Interstellar Projects: Alien Intent

By Sam Dore

Nineteen-year-olds Molly Long and Betsy Nelson have been best friends for years and are traveling to their first semester of college. But an unexpected invitation to join Joe Murdocks Interstellar Projects derails their plans. They decide its a challenging proposition and a way they can use their high ideals and values to protect planet Earth.

Molly and Betsy are impressed with the concept of the projectsusing alien technology and the idea of trying to upgrade science and improve humanity. The projects span four other planets outside of Earths solar system, and the young women are in for the experience of a lifetime as they live and train in space and are involved in important missions.

When the space shuttle is involved in an accident, they are able to confirm that alien ships are landing on earth for nefarious purposes. Murdock is attempting to train his people as quickly as possible to enable them to protect Earth. In the meantime, new aliens are being discovered and discovering them in return, and Joes group must determine if they are friend or foe. Murdock and his dedicated team at Interstellar Projects work tirelessly to protect Earth from new alien attempts to annihilate humanity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Apr 27, 2012
• ISBN: 9781469796444

Sam Dore

Sam Dore was born in Yellowstone National Park and lives in a small town in southern Montana. He grew up enjoying science fiction works and has read thousands of books over the years. Dore is currently working on a second book in this series.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

It was a grey, rainy day with lightning flashing and thunder rumbling. Joe was sitting under the awning on Fairchild drinking coffee and reviewing the events of the last twelve months. It had been a good year. A threat to the earth had been given a major setback, and there were two new alien races interested in friendship, alliances, and trading with Joe’s group and Earth. Lisa and Richard, Wendy and Wayne, Jennifer and Tim, and Connie and Vernon had all managed to get married during the year. Wendy and Connie were pregnant now, and with things finally slowed down a bit, everyone was thinking about setting up housekeeping and growing families instead of fighting aliens. Even Karen had gotten together with a nice man, and it looked like they were going to tie the knot shortly. Robyn and Linda were married and ranching cattle on the other continent, while Connie’s brothers had each taken an area and set up shop for breeding different types of horses. Lois and Bernard had married, then taken an area for breeding miniature horses.

Between Joe’s group, the Kanth, Xenth, and Jemkaw, it had finally been decided that the easiest way to deal with the aliens from the cigar-shaped ship was to exile them on a planet where they and their families could live out their lives. In a few generations, someone could visit them to see if there was any reason to let them open relations with the races that exiled them there. Since no one knew why they harbored such hatred, it was everyone’s hope it would disappear over time. In the meantime, the planet was listed as off limits to everyone. Warning buoys were set in place, and the planet was patrolled from a space station manned by a mixed group of Kanth and Jemkaw. Joe had volunteered his people to help but was told that unless something happened, it would be handled by the Kanth and Jemkaw as partial payment for all Joe had done for them. They were experienced in this area since they already handled some of their criminal element this way. Earth had calmed down after the major effects of the radiation had worn off, and the crime rate was down a good 25 percent already. Even the Middle Eastern nations had lost some of their aggressive nature.

Joe’s organization had almost finished refitting the space station in the Saurian sector by now, and they were digging into all the new technology of the saucer-shaped ship, trying to get into its computers and learn the language to see where it came from and, hopefully, when. The Jemkaw were cooperating with Joe’s group too, and they were also digging information out of the ship. When it all came together, it was going to be interesting seeing what had happened to strand them all at once. The military and NASA were having a field day with the space station that had been left at the Nevada air base. Joe and his people, along with General Makepeace’s people, had gone through it with a fine-toothed comb several times and finally decided there was no threat there, so they removed the force field and let everyone have access to it.

Relations between Joe’s group and the Xenth, Kanth, and Jemkaw were flowing well, and treaties and deals were being worked out. Earth was still fighting the situation, and they hadn’t heard from the Merganthrops yet. As far as anyone had been able to tell, the Rheemus had been wiped out, unless there was a colony on some other planet, because their home world was uninhabited when Joe’s people went to investigate. They were picking up whatever information they could get there too. One goal was to find the solution to the neutron mine problem and be able to turn them all off someday. Joe’s group had opted to have General Makepeace become one of their members, and they had quietly given him a physical and were training him whenever he could sneak away for a short time. It speeded up communications, and it already appeared to have saved his life. Since the president was so opposed to their organization, they’d feared something might happen covertly to the general, so the safest approach was to have him secretly join Joe’s group for his last few years of service.

At the moment, Joe had three teams out with ships exploring new sectors of space, one of which was thought to be an area the fourth Xenth team had gone to four thousand years ago. So far, other than turning up two planets that were inhabitable by humans and were, again, too much like Earth to be a natural occurrence, not much had been found. Joe thought they might be good planets to start colonies on. There were a lot of people on Earth who wanted to have a change of lifestyle and get away from the stress and strife of everyday life. Joe figured there were only a couple of ways the colony idea would work—one way would be a type of self government, probably an agricultural community. He’d still have to keep an outpost on the planet to tend to medical needs; and if something unusual showed up, they’d have instant communications to deal with it. People could either be rotated there or just become part of the population if they desired. Before something could be started, it was obvious there were going to be tons and tons of things to consider and deal with. The other way to colonize would be to use his own people and keep recruiting from Earth and training them; then they could use their technology, and there would be a lot less problems. That would mean a massive training program, along with some way to sort certain types of people out. It would be slower that way but less trouble. Well, time would decide that.

In the meantime, the Kanth, Xenth, Jemkaw, military corps, and Joe’s people were all interacting without a problem. Joe had instituted a few rules that helped, one of which was that Fairchild would be considered neutral ground for all races, especially if they had problems between themselves. Anything other than diplomatic discussions was to be done off planet. Another rule ensured that everyone who wasn’t part of Joe’s group was identifiable. The military always wore their camouflage; the Kanth and the Jemkaw were given a badge to wear; and everyone wore translators that worked through their computer, George. If they were off planet and outside the force field, they all wore an identifiable blue flak jacket when they were around or working with Joe’s people. The military were trained in emergency flight procedures, how to run and access some of the technology Joe was using, and how to live with the personal force field. The Jemkaw and the Kanth were just trained in use of the force field and some of the basic technology, such as the food processors, waste management, and material procurement. They hadn’t wanted to be part of Joe’s organization yet, so he kept their access more limited. The military personnel, on the other hand, were joining Joe as fast as they could get their terms of service over. The general had had to institute a six-year program for his Elite Corps just to keep them around long enough to be useful.

They’d added some ships to their fleet, and Karen had taken a vote among the medical staff for the naming of the medical ship. They settled on Caduceus for a name. When Joe asked about it, they explained that, although the Rod of Asclepius is the actual symbol for the medical system in America, the Caduceus is often used in its place by mistake. It’s a balanced design of two intertwined snakes around a pole with wings, compared to a single snake around a staff. Since the ship was going to fly, and the name was easier to pronounce, they liked their choice.

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The Youth Corps was back in business again at the earth base, which was only partially staffed now. Everything that could be was moved off planet in the event of another attack. Jackie had already commented that things were going much smoother now, and there wasn’t half as much trouble with the new kids as there had been in the past.

Things were definitely looking good.

Morning, dear, said Julie as she came out with a cup of coffee in one hand and a baby in the other.

Good morning. I see we’re baby-sitting this morning, replied Joe.

Yes, Darlene and Jim are over sparring and working out with the simulators for a couple of hours, so I said we’d be glad to keep track of Cole for them while they were busy.

Did Gus ever get the simulators working for the Kanth fighters we found in our ship?

Yes. That’s what they’re practicing on today. We modified the engines, and now we have so much speed and punch with those things that they far exceed what they used to do. We modified the onboard computer, so now we can pinch space with them, and their firepower has quadrupled because of the power in our new engines. I only hope we never have to use them in a real situation.

How are we doing on our other projects so far?

As you know, the space station is almost finished now. We ran almost four years ahead of schedule with all the help we’ve got.

Sounds like we need to find some more projects for everyone.

Maybe, but so far, we’re keeping everyone busy on the two new ships we’re working with. Linguistics is having a ball trying to figure out some of the languages they’re running into. Gus is tearing his hair out occasionally, and everyone else is busy and excited.

Any luck with any of the memory nodes we’ve found so far?

The ones from our space station have given us a bunch of locations, but we don’t know what they are yet. We’re trying to get the numerical system down, so we can try sending some probes out to look. We left the ones from the space station at the air base on Earth. We’re still trying to understand the language.

By the way, I heard that the elephants and morples we planted on Magnolia appear to be doing pretty well now since they’ve gotten used to each other, Joe said. The Xenth came by the other day all excited because the morples were breeding. Betty and her crew have a whole slew of things growing now too. I had to have Diane fly Morgan and its crew over there a couple of weeks ago to spend some time enlarging their greenhouse facilities on the surface.

Yes, I’d heard they’d gotten a bunch more plants from the two new ships we’re working with, said Julie. Any news from Gomer and his crew yet?

All I’ve heard so far is they traded the Kanth for the specifications for those geological buoys we found around the planets near Earth, and he’s been getting a bunch built. I think some of your crew are modifying the program that runs them for him and adding a black hole link, so we don’t have to get to it all the time to download the data. He wants to set them around a few of the oddball planets we’ve found to see if he can figure out what’s happening on them. His latest find is one that’s volcanically active all over. It actually isn’t safe to be on the surface it’s so active. If it hadn’t been for our force fields around the shuttles, we would have lost one of them a week ago when a new volcano suddenly emerged and erupted as they were flying over.

Well, it’s good to know our safety precautions are paying their dividends.

There’s something else that’s beginning to pay dividends, dear.

What’s that, Joe?

I was talking with Roger and Carol the other day. They’ve been working with the Xenth who are part of our organization and are experimenting with having them send pictures on the net through George. You remember, George said it used to be common with his people; but Jessica was the only human who seemed to be able to do it.

Yes, I’d forgotten about that.

Once some of them worked with it for a while, it began to work for them. We’ll probably be able to get pictures on the net now in some cases. For now, though, we may have to use a monitor to see them because Roger says they don’t come through the communicator to us the same way they seem to for the Xenth.

Well, we win a few, and we break even on a few, I guess. It’s the joys of alien technology.

Do we have any useful information from our ship on the seashore yet? Joe asked.

Not much yet, but it should be forthcoming soon. The crew has it pretty much cleaned up now, and they’ve been washing everything down with distilled water. It still has a bit of an odor, but not at all as bad as it was for a while.

Any idea what kind of propulsion it used?

Not yet. Things are pretty corroded. It must have been under water for a long time to be in this bad a shape. According to Bernard and Paul, when they analyzed some of the alloys, it took a lot to get them in such bad condition.

What else is going on that we haven’t thought about lately? asked Joe, reaching over and taking Cole from Julie’s arms.

Doesn’t seem to be too much. So far we’ve been able to stay on top of most things. I did hear that the president doesn’t look like he’s very popular right now, so he might not get reelected this time around.

I wouldn’t mind that. I liked it better when James Thornson was in office, and we could just work with everyone instead of having to work around them all the time. This last situation put us in a position I didn’t want to have to be in. It made us dictators to a nation that wouldn’t cooperate, and they’ll be destroyed if we don’t do something because they don’t have enough technology available.

We’ll have to watch and see, I guess. We don’t realize how good we have it here. We have freedom of choice, which has been severely limited on Earth, and we can regulate the kinds of people we recruit. I’ve been looking at it lately, and Earth is becoming a whining community. Not even counting the wars, with all the environmentalists and others just in the U.S., all they do is whine in the courts; then the courts allow them to dictate regulations even when they have no authority to do so. They appear to be messing up the economy, and their current moral standards are quite prone to the proliferation of diseases. Then there’s the lack of ethics. There’s the ‘I deserve to be fed and housed whether or not I work’ syndrome. I’ve also noticed that in the last few years, the amount of alcohol consumption has drastically increased.

Joe smiled. You sound like a mother talking about her kids.

I admit it probably isn’t our business, and we can’t do much about it, but we are, after all, from Earth, and I care about it. It makes me feel bad to see how self destructive they are and how much they’re missing out on because of their attitudes.

If you remember when we started this organization, we figured we’d be separated or isolated. We thought Earth probably wouldn’t accept what we were doing. When you look at where we are now, it’s amazing. We’re spread out on five planets, counting the earth; we have relationships with three, and shortly four, other races that we didn’t even have a clue existed; we have more than fifteen thousand people and their families working with us who think similarly to us about the future; and, amusingly enough, it appears we’ve saved the Merganthrop planet and Earth from destruction. Not to mention getting a cure to the Xenth people for their plague, curing a shipload of sick Kanth, and clearing up a communications system for a whole race. Not bad for ‘a couple people with some high ideals whose chance of success was slim,’ to quote Jessica when she first met us.

Julie smiled at the thought. Yes, I guess we haven’t done too bad when you put it that way. Speaking of Jessica, it seems to me I’ve been seeing her and Nadine keeping company with a couple of handsome men from the Elite Corps for the last few months.

Yes, dear. If you’ll look around, you’ll notice that it’s going on quite a bit now that things have slowed down somewhat. Everyone’s not having to concentrate so hard, and they’re having time now for vacations and time off. They’re starting to think a bit of themselves again, instead of just others. Everyone’s worked hard for the last few years. We all deserve as much of a break as we can get at the moment. It may or may not last for a while. But we can’t sluff off either.

True. Things do seem to happen suddenly around here.

CHAPTER 2

Molly Long and Betsy Nelson were best of friends. They’d just graduated from high school and were headed for their first semester of college. Both were nineteen-year-old brunettes. Since neither had been into the party and drinking crowd, they’d been a bit isolated in school and had become best friends. The boys they’d met disappointed them with their short-sighted and selfish goals. They wanted higher goals than the kids around them, so they worked hard and got good grades, then applied for college. Their finances were a bit limited, but they’d been able to procure some loans to cover the first two years. They’d heard about the dinosaur museum and decided that taking biology and veterinary training would be fun. They both loved animals and managed to bring home strays of all kinds during school. Molly’s pockets were always empty because of some stray cat or dog that needed doctoring for something, and Betsy was always spending her money to feed the animals. Their trip to college had started out well, but now they were behind schedule and were going to be late for their first classes. They hadn’t been speeding, but for some reason, they were sitting beside the road in their car, and a policeman with his car lights on was behind them. They were waiting to see why they’d been stopped. The policeman had just asked them to wait and then gotten on his radio while they sat. It was already twenty minutes since they were stopped. Molly noticed in her mirror that a FedEx truck had stopped behind the police car. The delivery man got out with an envelope and was talking to the policeman, who then came over to Molly and Betsy’s car with him.

Thanks for waiting, ladies, said the policeman. We were asked to get this to you as soon as we found you.

What is it? Molly asked.

The policeman glanced at the return address on the envelope the deliveryman was holding and said, I don’t know what’s in it, but I know the folks who sent it. You’re in for a treat, I’ll bet.

The folks who sent this went to all the trouble of having you find and hold us to deliver this? Betsy asked in unbelief.

Yes. They do things like this all the time when they want to get in touch with someone. I’ve helped them out for several years now.

The delivery man handed Molly the envelope and had her sign for it.

You folks are free to go now, and if you get a chance later, I’d like to hear what happens, said the policeman.

Uh… thanks, said Molly. She handed the envelope to Betsy, and as the policeman and delivery man were walking away, she started the car and pulled into traffic again.

Betsy opened the envelope and was reading the letter that was enclosed.

Well, don’t keep me in suspense! What’s it all about?

It looks like a job offer, Molly; but I’ll read it to you, and you can see what you think.

Dear Molly and Betsy,

We’ve been watching you throughout your high school years and see that you have kept high academic standards. Your morals, goals, and other standards are to be commended also. We understand you’ve applied to college for veterinary and biology degrees, and we’d like the opportunity to offer you a slightly different option along the same lines. If you’d be interested in talking about it and seeing what we have to offer, please call the number below at your first convenience.

Thank you very much,

Chris and Sara D.V.M.

Now that’s a different way to be offered a job, said Molly.

Yes, but it gets your attention; and now I want to see what’s up, especially since the policeman is familiar with this outfit, and it’s not going to lure us into some kind of trap.

Well, between this and the car troubles we had the other day, we’re already a day late for classes; so I suppose it won’t hurt anything when we get a motel tonight, to call them up and see what they’re offering.

That evening they called the number and were told they would be picked up after breakfast the next day and taken for the job interview.

The next morning they were sitting on the bench in front of the motel and talking when they were surprised by a large box-shaped object from the sky settling down in the parking lot. It had an ISP logo on the side; and as they watched, a door opened, and a woman came out and walked toward them. When she got within speaking distance, she said, I’m Sara. Are you the ladies who called last night for a job interview?

Molly said, Yes, we are.

OK, if you’ll go over and board the shuttle with the others, I’ll cover your bill here for last night and tonight, so you don’t have to worry about that while you’re gone.

Thanks, Sara, said Betsy, a bit taken aback by her generosity.

They walked over to the shuttle, went up the ramp, and looked inside. There were rows of seats, and most of them were filled with kids about their age. They picked seats, and the fellow beside them said Congratulations. The word was rather drawn out with a really heavy accent, and Betsy noticed he was quite handsome.

Thanks… I guess. I’m Betsy, and this is Molly, she said in introduction.

I’m Ruben. I’m from Russia. Pleased to meet you, he said.

Molly and Betsy looked around and realized the shuttle was filled with kids of all races and apparently many nationalities.

Sara returned at that point and said, Molly and Betsy were our last pickup, so we’ll head out now and get you to your interviews. Then she sat in the co-pilot’s seat up front as the shuttle lifted off the ground.

Molly was shocked when they reached space but was comforted by the fact that everyone else appeared to feel the same way, so she held her peace and just waited. Soon they were coming down into the atmosphere of another planet; then they landed in a courtyard in the center of a complex of some kind. They unloaded and were taken into a large meeting room where they were offered drinks and donuts and asked to pick a chair. When everyone was seated, Sara moved up front and got their attention. A couple of kids in blue shirts handed earphones to a few of the kids in the audience.

Sara began, First of all, let me welcome you here. The earphones some of you were given will translate anything we say for you. You were all brought here today because you’ve graduated from high school, and you’re looking at a future in either biology, veterinary medicine, or animal husbandry. We have several other groups from other areas with us today, and you’ll get to meet them at lunch time. Chris and I are veterinarians, and we wanted the opportunity to show you some things and offer you what we think will be a better option than college. You’ll get at least that much schooling and probably a lot more than they could ever offer you. You’ll work longer and harder hours and get paid less, but our medical plan is tremendous, the food is good, and we think you’ll have a lot of fun and excitement here compared to what you were originally looking at. A large hologram appeared beside Sara showing different pictures that Sara described. First of all, as you were surprised to realize, we aren’t on Earth any more. We’re currently working on four other planets outside of Earth’s solar system. Here we have a picture of Connie and Vernon Marlowe who run a horse ranching operation. Just for the record, Connie is a rancher, and Vernon is a biologist. Their ranch is a continent the size of North America and most of South America put together. That’s only a third of the planet. One of the other two continents is a cattle ranch of about the same size. There aren’t that many cattle at the moment, but there are going to be a lot to take care of when we’re done. The pictures were changing as Sara talked. Now, on this planet called Chestnut, which is where we are right now, we’ve set up a veterinary and biological research station. I’m afraid our animals here are a bit outdated, and we’ve had to change some of our techniques in order to work with them; but we think that’s good experience. The hologram showed a dinosaur walking around.

Excuse me, ma’am, said one of the kids. That’s a dinosaur!

Yes, I said our animals here were a bit outdated. That’s actually a (and she rattled off a long scientific name that Molly was sure she’d never remember). But around here we call him John. We’ll take you around and introduce you to him and some of his friends later.

Molly realized everyone was as startled as she was that these animals actually existed.

Sara continued, On the other side of the coin, we have some exotic animals to work with too. Pictures of the dragonfly and the morple were shown. There are a lot of others, but these are the ones we’re currently working with. Sara and Chris were amused at the fact they had everyone’s total attention already.

Chris took over. Now that my wife has your attention, let me fill in some of the details.

Molly was on the edge of her chair already. That policeman had been right. This was something special.

Chris continued, Our organization’s official name is ‘Interstellar Projects,’ but we’re more commonly known as ‘Joe’s organization.’ Joe and Julie Murdock started out a few years ago with a group of people and some alien technology and the idea of trying to upgrade science a bit and improve humanity as best they could. So far, they and the rest of us who joined them have managed to acquire interstellar travel, find several planets that are quite habitable by humans, meet several races of aliens, and save an alien planet from destruction, along with preventing some major problems on Earth no one was aware of. You can pick up the stories later if you want to, but suffice it to say that for a small project, we’re now pretty far flung. You’re being offered a chance to join us because you share the same kinds of morals, values, and interests we need here. We’re the first ones anyone sees as representatives of Earth, so we have to have our standards higher than what is average on Earth today. On the other hand, we’re also the only defense Earth has if an alien race wants to cause a problem. So there’s responsibility with this work as well as excitement. We’ll take you on a tour later, and at lunch you’ll get to meet some of these alien folks. In the meantime, if you want to join us in our endeavors, here’s what will happen. We’ll take you around, so you can pick up or dispose of your personal possessions; then we’ll take you to another planet for a couple of months of training. You’re not stuck there by any means; you’ll be all over, but that will be your base to begin with. You’ll go through a medical examination; then you’ll be trained in self-defense techniques, weapons use, survival in space and situations without gravity, and how to use the technology we have available. There’s a lot more involved, but these are the basics. You’ll have to learn an alien language, and you’ll also start schooling in your chosen field. When you’ve finished your education, you’re welcome to learn in other areas too. As soon as the first two months are over, you’ll begin pilot training. We teach you to fly everything we know of, so in an emergency, there’s a chance you can get yourself, your partners, or innocent people to safety. For those of you who are concerned about isolation, don’t be. We have more than fifteen thousand people here and regular phone service to Earth if we want to talk to a relative or someone else there. You’ll be working with one alien race that’s part of the organization and interacting with two others, and I’m sure there are going to be more to come.

Molly was astonished by now. This was impressive. How could anyone think a college would be as much fun as this? She looked over at Betsy and saw the same thing in her eyes, and as she looked around the room, she saw everyone else felt the same way.

OK. We’ll answer some questions now, Sara said.

One of the kids spoke up. This is impressive, but in a pinch, which nation do you hold an allegiance to?

I don’t know quite how to answer that question for sure, said Chris. But we have to think of ourselves as if we’re an independent nation. We’re here so that in a pinch, we can protect Earth as best as possible. Factually, we aren’t allied with any nation but with Earth in general. However, since there are several nations that resent us, we usually end up working on a more regular basis with the U.S., Great Britain, Russia, Australia, and a few others. However, every nation gets equal protection from us, and if they want to participate in our efforts, then they’re more than welcome to be a part.

Are there any people you won’t allow to join your organization? piped up another girl.

Yes, answered Sara. Because of what some religions on Earth believe, we don’t dare have them here as they would be a threat to innocent people. There are also some moral ideas that wouldn’t work well around here either. Because we always have to be able to watch everyone’s back in a pinch, and we’re basically one big family here, some people’s ideas and lack of moral and ethical standards would only cause problems that we’re best off not having to deal with. You also have to realize we aren’t bound by Earth’s rules here, and we’re not an equal opportunity employer either. I know it sounds strange compared to what you grew up being taught, but you’ll find there’s a lot less strife by following the basic rules that everyone here follows; and it’s a lot easier to get things done than on Earth. The people who want to live with other standards have the whole Earth, and we have no intention of trying to bother them or stop them from what they’re doing there.

Chris and Sara waited a minute; then when there were no more questions, they began the tour. They walked the recruits through the research facility and let them look at the cages of animals. Then they took them for a flight around the planet and showed them some of the different dinosaurs, while also giving a brief history of how they were found. They then flew out to the space station and let them walk around for a while, then flew by the ice planet and dropped in on Magnolia to look at some of the exotic plants. They did a quick fly by of the dead planet sector, checked out the ranching operations on Patterson’s Planet, then went to Fairchild for lunch.

When Molly and Betsy entered the mess hall on Fairchild, they noticed that a large group of kids their age were already there, and all around the edges of the room there were tables with other people sitting, already in different stages of a meal. Among them, were some of the aliens they had been told about. They were all interacting with each other like they were best of friends. The two girls were directed to the tables in the middle as people came out and served the meal; then they were handed a set of earphones with a microphone to put on, and their attention was directed to the front of the room.

A man stood up and began talking. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I’m Joe Murdock, and this lady beside me is my wife, Julie. Every year at this time we go around and try to get in touch with as many high school graduates and college students as we can who have been picked by some of their teachers for their abilities and adaptability, as well as their values and standards. The goal of this organization is to expand Earth’s mindset a bit and help humanity where we can. As you’ve realized by now, you’ve been taught to think along lines that, although accurate to what Earth knows so far, don’t really begin to scratch the surface. For any of you who happened to be wondering, this planet is about four hundred light years from Earth.

Molly was sure her jaw hit the table and bounced when he said that.

Space travel is a fact, and interstellar travel is readily available too. There are other races in space. Most of them were there long before Earth got started in space. Some we’ll be friends with, and with others, we don’t know how they’ll react to humanity coming to the stars. It’s going to be quite an experience, and there’s going to be lots of adventure along the way. We’re gaining knowledge daily and putting it to work as fast as we can. We’d like you all to be a part of it if you’re interested, and we can promise you lots of work, good food, a great medical plan, and, although the pay is zero, the fulfillment and adventure make up for it. Besides, we don’t use money here anyway.

Molly was intrigued by now, and her mind was made up that she wanted to be a part of this. She wondered if they could invite others from Earth to join. She remembered a fellow who’d hung around with her and Betsy for a while and who was also rejected by the other kids. He got good grades in math and was determined that he wasn’t going to let the kids around him hold him back.

Joe continued for a minute, The headsets you’ve been given connect you to our computer who helps run this place, and it also translates the languages we have, so you can talk to the aliens around you if you want to ask questions. Everyone in this room is here to talk to you and answer your questions if they can. For the next few hours, you’re welcome to look at our operation from your point of view instead of ours. That means you ask questions, or we’ll take and show you around and answer questions about whatever you want to know. If you want to wander around, we just ask that you take one of our people with you to keep you from getting hurt accidently. If you decide to join us, just tell our computer, or let one of our people know. Thanks again for coming to visit us today. And with that, he sat down.

There was a buzz of conversation for a minute among the kids, and Molly decided to jump in and see what would happen. She spoke audibly into the microphone. Joe?

Yes, Molly?

Uh . . . first of all, how did you know my name?

George, who’s the computer we’re talking through, identified you when you called me.

Oh. I see. Well, what I wanted to ask was, can we invite others from Earth to come be a part of this too? You know. What are the rules or requirements for people to come join you here?

Mostly just interest, Molly. As you probably were informed in your orientation earlier today, there are a couple of religions we don’t recruit from, and if people aren’t willing to interact with other races, they won’t work out here. But, otherwise, we do have some guidelines we follow, and as long as they fall within them or are willing to change, almost anyone is welcome. You give us the name and address if you have it, and we’ll be glad to talk to them and see if they’re interested.

Thanks, Joe.

You’re welcome, Molly.

Betsy? said Molly into the microphone.

Betsy jumped, then said, Yes, Molly? as she turned her head to look.

You’ve been awfully quiet today. What do you think of all this?

I’m totally awestruck, Molly! I never would have dreamed we’d be offered something like this to participate in. I’ve decided I’m going to be a part of it if they’ll have me.

Me too, Betsy. I wonder when we can start?

Joe mentioned just telling someone or the computer. Let’s try that, Betsy said.

Molly said, Computer?

Molly and Betsy were startled when a normal male voice replied, Yes, ladies? And you may address me as George.

OK. George, Betsy and I want to join this organization. We wondered when we could start.

You can actually begin right now if you want to, but wouldn’t you like to spend the afternoon looking around first?

Thanks, George, but I’ve seen enough. Earth just can’t compare to what’s being offered here. I’d never be able to do some of these things in a lifetime of trying there. How do we begin?

If you will both stand up, then go to the back of the room by the door there and wait a moment, I’ll have someone come and get you started.

Thanks, George! said Molly with her heart in her throat at her decision. She and Betsy stood up and walked to the back of the room amid the looks of all the kids there.

Moments later, a slightly pregnant, dark-haired woman came over. Hi, I’m Wendy. Won’t you follow me, please?

CHAPTER 3

Thus began an interesting chapter in Molly’s life. Molly and Betsy followed Wendy as she took them to a shuttle, where they boarded and flew over to the hospital complex. While they flew, Wendy talked with them and answered questions.

Now that the two of you want to become part of our organization, the first thing we do is give you a physical; then we’ll begin your training and take care of your personal possessions on Earth.

What’s the physical all about? asked Betsy.

Here we have some technology that exceeds what Earth can duplicate. We can put your body in pretty good shape and repair things that have happened to you in the past, such as a leg that didn’t heal properly or cancer—things like that. We innoculate you for a couple of diseases too, like the common cold. We also implant a microscopic device on your skull that gives you communication abilities similar to your current headset and some other benefits that you’ll be taught about later.

Does it hurt? asked Molly.

Wendy laughed. No. It’s quite painless, and you don’t even know anything happened other than you go to sleep for about an hour during the procedure. When you wake up, you’ll be in a room, and you just call out verbally to George. I’ll be there in a few minutes, and we’ll continue.

They were already landing at the hospital facility.

That was a fast trip. How far are we from where we started a few minutes ago, Wendy? Betsy asked.

This hospital is about fifteen hundred miles from the main base where you just were.

They landed and walked down a hall. We call these rooms infirmaries, and no matter what base you’re on, or if you’re on one of the big ships, there will be at least one there staffed by a doctor. If you’re ever hurt, and I’m sorry to say it will happen, you just get to one of these, and whoever’s there will do what they can for you. This isn’t like Earth, and you don’t have to make appointments. Wendy turned through a door and introduced Molly to the doctor there, then took Betsy to a different room.

The doctor had Molly take off the headset and all her jewelry, then lie on the table, and a big machine hovered over her. Molly listened as a voice that she now recognized as George gave an overview of her body and it’s problems, which included her fractured wrist from several years ago. Then the next thing she realized, she was lying in a bed in a strange room. It took her a minute to orient herself, but she sat up; and seeing Betsy asleep on another bed, she remembered what was going on. As she sat there, Betsy woke up too. There was an envelope with her name on it on the table beside the bed. When Molly checked it out, it simply contained her watch and the jewelry she had taken off. When she went to stand up and pushed herself off the bed with her hand, she realized her wrist didn’t have a catch in it anymore. Ever since it had healed, there’d been a minor catch whenever she tried to use it. She held it up and wiggled it in front of her face, wondering. I think I’m going to like this, she said.

What’s that? asked Betsy.

I think they must have fixed my wrist. It doesn’t have a catch in it anymore.

Betsy was standing by now and doing funny maneuvers. I don’t hurt anymore either. Whatever they did fixed all the aches I’ve been having for the last few years.

George? said Molly. We’re awake now.

Wendy is being informed. She will be there shortly, ladies.

When Wendy arrived, the first thing she did was take them to the hospital mess hall and get them some food. Molly realized that, although it had only been a couple of hours since lunch, she was famished already.

Why am I hungry already, Wendy? she asked.

Wendy smiled and explained, That’s a side effect of our medical system here. The technology speeds up healing in your body, but the down side is that you eat a lot for a day or two afterwards because of the energy and mineral depletion that takes place. Your body needs to replace everything that was used up. There’s plenty of food available, so don’t hesitate about getting some when you need to eat. Food is available twenty-four hours a day around here. Oh. Don’t get embarrassed about things or not knowing something. You’re new here, and everyone expects you to be a bit unsure of yourselves and making mistakes. We all did it when we got here. Think of us as one big family all out to help each other, and I think it’ll make it easier for you. The hardest part of being here to begin with is this isn’t like Earth. You can ask Joe a question just as easily as you can ask the cook a question. We don’t stand on formality much here."

When they finished eating, they returned to the shuttle.

Before I take you to our training facility, we should probably go back to Earth and take care of your car and other personal possessions. What we can’t deal with this afternoon, you can spend some time on later. We don’t need cars here, we have far better transportation than they ever were. Usually, we suggest you sell them or give them back to your families. As for other things, clothing is furnished here, and we can copy or make anything you want; so unless it’s something special or has sentimental value, usually we don’t recommend that you hang on to it. We can transfer all kinds of information to George; then it’s always available to you, so like something on a computer or books and pictures you wanted to keep, it’s pretty easy. Our usual policy for anything that’s sold is the money goes to a fund that runs a couple of hospitals and orphanages on Earth that we work with. We don’t need money here anyway, and if we need it for something on Earth, it’s available there.

Sounds like we’re turning our backs on Earth and what’s there, Betsy said.

Not really, it’s more like you’re stepping away from the earth and it’s system. We aren’t dependent on it anymore, and we don’t really want to screw up the economic balance if we can help it. This way, everything that’s supposed to be there stays there, and only you leave. We still interact with Earth and it’s people all the time, but we try not to take things from the economy, nor do we introduce things that might mess it up. On the other hand, we can go around healing people and helping them survive disasters, and it doesn’t cost anyone anything. It’s kind of a fine line, but it’s the best we’ve come up with so far.

OK. We’ll follow your lead then, and go from there, replied Molly.

They got into the shuttle and were introduced to Lisa, who was going to help; then they went to Earth and settled with the motel, and the shuttle picked up the car and hauled it to Molly’s parents’ place. They signed over the car to her parents, picked up the things she wanted, then went over to Betsy’s parents’ place and did the same thing. They left explanations about taking a job instead of going to school and left a phone number for everyone to get in contact with them, and that was it. They headed back to Fairchild where they had a late supper; then Wendy and Lisa ferried them over to the ice planet and oriented them in a room, leaving them in the care of others.

The next morning started with a voice in Molly’s head. Molly! Molly! Time to get up, Molly! And it didn’t stop until she finally rolled over and said something.

I’m awake. What is it?

Get dressed, and come to breakfast in the mess hall. Slacks are requested for the day, please.

Molly realized it was George talking, and she looked over to see Betsy groggily getting up too. By the time she got dressed, Betsy was dressed too, and they headed out the door. Where’s the mess hall, George? asked Molly as they left the room.

Turn right as you exit the room, and walk to the end of the hall, ladies.

Thanks, George.

When they arrived, they entered a room with tables in it and machinery around the walls. They were ushered to a seat among a group of twenty people, and a few minutes later a couple more people arrived. There were four people wearing green vests at the front of the room, and one stood up and spoke.

Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to our organization. Today we begin your training and orientation, so you can work with us and be familiar with our techniques and technology. I won’t try and sugar coat things. You’ll get hurt occasionally, and you’ll probably hate some of us for a time; but we aren’t the army, and we don’t do things the way they do. Our goal is to teach you to survive in an environment that’s different from what you’re used to and to keep you and the people around you alive if you’re suddenly thrust into a vacuum, or weightlessness, or one of several other situations. We’re also going to teach you to defend yourself and defend others. We’re not out to embarrass you, but embarrassing situations will crop up. We simply ask that for the sake of the person or persons involved, you ignore the incident or turn your back and pretend it didn’t happen. For the next two months while you’re here, all the instructors will wear green vests like we have on today, and you can feel free to talk to them or ask questions so that you can learn and feel comfortable. No one will look down on you, even if you think it’s a stupid question. We all started where you are today, and we understand what you’re going to go through. Now for introductions. My name is Nadine Pierson. I used to work for NASA as an astronaut before I came to work for Joe. The lady to my left is Kim Wang. Her specialties are stealth and explosives. Next to her is Tim Patterson, who’s a horse rancher on Patterson’s Planet; and beside him is James Thornson, who used to be president of the U.S. You’ll probably have different instructors all the time because we all trade off as we’re free, but everyone will be introduced so that you get to know us. Also, because we’ll deal with some specifically male or female situations here, when it comes time for instruction in those areas, we’ll try and separate you and give you segregated classes to cut down on the embarrassing nature of what you’re taught. Are there any questions?

There were no questions, so she continued. All right. To begin with, all our bases and all our ships and shuttles have most of the same basic equipment on board. There’s a mass converter that accepts mass on one side and delivers the requested items on the other. There are toilet facilities complete with sinks and showers, and there are storage areas full of different items, depending on what you’re doing and where you are. We’ll start by letting you fix your own breakfast today. These machines are a version of our regular system, but they’re built for teaching purposes, so they look a bit different than what you’ll find elsewhere. If each of you will go stand in front of a machine, I’ll tell you how to operate it. These will only produce food, but the regular ones will produce anything within George’s database. You’ll be taught about that later. Now, on the upper right is an index button. Push that, and select ‘food’. Then, using the two arrows, scroll down until you find what you want. These are pretty simple, but once you learn to use them, we’ll teach you the finesse that can be accomplished with them. When you have your meal picked out, press ‘enter’.

Molly picked two eggs sunny side up, a side of hash browns, a piece of ham, and coffee. She pressed ‘enter’, and a few seconds later the front panel lifted up, revealing a hot meal sitting on a plate before her. Realizing there weren’t any utensils, she turned and asked, Excuse me, Nadine, how do we get utensils to eat with and salt and pepper and things like that?

Nadine smiled and said, In this particular machine, push the button marked ‘utensils’ and the other one marked ‘condiments’, and choose what you want.

Thanks, Nadine.

Betsy had been listening when Molly asked questions, and she had her breakfast done at almost the same time, and they sat down and ate together. When they were done, Nadine stood up and spoke again. When you’re finished eating, take your dishes, utensils, and condiments back to the machine, push the ‘open’ button, and then set everything inside. Then push the red button that says ‘disposal’. Something you’ll have to get used to here is that we are 100 percent recycled. The computer that runs this place takes everything apart down to the atomic level and puts it back together again however we want it. So when we’re done with something, we just return it to the mass converter, and it’s turned into something else. It solves the garbage and waste problem quite efficiently.

I have a question, ma’am, said one of the boys across the room.

Sure, Ben, what is it?

I understand the mass conversion part; but, obviously, we took more from the system than will be returned, even as waste. We lose perspiration, for example. How is that dealt with?

If the mass converter doesn’t have enough to work with, all you have to do is put something in it. It can be dirt, rocks, plants, almost anything. The computer takes it apart and rearranges it for whatever you want. Here where we’re on a planet, deep below us the system simply mines some of the planet for our needs. A space ship will go to a planet or asteroid and absorb that for mass, and the shuttles are simply serviced by a repair crew that checks things and adds mass if the volume is below normal. For anyone who’s wondering, there are safeguards built in as far as what it will accept for mass. It won’t accept human or Xenth tissue or any large quantity of blood without specific authorization, nor will it accept anything, except bugs and worms, that’s alive, and it does question things at times.

Tim stood up as Nadine sat down, and he continued. Now that you’ve had breakfast, we’re going to introduce you to our computer that runs everything. We all grew up with George being the computer, so we always refer to it as George. In actuality, however, each big ship has an onboard computer, our space station has one, and each base has one. Any one of them could run everything and have tons of space left over just sitting idle, but as we grew we decided to have some redundancy built in. Each computer has a name. George is the original one, and the one on this planet is Merle. They’re all connected together, and they all do the same thing; so no matter which one you call on, you get the same answers, and they all have the same information. The only difference between them is their name and their voice. At this point, he named them all, and they each answered using their voice patterns. When you all got your physicals the other day, the doctor implanted a microscopic device on your skulls behind your ear. It contains an even smaller black hole, which is how we have an instant link to everyone and all the computers all the time. This is how we all communicate and how we can access George when we need to. He’s a very advanced computer, as you probably are realizing. He has a personality, but he’s still a computer, and we occasionally find areas he can’t work in. Since this is our main form of communication, you need to know how to use it. You all experienced it a bit this morning when George woke you up. They’re all turned on, so the first thing you have to do is learn to think so that the link can receive your thoughts. It can’t read your mind, but if you think toward it, it picks that up and transmits it wherever it’s supposed to go. It’s tough to begin with, but like the pictures that came out a few years ago where you had to defocus your eyes to see the picture, it’s very similar. Try it, and see if you can access George and ask him a question.

Molly hit on it right away and then blushed a bit. George, is Tim married?

Yes, Molly, George answered.

Then Tim spoke again and said, I probably should let you know, we’re monitoring what you say to see how you’re doing.

I’m sorry, Tim. It was just the first question that popped into my mind, thought Molly.

Not a problem, Molly, came the reply from Tim. This is how it works, and you’re getting a good handle on it. Congratulations.

Thanks, Tim.

Molly! Isn’t this exciting? It’s like a personal telephone always connected, Betsy said.

Yes it is, but it’ll take some getting used to, replied Molly.

After a short time, Tim took the floor again. Most of you have it working for you now, so just practice, and it’ll be second nature to you soon. The rest of you, keep working with it, and we’ll help you until it works for you. Don’t get discouraged. At the moment, without an instructor’s authorization, you’re limited to talking to George or only to people here on the base, but it connects to a phone and everything else when you’re finished with your training. George is one of the main instructors here, so be sure to listen to him when he tries to tell you something, or if he’s teaching you something.

Kim stood up and took over for a short time. "The next thing on the list is that, along with communications, the black hole device gives each of you a personal force field. It’s expanded around you at all times when you’re outside of a base, and it can be turned on inside a base if you instruct George accordingly. All the bases are protected by a force field, and George takes care of any problems inside; but, if for some reason that field should fail, yours will come on automatically. Along with protection, comes amplification, which means you’re