Chapter 8

“In my timeline, yesterday after all of the women had breakfast, we were each sent back in time to marry your forefathers, and I was sent to you, to create a line of genetic material that will help avert this disaster. We have eight ships like this buried around the northern hemisphere of the planet.”

“Hold it. What we?”

“When I say we, I mean the leaders of the Federation that represent all the planets in our region of space. They are the ones who set up this very complex plan. And I have to admit that although I had doubts it seems to have worked ... so far.”

“OK. It’s sinking in. Go on ... NO! WAIT! What made you pick my great-great-great whatever grandfather? Out of all the people on Earth?”

“That is a bit of a tough one and it opens the door to a paradox. Let’s just say that the selection of your family was a bit of reverse engineering and let it go at that.”

“OK,” I said sounding as puzzled as I was. “Go on.”

“Mick, there’s an asteroid coming. It’s huge. It’s going to hit north of here in Canada. It’s so large that it will split the Earth wide open and destroy it leaving another asteroid belt in the solar system. Some of the resulting asteroids will travel through space and hit other planets and destroy them. They had to find a way to stop that series of events and came up with the plan that you and I are now involved in.

“They launched this ship, this weapon, and the others, populated with androids because they don’t age and can be repaired if they break down. At the time they launched this ship, and the others, we had just barely broken the speed of light and knew it would take 150 years to reach Earth. Just under 50 Earth years ago we developed a method of traveling through time.”

“Really?” I asked still a bit in shock. “What year are you from? I dabble in physics and I know that we are a long way away from FTL travel and time travel is stuff for science fiction stories and crazy people.”

“The year I come from is not important, but I will tell you that it’s in the late 30th century by time keeping methods here today. Time travel is expensive and limited in its scope. The biggest limitation is that we can only send organic matter.”

“Organic matter? You mean living things, like people. And since clothing is not organic, the travelers needed to be sent naked.”

“Yes. We also found out that for some reason males lost virility when they traveled but females did not. So, we began to train the Angel Corp. Don’t ask, I have no idea why they called us that.”

“OK.”

“We are a team of women who were assigned to travel back in time and create the gene pool we needed for our future.”

“But in order for you to know what gene pool you needed, that gene pool already had to exist.”

“Again, the paradox thing rears its ugly head. Our leaders looked back on various timelines and they found that the Earth will be destroyed. They scanned thousands of timelines and almost all ended with the Earth being destroyed. However, there were a few timelines that ended with the Earth not being destroyed. In some of them, the planet survived but life did not and in some the planet was saved. This timeline is the one with the best possible chance for a good outcome for both the people and the planet.”

“So here we are,” I said.

“Yes, so here we are.”

“But the same question, why my family line?”

“I really don’t want to tell you the answer to that one,” Angel twisted her smile a little as she looked me in the eyes.

“So, I am supposed to trust you, but you don’t trust me?” I asked.

“I kind of knew that you were going to go there. OK, this was not some super science thing. A little over 150 years ago in my timeline, the lead scientist on the project saw a guy, a physicist, who was working on the project and thought he was cute. He’s the one who created the weapon we are going to use to destroy the asteroid. It’s his DNA, your DNA, that will activate the weapon here in this timeline. She traced his DNA back and found out where he came from.”

“Cute?”

“Yeah.”

“That means that my family still exists in your future.”

“It may or it may not now that the Angels have come and begun their mission. There are many things that could mess up the string. But I can’t talk about it because of the potential paradox issue.”

“OK, so what should happen now?”

“Well, the key is that the weapon needs the O’Dell strain of DNA to activate it and fire it. That’s why the Angel Corp was created. We are all clones of the scientist that found her O’Dell to be so cute. So, we were already drawn to you and your forefathers and our DNA has been designed to be recessive when joined with the O’Dell DNA. This way your DNA will continue and strengthen through each generation.”

“But why is a strong DNA history so important?”

“The DNA key is a safeguard, a failsafe, so that no one else could use the tech if one of the ships falls into the wrong hands.”

“Wrong hands? As in space aliens?” I asked and waited, expectantly, for the answer.

“I can’t answer that.”

“OK,” I said with a shrug of the shoulders. “What happens next?”

“The next thing that happens in this timeline is that a scientist will discover the asteroid as it approaches and determines that it will hit the Earth just north of us in Canada. Several things could happen to the timeline at that point. The people of the Earth could descend into madness and in the following rioting, hundreds of millions of people will die.

“Or a few countries can get together and send up nukes to try to break it up. That could unite the people of the Earth in hope, but it will fail because the asteroid is a really big ass rock and there aren’t enough rockets with the needed range or power to damage the asteroid. Then we are back to the potential of riots and the population of Earth descending into madness.

“Or, if there was time, the several countries that are already capable of space travel, could create generation ships and send them on many hundred-years long journey to try to preserve the human race. The technology exists right now, but the cost and amount of time to create the ships makes that idea impossible.”

“None of those sound like the good old Earth is going to make it,” I said.

“Right, so, as you said, here we are,” Angel continued. “There are eight ships embedded in the Earth. When the asteroid gets in range, the ships will lift off and form a large ring around the northern hemisphere of the Earth and well outside of the atmosphere. From there they will link, forming a rather spectacular energy wheel, with bands of energy connecting them with our ship being the central hub.”

“We will be in this ship, our ship, and you will be sitting in the weapons control chair. The firing computer will tell you when to fire and you will pull the trigger and fire on the asteroid.”

“That event will be proof positive that there is intelligent life outside of the Earth,” I interrupted her. “That will either unite the planet or it will cause mass insanity. Once we destroy the asteroid, we need to reveal ourselves in such a way that we’re not seen as Gods or invaders.”

Angel nodded and continued, “The plan is that we will announce that we have saved the planet, and that we are leaving the people of Earth to take care of themselves and that we will see them in the future when they reach the stars.”

“Wait! Are there other intelligent life forms out there to join? Or are YOU the intelligent life form?” I really wondered about that.

“I can’t answer that. The paradox thing again.”

“One of my favorite authors, Arthur C. Clarke, once wrote, ‘Sometimes I think we’re alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we’re not. In either case the idea is quite staggering’,” I recited one of my favorite quotes.

“Exactly, Mick. The sudden shock is going to be traumatic regardless of which side humanity falls.”

“OK, how long do we have?” I asked.

“About four months. Around then your military’s long-range sensors will pick it up. Another month after that the whistle blower will get the word out when the government tries to hide it. Then another two months for the world to get together and launch their nukes ... and fail. Then another month to let things come to a boil and we reveal ourselves and destroy the asteroid.”

“So, eight months ... about.”

“Yes. So, I should be getting close to delivering.”

I blinked my eyes and looked at Angel. “Delivering?”

“We were scanned when we came on board, Mick. It is an automatic function to keep strange organisms out,” she smiled.

“You mean strange, like me?”

“Oh yeah. You Early Earth guys are about as strange as it gets,” she kissed me and gave me a hug. “Didn’t you hear me giggle when I went to the bathroom after we made love? The ship says that I’m pregnant!”

“Pregnant?”

“Yes, my love. It can detect it as soon as the egg is fertilized.”

“Well then, we need to save the planet for my son or daughter.”

“Well, actually it is sons. For the first time in your family’s history, you have produced twins. And I hope the first of many sons that we have.”

And that is how I found out that I was going to be a father and that I was going to be the savior of the world. Over the next four months we learned how to live our lives as a comfortable married couple in public. At the same time we worked in the nude, in our basement and in the ship as the planners of the act that should save the Earth.

During this time, Angel told me that the ship was receiving upgrades that would make the weapon more accurate.

“That means that the info, traveling at the speed of light, had to leave your planet hundreds of years ago before you knew the plan was going to work.”

“Yeah, that’s another one of those paradox things again,” Angel said with a smile and a kiss on the tip of my cock.

She always enjoyed finishing any conversation with a kiss to the tip of my cock. I wasn’t going to argue.

During that time, I marveled at Angel’s body as it began to change. Watching her belly expand on her tiny frame was both wondrous and scary. She was so tiny, and her belly was getting so big. I wasn’t sure that she would be alright delivering twins.

“Don’t worry, Mick. The ship will make sure that I’m OK,” Angel reassured me during one of our lotion application sessions.

I don’t know which one of us most enjoyed the time spent rubbing lotion onto her ever-expanding belly. We were engaged in that very activity when we heard the news on the radio that the Webb telescope had spotted an asteroid approaching Earth.

“Well, the clock has started. We have about four months. We should be ready in three,” Angel said.

“Angel, I’ve been thinking of something.”

“What is that my love?”

“How accurate is your knowledge of us? I mean the us now and going forward?” I was wondering about some stuff.

“I know the general information. They didn’t want us worrying about the minutiae because small things can change in a timeline and still not change the outcome of a future event. So, it doesn’t matter if I wear a dress today or blue jeans, it won’t change the future.”

“So, the idea of the butterfly effect is not very good.” I asked.

“No, although chaos theory is an interesting phenomenon. We can’t prove it to be true and we can’t prove that it might not exist. Kind of like the issues with what your people call climate change. They point to all these things that they say will change the Earth’s environment, but the ecosystem of the Earth is so big and complex that when one part is altered another is created or strengthened to compensate,” Angel explained.

“Angel, I was thinking that we might be able to save a lot of lives and a lot of stress if we come out before we fire the weapon. If we come out after the world fires its nukes, and they fail, we can take advantage of a higher level of hope and build on it.”

“So, instead of waiting until we fire the weapon and start a worldwide panic, we tell everyone that we are here and that something amazing is going to happen if they can pull together as a single people?”

“I don’t know about that last part,” I answered.

“You think that artificially uniting the planet may cause greater strife down the road when it breaks down?”

“Breaks down? Is it going to break down. Angel?”

“I shouldn’t tell you this, but we’ve started down the road. The Earth is still going to have a World War Three and a Eugenics War before the 30st Century. If everyone is very united now, the outcome of the breakup could be worse. Kind of like the difference between the breakup of a couple who like each other a lot and a couple deeply in love.”

“I understand. Angel, what do you think about showing ourselves just after the nukes fail? Or is that one of the things that has already been predetermined? Do you know how it comes out?”

“I don’t know how it will affect the timeline. I haven’t seen that part of it. I don’t think anyone thought to look to see the impact of an early reveal.”

“OK. Let’s see how the world looks going into the nuke attack and take a look at our options then,” I felt better about this plan of action.

“Good idea. Now would you please finish rubbing in that lotion?”

“Yes, my love.”

The first announcement of the discovery was fairly innocuous. It then took a few days to track the path of the asteroid. On the fourth day, all news outlets went dark on the story. No one said a word about it after the fourth day.

“Angel, I don’t like this. The more info they gather the more they should broadcast. I wish I could tell what the other news outlets around the world are saying.”

“Come to the ship, we can watch anything there.”

“A few maybe, but I don’t speak anything but English, so the other news outlets won’t do me any good.”

“Mick, the ship can translate anything. Come on.”

Of course, it can! We got to the ship and a quick scan of all news networks found a total blackout on the story.

“This is not good. I can’t imagine that the whole world has been blacked out on the story. Even the Russians and Chinese are not covering it. That means that their governments are covering up the info.”

“Mick let’s wait another day or two. It could be that they are all talking behind the scenes and want to make a single announcement at the same time.”

“OK, but what do we do if they decide to try to ride it out until it’s too late?” I asked.

“It doesn’t affect what we are going to do. The nukes won’t affect how the weapon will hit the target or its ability to vaporize the big rock.”

“Vaporize?” I think I just went into amazed.

“Yes. I guess we haven’t talked about what the weapon will actually be able to do. It will reduce the asteroid to dust particles. After the weapon hits the asteroid, the particle shower in the Northern Hemisphere is going to be spectacular for weeks.”

“So, does it matter how close to Earth the rock is before we target it?”

“Yes, at some point if it is too close the flash produced by the weapon may touch the atmosphere and that would be very bad. The atmosphere could be ignited where the flash touches it. That would be very bad, Mick. It would cause a huge drop in air pressure planet-wide, and it would badly burn everything around where the flash hits.”

“OK, but we don’t have to worry about that because we will fire long before the flash is a danger to the planet.”

“Right. And we will be well outside the planet’s atmosphere.”

When we were not watching and planning, I returned to managing the farm. There wasn’t really anything I had to do, my farm hands did all the work, so I was able to walk away for extended periods and not hurt the farms operation. That gave me more time to learn about my new wife and to discover what sort of a loving and caring woman Angel was.

Five days after our talk, the news hit the public and all hell broke loose.

“Mick, it’s on the news,” Angel called to me over the mental connection the ship had with Angel and me. I raced to the communications room as I thought to her.

“Finally. What is everyone saying? Are all the news agencies reporting the same thing?”

“Yeah, exactly the same thing. I guess that they were getting their stories straight behind the scenes. Now we wait to see if the people can deal with it.”

In the communications room we sat and watched the announcements being made all over the world. We continued to watch over the next several days, and saw that there were riots in many cities, while many churches were having 24-hour prayer services as billions of people turned to religion for answers and comfort.