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  “What I’m saying is you will have designs for space craft and weapons that are a thousand years beyond anything you have now or even dreamed about. We will aid you in keeping those items secret and unobtainable from your enemies. At first, these items will require a huge increase in the military industrial complex. It will provide a tremendous jump in employment and therefore the economy. We will continue to provide payment in precious metals and scientific advancement.

  “All we ask is that you work with us for the defense of Earth. I can understand a continued distrust of my motives and me. All I can say to that is that I have no ulterior agenda and neither do any of my people. How much you trust us is up to you. You’ll find me open to any ideas that further the agenda of the protection of our planet.”

  The President, still skeptical, said, “We have no way of keeping track of you, Mike. That’s going to frighten a lot of people in my administration, as the word filters out and it will.”

  “Don’t discourage that approach, sir. Let them do their job and I’ll do mine. I do ask you to urge your people not to waste too much time on attempting to bring down the Terran Space Navy.”

  Mr. Hardesty just couldn’t let that go. “So you’ve come up with a nice sounding name for your little band of traitors?”

  Max lost it, just before Mike did and yelled, “Damn it, Hardesty, we are loyal to the United States, but not to any one element of the government. We are not traitors; so get your head out of your ass, step back and look at the big picture, not just your little fiefdom.”

  The President scolded them both. “All right gentlemen that’s about enough. General Kolbe, it wouldn’t hurt for you to step back and see things from our perspective. You’ve offered some nice trinkets and they are very nice trinkets indeed, but you’ve stolen our privacy. You can listen in on every discussion. How can I have a secure talk with any one of my advisors, when I know that everything is being overheard? Somehow, you must allow us to talk, without being heard.”

  After a long pause, Mike told him, “Sir, you’d already taken the necessary steps to block us from listening in through the comm unit. When Mr. Oldfield put it in a Faraday cage, we lost our ability to monitor you. So, build a bigger one around your conference room and triple insulate it from transmission waves, as you send alternating electrical charges through each of the wires of the cage, and you’ll have your privacy.”

  Marge Chalmers said, “So, in other words, your unit can be blocked?”

  Bambi commed, It won’t actually work, General. I can defeat it rather easily.

  Mike told her, Well, they need to feel safe. Let’s let them have this one, for now.

  To Dr. Chalmers he answered, “Yes ma’am, it can be blocked. I’m told it can be jammed, too, although that’s not my area of expertise. That is not something we are going to be revealing any time soon.”

  The meeting went on for quite a while. In order to save time and keep the dialog going, they agreed not to break for lunch. The Presidents staff, as well as Mike’s people opted to eat as they worked. After the vitriol from Mike Hardest had died down, things began to progress a little more smoothly.

  Bambi had to answer most queries that required a technical response. Mike and Max handled the rest and those were primarily regarding the politics in play between the English speaking nations. It was far more complicated than Mike could have imagined. Finally, it was agreed that Mike and his staff would produce a video, which would explain the current situation and lay out a plan for the other English speaking nations to come on board, or opt out.

  Stassen told him, “I think we both can agree that no one will want to be left out of the opportunity to gain access to the advances in science, medicine and military hardware that you offer. I’m afraid that each of them will feel required to do some horse-trading, in order to maintain the illusion that they have some control over you. I know I would like such control myself. But, you’re not going to surrender that, are you?”

  “No sir,” Mike responded bluntly.

  The President chuckled, “I can see how this method could go a long way toward cutting through the bureaucratic bullshit.”

  “Yes sir, it can be very effective and it will work fine for building a space military. But I have no desire to chart a political course for this organization. That’s why I’m willing to work with all governments who will operate honestly with us, on behalf of the planet and not just for their own personal wealth or tyrannical aggrandizement. In other words, we are not going to aid any one nation, no matter how wonderful, or wretched it is, to pursue a war upon any other nation.

  “However, that being established, we are already working to reduce the terrorist elements around the world. Eventually, the world will see a lot less of that sort of activity. I don’t want to frighten you, but I’m not going to be held back by the constraints of seeking a consensus from the UN. When I find the bad guys, I ain’t messing around with the UN by begging them to understand how horrible those people are. I am going to eliminate the threat that those people represent to their neighbors.”

  Todd Pierpoint spoke to that. “We can’t control you, Mike, but if you act unilaterally, you may bring down the wrath of the United Nations upon us, because it will be assumed that we are responsible. Several of the non-aligned nations would be upset and begin leaning toward the other side.”

  “Let ‘em lean. As the threat of terrorism is reduced, certain dictatorships will be on the verge of economic failure, because the states that supported them will no longer wish to waste their money on programs that aren’t working.

  “When I feel it is necessary to take action, I’ll take it. That’s the only way for you to have deniability. When the complaints come in, tell them some of the truth. You could say I am a rogue warrior who has alleged he is defending the planet from violent harm and I cannot be found. Give out my name, if you want to. Make it official that you have revoked my US citizenship and that I will never be allowed to return as one.”

  Marge mumbled, “Well, he’s certainly committed to his beliefs.”

  Hardesty said, “Yeah, so was Adolph Hitler. Be careful what you say, Mike. You’ll come off as a fanatic and that’s going to scare a lot of people, especially the socialist countries.”

  “Yes, I know. It has already occurred to me that I’ll be compared to the Nazis. As long as I don’t act like those clowns, I can live with that. If I ever get too full of myself, I have a staff of ethical people who will knock me on the head.”

  Mike Hardesty uttered, “What a pleasant thought.”

  Mike roared with laughter. “Mr. Hardesty, I think we’re more alike than you can imagine.”

  “That’s an even more frightening thought.”

  Mike redirected the conversation to something more serious. “Gentlemen and lady, it’s time for you to consider a better way for us to get to know each other and build some trust. Select one person to come out here with us and undergo the upgrade process. We’ll return that person to you and they will have constant contact with us, through their installed comm unit, and they’ll be your direct conduits to our technical staff. No one will hear them comming with us. That can be a big help in some of the negotiations you become involved in. Of course, that person would look like a twenty five year old kid, when he or she returns.

  “I don’t think it would be a good idea for you to be that person, Mr. President, because there would always be a concern that you had been compromised somehow. But, if you send a trusted advisor, we will give you back a person with amazing capabilities. They will have the ability to retrieve info in nanoseconds, literally.

  “Imagine setting in a conference and you need some info about a topic of discussion that hadn’t been on the agenda. Your new assistant would be able to scramble through government files from all over the world, analyze them then give you his or her perspective on the topic and it would only takes seconds for a complete review. You would never be caught off guard.”

  The President huffed, “As usual, Mike, you know how to dangle the right bait to catch the biggest fish in the pond. That is an intriguing possibility. I’ll consider it and let you know.”

  “Sir, it’s an offer I intend to make to the other English speaking nations, as well. The convenience and speed of these abilities will greatly enhance our chances of being prepared for the inevitable attack from the enemies of freedom everywhere, the Saurans.”

  There was a lull at his reference to the unseen aliens.

  Pierpoint asked, “Mike, have you ever seen a Sauran in person?”

  “Yes. A wounded one attacked me. Had it not been for sheer dumb luck and the help of Jo, I would have been killed. They are huge, nearly twice as wide as we are. You’ve seen the pictures of them, but not next to a human. We look tiny compared to one of them. There were some videos on the ship that give a better perspective of their movements. As a matter of fact, I would appreciate the assessment of your best Xenobiologist. They might be able to provide some insight as to their capabilities and maybe they could pick out something vulnerable in their physique. We’ll send you everything we have on their physiology.”

  Marge Chalmers answered, “I’ll have a few people from the Smithsonian look at it. They’re some of the best in the world.”

  “Thank you, Ma’am.”

  The meeting wrapped up with Mike promising to present more technology to them, with the next visit.

  Bambi asked, So, what are we going to give them?

  We’re going to bring them a dozen more portable comm units and a dozen med units. You, my dear, are going to teach them how use it.

  But boss, it takes a comm interface to operate the med units.

  Yup. That’s why you are going to design a human operator control panel for them, so a human can use it. These med units won’t have to do as much as the current ones, just cure a few diseases and grow some missing limbs. I’ll want you to install a self-destruct mechanism, just incase they try to take one apart and reverse engineer it. Nothing explosive, just have it do a melt down. Is that possible?

  Sure. I’m already on it.

  Good. Also, I’d like to provide them with an anti-missile defense plasma unit. I assume you can build one, can’t you? And it should be able to make multiple shots, in rapid-fire mode. I suppose the biggest problem will be target acquisition and tracking. Can you do all of that?

  I should be able to and it won’t cost too much in resources. I’ll look in the defense capability file for America and see how far along they are. They generally structure their defensive posture on potential enemy weapons threats. Their biggest threats are Russia and China. Both of those countries have a war doctrine very similar to the Saurans, blunt force. They overwhelm their enemy with numbers, flooding the enemy’s defenses. So, I’ll make this system able to handle 100 targets per second. That should impress the Pentagon.

  Mike was amazed at Bambi’s nonchalant attitude; at what he thought would be an impossible task. He replied, Great. We’re just going to bring them one though. Let them test it and see how well it operates. If they want to reproduce it and they show that they are serious about working with us, I’ll have you provide them with a set of blueprints, so they can build their own. Once Mike Hardesty and his staff see the effectiveness of it and they realize how inexpensive it is, he’s going to like us a whole bunch more. And, they will be able to manufacture it cheaply, won’t they?

  Sounding slightly concerned, Bambi confessed, General, This system will not be cheap, but it will be substantially less than any of the systems they currently have or are working on, the Patriot Anti-Air Missile System for instance. And, it will work so effectively they won’t need nearly as many of them to cover their defensive area. These weapons will work fine on the Earth and even better in space and it’s going to seem like a miracle weapon to humans. In order to build it quick and cheap, I’ll try to design it using existing human knowledge, which can be easily copied, using current technology in America. But this system wouldn’t be a threat to a Sauran warship. At the moment, I lack the data to build anything that would be effective against them.

  Mike grimaced. “We’re just taking baby steps for now, Bambi. Once we wet their appetite, they’ll want more. That’s when we press for a great deal more cooperation on a much grander scale.”

  Gotcha.

  Chapter 2

  Once they arrived back on the Mother Ship, they worked with the robots to place more people into better quality med units. The remainders were left sedated, for the moment. Mike insisted that everyone get cleaned up, fed and rested, before they did anything else.

  Mary took exception to his command. She was excited about the prospect of bringing the scientists on board and wanted to go full steam ahead on explaining to them what was what.

  Mike told her, “Sweetheart, I understand your desire to press on right away. I don’t think you realize how fatigued we’ve all become. Traveling in a shuttle is not the most comfortable and it takes a toll on you. And that’s not to mention the fact that we just pulled off four separate operations within two days. The emotional toll is just now beginning to set in for all of us.

  “You are a Major in the TSN now. You’re going to be in a command position and these scientists will answer to you. You must watch out for your people. They won’t always realize how tired they are. When that happens, mistakes can be made and in our business that can get people killed.

  “So go get some rest and don’t ever refuse a direct order from your commanding officer.”

  She saluted and Mike ignored it. He openly commed them all. “OK everybody, new rule. We’re going to run this ship like a Navy vessel. Sailors don’t salute at sea and we won’t in space. As close together as we’ll be working, we’d be saluting all damn day. Now go get some rest.”

  Mike waited for everyone to go to their quarters, and then he did likewise. He showered, had a glass of wine and a slab of grilled pseudo salmon. It looked horrible, but it tasted wonderful.

  He sent a note to the food file to improve the appearance of their food. In it, he suggested having Bambi scan through human food magazines, for pictures of cooked items and see if she couldn’t get the replicator to create a more realistic looking meal on their plates.

  Before he went to bed, he gave Bambi one last instruction.

  “I want you to put together a video that we show recruits, once they’ve been medically improved. I want it to sell them on the idea of joining us, but it shouldn’t be a hard sell…more of an explanation. Oh yeah, can you use Mary as the face on the video. I think these people will react better to a human woman than they would to a human male or an alien”.

  “Once we’ve all had a good nights sleep, we’ll review it, edit it, and then we can begin showing it to people, without wasting our time doing it in person.”

  “Got it, Boss. I’ll have it ready for you. Of course I’ll need Mary to pose for a few shots of her facial expressions. I can enhance them as needed from there for the video.”

  “See to it.”

  “On it.”

  When he crashed he crashed hard. He hadn’t set an alarm; so when he woke up, he was surprised to find he had slept for fifteen hours, according to his internal clock.

  Bambi, you shouldn’t have let me sleep so long.

  I was monitoring your vital signs and I felt you needed the rest. If anything drastic had happened, I would have called you.

  By the way, with your new bodies, everyone will need more rest, until the remainder of your change has occurred. Right now, everyone is going through the tail end of a genetic modification process. It can only be done as you begin to use you new capabilities. Think of it as exercising to build muscle mass. Only, in this case, you’re building gene and Nanite mass.

  “So you’re saying my body is still building genes for me? Why? And what about the nanites? Are they made of metal, and if they are, where are they getting it from?”

  General, you can access that info in your Personal Medical File. You’ll find a sub file for Genes and another for Nanites. There are several sub-sub-files within those. You simply must learn to do more with your new brainpower. I know it’s awkward, but if you don’t use your capabilities, you won’t be able to take advantage of them when you need them the most.

  He complained, Well this is all new to me. Suppose you set up a training program for all of us that will require us to use files we haven’t checked out. Once we know where they are and how they’re organized, maybe we’ll begin taking control on our own.

  Yes sir, I’ll do it and I’ll tell the others that it is your order to practice this at least three times a day for twenty minutes.

  Good girl. Now, have everyone assemble in the conference room. We need to get organized a whole lot better than we have been.

  Got it.

  As the group drank coffee and ate a hearty breakfast of mystery meat and scrambled eggs, with toast, they chatted lightly about what they needed to do today.

  Mike set the agenda.

  “Before we begin waking up these recruits, we need to make a video. I had Bambi work up a preliminary example for us to edit. So let’s take a look.”

  As they watched, the staff made comments and suggestions. When it was over, Mary had the best idea.

  “We need more variations of these. We’ll need one that addresses the facts for scientists and technical types, one for the military recruits and probably one we can show to the Heads of State on Earth.”

  Mike agreed. “I think you’ve got a good point. Different groups will have questions based on their primary interests and cultural backgrounds. Bambi, handle it.”

  “On it.” That was quickly becoming her standard response to an order, in addition to “Got It.”.

  He asked if anyone had any questions about the mind-use training program that Bambi had suggested. No one had a problem with discovering how to use their new abilities more effectively.

  Max spoke up. “Mike, I’ve been reviewing the industrial side of things and we have a problem. We’ve only been at this for a few days and we already have more to fabricate than our machines can handle.