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Diplomacy
-- Chapter 8
1.
"All of the avatars are on-line," Jana reported. "I hate these
extractions," Edlin sighed. "Yeah, but it's our bread and
butter," Brody added.
2. In the real world, the three of them could
see each other in their avatar bodies, Universally recognized as the
mysterious grey aliens. In reality, "The Greys" were biological
robots invented by Theos for genetic extraction since terraforming was
a Theotian signature export. Even the Cacci Dai deferred to
Theite expertise on genetics and biology matters.
3. Jana, Edlin and Brody were operating their avatar bodies from
a larger Cacci Dai built ship in high
orbit.
4. "This place seems a bit more developed than usual," Jana
commented, "there's a lot of debris in orbit." "I imagine Theos
started like this 1,000 years ago," Edlin added. "I'm getting an
advisory on the harmonic," Brody said. Brody piloted the saucer
to a forest on the orbs northern hemisphere. The saucer
automatically synchronized with the sphere's polarity and refrenced
indigenous navigation systems and signals. "Their grain weighs
about the same as
ours;" Edlin noted, "the circumference is within 1,000 miles; gravity
is the same..." Jana injected, "... radically
displaced continents -- it could almost pass for Theos. I like
the
color," she added, "very soothing."
5. "The natives call it Earth," Brody said, "Here's the advisory;
in the alpha bands... right there on that rooftop, thinking about
us."
"Guards!" Jana froze, "they're not psionic here, are they?" "I
don't think so -- there's no indication," Edlin answered. Brody
piloted the ship down the sloping terrain and glided over the treetops
toward the subject. "We might as
well use that one," Jana said. "It sees us. This is
remote enough," Edlin
checked an instrument panel, "Think we'll scare it?" There was a
mutually supressed
chuckle.
6. The subject started to jump off of the roof, "Gotcha," Brody
said. "Guess that answers that," Edlin said. The subject
was suspended in mid air. "Bring it up," Jana said. For two
hours, they examined its synaptic
pathways, tweaked a few things here and there and tagged it because
they
were required too.
7. "Two hours of missing time on their clock is about 20 minutes
to us," Brody calculated, "Imagine how mysterious and
complicated these species make all of this?" "Superstitious,"
Edlin added. "Or worse," Jena snickered. Every
world's interpretation of time, weights and measures correlates to
their natural environment.
8. "Did you get what you needed?" Edlin asked. "Yeah --
that's enough from this one," Jana confirmed. "I have a couple
more advisories," Brody said. "I like the easy ones," Jana
said. "Check out the light bands," Edlin pointed to a bandwidth
monitor. The three of them stared at the exosensory
bandwidths. The robotic eyes of their avatars were designed
to pick up expanded bandwidths without technological assistance, much
like natural Jolvian eyes.
9. Jena replayed the exosensory recorder to account for the last
30 minutes. "Guards!" she exclaimed, "Light machines!
They're everywhere!" "Here?" Edlin asked.
"Should we leave?" Brody suggested, ready to vacate. "They
haven't done anything to us," Jena observed, and it's a good
thing." "They probably know we're avatars and the subject is
real," Brody said. "But look," Jena added, "They were messing
around with the subject
while we
were. Do we know anything more about this place?"
10. "Light machines... the Light Race," Edlin clarified, "Like
what the Jolvians believe. We're not aquainted with this type of
photonic
matter."
11. "It shows intelligent design," Jana
observed. "They're evil," Brody commented. "Evil?" Edlin
questioned. "I think you're right, Brody," Jana agreed,
"those are gravitons -- these are anti-being probably banished here...
check
to see if were in the right place." Brody punched up a list of
10-planet systems and discovered a minor discrepancy.
"Quarantined," Brody read for him. "By who?" Jana
asked. "There's a footnote?" Brody pointed out. "And that
symbol?" Edlin noticed. It was a holographic clock with 6
hands pointing in 3 dimensions.
12. Jana sighed, "Truly,' she exhaled in recognition, "a footnote
indeed." She chuckled sardonically, "that symbol means they don't
exist." "Who?" Edlin and Brody asked in unison. "Corlos,"
she replied. "So the fictitious police of the Universe
quarantined this place?" Edlin asked. "Yeah, what he said,"
Brody added. "Probably not just Corlos," Jana answered, "see this
symbol next to theirs?" Edlin and Brody looked. "That's the
Ellipsis," Jana sighed, "I think we're in deep now."
IN A DIMENSION OVERLAYING THEIRS
13.
"So high and mighty they think they are," the anti-being scoffed,
"toying with all of Jehova's ... precious little creatures." The
sarcasm was so thick that those around him heard what he really meant,
"Jehova's contemptuous little dirt bags." His mood swings
were far reaching and calloused.
14. He evesdropped over their shoulders unnoticed by the robotic
grey aliens examining their Human subject, "I was there when your
homeworld was terraformed. I remember when your species was more
primitive than this one. And now here you are, interfering where
you don't belong." The anti-being drifted to a different
observation point, "Didn't you see the 'no trespassing' sign?" he asked
in their own native language.
15. The aliens were tweaking with this Human's mind. "Don't
mess up... your little advisory," he said facetiously. His voice
was hypnotic and sensuous with forced calculation. His power was
vested in the past, in a temporal struggle to reverse the fabric of
time; praying to avert the inevitable.
16. This particular anti-being had the ability to make itself
visible, but being passively unembodied was it's greatest tactical
advantage. It's greatest strategic advantage was knowing
everything that mortals had voluntarily forgotton.
17. A much more beautiful being appeared; one
that could dilute its radience so that it could be visually
perceived. There was a polar difference between the two.
The anti-being could not withstand the radiance of the Angel and fled,
while the robotic avatars did not observe any unusual photonic
activity at all. Not initially.
18. The Angel permitted the avatars to finish their genetic extraction,
since the Angel was only a light machine, programed by God to serve
God; Who embues His Angels with distinction and personality as an
extension of Himself.
19. "Should I interfere," the Angel asked, knowing that Earth had
been placed off limits to foreigners; 'observe, but don't touch.'
Foreigners too, have their agency to ignore the commands of
God -- knowing that all choices have expansive and contractive
consequences.
20. "No," the Archangel instructed, "the boy made this
choice. He attracted it. He's not in any
danger. The Theites are just doing what Theites do."
THE "JOLVIAN
DENIAL" EPISODE
21. "Static line, umbilical and collar connected," station
keeping reported. "The port authority is expediting the
emissary's visit... cancel... Vicar Wexli will be escorting the
emissary," personnel reported. "That simplifies things," the
captain commented. "I hope you have a successful expedition," the
captain said warmly to the emissary, "the Vicar will be here any moment
-- a first class reception."
22. The Jolvian was clearly impressed since Vicars rarely met
foreigners unless there was a security issue. The purpose of this
trip was to discuss expedition clearances for new trainees among items
of unilateral interest. The trainees, of course, did not
know that their expeditions were being managed.
23. "I'm sure the prolitariat vice-chair will appreciate the
special gift," the captain said warmly. Two hours earlier, he had
entertained the emissary for lunch at his
table. Jol 2 considered this a classified mission, so the
emissary was asked to minimize socializing.
24. "And I wish you well with Madam D' An' Dolla," the Captain
cheerfully complimented him. The emissary was suddenly
sullen. He spoke in Jolvian to his comm link, "We've got to
get out of here. Leave immediately!" Madam D' An' Dolla was
Jol 2's
Secretary of State.
25. The vessle suddenly pulled forward without properly releasing
any of the disconnects. Most of them released
automatically, but some were designed to anchor the ship
to port. The docking collar ripped off and swayed beside the
Vejhonian cruiser until it was jettisoned in the approach buffer.
26. "I haven't time to explain," J-2 said to his highly shocked
host, "You've
been tremendously gracious and this is certainly not a reflection of
your hospitality, but my relationship with the Madam is a closely
guarded secret." The captain shook his head,
astonished. Pilots are expected to implicitly comply with the
instructions of an emissary, so the helm responded as trained.
"I'll
rendezvous with a Jolvian ship and release this one back to you with my
thanks," the emissary said.
27. The captain did not understand the need for a such hasty
egress, "I'm not sure the vice-chair will understand," the captain
replied. J-2 patted the captain on the shoulder, "Don't worry,
the special gift will remain aboard."
28. "My command?" the captain asked, knowing that any
explaination for a
departure like this was impossible, "Virtually in front of a
Vicar?" This would
definitely go down into pilot hell, even though the helm
responded as trained. The captain would be held
accountable.
29. Because a Vicar was meeting the ship, the mission was
sealed: No mission briefs without the express concent of the
Vicar. That meant that the departure details might remain
'hush-hush' if the Vicar orders it.
30. "So now you know where the expression 'Jolvian Denial' comes
from," Mrs. Jetson said to Bonnie. Bonnie was looking at her
tablet in the dictionary: "Jolvian Denial - verb. Spontaneous
embarkation without undocking." "My Mom's a pilot!" Bonnie said
happily, "I'm gonna fly B'lines!"
31.
To this day, port safety
courses still use the cliché' for an excuse to tell the
story. "What happened to the captain?" Bonnie asked. "Well,
let's scroll down a little," Mrs. Jetson said, "...and read here."
32. A few months after the captain was relieved of duty for,
"...instigating, without criminal intent, the destruction of orbital
property and canceling an unofficial State visit without
authorization..." he was elected to the proletariat and received a
generous raise. "You mean I can fly stupid like that and get more
money?" Bonnie asked. "That's not how it should work," Mrs.
Jetson said, "but in this case, the media made him famous and his fame
won him a seat in the Proletariat."
33. Upon finding his desk, he discovered a bottle of brandy in
his chair with
a hand-written note: "Lose any more collars
lately? You can still fly recreationally. This one's
on me." It
was signed, "Dm d' Vaht," the Proletariat Chair. The captain
kept his grin to himself. There's always a caveat behind the
hidden agenda. The note and the brandy was not made public until
he published his memoirs years later.
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