Chapter 68

Right after supper as everyone was breaking up and going their separate ways, I got a gentle knock and a “May we please speak to Robert Stevens, the human from earth?”

‘If you are polite and not sneaky like you have been before, just hijacking my brain to relive some past memories, then ok, I am Robert Stevens.’

“We wish to speak to you about an urgent matter for our worlds. We feel that you are perfectly qualified for this task and we would consider giving you instructions to develop your great powers in return. You have untapped power that, with training, could make you a level 14 power. You just exhibited a level 10 telepathic burst. This is unheard of for a level five telepath to accomplish. Your powers are greater than most powers in the known multi-verses. Not only did every telepath in this galaxy, but also telepaths all around this universe and a couple neighboring universes have heard your burst.”

I interrupted and said, ‘First who are you and what matter am I perfectly qualified for?’

“I am extremely sorry, I am of the Monc{-2 &%#); ... hys, / species. [This is the number 5 species I looked over earlier.] We five here are a gathering of powers from all over this universe. There is a tyrant dictator that is about to discover FTL capability and with it FTL communications. If he is allowed to accomplish this; then nowhere in the multi-verse would be safe from his wrath. His species is a very long lived type and he is still very young. They are the KJIK... , ops HJSDD*(_&&^$$#+ species [our number 2 species from earlier]. If we can get you to assassinate this leader; we can sabotage the scientists work and this tragedy will never occur. Some of our numbers are future seers and this future is foretold many times, in many universes. Many species will be eradicated completely. We have searched for just such a person as you. Please consider this matter carefully. We will contact you again, in a polite manner this time. Thank you Robert Stevens, human.”

As soon as they spoke, I immediately ran to the office and added Fred into the conversation. Barbara was privy to the conversation too. Barbara came in as well and had told my other wives that this was Sky Spirit business. They shook their heads and went on.

After they left me, I asked, “Fred, have you heard of something like this happening. A cabal of powers gathered from all over the universe?”

“Bob this is unheard of. Most times you will hear of several powers of a single species joining together, but never several species in one group. I can only say that if this is a real possibility then it is very serious, I would say deadly serious.”

“That is what I was afraid of. How can I get on a planet, kill the guy, and then disappear like I was never there. Oh I know I’m slow, about half way through at last sentence I realized what I was saying. Of course I can appear and disappear very quickly, with the transporter. But what about the lay of the land, I would need maps I would need to physically see the layout, where I would be, where he would be, I would need explicit data on his habits, any underlings that would take over in his absence and a hundred other things. I can’t do this on a spur of the moment type of thing. Take mission 14, what we didn’t see was all the steps I had to go through to determine that exact location, that exact time. I had to determine temperature, wind, humidity, sun position, distance, how much the bullet would drop over the distance fired and a dozen other things I had to calculate and take into consideration before the first shot. Some of those things occur in a split second, others take a good while to figure out. We scouted four other locations on that hill before I found the right spot. Then I had Bundrati crawl down the hill a little ways and cut a branch away so I could have a clear shot. Those are the kind of things I need information on and let’s face it, if that race isn’t humanoid or close to my size, I will stick out like an elephant in a lion’s den.”

“So then, Bob, if we can get you a robot built like a normal everyday Killjops [I will call them this from now on]. Then we have the robot do, what you want them to check out, with data like temperature, humidity, air density, height, distance, and the information you need; then you would accept this impossible mission?”

“I would reserve the right to cancel, if the problem became too much, or too risky. But yes I would consider it.”

“Bob are you crazy, no ... crazier than before, this is a suicide mission, you cannot do this. They can’t make you do this,” cried Barbara.

“That is why I reserve the right to cancel at any time if I think it is too risky for me. They can still sabotage the science and go on, but it will rear its ugly head again, I can promise you that. This may already be the second or third attempt to change this history. There are too many unknowns yet.”

“Ok, BUT I don’t want you dying on me. We are supposed to have a very long life together, and I don’t want that to end because of some stupid dictator,” said Barbara

“Yes honey I know you have long range plans for me. I have long range plans for you too, how about 50 children over the years, when you get old and fat like me, and then we can sit back and take it easy. OK?”

I got hit from the fat remark, but she was smiling when she hit me, so I guess I was ok.

“Ok Fred, get me everything you can on these Killjops and I do mean everything, no matter how insignificant. I want pictures, anatomy, I don’t want to shoot the head if it will grow back, or shoot one heart and it has four. I want physical characteristics, temperament, and things like that. Then this leader, I need to know who he is, how many of his true followers there are, when he wakes up, what he eats, everything including when he pees and shits, how much and where. I want to be able to walk up to him and know everything there is to know about him. Right?”

“Right Bob, I will get some people on it immediately. What about our friends?”

“I want independent research, just in case they are trying to blow smoke up my ass. It means lying to me.”

“That is a weird expression Bob, but I see what you mean. Of course this means you are planning to do this mission, aren’t you.”

“No Fred, like I told Barbara, I want information first. If I think this is too dangerous I will call it off or think of some other method to eliminate him. But among the other things I asked for, I need to know if he was eliminated, how would the majority of his people react? Not his followers, the majority of the people of that world. Would they celebrate or would he become a martyr and be more powerful dead than alive. These are the kind of things that make political assassinations so tricky. That is why there are so few of them. It might be easier to infiltrate his organization with trained men of his race to eliminate him and replace him with someone completely the opposite of him.”

“Bob, I can see you are right about this. This is not something you can rush into and solve overnight. I will see about getting you all the information I can. You two need your sleep. Go and I will let you know what we find out in the morning or when the data comes in.”

Barb and I both said goodnight to Fred and I reminded him I needed that rake for the tractor and left. We showered and crawled into bed. No one bothered either of us during the night. The next morning was pretty peaceful we had everyone in today, but the TV was going with Sesame Street and most people were engrossed in learning. I left them and walked back into the office after breakfast. “Fred do we have the rake for the tractor yet? Also can you show me on my maps where these caves are in the canyon?”

“Bob, the hay rake will be here in the morning, as far as the locations of the caves, they are now marked on your maps, including the new storage cave. The new cave is different from the others. It looks just like all the rest of the rock along that area. But it has a written sign in black letters saying C-A-V-E in the barrier that should have been rock. Animals can’t read it and most others will not either, only your group, since you are teaching them English.

“We have found out some of the information you wanted. The Killjops are a humanoid race average about 6’ tall and about your weight. They have a squared off nose and are a greenish yellow in color, they have one heart located in the center of their torso, they can’t grow back a head and this tyrant is one mean man. He rules by fear and has a very small loyal following. He has had five heads of state, like a prime minister from your England, in just over seven months. He keeps publically executing them for crimes against the state. It seems that there about 20 loyal followers and many sycophants but they are just trying to gain his favor to remain important and alive. We are not sure that, if he dies tomorrow, anyone would really care. We are gathering more information on his followers.

“They are technologically equal to your earth except for the fact they are very close to discovering FTL. They have sent rockets with men to their nearest planets in their solar system, none have found life, and he is disappointed that they cannot go further into space without long journeys. His habits are varied, but he does visit his mistresses at least twice a week. They are in a different city. He travels buy a conveyance similar to your truck, but more inconspicuous, it is a similar vehicle to what an average worker might own. He travels with only one driver/bodyguard on these trips. The trip is about 25 miles outside the city to a small town. Everyone fears him so much; they do not and probably will not do anything to arouse disfavor or his wrath. Their scientists working on this FTL technology can be eliminated by a fire bomb set off in their building. There are only 10 scientists that we can determine are working on this project. We think, but are unsure, that they are forced by blackmail to work on this project. They seem to stay in a dormitory type housing just off from the building. We were able to trace one man down to having a wife and two children, but they are never seen. His old house has been abandoned for about 2 years now. This tyrant has 2 prisons in the main city and one in just about every city with a population over two hundred thousand. I would bet that is where the families of the scientists and other forced laborers are kept.”