Alien Deception (14 page)

The sudden buzz that ensued among the delegates was music to Copolla's ears. It was exactly what he wanted to hear.

The delegate from Sirius A stood up abruptly. "But Leader, is this not the basic concept point of all indoctrinations? Are they not required to examine the subjects carefully before going to the next level so that they are not damaged?" The delegate had begun to wave his arms in questioning motions. "Is not damage at this point possibly irrecoverable?"

The murmurs within the hall now became rampant.

"Leumas should know better…"

"What was Leumas thinking?"

"Perhaps we praised him too hastily…"

"Overestimated his abilities…"

Copolla waited a few moments to allow all the damaging comments to circulate completely throughout the Great Hall before he continued.

"Yes, this is all true," he said, planting his words like tiny seeds. "But remember, Leumas is using new techniques which, I am sure I don't need to remind you, have met with overwhelming favorable endorsement from this Council." Arching his brows for emphasis, Copolla continued. "As I said earlier, this is merely a minor setback. Leumas has not failed us before, has he?"

The delegate from Wolf 359 stood to be recognized.

"Leader of the UCDW," he began.

"The Leader of the UCDW recognizes the delegate from Wolf 359," Copolla answered.

"The urgency of the Earth subjects’ attendance within our circle will reach a critical turning point soon, as it is so stated in the Council’s report." The delegate's voice rose in concern. "There is an opportunity here we must take advantage of. Any delay could cause further damage! If Leumas should fail—"

The delegate was cut off abruptly by Copolla's thundering voice. "The issue will wait until they are ready. This Council has decided that the time is appropriate for Earth to have its own delegates for representation. Leumas has assured this Council that their presence in this hall will happen as planned. He has personally staked his reputation on it. We will wait." The finality in his voice brooked no further questions. "That is the ruling of the UCDW."

Copolla ended the statement with a long stare at the Council members. "Now, are there any more questions?" he asked with extreme sarcasm. Silence greeted him.

"Then this meeting is adjourned."

* * * *

Copolla removed his robes and hung them up with a casual toss from a few feet, ringing the hook on the wall. He was feeling very pleased about the Council meeting; it had gone extremely well. Everything was going according to plan. "Perfectly," he said out loud, as he sat down in his chair. He had learned through the years to try to allow for every possible contingency. The sabotaging of the indoctrination process had caused Leumas’ loyalty, abilities and integrity to fall under question and scrutiny by the Council. It was just what he wanted.

He knew Scrav was openly spreading rumors about Leumas’ failings as he had been instructed. He would add significantly to the concerns of the Council members on Leumas’ competence. Unfortunately, Scrav would coincidentally, but mysteriously, disappear this very same evening.

"More gloom and speculation about Leumas. How tragic," he said, smiling and clucking his tongue. "Then, when the two subjects from Earth reject the Council’s assignment, Leumas will be finished for good."

The only thing he had not figured on was Biom's leakage of information.
I miscalculated him—I didn’t think he was smart enough to try and barter his life for information,
he thought, shaking his head. Because of this, he had opted to send Journo to the archives to ensure that the custodian had not kept any duplicate records of those that had been originally removed.

"Don't want any loose ends. Been burnt once too many times on that kind of sloppiness," he said, suddenly looking thoughtful. "If only I had thought about that so many years ago when I sent those two excuses for agents to Earth."

He began to redden, thinking of the incident. They had both been supposedly loyal agents. Even if the loyalty device had existed then, the thought of placing the devices in them would have been speculative at best. The situation itself had been the catalyst that had caused him to have the device secretly developed in the first place. That was also around the same time that he broke another Council rule of removing dangerous life forms from their natural habitats, such as the acid worm.

Fate has a strange way of wrapping up loose ends sometimes,
he thought, chuckling evilly. "It was a real shame that disease accidentally took those agents' lives. It was so unfortunate that no bacteriological tests were done on them before they left Zire," he said sarcastically to the empty room.

Copolla had studied the psychology of the Earth's inhabitants intently. He knew this particular race of humanoids would reject the idea of any type of outside controlling influence because they were too stubborn. He also knew that, if a choice were placed before them, they would categorically deny membership to the organization on principle alone. He had the Council’s reports regarding the subjects' background falsified so that this attempt to place the members on the Council would be expedited.

"Now, all I have to do is deal with these offspring from the two agents. How stupid could they have been?" he said shaking his head as he continued to reflect. "Did they actually believe they could hide from me forever? Maybe so. At that time, we did not have the observation satellites like we do today."

The Council had sent one of those devices to Earth to observe the planet in preparation for their indoctrination to the UCDW. Part of the scanning process included the study of DNA patterns of the inhabitants. Two strange patterns had appeared. Fortunately for him, the tech reviewing the satellites' data thought he should take this information directly to Copolla because he was on the Council Leader's payroll. The DNA patterns were linked back to the two agents who had been assigned to Earth by Copolla, but they also included Earth DNA as well. Two hybrids had been formed.

He hid the data from the Council and devised the plan to get rid of the two offspring, who were now Leumas’ subjects. "Well, what was done, was done," he said without any hesitation, rubbing his hands together. "I have a plan to deal with them now. After they refuse membership in the Council and opt to return to their precious planet, there will be an accident." He leaned back in his chair, pleased.

He continued thinking aloud. "Let's see. It will happen during the process of wiping their memory, an overload perhaps. Unfortunately, the two humans will die an irrecoverable death and, of course, the person in charge of performing all this will be Leumas. My good buddy Leumas, he just can't seem to get anything right these days."

Chapter Ten

THE EDUCATION OF GREG AND SARAH

Centuries ago there were three planets that dominated the galaxy in the technology of space travel,
the voice continued on within the dream-state of Sarah and Greg.
They realized their competition for expansion, replenishment of their raw material, and energy resources would become inevitable. With much difficulty, they resolved to meet and develop an equitable system whereby they would enter into an agreement to share the resources found on other less developed or uninhabitable worlds. Each wary of the other from previous encounters and engagements, they met on a neutral planet under very tense and nervous circumstances.

As freak chances of nature are at times unpredictable, an unusual disturbance occurred on the surface of the neutral planet, which caused the area in which they met to be surprisingly and swiftly demolished by seismic quakes and eruptions. All members on the negotiating teams for the three planets were killed.

Immediately, the corresponding ships in orbit above the planet assumed that one of the other races had developed a new weapon of superior strength that could induce instability within a planet's core. Such strength would be a decisive edge to galaxy supremacy that would have to be destroyed immediately. The ships opened fire upon each other and began a war, one that would last a very long time.

Eventually all the inhabited planets of the Galaxy were drawn into the continual war, which almost led to their own annihilation. Once the fighting fervor had set in, their original motives for the fighting changed to one of total extermination of the other species. They fought over and on the less-developed planets in the system for military position, raw materials, slave labor and, most of all, power.

The strong survivors moved from planet to planet, leaving a path of destruction. Wasted worlds reduced to rubble, civilizations decimated. The inferior planets were stripped of their resources, their life forms impoverished, reduced to simple slavery or killed. Innocent life forms, technologically lacking, were caught in the middle. All were dying for the unknown cause of the more powerful races.

The final battle took place on and around the planet Zire, a small world of no major consequence, with the exception that it was located dead center of the approximate dividing point between the major faction systems. All of the major powers had laid claim to this insignificant centralized planet, like little children fighting over the last scoop of ice cream. As with little children, they were each determined the other would not have it. The strategic importance was insignificant; they had been fighting for so long that they had forgotten why.

For a standard year, they fought every day, every hour, every minute. Reinforcements, ships, equipment and supplies were sent from the homeworld planets to support this battle. They stripped their planetary coffers clean in order to keep fighting over a planet that was not worth one-one thousandth of the effort or materials that had been expended in its taking. Yet they continued to fight. Smaller races that had thrown in with the major races were virtually wiped out during the intense fighting.

When it was all over, Zire lay in ruins, and the superpowers were reduced to mere shadows of their former selves. They had committed major resources to this battle solely on principle, only to be left with nothing. Seeing the futility and inevitable destruction to which they had been blind for so long, the forces agreed to meet on the planet's surface to discuss a cease of hostilities. They were all humbled, their resources depleted, and they agreed to take this first step toward peace.

They met in one of the few structures left on Zire that still had a shape identifiable as a building. It was symbolic in a way, because it was the only one still standing. They hoped it would serve as a reminder of the atrocities that had been committed in this futile war. Their discussions were simple; if the galaxy and those species that inhabited it were going to survive, the fighting must cease immediately. In a show of unity, they would form an allegiance, a Council of members who would decide the best way to jointly develop their collective cultures and those of other planets as well.

This place where they held their first meeting would now serve as the new home of this Council. This world in which they fought the final battle would be a memorial, in order that they not forget what had driven them to this point, their greed and mistrust of different life forms.

One of the bedrock principles that sprang from these ruins was that the lesser-developed planets would no longer be ravaged for their resources. Instead, they would be helped along in their development to ensure that what had happened before would not happen again. Those that knew of the new alliance would be helped outright. Those that did not would be helped secretly in order for them to develop without knowing of direct outside influence. The galaxy would live in peace, ruled by all, but yet none. They named themselves the United Council for Developing Worlds.

Charter of the United Council for Developing Worlds

The United Council for Developing Worlds, hereafter referred to as the "UCDW," shall be formed through membership by those planets and systems that have met to develop this charter. Members from said planets will be added to the Council only after their progress is evaluated in order to provide insightful input into their planet development. Members shall be selected by the Council to ensure coverage of the main beliefs and social structure of said worlds.

The purpose of the UCDW is to guide less developed worlds toward a productive development both socially and scientifically so as to coexist peacefully in the galaxy. This mission shall be accomplished by using influence (see Policy regarding the Act of Influencing) to assist in the decision making processes of the planet, thereby allowing individual traits of the planet's policy makers to gauge said decisions.

The existence of the UCDW shall be kept secret from non-member planet societies until they reach the level of comprehension to understand the basic concepts and guidelines of the UCDW, both in the spirit of this charter and technological advancements deemed worthy of membership.

Upon attaining such level of comprehension, two selected members shall be chosen to become delegates to the Council. They will be removed from their society by completing their life cycle abruptly, thereby allowing explanations of their disappearance. These two members must represent a true cross section of the potential member planet. Upon their arrival to the Council planet, currently Zire, the tentative members will be re-animated. In the event of a failure in the assimilation of members to the Council, memory erasure will be instituted and a non-interference policy may be imposed on said planet.

Under no circumstances will members/agents of any alien races be allowed to mix with the population of a planet that has not yet been approached by the Council in an official capacity. Offspring produced by the joining of mixed alien races is of paramount concern, whereas this procreation could possibly harm the normal sociological development of the planet and this association. This would be in direct violation of the basic principles of the UCDW's charter.