00114



On Earth, at a big table-

Earth Leader Bigges rolled his eyes, frustrated with the other members of the Council of Leaders. The Council, as usual, debated about what to do about the World of Hope, but this time they didn't discussed the suggestions of the Steering Committee with regards to policy making and regulations of Hope. Not this time. Instead, here in this large chamber, they talked about the need to send the military.

Gunther Martin, while never a member of the Steering Committee, often exercised his influence over the Committee members. He had no qualms about trying to persuade the Council of the Earth Leaders, either. He again attempted to convince them to accept his point of view, but this time he went beyond his usual effort- He exerted a sense of utmost urgency, for this time, his son's life rested in the balance. Gunther Martin pressed and insisted for a delay of sending the military, until, somehow, he could work things out with Xavier Bright. The facts that communications between the two worlds was always jammed, and no rockets went back and forth, complicated matters, of course, but Gunther refused to give up hope.

Ldr. Bigges expected as much from the founder of Martinology, but to think that the other Earth Leaders actually argued amongst themselves over Gunther Martin's suggestion, now that- Well, truthfully, Bigges should have expected that the Council indeed would take its time to discuss the matter. Half the members had investments and business dealings with Martinology. And some of the Earth Leaders, such as Leader Arthur Bigges himself, they owed their very lives to Gunther Martin and the developments in the health field made by his company.

Gunther Martin had been invited to sit in on this very special meeting. Most of the Leaders regarded him as an honorary member of their Council, anyway. And also an honorary member of the Committee for Policy on Hope. But Ldr. Bigges held genuine membership on both the Council and the Steering Committee.

"Look, we can't afford to wait any longer," Ldr. Bigges insisted. "Each hour we pause, Gov. Bright increases his strength! That is why I demanded we conduct this meeting! Soon he'll have such a hold on Hope, we won't be able to pry it loose from his grip. As it is, the Hopers' influences are spreading among the Hope people, and the CDG will back up their Governor. This past week, it has become a notion that Xavier is the embodiment of Hope when the time comes. By the time we make a move, it will be as if the World of Hope is like an extension of Gov. Bright himself, and everyone on that world will fight us as one tooth and nail! We must send the troops there today already!"

A middle-aged woman asked, “How can you know this, that the popuoation loves Gov. Bright so much these days, since communication between our worlds is blocked?”

“Trust me, I know. I have my ways. And I know we must not waste time!”

"No, no, no! I won't allow it!" protested Gunther Martin again. This time he even pounded the immense oval table.

Ldr. Bigges turned to Gunther Martin. It was very unlike the man to pound anything to make his point. "You know you can't forbid anything. You aren't a true member. And if you were, you still can't decide that on your own. We decide by a majority vote."

"Leader Bigges, you know that one day I shall leave Martinology to my son. My company has blessed Earth with so much, due to the strides we make in technology, financing, power fuel research, pharmaceuticals- Martinology saved your life, Ldr. Bigges. Please do not be so eager to risk my son's life, my heir, the man who is to lead Martinology one day. It is very important we make sure Osmo is not harmed when the troops are sent on their mission."

Leader Bigges said, "Yes, Mr. Martin, I acknowledge I owe my life to your company. But this is bigger than my life, or Osmo's, or any one person's life. This concerns the security and welfare of planet Earth. We cannot let Xavier stop sending the fuel ore shipments and the food shipments. We need to take over the World of Hope."

Leader Humphrey, new to the Council, inquired, "Mr. Martin, do you believe Gov. Bright would carry out his threat?"

Bigges answered Humphrey instead. "I will tell you what I believe. I believe Gov. Bright had been planning this upcoming war for a long, long time. Who can say what he is capable of doing, in order to see that his years of planning are not thwarted? However, that is all the more reason not to delay any longer. We must give General Schnell the okay to launch. My bag is packed and I am ready to go at a moment's notice."

"You are going along with the Army?" asked Leader Humphrey.

"Yes. I will be Earth Council's on-hand representative."

"Hmm. I wish I were more familiar with the situation with Gov. Bright. I had to hit the ground running, as it were, when Mrs. Forge suddenly passed on, and I replaced her so quickly that I am afraid I have not been apprised of everything around the globe yet. Perhaps someone can bring me up to speed on the matter? That is, if Ldr. Bigges has no objections to taking the time out to clarify things for me before the vote."

"Not at all," lied Ldr. Bigges. He knew Ldr. Humphrey was a favorite with the other Leaders, so he obliged. He added, "In fact, I am the best one here to fill you in on the background of our crisis, since I've done extensive research on Gov. Bright after he was taken from the Steering Committee and appointed to his current position."

The eldest Leader, Ldr. Engadi, raised his white eyebrows, curious. "I always wondered what prompted you to take on the task of such diligent research on the World of Hope, Ldr. Bigges. Perhaps you can tell us about that, also."

"I never trusted Xavier Bright, Ldr. Engadi," replied Bigges. "I met him and talked with him enough times to get a feel for his character. But yet he is the one who was appointed to oversee the governing of the World of Hope. And my initial concern has been justified now. He may try to hide his ego, but it's too big to be able to hide it anywhere."

"Explain what you suspect, please," said Engadi.

"Yes, please do," asked Gunther Martin. "I also have always had my suspicions where Gov. Bright is concerned. Xavier Bright is the one who pushed for the formation of the steering committee to take over deciding how the World of Hope is to be run. Of course, he saw that he himself was working on the very same committee which he had campaigned to have formed by the Council. And from that postion he managed to get himself made the Governor of that planet, thanks in part to his ally, the late Lady Forge. I did not trust him, but I had learned to work with him, and with the Steering Committee."

Ldr. Humphrey asked, "Didn't Gov. Bright claim he did all that so he could make sure that Earth could get the fuel ore it so much needs, and plenty of it, in a timely manner? He promised law and order, and to keep things running smoothly- he said he'd fix the situation on that planet, because, for one thing, the original miners were human, and, at that time, they were coming down with radiation poisoning from the ore dust. Yep, he vowed Earth would be able to get the large quantities it needed with him there overseeing things."

"Correct," affirmed Bigges. "So I see, you did do some research, Ldr. Humphrey. Good. Yes, that was the reason Gov. Bright gave for wny we should send him there as Governor. He also pointed out, miners wearing protective gear while digging out the ore was extremely impractical, as was using robots. Everybody here knows how stupid robots can be, especially the antique robots from a decade ago. Couple that fact with the constant maintenance of those early robots breaking down from the dust, and you can see, Ldr. Humphrey, how the Council welcomed him to take his new office and to implement his new idea for getting the fuel ore dug out in a timely manner. Gov. Xavier Bright came up with the idea of using hardened criminals, and transforming them into Diggers, massive in size and immune to the radiation. The transformation process used on them came from a scrapped super-soldier project proposed by Martinology, and crossed with other techniques. But I don't know who developed the ID Wipe to use on the miners after transformation. The whole ID Wipe thing was and is a well-kept secret of which most citizens from Earth and Hope are unaware. Maybe the old CIA came up with that one. Gov. Bright said that if the criminal's mind had been erased of its criminal memories, then the miner could be brainwashed into being a dedicated Digger, able to dig out huge amounts of the fuel ore each day. In that, he succeeded beyond our dreams. With the late Ldr. Forge's help, he made it up to his position. It was up to the Governor to oversee the mining operations and the food production, and to keep order with the new settlers there, since Hope, at that point, could be compared to the old days of the Wild West in North America. Some say that all the new rules and regulations imposed by the Committee and preceding Gov. Bright's appointment was what had aggravated the sometimes volatile situation on the Woprld of Hope to begin with, because all the red tape overwhelmed the struggling folks. The new settlers could not keep up with all the new directives. This, it is theorized, made them decide to just forget about all the new rules made by bureaucrats on our distant planet who supposedly did not understand how things ran there locally, and so it ended up that everybody each did things his own way, and forget the other guy. That's the theory, anyway. Parenthetically, Xavier Bright had come up with the bulk of the new regulations for Hope, at the very first meeting of the Steering Committee."

Humphrey listened. "Okay, and then?"

"At first, Gov. Bright frequently traveled back and forth between our two worlds, keeping in touch with the Council of Leaders and with the Committee, and seemingly carrying out the wishes of the authorities on Earth. After awhile, though, he stayed on the World of Hope and instead delegated the liaison duties to his sister Selina, his right-hand, until her accident- That was right around the time I became a Leader, having served on the Committee for a number of years. After the accident, he took in his sister's daughter as if she were his own, but he never replaced Selina Bright with someone else to meet personally with us here on Earth. He began to distance himself from us and to run things not quite in accordance with what the Committee's latest suggestions and what the Council of Leaders desired. But he always had an excuse for why he might not follow his superiors, for why he had to deviate ever so slightly from his orders."

Ldr. Bigges scratched a brow, thinking. "I could never determine if his sister knew and approved of all his hidden machinations and of his agenda."

"Just what was his agenda?" asked Ldr. Humphrey.

"First of all, you should know, Xavier Bright is a master of burying his paper and e- trails," Bigges stated. "I see clues here and there in the records, some discrepancies, suggesting Gov. Bright has, by mislabeling, by using bribery or deception, whatever- The clues suggest he has succeeded in bringing to Hope, piece by piece, components to make there the World of Hope's own fuel ore processor. It seems to me the best place and most practical location to build it would be at the mines themselves. It could be assembled with the help of his most loyal miners, and in the mines it could be undetected. -But naturally we know he must have needed help to
design and to complete such a project, and I am sure there are some corrupt scientists at the Hope Research and Development Lab, such as Dr. Kitchen, who helped him. Maybe he has his most loyal miners run the processor for him. And, based on the clues and the time of the shipments of crucial parts, it is safe to assume he built the ore processor early on in his career, even before he brought on Tretl Clyden as his Security Leader-"

Humphrey listened. "Well, are you so sure he really has an ore processor?"

"Heh, oh, yes, I am sure. Can I prove it, though? I wish. When I caught on to the scheme, and I checked the digging logs with the shipping logs of the ore, I became more convinced. So I convinced the Council to take some action. Most of the Earth Leaders didn't want to take him from his postion without definite proof, since Gov. Bright got so much ore dug up and sent to Earth. But at least the other Leaders who were here before you, Ldr. Humphrey, went along with one of my suggestions. Since that time, when my suspicions were so sure, we have kept back supplies from Hope, keeping those on Hope in want and dependent on us. This way, we reasoned, Gov. Bright would not be so quick to break away from Earth, and make the World of Hope his own kingdom, with himself as the king, which, I believe, is what his agenda is."

Gunther Martin and Leader Humphrey both listened with interest. Gunther Martin said, "So, you Earth authorities really did deliberately shortchange the people on Hope??"

"Of course," Bigges reiterated.

"But did you not send anyone there to investigate if he had an ore processor?" Humphrey asked.

"We did," Ldr. Engadi spoke up. "Leader Bigges told us his suspicions. We are not as certain as is he, as he said, but we had to check it out. We did not send anyone right away,though. But as Gov. Bright became less and less compliant, we voted that it was time to follow through with Ldr. Bigges' request and check out if the Governor did indeed hide an ore processor in case he decided to make the World of Hope independent. We sent an analyst there, one recommended by Ldr. Bigges, to look at the books and things, and see if he could find out the truth. Of course, that was his covert mission. We told Gov. Bright that we were sending the analyst to see if he could help the Governor with helpful suggestions on how to run the world better, making do with the supplies we did send to them. Unfortunately, we lost our man to a cave-in at the mines."

"A very convenient cave-in," added Ldr. Arthur Bigges.

"So, I now see things a bit more clearly," said Gunther Martin. “That is why you chose Mr. McCleer.”

"What do you mean?" asked Ldr. Engadi.

"If Arthur- er, Ldr. Bigges personally chose Mr. McCleer, for this mission, I now think I understand. It always seemed strange, picking Mr. McCleer for any type of work on the World of Hope which might lead to putting Gov. Bright in a bad light, considering the history between those two."

"Explain," said Ldr. Engadi.

Gunther Martin chose his words carefully. "Let's say that the two knew each other in college."

Bigges nodded. "Yes, I know they did. I supposed that if anyone would be able to tell if Xavier Bright really had such a processor, and wanted to hide it and make it look as if he didn't, surely his old room-mate would see through Gov. Bright's deception. But it seems Gov. Bright outfoxed us all. Now Mr. McCleer is gone, and the Council has hesitated to do anything about his convenient accident. The Council even failed to at least investigate, because we are so dependent on Hope's fuel ore, and Gov. Bright is so good at getting the huge amounts we need, and we don't want to ruffle his feathers. And now we see the result of such hesitation. Gov. Bright is so cocksure of himself that he has stopped our shipments of ore entirely, and we seem afraid to do anything about it."

"Yes, we must give him slack, because Osmo is in danger," reminded Gunther Martin.

Ldr. Engadi sat with folded hands, very old, very alert. "I also know some things. I found out, after Mr. McCleer disappeared, that Mrs. McCleer and Gov. Bright once were romantic with each other, back in their college days, and when Mrs. McCleer was not Mrs. McCler. I think you are not being entirely forthright with your reasons for why you selected Mr. McCleer, Ldr. Bigges."

"Oh?" was all that Ldr. Bigges said.

"Yes," Ldr. Engadi continued. "What if you chose George McCleer because you knew this little fact, that Gov. Bright once dated his wife Nina? Might it not be possible you hoped to, ahem, rattle Gov. Bright because we sent his former love interest's husband, the man she married instead of him. Mr. McCleer came to critique Gov. Bright's performance- for that was the cover story for his mission to Hope- and to decide what changes Gov. Bright could make to improve the way he ran Hope, and, even worse, Mr. McCleer might possibly, decide that the Leaders of Earth should replace Xavier Bright as Governor- Might this not rattle him so much that the Governor might slip up and make a careless mistake, somehow revealing the truth of the ore processor to Mr. McCleer, who was searching out the matter? Or, did you expect Gov. Bright would be so annoyed, he would simply do something bad to Mr. McCleer, and you were hoping to provoke the Council into reacting against Gov. Bright because he had had the audacity to do something to our sent representative?"

Bigges opened his mouth, about to answer the accusations, when suddenly one of Engadi's aides burst into the chamber.

"Sorry to interrupt, Sirs and Madams." The aide went over to Ldr. Engadi and whispered into his ear. The two conversed in low tones.

Ldr. Bigges strained his ears, trying to catch the gist of the discrete dialogue.

Engadi looked up and said to all of them present, "It seems not all communications from Hope to Earth are jammed. One has gotten through, on an old band and with an experimental technology. The commmunications monitoring center has picked up a transmission on an unexpected channel- and it came from Hope. It is from the device we gave George McCleer to secretly contact us, but now the message was from Osmo Martin. He says he has escaped, and he urges us to send help, to send the military and take Gov. Bright from his office. As soon as possible. How he got Mr. Mccleer's device is something we don't know."

Gunther Martin brightened. "Osmo- is free?"

"See?" Bigges grinned. "Gunther- Mr. Martin, Osmo got free on his own. He didn't need our help, or for us to delay."

Ldr. Bigges spoke to the other Council members. "Well, now there's nothing more to debate, is there? Don't you think we should get moving?"

"I want to come with when you leave for the World of Hope, Ldr. Bigges," Gunther Martin said. "My business cannot afford my absence for very long, of course, but I wish to go and make sure Osmo is okay, and to bring him back home to Earth."

Ldr. Bigges told him, "Mr. Martin, are you sure that is wise?

However, Ldr. Engadi interrupted the discussion amongst the two of them, and he called for the rest of the Leaders to take a hasty vote. Afterward, he called General Schnell. "Start loading the rockets! Get the troops ready. By tomorrow you should be ready to blast-off to the World of Hope, and to retake it for the people of Earth!"

(c) drk 2012