Roswell Fanatics

Traitor



Title: Traitor

Genera : Au with aliens

Rating: Teen

Couples: This is difficult. Liz is one principle character and the mysterious man called simply Earthman.

Disclaimer: I am using the characters of the Roswell TV series as actors in a story I wish to tell. I have no ownership of any of them. They and their character, which i try to preserve belong to the series.

Sumary: This is a relatively short story. I hope you understand the emotions I want to portray. All the characters from Roswell will be human. Zan, Rath Vilandra and others like this will be Antarians. I have wanted to tell this story for some time. I had to wait until I found the right vehicle to carry it. Earth has been invaded by Antarians. People of Earth are being given a chance to emigrate to a new planet. The rule by the Antarians on Earth is ruthless. One earthman, instead of fighting what he thinks of as a hopeless fight, assists the Antarians in governing the rebellious people of Earth and in sending them to the new planet. For this, he becomes the most hated man in Earth history.

Traitor:

Chapter 1

I got out of the van. As always, I waited for my escorts/guards to form up before getting very far from the security of the armored van. Today I was alone. Zan had ordered me to his office and to leave her at our home. I had no idea of what he wanted. Zan was the untimate ruler of Earth and I was his subject, kind of. I was used to the glares of hatred I always saw in the eyes of the Antarians. Here, I had the ear of the Prilate and some of them had paid what would amount to a year’s salary to just get a quarter hour meeting with him. It was a toss up as to who hated me the most, the Antarian invaders, or the oppressed humans of Earth. Again, I was used to that.

Zan entered. With us, there was no ceremony. We had been working together so long that as far as possible, I think we were friends. “You are a fool, Earthman. There would be no reason for the woman to ever know.”

I shrugged, “Yes, but I would know. I have built my life on truth. Truth is all I have. If I loose that, I would be no use to you or to my own people.”

Zan tossed the folder across the desk for me to see. I opened the folder and there looking out at me was the picture. It was the same as the one she kept on her dresser. Yes, we had believed him dead. In the chaos of war, it was hard to keep any records straight. Now, we had living evidence that he was still alive. It hurt, but she had always been straight with me and I had no intention of ending our life together by perpetrating any lie. I had no guilt about our association. If we hadn’t had it, she and the boy would be dead. If we had to look at things that way, our relationship had been payment for her life.

I slid the folder back to Zan and grimaced. “When he returns, let us know. I will prepare her for this,” I said.

I stood, Zan nodded and I left. The guards, falling in surrounding me, we left the palace.

The palace, the damned Antarians couldn’t live in a house or a mansion like earth people. They had to always have a damned palace. They would decorate the designated palace and always create something that everyone else could envy, copy or supercede. That was the arrogance of these creatures. They played the game at life, always trying to outdo each other.

The Antarians, and I would know, (I probably was the leading expert on Antarian culture and court behavior) never did anything for each other for which they did not charge a pound of flesh. To expect them to do anything for the good of a defeated, oppressed, alien people would be laughable. Maybe, I need to explain why I was the so-called expert in these matters. I guess I had been abducted more than any other earthman. Yes, I had all the stories about experiments brought to my mind. Yes, I had had all of my organs probed. There was no use in denying it. I had been subjected to all sorts of sexual experiments imaginable. Anymore, I just took it in stride. This had all happened to me and now, the welfare of the human race was in my hands.

Believe me, it wasn’t easy being responsible for an entire race, a race who would spit on me. If they could, they would kill me with out any remorse. I had to make hard decisions. The decisions would determine the future of the human race, and even if the human race could exist for the future. The Antarian Empire was on the move. They offered us a choice. Either, we could face immediate extinction and euthanasia, or we could organize and colonize another planet that was not in their immediate path. They promised me 50,000 years of safety if we accepted colonization. The one, who I would call Zan, laughed and said, “In 50,000 years we might even be equals.”

The Antarians were not secretive about their tests. We were of the same species. We just had branched from each other about 100,000 years ago. How this was accomplished was a mystery. The leading theory was that there must be a third power in the universe who had, for some capricious reason, seeded humanity in two different places for their own pleasure. Did that mean that there was someone watching both of us? Socially and culturally, we had evolved very differently. Now, the retarded cousins were in the way of the galactic interchange, almost like the story, “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.” The Antarian Empire had plans for the planets that revolved around our sun and with magnanimity, they were offering to move our race to another home.

I had already moved about ten million people to the new planet. They had been chosen for their intellect and ability to colonize the new world. We would move more as the “New Earth” became ready to receive them. It was my job to keep primary families together. Extended families, most of the time, I had no control about. Ripping families from surroundings that they had found comfort in, sometimes for generations, did not endear me to the rest of the earthmen. Because humanity saw me as the instigator of this movement, I was reviled. They called me every name for traitor that history had created. This was half of the reason for the guards. I was endangered by my own people.

It had been estimated that one hundred million people had died when the Antarians had first landed. Their altruism only extended to how well humanity followed their orders. On their first landing, they had targeted all military bases and governmental facilities. As the military fell, free citizens took up arms. They had wonderful spirit, but they lacked knowledge or skill. They fell even faster than the military had.

I had knowledge. I had been taken to Antar many times. I saw palaces which had over a million souls just to care and officiate for one single Prilate. I had been trained in reading the history of Antar. They were an empire which numbered in the quadrillions. They were in a massive movement. I saw skymaps which showed the direction of their intended conquest. The reasons for this movement and conquest were probably caused by population pressures, or they might just be the necessity of a restless people to be on the move for new vistas to visit. Anyway, Earth was in the way and they considered themselves extremely kind in their willingness to aid the re-establishment of the human race, Earth style, in another sector that for the moment had no interest for them.

Antarian sociology had no room for amiable relationships. Even in sexual encounters, the couple met naked. Each passing through a metal detector to attempt the deterrence of weapons, even in this event humans would call love.

Zan and I hit it off immediately. This was surprising because I didn’t bow to him; neither did I insult him. “Earthman, do you hate me?” he asked.

“Yes,” was my answer, “but I have no intention of challenging your power. I see no need of falling on my own sword just to prove I am loyal to Earth. To some, to die as earthmen, is all they see. To me, it is to live as an earthman and do as much as I can for my race.”

“Because you work with us, your fellow earthmen will hate you,” Zan stated.

“Yes, and because I work with you, the Antarians also hate me. I have your ear. Something they might have to purchase with their life savings,” I answered.

“That makes us kindred spirits in loneliness,” Zan said.

From that time on, I believe we were as close as conquerer and conquered could be. Zan, also, had his bodyguards. I noticed that they were no less or more capable than mine. By necessity, we had become kindred spirits. Zan consulted me as he governed Earth. Soldiers took locals as they felt was their right. Away from their own families, the soldiers wanted some sort of companionship. Antarians did not have as clear a definition of rape as we did. In one city, this precipitated a riot. The soldier was killed and the standard retaliation for the Antarians was to murder the entire political unit. In this place, they killed every man, woman and child who lived within the city limits. This raised the outcry of mankind everywhere on Earth. Men and women were being raped because the Antarian army was made up of both sexes. Retaliation was brewing which could only lead to more death.

I had seen the forces and empire of Antar. There was no way mankind from Earth could ever hope to win. It was I who set up the brothels. I instituted the places where destitute Earth people could enter and receive favors for services exchanged. The morality in my mind had not changed, but now, the exchange was one of mutual agreement. We didn’t have uprisings occur again for this reason. That is not to say that Earth men accepted their lot. There were still uprisings and, as always, they completely failed, leading to the murder of millions who would be designated as punishment by our conquerers.

Except for my duties in forming the emigrations, I had very little to do with my own people. I knew that, given a chance, they would gladly kill me. As the “Aide” to Zan, I was given spacious living quarters, but they were bare. The guards kept to themselves when we were safely at home. Once, I had tried to fraternize with my protectors and I was remonstrated quickly by the sergeant in charge. “Earthman, If we were to become too close to you, we might fail to see danger. Only with our detachment, can we safely be sure of your safety. Any guard who cannot attend to this will have to be removed.”

It was the way they all said, “Earthman.” They always made it like a curse word. All, that is, except for Zan. He, also, called me Earthman, but it was just a name. He could have just as easy called me Bob or Albert.

This was the topic of a conversation I had with Zan one day. “Earthman, don’t you have needs that are not being cared for? I have liaisons with female soldiers from time to time. I understand the pressure of celibacy.”

“Yeah, but I bet you run them through the metal detectors and strip search them before every bedding. I couldn’t do that. Besides, without the guards, I can’t go among my own people. How could I meet and woo anyone under these conditions?” I explained.

Zan laughed, “I forgot the necessity of this wooing that you talk about. For us, that would make too much personal contact. I would be assassinated, for sure, if I spent that much time with any woman.” Then, he became serious. “You could just take a woman. Just pick her out and your guards would prepare her. Pay her some gratuity afterward for her trouble.”

I shook my head vigorously. “I can’t do that, Zan. My own feelings are just too strong.”

Zan smiled, “I expected as much. See Earthman, I have studied you as much as you studied us.” He slid a handful of folders to me. These are ten women who will be terminated within ten days. They are all from the area where a soldier was killed. Pick one. You will be offering her life when she has no other choice. If you can’t turn this into passion, at least maybe, she can offer you some sort of gratitude. Take it, my Earth friend. It is not good to always be alone.”

That was the first time Zan had ever called me friend. I guess to him this was a real concession because normally, if a town was to be terminated, no one in the town could buy their lives. The Antarian law was strict this way. They wanted the punishment to be irrevocable and complete.

I had three days. Zan did not realize he had put an even greater burden upon me. How could I play God? One woman could live and stay with me and the other nine would die. For the first day, I just sat and looked at the stack of folders. At first, in fairness, I thought I should just turn all the folders back to Zan. Leave all the women to the fate declared by Antar. Then, I began to think. This was no different from the emigration lists. I couldn’t save everyone immediately, but I could extend grace to at least one. I read through the folders. Zan had picked all the women for their earth type beauty. That was a surprise because Antarians usually liked voluptuous women, tall and strong. Here all of the women had delicate, fine features. I looked at the rest of the folders. All of the women were either never married or widowed. They were all listed with high intelligence quotients. It was surprising how fast the Antarians caught on to Earth ideas. Antarian IQs would probably have been off the charts if measured by Earth standards. The included pictures showed all the women to posess a charm. I knew that the pictures had either been found to have been taken before their impoundment or doctored to show what Zan thought would have been their image in earlier times.

I spread the folders out on the table. One lady would live and the other nine would die, never knowing they had been offered this chance for their lives. Zan told me I could interview any or all of the women. That would be a cruel joke. I would interview my choice to make sure she was willing to accept the terms, but unless she turned the terms down, she would be the only one I would face. Let’s face it, I was a coward. I couldn’t face women who I knew would be condemned to death because of my choice.

My choice was made before I saw “it.” I had chosen a lady of very small stature. She had been a researcher in bology. She had several papers to her credit. Her husband had been killed in the first wave of battle when the first Antarian ship landed. The “it” was that, she had a son. He was scheduled for termination, also. The Antarian law made no allowance for age. The entire city was to be terminated, period. That is, except for the one woman I picked.

The van approached the palace. The closer I got, the more resolved I got. I had made my choice and I had an additional demand to make. If Zan couldn’t agree, then I would just hand him back all ten folders. This game of roulette was over.

Again facing the scowls of the petitioners, I entered the office of Zan. I stacked the nine folders in one stack. The single one, I placed in the middle of his desk. “This is my choice, but there is one addition,” I stated and then, I waited for Zan to acknowledge my request.

Zan looked up at me. Any other earthman, he would simply terminate as too troublesome. Any other Antarian would not give me nearly as much leeway as he had, either. “What is the addition?” he asked.

“She has a son,” was my answer.

Zan frowned, “And, you allowed your care for your young to influence your judgment?” he asked.

I shook my head, “We have great love for our young, but that had nothing to do with my choice. She is the woman I choose, but without her son she, will not be manageable,” I explained.

Zan shook his head, “We do not develop passion for our young until they show their worth. I just hope you do not allow some instinctive emotion to cloud your judgment. Zan spoke into a machine and we waited until they brought the woman into the office. It was clear that she was terrified. She was dressed in a plain gray shift. It was apparent that she was wearing nothing under it. Those chosen for termination were not indulged with any more than basic clothing.

Zan spoke up, “You and your son have been designated for termination as punishment for an insurrection.” The woman just sat there with her head lowered. Liz couldn’t cry anymore. She had run out of tears days before.

Zan continued, “This earthman has agreed to take responsibility for you and your son if you agree to terms.” Liz looked up immediately. The Antarians had been known on Earth long enough for their ruthlessness to be well known by the Earth people. There was no reprieve when a person was condemned. That she was being offered a chance for her son was all that she needed to know. Liz would sell her soul and body to save her son. The loss of her husband was still fresh in her mind. This was like a second chance for life. To this point, Liz hadn’t looked at me. She hadn’t looked at anything until the promise of life had been offered. Now, she saw me. I was sure she recognized me. Earth people scared their children with my picture. Religions that still existed, placed me somewhat below whatever devil they believed in. The flash of revulsion was quick in her face. Then, she replaced it with a neutral visage as she remembered that it was both safety for herself and her son she was facing.

paper
mary mary
keepsmiling7
L-J-L 76

Please carefully read the first part of chapter 1.

Chapter 2

It was seen that two more guards had been added to those who returned home with us. The new guards were both female. They were both over six feet tall. Their bodies were glistening with tone. They were probably stronger than any two earthmen. They reminded me of once, when I was on Antar, I saw Vilandra. She was a vivacious wench; tall, strong, her golden hair flowing down her back. At the time, she was sleeping with the prince, Kivar. Prince Kivar wanted power. He hated me and he let it be known. It was the ruling class who forbad him killing me. I heard speeches made after I learned the language of Antar about how the vermin of Earth should just be extinguished, like you would put out a candle.

I saw Vilandra as she shamelessly bent Kivar backwards over a table, dropped her skirts and took him in view of the entire court. I say shameless, as she was known to be the legal mate of Rath. Rath was the friend of Zan. Zan trusted Rath in many things. I was later to learn that Vilandra was the sister of Zan. Her legal mating to Rath was part of what kept Rath so loyal to Zan. I heard it said, more than once, that Kivar and Rath were on a collision course because of Vilandra. Many times, I wondered if that was why Zan took the Prilate of Earth to get away from the machinations of court. I could only think of Vilandra as I gazed at the new guards. It was obvious that they would be responsible for Liz.

As we rode I tried to pry information from my companion. Her name was Elizabeth Evans. Her husband had been a pilot when the first wave of Antarians had landed. He had been in the mass attack on that first ship. So many ships, had been destroyed, that the military, which at that time still existed, figured the casualties by those missing in action, later that day. The military, itself, only lasted one more day and then, it was obliterated. Her son’s name was Alexander. He was named after a school friend who she had completely lost any trace of. He was seven. Lex was still unsure of what was happening. When he and his mother had been incarcerated, he was old enough to know that those taken by the Antarians never came back. The Antarians allowed Liz a few minutes every day to be with Lex. Again, that was some show of kindness they felt they were giving. Allowing mother and son to have a few minutes together, even though everyone knew that soon they would be executed.

When we arrived at my house (I refused to call it a palace or do anything to decorate it) Liz’s few things were put in my room. Lex was put in a small room which opened to my bedroom only. Soon, the female guards brought in clothes for both Liz and Lex. Their job, it seemed, was to secure Liz with me and prevent any escape. The women had another job as they brought in two more packages from the van of more clothes for both Lex and Liz. They would arrange for Liz to always be properly attired as she accompanied me.

Lex had, long since, gone to bed. Liz and I were sitting in the room talking. She turned to me, “I will do anything you ask for the life of my son.”

I looked long at Liz and said, “You do not like me though, do you?”

Liz was slower to respond than I expected. “It is said that you sold out Earth. It is said that you are in league with the Antarians.”

“What do you say about me?” I asked.

Liz looked at me carefully. “I do not know you. I say that if I am to remain close to you I should get to know the truth about you. I, also, say that nothing matters. For the life of my son, I will still do anything you ask,” she responded.

“If I ask nothing more than the requirements of Zan, then will you do them?” I asked.

“What does Zan ask of me?” Liz returned.

“Zan feels I am alone too much. He feels I need someone to talk to. He requires that you and your son remain close to me at all times,” I answered.

She looked at me. “Is that all?” she asked.

“For the moment,” I answered.

The guards were completely unobtrusive. They weren’t seen except if you wandered about the house. Then, you would see them leaving just in front of you and feel them entering as you left. I knew that everything we did was reported directly to Zan.

When we were ready for bed, I dressed in the bathroom. When I came out, I found Liz dressed in a modest night gown, awaiting me. “For the moment, talk is all that is required,” I stated. Liz nodded and she climbed into her side of the bed, as did I on my side and soon we were asleep. The night was not untroubled. Liz, several times, woke me with her mumblings of the prison, Lex or her husband, Max.

At breakfast the next morning, I asked, “Tell me about Max.”

Liz looked at her food for several minutes. “Well, he was a quiet person. He was shy, that is, except for when he was flying. In the sky, he was fearless. Max did not believe that a plane would ever let him down. His men would tell, when we had them over for beers, that he flew closer and faster than any other pilot. It was said that on the first attack, Max was leading the fight. The pilots who survived said that Max threw himself on the shields of the Antarian battleship. They said that he had loaded his ship with thermonuclear explosive. When he crashed the battle ship he set that off. Of course, when he never returned or anything was heard of him, he was declared dead. That was the first Antarian ship brought down.”

I couldn’t help from saying, “And, four major cities were nuked in return. The Antarians don’t loose. They will continue until we have no more people. They are a force so big that no one on Earth can imagine them.”

“Isn’t that defeatist talk?” Liz asked.

“No, that is reality. I have been to Antar. You just do not have any idea of how big it is, if you have never seen it. Any victories we might have will be offset by the reprisals. One soldier was killed and your whole city was condemned. Nobody gets out of the reprisals. I got the idea that you and Lex were the first that Zan had ever known about. He did that because I am of more use to him moving Earth men off the planet and keeping the planet quiet, than the exact letter of Antarian law,” I informed her.

“In other words, you have sold out to Antar, just like they said,” Liz responded.

I shook my head. “No, that is not how I see it. I see the millions I have safely transported to New Earth. I see the number of rebellions I have stopped and, thus, the number of reprisals I have prevented,” I explained.

Liz looked at me, “What happened to those from my city?”

What could I do, I shrugged. “They were executed,” I stated.

Tears formed in her eyes. “There were almost a million people in that city. There were children and women who never did anything to the Antarians. Why would they do such a inhuman thing?” she asked.

“Not as inhuman as you might think. Destroying a city and all the citizens was common in our ancient times. We just have grown out of it and the Antarians haven’t,” I answered. “Read about the conquerers in Bibical times. It was not uncommon for a conquering force to kill all men, women and children to make a point.”

Liz hadn’t heard a word I said. “Almost a million people, and they were all killed except two. Why? Why were the two allowed to live?” she asked.

We sat there for almost a quarter of an hour. Liz looking at me and me looking at my hands. How did I tell her? How did I tell her about the roulette? Somehow, to me the fact that it was greatly chance that I had asked for her and her son, was more frightening than if there had been good reasons for my choice. How did I tell her that I didn’t even believe in reasons any longer. Things just happened. You made the best of what helped you and you accepted the things that brought pain.

“Tell me why did you pick me. How many did you have to choose from? What brought you to me? Was there some hidden sexual fantasy about me that you thought you saw? Don’t try to tell me that I was the prettiest of all the women that were offered to you. How many of them did you interview? Did it bother you, that you left them to die when you picked me?” Liz was ranting.

“Liz,” I shouted, “I picked you and demanded they give me your son, also. That is the whole story. End of story,” I screamed.

Liz began to sob incoherently. Her body shook with the emotion that she was releasing. I wanted to put my arm around her, but something told me that would be the worst thing I could do. Liz still saw me as a monster. She saw me as a monster that she had to continue to live with for the life of her son.

We said very little to each other for the rest of the day. I had to set up a list of 20,000 emigrants to send to New Earth. Eight thousand would be key personnel. Most of he others would be support personnel and families. They would depart in five days.

I didn’t know who I was condemning. There had been trouble at New Earth. Several hundred had been killed. I hadn’t had time to look into the situation. I would soon. It might affect the choosing of the next list. What was worse, to chance extermination here on Earth or die on some foreign world from an unearthly cause? When I went to bed, Liz was already in on her side, clutching the covers about her. I couldn’t think of anything that wouldn’t make things worse, so I said nothing.

I guess the next shock for Liz was when I announced that we all three had to appear at the palace. Liz found that the female guard had set out clothes proper for her attendance. Lex, also, found that clothes had been chosen for him. Liz was dressed in a gown with a jacket. Her hair was fashioned in the proper manner and she was given high-topped shoes along with a proper hat. Lex was given a miniature suit. He looked quite the little gentleman. I am sure he was still traumatized by what he had experienced.

When we got to the palace grounds, the windows were immediately blackened. I am not sure whether Lex saw what we did or if he did see anything, did he understand it? A massive ship was off loading lines of people all clad in drab gray clothing. They were marching to their execution. Somewhere, a political entity was being punished for something. Liz saw it and so did I. Of course, I had seen this many times. It always hurt, but I had found that it was best to mind my own business and forget it. Something had happened. If I had known about it beforehand, I might have stopped it, but now, it was too late.

Liz was still shaking when we entered Zan’s office. I had whispered, “Be careful what you say.”

Zan nodded to Liz and to Lex. Then, he turned to me. “I bet you haven’t even bedded her, yet,” he stated.

I shook my head and Zan chuckled, “I might make a study out of you, Earthman. With the barriers that Earthmen create toward intimacies, how did you ever get to be eight billion people?”

The discussion settled down to what had happened at New Earth. There had been some sort of predator attack. I would have to increase the number of soldiers on the next lists. Next, we talked about unrest in certain locations on the Earth. The area that had contributed the numbers of those to be executed was under a ruthless general. He was sadistic. His actions had encouraged retaliation by the earthmen. “Zan, if you want to kill more humans, then keep General Zoe. But, if you want a smooth moving Prilate, then get rid of him. There must be a war somewhere you could send him. Zan nodded. He had been thinking along the same lines. Zoe enjoyed murder and he created reasons for this murder.

Zan had received reports that Rath and Kivar were in battle. So, his sister Vilandra had finally stirred things up. General Zoe would be a good addition to that mess.

When the three of us returned to our home, (I say three of us, but that included the guards,) I had to make my list for immediate emigration. It would be a big one this time. I would send over 50,000 men, women and children to the new planet. It would be necessary that over 30,000 would be key personnel. New Earth needed defense. I went over the reports Zan had given me of the troubled communities. That did it. I changed the orders. I would request two transports. We would export 100,000 citizens to feed the defense of New Earth, while cutting the balls off the insurrection building on Earth. Once the decision was made, Antarian forces moved swiftly. The chosen were removed at night and the first Earth knew about it was the missing they found the next morning. The outcry was great, but it was only an outcry. The strengths of any movements were safely isolated in their cubicles prepared to lift off for New Earth. Any organization or resentment they might have, they would have to direct to whatever predator that had appeared on the strange planet.

I do not know how Liz learned of the movement I made, but she appeared furious as she sat down to breakfast. “You know, sometimes, I think you are almost human. Then, you do something like this. You destroyed any chance for Earth rebellion when you developed the list of emigration. You purposely picked the leaders to remove. You are just as ruthless as the Antarians, except they do it with executions and you do it with emigrations,” Liz cried.

“Yes, but I pick people of ability and, instead of killing them I give them a chance to serve their race by directing their passions toward an enemy they can defeat. Fighting the Antarians will not succeed. It will just get more people executed. On the new world, who knows? Maybe, they can bolster the population and lead it to some safety,” I explained.

There were reports from the communities that I had raped, when I took their best from their midst. My name was reviled even more, if that was possible. There were no reprisals. The humans were castigating one of their own. The Antarians could only look on that with amusement. My own body guard, along with that of Liz, would be on alert, but most Antarians thought it amusing that humans hated someone even more than they did their conquerers. Of course there was no love lost on me by the Antarians, because of the ease that I could approach the Prilate.

Somehow a rumor got started. It was the story about the number killed by the predator on New Earth. The rumor stated that the emigration was just another excuse for executions. I was sending humans, under the direction of my master, to die on a foreign world. Rumors do not need logic so no one asked why, since the Antarians were not shy about the executions they held on earth, would they want to go to the expense of sending them so faraway?

keepsmiling7
paper
mary mary

Author note

I think a religious soul is much deeper than any philosopher or cleric has ever realized. I have been told that I look down on hawks as liberals, but think, what is the best for a people when faced with invasion? To attack because of some outdated principal when there clearly is no hope of winning anything or to find a way to save a race.

“Earthman, do you hate me?” he asked.

“Yes,” was my answer, “but I have no intention of challenging your power. I see no need of falling on my own sword just to prove I am loyal to Earth. To some, to die as earthmen, is all they see. To me, it is to live as an earthman and do as much as I can for my race.”

There are truly traitors in history but in that number there were many who felt that they were right and history just ends up casting them on the loosing side.

It has been said that in history God is on the side with the most guns.

Most of the time these are the ones who write history. Right or wrong is seldom brought up in history because by the time history is written actions of history have been accommodated and accepted. Native Americans are just one of the casualties in clashes of culture. the extinction movements, the reservation movements and the assimilation movements are all seen in my story.

The truly sad part of the story is yet to come. Think how impossible it would be to round up all the humans. There will be some left by necessity. Earthman intends to stay as long as he can and he realizes that because of this he will forfeit his own life. I remember stories about when they evacuated Saigon after the Vietnam war. There were Americans who were left behind.

Sorry Paper, 8 billion sounded like a good round number and yes, I read and also saw the Twilight Zone movie, "to Serve Man a cook book for Aliens."

Chapter 3

The unrest grew. By order of Zan, I increased the emigrations to a half million at a time. I was continually emasculating dissident groups by sending their leaders and warriors off world. I worried whether the new world could handle the temper of those I sent. I read all the reports made available to me. It seemed that the dissidence changed to survival when the immigrants arrived at their new home. The troubles of Earth became small when you had herds of Psytrons attacking the walls of your fortress. Leading a revolution became unimportant, when you had to design cities to withstand winds the like Earth had never felt. Those leading the New Earth survival, by necessity, were the best and toughest of all those who arrived. There were plenty of problems for them to vent their skills in overcoming. The conquerors many light years away, just slowly paled when compared to what they faced. The scientific communities were screaming for more to fulfill the needs they foresaw. Some of the transport ships were being manned by New Earthers. That made the transposition more acceptable for those who believed the transport was just another form of execution.

The estranged situation Liz and I had in our sleeping arrangements remained. More than once she had approached me. “You know, if you command me, I will comfort you with sex. I owe you that for saving my son,” she stated.

That wasn’t what I wanted. Her saving might have been just an accident of choice, but I wanted to believe that once it had been made, it was an selfless motive on my part, one that did not require payment. You might ask why didn’t we just sleep in separate beds or separate rooms? That was simple. I stated before that everything I did was reported directly to Zan. Zan wanted me to sleep in the same bed with Liz and that was final. I guess, he was testing some theory he had made about human behavior, earth style.

Lex, was a different story. He had remained in shock for some time. He was not allowed companions of his own age. What earth family would allow their child to associate with the ward of such a infamous person as I was? The only other choice was the ten days that children might have before execution. I put my foot down on that one. Zan wouldn’t understand at all. I didn’t want the condemned children or Lex to be put through that emotional trauma. Zan couldn’t understand, because he did not value the emotions of children. They were not important to him until they showed ability of some sort. Before that, he saw them as some sort of pets.

I tried to set aside at least two hours for Lex every day that I could manage. At first Liz was angry. I just told her that this was one of the things that Zan required. Well he did, in a way. Zan told me to keep Liz content and she wouldn’t be content if her son was always so lonesome and unhappy. Liz still saw me as a monster. Lex had no such feelings, yet. He knew that I was alone and un-liked, but he was alone, also, so here he found some kindred feelings.

Liz worried what I was telling Lex. She didn’t have to be worried any longer, because she soon learned. We walked and I told him stories of early Earth history. Early history was anytime before the Antarians had landed.

I told him about the times my father and I went fishing in the streams in the forest. I told about the blue skies with the white puffs of clouds. Lex had never seen anything except for the green clorine in the upper reaches of Earth skies. I told of games I had seen children play.

“Why can’t I have children to play with?” he asked.

“Someday, Alexander, there is a place called New Earth where there are no Antarians. Someday, you and your mother will go there.”

Lex surprised me, “Will you come with us?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Lex, I need to stay and help more earthmen to leave and make their way to New Earth.”

“Lex must have said something to his mother because she asked me the next day at breakfast, “”Don’t you ever think you will get a chance to go to the new world?”

“Elizabeth, there will be humans here for my entire lifetime. Zan will be replaced and whoever takes his place will just kill those left. I will have to continue to save people for as long as I am allowed to live. Besides, can you imagine what kind of welcome I would have at New Earth? New Earth is a place where people can forget Antar. I would be a banner for the fact that Antar had conquered Earth. Many still believe I am responsible for their misfortune.” I had verbalized what I had realized long ago. My life would be to serve Earthmen without their consent. Then, my lot would be to die in the camp of the enemy, which hated me only slightly less than my own people.

I think this must have been some kind of turning point for Liz in her opinion of me. The next day, I was having a particularly bad day. I was putting together an emigration of over one million. I had arranged the transports and Zan had sent me information of areas about which he had special concern. I was arranging to split up local groups to be sent to different points on New Earth. I was also balancing, as usual, the ethnic make up of the transports. To ready one million emigrants would be a chore. My only duty was to select them and balance the make up of each transport. The armies of Antar would see to the loading of those chosen to leave. As usual, my name would be screamed, as an invective by all involved.

I had just closed my eyes. The roar was still running through my head. I felt a cool hand dip a cloth in water and bath my forehead. It felt so good that I remained immobile. She bathed my face. Then, she bent my head forward and put the cooling cloth on the back of my neck. Finally she placed a wet cloth on my eyes. They had been burning from the strain and from holding back the tears.

I slept. I slept through the time I usually spent with Lex. Later, I was to learn that Liz wouldn’t let him wake me up. “Come with me Lex. We shall walk and you can tell me what he has been teaching you,” she had said.

It was late in the afternoon when I woke up. At first, I was upset. I had slept through my time with Lex. I guess I needed that time as much as I thought Lex did. I could hear Liz in Lex’s room going over his lessons. I had only a little more to do on the lists. They would be sent to Zan and by tomorrow evening, the armies would have rounded up those to be exported. By the following evening, they would be on their way to a new life.

I sat at dinner and said nothing about my missing my time with Lex. After Lex had retired to bed, I sat with Liz. “Liz,” I started to say.

She placed her finger to my lips. “Don’t. I spent the time having Lex tell me the stories you have been teaching him. He is becoming quite the historian in both Earth and Antarian culture.”

“It is to children like Alexander that the future will belong. Zan does not value his children until they show worth. We have always striven to create worth in our children. Zan wastes much of his resources in the children. The Antarians have promised us 50,000 years of non-interference. Maybe, we can break that promise ourselves by our own progress. Maybe next time, it will be descendants of old Earth who conquer a decadent, wasted people. Maybe, we can overcome excessive numbers with intellect. Then, we can lead them out of their dark age. They are in a dark age. Just witness the lack of trust they show to each other. This creates a lack of cohesiveness in their culture.” This was something I would never see or realize. My body would have decayed and if my soul remained, it would have been hammered by countless wars on the old world Earth. Youth like Alexander, who must be sent someday to New Earth, would return and right the progress of the two peoples.

Liz slid closer to me. She was facing me as she said, “You are a deep and difficult person to understand. I am almost beginning to believe that you are the true savior of Earth. Maybe, you are even a messiah,” she said.

I shook my head. “Don’t allude anything sacred about me. I am a creation of the Antarians. Every experiment, every probe, will someday be returned to destroy them. Not kill them, because that is what they do. I want to destroy them so what they do now and what they did to me will be mythology. A history that no one is ever sure existed. Only tales told by old men.” I closed my eyes. I felt her hand on my temple, I could feel the pulsing of my blood against her touch. I just remained that way drinking in the pleasure of her touch. I think that was the first time I had been touched in what I believed was kindness in the last 40 years.

We went to bed that night. Nothing was different, but I woke up about midnight. Liz was curled up in a ball against my chest. I could feel the warmth of her body and her regular breathing. It was intoxicating.

keepsmiling 7
mary mary
rosdude

Chapter 4

There was no difference in my relationship with Lex. With Liz, that was a different story. Our life together became what I thought fairly tales were made of. Liz and I made love and it was because that is what both of us wanted. We kissed and caressed because both of were lonely. We embraced as we slept because Liz was beginning to understand and no longer see me as a complete monster.

We were called to the palace. Liz and Lex were dressed as was the custom. The guards kept the windows blackened until we were in the courtyard of the palace. They wanted to not have a repeat of that first time. They knew that if Liz was upset or if I was discomforted, their lives would be forfeited. In the office of Zan, he entered and looked at Liz for several minutes. “You have found accommodation, little one. I wondered at his choice when he made it, but as usual, he was right.” Zan turned to me. “Now, maybe, I can see you with a clearer head.”

We talked about the emigrations. I was decimating regions to the point that there were no leaders left. The people were just wandering in a mindless mob. I had been instructing the army each time we had a transport to just round up who they could and distribute them among those chosen for emigration. As soon as the human life was removed from an area, the Antarians would move in and I had no idea what they did to the land nor did I care. My job was to get as many humans off, what we were beginning to call Old Earth, as I could.

Zan had seen the change in both me and in Liz. Of course, he knew to the centimeter, the distance we slept from each other. I had grown accustomed to the fish bowl life, but I wasn’t sure how much Liz had realized that every breath we took, every word we said, was reported to Zan. The night after I woke up with Liz curled against me, our lives changed. I like to think she had to begun to realize that I was doing what I believed was good for earthmen and had started to see me in a slightly different light than that of a monster. I wasn’t sure she would ever see the depths that what I was doing had affected me. I couldn’t sell my soul to the devil as some would accuse. I had lost any chance of a soul when I started to try to save my race.

That morning Liz poured my coffee. I hope those on New Earth had found use for the coffee seeds I had sent. It would be a cruel world indeed that didn’t have a cup of coffee. I felt Liz’s lips brush my hair as she tended to my beverage. Later she sat and read the reports that Zan had sent. The reports were confidential, but who would Liz tell? To be far from me was the death sentence for both her and her son. Liz began to ask me questions about some of the purges that had been done. At first, she avoided that of her own city, but eventually, she wanted to know what had set that one off also.

I showed her the records. The deaths were meaningless if you just looked at the impersonal numbers. Humans just couldn’t fathom numbers that big. When she saw the numbers of her own city and thought of them as relatives, neighbors and friends, the number started to take on another meaning. Then, she saw the instigation of the purge. A gang of Earth men had attacked an Antarian soldier. The soldier was drunk and, I supposed, he looked like a reasonable target. Yes, they killed an Antarian, but the resulting punishment was the destruction of all who lived in that city. It would have been the destruction of Liz and her son, except for an intervention.

Liz was starting to see past the magnitude of the reprisals and see the puny steps the earthmen had made to cause them. She was beginning to see the rebellions of earthmen as I did. They were impossibly minute compared to the numbers of deaths they caused. Earthmen could keep rebelling until there were no more citizens to rebel for. When I defused the rebellions, Liz saw that I was saving millions of humans.

The first night Liz came to me in love, she was clear that there was no payment being offered except for the payment of her body as a token for someone she cared about. She cared about me. That must have been a revelation. My mind didn’t go back far enough to remember being cared about. We made love under the glare of a picture of a young pilot which she had on her dresser. I knew how much the pilot meant to her so I said nothing.

I already had an almost paternal relationship with her son, Lex. How do children relate to the adults in their lives making a stronger relationship. Lex remembered very little about his dad, Max. We talked about what Liz had told me and what I knew of the time when the Antarians landed. Bringing down that first ship could have been looked on as a heroic action. I never mentioned the reprisal of the cities that the Antarians nuked following the loss of their one ship. I guess the only difference was that we three started to do things like I had always imagined a family would. Max was Lex’s dad and I was just still, “Sir.” I guess that would be the best I would ever get. Liz would walk holding my hand and, occasionally, she would lean against me in an oh, so delicious way.

Our walking was prescribed by the necessity of our rout being first searched and declared safe. I didn’t try to extend our travels too much because I had learned long ago that one shouldn’t try the efforts of the security staff if not necessary. Many times, the three of us would sit and talk about hopes and dreams and what we had expected out of life before the conquest. I Wouldn’t let the talk stop there, but I always led the talk about what could be hoped for New Earth. Hopes could be extended by all of us to a place we had never seen and one I know I would never see. In my mind I was determined to make sure that Liz and Lex were transported someday to that new land.

Life for me had taken on a luster that I had never realized. I had a boy who was like a son, to me. We could talk and I could watch as his ideas formed and developed. I was starting to hope for a bright future for him. I had a woman who, at least, liked me. Maybe, sometimes, she even loved me. My duties were still onerous to those who didn’t understand, but Liz was beginning see that I was trying to save the human race. Maybe, I even had a friend in a high place. Zan could never be a friend Earth-style. He would execute me in a minute if he felt I was hurting the rule of his world. The friendship might be just the shedding of a single tear, if Antarians were capable of shedding tears.

On the surface of old Earth, anarchy was reigning. There were still centers of reason where guardians were shepherding their fellows. I didn’t want to bother places like that until I had to. I had already decided that when I found such a community, I would try to move it as a whole. The gangs would be rounded up and dispersed across the different transports. The gang leaders might think they were tough, but when they arrived on New Earth, they would find that they were just small stuff compared to those who had faced the environment of the strange planet at first colonization.

Privately, Zan had given me word that I had five more years. Antar had already planned their mass exodus to Earth at that time. Earthmen who were remaining would be hunted down and exterminated after that time. I hadn’t approached him on the subject of Liz and Lex, but soon, I would. I wanted them to be safe in the new land.

This led up to the conversation we’d had at the first of the story. Zan had been searching for missing humans. The name of Max Evans came across as one of the transport pilots. A transport was a real comedown from a fighter, but it was a ship. To a man like Max, that was something. Zan researched what he knew about Liz and thus, he handed me the folders.

mary mary
keepsmiling7
katnotkath

Chapter 5

I told her that we needed to talk. We waited until Lex went to bed. We went into a far room so he wouldn’t hear us. “Liz, Max is alive. He told you once that a plane would never let him down. Apparently, it didn’t. Someway, he survived the crash of that first invasion,” I told her.

Liz was speechless. Both of us were for several minutes. We both faced conflicting emotions for sometime. For me the woman who I definitely loved had received good news. Then there was the fact that I loved her and this news would tear her away from me. Finally she spoke, “Has he been looking for me?”

I shook my head. “Remember that according to the records you were executed years ago when your city was purged,” I explained.

Liz grimaced, “He doesn’t know that his son is alive either, does he?”

I shook my head. “A man should know if his son is still alive. It isn’t good for a son to go through life not knowing his father.” My throat was getting tighter every minute.

“What should I do?” she asked.

“You go to New Earth. If Max doesn’t have another life already, you should talk to him about coming back together. No matter what, Max needs to be where he can watch his son grow up,” I explained.

She came over where she could sit near me. “What about you? You have become important in Lex’s life.” She had her hands on my face and was gazing into my eyes.

I couldn’t lie to her. In fact when looking at her that close, I was about to loose any chance of keeping my emotions in check. I removed her hands roughly and stood up. “I told you long ago that I had a job to do. It is far from finished. What I mean to Lex? I am just an old man who has told him stories about history. He needs a man who will teach him about life. He needs a man who is respected and will teach him how to achieve respect. If Max has another life already, on New Earth, then allow him to see his son and you seek another mate. Marry with the only condition that you respect each other and maybe, if you are lucky, you will find love. If Max takes you back and you are willing to go back with him, then someday, tell him about us. Try to remember me in a better light than you felt when we met. Anyone else, it is none of their business what you have been doing and how you escaped execution.

That night, Zan be damned, I slept in a separate room. I just couldn’t face her warm body next to mine knowing that soon she would be gone.

Max had taken the piloting of the transport because that was the only way he could be back in a ship. The war had taken his whole life. He had little left. This time when he landed and was waiting for the emigrants to be loaded, two Antarians approached him. “Lord Zan, the Prilate of Earth, requests an audience with Max Evans the fighter pilot. The audience will take place here in a room and Lord Zan gives his word that he will not in anyway, bring harm to Max Evans.” The two Antarians waited for his answer.

Jake, his copilot leaned over, “Don’t trust him, Max. That slimy bastard has been responsible for the death of over a billion Earthmen.”

Max frowned. That was probably good advice. The Earthmen from New Earth and the Antarians kept their distance from each other. They met to transfer the emigrants and that was about all they did. Max was hesitating as Zan had told soldiers he would. One Antarian said, “This concerns your wife and son.”

Max reacted, almost before those around him could stop him. His fist balled up, he didn’t care that, if he struck an Antarian, he would be executed. “Your, Lord Zan murdered my wife and son 15 years ago.” Max declared.

The Antarian didn’t flinch a bit. He knew that he could brush aside any movement that Max made against him. Zan had commanded that he not allow Max to strike him. “Lord Zan says that you should listen to what he says and then you can leave,” the Antarian warrior stated as he looked Max in the eye.

Max shook off those holding him. “I will hear the bastard out. Take me to him,” he growled.

Max was seated when Zan entered the room. He glared at Zan. Zan slid across a folder to Max. It was the same folder he had given the Earthman. “Is this you?” Zan asked.

Max glanced at the folder and nodded. “You have a wife and son. Wife named Elizabeth and the son named Alexander?”

Max shouted, “Had a wife and son, you bastard. You executed them in some purge years ago.”

Zan calmly continued to look at Max. “A Prilate does not like to be contradicted. You have a wife named Elizabeth and a son named Alexander.”

This time Max just scowled. The Prilate cleared his voice. It is necessary for me to gain some information. Then, I will give you some. First, have you remarried?”

Max frowned. “No,” he shook his head.

“Do you have any immediate prospects of getting remarried?” The Prilate droned on.

Where did this bastard come from asking these questions? Max thought of several of his girlfriends. No, he hadn’t wanted to be married to any of them. They brought comfort to each other, but Max couldn’t yet, get past Liz and Lex.

When Max shook his head again, the Prilate said, “Elizabeth Evans and Alexander Evans are both alive. They are alive by the action of one man. Their story is not mine. Elizabeth will tell you if she sees fit. They both can be brought here to go back to New Earth if that is what you want.”

Max couldn’t believe his ears. What kind of game was the Prilate playing? For several minutes, he couldn’t speek. Max just nodded when the Prilate offered to send Liz and Lex back with him.

The transport was loaded. Several of the crew were standing with Max. They also wondered what game the Prilate was playing. A hearily armored transport with dark windows pulled up. It sat motionless for several minutes. When the door finally opened, a man stepped out. He waited until an older woman than Max remembered, emerged. Max saw the man beside her was a teenager. Could this boy be his son? The boy offered his mother his arm and they walked toward the transport.

Keepsmiling7
natalie36
destinyc
mary mary

Chapter 6

I told Liz I wanted her to go to New Earth no matter what. Lex deserved to know his father, as did Max his son. Liz would have to make up her own mind when she reconnected with Max. They were both more than 15 years older. When we arrived at the space port, we all three sat looking at the men assembled in front of the gangway. Lex was excited, but he also, was hesitant about getting out of the transport. Liz and I sat holdings hands. It would be the last time I would touch her. I tried to be as stoic as possible. She deserved this chance as did her son. I didn’t want feelings for me to cloud their reunion. “Alexander, get out of the transport and I will be with you shortly,” Liz told him.

Alexander stood tall just outside the door. He discretely closed it and we saw him through the darkened windows. Liz threw her arms around me. I burst into tears. I couldn’t hold them back any longer. Her kisses were hotter than any I could ever remember. They were made the more so, because this would be the last time I would taste them. She pulled back holding my hand. “Do you want to meet him?” she asked.

I shook my head. What would Max think if he saw that Liz and Lex had been spending the years with the most hated man in human history. She left the transport and taking her son’s arm, they walked stately toward the waiting crew of the transport. I looked in my hand and found a card which said, “At night look to the stars and always know that there are two up there who will always love you.”

I leaned back and waited for the armored transport to leave. I didn’t want to see the huge ship take off. It was filled with my heart. There was a scuffle outside the armored carrier. The door opened and one of the female guards tightly holding the wrist of a small blonde girl appeared. The guard slung the girl, who on looking closely, I was sure was more woman than girl, into the vehicle. She was older than she at first appeared. The door to my compartment was closed and we sat looking at each other. “Are you going to eat me?” she asked.

I shook my head. “What do you mean?” I asked in reply.

“Well, when I was a little girl my parents would show me your picture and tell me that you would come by and eat me if I didn’t behave. Are you going to eat me?” she asked again. From her appearance, she hadn’t behaved for a long time.

“I don’t eat little wayward girls,” I growled.

She shook her head, “I am a lot more than a little girl. I guess, if you do not intend to eat me, I should give you this.” She handed me a sealed letter.

I opened the letter. I saw the strong hand of Zan. “Earthman, you made a choice and for many years, you knew love. Now, our time is running out. Let me make a choice for you and let you know lust. She is older than she looks, but there is nothing she doesn’t know. Earthman, you may be my only friend. Zan.”

I folded the letter. It was plain that she had no idea of what was inside the envelope. “Zan said to give you the letter. Then, I am supposed to screw you silly for the rest of my life.” She shuddered. “He promised to break my neck if I didn’t.” With that, I met the Earth girl, Tess.

Epilog.

Years ago, I would have died. I would have died except for a man, known only as The Earthman, who made a choice one day to accept the care of a woman he did not know and her son. The Antarians had my son and myself on a list for execution, for some infraction, made within my city. I had nothing to do with the infraction, but as an example all inhabitants, we were to be terminated. The Earthman never gave me a reason for why he saved me. He was reviled as the greatest traitor in the history of Earth. I lived with him for many years and I came to know him, not as a sadistic creature or the traitor that the rest of humanity considered him to be, but as the savior of mankind,

The Earthman sent me away. I do not know if I would have left otherwise, except for the fact that the Earthman found my soulmate alive. He used the incredible resources of the Antarian Empire, on Earth directed by the Antarian, Zan. I found myself, along with my son Alexander, as special passengers on a transport piloted by the man I had originally given my heart to. Max Evans had the luck of a million cats. He had disappeared after that first battle to surface later on New Earth as a pilot for one of the transports which was carrying the last of the population to their new home.

Max accepted me after long talks about what each of us did to survive. It was half way into the trip to New Earth, Max and I were living in an apartment together, but still sleeping in separate rooms when I received the news. This news could easily have ended any chance of our reconciliation. I was pregnant.

There was no question who the father was. “Max, I will understand if you want to leave me now. You didn’t sign up to care for someone else’s child,” I told him.

I should have known. In a fighter, Max was fearless and ferocious, but in real life, Max was one of the most tender men I had known, except for the Earthman. “Liz, to hold you again was beyond my reasoning. To see my son, again, is a gift I owe someone that can never be repaid. The Earthman returned both to me. He instilled into Alexander an education of Old Earth which will make him a valued scholar. The Earthman has asked us, just as sure as if he had handed us the babe at the space port, to care for his child. We will raise the child as our own and tell it the story you believe of the Earthman, who saved his world. The child will find its own choice as to its position in life.” By the time we landed, I was rushed to medical facilities and John was born. On his birth certificate he was listed as Jonathan Evans, one of the last children of Old Earth.

I should have told the Earthman, but at first, the Antarians wanted nothing to do with New Earth except to send the flotsam and jetsam of earth people that remained on what they now looked on as their planet. No communication was allowed, even by Max, the pilot.

Later we heard the Earthman had been killed. For some reason, he and his companion had been separated from their bodyguards. Knowing the politics of the Antarians, I always wondered if it was an accident or done on purpose. Soon after Zan left the Prilate of Earth to return to side with Rath in the quarrels against Kivar, it was heard that Kivar had murdered Vilandra. This was too much affront to the king, who was Zan’s father.

As for Earthman and his companion, I only hope their death had been swift. Why do we always say that? Death is death and it is final. I am sure the bodies fought to the last instant to keep their spark of life. I hope that the companion of the Earthman brought him happiness. Earthman always said I did. As he played with Alexander and taught him so many stories of Old Earth history, he always said that this was something that might make the rest of his life worthwhile.

Worthwhile! What is more worthwhile than saving the human race, Earth style? He did it. All the while his own people were using his name as a curse for every ill they felt.

It was Alexander who educated John about his father. John always called Max, Daddy, but he knew that his father was another man who he would only know from the stories Alexander and I told.

Years later in the senate, New Earth was growing in power. The subject was the secession of a province a great distance from the capital.

“If we allow this infraction to occur, then we will be opened to every whim of vagrant thinking that can be found.” The speaker was one of the solidarity party. He spoke for a strong and united front to face the Antarians, if they ever appeared again.

Alexander Evans stood. Beside him sat his brother. They were as different as two people could be. Alexander was of medium height, had brown hair and light brown, almost amber eyes. John Evans, sitting beside Alexander was taller and had blond curly hair with piercing blue eyes. Everyone said he reminded them of someone, they just couldn’t remember who. On his room wall, John had fastened a picture of the Earthman. The resemblance was quite strong. “Earthmen were selected for the emigrations for their diversity. They were sent so they would have several ideas to use colonizing New Earth,” Alexander stated. “Let the secession be done under articles of confederation. Let them try their lives as they best see them and let us be open to welcoming them back if they don’t succeed.

“They were sent as that bastard Earthman rounded them up!” a course voice said. It was from a small grafting man noted for using the senate to get what he wanted for himself.

Alexander coolly turned to the last speaker. “It is obvious that the last speaker is ignorant of even the simplest of mathematics. Even a student can see the distribution used in the selections. They were very purposeful,” Alexander finished.

The modern New Earthers had developed a strong feeling for education. Alex was applauded. As the power of New Earth grew, the two men brothers, by having Elizabeth Evans for a mother, repeated the sayings of the Earthman. Although, none who heard them realized that. John always had the introspection of his father. Way before the 50,000 years allotted, the men of New Earth returned to their home planet. The broken Antarians welcomed the aid the New Earthers brought. The flag of New Earth bore the image of John Evans and, thus, the Earthman. He had won.
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My purpose in this story is for you to think about history. Every time one group of people displaced another some form of this story took place. Reservations, ghettos and pacification camps have been the norm. In many of these stories the "Traitor" was one of those who tried to make the transition for his people easier. He did not meet any cheers from his people. Most of the time they felt he had sold out to the other side.

ken r