00092

Security Agent Osmo Martin glanced about the surroundings. Before him stood a freshly painted barn on the edge of the farmzone. Why would the Governor request a confidential meeting here with all the Security Agents in attendance? The faces of those other Agents, entering the large building, reflected the satme question in their minds.

“The interior of the barn, Osmo Martin found, to his surprise, looked nothing like what he expected a barn to look like inside. He saw conveyor belts snaking all over the place, workstations where stalls should be, and much mysterious equipment partially concealed under poor-fitting tarps. No farming machinery, however, of any sort. Rather, it suggested a factory, but one not yet in operation.

Perplexed, Osmo stood with the other Agents in the middle of the floor, most of whom were in their uniforms for the occasion. The Agents buzzed with chit-chat, waiting to get answers, wondering what kept the Governor from already being there to explain.

After several more minutes, Gov. Bright at last arrived. He entered, with Mita Morgan accompanying by his side. And Mita Morgan wore a uniform, too! It resembled Osmo's standard Security Agent uniform, except the sleeves were red, instead of the whole outfit being a dark blue.

Gov. Bright and Mita Morgan said nothing until they reached a table by some desks. Whatever was on the table was covered by a large cloth, like the machinery about the place.

The Governor greeted the assembled people. "Good morning, Security Agents. I know you are asking yourselves, why we are here today. And I am sure you all realize that this is not a barn any longer, but it has been converted into a factory."

The Agents muttered their affirmations.

Osmo Martin noticed, in his preliminaries, so far Gov. Bright had said no word yet about what Mita had to do with any of this, or why she wore a uniform. Was it possible she joined the force? Is that why she sported that outfit?.. Maybe the Governor simply planned to announce new uniforms, and Mita modeled the new design. This factory is where the new outfits would be produced. No, that was ridiculous. Why should the Governor bring them all here for something so trivial?

"Let me start by thanking you loyal Agents for the length of time many of you have served the World of Hope. Some of you great people have been doing this job for almost as long as I have been Governor. And through those years we have managed to keep law and order in the city, at least for the most part. Of course, we wish to continue our impressive record, and even surpass it- and we shall, too! That I promise you. However, times change, and in order to keep up with the times, we, too, must change. We must alter the way we do things, in order to continue being efficient. In the coming weeks, you shall see many changes. These will benefit us in our ability to continue to keep law and order."

He paused, letting what he just said be absorbed.

"Those of you who know our history, know that when the first settlers arrived on this small planet, many wild beasts roamed the lands. At that time, there weren't many structures to provide adequate shelter for the settlers from the creatures. Sparkle City was more an idea than an actual town back then. These creatures, survivors from the crash of the Peace Lab space station; they were experimental animals, and they had escaped when the space station fell here, as did many of the experimental plants, which grew quickly due to having been subjected to growth accelerants testings. That is why our world has much vegetation in such a short time- because of a large percentage of our vegetation's early exposure to the accelerants. And the animals fed on the plants, and proliferated, also in part due to those accelerants in the plants and in the environment. And the animals fed on each other. But then they outpaced their food supply. Then they began to harass the settlers, who consisted mainly of the first miners of the fuel ore, human miners.

"The settlers banded together and caught most of the pests. They domesticated them for our own food supply, penning them in here on this very farm, and on many similar farms. Over time, the abundance of the creatures benefited Earth's hungry population as well.

“But now, because of the few beasts that had evaded capture during the first roundup, their numbers have increased again to dangerous amounts. Reports indicate they may start swarming Sparkle City soon. We must be ready to protect our citizens from those beasts, and from another kind of beast as well- I have it on good authority that often criminals have slipped aboard a rocket from Earth- and Earth's inept security let them slip by their agents- and these criminals have come to our world in order to escape justice, to hide from it. These outlaws prefer to live outside our city, in the wilderness, with the other wild beasts, because they know, sooner or later, and probably sooner, you Security Agents will find them and apprehend them if they stay long in Sparkle itself. Sometimes these bad people prey upon Earth tourists who go from our city to visit one of our many fine resorts in the wilds. Sometimes they steal from our farms.

“You know of the travel advisory against visiting our world issued on Earth. Well, okay, so these problems are something we must now set our minds to tackle, to deal with, in our own way, with our own resources, since Earth is no help.

“Our former Security Leader, obviously so lax and probably taking bribes to look the other way, did little to curb such unwelcome immigrants with their undesirable behavior as they skulked in the lands outside Sparkle City.

"The purpose of this little history lesson is to lead up to the reason I have called for this meeting. I want to show you our new weapons which will be used to help protect the populace, by rounding up and stopping both kinds of beasts in the wilderness outside our city limits- wild animals and wild humans.”

On cue, Mita Morgan removed the dropcloth from the table. On top the table rested many different types of blasters, new blasters, the kind Osmo Martin had not seen before.- and as a Security Agent, he thought he saw them all. One by one, Mita held them up as Gov. Bright spoke about the weapon. There were two versions of a long-range rifle-like blaster, several new hand blasters, a mid-sized blaster, and a tiny, concealable blaster.

The Governor explained, "These new models are very lightweight, and their power fuel batteries weigh practically nothing, but their charge and force are nearly twice the conventional blasters we all know and love." He turned to Mita. "Please demonstrate." Then, to his audience, while Mita Morgan selected a model, he said, "Watch what these things can do!"

Mita faced a giant boulder, earlier set up in a corner to be the target before the meeting. She had chosen a short hand blaster. With her quick squeeze on the trigger, the weapon fired a blaze of particle/energy blasting power, striking the huge rock and smashing it into millions of pebbles that exploded into the air and scattered around the factory, showering everywhere and everybody. The blast had not obliterated completely the boulder, but it certainly did unbelievable damage.

Many of the Agents reflexively ducked from the spray of pebbles.

Gov. Bright grinned, then became serious once more. "Thank you for that demonstration of the blaster, and of your superb marksmanship. You have been hiding your light under a bushel. Even my niece was unaware of your skills."

Me, too, Osmo Martin thought. I never really knew much about Mita in school, and even now, even though she hangs out with Sheila sometimes, I still know very little about her. And, I have no desire to learn so much about her now, either. I never knew what she was talking about back then in school, and I still don't.

Mita returned the gun to the table after the demonstration and stood at ease.

"This factory is where we will be manufacturing these new weapons, Security Agents," Gov. Bright announced. "It will be your duty to include this factory on the high priority list of locations requiring extra vigilance from each of us.”

One of the Agents interrupted. "Excuse me, Gov. Bright, but why do we need so many weapons that we will have to have this whole factory to make them? Why not just get them from Earth, like we always do?"

Mita Morgan now took it upon herself to answer the Security Agent. "Earth has long since shown itself to be unwilling to look out for the interests of the World of Hope. We cannot count on them to supply us with the needed blasters to meet the challenges ahead of us.”

“What challenges? Just how many wild packs of animals are there in the desert?" asked another. "Why should we need so many blasters?"

Gov. Bright replied, "It pays to be prepared, just in case. We do not know how many outlaws are hiding there. What if they decide to band together and try to take over our city?"

Mita pointed out, "And, naturally, what you have seen and heard here today must be kept top secret. The outlaws cannot know about this place, otherwise they might try grabbing for themselves a large supply of blasters. It does not take much imagination to think what the outlaws could do with a cache of deadly blasters. They might even seriously consider attacking us with them."

Osmo Martin found the whole thing rather strange. And who was Mita, to be ordering them to keep this thing hush-hush? Or to be answering questions even. And why had Osmo heard very little about the outlaw problem or the wild animals, even after the travel advisory, until suddenly today? Certainly, there were the occasional minor incidents with undomesticated creatures, but now, it suddenly became a crisis requiring so much firepower to be prepared to meet it-? Maybe he just didn't pay enough attention, like he had never realized Mita's marksmanship talents? But, since taking this job, he thought he had been applying himself with much effort- unlike his days at school. He had become a changed man. Hadn't he?

Some Agent inquired, "Gov. Bright, have you as yet given any thought to who you will be replacing Mr. Clyden with?"

"Yes, he has. The choice has been made," said Mita Morgan.

A bit put off, the Agent said, "I was asking the Governor."

Gov. Bright smiled indulgently. "In answer to your question, yes, I have." Mita moved closer to him, as he said, "Meet your new Security Leader. Agents, may I present to you, Security Leader Mita Morgan.”

A collective “huh??” filled the air.

Osmo, shocked, couldn't believe his ears. "You, Mita? Is that the deal with the new uniform you are wearing?"

"Call me Sec. Ldr. Morgan while I am on duty, please, Agent Martin. And yes, that is the deal with the new uniform. This is the new official Security Leader uniform, as I am sure you have figured out."

Osmo sputtered, "But- but Sec. Ldr. Clyden seldom even wore a uniform, Mita- Sec. Ldr. Morgan.”

“True," she acknowledged. "One of his many unprofessional quirks. I aim to restore the professionalism and respectability of the Security Agency. I am not saying we do not now have professionalism and respectability, but I am saying that there is room for improvement. This all dovetails with many of my courses of study in school back on Earth during my adolescence."

Another Agent asked, resentful, "But, Gov. Bright, why not chose someone with a lot more experience- heck, with any experience with the Security Agency for the position of Security Leader?”

Gov. Bright shook his head. "What the Security Agency needs is fresh blood, someone with a new perspective. We have become too used to the old way of doing things, the Clyden way. I admit, even I had become stuck in the Clyden rut, without realizing it. Sec. Ldr. Morgan has a vision of how to raise the Security Agency to higher levels, and I believe she can accomplish that goal. She excelled in her classes, and already she has proven her qualifications."

Some doubtful faces stared at him. "How?" one of them asked.

He told them, "Say what you will about the sad, tragic ending of the illegal church, what we call the Incident- Those strange fanatics spit in the face of the Religion Board, defying the Board, never getting the required state-approval. Whether they dealt in drugs or not, I do not know. Possibly, Mr. Clyden lied about that. But the fact remains, we know they defied the Religion Board, and so we know they were criminals who should have been arrested. Some were arrested from time to time, but only a few. No one knew where to find the majority of the lot of them, to get them all in one fell swoop. Nobody, that is until Sec. Ldr. Morgan saw the clues in front of her, and was smart enough to recognize them as clues. She deduced that the illegal church was hiding at the old miners' building. Mr. Clyden had been unable to find them, but she could. She located a den of lawbreakers. That is how she has already proven her qualifications. I look forward to seeing the Security Agency thrive under her leadership."

Sec. Ldr. Morgan took her turn speaking. She concluded the matter for the assembled Security Agents.. "And I look forward to serving you, Gov. Bright, you and the World of Hope. And I also look forward to working with each and every one of you Agents. In time, you shall learn what I expect from all of you, and together we shall become a better, more efficient, more competent group of Security Agents serving the public and Gov. Bright, and seeing to it that law and order and justice are not merely words, but genuine qualities which we will exemplify. I guarantee the average citizen of Hope will notice and appreciate the new, improved Security Agency. With your leave, Gov. Bright, I will dismiss the Agents from our meeting.”

The Governor nodded his consent.

The Agents buzzed with talk when they left the building. Osmo Martin talked to himself, muttering, "Oh boy, oh boy, I am not sure Mita as Security Leader is such a good idea!”

(c) drk 2012