Shipp: The Alien Wars of Earth Read online

  “So if I agree to listen to what you have to say I can see my wife and kids?” I asked.

  “When I determine your state of mind is acceptable and that you are up to it, have heard what I have to say, actually understand what it is I am asking you to do, then yes you will see your family,” he said sharply, with a pinched look on his face.

  “Go for it.” I said quietly, determined to keep my mouth shut for a while.

  “Finally,” he mumbled, more to himself than to me.

  “The race that created me has monitored this planet’s evolution and the progress of life long before there was anything resembling man crawling around on it and their race was ancient even then. Should give you some small insight into how long my creators have been around, and with the technology to travel vast and immense distances through space. They are now not satisfied with the direction mankind is headed, or in how you are taking care of a very rare commodity, what you call Earth.”

  “That sounds like the beginnings of a threat!” I bristled.

  “Exactly!” He said, looking me straight in the eyes. “And you should take it very seriously. They can and will take action unless you can perform a service for them, and for the human race. The biggest threat to you and mankind is that they may decide not to take any action at all, but that will take another conversation that must wait for now.” He held up a finger as I readied another interruption. “Please let me finish, and then you can ask your questions.”

  “All right, I’ll try. But you have to admit, this is a lot for me to take in. But you have piqued my curiosity; I’ll try to keep my mouth shut until you indicate you’re finished.”

  “Thank you,” he replied. “I’ll give you the abbreviated version for now, and we can discuss details later. The main concern is that mankind’s actions are damaging the eco-system of a rare gift beyond repair. Luckily my creators also consider you an important part of that gift to the universe, however, secondary to the planet itself.”

  I shuddered a little as that sunk in.

  “But that is where you come in,” he continued. “The plan is to bring you to the home world, educate you, train you, in the hope that you can return to Earth as an envoy, armed with enough information to change the direction mankind is now following. Some of this information will be the admission of my creator’s existence, followed with scientific information designed to help with power problems, transportation, food shortages, health care, and sciences of all types that are eco friendly. Your main goal will be to convince the peoples of your world to accept this help and to immediately implement changes to protect the planet and its ecology.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding!” I exclaimed. “You send me like Moses down from the Mount, with rules and proclamations from someone you call the Creators, the religious uproar alone will drown out anything else I’m supposed to say or accomplish. You might just as well call the whole thing off now!”

  “You won’t be calling them the Creators, for starters, and there will be other proofs and examples of the validity of your claims,” my captor stated, pacing around the room looking a little agitated. “Look, there is a whole lot more to this you need to know, but the bottom line is, if this doesn’t work the alternative will be to save this planet from you, instead of by you,” he stated vehemently! “The extinction of your race is not an option being considered, but whether or not Mankind stays in charge of their destiny is, and your success or failure in this will determine that course! Do not doubt that the beings I represent can bring about any course of action they so choose, and that they are giving you a chance to remain independent of outside interference, but only one,” he finished flatly, with a long index finger pointed in my direction! “I call them Creators because their name isn’t something that can be pronounced, only thought. They haven’t used the spoken word regularly for eons, and do not have the capability of doing so in their present state of evolution. They communicate on a level even the term telepathy cannot define. Other races call them the Early Ones, since they are the oldest race known at this time.”

  “Other races,” I exclaimed! “You mean I’m going to have to deal with more than one brand of alien,” voice rising as I spoke!

  “No,” he answered, as he stopped pacing and turned to face me. “At least I hope not. There are other races that have an interest in your planet, but have various and vastly different ideas on how to proceed with that interest, none of which bode well for humanity. Luckily they are not willing at this point to anger the Early Ones, as good a name as any, for right now. Let’s just say that lucky for you, the oldest and most powerful race in this universe also happens to be a moral and fair minded society that honors free will and independence.”

  “But doesn’t have any problems with kidnapping an entire family and dragging them across that universe to who the hell knows where,” I exclaimed! All the while trying to put on my most indignant face!

  “This is being done for your benefit!” His voice developed and edge to it as he spoke these words. “These other races I spoke of mostly consider you an infection on an otherwise perfect planet, an infection that should be eradicated. The Early Ones are the only race that is offering anything other than enslavement or annihilation of your species!”

  I started to interrupt again, but got that same finger in my face!

  “You must understand that none of the races who know of your existence and have the capability to do anything about it are predisposed to allow this planet to come to permanent harm.” He moved closer and scowled down at me. “The Early Ones are the only society willing to help you and your kind stay in charge of your planet, and to teach and help you take care of it properly. As vast as the universe is, a planet with the capacity to generate life such as is found on your Earth are extremely rare, and my creators will not allow it to be destroyed, even if that means taking matters into their own hands, so to speak. Our plan is to make you an ambassador to your own people, armed with enough knowledge of the alternatives to be a convincing advocate for the changes that will be required. My creators will give you technology to help in this endeavor, with varying degrees of power given you to protect that technology from those who will try to abuse it, but all of that is still in the planning stages, the success and degree of help will be decided by your actions!”

  “By my actions”, I asked? “That doesn’t make any sense. I am nobody, just your average Joe, why me and why now” I asked? Despite my situation, more than a little sarcasm was seeping in!

  “I have studied you and thousands like you. In my opinion, your mindset is best suited to understand and accept what is going to be required. Your family also has a similar mindset, because of your influence, and the fact you chose a mate who thinks much as you do. In studying you, I determined that this would not work unless your family was included.”

  “You had no right to involve them,” I said, raising my voice more than a little!

  “You could be right,” he replied in a subdued tone. “My orders were for the most appropriate individual. I made the decision to include your family on my own. In my opinion you possessed the best chance to succeed in this quest, but I determined that separating you from your family would render you unable to complete this mission satisfactorily.”

  I chewed on that for a few seconds, downed the last of the tea, and then replied quietly.

  “I am uneducated by any standard you might want to use. I have no college education to speak of; it seems to me there must be thousands, hell hundreds of thousands of candidates more qualified to handle what you have in mind!”

  “If you accept this responsibility, you will not be uneducated when you undertake this task. You were selected for what I determined were highly ethical and moral beliefs. Not that you are any goody two shoes, but you always opted to help and not hurt when those options were put in front of you. Your IQ is high, education will not be a problem,” Daniel paused, then got a look as though he was going to continue, but instead just looked at me and waited.

  “You said,” I responded after a couple of seconds of silence, “that you personally made the decision to bring my family aboard, does that decision by you put my family in even more danger that I suspect they are already in?” I asked.

  Daniel looked at me for what seemed an interminable amount of time, and then finally spoke quietly with an apologetic demeanor.

  “I must make you understand that no harm will come to you or your family by me or those I represent, regardless of the success or failure of this venture. It is not in our nature to harm. It is only because of the seriousness of this problem, and the eminent action of others that might do you harm that the Early Ones have decided to try this course of action now. If there are repercussions because of my decision, they will be directed at me, not you and yours. I realize that this is all unbelievable, that I have uprooted you from your life, but after all the information has been digested by you, and eventually by your family, it is my firm belief that you will see that this is necessary, that I had no choice, and will become a willing partner in this project. My belief that you will understand and agree is after all why I chose you in the first place. My creators gave me the task of picking someone who I thought would be humanities best advocate, and in time, the best chance for humanity to survive along with the planet they call home, free and independent.”

  I looked at this thing calling himself Daniel, who was looking at me with a plaintive but determined look. He appeared to be human by any means I had to make such a decision. He was a ruggedly handsome outdoors type somewhere in his late twenties by appearance. Could have been my brother,d except I doubt I would be considered the handsome one if we were seen together. Was this all real, what reason would anyone have to pull such an elaborate hoax on the likes o
f me? If I believe what he’s saying, my family and I are about to take an intergalactic trip that defies the imagination, a trip that will determine mankind’s future, planned by an alien intelligence supposedly for our own good! My only plan of action right now seems to be to go along, try to get to my family as soon as possible, and then find out as much as I can. Maybe I ate some bad mushrooms or something and I’m having some sort of waking hallucination, seems real enough though, to damn real!

  At this point, Daniel interrupted and broke through my reverie!

  “Look Thomas, I know this is a lot of information to process, and there is so much more! First off, you need to be convinced that what I am saying is true. The Early Ones are going to need confirmation that I have chosen correctly. This trip is to put you and them together so there will be no doubt on either side.”

  I started to interrupt as a million questions and demands were screaming to get out of my head, but he cut me short!

  “At that point” he continued, wagging his finger in my face, which I hated and must have shown in my body language because he immediately stopped doing it, “I hope you will at least believe that you are here for the reasons I have given. It will be up to you to decide what to do from there. If you decide not to continue, you will be returned with a family that will have no memory of this incident. If you decide to continue and become part of this plan, we will discuss how and when to wake up your family. Right now you need some rest, Shipp says you are exhausted and must sleep a few hours before we continue.”

  “I am not going to be able to rest until I see my family and know that they are ok,” I said, almost choking on my fear for them.

  “I am not ready, Shipp is not ready, you are not ready,” he replied with what I assumed was an attempt at a reassuring expression. “Your family is merely asleep right now and in no danger. You and I have to come to some kind of understanding before I wake them up or send them back. In the meantime this compartment has all you need in the way of creature comforts. I will return for you after you have rested for a few hours.”

  I started to form a reply, but with amazing speed he was out the door and gone. I quickly moved to the door, but I was locked in. I turned to survey my surroundings and to try and digest the most astounding conversation I had ever had!

  Chapter 3

  Shipp Speaks

  I was left alone, scared, perplexed, pissed off to say the least with an unknown amount of hours to wait and no way was I going to be able to get any sleep. I looked around for anything that might help me gain the upper hand. Even while I was trying to convince myself that this was all a nightmare, I knew it wasn’t. I was not sure whether I believed I was on a spaceship, but if I was that presented a whole new set of problems. Such as what the hell do I do even if I figure out how to disable my captor, Buck Rogers I ain’t! “Might as well see if I can figure out how these creature comforts work,” I mumbled to myself.

  “Can I be of service?” a disembodied, but definitely female voice asked.

  “Son of a bitch,” I exclaimed, while turning 360 degrees in an attempt to locate the source and nearly pissing my pants in the process!

  “Sorry, I did not mean to alarm you, I am Shipp. I was merely responding to your desire to figure out how the creature comforts work.”

  I didn’t answer immediately as I was remembering what I had been told about Shipp. Another entity to have to deal with, even if the thing called Daniel could somehow be controlled; I also remembered what happened when I had tried to clobber him and whom he had said was responsible!

  “The other guy said you were some kind of intelligent entity or android which also just happens to be the ship I am being held captive in” I asked?

  “As Daniel already explained I am not an android, android suggests a human form and I definitely do not have one of those!” she explained, sounding slightly miffed. I am an individual, I am self aware, I have a conscience, I know right from wrong, at least as well as any human I have observed, my intelligence would not be measurable by human standards but I am not infallible, much as you are not, so as we get to know each other, I am sure both our conceptions of each other will change.”

  “And I can talk to you whenever I want?” At the same time realizing that I was already thinking of Shipp as female.

  “Whenever you want dear,” Shipp said, with an actual chuckle!

  I decided to let the motherly dear and the fact that I was talking to an intergalactic space transport with a sense of humor pass without comment for the moment. To be honest it was more disconcerting then finding out my abductor wasn’t perhaps entirely human, if at all. I guess I had watched too much Star Trek, with one of my favorite characters being Data, an android, ---- preconditioning?

  “Can you see me,” I whispered?

  “I can monitor and record events throughout my structure,” Shipp replied, mimicking my whisper.

  “Then will you tell me where my family is, are they okay?” I got no response for a few seconds, and then Shipp responded quietly.

  “I can tell you that I am taking very good care of your family, they are in no danger. As for where they are, that is something you will have to take up with Daniel.”

  “What will it hurt to tell me where they are?’ I shouted angrily!

  “Look Thomas, you have no frame of reference to understand where there is. But you should understand that Daniel has final say in all aspects of the mission where it concerns you and your family. I have final say when the mission concerns navigation, the safety and health of myself and all those who reside within my structure, including any actions taken by biological or naturally occurring forces of nature which might threaten any one of us!”

  I started to interject with a question, but I barely got my mouth open when I was interrupted, confirming the fact that I indeed could be seen.

  “Please close that fly trap and allow me to finish,” Shipp interjected. “I can also be used in educational endeavors. I can explain and show you how to work the various apparatus that you will come in contact with in your daily routines. I can for example, explain that the big black panel on the wall behind you is a food dispenser. You simply say menu, you will see three choices for each meal, pick the one you want. It takes a while if I have had no prior warning, but you can order in advance if the three choices are not to your liking. If I get no order, I will ask you one hour before mealtime. If you are too busy to be disturbed, I will choose for you.”

  I started to tell this thing calling itself Shipp I didn’t care about any of this, but she talked right over me until I subsided.

  “Another example,” she was saying, “is your shower will always come on at body temperature or any preset temp you suggest, and then you ask for hotter or colder by degree as you require.”

  Shipp finally shut up and let me get in a word in edgewise. So I went back to my favorite mantra.

  “Tell Daniel I don’t want to wait, I want to see my family now, ----please, I begged!”

  “I cannot intervene between you and Daniel. Besides, you need some rest, I suggest you use the shower, it will relax you, besides you are the first non-enhanced biological to reside within my shell, and frankly, you are smelling up the place!”

  “Screw you!” I growled. I got no response. I cussed out all four corners of the room, but the ship had evidently decided that I wasn’t worth talking to for the time being.

  “Daniel,” came Shipp’s voice, materializing inside Daniels head without benefit of external speakers. A bit of technology Daniel sometimes wished no one had thought of. He could also communicate with Shipp without actually talking, but for some reason preferred not to unless it was necessary for the job at hand or he was planet side.

  “Yes Shipp.”

  “I don’t think he is going to get much rest,” Shipp said quietly with a hint of concern in her voice.