Read When the Gods Aren't Gods: Book Two of The Theogony Online
Authors: Chris Kennedy
When the Gods Aren't Gods: Book Two of The Theogony (7 page)
Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Tacoma, WA, April 25, 2020
“Sir, you have
got
to see this,” said Night, walking into the office.
“What is it?” asked Calvin, looking up from
the never-ending stack of paperwork he had brought with him on his trip to review the training course for special operations in space.
Night moved to stand by the window that looked down over the hangar bay. “Just come here,” he replied. “
Quick. You’re gonna love it.”
Calvin got up from his chair and crossed the room to the window. “I don’t mind taking a break from
the paperwork,” he said. “What’s so important?”
Night pointed to a large mat where two people were engaged in a heated hand-to-hand combat match. The entire platoon stood around the mat watching, jeering and calling suggestions
, most of which weren’t repeatable in mixed company. There were also a number of students that he didn’t recognize yelling at them. Calvin could see that one of the participants was Master Chief O’Leary, but he didn’t recognize the other. Both were bleeding in a couple of places. For Master Chief, that was no small feat, as his skin had been augmented to resist burns, punctures and cuts.
“Is that one of our new guys?” asked Calvin, looking at the other guy. “I don’t recognize him.
”
“He’s actually from the ship’s crew,” replied Night, “but he is
really
good. Did you see that combination that Master Chief just threw at him? That’s some sort of Rigelian nerve punch/kick combo that we got from a combat download. There’s no way that guy could
ever
have seen that combination before, and yet he was able to block and avoid it.”
“Whoever he is, he obviously got some augmentations done when he got his implants,” remarked Calvin. “There’s no way he could be that fast without them.”
Night laughed. “That’s what I wanted you to see,” he said. “The guy is totally augment-free. He’s naturally that fast. If anything, he’s faster than Master Chief is
with
his implants. He just walked in here, walked up to Master Chief and said, ‘Hey, if I can take you four out of seven submissions, can I go down to the planet with you the next time the
Gulf
goes out?’ Master Chief didn’t think there was any way that the guy could win, so he said, ‘Sure.’”
“He
’s got to know that he can’t authorize that,” said Calvin, shaking his head. “What’s the count so far?”
Night grinned. “I think it is tied three-to-three right now. Master Chief won the first three points, hitting him with a bunch of the off-world stuff that we learned, including some of the lizard stuff that he’s been working on with Bob and Doug. He hasn’t scored since then, though, and
he has taken a
bunch
of hits.”
“The funny thing,” said Night after a pause, “is that the new guy said he is better with rifle and pistol than he is at hand-to-hand.” At that moment, the newcomer faked high and struck low, sweeping Master Chief’s legs out from under him. While Master Chief was still going down, the newcomer pounced on him, taking him down in a choke
hold that Master Chief couldn’t escape. The newcomer won, 4-3.
“Wow,” said Calvin, watching Master Chief’s struggles diminish as he passed out from blood loss to his
brain, “that guy really
is
good. We need to get him on the team; make sure you get him implants and a suit.” He turned to find Night laughing. “What?” he asked. “Who is he?”
“That gentleman is Father John Zuhlsdorf,” replied Night. “He’s the
Gulf’s
new chaplain.”
April 27, 2020
“I
would like to thank all of you for attending this session today,” greeted the British prime minister. The first female to hold the post since Margaret Thatcher, Juliette Ricketts-Smith was also First Lord of the Treasury and the Minister for the Civil Service. Like the ‘Iron Lady’ before her, the ‘Cobalt Countess’ wore her nickname proudly. Not only was cobalt a hard metal (harder than iron, she was fond of saying), but cobalt was also one of the three elements that were magnetic at room temperature, like her personality. The fact that she often dressed in blue was purely coincidental. “I do not believe that there is any more important appointment before this assembly than who to send as the next ambassador.” She looked out at the nodding heads in the crowded assembly hall. The heads of state of nearly all of the participating nations were in attendance. Those that weren’t had sent their seconds. As the first ambassador to the stars had been from Britain, the only agreement so far was that the next one should be from somewhere else, making it her duty to moderate the session.
“
Having been an ambassador, myself,” she continued, “I have seen both sides of the ambassadorial mission. I have seen ambassadors fall flat on their faces, and I have seen others rise to great acclaim through their tireless efforts. As we proceed with our task today, there is one quality that must be paramount; the person selected for this post must be an expert communicator. It is not necessary for the ambassador to be highly polished, but she should be tactful and
must
be able to get the message across clearly and precisely.”
“As everyone here well knows,
communication among diplomats involves dialogue: unless the diplomat is willing to give information, it is unlikely that he or she will be able to obtain it.” She smiled, dialing the magnetism up several notches. “Think about the parties you have been to on the diplomatic circuit. The person that everyone always wants to talk to is the one who is interesting to talk with. At the other end of the spectrum is the guy on the couch, alone with his drink. The way people avoid him, you would probably think he has some sort of contagious disease.” She heard several chuckles from the audience. “I see everyone is familiar with that person.” She could see that she scored with that one.
“For a moment,” she continued, “let us try to stand in the shoes of our hypothetical ambassador, so that we may better know the necessary qualities of the person expected to fill the post. On one hand, t
he ambassador must convince the other government of the significance of the subject under negotiation and why agreeing to the ambassador’s position is useful to his own country, or planet in this case. Having achieved this, the ambassador then must also convince her own government to go along with it as well. This will be a big job, as she will not have one boss, but all of the nations that are currently represented in this noble body. Good luck with that! I know most of you,” she said with a wink, “and I couldn’t imagine trying to satisfy all of you at once.” The double entendre was intentional, and there was laughter across the auditorium. “What’s even worse is that, in all likelihood, the ambassador will return to find out that she now has even more bosses than when she left.”
She worked the crowd for another 10 minutes, talking about the importance of a number of qualities like discretion, a good sense of humor and the importance of good judgment. By the time she was finished, they were eating out of her hand.
A single hand was raised at the end of the applause. As was previously agreed, the German president stood up and formally nominated Cobalt Countess for the post. With the exception of the Russian and French delegates, her appointment was unanimous.
* * * * *
Vella Gulf
, Dark Side of the Moon, May 2, 2020
“This is the squad bay,” said the leader of
the ‘Ground Force,’ Staff Sergeant Jim ‘Shuteye’ Chang, leading a new person into the large open room. The man was wearing a camouflage uniform with a dragon insignia and looked as hard as any of the others currently taking off their gear. Shuteye indicated the men and women stowing their gear. “This is Squad ‘A,’ the ‘Space Force,’ which is just getting back from a mission where they kicked ass and took names.” Several calls of the platoon’s motto, “Gluck ab!” were heard from around the room.
“This room is similar to the locker room of a major sports team,” Shuteye continued, “in that everyone has a locker.” The newbie could see lockers ringing the walls of the room, with benches next to them. The lockers looked much larger and different than any sports team’s lockers he had seen. In addition to a clothes tree on which the Alpha Squad members were hanging their space suits, there were
also clips for harnesses and other apparel, a rack for stowing combat weapons and a variety of drawers to hold the squad members’ other implements of destruction. Shuteye pointed to an empty cubicle. “That one’s yours. You’ll get a suit and powered weapons; you’re also allowed to use any unpowered weapons that you want to bring.”
“This is Sergeant Alka Zoromski,” Shuteye announced to the squad. “He’s from the Polish
Operational Maneuver Response Group, or GROM as you may have heard it called. Sergeant Zoromski, this is Alpha Squad.”
“Alka, huh?”
asked a large man with dark hair.
“Yes,” replied Zoromski. “It means, ‘Defender of Man.’”
“Well, you’ll fit right in then,” said the man. “Welcome. I’m Master Chief Ryan O’Leary, the Space Force Leader. You can call me ‘Master Chief.’ I’m also the senior enlisted for the squad. Come see me if you need to, but use your chain of command as much as you can.” Leading him through the squad bay, Master Chief introduced all of the human members of his squad. He got to the last two members and said, “You’ve probably heard that we have a couple of extraterrestrials in the unit. This is Bob and Doug from the Epsilon Eridani system. Those aren’t their real names, but it’s a close approximation of them.”
Zoromski looked at the two aliens, who looked like five feet tall versions of the tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur model he had seen at the Museum of Evolution in Warsaw. The two lizards smiled at him, revealing rows of large, very sharp looking teeth. He was unable to keep from flinching back slightly from the sight.
“Don’t worry,” said Master Chief, “they have that affect on everyone the first time they meet them. You’ll get used to them.”
“Hi, I’m Bobellisssissolliss,” said Bob.
“I’m Dugelllisssollisssesss,” added Doug.
“Got it,” said Zoromski, “Bob and Doug.”
* * * * *
“
We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming,” a serious-looking Anna St. Cloud reported, “to take you to the National Assembly Building in Abuja, Nigeria, where the participating heads of state have been meeting for three days to set up the workings of the new world government. I understand that the government has an important announcement that is going to be carried worldwide. We go now to Abuja, Nigeria.”
The camera changed to a podium with
a strange seal on it. The device had a golden eagle in its center that was similar to the garuda of Hindu or Buddhist mythology. In its talons, it held a white ribbon scroll that read “Republic of Terra.” An Indian woman walked up to the podium confidently, smiled and said “Hello, people of Terra. I am Katrina Nehru, and I am happy to have been chosen to be the first president of the Republic of Terra.” She paused. “Now, I know that many of you have never heard of the Republic of Terra,” she said when she continued, “which is why I wanted to talk to everyone on the planet today. The world’s leaders have been hard at work for the last week, working to set up this new world government, and I wanted to make you aware of our progress.”
“
Many of you may be wondering why we chose the name, ‘Republic of Terra,’” she said. “There are a couple of reasons. First, we wanted everyone to understand that we are a republican form of government, in which the affairs of the state are a public matter. There are no rulers working on their own secret, hidden agendas; instead, all of the government is here for the best interests of all humankind. I know this will be met with some cynicism around the world, but I am here today to tell you that it’s true. The Republic of Terra has been established as an entity where the president is legitimized by both a constitution and a public vote to work in the best interests of the entire world. This form of government closely follows the governmental systems of many of its participating republics, like Russia, France, the United States and my own nation, India.”
“The second reason,” she continued, “is that our government is already faced with a need to grow beyond the borders of our own planet. We have been contacted by the
government of the planet Domus, in the Epsilon Eridani system, and they have requested to join our union. Our government has been set up to include not only the former nations of Earth, but also the two states that form the government of Domus.” She looked straight at the camera as she said, “There is strength in numbers, and we need the resources they have. We have welcomed them into our union.” Her tone of voice suggested that this point was not up for discussion.
“The next questions that you are probably going to ask,” President Nehru guessed, “are how is this government going to work, and how do I know that it has my
best interests at heart? As I have already stated, the Republic of Terra government will function similarly to the largest republics on the planet, with the current nations of Earth becoming states in the new republic. Although there will be some growing pains, I expect the transition to go fairly smoothly, as most people live under similar systems. For example, most of the participating nations have three branches of government to ensure the separation of power. The Republic of Terra also has three branches of government, the executive, the legislative and the judicial branches, so this should be very familiar to most of the people of Earth.”
“Like India and the United States, the executive branch of the Republic of Terra will be led by a president, who will be elected indirectly by an electoral college of representatives from the current nations. The president will serve a five-year term and can be re-elected once. The
legislative branch will have a bicameral, or two-house, parliament. The upper house, or ‘Council of States,’ will be made up of two representatives from each of the previously independent nations, who will serve in staggered, six-year terms. How each of these will be elected is up to the individual states. Seats in the lower house, or ‘House of the People,’ will be proportional to the individual state’s populations, with a seat given for every 50 million people or fraction thereof. That way, each nation will have at least one seat in the House of the People, regardless of its actual size. These representatives will also serve in staggered, six-year terms.”
“
The judicial branch will be made up of a Supreme Court, which will oversee the efforts of the High Courts in each of the current member nations. Its function is not to impose new laws over the member states; instead, it is the ultimate interpreter of the constitution and will be empowered to strike down state laws which are in contravention to it. It will also have original jurisdiction over cases involving fundamental rights and disputes between the nation-states and the republic’s government.”
“We intend for this nation to be built around order and the rule of law, led by
an open and transparent government. No individual will be above the rules,” she said as she walked around to the front of the podium. “Delegates from all of the participating nations have developed this, our new seal, as a symbol of the government and people of the Republic of Terra.” She pointed to the golden eagle. “Our new nation is a nation born of war. The eagle, or garuda for many of our Asian population, is a strong, brave bird that symbolizes our nation’s strength through war, while the gold color symbolizes greatness and glory. Like the Seal of Indonesia, the feathers on the bird are symbolic. There are 22 feathers on each wing, five feathers on the tail, 20 feathers below the shield on its legs and the base of its tail and 20 feathers on its neck. If you put all of these together, you have today’s date, 22/5/2020, the date that our new republic was born.”
“
The shield on the eagle’s chest is a martial symbol, standing for defense not only of the countries, but of the two planets in our republic. It has a background divided into quarters, colored black and white in a checkerboard pattern. The black quadrant bearing the golden star at the upper right corresponds to the belief in One Supreme God. The color black represents space and the star for the one God that exists no matter where we go. The star is a common symbol not only for Islam, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism, but also for the secular ideology of socialism as well. While this symbol may be disconcerting for some, there will not be any religion that everyone is made to follow. People are encouraged to believe in whatever manner they will, or not to believe at all if that is their desire, but it was important to the overwhelming majority of the participating nations that this symbol be included.”
“
The yin and yang symbol of unity is in the lower right on a white background. This symbol shows us that, regardless of how opposite or contrary we may seem to each other at times, we are all interconnected and interdependent on each other. There are many dualities in nature, like light and dark, fire and water, and life and death. Neither of these has meaning without the other. They are physical manifestations of the yin and yang concept that draws all of us together. The American motto of ‘E pluribus unum,’ or ‘Out of many, one,’ was also suggested, but this symbol was chosen as it is symbolic to a larger number of our people.”
“
In the upper left quarter on a white background, there is a golden laurel wreath. This symbolizes our belief in the concept of democracy and its importance in how this republic is governed. The laurel wreath goes back to the ancient Athenians, who first came up with the concept of democracy. It can also symbolize a master’s degree of wisdom when it is used as ‘poet laureate,’ or can refer to victory. These last two concepts are also significant in the laurel wreath’s choice as a symbol.
“Finally, i
n the lower left quarter on a black background is a golden sheaf of wheat, representing sustenance and livelihood. With a fair government and a strong military to protect us from the dangers that lurk beyond our system’s borders, our people will be able to follow their dreams and be productive and happy.”
“Completing the design,” she said, pointing over the eagle’s head, “there are t
wo gold stars over its head. These symbolize the two star systems, the Solar System and the Epsilon Eridani system, that make up the republic. Will there be additional stars in this constellation?” she asked. “Who knows? I, for one, expect there to be more; however, that is dependent on what we do to make it possible. Not just what I do, but what every member of the Republic of Terra does on a daily basis. Everyone is important to our efforts to protect and defend our planet. To paraphrase the American statesman, John F. Kennedy, ask not what your planet can do for you, but instead, ask what you can do for your planet and the Republic of Terra!”
She turned and went back behind the podium. While she was moving, a number of people came onto the stage. “As president of the Republic of Terra,
I am looking forward to working for all of you,” said Nehru. “Until a worldwide election can be held, the council of leaders forming the republic decided to set up the initial government in relation to the populations of the countries represented. Since China has decided not to join our efforts as of yet, India is the largest participating nation, with over a billion people. As such, India was selected to fill the presidential post, and I was chosen for this position. For those of you who don’t know me, I was previously the vice president of India, where I was also Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India. The president of India stayed on in that position to ensure the continuity of our government and ensure that the country continued to put all of its efforts into supporting the new government.”
“
Similarly,” she continued, “the United States also nominated its vice president for the vice president slot of the world government. President Bill Jacobs decided to stay on as the U.S. president to ensure that the transition went smoothly. Indonesia, the third largest participating nation, will fill the Speaker position for the upper house of the legislative branch, the Council of States. Their president will be filling this position. The Brazilian president will be the Speaker for the lower house, the House of the People. The fifth position in order of succession, the Secretary of State, went to the Pakistani president.” She looked behind her at the men and women assembled and received a nod. “At this time, we will have the swearing in ceremony for the first five officers of the new government,” she said.
Nehru walked over to join the other four leaders. With a small smile of satisfaction, she saw that three of the five leaders were women; besides herself, the presidents of Indonesia and Brazil were also women
. All four of the other leaders were each standing in front of a representative of his/her respective faith. Nehru went to stand in front of the Hindu guru waiting for her. As one, the spiritual leaders said, “Do you swear in the name of your God, or what you hold holy, to faithfully execute your office within the Republic of Terra?”
The five leaders replied, “I do.”
The religious leaders asked “Will you preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and the law, to the best of your abilities?”
The five leaders answered, “I will.”
The religious leaders asked, “And will you devote yourself to the service and well-being of the people of the Republic of Terra?”
The five leaders replied again, “I will.”
The guru reached out to shake President Nehru’s hand as the rest of the religious leaders did the same for their charges. “Congratulations, Mrs. President,” said the guru.
The camera
at KIRO-TV returned to Ms. St. Cloud. “There you have it, live,” she commented. “The new president of the world, President Katrina Nehru, has been sworn in. We now take you back to your regularly scheduled programming, already in progress.”
* * * * *
