Moving In
Commander Evron of the upper central fringe sector (UCFS)
was no sooner inside and seated by a night illuminated periscotropic area model
control panel than he saw the current weakness and ordered the correction loud
and clear and without panic. "Hard missiles coming in from destroyers on
the Caspian Sea. Neutralize everything and send them a thank you." "What a welcome - eh?" Amminadav
Evron sat back in his seat. drank his hot coffee and relaxed a bit. This day
had just begun.
"It was always the same", he thought. "Shoot
first and ask questions later- imbeciles. They don't have any idea what they're
up against". Commander Evron considered what he would do if confronted
with a sudden unannounced mass landing of what could be hostile troops. Each
time he thought about it, he came to the same conclusion. "Investigate,
improve your cover, your defense posture. If they've going to attack, they're
going to attack., like a bird of prey landing on a nearby tree on a hill. Dig
in, hide, keep watching what it does,
prepare some kind of defense or flight plan." "Not these guys, they scream their
location and send projectiles. So foolish, and yet so common. They will pay for
this. They will pay with their servitude if they are lucky and their lives if
they are not." Commander Evron was naturally upset at the immediate
attack. Two or three minutes and he could possibly have lost their position,
all the fighters, himself, the whole base. Well, the "thank yous" he
sent out would suffice for revenge. All their launch sites would be demolished,
along with their control and communication systems. "You can't send out a particle without giving information about the
sender to the receiver." The
"hostile reply" system they used, was based on that principle. It
analyzed the source(s) of antagonism, located them and destroyed them.
"What now Commander?" Captain Bar Adiyna asked
despite the fact that they had all been through repeated briefings on each
stage of the establishment process in detail.
Amminadav smiled. "it's all work now. Every step is work from here
on out. We are all of us slaves to the Monarchy." He laughed and smiled
wryly.
They had to clean
up pockets of resistance now. Tens of thousands of persons across the planet
simply wouldn't abandon their ways. Many wouldn't attend meetings to discuss
this. "Look he would say, I don't really want to be here either...and he
would pause and look around. I would rather be elsewhere doing something else.
I would rather have my own private villa on my own private island where it was
warm and fruit grew and all I had to do was pick it." This usually brought
a flutter of interesting sounds. There is Law in the Galaxy. It is good Law. It
provides for each of us, our families and the common good. We obey it. You must
learn it and obey it too. Right now, you have no real choice. Later you can
vote and amend the Law. That's just how it is." And there would be a long silence.
But now, something new: "We already have our law, G-d
spoke to us through Moses, we will not allow any force other than G-d himself
to change even a word of it."
"Well, you'll be very happy to know," and a very
broad smile broke Amminadav's otherwise
overtired and serious face, "that this Law is based on the very Law of
Moses that you speak of. We are a battalion of Fighters from Markab"
, and he left it there for them to
digest.
The reply was long in coming since there really was no
"Jewish, Christian, or Muslim" civilization outside of the Earth.
"We are not aware of any such civilization." , came the reply.
"In any case, we follow no laws of anyone except G-d almightly, and that
is how it is." , mocking Aminadav's ultimatum. "That's fine with me", Aminadav answered and nodded approvingly.
Something special and undefined passed through the hall, something not totally
unlike the angel that stayed Abraham's hand from the sacrifice of his son Isaac
thought Yehoseph, the Rabbi who had spoke in defiance to Aminadav's ultimatum.
Now, suddenly, it became clear to Yehoseph the meaning of Abraham's giving up
his son as a sacrifice to G-d - that his son, Isaac was not his own, but G-d's
creation and that he had to leave go of Isaac to return to his creator that he
be blessed and duplicated in various forms and that all the people of Israel
were now the brothers and sisters of Isaac from the same source exactly, a very
special people not only born of the devotion of Abraham to his G-d, where he
shared in the special relationship of the creator to Isaac apart from the
reality of the flesh.
What Yehoseph did not know what that his thoughts were
travelling to Aminadav almost as clearly as if he'd been speaking aloud.
"These people so want to believe in a continual miracle that defines their
lives that they reshape every event that happens as a support for that
belief", Aminadav thought, and breathed in and breathed out and replied:
"Do as you wish then. If there's a conflict with our plans, we'll let you
know. " Yehoseph bowed his head slightly in agreement. "He seems to
have understood me very well", he thought.
Intelligence Arrives
Ilana enjoyed the voyage to the Earth as she did nearly
every time she had the opportunity to travel the "hydroturn" as it was called for the motion perception
associated with the screaming fast, almost dreamlike, almost static, almost the
speed of thought itself, movement across space. It felt like dancing through
water. The only problem with it was the expense. The energy cost rose
exponentially with the mass transported. Another very minor problem was that it
induced a memory lapse that filled in over time but tended to blur recent
memories to the point of exhausting persons from making an effort to recall
their embarkation points and the thoughts surrounding their exits. A few days
and all that filled in. Ilana was used to this and had developed a routine that
circumvented all that tiring thought. She slept! When Aminadav called in to
welcome her, he could only reach her messaging machine. "Ilana is sleeping
now, please leave your message and she'll contact you as soon as she
wakes." He smiled, he loved her - everyone did. He was glad that she had
arrived and had activated her messaging machine.
It was morning and "Arabian Coffee" was brewing on
the "Skitcher", a funny name given to an automatic heater, possibly
after an ordinary crewman named Skitch who, it is said, constantly burned
himself preparing food. Ilana smelled the coffee and stirred. "Oh, I wish
we didn't have so much scheduled for today", she spoke out loud, even
though she was alone in the room. The phone went off again, "ding - Ilana,
it's me again', Aminadav's voice, yes, Commander Evron, so friendly, don't ever
make the mistake of not carrying out his every wish, spoken or otherwise!
"Yes, Commander, here I am", as politely as she could. "We have
a meeting in about an hour", which meant to be sure and be there five to
ten minutes early, "will we be having the pleasure of your company?"
"Of course - I'll be early, I'm looking forward to it", she replied.
She hated him at times, but it was the demands of the job. She'd been through
this so many times before. They needed
her for her "thought evaluations", and she wondered how much the
Commander knew already about her own state of mind. "Good, see you -
click". She evaluated this quickly - "he's in trouble already!"
