Leap Year
[The following is an excerpt from the upcoming Sci-Fi novel I am working on. The future posts for this work will be available to all paid subscribers prior to publication. If you enjoy this post please share it with your friends and family, like it and comment. Help spread the word for the author.]
It was leap year. Thursday, February 29th, was to be the day that the drops would be applied. They both talked about it, but neither one could predict the depth of impact the decision would have. This was uncharted territory.
The two long time friends stood in the kitchen discussing their options. Tzarme, the 6th dimensional being from Oktar, told Ethan that there had been no human in their recorded history that had ever dealt with such a thing. With that said they reiterated that their recorded history goes back nearly 200 million years. Ever since the rebel factions from the KtAAct order in the 4th quadrant came to the planet 191.79 million earth years ago. Fleeing in order to escape the reign of terror being orchestrated by the Emperor. That was a time before the moon.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
K[/^1, the being from Yaakti, a large gaseous planet in the third tier of sector 9, of the 6th quadrant, floated above the console in front of the window looking out to the planet. Their ship sat cautiously behind the moon as the group discussed the debris field circling the blue planet.
“Gik schtat lawk,” K[/^1 interjected into the conversation.
“We are to use the dominant language of the planet in order to help the newest arrivals learn before being sent down. Right now that language is American English.” Eku[d4] instructed the being from Yaakti.
The small faction of beings from the planet cluster Wutut, located deep in the non-local zone of sector 9, were being interrogated by Eku[d4] in order to decide if any reprimands needed to be instilled due to their interaction with a NASA mission heading to the moon.
K[/^1 continued, “Generally half of the population in debris in low Earth orbit (LEO) is comprised of fragments and massive derelict objects, including abandoned rocket bodies and non-operational payloads. Large derelict objects represent just 12% of the total number in space, yet they account for 45% of the total mass.
This is significant, as collisions between these large objects can create thousands of fragments, escalating the risk of further impacts. Lastly, constellations of small satellites are being deployed on a regular basis and their resiliency requires space traffic coordination processes and technologies to ensure their long-term safe operations.”
Eku[d4] interjected, “Are you suggesting that you have the right to interfere with all of those collisions?”
Eku[d4] was only acting as the temporary leader of the group as Tzarme was “downstairs”. Downstairs was the term used by those alien beings that spend time interacting with some chosen human beings within the Earth population. The alien was taking each moment and relishing in its temporary power position.
K[/^1 said, “These earthlings are polluters on their planet and now in space. Why should we save them from themselves? We should use a different orbiting medium and allow them to make this area unusable because of their wanton polluting of it.
“Move out and allow those collisions. Or be subject to the NIa (Non-Interferance Agreement. We will be voting on sanctions for your deliberate interference in that collision.” Eku[d4] instructed.
K[/^1 added, “We did not prevent the collision of NASA’s Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics Mission (TIMED) spacecraft because we were intending to assist the US. It was done to prevent us and others who use the lower orbits frequently used by earth satellite constellations and crewed space missions from having to navigate around the debris generation such a collision would have caused (approximately 2,000 to 7,000 trackable fragments).”
Occarr7 interjected to the small committee of beings that were on hologram from all 18 of the different sectors that were populating the message, “This estimate considers the total mass, construction, relative velocity, and the angle of impact of the two spacecrafts. As of February 15, there were around 12,000 fragments in LEO, and this incident could have potentially increased this number by 50%.”
K[/^1 went on, “We reserve the right to protect ourselves and other partner aliens from the pollution of this area of space. The two satellites came within a mere 66 feet (20 meters) of each other. Considering the speed at which these objects travel–over 17,500 miles per hour (28,165 kilometers per hour)–this was too close for comfort. Both of these spacecraft lack maneuverability, which means earthlings have no ability to intervene. They can only watch helplessly while they collide. Such an event would have increased the risk of further collisions in a wide area of LEO. We were protecting our own and our partners. Self protection is very much allowed by the NIa.”
Q*/i interjected, “Interference with the crash of NASA’s TIMED spacecraft and the defunct Russian Cosmos 2221 should be classified as a violation of the NIa. Just because it would have occurred 387 miles above the planet should change the rules.
Occarr7 added, “It is necessary to add that the ectotherm aliens may not be the only ones okay with global warming. The arrival of H/* adds to that group and we are told that their like from the Vbligt sector of the MK will be following.”
Breaking in to speak, V]7 says “I recognize the fact that Crows are the favorite birds of aliens, but that does not justify you increasing their intelligence genetically. If you continue to do this, they could one day rival humans for control of the planet. I’m certain that what you are doing will fall into the Non-Interference Agreement.
I understand they need to be more intelligent that the rest of the bird population in order to be your favorite earth pet. But how much more intelligent do you want to make them? They already have acquired the vindictiveness of humans on a level to rival the worst of human behavior. How long before humans come to fear them and seek to exterminate your favorite pets? You have made them intelligent enough. Stop!”
B^]* chimed in with, “I have been informed that there has been an alcohol breach at the residence in San Francisco. There have been some aliens giving their human subjects tastes of wine, removed from the palace cellars of Louis IV, that we had set aside on May 14, 1669 for Louis’ 30th birthday celebration. We have found that the drink puts humans in a trance like state; To them it’s like they are there and not there at the same time.”
“Those participating in the consumption of this have manifested a physical barrier between their perception of the moment and the moment itself.” Eku[d4] added. “You need to stop this while you are ahead. We didn’t mean to give you that ability. You are in an area that you know nothing about. This meeting will be continued. There will be another prior to the vote for sanctions for these actions.” Eku[d4] wrapped up the conversation.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Ethan grabbed an apple from the bowl on the counter and took a bite. Tzarme stood at the side of his nervous earthling friend, Ethan Vance. Despite being a 6th dimensional being who is commonly bored with most of the humans he has ever interacted with he finds something different with this one.
“Great. So, I’m basically running blind here?” Ethan asked as he chewed the fruit loudly.
“No,” Tzarme responded. “We mixed the tincture to match her vibration. It is specific to her. She will never know. If you place it on anyone else it will simply smell like flowers.” His friend opened the small bottle of tincture and let him smell it. It smelled of Lilacs and Calla Lily.
Tzarme continued, “Ethan, just make sure of your decision before we go through with it because once you decide to do this there ain’t no turning back, my friend. There is nothing we can do to reverse the effect. Simply place a few drops behind each ear. For her there is no scent. You smell a hint of floral, I expect.” Ethan nodded.
“It takes approximately 10 minutes and she will not remember a thing about you. You will be a stranger to her. All of her memories between you two will be erased. Her life memories will be the same but you just won’t be in it. It will be as if you had never been a part of her life. So, you need to be sure you want to go through with this.” Tzarme had put a hand on the small of Ethan’s back as he spoke. This allowed him to access Ethan’s energy field allowing Tzarme to get a read on his levels. With a few minor adjustments given Tzarme removed his hand.
“I understand.” Ethan responded with a slight nod. Although there was no way for him to really truly understand. Like Tzarme had said, ““This is something that no human has ever had to fathom.”” There was no precedent to reflect on as to the repercussions of his decision. There was truly no way the mind could comprehend having memories and then they are gone in an instant as if the past twenty years never even existed.
Ethan replied, “I’m just tired. Things have changed so much in the past couple of years. She seems to have developed a deep hatred for men or rather the patriarchy paradigm and I am simply in the way, being a male and in proximity. So, I’m receiving the brunt of so much of this vitriol and I didn’t do anything.”
“Well, she loves you deeply, you know.” Tzarme’s voice timbre had changed to include empathy.
“No, I don’t know,” Ethan explained. “That ship seems to have sailed. I don’t know if she knows what love means anymore. You say she loves me but that feeling is just not being received by me. That is not how I want to be in relationship.”
“Ok, but keep in mind we have been working with her over the past few years getting her prepared to beam up. There have been some things that we’ve had to do on our end that may be affecting her moods and personality. It has nothing to do with you.” Tzarme tried to explain.
“It has everything to do with me. If you guys are tweaking her and preparing her for being in deep space, that’s on you. What’s on my end is a shit show. She has begun to transcend emotional attachment, it seems like. Well, at least personally. Publicly she holds a vile hatred to men.” Ethan was frustrated.
“That could very well be true. She is a woman living in a male dominant world. We have been taking her up during the nights and doing some tests and exercises. It’s all part of the transition of her becoming what she is setting out to do.” Tzarme was beginning to feel the energy of Ethan and knew that these explanations were only information to a mind that had been made up.
“I gathered. There have been nights when we we’re laying in bed and I would watch her sleep. Then there’s a moment when she would just stop breathing. She let’s out a deep sleep sigh until there is no breath. That’s when I think it is that you’ve taken her. Then, she simply lays there as if she were dead. Some nights I’ve watched for hours waiting to see if I can notice the moment she comes back. You know, when all of the sudden she starts breathing again. As if nothing happened. I’ve asked her about her dreams on some of those nights. She doesn’t remember. But, she does feel tired when she returns.”
Tzarme continued with an empathetic tone, “She is going through a lot up here. She is getting fitted for her body harness, doing a lot of visual, tactile, and audio exercises, and learning thousands of new languages. All of this helps us design the cockpit of the mothership that she will inhabit. She needs to be ready. She is to be the Captain of the largest ship in this quadrant and we have never created a ship quite like this one. A ship the size of Jupiter that needs no crew. She will be it. Only one living organism tied in to a symbiotic relationship with the ship itself. This way the Emperor won’t be able to track her. The signal of only one life form aboard such a massive ship will make it seem as if it is empty.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“She held my 7th hand and I felt so special,” said Pk4t, the 4th dimensional being from Yookatta, a small planet in the 9th sector of the 8th quadrant located in the iMw galaxy through the 4th hole. “I know that emotions are not something that we adhere ourselves to in the intergalactic community. And most beings in this meeting are thousands of generations past of any possession of emotions. However, I am from the Atcti tribe on Yookatta. The Emperor agreed to allow a small faction of emotons to continue to aid in the exploration of this sector due to the emotional Earth beings.”
“Please continue.” The moderator, T/i[b], announced to the group.
“It was on the drive back when she murdered 2.3 million of my MotherShip’s manifest. She used her killing word repeatedly, to show me that she was a proud murderer who “owned it.” I was informed of the deed by a shocked and panicked associate as I was transporting her to her next destination. I was silent with grief. What was I supposed to say to this ruthless murderer? She just kept babbling about something and then just as casually denied the deed. I was left wondering how many other MotherShips she had destroyed since she kept using the word to terrorize me. I dropped her off, but was so traumatized that I had to have someone else come and take the controls. I had no place to go since my MotherShip had been so casually destroyed by this ?????, am I allowed to state my opinion? Perhaps not less she murder more.”
There was a low grumbling across the holographic platform of attendees participating in the meeting.
“Later,” Pk4t continued, “I was ordered to call her and say all had been restored. I did not know if that was true. I say this with the dread that I will be eliminated because I have heard the killing word. Beware if you are ordered to assist her, she comes off very sympathetic and even romantic. I was treated to the best day of my existence on Earth before she began Her killing spree. To hold her hand was almost a “magical” experience. Then the rage began, a kind of refusal to accept facts. She began ranting about living her own life. Why, I wondered did she need to do this? She is now the apex predator, feared by all the realms throughout the Known Universe. Yet, she just kept ranting about why she hadn’t completed the “Union” requirement of the belief of the “TWO” becoming the “ONE.” Despite the fact that it was an easy test to pass for both. All they had to do was NOT become jealous of the other under any circumstance. He passed it easily. She failed repeatedly. And rather than learn from her mistake, so as to not repeat it, she scapegoated her acts and repeated them until those who decided the “When” decided that for them it would be Never.
I asked her if I could check before I dared to venture into her diatribe about her being misunderstood, and not supported. She said I could. I looked and told her there was one test. Passing the simple test of not being jealous of the other under any circumstance. I thought easy to pass, just fake it. Then the Unknown Universe becomes united with the Known and the Universe can come to peace. She could not do it because she exhibited jealousy whenever she was tested. So, she blamed who, or whatever she could and became the force that unleashed the State we find ourselves in today.”
Pk4t went on to say, “Now the Universes look to the force that will be brought by some mythical Commander who is supposed to bring Order by Force to the Known Universe, end the dread Jealously. Force not Love will carry the days and nights from now own. Thus the Unknown and the Known Universes will never unite. The Universe will always be random, seeking order, seeking to be random.”
One attentive meeting participant, AKKA, listened intently to the ranting of Pk4t about the interaction with the Commander. With the Commander’s supposed difficult life on the planet Earth, she wondered why the GODS empowered the Commander with such awesome power. She was obviously so self absorbed that no amount of logic would ever reach her about what she had done in the past to create our Present. Hence, she was destined to repeat her mistakes, and that meant that (we), those of the Known Universe, would be always subject to the Universe being random seeking order….. Then it became clear to AKKA that The GODS had insured THEMSELVES an eternity of entertainment.
AKKA had a lot to deal with on her plate. Putting the pieces together of this Commander gone wild and the new planet, that is being called Sweteno, that had suddenly appeared out of no where within the habitable zone are the two that are most primary to her cause. As a decorated warrior who has lived for over 200,000 earth years, traversed countless wormholes, galaxies and sectors, and oversaw the successful battles of Tetip, Dreskit, and Qweekon saving hundreds of billions of lives is thinking that there is something to all of this that just doesn’t add up.
