Progenitor

Chapter 24

As soon as the shuttle was in space, and in orbit around Earth, Ted spoke to his guests. 

"Gentlemen, we are in orbit at this time. I asked the three of you here for specific reasons; first, the chairman is here because I like and trust him, second, the two of you represent the two most powerful nations on Earth, and third, we have an offer for the US and Russia. Now the offer is this, in exchange for you providing high level scientists we will provide your nations with an advanced communication device for the national leader. This device will enable them to communicate directly with a representative of the Amyins or each other in a secure way that can not be recorded or be interfered with, except by us. The rest of the world need not know about this. Of course the chairman has already been provided with this device, it just has not been activated as yet. In order to receive these devices, the president of each nation must agree to personally come to the base located within his nation to have it installed. This will be a matter of trust as nobody but the president will be allowed into the room while the device is inserted. I will make arrangements for each of you to be set down near your capital. You will need to make arrangements for your pick up. There are headsets for each of you, just give the operator the number for direct connection to your president. Are there any questions?" Ted said.

"How are we to contact you after delivering your offer?" the US representative asked. 

"You will be given a number that connects directly to us. All you have to do is call that number, or you can contact the chairman and he will relay the information. If the chairman doesn't mind, that is." Ted replied.

The two representatives each called their numbers and made arrangements for their pick up. Afterwards they were set down as promised. The chairman was told, after they left, how to use the implanted device and then returned to the UN building. After everyone had been returned, Ted went back to the moon base.

Over the course of several months, the bases in the US and Russia were completed and each president came to receive their devices. They were told that it was their responsibility to inform their replacement of the procedure as the device would automatically be disabled when they left office. What nobody knew was that Cindy had the same device and talked to Amy on a regular basis, Cindy even came to visit several times.

It was the first week of November when the US base opened it's doors to the public. Each person who presented themselves was scanned and all cell phones, cameras, recorders, and such were taken from them until they exited the complex. There were posters up in the lobby offering jobs and living accommodations on Mars. When people asked about the jobs they were told that it was for life and that their families were required to come also. The benefits were free medical, free housing, free food, and just about anything they wanted was provided, within reason that is. There were also posters telling about educational opportunities if the person qualified. Special attention was paid to the teenagers with at least 60% Progenitor DNA. As the base started to produce the products they were shipped out to the public. Some of the first products were medical for free distribution to all hospitals, each hospital was required to send three people to the base for instructions on the use of the equipment. During the first month the base was open they recruited 100 families for relocation to Mars.

The base in Russia opened at the same time and had a smaller turn out due to poor roads and transportation. Once again hospitals were encouraged to send people to learn how to use the new equipment. China was next to have a base but they were not really trying to comply with the requirements of providing the land for the base to occupy. They also didn't like the idea of removing their nuclear weapons. But public pressure soon called so much attention to China that they finally gave in to the requirements. The oil industry was really upset. The new vehicles were powered by an adaptation of the power box developed by Jake and John, therefore there was a sever decrease in oil usage. In the US the oil companies lobbied for the limiting of the production of non-fossil fueled vehicles. But public outcry put an end to that, it seemed that anyone who tried to go along with the limiting was recalled by the people they represented.

The way things worked was that the bases would provide the technology for a price, the monies paid was then used to help out the people displaced from their previous jobs. Some of the items, or technology, provided were the power modules, improved communication devices, improved computers and operating systems (Microsoft was not the biggie any longer), a free internet that was wireless, and non-lethal weapons for the police (each weapon was made so that only that person could use it and they could not be disassembled).

Mars

Meanwhile on Mars, Carol had erected the biosphere, setup the mining operations, and started the conversion of the planet so that it would soon have an atmosphere, in about 100 years. The few crew members that had stayed on Carol were very busy for the first six months. Then the newest recruits from Earth started to arrive. Among the first arrivals were several Designing Engineers who were happy to help setup the layout for the housing and factories. After the main production buildings were operational, Carol started on the construction of a space based shipyard. At first this shipyard was for producing shuttles and ore haulers. Later it would produce more advanced fighting craft and provide a "dry dock" for repairs to spacecraft.

After the basics were completed and the new families had arrived on planet, schools were setup. The schools were all home based and the children were required to attend six hours a day. A special AI had been constructed to run just the schools. There were also schooling provided for the adults, to bring them up to speed with the system on Mars. As more people arrived another biosphere was erected and interconnected with the first via surface tunnels.

The Mars complex had been up and running for a year now. Cindy's dad had retired from the service and at his daughter's insistence had applied for and received a job on Mars. He was surprised when he met Amy, and the rest of the original crew, when they asked if he would take over the training of the Mars security forces, the new pilots, and the training of all other security ground forces for Earth. Of course he had to undergo some training himself, but that wasn't much of a problem as his rating was 70%. Each new pilot took 2 months to train. By the end of his first six months, Commander Nathan Thomas had a full security force on Mars and had trained over a hundred new pilots. Most of the pilots rotated through the security force also. That way all security personnel were kept up to date on their skills. Amy had Carol place a biosphere on the moon also as this was where everyone came first. Once the biosphere was up and running, AL was sent to Mars for the much needed repairs and upgrades. It was also during this time that Kate and Sally both found boyfriends among the pilots on Mars.

None of the fighters were allowed to go to Earth unless it was an emergency. Only one such event occurred. Once again the Middle East became very unstable and the chairman of the UN asked that the Amyins intervene to prevent the useless loss of lives. Iran had launched an attack on UN troops to prevent them from finding several hidden nuclear weapons. Several terrorists had tried to assassinate the chairman of the UN, but had been stopped by the US troops charged with protecting the UN.

It was Kate, four other fighters, and two shuttles of ground forces that descended to Earth and removed the problem. When Kate and her team approached the first sight they were fired on by SAM sites, of course that didn't make Kate too happy. After taking out the SAM sites, Kate's team then had to deal with two groups of fighters that were patrolling the area. The air battle lasted about 10 minutes before all the enemy fighters were on the ground, only two were destroyed. The shuttles landed and the ground forces took control of the facility, it was impossible to harm someone wearing full battle armor, and secured the site for UN troops to come get the prisoners. All weapons were removed to the moon base. Then the group went to the next site. This same scenario repeated for all four sites. As if this wasn't enough, the whole "battle" was broadcasted throughout the world. This broadcast made the point that the UN had the authority to police the world. It also showed that the Amyins were not a force to challenge with the present technology. After the last engagement, Ted's voice came on and announced that the World Court would have the duty of dealing with these terrorists. If Earth wanted to continue to receive the help and technology, then it must put an end to this type of behavior world-wide. 

This ends The Progenitor. But look for the next episode some time after the first of the year. I want to wish all my readers a very Happy New Year; and maybe in 2005 we can do better at world peace.

Oh, I almost forgot something. The only people that were ever made aware of the "real" history of Earth were the ones who had enough Progenitor DNA and elected to reclaim their heritage by working with Amy and her crew, of course they were "fixed" by AL so they could never say anything to the "normal" people of Earth. Amy didn't want to upset any of the religions or the history books.