The Navigator 2: We the People Page 7

  "What of the militant faction of Navigator Lane's community? How do you see this being handled?" Councilor Orelov asked.

  Joe looked thoughtful for a moment. "That is a difficult question to answer, Councilor. To be totally honest, we will have to play it by ear with them. Ideally, I would like to give them a little more training and assign them to rescue and retrieval missions here on Earth. They have been working to save as many gifted people as they can already, so their experience in this could prove to be very helpful if we wish to continue that policy."

  Councilor Namakaze looked at Chairman Young. "Chairman, our times are changing quickly and radically. I would suggest we will need more of a military to protect us and our interests in the coming years. To that end, it could only help us to have gifted people among them. At this time and to that end, I would propose we promote Major Anderson to Colonel. I feel we should give him leave to recruit Navigator Lane's group as well as his wife and her friend. It is clear that his suggestions and recommendations are for our benefit. We should support him in this."

  "Other comment's or opinions?" Young asked.

  "Only a question if I may, Chairman?" the Indian councilor asked.

  Young nodded for her to continue. She smiled at him. "I see no issue with the recruitment of Laura Anderson, however, Sharon is a General in the United States Air Force. She will be missed. Do you have a suggestion on dealing with this issue, Major?"

  Joe nodded. "Madam Councilor, if they agree to join us, they will not disappear, they will die in a car accident."

  "What if they do not agree to join us; they will then have knowledge, not only of your continued existence, but of ours as well?" Young asked.

  Joe frowned. "Before I knew the truth about what all of this was, and because of the way I was recruited, I left a covert recording of my 'abduction' in a place where Laura would find it. She has known all along that I am still alive. I had hoped that would have been enough for her, and she would have left it alone. It wasn't. Obviously she played that recording for Sharon and convinced her to search for me.

  "I admit, that was a mistake, but at the time I had no idea what was happening and took steps to minimize the danger to my family." He paused in thought. "If after learning what's going on here, they refuse to join… The car accident can still be arranged."

  Young stood and spoke. "This Council has, in the past, been very selective in who we allowed to be recruited. There were very good reasons for that policy, and a good many of them still apply. Even then, we were not above listening to arguments for recruiting family provided they could contribute in some way to the community we were trying to build. In that way, we have grown and still managed to keep the greed and corruption of Earth's governments from taking root.

  "We are now well beyond the place where we could offer open immigration to the people of Earth, however, the security of the community still has to remain our primary concern. Much of the technology we have discovered and developed would be very dangerous to Earth if those governments even knew it existed. We all know what would happen if they suspected the truth of what we are hiding from them.

  "The situation with the gifted is only different in that we are talking about a direct effect on the lives of people. More than any other group on this planet, those people born with gifts are in danger from the corruption of the leadership. To protect ourselves and our people from the excesses of those governments is the heart of the very reason we started all of this. I feel we have a duty to help these people; even if they consider us to be their enemy, we must work to keep them safe from those who would harm them or use them against their will.

  "We know we cannot directly oppose any of the governments. However, we might be getting to the place where we can begin to act against them in a more direct manner and still remain covert. But therein also lies a danger; how long will it take them to figure out we are working against them? What will be our response when they do? Most importantly, what effect will it have on our people?

  "We are at an unlit crossroads in the middle of the night. There is all manner of dangerous, wild, and unpredictable creatures out and about; it's threatening rain, and we do not have an umbrella. We must be sure of our actions now more than ever. We have much to lose, but so much more needs to be done.

  "Do any of you feel we need further discussion on the matter of Major Anderson's Promotion to Colonel?" Young asked. When no one spoke, he nodded. "Opposed?" no one raised their hand. "In favor?" The vote was unanimous.

  "Do any of you feel we need further discussion in the recruitment of Laura Anderson and General Sharon Sorenson?" Again no one spoke and the action was approved with two abstaining.

  "With the understanding that further discussion will be needed, do we proceed with the creation of a new Citadel community as outlined by Colonel Anderson?" Young asked.

  "Mister Chairman, before you vote on this, I would like to say that we do have a rough plan in place on how and where to proceed with this. It was one of the things we were going to discuss with you," Admiral Hawklings said.

  One of the Councilors chuckled. "We know, Admiral. You have never come to us without having a plan already in place."

  Young grinned and added, "More discussion will be needed, yes, but we can at least let you get started. That's what we are voting on as the timing here is short."

  Hawklings bowed to them. "I understand, my apologies."

  "No worries, Admiral. That's the reason we like to have you with us!" Councilor Cruze replied. The vote proceeded and was approved. There was another discrete knock on the door and Joe let the security teams in. They took up position along the walls of the room.

  Joe turned to Admiral Hawklings. "Are they ready up there?"

  Hawklings nodded. "Security has been notified and is standing by."

  Joe nodded and spoke to the security teams. "Who's going first?"

  A six-man team raised their hands, and he waved them over to him. "Cassie, can you stand over there and face me as a reference for the team?"

  "Sure Joe, I was wondering how you were going to get them to walk through something they couldn't see," she smiled and took her position.

  Joe winked at her but turned to the security people. "Listen up, in a moment I will tell you to walk to Navigator Lane, you will be walking into a portal that will place you in the Admiral's office on Darkwater station. Once there, step away to make room for the next person. Station security knows you’re coming, so they might direct you once you arrive. Are you all ready?"

  All six people nodded so Joe turned back and shifted his vision to hyperspace and created the portal. "Okay, first person, walk toward Navigator Lane."

  The people were well trained and followed Joe's instructions completely. Once they were through, Joe asked the Councilors to do the same, it was slower for them as they dealt with the surprise and shock of suddenly being on the station. Joe could see that the original security team had taken positions at the door and the rest had been lead out. The Councilors had also stepped away from the portal. Next Joe asked the Admiral and Doctor Symms, who had been quiet during the entire meeting so far. Once they were through, Joe called for the rest of the security people. He was beginning to feel the strain of keeping the portal open. Finally, only he and Cassie were left and she came forward, took his hand and they stepped through together.

  The only person remaining in the Council room was the old woman who smiled and shook her head in wonder before leaving the room and closing the doors behind her.

  While Joe rested after the Council meeting, and after Cassie got reacquainted with her uncle, she joined Joe and Becka and brought along a guest. Councilor Cruze asked if she could speak to Joe more about the abilities of the gifted.

  "I am sorry for intruding on your private time, Colonel, but I would like to know more about these abilities if I could," Cruze asked.

  "Certainly Councilor, but you can call me Joe while I'm off duty," Joe replied, smiling.

  "Thank you Joe,
please call me Oday. This really isn't official, and you are under no obligation for this," the woman replied.

  Joe shook his head. "I don't see why I can’t answer questions, Oday, but I should warn you, I'm kinda new to all of this, so I might not be able to give you all the answers. I'm just an old soldier caught up in a new game; I'm still learning the rules, too."

  Oday smiled and nodded. "Fair enough. That ability you used to get us up here, how far can you go using it?"

  Joe shrugged. "I don't honestly know; I really haven't used it all that much yet. I can tell you that distance and duration both tend to tire me faster. Getting the Council up here made me pretty tired, because I had to hold the portal open so long. I think that mass might have an effect as well."

  "Navigator Lane, you used the same ability to arrive in the Council chamber on Earth, do you know more about it?" Oday asked.

  Cassie shrugged. "A little, during my exile I did research into our gifts and abilities to try to learn more. Mostly, I learned that there is a lot more to learn," She grinned. "What Joe and I did is called teleportation by the lay people. What it actually is, is a site to site hyperspace jump without the use of a warp engine. Until I met Joe, I was probably the strongest of the gifted we know about. But I can tell you that he is much, much stronger than I am. I could have never moved all of you up here. One at a time to another place in Japan or possibly Hawaii, maybe; but all of you at once and up to the station… I don't think I could even get myself up here."

  Oday nodded. "What about other abilities? Telekinesis, precognition, telepathy, have either of you developed those yet?"

  "Well, I'm not sure how to do it, but Cassie can talk to me with telepathy. It's not mind reading though, more just communication with a little extra… like emotions or a vague location or feeling from the other person," Joe replied. "It's really hard to describe."

  "Distance doesn't seem to be much of an issue, but then again the only thing being sent are thoughts. Normally, I could have spoken to Joe but I could… feel him, and that let me make the first connection," Cassie replied.

  "Can you send ideas to another person without them knowing it?" Oday asked. "Before you get suspicious of me, I ask because isn't that what a lot of the governments want? Spies that can either plant ideas and suggestions or steal secrets from the minds of their enemies?"

  "Yeah, that's one of the big things they would want," Joe shrugged. "This is the mind we're talking about, so I'm sure it's possible. But it would take a hell of a lot more… bandwidth than what we're calling telepathy. Jared had a limited form of that, but I think in him it was more of a power of suggestion than true mind control. It was also one way; otherwise he would have known what I was up to from the beginning. Still, he is also a good example of what the misuse of such a power can do."

  "The ability is real, and it has been manifested in a couple of people," Cassie said slowly. "There is a major issue with it though; from what I've been able to discover, the fact that each mind is different and stores its data in a different way is the problem. The information is not formatted the same, and so it can corrupt already existing data in the receiving mind, driving it insane."

  "Do you think that's what happened with Jarad?" Oday asked in concern.

  Cassie shook her head. "No, Jared was driven insane by his personality and his own mind trying to define what we are calling hyperspace." She sighed. "As far as the other stuff you asked about, there are already manifestations of those abilities; the precognitives have been helping us locate others that are in danger, but there are so many variables in the future it's hard to be accurate past the initial event. There are also other manifestations that are certainly different, like pyrokinesis, hydrokinesis, true empaths and healers, I've met people that can make things grow or make themselves able to pass through walls. One very bright young lady can interface directly with computer systems. These gifts are as varied and individualistic as the people that have them."

  "That is certainly a lot to think about." Oday replied. "One of the issues that disturbs me is that our history is full of examples of what happens to lesser advanced peoples when a more advanced one is introduced into their society. Are we facing that possibility in this? How do we peacefully prevent it if we are?"

  "Oday, I don't think it'll have time to escalate that far. With every generation, more and more of our people are becoming gifted," Joe said, “That is one of the main reasons I argued for advocacy and study; so we can learn how to educate our people and prepare them for the coming changes. Yes, for now the gifted are an extreme but powerful minority. In twenty to fifty years there will be too many gifted to hide. Eventually, we will be in the majority and have to protect and hide the non-gifted from our society. At some time in the future it'll become a non-issue. That's the deal with evolution; it's how it works."

  Cassie smiled at him. "I'm afraid it's not eventually, Joe. The first stage has already happened. As far as I can tell, every person on the planet has some form of mental ability. It might not be very strong or even very obvious, but it's there. Most people simply write these off as instances of inspiration, intuition, or deja vu. They're not; what they are is the manifestations of abilities or gifts. The only differences are in strength and control of the gift. This also makes it much harder to detect, because we can't just look for the manifestation of ability, we have to look for its strength."

  "So, you're ready to take me home then?" Cassie asked when Joe came out of the bedroom dressed in black and white ACU fatigues. He had his gun strapped to his leg and his beret in one hand. He walked over to the two women that had been sitting in the living area of the suite talking.

  "Yeah, we should probably get going. The longer you’re gone, the more nervous those folks are going to get," Joe replied.

  Becka shook her head. "I'm not completely thrilled with you going into a potentially hostile situation with no way out."

  "I'll have a way out, Becka, I can jump away from them at any time," Joe replied. "Besides, I'm not exactly going in unarmed."

  "Still, after what happened at The Citadel I'm nervous about it." She sighed. "This isn't your normal mission."

  "Sweetheart, this is a whole new game. If I can achieve the objective without killing anyone, I'm all for trying!" Joe said, sitting next to her. "I'll be back, Becka; with luck, I'll have some new friends when I do."

  "I know, it just makes me nervous," she said again.

  Joe smiled at her. "You just don't like me going off without you!"

  "Damn right I don't! Just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean I'm broken, you know!" Becky replied. "I could be helping you!"

  "Yes, you could. But you did say that this mission is somewhat dangerous. You are carrying our child. Would you be willing to risk that?" Joe asked.

  "Anderson! You can't have this both ways! You tell me it isn't that dangerous, then you use that very argument to run off with your new girlfriend!" Becka replied with a smirk. "Which is it?" She shifted to a grinning Cassie. "You better watch out; he'll get you knocked up and then side-line you while he runs out and finds another girl!" Becka teased.

  "God, I hope so! I could use the break!" Cassie replied, bursting into laughter.

  Joe sighed and rolled his eyes. He was grinning at the tease as well. "Besides, I do have something I need you to do, Becka."

  When she finished giggling, she asked him what that would be.

  "I would like you to make sure the ball gets rolling on the new community. If this works, we're going to need homes and services for five hundred plus people in pretty short order. Since I can't be here to kick people in the ass, can you do it for me?" Joe asked.

  "It's closer to a thousand people, dummy! You said you wanted to include the kids and their foster families. I don't think you realize how much we're actually going to need out there, and I'm probably even forgetting something!" Becka replied when she finished laughing.

  Joe looked a little embarrassed. "Yeah, well, this isn't really something I know a
lot about. That's why I was going to ask you to help; you have a better idea of the kind of community we're going to need, and you know who else you can get to help us."

  Becka sighed. "Yes, I'll handle that. I'm still not happy with you going on this mission without me, but I do understand. I'm just Irish enough to need to blow off some steam."

  Joe kissed her softly. "Come on, Cassie and I need to get going. The Admiral wanted to see us off, so we're going to leave from his office."

  "I just wish I could be there when you tell your wife about me and the other women. The look on her face is going to be priceless!" Becka replied.

  Joe again, sighed. "You just had to ruin my day, didn't you?"

  When Joe and the women arrived at Admiral Hawkling's office, they were surprised to find Councilor Young and Councilor Orelov also there.

  "Good Morning Councilors, Admiral. Thank you for coming to see us off," Joe said in greeting.

  Orelov replied first. "Colonel, there is something we wished to speak to you about before you depart; something we touched on briefly in our discussions yesterday."

  "Sir?" Joe asked.

  "The militant faction you are leaving to speak to. You suggested training them and using their anger in a more productive way. Navigator Lane has said that her rescue operations have as yet been limited to the North American Continent. As part of a much larger campaign we are considering, we would like you to give thought to training these individuals with the rescue of gifted from all over the world in mind.

  "There simply is not time to go over the details of the entire plan we are considering right now, and it will take time to set up anyway. While we work to get the new community set up, we would like to speak with you and perhaps General Sorenson in more detail about it and perhaps work out any flaws," Orelov finished.

  Joe nodded. "I will consider the suggestion, Councilor. Thank you." He turned to Hawklings. "Admiral, I asked Becka to stay here and get the ball rolling on the new community for me. She can get with some of the other Navigator's and they can get to work on building the community."