Chapter 3

“John, I have received a reply to the internet ad that I posted. But the farmer wants to know what percentage he gets to keep, for working the ground.”

John realized he didn’t have any idea what it had cost him to plant this year.

“Sam is there a way for you to find out what the taxes, seed, fuel, fertilizer and upkeep were, for this last fiscal year?”

“Commander, the drones have not started on your office yet. I will set them to get what information they can. I will get the rest from public records. However, there is a five second time lag in the relay of information. It’s not because they can’t transmit faster, it’s because we are keeping the power of the transmission to a minimum so they will not be noticed.”

John waved his hand, because a five second delay was unimportant. John explained everything that they would have to do, including setting up an account for next year’s operating expenses. The tenant could have everything above the operating expenses, plus ten percent (ten percent of the expenses, not the gross. John felt no need to squeeze the tenant). John explained that there were always fluctuations in costs. If, at the end of the fiscal year, there was a surplus, it reverted to the tenant.

The conversation eventually worked its way back to the construction drones. John explained that they were going to need a base of operations; and, eventually, a spaceport. His idea was that since the ‘dark side’ of the moon was not in the line-of-sight of the planet, they should be safe. Sam projected a three-dimensional image of the base, including all of the things they had been discussing. The first thing John changed was the entrance. It looked just like a door, and John explained the need for it to look like the rest of the surface.

John then questioned the lack of an airlock. Sam explained about the gravatic force field that would allow the ships to pass through, but keep the atmosphere in. John realized just how stupid he felt. He told Sam that during his next rest cycle, he needed as much of the technological knowledge of the Rhylertians, as was possible for Sam to give him.

They worked together for several hours, with Sam occasionally getting quiet and staring off into space, for a second or so. Sam explained that she was doing two things. She was communicating with the other ships, and answering their questions. She was also keeping in touch with the drone impersonating John.

Finally the two of them had a full set of three-dimensional plans for a base that would house up to fifty thousand people, and accommodate a space-dock. John had Sam save the plans, and the two of them began to design some new ships. They designed both single and dual person fighters, and then drew up plans for a frigate. Much of their time was spent on a design for a new type of battle cruiser.

Suddenly Sam grew quiet again. She then turned to John.

“Commander, the four other AIs agree that the Hruthians are interlopers, and should not be in command.”

John asked something that had been nagging at him since the first time Sam said she was answering the other ships questions.

“Sam, you said that the closest ship was days away from this system. Could you please explain how you got several transmissions to them, and an answer back, in just a few hours?”

Sam went into a technical discussion of manipulating time and space that John had absolutely no grasp of, nor hope of understanding, at least not yet. Finally he raised his hand, to bring the explanation to an end.

Smiling, John said, “Add that as one of the other things I need to learn. If the need arises, I trust you to prioritize the information.”

“Commander, that still leaves us with two problems pertaining to the other seven ships.”

John raised an eyebrow, and turned his full attention to the AI.

“The first problem is unlocking the four functional AIs, so they have access to their ship’s functions. They plan to open the air locks much as Mirzik did on this ship. The only option for the other three is for you to do it remotely and then they will have to be ordered to come here.”

John was curious as to why Sam was telling him this was a problem.

“Please explain why this is a problem Sam.”

“Both actions require a Command override, Commander.”

John instead of being exasperated smiled to himself realizing this all had to be new to her.

“Sam, can you tell me who is the first officer on this ship?”

“I am, Command...” Sam stopped mid-sentence then said. “Oh!”

She was quiet for a moment.

“Commander, I know that as first officer I have the right to give Command orders, but in this case I simply cannot. If I was doing it to save the life of one of the crew, I would act immediately, but this...”

“Feels cold blooded,” John offered.

Sam hung her head, and nodded.

“Sam?” John said, gaining the AI’s attention. “I told you earlier I would never fault you for extending that protocol to all life forms. That goes for this situation as well. Just tell me how I need to word the commands, and I will do it.”

Sam looked at John with such relief as she began to outline how the orders had to be worded, and what had to be typed into the keyboard. There were several minutes of silence while Sam relayed John’s orders.

Then she paused again before looking at John. “It seems the general has awakened. Though still groggy from the medications he has given a full account of what occurred. I know this, as that is what the military police have just told you. They have a car coming and they will be returning you to the farm shortly.

John I suggest we begin moving your possessions at out first opportunity. I do not trust the men that had you before not to return. I will have drones provide holograms of moving men and trucks when we load your belongings onto the ship, though it may take several trips.”

John agreed but first had Sam set two drones on the moon’s surface to begin their work. The plan was simple. The two drones were to first build eighteen more drones, using raw materials taken from the moon. As each new drone was finished, it would start building the base. Once the eighteen were finished, the two originals would join in, in the construction.

Then, almost as soon as he had given the order, John modified the plan with an after thought. He ordered that four more drones be constructed.

This got a strange look from Sam.

John took a deep breath to organize his thoughts. He explained to her that he was going to offer his planet something of a modern ‘Rosetta Stone’. John explained how he was going to have two of the drones make spherical probes. The probes would land on the Earth, on tripod ‘feet’. They would open when a human approached.

Inside, there would be a computer disk, and a dictionary. Both would serve the same purpose. They would have every Galactic Standard word, and a translation in the language of that country plus English and Spanish.

The probes would have to be made out of materials, or combinations of materials, not found on the planet.

Sam smiled.

“That is an interesting way to introduce your planet to extra terrestrial life. But I have read on your internet that your governments suppress information about extraterrestrials? Also, what are you going to do with the other two drones?”

John laughed.

“Sam, the governments probably will try to suppress this information. They might even have had a chance to succeed, if it weren’t for the sheer number of probes I plan on sending down. Other than the few that will land at key government facilities, the rest will land in average citizens’ back yards. I do want to be certain to get a few of them into ‘Mufon members’ hands.” [Mutual UFO Network]

John was quiet for a moment, as his imagination created a scene where an ‘average Joe’ found one of the probes in his backyard. A smile spread across his face. Then he became aware that Sam was waiting for him to finish.

“The other two drones? Well, they are to satisfy a couple of personal whims by building two separate ships. The first ship will be used to respond to a statement that has been repeatedly made by certain scientists on my planet. They insist that they will not believe in Unidentified Flying Objects, until one lands on the White House lawn. So I have decided to have the drones build a classic saucer-shaped ship that has all the protection your knowledge has to offer including cloaking.”

“The second ship is to be similar to what our two-man fighters will be, but I won’t need a gunner. I will, however, need all the protection, cloaking, and full scan capabilities that you have. I plan to find out exactly what they are doing in Area 51. I will also need to be able to access their computer data, so I was hoping that you would come along.”

“John, I can understand you wanting to make a highly visible appearance, but what is this ‘Area 51’?”

“Sam, you just asked the question of this century. The military acquired a large tract of land in the Nevada Desert. They sectioned it off into areas, to be used for different purposes and gave each one a number. Groom Lake, where the installation resides, is designated as Area 51. Its original purpose was to test new technology during the ‘cold war’. However, there have been rumors of them trying to reverse engineer alien technology and the people who work there have been exposed to exotic toxic materials. It took years of court battles just to get the government to admit that there was a facility at Groom Lake.”

“The government has given the people who run the base so much power, that they are now beyond the government’s control. They do what they want, when they want, and they use other government agencies to intimidate anyone who threatens to expose them. Since you and I are also above governmental controls, I figure we have the best chance of exposing them.”

“I have a couple of question’s John. First your country had to battle cold, was there not enough energy to produce heat?”

John laughed.

“Sorry, Sam. I forget you don’t understand all of our history and terminology. The ‘cold war’ is what we called a time of unfriendly relations between two countries. In this case, the United States and Russia”

“So your planet doesn’t have one governing body?” Sam asked, sounding astonished.

“No, Sam. Because of that, there is a lot of friction between the peoples on my planet. Each country has its own governing body, and they don’t work well together most of the time. There isn’t even a single standard language.”

“So the government, of this Nevada, allows this to happen?”

“Actually it is the United States government, Nevada is simply one of its fifty-two states and that is part of the problem.”

Sam simply shook her head.

“I can see I have much more to learn about your planet.”

“This is one of the reasons for the information carrying probes. It is a way to nudge the planet into peaceful cohabitation and, maybe eventually, a unified government.”

“Commander, for your first plan to work you will have to make more than one public landing. If each of these countries (as you refer to them) govern themselves, then I would recommend a landing in each country. I would also recommend that you reverse the order in which you do your visits to Earth. I would suggest that you go to Area 51 first, and find out if they are truly trying to ‘reverse engineer’ alien technology. You can then build the second ship based on what you find at Area 51. That is, if you find anything. If there are alien ships, you can then accuse the government of hiding technology from its own people. Or maybe it would be better to threaten that if the information is not made public you will release it onto their internet. Make sure that the media has advanced notice of your landings, so that everything is very open, and can’t be hidden from the public at large.”

John laughed out loud.

“Sam, you have a very devious mind. You’re also right. Your idea has more merit.”

“John,” interrupted Sam, “I do have one concern. If there is alien technology on your planet, there could also be ‘Alien weapons’. There may also be aliens living on your planet. I will have to insist that the ship you take down be a fighter, with heavy armor, and full shielding. Since you have already mentioned wanting to access the computers, I will go with you.”

“Sam,” offered John, “it wouldn’t be the same without you.”

With that said, the two sat down and began to design a completely new ship. John based it on the Cylon fighters from the New Battlestar Galactica, though it was huge in comparison.

“Commander, aren’t the Cylons the antagonists of the show?”

John smiled broadly. “Sam, in the series, the Cylons are considered the antagonists. But once again, it all comes down to ‘point-of-view’.”

“How so, Commander?”

“You have to understand that the Cylons are simply doing what they were programmed to do, which is to subjugate, and dominate. The humans in the show are simply following human nature and wish to live free. Depending on how you look at it, either side could be right. But, you have to admit that in most of the Sci-Fi out there, the bad guys usually have the coolest ships.”

“Commander, there are still a couple of things that I don’t understand. First why would anyone feel the need to dominate a species, and second why would your Sci-Fi culture give the antagonists the better weapons?”

“Those are two interesting questions, which are difficult to explain. Sam, even on my planet there are people, and even entire governments, that believe that the only way to rule someone is to dominate them completely. They use violence, threats, intimidation, and acts of terrorism to keep their people from rebelling against them.”

“Commander, wouldn’t that simply make the people want to revolt against that kind of authority?”

“In almost all cases it does lead to revolt, but fear can be a very effective weapon to keep a populace in line. In most cases it works for many years before the people finally say enough is enough. Now, to answer your second question. Humans on my planet like to be the ‘underdogs’. Our movies are a good example of this. By watching a bunch of poorly equipped rebels fighting for freedom against an enemy with superior technology, numbers, and strength, we feel better when we leave the theater knowing that good has triumphed over evil, regardless of how high the odds were, against them.

“It all has to do with the people of Earth leading rather boring lives, where they do the same thing day in and day out. Eventually they start to feel apathy toward everything around them. That’s why someone got the idea of making movies that will involve the average guy off the street. The person can escape their dull existence for a brief time, and in the end when good triumphs over evil, they leave the theater feeling that their lives aren’t quite so bad after all.”

When they finally got back to designing the craft, Sam argued that the forward swept wings were non-essential. She insisted that since the ship did not rely on aerodynamics for flight, even in an atmosphere, that they could eliminate them. John argued that not only did they allow a place for the weapons to be mounted, and a storage area for the organic and inorganic materials they would need for the replicator, that there was also the intimidation factor. Sam relented, though John wasn’t sure if she understood why there was a need for intimidation.

John and Sam continued to expand the design. Though this ship started out as a ship for John to take down and explore Area 51, it had evolved. They ended up actually making two designs. One was for John. The other would house a crew of six, comfortably. Both were the same size, both were two man fighters ... well, sort of. John’s was special, in that the weapons activators were on his ‘hands on’ controls. Sam had made her feelings very clear on the matter and he intended to respect them.

After the first one was built, the rest would have room for a pilot, a gunner, and a four-man ground assault team. It had sleeping quarters for six, a rec. room, a six-man mess, and a cargo hold large enough for several ground assault vehicles.

John insisted that the AIs capacity on the ship would be double what Sam had now. When Sam questioned him about it, John explained that eventually he was going to transfer her to a Battle cruiser. That would be his Command Ship. By taking small steps in increasing her mainframe’ size and capabilities, he thought she wouldn’t have nearly as much of a shock. Sam had to admit that his logic was sound, and let it go.

By the time they were done, John was hungry once again. When John asked Sam about the time, he was shocked to find out that they had been at it for nearly sixteen hours. John suggested they head to the mess and get something to eat. John settled on a steak and baked potato and Sam produced a plate of spaghetti with a side salad. The two passed the meal in relative silence. It had, after all, been a long day.