woman that had never shed a single tear about any of those things. That never did miss a minute of sleep because of any of it... And Terry had been able to bring her to her knees by nothing more than withholding one single thing; love. Apparently love truly was the greatest force in the universe. If used right, it could make a person move mountains. If used wrong, it could destroy a person's very soul.
"Baby, please tell me that you really learned your lesson," Terry said softly when Joanne had cried herself out, "Because I hate hurting you like this."
"Believe me, babe, I learned my lesson well. You could hand me the world on a silver platter now, and I wouldn't want it, knowing that I would lose you. Without you life is meaningless for me. I don't ever want to see you pull back from me like that again, ever. And I'll do whatever it takes to ensure that."
"Even let me kick your ass?"
Now Joanne finally managed a weak smile. "Babe, we both know that you can kick my ass ten times over, so yeah, I'd let you kick my ass, even literally."
"How about we settle for me smacking you on the back of your head the next time?"
"There won't be a next time," Joanne assured. "I swear that on my soul."
Terry closed her eyes while thinking back to what had happened. Shaking her head a little she asked, "I still don't know how you could do it."
"Terry," Joanne began.
"No," Terry interrupted. "I mean that as an observation in general, not as an effort to continue an argument we never had."
"Maybe we should have had it," Joanne said softly before explaining, "And I'm not saying that as an accusation for you pulling away, for you,"
"Then what do you mean?" Terry asked. "And you still didn't answer the question."
"I think that the answer to what I mean and to the question is basically the same. We didn't argue because I knew that you would do as you were told. That I could ta..." Joanne faltered, not being able to say it.
"That you could take me for granted," Terry finished. "But why Jo? That person wasn't you. Why?"
"Power corrupts, a lot of power corrupts a lot," Jo said. "You know, I don't remember the date, but some decades ago there was a genocide going on in some African country... nothing new there. But the thing that makes me mention that now is that at that time some nuns were actually involved in the killing. They were physically killing people, and I'm not talking about the killing for belief kind of thing. They were killing because they could, because the situation had driven them to that point. Like it or not, there's something dark in all of us. It just differs from person to person as to what brings it out. Even the most good people in the world will do things that you wouldn't even expect from ruthless criminals if pushed right."
"Don't go overboard, Jo," Terry soothed. "You didn't turn evil."
"No, I didn't," Joanne agreed. "I just turned into someone drunk on the power handed to her. I suggest things, and whole countries change their approach to doing something. I turned into a self-centered bitch that cared more about myself than about the one thing that means more to me than my own life does. I'm so sorry for hurting you babe. I'm, so sorry for what I put you through, the pain I caused you. I'm so sorry, so sorry. I..."
"Jo?" Terry interrupted.
"Yes?"
"We're leaving for home tomorrow, but tonight, would you mind if I stayed here? I missed you beside me when I sleep."
"Please, yes, please stay."
They both crawled onto the bed, not caring in the least that they were still fully clothed. At the moment that didn't matter. At the moment all that mattered was holding onto each other.
It was almost an hour later when Joanne suddenly asked, "You said you wanted to sleep here, don't you worry anymore about them finding out?"
The brunette thought about it for a moment before shaking her head a little. "No I don't. They must know by now that there's something going on between us. As much as we hold back here on the ship, even I have noticed times where either of us slips up; says something wrong or we have a touch that's more than just a friendly touch. By now they know, I'm certain. So either they don't care, or it fits into the bigger plan somehow."
"Ah, you noticed that as well?" Joanne asked. "For some time now I've gotten the feeling that the council has a plan that involves more than what they tell me."
"They always have a bigger plan; it's their thing," Terry reminded. "They're the Leader's Council, their whole task is to have a bigger plan, and besides that deal with the here and now to make it fit into the bigger plan. The bigger plan is the thing that can span a whole generation of normal living people like me. Don't worry too much about that baby."
Joanne smiled. "Yes ma'am. Well, if you're going to stay here, come on, let's get out of these uniforms, and under the covers."
"That sounds like a good plan," Terry agreed. "I got to tell you though, I'm sure glad that we get a ride home on one of the scout ships; I didn't feel like a 16 hour drive at all."
"Truer words were never spoken," Joanne agreed with a smile before taking a moment to kiss her lover. "Babe, just for the record. I love you, Terry Lee. You are the best thing that ever happened to me, and you make me complete. I love you, I love you, I love you." Each 'I love you' was accentuated with an increasingly longer kiss.
"Really? Good thing I love you too then, huh?" Terry asked before winking. "Hey, I think that this is the perfect time for us to have some make-up sex. We've never had make-up sex before."
Joanne looked at Terry with open mouth for a moment. "You want to... but I... I told you..."
"Jo, I forgave you; that means all of it, not just part of it. Besides, as weird as this may sound, I don't mind that part too much because I now know for sure that I don't have to worry about you finding someone else."
"You don't," Joanne assured firmly.
"Well then," Terry said with a grin. "Let's get naked."
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Once they were back home, life continued. Joanne made sure that the rumors of a world government never died down, and at the same time tried to keep people happy. She succeeded in that, but the numbers really didn't change that much anymore. Joanne's guess was that the 20 percent of people that weren't happy with the changes that had been brought, existed out of two groups; the 'in the old days everything was better' group, which you always would have no matter what. The second group was people that weren't convinced. They first wanted to see that threat of the Bundar arrive before they would believe that Terry's people were truly there to help and protect them.
As agreed upon, Joanne also played the middle person as far as punishments were concerned; changing punishments for people that had to be outside of the ships. That had been the deal. Joanne was allowed to change any punishment outside the ship to one that the people from Earth could understand, but this deal stopped at the doors of the ships. Once inside, the system of the Council was firmly in place. Joanne wasn't really happy about that because she still couldn't do anything about the sometimes, in her eyes, stupid punishments inside the ships. But on the other side, she did have complete control to change the punishments outside the ships, no matter who the person was. She guessed that she should be happy with that because it could have been a lot worse. It could have been that the punishment changes first had to be agreed upon by the council.
One thing Joanne had noted over time was that the black troops truly were the Council's favorites. The higher the position someone was, the lower the punishment was that was given by the council. Where normally Joanne had to weaken down the punishments given by the Council, in the case of the black troops, and the highest positions of the other classes, she sometimes even had to increase the punishments.
One case stuck clearly in her mind. There had been one occasion where she had to increase the punishment of a black troop member so much that you couldn't even really talk about 'just' increasing the punishment. The black troop member had been an A4, so he had been highly trained in the martial arts. He had visited a bar and indulged rather heavily before trying to pick a fight. But the people in the bar knew what an A4 was capable of, so they either ignored him or left. He didn't like that at all and started to physically attack people. Twelve people were unlucky enough to not make it out of the bar in time. Eight of those unlucky ones had the small bit of luck that they could go home after a couple of weeks in the hospital and would be able to resume a normal life. Two of the twelve slipped into a coma where they still were, despite the vastly improved medical knowledge. The last two had been killed on the spot.
Yet despite that, the council had only given him a punishment that could be compared with the punishment that Terry had gotten for taking Joanne with her onto the ship. Joanne had changed that sentence into 50 years in prison without possibility for parole. The population who knew that a leader could become 1000 years old had grumbled at that, until Joanne had reminded through a spokesperson that punishments were given as a payment for the crime, and that anyone doing the same crime should get the same punishment; no matter how long they could live. And that even though the leaders could live longer, a day still lasted just as long. Grumbling, the public had seen the point and things had soothed over once again, but for Joanne that case had been the clear reminder that she should especially focus her attention on the punishments that the black troops got compared to the others.
And through it all, Terry was at her side. The brunette did as she was told and gave regular reports on Joanne, and what her opinion was on matters that the blonde did. What the Council didn't know though, was that Terry didn't report everything. Sometimes she saw that Joanne made mistakes. Her solution to that was to give the blonde a playful slap on the back of her head. Something that made both of them grin every time, but also something that was more effective than any long discussion could ever be. Only after Joanne had corrected her mistake, did Terry bring an honest report of how things were... at that point.
For both of them life was good, and both of them realized every day that they loved the other more than life itself.
But eventually the day of the big news came.
They were picked up directly at their house by a scout ship so they knew upfront that whatever it was had to be important. They had never been picked up directly by the house, and they had given their weekly report only two days before. They headed directly for the Council Room, where the Council was already in attendance.
"I really like my private life," Joanne couldn't help but note. "Even my neighbors don't know that I'm the Director of the Communications Department, but that's sure going to change if they see a scout ship landing in my front yard a few times."
"I know," Eric assured. "But your life is going to change regardless. The Bundar have arrived."
"Please tell me you're joking," Joanne said as she let herself drop down on the chair.
"I'm afraid not. It seems that they were a little faster than we expected; arriving six month earlier than your worst case scenario. Four and a half years."
"Is their entire fleet here? Do you know what we're facing in numbers?"
"Luckily their fleet isn't here yet, but we did come across two long distance recon flights."
"What does that mean?" Joanne asked.
"It's part of how the Bundar do things. They send out recon patrols to map the area in more detail so that their main fleet doesn't run into any surprises. These recon ships are normally a week in front of the main fleet. There were two of them. The first we were able to destroy without any problem, but the second one was much more heavily armored than the first. We expect that there was a high ranking figure in there; or better said, we hope. We did manage to cripple the ship and it crashed into Earth's atmosphere. It seems that the ship was totally destroyed by this unprotected entry, for we couldn't find anything with the exception of some debris that didn't enter the atmosphere."
"So we have one week to put everything and everyone on high alert. I guess that now is the time where we will see if my planning pays off. Do you still need me here, or can I go now?"
"Please, go and prepare. That goes for you as well, Terry. You can leave as well."
"Yes Sir," Terry merely said before she joined the waiting Joanne at the door and then left with her.
Once the door had closed, the second door opened and the queen entered the room.
"My Queen," Eric began. "I said it from the beginning, and over time my suspicions have only increased. There are strong feelings between those two. Just a moment ago, even while she was pretending not to care, Terry still radiated that air of ownership. As if she wanted to put her hands on Joanne Rock's shoulders and say 'mine'. I really think the time has come that we replace her."
"Of course there are feelings," the queen said in a calm and collected tone. "Whenever they bring their reports, they share the bed that night. Which quarters that bed is in depends on what place they ended up heading to. There aren't just feelings; they are lovers. It had to be expected; we basically ordered Terry to spend every minute of the day with that woman for four and a half years. Sure feelings will form. Hate or love. In their case it appears that they were love. But you talk about Terry like she is just an average person: she isn't. The only flaw in her is that she can't live longer than an average person. For the rest she is perfect. She is my last daughter, and she is more like me than any of them before her ever were. She is the only one that can replace me if something were to happen to me. Granted, the chance of something happening to me is small, but you never know. With the Bundar set to arrive in a few days we can't afford to lose the only replacement we have for me. Who knows what innovations the Bundar came up with since we met them last. They might actually be capable of destroying this ship, and me, this time. No, we can't lose Terry, and in fact, we have to make sure that she is only as little as possible on the same ship as I am; which we will get by having her run around with her lover like that. I don't worry about my daughter. I know that if the time comes, she will choose the right side; she is my flesh and blood after all."
Even though Eric could understand the reasoning, he still wasn't happy with it. "But my queen, you know what can happen if a descendant of a queen gives her emotions free reign. We can't run that risk either. I really do think that it's best if we got rid of her now."
The queen shook her head. "You really think that Terry is the one? You really think that chance planned it so that the one is there at the time the Bundar show up? Do you really want me to start on calculating just how small that chance truly is?"
A soft hiss entered the queen's voice as she spoke and Eric knew what that meant; the queen was starting to get annoyed. That was something you surely didn't want, at least not if you were in the vicinity.
"Now you listen to me, I'm only going to say this one more time. I say that we can put our chances on Terry, should we ever need her. I say that when the time comes she will choose our side. And I say that Terry is to be left alone."
The queen started to talk a little louder with every 'I say' and Eric was getting more scared with every new 'I say.'
"I say that she will be able to control her emotions. I say that she is not the one. I say that you are going to focus on the Bundar now."
Suddenly the voice became soft again. "I have spoken, and you know what that means. Do what you need to be doing, and don't waste any time thinking about getting rid of my daughter."
Without saying another word the queen stood up and left the room.
Eric was petrified by this time and needed someone to shout at, unfortunately for the others of the Council, they were the only ones there.
"You heard her, so what are you waiting for?" he shouted in a half angry, half hysterical tone. "Get going, start preparing, the Bundar are coming and we have to be ready. Get out of here."
Knowing when it was best to leave Eric alone, the other members of the council got up and left, with the exception of Sandra Hill.
"Poor Eric, she got to you again, didn't she? You better calm down before you rupture something." Sandra knew that she could get away with talking like this to him. They were good friends for the last couple of centuries, and more than once gave each other support if the queen had ripped into either of them.
"I can't stand that bitch," Eric said in frustration as he sat down in his chair. "She sure knows how to push my buttons when she gets like this. I'm scared of her, I don't mind admitting that. I know that she needs me, yet I never dare to stand up to her. She always finds the right button to push which makes me incapable of doing anything but obey her."
Sandra nodded her head in agreement. "Yes, for some reason you're the one she likes ripping into the most. But you know what I think? I think that she does so because she sees you as a threat. That's why she's always trying to push you down; she doesn't want you to get up any higher."
"You think so?" Eric wondered.
"I do. I think that nowadays she's afraid that you'll learn something from this planet."
Eric laughed. "Learn something from here? You must be joking."
"I'm not," Sandra assured. "Did you look at the kings and queens they have on this planet? Do you see a single one of them that has the power that she does? No. In reality it comes down to the fact that the government has the power, and the king or queen is just there to look pretty and be the symbolic head of state. I think she's afraid of that. That you might be able to restructure our power system in such a way that we, the council, truly do have all the power, and that she is only left with symbolism and the few things that she's needed for. After all, besides us there's nobody on our ships that even knows that she exists. It would not be that hard to take a little of her power away from her."
"Hmm, you just might have a point there. I have to think about that a little more. Well, I'll go now. I have things to prepare, and also things to think about."
As soon as Eric had left the room, Sandra stood up and opened the second door after which the queen came back into the room and sat down in her chair. "So, did you tell him?"
"I did," Sandra assured. "And I think that he's going to try something."
"Good. He is good, but he sometimes forgets his place; I like putting him back in it. I'm amazed though that he doesn't see through you and really thinks that you're a friend of his."
"Oh, but I am," Sandra assured. "In fact, I'm his best friend. It might say a lot about the other friends he has, but I truly am a friend to him, just that I know that I come first."
At the same time Eric was walking down one of the corridors thinking, 'I hope that she is happy with you Sandra; that will be good for you, my friend. Don't worry, I'll play along with the game; it will only be in my interest anyway if she trusts you. But one thing is for sure, if she doesn't realize that I know that this is one of her games, then maybe it's time I really did take away some of her power. And that's something you both don't seem to know, that is something 'I' have the power to do.'
~~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~
It took a lot of effort, but Joanne managed to get things ready in time. The long years of preparations now paid off. It was announced that in light of the coming battle, world governments had asked the off-worlders to take control so that in the upcoming battle, decisions could be made 'now' instead of countries first having to negotiate with each other. Worldwide the existing army bases were brought under the control of Terry's people so that they could be used as a localized command center, or to attack against the ground troops the Bundar were sure to land.
Joanne had been worried that the Bundar would start their attacks in parts of the world where it would be harder to fight them simply because it would take time to get there, or because of environmental reasons. But Eric had assured her that this was highly doubtful. From what they knew about the behavior of the Bundar they always first took on the biggest threat, so that once that was taken care of they could concentrate on taking out any weaker threats around the world. This was so that they didn't lose too many of their people while taking care of the little threats only to be left with not enough people to take care of the big threat at the end. No, the attack would be focused on the landed mother ships of Terry's people. Joanne had to concede that Eric probably knew more about the expected behavior of the Bundar than she did and they had massed a large number of the available troops close by.
Then the battle everyone was waiting for began. But the more the battle continued, the more Joanne noticed something strange. The fights weren't really that impressive. The most impressive part was when the Bundar were in their ships, then they put up a good fight, but as soon as they landed and their ground troops were engaged, they were overpowered with relative ease. Joanne didn't get it. According to the stories the Bundar were savage beasts that had enough physical strength to overpower ten humans. In fact, that was the very reason why Terry's people were all trained in martial arts; as an equalizer for the Bundar's physical strength. And yet, they hardly put up a fight.
Joanne didn't get it. She had analyzed the battle tactics the Bundar had used, and though she wasn't a military specialist in any way, she had to admit that in her eyes they had been damn good, sometimes even damn brilliant. On top of that the Bundar's ships clearly really did have the power to destroy Earth if they wanted to... yet they didn't. The fight was purely concentrated against Terry's people. And as good as their ships were, they weren't as good as the ones from Terry's people, so eventually the Bundar had to land and send in the ground troops, which basically were a joke.
With the ships and the tactics the Bundar had they would have been a force to be strongly reckoned with, if their ground troops had lived up to the name they had. As it was, the long awaited war was over within a week, and the casualties listed a little less than 100,000, most of which had been among the Bundar.
Joanne knew that she still had a big task coming though. Because they were so easily captured, there was a huge number of Bundar captured alive, literally millions. Since they were captured outside the ships, their punishments fell on Joanne to decide. If it had been up to the council the Bundar would have all gotten the same punishment; death. But they had conceded that, yes, the Bundar fell under their agreement of Joanne being allowed to change punishments. This left Joanne with the task of deciding over the fate of almost ten million Bundar.
But as daunting as that task was, Joanne, who had agreed to continue to be the middle person for the off-worlders, was sure that she would manage it. As long as she had Terry at her side there was nothing she couldn't manage... and there was a lot to manage yet.
Besides deciding what to do with the Bundar, there had also been the question of what to do with their ships. While most of the attack ships had been destroyed in battle, the bigger ships... Joanne liked to think of them as the Bundar's mother ships... were still intact. Joanne wanted to preserve them, have Earth use them and have a space fleet in one go.
But the Council had been strongly against that and had wanted the ships destroyed. Joanne had to admit that she had to agree with their points. Just who would get the ships? Divide them over the nations of Earth? There weren't enough Bundar mother ships to give every nation one, so who would get this potential weapon? Who would suddenly get weapons that could be used in wars?
On top of that, as advanced as the Bundar ships were compared to Earth's standard of space travel, which was basically non existent, the ships of Terry's people were much more advanced. And unless Earth suddenly wanted the off-worlders to leave, Earth already had a space fleet now. A space fleet that was not controlled by any nation of Earth, and therefore for all or Earth.
In the end the compromise had been reached that scientists got one week to remove things of the ships that they wanted to use as a base for developing Earth's technology. After that time was over the Bundar ships had been destroyed.
Joanne couldn't help but cringe every time she saw one of the ships destroyed, wondering what technological advances were being blown to bits. But she took solace in a meeting she had with some of Earth's top scientists who had told her that, yes, they would have loved for the ships to not be destroyed, but they had salvaged all the things they truly needed to develop new ships should that ever be needed.
Apparently one of the biggest finds had been that each mother ship had a computer core in which all the technological knowledge of the Bundar was stored. Unlike the off-worlders, their ships didn't repair themselves, so they had needed blueprints and formulas on how to make materials strong enough to be used as a ship's hull.
And so, every important nation on Earth had received one of those computer cores, with all data intact.
Joanne had noticed the lack of objection of the Council and had even brought it up. So it was not alright to give them a ship, but it was alright to give them the information to build ships.
Again she could see some logic in the Council's reply, even if she would have preferred differently. Eric had explained that they had no problem with Earth having the Bundar's knowledge; but they did have a problem with Earth having all of that knowledge at once while they still had no idea what to do with it. Now the knowledge would be used over time. Now the first thing to change would be that probably within a year personal computers would hit the market that used some of the Bundar's computer knowledge.
Soon alloys would be introduced that neither Earth, nor Terry's people had. Over time all of the Bundar's knowledge would be absorbed and over ten or fifteen years Earth would know all of the Bundar's technology, while none of it had led to disasters because people got too much new at once and no clue as to what to do with it.
Yes, the ships had been destroyed, but the knowledge hadn't. And now that Earth would enter the period after the war, where nations had to concentrate on dealing with each other again and hopefully prevent old hate from rising again that was what was needed. A slow increase of technological level, and not handing old enemies new knowledge on how to destroy each other.
Joanne had to agree to that. But the most important part was that now the war was over. The Bundar threat was taken care of and now there was nothing to stand in the way of a peaceful coexistence between Terry and Joanne's people.
~~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~
Continued...