Chapter 8

"I was hired by a guy from the CIA (Consolidated Information Association) to destroy three planets in a neighboring galaxy. She said that our galaxy was due to collide with the other galaxy in five or ten billion years, I forgot the exact number. Anyway, the CIA wanted to destroy the other galaxy before the collision so that our galaxy would survive, unchanged.

"I did ask what was the hurry, since that was a hell of a long time in the future. She said that there were so many planets and stars to destroy, that we had to start now if we were going to finish in time. Well, I'm just a dumb space jockey, so what do I know. I took her at her word, besides, the money was more than I could expect to make in a year of regular work. She gave me a set of specifications and a list of planets to destroy and told me to get cracking. I left that afternoon to start work.

"My husbands were home looking after the kids, so it was up to me to bring home the money we needed to live like we wanted to. Hell, I jumped at the chance to do this job. I hoped that I could make a good impression and get more of this type of high paying job."

This was a very useful bit of information, even if it was suspicious as hell. Why would this CIA want to destroy only inhabited planets. The whole story sounded completely crazy, even though Scrag had to have believed it. Ickthur excused himself long enough to relay the information to the rest of the committee. He returned to Scrag and their conversation.

"Do you have any idea how many other people have been contacted by the CIA to assist in this project?"

"No, I don't, now that you mention it. The word of such a well-paying job should be the talk of the bars, but I never heard anything about it until the contact came to me. That's screwy, and I wonder what's going on."

"We may be able to find out, if you work along with us. I can't help feeling that it is a project that the CIA wants to keep under wraps, though I can't imagine why at this moment."

"Yeah, Ickthur, rumor has it that the CIA has been involved in some shady dealings, before, and this one is beginning to look that way. It seems like, lately, the government has had to spend a lot of time denying CIA crooked dealings or smoothing them over when they are finally found out.

"I do know that I am glad that you people stopped me from destroying that planet. I never would have taken the job if I had known there were sentient people on that planet. Now, I'll bet that those other two planets also had sentient beings; am I right?"

"Yes, you are correct. And a more harmless people would be hard to find."

"Dammit, the more I think about it, the madder I get! I'll do anything I can to help your people break this plot wide open!"

"Thank you, Scrag. I appreciate your attitude. I don't know, yet, what you can do. Hell, I don't know, yet, what we can do. But you can bet that we will do everything we can to protect our people. I just hope this does not mean a war between our galaxies."

They talked for a while longer and Ickthur had to beg off so that he could get some rest. Before he left, he asked, "Is there something I can do to make your stay more pleasant. I know that you are locked in a cell and it looks like we don't care about your welfare, but that is not true. It's just that you cannot breathe our air; it would kill you in a few seconds. Maybe we can work something out, later, but we haven't had enough time to work on the problem, yet."

"Well, there is something ... I have a stash of pornographic literature hidden under the pilot's seat in my vessel. I could amuse myself with that while I wait."

Ickthur was somewhat taken aback by this request, since his species had never developed a liking for such stuff, but he agreed to have it sent to Scrag if it could be found. His inquiries found that the sociologists had seen the books and had finally figured out what they were. A number of copies had been made and were circulating among the staff, ostensibly for research and study, but also for the pure novelty of some of the ideas expressed. A set of the books was collected and sent to Scrag immediately. She received the books gratefully and settled back to relax by reading them while she waited for Ickthur to return.

Doug's story was well known throughout the galaxy, at least that part after he had been bounced back in time. He had lived longer that any other being in the galaxy and was regarded as a being to be respected and to be consulted whenever an unusual situation was encountered. His accumulated experience with life was an asset the galaxy could not ignore; therefore, Doug was asked to join in the investigation of this unprovoked attack by the "spiders" from Andromeda.

Doug was filled in on the information available to date, and he asked for a personal meeting with Scrag. The meeting was set up and Doug was introduced to Scrag as the oldest living being in the galaxy. Scrag was impressed by both the idea of somebody living thousands of years and by the sight of perhaps the ugliest example of sentient life she could imagine. She was not repelled by a creature having only two legs and two arms, but she was fascinated and shocked by his appearance. However, Scrag was able to overcome her surprise and unsettled stomach before she embarrassed herself. After all, Scrag did consider herself reasonably civilized and sophisticated, so she screwed up her courage and opened all 10 eyes to gaze upon this truly weird creature she was presented with.

On the other hand, Doug had never developed the common fear humans have of spiders, so he was not repelled by the sight of a "spider" nearly seven feet tall. It took only a minute or so of conversation for the two to reach an accommodation and begin to converse like old friends.

They talked about their home and family life for a few minutes, and this was what broke the ice between the two. Scrag was fascinated at the idea of a male having several wives and they talked about that for a while. Finally, Doug brought the conversation around to his reason for being there. "Scrag, I realize that you were not normally associated with them, but could you tell me anything more about this CIA. For example, are they a government organization?"

"Yes, they are. As I understand it, they started out about 300 years ago as strictly an information gathering and processing organization for the central governing council. However, rumor has it that for the last 70 years or so, they have been engaged in covert activities in the backwaters of my galaxy, and possibly others near to us, such as yours."

"Hmmm ... Do these rumors indicate that they have carried on any sort of military action? Or have they done anything to upset local governing bodies?"

"Not that I know of. I am usually so busy trying to make enough money to make ends meet that I have very little time to spend in bars hearing the latest rumors. About all of the news I get comes through official channels over the TV, and the CIA has never been mentioned on TV that I can recall."

"Perhaps you could help me understand the situation better if you describe your local governing system."

"OK. Each planet has a local council which takes care of the day-to-day details of running the place. The planetary council is made up of local people who are appointed by the central council. I don't know how they decide who gets appointed, but the people picked do an adequate job. At least, I have no complaints.

"Each planetary council reports to a regional council, selected the same way from the various planetary councils. Each regional council reports to the main governing council, whose members are selected from the regional councils. The nearest we have to one person in charge is the chairwoman of the main council. Incidentally, men are never selected to any of these levels of council, since they are not considered emotionally capable of handling the strain of making the tough government decisions."

"That's interesting. What happens if the people don't like the decisions made by the government?"

"They just suck it up and make do. I never heard of the government council ever doing anything that the people didn't like, except occasionally raise taxes, but nobody likes that."