Chapter 78

"Thank you Henry but why are you doing this?"

"In answer to your question, I will only state that you have to wait a few weeks to find out." The man graciously accepted the gift and we left. There were many people around the establishment even this late in the night. The ship appeared overhead and the people around us ohhed and awwed as it settled. The same thing happened as the hatch opened. The ship veritably disappeared as it rapidly accelerated toward the moon.

Five hours later it was determined that the old Tandra system of Locat was ready for a good housecleaning. Serendipity had a hard contact with Mom and we both knew that the time was right for the next phase. The drones had gone out twenty hours earlier to spread the group of viruses that would guarantee a hundred percent kill ratio.

Temporal missiles had been shuttled through the computer and were placed in convenient launchers by Serendipity. Against Mom's wishes, I too went through in a combat suit. I only wore this to give me lift. The system was scanned and no new ships were expected in or on the scanners. One was about to leave and we waited as long as we could then Serendipity broadcast the message. As usual the Samutz didn't know what the string or characters were for till they were placed in stasis evicted from the ship or killed in various other ways we had devised in the last eight months.

All the ships were old and responded to the call. The techs had been told of the plan a few minutes before it was initiated and made it to a safe place for the most part before the various ship AIs started to kill the Samutz. The ships gave no warning but did receive some from the three main population centres about a plague going through the cities.

As the plague spread, drones broadcasting in the Samutz language told of a promised vaccine. Small groups that were out hunting but had heard the warnings clamoured for the help. The drones provided the virus instead and in three hours there was no Samutz left alive.

The small shuttles went to various sites around the planet and told the Tandra and other races that they had been freed. The people slated for food were on the average either weak or not beneficial to the Samutz, and these were told to stay where they were till help came.

In orbit were two cruisers, three troop transports that were used as bulk carriers and three frigates. Techs that were deemed the most stable were called to the main city of Stoosy. Three quarters of the ones called arrived and I met them outside the base. They were given orders to place virus launchers in the ships and to direct some of the now freed individuals in cleaning up the bodies. When asked my identity, I just gave the fleet admiral persona.

Mom uploaded much more data to Serendipity and she in turn transferred what was important to the ships in orbit. Within another hour the techs were taking some prefabricated units to the ships in orbit. Serendipity was busy making more toxin and supplying the ships so they could do the same thing. Raw materials began to leave at a very fast pace so that the ships would not have to stop to replenish their stocks. Again I used the Samutz bodies as the articles to be rid of.

The records from the ships were compared with what Harriet and Mom had. The only thing new was that we found out the Samutz extended much further than I considered before. Not too far from here was a major Tandra outpost of Koorsa, where the Tandra were now trained to do as their ancestors had once done, but at this time the Tandra were to service the Samutz war effort and not their own.

I did not want to leave these people defenceless but I knew that they could not protect themselves even if the ships stayed to assist in that job. I had been looking at the Tandra trying to find any with leadership qualities. Most had been under the Samutz thumb too long to make a good standing to any fight. When and if a Samutz craft would come into range I had Serendipity tell it that a plague had killed all the Samutz and to plead to be rescued. This I felt was the only way to get a Samutz to not land.

I went back through the computer to Earth and issued orders. I did not like the way the Humans had treated us and the way one of our recruits was killed. Mom organized a very large operation where the guilty parties would be apprehended. I promised to be back in a few weeks and left with Harriet to link up with Jamal on the New Hope.

My leaving was abrupt but I wanted to keep on schedule. With only a hundred of the new small missiles in my limited hold, I kissed my wives and children. In ten minutes I was a few light years past the Oort Cloud and intercepting where Jamal should be at this time. We were not off by much. With new orders given the fleet protecting the planet, we left with six other battleships that had been brought up to military standards.

I was greeted when I came onboard by Jamal and many of the sleepers that were from the first group. They still remembered the last time we engaged in some frolic and wanted to have more. This was definitely a pleasurable activity but there was no time to do this now.

The battleships linked up to Jamal with their tractors. We were loaded for bear this time. There was a full store of virus and the delivery systems on all ships. Many auxiliary ships in the holds also had this feature. With the girls to watch the way, it took only twelve hours to push the fleet to Locat. When we got there we found everything as I left it.

After we stopped, I was able to talk to Mom through Serendipity. Nothing on Earth had changed, except to get the teams ready that were to arrest the guilty parties. All this had to be done at one time or the rest would hide if they knew they were being pursued. Jamal was very interested in how this was done. "It seems," I said, "that the higher two dimensions can be altered to bring two points infinitely close to one another. This will also link computers like Mom and Serendipity."

As a test I went into Harriet's computer and opened the higher dimensions further. Standing in a featureless tunnel, I pictured Mom as I left her. She was easily the most striking computer in the galaxy, I thought. In a half hour I found her and provided a link to Harriet. Since I had worked hard on Jamal he was linked too. He took longer, but not much, to find. Each computer was very loyal to me and I made sure they did not let any information about this activity slip from them.

Our fleet broke into seven units and each took some nearby systems. Other proceed to the limits of our charts. Each ship had fourteen of the temporal missiles to take on any ships that would not respond. Again they were to conscript all the ships they found and turn them to bring the good word to more Samutz systems. Harriet and I went into independent action; with just some samples of the virus we left to find the extent of the Samutz Empire.

I could detect Thonas craft with a feeling that grated on my ears. Though I found no colonies, I did remove eleven ships. Once, two ships were convoying twenty Samutz ships. One was new and when I left I had nineteen more ships to carry on. The one ship was towed to a Samutz planet and the techs removed before they arrived. There was enough raw material for virus then to seed the planet before carrying on.

After two days of travel where I stopped to check out individual systems, I came to a dead area. This must have been another war zone once. There was no life within and the width was over three hundred light years. The only feeling I could get was 'empty' when I was in the centre of it. The far side seemed to have life but there was none that was intelligent. Many good planets looked great for colonizing but many others did too.

It took a week to map the dead zone. I saw that it would make a good buffer for the Samutz, but the Thonas could travel as fast as the old Tandra could. I headed back into the Samutz controlled area and mapped more. I had no facilities for spreading the virus so contented myself with gaining only intelligence.

During a pause I talked to Mom and found that she and her crews had done a good job. They had got all the culprits she was after.

I eventually found a lone dreadnought with only three escorts. The looks of this one suggested that it was more modern. This would also mean that it was not going to respond to my call. The two cruisers and the destroyer looked to be the same. It was a shame to just destroy them but I did have a partial solution. The cruisers were on point and the destroyer was watching for any attack from the rear.

Harriet flashed beside the large ship with the temporal shield working and then slid sideways into the area occupied by the bridge. Once there we simply remained stationary while Mom, Harriet and I worked on taking over the computer. It took almost a half hour but we did it. The people that made this ship were very precise about their programming to stop exactly what we were doing. Once the codes were found, they were transmitted to the other ships and they were all ours.

Immediately the Samutz began to die and this lasted for twelve hours. The Samutz had been warned and were ready. We did not wait for this to happen but resumed our journey after plotting the course. We began to run into more worlds with dying Samutz.

Jamal told me that he had taken thirty seven systems and used all of his missiles on newer ships that he was not able to take with his own weapons. He did manage to co-opt four times that many ships, but many were just cruiser size or smaller. He had been informed of the dead zone and had directed the ships he took not to go into it. I directed him toward the dreadnaught knowing that the Mordis infantry might be needed. Apparently they were chaffing at the bit and wanted a little bit of action themselves.

The dreadnaught should have been quiet for a few hours with the techs given enough time to repair the damage we had done. Harriet plotted the course and in a few minutes we found the group. Harriet's summons was replied to but the computer reported a determined effort to take the computer room by the techs. "What race are your techs?" I asked.

I got the name Moldeg in Samutz and the data coming about them showed that they were a young dynamic race that could take over the Tandra worlds, but they were not about to be ruled by any other race. This was admirable but they tended to kill all others that stood in their way, which was not. I had seen them before when I went back to the Bintuu home world and saw who had displaced their race.

Harriet gave orders and with our help the ship changed course. This time the gravity around the computer room was quadrupled. I put the tube on the three ships and accelerated them in the direction of Jamal. In an hour I slowed down enough to have the two major ships meet. He was apprised of our problem and sent over some of the Mordis infantry to take the ship.

My feeling was that the Moldeg would have to surrender. They would be allowed to join in the commonwealth if they were capable of that type of thinking. If they wanted to continuously fight then I would capture as many as I could and put them where they would not bother anybody.

The battle lasted eight gruelling hours before all four ships were ours. The Moldeg were similar to ants but had an extra set of very dexterous hands close to the large head. Like the ant they had an exoskeleton and some very sharp mandibles. They used those weapons but also the Samutz hand weapons as well. They didn't seem to take no for an answer and I wondered how the Samutz controlled them. More and more infantry had to be used and at the end fully a hundred thousand Mordis had to be used to take thirty thousand Moldeg.

Jamal noticed a thin necklace around each of the creatures necks. After a sample was recovered it took a few minutes to find that it produced a very high pitched noise that the Moldeg seamed to hate. Jamal transmitted the required energy and soon the Moldeg were writhing on the deck instead of killing and dying. We suffered over a thousand casualties but only twelve percent would be fatal. The living Moldeg were put into stasis where we found that there were thousands more ready to fight us if the computer had allowed it. There were at least six thousand Moldeg casualties but I just had all of them put into another hold under stasis.

Mom was quite interested in this race and so were the rest of us. Jamal made up four prize crews and they followed him as he continued his mission. All the information in the new ships was gathered and sent to whoever wanted it. My feelings on the matter were that the race was no better than the Samutz on their records of conquest. It showed that the insect race was doing the same thing as the Samutz and plundering Tandra planets taking the technology and eating the inhabitants.

The worrisome part was that the race had become very numerous since it came into contact with the Samutz, then a stalemate had developed. If the Samutz were to be removed then we would have to begin to deal with the Moldeg in their place. This brought up the prospect of other aggressors holding the Moldeg on different fronts. They may be just as bad. I could only see an unending war for millennia into our future.

While contemplating the ants, I worked on restocking Jamal's supply of missiles. He had enough small crystals that I could offer a few to his prize crews as well.

I got information from Mom about my time allotment being up. This forced me to go back to Earth. I felt needed here though. The problem seemed to be in the amount of travel time I used. Jamal left with his new escorts while I went into Harriet's computer. She would be operating on her own now, to see what she could do to defeat all our enemies. My job was much simpler and I had to take only thirty steps. They brought me to Marcus' computer on the moon.

Marcus used his fabricators and made a small simple hull, like Harriet, and I just stepped out of it fresh from a matter transmitter. Everybody would think that I had arrived as I did last time.

The Earth now was in a furor. Our troops had captured all of the people that were responsible for Akira Mizuno's death and the theft of Tandra property.

The list of detainees was impressive in not only numbers but notoriety. The heads of many large corporations and some of their employees were just under the teams that had been given the mission. The top of the list though was Montgomery Moore. I was sorry to see that General Givens was also on the list.

Tandra trials were fairly simple. Unlike Human trials that were made for enriching the lawyers as well as following the twisting rules to come to what was purported to be the truth. Here a person is judged by what is in their own mind. The images are shown to a jury along with the person's thoughts at the time. This could be an aberration so the events leading up to the infraction as well as the thoughts after the act were judged.

Mom went one better this time. Unused television channels were employed to broadcast a view of each prisoner. They lived separately in very large apartments on the Earth. They were dressed as good as the Tandra and had access to many of the things that the Tandra themselves had. Of course, they had to use their voice to ask for what they wanted. Holographic viewers were provided so that they could talk to the other co-accused. The damning evidence was the thoughts that were displayed in words that ran across the bottom of the screen. A man could talk about the quality of the food and be thinking of how the person he was talking to had caused all the problems.

Moore was a different case and many secrets that had kept him in power and of use to his superiors came out. It showed in many small excerpts, how he had visualized the abduction of Alliance personnel and the removal of Alliance property. He had even hedged his bet and given officers specific orders as to how the various operations were to be handled. He felt that General Givens was much too soft and ethical to be completely trusted with this mission.

Moore had a very fertile imagination, many of his other plans came out and the various ways of gaining their ends. Some were even developed as he paced within his luxurious cell.

The General was far from pristine. He, like me, had been in black ops and had killed many people that he had been ordered to terminate. Sometimes innocents had to be killed too but this was kept to a minimum. The deadly nerve gassing of the Filipinos was beyond the information that Givens was given. The death of Akira Mizuno was termed murder though. The man doing the cutting was the one in charge of this squad. He had soon seen the problem with gaining the clothing and had simply decided to cut the living body from the suit.

The many business people were much worse. There were a lot of murders performed at their orders as they rose to power. Sometimes they did the murdering first hand. They had been dragged in because their consortium had not only okayed the operation but had instigated it. The suit and shields were found at their testing facilities.

None of the men knew that they were being televised to the world. To get out the facts Mom, in one disguise or another, quietly asked questions of them. The words coming out said one thing, their thoughts said something much different. The plans to put the Humans at risk so that they could gain Tandra technology were revealed in many ways. They knew that we needed troops and it was shown what they did to thwart us. Food procurement was shown to be a luxury that was to be given to the Alliance forces. It was seen how we had fed many others with our own supplies of Tandra foodstuffs. Here, the various governments had been implicated as they were ordered to put roadblocks to the simple luxury.

While all of this was coming out, Mom clamped down on all counter-propaganda. Television, newspapers and radio had found many minor problems that kept their lies from reaching gullible ears and eyes. All of us knew we would get screwed by politicians and with a bit of electioneering, vote the same people back in.

Phone calls were directed to Mom and she answered most of them with different faces. She explained time and time again what the people were seeing on their screens. After a while people started to ask questions that would be directed to individuals on trial. Since the asking persons name and address was displayed on the screen for the world to see many people now became our crown attorneys.

The business people were asked many pointed questions about their checkered past. Their involvement, as well as their companies, in many illegal schemes came to the forefront. The big sharks came into this scheme as they smelt blood. The revenue departments of various countries wanted to know more about the illegal plans the businessmen had used to evade their fair share of the tax burden.

Mom asked how the group influenced the general population. Names and dates came out, where dialogue was placed in newspapers, to give a particular slant on things. They gave away their methodology now. Long term plans were devised and the populous was gradually informed of the way they were expected to think. One thing that made me smile was when the plans for the religious thinkers were laid out and how it was easily accepted along with large donations of cash. Mom now went after the religious right. One opponent after another was discussed and what the feelings of the accused had for the ethics of each.

History was brought up about the rise in power of the television preachers. Personal information about their moral turpitude and of the businessmen that condoned and abetted these acts came out. After this became evident, Mom broadcast older film clips of what the preachers had said about her, the Tandra and the alliance in general. Especially the clips of the times when they had been continuously spouting about the Tandra immorality were aired.

When all the important people were exposed, the common faceless person was now attacked for their inability to think on their own. It was not said but it was implied that most people had to have somebody else think for them. With no way to retort it, soon it became evident to the viewers that all the people we had arrested were guilty of a multitude of sins.

To further hammer home the facts, Mom had allowed the men to read the minds of the other guilty parties. The section where they were confined was opened and they freely travelled within this area. Moore gave orders to protect him and this worked for a while, till the rest saw how bad of a person he was. The businessmen fought amongst themselves as they found out how each had conspired against the other in various ways. Their own egos were what drove many to physical violence.

Their present dilemma was discussed and still unknowing of the television, planned new ways to sway the gullible population.

Mom had kept track of everything they had thought, sorted it as to context and with a thought to brevity published it on the internet. If a remark was questioned its text was clicked on and the appropriate video clip came up to substantiate the point.

My part in this production soon came. I had only been back on Earth a day and had gone over a sampling of what the viewers had seen. When I looked into each of their minds I just saw basic Human drives but carried a bit more into the bizarre.

I walked into the area that housed the prisoners with the television cameras still functioning. They came at me waving fists and threatening me with lawsuits and jail. I simply took an elevated chair and looked at each. When they had quieted I began with Montgomery Moore and listed his major crimes directed towards the Alliance. It started off like "Montgomery Moore you are guilty of..." There was no doubt in my voice as to whether I had any doubt about his guilt. This took ten minutes as he argued and tried to cut me off.

The rest of the men got similar treatment. The soldiery took much less time. This reminded me of books I had read about the Nuremberg War Trials. When I had completed all the lists of crimes, Moore asked, "What right do you have to judge us? We are not even from the same countries."

"Mr. Moore, I was given the privilege and honour of helping the Tandra population. As you know we ourselves are half Tandra. They are presently being eaten by more than one race of creatures in this galaxy. At some time we would have joined them in some intestinal tract. I have fought very hard with others to hold back this flood of carnivores. I have saved thousands of millions of people so far and been the cause of even more than that number in Samutz deaths. New predators have been found as well as very old enemies. To fight them all I have taken many responsibilities. From husband and father I went to a captain of a Tandra ship. To organize Earth, the local Tandra made me a regional governor. At Epsilon Eridani I had to take on the additional obligations of an admiral to destroy Samutz war craft before they could arrive here. Along the way and after meeting many different races I found I had to take the supreme position to direct our race to fight our enemies. The Bintuu, Kadork, and Tandra see me as Emperor."

"You are not our Emperor."

"Whether I am Emperor of the Human race has not been decided. In a way, it would be good to just abandon most of you to the Samutz, Thonas and now the Moldeg. Some Humans are ethical and well meaning while others have not risen far from the swamp we came from. The present case involves what you have done to the Alliance forces. They are here to protect all of you in this room and the rest of the Human population."

"You don't have any jurisdiction."

"The Tandra presence on this planet dates back two and half million years. I don't have to tell you what the definition of right is. Everyone in this room knows that it is the power to enforce your own views. The Romans had it, then the Spanish, Portugese, English and now Americans. This right is now the sole responsibility of the Alliance. You and any other person can either shelter under our obligation or fight your own battles. What do you wish Mr. Moore?"

"I certainly do not want to be judged by a man that once fought for freedom and now renounces that oath so easily."

I asked the rest one at a time what they wanted. Two businessmen and all the soldiers, except the one that had so happily cut up our recruit, accepted my protection. "So be it." The men to renounce my protection disappeared one by one. The rest cringed thinking they would be next.

General Givens asked when the disappearances ceased "What happened to them?"

"They chose to fight their own battles." I caused a picture of a cruiser leaving the system to appear for them. "That ship is taking those men that decided to fight the Samutz. They will be set down on a world sparsely populated by our enemy. They will be given maps and weapons and told of the Samutz locations. Does anybody else want to join them on a Human only crusade to rid the galaxy of Samutz?" I got no replies.

Phone calls had been coming in and so far they thought I was being too good to the evil men. The people of Earth now wanted to see real justice. This would probably mean ripping the perpetrators of the crime to pieces with their bare hands.

I told the men, "The population of every country is able to read your thoughts. Each of you has been under public television surveillance. Your thoughts were converted to text and placed under your image. There is no doubt in their mind that they find you all guilty." The men could not understand the full significance of that but did understand enough to know their careers, at least, had ended. "You here have another choice to make. You are guilty of crimes that I mentioned. Some of you are also guilty of many other crimes that come under Earth jurisdiction. I can find a place for each of you in the alliance even though some of you are not suited for the task. I will put you under parole here but you will have to deal with your fellow man when and if you go back. What say you?"

There was a lot of thought and since I did not push them they decided to talk amongst themselves. The general became their de facto spokesman.

"Will we be able to see our family after joining the Alliance?"

"You will be trained then stationed in a garrison, not overseas but in another star system. No earlier than three years or later than four, will you be allowed to return to Earth. You will be getting pay which can go to your families. Your government will also support them because of their acceptance of your crimes. You will be able to talk to your families though, but not touch them."

The trial was now officially over. Mom started to talk about freedom of the press and free speech. Her talk was short but said how she had kept the opposition from voicing their concerns. "Those same people were trying to get you to believe what they chose, not what was right and proper. I will now allow those people to talk but I warn all of you; listen carefully if they are explaining how they see things, or are they trying a further way of controlling you."

When Mom was talking I had her phone George Henderson, the President of the United States. She went through a few layers of authority till she got the man himself. Mom's alter ego asked if he had time to talk to me.

"Of course I have time to talk to Henry Buchanan."

I came on the line and said "Hello, Mr. Henderson. It has taken a while to find time for a chat but I have been busy."

"Hello to you too. We have all been busy the last few months. What can I do for you?"

"Well, since business will be keeping their heads tucked in for a while, you will be able to do your job without as much interference."

"What jobs are you referring to?"

"I would think straightening out your military would be a first step. People under your command and under Prime Minister Chablis entered my home, took various articles and damaged my property. I can easily find each of these people and trace their orders up to who should also be prosecuted. I would like to avoid such unpleasantness, especially since the chance of the men surviving against the Samutz is small."

"I can do a little looking myself, get your property back and have your home repaired."

"I imagine you could. The thought that my home was violated makes me angry at the people that would do such a thing. My old company was quite good at making repairs. Perhaps you could find where they were put and send them to my home with suitable payment for their time in confinement. I can get them to do the repairs. I don't think it is right to have locked them up for no reason."

"You are right. They did nothing and they were only a way for big business to find a handle on the Tandra situation."

"That is very forthcoming of you. It has been nice to talk to you. It is also nice to see that you are now taking direct action in setting things right."

With this conversation over I felt a little relief. It was not my business to handle how a country handled its internal affairs. How they impinged on me and the empire was a different matter though. Pat Toff was a member of that group and had been recruited. He had not left Earth. Perhaps he would make a good liaison for the men that would be coming.