00037

“Where were you, when you first heard about the Peace Lab disaster?"

Tretl Clyden had been in his football coach's office that day. The bulky high school senior discussed life with Coach Tom Jenkins as the sports station played on the radio in the background.

"See, Clyden, ya should wear that uniform with pride, 'cause of all it represents. It stands for honor, achievement, good sportsmanship, all that good stuff. An' it's all true, so be proud, be proud, son. However, don't let all that good stuff get in the way of ya winning a game. We're talkin' real life here, where ya gotta do whatever ya gotta do to get the job done, to win the game. If some quarterback on the opposing team should happen to 'accidentally' get his leg twisted, well, that's what it's all about, fer cryin' out loud!"

But then an important news bulletin over the radio interrupted Coach Tom's words of wisdom. "This just in- There has been a tragic accident involving the Peace Lab Space Station. The details are unknown, but there is serious concern for the safety of the crew of brave scientists working up there in orbit, searching for solutions to alleviate all our overwhelming problems down here on Earth! Peace Lab people, you are in our prayers!"

The coach gasped. "That's just awful! That Hope Martin- her husband's what's-his-name, who started that up and coming business, Martinology- Hope Martin pretty much ran the show up there on the space lab. She was a basketball star back in her college years, ya know. A shame for the world to lose someone like her! That girl could play, and had every reason ta be proud when she wore her basketball uniform!"

Further reports announced most of the scientists had made it back to Earth in emergency life pods from the Peace Lab, but Dr. Hope Martin had stayed behind so she could push the space lab as far as possible from Earth, to protect the planet from the anomaly they had accidentally created, and which was growing quickly.

The unstable phenomenon reached a certain point where it then opened up a wormhole. The whole Peace Lab- and Dr. Hope Martin, who was not able to get back to Earth- got sucked into that wormhole.

The world mourned her for days, and Coach Tom even longer. "What a loss! Such a great player in her day!"

While Tretl Clyden worked on bringing his football team to victory during his senior year of high school, Gunther Martin oversaw the launching of several probes into the new tunnel in space. The probes sent back data detailing a small world on the other end of the wormhole. Gunther Martin, in short order, managed to assemble a rescue team to look for his lost, brave wife. Gunther Martin had found more volunteers for the mission than he knew what to do with.

Of course, many thought the chances of finding Hope Martin alive were quite slim, but Gunther Martin never gave up hope. He declared he never would, until he saw the actual body. Poor Gunther Martin- no one ever did find her body! But the team did find the wreckage of the Peace Lab, scattered all over the face of the new world.

They also found that the planet could be made habitable, and people-friendly. Plants and animals could be raised there. This they knew, because the experimental creatures and vegetation from the crashed space station had lived quite well on that new world, much to the surprise of the rescue team upon its arrival from Earth. Not only that, but later visits had found some rock samples which suggested a whole new source of energy- and so much of it!- upon this small orb in space.

Gunther Martin spearheaded a mining operation and a farming facility on the planet. Naturally, it took only a short time for the government of Earth to push itself into the business of running these projects in this new frontier. But Gunther Martin managed to continue to keep some influence in the programs, and he also insisted the world be named the planet Hope.

By the time Tretl Clyden neared the end of his college days, the Earth Leaders were looking for somone to become the Governor of the World of Hope. As it was at that time, the small colony lacked decent organization and it functioned with too much reliance of an attitude of the Wild West days of North America. (Perhaps, talk speculated, had the Earth government not forced out Marinology's authority, the colony would not have become so chaotic.) The Leaders quickly decided the man to govern should be Xavier Bright. After all, Xavier Bright had served rather well on the 

Steering Committee for Policy Toward the World of Hope.

Well, Tretl Clyden reasoned, Mr. Xavier will need a security chief, to help keep law and order. I am the one. I did well on my security courses, and now I am ready to try my hand at a real-life challenge!

With fewer candidates for the job then expected, Gov. Xavier Bright settled on Clyden for the position. Tretl Clyden worked hard to do his job, and to make his boss look good, and soon Tretl Clyden became the Governor’s right hand man. Very proud of his job, Security Leader Clyden kept his uniform in tiptop shape and always professional-looking those early years. He regarded it as quite an honorable position, although sometimes, in the course of events, in order to help Gov. Xavier solve a problem, Sec. Ldr. Clyden might be expected to employ pragmatic methods to take care of the problem- his means might not be honorable, but nevertheless he regarded his actions as necessary. And anyway, was it not honorable to serve his boss the best way he could?

Perhaps that tendency towards pragmatic solutions at the expense of honor to keep the World of Hope running smoothly had been what had jaded the Security Leader to all the grandeur and the professionalism such a prestigious position as his should entail. The more his moral character slackened, the more his professional demeanour also slackened.

Over time, Gov. Bright seemed to lose favor with the Leaders of Earth, and especially with the newest Leader, Arthur Bigges. Didn't Bigges like the efficient way the Governor ran things, or the way he made sure Earth had lots of food from the World of Hope (at times shortchanging Hope's own citizens), or the way the Governor continued to meet the quotas for fuel ore production?

In fact, it had been mostly Gov. Bright's idea to use hardened criminals as miners, after first transforming them into strong, hardy brutes which could dig much and endure much, and with an ID Wipe to make the criminals docile. What wasn't to like about a plan like that?

Maybe the falling out had to do with the unsubstantiated rumors that at times some of the folks who disagreed with the Governor ended up working at the mines. (And, even though nobody proved it, the rumors were actually true.) Surely something like that shouldn't bother the Earth Leaders! What, then, caused the rift?

The more years Xavier Bright governed, the more he saw his ways and methods were increasing the bounty for Earth. And he became more cocky and independent, figuring Earth would not be willing to replace him. At least, that was Sec. Ldr. Clyden's take on the matter. And, for the most part, Sec. Ldr. Clyden thought that Gov. Xavier had every reason to strut his feathers.

Earth might not try to replace him (not yet), but the Leaders put the squeeze on the Governor and the World of Hope. Less supplies and help came from Earth, although the quotas for what they expected the Governor to produce did not decrease. Gov. Bright insisted he needed more supplies, but the Earth Leaders insisted they had already sent more than enough, and that the Governor did not manage very well the more-than-sufficient help they had already sent. (Truthfully, Gov. Bright had indeed used the supplies in other ways than that for which they had been allocated, but Earth did not know that- or, if they did, they could not prove it. The Governor assured Tretl Clyden he had to use the supplies the way he saw fit, being close to the situation, to make the best of them, for the good of the World of Hope, to keep it running smoothly.)

Sec. Ldr. Clyden watched the chess game between the Earth Leaders and the Governor of Hope play with interest.

Gov. Xavier Bright invited Gunther Martin's son Osmo and friends to come to the World of Hope for a nice vacation. Clyden guessed this would give their little planet some good publicity and PR about it being a great place for tourists. But besides that, Clyden also knew that if Gov. Xavier won Osmo Martin over, then he, in turn, might win over his father Gunther Martin. Mr. Martin still had influence with the Steering Committee which oversaw policy for the World of Hope, so maybe Gunther Martin would press harder for the Earth Leaders to not be so tight-fisted with the much-needed supplies.

A shrewd plan, Clyden told himself, except for one thing- Osmo Martin was a jerk! To make matters worse, the Governor assigned his irresponsible neice, Sheila Bright, the task of showing the Martin punk all the nice spots in Sparkle City. What a great combination those two made!

Then, about the same time as George McCleer's- McCleer had been sent by Earth to assess how well the Governor did his job on Hope and if he wasted the supplies Earth sent- mysterious, convenient "accident" at the mines, Gov. Xavier decided to invite Osmo Martin to become a Security Agent- with Sec. Ldr. Clyden to be the one to personally train the punk! Talk about the Governor really disappointing Tretl Clyden that time!

Why did the Earth Leaders send McCleer, anyway? Were they getting closer to reaching a decision to dismiss Gov. Xavier from his post? McCleer had been Xavier Bright's old room-mate in college, and now he would be the one to recommend whether Earth keep the Governor or get a new one. It seemed probable McCleer would not give a good report, and Gov. Xavier did not help matters, with his constant, annoying flirting with Mrs. McCleer. Clyden had checked up on Xavier Bright before he had applied for the job of Security Leader, and he knew Nina McCleer and Xavier Bright had once been close, very close, back in their college years.

One day, the Governor decided to place McCleer in the mines, from where he could not report anything anymore to Earth. Gov. Xavier lied that Earth's sent representative had been lost in a cave-in at the mines, and Sec. Ldr. Clyden swore to it. Nina McCleer wasn't having any of that, and she could make trouble for them with the Leaders of Earth. That was when the Governor invited Osmo Martin to become a Security Agent.

Since no investigator arrived, to investigate the disappearance of McCleer, Clyden assumed Xavier Bright, with Osmo under his wing, must have managed, with Osmo's influence, to convince the people on Earth through the father Martin that there was really nothing to investigate. Why would a nice guy like Gov. Xavier do such a thing, after all?

Were the Leaders really convinced that there was no need to investigate, or did they force themselves to believe it, so as to not interrupt and distract Gov. Xavier's administration from its overseeing the mining of the precious fuel ore. At any rate, George McCleer would never be able to tell the story, since, as part of the process of becoming a miner, he underwent an ID Wipe.”

And so, Sec. Ldr. Clyden expected things to settle back down once again. He still had to put up with that punk Osmo Martin in the Security Agency- Boy, that riled Mita, didn't it?! She had been a classmate of Osmo's back on Earth, and, after graduation, she had finally determined to forget her girlhood dreams of being Osmo's wife one day. Osmo Martin had never even noticed her.

These days, Mita Morgan attached herself to Clyden, and had hoped to become a Security Agent, and, one day soon, she hoped to become the Security Leader, once Clyden asked Gov. Xavier to make Clyden his Lt. Governor. However, when Osmo was asked to join the Security Agents’ ranks, she fretted that that was another dream gone up in smoke. After all, if the Governor took such a liking to Osmo, might it not be reasonable to expect him to also one day promote Osmo to Security Leader? Unless Mita could one day gain the notice of the Governor- but what could she do to do that?

These days, the only problem seemed to be that illegal house church in Sparkle City. Even with their leader, Billy Boy, gone, the fanatics continued with their own way of worship, not bothering to get state-approval from the Religion Board. How their scofflaw attitude irritated Gov. Xavier, and the Governor worried others might be influenced by such a cavalier attitude to obeying the law. Clyden, for his part, didn't pay the illegal church much mind. Who would pay attention to such a kooky group? Realistically, what kind of problems could they really make for them? Who cared how they wanted to pray and whatever.

Yep, Tretl Clyden expected things to continue running smoothly on the World of Hope, just as before, for a long time to come yet, until the tension between Gov. Xavier and the Leaders of Earth finally came to a head... Then things would change, to be sure! And Tretl Clyden would be by Gov. Xavier's side, as his Lt. Governor, to help him through those rough days ahead.

(c) 2012 drk