Pete's Journey Discovery

By Patrick Curran

Pete Williamson was young the first time we were visited. He didn't care, he had one thing on his mind and that was getting into space. As he learns that getting there is very hard his dad becomes instrumental in the united states efforts to follow what the aliens have asked us to accomplish, so we can be allowed to join the universe. Years later Pete, with his wife gets his chance and he leaves Earth for the seat of all power in the Universe. As he travels to the Ring planet he learns the reason behind the push to get Earth involved. Of course Earth is having problems of its own. How do you get all the different countries to join together and form a one earth government? Pete is amazed how naive the ring government is but he is determined to help in what he considers a lost cause. Fortunately, there is a few who have not had their head in the sand and together they try to save the universe from total collapse.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Patrick Curran
• Release date: Oct 14, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370505142

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Pete's Journey

Discovery

Patrick Curran

Pete's Journey

Discovery

By Patrick Curran

Copyright 2016 Patrick Curran

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition License Notes:

Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locals is entirely coincidental.

For my wife Judi

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

CHAPTER 1

Parut Niksis stood before two members of the first ring. There were only five voting members on this ring. The particular voting members were among the oldest races in the universe. Tradition dictated they not use their names or identify with their home system or galaxy. Parut addressed them by their special designation, Mr. Abel and Mr. Baker (Parut thought this was cold) per instructions. I have been traveling through sector three identifying six new races with some space travel. None have moved past their own solar system. To date, there hasn’t been any evidence of contact by any advanced race. Per our conversation, I have put a ‘no contact’ buoy outside their system, Mr. Niksis said.

We still haven’t been able to find a way to stop the Alpha combine from taking over new races. They have followed the law yet somehow get the new government to sign themselves into virtual slavery trying to pay off their debt, Mr. Abel said.

We will go through with our plan and monitor closely every step each race takes to try to get a handle on how it happens, Mr. Baker said.

Parut was entering the last system on his list. It had been a long year so far, with a surprising mix of responses. He was shocked when one race flatly refused his offer, thinking they would be among the stars sooner than he said was possible. They asked that he not return. Parut was disappointed but would honor their request. He pulled the advanced team without their ever knowing they were there. At least the other four were excited with the possibilities. It remained to be seen the path they decided to take. As he spoke to John and Miling, his advanced team for the human race, he was intrigued with their passion. They couldn’t believe the desire of the individual to become more than they were. It didn’t matter what political system they lived under, it doesn’t matter how much they have. They know there is something more than what they have; they just need the opportunity to get it.

If this world could be pulled together and pointed in one direction they could be among the most powerful and driven in the universe, commented John.

I hope you’re right. Maybe this is the race we have been looking for, Parut said.

Lt. Jim Davis started his watch like any other, a quick once around to verify all automatic alarms were in the green status. The infamous mid-watch was always quiet, which suited him just fine. Everyone was here. All three of the beginning log entries were made, and the single most important item to all mid-watch personnel, the coffee pot was full and fresh. When the important people were here during the day those small work projects that kept everyone busy were always completed by the four to midnight crew. Lt. Davis did not miss those nitpick projects. What never ceased to make him smile was the fact it took the three of them to accomplish what took twenty to thirty people during the day.

There was the same amount of outer space at two in the morning as there was at two in the afternoon. The commanding officer was absolutely positive that nothing would ever be detected outside the 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. shift. That was why the first auto alarm went off at 3 a.m. Of course, Lt. Davis and his two ratings nearly wet themselves when it happened. All three looked at each other expecting a practical joke or an unannounced drill, but all three were Navy and had been around for years.

Second Class Petty Officer Bertram told Lt. Davis he would make a quick check for a malfunction and Third Class Kelly started the recording tapes and determined the location and distance of the rock that set off the alarms. SOP gave Lt. Davis thirty minutes to get the second dish started to track the object. They needed to determine if it is a legitimate contact and wake up the duty commander. No one wanted to do that without some sort of intelligent comment. After all, they wanted to get off mid-watch some day.

Petty Officer Bertram was a sharp cookie. He had a firm belief in little green men and an absolute belief that we would be visited someday. He let out a curse that would make a sailor proud. Lt., we have a code Ice Breaker.

Lt. Davis looked at the clock and saw he still had twelve minutes. P.O. Bertram, that ain’t funny. You know I only have a few more minutes before I have to call this in. Then he turned to Kelly, Where is the object?

Sir, it’s inside the moon’s orbit, slowing fast but could make earth’s orbit in three to four hours. It’ll take another fifteen minutes to get specific, Kelly said. They all looked at each other, Lt. Davis smiled.

I guess that’s why we’re here. Congratulations, we must be first or else the four-foot board would look like a Christmas tree. Then, He reached for the phone.

Hello, Commander Tipper here.

Sir, Lt. Davis at Long Range Radar here. At 3:04 a.m. we detected an object inside the moon’s orbit reducing speed and should be in Earth’s orbit within the next two to three hours. It will take another fifteen minutes to firm up SPEC11063, sir.

Davis, if this is a joke or a screw up, I hope you like life in the Arctic. The phone slammed down.

Gentlemen, let’s get a cup of coffee and firm this up, commented Lt. Davis. Ten minutes later, the new estimate was down to fifty minutes out and not going into orbit but landing in the U.S. or stopping above who knows where.

We better call someone, Commander Tipper may not get here in time, said Bertram to the Lieutenant.

You are absolutely right, Petty Officer, and Lt. Davis reached for the phone and called the Duty Officer at NORAD.

Sir, Lt. Davis here. At 3:02 a.m. we had contact entering close earth proximity. It will be able to be in earth’s atmosphere in forty-five minutes. Our C.O. will be here about the same time. We will not be able to follow normal procedures to alert the proper chain of command, and you are the highest ranking officer that I can contact. I have double checked our info and we are doing follow up confirmation. Our early warning missile defense should pick them up in another twelve minutes. I don’t have to tell you when that hits the fan, all hell breaks loose. I’m sorry for the short notice but that’s all we have, sir, good luck. If I can be of further help, don’t hesitate to call.

Twenty-four Hours later, Lt. Davis was right in his prediction. All hell did break loose. At first, it was mostly the major three or four militaries and their governments. NATO went to full alert which prompted Russia and China to follow, at first not knowing why, but no one was taking any chances. For the President that was the easiest decision he had to make. Of course, any time a meeting started, he ranted and raved about the four minutes notice he was given in his PJ’s on the way to the bunker under the White House. As luck would have it, the space station orbit would not give a better look than other assets the military had. So, no close up pictures were able to be taken and the pictures that were available made you think of a ship from a Star Wars movie. After it went public, most governments spent the next seven days trying to calm down their citizens. Most had to revert to some form of martial law. The U.S. didn’t have to go that far, but every state called up their reservists and most major city police forces would have been overrun without them.

It started as a joke with ’E.T. phone home’ and most American Ham radios were sold in one day. Everyone wanted to send a message. Then, some operator put a price on a message and some leased their set for an hour at a time. The first millionaire was made three days later.

Then it dawned on someone that they could listen in on our communications and systems crashed from overload. Of course, no one listened to the government trying to get people to stay calm, use common sense, and get back to work.

The President met with the Joint Chiefs and cabinet members more times in the first week than he did in the previous five years. It didn’t take long to realize the Joint Chiefs had all their assets in place. All they could really do was react to what the aliens did or didn’t do. The cabinet members were in the same boat but they did have a government to run. Then, for the second and third week the population started to breathe again. The government and military had three meetings behind closed doors. It was decided the only way to keep all governments around the world informed was they would have a series of meetings at the UN on the thirty-first day after the arrival of the aliens.

The big day came. Most governments sent their heads of state. News outlets had a field day with it. One laser beam and all heads of state were gone. The heads of state, of course, wouldn’t miss this meeting for anything for fear of missing something. The U.S. went into the government continuation mode and all the top leaders were safely tucked away at several locations. Of course, no one knew what secure really meant any more. The meeting started promptly at 10 a.m. Roll call finished by ten-thirty and the agenda was handed out by eleven. Immediately, two hundred and three requests for amendments were received by the secretary and the Secretary General tried to have order restored, to no avail. So, he sat back down and was willing to wait for hell to freeze over until the delegates decided how foolish they looked. It took quite a while. Heads of state were used to getting their own way.

At 2 p.m. he got back up, went to the podium and thanked everyone for working through lunch. Half of the world’s delegates laughed uproariously and the other half had never been so insulted in their entire lives.

At 3 p.m. he got back up and started to address the delegates as he was first on the agenda. Before anyone realized what he was doing, he was into his speech.

Members of the UN and honored guests. We all know why we are here. I hope by the end of this unprecedented meeting, we will be in agreement on the steps to be taken to address the alien craft overhead.

Before he started his next sentence the fifty-foot by thirty-foot screen behind him started a count up, not down. President Johnson thought this was very smart. A count down would have had this hall in complete panic. When the count reached twenty, a voice started. It was in English and a script rolled across the screen. Two thirds of the people reached for their translation devices, although no one could read the writing.

Gentle beings, I will use the language that is common to your location. The writing that you see is the universal script used across all space. The recording device attached to the screen will record my speech as it is understood across all the known universe. We apologize if this proves to be too inconvenient, but it will be used for all communications in the future. It is also being broadcast over many of your receiving devices. A little background generally helps but I will be brief as I will leave each continent an obelisk that will give much more detail, but not help you in your task as you will soon learn, said the alien on the screen.

The universe that you think of as the total of all space is not. What you consider the Big Bang Theory is close enough if not totally correct. The age of the universe is closer to seven billion years old. It took life five-hundred million years to start. Our oldest sentient species is close to four billion years old and are still in the same solar system they developed in. For the next two to three billion years there was every conceivable expansion, war, scientific discovery, and compression you could imagine. For the last billion to one and a half billion years we have used this method to welcome new races to join us in a peaceful coexistence. In your galaxy there are one thousand five hundred sentient races in some degree of development. You are in the bottom ten percent in size of the three hundred and twenty-five billion stars in your galaxy. There are approximately one and a half million planets that could be inhabited. Less than one percent has life. As it stands right now it will take you another three hundred and fifty years to be able to reach the next closest star, so we won’t enforce any restrictions on you to protect innocent and friendly species.

I have come to you from approximately a quarter of the universe from where you are. The journey took about one of your years to get here. We had several stops along the way. Our presence here will raise many questions. They will not be answered at this visit. They will be in ten years. You will need at least this much time to accomplish what we will require of you. This will not be a demand. If you don’t do it or want to do it, it will be OK with the Universal Associations of Beings. But remember, at some point we will not allow a rogue species to interrupt the billion years of peaceful coexistence. To monitor you we will have six what you call satellites orbiting your planet. They will not be able to be moved. You cannot destroy them with your level of technology. They are only three meters in diameter so as not to interfere with your movement in space. You have seven continents. We will be placing an obelisk on each continent. It will answer questions up to a point.

"The first task you must learn is to read and speak the universal language.

The second task is to stop wars on your planet.

The third is to reduce all your weapons of mass destruction. You have atomic weapons that have no place in the universe. Not even as a power source. We will not understand the use of atomic energy for power consumption until you learn how to use the technology I will give you.

The fourth task, and with your present system of governments, I have no doubt the hardest. You must have one government that speaks for your entire race. How you do it is totally up to you."

There will be many steps along the way but these are your first steps. We hope you choose to bring your race to the other stars. You have much to offer. At noon tomorrow I will interrupt your meeting again. Mr. Secretary General, I will answer one question and at the same time leave you with the cure to one of your most dreaded diseases. And the screen went blank.

No one left that night. There were actual fights on the floor. Thank God there were no guns allowed or it would have been a disaster. At 1 a.m. the Secretary General finally got control by threatening to toss out any who didn’t calm down so they could move forward. The five hundred Special UN Police did help. It was decided that everyone would be permitted to submit three questions. The most popular ten would be voted on at 8 a.m. It was bedlam in the Security Council. It was felt they should generate the question and the room went crazy with rage. At 8 a.m. the president read the ten most popular and the vote for the top question was How was your government formed?

Right on time, the screen took the shape of a being. He was not human but not entirely alien. His head was deeper by half compared to humans. An ear on each side looked more like cat's ears and swiveled as he looked around. His two eyes were round and rather close together. His mouth was more centered and there was no apparent nose. He wore a floor length robe and no legs or arms were visible. It was the same voice from yesterday.

Gentle beings, I am sure you had an eventful night because all races do with no two ever reacting exactly the same way. Mr. Secretary, have you a question for me?

Yes, we do and you are right. It was an eventful evening. Our question is what is the make-up of your government and how is it run?

We call it the ‘Rings of Peace.’ The top Ring consists of five voting members that represent the top twenty-five percent of the oldest races. There are two hundred and ninety members on that Ring. The next Ring has fifteen voting members. They represent the next twenty-five percent and there are seven hundred members. The next Ring represents twenty-five percent of the next oldest and there are eleven voting members. There are five hundred and thirty members. The youngest Ring is a member Ring only. They cannot submit current universal changes to the universal rules. The highest Ring, called the ‘Consent’ Ring, reviews all new and current changes, and they are defenders of the laws. The second Ring, called the ‘Changer,’ can submit changes to the current universal law rule to be voted on. The third Ring, called the ‘Originator,’ can submit only new rules for consideration to be adopted.

If you are curious as to how it works, every five hundred of your years a current member is moved to another Ring. Every one hundred years one voting member of the Ring is changed out to a member of that Ring.

Someday, you will be given the opportunity to read the Universal Laws and be offered the chance to accept them. But first you must complete the four tasks that I have laid out for you. We will be back in five years to observe your progress. We may or may not contact you at that time. We will contact you on your tenth anniversary.

I told you yesterday that we would give you the cure for one of your diseases. We have studied your health records and although many would like to see a cure for cancer or heart disease or any number of illnesses, the one that affects almost everyone and sometimes kills more worldwide, is the flu. In the obelisk one of the health sections will show you how to defeat and cure the flu. Of course, your scientists will also be able to use this for other discoveries as well. We wish you good fortune with the cure.

Space travel is easy, covering distance is hard. Since you are already in space and getting no-where fast, it was decided to move you into our Class C category. We will give you the knowledge needed to become energy independent. Fifty percent of all ships use this to power their local ships. It’s the basis of our energy plants. Use these diagrams to build the needed machines. These should be directly installed in your power stations. Once these are installed you will no longer need to use fuel. From there you will be able to apply that technology for many other uses. The diagrams will be on the obelisk. One word of warning, do not move the obelisks! If moved more than one hundred meters off their present location, they will cease working.

We wish you luck and good fortune. Goodbye.

CHAPTER 2

Dad, why can’t we go to the stars? asked Pete Williamson, he had just started seventh grade as a straight A student, hadn’t noticed that there were girls in school, and hadn’t looked at the ground one time. If it didn’t have wings and a rocket attached, or a telescope wasn’t attached to it, he didn’t give it a second thought. He was medium height, medium weight. Great athlete in whatever sport he happened to like at the moment. If his mom didn’t demand that he wear certain clothes he would have worn the same thing until he noticed the smell or someone mentioned it to him. He just had one thing on his mind and it was outer space. He argued with his parents, debated with his teachers, and wrote letters to every space agency, astronaut, former and current, about going into space after high school. He couldn’t believe that everyone wrote back saying after four to eight years of college he could apply to training programs.

Then it happened. Col. John Bright wrote him back saying he was going to be at his high school next month and if he could swing it, he would be glad to talk to him, if he could get to the school and get permission from his high school science teacher who happened to be a friend of the Colonel. When he came down off the ceiling, he went to his mom and dad to let them know what was going to happen. Unable to get a word in edgewise until he ran out of gas they said OK. It was self-defense really. They knew they would never get to bed and besides, there was no downside to letting him try. It wasn’t even a contest.

Not only did he get a one–on-one, he got to do it at his teacher’s house and away from school. He didn’t remember the next ten days. He finally got his questions down to thirty-seven and couldn’t eliminate any from there on. He knew the Col. would not have time for all of them, but he just couldn’t eliminate any more. The day came and for the first time he actually asked his mother if he was dressed OK. She smiled and said yes and he couldn’t understand why she had a tear in her eye. He didn’t realize it was the first time he ever wore a tie without the threat of bodily harm.

The Colonel wasn’t ten-feet tall, but he did have that presence about him that men got from being there and doing that. Pete could hardly contain himself from launching into speeches, and questions, and before he could even start, the Colonel held up his hand.

Pete, you have to have at least twenty-five to fifty questions that you believe are vital to your very existence. I know I did when I got my chance but our time is limited and I must talk to these other guests also. So please go and sit over there and we will talk afterwards. He walked over to the chair and sat on the edge ready to launch if the Colonel. tried to get away. He didn’t, and later on when most people had left, he came over.

Let me see, a straight A student, a good athlete, no girls, and can’t understand why the day after getting your driver’s license you can’t get into space. Am I right? the Colonel asked.

Yes, sir.

Pete you’re familiar with the space station and moon outpost and the like? asked the Colonel.

Yes, sir.

Pete, everyone out there has eight years of advanced college and then several more specializing in their field here on Earth. Do you realize there are no cooks, no one to do your laundry, no one to clean up after you, not one spare person at all?

No, sir.

So, if you think you can stow away as a cook there aren’t any. I won’t go into what you have to give up in order to get the chance, because you wouldn’t hear the words. What I will tell you is that it is everything that you could hope for. You have to be the best you can be at everything you do. There are thousands of kids just like yourself who have at least your same desire, and may even be smarter, wanting to do just what you want. Try to figure out early on what you want to do out there and then channel your education after it. Most start with an engineering degree of some kind. I truly hope you succeed. We will need many qualified people in space. I just wish we could go to the stars. With that, he got up, shook his hand, and was gone.

Wait! What did you say at the end? Did I hear you right? What do you mean go to the stars? Pete asked.

Pete went home in a daze. Half way there he realized he hadn’t even asked a question. Oh, well. The Colonel told me what I had to do and it made sense, but what did he mean I wish we could go to the stars?

All in all, it was probably the best night of Pete’s life. When he got home, both parents were waiting for him. It was late but he had to tell them all about the evening and what the Colonel said. Pete told them the last statement kind of bothered him and he didn’t know what the Colonel meant by it.

Tomorrow was Saturday and mom informed him that he was grounded from everything until he wrote a thank you note to the Colonel and his science teacher for the opportunity to talk to the Colonel.

Well, you can bet that he wrote those notes the next day. Pete struggled with two paragraphs to the teacher but his dad refused to let me send the fourteen page thank you note to Col. Bright. He said when he cut it down to two pages he would proofread it and he could send it. Pete’s last line was the one he hoped the Colonel would answer. It simply asked what he meant by hoping to go to the stars.

The next few weeks were busy. School was OK but every spare minute Pete was making a list, looking up careers, and planning on what schools he would attend. Seventh grade students were not taken nearly as serious as those in eleventh and twelfth grades. It was very frustrating. Then the letter came and he couldn’t get to his room fast enough. The Colonel was glad that he was enthusiastic and went on to say that the solar system would keep everyone busy for many decades to come and that someday deep space may open up for us. Well, that didn’t answer it at all. Shouldn’t we be looking at deep space as the next frontier? We are already in the solar system and by the time Pete would get to go, there won’t be anything to learn or discover. He didn’t care if he was in the seventh grade or not, that doesn’t make any sense at all. We have been visited by aliens at least four times. Why don’t we hitch a ride with them or have them show us the way? It just doesn’t make sense.

Robert Williamson was relatively young to be a senator at age thirty-five. He hoped to have a long career ahead of him. He was too junior to be the chairperson of any committee and he was also in the wrong party to even be considered. But he was a member of the relatively new committee on extra-terrestrial life and space. His knowledge on the subject that his son was so obsessed with was very good. He was positive that any day his son was going to demand answers and want to know why his dad can’t make it happen.

Five years have passed and, as they said they would, we were visited by the aliens to review our status. We were not contacted so much as sent a communication stating we have made little to no progress the first five years and we would be visited as scheduled on our tenth year anniversary.

This had a very sobering effect on the government. Some started to come around to the fact that the aliens were serious and will not just give away other technology. The UN was almost ready to give up. The Security Council at first tried to assert themselves over the third world countries and that scared them and they were worried. They thought they would be left in the dust. The result was nothing was accomplished. There were about six to ten conflicts or wars going on at any one time. This doubled as third world countries tried to grow themselves into relevance by attacking neighbors. Of course, this kept all super powers on edge, never knowing if it would escalate into a major war.

The Senate subcommittee on space and aliens met every thirty days. The first four years with a new election, Robert Williamson was in the right party this time. He became the chairman and now they met weekly. Things were speeding up. Ideas were coming from every direction but especially the president. He wanted to be the spear head that brought the aliens to our side. What he, like all the leaders of the world, had not come to grips with, is there will be only one government in the eyes of the aliens. The Senate committee was the clearing house for all of the information coming in, both scientific and pure speculation. New faiths sprang up. Old faiths declined, bomb shelters were a growing industry and you couldn’t buy ammo no matter who you were. After about eight years, people in general calmed