The Navigator 2: We the People (7 page)

"What happened to the young man?" Joe asked.

"Unfortunately, he committed suicide a few weeks later. His doctors believe he couldn’t accept being stopped.” The Admiral shook his head at the memory and changed the subject. “Let's run your ideas past the Council and hopefully get the designers working on a planet-based facility," Hawklings replied. "I think the Navigators would be happier if they had their kids around as well."

Joe nodded. “I'm sure they would. I know I'd be very uncomfortable not having my children around." He said looking lovingly at Becka. "One of the other things I wanted to speak to you about was recruiting. Specifically, the recruiting of potential Navigators. If they are aware of their talent, then those folks are going to be paranoid beyond belief. There is no way a retrieval team is going to get anywhere near them. That's one of the reasons I believe there are far more of us out there than you currently know about."

"What would you suggest we do?" Hawklings asked.

"Well, for starters, stop using former military special ops soldiers on the team. We have a certain feel about us that tends to put people on edge anyway. You should look into making them more friendly and less ominous. After all, there is nothing sinister going on here; they will just have to keep it all secret. Intimidation isn't a very good method to gain trust and cooperation," Joe replied. "Perhaps we can find someone that is sensitive to others like us, that would be willing to assist us in locating others."

"Good ideas, all of them. I'll definitely keep them in mind," Hawklings replied.

"So, how is tomorrow going to work? The ban on returning to Earth can't be a medical one, since Becka was allowed to come on my recruitment, and you go to the weekly meetings," Joe asked.

"It is medical actually, but more of medical security than danger. Since you have been modified with nanocytes, you're walking, talking proof of what we are doing up here. If you got in an accident and were taken to a planet-side medical facility, there would be serious issues," Hawklings replied.

Joe nodded. "I can see that. Not to mention the fact that a person could just walk away and be able to disclose the entire truth and have proof to back them up. By restricting access, you simply avoid all those potential issues. I thought it was something like that. How long does the Council feel we can keep this a secret from the general population?"

"It's not just the general population, Major. A good portion of the governments have no idea of everything going on up here. If they did, they would all demand more control over what we do. That would start a war, since by and large the governments of Earth are about power and control. If you haven't noticed, we don't use any fossil fuels at all. We do import goods, but we don't actually need to, thanks to the replicators and our own farmers and manufacturing facilities. Technically, we're all but independent of Earth. We even have enough people now to maintain our own population if we had to, but we still like to get more people from the planet.

"Eventually, we would like to open all this up to the people of Earth, but until we figure out a way to keep the governments from killing everyone over it, we have to remain covert," Hawklings explained. "Now to the last issue we need to discuss; what really happened at The Citadel." He paused, "I've read everyone's reports but yours, and you haven't had time to write one up. I've got a good grasp on what happened up until you ordered the evacuation and sent Symms back to the shuttle. What happened after that?"

Joe nodded his understanding of what the Admiral was asking. "After Doc Symms left me, I accessed the computer to try to override whatever it was that Jared had done to the station. At first I thought he had set the reactors to self-destruct, but quickly found that not to be the case." Joe continued and told the Admiral everything that occurred on the station up until he made the pod jump into hyperspace.

Hawklings nodded. "Cassandra. I'd heard from Becka and Lenard she had contacted them. It's good to know she's still alive and well. I just wish she would have come back to us; we could have helped her."

"Before all of this happened, I was curious about what happened to her, so I looked it up," Joe replied. "I don't think I could blame her for what she did. At the time, she had no idea if she could trust you folks; after all, you did send her back to the planet and all but delivered her to the Groom Lake Ghouls. Luckily, she could read them and jumped herself out of there before they could sedate her and begin the dissection."

Hawklings nodded. "If we’d had any idea that's what they had planned, we never would have let her go back to the planet. Unfortunately, we didn't get the chance to explain that to her."

Joe smiled at him. "I think she's becoming aware of that now. However, in the interim, she has been a very busy lady. She's recruited a large following of her own; a community of gifted people she has rescued from those same ghouls that have been hunting them. However, she now has a problem and has asked me to help her with it."

"What's the problem?" Hawklings asked.

Joe held up his hand to the Admiral. "Don't worry, Sir, your niece is safe, but the people on Earth might not be. You see, the people she helped, have in turn helped others. So many others that they have developed a rather large community of gifted people. They elected their own Council of Elders and have been living on Earth, under the radar. As with any community, there are always those that disagree with current policy, or wish to change the status quo. She has a group of mostly young people that have been gaining supporters. She tells me they are far more militant than the Elders of the community would like, and they tend to advocate violence far too easily. They believe they can effect change by destroying those that would harm them." Joe explained. "She asked me if I would consider going to her community and speaking to them, but she also warned me that they tend to see me as one of their primary enemies. In their eyes, I am a super-powerful, gifted, killing machine controlled by the United States Government. They are using me as a focus for their rhetoric. I planned on going there, speaking to the people, and telling them what we are doing up here and why. Maybe it'll help take some of the air out of the hot-heads and give the elders more support."

Hawklings paled. "Attacking normal people would be the absolute worst thing they could do! It would destroy any chance for trust of the gifted, and the government would use it as an excuse to hunt them down and kill them."

Joe nodded. "I was going to offer them a place where they could live their lives without fear of being hunted or ridiculed. Where they could live their lives as humans should be allowed to."

Hawklings nodded. "Yes, do that. The Council may not agree, but if that's what it'll take to defuse the situation, then we need to make it happen. A war like that could very easily end life on Earth. Fear and suspicion would be rampant. People would start killing each other just because they think that other person might be gifted. It would be a nightmare." He was thoughtful for a moment. "I'll get the people on BC IV going on housing units for them. Major, there is one last thing I need to tell you about; the jump you made out of the station wasn't a clean jump. There was a major issue."

Joe looked confused. "Huh? We all arrived just fine, I didn't make it to the place I imaged, but at least the guys at BC IV station got to us in time."

"That's not entirely true; you did make it to the place you intended. You also made it to the time you imaged," Hawklings replied.

"Huh?" Joe asked.

Hawkling smiled sadly. "Major, two hours before you left for The Citadel, your escape pod was recovered from your desert location with you and five other occupants. All six of you were in a form of temporal stasis that prevented you from even aging. We hid your future forms on the station until you started to wake up. That occurred shortly before The Citadel was destroyed. Major, when you jumped the pod out of The Citadel, you also jumped it roughly thirty hours back in time."

"Sir, that's… not possible," Becka replied. "The temporal equations of a hyperjump do not allow for a negative value. A paradox event is created that cancels the rest of the equation."

Hawklings nodded. "I know. Joe still did it." He sighed. "The knowledge is nice to have, but is of little practical value. Doctor Symms, as well as a few other scientists have been given clearance to study this. It’s believed that what happened was like a natural law of hyperspace preventing a paradox event."

"Sir, we weren't even out there for thirty hours; it was more like six hours," Joe replied.

"Major, the crisis at the Citadel lasted twenty-seven hours," Doctor Symms replied. "There was a temporal differential involved in the event that effected The Citadel."

"So that's why we were sent directly down to the New Hedron medical center instead of the station!" Shana replied. "Because Joe and the others were being kept there!"

Hawklings nodded. "Exactly so. Even though they were under a strict quarantine, we couldn't risk one of the survivors discovering their presence."

"That's why you were so short with us when we spoke after we escaped," Becka said.

Hawklings nodded. "I know how you feel about him, Becka. I was afraid I would let something slip that would let you know he was safe. Of course, at the time, we really weren't sure, but that was all we had to go on."

"This could be a problem. We could have Navigators trying to jump into the past to effect changes. There is no good outcome for that scenario," Joe replied.

"Agreed. That's why the entire event has been purged. There is no recorded information that the event ever took place and those that know of it have been sworn to silence. If we discover one of the gifted that can affect memory, we may even ask them to see if they can purge the information from those people as well, myself included," Hawklings said. "Before you ask, no, the Council is not aware of this event. After we leave here, none of you are to ever speak of it again. It never happened. Agreed?"

"Why did you tell us then, Sir?" Joe asked.

"I felt you had the right to know," he shrugged. "If you are aware of the possibility, you can be more aware of signs that it has happened again and act appropriately."

Joe nodded slowly. "I understand, Sir." He paused and smiled back at the Admiral. "By the way, you will get to see your niece again; she is going to meet us in Tokyo tomorrow to speak to the Council."

Joe was happy that the Council was actually in a country other than the United States. Granted, many countries considered Japan to be nothing more than a puppet of U.S. policy, but Joe knew that was most definitely not the case. It was a little unsettling to have the Council this close to 'hostile' countries like China and North Korea, but it occurred to Joe that was only his own biased nationalism causing that feeling.

Since all visits to the planet were covert by nature, Joe wore a business suit and carried an empty briefcase. Admiral Hawklings accompanied him, but Becka stayed on the station with Shana, who was going through the processing required for her upgraded status. Both Doctor Symms and the Admiral were also wearing business suits, and they rode from the airport in a limousine; business executives on a routine visit to the orient.

They were greeted in the reception area and an assistant escorted them to an elevator bank in the center of the building. The aide used a pass-key to call the elevator and got in the car with them. When they got in the car, the Japanese aide input a security code and the elevator began moving down. The car arrived and the doors opened, but only Joe, Doc Symms and the Admiral got out. Joe turned around and bowed to the dour faced man and said thank you in Japanese.

The now smiling man returned the bow as the doors closed.

"Damn, I keep forgetting to do that," Hawklings replied. "No wonder he looked mad. Come on, we still have to go through one more security check before we can see the Council."

The Admiral led the way to a security room manned by personnel of very diverse nationalities, all dressed in black coveralls. All three men were scanned and searched, their identities and clearance levels were verified, before they were politely shown to a comfortable waiting room and offered refreshments. Joe was surprised he was allowed to retain his weapons. Since it was very early in the morning for the three men, they were served coffee and sweet rolls.

"Gentlemen, the Council will see you now. I will bring you fresh coffee while you are in your meeting," the oriental hostess said as she bowed her head, stepped to one side, and held a hand to the door they needed to take.

The men got up and went to the door, being sure to thank the woman for her kindness and assistance. When Joe tried to give the woman his weapons, she refused them.

"Please Major, keep your weapons with you. You are considered an elite guard here, and as such, you are expected to not only retain your weapons, but to protect the Council in the event of an attack," The woman said and bowed.

Joe returned the bow. "I am honored and humbled by your trust, Madam. I will not disappoint you."

"Of that I am certain, Major," the women replied. "Welcome to Tokyo."

Joe again bowed to her. "Madam, there is one event I will need you to be aware of. Very soon, you will detect an additional person in the council room with us. It will be Senior Navigator Cassandra Lane; she is not hostile but wishes to remain… secure."