Guardian Stone 1: Stone Genesis (22 page)

The startled voice below said, "How did you…, just a moment please." A minute later, a male voice came on and said, "This is Estes and my prime minister is also present,"

Hank interrupted and said, "Excuse me Prince Kar but you are not King Estus. However if his highness is incapacitated, I would be happy to talk with you."

Another voice came on and replied, "This is Estes, what can I do for you, and how is it that you know who we are and who we are not. Also your purpose please."

Hank sent a thought to Danica and thanked her for the heads up and the said, "Your majesty, I apologize for any inconvenience our appearance in orbit may have caused. We actually have two vessels in orbit, the larger one is still in cloaked mode because we did not wish to cause a panic. Please be assured that this is not an invasion. A vessel like the one you can now see has been in orbit for about 400 of your years observing and providing protection for the planet from forces you were not prepared to meet. For example, there was a twenty-mile wide asteroid that would have hit your planet ten years ago had we not intervened. That would likely have been an extinction level event.  Your scientists are probably still trying to figure out where that hunk of rock went. Our purpose here is not to intervene in your governance but rather to provide defenses that you do not yet have the capability to provide for yourselves."

"We are the Antoran Fleet Marines and have assumed the role of guardians. There is an invasion coming that we are now preparing to meet and we wanted to let you know what is going on and what is being done to meet the threat. My question for you is how to share this information with the people of this planet. We firmly believe that people have the right to know of the situation. We originally were going to attempt to recruit persons from your planet to assist in the defense. Fortunately we have been able to meet those needs elsewhere. We are still willing to accept persons to assist but that is secondary to our visit. I personally am from the planet Earth about 16 light years from here and that will be the first planet to encounter the threat. You should know that if it becomes necessary and our defense of this stellar neighborhood fails we have the capability and the capacity to evacuate entire planets. I would suggest that at the very least you might want an observer on our station to assure the veracity of our statements. I would like to meet with you as soon as possible to discuss how best to disseminate this information in a way to avoid panic. Unfortunately, if we can't meet today, I must be on my way to warn and meet with two other planets with civilizations that have similar stages of development to your own. If this does not meet your schedule, my commander in this system is General Johann Wilhelm Schmidt and he can meet with you. If you wish, he will show you about the station he commands. He can explain the capabilities of the station and I have prepared a full briefing of the entire situation complete with flaws so you can see how things have been addressed.  What is your pleasure your majesty?"

King Estes responded, "Actually, you have my complete and undivided attention right now, how soon can you come here."

Hank said, "I can be there in a heartbeat, literally." 

King Estes said, "Then please come." Almost immediately, Hank appeared before the King who was clearly startled by the speed of appearance despite Hank's comment. He said, "Good Lord, I heard you say a heartbeat but thought this must be some figure of speech. This is most startling. By the way your grasp of our language is amazing and thank you for the effort."

Hank said, "Thank you your majesty, and this would be Prince Kar I believe and Prime Minister Cor. It is a pleasure to meet each of you. Would it be acceptable to you if I also asked General Schmidt to attend."

King Estes replied, "Of course."

Hank said, "Danica, please send General Schmidt." Instantly he was there. There was a startled gasp from the others in the room. "I admit that our mode of transportation is a bit startling but it does have some advantages. I have prepared a recording suitable for broadcast on your systems if you have no problem with the tone or content. I have a separate file that has everything including the nasty details that you can utilize as you see fit. We expect to win this war but the enemy is very cagey. In fact, for a long time the antagonist was thought to be a race called the Glarin but it turns out they are victims. It now appears that the Gar is the true antagonist who is using a form of bio-manipulation via symbiotes to use the Glarin against us, against their will."

"In this stellar region, there are currently seven planets with occupants, five are at similar levels of development to yours including my own. One is the builder of the stations. One of these is in its iron age and will not be contacted for several hundred more years. The culture shock for them would be too much. We have one planet that is more advanced than your own but is controlled by slave masters. That has been changed. There are two additional planets with life forms that appear to be heading for intelligence and those systems will be quarantined for the foreseeable future. We also have 5 planets compatible with our life form and four of these are being established as independent self-governing colonies. The fifth planet will be occupied by a non-human life form and ally. We have identified three other planets in this sphere suitable for humans. This region is pretty much contained in a 20 light year sphere. Our stations have stasis units aboard suitable for mass evacuations in case of catastrophic disaster. Our off-planet role is one of protectors or guardians. We do not permit conflicts to be carried into space and have the means to prevent it."

"Your majesty, I have two more planets to visit this week and to introduce ourselves. Resolving this whole invasion thing will take at least a few years because the planet Gar is about 3,200 light years distant. Logistically that is not a huge problem. The stations are fully self-contained and have a considerable fleet of warships, any one of which could ravage an entire planet, though that is not our style. All the planets in the region need to know what is out there and what we are doing to prevent harm. We will keep you informed of our progress. When this is over we will be looking at ways to allow the various planets to contact and trade with one another. General Schmidt here has full Antoran fleet authority.  Later today, we will again place the visible station in cloaked mode. It will still be up there but cloaked mode gives us an element of surprise when dealing with intruders. If you wish to contact the station all you need to do is to verbally say 'Danica' and state your request. Danica will be listening for such communication and make the connection. Please understand, no disrespect intended, but we will not take orders from any planetary leader, but if a request is within our mission, we will attempt to be of assistance.  Your majesty, I appreciate that you have taken this time to meet with us. I wanted to personally deliver the information I have just given you. General Schmidt will be able to work out the details of how to inform your population. We can do that with your concurrence or you can do it and we will provide the raw data and documentation.  Are you agreeable to this course of action."

King Estes responded, "General, I sincerely appreciate your candor. We do have an open society and I do happen to agree with you that my people should be informed. I welcome General Schmidt's assistance in how to accomplish this without causing a panic. I also welcome a continued relationship with your fleet. Prince Kar, would you like to be our first emissary to the Antoran Fleet?"

"Indeed, it would be my great pleasure Father."

"My son, I think this would be a great experience for you. Please be sure you survive the experience for I feel these people will go in harms way for our protection and that of others. I am proud of you my son. General Stone, this is my son and this planet's emissary to your fleet, please take good care of him. Can he have an hour to prepare those things he will need to take with him and say goodbye to his mother?"

"Certainly your majesty. Prince Kar, please just let Akira know when you are ready to transport to the station."

"May I ask who is Danica and who is Akira?"

"Akira is the AI on Station 8 and Danica is the AI on Station 114. They are both self-aware super computers. Each Station has one and each selects her own name when they become self-aware." He then addressed King Estes, "Your majesty, I am honored that you would entrust your son with us. We will do our absolute best to assure his safety. I must leave you now but General Schmidt will remain to continue answering any questions that remain. He too will need to return to his station shortly, but if you do not mind a suggestion, you might want to consider a tour of station 114, I think you will be surprised. Goodbye you majesty. I will be back." With that he vanished back to the station. Fifty minutes later Akira announced that the Prince was on board with about 80 pounds of gear that all appeared practical. "Akira, please set course for Gella and ask Prince Kar if he would like a short tour of the station."

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The Prince said that he would like that very much, at your convenience.
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"Thanks Akira, transport him here when he is ready."

Two minutes later Prince Kar appeared in his office and asked if he could discuss a concern before they started the tour. Hank agreed. The Prince said, "It occurs to me that my being a Prince is going to cause some difficulties for you and some potential conditions that could be awkward. You can't be calling me Prince or using traditional honorifics like "your highness" or "your majesty" without potentially undermining your authority. Being an emissary is one thing but royalty, quite another. On a personal level, I would appreciate a vacation from being royalty for a while, incognito, if you will. Is it possible to do this?"

"You have no idea how relieved I am to hear you say that for exactly the reasons you describe. We will need at least a minimal cover story.  What will we call you? There is at least one who will need to know and that is President Fador. Obviously the AIs on the various stations you are on will know. Akira can give you a shield so that our telepaths can't read you. It occurs to me you should have some of the enhancements we take for granted while you are with us, Akira will explain all of that to you later today."

"That is good. Why not call me by my real name. That will make it easier to avoid mistakes. My name is Kar Lenard. I can be described as a minor functionary for the police department with a varied area of interest that our sovereign thought would be a good mix for this mission, also true."

"Then that is how we will do this. Now, I would like you to meet my wife, Sam." At that, Sam appeared before the startled Prince.

"How did you…ah, you did say that you have telepaths on board, that explains much. Including how you knew it was not my father speaking to you initially. Of course, but that does not explain how you knew specifically who was talking. Ah, that must have been the AI, Danica."

"Then you are familiar with this talent?" said Sam.

"Indeed, it is a talent that also runs in the royal line on Frote. At this point, I am a minor talent because I have not yet met my mate."

"Kar you are full of pleasant surprises and I am pleased to see you are so quick on the uptake. I think this relationship will be of great advantage for both our interests. Sam will be with us for the tour. I will be establishing you in an office quite near mine. We use an open structure here so you will be exposed to much that might seem a bit curious to you, but this is based on the fact that we are going to trust you based on what we have learned of you in this short time. For now, why don't we get started." The three plus Akira went first to the military training areas and then deck-by-deck through the flight decks. Hank explained that this station currently had about 90 million persons on board and that all stations were fully manned. Kar was particularly impressed at the number and size of the commercial vessels. The capability of the warships had a sobering effect. The quantity of shuttles was also a bit of a surprise. Hank told Kar that they would start his command level enhancements that evening and explained how the training machines were also available to him. Next they toured the storage area and then the farms. Hank asked Akira to dress them each in parkas and transport them to the lookout deck on Mt. Smokeless. From that location, the housing units could clearly be seen on both walls of the sector. Hank explained that the learning machines had a program that would provide a full orientation concerning the station. He also explained in more detail the purpose of the current mission and what was next. Hank asked about the suitability of Prince Kar's quarters.

Kar responded, that the quarters were actually larger and more efficient than his own at home. He was further surprised to learn that there were no VIP quarters on the station and that his were typical of those found on all stations. They then returned to the command center where Hank introduced Kar as the emissary from Frote who would have access to the center. With that Hank excused himself noting that they were approaching their next destination and wanted some time to prepare. 

### Gella – January 10 – C Day 133 ###

On arrival at Gella, Hank was invited to meet with General Ichiro Yamada and AI Mbali aboard Station 174. General Yamada's briefing was similar to his reports and his recommendations were in accord with what Hank had in mind. The two stations were positioned so that they could be seen from all four capitals on the planet. Once in position, the two stations were uncloaked and 2 groups of Warships were launched. AI Mbali broadcast a request for a meeting aboard the station with all four of the leaders in three hours time. It was also announced that the meeting would be broadcast to every device on the planet capable of receiving a communication. Mbali informed the leaders that if they did not agree to the meeting then that leader could watch the meeting on their communication devices like the rest of their population. This ploy worked and all agreed to the meeting. As the meeting began, Hank introduced himself and announced that the stations came in peace and that a station had been in orbit of their planet for the last 400 years. The reason for their presence was explained and each leader was provided with the means for contacting the station. Hank explained the pending threat and the fact that station 174 would remain in orbit in cloaked mode for the protection of the planet. He explained that it was not permissible for them to use space for their conflicts including the use of ICBM's that entered space as part of their trajectory. Hank noted that following the meeting, they would return to cloaked mode. Hank noted that they would not intervene in local affairs unless it involved WMDs in which case those weapons would be removed. He then answered their questions and following that he returned them to their offices. The warships were then recovered and the stations again went to cloaked mode.