Chapter 5 pt 3

                                                ***

Mura – Jie opened her eyes to find herself back in the office of the Head Watcher. She turned her head to find it sitting at a desk rifling through papers.

            “Why have you brought me here?” She asked sitting up in her chair.

            “You haven’t been giving the humans a fair shake. Even living among them you are still judging them. I am going to remedy that. For the rest of the time the humans have left, I am going to remove your memories. You will no longer remember that you are Watcher. You will believe that you are just a normal human being.” It pushed back from It’s desk and slithered around to her side,

Mura – Jie opened her mouth to argue but the Head Watcher cut her off.

“Don’t bother arguing. I have made my mind up. Everyone deserves an unbiased judgment, and currently you are incapable of doing so. I will give them the best chance of succeeding. I will keep your memories and most of your powers here with me. Once the remaining thirteen years are up, I will return all of your powers and your memories. “

The Head Watcher waved a tentacle and Mura – Jie disappeared leaving behind two floating balls, one was red and filled with her power the other was blue and filled with her memories. With another wave of his tentacle and a white ball appeared, this was the memories that would replace the ones floating above It’s head. It waved again and the white ball disappeared implanting itself in Mura – Jie back on Earth.

“Good Luck Humans. I have just given you your best bet. Don’t screw it up.” The Head Watcher waved the two floating orbs into the safe that was sequestered in the floor of it’s office.  It hoped It had done the right thing.

Chapter 5 pt 2 of 3

As the President stepped off of Air Force One in Bern, Switzerland he took a deep breath, breathing in air that was only slightly tainted by the scent of jet fuel. He wondered briefly to himself if he could get away for a day or so and go skiing, he quickly shook that thought from his head, no use getting his hopes up only to have them dashed. He glanced behind him as Jane Anne disembarked from the jet.

“Mr. President, Ms. Miller the limo is right this way. Follow me please.” A chauffeur dressed in a tuxedo gestured to a spot a few meters down the runway where a limo waited. As they walked down to the limo John’s Secret Service escorts immediately swarmed the car checking every inch of it for any danger to him. Once they were finished they allowed them into the car and off they went to the Swiss consulate where their twice yearly meeting was being kept this time.

When they arrived they went directly to the large conference room where they would be spending the next two weeks going over the changes they had made, and the changes they still needed to make. They were still only in the beginning stages of the changes and they still had a long way to go to convince Mura – Jie. John sighed, some days still weren't worth it, but it was getting better every day. 

Music to help me write

I've been listening to this Russian band called The slot or Слот. They are awesome and even though I can't understand a word they are saying, their songs just seem to hit a cord. The best song to start listening to them is Mirrors/Зеркала, and then head to their newest song Angel or Demon/Ангел или демон. They are both really awesome songs and you just want to sing along even if you don't know the lyrics. 
Angel or Demon By The Slot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHX8Feimd5s
Mirrors By The Slot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okIyxN0_K7k

Chapter 5 pt 1

                     Chapter Five

John’s intercom beeped. “Sir, there is a Jane Anne Miller here to see you.” His assistant’s perky voice announced through the device. Becky could make the end of the world sound like a good thing, since everything she said was delivered in the same happy voice regardless of what she was telling the President.

“Send her in.” Jane Anne Miller was the mediator for all the governments. She made sure their issues never escalated, she also made sure everyone was getting the help they needed in bringing their countries up to date. Her most important job however, was to make sure no one on the planet forgot they were on a deadline and being watched, because no one could afford to forget that.

“Hello John, you remember you have a meeting with all the other Heads in two days correct?” Jane Anne asked as she sat in one of the chairs facing the President’s desk.

“Shit! Thank you for reminding me.” John hit the button on his intercom, “Becky my dear can you call Air Force One and inform then about the meeting with the other Heads in Switzerland?”

“They were notified the day I put it on your schedule, Sir. Would you like me to contact them to see if preparations are almost complete?” Becky replied though the intercom.

“Yes please.” John told her, turning his attention back to Jane Anne. “I wouldn't find my own head without that girl.” John told Jane Anne jokingly.

“Anyway, let’s get down to business. How are those plans coming with Japan to relax their Immigration laws? There are less than a hundred million Japanese left, they need an influx of fresh genes and people otherwise they will disappear. I’m not saying they need to drastically change their way of life, but we all know they need the help.” John said placing his elbows on the desk steepling his fingers.

“John you know the Japanese hate asking for help in anything, but they know they need the help on this one. They are willing to allow professionals into the country, especially those in the medical and educational fields. They don’t have nearly enough people qualified in those fields.” Jane Anne said looking at her notes.

“They need to do more than that. Professionals aren't going to be nearly enough to help jump-start their population growth. They need to let in some lay people as well. In twenty years half of their population will have died out, and they need people to replace them, or their infrastructure will collapse taking the rest of the worlds’ economy with it. This isn't only about them. Then need to suck it up and do this for the greater god damned good.”

 John ran his hands over his face. Getting the Japanese to see reason on this issue was like pulling teeth. They knew they need more people, but they also wanted to keep their way of life exactly as it was. They couldn't keep their way of life and survive, John knew they were aware of this, but they didn't want to compromise. He was desperately hoping Jane Anne could help them see reason, otherwise they were all totally screwed.

            “When we see them on Thursday in Switzerland we will all sit down and have a frank talk. I’ll contact the scientists focusing on Japans population problem and have them bring over some research, and predictions. I want to be prepared for any arguments they have. I also am going to contact the best historian I know and get her to come along as well to help alleviate their fear of losing their identity since that is a valid fear. They don’t want to become homogenized like America is. What they don’t seem to understand the only reason we are so homogenized is because we are a relatively young country, compared to them. Their identity is ingrained in everything they do, our identity comes from all the different people that live here.”

Jane Anne Pulled out her cell phone and began to dial. She paused then looked up.

“Make sure you are ready to play ball John. We may need to be harsh with them, but it needs to be done. I know you would rather give them more time to come to terms with this but we have run out of time. No more coddling.” She told him as she returned to dialing. She put the phone to her ear and began to speaking in rapid fire Japanese.

This was why Jane Anne made such a good mediator, she spoke every language fluently, and could read and write them as well. She was also a force to be reckoned with, she didn't pull any punches. She was manipulative but didn't take sides. She did what was best for the planet as a whole. She was also very aware of the undercurrent of tension that ran through everyone and she always seemed to know whether to be soft spoken or harsh depending on the circumstances and who she was speaking to. As long as she got the results the planet needed she would do whatever it took. She was a great person to know when she thought you were handling things the right way, a terror to deal with other wise.

Jane Anne put Humanities best interest first, and that was why all the countries bowed to her judgment for the first time, that and she was willing to compromise to get everyone back on track to change the world. She knew doing anything else would destroy humanity. 

Chapter 4 pt 2

                                                ***

            “Janice, can you get the Russian President on the phone? I want to know if those nuclear engineers are finished over there yet, the Brits need them, and I don’t feel like hearing that woman’s mouth today.”

John had had a rough two years, between people losing their shit over laws and policies being changed, to people nay saying everything he tried to do, not to mention all the Humanity First groups cropping up. They stressed him the most, he understood their point of view, but he knew what would happen if everyone began to think like them. They would all be wiped out. Humanity First didn't see the bigger picture, they could spout off their opinions all they wanted, they said that Humans shouldn't do anything the Watcher asked, but that way of thinking led to madness and death, two things Humanity couldn't afford.

“Of course, Mr. President, I will get him on the phone immediately. The Iranians are requesting help. Their more rural areas are resisting the changing of certain laws, especially the ones concerning women.” Janice walked into the room carrying a large stack of folders that looked like they weighed more than she did, but she carried them like they were a box of tissues. She dropped the folders on his desk and they landed with a heavy thud. John knew he would be working on whatever was in those folders for the foreseeable future. There went his vacation.

“The men are resisting the women becoming equal and having rights. They are also having issues with police cracking down on underage girls being married off, now that the age of consent in Iran has been raised to 18. Which I don’t get, since many of those girls were married for monetary gain and that is no longer an issue since Iran’s economy is booming and they have more jobs than they do people at the moment.” Janice spoke as she took a seat and began to rifle through the folders looking for what, John didn't know.

One of the good things to come out the many changes being put into place by the countries was that they were in in economic, technological and scientific boom. There had never been such rapid progress made in the planets history. Since scientists and inventors and companies were no longer focused on making things for the military, they were able to focus on other things, and they now had a plausible cure for two of the most dangerous diseases known to man, cancer and Aids, it was just a matter of time now before they could cure most people of those diseases.

They had also made advances in clean energy, figuring out ways to make solar panels more effective and cheaper to manufacture, and to make wind turbines more effective as well. Many of the new cars coming out were either hydrogen run or electric, forcing charging and hydrogen refueling stations to be built all over the country adding more jobs and more money to the economy.

The best thing that came from all the changes was what it did to humanity as a whole. For the first time, there was a true global political system, because what happened in one country now affected every other country. Really important issues, like the creation of a government to deal with the other species they would encounter once they left their solar system, was put to a global vote. It worked splendidly as well, because everyone needed a say in its duties.

They ended up consolidating NASA and the other major space exploration associations into one giant entity that reported directly to the Heads of each country. With all those physicist, astrologists, astronomers, engineers and general scientists sharing information the bounds and leaps in their knowledge of space grew, especially what they learned from the probe.

  “Send in our best political negotiators to Iran. Let’s get that squared away as soon as possible,” John told Janice snapping out of his musings. He watched as Janice jumped up and left the room her phone already at her ear. Even though John’s job had gotten significantly harder the last few years, he couldn't be any prouder of how well Humanity was taking things considering. There were still a few who refused to get with the program, but you can’t win every fight, he thought to himself.

I'm here

Yesterday was my birthday and i decided against posting so you get all of chapter 4 today and the first half of chapter 5

sucky no internet

So I'm at my sister's house and I've been trying to up load the latest chapter but her internet is shit. I'll upload it when I get home tomorrow late at night. Stupid internet and stupid phone.

Chapter 4 pt 1

Today's post will be pretty short, while I work on how I want the next few chapters to go. Bear with me.

             

 Chapter Four

                        Two years into their fifteen year time line, found many countries under going very subtle social changes, all designed to change the way society as a large saw things. Schools now taught children that instead of countries winning wars, they lost people, and even though they were for necessary social changes and revolutions, there could have been other ways to go about them. They taught the violence should only be the absolute last choice.

            Police forces had begun phasing out lethal force weapons in favor on non-lethal ones, many military personnel gave up their firearms for Tasers and beanbag rounds. Countries had begun to drastically reduce the size of their militaries, which ended up save many countries money, which they then spent on re-educating their citizens and re-organizing their governments to better facilitate the changes that needed to be made to ensure the Earth’s Watcher found no reason to destroy them. Little did they know Mura – Jie was living amongst them, seeing all the changes first hand.

                                                            ***

Chapter 3 pt 2

            ***

            Mura – Jie appeared in the halls of the Watcher’s Council headquarters and hurried to the Head Watcher’s Office. This Watcher appeared to be a three foot tall slime, but it was the most powerful Watcher in their history, it was also the one that assigned the Watcher’s their planets. It was also the one that she needed to get approval from, since she so desperately wanted to be assigned a new planet. There were only three ways to be removed from an assignment, gross incompatibility (which is what Mura – Jie was hoping to use), if the species was a clear and present danger to the rest of the Universe, or finally, if they were irrationally xenophobic.

            “Mura – Jie, what can I do for you today?” The Head Watcher asked, looking up from what appeared to be paperwork.

            “I am requesting a transfer.”

            The Head Watcher’s head tilted to the side, while it contemplated her request.

            “You know transfers are rarely done, and only in extreme circumstances. What is your reasoning for your transfer?” The Head Watcher oozed its way around its desk to stand in front of Mura – Jie.

            “Gross Incompatibility. These Humans are bloodthirsty and cruel, they solve ever dispute with some kind of violence. If some of them weren’t like that, then I would say they were a clear and present danger to the rest of the Universe. I am artistic and peaceful, the very opposite of that species,” Mura – Jie said as she looked down at the creature that had the power to crush her dreams.        

            The Head Watcher oozed over to its desk, and pressed a button and began speaking into it.

            “Bring me the Human’s history,” it released the button, and turned back to her.

            “Have you tried to connect with your charges? You may have more in common with them than you think. Even if you think you have nothing in common with them, I know your history Mura – Jie, and before I even begin to think about granting your request I have to see if what you say about the Humans is true.” It turns as a knock sounds against the door.

            “Come in.”

            A five foot tall pink fluffy walking stick came into the room, with a thick folder in one of its appendages and placed it on the Head Watcher’s desk.

            “Thank you very much Fra’g.”

            The creature exited the room while the Head Watcher looked through the file on the Humans.

            “While I do see some of what you say in here, I also see that they have their scientists, and artists just like most species.  Hmm… I see you have given them an ultimatum. I will make my decision after they have proven themselves one way or the other to you. If you still cannot stomach the Humans after their time is up, I will assign a new Watcher to them. But if they have proven themselves to you in any way, you stay.

            “To make sure you give them a fair chance, I want you to spend whatever time they have left on the surface with them. I want you to pretend to be human, and get to know them. Choose a society on that planet and become a part of it. That is the only way I will consider your transfer. Am I clear?”

            “I don’t want to associate with them any more than I have to. I am afraid some of their savagery might rub off on me.” Mura – Jie wanted as little to do with the Humans as possible. She just wanted to be transferred to another planet, any other planet would do at this point.

            “Most species start off as savages. The circle of life dictates that they become that way to survive. Many of them grow out of it. What is to say the Humans won’t be the same?”

            “They have had thousands of years to do so, yet they are still as savage as they the day they had their first thought,” Mura – Jie exclaimed throwing her hands up.

            “Regardless you will be one of them for the duration of your ultimatum. Do this or no chance of transfer, I will not change my mind. Accept it or not. Your choice.” It told her, steel in its voice.

            “You win. I will go live amongst the barbarians.” She turned to leave the office, only to be stopped by it speaking.

            “I recommend you change your appearance. Oh, and try not to show how disgusted you are with the Humans while you are down there. Try to make connections with people. Live like you are actually Human, and use your powers as little as possible. In fact if I find you abusing your powers I will take them from you and actually make you Human. Understood?” The Head Watcher’s tone brooked no arguments. She nodded and left the office.

             She had no idea how she was going to survive on that little back water planet pretending to be Human. Maybe she should set herself up as some sort of god on that planet. She instantly nixed that plan, Humans were notoriously skeptically of most things, especially people claiming to be gods. As she thought about her circumstances it came to her. She knew exactly where she was going to go on Earth and where she would create a new identity for herself.

            “What better way to watch them,” she thought, “than to be right where all the action will be. Good luck hiding anything from me now Humans.” She gave a slightly maniacal laugh and disappeared out of the Watcher’s halls. 

Chapter 3 pt. 1

                     Chapter Three

The day after the Watcher’s ultimatum found all the delegates found themselves back in the same room as the day before, formulating plans and trying to set them into motion. “The first thing we need to do is dismantle our Nuclear weapons, and any other weapons we have,’ John said looking around at the other men and women sitting in the room with him. “I also think it is best if we all reduce our Armies by at least half. Since America’s Armies are the largest we will reduce ours by at least 3/4^th’s, just to make things fair. I know many of us don’t want to lose those protections, but we have just witnessed how easily they can be turned against us, and I for one do not want a repeat performance of that.”

            “How can we be sure that everyone will get rid of these things?” The Russian President asked.

            “Do you want that woman to have control of your nuclear weapons? Do you think you would be able to hide them from her? Most importantly, do you think she would even hesitate to use them against you and all of us,” The Iranian President asked. “I do not wish to incur her wrath because someone decided to be stupid and keep their weapons. I am pretty sure we are all in agreement when I say we will make it very hard for that country to survive. I don’t think threats will be necessary though, we are humans and self-preservation is a hard instinct to deny.”

            “He is correct, I don’t think any of us are willing to chance the death of every single person on this planet just to keep those weapons. At least I hope none of us are, because we would just be proving her right, which is the last thing we want do.’ As John spoke he saw most of the delegates nod to show they agreed with him. The ones who didn't needed speaking to, he was not risking his life and the lives of everyone on the planet because of some leader’s ego. He honestly didn't think it would take much convincing to change their minds. Many of them would get pressured by their respective citizens.

            “Another thing, try to keep your people calm during the upcoming weeks. Humans are prone to rioting during major changes, and riots would just be playing into her hand,” The Russian President sighed and hung his head, “How are we to change thousands of years of human evolution? Even in our religions, most of our Gods are violent and benevolent, so we can’t turn to those. Do they even matter anymore? We were all just showed undeniable proof that our religions are wrong. How is that going to go over? How are we to control those reactions? The one thing religion was good for was keeping the base instincts of most of us under control? How will we do that now? “

            John looked at the dejected leader and thought about it. “We don’t tell them that their religions aren't right or real. We tell them to interpret her arrival anyway they choose, even if it is to believe their religion is a lie. Let them make their minds up. And who is to say that it was just religion keeping us in check? We have thoughts and free will and we can control ourselves for the most part. We can get through this. We can’t do anything else. We need to prove to her we are more than the savages she called us.

            “The next to do is get as many scientist as possible working on the probes data. I think it might have information on our Watcher. Any information we can get will only help us. We also need to find safe ways of getting rid of the nuclear weapons. I don’t think we want to leave any of it intact for her to use against us. Let’s get scientists and engineers on that as well.” John deflated as the seemingly insurmountable task that they had ahead of them finally clarified. He had no idea how they were going to get through this.

            The Indian Prime Minister while listening to the conversations going on around him had a thought. “We don’t really need to change the current generations thought process. We need to change the younger generations, most people’s ideals set in their late 20’s. Let’s start running propaganda, very subtle propaganda, to influence them to peaceful solutions rather than violent ones. Another though, many of our countries have an abundance of weaponry, especially guns. I’d rather leaves knives and blunt objects in people’s hands than guns, because they will hesitate to use them. We need to gather as many as we can, and encourage people to turn them in.

            “I know that is a tall order, and I know that in America, you have a law that guarantees people to right to own guns. I am not proposing you change that law, but try to convince your people Mr. Carmerie, that the best thing for everyone is to give them up. I am aware that people are stubborn and stuck in their ways, but remind them of the consequences of keeping them.” As the Prime Minister finished speaking a thought occurred to almost everyone in the room.

            “You don’t think Mura – Jie expects us to make every single person on this planet less “savage” do you? There are nearly nine billion people on this planet. That’s nine billion minds we have to change. I don’t even think that would be possible.” Carol Raemos spoke exactly what everyone else was thinking.

            “Another thing,” said British Prime Minister, more to himself than anything, “Most of us will be out of office by the time the fifteen year deadline is up. How are we supposed to make sure people don’t forget and that our predecessors keep with the plans we are currently making. You know we conveniently forget or discount anything we don’t want to deal with, then whine when it comes back to bite us in the ass. We cannot afford a repeat of Climate Change, we all know that nearly destroyed us thirty years ago, and some people still don’t believe it was real.

            “Our changing leaders periodically has been good for our countries and I don’t want to try and change that. We need to find a way to make sure they whatever it is we get planned, otherwise we are screwed.” The British Prime Minister looked out at the delegates. He picked up a dry erase marker and went to the board that was wheeled in especially for that purpose. He wrote the words “Ideas to Keep Humans from Forgetting the Watcher”. He turned back to the crowd, “We need to come up with Ideas and decide before we leave this room, otherwise all our other plans are useless.”

                                    

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

The world erupted in chaos, governments tried to cut their nuclear weapons but nothing work. They were forced to consider that Mura – Jie would do as she threatened if they didn't get a man and a women to the United Nations within her forty-eight hour time limit. For the first time in Human history, every single nation worked together to get their representatives to New York City and the United Nations. More developed countries would send their military airplanes to pick up the representatives from more remote countries. They even brought in leaders from countries and regions that were in dispute. They brought in tribal leaders from even the most remote desert and jungle just in case Mura – Jie counted them as well.

When the day arrived the leaders were all assembled in the biggest hall in the United Nations waiting for Mura – Jie to show up. Normally they would have had guards waiting to snatch her up the second she showed up, but they were taking no chances. They sat in the room together all of them apprehensive, scared and intrigued about what would happen. When Four PM rolled around and Mura – Jie didn’t show up they were all tempted to leave, but again none of them were willing to risk anything going wrong.

Then, a poof of crimson colored smoke appeared in the middle of the room and there she was, standing at around six foot tall, wearing a traditional Red Indian Sari. She looked around the room and smiled. She laughed at the astonished looks on the dignitaries faces as she twirled in a circle to get a full view of the more than two-hundred people assembled in the conference hall. She walked over to the only empty seat in the room, which was located right in the front of the room on a sort of make shift stage, and sat down.

“I am very glad to see you all can follow directions. I didn't think you could do it. I thought you would brush me off, as the American’s would call me, a terrorist. I know how much you hate giving in to threats. Good you realized I don’t make empty threats. If even one of you failed to show up I would have destroyed this planet, and let you all die slow painful deaths. It would be the least of what you deserved.

“Now let me begin by explaining a few things to everyone assembled here. You are not the only sentient species in this Universe. There are more species out there than you have numbers. Every planet or moon or asteroid, or special body with sentient life or the capability to support sentient life get a guardian, a Watcher. You got me. Now I mostly just watched as you maimed and murdered each other for no other reason than because you can.

“I was, I wouldn't say content, to let you keep on killing each other, but as it seems I've forgotten, Humans are a very curious species and you decided you wanted to explore space. I figured I have a few more centuries before you found anything worthwhile, but your probe went through a special distortion and was spit out further into space than it ever should have gone. But that is OK, I have decided, for some time now, to reveal myself to you, this just moved my time table up.

“A Watcher, which is what my species is called, is charged with keeping a species safe from outside influences so they can develop as their nature dictates, until the species starts looking towards the skies, then we are allowed to show our selves. When I first got this planet and saw the first human like species start to develop, I had hoped you would grow into a peaceful, artistic species. Man, was I ever wrong! You’re a very violent species, and I refuse for the other watchers to meet you until you change.

“Now, before you start getting upset, think about your history. How many of your species have you killed in the last hundred years? The last two-hundred years? The last thousand years? Can you even count the number? Are you even aware of the number? Would you want to meet you? I didn't think so.” As she spoke, the humans in the room with her went from looking intrigued, to looking dumbfounded. Many of them had never thought of Humans in that way.

“Who are you to judge us,” John asked, finding his voice. “Yes we have warred, and killed, and done despicable things, but we have learned from them. We have grown from those mistakes, we have become the species we are now because of those mistakes. In fact we are still learning from our mistakes, and it is our right to make mistakes. We have a saying here, ‘To err is human’. Without making mistakes we can never change as a species,” John spoke with passion, but Mura – Jie’s face didn't change from the cynical smile she had had since she arrived.

“Exactly,” she said, “You are flawed, but your flaws are not your problem. Your mistakes are not your problem. Your problem is that you solve all your disputes with violence. This is something that has not changed in the thousands of years I have been watching your species. In fact you have just developed better ways to kill each other. Faster ways, more painful ways, and worst of all…easier ways. The nuclear weapons that I control at the moment was created with technology that should have been focused purely on finding ways to save lives, or better your technology, or just better your lives in general, but you just wanted to kill people.

“Humanity is a blood thirsty species and I wouldn't wish you on my worst enemy. You cannot change my mind with heartfelt speeches, so save your breathe and don’t try. I am giving you an ultimatum. I am going to give this planet ten, no fifteen years to sort itself out. I will even allow you to continue trying to find ways to travel into space and visit other planets. You are NOT allowed to go near, or send any kind of messages to the planets that your probe has found.

“During this time I will monitor you closely, closer than I ever did before, and if I find that you are no longer savages I will help you develop better ways to get to those planets. But here is the catch, if you are still as bad as you are today, I will wipe your species, and your species alone, off the face of this planet and leave the way open for other species to gain sentience. Don’t underestimate me. I will not tolerate tricks, or traps, or anything of sort or I will destroy you. You have fifteen years Humans. Make them count.”

Mura – Jie disappeared leaving behind a crowd with no idea what to do with itself. Suddenly phones began to ring, and leaders got calls saying that all their people had been witness to Mura – Jie’s speech, and her ultimatum. After those calls ended they got other calls from their weapons specialists telling them that they had control of their nuclear weapons again. They were grateful for that, but they were well aware that she could still destroy them at any time. The leaders looked around, and began to talk. They needed a plan to accomplish what it is Mura – Jie wanted, while still keeping what it is that made them human.

As the delegates left the room that night to return to where they were staying, a box appeared with each of the attendants name on them. They opened the boxes to find in each one a snow globe, with a timer in it. Counting down the fifteen years. Mura – Jie was not going to let them forget they were on a deadline, and that fifteen years could pass in the blink of an eye.

Chapter one pt. 2

                                                            ***

            “Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen. It is my pleasure to welcome John Camerie, your President of These United States of America.” The announcer said into the mike as he and the crowd of mews reports and journalists turned en-masse to watch the President walk on stage. The President walked to the podium and looked out into the crowd before he started speaking.

            “There have been a lot of stories being printed lately, accusing this Presidency of spying on other countries. While that has been true in previous years, it is not true now. It has been forty years since America’s War on Terror. We made a promise when we pulled out of the Middle East to be more trusting of all other countries, as long they afforded us the same courtesy. We chose this course of action so we could use the money we were expending on an admittedly fruitless endeavor to fix what was broken in this country.

            “I made a promise when I was running for President that I intend to keep. I promised to focus more on this nation’s problems and less on other countries, because American’s come first. The other countries can fend for themselves. They all did fine before we stuck our noses in their business, and they will be just as fine now that we are minding our own business for the most part. One of the things we have been focusing on is making our science centers capable of competing in the global market, so the gall of this journalist to say we are using our NASA satellites to spy on other countries makes me very sad.

            “NASA’s satellites have been trained on the stars, trying to find new life out there in the universe. Their satellites are being used to find hope. Hope that we aren't alone in the universe, because that would truly be devastating. I have invited the Head of NASA, Carol Raemous, to join me today to show some of the new pictures and discoveries her satellites made in recent months. Here’s hoping she shows my favorite new picture.”

            The President took a step back to allow the 5 foot tall Latina to take the podium. She adjusted the mikes on the podium so she could speak into them without going on her tippy toes. She may have only been 5 feet tall but she made an imposing figure. She pushed her blue rimmed glasses up her pert nose, so her brown eyes were staring down at the crowd. She had her hair up in a schoolmarm’s bun, but a few tendrils escaped giving her a carefree look. She smiled and began to speak.

            “We were going to wait a few weeks before we shared these findings with the public, but recent…developments, we figured why not share them now. Our Satellites have received images from one of the long range probes we sent into space during the 1970’s. We had no idea any of them were still operational after almost ninety years, but the pictures and data this once sent back exceeded any of our hopes and expectations. This probe has traveled nearly 20 light years from our solar system. Let me put that into perspective for you Proxima Centauri the closest star to us is 4.2 light years away from us, which is roughly twenty-three quadrillion miles from us.

“Now we have no idea how it got that far since it’s propulsion system should have burned out years ago without maintenance, and there is no way they could have gotten it that far. We only started receiving data about a month ago and it’s still pouring in so we still have A LOT of data to pour over, but we brought a few pictures to show you. Without further ado, let us begin,” Carol turned towards a white screen gliding down from the ceiling as the lights in the auditorium went out.

The reporters and journalist stop writing and cameramen turned their cameras to the pictures flowing across the screen. As Carol spoke about the pictures of stars, and planets, and the wonders that the probe had seen, many of the people in attendance were in awe. They had never seen such breath taking images in their life. For many it created a spark of curiosity about the universe that they had never had before. Finally Carol came to the last and most impressive photograph. The crowd gasped as they were shown an image of a planet that was blue and green. A planet that looked a lot like Earth.

“That Ladies and Gentlemen is a planet circling a Star just like our sun not 10 light years from earth. We have pulled in scientists from all over the world to pour over the data we got from the probe on this planet. The data seems to show that this planet has life a lot like what would be found on Earth. We cannot wait until we have gotten all the data on this planet, and we cannot wait to share our findings with the world. This planet which we have dubbed Vulcan, may prove we are not alone in the universe, and if the planet has sentient life we may be able to communicate with them. Thank you very much for coming out and experiencing this with,” she was cut off suddenly by a face appearing on the projector screen.

“You shouldn't have done that,” The woman on the screen said. The face was beautiful in a harsh kind of way. The woman looked to be of African descent with large purple almond shaped eyes. She had very curly blond hair that fell below what they could see of the screen. She had a very aristocratic nose, and a stubborn chin. Her lips were thick pouty bows, turned down into a frown.

“As long as you kept that information about that planet to yourself, I would have left this planet alone for a little longer. Now you leave me no choice,” she said looking around the room. She watched as the room descended into chaos as Secret Service attempted to cut the feed off. They pulled the projectors power but she still stayed on the screen. They shut the power off to the entire building and still she stayed. Finally they attempted to remove the President, but he was having none of it. He wanted to find out who this woman thought she was.

“Who are you to interrupt this meeting,” John asked her, “Explain yourself!”

Across the globe television screens switched on, movie theater screens changed all showing her face and all across the sky her face was projected. In every language at once she spoke, “I am Mura – Jie. I am Earth’s Watcher. I have been protecting this planet since your ancestors became sentient. I am the reason this planet hasn’t been destroyed a thousand times over,” she looked around at all the humans staring at her, “I maybe regretting that choice.”

She flashed an image of all the world’s nuclear weapons being brought online with scientist trying frantically to stop them and failing, then frantic calls to government leaders telling them of the imminent danger. Her face reappeared, “I am giving every government on this backwater little planet to send a male and female to represent them at the United Nations. I am giving you forty-eight hours starting now to get them there. If EVERY country doesn't have representation there, I will destroy the human race. Oh and don’t try and stop your nuclear weapons. They are in my control, and they will stay there. And remember, I see everything.” She brought up images of the humans descending into chaos as to prove her point.

“Forty-eight hours. Time’s wasting.”

Chapter One

              Chapter One

“Mr. President, the press is demanding a statement,” the presidential adviser Mark Dean stated as he rushed into the Oval Office. The President, John Camerie looked up from the bill he needed to review and stared at his adviser.

“About what this time,” he asked, “I haven’t been informed of any new scandal?”

“Apparently we have been using our NASA satellites to spy on other countries instead of looking for extraterrestrial life,” Mark stated as he moved to sit in one of the two chairs in front of the President’s desk. He watched the President sigh and take off his glasses to rub the side of his left eye the way he did every time he had to deal with one of the asinine news stories being printed these days.

The President was only Forty-six but ever since taking over the Presidency he looked a lot older. His normally vibrant red hair had dulled and become peppered with grey. His blue eyes were dull and he had bags under them, his normally pale white skin looked grey under most lights now. When standing out of the public eye he stood hunched over, so his normally imposing 6 foot 4 inch wrestlers body looked broken down. If this is what being President did to a body, Mark promised himself he would never aspire to the job.

“Get the Head of NASA to call me and we will make a joint statement. I swear the press has nothing better to do these days,” the President said as he pushed his chair away from the beautiful Mahogany desk that came with being President. He had only been doing the job for a year and already he was sick of it. He had no idea how he was going to survive another three years. He knew when he started running it would be hard, but he didn’t realize that it was nearly impossible to get anything done.

All four political parties including his own were making the job harder than it needed to be. He spent nearly every waking moment basically mediating disputes between parties while still trying to keep the country running. The other countries were just as bad. He was called upon to be the moral compass for the rest of the world, and to monitor them like they were his children. He was tempted every time he was called by the United Nations to mediate some dispute, or talk to this or that dictator, or keep a country from starting a nuclear war, to go back to the early 20^th Century way of thinking and be a neutral country again. He wanted to tell all the other countries to bite him, and cut all ties and go back to focusing on fixing the problems in the U.S.

But he couldn't do that. He was the President of the United States of America, the world’s mother. He gave a harsh sigh, and turned his back to Mark. 

“Ask the Head of NASA how close we are to finalizing a plan for the faster than light engine they have been working on,” that was the only part of the job he liked, getting to know what America’s greatest scientific minds were up. The thought that they might have faster than light travel in the next ten years made him giddy. He couldn't wait until America could proclaim to the world they were the first to create F.T.L drives.

He turned back to see Mark making a call on his cellphone. He watched as Mark started writing rapidly on the notepad he always carried, as he converse with whoever was on the phone. John had a thought, maybe instead of running for President he should have just been the adviser. It seemed like a less stressful job. He grabbed his cellphone and shot off a text to one of the chef’s in residence at the white house asking for dinner. It was 8:30 pm and he wasn't even a third of the way through all the things he needed to do that day.  He sat back down and returned to reading the bill he was pouring over before he was interrupted.

He looked up as his door was opened again and the Secretary of Defense, Henry Lancome, came rushing in the room. What now he thought to himself.

“John we have a problem, the Russians are beside themselves. Apparently they believe the story that we are spying on them using NASA satellites,” the Secretary of Defense said as he took the other chair in front of the President’s desk. He immediately took his tablet out and pulled up the Russian news article, showing the Russian President calling out the United States about the spying.

            “How did they get that article so fast? Mark just informed me of it a few minutes ago,” John said rubbing his left eye once again. “Did they get sent an advanced copy of it or something? We need to get this cleared up as soon as possible,” He turned to Mark, “Schedule a press conference for tomorrow morning. Set up a phone conference with all the countries we are accused of spying on in the article. Henry is there any solid proof in that article I need to worry about?”

“Nothing we can’t easily discount,” Henry informed him as he glanced through the article. “They have no hard facts, just speculation based on a “source” close to the spying.”

“Find out who their so called source is. I want to know where they got their information. Make sure NASA checks their security over just in case,” John said thinking what else could go wrong.

The Watcher, Prologue

Here it is the first part of the new book.

                     The Watcher

                                                                                                                By: Camille Bell

Prologue

It started with a bang. At least that was what they were told. The Universe that is.  But seeing as no one was alive when it all started, they can’t be sure. So at first they created gods out of the sky, the sun, the earth, and the wind. Then they made gods of the best and worst of humanity, Love, War and Death. Then they gave up their many gods and gathered under banners of religions, never knowing they were being watched and observed and quietly despised.

            She’d been given the task of watching over the Barbarian Human race when they first crawled out of the primordial ooze. At first she was hopeful, thinking they would be a peaceful, artistic race. A race to match how she saw herself, but she was never very lucky, if she were, then she would have never been given the new planet at all.

            Her charges from the very beginning were violent creatures. Killing each other over food, land, hunt, for mates, and worst of all for fun. She watched as they waged wars for land and then for religion. She was floored by their faith, and also dismayed by it, because blind faith had disastrous consequences.  She watched kingdoms and empires rise and fall. She saw entire groups of people oppressed, subjugated and made out to be less than their oppressors.

            Now she was watching them struggle to overcome their base instincts, but ultimately she knew they would fail. They were leaving their little planet and traveling into space. She didn’t want any of the other Watchers to see her failure in guiding the planet. Her Watching needed a more direct approach. The humans needed to know she was there, she decided. They needed to become better before she let the other Watchers encounter them, because it was only a matter of time now.

            It was time for humanity to meet their Watcher, Mura – Jie. 

I'm ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've started writing again, because this character won't shut up and let me sleep. I'll be putting up a new part everyday. I'm going to hold myself to this.