Grave Robbers

6507 words,

Grave Robbers
A short story
By
John Erik Ege

         The 2009, Chevrolet Suburban, pulled into the Motel 8 in Ferris, Texas, the wheels cutting a swath through the watery build up of slush near the curb. In the back seat, team leader Janet Okada manipulated data with a gentle stroke of a finger on what appeared to be an Apple iPad. After confirming the data, she slipped the device into a jacket pocket, and leaned forwards to address her two associates.
         “We’re behind schedule, so we need to get this done and get out of here,” Janet said.
         “Told you we should have left earlier,” Mike said.
         “Yeah, but who would have thought snow in Texas, this time of year,” Burt said, a playfulness in his voice suggesting an inside joke.
         “Guess Al Gore saw his shadow and gave us six more weeks of winter,” Mike said.
         Janet blinked, hiding her annoyance. Though she was of Japanese descent, she had an exotic, almost Persian look about her, with large oval eyes, as if she were a Disney character brought to life. “Burt, you take rooms 207 and 219, far end of the hotel. Mike, you take 42, 108, and 112. I’ve got the office suite, and room 2. Let’s do this.”
         As they exited the vehicle, Mike stepped into an icy puddle on the driver’s side, filling his shoe with water, and moaned. Burt laughed. Janet gave them both a hand signal to keep it down. Burt and Mike both withdrew their own pads from coat pockets, as well as weapons and proceeded towards their targets. Janet crossed the lot, darkened by melting snow and entered the front office. The resident clerk looked up from his computer “face-book” game just in time to see the weapon and the spark as the exotic woman fired into his chest. He slumped in his chair and slid to the floor. Janet leaped over the counter, knelt beside him, checked his pulse, and then put away her weapon in order to use her pad.
         “Activate scan,” Janet whispered, reverently.
         The map of the hotel minimized and was replaced by a new program. A representation of the clerk’s neural makeup began to appear. The genetic code was much easier to collect, and it scrolled from top to bottom on the right side of the pad, completing before the nervous system updated. When the progress bar finished, there was a complete virtual copy of the clerk’s entire nervous system, including a neural map of the brain and information on levels of various neural transmitters and brain wave activities. Janet saved it and proceeded to access the resident’s apartment from an internal office door. She found “the wife” asleep on a fold out sofa bed, a tv on in the background. The pad information confirmed the subject’s level of sleep, so she began a scan without worrying that she might wake her. It was always better not to dose a subject if it could be avoided. With subject two completed, she went to the bedroom where she found two boys, approximately age 11, sleeping in the same bed. The closer of the two was a genetic match for the resident clerk and wife. While the scan of the second child was in progress, she booted up the first child’s brain into virtual memory.
         “What’s your name?” Janet asked.
         “Brian,” the virtual brain responded, the appropriate areas lighting with information retrieval.
         “And your friend beside you?” Janet asked.
         “Ted,” the virtual Brian said. “His parents let him sleep over.”
         The pad reported that Ted’s neural mapping was complete, and Ted’s virtual brain confirmed his identity.
         “Am I dreaming?” virtual Brian asked.
         Ted started to rouse, and Janet dosed him, and for good measure also dosed Brian. She then deactivated the virtual brain program. She got up to leave, but hesitated while looking over the boys.
         “They tell us that the brain can still hear and process auditory information, at all levels of sleep,” Janet said. “You won’t feel a thing, and when it’s over, you’ll wake up in a better place. Ted, you will arrive before your parents, but I assure you, they will join you soon. No one gets left behind. Peace.”
         After collecting her final asset, she exited to the parking lot. Mike met her center, both of them leaving footprints as the pavement surrendered to the onslaught of snow. It would be a short lived victory, as the precipitation would be gone by the morrow noon.
         “Where’s Burt? He should have finished first,” Janet said.
         Mike shrugged, and Janet confirmed with her pad that Burt had collected his assets on schedule. She slipped the pad into her pocket and began to head towards Burt’s assignments when he came around the corner. He saw her and quickened his pace.
         “What took so long?” Janet asked.
         “Nothing,” Burt said. “Just being thorough.”
         “You’re bleeding,” Janet said, no indication of emotion in her voice.
         Burt put a knuckle to his lip, wiped, saw the evidence, and chuckled. “Yeah, the subject bit me.”
         “On the mouth,” Janet said. The lack of emotion in her voice would have scared most people.
         “Maybe we should take this elsewhere,” Mike said.
         “Yep, let’s head out,” Burt agreed.
         Janet blocked his path, shoving him. “What did you do?”
         “I did my job!” Burt said.
         “What else, Burt?” Janet demanded. “Did you kiss the subject?”
         “I did more than kiss her,” Burt said.
         Janet grabbed him by the collar with one hand and stuck the business end of her weapon in his face. It wasn’t lost on Burt or Mike that her index finger switched it from stun to kill.
         “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Mike said.
         “She’s sixteen, Burt!” Janet said.
         “So? She’s dead,” Burt argued.
         “That’s your defense?” Janet asked. “We’re not grave robbers. We’re preservers!”
         “Oh, please, don’t give me that alien spiel,” Burt said. “The Grays don’t care what we do as long as all the assets are collected. And the age of consent varies with culture and temporal period. Hell, this culture celebrates 16 with songs and movies. It’s not called sweet 16 for nothing.”
         “We’re not in the 1800’s and no matter what time period you’re in, rape is rape,” Janet said.
         “So, what are you going to do, turn me into the humans?” Burt asked. “In five minutes, there isn’t going to be a victim. No victim, no crime. And even if there were evidence, how would you spin it to the authorities? Yes, we knew that a plane crash was going to kill these folks, and we could have prevented it, but we chose not to because of our rule structure.”
         “We don’t interfere with the time line,” Janet said.
         “In one week, there won’t be a time line for this planet, it’s all gone!” Burt said.
         “But not their memories! Not their reactions to internal and external stimuli and you’re fucking with the order!” Janet said, emphasizing the point by tapping his forehead with the weapon
         “What order? I haven’t upset the balance of nature or society. She won’t have any lasting mental trauma or scars. I made the map before I had sex with her, so she will wake up on the other side all sweet and happy and innocent, and then someone else can share in her virginity. Hell, I might even get to take her virginity again. Kind of ironic, eh? She might actually give it to me willingly for saving her life. See, this is the thing, Janet, when everyone gets saved, there is no justice!” Burt said.
         “You’re right, Burt,” Janet said, and shot him point blank in the head.
         Burt collapsed at Janet’s feet, a hole clean through his forehead and out the other side. Blood filled the hole, adulterating the fresh laid snow. In the pale lights from the hotel, it looked like chocolate syrup.
“There is no justice,” Janet agreed, and headed towards the truck. “You coming?”
Mike hesitated only a moment longer and then rushed to the driver’s side, forgetting about the puddle. Before he could get his door open, his other shoe filled with icy water. He got in and looked at Janet, her gaze staring forward as if she could see the horizon through the hotel. A chill went up his spine.
“Drive,” Janet said.
They were well beyond minimum safe distance when the jetliner crashed into the hotel.
***


         A water tower in Arlington, Texas, served as Janet’s base of operation. Most of the agents used water towers because they offered the best panoramic view their immediate area in which they worked. Monitors lined the wall providing 360 degrees worth of external view. Work stations monitored local news and Resurrection Network Functioning. A large, countdown clock on the wall reminded her staff of the approaching extinction level event. Janet’s awareness shifted to one of the many news stories unfolding.
         “The FAA has determined that an anti-icing mechanism failed, causing one of the wings to lose lift, putting the aircraft into a flat spin. It struck the hotel facing the opposite direction of travel. No survivors from the crash or from the hotel were found…”
         Janet surveyed her staff, their level of business likely a clue to their apprehension to what was about to happen. So far, none had an obvious emotional breakdown. And unless she counted Burt’s behavior as an indicator of stress, they all seemed normal. Mike sat sullenly, staring at his computer. She approached him.
         “Still sulking,” Janet asked.
         “What if he hadn’t backed himself up?” Mike asked.
         Janet retrieved a chair from a nearby station, spun it backwards and sat, facing him. Leaning into the back of the chair gave her the appearance of having larger breast than she actually had. That Mike’s eyes traced the line of her cleavage wasn’t lost on her. He looked away before meeting her eyes.
         “Let’s get this straight,” Janet said. “If anyone on my team is caught violating the personal sanctity of our subjects, the very people we came back to save, I will send them on ahead. Is that clear?”
         “You shot him in the brain,” Mike said. “I could have manually backed him up.”
         “We were pressed for time,” Janet said.
         “His last auto save was two weeks ago,” Mike said. “That’s two weeks of lost data. He won’t have the knowledge of how serious his violation was or how serious you were about correcting him, and you can’t punish the two week ago version of him for a crime that that person didn’t commit any more than you can kill baby Hitler for crimes against humanity.”
         “There is no justice, Mike,” Janet said. “Everyone gets born again. That was the deal. Either we save everyone, or no one.”
         “Yeah, I read the peace treaty,” Mike said.
         “Good, then we’re on the same page. Now, do you have an explanation why the Ferris network went offline? The next forty eight hours are crucial. We won’t have time to manually retrieve assets,” Janet said.
         “It appears that lightening hit one of the stations,” Mike said. “The repair mode finally kicked in after the crash, after the local collectors failed to update their last auto saves.”
         “Commander?”
         Janet turned to the staff in question and followed her gaze to the external monitors. An armada of unknown vessels were descending upon the metroplex at various rates of speed. Large triangular crafts, as large as aircraft carriers, crawled silently across the sky as easily as dirigibles, while the smaller lighter aircraft zipped by, changing direction at a moment’s notice. They witnessed the first local military to engage the alien fleet to no avail. Jet fighters were no match for the tactical fighters comprised of alien tech. Janet approached one of the monitors, boxed in the closest of the aircraft and zoomed in. Her staff gathered around to share her discovery.
         “Are they Grays?” someone asked.
         “Have they gone back on their deal?” another asked.
         “They’re not Grays,” Janet assured them.
         “Then who?”
         “Grave robbers,” Janet said, ominously. “Alert all teams and other stations. These guys are after our technology.”
         “Gray technology?” Mike said.
         “Yeah,” Janet said. “And human tech.”
         “Human tech?” Mike asked.
         “They consider the human genome technology,” Janet said.
         “We have to do something. We have to repel them!” Mike said.
         “That’s not our function,” Janet said. “Calm down everyone. Focus on your tasks. Finish uploading all collected assets and go to continuous transmission of live data and transmit as long as possible. Teams in the field will hold their positions as long as they can. This is it, folks. This is why we were trained and sent back. Let’s go. Move!”
         Mike waited till the others were busy before asking Janet. “Do they know about the extinction level event?”
         “Yeah, Mike. They don’t call them grave robbers for nothing,” Janet said. She withdrew her pad from a pocket to receive an incoming urgent message and stepped away from Mike.
         “Janet Okada, your final objective is to personally retrieve asset Jeremy Vale from the field. It is imperative that we have the most recent update. Stay with him as long as possible, transmit as long as possible. Good luck.”
         “From the Grays?” Mike asked.
         “Yeah,” Janet said. “Gear up.”
***




         “Alright, Platoon. This is it. We don’t expect to see any Grays during this excursion, but their tech is definitely here. Our primary mission is to collect cloning technology. Trust your instruments, not your eyes. Gray tech is disguised as animals, objects, people, and can even be cloaked. As for the humans and this planet, give them no regard. They’re already dead. You may feel some kinship, but they are not your people. Don’t be fooled. This is not your Earth. This is not the origin planet. This is a construct where the Grays have been conducting their experiments on our genome for their own devices. They knew we were coming, and to prevent us from getting our hands on the tech, they decided to create an artificial supernova out of the Sol facsimile. You all saw it. It happened. Had they anticipated that our ships are now capable of temporal shifting, they would have taken stronger measures to safe guard the tech at this location. For most of you rookies, this is a free for all, your chance to prove yourselves. If you want to advance in rank, you better record your target practice. Most of all, have fun and come back alive. Bring back some good trophies. And keep the Faith!”
         The men roared with delight.  The alarm klaxon rang out, trap doors opened, and men began rappelling down to the surface. Captain Wells whistled for his squad and they assembled around him while most of the platoon fell over themselves to be the first ones down to the planet.
         “Okay, squad, here’s the deal. We have ten hours before we have to be back on board. I know you all are eager to collect your own spoils, but before that can happen, we have to accomplish our primary task. We will be assaulting Parkland Hospital, where we know a large transceiver node to exist. Intel suggests that it will be moderately defended by personnel, and with the level of havoc we’re doing planet side, the mechanism itself should be too occupied scanning and uploading to worry about our tampering until it’s too late,” Wells said. “We secure this, call in air recovery to retrieve our find, and then we can go play with the time remaining. Clear?”
         They all nodded.
         “Very well, reassemble on me once we’re planet side,” Wells said, and headed towards the nearest line.
Well’s squad of twelve men fell in behind him waiting to go down. Second to last in line was Ensign Anthony Zoric, tracing his lineage back to Origin Earth, Serbian descent. He tied a foil bandana to his head before putting his helmet on.
“You’re going to bake yourself with all that gear,” Lt. Sam Grace said.
“The foil helps defend against resurrection technology,” Zoric said.
The remaining squad members laughed. “You idiot, you can’t defend against it. Whether you die here or not, they will scan you, transmit your data, and make another copy of you at the other side. Why do you think we’re nomads? It’s so the Grays can’t interrogate the other us and discover all our colonies.”
“So, you’re saying there will be two of me?” Zoric said.
“Let him wear it,” Grace said. “Maybe it will impede the scans and his other self will be MR.”
“MR?” Zoric asked.
“Mentally retarded,” Lt. Toby Behm explained, with exaggerated slowness and gestures.
“Might be an improvement,” Ensign Gary Owens said, and hit the line and disappeared down the rabbit hole.
Owens hit the ground and disconnected from the line. He quickly identified his squad leader, the one who had calmly shot a police officer that was rushing him. Wells took out the second officer by firing straight through the door the officer was using for cover. Owens followed Wells to the closer of the two officers, where Wells retrieved a device from his belt, extended a needle, and jammed it hard into the cop’s groin, right through the clothes.
“Might as well meet some of the secondary goals,” Owens said, as he observed his squad gathering around. “You should all know where there balls are. Ovaries are harder to hit, especially if you haven’t dissected a woman before. Grace, you’re the only one here with actual experience, make sure the boys don’t stick themselves.”
“I’ll try,” Grace said.
“I thought we could keep the women?” Zoric asked. “Not just take the eggs!”
“You can keep two out of the three, your pick of the spoils,” Wells said, pointing with his reproductive collector. “Unless you’re into men, or boys, then collect them.”
The squad laughed. “I’m not into boys, Sir,” Zoric said.
“I don’t think they’re any sheep in the area,” Owens said.
Grace stepped between Zoric and Owens.
“Whatever,” Wells answered. “Just pick wisely, because the two you choose will be sharing your quarters until we establish the next settlement. The hospital is that way. Grace, take point. I’ll catch up momentarily.”
Wells walked over to the other police officer to collect samples. He was still alive. He was lying in his own blood, unable to get up, but alive. He mouthed the words, “please,” unable to find the wind to speak.
“Just winged you, eh?” Wells said, kneeling down beside the man. He jabbed him in the scrotum with his collector device. “Sucks, eh? Well, they tell me you’re going to get a second chance. I wish you luck with that. But, worst case scenario, it’s all a lie, in which case, you have the hope that we have a sample of your genetic code. Our scientist will look for the best pairing, and if your sperm is selected, your offspring will carry the line forwards. Nothing wasted. Keep the Faith.”
***


         There was no chance navigating the streets given the level of chaos, so Janet pulled the hover pod out of storage. For the most part, it resembled the Bell A R H Recon Helo, only it had no main rotor, and the landing gear obviously carried functions, such as artificial gravity or propulsion units. One could only speculate how the Gray’s tech worked, and her team wasn’t really interested in the mechanics of it, only its function. Cloaked, they sped away from Arlington, over the stadium, on a beeline for Parkland hospital. Across the metroplex fires were raging. The pod virtually traced weapons fire from locals shooting up into the air at the large triangular ships, or exchanging fire with the enemy on the ground. No doubt this was happening to a greater or lesser extent all over the world, in areas where civilians had access to weapons.
         “I don’t understand,” Mike complained. “If this asset is so important, why isn’t it tagged?”
         “Don’t know,” Janet answered. It was eerie how crisp and clear the air was in contrast to the impending doom. She almost wished for overcast skies.
         “Says here he’s a nurse practitioner, always works third shift,” Mike said. “This doesn’t make sense. He hasn’t had time off from work in five years.”
         “I’m sure the hospital wouldn’t let him work that much without compulsory time off,” Janet said.
         “They did force it, and he spent his time working at other hospitals, and always the night shift,” Mike said.
         “Obsessive compulsive?”
         “”Hold on a sec,” Mike said, following her inspiration. “He is seeing a counselor. Allocating resources to collect and upload files. Nice. Coming in now.  Oh. He’s one of those.”
         “Meaning?”
         “A UFO nut,” Mike said. “He’s been working midnights in high traffic areas in order to minimize his chances for being abducted again. Wow. This guys nuts! He cut out his own implant.”
         “It’s not nuts if you’re underlying fear is deserved,” Janet said.
         “Yeah, but he doesn’t know that,” Mike said. “He’s lucky no one has locked him away.”
         “He’s functional,” Janet said.
         “Yeah. And he’s smart. So smart, he could have been a recruit,” Mike said. “Have you ever wondered how they pick us to go back?”
         “I was engineered,” Janet said.
         Mike’s mouth dropped. “No way.”
         “Come on. Look at my eyes and tell me you couldn’t figure that out.”
         “I just assumed… I mean, well, honest, never even thought of it,” Mike said.
         Janet descended the pod towards the roof of Parkland. “Never engaged in gossip?”
         “No!” Mike said.
         “Really?” Janet said, not giving tonal evidence to her skepticism.
         “You think our asset is still at the hospital?” Mike asked.
         “Given the profile you read, and the skies are full of alien spaceship, and it’s only 9 am, what do you think?” Janet asked.
         “He’d stay in his comfort zone,” Mike said.
         “Right, then, let’s do this,” Janet said.
         The pod came to rest on the roof, but off the air rescue pad, just in case someone tried to land while they were inside. They both exited the vehicle and headed towards the door, but the sound of women screaming pulled Mike to the edge of the building. He peered downed to street level. Janet joined him. A group of grave robbers were hauling women towards a barricade. Once at the barricade, the women were tagged, bound, and hauled up towards the triangular ship.
         “Can’t we do anything?” Mike asked.
         “They’re dead. We need to focus on our mission objective,” Janet said.
         “You killed Burt for one known incident of sexual assault,” Mike said. “What do you think will happen to them?”
         Janet sighed, withdrew a rifle from the pod, turned and proceeded to shoot all the women that were presently being hauled up into the ship. The robbers on the ground reacted quickly, returning fire. Even from the roof top, it was apparent several of them were sore losers, having already anticipating the weeks of fun they were to have with their new slaves. Air support was rerouted and was heading their way.
         “And that’s why I wasn’t going to do anything,” Janet said, heading towards the upper entrance. She threw down the rifle and withdrew two pistols. “We’re going to have a lot of company,” she added bypassing the lift to descend the stairs
         Mike was visibly shaking now as the reality of the situation sank in. “They’re going to bomb the hospital,” he said.
         “No, they’re not,” Janet said, descending the stairwells into the hospital. “They won’t risk damaging the Gray Technology.”
         “Do you have knowledge that I don’t know? Something that might calm me?” Mike asked, following.
         “Like what?” Janet asked.
         “Like, everything’s going to be okay?” Mike said.
         “You will be reborn on another planet,” Janet said.
         “Rhetoric! I know that. How about a personal anecdote, or perhaps some proof?” Mike demanded.
         “I’ve not experienced resurrection first hand,” Janet said.
         “You were confident enough that you went and stir up that hornets’ nest!”
         Janet paused at the door they were about to proceed through. “You wanted consistency. I gave you that. Whether we’re reborn or not is irrelevant, we’re already dead, so we might as well enjoy the game. Hold here.”
         Mike held the door to the stairwell, dividing his attention from the corridor, down the stairwell, and back up. Janet proceeded down the corridor and came to a halt at the sounds of a woman screaming. She withdrew her pad to ascertain the situation in the room. There was a robber raping a nurse. Two other were watching, presumably waiting their turn, while a third was forcing a male to watch. Her pad highlighted his name tag. “Jeremy Vale.”
         Janet pocketed her device, kicked the door open, shot the two sport watchers, and then the rapist. The rapist fell to the floor, his face sliding along the victims back, drawing her nurse’s uniform back down as he went. Her hands were tied to the bed, so she didn’t follow him to the floor. The two watchers didn’t know what hit them, they just went down. The third robber that was holding Vale hostage returned fire, erratically, and ended up killing the nurse that was being raped. Janet was halfway across the room before she was forced to stop due to the fact that the robber placed his weapon against Vale’s head.
         “That’s right, I’ll kill him,” Zoric said. “Right through the brain. That would ruin it for you, wouldn’t it? Can’t capture his soul if I scramble the brain matter, eh?”
         “Janet!” Mike yelled from the hall. She heard the exchange of fire. “Not going to be able to hold this!”
         “Let me take him and I won’t kill you,” Janet said.
         “Pff, right,” Zoric said. “He’s obviously pretty important to you, or you would have already killed us both. Or is it because we took some of your tech and you can’t scan him?”
         “Like you, I’m just following orders,” Janet said.
         “You probably have him saved from yesterday. In the scheme of things, what difference do a few hours make? A few minutes? Seconds?” Zoric asked
         “The psychological evolutionary gains of one intense moment can dramatically alter the awareness of the entire universe, if it’s the right thought, the right perspective. It can make the difference between transcendence and death,” Janet said.
         “Janet!” Mike called again.          
“What does your kind know about death?” Zoric asked.
         “We know lots about death.  We were once like humans, but we learned to extend our lives indefinitely. Like us, biologically speaking, humans don’t have to die,” Janet explained. “There’s no reason for it.”
         “If we lived forever, no one would appreciate life,” Zoric said.
         “I submit to you that you already don’t appreciate life,” Janet said. “Maybe if you lived longer you would invest in nature, in healthy living, because you would be around to reap the benefits of your work, whether good or bad.”
         “If you care so much about life, why are you destroying this planet!” Zoric demanded. “You spent all this time and energy to duplicate Earth, and you destroy it rather than share your tech with us?!”
         “It was your people who detonated the weapon that destroys this system,” Janet said.
         “Shut up!” Zoric yelled. “We wouldn’t do that.”
         “You came here to rape and pillage and the nova nicely hides the evidence of your crime,” Janet said.
         “Liar!” Zoric shouted, and turned his weapon on Janet.
         She shot him in the neck, breaking his spinal cord, killing him instantly. He dropped.  The sounds of an explosion rolled in from the corridor, causing the building to tremble. Mike entered the room.
         “We going to need another way out,” Mike said.
         “Scan these people,” Janet said, untying Vale’s hands. She withdrew her pad in order to bring the pod to their level remotely.
         “What are you doing to them?” Vale asked.
         “Giving these people a second chance,” Mike said.
         “But they’re dead. Aren’t they?” Vale asked.
         “For now,” Janet said, shooting out the window. She opened the door to the pod. “Get in.”
         “What?”
         “I personally need to see that you survive,” Janet said.
         “Why?”
         “I’ll explain later,” Janet said. “Here if I have time, or on the other side if not.”
         “Other side?”
         “Just get in!” Janet ordered. “Or I will dose you and put you in.”
         Jeremy climbed into the pod, which only had room for two. Mike handed his pad to Janet. “It was nice working with you,” Mike said. “I made a scan of myself, just in case I don’t get to another transceiver node.”
         “Good luck,” Janet said, and climbed into the pod.
         Robbers were breaking in as she sped away. She was out of range when they stole his genetic material and ended his life prematurely.
***



         Jeremy Vale found himself alone with Janet Okada on top of Enchanted Rock, overlooking a stark, cold landscape. She offered him a slice of pizza.
         “No thanks,” Jeremy grumbled.
         “Come on, live dangerously,” Janet said.
         “You’re telling me the world is ending and you want me to sit back and enjoy pizza?” Jeremy asked.
         “Yeah,” Janet said. “Or, we could have sex.”
         “I don’t even know you!” Jeremy said.
         “Throw caution to the wind. There’s no consequences,” Janet said. “No worrying about calories or STDs.”
         “You said you were going to explain to me what was going on,” Jeremy said.
         Janet nodded to the folding chair beside her. Jeremy scooted the chair away from her, turning it to face her, and sat down. When he refused a second offer for food, she dropped the pizza between them.
         “This is not your planet of origin. That planet, like this, was called Earth, but it was in a different part of the galaxy than where we are now. Anyway, on discovering life on earth, the Grays created an automated system that they could send back in time with the intent of observing the entire process of life, from cradle to grave. The original hardware and software was designed to record genetic structures of every creature that ever lived, so that there would be a record. They could duplicate from scratch any results, so they went away, never anticipating that intelligent life might arise on the very planet they were studying. They came and went several times, collecting data on several extinction periods, the extraordinary recovery, but the last extinction level event was not a naturally occurring event. They collected their data, sent teams back in time to modify the equipment in order to enhance the scanning capabilities of their computer network to make it possible to save humans. The goal was to preserve every human being who had ever lived, and even some that would have lived if not for miscarriages and such, and then build a sister Earth to try and duplicate the results.”
         “They resurrected everyone?” Jeremy asked.
         “That was the deal, everyone or no one,” Janet said.
         “Even the worst of us?” Jeremy asked.
         “Even the worst,” Janet said. “Most people were brought back more than once. We brought people back at various ages, to observe how situational changes might affect personality development. There is one planet where every human being was brought back as infants. Everyone has the same access to care, education, nurturing and…”
         “And then you sent everyone to live on a river world?” Jeremy asked.
         “Oh, nice allusion. Phillip Jose Farmer?” Janet asked. “But no. With the exception of baby planet, the humans didn’t take well to being rescued. The best comparison is that you’re feral meerkats, jumping at every shadow, and you don’t even play nice with each other, and so the third wave of experiments we gave everyone their own world, the Islamic folks over here, Hindu’s over there, etc, etc, but you still refused to socialize, and then a war broke out,” Janet said, pausing. “You understand, I’m giving you the condensed version. It’s really much more complicated.”
         “Really? It can be more complicated?” Jeremy asked.
         “Do you know why there are so many stories about humans with super powers?” Janet asked.
         “Oh, god, you’re going to go paranormal, aren’t you?” Jeremy said.
         “The universe is paranormal,” Janet said. “I must iterate, this is not the original Earth we’re on. The Grays recreated it in an effort to duplicate the results of the first Earth, but it’s difficult to account for every variable. The original Earth’s humanity created their own extinction level event, but the Grays saw such potential that they couldn’t let you just die. Some of the other races disagreed, saying the humans were too violent, but the Grays moved forwards with their plans to save humanity.”
         “There are other species of aliens?”
         “You don’t believe that you and the Grays are it, do you?” Janet asked. “Anyway, humanity’s first extinction was due to the sudden onset of telepathy.”
         “Excuse me?” Jeremy asked.
         “Everybody, simultaneously, and instantaneously, discovered that they had telepathic abilities. Within twenty four hours half the human race, six billion plus or minus, was dead from suicide or murders,” Janet said. “It got worse from there. Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have some pizza.”
         Jeremy shook his head.
         “Telepathy is the first ability. It fades for most, and other abilities take their place. Everyone seems to have a particular talent. Some can see remotely. Some can teleport objects. Those who can remote view and teleport have the ability to go anywhere within their sphere of influence,” Janet said.  “Typically, the person with the greatest ability to teleport ends up dominating. It’s not a small thing. Whether it’s conscious or not, the dominant male always uses teleportation to abort all rival offspring, similar to lions eating rival cubs. Any male who isn’t genetically related to the dominant male is forced to relocate to outside the sphere of influence, or face death. The women in the dominant male’s sphere of influence start ‘miraculously’ conceiving. Humans really don’t like talking about the darker side of psionic abilities, probably because most of you realize that if you suddenly had the ability to make all of your thoughts physically manifest, the world would be a much more dangerous place to live. Some wishes can’t be undone.”
         “Do all species have these abilities?” Jeremy asked.
         “So far, just humans,” Janet said. “Everyone else uses tech, and tech can be negated by other tech, so there’s a balance. That’s why the Counsel of Nations voted that you remain extinct. The first resurrection of humanity was not sanctioned, it got out of hand, and now there is this war, planets are being destroyed by non Gray factions, and grave robbers, like the ones you saw yesterday, are stealing tech in hopes of unlocking the full human potential before the other species do.”
         “Did any of the original humans with abilities survive?” Jeremy asked.
         “Yes, a handful, and they’re isolationist,” Janet said. “Apparently once you’ve looked into the eyes of God, you become very complacent and apathetic about life. It takes incredible amount of efforts to keep them alive initially, as they don’t even have the energy to feed themselves. The initial shock of telepathy triggers a fight or flight response, but when they calm, it really takes a lot to motivate them. The Grays have two that are now able to self care, and communicate, but they seem unwilling to ever use their abilities again. It seems that the more a human uses psionic abilities, the less he or she wants to use them.”
         “Does this have anything to do with why you want to save me personally?” Jeremy asked.
         “Probably,” Janet said.
         “Ok, so when are they coming to beam us up?” Jeremy asked.
         “Umm, it doesn’t quite work like that,” Janet said. “All the data necessary to duplicate us is being fed into this unit, which goes into the transceiver, gets beamed up to a repeater, then to another, and another, until it arrives at its destination, goes through a procedure that recreates you down to the last molecule, paints on the last quantum flux, and you step out of the machine breathing. The original doesn’t get disintegrated and reintegrated; we’re just making a copy.”
         “You mean, we’re going to die here?” Jeremy demanded.
         “Yeah, technically,” Janet said.
         Jeremy stood up. “So, I should have gone with the guys with the spaceships?”
         “Umm, no,” Janet said. “I suppose I could have. They wanted females, and as a hybrid, I would have probably been traded up the ranks, so there’s a good chance I would have had a relatively comfortable existence, for a slave. Umm, well, I suppose there might have been some robbers that were homosexuals. They might have taken you, but I didn’t see any of those kinds. ‘Don’t ask don’t tell’ doesn’t work when you bring three studs handcuffed together back to your unit.”
         “We’re going to die,” Jeremy said.
         “Yes,” Janet said, taking a bite of her pizza.
         “Can your pod take us into space?” Jeremy asked.
         “Nope,” Janet answered.
         “You’re about useless,” Jeremy said. He sat down hard. “Didn’t the Grays leave you a spaceship?”
         “It wouldn’t be much of an experiment if your culture could escape the Petri dish,” Janet said. “Why do you think your system is so isolated? Most star are binary systems. This system is quarantined.”
         “So, how’s this going to happen?”
         “The extinction level event? The sun is about to go nova,” Janet said.
         “The sun is a g type star, it won’t go nova. At best, it’ll become a red giant, but not a supernova,” Jeremy argued.
         “I didn’t say it was a natural extinction event.”
         “So, we’re just going to sit here and take it,” Jeremy asked.
         “Unless you have an epiphany that changes the world as we know it, or you come up with an alternative solution,” Janet said.
         At that moment, the sunlight dramatically decreased. Sol had been a large, orange ball on the horizon, but it shrank till it was almost smaller than Jupiter in the night sky. It was as if the sun was rushing away from them. They both stood to watch. The Milky Way was never brighter than it was at this instant.
         “That means we’ve got about eight minutes,” Janet said.
         “I’m afraid,” Jeremy said, his hands visibly shaking.
         Janet took his hand.
         “If I were ever going to have an epiphany, now would be the right time,” Jeremy said, his voice cracking.
         “Would you kiss me?” Janet asked.
         Jeremy diverted his gaze from the star to the girl. Her eyes remained on the horizon, as if she were afraid of his answer. He drew her to him. A breeze was picking up, swirling debris around them. His hands went up her side, brushed her shoulders, and cupped her face, drawing her in for a kiss. Her arms embraced him. Their eyes closed, and from a certain perspective, the joining of lips seemed to spark the sun into exploding. The brilliance of it all whited out existence, for just a moment.
         


About the author
As of July 19, 2010, John Erik Ege is a full time student at Argosy University, working on a masters in Counseling. He is also full time employed, for 20 plus years, at American Airlines, working at DFW Airport, Dallas Texas.  In his spare time he likes to write fiction, listen to music, watch movies, rescue animals, and hike… that is, when there is spare time.

He is the author of the popular Star Trek Fan Fiction, “Star Trek: Pathfinder” series, of which the full length novels can be downloaded for free at www.free-ebooks.net or can be attained, free of charge, in PDF format by emailing the author at [e-mail]  , simply put writing or Trek in the subject line so he can distinguish between junk mail and fan mail. If you don’t receive a response in a week’s time, feel free to send him another.

“Peace and happiness”
John Erik Ege